Inventive Inspiration (Tensura)

by overlyred

000000000

3. p3

41

The War Room.

There was a sudden flash from the main monitor that filled up an entire side of the room. The computer automatically adjusted itself and tuned down the brightness to allow those present in the War Room a better look at the pulse of plasma that will raze Corbin and reintegrate the city into the soil.

Everyone's attention was on the screen during the whole hour and almost a half of the operation of that black humanoid monster, with only a few occasions where they had to excuse themselves to go to the washroom.

Everyone in the room was shocked. They really shouldn't be considering the power that the A.A.A. held and the destruction of Charybdis.

Seeing that final flash served as the last reminder that a city had ever existed because after the flash died down, all that was were a large glowing spot.

Even during Relentless' Rampage, there still existed at least some ruins to display the resilience of man's mark upon the world. The remains of Thelium's Capital Andorious still persist in the Western States and were a popular spot for tourists and mages to visit.

The former was to see the largest evidence of an expansionist kingdom that once almost challenged the Eastern Empire in power. The latter, to perform rituals aided by the presence of those anguished souls that endures 400 years after the tragedy.

Everyone continued to silently stare at the cooling, molten surface where the city used to be. Any evidence of civilization, or even life in general, was gone. It was as if someone had transported a piece of the Barren Lands and placed it over what used to be lush grasslands.

The silence was finally broken when one of the younger Officers muttered, "What the hell just happened?"

"That was glassing." Ririna said, glancing across the room to take in the responses, "Glassing, as defined by the Commander herself, is a process of bombarding an area with plasma or lasers to melt the surface and kill off all biological life. Usually, this is only done to extinguish a biological threat or poison gas, and is the most serious Order a General or equivalent can authorize."

The satellite zoomed in on this black dot that was slowly drifting to the ground.

"What is that?" Ririna could help but ask upon seeing how the Commander surrounded herself with a magic circle.

Suddenly, there was another flash of light, and two individuals now appeared next to Scientia.

Despite being able to discern specific humans, the satellites still weren't good enough to figure out all the details about that single human.

Seconds later, there was another explosion several kilometers north of where the Commander lay before the trio all together disappeared.

"What happened to the Commander?"

"I have visual on the Commander!" One of the Officers operating a computer yelled out, causing all heads to look at him.

Ririna quickly ran over to see his screen, looking over his shoulder and asking, "Where?"

"Metropolis, Ma'am. Specifically, the steps of Congress."

"Oh no."

Metropolis, the Capital of the Jura Tempest Republic.

There was a rip in the air as Noir teleported to the middle of Central Square that sat in front of the Pyramid. The Black Primordial took a moment to sweep his gaze across this blindspot that avoided his gaze no matter what he tried.

It was truly different.

Tall metal spires covered by glass rose from the ground, so tall and so grand looking that they left Noir almost breathless. These monolithic structures pierce the very clouds with their heights as if declaring to the heavens that their place is no longer sacrosanct. Their scale made them seem like some futuristic cathedral, with each one being a masterpiece of engineering.

Engineering that used no magic.

Noir then focused on their design, finding them to be entirely different from the architecture of any other place in the World. They were sleek and elegant, and pairing that factor with their angular lines and sharp geometry made it seem like they were made by aliens.

While for Noir, building such a thing was easy considering his proficiency with magic, it was almost hard for him to imagine that each was built without any magic.

"A whole city of these monoliths of glass and metal... all built without magic," Noir grinned while still carrying the unconscious Commander.

"Indeed... this is certainly something I've never seen before," Jaune spoke eagerly yet with a hidden core of caution, like how someone would speak when they are put in an entirely new environment, "so unique I must say—"

"Put your hands in the air!"

An orc dressed in heavy black riot gear yelled at the two Primordials. In his hands was a belt-fed electromagnetic machine gun, with a belt of ammo coming from his back.

Aiming the gun at the duo, the orc then placed a hand over the side of his helmet, "We got a double Demonic Intrusion situation here in the front of Congress. At least Greater, possibly an Arch. Deploy everyone, the demons have the Director."

Alarms blared across the city. Every civilian in the square started running as fast as their legs could let them, with some resorting to even climbing over the walls while what few that reminded whipped out their phones and started recording what was happening.

Several ports around the park that surrounds the Capitol building. From those ports came dozens upon dozens of Autonomous Security Drones each packing lasers, containment foam sprayers, and additional anti-magic weapons courtesy of the Ministry of Magic.

These drones rapidly surrounded the Primordials, appearing more as a wall that would cause any normal individuals to feel intimidated and a tad bit claustrophobic.

The Primordials are hardly normal.

Jaune conjured up a chair while Noir gently settled his new Mistress down in a comfortable position. The duo then looked at the heavy response made by the OSS and Congress security.

The Yellow Primordial grinned savagely as the air around her heated up. While she has fought against automatons before, she never fought against such sophisticated magic-less automatons.

The desire to fight is one of the main reasons Jaune continues to live, after all.

"Step away from the Director!" The same orc guard repeated, his voice distorted because of the armor that clad his body, "I will not repeat again, the rest of Metropolitan Police will be here soon, and in about ten minutes, A.A.A.s will be swarming your position before sending you two back to hell. I recommend if you know what's good for you to step away from the Director."

Despite having so many security drones, the orc knew that they were all no match for even a Greater Demon. The most he could hope for is to stall and allow those with the really heavy guns to get here.

Once Noir made sure his Mistress was sitting in a comfortable position and wouldn't fall off by anything short of a strong breeze, he then turned to face the brave long guard.

Staring into his eyes through the graphene faceguard, Noir saw how there was fear in them. And yet, the orc stands his ground even knowing how futile it is.

How fascinating, to inspire such fanaticism comparable only with religions.

Noir then dipped his chin in deep thought. Well, considering all that his Mistress had done, it did make sense that these lower lifeforms saw her as a god, even if she never encouraged it.

A humming sound brought Noir out of his mind and back into the real world. Facing it, the Black Primordial saw multiple metal boxes on wheels bursting through the walls in a tremendous crash before halting. Sounds of heavy footsteps choked the entire square as dozens of heavily armed guards rushed out and took up firing positions in a circle all around the duo.

More than that however was a hatch opening on top of these metal boxes with a single guard taking control of an... object that can mass produce antimatter?!

Noir then noticed some holes in spacetime pricked the edge of his [Magic Sense]. Focusing on those holes, the Primordial found them to be incredibly tiny, so tiny that the smallest atoms would be like a castle compared to a mere human.

Noir narrowed his eyes, "To use such a thing for weapons... to turn those Greater Devourers into an energy source! Ha!"

The Black Primordial was very impressed.

Just as the object that could mass produce antimatter charged up and was ready to fire, Noir raised a hand and forcefully teleported that gun-like object away in the span of milliseconds.

The first to respond were those hovering magic-less automatons. They sent out jets of containment foams that while appearing almost instantaneous to a human, were more like watching a snail's crawl for a Primordial's reaction speed.

After a quick check on those tiny Greater Devourers held within small cylinders, Noir assessed that they would pose no issue and will evaporate away in less than a millisecond after leaving their containment vessel. So the Black Primordial opted not to deal with them at all other than destroying the launcher.

Just as those white ropes of containment foam sprayed by the Autonomous Security Drones neared, Jaune created a spherical magic barrier that stopped those containment foams in their tracks. The building up of those foams created a wall that almost shrouded the barrier in its entirety like a winter coat.

"Be gentle with them, would you?" Noir said to Jaune, "It would not do well to hurt others that also serve our Mistress."

The pings of bullets bouncing off the barrier were persistent despite the futility of the action.

Jaune grinned and slammed her fist together, "Ha, don't worry, I'll keep it on the down-low."

A huge amount of magicule gathered in Jaune's right hand. Bringing the hand up, the magicule seems to reach a crescendo before—

Snap*

—Jaune snapped her fingers. As the sound wave from that snap traveled, it burned away all the built-up containment foam as if they were a piece of paper. Oddly enough, only those foams were burnt away, the ground, Scientia, Noir, and everything else remained unharmed.

Sensing a portal opening, Noir saw how on the steps of this pyramid, overlooking the two Primordials, a massive black rectangle surrounded by purple opened. From that portal came most of those who were in the War Room.

2...

Rubedo brandished his monomolecular blade, Ririna carried her pistol, and was about to fire on the Primordials before the Voice of the World announced again.

1

"She... succeeded..." Rubedo breathed in awe and horror.

"The Voice of the World..." One of the younger Officers hesitantly added.

Noticing how the guards were firing, Ririna jumped down from the steps of Congress with superhuman agility and yanked the automatic rifle out of the closest guard's hands before activating a Unique Skill she had earned after being a Field Marshal for so long.

"Cease your attacks at once!" The hobgoblin boomed, and the guards instantly halted their firing.

A dead silence fell on the entire square in front of the Congressional Pyramid like rain in a thunderstorm.

Seeing that the bullet have stopped, Noir forcefully dispelled the barrier much to the annoyance of Jaune, and bowed to the newcomers, "I see you too are servants of my Mistress?"

"Uh... yes," Ririna hesitantly said upon seeing the situation having been defused.

Just as Jaune opened her mouth to talk, the Voice of the World spoke once more.

$&!@#(

[Path to Victory: Path to getting the most out of the weakened World laws]

[Evolve]

[Retry]

[Combine]

[Retry]

[Path to Victory: Path to Evolving [Inspired Inventor]

[Unable to be pathed]

[Concern]

[Retry]

[Explain]

[Elaborate]

[Disturbing]

[Evolve]

[Evolve]

[Evolve]

[Stab Resistance] evolve—

[Rejection]

[Suggestion]

[Dissolve]

[Suggestion]

[Dissolve]

[Supercharge]

Once the glow from the sitting Perfect Homunculus died down, everyone in the square stood completely still. It was as if that glow from the ascension turned them all into stone.

Even the two Primordials whose age almost rivals that of Creation stood still. The normally cool-headed Noir and the loud and abrasive Jaune knew that this particular Harvest Festival was most unusual.

Throughout the history of this planet, there have been more Demon Lords than there are stars in the night sky, and thus, the two have seen and were present at plenty of Harvest Festivals. None of those Festivals had any errors during the ascension.

"Fascinating, perhaps it's..." Perhaps it's because his Mistress is a Perfect Homunculus? Noir pondered.

His mind trailed back to memories of 400 years ago, specifically at that battle at what's now known as El Dorado's hell gate. Chronoa knocked on the hell gate with Jaune in tow and Relentless following closely behind, sinking the 500-kilometer-wide land bridge that once connected the Australia-sized island with the main continent down into the depth of the ocean.

"A Perfect Homunculus...?" Ririna's voice faltered as she took a few steps back. Her face was strung about in disbelief as if her world had just been shattered.

Rubedo was no better. His mind suddenly recalled how Scientia had cut her own throat to prevent her from speaking her true nature.

To be completely honest, Rubedo wouldn't have minded. His village of ogres was once said to have been driven almost to extinction, and it was only due to the appearance of the first Perfect Homunculus and the subsequent effort to rebuild that the hunters stopped coming.

"Wait, what?" Ririna was about to ask before she fell on her knees, a sense of tiredness rocked her body.

Every named monster across the entirety of the Jura Tempest Republic fell from the lowest goblin to the highest Kijin fell to their knees. Tiredness dominates their minds as if they haven't slept for days.

Even if Rimuru is technically dead, the connection he had with those monsters he named was transferred through the [Soul Corridor] between him and Scientia, thereby making the Perfect Homunculus the new nexus point for all of these connections.

Rubedo and Ririna tried their best to fight the unconsciousness that afflicted everyone else.

Every living thing in the square has already fallen over, laying there on the ground while still clad in their heavy riot armor, already unconscious as they could bear the burden no longer.

"Damn it! Grrr!" Ririna tried to push herself to stand up, "Uff!"

She failed. Her knees crumbled to the floor as the Field Marshal mentally apologized to the Commander before falling unconscious.

The scene at the square looked like something straight out of the aftermath of a chemical attack. Bodies lay everywhere on the streets and parks, their simple clothing is evidence of them thinking that it was an average day and thus, didn't prepare anything too out of the ordinary, all of them now frozen in time thanks to a silent killer.

Of course, that's only if it were an actual chemical attack.

Instead of being dead, all monsters named by Rimuru and Scientia fell unconscious everywhere. The entire Republic ground to a screeching halt.

It was fortunate that much of the daily processes like cars, buses, and other utilities are monitored by AIs instead of just individuals.

The remaining guards who were humans all looked at the scene in raw confusion. They were confused about what was happening and had all been trying to communicate with the Overwatch Security System to ask for further instructions.

Their worries were put to rest when the OSS gave a basic reply of 'hostilities cleared, stand by for further instructions'.

Scientia's fingers twitched. The Perfect Homunculus then rose from her seat, her eyes closed, her hands came up as if to declare something, and her shoulder-length hair fluttered about as if today was a windy day.

The nanosuit that surrounded Scientia suddenly came apart. The suit flowed like water. The suit flowed up and down, twisting and twirling about, sometimes exploding into trillions of individual nanites before coming together once more.

One could easily imagine this as a type of mating dance done by a colony of alien Hydrozoas in an attempt to impress another of the same species.

All the while this was happening, Scientia's eyes were closed, and there was a serene expression on her face. The expression was peaceful enough that one can almost ignore how uncannily perfect it looked.

"Scientia?"

The voice sounded like a silver bell. It was choked full of the innocence a child would have before they're tainted by the world.

Noir and Jaune turned their head to face the source of that voice so quickly that had they been a normal human, their necks would've snapped.

"What?"

"Who—!?"

They turned to face the source and found someone completely unexpected: a vampire, the highest rank of vampires, a True Ancestor or as that Demon Lord liked to call her own race; a High Blood.

And yet... not?

It was strange and confusing.

The two Primordials could tell on a surface level that the blonde woman in front of them standing five meters away and seemingly appearing out of thin air was a True Ancestor, but at her core is something that was drastically different. She has several elements synonymous with that race of bloodsuckers yet at her core she's... somehow a spirit?

A basic probe into the Ancestor allowed Noir to determine her power level is easily on par with a Primordial Demon, so a Primordial Spirit then? An active Primordial Spirit?

An impossible notion. To Noir's best knowledge, God only created only Primordial Angels and Demons, and those 'Primordial Spirits' existed even before the Angels and Demons did. They were unbelievably powerful yet nonsapient elemental forces without wills that supposedly make up everything.

Noir then tried to probe deeper into the Primordial Spirit. He tried to extend his senses into that fake vampire, and all he got in return was something huge.

It was a gigantic thing looking back at him. He felt like an ant looking at an elephant. This being in front of him was more like a planet instead of an average spirit.

How fascinating.

When the Black Primordial retracted his senses, his normally calm and collected demeanor was shattered as he took a deep breath. He started down at his gloved hands, finding them to be shaking the tiniest bit.

"Is this... unease? How splendid! Something new..." Despite Noir's confident tone, he was a bit wary of this new individual. A being to rival him in power... the only reason the Demon wasn't teleporting his new Mistress out of here was because of the non-hostile nature of this... pseudo spirit? Primordial Spirit? Whatever it is, Noir knew it doesn't belong in this world, yet the Voice of the World is allowing it.

All the while Noir was having his assessment, Jaune was giving the other blonde a glare that promised hate. Her lips thinned until one could no longer see the pinkness of naked flesh, her head leaned forward only accentuated Jaune's shape features, and her eyes were dilated, making Jaune seem like a predator about to strike.

If one were to take a picture of Jaune right this moment, future generations would say they could almost feel the hatred coming off the Yellow Primordial in droves.

"[Nuclear Cannon]"

Just when Noir was about to open his mouth, he was interrupted by a flash of light, a flare of nuclear magic that Jaune had thrown at the True Ancestor.

"DIE you alien!"

The world darkened with how bright that stream of nuclear magic was. In Jaune's other hand was a [Nuclear Burst] that she was ready to throw the moment after the [Nuclear Cannon] lands.

Just as the ray of nuclear death was about to smash into the blonde woman, the corner of Noir's eyes saw a blur of pitch darkness before the stream from the [Nuclear Cannon] changed direction and gushed into the air like a geyser made out of rapidly decaying degenerate matter.

The geyser of nuclear death exploded high in the atmosphere, showering everywhere below it in colorful lights as if acting as a firework show both heralding and celebrating the coming of a new Demon Lord.

When the light died down, Noir saw that her Mistress had changed.

While he only saw it for a brief moment, the Primordial knew that his Mistress had eyes of the same bright crimson as freshly spilled blood from a human. Now, they're a shade of the same color as the purest gold that magic can conjure. Her hair which was as white as freshly fallen snow now turned ashen blond, and the armor that used to clad her form which was once the very definition of sleekness now looked like something that a fallen knight might wear, only, without the helmet.

Also, something that's unmistakable is that her Mistress now... well... looks more like a female. Whereas before one can confuse her for any gender, now her tenderness and budding chest make it hard to be mistaken. Not impossible though.

The only thing that remained a constant, the only thing that was like laws of physics was her pale skin.

"That was rather unnecessary," Scientia stated, her voice was still that same perfection, every word, every inflection, from the pitch to the volume— all carried that creepy perfection that makes his Mistress seem almost like she was someone from this planet yet still not enough.

Hearing that voice brought Noir back 400 years ago, that roar fell into the uncanny valley.

"I summoned you to help me, not to attack those dear to me."

Arcueid preened at the words Scientia had said while the Perfect Homunculus stood in between her and Jaune.

"Ha! Well, guess what?" There was a grin on the Yellow Primordial's face, "You ain't my master until you prove to me that you're worthy. You may have such good toys that can make even a Primordial Demon like me jealous but really, how do they stand up against my attacks?"

The other blonde challenged while the Perfect Homunculus just raised an eyebrow at the mention of 'Primordial Demon'.

Spreading out her arms, Scientia then asked, "Do you really want to do this? I would much prefer a peaceful way."

In place of a verbal answer, Jaune released some of her aura to show she really is serious.

Scientia then dropped her arms.

"Arcueid, please stay back."

The airhead in question looked confused for a moment before her mind connected the dots. Her face lit up like a child who had just figured out one of the world's biggest mysteries, "Oh! Oh! Is this one of those saving the damsel in distress I read about? Am I the damsel? But I'm not trapped, and if I am, I can easily just break out!"

The space between Scientia's eyes wrinkled as she closed them, willfully skipping over the urge to groan.

Jaune became extra pissy when she got ignored, so her opening move became moving at half the speed of light, fist coated in nuclear fire, the Yellow Primordial moved to slam that attack against the armored Perfect Homunculus—

"Too slow"

Appearing right next to the moving Jaune just as she crossed the five-meter threshold, Scientia grabbed the back of the Demon's head with her left gauntlet. Then, manipulating the Primordial's mass by controlling how much the atoms that make up her physical body interact with the Higgs Field, Scientia lowered Jaune's inertia by an incredible factor.

Jaune now possessed such low inertia that she slowed down from half the speed of light to moving millimeters in the span of a single microsecond and the environments around the two weren't devastated at all. All that was were a gentle breeze.

Before Jaune could react to what had just happened, Scientia pulled out a paper-thin sheet of stabilized nuclear pasta— neutronium— from her pocket dimension and then proceeded to slam the Primordial's face into that wall hard enough to create a small dent upon the sheet.

Slowly, Scientia let go of Jaune's head. The Yellow Primordial slumped to the floor like a doll after it was thrown against a wall.

"Apologies, I had no patience for such activities today."

Scientia's voice was cold, and her expression never moved more than necessary.

Getting up, Jaune's face was all bloodied up, and yet, there was a wide smile on her busted-up lips. She was like a bully who just got beaten up by their victim and now respects the hell out of them.

"Heh. Controlling my mass... somehow extinguishing my nuclear magic— you're truly something aren't cha? All done without magic too."

Cracking her neck and relocating her nose, Jaune continued.

"The force you threw me with... if you threw me into the ground instead of that wall made out of dead star matter this whole city would've shattered. Your mass controlling range is definitely limited then."

By the time she finished speaking, the Yellow Primordial was entirely healed up.

What Scientia wore now was the Block-Form Singularity Mathematics, a type of esoteric armor that mimics the properties of a black hole better than even the Gravastar Armor since it creates an artificial singularity across the wearer's skin via a warp space.

"I have multiple ways of disarming you, both figurative and literally," Scientia said with a dark undertone, "Give up."

Jaune cracked her fingers and thought for a bit. It was only when the neutronium wall dissipated back into the Perfect Homunculus' pocket dimension that Jaune said, "Fine, I recognize you as my new Mistress."

Noir's grin split his face in two. He was ecstatic and impressed. To be able to force the Yellow Primordial, the apparent head of the Yellow bloodline of demons, a bloodline known to be unnegotiable to all summoners... how interesting, how very very interesting!

The ease at which his new Mistress subjugated Jaune was most interesting indeed.

Seeing that she's been pacified, Scientia turned to face Arcueid.

Finally, Scientia's features softened.

With a sheepish look as if she were a friend who's forced to cancel a meet-up at the last second because something came up, "Hey Arcueid... sorry I haven't talked with you in a while, as you can see I was pretty busy."

Scientia gestured around her at all those who lay unconscious.

"What... happened to you?" Arcueid hesitantly asked with a look of concern in her eyes, "The stench of blood on you is... intense."

The True Ancestor stared at the center of her world in a fashion similar to how someone would look at their friends who's gotten into an Emo or Chunni phase.

Scientia's mouth formed a sad smile, "Rimuru... was killed—" Arcueid's head tilted to the side to show confusion before the newly born Demon Lord continued, "— and there was a ritual, a way of reviving him. To do so, I had to kill... a lot of people and use their souls as fuel to weaken the laws of the World."

Scientia's right hand extended outward as much as possible. Palm facing the sky as if to offer something, the Perfect Homunculus then spoke, "[Contessa, tell me the steps of resurrecting Rimuru Tempest!"

At first, there was nothing. Then came everything.

Instantly, Scientia's body went rigid, stilling into a statue-like form before moving as smoothly as a superfluid. Her movements were as efficient as physically possible, possessing an elegance and grace that Noir hasn't seen in anyone short of a True Hero like Chronoa or Leon Cromwell.

With a robotic motion of unnatural perfection, Scientia reached into her Pocket Dimension and pulled out the static remains of Rimuru's Essence, currently held in a cylinder.

Scientia would admit to anyone that Essence is a weird particle. They are massless, yet they don't automatically move at the speed of light as photons do, and they seemingly interact with the Electromagnetic Force yet can pass through normal baryonic matter like it wasn't there. They don't seem to interact at all with electrons yet they can be moved using a magnetic field.

Beyond that, Essence appeared to have this acausal nature, where time-locking barely slows the breakdown and not completely halting it like normal stasis.

Magical circles enveloped Scientia's body like a second suit of armor, so numerous they are that one almost couldn't see the darkness from the Block-Form Singularity Mathematics. Countless more runic symbols displaying strange, eldritch words manifested in the air, frozen there in complete stillness and giving out only light.

Unsealing the jar of Essence, crimson lines blossomed like roses in spring as Scientia took out the clump of Essence. Throwing that clump into the air, the building block of the Soul exploded into tiny specks of light that littered the space above the square in front of the Congressional Pyramid, appearing like stars in the night sky as the world darkened.

"[Chrono-Cognition]"

A sudden explosion of red lines erupted forth from Scientia's chest like the roots of a tree. At the very center of this explosion was a small crimson ovoid almost invisible against the backdrop of pure redness.

A huge clock manifested underneath the Perfect Homunculus, who stood at the epicenter as the three hands spun around it akin to a planet with its parent star. A strand of ever-growing light began to orbit Scientia, sprung around her, weaving a thread.

This was a grand magic spell that was created with nine charges into [Magic] and five into [Temporal Engineering]. It was fueled by enough matter turned magicule to rival the industrial output of a Type III interstellar civilization.

It was a spell that is out of reach for almost everyone in the World. The sheer cost, not to mention the precision required to do such a spell was almost unimaginable. To compare this with normal magic would be like trying to compare a bow and arrow with a nuclear bomb in terms of efficiency at raw destruction.

"That's... that's Time itself..." Noir breathed out in shock, his eyes widening like saucers at the growing thread of light.

The Black Primordial was unique among the other Primordials. Appearing as someone who is whimsical enough to save a man before killing him in the next moment, the truth was that Noir was very interested in knowing the Truth of the World.

He wanted to know the 'how' and 'why of things, he wanted to know the reason for everything, the hidden mechanisms that underpin reality, and why everything behaves the way they do— to know Creation as well as God himself. That is his ultimate goal.

One can even argue that Noir was the most knowledgeable of all the Seven Primordials.

The World 'shuddered' when Scientia merely grazed that strand of Time, the Arrow of Time. Normally, the Voice of the World disallows such actions of interacting with the asymmetric flow of time, even in spite of the weakening of the Absolute Laws of the System, it should not be possible short of anyone other than an Ultimate Skill specific in the manipulation of spacetime or God Himself.

The worldline of every single particle in the entire Universe combined to create this map of the past. The worldlines of an almost unimaginable number of particles weaved together like strings of yarn to form a 'sweatshirt' of that thread. The past of total parts comes together to form a past of the total sum.

It was the ultimate map of existence, certainty actualized, a guide to the past of every single thing from the smallest quarks to the largest galaxy— the Universe. One can imagine this is what God sees.

The specks of light floating aimlessly above the clock started to drift, and then move with an intelligence. As commanded by the new Demon Lord, they began orbiting around a single point in space directly above said Demon Lord.

Spreading her arms out as if to give a big welcome, an accretion disk made up of Essence formed around Scientia.

It was a beautiful scene. The imagery of devotion. Looking a lot like a star being born from a cloud of gas, the rebuilding of Rimuru's Soul to exactly how it was the moment before his death has finally begun.

Sweat poured down Scientia's forehead like melted snow from a mountain in spring. Her mouth changed into a grimace as she struck a delicate balance, a fragile homeostasis between the desire to remain standing up and the enormous concentration required to essentially remake someone who's been molecularly disassembled back how it exactly was with not a single atom or quark out of place.

The Perfect Homunculus gritted her teeth, her body started shaking in agony as the singularity above her ate up all the Essence and grew and grew. All the relevant Specialties of [Inspired Inventor] and Ultimate Skill [Mekhane] doing their damnedest to ensure the Demon Lord's will was fully imprinted into reality.

Finally, Scientia's hands came together in a loud clap and all remaining Essence, all the sparkles of light that were spinning around a single point in space, collapsed inward and caused the singularity to rebound, solidifying and forming into a stable Soul— Rimuru's Soul.

It was shining so bright the sun seemed to retreat.

"To recreate someone exactly how it was from their Essence? In accordance with information acquired from the past, using a magic spell so brimming with the Time element that anyone short of Chronoa may be able to cast?" Noir remarked, acting like a herald to a King, "I can think of no greater act than this— to cement your legend as one of the greatest Demon Lords in history."

The soul came down into Scientia's hand. She gently grabbed the reconstructed soul with her right hand before gazing deeply into it, "It is done, now one final step."

A single black doorway opened up on the left-hand side of the Perfect Homunculus. Reaching in, she pulled out a cylindrical container with blinking lights.

Placing the container upright on the ground, Scientia gently tapped the top of the cylinder.

Several beeps later, the top hatch split into 4 pieces and moved down the sides, opening the container to reveal a blue gelatinous substance.

Rimuru's old body, Scientia's mind told her. The final act of Demon Lord before magicule exhaustion caught up to the perfect being was to place the soul back into the body and stitch the astral body into the material body using [Unlimited Alchemy].

"It is... done."

With the last step complete, the ashen blonde's eyelids came down as she collapsed to the floor, utterly exhausted.

I dreamed of war.

I stood on a field littered with the bodies of 450,000 people I killed using Project Behemoth. The ground beneath me was awfully soft, as if I was standing on a trampoline before the realization that I'm stepping on a dead body fully dawned on me.

Looking down, I saw the dead body belonging to that of a bearded man with a hole on the side of his head.

For some odd reason, I didn't step off. I looked up and saw that there was a setting sun. The sun was awfully white and was glaring down painfully onto my skin. The sky around the white orb was dyed a shade of the same crimson as blood as if the sun was bleeding. The sun's blood slowly shifted into an inky blackness as my eyes trailed across the sky until I saw the other side of the world where the sun didn't shine.

There doesn't seem to be an atmosphere here, or at least it's very light.

I should know, I've been to planets who's got their atmosphere stripped away due to their star going into the last stage of its life.

I finally stepped off the body and into the crevasses between those bodies of the people I killed and instead stepped into a pool of blood. The blood was warm as if it was freshly spilled.

Many war veterans reported these episodes of depression, of seeing the worst of what they've done. It's one of the many reasons why they lose the will to live since all they see in their dreams are the faces and screams of those whom they killed.

Yet, for me, I feel nothing but apathy when I saw the twisted state of the bodies, all of them looked burnt while a small percentage are frozen while an even smaller percentage had a pair of holes in their head.

Are... are these recordings of the last moment of those who died?

Project Behemoth's dynakinesis affects seemingly all forms of energy aside from magicules since magicules don't seem to be affected by entropy. One of the most common ways it expresses this ability is through the ignition and the further control of fire in a manner that causes as much damage as possible. So then, most of my victims probably died because of those fires.

As for those who are frozen or with a tunnel through their head? The former probably happened when the Endbringer siphoned away almost all the available kinetic energy in the local area and thus froze the remaining survivors to death while the Pellet Stormers finished off what few stragglers managed to escape the fires of Behemoth.

Do I now carry their souls within me?

But beyond that, I know that all this was a dream. The fact that I couldn't use [Unlimited Alcehmy] to get rid of this unsightly scene and the fact that I can't hear anything from [Inspired Inventor] which would've been blaring at me to use the huge amount of biomass I'm standing on.

So is it a surprise when I didn't scream when a hand reached up to pull me down under?

Despite being pulled under, I was entirely calm. There weren't any blood pools. However, as the white sun disappeared from view and darkness fully consumed me, a sense of claustrophobia made itself known with the grace of a drunk driver as it crashed into my mind.

I started fighting back against the almost innumerable number of hands dragging me down. I would start hyperventilating but I can't seem to get any air into my lungs. I punched, kicked, and bit as I was pulled deeper and deeper into the abyss.

I tried to scream. Only for a hand to grab my throat and clench hard enough that no sound could come out.

I try and see through the darkness with no respite, the force of the hand on my throat increased steadily, causing my fight or flight to trigger as I whip around desperately, to try and find which hand is gripping my throat before the answer came to me.

Tracing my eyes down the forearm, I found the source of the arm.

I am the one choking me.

I woke up with a startled gasp, getting up into a sitting position and breathing in as much as possible before looking around the room.

The place where I'm at was a single-person private hospital room. It was white, sterile, with an enclosed washroom jutting out of the cube-shaped room. On the wall facing the foot of my mind was a graphene monitor and there was plenty of medical equipment right next to my bed, all turned off.

Ah... that's probably because they can't get a good reading on me with their equipment.

[Silenced Emotion: 30%]

Feeling my breathing settling into a comfortable rhythm, I was glad that my mind was calming down from the rather unique nightmare I had.

Immediately, [Psychology] offered me therapies that'll help me deal with the act of killing 450,000 people.

"..."

I killed 450,000 people.

I felt the urge to puke.

I killed 450,000 people.

[Silenced Emotion: 90%]

Turning [Silenced Emotion] up so high threw that urge to puke back into the abyss, allowing me to think clearer.

The suggestion made by [Psychology] is an extremely morbid one now that I reflect on it. I don't think I'll take that therapy. I should at least bear this pain, to feel a tiny fraction of the suffering I brought to others. It was the very least I could do.

Looking down at my body, I noticed how the Block-Form Singularity Mathematics has reformed itself into what appears to be a nightgown.

My hands moved to touch the fabric on my chest, feeling it extremely smooth like silk before [Warp-Space Engineering] told me the reason it was so smooth was that it created a special warp space mere nanometers above the actual physical fabric to give the illusion of smoothness.

Warp spaces are some of the most extreme technologies [Inspired Inventor] could produce. They fall under the classification of 'Field Manipulation' technologies since they can control the very Quantum Strings that serve as the most basic foundation for particles of the expanded Standard Model.

Being held in such an item of smooth clothing gave me an unprecedented amount of comfort.

Although...

I tapped my chest a few more times.

When the hell did my body change to give me breasts?!

I grasped them. These are small, more like a young teen's, but they're still there.

"..."

Eh. My hands fell into my lap. I couldn't care less. Even in my old life, I never really cared. [Psychology] said I saw myself as something more akin to a machine for making money, and that the occasional one-night stands I have is just the 'lubrication' of that machine.

The way I see it, if souls exist, then the physical body becomes secondary. I could be a male or female, I could upload myself into machines— even if my form becomes fluid, my soul remains constant. My soul is the core of my being, the ultimate expression of my identity. My physical body is a simple shell to contain that, a temporary vessel for my unchanging soul.

You know, now that I think about it, undeniable evidence for the existence of the Soul causes major ramifications for a lot of philosophies in my old World. People for one would be far less attached to their physical bodies.

Materialism still exists since Souls have become something tangible.

The sound of teleportation instantly caused the Mathematics on my right forearm to the shape of a knight's gauntlet. Facing the source and expecting potential hostiles, I was greeted by two people kneeling right beside the bed.

""Lady Scientia.""

The two said. One was a blonde female and another was a black-haired male.

I glanced at the two to fully take in their form. They're the demons I summoned, aren't they? So I wasn't able to fully take in their form during and right after my ascension into a Demon Lord.

The male wore a suit that resembled a butler while the female was dressed like one of those super strong bullies you'd find in high school.

Although, being a Demon Lord, I don't really have any compulsion to do evil stuff, fortunately.

I raised my gauntlet hand and stared at it. A sense of pleasingness with the darker colors ran through my veins like drinking a cup of hot coffee right after shoveling the snow outside.

Am I like Sauron then? A Dark Lord? Since this is a Tolkien-esque World?

The dark gauntlet retreated and shifted back into the sleeves of my nightgown as my hands fell back into my lap.

I then decided that it was high time to address those whom I'd summoned.

"I didn't get to hear your introduction right after the summoning," I began, "And the events that happened right after I became a Demon Lord felt more like a fever dream for me than anything real, so introduce yourself to me again, do not leave anything out."

Both of them stood up, the one with the butler clothes was still extremely formal while the blondie adopted a more casual stance.

"We both have no name, for none have given us any, but we adopted the words that the mortals in this realm have called us as titles. I am 'Noir'" he pointed to himself, "and this is 'Jaune'" pointing at the blondie who did a little wave as she was introduced, "We, as you probably are aware, are two of the Seven Primordial Demons, the Black and Yellow Primordial to be exact. We are the highest-ranking and the most ancient of the Demonic Nobility. We are the Progenitors, the Firsts, the Primals, the ones who existed long before even the first proto-demons came into existence, back when the Underworld was a more chaotic place."

Fascinating. The sociology of the Underworld was a topic I haven't touched upon much.

"What makes you different from an average Demon?"

This time, it was Jaune who answered, "An average Demon is made from the Essence of the Underworld itself. We Primordials weren't."

I had a distinct feeling that Jaune wasn't going to elaborate any further like Veldora, so I opted to ask [Great Sage] to confirm whether they were telling the truth.

[Correction]

'What?'

There existed no word for how thankful I was for [Acting]. I would've yelped in surprise at how the special language I made for the Endbringer Initiative was being used by... an Ultimate Skill?

I decided to put this on the mental equivalent of a post-it note and turned my attention back to the Primordials I've summoned.

"Give me a run-down of everything that happened ever since I became a Demon Lord."

I should also probably test my Skills, shouldn't I?

[Correction]

[Contessa] agrees with me.

"Of course, my Lady," Noir bowed and happily complied with my demands, "right after you became a Demon Lord and resurrected President Rimuru, things were rather hectic, for a mortal standard that is. The first thing we did was reinstate public order by reassuring the public and having President Rimuru make several public announcements. Though there were some who tried to coup in far-out villages east of the Ameld, a quick showing of Jaune blasting Nuclear Magic high up into the skies was enough to squash any coup attempts in those local municipal governments.

Jaune had a wide smug grin on her face. The aura that radiated from her made you want to instinctively punch her to wipe that smugness off her face.

"Yeah! A few displays of magic and everyone falls in line.

"Truthfully though, I think the security system you designed, my Lady, was enough to pacify those coups."

"Hey! It was your idea to have me fire off those Nuclear Magic to intimidate everyone!"

"Impossible, I know how humans and other mortals think better than a brute who's spent almost the entirety of written history hidden away inside a volcano, and only comes out to unleash city-destroying nuclear blasts at nearby settlements for, as you called it, 'shits and giggles'."

A blush appeared on Jaune's cheeks, "Why you...! How dare you bring up my black history!"

The air in the room heated up, and just when it looked like a fight was about to happen between the two bickering like old friends, I stopped it.

"Enough, tell me what happened afterward."

Just as Noir was about to speak, Jaune pushed him away and beamed with a bright smile on her face, "It took a little while for everyone to wake up, but once they did we debriefed that purple-haired hobgoblin and the red Kijin on how you've successfully evolved into a True Demon Lord."

"And..." I felt the urge to delay receiving the information, because if it failed, then everything I'd done would've all been for nothing, the sacrifice of almost half a million people gone, "And Rimuru, how was he?"

"The slime?" Jaune puckered her lips, "He's actually the first to wake up. In fact, he's the one who brought you to this place and watched over you the entire time you were asleep. The only reason he's not here right now was because of presidential duties calls."

"..."

The amount of relief I felt at that moment was indescribable. Even with [Silenced Emotion] turned up so high.

I've... succeeded.

The intricate mask crafted by [Acting] cracked as the edge of my mouth curved upward.

I've succeeded!

I've succeeded! I've succeeded! I've succeeded! I've succeeded!

It wasn't all for nothing! It wasn't! It wasn't! It wasn't!

I wanted to scream in joy. I was able to prevent another Kathy situation!

Before I could scream, however, I managed to rein myself in, though there still was a small, almost imperceptible smile on my face.

"I see, and how long have I been asleep?"

Just as Jaune was about to speak, Noir interrupted her by speaking up first, "My Lady, you have been asleep for 55 hours and 54 minutes."

"I see..." I stated, my hands coming together in a business-like fashion as [Plan] begins strategizing what's to come next once more.

Noir looked excited by the fact that I appear to be in deep thought, while Jaune— who's wearing oddly modern clothing which makes me think there's a tiny chance she's a Reincarnator— went and sat on one of the chairs that were placed next to the walls.

For doing so much, I should reward them, shouldn't I? And then later give them full employment?

"You all are loyal to me, correct?"

Noir nodded, and as though it were a competition, Jaune nodded furiously as she got up from her seat and kneeled by my bedside, prompting Noir to do the same.

"I would've sworn my allegiance to you the moment you summoned me, but since you were unconscious because of the Harvest Festival, I shall restate my oaths now; I, as the Black Primordial, hereby swear to be absolutely loyal to you."

"For introducing the biggest change I've ever seen in all my long life, I, the Yellow Primordial, hereby promise absolute loyalty to you. I want to see the kind of changes you bring, Herald of Change."

The Yellow and Black bloodline of demons is infamous for their demons betraying their summoners, so their oaths might be worth either more than their weight in gold or completely worthless.

'Are they being truthful?'

[Correction]

'Path to getting them to become disloyal'

[524,797,299,307,992,770,178 steps in total]

[Step 1: do not name them]

'Holy shit, they are serious! Man, why didn't I summon more demons again?'

My eyes widen a bit at the sheer devotion they are showing me.

[Distain]

Ah, that's right, I'm a person of science. I don't trust magic. So until magic can fully fit the current model of the universe, I'm going to be limiting its use.

"Hmm, loyalty deserves a reward. I presume you all do not have a name?"

"It would be an honor to be named by you, my Lady,"

"Nah. Never had a name."

Three guesses as to who said the more formal one!

Placing a hand on my chin, I pondered at what to name these most powerful demons in the World.

'Diablo' is out. That's boring, generic, and obvious as hell for anyone. I'd like something more unique... so Rose for the female? No, she doesn't wear any red, and Citrinitas is already taken...

The edge of my mouth trailed downward.

Citrinitas would've been perfect for Jaune!

My mind then started working again. My eyes focused on Jaune's vibrant blonde hair and her ocean-blue eyes.

The first female historical figure I imagine when I saw this color palette was Joan of Arc. So how about Jeanne d'Arc?

There's irony in naming a demon— one of the most powerful demons— after one of the greatest Christian Saints in my old World.

Heh.

I like that. The irony.

Pointing at Jaune, "Your name shall be Jeanne." I then pointed at Noir, "Your name..." Is naming a butler Alfred or Jarvis overrated? Yeah probably, but I already have an AI named Alfred and another named Jarvis so those are out.

I froze in place in search of a name, the specialties are not helping by staying silent.

As I was thinking, red lines came out of my body like tree branches and encircled Jeanne before creating a cocoon around her, I can hear her snickering at the fact that Noir still hasn't got his name despite currently undergoing an evolution into...

[Data]

Right, a Demon Peer.

Fuck, this is going to be INCREDIBLY awkward if Noir still doesn't get a name even after Jeanne's evolution.

So without thinking, I blurted out the only thing I could come up with at that moment, "Your name is Diablo!"

Noir looked happy, "what a wonderful name, yes I do enjoy that name," he praised me, not knowing the fact that I ridiculed that name for being too generic.

Red lines sprouted from my armored skin and formed a cocoon around Diablo as well, making him undergo an evolution as well

God damn it!

42

There was a blinding brightness above her. Rays of light stabbed into her eyes as Hinata Sakaguchi came into consciousness.

Instinctively, Hinata reacted as any normal human would do when they encounter a light source that was too bright: they try to block it out.

So the Japanese Otherworlder turned her head away and moved to block out the light that was directly in front of her, to try and give her mind a bit of relief since this headache is absolutely preventing her brain from forming any deep and complex thoughts.

It was only when the light still stabbed into her eyes that the woman realized something was wrong.

She couldn't feel her hands anymore. Or arms for that matter.

Panic boiled inside her mind, Hinata tried to get up, only to choke as there was a strap that was wrapped around her neck, forcing the Otherworlder to stay down.

Hinata tried to struggle. She tried to move her legs, her feet, and her toes but she then realized she couldn't feel any of those appendages.

She was disarmed and dislegged, literally.

Hinata Sakaguchi screamed in raw horror. The idea that she was a cripple for the rest of her life was something that only exists in Hinata's worst nightmare.

Hinata Sakaguchi was a strange kid from birth. In kindergarten, she was always that quiet kid that always sat at the back of the classroom. Hinata had difficulties relating with other people, and during one incident when a bunch of kindergarteners ganged up on her, the young Hinata hurt them all so badly that she was forced to transfer schools at the demand of concerned parents.

It was because of the money her parents had to pay out in medical bills for those kindergarteners that her father turned to gambling, and it only worsened when they had to sell the house to pay those bills.

Eventually, by Hinata's teenage years, her father had racked up such a massive debt that the teen decided it was best to just arrange an accident and then claim the life insurance money.

On the eve of her father's death, Hinata revealed her plan to her mother, expecting praise since they could get rid of an unwanted burden.

Instead of praise, Hinata's mother suffered a mental breakdown and tried to stab Hinata in revenge for the death of her husband. The young Hinata couldn't understand why this was happening. In her mind, she thought that all inefficiencies should be ruthlessly removed with extreme prejudice.

Since her mother became a barrier by attempting to kill Hinata, the latter decided to remove this inefficiency from her life. Just as Hinata turned the knife back onto her mother, the tip of the steel blade mere centimeters away from piercing her throat, the teen was whisked away when a strong gale blew through her house.

On the first night, she was here in this new World, Hinata was besieged by three bandits. Seeing them as inefficiencies, Hinata slaughtered them all with the Unique Skill she was granted upon entrance to this new world: [Mathematician].

Seeing everything in clouds of mathematical probability, Hinata was able to effortlessly dispatch them all using the most efficient way possible, and it was because of this that the Voice of the World granted her another Unique Skill in the form of [Usurper].

Being in the wild, Hinata was forced to forage for her own food. She didn't know what was poisonous and what wasn't, so she stuck with animals that she was familiar with, namely animals like deer, elk, and rabbits.

However, when she tried to make contact with the only human she's seen after killing those bandits, they tried to have her executed because to them, it appeared that a peasant was hunting illegally on the noble's land.

It was after she had dispatched those knights and the noble that Hinata grew frustrated with the world. There were just so many inefficiencies! Though at the very least, the Voice of the World granted Hinata Extra Skill [Inertia Manipulation] when the teen thrust a sword through the chest of that noble.

Looting a map of the land and several coins, Hinata Sakaguchi trekked towards the nearest town and tried to buy some food. Yet again, she was detained under the suspicion of thievery for having too large of denominations of Dwarven Coins.

Frustrated, Hinata was about to slaughter those knights and just take the food by force before another masked woman came to her rescue. The masked woman said how Hinata was with her, and that she had tasked her with buying large amounts of food since they were both going to go on a long adventure.

The Japanese teen was wary. Acts of kindness like these are always done because the other party wanted something.

But... after the masked woman introduced herself as 'Shizue Izawa' and let Hinata go after dealing with the town guards, Hinata was awe-struck by the first act of true genuine kindness.

Her cynical mind couldn't comprehend it. Such inefficiencies! Hinata would always demand something in return to make her efforts worthwhile if she did help, and yet this woman in front of her didn't.

She was curious, so the Japanese teen decided to follow Shizue and through her, Hinata Sakaguchi gradually became more intuned with the idea that maybe some inefficiencies are good and that maybe, humans all have an intrinsic value, and that by helping them their intrinsic value will increase.

It was this idea that caused Hinata Sakaguchi to join up as a Paladin of the Knights Templar of the Western Holy Church. She became a defender of humanity. As a Paladin, Hinata quickly climbed the ranks and gained a reputation for her fanaticism against monsters, relentlessly hunting them down and rescuing humans wherever she goes.

In fact, Hinata Sakaguchi was so powerful that Yuuki Kagurazaka gave Hinata the rank of 'S' when he reformed the whole guild system. This caused Hinata to gain international fame and caused many to begin calling her the next Granbell Rosso, the next Hero of Mankind.

Hinata accepted that title and the expectations that came with it. She became even more enthralled in the defense of humanity, to the point where many of her own subordinates started transferring out of her own squad because of how much of a slave driver Hinata was.

It became integral to Hinata's very identity, that she was going to be the next Granbell Rosso became a fact of life for the Otherworlder, and her being unable to fulfill that ideal scared her more than death.

But now without her limbs, she knew she would never be able to fulfill her destiny.

"MMMMMMMFFFFFFF!"

Hinata realized there was a gag in her mouth. When she tried to bite down on the gag to destroy it, the woman groaned out in pain as her teeth chipped.

Just as the woman spat out the shards of her teeth, the light that was beating down on her from above finally ceased.

"That gag is made out of layers of graphene overlaid on top of each other to create an almost indestructible material. I think only a being like a True Dragon could bite through it."

Turning to face the voice, Hinata's eyes took a second to fully adjust to the dark room and saw perfection in human form.

And it was revolting. It was clad in a lab coat.

The being was utterly flawless. Using her Unique Skill [Mathematician, Hinata saw how perfectly align the being's face was. Her eyes couldn't spot anything like freckles, melasma, bumps, or dips on the being's face. The pale coloration made it seem like the entity in front of her was carved from marble.

Except, even if it was a statue given life, it couldn't have been made by human hands because Hinata refuse to believe something this perfect could possibly exist.

It was wrong. It was creepy. It was eerie. It was uncanny. It was freaky.

"Tell me, have you ever seen the 1982 alien cult classic movie, The Thing?"

Hinata cringed at the voice. It sounded extremely androgynous like it could belong to both males and females. It sounded perfect yet there was something missing, and that something was important enough that without it the voice sounded artificial— eldritch even, something alien.

Upon seeing no response in the form of a nod or a shake, the perfect entity continued, "No? I figure since you're an Otherworlder from a modern World you'd have heard of the horror movie directed by John Carpenter that was said by many to be the scariest movie they've ever seen."

Hinata's gut was telling her to escape, so she struggled against her bindings like a fish flapping about out of water. Her bindings weren't budging at all.

Feeling helpless, Hinata recalled her interrogation training and proceeded to look around at her surroundings.

She was naked. She was in a sterile room, a warm sterile room, a type of surgery room if the equipment nearby is any indication. More specifically, it was a futuristic surgery room because Hinata highly doubted even the best hospital in her old World possessed half the technology present here.

The room was shaped like a box, with large one-way mirrors filling up much of the walls of three sides while the fourth contained a large door. The hard— no, it can't be called a bed, it's more of an altar— altar that she lay on sat at the center of the room, and was surrounded by various equipment and mechanical limbs.

She's trapped. Most likely, Hinata realized, that she wasn't going to get out alive.

The crippled woman glared at the perfect being, remembering how she was the one who de-limbed her.

"I see, you truly haven't seen the movie. I would remove your gag, but I think all that you would do is either spit curses at me or bite off your tongue."

If looks could kill, the glare that Hinata gave to the pale human would kill the latter a thousand times over.

"So instead, I'm going to tell you about the movie. The movie follows a group of Antarctic researchers who are then infiltrated by an alien lifeform that can perfectly assimilate and mimic native lifeforms. The movie is called one of the scariest ones of all time because of how well the director plays with suspicion and mistrust, where members of the group started accusing and turning on fellow members thinking they are imposters."

Internally, Hinata was confused about why the entity was telling her this story. So this being is an Otherworlder, so what? How does a shapeshifter factor into the incoming torture?

"Now, in the movie, it was said that The Thing will take around 27,000 hours to fully infect every human in the world from first contact. I consider the thing a cross between a parasite and a virus. The former is because it relies on the organisms to survive and thrive, and a virus since the alien can infect and assimilate other organisms' genetic material on a cellular level. So I decided to name such an organism, a 'Virasite', a combination of virus and parasite."

The entity then sat on a little chair that wasn't there before.

"You may be wondering just why I'm telling you this story..." The entity leaned forward and took out a large metal cylinder from underneath the altar. The cylinder was heavily armored and seems to be really heavy given how it appeared the entity had to visibly exert effort.

Clung*

The cylinder was dropped to the floor. Hinata couldn't see what was happening since the armored cylinder was now underneath the horizon of the altar's surface.

"Truthfully, using just using conventional physics and chemistry, the Thing is impossible. The speed at which that alien divide its cells is quick enough that it'll burn itself up before it could really do much of anything."

Hiss*

The entity then brought up a clear glass jar with metal caps on the two ends. Inside the jar was a red fleshly orb.

"Humor me with this at least: have you ever heard of a fate worse than death?" The entity turned to look at Hinata and tilted its head, "I personally don't believe in such a thing, as being human, there is an end to everything, even pain since we get used to it. Even if it's magical in nature, we get used to that pain."

Something then came up from the sides of the altar.

Glancing at it, Hinata found them to look like parts of a ring.

The two ring parts came up and connected at Hinata's abdomen to create a half ring. A moment later, the half-ring lowered themselves until they couldn't anymore and Hinata felt them exert an intense pressure around her stomach.

Then, the entity connected the glass cylinder to the ring before turning it and screwing it tight.

"One of the most utterly fascinating abilities of The Thing is being able to impersonate any person down to the seemingly genetic level, get in real close before infecting others. Such perfect psychological weapons for the purpose of invading a planet... at least, it would be, if not for those souls. Though matters of the spiritual and metaphysical still elude me, I don't think The Thing had the ability to touch souls. So to fully replicate that horror, I used a tiny bit of magic to make it so that this version of the Virasite infects on a spiritual as much as the material level."

The red orb then disappeared, sucked away as the end of the cylinder which was attached to the half-ring opened up and Hinata could feel something touching the edge of her stomach.

The horror finally started to set in.

This entity was going to turn her into a Trojan Horse. Hinata Sakaguchi was going to turn into a carrier for this 'Thing' and she's going to infect the rest of the world with it!

The eldritch abomination in human form then leaned forward until its face was directly over Hinata's. Its red eyes burned into her retinas, that haunting redness forever seared into her memories.

"You won't die from this. Oh no, madam Sakaguchi. Instead, what's going to happen is your soul will be infected and your ego— your consciousness— will be relegated to an observer role inside your own body. Enjoy screaming silently, banging uselessly against the walls of your cage as you watch your body continue to infect more and more people, creating more and more cages around you inside the collective consciousness— a psychic noosphere of everyone."

The thing then retreated and adopted a placating gesture.

"You won't die. You won't ever die so long as a single cell of The Thing exists. None of the victims The Thing infects will ever die. Their body will still live on as if nothing had happened, and those flesh puppets will continue to infect more and more people until the entire 20 million total population of Ruberios is amalgamated into the psychic noosphere."

Hinata felt fear like never before. Even staring death in the face when she fought Demon Lord Frey was nothing like the fear she was feeling now.

The Japanese Otherworlder doesn't fear death, but the thing that this abomination was proposing hits home.

She started shaking, desperately trying to get out but the straps were not budging at all.

"The Thing, being able to infect the deepest part of your Soul, will have access to your Skills just to impersonate you even better. Normally, I won't ever enact such cruelty but you've really tested the strength of my codes of ethics established after..."

The abomination gained a nostalgic look in its eyes as if reminiscing about the past, wanting to go back.

It was horrifying. Hinata couldn't imagine whatever this entity thinks is good could possibly be also good for mankind.

She could start feeling that there was this abnormally large bump on her stomach. Why was there a bump?

"You know, I once thought about maybe introducing a zombie plague but zombies already exist here, so I chose The Thing."

Unknown to Hinata, the Virasite has started merging with the limbless Saint like two pieces of metal being welded together. The reason that Hinata feels this abnormal mass was because the Thing has fully connected itself with her nervous system, meaning that whatever it feels, she'll feel. At least, until it fully takes over.

"After you are converted, I'll drop you off at the edge of one of the busiest towns in Ruberios. Oh, and just before you become a prisoner in your own body, know that I've made several genetic failsafe so that only citizens of Ruberios would be infected."

Hinata screamed into the gag in her mouth as her body began to contort, her arms and legs popped out of the sockets as The Thing started to repair whatever wounds Hinata had in order to better impersonate her.

"Do sit back and enjoy."

After the whole ordeal with Hinata was done, I was left once again alone in this eerily silent place, Narnia. Eventually, I'd like to expand Narnia into something else. I've already had the space station start expanding by harvesting the intake matter from the accretion disk that surrounds this ultramassive black hole.

In the far, far future, I think I'm going to turn this ultramassive black hole into the ultimate Birch World— a type of super habitat. To do that, I'm going to start force-feeding this superbly large black hole whole galaxies of stars until they've reached a mass of about 1.5 trillion solar masses. At this size, the black hole now has the diameter of a light year and gravity at its event horizon equal to that of Earth.

A single layer just a millimeter above the event horizon contains a billion times the living space you'd get in a Dyson sphere, and you can keep on stacking more and more layers as you desire, although time will run slower on the lower layers but even then, with incredible concentrations of antigravity, I can speed up time in a manner similar to how intense gravity slows it down to counteract the effect of time dilation.

This silence granted me time for contemplation. Contemplations about the future, contemplations that'll distract me from the fact that Rimuru was alive again and I had slain 450,000 people.

I slain 450,000 innocent people. If this were a book, I'd be the villain.

Looking down at my hands, I saw that they were coated in blood.

What?

Instinctively, I tried to remove that blood. So I used [Mekhane] and a pillar of metal erupted beside me, beside the now empty surgery bed. As the metal pillar rose out of the ground and reached a height of a meter, the tip split open and formed a bowl.

Placing my hand above that bowl, another Doorway connecting to a nearby wet Hycean planet opened up and water poured out.

I carefully washed my hands and retrieved them after a full 30 seconds of rubbing underneath that stream of water.

There's still blood on it.

In fact, I can barely see my skin anymore with how much blood was coating my hands. Slowly, I felt lines of wetness trail down my forearm.

Unperturbed, I placed my hand underneath that stream of water again, this time opting to rub for a full minute.

"What...?"

Only, the water from the Doorway turned into a shade of bright red.

Taking a few steps back, I was thoroughly confused and disturbed. Did a sea creature die near the other end of the Doorway?

My gut had this horrible feeling. I felt a sense of impending doom, an anxiety about the future.

I felt like the world was about to end.

There was a niggling thought at the back of my mind. At first, that thought was a tiny voice but now after seeing all this, it's becoming louder and louder: I'm in a dream, aren't I? A nightmare to be exact.

Instantly, the walls that surround me started bleeding. Blood started to rapidly pool up at my feet, fast enough that in mere seconds they'd reached my ankle.

Now that I know I'm in a dream, I know that I'm not in any harm and that I'm the dreamer.

And as a dreamer, I have control over my dream. I've become a lucid dreamer.

So with but a thought, everything was erased. Narnia was wiped from existence and all that remained was a white void of nothingness.

I finally woke up from my desk with a startling gasp of air. Immediately taking control over myself, I glanced around to fully take in my surroundings.

I was still in Narnia, in one of those rooms whose internal time was sped up by a large concentration of antigravity. In front of me was a large desk full of touchscreens made from graphene. On those graphene monitors were various blueprints of materials for the Encyclopedia Universalis and a weapon that disables the Higgs Mechanism in the target, turning their massive particles into massless ones and sundering them from existence.

I'm not always able to realize I'm in a dream, so I can't always become a lucid dreamer.

I got up from my desk and stretched a little, to get rid of any sleep from that nap.

Gazing at the Higgs weapon as I stretched, I noted internally that it should work on a spiritual lifeform's physical body. Haven't really tested it, but my simulations of that weapon say it'll release a tremendous amount of radiation when the target disintegrates.

After the stretching, I was half tempted to reach out to Rimuru through the [Soul Corridor].

I almost did, before my instinct stopped me.

'Path to getting Rimuru to hate me'

[2,198 Steps]

[Step 1: Do—]

I stopped paying attention to [Contessa]'s words. One of my new Ultimate Skills was a combination of my [Guide to Victory] and [Great Sage, forming [Contessa, Lord of Victory]. [Contessa]'s specialty was in precognition and information gathering, making it extremely valuable for any future engagements.

Though to be honest, I'm really disturbed by the existence of [Contessa]. Like, so disturbed that I'll only use it rarely.

Free will entails that you have a choice in deciding your future. If [Contessa] could 100% attain any outcome I want if I simply follow a set of steps, doesn't that mean free will no longer exist?

Determinism at its finest. A Laplace's Demon.

I think I still have free will since I can run contradictory paths that'll invalidate the previous ones.

Using my other Ultimate Skill [Mekhane, I had Doormaker open a Doorway right beside me to the front door of the Presidential Office.

I stared at the thing. It was a familiar door in the shape of a black, featureless void framed by purple.

I wanted to go in, yet my body didn't move.

If I had a heart, it would be pounding right now.

Taking a few steps back, I squeezed my eyes shut and slapped my cheeks like I was psyching myself up for the public speech I'm about to give.

Taking several more deep breaths, I walked through the Doorway and was met face-to-face with the pair of dark wooden doors to Rimuru's office.

I reached out with my right hand and was just about to knock on the door before stopping.

I was mere millimeters away from touching the surface of the wood.

Come on Scientia, it'll be so easy. Just knock and he'll answer.

Even when I was so close, I could still feel part of me not wanting to see him. I was like a teenager who try to cling to their past life despite graduating from high school. I want to pretend the past few days haven't happened.

... I want to pretend I haven't committed what many would argue is the worst crime a human can commit— genocide.

My hands are shaking, I observed.

"What are you waiting for?"

"Eep!" I almost jumped out of my skin when I heard that familiar voice call out my name.

Whipping my head around to face her, I saw Arcueid with an inquisitive look on her face as she intertwined her hands behind her back.

I grimaced before scolding her, "Don't scare me like that, Arcueid!"

The True Ancestor just looked at me expectantly.

"The stench of blood on you is heavier than anyone I've ever met except maybe Veldora. Only the most ancient of Dead Apostle Ancestors have as heavy of a stench as you do. You slaughtered more people than almost everyone in my old World to revive a single person, why are you so scared of seeing the fruits of your labor?"

Arcueid tilted her head, her casual cold response was shocking.

I felt like I'd been shot when Arcueid spoke of my action with a casualness one can find when talking about today's weather. It was as if what I had done is no biggie.

A gush of emotion— mostly anger— coursed through my entire body from the depth of my mind to my extremity. The sheer indifference Arcueid is treating this situation, this act of genocide— is insulting. It was the same as her telling me that my act of killing almost half a million people was some kind of joke.

My lips thinned until one could no longer see the redness.

[Silenced Emotion: 80%]

I was about to explode in self-righteous anger before [Silenced Emotion] tempered the fires of my rage.

In the next second, I fully extinguished that flame by telling myself that Arcueid isn't intentionally being insensitive; she's like Sheldon Cooper but without that smartass and know-it-all attitude.

I scratched my collarbone with my left hand before moving up and scratching the sides of my neck.

Sighing, I opened my mouth to speak in a calm and collected tone, "Arcueid, you can't just..."

The neck scratching became head scratching as my hand continued to move up, all the while retaining the same motion of my fingers curling inward before unfurling until I started rubbing my forehead as if to nurse a headache.

Before, Arcueid was a lot like a clingy cat, but now she's like an insensitive teen.

"Listen... while you're not human— and I accept that— but for us humans and ex-humans, killing so many people is a big deal, a huge deal. More so when the death toll is higher than most wars fought in history. Hell, if brought before the International Criminal Court in my old World, there is a genuine argument for the crime of genocide— I mean, I killed 450,000 hopes and dreams just so mine could live. That 'intent to destroy' is right there."

The most important factor when determining whether something is a genocide or not is if there's an intent to destroy. For example, the depopulation of the American indigenous people by 90% after the Columbian Exchange isn't considered genocide despite its death toll by a lot of people because there isn't that intent to destroy. Most died from diseases the natives had no immunity over.

That intent to destroy is probably the most determining factor.

With [Silenced Emotion] turned up so high, all I could feel was a sense of numbness. It was as if I had just gotten my wisdom teeth removed.

A light almost seem to dawn in Arcueid's eyes as she realized her mistake, "Oh, I'm so sorry. It's just, large, impersonal deaths happen so often in history that I've started to accept it as a part of life." Then, she looked pensive, hesitant, even meek as if afraid to ask something, "Do... do you need a hug?"

Statistics and numbers dehumanize large deaths into easy-to-comprehend math. It makes them impersonal, and it blends those people together into a blob of a set of numbers that one can digest without fully realizing its implication.

Like, 'Oh only 36,000 were killed in a tsunami? Meh, it's only 36,000, way less than the 300,000 that died in another tsunami 30 years ago'.

I raised an eyebrow, prompting the True Ancestor to elaborate, "I've once read in my books that those who've gone through something big— something that's life-changing— could really use a hug from someone close to them afterward."

I felt my mind drag me back to a time right after Charybdis. It was late one night when I was thinking of how to reintegrate war veterans with PTSD back into society.

[Silenced Emotion: 85%]

"I..." was about to refuse. I would've refused before a raging torrent of emotions almost caused me to break down right then and there. Biting my tongue, I dare not put [Silenced Emotion] any lower as I'm certain I will do something majorly embarrassing.

"... I... Yes, please." I finally affirmed her suspicion after close to half a minute of constant deliberation.

My head dropped to look at the ground as I showed a side of vulnerability to Arcueid.

I felt a pair of warm arms snake around me, holding me tightly, warmly, and snuggly. I was encompassed by warmth. Arcueid's right hand then traveled up my back and started to pat my head.

Such a simple gesture caused me to feel incredible euphoria, I closed my eyes and merely enjoyed the sensation.

Arcueid's hug made me feel like I was safe— safe enough that nothing could harm me, that everything was going to be okay, and that the problems of the world, the blood on my hands, and the headache-inducing geopolitics of war were like a bad dream I had just awakened from.

Man, we really are social creatures, huh?

Despite my usual reluctance for physical contact, when it comes down to it, I need that contact.

Yet, like a tumor, a feeling of unworthiness grew inside my mind, consuming my happiness like a parasite feasting upon my psyche and interrupting how nice it felt to be touched by someone close to me.

I felt guilty. It's like playing a game or watching a movie late at night when you know you have a project due tomorrow— that sense of guilt chewing away at my mind even when I tried to ignore it.

I buried myself in her embrace. I immersed myself in her hug. I breathed in deeply to fully take in her scent that smells like a garden in spring. I took ahold of the softness of her skin and really felt the smoothness of her clothes. All of this made me never want to let her go.

I tightened the hug to a level that I knew would be uncomfortable, yet Arcueid never once uttered a single complaint. I have a distinct feeling that if I were to lower my [Silencd Emotion] down to 0%, I'd be sobbing into Arcueid's chest right now.

But as with all things, especially those that are good: it must end.

Regretfully coming out of her hold, I had a genuine smile on my face as I turn to look at Arcueid who had a small blush on her face.

"Thanks."

A comfortable silence descended between the two of us before I turned and placed a hand on the large, finely carved wooden door.

My hand closed in to form a fist, before taking a deep breath and pushing the door open, forgoing the knocking completely.

"—a few of our monster citizens did catch a cold when they fell unconscious outside during what the public have now started calling the 'Gifting Ceremony' of Director Scientia's ascension into a Demon Lord. But overall, we have only one casualty as a result—" Citrinitas continued on with the report concerning the aftermath of my ascension before stopping when she finally registered that the door had opened.

I think the purple Kijin was about to reprimand whoever had come in without knocking before seeing that it was me.

At the same time, my brain went blank when I saw who was sitting by the Presidential Table.

"Scientia!"

That familiar voice. The owner of that familiar voice stood right up from his chair with a bright smile on his face.

Rimuru, in his humanoid form, stood up from his seat. He then transformed into his slime form and bounced over the desk several more times to reach me, "Oh, I'm so glad to see you're alright! It will be horrible if the one who saved me were to fall into a coma!"

I felt such jubilation that Rimuru was here it was burning me. It felt like a dream.

When the slime was right in front of me, he changed again to his human form.

I reached out, my hands shaking as if it was -30 Celsius, and touched Rimuru's cheeks. His facial features changed to expressions of confusion and discomfort but didn't protest at all.

I know how weird this is, but I'm like a person who had received news of their family member's death in a plane crash only to see that they're alive and well. I need to make sure that this isn't a dream.

In a tone of uncertainty, Rimuru hesitated when I placed my hands on both of his cheeks, "Umm... Scientia?"

My fingers then pressed inward and found the consistency of his face remained the same as before

Then I gripped and pulled.

[Silenced Emotion: 20%]

I started squeezing his cheeks.

"You bastard, how dare you die on me, huh?!" I grunted as I pulled on his cheeks as much as possible, making Rimuru squeak sounds of pain, "Who told you you could just go die on me huh? How dare you die on me?!?"

I felt my eyes get blurry.

"I'm sowwy!" Rimuru's voice was made almost unrecognizable by how much his cheeks are being stretched, his own hands slapping softly against my own in an attempt to get me to loosen, "Pleessez let go!"

I ignored his plea for mercy before finally letting go once I'm satisfied.

Turning away from the slime, I quickly took a small handkerchief and cleaned my eyes before facing him once more, depositing the handkerchief back into my pocket dimension.

Crossing my arms, I mentally pulled up a holographic panel displaying the blueprint for a special weapon.

"To avoid such a thing in the future, I've decided that it's high time that you get a better weapon."

As I was talking, Rimuru was rubbing his red bulging cheeks to try and soothe the pain, "Yeah, I understand. Right before I... you know... I had thought to ask you to make me a weapon I can train with.

I placed a hand on my chin in deep thought, "Hmm, I assume you want a sword?"

He nodded, "A katana if possible."

I sighed. Him and his love of swords. "I'll always say this: guns are better. A few grams of antimatter would've annihilated that woman."

"Yeah, but guns aren't as cool as swords. Although if you're so insistent on guns, why not a gun sword?"

A gun sword? What? Like, a sword that's also a gun? No, that's stupid. It's either a sword or a gun, no in-between.

I massaged my forehead. If he prefers a sword then I'll just give him the best sword possible.

I'm imagining a blade that can cut through pretty much anything.

Several specialties spoke up that moment with ideas for weapons fitting such requirements, except, none of them are powerful enough before [Sword] and [Dimensional Physics] gave me the idea for a blade with a dimensional shearing effect where it'll cut anything within your standard euclidean space, including spirits.

Hmm, the power requirement for that can easily power thousands of modern civilizations in my old World.

Placing the idea into the Noosphere, I then had it projected into reality right in front of me, displaying it to Rimuru.

"What do you think?"

"It's... a hilt of a sword..." Rimuru stated while trying to cover up his disappointment, "Is this like a lightsaber?"

With a single swipe of my left hand, the blade erupted from the hilt. The blade was strange, as it didn't appear solid. Nothing that dark could appear solid. I think if you place this against the night sky it'll stand out a bit with how dark it is.

"This is the Continuity Disconnector. It's a sheet of actively stabilized Domain Wall that's sharper than even a monomolecular blade since it uses a Topological Defect as a medium for cutting." I said as I grabbed the blade and swung it, slicing a holographic cube to emphasize my point, "It's unbreakable, and it can cut through anything short of a black hole since the space of the blade and the space outside are out of touch with each other makes a transition between them impossible."

Rimuru released a breath as if feeling incredibly awkward about what he was about to ask, "I'm sorry, I didn't get half of that. Although, although, hear me out, I'm thinking of some kind of magic-based sword, y'know? Like one that grows with me in accordance with my own strength!"

I stared at him with naked confusion before [Psychology] suggested to me the possibility of him feeling weak after the whole shebang with that woman. Rimuru wants to train himself to become stronger so that he'll never be put in such a position again.

So he wants a measuring stick? A ruler to measure how much he's grown?

I fell into a calm silence as I try and think of a design with all the elements he asked for. Of course, there's going to be an emergency release mode that'll ensure he always survives no matter what.

Although... I could try and test to see how far [Contessa]'s precognition hits.

[Path to creating Rimuru Tempest's dream sword]

[120 steps]

[Step 1: Activate Hyper-Dimensional Forge no.5]

Huh.

"I'll... think of something, just you wait." I finally said after a few more seconds of deliberation. Then, realizing I'd been standing all this time, I moved to sit down on the sofa in front of the President's desk, "Now what were you talking about beforehand? I heard something about my ascension into a Demon Lord?"

"Well, I was debriefed that you took the lives of the invaders from Falmuth as fuel for your ascension into becoming a Demon Lord."

It took all of [Acting] to make sure I didn't cringe in guilt. That's the official story, to explain how I gained the souls required for the Harvest Festival

"I must say..." Rimuru trailed off, akin to a person unsure of what to say next.

"..."

My face grew serious as I awaited his judgment.

Judge me. Be afraid of me. Tell me I was wrong. Albedo did say you wouldn't have wanted me to resurrect you.

"Mr. President, Veldora is coming." Citrinitas interrupted my judgment, causing an annoyed look to descend upon my face.

"Scientia!" A boisterous voice rang out as the door to the President's office burst open. Veldora walked in dramatically with Ririna, Rubedo, Albedo, and several more high-ranking Officers in tow.

I gave a sideways glance at the slime, "I assume you've dealt with his reintroduction?"

"Of course. It's the least I could've done to not burden you with any more work. It was mainly during the party that celebrated my revival that we officially introduced Veldora to the wider public." As Rimuru spoke, he walked over to his desk and picked up a photo frame

Jaunting over back to me, the slime handed that frame to me.

Looking at it, I saw that it was a framed photo of a massive group picture taken at night on the steps of the Capitol building. A basic count showed a total of 128 people in the photo. This single photo probably has the highest concentration of those with some degree of political power in all the Republic as you've got Senators, Ministers, Officers, and even some of the richest entrepreneurs.

And at the center of this photo were Rimuru and Veldora, the latter putting their arms over the former like the drunk best man celebrating a marriage. Though I couldn't find Diablo or Jeanne anywhere.

"I wanted to wait longer, but due to the recent attacks, Ririna suggested we go along anyways to raise some morale as well as show the citizens why they all felt the Storm Dragon's aura once again." Then Rimuru hurriedly added, "But don't worry! We can have a more private party later."

As I stared at the photo, I felt a hand covering the top of my head.

Looking up and trailing to find the source of that hand, I found Veldora hovering over me with a massive grin on his face.

"You weren't kidding Scientia." He then removed his hand and shrugged, "I admit, I had my doubts that you were able to resurrect someone from their most basic spiritual components, but you really surprised me. You reconstructed Rimuru exactly how he was before, or enough that I couldn't tell the difference! You truly are a Miracle Maker! Hahahahahaha!"

"Um, about that party... we did plan for it for when you did wake up but..." Ririna trailed off, "You woke up sooner than President Rimuru anticipated."

"Eh..." Rimuru started rubbing the back of his head while smiling sheepishly, "[Great Sage] said you'd most likely wake up in about four days... not the little over two days."

And thankfully it wasn't over three days. Several contingency plans would've automatically fired off the moment it detected I wasn't conscious for more than three days, some are drastic enough to permanently alter everything.

"I see. That's alright." They're too good for me, I thought before sighing, "Diablo, Jeanne."

The air snapped as the two Demon Peers popped into existence on the other side of the room. Diablo was respectfully bowing and lowering his head while Jeanne stood up with a cross arm and a confident smile on her face, both waiting for me to continue.

No one in the room reacted beyond a passive glance. It makes sense since Diablo probably helped set up the party and Jeanne probably gorged herself on the food with how much of a hedonist [Psychology] says she is.

"I assume you all know about the Primordial Demons I summoned during my ascension into Demon Lord status?"

'Wait, I thought they were at most Duke-rank Demons, instead, they're Primordials?! The very peak of Demonic Nobility?" Albedo asked with a tone of disbelief, which made Jeanne grin even wider and transform into a smug smirk.

"Hell yeah, girlie. I'm the Yellow Primordial and this dude—" Jeanne slapped Diablo in the back, "—with a stick up his ass is the Black Primordial."

I saw how Diablo's eyes twitched. Clearing his throat, Diablo stood up and declared, "What she meant to say is that I, Diablo, the Black Primordial, the Progenitor of the Black Bloodline, is the most loyal and humble servant of Lady Scientia and will accept no disrespect down my new Mis—"

"MOVING ON..." I quickly said before Diablo could speak any further. Fanatics are like a hammer, they're useful if used correctly but extremely detrimental if used in a situation that requires a touch of delicacy, like right now.

I gestured at the two, "They will be a common sight around here, so please, treat me as you would treat me."

After their introduction and Albedo asking a few more questions concerning Demons, Rubedo stepped forward and then kneeled before me.

"I must apologize for my actions when we first met. I had no idea you were a Perfect Homunculus who only wanted to protect yourself from an unknown element."

What.

[Silenced Emotion: 90%]

My muscles instantly tensed up. Ririna looked downright murderous as she glared at Rubedo. The rest of the group had a passive look on their face as if they had already come to terms with the fact that I was a member of the most hated race out there, the same race as the one who murdered so many people that the reverberations from that disaster can still be felt today.

I was moments away from enacting Contingency Plan A-01-23 again before Rimuru sighed exasperatedly. Facepalming, "Damn it Rubedo, we talked about this! We were supposed to ease Scientia in, not just straight up say it to her face!"

I had half a mind of overloading the fusion reactor underneath the Capitol building and having it spew out uncontrolled plasma with temperatures in the hundreds of millions of degrees. Then, as the fusion reactor is acting as a major distraction, I'll take Rimuru and Arcueid and use Doormaker to teleport ourselves across millions of lightyears to the next galaxy.

(Veldora is probably strong enough to fend for himself)

Then, and only then will I feel a modicum of safety and turn around to look back.

"How did you all discover it?" I asked with all emotions drained from my face, [Acting] making sure I retain the poker face.

"It was the Voice of the World, Lady Scientia." Diablo said, "President Rimuru had asked us not to reveal it to you just yet, and I obeyed since he's one of your closest confidants."

Albedo then added, "I... had a suspicion that you were a Perfect Homunculus. It was said that Relentless was so beautiful that no one, not even the Flowers of the World could possibly compare, so beautiful that it was creepy since it became freaky, eldritch even. Additionally, I did some personal investigation into private sources before it was confirmed by the Voice of the World during your evolution into Demon Lord."

'Is this true?'

[Factual]

[Acting] ensured my eye wouldn't twitch.

"These 'private sources' that you meet up with wouldn't happen to be in casinos, would it?"

Albedo's face is all that's needed to confirm it, so that time I saw her in that Casino right before the incident with Arcueid was to ask for information?

I pursed my lips, "Continuing on then, the most important issue comes up. As you all know, I am a member of perhaps the most hated race out there. Whole nations will send their armies out to kill me. Tell me then, are you all opposed to me being a Perfect Homunculus? I did just kill many people."

Judge me. Hate me. Tell me that I am Relentless Reborn. Say that I am a monster for killing so many people.

No one spoke a single word. Absolute silence filled the room as most looked like they want to anywhere other than here.

Surprisingly, it was Albedo who broke the silence, "I have no problem with you as a Perfect Homunculus. You protected us all when Relentless would've tried to end the world. You made these miracles of technology and science that is available to everyone. You improved the lives of hundreds of thousands, and even though you killed so many people to resurrect someone you care about— I don't think you're a bad person per se, you're just like us: complicated, and someone who makes mistakes."

"Commander, I will never ever mind you being a Perfect Homunculus." Ririna then said, "You are an individual who saved us at our lowest. You helped us rise in the food chain. Before you, we goblins were the lowest of the lows in the Jura Forest. But with you, you brought your technology and you uplifted us enough that we can stand on equal footing with the likes of dragons. I and I think most goblins, will forever be thankful for your act."

One by one, each of them expressed support instead of disdain.

To say that I am surprised is understating it.

I am a cynical person. I used to be an optimist, but I think after tripping and falling headfirst into the dirt of the world, I became embittered. Everywhere I look, I saw reasons to distrust people.

I saw the world and society as a whole as a web of self-interests, each using the other to achieve that interest.

I know the depth of hatred. How illogical it makes people, and how self-destructive it is.

Ah... if I hadn't done that act, I think I would've still been close with Kathy. But I had to. In my hatred and rage, I saw I had no choice.

Thus, in my mind, I always imagined that if they discovered my true nature, then it would result in everyone I knew aside from a select few betraying me. Either turning their back or actively trying to kill me even if it's futile.

This was one of the main reasons why I became so close to Rimuru and Arcueid, and never really attempted to branch out beyond those two. Both of them knew my real nature and yet they still believed in me, never once had they ever let the centuries of propaganda and legends about a Perfect Homunculus color their views of me. They all saw me as Scientia first and a Perfect Homunculus second.

It was a level of acceptance I'd never imagined possible.

I was surprised and... happy. And yet, another feeling started permeating and spreading throughout my body more prevalent than surprise, burning away my happiness. It was a sense of wrongness, guilt, and unworthiness that was like a raging inferno that consumed every other feeling and started making itself known.

It started to burn through the mask I crafted around my face.

[Silenced Emotion: 60%]

(AN: Play: [Genshin Impact] Enkanomiya - Dainichi Mikoshi Ost 1 (1 HOUR EXTENDED))

View: https//watch?v_1dlZY21jak

"Why..." My vision became so blurry that all I could see were general shapes. Tears gathered as my hands gripped onto nothingness tightly against the pain from the fire deep inside me that was burning me up.

Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why?

"Why are you all so supportive?" I choked out. Despite running [Silenced Emotion] much higher, I still can't help but feel a dam bursting.

"WHY ARE YOU ALL SO SUPPORTIVE?!?!?!" I screamed at them as I fall to my knees, at all who have gathered, "I KILLED so many people! Just so that a selfish wish of mine can be granted. Why are you all so goddamn supportive?! You're not supposed to see me as the hero— I am a Demon Lord for fuck's sake! It's in the damn name! Do you all have any idea just what kind of people Demon Lords are? The birth of a single Demon Lord signals the death of at least 10,000 people. Ten thousand hopes, dreams, and aspirations were lost! And beyond that, do you all know just how bad it is to live under a Demon Lord? How many atrocities are committed by those who had a whiff of power? You aren't supposed to see me as anything good, I am a Demon Lord, and same as those before me, I personally killed a whole ci— army!" The geas forced me to change, "In an army, there undoubtedly will be innocents who are merely there to serve in an ancillary role, from stable boys who are conscripted to squires who work so that they can get a better life to blacksmiths who are there only to earn a living to repair armor— all of those are dead! I am the VILLAIN! One of the antagonists in history, the bad guy!"

I'm burning.

I'm burning up. I felt like I'm one of those people trapped inside the inferno produced by Project Behemoth. My only escape is blocked out by an encroaching torrent of fire.

I'm burning. I'm burning. I'm burning in the flames I've made, that I sentenced others into.

It's so painful. The fact that they are so supportive is only making it worse.

"I chose the easy way out in terms of resurrecting Rimuru, instead of choosing the bloodless way of acquiring and then hatching a Hero's Egg, I chose to commit GENOCIDE! I murdered so many people that I'm a misguided mass murderer at best and an irredeemable monster at worst. I am a monster. I am just like Relentless who collapsed whole nations by just walking into their territory— I..." I'm burning. The flames of what I've done are consuming me. "Why...? Why don't you all hate me?"

I'm burning. It's burning me alive.

I could feel myself in my own fiery world, everything burning around me, the sky filled to the brim with smoke.

Even in this pain, that flame felt righteous. It was a pain I knew I deserve to experience for taking away the hopes, dreams, aspirations, and happiness of hundreds of thousands to millions of people.

From childrens who'll never see their parents again, to wives and husbands out there in the rural countryside who'll only know of their partner's passing months later, to parents who will come to know intimately the emptiness and silence that comes with losing a child, to friends and lovers who'll never see their others again.

I've made so many voids that'll never be patched up. I've touched the lives of so many people and made them all worse.

In every ethical perspective other than a Consequentialist one, what I did was wrong. From a Utilitarian perspective, what I did was turn the trolley from killing the one into killing the many. From a Stoicism perspective, I destroyed the peace of mind of so many people. From an Intuitionism perspective, I knew what I did was wrong, yet I still did it anyways. From a Hedonism perspective, I maximized the pain of others and minimized their pleasure. From a Pragmatic ethical perspective, the death of 450,000 is considered monstrous in the West. From a Deontological perspective, the act of killing is wrong.

Ah, what a monster I am. So then...

"WHY DON'T YOU ALL HATE ME?!"

I stepped on the happiness of so many people just so I could have mine.

I'm burning up. The sheer guilt, the happiness I feel at seeing Rimuru being alive is like adding antimatter to a raging inferno.

I don't deserve this.

I don't deserve this.

I don't deserve this. I really really don't deserve this.

I shouldn't get a happy ending after taking away the happy endings of so many people. It's not right.

It's not right.

Where is my punishment? Where is the fear and hatred I expected to see in the eyes of others? Where is my judgment?

Where... is my sentencing?

Rimuru was disturbed. When he woke up, the slime asked the two Demons what had happened. And just when they reached the topic of those Scientia killed to fuel her ascension into becoming a Demon Lord, the highest ranking human Officer who still stood even as all his colleagues fell spoke up and interrupted Diablo.

The sheer size of that man's balls was admirable since even while suppressing their aura, Rimuru could tell they are some of the most dangerous people in the world.

Rimuru watched in stunned silence as Scientia broke down from helping to kill 50,000 soldiers. To him, he always imagined that military targets are acceptable targets in war, so he never imagined that it would affect the Perfect Homunculus so much.

It didn't make sense. Wars cost plenty of deaths, and those 50,000 came here to slaughter the citizens of Tempest. Thus, it's either to kill them or let them harm those who lived here.

Gesturing to Ririna by swiping his left hand sideways repeatedly across his neck, silently signaling her to give them privacy.

"Maaaaaaybe we should deal with this at another time."

"Agreed," Diablo said, "It appears that our Lady is a humanist. The future is shaping up to be more and more interesting."

With that, everyone aside from himself, Veldora, and Arcueid left the room.

"Hey... Scientia?"

"Aaaaaaah!" The Perfect Homunculus screamed and gripped her head, smashing it against the floor and denting it. Moments after, she clutched her body as if her organs would fall out.

Sounds of crying were all that exists in the almost empty room.

What was he supposed to do? Rimuru's mental image of Scientia was this immovable rock that he can anchor himself to, someone who's calm and collected even in the most dire of circumstances.

Now that she's fully broken down, what was he supposed to do?

Comfort her dumbass! The other part of his mind yelled at his body.

So, slowly, Rimuru moved next to Scientia and carefully wrapped his arms around the Perfect Homunculus. The humanoid slime could feel Scientia stiffening under his touch.

Next, Arcueid did the same, and finally, Veldora jumped in with his pair of beefy arms, encompassing the two in a bear hug.

"It's alright," Arcueid said.

It prompted Rimuru to try and divert away some of the blame, "It's my fault for dying."

"I...did kill 50,000 of the army, so it's not 100% your fault?" Veldora tried to help, but due to him barely understanding common sense, he can't do much.

Scientia continued to release her emotions, and the trio continue to hold her nonetheless.

AN: and now we get to see the mental repercussion of Scientia killing so many people, the guilt eating at Scientia, burning her. I'll admit, the Burning Part was inspired by Violet Evergarden.

Part of the reason I choose such a thing was due to the similarities between Scientia and Violet especially after the Glassing of Corbin.

Now, this may be unpopular to some people, but war is ugly, yet it is nonetheless necessary, there is a cost to every action.

Lastly, I changed a little bit of how Carrera talks since in this timeline she finds interest in Scientia instead of worship like in canon (read: I find the way how Carrera talks and how she places Rimuru on an ultra-high pedestal a bit stale after a while).

And Diablo is just Diablo, a lot like Demiurge except 'Ainz' (Scientia) actually has an idea of what to do next.

43

I walked in the midst of a field of fire, bodies, and destroyed buildings. The glass shattered and the metal beams warped by heat.

This... is Metropolis. The ruins of it. But at the same time, the amount of magic used in the construction of those structures makes me think it's not Metropolis.

A sword swipe came at me.

I didn't even move to block it.

It stopped mere inches away from my face, close enough that I could see all the details of my attacker.

It was... Rimuru? He was clad in half-broken armor, making me think of a knight. His yellow eyes teeming with hatred and his lips were pulled back into a snarl.

"Why?"

Rimuru screamed. In the place of response, I unleashed a surge of silent neutralizing golden light of oblivion that seems to dissolve away everything it touches.

A massive crater was in front of me. The fire was gone, the smoke went still, and the crater was carved in a very sharp manner as if someone had teleported sections of it away. The burning city parted like Moses and the Red Sea to reveal the distant blue sky.

"Why?! Why must you take away my paradise?! Why do you have to kill everyone I love?!?" Rimuru kneeled on the ground, using his sword as a crutch, half of his body steadily being eaten away by something, slowly dissolving like meat in acid.

Everyone... he... loved?

I looked around me, focusing on the bodies. There were many bodies, so numerous that I couldn't even count.

I continued to move even when I didn't want to. Getting up next to the slime, I let out a right hook and punched his face, throwing him into the ground. Then, I sat on Rimuru's chest and started squeezing his neck.

"Grk!"

What am I doing?

"Ark!"

I then coated my hands with that same dissolving golden light, and it started eating away at his flesh.

Stop. Why am I doing this?

I kept on squeezing even as his blue flesh fell apart under that radiance. Touching more of his unaffected flesh to speed up the dissolution.

I wanted to stop, I continued to choke him out. He isn't making any more sounds now.

Stop. Stop. Stop! These hands are not made for killing! I am a tinker of unimaginably advanced technology, a builder of colossal stellar megastructures, a protector for millions of alien worlds, and a promoter for the diversity of life in the universe—

I am a creator, not a destroyer!

But I continue to squeeze down on Rimuru's neck. By now, there's barely any of him left, around 80% of his body was dissolved by that anti-energy.

"Die... and... meet... your... maker..."

I woke up with a startled gasp, the white blanket that was covering me flying off as I sat up like a triggered bear trap.

Looking around me, I recognized that I was in my bedroom in the Citadel, a place that I rarely visited.

I sighed and covered my face with my hands, gripping it tightly. I was physically fine, but mentally I felt like leftover ash in the fireplace as memories of what happened returned.

If I wasn't feeling so down, I think I'd be embarrassed at my outburst.

Then, I started recalling what exactly happened. After my rather intense nervous breakdown where I was super tempted to turn my [Silenced Emotion] into 100%. I was really tired, so Arcueid helped me retire to the Citadel while Rimuru dealt with the aftermath. Diablo is assisting him and Jeanne followed Ririna and Rubedo to get a tour of the Officer Corps and the Grand Republic Army.

My hands fell into my lap lifelessly as if they belonged to a dead man. My eyes were droopy, as if I was still tired only, I didn't want to sleep anymore.

Pulling up a system log of what happened ever since my breakdown, I found an application belonging to Citrinitas and Albedo to join up and fight on the front lines. As the Commander of the Military, it ultimately comes down to whether I'll allow them or not.

I accepted the application from Albedo and rejected Citrinitas'. The military can definitely use some magical assistance, and brute force we've already got covered. I mean, our variant of the tank probably classifies more as a heavy weapons platform.

On the Internet, everyone was buzzing about me apparently being a Perfect Homunculus. The Tempest government spokesperson didn't help when he neither confirmed nor denied my true nature and instead said they are investigating such matters and will release the information to the public once everything had been confirmed.

Classic governmental delaying tactics.

Oh, that's right, my true nature has been revealed...

I looked down at the pale right hand that was moving the holograms. Reactively, my left hand then came up and started playing around with my hair of ashen blond.

My nightwear shifted and dissolved into a liquid substance. Flowing down my arm, that liquid coalescence into a reflective surface— a mirror— on my right hand.

I saw a pair of golden eyes staring back at me in the mirror. With the barest of moonlight shining through the door to a large balcony, I could almost swear the eyes are glowing.

This... will be a permanent reminder of what I did. Despite being able to play with biology as one would a game, I can't add modifications to myself other than the Strings Implant since my passive [Limitless Regeneration] would register them as 'foreign bodies' and eject them out of my body. I should know, I once amputated my left arm and tried to add a robot arm.

So then, I will always be reminded of what I did every time I look in the mirror.

I chewed on my lower lips.

"..."

I suddenly raised my hand in one swift motion and threw the mirror at the wall in front of me.

Instead of shattering as a mirror should, the thing embedded itself into the wall as though it were a dart.

Ah, the Block-Form Singularity Mathematics couldn't be broken so easily. Even now, I could see how the mirror was leaking. The mirror was dissolving into a liquid that seep down from the wall, pooling on the ground and then slowly inching towards me, seeking to rejoin with the rest of the Mathematics.

"..." I draped my head like a bell in a clock tower. I then brought my two hands up so that they were fully in my field of view.

Memories of that dream I just had rushed back to me, memories of my hand sheathed in the light of oblivion, memories of me choking the life out of Rimuru, slowly corroding him away into nothingness like rocks to the sands of time.

My fingers twitched as my eyes were half-lid.

Bringing them up, I started the act despite knowing just how futile it is.

"—rk!"

There, in the darkness of the night, within the confines of my private room, I squeezed.

"Kr—"

I squeezed. I squeezed. I squeezed.

"Grrak—"

I squeezed. I squeezed. I squeezed. I squeezed. I squeezed. I squeezed.

"Urrraaaaak—"

I squeezed. I squeezed. I squeezed. I squeezed. I squeezed. I squeezed. I squeezed. I squeezed. I squeezed. I squeezed. I squeezed. I squeezed. I squeezed. I squeezed. I squeezed. I squeezed. I squeezed. I squeezed. I squeezed. I squeezed. I squeezed. I squeezed. I squeezed. I squeezed. I squeezed. I squeezed. I squeezed. I squeezed. I squeezed. I squeezed. I squeezed. I squeezed. I squeezed. I squeezed. I squeezed. I squeezed. I squeezed. I squeezed. I squeezed. I squeezed. I squeezed. I squeezed.

Squrlich*

I squeezed until something gave away. Blood sprouted from my throat, dying my bedsheets red like a rose garden blossoming in spring.

I looked passively at the scene, not alarmed at all but feeling more annoyed. Automatically, the Block-Form Singularity Mathematic crawled up from my nightgown and started inserting itself where my throat should've been, plugging up the hole. The Mathematics then changed its color and texture to match my skin while cleaning any of the bloodstains from my body.

The Mathematics will act as and fulfill the function of a throat while my [Limitless Regeneration] slowly heals everything.

The Block-Form Singularity Mathematics truly is the culmination of clothing.

With another flick of my wrist, I opened a Doorway and threw the ruined bedsheet into it.

Feeling restless, I got up from the bed. Every evidence of my previous exertion was gone, and it appeared as if I was an insomniac getting up because I couldn't sleep.

Glancing at the clock by the nightstand, I saw that it was two in the morning.

My hands then slowly reached forward as though I was about to grab something. A portal to my pocket dimension opened up in my path, and I reached in and took out Shizue's Soul Orb. The slivery orb seemed to almost pulse every now and then like a heart, beating within my hands to show that the spiritual component was still alive.

I stared at it. Shizue definitely wouldn't be happy with how I dealt with Hinata, no, she would curse me if she knew even if it violated her contract.

Shizue Izawa, despite going through a traumatic experience, is a gentle soul. I wonder what would she have been like if Demon Lord Leon Cromwell hadn't grabbed her here if she wasn't caught up in the Second World War?

I clenched the orb, as an apology, I should retune the contract, to allow an escape clause. Now that I think about it, the contract does sound a lot like a slave one, not your stereotypical chattel slavery but given how Shizue didn't have a choice, it still counts as it no matter how much I cushion it with benefits.

Returning the orb back into the Pocket Dimension, I began to think about the Ten Great Demon Lords that I'm now a part of.

When I first heard of them, I imagined them to be like Sauron from the Lord of the Rings. Major big bads. But now after coming into contact with Milim, Ramiris, and Carrion, I see them as having more nuisances.

Carrion is a hedonist who lives in the moment. He may have been a great warrior in the past if what the books say is true but after the end of the Demon Lord Civil War, centuries of having no peer opponent to fight against has blunted his edge and made him soft. He's the kind of ruler that's out of touch with the common people.

Ramiris... she's... not what you'd imagine as a Demon Lord. Ramiris feels a lot like a brat spoiled by their insanely rich parents. Like, she speaks with such arrogance that her own power could not really back up.

Milim's just a child who's been given the power worthy of a god.

Leon Cromwell. The Great Betrayer of Humanity. A Hero that's seen as one of the trifectas that's responsible for one of the most peaceful times in written history, Leon Cromwell fought alongside Granbell Rosso and Chronoa before his betrayal at the Battle of El Dorado where he proclaimed himself a Demon Lord and claimed overlordship over the minor continent. His betrayal signaled the end of the Triumvirate Era and gave way to the Dyad Era.

Guy Crimson, a mythical figure, a bogeyman for the West. It was said that he resides in the North where all the Demons that assault the human nations come from. Although, he hasn't been active ever since Relentless was dealt with.

Dino. A figure most disputed among Western historians. Many think he's not real and was made up by the Ten Great Demon Lords so that they appear stronger. No one can be sure since no living human has ever seen Dino.

Dagruel, the ruler of Giants in the Barren Lands. Came into a lot of conflict with the previous vampire Demon Lord before they were slain by Veldora 300 years ago during the fall of Nightrose.

Frey, the ruler of the skies. She's an oddball. Whereas the other Demon Lords are spoken in fear, she's in greed. Her nation is open to merchants for trading, and through almost a century of this open-door policy, Fulbrosia became the main supplier of the world for precious metals and gems. If one were to visit Fulbrosia, they'll see a nation full of wealth.

Roy Valentin, the new vampire Demon Lord after the last one died. There's not much on him, other than he likes to terrorize the Empire of Ruberios. Oddly enough, his death toll is tiny considering how often he terrorizes that Empire.

And, finally, we come to the Demon Lord that's trying to use Rimuru's death to his advantage: Clayman. He's a manipulative autocrat. An opportunist, he must've seen what the Western Holy Church was planning and decided to send Mjurran to aid them in weakening us.

A further examination of the system log showed how it detected a massive gravitational anomaly on the day of Rimuru's death in Eurazania. Neutron star-level gravity in a linear shape.

Milim probably used that weapon I gave her— I think the name was Rhongomyniad— and destroyed Eurazania for some reason. The lance wasn't really a lance so much as a container for the miniature Starbreaker Engine that uses magicule as fuel. Again, it's only a miniature Starbreaker Engine, with an output nowhere near the level of an actual Starbreaker.

Though even if it's only a miniature Starbreaker Engine, examinations of the aftermath of its firing using satellite footage showed massive dust clouds covering the whole of Eurazania, thick enough that in some places most forms of surveillance couldn't penetrate cloud covering.

It's as if a supervolcano had erupted, or maybe a better comparison would be a localized nuclear winter with the radioactive fallout that's wreaking havoc on Eurazania's crop fields. The main dust cloud has begun to slowly drift towards the Southern Ocean, and if the currents are anything to go by, there's going to be an ecological collapse of all Coral Reefs and the oceanic food chain on the Southern Ocean.

[Economy] predicts fish prices will rise in the near future as the fallout will come to affect all levels of the marine ecosystem. The coastal villages will be devastated the most, and the world will likely see an uptick in cancer cases.

"..." There's also a high likelihood that Eurazania altogether collapses, and a refugee crisis will start. We'll probably take the brunt of that crisis similar to Europe and the Syrian Civil War in the mid-2010s.

Further evidence for this future is there when border patrols have seen a sudden increase in the number of attempted crossings of the Tempest-Eurazania border.

For what reason had Milim sent out this decapitation strike? If the neutrino sweep of the place were accurate, the spot where Milim had unleashed the miniature Starbreaker Engine overlap Eurazania's capital.

I then used the search bar of the system log and set the filter to 'any large movements of individuals' and received a ping in the Milim-Eurazania border.

Zooming in, I saw how there were large campsites displaying Clayman's flag set in Milim's territory near Eurazania.

So Milim's joined up with Clayman? I cupped my chin, that'll make going against his nation of Jistav difficult.

Of course, I could again just drop Behemoth onto Milim's capital and let her be busy with the Endbringer while I invade Jistav.

I felt a bitter taste in my mouth as I physically recoiled from that thought as if it was poison. The flame inside me flared up as though to punish me for having such an idea.

Feeling restless, I decided to walk to the balcony before sitting down on one of those chairs that can stretch out into a bed.

I could feel the cool night's wind blowing through this balcony, my lips quivered in response.

Ah, if I were to simply live in the moment, I would think I was back in my old life, specifically, back during that one business trip to New York.

This balcony was a fake one. The scenery that surrounds me is fake, it's a hologram displaying night-time in New York. The city's smell, cool temperature, and wind were all artificially generated to complete an illusion that's so real, it's very difficult to tell apart fact from fiction.

I then took out several jars of different chemicals and placed them on the ground beside me. With all but a simple thought, I activated [Mekhane] and watched as the chemicals flow out of their containers and start mixing with each other mid-air. The chemical concoction shifted to all kinds of colors before ending up being clear.

Bringing the ball of chemicals closer, I took a small sip of it and immediately felt woozy and a tiny bit drunk.

This ball is a chemical concoction strong enough to affect me.

Ultimate Skill [Mekhane] is Unique Skill [Technopathy] turned onto 11. With the Unique Skill, I could only really control my own machines, but now with the Ultimate Skill, I can control anything that resembles a 'machine', which just so happens to also include autocatalytic systems— otherwise known as 'life' since they fall under organic machines.

Essentially, if [Contessa]'s focus is on precognition, [Mekhane]'s is on machines. I can control how a car works, I can manipulate the very foundation of life in that Deoxyribonucleic Acid, and I can interface and control the software and hardware component of a computer.

I am a machine god, machines of flesh and metal are under my domain. I could telekinetically pull apart a machine and change its internal component however I wish. I can tear apart covalent and ionic bonds or force them together as if they are legos, this way I can dictate how the result of a chemical reaction happens or even force a single outcome as a mathematical certainty.

It's eerily similar to [Unlimited Alchemy] except I can't seem to touch souls with it.

No longer feeling the desire for a drink, I used [Mekhane] and [Unlimited Alchemy] and changed the sphere of liquid once more. Slowly, bubbles formed inside the liquid as it slowly became smaller and smaller as if I was draining it away. Once the chemicals were gone, what was left in its place is a long looping strand of room-temperature superconductor.

Taking the thin string of superconducting material and placing it back into the Pocket Dimension, the sheer casualness at how I'm dealing with something that can easily be worth trillions in my old world is... not lost on me.

I'm homesick, I realized as I stood up from my chair and leaned on the balcony overlooking the holographic New York. I miss my old World. I miss seeing my parents, and most of all, I miss Kathy.

Despite our estranged relationship in the years before I died, I still loved my sister as an older brother should.

I chewed on my lower lips in contemplation, I really miss my old World. It was much simpler back then. All I had to do every day was try and ensure Walmart was successful, whether by making things more efficient or researching ways how to make Walmart much more efficient and presenting it to the VP of Marketing. That was my job, that was how I rose up the ranks so quickly.

Why did things become so complicated?

It took the death of almost half a million for it to sink in how much power I now wield. It's almost scary how fragile and delicate life is, and how easy it is to render a planet permanently uninhabitable.

Granted, I always knew I was powerful, and that I should practice restraint. But it never really registered in my mind.

My gaze panned across this hologram that surrounds me. With a single thought, the whole scenery changed to the nightscape of Toronto.

Looking at it, I couldn't help but come to the conclusion that there's a burden to power. Such a conclusion then made me remember that specific quote from Spiderman.

"'With great power, comes great responsibility'."

I closed my eyes. No, I already knew that the path required me to spill a lot of blood. It was bound to happen. The Modern World was built upon the foundation set during the Second World War. But, I think a deep part of me never thought that it was going to be so soon.

Taking in a deep breath, I then let it all out. The fire was still there, still burning me, but it's been there for so long that I've more or less gotten used to it.

I don't want to get used to it. That path leads to me becoming what Rubedo had accused me of: someone who'll condemn millions to their graves so long as it'll benefit me more than them staying alive.

I don't want to become even more of a monster.

I don't want to become a new Relentless.

I'm still... human.

Walking back into the bedroom, I slowly sat on the edge of the bed. The soft mattress sunk around me and used my right arm as a crutch, leaning on it as I pathetically wallowed there in my misery.

I wonder if President Harry S Truman ever had the same thoughts I did after the two atomic bombings. Does the death of hundreds of thousands ever eat away at him as it does me?

It is really fortunate no one is here to see me.

My body suddenly shot up as if I had just been given a dose of adrenaline when I heard the door to my room creak open.

"Scientia?"

The voice was the definition of purity. It was like a cleansing light that banishes the darkness, a water that doused the burning fire.

I raised a hand to block out some of the light from the hallway that broke in through the opened crack made by Arcueid. The hand was quickly dropped when my eyes adjusted to the new light level and I saw Arcueid in her pajama. A yellow cat pajama, with the ears on top of her head and all.

Such an adorable sight made me smile.

"What is it Arcueid? It's two in the morning, why aren't you asleep?" I asked with my face partially turned away from the True Ancestor.

I'm not fully facing her because I'm quickly cleaning my face.

"Are you alright?" Arcueid's voice was soft and gentle as a baby's touch. She came in and closed the door behind her, causing near-total darkness to settle back into the room.

Only now did I notice her crimson eyes which were once a reflection of my own felt akin to another cruel reminder of my change, my metamorphosis into something else.

I opened my mouth to say that 'Yes, I'm fine' but I couldn't get anything out.

"..."

Come on Scientia, just say that you're alright, it's easy!

Yet my mouth remained stuck in its procedure of opening and closing. I tried to force something out, only to still get silence in return.

"No." I finally muttered.

A sense of numbness dyed my body, replacing the burning sensation as clouds cover the sky before rain. The numbness felt like how someone would feel right after a good cry.

Seeing my answer, Arcueid strode over and sat down beside me to the right. Her weight made the mattress sink like planets on a sheet of spacetime, making it so that I fell into her orbit, our shoulders touching each other.

The True Ancestor tilted her head, placing it on my right shoulder. I felt her left arm wrap itself around my waist before she intertwined her right hand with mine.

If taken out of context, one can easily imagine we're a pair of old lovers sitting by the dock, our legs hanging just a few centimeters above the waves, recalling our youth as we stare at the night sky.

"You know," Arcueid started in a longing tone as if reminiscing about her past, remembering some nostalgic memories, "I don't know if you still remember, but I had homesickness when I first came here."

...Oh yeah, she was like that wasn't she? Looking at her now, I really can't imagine that happening.

"In my old World, the total amount of time I've stayed conscious is less than a year—"

I grimaced. The casual way that Arcueid is talking about her past as a child soldier is still a bit jarring.

"— but I've been alive for over eight centuries, and yet— I was about as developed as a human baby, an infant when it comes to common sense. I was nothing more than a weapon, an executioner of the Will of the True Ancestors, an assassin built to kill those fallen True Ancestors. I barely had any independent thought, and my only window to the real world was how the architecture changed as the eras progressed, how the clothing that people wore altered each time I was woken up for the extermination of another rogue True Ancestor. When I came to this new world, I was scared for the first time. I was afraid of the changes brought about by the transition between different Worlds. I think... I would've broken down."

I sympathize with her. Reincarnation is a traumatic process.

"You helped me through all this, Scientia. To borrow a phrase from a book I've read: I was like a teenager going through puberty and you were my parents, always there to help me. You introduced me to the world of literature and stories, and through it, you showed me just how wonderful the World is, how beautiful it can be, how pretty it really is, and the ugliness that lies underneath the surface, waiting to strike at anyone unsuspecting. Through literature, you allowed me to live a life I never could, to experience the childhood that was taken from me. If I read an adventure novel, I could imagine myself journeying along with the protagonist. If I read a crime and mystery novel, I would try and work out the mystery before the detective finds everything out. If I read a dystopian novel, I would despair as the protagonist was forced to live a life similar to the old me. You showed me all these wonderful, horrible, astonishing, appalling things that I can't help but all love. You gave me... a sense of life and purpose beyond simply being a weapon."

Arcueid then got off my shoulder and turned to face me, her hands letting go of my own. Her crimson eyes sparkled, her porcelain skin radiant, and her short blond hair glowed— Arcueid looks so perfect under the soft glow from the moonlight outside.

It was nice that she was trying to highlight the good I've done, to try and damper the guilt I'm feeling. Though I've got to ask; has she always been this beautiful?

The True Ancestor's piercing red eyes stared into my own with a never-seen-before intensity. It felt almost as if I was in the middle of a furnace with how I could almost see my own reflection in her eyes.

"You helped me. You guided me along the way as I began to know what it's like to feel these new things. You taught me how to behave properly. You disciplined me when I deserved it. You spent your precious time every now and then to indulge in my own selfish desires like shopping at the mall, seeing theater plays, and even small things like cooking dinner when I asked for it, even if it could've been spent making these technologies that might as well as be nearing or even reaching the level of True Magic of my old World. Throughout all these months I've become happier and grown more than I've ever had in my old World. I doubt I would ever be what I am today if not for your help."

Her mouth morphed into a wide smile. Her hands reached up and grabbed my shoulders.

"You are the glue upon which I used to piece myself an identity; the foundation upon which I built structures of my peculiar quirks; the center of my world." Arcueid's eyes then gained a faraway look in them, "I used to wonder what that feeling was, that odd feeling of jubilation whenever I'm with you, that feeling of melancholy and longing when you're away for too long, the feeling of my heart speeding up when you held my hand, the feeling of incredible envy when you spent time with Ririna or Eren— I was confused. I had no frame of reference for this type of behavior from me since I never had it during my time as a weapon. So I resorted to sifting through the pages of the novels you gave me and some Internet forums. The answer I got was something I couldn't believe in. It was something I refuse to believe in because the genre of books that focused on that was one I hated."

Well, Arcueid discovering the Internet was bound to happen anyways. As she spills her heart out to me, I found it difficult to tell her that the way she was holding onto me and forcing my body to turn an almost 90-degree angle against my legs was getting steadily more and more uncomfortable.

I can't just interrupt her because my waist was feeling a tad bit of discomfort! I don't need [Psychology] to tell me that'll absolutely destroy her confidence.

"I hated that genre of books because of the way they portray that act. They glamorize it, they make something that's real into something that's unreal. That slight falsehood soured my liking of those kinds of books even though I love literature more than anyone."

Arcueid's eyes then drooped. The edge of her lips fell, no longer smiling as her eyes were no longer looking at me, "And yet, upon seeing how distressed you were yesterday—" I grimaced upon being reminded of my breakdown, "—something inside me snapped. Seeing you so vulnerable when my mental image is the exact opposite of that triggered something deep inside me. It was primal, something on the same level as instinct, a bit more sophisticated than lust. It made me want to run over to you as hard as possible and embrace you fully until whatever's hurting you stopped— I DID do that. It was during the embrace that it finally dawned on me—"

Her hands then let go of my shoulders and I reflectively shift my body back into a more comfortable position. However, the True Ancestor then grabbed the side of my face with her dainty fingers.

Wait, what is she doing? Arcueid's not doing what I think she's doing, is she? I mainly ignored how physical she was the last few minutes because I figure that was her trying to comfort me. Now that I think about it, a few details do stand out.

With me forced to stare at the blonde vampire, I couldn't help but notice again just how beautiful she looked under the moonlight. She was like a white lily at night, standing out from the murky pond water.

"I... I... I..." Arcueid seemed to struggle to get some words out. Her cheeks were flushed as she grits her teeth in frustration. Arcueid's lips thinned, then she began to lean forward—

chu*

My mind went blank as soon as I felt her lips touch upon mine.

.

.

.

.

"I, Arcueid Brunestud, am in love you, Scientia Tempest." She said when she withdrew, the kiss lasted a little over three seconds, as reported by [Statistics].

Yet to me, that felt like an eternity.

My mouth was agape, my brain rebooted itself as it struggles to comprehend what had just happened.

"I— I— I— WHAT?!"

Of all the things— love? Romantic love?! What the fuck?!?

My face was incredulous.

"What? I'm— I'm sorry, I must've misheard— what did you say? And why did you just kiss me?"

No, that can't be right. That's wrong. She can't actually have any romantic feelings for me, could she? I mean I subtly pushed her to gain a date with an appropriate person but why me?

Me, the one who kidnapped her from her World. Me, whom I see has taken up a parental role for the True Ancestor?

"But— I— I— I kidnapped you from your own World! Why— how extreme of a Stockholm Syndrome must you be having right now for me?"

I can't find it in myself to actually say that word.

A pout formed on Arcueid's face as she lets go of my face and crossed her arms, "I know that this may seen as Stockholm Syndrome but you more or less rescued me from being an eternal weapon of the True Ancestors. I consider that helping."

"But— your grandpa, I—"

"Scientia Tempest! Do you accept my feelings or not?"

"I..." I felt my words stuck in my throat, my body becoming extra hot as if it was 35 in the room instead of the comfortable 23. I felt like being put on the spot.

"I..."

So I said the only thing that comes to mind.

"I can't."

Arcueid went still.

"I can't, I'm sorry but I can't accept your feelings for me." I turned away. I couldn't bear to see the devastation on Arcueid's face.

"...why?"

With how weakly Arcueid spoke was like an arrow that pierced through my chest.

"I... I see myself as your guardian figure. I am your teacher. I hold a position of authority over you and I'm responsible for your future and education. The power dynamic between the two of us wouldn't be equal. Beyond the potential reputation damage that'll occur if this ever got out, I see it as also an abuse of trust and authority. As your guardian, I'm supposed to act in your best interest, engaging in a romantic relationship with you can easily create a conflict of interest wherein that's not possible."

I wanted so much to say yes at that moment. But it's wrong for me. Even if this wasn't an issue, I don't think I deserve happiness after taking away so many.

"But... that's only for humans. I'm not human." Arcueid's lips trembled, "I'm, as you call it, a 'super vampire'. I—"

"I see you as an adoptive child of mine," I spoke frankly, cutting her arguments short, "You... you are a child soldier who never had a chance to have a childhood or any teenage romances. What you're feeling right now is most likely a sudden desire to live out your fantasies, and since I'm the one you know and interacted with the most, you decided to place your target of desire on me."

Arcueid recoiled, "I am 800 years old— I am not a child!"

"You're mentally no older than maybe 17 to 18 years old."

"So? I like to act that way! It makes the world more pleasant."

"You're not developed enough Arcueid!" I yelled.

Arcueid then got up from the bed. She loomed over me, and for a brief moment, I felt fear from her like never before, a primal fear as if I was facing down that THING again.

"I am a True Ancestor! Not one of those humans who take almost two decades to develop! I am a superior lifeform! Again, why are you using human logic to describe me?!" Arcueid sounded outraged, "Animals like mice reach physical, mental, and sexual maturity at six to eight weeks, would you call them mating with each other wrong? What would you do if another alien lifeform matures to adulthood at two years of age then, huh? Could you still reject them on the ground of being too young if they want to engage in a relationship with you?!?"

Arcueid was acting extremely aggressively, enough that I steadily inched away from her.

"No, but—"

"Exactly! If you don't use human logic to ascribe animals, why are you using them to ascribe me? A super vampire, a True Ancestor? I am not a human. Humans don't live for over 800 years. I do."

Holy shit her logic is actually making sense. What else can I reject her on?

"But I am your guardian—"

"I never saw you as my guardian. I saw you as something closer, something more intimate. I saw you as my closest companion, one who I can share anything with. Last I checked, guardianship required consent of both parties."

"I..." I fell into silence. "But..."

"Scientia Tempest!" Droplets of tears gathered on the edge of Arcueid's eyes, "Why can't you accept my feelings even now? What's the issue?"

There's an urge to just stay silent, but I can't, not anymore, "I... I am a Perfect Homunculus, Arcueid, the most hated race out there. I killed 80,000 orcs without remorse. As you said, I committed a genocide where my kill count was higher than almost every human in your old World. I am a monster, I am just like Relentless. You can't love someone like me, even if you're of a different race, you still follow some human customs."

Arcueid then fell upon me, embracing me fully and enveloping me in a large, all-consuming hug. The sudden weight caused both of us to fall on the bed.

My arms were spread out across the mattress, while Arcueid's were beside my head. We were in a straddle, with the vampire sitting on my lap.

It feels so comfortable, yet the burning returns as I'm reminded of how much comfort I took away from the world.

"I am a monster as well. They called me the White Princess of True Ancestors. I was made with the meaningless purpose of being the strongest True Ancestor. My sister Altrouge hates me for who I am, and... well I guess I have a messed up family."

Our faces were mere centimeters away. My yellow eyes were trained on her crimson ones, allowing me to fully appreciate just how beautiful she looked under the dim moonlight shining from the balcony.

My heart was screaming at me to say 'yes', to fully accept Arcueid's feelings. Ha... I guess I also thought of Arcueid as something more... yet I averted my eyes.

In the end, I still can't. I listened to my heart twice without consulting my brain, and twice I encountered massive backlashes. The first time was with Kathy and it ended up with her no longer on speaking terms with me, and the second was with Corbin.

I don't want to hurt myself or a person close to me again.

Seeing my wordless response, Arcueid nodded with a subdued motion, "I see. Then... at least know this: if you don't accept my feeling, know that you aren't alone, know that I'll help you extinguish the fire that burns you, know that I'll always be there should you need it."

And with that, Arcueid got up and hurriedly left the room, the loud sound of her own room slamming shut echoing across the whole living space five seconds after.

"God damn it." I finally said while never moving from my position. "God fucking damn it."

I got up and gripped my head as though I was having a migraine. "Why is it that only now things become so complicated?"

I felt the urge to punch something, so I got up and threw a punch at the wall with my right hand.

My fist remain embedded in the wall, even as the nanites started coiling around my hand in an attempt at repairing the damage.

I then slammed my forehead against the wall, not removing it.

God fucking damn it all to hell.

Even now, I felt the urge to go and knock on Arcueid's door, to accept her, to let her in.

In truth, I was never really into romances. Though I slept around in my old life, all my romantic relationships lasted no longer than a month before they broke up because of neglect. Neglect because I chose to focus on my job instead of on her.

I grit my teeth. It's for the best, I tell myself. It's definitely for the best.

Slowly, I slide down the wall until my knees hit the floor. Periodic droplets of salty water hit the ground right underneath me.

I raised my left hand and slammed it against the wall. If someone else were to see me, they'll think I was a mother clinging to the pants of a doctor, begging them to reduce the price of some lifesaving medicine by at least a little.

"God... fucking... damn..." I choked out. It's so difficult. It's so easy to just get up and accept Arcueid's feelings.

The amount of regret I'm feeling was almost indescribable.

Why... why do I want to make such a stupid decision? Now, I see myself as an intelligent person. Between either brains or brawls, I would choose brains nine times out of ten. Because the way I see it, in the modern world, we don't need brawls anymore. All the new tech billionaires you see on the news all got to where they are through their brains and the technological innovation they made.

So then, why do I want to disobey my brain so much? Why am I having this dilemma between my heart and mind again?

"Love... love truly makes fools of even the greatest men," I said to myself, "it is fundamentally irrational, it plays on a person's mind by stimulating the reward centers of the brain like never before."

It clouds one's mind and ensures one stays human instead of being a machine. It makes people feel desperate for its touch.

"Ahh..." I let out a sigh.

[Psychology] was oddly silent, as if something was blocking the specialty.

I am desperate. After everything that's happened, I need someone to love. I need that sense of connection, and the emotional support provided by Arcueid. I need to feel grounded, otherwise, I think I'll collapse if I don't, or at least, leave this planet entirely.

Standing up from my kneeling position, I quietly sauntered over to the front of the door leading to Arcueid's room. My heart ached and demanded me to knock on the door while my brain told me it was not too late to turn back now.

Why is everything so complicated?

This is just wrong, so why does it feel so right?

My heart continued to scream at me to knock on the door, to accept Arcueid as something more.

My hand gripped themselves so tightly I felt my fingernails digging into the skin.

Why is it so hard? I feel winded, so many things happened in this past week, Rimuru's death, the Attack on Metropolis, the Annihilation of Corbin, my Ascension into True Demon Lord status, and now Arcueid's confession in order to help with my guilt—

Everything is moving so fast, I can't catch up.

I need a vacation after this. To just get away from everything.

I took another deep breath, my ears registering the faint crying noises from inside.

Come on Scientia, you are a master of time and space. You are someone whose reach and influence spread across almost every corner of the universe. In most popular sci-fi franchises, having millions of worlds is considered a huge achievement, the total number of planets that felt my touch is numbered in the sextillions. My technology is advanced enough to make them appear more like a medieval dramas than actual science fiction.

Taking one final deep breath, I knocked on the door.

"Arcueid, can I come in?" I felt a sinking feeling the moment those words left my lips.

Hearing some ruffling of bedsheets and blankets before there was a faint, "Come in."

Turning the knob and pushing the door open, I found Arcueid sitting on her bed, and even through the darkness, I saw Arcueid's back facing the door. Her room was calmly illuminated by the soft glow of nightlights on the stands beside her bed.

I felt awkward with the silence, so I pulled out a chair from my pocket dimension and placed it beside the bed. I sat down on the chair opposite to how I was supposed to and placed my arms around the backrest.

I could sympathize with how she feels. I had a friend once, in high school. He once tried to ask a girl out but being rejected caused him to feel depressed for the whole day.

"You know, I volunteered to become your guardian because of the fact that you were a child soldier. I gave you those books, I introduced you to all these wonderful things because I hoped you would become independent when you're inevitably sent back to your own World. That way, I wouldn't have to worry about you."

Arcueid became still.

"I don't know when I started to care for you beyond a sense of duty. But, you managed to slip through all the walls that I surrounded myself with and became one of my closest confidants. Something closer than even Rimuru."

I took another deep sigh and tilted my head upward so that it was staring at the ceiling.

"There are two types of innocence in this world: those who have their innocence because they haven't been exposed to the world and those who still retain their innocence even after knowing the darkness that's everywhere. The latter is rarer than diamond. You belong in that latter portion. You are a child soldier, Arcueid, you've seen the worst that the world has to offer and yet you still retain that child-like innocence. You're like a piece of paper thrown into an ocean and yet remain dry. I, on the other hand, am as wet as they come."

My eyes returned to the vampire.

"Upon a second reviewing..." I need Arcueid as a drowning man needs a life jacket, as a burning man needs a pond, as a ship needs its anchors, as a jet needs its wings. "I need that innocence. I— because you cannot be described using human logic, in short, I've decided to... accept your feelings."

Arcueid turned around. Her eyes gleamed in the subtle nightlight.

"Although, I've never really been in a romantic relationship before. Neither in this life nor the last beyond a casual fling or two, so if we are indeed doing this, then you'll have to be the teacher for a very slow student."

The irony. I smiled mirthfully, the irony was delicious. Even as I enjoyed the irony, I felt like a huge weight had been lifted off my chest. Arcueid looked at me cautiously like a cat whose owner had just dumped them in a bathtub.

The cautiousness quickly evaporated like water on a hot pan as her face turned into a pretty smile.

"I feel happy. I feel so happy."

Arcueid yawned, reminding me that it was two in the goddamn morning.

I no longer feel like burning up. It's still there, but it's embers compared to the inferno from before.

We slept together that night. As in, literally platonically sleeping together instead of the coitus type.

When I woke up, I felt so much better, like I could forget everything I'd done and just focus on the present.

Sitting up, I stretched my arms and found Arcueid still clad in her cat pajamas. She was sleeping peacefully on the bed.

Such a serene visage, an image of tranquility. As though the whole world didn't matter, as if the future didn't exist, and the past a mere dream.

It was when I was admiring a sleeping Arcueid that it finally crashed into me.

[Silenced Emotion: 60%]

Oh fuck, I'm in a relationship now.

My eyes widen in realization. I felt a bit of regret. Like moving to a new place, I found the idea of a romantic relationship with Arcueid both exciting and scary at the same time.

Of course, with [Psycholoy] much of the unknown has already been removed. However, book smart is different from street smart.

With [Stealth] guiding my movements, I wrote Arcueid a note and sneaked out of bed, all without her even stirring in her sleep.

I called Rimuru once I reached the living room, completely ignoring the kitchen after a passing glance as I don't feel all that hungry.

Appearing as an almost life-like hologram hovering beside me, I asked Rimuru in a casual tone, "Anything happened while I was away?"

"Yeah, big things actually. About an hour after you left, the military detected intrusions in our airspace and scrambled some A.A.A.s to intercept them. Turns out, it was King Gazel visiting with 300 more of his Pegasus Knights in tow. According to him, he wants to make a firm statement of friendship and consolidation with us and wishes to join the Republic in our counteroffensive against Falmuth."

"I see..." Radars probably do exist in this world, at least a magical version of it does. Thus, this means Gazel's uninformed act of entering our airspace is probably intentional, though I do think based on historical evidence, he didn't expect to be intercepted.

[Tactics] and [Strategy] took over and started coming up with layer after layer of complex plans for dealing with Falmuth and Clayman. Opening a new holographic tab to display Rimuru's agenda for the day, I noticed a point of interest.

"Hrm. You have lunch with him at one in the afternoon?"

I opened a Doorway and walked through it, entering the Workshop of the Citadel.

"Oh yeah, we're going to talk about our future and how Dwargon and Tempest can cooperate further. You wanna join?" Rimuru offered. I could hear the tiniest hint of pleading in his voice.

Knowing him, the slime probably let slip that I became a Demon Lord, and after further pressure from Gazel, most likely spilled the beans on the annihilation of the invading Falmuth's army by Veldora per the official narrative.

It was truly fortunate that only a handful of people knew what happened to Corbin, and they were all sworn to secrecy. The nearby towns and villages were also wiped away with not a single trace remaining. Unless they have some kind of magical alert system, it'll probably take weeks for the first sign that something was wrong with Corbin to register with the King.

"Sure. I'll join. Though about our current circumstances, the way I see is this: our main threat is Clayman. Falmuth is easy. Our technological superiority makes them a breeze."

I pulled up a projection of his nation to help me better visualize.

"Clayman's subversive actions with Mjurran have shown him to be an opportunist that'll always capitalize on our weaknesses. That's a Sword of Damocles we can easily get rid of. What's more, his nation has little over 100 million people whether slaves or freed, so he can just order massive wave tactics, forcing us to use more and more destructive weapons whereby ruining our reputation with the other nations. No, instead we'll do a decapitation—"

I stopped myself once I realize I'm rambling, "Sorry, I'll talk with you more at the meeting with Gazel about how to deal with the current situation," I said a bit awkwardly, trying to save some face.

"You sure? I mean, with [Great Sage] I'm following along just fine," Rimuru tried to get me to go on, only to be met with a shake of my head.

"No, let's talk when it's more official. Although about your new sword, I've finalized the design and purpose according to your specification. It's going to be one hell of a weapon that'll grow with you."

That instantly lit his face up as an adorable smile bloomed, making me feel simultaneously guilty, and joyful at how excited he is.

"That's great Scientia! No pressure, you can work on it at your own pace."

"Anything else I should know?"

"None."

"Alright then, I'll see you in a bit for lunch."

"See ya."

With that, I clicked off the call and opened a new tab.

The Sword of Control. That's what I decided to name it.

This 'blade' is a formless thing that takes the shape of whatever its user desires, with the only thing in common in any form, being the jewel in the area where the blade meets the handle: a modified Herrscher Core powered by magicules. Using this altered Core, one can control any aspect of reality so long as they have the magicule capacity to power it. Effectively, if one wants to control earthquakes to collapse a city they can, if one wishes to control spacetime to instantly rend a target apart they can, if one wishes to control autocatalytic chemical systems to rapidly create life they can.

The Sword of Control's current iteration is that of a European claymore. The blade itself was as dark as Behemoth's skin and its two cutting edges has a reflective sheen with a crossguard composed of numerous bolts of lightning. I inserted a gem that seems to contain a thunderstorm on the pommel because I wanted it as a representation of Rimuru's last name: Tempest.

Given that it's magic, I don't understand how it works. What I do understand is that while the sword can control an aspect of reality, it needs more and more magicule to expand the area of control. At Rimuru's current level, I think he can probably level a city block in a single swing if he goes all out.

Of course, learning from past mistakes, I've programmed an Emergency Mode within the Sword to remove that magicule requirement. Instead, the sword will siphon off the power from a micro-black hole 4,000 lightyears away through the Noosphere.

Additionally, the moment that the Emergency Mode is activated, it'll release a massive pulse of neutrinos and gravitational waves, ensuring I'll be alerted to the danger Rimuru's in even if he's in another dimension since Gravitons aren't bound to one Universe.

A bonus point for the gravitational wave is that it'll likely knock an opponent back.

Yes, this sword is perfect, a weapon that rivals any other weapon from myths and legends.

Sending a request for Crimson Steel throughout the entirety of the Noosphere, I rolled up my sleeves and prepared to do this personally.

Should probably finish this by lunch, I thought as I took a look at the time before disappearing through a Doorway.

AN: Y'all knew that the romance was coming, I subtly hinted it in every scene that Arcueid and Scientia are in, it was always there underneath the surface.

my first time writing Romance (read: I require constructive criticism on how to improve).

Walpurgis draws near...

Here are the Ultimate Skill's abilities.

[Contessa, Lord of Victory[Victory King Contessa]

-Path to Victory: the most powerful ability of [Contessa, gives the user a set of steps for achieving Victory over a goal

-All of Existence: [Contessa] scans the entirety of existence itself for ways to achieve the goal

-Timeline Simulation: against other Ultimate Skill users, [Contessa] will have a hard time trying to path them, so instead, the Ultimate Skill will attempt to simulate thousands of timelines in search of one path that would result in victory.

-Passive Assessment: when not in active use, [Contessa] will simulate dozens upon dozens of paths in order to better understand the user's wants and desires, before subtly pushing the user towards the paths that'll help them achieve it.

-Destruction Driven: the Ultimate Skill will see destruction as a secondary objective.

44

In the Private Lounge of Grandmaster Yuuki Kagurazaka.

The private lounge of Yuuki Kagurazaka holds a special place in the Otherworlder's heart. As the guild master of the Freedom Association, Yuuki hardly has any free time or privacy, especially from spies from different nations that wish to gain intel on the Association.

As such, when he funded the construction of a new headquarter for the Freedom Association, Yuuki made sure to edit the final design of the blueprint so that there was a secret space adjacent to his official office containing this lounge area. This lounge was layered with the best anti-information magic field that money can buy, resulting in a room that will slip out of any unauthorized person's mind the moment they leave it like water from a cracked bowl.

It was the very peak of man-made memetic weapons, thusly, Yuuki was particularly proud of it.

"The Moderate Harlequin Alliance has been waiting for you, Lady Kazaream." A clown who stood by the secret doorway bowed gently with an arm over his chest and the other spread out, "In fact, all of us have missed you terribly, including Tear, Footman, and Clayman."

In total, three people are in the room including Yuuki: ex-Demon Lord Kazaream and Laplace the clown.

The Otherworlder then glanced at Kazaream's reaction to Laplace's words, finding her to be blushing furiously. Well, Yuuki did intentionally choose a female body for Kazaream.

Demon Lord Kazaream, the Curse Lord, was once a Demon Lord who was active way before the last Great Tenma War. Kazaream ruled the present nation of Jistav, and being the King of all Dark Elves, he had a mortal rivalry with Sorcerer's Dynasty Sarion. Both were bitter enemies, and both resulted in all sorts of subversive tactics inside each other's countries.

Things like assassinations, sponsoring of banditry, torture of important individuals, and even more brutal tactics were all commonly employed by Kazaream. In turn, Sarion responded in kind by supplying rebel groups within Jistav with homunculus suicide bombers that can take out whole sections of a castle.

Like so many other petty conflicts, the cold war between Sarion and Jistav paused during the last Great Tenma War and petered off permanently in the aftermath since the damage brought about by the Angels was so great that both sides couldn't afford to continue to wage that secret conflict anymore. In an unprecedented move, such peace between two long-time enemies actually lasted.

During the Demon Lord Civil War that happened in the aftermath of the last Great Tenma War, Kazaream, who had murdered close to half a dozen other smaller Demon Lords and took over their domain, was feeling confident and so decided to snub the growing Kingdom of Nightrose and its Demon Lord Valentin by launching an assault led personally by the King of the Dark Elves.

However, instead of an easy victory, the battle between Demon Lord Valentin and Kazaream was said to have created a dozen valleys and a hundred new tributaries for the mighty Ameld River. At the end of this battle, it was concluded in a tie.

After the Consolidation, a new custom was passed among the Demon Lord Council— any disputes will be first decided by a majority vote. This was done because of how devastating the Civil War was.

It was so devastating that many historians point to the Civil War as the main reason why the monster nations were so slow to react to Relentless's Rampage. During the start of the Rampage, the monster nations were still recovering, so most closed their borders and ignored everything until Relentless brought destruction onto their doorsteps and forced them to join the great resistance against the Perfect Homunculus.

It was said that so many died during the Rampage a hundred Demon Lords were made from the collected souls and all died under the crushing might of Relentless.

After the final battle, Kazaream, presumably upon seeing the sheer destruction, closed Jistav off from the rest of the world for close to three centuries, only supporting the claim of Frey and his subordinate Clayman who spoke with Kazaream's authority within the Ten Great Demon Lords.

Many historians also believe the peace between Jistav and Sarion was cemented eternally when Kazaream sent ships full of food into the destroyed territory of the Elven Nation.

The only and last time that Demon Lord Kazaream left Jistav after Relentless's Rampage was to deal with the upstart Leon Cromwell when he proclaimed himself a Demon Lord and claimed the entirety of El Dorado as his territory.

No one really knows why Kazaream left to deal with Leon Cromwell. Some thought that perhaps it was Kazaream returning to his old habits and killing off fresh rivals. A more popular theory within Dwargon was that Kazaream was offended by Leon Cromwell's betrayal. Yuuki did ask, but Kazaream chose not to respond.

Whatever the reason, the battle between the two ended in Kazaream's defeat and Leon Cromwell's full entrance into the ranks of the Ten Great Demon Lords.

While defeat did spell the end for Kazaream's physical body, it didn't for his soul. Right before Leon stabbed Kazaream with his Mythical-grade sword Flame Pillar, Kazaream used magic and turned himself into a disembodied spirit that wandered the world for close to a century before encountering Yuuki Kagurazaka about a decade ago.

The ex-Demon Lord wanted to possess the Japanese Otherworlder but failed and instead became a voice inside Yuuki's head. Over the decade, the two grew close since Kazaream taught Yuuki some magic while also helping him out in exchange for eventually being given an actual body.

Now little over a decade after the two first met, Yuuki made good on that promise and bought a female elf homunculus while Kazaream became Kagali, Yuuki's secretary.

"Not that I'm not grateful, Yuuki, but did you seriously have to give me this body?" Kagali asked once more.

Yuuki shrugged while trying to hide how such a sweet reunion made his skin crawl, "Well, it was the best one they had on the market. Cost me a fortune to buy that homunculus from Sarion. Apparently, that model was very popular amongst the higher nobilities because of its immortal nature as well as being able to regenerate from a lot of things."

The grandmaster of the Freedom Association originally contracted Laplace in an effort to see if there were anything corrupt with the Western Holy Church that he can use.

Because of the backward nature of this world's society, even in spite of Yuuki's best attempt at advancing it, the act of a Priest touching a child is seen as somewhat taboo not because of the inherently disgusting act, but because a Priest is supposed to be chaste individuals who devote themselves fully to the glory of God Luminous.

However, given that in this world where a female is seen as a viable bride as soon as she bleeds her first period-blood, child-protection laws are especially lacking and are more prone to vigilantism for justice. Teen marriages are especially prevalent among all levels of society, with those between nobles trending toward the younger side than the peasants.

"Oh, and by the way, I should probably give you all a heads-up: the current Kagali has nowhere near the level of power of Kazaream. If you attempt to use the full might of the Curse Lord, that body you currently inhabit is going to be destroyed. Best case scenario..." Yuuki trailed off as he spots the annoyed look on Kagali's face, "The best case is you return to being a wandering spirit. Worst case, you die for real this time."

Yuuki munched on some pastries despite the horrified look from Laplace. Kagali's lips thinned as she is once again reminded of her weakness.

"Must you always remind me of that fact?"

"Of course!" Yuuki responded enthusiastically, "The first thing you said when I gave you that expensive homunculus body was to swear bloody vengeance against Leon Cromwell. That's suicide. Leon Cromwell was seen as a member of the Triumvirate for a reason, and time has only made him stronger."

Laplace supported Yuuki's point, "Indeed if I recall correctly, Cromwell's fortified himself quite well inside his El Dorado. His crystal city has protections that stand as a peer to those of places like Lura. They do have to stand up against the periodic bombardment made by the Yellow Primordial."

Yuuki snapped his fingers.

"Exactly! I ain't helping you twice." The Otherworlder then adopted a more business-like stance, "Now, about Hinata..."

Yuuki's spies within the Western Holy Church said how the higher-ups were going nuts over Hinata going AWOL. They tried to keep it down and were mostly successful before they suddenly found Hinata in the border town of Cont, apparently beaten and battered, with signs of torture all over her body.

Things went ballistic not soon after. Hinata was the Church's golden child, the future light of humanity, who could have possibly done this?

Laplace sighed, "Fair enough. For letting our leader walk the material plane once again, I'll give you this information for free."

The clown then looked around the room as if trying to see if anyone is spying on the trio before walking up to Yuuki's desk and gesturing for him to lean closer.

Once they're no more than a centimeter apart, Laplace finally reported the information.

"That thing is not Hinata."

Yuuki's body became completely still as the new information registered inside his mind.

Originally, Yuuki first learned of a new nation being established in the Jura Forest right after when the Orc Disaster was dealt with. Using some divination magic and clairvoyant Skills, Yuuki hoped to scout out this unforeseen element on the geopolitical stage, only for any surveillance attempt to be shorted out.

In essence, the whole Jura Forest became an informational black hole.

This unprecedented counter-intelligence ability forced Yuuki to reply on spies, who had reported a city of glass and steel, with towering structures that seem to touch the sky, where each can house tens of thousands. All of this was done without any magic.

Needless to say, he quickly cut off all ties with those informants, clearly, they were compromised if they think such a thing was possible.

Yuuki dismissed the Jura Forest since the secretly developing coup attempt in Ingrassia required more of his attention.

This dismissal backfired immensely when he was greeted with the sight of his old teacher's new body when she visited him during that humanoid slime's negotiation with Ingrassia. His jaw dropped, his human teacher had now been given a new body— one that has a constantly refreshing stasis effect. It definitely wasn't because of Magic or Skill because his [Anti-Skill] would've canceled out the time-locking effect.

For someone to be able to make such a technology capable of stopping time and thereby causality in an object... using pure scientific principle no less!

Yuuki Kagurazaka was someone who kept tabs on all Disaster-level and above threats in the world. The moment any Demon Lords moved, he would be one of the first to know outside of those in the immediate area.

So for something like this to pop up within the Jura Forest... that warranted further investigation.

Thus, using his contacts, Yuuki manipulated Hinata into attacking the slime, hoping that such an attack would lure out whoever was responsible for Shizue Izawa's new body.

Obviously, looking back now, that plan was more born out of desperation for at least some information on this new player on the world stage. Without thinking it through, this poorly thought-out plan backfired when his [Clairvoyance] failed and Hinata alongside the body of the slime and Shizue was gone.

A ravaged grassy field was all that remained after the clash.

Even now, Yuuki only has a name on this new player. Scientia Tempest. That's all he knows.

"What do you mean by that?" Yuuki cautiously asked as he silently applied another field of privacy, to better ensure that no one would be able to spy on them.

"Exactly what I meant. That thing looks like Hinata, talks like Hinata, behaves like Hinata, hell, its magicule signature can easily be mistaken for Hinata."

"And how do you know that's not Hinata?"

Soul-based identification was common for the upper tier of the World. At this level, physical identification methods like fingerprints, biometrics, and DNA can all be faked with ease, but not magicule signature since it's reliant upon the individual's Soul.

As such, Laplace has long learned how to secretly scan someone's passive magicule signature without tripping any alarms, so to hear Yuuki doubt his words attacked his pride.

Though if it were only his pride that was under attack, he could still rein himself in.

"Listen here you little shit—" Laplace growled out as his patience wore thin.

Fear and disgust followed the memories of what 'Hinata' did. The clown felt the urge to scratch his body with how much his skin is crawling underneath the costume.

Just as Laplace reached over the desk to grab Yuuki's collar, he was stopped when the newly incarnated Kazaream placed a firm hand on his shoulder.

"He is my boss, please act respectfully."

Biting his tongue, Laplace bowed apologetically, "Sorry about that. Please forgive my transgressions, I'll explain why 'Hinata' isn't Hinata quickly." The clown jaunted over to the wall and leaned on it, appearing like a brooding fella.

"How do I know Hinata isn't human despite everything pointing her to being a human? A human's chest doesn't just fucking burst open like a set of mouths with razor-sharp teeth. A human can't just silence a fellow human by stabbing their fingers into their mouth and, get this, instead of bleeding, start to merge together like they were two pieces of fucking chewing gum! Like HOLY SHIT MAN!"

Yuuki recoiled at how the usually in control Laplace was acting this panicked.

"I mean hell! I think with the way Hinata dispatched a whole hospital ward of people silently like an assassin, I think whatever possessed Hinata probably also consumed her Soul and gained her Skills. I barely got out of there! What's worse, when I came back to check on the inevitable bloodbath, everything was clean and pristine! But I could tell that the nurses were different. They were... too perfect. I didn't stick around for too long after that."

Laplace's fingers twitched to signal how jumpy he was, how much this new Hinata affected him.

"Now, I may be a Deathman, but when I kill someone, I at least do it cleanly and efficiently, unlike the horror show that is the new Hinata Sakaguchi. Whatever infected her, it's spreading on an unprecedented scale. I think it's a new type of disease. A new plague that maybe a Demon from the North conjured up. This new Hinata plague appears to have the ability to amalgamate and assimilate whoever they come into contact with, turning them into new assimilators that then spread out more and more."

Finally, Laplace stared Yuuki Kagurazaka dead in the eyes, "Yuuki, I'm telling you now, if you ignore this threat, it will grow out of hand. In fact, for the first time in the history of the Moderate Harlequin Alliance, I, Laplace, will give this information to the world for free if you don't have a solution to contain this... this relentless cascading virus."

"Laplace!" Kagali suddenly stood up in shock.

"I'm sorry President. But this is a threat that'll affect us too. Maybe not today or tomorrow, but sometime in the near future, this disease will affect us. It'll be a new Relentless."

"..." Kagali's mouth was agape.

Yuuki brooded on this new information that was given to him. His worriedness about the future increased tremendously.

"I see. Looks like you were right, Chronoa." He whispered to himself before chuckling, "Right on time."

The Sword of Control hovered in front of me. At the moment, it was a 1.4-meter-long claymore that was almost as tall as Rimuru's humanoid body. Since it's adjustable, I didn't bother changing the size.

Currently, the Sword was suspended in mid-air within an antigravity field, and all around it were hundreds of tiny different tools that I used to engineer, refine, and build this piece of magical tinkertech.

Truly, I do not understand magic. The way it can manipulate physics and the fundamental constants that explains reality defies all expectations.

I took the claymore that's almost as tall as I am and brought it to a barren world on the next galaxy over. With massive machines overhead in orbit and an ever-dimming sun, as it's being encased in a metal tomb, I embed the Sword with my own magicules and swung.

The result was fantastic. I chose the element of 'kinetic force' and the planet itself shook as a magnitude 9 earthquake rocked the area around me.

While Rimuru won't be sending earthquakes equal to the one that caused the mega-tsunami back in 2011, it should be sufficient for now.

So overall, the field test was successful.

After the Sword of Control's completion, I decided that it was high time to return Shizue to a functioning state. Since the Digital Lich was unconscious this whole time out of her War Chassis, I set up an info packet to update Shizue on everything that happened before placing her inside the Central Terminal of the Citadel.

As she catches herself up to speed, I decided to create plans for upgrading Shizue's War Chassis. Clearly, time-lock alone wasn't enough, so I turned to the other 'invincible' material in my possession: Siberium.

Creating a chassis made out of Siberium will ensure Shizue's as much of an unmovable object and unstoppable force as the Citadel itself.

Just as with Static Matter, Siberium messes horribly with light cones and worldlines, so all conventional and unconventional transmissions like radio, neutrinos, and even gravitational waves are rendered ineffective. Therefore to maximize her combat potential, Shizue will have to insert her Soul Orb into the new War Chassis just like her old one.

Inputting the blueprint for such a chassis into the Noosphere, I set the production value to '1' and had the automated programs and dumb AI start making the War Chassis without any more input from me.

With that done, I materialized another hologram panel displaying the time and found that it was noon.

I couldn't help but recall how in the past when I first went to space, it was jarring how it could be full noon on a planet, and with a single Doorway transition, it was midnight.

Using another Doorway, I moved millions of lightyears in an instant and popped back into one of the more luxurious hotels within the capital.

Sounds of birds chirping and people talking filled my ears, chasing away the silence that always accompanied me whenever I went to space. My eyes were greeted by a hallway made not of the typical utilitarian style that populates each and every single one of my constructs in the Noosphere, but instead neoclassical architecture that resembled Buckingham Palace.

With gold, potted plants dotting the side of the hallway, red velvet carpet filling the floor alongside extremely detailed carvings on the ceiling, and patterned wallpaper, this place was the definition of luxury. It was made this way to cater to any state guest and visiting nobility.

With a single thought, the Block-Form Singularity shifted itself into formal wear, namely a rather gothic dress.

"Hmm..." I look down at this dress, finding it to be a bit too revealing.

I'm not Milim, so I changed it to cover more of myself.

Recalling the room where this state banquet was being held, I stroll towards it. Very soon, I'm greeted by two goblins dressed sharply in fine butler clothing that possess a deadly elegance but with no ostentation. There's an underlayer of militarism alongside corporatism, focusing on substance over style.

They looked like clothing that people in the near future of my old World would wear.

As I neared, the two bowed before opening the door.

"Director of Research and Development, Scientia Tempest, is here." The goblin on my left announced to the banquet room.

The large banquet room continued the neoclassical architectural style of the hallway, with luxury filling every corner. At the center of this room was a round dining table that appeared almost oppressively tiny in comparison to how large the banquet room was. It was out of place being so alone here in a room meant to hold large gatherings.

Around the tablet sat Rimuru in a suit that screamed sophistication and another armored tanned, bearded man which I can only assume is King Gazel.

Engaging in eye contact with the slime, I subtly nodded before taking my seat, "President Rimuru, King Gazel. I am Scientia Tempest, Director of Research and Development and the Commander of the Grand Republic Military."

Several more butler goblins who stood at the edge of the room out of sight, out of mind, moved toward a small cart. Taking out numerous plates and silverware, they then started setting up the table for the meal.

The gentle clinks of metal and chinas interrupted the silence in the room. The sound of wine flowing into glasses took up the remains.

"Well met, Miss Tempest," Gazel said after observing me for a few moments. Taking the glass of wine, he swirled it inside his hand, "I've never heard of a position of 'Research and Development' before, what is it that you do?"

Ah, the words Gazel chose were careful, with nothing like 'please' or 'may', it sounded almost like the Dwarven King was demanding instead of asking. Well, he may be peeved at how I didn't use 'your majesty' and thus, didn't recognize his authority.

"I am responsible for all the technology you see before you, your majesty. I research the lost art of science and churn out these incredible technologies you see before you."

Gazel took a long thoughtful sip of his wine, savoring the flavor.

"This is some interesting wine. Unique. I've never tasted it before. How did you make it?"

I smirked, then casually shrugged, "Some basic genetic engineering. I changed the information that tells how life is supposed to develop, making the grapes used to make that wine contain larger, more sugar, and ferment more easily."

In truth, this was a wine distilled from a blueberry-like fruit that contain one of the highest alcohol concentrations within the known universe. It had so much alcohol that the primitives of that planet were known to farm the fruit and drink it how we would drink wine.

Being one of the rare primitives that seem to have at least some basic tribal structure, I had to personally come down and see them with my own eyes.

The Narbarians was a near eusocial carbon-based lifeform with six limbs for movement and another two for manipulating objects. They're three-digit crustaceans with near-pitch-black shells to blend in with the dark colors of their plants. Their plants are also nearly pitch black to absorb as much sunlight as possible, as the planet is a tidally locked one confining most of the living organisms to live across a narrow bandwidth among the twilight and evening zones.

It took a while to decipher their scent-based communication, and when I did, I performed a long-term experiment by gifting the tribe I visited a cube-shaped puzzle, saying that if they managed to solve it then it would grant them the power of the gods themselves.

It should be interesting to see how the Narbarians develop.

"Control the information of life? Are you talking about the method employed by Sarion with their homunculus or a Lifemolder's?"

Sarion has mastered a magical version of cheap genetic engineering. By the product they offer, I think Sarion only has the ability to control the genetics of an organism only in their infancy, and can't change it later on in life.

The genetic engineering employed by Lifemolders can either be as sharp as CRISPR or as blunt as radiation. The caveat of this is the more precise a Lifemolder wishes to manipulate, the longer it'll take for the desired effect to take hold. In a way, it's similar to choosing to either use a broad or thin brush to paint a canvas; the wider brush doesn't allow details while the thinner brush will take a long time.

Due to this, most Lifemolders spend their entire lifetime editing a single organism to perfection, one cell at a time, akin to a Renaissance artist carefully carving a single block of stone to make their perfect statue.

I have none of those problems. I can mass produce 'statues'.

"None of them. My method of controlling life is far superior to those of Lifemolders and Sarion. I have the speed of Lifemolders without disregarding any precision. In fact, my speed is so quick that heat becomes an issue."

Gazel hummed at my response. "I see. And what's your limit? Can you change the internal information of existing people?"

My smirk widened. The limit of Sarion's genetic engineering.

"If there is a limit, I haven't found it yet. I can edit the genome of living humans and, say, give them new appendages, cat ears, or even eternal youth. Life, at its most basic form, is just a set of self-replicating constant chemical reactions. These self-replicating chemical reactions will persistently grow larger and larger so long as there are appropriate resources to permit more of those reactions."

Just then, another door opened.

A chef came in through the doorway. Behind him was another waiter pushing along a cart carrying many plates each covered by a metal cloche.

This state lunch was going to be a seven-course formal French meal.

Placing three covered plates in front of each of us, the chef clapped loudly to gain our attention.

"First course; the appetizers. A small piece of toast with a fresh Jingleberry and Amberflower spread alongside light snacks of roasted peanuts and salted olives from Eurazania served alongside Bubble Wine from Ingrassia."

A waiter placed a tall empty glass next to the newly revealed dish composed of a single toast with a dark-colored spread and sides of peanuts and green olives like a garden beside a scenic house. Pouring the golden-colored drink in, the Bubble Wine fizzed akin to a mug of beer before dissipating entirely.

I took a sip while discreetly glancing at Gazel. [Biology] and [Psychology] extrapolated all kinds of information from the simple way that the dwarf drank his wine based on his posture, the movement of his facial muscles, and micro-expressions. What the two specialties gave me was the image of a tired man next to burnout.

Hrmm. I then focused on the alcohol in front of me. The Bubble Wine was sweet, and its gaseous composition made me think of champagne.

Next, I took a bite of the toast. A single crunch and my mouth exploded with sweetness and sourness from the spread mixed with the rough texture of the perfectly toasted bread.

Unlike the bread of places outside of Tempest, these ones are of higher quality simply because of the better equipment and knowledge concerning yeasts and the like. Although I have heard of mages using magic to make fine loaves of bread, I think those are only for the higher echelons of society. Plus, magic-made bread isn't mass-producible.

Swallowing the bite of toast, I took ahold of a wooden toothpick and started working on those green olives larger than your typical grapes marinated in salt water to give a taste of the vast blue oceans.

"So, your majesty, how has the industrialization effort going for your country?" Rimuru spoke without touching his dish while I absentmindedly ate the peanuts and olives.

King Gazel must've really liked the toast because he finished it in a few bites. "Your corporations have helped us immensely by providing starting capital for industrialization. Many smiths are very happy with the new furnaces you provided, what with them being able to reach higher temperatures. Though it's only been two months, my Ministers have told me productions across all places that incorporated these machines of yours have increased at an extreme level."

As they began to talk about the industrialization revolution that was slowly going underway in Dwargon, I noticed how the many social upheavals that industrialization would bring has already started to rear their ugly head.

Things like dangerous workplaces, child labor, and factory jobs pay better thus depriving other jobs of workers: these may be a passing mention by King Gazel on the level of a normal person talking about tomorrow's weather, but I know they're going to occupy more and more of Gazel's thoughts.

The coming years are going to be very interesting. Dwargon will probably experience growth like China but over an even shorter period of time since Tempest is holding their hands and helping them progress through the proverbial civilizational tech tree at a rapid, almost rocket speed.

As the talks continued, I couldn't help but recall how untumultuous our own advancement was.

Personally, I theorize Metropolis was able to advert most of the problems that come with advancing a Medieval civilization into a Modern one primarily because of how flexible goblins are. Like, humans are stubborn creatures, they cling to their culture like a man dying of thirst in an oasis. Though I also imagine I and Rimuru being there the whole way also helped.

In all honesty, I expected to encounter at least some friction considering the differences between modern liberalism and your typical conservative traditionalism but surprisingly, that doesn't exist.

Seriously, barring a few examples, there hasn't been much inter-tribal violence between different groups of goblins. I really did think this was going to be like an African situation where there are hundreds of warring tribes within just an area the size of the Congo.

Maybe it's because of our open nature and the fact we had the biggest stick in the forest?

Hmm, food for future thoughts. Speaking of that...

I wiped my mouth with the given handkerchief after finishing everything.

Realizing that I and King Gazel have all finished, Rimuru used his Unique Skill and consumed the dish in one swoop.

Seeing how everyone was done, the empty plate and wine glass in front of me were removed and the chef rolled in a new cart of plates covered by metal cloches.

"For the second dish," Servants came and placed a new plate in front of me while filling up my original glass with more red wine, "The entree, a soup made from eastern onions particularly prized for their rich flavor. Please, enjoy each sip alongside a taste of wine to wash everything down."

The metal cloche was removed to unveil a small bowl of a runny brown soup with rings of deeply colored caramelized onion floating on the surface like icebergs. Additionally, a servant next to me then used a grater and dropped bits of shredded cheese to melt into the soup.

"So, I heard that Metropolis was attacked, yet when I arrived, I saw no evidence of such a thing. Was it a false alarm?"

Gazel probably saw the steams of white gas overflowing out of the bowl, signaling just how hot it is. Thus, he took the opportunity to start another round of talks.

"Well, yes, we were attacked. Director Scientia can probably tell you the whole story since I wasn't there." There was a tone of shame in Rimuru's voice.

Before Gazel could derail the conversation by asking what did Rimuru mean by that, I added to Rimuru's words, "The attack came from an agent employed by Demon Lord Clayman. When we analyzed the attack, we found that it was a magic field designed to displace every single silicon particle within a radius of several dozen kilometers. It took a day for everything to resume functioning, and to stabilize the market."

"Silicon? Which type of matter is that?"

"The one with 14 negative polarities."

This World has a really advanced version of the atomic theory and periodic table for a low-tech civilization. If what Eren said is correct, it seems that due to the existence and study of Nuclear Magic, these people were able to get a glimpse into the power held within atoms as well as their internal structure.

"Why did Demon Lord Clayman target specifically that one? I know the 14 negative polarities are what constitute glass and sand so I could see the potential appeal, but it couldn't have made that much damage compared to a simple explosive, could it?"

Fishing for critical information, are we?

My mind split apart as [Multitasking] was called up. Normally, I wouldn't use [Multitasking] as it's using my mind as a resource, to literally divvy it up is bound to cause future problems like potentially giving birth to a split personality if I use it too often.

Using two sets of thoughts, I started simultaneously collecting information about King Gazel that'll give me a lead in this negotiation while replying.

"Our electronics— the thing that's responsible for much of our technology, controls the flow of loose negative polarities to perform various tasks like communication, computation, and controlling machines. You can also imagine them as controlling micro-lightnings. One of the cheapest and best materials to use as the primary component for these things is the one with 14 negative polarities."

You know, in my past life, I don't think I've ever thought of having to explain what modern electronics are to a medieval person.

"Fascinating."

I then waved my right hand in a dismissive way, "Have no worry, we've already replaced most of our silicon-based components with different types of room-temperature superconductors— an overall more expensive but superior base component for electronics."

I grabbed a spoon and took a sip of the soup. The soup's beef stock is rather plain, though that's mostly offset by the heavy flavor of the onion leaking into the watery stock itself. much of the cheese has already melted and what bits of the dairy product that remains have clung onto the pieces of caramelized onion, further diluting the heavy flavor into something that's more palpable.

We finished the soup, prompting the chef to roll in the next course as I wiped my mouth with the handkerchief.

"The Third Course, the fish. Salmon caught off the shores of Lake Shisu, rolled in salt, cooked crisp, and garnished in vegetables."

The fish itself was cooked until the meat could fall apart at the slightest touch, as such I found it best to use a spoon to cut into the meat bundled by crispy skin, scoop it up like rice, and eat it that way rather than the typical knife and fork. Taste-wise, the fish was salty, and the skin added a bit of crunch to the mix.

"I've been talking with Kaijin," Gazel said between bites, "He said that you'll only take him on as an apprentice if he created a sword that's worthy in your eyes."

Who?

With [Acting, I was able to keep my poker face on.

"Indeed I have."

No, I don't. Who was this Kaijin person again?

Looking back through my memories, the name 'Kaijin' triggers the image of three dwarves.

Oh yeah, weren't they the three to give me that 100 Stellar Gold Coins? I'd almost forgotten about them with all the things that happened!

"They did say how the technology here allowed them to refine all metals to a much greater degree than in Dwargon. I am glad you aren't just sending them on a wild goose chase, that would be a terrible use of time."

I could practically hear what hasn't been said. Gazel wants me to just accept them as apprentices, or else the diplomatic relationship between us and Dwargon is going to be strained since we did take that 100 Stellar Gold Coins.

The King then looked down at the fish once he was finished.

"You like the fish?" Rimuru asked, trying to engage in small talk.

"The simpleness in its cooking gives it a homely feel."

"The main course!" The chef announced after we finished the fish, "Prime cut steak garnished with flavorful herbs and more vegetables from Eurazania."

As the main course, this one was the largest in terms of portion size. A five-pound slab of high protein meat cooked to medium rare, soaked in all kinds of condiments like salt and butter to ensure the bland beef contains a rainbow of flavors. The vegetables were much simpler, just carrots and a type of greens that resembles broccoli except the stem is much thinner.

"I was told you became a new Demon Lord, Miss Scientia. According to Rimuru, with the souls of those 50,000 Falmuth soldiers who marched along the border of Blumund?" There was a subtle edge of cautiousness in his voice, not really surprising given how poor the reputations of all the Demon Lords are.

I was about to speak before pausing. How should I go about explaining myself...?

"I did." I decided to be frank, "But power isn't my end goal, it never is, nor should it be. Power is a means to achieve an end, and that end is Rimuru's revival."

Gazel quirked an eyebrow.

My hands started to get really animated as [Orator] took an advisory role, "Now, we kept this as a state secret, but in truth, during Rimuru's return from Ingrassia, he was intercepted by a Church's agent. If you ask the Church's upper management, oh they'll say it's 'rogue elements' but the fact remains: Rimuru was assassinated by them."

Telling him, or anyone for that matter that we are responsible for the decimation of Corbin would only isolate us on the world stage, in a fashion similar to North Korea in my old world. The only reason America wasn't penalized as hard as we could've been for dropping the two atomic bombs was due to the sheer scale of World War II. Me killing 450,000 civilians would be like if America used nuclear weapons during the Vietnam War; it's a massive escalation of force that's uncalled for.

Thus, it will remain forever a secret that those who participated will take to the graves, no more shall know as it's something classified as beyond top-secret, a Directive-level secret.

"And you becoming a Demon Lord somehow revived him?" Gazel turned to face Rimuru, "Like that fairy tale?"

There was a harshness in his voice. He was criticizing me as if he couldn't believe I would believe a fairy tale and use that as a method to revive someone.

Logically, Gazel's correct. I wouldn't trust someone who believes wholeheartedly in fairy tales enough to kill people over it, those are like horror movie cultists.

In a calm tone, "I have a Unique Skill called [Great Sage]. That Unique Skill gave me the option of either becoming a Demon Lord or a True Hero and since Falmuth's army was right there, I chose the much faster method."

"...Or a True Hero?"

"I am a homunculus, King Gazel. A homunculus by its lonesome is recognized by the Voice of the World as an existence that blurred the line between Man and Monsters."

Gazel cupped his chip in deep thought.

"... There's never been a Homunculus becoming a True Hero or a Demon Lord before."

"Well, there's a first time for everything."

Rimuru winced at how callous I was being.

"Speaking of first time for everything..." Gazel used his fork and stabbed into the vegetables imported from Eurazania, "Milim ravaged Eurazania."

"Oh yes, that." This time it was Rimuru who spoke up, "We're planning on sending disaster relief aids to Eurazania, and we're taking as many of the refugees as we can process by border patrols right now. Though, our main focus is on the sudden build-up of forces on Eurazania's border, specifically, Clayman's forces."

"The Marionette Master..."

"Yes. Clayman is an active opportunist, he hides in the shadow, and manipulate things from behind the scene just as his title suggests." I replied, collapsing the dual mode of thinking made by [Multitasking, "He's almost certain to be the one controlling Milim. Given how he has his army, I think he's going to invade very soon, probably in the following week at the latest. Clayman is hoping to invade Eurazania while we are distracted with Falmuth, to capture the breadbasket of the Southern Coast would yield him a tremendous amount of leverage over other nations."

"So he's trying to grab a chokehold over the food that Eurazania produces... but that doesn't make any sense. Why did he destroy the capital?"

"Milim is a very destructive individual. Clayman probably messed up and underestimated her. Though don't worry, Tempest has ways of dealing with people like Milim." I said ominously before finally digging into the meat.

The meat was juicy and flavorful, just as how I liked it. In particular, a touch of pepper gave it a nice kick.

"The fifth and sixth courses served together, a collection of leafy greens and solid dairy products— salad and cheese!"

I didn't bother touching the elaborate salad and instead focused more on the collection of cheese served on a wooden board. Gazel returned to chat with Rimuru while I focused on how to deal with Falmuth.

I think overthrowing the monarch and establishing a republic similar to ours would be detrimental. We are this World's Napoleon, establishing and spreading the ideals of democracy on a continent that's only really known monarchy.

One may think we'll go along well with Ulgrasia considering they call themselves a republic but the truth is far different.

I cannot say this enough: I despise Ulgrasia. That farce of a republic practicing a form of magic eugenics by determining who could or who couldn't be a citizen solely based on whether they get a spirit or not. That republic would've been first on the chopping block had it not been for their close relationship with Sarion.

Beyond moral issues, eugenics is fundamentally an idea that causes inefficiency. The total productivity of a nation is based on how productive its people are, and one of the main ways to increase GDP is by having more people, be it with natural birth or immigration. This was also why I introduced hard the idea of multicultural and multi-specism.

"Miss Scientia," Gazel called out to me, "Rimuru once told me his ultimate goal is to live a comfortable and peaceful life. An admirable goal. Being a Demon Lord, I would like to know if your ultimate ambition is world domination or something similar."

World domination?

"You majesty, to that I ask: what kind? Do you mean a globe-spanning hegemony with Tempest at the center? Or do you mean a geopolitical Hyperpower? Or perhaps one that has conquered and integrated every state in the world into oneself?"

King Gazel clearly wasn't expecting my answer, if his stumped look is anything to go by.

"Any."

I laughed.

It was a genuine laugh of amusement.

I chewed my thumb.

"Your majesty," I said it in the way that a parent might humor the demands of a child, "No one would tell you their ultimate goal, but to humor you, I shall tell you."

A single snap of my fingers, and the whole room fell apart as holograms replaced it.

We were surrounded by an image of the cosmos. Bright, points of starlight surrounded us, with galaxies swirling like a vortex.

Gazel was alarmed and was about to jump out of his seat, "Calm your legs, your majesty, you're thinking too small if you think world domination is all there is."

I plucked a single pinprick of light that flew around me before enlargening it until the fiery star encompassed the palm of my hand in the same manner that a baseball might.

"This is Main Sequence Star GX-0482-LV, and it has approximately five planets orbiting around it at different orbitals."

The star shone a shade of yellow before I threw it to the side as if it was garbage and grabbed one of the even tinier planets that orbited the star.

Enlargening the planet until it encompassed the space above us, I continued, "Did you know that almost every star— every point of light you see in the night sky has at least one world orbiting around it? In total, there are 405,196,543,951 stars within the stellar river that runs across the sky at night. On the best and darkest nights, you can see only around a couple thousand because almost all of those 400 billion stars are too far and thus too dim for their light to pass through the huge amounts of interstellar gas and our planet's atmosphere to reach us."

My tone was one of awe, like a kid talking about something they're passionate about.

"Of those 400 billion stars, there are over a trillion planets with a size comparable to or larger than our own, and if you add the filter size of our own moon, that number jumps up by several magnitudes. So many worlds out there, and so many chances for life... King Gazel, I have touched the very stars themselves, I have looked beyond at each and every one of those worlds and found none with life, found no superadvanced civilizations of giants in the cosmic playground."

I spoke with melancholy. Reading so much sci-fi in my last life made me excited about meeting a peer or even a superior civilization, but I was never granted that chance. The most I have is some groups that have just entered into their industrial age and an even smaller handful entering into their atomic age.

"What I seek isn't world domination, but universal supremacy. I want for us all to become the giants ourselves." My hands came up from my side, making me look like a prophet preaching the truth, "I seek to forge an empire spanning the cosmos, to build a civilization whose territory isn't measured in kilometers squared, but in the number of galactic clusters they contain, to fill the night sky itself, where its population is only dwarfed by the number of atoms in the universe, whose industrial might makes the creation of stars a trivial task, whose feats of engineering lasts an eternity, serving as an inspiration for future aliens that also, might eventually touch the stars themselves."

I was facing the holographic representation of the cosmos. Then, my head dropped until I was again facing Gazel.

"So, King Gazel, to answer your question. What I seek isn't world domination. I want to grab onto our fate, our destiny, our very future, and embrace it, embrace the stars, embrace that Final Frontier. Over the next hundred or maybe thousand years, things will change drastically. Over that minuscule amount of time on a galactic scale, I will drag this entire world and everyone on it kicking or screaming into the future, into the stars, to spread across the void between, and become a fully-fledged galactic empire."

"..." Gazel had an indecipherable look.

Perhaps [Acting] got too carried away? That specialty rivals [Threater] in terms of how much it loves theatrics and drama.

Then I added, "Do stay for the dessert, I hear the Chocolate Profiteroles they make are to die for."

AN: Walpurgis encroaches ever closer...

the death of 450,000 will haunt Scientia for the rest of this story, in less obvious ways, I wonder if you guys will see how it affects Scientia.

Clarification on Noosphere: in this fanfic, the Noosphere is a biomechanical telepathic network that connects every single piece of Scientia's technology, think of it as a collective consciousness but more digital than psychic.

If you want a Worm CYOA v1 comparison, imagine a digital version of Shaper's control over all the organic mass.

Oh and here's a teaser for the name of the final arc.

Final Arc: The War to end all Wars.

See if you guys can decipher the meaning behind it.

45

After lunch with King Gazel, I decided to spend the rest of my afternoon with Rubedo and Ririna, planning out how to deal with Falmuth. Interestingly enough, during this planning, I got a message from Arcueid which I promptly ignored until after everything was done.

This new plan was to field test a new doctrine I'm spearheading, a never-seen-before doctrine that emphasizes hyper-aggressiveness and decapitation strikes against enemy leadership primarily utilizing Doormaker as the means of propulsion.

This doctrine should result in the war ending in a single hour if everything goes accordingly.

Once the plan was finalized, Operation New Republic was born, with the goal to neutralize Falmuth as a threat with as few civilian casualties as possible.

Afterward, Ririna proposed we should play a war game, where it was me going up against all the officers present within the War Room. The Field Marshal thought she was being cheeky, and totally didn't expect to me actually say yes, and even less expecting me to use the tactics I did.

Napoleon Bonapart was considered the greatest general in my old World, after all.

One of the features of the main holographic table within the War Room of the Hexagon was its ability to simulate hyper-realistic battles. It takes in thousands of different variables from factors as tangible as the wind and nutrition to as abstract as a troop's morale. Everything relevant to a battlefield, the computer takes those into account and simulates to near-absolute precision thanks to the mainframe supercomputer held underground.

This scenario was a what-if concerning the West, where everyone turned against Ruberios. Here, in this simulation, it's assumed that people like Granbell Rosso and Hinata are seen as commanders of an army that gives buffs, as otherwise, people like Granbell can solo a whole army all by their lonesome.

In the first week of the simulated war, I chose an extremely aggressive opening move by blitzing into Ingrassia with Hinata as the leader of a strike group. They moved extremely quickly since they didn't carry many supplies and instead forcefully acquired supplies from the local population.

Such speed surprised Rubedo and knocked him out of the game by overthrowing the government and installing a puppet ruler faster than any nation could respond. I also used most of the captured higher nobilities as leverage to force the surrounding countryside into compliance.

Then, I let loose my influence as the home of the Western Holy Church and swayed a few of the nearby smaller states to my side.

With one of the two Superpowers knocked out, most of the other nations were left stunned.

Siltrosso cooperated with some rebellious nobles and attempted to rescue the imprisoned King Aegil by using a cavalry army to mimic what I did and quickly reach the capital.

They would have much success if I didn't already anticipate that. Clairvoyance mages allow me to remove the fog of war and granted me the foresight to have several more units of long-range mages to harass the marching army before escaping just as they tried to enact retribution.

Siltrosso soon retreated, since the constant harassment is causing serious desertions.

Over the next two months of in-game time, Falmuth and Sarion teamed up with Blumund to rally their forces in the latter's territory. They formed a grand army of 500,000 human soldiers, 200,000 homunculus soldiers, and 10,000 homunculus and human knights and mages as the vanguard led by General Elerenia of Sarion, creating a 'magisteel fist'.

This fist was meant to drive me out of Ingrassia in one mighty push, and as the path to Ruberios is wide open, to lay siege against the empire itself.

Needless to say, I couldn't possibly allow that. No amount of tactics or strategy is enough to prevent an eventual but long-fought Sarion victory. Thus, instead, I needed to slow them down so my slower, but primary army can reach there.

I couldn't use the same tactic I did with Siltrosso since Sarion possess what many consider to be the best mages in the entire world, so they can scout out all potential traps and ambushes.

This led me to use a tactic only used in desperate circumstances: Scorch Earth.

Over half a million people require a lot of supplies. This grand advancing army must continue to move lest they eat the land and the surroundings bare. So I took a page out of the Russian Empire's playbook and had rapid movement units made up of a team of cavalrymen set fire to as many farmlands as possible in the path between Lura and Blumund.

This made launching a direct attack on Ingrassia through the valley between the Falmian and Kirin Mountain Ranges most commonly used by merchants.

On a side note, because of my order of Scorched Earth, I was met with the unpleasant surprise of the eastern provinces of Ingrassia rising up in arms as the corrosive claws of famine began to take hold.

Many villages had to be preemptively put to the sword to put down those budding rebellions.

Such an atrocious act strained the relationship I had with my in-game allies.

With such a lack of raidable supplies, the grand army had to wait an extra in-game few months inside Blumund to gather more and more supplies to march on Ingrassia's capital of Lura.

During the wait, I was really tempted to use Ruberios' navy and launch a few raids against Sarion's capital. If I was El Dorado, I could've used their supreme navy to launch an invasion by sea through their huge troop carriers. Alas, Ruberios, like so many other Western nations, are a predominately land power first before naval.

It makes sense really. Ruberios and the others had no need to control their sea lanes given they're connected to the whole continent by land, so trade is, again, mostly done over land. El Dorado is an island continent like Australia, so control over the sea is pretty much El Dorado's lifeline since they mostly trade minerals and metals for food from Eurazania.

That reminds me, the attack by Milim definitely will cause at the very least a minor famine in El Dorado along with much of the South.

While I was pondering the further geopolitical ramifications of Milim's attack on the breadbasket of the continent, my mages have begun a ritual that'll settle a cloak of anti-clairvoyance magic on the most elite members of my army.

What I'm planning is essential to force the enemy to choose between either the more treacherous valley (or would it be more accurate to call it a mountain pass?) between the Kirin and Falmian Mountain Ranges that cradles Ingrassia and historically protected it from the old Thelium Kingdom or the safer one that goes around the Kirin Mountain Range but adds at least an extra month of travel time.

I relieved Hinata of her duty by placing the local Archbishop of Lura in charge of Ingrassia. Then, I had Hinata advance to set up decoys along the mountain pass to make it appear as if she had more people than she really does.

Truthfully, I want the grand army to move around the Kirin Mountain Range, but at the same time, I'm fully prepared to make them seriously regret choosing the shorter path.

In the end, the grand army chose to walk through the mountain pass. Sarion's mages managed to foil most of Hinata's ambushes and so they were able to go through the passage mostly unmolested. Though, their speed left much to be desired since the supply line situation became even worse.

At one point, the grand army was losing over five hundred personnel a day by either death or desertion due to the encountered attrition.

By the time the last soldier crossed the mountain pass, close to 30,000 people were either dead from attrition or had deserted.

Troublesome, that's still a lot. I had Hinata retreat back to Lura and mount a defense of the city while my main force is still moving from Ruberios.

It took another three months and even more desertions before the grand army finally reached Lura. Having such a long time to prepare, Hinata already took all the food from the countryside around Lura and razed them to the ground afterward.

It was a slogfest. The capital Lura was one of the most ancient cities in the West, it was said that there are more forgotten tunnels underneath Lura than there are rivers in Falmuth. An over-exaggeration no doubt, but it speaks volumes to how old the city is.

When Hinata learned of these tunnels, she had any that are found flooded with water from the central lake.

Eventually, the siege came to an end when my main army met them at Lura's walls.

It was like taking a hammer to an anvil, or ramming a car against a wall, for the exhausted attackers were smashed against Lura's walls, and with no place to run, it was a bloodbath on two sides as my Master Rooks, Paladins, Crusaders, and Cavalrymen cut through them like a knife through jelly.

The homunculus knights and mages were an issue, but they weren't strong enough to stop the Ten Great Saints and Master Rooks.

It was one of the rare decisive victories, and the game master AI declared Ruberios' victory since none of the Great Powers on the board could oppose me anymore.

In total, the war game lasted two and a half hours. [Tactics] and [Strategy] had a blast in that game.

Personally, I think Ririna didn't realize how difficult laying siege against a city as ancient as Lura was. Though, at the same time, she could've realized it but also know how Lura could bear a blockade of all shipments longer than the grand army can.

After it was done, I teleported back to the Citadel's kitchen.

An odd sight greeted me upon my arrival, there was a thing placed on a chopping board.

Arcueid had messaged me about trying something new for dinner. Apparently, she heard of a method of preparing dishes from Rimuru, a 'Yakiniku', or grilled meat. Effectively, it's a style of barbecue where bite-sized meat and vegetables are grilled on metal mesh above an open flame.

I've eaten Yakiniku before, usually when I was encountering a Japanese client. Never really knew what it was called though other than naming them 'grilled meat' in my head. I recall that the cooked meat was also typically dipped in soy sauce.

I had no problem with Arcueid branching out her interest, and her trying new stuff of her own volition instead of me prompting her is excellent to say the very least. However, the problem came when she wanted the squid meat to be as fresh as possible.

Thus, instead of going to the food market as any rational person would, the True Ancestor decided it would be best if it was caught alive.

I stared blankly at the freshly killed octopus in front of me, its black ink overflowing from the table with a bit of blue mixed in with that blackness. A single steak knife driven into its brain impaled it onto the chopping board, nailing it down and thankfully placing it out of its misery.

The kill was fresh enough that the octopus' eight limbs are still moving, grasping at air as the final evidence this animal was alive slipped from the world. The knife ensured the octopus would remain on the board.

"Arcueid, are you sure this is a squid?" I called out to her from the kitchen.

At the very least, the chopping board was placed over the sink, so the ink and blue blood were spilling down the drain.

Arcueid halted mid-step just as she was about to place a metal mesh the size of her chest over a gas stove. Bringing the mesh closer to her chest, Arcueid adopted a look of deep thought, her clothes still a bit damp from her impromptu dip into the Bay of Ashdapor.

"Of course, that's a squid. I even went to the library and looked for images of 'squids' before diving into the ocean."

Placing the metal mesh onto the top of the gas stove around five centimeters above where the actual flames would exist, Arcueid then yanked the steak knife out of the octopus and grabbed it.

Holding the octopus closer to my face, I exerted visible effort to ensure I didn't cringe at the smell.

"See, two large eyes, a black beak for breaking up food, orange skin, many tentacles, and the thing squirted ink at me the moment I grabbed it! All traits of a squid."

My mouth was slightly agape at her logic. Head tilting slightly to the side, I have to concede that on a basic level, it made sense.

But that level is so 'basic' it's like a toddler's.

"How many tentacles does a squid have?"

"Hmm? Didn't you hear what I said? A lot."

"How many specifically?" I insisted.

That was when Arcueid's confidence started to deflate. Quietly counting the number of tentacles belonging to the invertebrate inside her mind, "Eight! A squid has eight tentacles.

I gave her a deadpan look. At this point, the vampire was just trying to salvage any pride she has left.

So I sighed and let her take the win. Seizing the octopus, I placed it under the faucet and turned it on, washing the invertebrate.

With a single swipe of my hand, I caused all single-cellular organisms, parasites, viruses— anything that might cause food poisoning— to simply stop functioning.

In a single moment, the octopus in my hand was as sterile as Venus.

Taking one of the knives that hung from the walls, I started separating the octopus' head from its tentacles.

"Oh, by the way, Arcueid you wanna try sashimi instead?"

Normally, one shouldn't eat anything that came right out of the ocean raw since more likely than not it's full of parasites, but with [Mekhane, I've made that a non-issue.

Arcueid looked disappointed, "Oh come on, Scientia let me cook for you this time!"

My face returned to that deadpanned expression, "Yeah, maybe next time when you find the real squid then I'll let you. So I guess Yakiniku it is."

Once the head is fully detached from the tentacles, I opened a small Doorway next to me and dropped it into an incinerator.

An octopus' muscles are filled with collagens, tough connective tissues that make the flesh itself have a rubbery texture. Usually, most people prepare octopus by cooking it to break down that collagen into gelatin, making the flesh tender instead of rubbery just like bear meats.

I skipped that long process and instead used [Mekhane] to artificially induce a breakdown of that collagen protein into gelatin without cooking it.

Then, I took what appeared to be a large fruit peeler without the knife and slowly brushed it as if it was a hairbrush down the length of a tentacle. After passing every centimeter, the Auto-Knife made a cut by forcing a length of carbon nanotube down through the meat.

The Auto-Knife is what I'd like to call a 'smart knife' in that it'll make rapid cuts as if you're one of those master chefs you see on TV. This is a tinkertech I haven't released to the rest of the world since I never saw a point.

From the corner of my eye, I could see Arcueid fuming this entire time and crossing her arms.

An idea popped into my mind just as I reached for a bottle of seasoning.

"Hey, Arcueid, you wanna have a competition to see who can cut the thinnest?"

Instantly, she smirked, bringing her hands to her chin, Arcueid raised an eyebrow, "Oh? Are you sure you're willing to challenge a Princess?"

In lieu of a response, I threw her a single severed tentacle.

Faster than my eye can register, the moment the tentacle reached the peak of its arc, it was diced into hundreds of thin, almost translucent, finely cut slices.

They were light enough that they all drifted into Arcueid's waiting hand as if they were falling leaves from a tree in autumn. Very quickly, they formed a perfectly neat stack on her hand.

Because of the relaxed situation I'm in, the Mathematics didn't have any recording device active, so I wasn't able to see a slowed-down replay of what exactly happened.

My eyebrows furrowed in a bit of confusion.

"How did you do that?"

Arcueid had a smug look on her face, surprising me must've made her day.

Cheekily, she said, "That's a secret," with a mysterious smile.

My left eye twitched. Oh, now you don't.

I'll use a bribe to get you to talk. Books, theater plays, musicals, and movies— these are the things that Arcueid enjoys the most. So then, I'll offer to stay by her side at a long theater play then.

As Arcueid hummed to herself, pleased at the outcome, I pulled up a holographic display showing the schedule for the Metropolitan Theater.

Ah, perfect. There's a black comedy at eight tonight lasting for four hours of how a merchant accidentally wandered into the Eastern Empire and because of how fine the clothing he wore was, the merchant was mistaken for a noble. There, the merchant was forced to continue being a noble because otherwise, the local Imperial Commissar would have him killed as an outsider.

Ah, the Eastern Empire... probably the only real totalitarian state in this World. Their information security is probably the best among all the nations except for maybe my own.

Transferring the appropriate funds, I bought two first-class tickets for the two of us before having a molecular assembler print them.

Opening a small Doorway beside me, I reached in and pulled out two bright yellow tickets with the theater's symbol on them, instantly catching the vampire's attention. Waving them, I continued, "Arcueid, if you tell me how you did that I'll give you a ticket to see tonight's play at the Metropolitan Theater."

Her eyes lit up like a toddler seeing candy after a month of abstinence.

"Oh of course! It's my Unique Skill that I got when transporting here, [Marble Phantasm]!"

Arcueid has a Unique Skill?

It never really occurred to me that Arcueid has Skills of her own. Now that I think about it, that was a stupid assumption based on the fact that she never really broadcasted that she has Skills like other people.

"How does it work? Your [Marble Phantasm]?"

"Well, there's two versions of it, the one in my old World and the one in this one. In my old World, a Marble Phantasm is a vision materialized. It is our conceptual power that's connected to nature itself, the planet's own sense of touch."

My look of bafflement must've hinted that I have no idea what Arcueid's talking about, I mean, a planet's sense of touch? What?! And concepts? What? Just what?

"Hmm... think of Marble Phantasm as imagination realization. By connecting my own will to the World, I can transfigure the local environment into whatever I can imagine through control over probability."

I still have some difficulty wrapping my head around that superpower. Fucking magic.

"So it's reality-warping then? Through probability?"

"I guess you can call it that. Reality-warping of anything that's not man-made or multicellular life. Though Unique Skill [Marble Phantasm] seemed to have gotten rid of that limit."

"How the hell does controlling probability allow you to cut something?"

"I just turned layers of the atmosphere into a vacuum that cuts the tentacle into hundreds of thin pieces."

Arcueid spoke with a mixture of frankness and casualness.

A vacuum, huh? So she can use [Marble Phantasm] to create regions of space forcefully devoid of any particles because of probability?

I gave her a look that screamed are you serious— wait a minute—

Man-made? Limit removed?

"Arcueid, did you or did you not use your [Marble Phantasm] to disable the electronics inside my locks, thus allowing you to go wherever you want?"

There was a strained smile on my face. It is not impossible for my tinkertech to fail in the same sense it is not impossible for a Boltzmann Brain to form in the next moment, so using probability manipulation, Arcueid could have expanded the probability micro fissure for failure into a canyon of certainty.

"Yep!" She cheerfully said.

Does that mean Arcueid could control the very quantum fluctuations that make up the Uncertainty Principle? How does one even defend against something as intangible, as abstract as probability?

As if to display her control over probability, Arcueid threw the thin slices of octopus meat into the air. Each of those thin cuts then drifted onto the cutting board next to me, forming a single neat stack that remade the original tentacle.

From a basic glance, I couldn't even tell the tentacle had been cut. They were arranged that neatly.

Moreover, so that's how she got through those locked doors!

Carefully, I took a piece of that sliced tentacle and with the gentlest amount of force, spread it out across my hand like a dealer would with a deck of cards. The cut was miraculous. It was fine enough to be comparable to cuts made by a monomolecular knife.

Fascinating.

Deciding that was enough for one day, I decided to cut the rest of the tentacles into bite-sized chunks, ready to be grilled

For those tentacles that have been cut into thin pieces, I stacked them on top of each other before spreading them all out sideways across near the rim of the plate before drizzling a dark condiment that has the consistency of vinegar.

The seasoning was actually based on this one I found in a bronze-age society in a galaxy situated around five billion lightyears away, around the edge of a supercluster of galaxies. The seasoning had to be modified because the real one demands a high concentration of mercury and arsenic.

The flavor may be a bit different, but it's close enough to be near-indistinguishable.

With the preparation done, I and Arcueid cooked the chopped-up tentacles on the metal mesh placed over a gas stove. After their skin became crispy, I suggested to Arcueid to dip them inside soy sauce but she refused, saying that this tasted better since it was 'pure'.

Looking unimpressed, I tricked the True Ancestor into chewing a piece of the octopus that had been dipped in soy sauce. She was obsessed with the taste, saying how its saltiness and texture made the piece even more delicious.

After the quick dinner, I had the Mathematics alter itself to appear that I'm wearing some heavy clothing fit for the cold weather outside. At the same time, Arcueid told me to turn around and she— presumably using [Marble Phantasm]— changed her own clothes into a stylish heavy winter jacket.

I wonder what's her limit now with [Marble Phantasm]? If that's what allowed her to remake herself after being unmade with the Disintegrator, then... crikey that's scary to think about, Arcueid being able to simultaneously control octillions of atoms. She really isn't human at all.

Using Doormaker, both I and Arcueid teleported to an alley next to the Metropolitan Theater.

A black door framed by purple is already synonymous with me, what with it being an unofficial symbol for Research and Development. I don't need nor want to broadcast my presence.

Flakes of whiteness came into view as I noticed how the streets underneath my feet have a thin layer of snow. Beyond this alleyway and into the main sidewalk were footprints so numerous snow had no time to accumulate before they were stepped on. Occasionally, there were bikes and cars coming down and through the main road sandwiched between two sidewalks. Up in the air were Security Drones hovering with only a slight, almost inaudible hum, monitoring people from all races walking around freely and preventing crime.

The only that's missing from turning this from looking like the downtown in Toronto is the lack of spruce trees and Christmas decorations.

I halted at the mouth of the alleyway, and Arcueid, who walking closely behind me stopped as well though I can almost feel the bewilderment practically radiate from her.

A sense of extreme nostalgia washed over me as I realized it should be almost Christmas by now...

Assuming that time is isotropic for all Worlds, this would be the first of many they would spend knowing that I'll be dead, isn't it?

The first of many...

A quiet urge appeared in the forefront of my mind, sudden tiredness as if I had just run a marathon.

Despite the Christmas songs not being present, I can almost hear them. Christmas...

"...Jingle-bell~ jingle-bell~ jingle bell rock~..." Unknowingly I started to sing quietly, my uncanny voice makes what I'm singing not corny or cringy instead, it sounded like something synthesized, something you know is false, "jingle bells swinging~ and jingle ring..."

I swear I can almost hear it. Those Christmas songs you hear playing on the radio after Halloween.

How long has it been since I've last celebrated with them? With my family? With Kathy? I searched my memories for an answer, mentally sifting through the years after my graduation. Every year I've always been so busy, so I ignored my parents' invitation to come home and celebrate Christmas.

Instead of being rare, working 70 hours a week is the norm for me. Me taking my vacation time are rare— more often than not, I've only taken a vacation when I'm sick.

Every day's the same, the same work, occasional promotion, go home, sleep, then wake up, work.

"What are you singing?" Arcueid asked me inquisitively to my right, which snapped me out of my stupor.

"N— nothing," I discreetly wipe my eyes as if I'm removing dirt particles, "just... wasn't expecting it to snow."

There is no way I'm saying that the snowfall at night reminded me of how almost every Christmas movie started, especially with me singing Jingle Bell Rock.

"Are you sure? You seemed quite out of it there."

Arcueid strolled over to me, inspecting my body carefully, causing me back away into the other side of the alleyway and away from her.

"No, no, no. I'm quite fine thank you, it's just— doesn't matter, let's go to the theater, we're going to be late!" I hurriedly said before grabbing Arcueid's hands and jogging over toward the theater.

If she were a human, I think she probably would've fallen to the ground with how I'm dragging her.

I'll apologize to Arcueid later.

The jog slowed down to a slow saunter as I neared the entrance.

Just as I was about to open the door, a familiar squeaky voice suddenly spoke up.

"There you are!"

Stopping in my steps, I took a deep calming breath as I'm reminded of the fact that she exists, and is the same as me, a Demon Lord.

Ramiris, the supposed Queen of Spirits. Fallen Queen of Spirits.

Facing the child-like voice, I saw Ramiris floating about three feet away from me, wearing the same clothing as that time I saw her in the Dwelling of Spirits.

"Ramiris. How can I help you? If this is about the Demon Lord thing can this wait?"

"What? No! This can't wait! I've been looking everywhere for you, don't you know that your nation is in danger?"

That caught my attention. With but a thought, I took out a censoring device and created a field where no sound nor light could get out encompassing me, Arcueid, and Ramiris.

"Please explain." I'll give her the benefit of the doubt. I don't think she's the type to cry wolf.

Looking around me, I saw that I'd caught a large amount of unwanted attention. Yeah, best discuss details about national security in a more private setting.

"Diablo."

The air snapped as the Black Primordial appeared next to me, his posture in a kneeling position as if I were a king and he a subject.

"What is it that you have called for me, my Lady?"

His tone was smooth.

"Accompany Arcueid for me, there—"

"Hey!" Arcueid interjected, exclaiming, "You promised me that we'll see the play together, Scientia!"

My lips thinned in indecision. A part of me wanted to delay listening to whatever Ramiris was going to say and just watch the play with Arcueid, as I promised. But at the same time, threats to national security demand my absolute attention.

I lectured Veldora on his responsibility as one of the True Dragons and how to properly use his power, and so too must I. I should practice what I teach, shouldn't I?

So I turned to Arcueid. She must've realized what was happening as there was a look of betrayal on her face.

"Apologies, something came up..." I glared at Ramiris, "I swear, this better be important."

Feeling offended, Ramiris stomped the air and spoke in a tone of indignation as if I was in the wrong "Hey! I wouldn't go out of the Labyrinth if it wasn't life or death you know!"

Sighing like I was a tired old man, I embraced Arcueid in a deep hug. Being so close, I took in her smell, that of a garden in full spring.

Inching closer to her ears, I whispered, "I promise I'll repay you, whatever you want."

Letting her go, I turned around and prepared to open a Doorway to an unused meeting room—

"I'll accompany you then."

I whipped my head around, my face a mask of surprise.

"What— but why?"

Needless to say, her answer caught me off guard.

"Hey, I'm supposed to be spending tonight with you, not your subordinate," Arcueid said before wrapping her arms around mine, her head leaning on my shoulder lovingly, "Besides, you're the one who said you'll repay me however you wanted, no?"

"..." I sighed again, accepting her decision. "Alright, Ramiris, let's go to a more private place. Diablo, call Rimuru and Ririna since this is a threat to national security— actually, bring Jeanne as well, I think she can prove herself useful in ways other than training Rimuru and Rubedo."

Diablo nodded before teleporting away, the snapping of air echoed off the tall buildings.

I then made a Doorway to a private meeting room with a single long table in the center populated by numerous chairs that sits alongside the table. Two couches off in the corner acted like destroyers in your typical aircraft carrier strike group, serving an ancillary role as a dozen monitors on the wall displayed the Republic's flag.

As I waited, I thought about how to defeat Clayman.

'[Path to defeating Clayman]'

[1 step]

'only 1 step?'

[Step 1: launch Catastrophe-03 Torpedo at Clayman's castle]

Holy fuck no.

The Catastrophe-03, or C-03, is designed to be a long-range anti-planet weapon. A particular quirk of an Alcubierre Drive or anything similar is that if you attempt to reach superluminal speed, it'll turn the inside of the warp bubble into a soup of very hot fundamental particles. Using this cataclysmic property, the C-03 is little more than a solid slug attached to an Alcubierre Warp Drive, with the main payload being that solid slug.

This is a weapon designed to target near-stationary objects like planets since it can't really change course after it's been launched. Firing from the other end of the galaxy, the C-03 dissolves the surrounding warp bubble once it reaches within a thousand kilometers of its target and unleashes its payload of loose quarks, which at the lowest yield, contains enough energy to permanently sterilize the surface of a planet.

It is my own version of an ICBM, an ISWT: Interstellar Warp Torpedo.

Such an overkill...

I felt slightly disgusted at the suggestion of it taking more lives than needed. Granted, the C-03 would definitely end Clayman as a threat, but to render this whole planet uninhabitable? For just one person?

How callous.

One more time.

'[Path to defeating Clayman with no civilian casualties]'

[1664 Steps— error, other Ultimate Skill interference detected, path proved inaccurate, rerunning paths]

PAIN

I grimaced as an intense headache bloomed inside my brain like a cursed rose growing its thorny barbs, stabbing into my flesh and causing so much pain I crushed the handrest with my right hand while gripping my forehead with my left

"Scientia! Are you—"

I raised a hand, "I'm fine, just messing around with [Contessa,"

"You mean your Ultimate Skill?"

"Yeah, who else is named Contessa?" I said with a little bit of sass in my voice while the other True Ancestor just pouted. The pain made me irritable.

[New path detected, 231 steps]

'That was a rather large jump, what caused it?'

[Satanael]

'Who the hell owns [Satanael] and how the hell was Clayman under its umbrella of influence?'

[Clayman was under the umbrella protection of [Satanael, Lord of Wrath, which caused 99575 inaccuracies within the original path, recalculating accommodated for those inaccuracies]

'Are you so useless as to be unable to deal with any other Ultimate Skills?'

[Indignation]

[Data]

'Oh, so you just have a harder time dealing with other Ultimate Skills because of how chaotic they are?'

[Correction]

Now I'm feeling even more hesitant using [Contessa] again. I've seen too many movies and read too many books to not know that looking into the future has always been bad. Oftentimes driving the seer insane or creating a self-fulfilling prophecy. Almost always it never ends well.

The snapping of air heralds the arrival of Diablo with Rimuru with Jeanne in tow. The slime and the hobgoblin both had a face showing grimness while the Yellow Primordial sulked akin to a child whose toy has just been taken away. Diablo meanwhile looked amused if anything, as if enjoying what was going to come next.

The four quickly took their own seats. Rimuru sat on the other end while Diablo sat next to me and Jeanne chose a random one, putting her feet on the table and leaning back on the chair. Arcueid chose to just sit on the couch.

The anticipation from both me and Rimuru was growing, though it seemed the other two Primordials were mostly unaffected.

"So," Rimuru began, "I was told that according to you, Miss Ramiris, that Tempest was in danger. What makes you say that Tempest is in danger?"

My mind noted how different he was from his usual self. For one, his posture displayed complete seriousness, and the casualness that seemed to accompany him everywhere like dogs to an owner was nowhere to be found.

The fairy cleared her throat, "Now, now, it's important not to panic. I should know, I used to panic a lot back in my younger days but the point still stands, even if it sounds scary, you mustn't panic at all." Ramiris emphasized.

"Clayman has set in motion a Walpurgis."

Walpurgis?

The word was German in origin. [Language] scoured the depth of my mind for any mention of Walpurgis and came up with Walpurgisnacht, a feast performed by most Christians on the eve of April 30th that celebrates the canonization of Saint Walpurga, who battled against pests, rabies, whooping cough, and witchcraft.

"How does a Christian feast factor into whether or not Tempest is in danger?" Arcueid asked suddenly, taking the words right out of my mind.

Ramiris stared at her blankly while the grim look on Rimuru's face morphed into one of amusement.

"Ah, of course, you don't get it. Walpurgis is so rare already. And what's a 'Christian'?"

The fairy stomped her foot onto the table, the smart material barely registering a hit made parts of my mind wonder just how did she become a Demon Lord.

I mean, for crying out loud, the Council of the West sees Demon Lords as mankind's greatest enemy. You don't get there by being unable to even damage anything.

"My Lady, Mr. President, Miss Brunestud, it would be my honor to introduce to you the concept of the Walpurgis." Diablo asked, and upon seeing my nod, he continued, "Walpurgis usually refers to a banquet between Demon Lords. From what I remember back when I walked the earth and the Demon Lords numbered in the dozens, Walpurgis happened all the time but rarely does anything impactful actually happen. However, most humans see Walpurgis as something to be dreaded, as the last well-known Walpurgis that happened was to discuss how to deal with Relentless."

So, it's like an annual meeting.

"Here, in Walpurgis, it was agreed upon that once it is invoked, all Demon Lords must attend. Even unofficial ones like yourself, my Lady."

My mind then dragged me to those first few days when Rimuru came back before I had Shizue walking around in a static chassis. In one of those books he brought back, it was said that if Demon Lords gather, a great change will occur.

"So... what's the great change this time?"

AN: a shorter chapter, also, the relationship between Arcueid and Scientia isn't exactly the healthiest; the former is obsessed with the Perfect Homunculus while the latter is latching onto the True Ancestor like a lifeboat amidst a stormy sea of guilt.

46

So... what's the great change this time?" I asked, "A great war? Another fictitious 'Great Tenma War'?"

Rimuru himself tensed at the possibility of another war, probably imagining the inevitable death toll from another rampage done by Veldora on another nation's army.

The aftermath wasn't pretty for Falmuth's army nor was it for the landscape. A whole several kilometers square area was stripped bare of any vegetation, with rough terrain and plenty of carcasses, it became a feast for carrion eaters like crows, maggots, and flies.

About Falmuth, it was a shame that the enemy king didn't take to the battlefield himself. I thought that in a Medieval World such as the one I'm currently in, the kings are expected to have great martial prowess, with warrior kings being the expectation. However, after neutralizing the enemy army, I now see Gazel was more of an oddity rather than the norm.

"What? What are you talking about? We don't just declare war every time we meet; that's stupid. Don't know about others but I'm too lazy to fight a war anyways." Ramiris huffed.

"As someone who's been a Demon Lord longer than I have, what exactly is a Walpurgis?"

"Eh, usually, a Walpurgis is a tea party where all the Demon Lords gather and discuss stuff they find interesting or in rare cases, some urgent news like the upcoming next Great Tenma War."

The Great Tenma War?

"You mean that cyclical worldwide war that happens every half a millennium? Where angels descend from the heavens and commit genocides against the living?"

"Yep." Ramiris nodded, "Like humans, we Demon Lords must also discuss how to deal with the upcoming Great Tenma War in order to minimize our own losses. Although to be honest, most of the time it's those who own and care for a territory that's the most vocal about these discussions."

I'm sorry, what?

My face looked incredulous. The what? The Great Tenma War is real?!?

What?

Raising a hand to pause the conversation, "Hold on, are you telling me, that every 500 years, 'angels' from another Universe—" Let's face it, if angels do exist within this Universe then I'd have already found them considering how extensive the Noosphere's influence has reached, "—attack the human world?"

Ramiris nodded, "Though I'm not too sure about that 'other universe' part."

My eyes twitched.

[Silence Emotion: 80%]

Turning the dial on [Silenced Emotion] up so much helped me to beat back my rapidly rising internal panic at the emergence of a possibly peer-level threat.

Legends about the Great Tenma War always depicted angels as something akin to Veldora before he was trapped: a natural disaster that people simply must prepare for. Artworks depicting the Great Tenma Wars were some of the most famous ones in the world.

'The Loss of Innocence' is arguably the most famous artwork depicting the Great Tenma War. It depicts a young knight grieving over his dead friend clutched in his arms as people in heavenly white robes with wings fly above him, raining down deaths and destruction. The knight in question wore a white coat stained with dirt, among many other symbols showing how war destroys the child in a person.

The Loss of Innocence was one of the most prized possession of the Ingrassian royal family, as it was allegedly painted by King Reynes when he was young.

I never really imagined the Great Tenma War as actually real.

The children's game 'telephone' is an excellent example of how information gets distorted the more time it's shared. With 500 years of mostly oral history, truth becomes lies as certain important details become irrelevant while others that are less important get exaggerated in accordance with the agenda of the scribe or storyteller.

It's how myths and legends in my old World are made. Many modern-day cults use existing religious myths as a foundation before later branching off into their own interpretations, and medieval kings use the divine right given by the Christian God to justify their absolute rule, where 'God's mandation' gives legitimacy to the monarch.

In fact, the Crusades can be seen as Popes using the Bible for political gains.

This was why the Separation of Church and State was so important. A person can commit all sorts of atrocities if they can justify it inside their mind, like say sacking a whole city in the name of god.

I really did imagine Great Tenma War as a fiction used by those in power to justify their rule. I thought that maybe there was once an angel attack 500 years ago, but it got exaggerated into the present form of a civilization-ending disaster used by people like Carrion to justify his brutal rule since oppression beats death.

Well, then...

"For what reason do they attack?"

If I am to tackle this threat, I'll need to know more about their motivation first.

Ramiris infuriatingly, only shrugged. "Nobody knows. They've been attacking for a very long time, longer than even written history shows. Every 500 years they attack. Most of them are concentrated in cities where the most scientific development happens. Because of this, many of the oldest kingdoms have effectively shadow-banned all scientific progress and developed underground fortified bunkers in place to shelter their populations."

The fairy crossed her arms and then stared at me.

"Oh, and by the way, this Walpurgis may be of particular interest to you, Scientia. The Angels hate technology for some reason, and since your nation is definitely the most advanced in terms of technological and scientific development, the Angels will lay siege against your country. In fact, there's a not-so-insignificant chance that the Angels might only target your Republic and leave all places alone, if only because of the sheer difference."

I see, so that's why the march of progress was halted in this World. Because of a bi-millennial war, any technological development made over the 500-year inter-war period was lost when the Angels attacked once again.

Humans are resilient creatures, so how devastating must a Great Tenma War be if progress has been halted to a complete standstill?

I rubbed my forehead as I digested this information. So I've got this group of entities who hates technology, and if based on historical data, will attack sometime within the next two decade. They will focus heavily on the Jura Tempest Republic because of how I introduced technologies so advanced they resemble magic.

Ha...

I opened my mouth to ask another question—

"How strong are the Angels?" Rimuru spoke up and asked, taking the question right out of my mouth.

Ramiris adopted an expression of deep thought, "The strength of the Angels? Well, individually they aren't too strong. Using human metrics, the weakest is only B-rank but because of the sheer numbers, there hasn't been once in history that the Angels have been beaten back. The most that people managed to do was stall until the Great Tenma War ends about a week after it began."

"And... how many are there?"

Rimuru was almost afraid of the answer.

"Enough to replace the sun with their collective holy radiance."

"..."

Rimuru's eyes gained a faraway look in them. He planned what was to come next while I started to brood.

I'll say this again, I genuinely thought that the Great Tenma War was a myth, genuinely. I mean seriously, what would someone get out of keeping a primitive world primitive?

"Jeanne, Diablo, as Primordial Demons, do you two have anything to add?" I questioned.

Jeanne was the first to reply.

"Eh, nothing too much. Never really fought against the angels, so I can't really tell."

"My Lady, have no worry, we can and will easily beat back the Angels with no problem."

Diablo tried to sound assuring, but it does nothing.

Is this why Luminism, despite its similarity with Christianity, never had any Angels? In their holy book, it was said that God Luminous interacts with the world through Holy Magic and its avatars, True Heroes.

I initially dismissed this lack of winged people as mere happenstance, but it seemed to be not the case.

I assume that since they are called Anges, then they must have a 'Heaven' for themselves. Depending on what interpretations I'm dealing with here, at the very worst, I could be fighting against a Type-V Universal Civilization whose reach has spread across multiple spacetime branes, an interdimensional scale.

This Type-V Civilization must also have some kind of dimension travel technology or magic that is much more sophisticated and more advanced than anything I have.

A lot of that is speculation of a worst-case scenario, so I'm next expecting them all to be accurate. At the same time, I don't have a lot to go off of, thusly, it is best to plan for the worst while hoping for the best.

Through the Noosphere, I checked my grand fleet out there in the intergalactic void and gazed at the current armaments.

It's not enough.

My ships that can crack worlds with ease for the upcoming battle aren't enough. So then, some trump cards are needed.

No one in the room noticed as I created a new executable command under the title 'Hyperweapons'. These will be my ultimate trump cards. The supreme expression of my wrath.

With that done, my mind returned back on speculating about the Angels.

Occam's Razor suggests the reason why the Angels are attacking here was to keep a potential future competitor down. That can't be all that is since a Type-V Civilization can easily permanently end this threat by pushing the planet I'm on into its local star.

So something is halting their hands.

What could it be? Who could enforce rules on a Type-V Civilization? One that dwarfs even me?

Or... a more likely answer is that it's for entertainment. For some reason, this Type-V Civilization is entertained by the act of primitives trying to survive against an army of Angels.

You really can't predict what an alien is going to do, especially one that's advanced enough to be a Type-V. While many astronomers in my old World use the metaphor of how ants (us) couldn't understand the human metropolitan area (the wider universe) even if they try their best, the truth of the matter is far more alien.

Ants and humans at least have a common ancestor over 600 million years ago, and common behavioral denominators resulting from the same environmental pressure like requiring to eat food or reproduction. A proper Type-III Civilization whose reach encompasses only a galaxy would be more alien to us than we are to bacteria. Now try to imagine one that's two levels above that.

For the first time in a while, I felt existentially small, and insignificant, all my greatest achievements being nothing more than a transient spark that flashes brightly before quickly burning out.

But, then this raises another question: why this planet specifically?

Why is it that no other alien worlds or Earth nested in other Universes get this bi-millennia genocidal treatment? Is it because of the magicules? This world did have what was probably the most magicule in the universe.

Despite my urge to blame magicules as the culprit for attracting the attention of a Type-V Civilization, the corporate side in me won out by saying 'correlation does not equal causation'.

There are too many unknowns.

"What about the Eastern Empire?" Rimuru asked, "If the reports made by Scientia were right, they have advanced technology. Why wouldn't the Angels attack them?"

"They do?"

Ramiris was surprised.

Before Rimuru could respond, several holographic displays materialized all around Ramiris depicting the weapons of the Eastern Empire. From rolls upon rolls of magitanks that are superior to every tank in my old World to hovering armored blimps that populated the sky during a recent military parade, I showed most of the advanced weapons within the Eastern Empire's arsenal.

Although being only around the Second World War in terms of technology level, the Eastern Empire's military hits above its weight class into being easily comparable, if not superior, to modern armies with its application and integration of magic.

"Huh. They do." Then in a much quieter tone, "Rudra... has the Game ended?"

Jeanne, who was actually paying attention to the holographic displays instead of the usual 'being in her own world', excitedly remarked, "Well, now I can't wait to turn those armored tanks into iron coffins. Hey, Lady Scientia, if they don't declare war on us in the next year, could you please send me over so I could, I don't know, do some sabotage?"

Diablo sighed in response to how simple-minded Jeanne was being.

"Of course, you're thinking about destroying something new. Has it never crossed your mind that maybe it's possible to use it?"

Before the two could start bickering again like old rivals, I pushed forward with another topic.

"I'm assuming that this new Walpurgis would be primarily talking about me?"

"Obviously," Ramiris stated, "But to be honest, it may not be Walpurgis itself that's interesting, more of who had approved this one."

I raised an eyebrow, "Oh?"

"Now, as you may know, in order for a Walpurgis Banquet to even commence, three Demon Lords must approve of it, that three being Frey, Milim, and of course, Clayman. However, what's interesting and even unique for this Walpurgis was the fourth Demon Lord who gave Clayman the approval."

There's an edge of caution in Ramiris' voice as if she's talking about something that's taboo or sickening like war crimes. Taking a pause to look around, Ramiris finally said the name of the fourth Demon Lord.

"The Lord of Darkness, Guy Crimson."

The effect on the room was instantaneous at the mere mention of that name.

The usual smug confidence that Diablo surrounded himself with was gone, and so was the equally smug ever-prevalent smile on Jeanne's lips, both disappeared like the morning dew as both stilled at the utterance of that name.

"Guy, huh?"

Jeanne's voice was playful as if she looked forward to meeting Guy.

The tension in the room was thick enough that one can almost see it. It persisted until Rimuru next asked, "One of the oldest Demon Lords?"

Ramiris gave a sad sigh.

"He's not the type of person you can just mess with and expect to get out alive. Guy Crimson is old, he's one who we consider a 'first-generation Demon Lord'. He's—" The fairy was silenced as an area leaked out from Diablo.

There was a heavy pressure in the room. I felt as if an anvil was on my chest, where it could barely expand.

I think had I never experienced that THING or Veldora's aura, I would be intimidated.

"Kukukuku~, I see that Rouge has taken an interest in my Mistress, hehe!"

Diablo chuckled darkly as he cupped his chin.

Suddenly, the room was saturated by a desire to kill made physical. It was great enough that it eclipsed Diablo's own aura. It was familiar.

"So then..." The voice was said in an overly sweet tone dripping with contempt, "This 'Guy Crimson' wants to kill Scientia?"

The two auras were like crashing waves. Two wavefronts constantly coming at me. Rimuru, Ramiris, and mine stopped all motion, frozen like a person stuck deciding on whether to choose fight or flight. We were all being battered by the two different sources of killing intent actualized.

Then a third aura joined in, making my knees feel weak as if I could collapse at any moment. The third aura belonged to Jeanne, who always seems to join in any conflict even if it didn't involve her out of pure enjoyment.

"Grrr..."

Fucking battle maniacs. Now that room was the battleground for a three-way aura war, with each of those individuals vying for domination, and it appeared that Arcueid was winning.

'[Path to getting them to stop]'

[1 Step]

[Step 1: activate your [Demon Lord's Aura]

Like tipping over a bucket of water and having the liquid spread across a watercolor painting not yet fully dried, my own aura washed over others like a flash flood. Rimuru and Ramiris instantly dropped against the table as if gravity itself was suddenly several times stronger. Both were groaning out in pain before I closed my aura once everything seemed to have settled.

The two gasped for air as if they were underwater for a long time.

[Demon Lord's Aura] was apparently the 'crown' of a Demon Lord. It is the most widely accepted evidence that one has gone through the Harvest Festival. Me never getting one was apparently a mistake, one remedied by [Contessa] soon after it was discovered.

Once the fairy recovered, I asked her another really important question.

"Ramiris. Why did Guy Crimson, one of the most elusive Demon Lords, vote yes to this Walpurgis Banquet?"

"Well, even if I've been a part of the Demon Lord Council for longer than most people, I, uh, don't really know. I doubt anyone other than Guy himself knows. He's one of the most secretive Demon Lords out there, he prefers his privacy like a fish prefers water. I mean, for crying out loud! His territory takes up the entirety of the Frozen Continent up north and all that, usually spending all day with his Velzard or messing with the humans down south, either fighting or fucking. The demon became super free-spirited after the end of Relentless's Rampage."

"Uh-huh..." I trailed off. There's a feeling of discomfort in my stomach as if I had just watched a sickening video of a live air strike in Syria.

How does one respond to that? He definitely was critical in defeating my... ancestor? Progenitor? My predecessor. Given how it took an alliance of the strongest individuals in the World to beat my predecessor, it gave me hope that maybe I alone could finally defeat them all with my technology when they finally registered my appearance.

As for the Angels... well, finally there's something to work towards. I'll align nearly the entirety of my Noosphere toward the goal of eradicating this potentially multiversal existential threat. I'll mobilize all my industries, enough that the whole night sky will be dimmer by the time I'm done. Most forbidden technologies have been authorized.

'Execute: Contingency Plan M-22-20'

ConPlan M-22-20 is now in effect.

"Alright, that's a lot of revelation, but I think the most important thing right now is when is Walpurgis happening?"

Rimuru asked once he had recovered enough.

"Clayman said that Walpurgis would be happening on the night of the new moon, and the topic is about you and how, by spreading your technology and science across the world, you are effectively hastening the next Great Tenma War. He also accused you of trying to make the next Great Tenma War even worse than the previous one."

New moon? That's in about a week's time. As the others continued to talk, I started thinking about Clayman's accusation and came to the conclusion that he isn't incorrect in his assessment. I do want to spread my technology. I do want to let the march of progress move once more. What he's wrong about is that I didn't mean to hasten the next Great Tenma War since I considered the Angels to be nothing more than a myth. If I had known about them I probably would've been more strategic—

That raises another issue: what if the Angels already knew what I was doing? What's to say they couldn't observe the entire universe, so my every movement was tracked?

Against a foe with superior technology, one should never disregard seemingly fantastical possibilities.

My eyes widened as I felt a freezing ice cube slide down my back. Given that I'm still alive and no Angels have so far attacked...

The scariest and worst possible explanation, one that I am really hoping isn't the case, for this was that I'm so small compared to these Angels, it simply isn't worth the extra effort to exterminate me before the start of the Great Tenma War.

"..."

Wait a minute, don't I have an Ultimate Skill specialized in precognition? As in, seeing into the future?

'[Contessa, run a path on how to win the Great Tenma War.'

[Path to Winning the Great Tenma War]

[32,091,562,901 steps]

Shit, that's a lot of steps. At least it's less than getting the Primordial Demons to betray me, and it proved to me it's possible to win against the Angels, making the worst possibility unlikely.

"Oh and by the way Scientia, when did you become a Demon Lord?" Ramiris suddenly asked me, causing me to drop the Path, "I'm mostly insinuated from world affairs. You're still a Perfect Homunculus like the last time we met in the Dwelling, and based on that interaction, I didn't really peg you for someone that would slaughter over 10,000 humans for power."

Rimuru and I stilled into a statue at her mentioning of 'Perfect Homunculus'.

Probably the only reason I'm not going ballistic right now was because the rest of the Republic now knows I'm a Perfect Homunculus. Closing my eyes and sighing, I opened them again and stared directly into Ramiris' tiny ones.

"So, you knew beforehand?"

My tone was dry, contrasting heavily with how animated Ramiris' was.

"What? That you were a Perfect Homunculus? Of course! It's so obvious even, enough that it's an insult to NOT know that you were perfection manifested upon the face of this World." Ramiris shrugged, as if to put further emphasis on what she was saying is really obvious, "I simply had the good manner to not reveal the information on the spot since you didn't introduce yourself as a Perfect Homunculus, merely a normal, rogue one. I think everyone here knows what happened to the last one."

The part about Relentless was left unsaid.

My lips pursed as I placed a finger on it. In a neutral, and controlled tone, "It was when an assassin from the Western Holy Church assassinated Rimuru that I decided to become a Demon Lord. I have no regrets about taking the lives of those 50,000 humans—"

[Lie]

"—to fuel my ascension—"

[Lie]

"—and resurrecting Rimuru."

[Li—]

'Shut up.'

"As the Metaphysical Laws that governed reality were weakened, I use this small window of opportunity and rebuilt Rimuru by literally remaking him with his Essence."

"Wait, what are Essences?"

"The atom of the Soul."

Ramiris' jaw instantly dropped as she looked at me with an expression that screamed disbelief.

"Wait a freaking minute— YOU RESURRECTED THIS SLIME—" The fairy pointed at Rimuru, "—USING HIS SPIRITRONS?"

I'm reminded of the fact that alien cultures have different words referencing the same item. For example, while I may call the radiation that comes from a black hole as it decays 'Hawking Radiation', another alien race would name it something else.

Spiritrons for me is something entirely different from Essence, but I think both I and Ramiris are referring to the same thing.

"Of course—"

"NO!" Ramiris interjected obnoxiously like a spoiled brat, "Don't you get it? No one before you has EVER truly resurrected someone from just their Essence! The only one who comes close was maybe that Ultimate Skill user who specialized in Resurrection or maybe how True Dragons always return no matter what— How the hell would the Harvest Festival help you—" She seemed to struggle for words for a moment, before screaming out in frustration and stomping on the table.

"GRRRRRR!"

Once again the sensors within the table barely registered a hit.

Ramiris flew toward me with her hands out pointing at me in an accusing manner, akin to if I was one of the suspects in an investigation and she was a witness asked to find the guilty.

"You. You are impossible. Impossible I say! Just like Him, you are IMMMMMMMPPPPOOOSSSSI— eek!" In a mere instant, Arcueid appeared next to Ramiris and snatched the fairy out of the air.

"Let me go!" Ramiris slammed her fist against Arcueid's hand uselessly.

The True Ancestor was looking at the tiny fairy with a look of concealed disdain.

Seeing that her effort was useless, Ramiris then started to shadow punch Arcueid letting out some moves that has [Martial Artist] groaning in pain.

All bark and no bite, the specialty wants to say.

Well, the size difference already made her useless.

"Wait a minute... what are you?"

Ramiris started staring deeper into Arcueid. Her eyes were looking at the True Ancestor per se, more like they were looking at something beyond it, like a person staring down at a ravine 30,000 meters up in the air and focusing on the very bottom.

"You're... like me... but not? You are a spirit, a solid spirit— Wait what are you doing!?"

A Doorway appeared next to the vampire, a Doorway that connects to the outside if the information given to me through the Noosphere was any indication.

It seemed that Arcueid wants to throw Ramiris out.

"Arcueid, as much as I'd love for you to kick Ramiris out, we still need her," I said and placed a hand on the forearm holding Ramiris.

"HEY!"

The True Ancestor turned to me with a look of puzzlement, "Why? I mean, you got all the things you needed, right? So why do you still need this annoyance here?"

"Yeah, well— she's apparently a real, bonafide Demon Lord, one of the 'First-Generations'. As a new Demon Lord, I would definitely need allies. You throwing her out would rid me of an easy ally."

Arcueid looked unconvinced until my face morphed into a more pleading look, "Please?"

The True Ancestor's lips pursed, as many thoughts flashed across her eyes until finally, a glint that I do not like shone through those two rubies. It almost made me regret pleading with her.

With a soft, gentle smile that looks very out of place given our current circumstances, Arcueid leaned forward and whispered sensually into my ears, "Give me a cute nickname then."

I took a sharp breath in. Being so close, I could almost feel Arcueid's body heat emanating from her.

For some reason, I felt incredibly uncomfortable at such a prospect, to such a degree that it doesn't make any logical sense. It felt as if I'm tainting something sacred, but at the same time, giving your partner a nickname is a common tradition for those that are really close.

Wait, "You saw this happen in a book, didn't you?" I gave Arcueid a half-hearted glare that possessed no hostility behind it.

"Of course... Tia~."

A strangled noise came out of my throat. I could feel my skin crawl underneath the Block-Form Singularity Mathematics, which is currently in the form of a white lab coat.

A snicker came from Rimuru.

Giving him a sideways glance without actually moving my head, I saw the slime covering his mouth while his shoulder shook.

My lips thinned as my face flushed with redness. At the very least these people, other than Ramiris, are pretty close to me.

"Fine. Arc. You happy now?"

Arcueid's face blossomed into a beautiful smile that seems to almost light up the room. Then she promptly released the fairy by throwing her to the side.

Ramiris flew off and smacked into one of the computer monitors that filled the walls of the room. [Mathematics] made a calculation of the force of the impact to be no more than a flick of a child's finger.

Seriously, how did Ramiris become a Demon Lord?!

"Grr— Listen here, you dumb vampire spirit! I am Ramiris, a Demon Lord! The Fairy of the Labyrinth and I've had enough of this disrespect—" The bravado that once filled Ramiris' voice disappeared once Arcueid glanced at the blonde fairy.

Mouth agape, Ramiris muttered, "You're... you're a World?"

The tiny fairy went limp and fell unconscious.

Right before she could hit the ground, Diablo caught Ramiris in his hands. Turning to face me, the demon asked, "Shall I dispose of this annoyance?"

I gave Diablo that 'look' a disappointed parent might give to a child who's asking a stupid question. In turn, Diablo looked as if he wanted to disappear right this instant while Jeanne smiled in amusement.

"I think this meeting has adjourned. Rimuru, you shouldn't have any issue dealing with Falmuth, do you?"

Rimuru waved a hand in an attempt to put any worries to rest. Confidence is clear in his voice, "It's fineeeeee. I can deal with a medieval kingdom no problem. I'd be worried if I couldn't."

It's been a while since I last had a dreadful feeling in my gut.

"Hmm, just in case. Diablo, please assist Rimuru in pacifying Falmuth. Having eons of experience, you are to serve in an advisory role, a consultant for things dealing with magic. We can discuss what to do with the kingdom after their surrender. Jeanne, legends say you are one of the most powerful Primordial Demons out there, and the absolute most destructive. I hereby place you as Rimuru's bodyguard. Under no circumstances is he to ever get hurt." I stared into the Yellow Primordial's ocean-blue eyes, her not flinching at all from the stare, "Do you understand?"

Jeanne looked like she took my words seriously... until a teasing smile appeared on her lips. The Primordial's fists came together hard enough to disturb the air inside this closed-off room.

"Don't worry about your boy toy," before I could reject that statement, "Just leave it to me, Tia~"

I recoiled in shock as a shiver went down my spine at her use of that nickname. Diablo meanwhile looked scandalous while Jeanne laughed at the reaction she managed to get out of me.

Embarrassment burned on my face at her using such a nickname.

[Alert]

I wanted to sink into a hole until [Contessa] alerted me to look 100 degrees to my right. Obeying those instructions, I saw a dark aura emanate from Arcueid as a shadow covered her eyes, only the tiniest bit of blood-red can be seen through that veil of blonde hair.

Oh no.

"Welp, I'm off. Come on, Diablo, Mr. President." Jeanne stood up and caused her chair to screech against the floor.

The demonic duo and Rimuru left in the next moment in a snap of air, leaving me alone with a jealous Arcueid.

Damn!

The True Ancestor approached like a scorned woman would with their husband. Once she reached me, instead of doing anything physical, Arcueid engulfed me in a hug and started repeating the word "Tia," like it was a mantra.

"Tia, Tia, Tia, Tia, Tia,"

"Um, Arcueid, what are you doing?"

"I'm repeating the nickname so that you'll forget that someone else used it. Tia, Tia, Tia, Tia, Tia..."

For some reason, I found that to be adorable. However, it's slowly starting to get annoying to keep on hearing my nickname. So materializing a holographic interface behind Arcueid but right in front of me, I checked the time to find it at 9:38 pm.

"You... still wanna see the play? There's still time."

Arcueid became quiet for a few moments, "Sure. I have a slight feeling that I won't be able to see you for a few days after tonight, so we are going to spend as much time as possible in each other's company, my Tia~"

The True Ancestor ended that last part with sensual playfulness.

Oh god, why did I give her the idea of a nickname?

Later, the Room of Otherworldly Objects.

After finishing the play and having a late-night dinner with Arcueid, I decided that it was finally time to renegotiate the contract with Shizue. The conversation the two of us had was something that was best left unrepeated, but the end result was that she will remain in my employment.

Afterward, I teleported into the deepest, darkest depth of the Citadel, a place completely separate from the monochrome fortress that protected me.

The moment I stepped out of that Doorway, I was greeted by the sight of a long and plain hallway that seemed to stretch onward toward infinity. What's more attention-grabbing was that I saw a version of myself, back turned to me, around three meters in front of my physical presence down the hall.

Turning to look behind me, I saw another version of myself, currently turning around to look behind themselves, also around three meters down the hall.

It was as if there were two mirrors on both ends of the hallway.

By itself, the hallway didn't have anything of note, and thus wouldn't look out of place in the middle of the basement of an office building, what with the floor, ceiling, and walls being made out of this grey, concrete-like material and neon lights hanging from the ceiling.

This... was the result of an expert manipulation of spacetime itself; the creation of a manifold; a tiny hypersphere; an infinitely looping hallway that'll trap whoever tries to get those Otherworldly Objects I got from the Dimensional Bore.

The easiest way to break out of this manifold is probably using a black hole. A gravitational singularity has the effect of writing any wrongs in spacetime. These extreme objects can't be transported using Doormaker nor can they be stored using a pocket dimension. Not even space magic can affect them.

So I simply moved down the halls, my boots echoing against the walls. My reflections did the same.

The instant I moved more than three meters, the volume of space I'm in started to distort. Everything split and started turning and twisting as if I was inside a kaleidoscope. Lines branched off and split into multiples, colors changed, and my reflections quickly disappeared.

Higher dimensions. My brain couldn't really comprehend those higher dimensions when I've lived in a three-dimensional universe all my life.

It would've been almost maddening had the Mathematic not automatically censored out most of my field of view.

Then, a wall made up of darkness so all-consuming one can easily think they just came next to an Event Horizon replaced that kaleidoscope.

A few more steps and everything returned to its Euclidean nature, aligning itself with the proper spacetime after I passed through a pitch-black Domain Wall.

Finally, I found what I was looking for.

The golden sword held within its very pretty scabbard.

It's currently contained within an invisible plasma window, held aloft by magnetic fields.

I turned off the plasma window using [Mekhane] and had the magnetic field propel the sheathed blade into my hand.

My fingers traced the item with a delicate touch. According to Arcueid, this can be seen as her 'cousin' in a way, and when I asked if I could wield it, she gave me her blessing if I managed to force it into submission.

The blade, in short, is alive in a way.

My fingers started to sink into the scabbard like the teeth of a lion into the throat of an antelope.

According to Arcueid, no man-made object should be able to even scratch this, but I'm using an artificial black hole.

The golden and blue metal warped against my armor, a piece of technology that stands as one of the many peaks of what I'm capable of, what with it being able to effortlessly survive the full brunt of a supernova.

The air in the room started to swirl. Magicules erupted from the scabbard as it attempted to push me away, causing my lab coat to flutter about like a flag in a thunderstorm. It caused such a stir within the room that the Mathematics registered wind speeds of over 300 kilometers an hour.

It was useless. Using but a thought, the white lab coat around my body stopped fluttering about.

With my left hand fully secured itself against the sheath, my right grabbed onto the handle of the sword.

Then, I flared my magicules and started pouring them into the blade.

The sword rejected it, but I push onward nonetheless.

When I realized it wasn't enough, I reached out through the Noosphere toward a particular Star Lifter about 29 lightyears away and diverted its mined resources my way.

A crimson ovoid surfaced from the depth of the Mathematics and started spreading out its tendrils. Red lines bloomed and filled every square inch of my body like vines on an abandoned home.

Using [Unlimited Alchemy, I started transmuting billions of tons worth of material into magicules, with only about 10% of that being recycled into fuel for [Unlimited Alchemy].

Very soon, the blade started to blacken, and the sheath further glowed with holy light as it attempted to fight back against my encroaching influence.

It was useless. My Noosphere mines more iron in a single nanosecond than humanity has ever mined in its entire history.

The darkness continued to spread, first from where I'm holding. The darkness ate away at the blue and gold, with the two colors melting away like ice placed in a frying pan.

The sword and sheath, who must've realized it was fighting a losing battle, attempted to appeal to the remanent of the human in me. Through the light of hope, it showered me with the glory of humanity— our successes and achievements both big and small, from the first nameless human who artificially made a fire, to the first blacksmith that made the first bronze sword that will be used to kill a fellow man, to the first true usage of Thomas Newcomen's atmospheric engine, to the site of the Trinity Test when mankind first challenged god, to the Moon Landing when Neil Armstrong said his famous lines, this beautiful blade— nay, I should finally start calling it by its real name: Excalibur— showed me the power of humanity.

It would have an amazing sight that would trigger feelings of hopefulness for the future...

If it wasn't already dwarfed by what I've done.

I advanced from the Medieval Age to the Atomic Age in less than a month. My territory is measured in how many billions of galaxies it contains. My greatest scientific achievements put whatever humanity has done into perspective: merely apes using rocks.

And so, I brought the sheathed blade close to my chest before clenching the handle as hard as I can. By now, the blackness was spreading throughout the blade like wildfire on a dry summer day.

I pulled.

"RRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAGH!"

A single scream of effort later, and the sword singed.

Shing*

The blade was fully unleashed. Waves of concentrated magicules went haywire. They danced around me chaotically like virtual particles in a vacuum before starting to carve deep gashes on the wall, floor, and ceiling and even destroying the original container used to house the scabbard and by extension, the blade.

Instead of golden, the blade was now ebony, only interrupted periodically by red lines strung all over the blade in a clear and concise manner. The order was completely contrasting the slowly receding crimson veins on my body.

By my will, the sword immediately ceased unleashing its magicules and returned to being a normal blade, well as normal as such a blade of its caliber could be.

Bringing it closer, I examined it in detail.

It needs a new name, Excalibur doesn't quite fit it.

"Hmm..." I hummed to myself, before snapping my fingers, "I've got it, you shall henceforth be named...

...Asimov."

AN: a rather short chapter for today, though the Chekhov's Gun about summoning Excalibur and completing the Alter look is finally complete!

Man, I wonder how many of you guys knew that it was Excalibur? Like some guessed it right.

Also yes, Asimov is in reference to Isaac Asimov, arguably the greatest science fiction writer in history, creating many of the modern-day tropes like the Galactic Empire and the Three Laws of Robotics, the latter of which is thought of as the beginning point for how legit AI should be programmed to obey./Alert]

47

This was a desolate wasteland as far as the eye can see. Simple greenery like trees or even just grass was like a bygone dream with how devoid of life this place was. Titanic rifts of a size comparable to the Grand Canyon in Colorado split the lands, their deep bottom glowing a baleful red with lava constantly spewing forth from underground.

The sky above this wasteland wasn't the pretty blue it should've been but instead clouded by towering plumes of toxic gases and ash that originated from distant volcanoes.

One can almost imagine this was what Hell looked like.

Boom*

An explosion rang out as something crashed into the edge of a ravine, taking out a large chunk of the cliffside like a fist punching through a sand castle.

Moments later, clouds of dust and debris began to slowly rise above the crack in the ground akin to trees steadily growing in the summer. These clouds eventually reached hundreds of meters tall, yet only peaked a few meters above the top of the ravine.

"Are you done?" A 'man' with long red hair said. His arms were crossed and his eyes spoke of judgment.

The man hovered there above the ravine, silently, like an arbiter determining the fate of those being judged.

In response, all that the man got was a very loud animalistic scream and the ground underneath him churning and swirling along like the surface of a soup. The titanic ravine disappeared and instead turned into a whirlpool.

Sharp tips came up from that vortex of loose matter, hundreds in number as they surfaced like a submarine. They looked like the tips of drills that a miner might use, and just like a drill, they started spinning faster and faster before very quickly, they started to glow from air friction.

These drill tips were made out of a mixture of carbon allotropes like carbon nanotubes and lonsdaleite, to create try and minimize the brittleness of a crystalline structure and maximize durability, resulting in a material that's much stronger and more versatile than diamond.

Hundreds of sonic booms exploded as those drill tips were blasted at him at speeds fast enough to escape the pull of the planet's gravity. Alongside this barrage of drills were gargantuan pillars of holy light with a size easily rivaling skyscrapers that erupted out of the ground.

All of these were aimed solely at Guy Crimson, the first Demon Lord.

Clap*

The barrage was gone.

The attack was dispelled with a single clap of Guy's hands.

An attack that can devastate a mountain was wiped away so cleanly from existence that the only remaining proof was memories of its existence in the minds of those who observed it. There weren't even any atmospheric side effects remaining from that attack.

"I see, that is your answer," Guy said solemnly, without his usual bloodthirsty grin whenever he faces down against an interesting foe, "You are an error in the World, the Error that proved Veldanava's death orchestrated by the World itself has finally started to bite back. You are Veldanava's Retribution. His hatred. Since I was tasked with the role of an arbiter and your existing prevents any further arbitration, I will end this quickly to avoid any further damage."

If this were a court, then this would be the part where the judge handed out the sentencing.

"Let it be known, that by the power vested in me by God Himself, I judge you; an Enemy of the World. The sentencing is true death."

Guy's right hand reached out with the palm facing the sky. It was as if he was about to offer something— an unusually red flame.

An open fire has several stages as the chemical reaction starts. Near the center of the flame is the hottest, where the fire burns blue, and then further outward is yellow before changing into orange as the temperature cools. Rarely is any fire actually red.

The flame in Guy's palm was completely red, as if it was a solid thing and it was painted a cover of bloody crimson.

The Primordial Demon then clenched his hand and crushed the flame like a bug.

Bwooosh*

The fire extended out from his hands parallel to each other, lengthening and forming into something that resembled a spear.

It wasn't a solid spear, but instead, a lance made from the same bloody crimson as that fire, a spear made out of an existence-erasing flame.

Guy drew the spear back like an Olympian Javelin thrower about to launch it.

The whirlpool of matter underneath the Demon bulged up like someone blowing up a bubble. Akin to ICBMs on the back of special trucks, several knives bearing a monomolecular edge each larger than a house rose up around the edge of this matter bubble. Those knives were imbued with Disintegration magic and will wipe away any spirit that merely graces it.

Without any warning, the bubble collapsed, bursting like a normal bubble and blasting out a single figure of utter perfection. Alongside this figure were those knives and arcs of lightning.

"[Azrael Reverse All Creation]"

Just before the Perfect Homunculus could touch Guy, the Red Primordial threw his flaming spear right into Relentless' abdomen and overpowered the tremendous acceleration it built up.

This spear instantly reversed the climb of the Error of the World into a rapid descent.

Relentless was nailed to the earth by that flaming spear.

The monster screamed out louder than ever as the red fire started to spread, steadily consuming more and more of its body.

"This is an ultimate attack of mine, made from [Azrael, Lord of Death, an Ultimate Skill I copied from the first Hero I killed eons ago. Ah, it's been so long since I've last used it. This ability will ensure you are completely removed from existence. It's such a true death that I think only True Dragons and... maybe a Primordial could still resurrect from it."

The fire fully consumed Relentless. [Reverse All Creation] steadily burned away the Perfect Homunculus into nothingness. There weren't even any ashes that remain after the fires of unreality extinguished itself now devoid of any fuel.

Obviously, Relentless struggled, trying desperately to remove the spear stuck in its chest even as the flesh on its fingers burned away, leaving only blackened bones that are also steadily being consumed by oblivion.

"..."

It took a mere 30 seconds. Nothing remained of Relentless. The particles that used to make up the Perfect Homunculus were gone. Thermodynamics and Conservation of Mass were both violated.

Guy stretched his limbs a bit afterward. Using [Lucifer, Lord of Pride, he found no remains of its spirit left. The Perfect Homunculus was as dead as it could be.

This was an act of ontological killing. A reversal of creation. It was a death so thorough that it wasn't mistaken to call it a murder of reality as the act of killing propagates backward in time like shockwaves from an explosion, slowly retroactively removing Relentless from the memories of everyone, including the World.

Very soon, in a few months, no one would remember who or what Relentless even is. Only those with an Ultimate Skill would still remember this Error of the World.

It would be as if Relentless never existed, a true death, a true deletion.

"[Reverse All Creation, what a great tool for a janitor."

Already, the landscape around Guy was being returned to how it was as if Relentless hasn't subsumed those particles and matter. While the wasteland was still there, the evidence of their battle was already steadily being erased, as the ravine returned.

Cracking his neck, Guy sensed a distortion in space several meters away from him.

Giving it a sideways glance as he tilts his head, Guy found some of the most powerful individuals in the World teleported next to him, all of them just like him hovering effortlessly in the air.

"Is it over?" A masked woman asked, being the one who stood at the forefront of this group.

Guy knew who this woman was. She was the one who warned him of this impending threat.

'A threat beyond that of a rampaging True Dragon.'

"The Hero Chronoa... well now who'd have imagined this? You of all people, need my help?"

Not only is she an oracle, but Guy's [Lucifer] also cannot copy her Ultimate Skill [Yog-Sothoth, God of Spacetime, making her someone that's very interesting.

The Hero, predictably in response, tightened her grip on the handle of her nameless sword.

The Red Primordial then smirked at the pissed-off Velgrynd.

The birthplace of Relentless was in the Eastern Empire about a month ago. On the first day, it slaughtered the city where the laboratory used to make it was housed. Then, the next day it slaughtered the task force composed of five Imperial Knights ordered to suppress it.

It was only on the third day upon which Velgrynd finally took to the field. By that time, a noticeable percentage of Imperial soil was on fire, and those beyond the Empire's borders were starting to question what was happening with the giant plumes of ash and smoke clogging the sky.

Velgrynd failed to fully destroy this threat, and the end result was the eruption of a brand new volcano when Velgrynd tried to bury the then-unnamed Perfect Homunculus deep into the earth. Desperate, Velgrynd threw Relentless into orbit and it crash-landed halfway around the world into the Kingdom of Thelium to let them deal with it.

It was there that the monster gained its name. 'Relentless', for how even when Thelium threw their best of the best soldiers at the Perfect Homunculus, it continued to walk without taking a single break and destroyed Thelium's capital in a single day.

Relentless. Unstoppable. Thelium quickly descended into a state of total anarchy with the head decapitated.

Third Prince Raegar Thelia, who was one of Thelium's strongest fighters, managed to rally several dukedoms near the capital and launched a counterstrike against this beast.

He conscripted every man, woman, and child he can find. For the men, he gave them any weapon he could find and sent them marching. For the women, he made them pack all their stored food for the journey. For the children, he made them assistants.

In the end, Raegar Thelia managed to acquire an army measured in the tens of thousands, and they marched at Relentless.

Raegar and his entire army of families died not a few hours after they started marching.

Wherever Relentless went, destruction and breakdown of order followed. The continent encountered a refugee crisis of unprecedented proportions as those who used to live under the banner of Thelium tried to escape the incoming carnage wrought by Relentless.

Heroes like Chronoa and Granbell managed to put a halt to the panic by reaffirming that Relentless will be dealt with.

They failed.

Again, and again, attempts have been made to kill Relentless but all have failed. Secret weapons were used, and weapons of mass destruction usually kept as a last reserve were used, hell, at one point, the Kingdom of Arcadia offered 10,000 of its own citizens' lives to any monsters to ascend them into a Demon Lord, with the only caveat being they must fight on the front lines.

The only thing that was slowing Relentless down was how large the continent was, but even then, that's only buying the Heroes very little precious time.

Even when Relentless wandered into the Jura Forest and started fighting against Veldora, it only slowed the Perfect Homunculus down by a few days before the Storm Dragon finally realized this was an exercise in futility and blew Relentless away.

Relentless was unbeatable, that was until Guy finally stepped in.

Facing his long-time rival, Guy taunted, "How weak must you humans be if you cannot beat such a weakling?"

Rudra didn't move at all. His armor stayed motionless, as did his Divine Sword Star that was strapped to his waist.

Guy and Rudra go back a long time. Both were the first of their respective classes, Demon Lord and True Hero. Both were rivals of each other, and the world was their chessboard. The only limit that the two placed upon themselves in this game was that none could personally take to the field.

"You're growing weak if you cannot beat such a being, Rudra, maybe it's time to end the game."

In response, Rudra smiled faintly, smug, as if he has a trump card up his sleeve, "Well yes, that would be your victory, except Relentless isn't dead yet."

Guy raised an eyebrow before silently scoffing.

What, is Relentless a new True Dragon now?

The first Hero of mankind pointed at the ground where the Perfect Homunculus had been nailed to by that spear of oblivion.

Just to humor his old friend, Guy exerted the seemingly unnecessary effort and glanced at the spot, not really expecting anything to have survived that [Reverse All Creation]—

Something was there.

It was like seeing the reverse of something being sucked into a black hole; an entire person erupting out of an impossibly small point in space.

Relentless has returned, and it is pissed.

The Perfect Homunculus howled loud enough to rival the roar of a True Dragon fully unleashed. Crimson veins grew all over its pale skin as its animalistic blood-red eyes stared hatefully at the Red Primordial. At the same time, Relentless set itself on fire.

It wasn't your typical fire, for the flames that now surround Relentless like a suit of armor were of the same bright red as Guy's [Reverse All Creation].

"What—"

Faster than even Guy could fully react, Relentless appeared right in front of the demon. The Perfect Homunculus' two hands collapsed in on the Lord of Darkness' throat while the group that Chronoa brought with her watched on in horror.

"[Longinuslanze Testament]"

Guy Crimson could feel a sharp pain making itself known. While this was happening, Chronoa blitzed forward to try and halt whatever the Monster was doing, except it was too late even when the Hero thrust her sword through its neck, almost decapitating it.

The first Demon Lord woke up with a startled gasp.

The darkness of the room he was in managed to conceal the fact that both he, or rather, 'she' was in bed with Velzard, and both of them were naked.

Sighing like an old man who's lived for too long, Guy got up and sat by the edge of the bed. Her movements were careful and graceful, all to ensure the True Dragon who's been her partner for eons remained in undisturbed slumber.

Gripping her head, Guy massaged it a bit before whispering to herself, "Damn, why did I get that dream again?"

"That nightmare again?"

The voice was sweet and heavenly.

The Primordial whipped her head around to face Velzard, who was lying sideways on the bed while leaning on her right arm. Most of the beautiful True Dragon's humanoid body was covered by the bedsheet.

"...Yeah."

Guy's voice was uncharacteristically weak. One can never imagine one of the strongest individuals in the World being this vulnerable.

And it was because of this vulnerability that the second oldest True Dragon looked at her partner with a gaze of concern, "Didn't your game with Rudra ended in an 'inconclusive' since that was ending?"

Guy Crimson thought about it for a few moments, then opened her mouth to say something when an announcement echoed throughout the castle.

""Lord of Darkness, Demon Lord Guy Crimson, we bear a message; Demon Lord Leon Cromwell wishes to speak with you.""

The Frozen Continent, four days before Walpurgis.

At the very top of the planet was a land of always winter. It was a place that was dark for half of the year while daytime for the other. It was an inhospitable realm where the only residents were demons and the occasional sea mammal, for example, whales with a length of half a kilometer that surfaces to take in air.

One of the oldest legends in the world says that the main supercontinent where the humans and monsters lived used to be much larger. It was said that the primary mountain that made up Dwargon used to be the very center of the continent instead of being one of the most northern points.

Like blood spilling forth from a wound, the extinct supervolcano where the first Dwarven King build his castle parted the seas and made a truly gargantuan supercontinent, but because of a cataclysm that happened long before the birth of Relentless, much of the northern sections sank beneath the seas, and what remained drifted further north until it became a seed where ice caps grew and spread out.

At the very center of the eternal freeze lies a grand illustrious palace composed of ice. It stood defiantly against the snowy wasteland, standing out amidst a hostile land. Like sand in a desert, fallen snowflakes formed wavy dunes as the antarctic freezing wind chilled the whole continent to a supernaturally low average of -80 Celsius.

The home of the Red Primordial, the Palace of White Ice was a truly grand castle larger than the Forbidden City, hanging off a hand made up of ice, with what appeared to be a dragon coiling around the palace, almost as if it was a snake and the palace was its eggs.

The sheer grandeur of the Palace would take the breath away from most people.

Leon Cromwell is not like most people.

The humans call him the Greatest Traitor of Mankind, the Demon Lords call him the Platinum Saber, his people call him the Overlord of El Dorado, and his subordinates affectionately call him Bent Stream.

Leon is many things to many different people, but to himself, he knows that he is someone completely obsessed with a singular goal.

Nothing so grand as saving the world, but something far simpler, and far more selfish.

The sound of Leon's footsteps echoed throughout this frozen, and far too underpopulated palace once he entered through the ginormous front gate. The Ex-Hero only stopped once he reached another set of rather large doors.

Focusing on it, Leon found elaborate and fine carvings impressed upon the frozen door. There were various depictions, with the oldest one showing what was undoubtedly Guy Crimson raining death upon humans while the newest— still at least 370 years old— depicted the battle between Guy and Relentless.

Seeing the carving of Relentless's Rampage, a little fact surfaced at the forefront of Leon's mind. It was that supposedly, Guy Crimson, arguably the most powerful and ancient of the Demon Lords, changed drastically after the Rampage. It was said before, he was a battle maniac, one who fought against Velzard constantly.

There was even a joke that the snow that occasionally covers the whole world during winter was due to a fight between the Second True Dragon and Guy Crimson.

However, after the Rampage, Guy turned inward and became carefree, almost like a six-year-old second child of a noble. The Primordial behaved as if he had no worries or responsibilities and tried to enjoy life to the fullest.

Creeeeak*

The large doors creaked open by two giant demons. Honestly, it annoyed Leon of how utterly slow it is, like seriously, is this much drama really necessary?

""Lord of Darkness, Demon Lord Guy Crimson, we bear a message; Demon Lord Leon Cromwell wishes to speak with you.""

Two maids announced— rather, it was more accurate to say that two of the strongest demon here aside from Guy announced. One of the maids has blue hair while the other has green— Rain and Misery, the two oldest subordinates of Guy Crimson, two of the Seven Primordial Demons.

The two who stood near where Guy's seat was bowed to him as he entered the throne room.

Dozens, hundreds of demons with the weakest being an Arch stood in attendance to an empty throne.

The large Throne that Guy Crimson sat on was a crude thing. It was an uneven monstrosity of spikes, jagged edges, and twisted magic metal. The broken and meshed together thing was a symbol of Guy Crimson's power, for it was made up of the armor and swords of the near countless Heroes he's slain over the eons.

In Leon's personal opinion, it couldn't even be called a throne. The legendary and mythical enchantments held within the armor and blades of those Heroes who died still linger and will attempt to lash out at anyone approaching.

It is a hedgehog— anyone who tries to sit on that throne will get stabbed.

Seeing that the Lord of Darkness isn't here, Leon clicked his tongue in annoyance.

Walking forward, the two maids approached and flanked him on either side. Once the Ex-Hero was mere meters away from the monstrous throne, he stopped. The two maids on either side of him bowed and—

"Alright, alright! I'm here, I'm here!"

A dark portal opened. From that portal walked out a beautiful young woman with a mop of red hair walked out, she was half-naked and the clothes that were on her were strung about.

The young female demon then took a seat on the metal throne even as it tried to repel it. As if realizing something, the female snapped her hand and her body changed to a familiar male.

Guy Crimson, is one of the three first-generation Demon Lords.

"Ah, the throne still fights against me to this day, the will of those Heroes still lingers, and because I've melted them all together, they gained about a human level's intelligence. Every time I try and sit, the throne tries to reject me, but that's all the more fun since I get to beat it into submission again and again."

Guy leaned forward on his throne, slapping one of the swords that poked out and bending its edge, "I could definitely force it to my will, but then I won't get any more fun."

Correction, Leon thought, that battle maniac is still there.

"How cruel, do you enjoy tormenting the spirit of Heroes that much?"

Guy shrugged.

"That's surprising coming from you, big ol' Betrayer of Humanity. I tried to mess with other humans, especially the nobles. Tried to have some fun with them, but they pass out or even just expire. Even when I tried to make myself extra vulnerable by appearing like an innocent maiden who was fresh into their adulthood; they are just too boring. I mean, seriously, there's this one ugly bastard that tried to mind-break me with some drugs but his heart gave out before I could fully have my fun."

Guy then ripped out a metal piece from his throne and started scratching his chin as if to get rid of an itch, "Although, I guess trying to use techniques used to pleasure a True Dragon tends to be an overkill."

Guy then looked at Leon with a teasing smile that the latter do not like.

Getting up from his throne, Guy walked forward and leaned in kiss to Leon before the Ex-Hero forcefully halted his advances, causing the Lord of Darkness to pout like a little child.

"You know, it's people like you that are no fun," The Demon sighed, "I think you would've enjoyed it. I mean, I've stolen away both the Hero and the Heroine, sometimes even both at the same time! None could've beaten me on the battlefield of the outside and the bedroom."

Leon was once again reminded of just how ancient Guy Crimson truly was. To this entity, nothing about another person was sacred. Time erodes away all sacredness.

"I swear, you really do get tired of the same thing repeating again and again. The look of despair on the Hero's face grew stale after the fifteenth time."

A loud clang echoed around the throne room as Guy stabbed the metal piece back into the throne.

"But anyways, let's get to the real reason for this meeting."

He then got up and motioned Leon to follow him through the Palace of White Ice.

Reaching a large terrace overlooking the frozen continent, Leon Cromwell sat down on the chair beside the only table in the room while Guy just conjured up one.

"I'm guessing the thing you're wondering about the most was why I agreed to the Walpurgis, yes?"

"Yes"

Guy's arms crossed as he took a sigh, such a scene was so alien from the person in the Throne room that it was giving Leon whiplash.

That whiplash suddenly disappeared as Leon's mind registered what Guy had said next.

"Relentless has returned."

"..."

Leon was absolutely speechless before he quickly got his bearings back.

His immediate thought was—

"Impossible."

The Ex-Hero snarled out.

"Everyone as young as three knows that Relentless is gone, permanently, for the last 400 years. Otherwise, the world would've been long destroyed. My own nation of El Dorado was formed directly as a result of Relentless's Rampage. The shifting tectonic plates caused by that Perfect Homunculus severed the land bridge and expanded what was a small island into what it is today."

A look of pure amusement descended upon Guy's face as if he was savoring Leon's denial like a fine meal.

"Yes, that is the official story. What we didn't tell you was just how we got rid of the Perfect Homunculus."

Leon stopped all moment, his eyes gained a distant look.

"... 'We'?"

Guy conjured up a wine glass filled with a light pink liquid inside it, and did the same for Leon, for a glass of wine was now inside his hands. Taking a sip, the oldest Demon Lord stood up and saunter over to the railings, his gaze sweeping across the frozen wasteland wistfully. Guy's movement was subdued as if his mind was somewhere else.

Back facing Leon, Guy continued, "Yes, 'we'." The Demon Lord brought the glass up to his lips and gulped it down in one sip. Oddly enough, the moment the glass parted from Guy's lips, the same pink liquid started filling up its container once more.

"The first thing you must know and always remember about Relentless, and likely all future Perfect Homunculus, is that they are unkillable."

"Like True Dragons?"

Guy scoffed at Leon's response and dipped his head down, "Not even the True Dragons could match someone as perfect as Relentless."

Then, Guy's head tilted upward as he stared at the sky.

"My most vivid memory of Relentless is that thing reviving from an attack capable of putting down a True Dragon for millions of years. It is a soul-based attack, the supreme expression of Death itself, incorporated with extremely rare spacetime elements. It is a glimpse into His power. A facsimile of Him, made after eons of attempts to stand peer-to-peer with God..."

Guy took another sip of his drink.

"It didn't even put down Relentless for less than three minutes. The second time, for only one minute. I could still remember how hard we tried to permanently kill the Perfect Homunculus before it could destroy everything. For the first time across all of Time itself, the world came together, united against a single threat. Seeing human soldiers fighting alongside demons is a sight most have forgotten."

The demon sighed once more before opening his mouth again, muttering quietly, "That thing became a Law embedded into the World. An absolute constant even more enshrined than True Dragons."

Turning around to face Leon, the look of seriousness looked out of place on the normally carefree Demon Lord's face.

"So yes, 'we' as in, every nation in the world came together. Everyone from Nightrose, Sarion, Dwargon, Ingrassia, what remained of the Thelium Kingdom, True Heroes like Granbell Rosso, Chronoa, True Dragons like Velgrynd, all the Demon Lords to goddamn Rudra and his [Michael, Lord of Justice] Ultimate Skills, to fucking Feldway— Ahh... It was truly a breathtaking sight, everyone, fighting, all as one, all for a single goal, all for the sole reason to live, to have a last stand against annihilation. The war against Relentless was the most selfish yet contrarily the noblest war ever fought. It was for self-preservation; something that's in every intelligent lifeform."

Leon felt a chill down on his back as he listened to Guy speak, his mind racing to what She had told him a hundred years ago, warning him about Relentless's return.

"And we failed."

Guy spoke with such sincerity that the Platinum Saber couldn't help but believe him.

"We thoroughly tested its immortality. Whenever we did manage to kill it, Relentless always return. That Error in the World was unstoppable. Relentless." Guy cracked a smirk at that. "The most we could do was slow it down with whatever we had while another team focused on repairing the damage done. We threw truly everything we had at it. Ultimate-class sealing magic. Chronoa's [Unlimited Imprisonment] and time locking it with her [Yog-Sothoth]. Velzard's [Gabriel, Lord of Patience]. Velgrynd's [Raguel, Lord of Charity]. Rudra's [Castle Guard] can contain a supernova. Nothing we did mattered. It tanked it all. It walked through it all. Worse, we were making that thing more resistant to our attacks. To use terminology you Otherworlders would be familiar with, it was like attacking an enemy with auto-revive, no-clip, and evolutionary immunity. Even when we manage to kill or trap it, Relentless always returns. Near the end, we could barely damage it. Only dimensional and spacetime attacks were just barely slowing it down."

Leon internally took note of all this new information and focused on the one key issue, "So how did you defeat it?"

Guy let out a bitter laugh as he sat down on the chair once more.

"We didn't." Leon had to take a double-take on that. Guy chuckled a bit, "We never killed it. Instead, we got rid of its memories and threw it as far away as we can to another World in the System, making it their problem."

"..."

Leon took a sip of the drink and focused on the flavor. Sweet and sour, like orange juice. The drink had a bite to it, that burn, it was alcohol.

It would be a fine drink. Enough to buy whole mansions. The moment Leon finished and placed the glass back on the table, it started refilling itself.

"And... it has returned? Then why hasn't the world ended yet?"

The Primordial Demon merely smirked at the Ex-Hero's questioning, before it then dawned on him.

Alarmed, "Don't tell me, you agreeing for a Walpurgis— is the new Demon Lord Relentless?"

"Hehe~ Hahahahahahahahahaha!" Guy threw his head back with a full laugh. Spreading his arms out, droplets of alcohol spilled out to the ground, "You finally realized it? However, I do believe it goes by 'Scientia Tempest' nowadays. Haaa... quite annoying, Scientia is. None of my clairvoyant or precognition abilities work on the returned Relentless. The weaker Skills simply get shut down when I scour the Jura Forest, the stronger ones see a massive hole wherever that thing's technology lies, and the strongest ones only see the imprint Scientia's technology made on the world, seeing the soil underneath the roads she made instead of the concrete roads themselves."

Guy Crimson once again gulped down the drink in one sip.

"But... according to Milim, that's only a homunculus..."

"Relentless has a lot more in common with Milim than most would realize. Perhaps that's why she's taking such an interest in the returned Perfect Homunculus... going so far as to lie to the rest of us."

"Tempest?" A new voice belonging to a female called out.

Space warped and tore itself apart like paper, coming out of a dark void was the nude form of the Second True Dragon, Velzard, the Frost Dragon.

"So, my failure of a brother has aligned himself with Relentless, has he?" Velzard said as her clothes shimmered into existence, "It would've made for an interesting change to the Great Game if was still being played, and once again proved why it was the Herald of Change, altering the status quo that existed for the past 400 years. Like clockwork, just when we're due for another Great Tenma War too."

Sitting on the left armrest of Guy's chair, Velzard draped his arms over the chest of the Primordial.

Leon then spoke up with the tiniest hint of caution in his voice, and had it been anyone besides Velzard or Guy, they would've never caught it. "And who could forget you, one of the Four True Dragons in the World, the Ice Empress?"

"How could you forget me?" Velzard spoke in faux hurt, before playfully adding, "Well it is so... happy to see you again, Leon." Velzard smiled and spoke the word 'happy' in such a way that it made it obvious she was faking it.

Unperturbed, Leon returned with a "Well, in that case, I shall extend the courtesy and say it is... nice to meet you as well."

If looks could kill, both of them would die in an instant.

"Bah!" Guy threw up his hands, "Why do you two hate each other so much? Leon, if you're so jealous of Velzard, then all you need to know is just to say yes. I'll let you experience the pleasure someone with eons worth of experience can bring."

Leon clenched his hands hard enough that the wine glass shattered. He was entirely unamused by Guy's antics.

"Be serious."

Velzard's face did turn serious, "Tell me more about my brother and his alliance with Relentless. I stopped sensing him almost seven months ago and I had thought he had finally croaked and died."

Guy flicked his wrist and repaired the wine glass in Leon's hands as the Ex-Hero started to share the information, "From what intel I could get from bribing merchants that visited Trantor and my spies, Veldora broke the seal after the Western Holy Church forced Falmuth to declare war on the Jura Tempest Republic. The invading army sent in a small number of knights in order to create the justification for an invasion. However, just before the knights could cause any damage, they were murdered by the automated security of the City. The rage of these murderous knights apparently awakened Veldora, who was just about to rampage before Scientia managed to calm it down enough to make a deal; whereby the dragon be worshipped and get his own holiday named after him in exchange for becoming a guardian entity."

Leon took his first sip of the wine offered by Rain, "due to the simple fact that President Rimuru was killed by an unnamed Church Fanatic, Veldora had agreed to slaughter the invading 50,000 soldiers and took their soul to ascend Scientia into a True Demon Lord. Using the weakened laws of the world at the time to revive their beloved President."

Guy and Velzard both had a disbelieving look on their faces, akin to if Leon was stating the Sky is purple as a fact, before Guy chuckled, and quickly turned into a full-blown laugh again.

"Hahahahahahahahaha! I see I see, I was indeed right about agreeing to the Walpurgis! This one should be MOST entertaining."

The Citadel, Walpurgis Night.

There was a mirror that stretched from the floor to the ceiling in front of me. I looked into it, and my reflection stared back at me.

Golden eyes that remind me of Rimuru's, pale skin just like before, and ashen blonde hair like the remains of a log of wood mixed with gold dust. Right now, my hair was mostly tied into a bun, with two bangs off to the sides framing my alien and freakishly perfect face.

There's still this disconnect between me and the thing in the mirror. I couldn't fully recognize the face, even when I sent a mental command to open my mouth and the reflection obeyed, I'm still unable to really recognize that the one in the mirror is actually me.

My mind drew my focus back to the past week. Every night I stayed mostly awake despite the request of Arcueid, since whenever I do drift off, I always have the same nightmare: I stood above a field of other versions of me, littered about everywhere. There were so many versions of me lying dead or dying on the ground that, no matter how far down I dig, I couldn't find any dirt or stone.

It was as if I was on a planet made out of me, trillion upon trillion of bodies all coalesced into a sphere the size of a planet, with its own gravity and all that.

Recalling that vivid nightmare made me shiver a bit. I can't use neuroblocker drugs that prevent dreams since my body automatically destroys any foreign chemicals even if it's useful. The most I could possibly use was the Placebo effect but even that's not useful at all.

[Metaphysics] suggests the possibility of it being information coded within my very Soul but that's highly doubtful.

Shifting my attention back to the present, I reformed my Block-Form Singularity Mathematic into a gothic dress that seemed to fit the ideal of a 'Demon Lord'.

It certainly does look 'evil' enough.

Affirming to myself that this was the right choice, the Mathematic turned into a black liquid-like and spread across my whole body before solidifying into a pair of casual jeans and a long-sleeved black and gray false double T-shirt.

Becoming a Demon Lord seemingly made me like darker colors more.

I glanced at myself in the mirror once more in this casual attire that wouldn't look out of place if a teenager wore it to school. My mind couldn't help but wander around once more and reminisce about the geopolitical events that happened this past week.

Falmuth was dealt with.

It was called Operation New Republic.

To ensure the success of Operation New Republic, I offered those two Otherworlders pardoning of their crimes under the cover of 'child soldiers' and offered them political asylum if he betrayed Falmuth.

Safe to say, he spilled the beans on all important military and governmental sites he knew about within the city, including places where we can sneak in.

I think Tempest achieved the fastest time to capitulate a country commonly acknowledged as a 'Great Power'. Using Doormaker, we transported strike teams composed of a single Tripod and multiple companies of our Autonomous Marines and Officers into every major city within the Kingdom.

The Autonomous Marines were our foot soldiers. Two-meter-tall, heavily armored humanoid robots connected to a network alongside other Marines gave these robots the unprecedented ability to coordinate with each other and Officers as if they have one mind. For weapons, the Marines use plasma railguns that shoot out blobs of plasmoid which can turn the iron armor of a knight into an iron coffin.

By the start of the second hour, all targeted cities have been captured. Military installations like barracks and armories were destroyed, and governmental buildings were solidly under our control.

It was more like a coup than any actual war, especially since the Officers suffered no casualties. Once Falmuth's King believed that we essentially own his entire Kingdom, he signed a conditional surrender, with said conditions being he and his family are allowed to remain alive but under house arrest, and he will abdicate in favor of his eldest son.

We accepted his surrender.

Thus, the war ended not with a bang, but a whimper.

Acting like she didn't know anything, Ririna reported the mysterious annihilation of Corbin. The King of Falmuth collapsed to his knees as he wept since apparently, his favorite child was in the city at the time and now was gone with not even a body left to bury.

So ends Operation New Republic.

The next day, I managed to officially acquire Ramiris as an ally after I agreed to let her create an entrance to her Labyrinth in Metropolis, under the condition that the entrance be considered as an embassy.

However, then comes the problem with Eurazania and the build-up of Clayman's forces along the borders of Milim's domain and Eurazania. I'm predicting Clayman is probably waiting for Wallpurgis to happen before launching an all-out invasion of Eurazania.

The Animal Kingdom would be an easy conquest. Its capital is destroyed, and chaos runs amok across the countryside as nuclear fallout still periodically rains across its lands.

The disappearance of centralized authority in the form of Carrion is causing opportunists to come out of the woodwork and form bandit groups, acting like crows as they feast upon the carcass that is Eurazania, extorting villages of their food before leaving for the next. It was made even worse when most of these bandit groups were originally members of Carrion's army that went rogue.

The entirety of Eurazania fractured into several proto-warlord states.

We had mobilized several military VTOL aircraft to airlift many of our operatives, tourists, and merchants out of that dangerous land.

This sudden breakdown of social order has also caused displaced millions of people. Some decided to escape to Fulbrosia while most decided to move to Tempest.

Due to the rather hostile foreign policy that Eurazania had for centuries, most humanitarian groups, Not-for-profits, and NGOs like Foreign Support, Tempest Charity Foundation, and Asylum International were rather hesitant on helping them. Most Conservative Senators and District Representatives also didn't want to offer aid, so the government's hands were tied and just stood by and watched while Border Security processed everyone. Even with our open-door policy for any immigrants, the Eurazanian Refugee Crisis is projected by [Contessa] to continue until next year.

By that time, a lot of people would die from exposure and starvation.

Rimuru, in his good-hearted nature, had discreetly sent some supplies to the refugee camps along the Tempest-Eurazanian border when he heard of the terrible condition. Mostly tasteless rations.

A total collapse of society really does not allow basic necessities, huh? I mused, you know, that oddly reminds me of the Syrian Refugee crisis that plagued Europe during the mid-2010s.

I was left out of Operation Jistavic Freedom in order to focus on the preparation for Walpurgis, so I only know the just of what Rubedo and Ririna's plans were for the invasion and subje—I mean, the liberation of a nation consisting of millions of slaves.

I had planned to review the plans for the Operation, but that was interrupted by the appearance of diplomats from Sarion, more so when that diplomat was Eren's father.

6 days ago, Bob's Pizzaria

I chomped down on a slice of pepperoni pizza, my tastebuds savoring the flavor. I can tell why Eren likes to come here.

Both of us are sitting by a table, positioned opposite to each other as a single large pizza filled the table. Eren herself seemed a bit hesitant as she barely ate anything.

"Commander—"

"Call me Scientia, we haven't talked in weeks, have we? What with your training in the Military Academy."

My relationship during work with her has always been of pure professionalism, so we never got a chance to unwind and talk casually like right now.

"Right, sorry, I had to focus on becoming an Officer in the military." She seemed to want to say something, only to continue to chew on some of the potato fries.

Again, Eren seems to want to say something, except she feels awkward, like someone trying to confront a friend on something which could result in the cessation of that friendship.

[Silenced Emotion: 40%]

Let's just rip the bandaid right off, I thought to myself.

"Is this about me being a Perfect Homunculus?"

"Yes..."

I stared at Eren for a few moments before placing the slice in my hands down on my plate. Plucking out several tissue papers, I wiped the oil out of my hands before my body shifted from a relaxed posture into a more serious one.

The silence continued until it became awkward since both I and Eren wanted the other to speak first.

"I'm sorry that I lied to you." I finally broke the ice.

"It's not about the lie..." Eren's face crinkled in betrayal, "It's about why you didn't TELL me beforehand, Scientia!"

I felt my heart wrench at her screams.

"Why didn't you trust me enough to tell me these things? I told you my secret that only two other people know, and— and— and now it turns out you were a Perfect Homunculus? Like I could understand why you didn't tell me when we first met but—" Eren groaned out in frustration, tears flowing down her face as she struggles to turn her feelings into words, "I just don't understand, I thought we were friends..."

My face remained passive. In short, Eren had entrusted me with her deepest secret, one that she shared based on how similar my false backstory was to hers. Eren was hurt immensely when the truth came out that my backstory was fake. [Psychology] theorized Eren still looked at the world through these rose-tinted glasses despite witnessing something horrific, most probably as a coping mechanism.

That's a lot like Arcueid in a way.

Man, why are there so many traumatized people around me?

I was really paranoid during the first few months of my reincarnation. I mean, for crying out loud, I added biological kill switches into those goblins I modified simply on the possibility that they could betray me.

I couldn't help but cringe at that memory. Even if it made sense at the time, hindsight made me feel embarrassed.

I was about to run a Path on how to repair the relationship between me and Eren before dismissing it.

No, to use an Ultimate Skill to repair our friendship cheapens it.

[Silenced Emotion: 70%]

"I apologize," I said formally. My gaze was elsewhere off to the side as I couldn't bear looking at Eren's face, "I was extremely paranoid during those first few weeks. I am a reincarnated Otherworlder. You can imagine what it was like to be reincarnated as a Perfect Homunculus, so I lied and lied and lied, the only ones who knew before the Voice of the World revealed it was Rimuru, Arcueid, Veldora, and Milim, those four were the only ones who knew. I have no excuses."

Oh god, this is such a mess, your choices really do come back to bite you, huh?

Silence once again descended like the curtain at the end of a theater play. I'm grateful for the fact that there's no one else in the restaurant, otherwise, the awkwardness would be too much to bear.

"I need some time to think about these."

Eren quickly left me alone in the Pizzeria, leaving me alone to ponder my thoughts.

I was so busy all the time that telling Eren about my true nature slipped through my mind. Carelessness, never had I imagined this would again come back to bite me.

Looking at the pizza, my stomach twisted in revulsion as I could see every speck of oil and grease on it. I no longer felt hungry.

Dropping several hundred dollar bills onto the desk, I opened a Doorway beside me—

[Alert]

"My, my, I see so you are the one who has taken my daughter away from me?"

Instantly, my right hand morphed into a Particle Dissociator and leveled itself at the source of the voice, which turns out to be a cloaked individual standing by the main entrance of this restaurant.

"Who are you?"

The man took off his hood with a small fake smile on his lips, "Ah, so this is the new Demon Lord. And a Perfect Homunculus at that?"

'Who is this?'

[Data]

An elf? Silently, I switched the Dissociator into a dart thrower without changing its appearance and loaded a flechette with a very fast-acting paralysis poison that would paralyze the nerve endings going to the four limbs, causing the target to instantly drop to the floor.

"I am Erald Grimwald, an Archduke of the Sorcerer's Dynasty of Sarion, Eren's father, at your service."

I was still half tempted at firing the flechette. That was until the man's head hit the floor, Erald doing a... what did Rimuru call it? A seiza? No wait that's not right, it's like a seiza position except the body folded in such a way that his head touched the floor, and his two hands came together in front of his head.

"I thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for taking in my daughter and sheltering her. I was a bad father, I realized that now after confirming the rumors and court gossip about that prince, Elyune would've been in hell had she actually married that prince. Unlike other lesser men, I see the happiness of my daughter as a top priority, and through spies, I saw how Eren was able to form genuine camaraderie with her fellow soldiers. I hope that you won't kick her out despite the fallout you two had that just happened."

The dart launcher was lowered as I stared at the form of the old man, part of me wondering where the hell was his pride as an Archduke.

"Show me your face, father of Elyune H. Grimwald."

The elf got up and quickly took off his hood, letting me fully see his appearance.

Taking a good look, I noticed how the blonde-haired green-eyed Archduke looked like a gentleman even in those heavy cloaks. He was middle-aged, though because of how elves live a long, long time, Erald could easily be thousands of years old, especially since all the elves I've encountered up to this point looked like they were in their late teens to early 20s.

Erald bowed deeply, his posture fitting perfectly within a ballroom during a dance, "I must again thank you for taking in Elyune. When she ran away from home over a year ago, I was worried sick! I... I just— please, I ask you as a father, not as a Noble, to let Elyune remain in your military, to keep her in a position in the backlines."

You'd think that he'll want Eren to quit the military, but I think because of Operation New Republic, Erald probably saw our technological supremacy and figured this was a good mid-point between Eren being safe and him being able to keep tabs on his daughter.

Interesting, but this really stinks of nepotism.

"I assume you are here for more than just looking for Eren?"

"Of course, I am actually here formally as a diplomat from Sarion, Director Tempest," Erald then introduced himself, "the Empress has given me her full support in whatever decision I make concerning this nation and..." he leaned in close, "let's just say that I plan to give her a good word in about your nation."

"Come in."

Rimuru entered the doorway to the walk-in closet behind me, flanked by Shizue in her classic maid chassis.

The slime wore fairly light— just a simple set of black pants, a shirt, a fur scarf, and a trench coat that covered most of his body. If his hair were black and his eyes brown, I could make a joke about how he looked like one of those... what's that Japanese word called? Isekai? Yeah, an isekai protagonist. Poking out from Rimuru's waist was the handle of the Sword of Control, or as he named it: Kusanagi, currently in the form of a katana.

The blade was of stormy silver, its black circular cross-guard and gray handle made it very striking with the Modified Herrscher Core now residing on the pommel.

My right eye twitched ever so slightly.

Personally, I still like Claymore better.

Maybe it's the Westerner in me, but I like the simplicity in a claymore.

Big sword, long reach, and heavy damage.

But I guess that doesn't really matter when it comes to the Sword of Control.

Though to be honest, I still would have preferred to give Rimuru a gun. Is some enemy swinging a weapon around? Doing some crazy kung-fu moves? Just shoot them. Shoot them from a safe distance. Problem solved. Guns are the quickest way to kill something while remaining in relative safety.

The Mathematics altered its appearance back into that jet-black gothic dress almost instantly as I turned around to face the humanoid slime. The closet around me was filled with clothes that haven't been touched for a long time, and if it weren't for the effort of Shizue, they would've all gotten wrinkly.

They wouldn't have gotten dusty since the air filters I've placed within the Citadel is fine enough to capture individual virus cells.

"Hey, you ready?"

My posture changed as [Acting] took hold of me, my spine straightened, and my chin tilted up. It felt natural to act superior to others.

In fact, I barely need [Acting] at all, as [Aristocratic Dignity] made it second nature.

The corner of my eyes saw my reflection in another mirror. With my current dress and posture, I look like a real noble— No, not those pompous bluebloods commonly found in books, but those who know how to play the game of power and thrive in it. Those who can order the termination of a problem and get away scot-free.

"Yes," I spoke in a chipper tone, "I am ready for tomorrow."

"By the way, that looks good on you," Rimuru ended with a small chuckle, before turning serious, "are you sure taking Diablo and Jeanne with you is fine?"

During a Walpurgis, a Demon Lord is allowed to only take two attendees. Shizue wanted to be one of my attendants, but because Leon Cromwell would be there, I instead ordered her to train with her new Siberium body and Ultimate Skill.

For whatever reason, Shizue didn't count as a human anymore, and instead the Voice of the World recognized her as an Artificial Lich, making her technically a Majin so she received a gift during my ascension into Demon Lord.

Her Unique Skill [Degenerate] transformed into the Ultimate Skill [Eidolon, Lord of Skills, which essentially allows her to choose from a near-limitless selection of Common, Extra, Unique, and Ultimate Skills, the only caveat to this is that quality and quantity are mutually exclusive. For example, with [Eidolon, Shizue can choose, at one time, a maximum of 150 Common Skills, 40 Extra Skills, 5 Unique Skills, or 1 other Ultimate Skill.

It was honestly pretty powerful, however, she can only select what she wants with Common, Extra, and Unique, [Eidolon] seemingly has a mind of its own when it comes to choosing an Ultimate Skill.

"Yes. Having two Primordials as my subordinate would send a clear message, and make my power an unquestionable reality."

The air snapped as the two appeared.

Speak of the devil and he shall appear, or rather, they shall appear, I thought amusingly as I turn to look at the two Primordials. Diablo is wearing a butler uniform as always and Jeanne is the same, wearing the same uniform as she always does. Looking at them, I made up my mind to give them each a fitting weapon after Walpurgis.

[Nuclear Physics] and [Magicule Manipulation] gave me some ideas, perhaps Diablo would like that dimensional sword?

"My Lady, you look wonderful." Diablo praised while Jeanne fawned over my dress.

"Thank you, Diablo," I replied, [Aristocratic Dignity] hiding my slight cringe at his words of reverence.

People all had either two expressions when they meet me for the first time, they A) scream out in terror at how unnatural I looked or B) attempted to woo me.

Though one may wonder why I wasn't taking Veldora, to which I say, taking Veldora is a huge escalation. There's a difference between a Primordial and a True Dragon, the latter is an unstoppable wall while the former is only somewhat unstoppable. Taking Veldora would also send a hostile ultimatum, effectively declaring that anyone who is against me will be annihilated.

Beep*

A holographic panel suddenly materialized mid-air in front of me to show that it has detected a spatial distortion and asked whether or not to nullify it.

"It's time?" Rimuru asked me.

"Yes," turning to face him, small pieces of jewelry formed around me, all fake to conceal the fact that they are actually bits and pieces of a Pocket Dimension generator, "now after I go into Walpurgis, you have a small window of opportunity to both annihilate Clayman's army that's built up around Eurazania's border. He'll most likely send them at the moment Walprugis starts so—"

"Yeah, yeah, I understand, I have a limited amount of time to both invade Jistav and take out the enemy forces. Don't worry about it, we'll be fine!" He tapped me on my shoulders to show confidence, yet I'm still worried nonetheless.

"Don't die on me."

Rimuru gave me a confident smile and pulled me into a hug, "You don't die on me either."

AN: Longest chapter to date! Sorry, it took so long./Aler

48

Rimuru could only stare as Scientia disappeared into the ornate metal gate that would fit perfectly as the entrance to a place like Buckingham Palace. The amusement derived from the shock of the green-haired maid that came to collect the Perfect Homunculus when she saw her subordinates were short-lived. It was as if the maid couldn't believe that the newly minted Demon Lord was able to summon such powerful individuals as Diablo and Jeanne.

After the four people entered, the metal gate closed itself before vanishing from existence. The darkness and silence that previously retreated from the lively atmosphere returned like the high tides, basking Rimuru in its embrace as he stood within the depth of the Great Jura Forest, feeling oddly contemplative.

There's a feeling of foreboding inside his stomach, a nervousness about the future as if tonight will drastically change the world.

Well, that's not wrong. Falmuth and Jistav will be Tempest's canvas to paint a picture of just how strong a nation mired in technology was. It will show the world that the 'Great Game', as Scientia had called international politics, was shifting once more.

Effectively, Tempest will be like a black hole: the world will revolve around the Republic, dancing to its tunes and continuing its orbits, or otherwise be devoured.

What a grim thought. A rearrangement of the current world order, with Tempest on top.

"World domination... that's a goal for a supervillain."

But if someone had to achieve world domination, the slime would choose Scientia. Personally, Rimuru thinks she is the only individual who knew the burden and responsibility that comes with commanding an entire world, and he trusts her.

Looking at the night sky filled with stars, Rimuru internally noted how different it was compared to the sky above Tokyo.

"Universal supremacy... that's a goal for a megalomaniac..."

But only if it wasn't possible to achieve. Rimuru knew beforehand that Scientia spent a lot of time up in space, and he also knew that Scientia had much more advanced technology she hasn't shared yet. Again, he trusts her, especially since the Perfect Homunculus knows more than him, and so gave her full authority to do as she likes up in space.

'Rubedo.'

Rimuru called out to the Kijin through the [Soul Corridor].

'Yes, President?'

'Is the troops ready?'

'Yes, Mr. President.'

'Let's do this, Operation Jistavic Freedom is a go'

'Right away.'

Grasping on the handle of Kusanagi, Rimuru unsheathed the katana and embued it with his magicule before setting the control element to that of 'distance' and slashing the area in front of him.

The tip of the blade disappeared as though it embedded itself into an invisible animal. After the swing was completed, a thin, black rift materialized, steadily thickening until it was large enough that a person can walk right through.

Let's end this, Rimuru thought as he walked through the rift in space.

The slime appeared on a podium in the middle of the closest military base to Jistav. In front of the podium stood Officers ready for war, with each wearing their war uniform rather than the ceremonial one.

The war uniform was a grey armored bodysuit that completely covers an Officer from head to toe. It was streamlined, which kinda reminds Rimuru of a motorcycle riding suit but only more solid. According to Scientia, the helmet and visor is where most of the cost went, as apparently, it contained a full suite of sensors and communication devices to coordinate with both command, orbital satellites, and nearby troops

The bodysuit was protective enough that a whole skyscraper can fall on the Officer in question and only maybe the outermost layer of the graphene composite material will be scratched. It also contained a wide array of qualities of life improvements like Stilling Shields to reduce the effect of G-force upon the wearer, cooling and heating systems to ensure said officer can operate at a comfortable level even in standing on lava, an oxygen extractor that can take oxygen from water, and many many more.

Powered by a micro-fusion reactor, the war uniform has an assistant AI that will make even a small toddler into a Special-A rank threat capable of single-handedly toppling a small nation.

And hundreds of them stood in front of Rimuru. All of them stood in clear formations, professionalism practically oozing from their bodies as they waited for Rimuru to speak.

Seeing them, Rimuru couldn't help but recall how just a few months ago, these people were nothing more than some ragged orcs, dilapidated goblins, and battered humans.

But now, one could never imagine that such a thing was the case.

Scientia really outdid their training... The slime noted and cleared his throat.

Glancing down at the small card in his hands, Rimuru raised his head and continued.

"My esteemed comrades of the Grand Republic Military! Tonight, we stand at the precipice of destiny. Caused by a rare moment of vulnerability granted to us by Demon Lord Clayman's absence in the Demon Lord's Banquet, Walpurgis. In this fleeting moment, we have the extraordinary chance to dismantle the chains of tyranny and liberate the lives of over 100 million individuals!"

Pausing for a slight moment, Rimuru glanced down at his card before continuing.

"Tonight, we embark on an Operation that will etch our names into the very annals of history itself. Tonight, we will show the world that authoritarianism is no longer the order of the day, but instead, freedom is! Allow me a moment of transparency with you, my fellow Officers, for the path that lay ahead will not be easy. We shall face challenges, trials, and a battle that may demand sacrifices in blood."

Rimuru paused to look around at the crowd, all looked like they were ready to die for the cause.

"Knowing that, in the name of fairness and autonomy upon which our society is built, I extend an opportunity to those among us who may feel apprehensive or uncertain." Rimuru reached out with his left hand as if to offer something, "If you choose not to partake in this history-defining campaign, I will personally assure you, your decision will be respected and accepted. Your worth as a soldier will not be reduced in the eyes of your fellow Officers or your nation."

Rimuru waited for anyone to leave. Personally, the slime didn't want anyone to leave, though those who did may be on the fence and are looking for someone to go first before following. It reminded Rimuru of all those times he's been peer pressured into doing something he didn't want in his old World.

"For those that remain, shoulder to shoulder, with unwavering determination, know that you march not as blind followers, but as conscious agents of change. Together, we will unleash a tempest upon the forces of tyranny. We shall sweep away oppression and pave a path for a brighter future."

Finally, Rimuru unsheathed Kusanagi. The blade gleamed.

"Remember, my fellow Officers, our cause is noble, our intention righteous. Let the flames of liberty burn within your hearts as we embark upon this Operation. The hour of liberation has come, and together, we shall be the tip of the spear that will pierce the very heart of darkness. We shall end one of the largest state-sponsor of slavery in the world!"

The slime suddenly dropped the sword until it was parallel to the ground.

"Onwards then, let us seize this opportunity and liberate those tens of millions of slaves within Jistav!"

"""Onward! Onward! Onward!"""

"""LIBERTY, EQUALITY, FRATERNITY, RATIONALITY!"""

The Officers underneath him began to chant while raising their fists in the air. If this was in his old World, Rimuru would've said it was a magical moment. The ability to rile up a crowd was truly an art form, and it was really fortunate that Scientia was so skilled in it.

Rimuru let out a smile before sheathing his sword and raising a hand, stopping the commotion.

"You will be given one hour left to prepare, Operation Jistavic Freedom commences the moment that one-hour ends, starting... Now."

The crowd dispersed to get ready. Members from all species worked harmoniously as mechs, trucks, and supplies are ferried around to their intended destination. A.A.A. pilots worked with the automated maintenance depots and rearmed. Autonomous Marines streamed out of Doorways and lined up in rows of hundreds.

Rimuru then opened another portal using Kusanagi, this time connecting to the planning room inside the Hexagon where all the higher-ups are currently situated.

At the center of the dark room lay a holographic map that displays almost every detail concerning the entirety of Jistav, Milim's domain, and the Eurazanian-Milim border.

Getting closer, the general staff quieted down and saluted him. Since Scientia wasn't here, Rimuru is the Acting-Commander of the Grand Republic Military.

Sitting down and taking one good look at the map, Rimuru could spot the capital and several cities in Jistav and Milim's domain, with areas colored in red presumably being Clayman's forces.

"What's the situation?"

As the slime spoke, he noticed how a large percentage of the 'red' gathered east of the Ameld, which was on Milim's side.

Rubedo reached forward and then started to expertly move his fingers to manipulate the hologram, focusing on different places before ending up on the largest pocket of redness slowly moving across the Ameld River.

"Just as the Commander had predicted, Clayman officially issued a declaration of war against Eurazania approximately three minutes ago. With this declaration, the first of his troops are now moving across the mighty Ameld and streaming into Eurazania as we speak. Our current plan for the main army is to trap them by the riverside in a pincher maneuver using Doormaker—"

Rubedo drew lines that sandwiched Clayman's army.

"Since Clayman have little to no air assets, once we trap their army, we'll start carpet bombing the whole place with a mixture of incendiary and cluster munitions. Mass casualty is our goal, though if there are any survivors, we'll treat them for propaganda purposes."

With another flick of his hands, Rubedo changed the holographic table to display Jistav itself.

"However, our primary goal will be to invade Clayman's lands and liberate the people inside from tyranny. To best achieve this goal, Commander Scientia determined that because of how centralized Clayman's command is, the whole nation should fall in line when we take their capital. There are no other good spots for a second capital since Jistav's next largest city has only about 30,000 people."

Turning to face the humanoid slime, Rubedo finished; "We of the general staff have already prepared an Official Declaration of War for you to sign, Mr. President. It should arrive momentarily."

With that, the door to the war room opened as a single orc Officer who was decked out in his war uniform walked in, escorted by two Autonomous Marines that couldn't fit through the door so they merely stood outside.

"Sir, Madams." The orc saluted, much of the large belly that orcs were famous for was still there.

As the orc Officer placed the briefcase on one of the cabinets standing near the wall, Rimuru couldn't help but notice how there was little to no difference in the uniform aside from it being larger to accommodate an orc's larger body.

All war uniforms were standardized in capacity, though there are some variations for different species. For example, the one for Lizardmen has the heating always turned on to accommodate for the specie's cold-blooded nature.

Reaching into the opened briefcase, the orc officer took out a file of paper with a pen clipping into it and handed it carefully to Rimuru as if it was his baby.

Glancing the title in big bold words, it read: 'Official Declaration of War', followed by; 'The Jura Tempest Republic hereby declares a war of liberation against Puppet Nation Jistav, for the trafficking and attempted enslavement of four Tempest Citizens in the Tempest-Jistav Border Incident—'

Wait, what?

Rimuru racked his brain for any mentions of a Tempest-Jistav Border Incident only to come up empty.

Trafficking has always been a nuisance in remote areas of the Republic, where the reach of Scientia's technology has been less far-spread. Being highly educated, Tempest Citizens make for excellent teachers instead of workers, imaginative writers that can come up with wonderful stories, and poets that can recite works of great literature with ease. Because of how expensive a Tempest Citizen is on the market, only the richest can afford them, and they are treated more like expensive jewelry or a status symbol because to treat them like chattel like any other slave is to waste money.

Why buy a single slave that can work the labor of ten when it costs a thousand times the price?

Of course, the Jura Tempest Republic is legally required to ensure the safety of all its citizens. Whether by a spec ops strike team organized by the military or Scientia herself just teleporting them out, those enslaved citizens are always brought back. If they're unfortunately deceased, typical retribution involves financial sanctions, asset destruction, and even assisted suicide for the more 'egregious' buyers.

"What is this?" He pointed at the 'Tempest-Jistav Border Incident'.

Ririna's eyes lit up once she saw what Rimuru was pointing at.

"Ah, that. It's our 'Casus Belli' as the Commander called it, our justification for this war of liberation. We colluded with the Ministry of Justice and offered some imprisoned traffickers a deal: we staged an incident involving four informed and carefully selected citizens who will be kidnapped and will be brought to the Tempest-Jistav border. Just before they get within ten kilometers of the border, one of our sentry drones picked all the traffickers off. This happened just yesterday, and we plan to release information about the incident alongside your declaration of war to prevent such tragedies from happening, Mr. President."

Rimuru was instantly put off by the explanation.

"Is that even legal? Or constitutional?"

"Yes, it is. We got the victim's consent by paying them a few million dollars of hush money. Beyond that, Clayman won't be able to deny his involvement in this incident, and since he isn't likely to leave the Walpurgis alive... well dead man tells no tale." Ririna tilted her head as she finished, akin to someone being confused about being asked such a question.

Intentionally staging a justification for war... and using pretenses... sounded a lot like a false flag operation.

Thinking of false flag operations made Rimuru immediately recall the Marco-polo bridge incident that kick-started the Sino-Japanese war and brought incredible misery and suffering to the people of his old World.

Grimacing, Rimuru continued to read the declaration of war.

'The Jura Tempest Republic finds Puppet Nation Jistav to be a state-sponsor of numerous trafficking ring that operates within the forest. Thus, the Jura Tempest Republic will now proceed to declare war with the goal of regime change within Jistav, and to end the horrific practice.'

"I assume the truth about the Tempest-Jistav Border Incident is top secret?"

Ririna nodded, "Obviously. It'll seriously damage the Tempest government if such information were to be leaked. Though to be honest, I don't think anyone would actually believe the whistleblower if this information does get leaked. Clayman made it really easy to accuse him of this incident by making his state so reliant on slaves."

The amount of sense that statement made to Rimuru has him questioning just how many conspiracy theories in his past life were actually factual. The slime remembered a specific passage about lying when he read a light novel, it was supposedly about how the best lies are those that contain a kernel of truth, or was it a foundation of truth?

The memories of that specific light novel have already faded by much, so Rimuru continued on and signed the Declaration of War.

After that's done, the same orc Officer picked it up and placed it in the briefcase. He saluted once before turning around sharply and leaving.

Recalling the events of the second Iraq War, Rimuru slammed his right fist into the opened palm of his other hand, instantly acquiring everyone's attention.

"I'll also need to make an official announcement telling people about this war. Though, given how this plan relies on the lack of Clayman, how long does a Walpurgis usually last?"

Rubedo replied, "From what we know of using historical data of nine different Walpurgis, we've come to the average of being a single day, with the shortest mere hours and the longest a week in length."

The gears inside Rimuru's head started to turn. That's a really short period of time to attack. To deal with both Clayman's army and Jistav's capital simultaneously and ideally finish before Scientia returns...

"What's the exact plan here? Give me all the details concerning the siege on Jistav's capital."

This time, it was Ririna who had begun to explain like a teacher talking to their least favorite student.

"Being so old and rich, we assume that Jistav's capital, Amrita, has great anti-teleportation capacity as well as numerous mages on stand-by to defend the capital. Keeping the Sea of Broken Glass incident in mind, the Commander decided to deploy aid from the Ministry of Magic. With Albedo in the field, that should neutralize most, if not all of the advantages that magic can afford the defenders. Still, with that said, we plan to use Doormaker to set up a Doorway 12 kilometers east of Amrita before carefully advancing with our A.A.A. and bombers ahead to soften the city first."

A green blob slowly advanced upon Amrita on the holographic map. Explosions periodically occurred to simulate battle.

Rimuru grimaced. In his past life, Satoru Mikami has always been anti-war. In school, whenever talk of a foreign war or about Japan's past, Satoru always advocated for peace, enough that he's been bullied for it.

'Girly boy', they called him, 'spineless' was the most common insult hurried his way.

Just because he refused to fight back against the beating doesn't mean he's spineless.

Snapping his fingers, Rimuru really emphasized the point he was about to make.

If war must come, then he shall fight with honor. The slime then recalled the Samurai Code: 'death before dishonor'.

"Make avoiding civilian casualty a top priority to everyone, even above achieving victory."

Ririna furrowed her brow. Lips thinning, the hobgoblin looked like she wanted to argue before relenting.

"Very well. Having low civilian casualties would make people less likely to resist our troops, what with their family members still alive. We'll send that message."

Metropolis Barrack, Female Locker room, T-20 minutes before Operation Jistavic Freedom commences.

The block pistol hummed as Eren checked her given weapon once last time. The glow from the neon lights felt soothing, and it helped take her mind off the battle that is about to commence.

And off what had happened a few days ago as well.

Sitting on a reinforced bench, the elf glimpsed down at her own body, clad in dark armor that makes her into a superhuman one-man army. Unlike unenchanted armor, and even some enchanted ones, these felt incredibly comfortable. Like Eastern Silk on the skin, it didn't feel heavy at all, and Eren actually never once sweated inside these things since apparently, the temperature is dynamically controlled by an AI assistant held within the armor.

Wearing this and moving around made Eren feel like what those S-rank warriors must've felt like; their limbs as light as air itself; their body more agile than a storm tiger; their eyesight seeing details on the moon itself at night; their speed fast enough to cross all of Ingrassia in half a day; their single strike can break down a castle wall as if it was made out of sands.

The cost alone is probably more than most people make in a decade. At the very least.

And the most important thing; the helmet on her lap. Apparently, this thing cost more than the armor.

From the outside, it looked like one you'd find on the head of those who drove the two-wheeled motor vehicles. Wearing the helmet made it so that even if you were deep inside the planet, the connection between you and higher-ups will never falter because of something called neutrino-based transmission. Moreover, after testing a bit, it appears the helmet can also read her surface thoughts and intentions since they moved perfectly along with her movements.

It's like a second skin.

The feeling is only amplified when the war uniform barely required any maintenance, so Eren could wear it all the time so long as she's inside a military base.

According to the war uniform's instruction manual, it's also got plenty of life support systems. From nanite blockers to stop bleeding to super organs that can temporarily replace the function of damaged ones, the war uniform really made it clear how much the Military cares about its Officers.

The back of the helmet opened up like the petals of a flower blossoming. Placing it on her face like a mask, the petals of the helmet closed in over Eren's head, encasing it.

Within moments, the darkness that greeted her vision was replaced by multiple interfaces and displays— heads-up displays, as it was called. The visor showed all kinds of information about her immediate surroundings as it turned on. From more immediate ones like temperature, moisture, and gas composition to more esoteric ones like the constant meter used to measure the value of the local physical constants and spacetime curvature compass, all of it was shown to her.

Supposedly the last two are to detect if magic has been used.

"Welcome, Officer Eren Eiwald. T-19 Minutes until Operation Jistavic Freedom starts."

The AI spoke directly to the headphones covering her ears.

The parts of the helmet that are touching her face felt cold. Her study at the military academy told her the temperature control made sure she wouldn't be sweating and fogging up the visor, a potentially lethal mistake.

The visor then displayed a map near the corner of her eyes. The map displayed the topographical details around her and underneath that, the timer for the Operation's start.

Standing up, Eren checked her pistol again before placing it back inside the hoster. Then, a burning whip came out of her left gauntlet. Supposedly, the material that this whip is made out of disintegrates atoms upon touch because it's made out of a very thin sheet of magmatter, so it's an excellent omni-cutting tool.

It's also shaped by magnetic fields.

Looking at the left bottom corner of her visor, Eren spotted a 1.7 ms of delay with the Machine-Brain Interface of the war uniform. A bit slow it seems.

Finishing gearing up, Eren got up and strode toward the Airstrip-03 where the rest of her teammates were supposed to gather.

At Night, Ameld River, Milim-Eurazania Border, Operation Jistavic Freedom

The mighty Ameld River is the longest and widest river in the world. Its primary river basin takes up the entirety of the eastern Jura Forest, with it even reaching partly into the domain of the Eastern Empire.

This river was the source of life for the entirety of the Jura Forest and its many inhabitants both downstream and upstream. However, being the mightiest river has also become an issue for Yamza, one of Clayman's direct subordinates, one of his 'Fingers'.

Building a river across the Ameld has always been challenging. Unlike a normal creak where the rushing water's depth only reach one's ankle, the part of the Ameld that separates Milim's domain and Eurazania is half a hundred meter deep at the shallowest part. Beyond being so deep, the water's speed is also fast enough with plenty of hidden torrents that trying to swim across the place is suicide for any non-aquatic or amphibious demihumans and monsters.

The Ameld's danger is exemplified when Demon Lord Kazaream's army attempted to invade Eurazania 450 years ago, the Curse Lord tried to cross the Ameld, only to get washed away into the sea by a sudden flash flood.

This is why Yamza wants to strangle whichever subordinate of Demon Lord Carrion that destroyed every single bridge that connects Milim's domain with Eurazania.

Still, Yamza was nothing if not adaptive, so the majin used the frost sword given to him by Clayman to freeze the surface of the Ameld, creating a temporary bridge strong enough for his armies to cross.

Looking at the swarm of majins crossing the river reminded Yamza of those yearly horned wildebeest migrations that happen in the Barren Lands. Every autumn, millions of three-meter-tall horned bovines migrate across the Barren Lands alongside clouds of magicules so dense it would suffocate a human in under a second.

In his younger days, Yamza once hunted those bovines. Their horns were a prized commodity, being an excellent magical ingredient for potions.

Tracing the sides of his armor, a feeling of phantom pain flashed across Yamza's mind, causing his eyes to snap shut.

Dangerous, those wildebeest are. Their hide was so tough due to the constant exposure to magicules that only the younger ones were viable targets. In Yamza's personal opinion, you'd need to be a Demon Lord to hunt those adult ones and a step above that to hunt the really ancient wildebeests.

Still, Yamza stood on the cliff overlooking the crossing like a lighthouse. To anyone looking, it would appear he's standing vigilance over his soldiers.

Looking at the other side of the river where it was decided they shall set up camp for the night, the Middle of Clayman's Fingers reviewed exactly what he was ordered to do... and found those orders wanting.

He was ordered by Clayman to annex the fertile lands of Eurazania, arguably the most fertile lands in all of the world.

That's no longer the case after the attack by Milim.

Yamza's subordinate reported how a black rain came from the skies on the day after Milim's attack. Poison. Those black rain were a sinisterly slow poison that condemns a majin to the most agonizing of deaths if one drinks them too much.

Wherever that black rain fell, the land turned into poison as well. Fruits that were grown by Milim's people made people sick and vomit.

Yamza was forced to rely on supply from Jistav or imported food.

Hearing a new footstep behind him, Yamza turned around to find a messenger.

Annoyed, and a tiny bit anxious, Yamza leaned in to receive the message—

"WHAT?!"

Yamza grabbed the messenger, a birdmen majin, by his shoulders and glared into his eyes.

"What the fuck do you mean Tempest just declared war on us?"

The messenger brought his hands up to try and calm Yamza down.

"I just got the report, sir."

Yamza growled. Just as he was about to scream at his underling for this incompetence, parts of the star-filled night sky suddenly turned fully black, as if an artist had painted over the stars above, catching Yamza's attention.

Squinting his eyes and focusing on those areas of blackness, Yamza could make out a faint outline of purple almost invisible.

Had they been any fainter, Yamza could've never even spotted them.

It was then that something probed the edges of Yamza's [Clairvoyant Sense].

Unlike normal [Magic Sense, Yamza developed his own version that focuses on the range while blurring the details. The [Clairvoyant Sense] was his secret trump card as the Commander-In-Chief of Clayman's army, and it won him many battles since he could sense the movement of enemy troops from a hundred kilometers away.

It was only after probing a further three times those things made a beeline for Yamza's position.

It could only mean one thing: someone's attacking from the air, and they're crossing that one-hundred-kilometer distance rapidly.

"WE'RE UNDER ATTACK!" Yamza yelled to his underlings, "TELL EVERYONE TO TAKE COVER, WE GOT SOME AIR ATTACKERS APPROACHING RAPIDLY!"

His subordinates ran to spread his order to the rest of his troops.

Within less than a minute, those rapidly approaching things were within visual distance of Yamza, finally allowing him to see just what exactly was attacking him.

"...what?"

Confused at the fact that pitch-black triangles were closing in, Yamza tried to see if there were any souls in them, only to find nothing.

Automatons?

The fact that there were a lot of lightning elements within each flying triangle seemed to affirm that suspicion. At least they were slowing down to a speed below that of sound.

Just then, the bottom of these flying triangles opened up, and a huge amount of heat started to build up.

Oh no.

"TELL OUR MAJINS TO GET OFF THE BRIDGE!" Yamza bellowed out another order.

Immediately, the triangles dump out as one would a volley of arrows a vortex of concentrated heavenly fire down into the river, creating explosions of extremely hot steam as the water vaporized, rapidly expanding and taking up a larger volume.

As the triangles approached, Yamza could not help but be mesmerized by the bright ray underneath those flying automata.

Heavenly Fire was one of the trump cards of an experienced fire mage. During a thunderstorm when Yamza was young when he was huddled inside a bedsheet scared of those loud noises, his mother gently explained to him how lightning was made out of the heavenly fire— something that mortals have been able to control thanks to magic.

Three streams of heavenly fire rained down upon the water as other black triangles flanked his troops.

Even from half a kilometer away, Yamza could feel the heat from the fire that came down during thunderstorms. As they further neared, it soon became unbearably hot, causing the Majin to bring up his frost blade to create a shield of cool air.

The world roared with a thunderous noise when those triangles finally passed overhead, blowing Yamza away from the river.

The heavenly fire instantly killed whoever is still on the bridge, vaporizing half their flesh while the steam cooked the rest.

It was a merciful fate, for those who died by the plasma attack since the majins near the river were bathed in steam with a temperature as hot as lava. They were literally cooked alive with them managing to feel every last ounce of pain because steam doesn't destroy nerve endings like fire.

It was a terrible fate for anyone. The death was more agonizing than being burned alive.

Yamza got up, relatively unharmed but dirtied. The majin saw how the rushing Ameld River that served as an impassible barrier that separated Milim's domain and Eurazania now became a snake of moving steam. The small valley upon which the river flowed was now filled with rolling fog, except that 'fog' has a temperature hot enough to cook a person alive in less than a minute.

Well, that's if being in contact with the melted river bed doesn't kill them first. The molten ground gave the steam snake an eerie orange glow as if it was a long lantern.

It was as if someone had transported a volcanic geyser here.

Yamza figured hundreds of majins must've died from that attack with a further hundred seriously injured with varying degrees of steam burns.

Once the black triangles passed them by a couple of hundred meters, they all began to bank left and return for a rerun.

No, not just those three. [Clairvoyant Sense] alerted Yamza to many other black triangles closing in like wild dogs going in for the finishing blow.

"SCATTER, TAKE COVER!" Yamza bellowed out another order as he started charging his frost blade for a counterattack.

The triangles neared, flying three-quarters of a kilometer into the air.

Yamza didn't lower his blade. The majin has fought against experienced fire and lightning mages, and the heavenly fire attacks from them have very short ranges.

They're too high to drop those streams of heavenly fires, so what exactly are they doing?

Yamza's question was answered when silver containers shaped like an elongated teardrop fell from the triangles akin to water from a knocked-over bucket that was placed too high.

Is it giving birth?

That was the question on Yamza's mind as he stared at what was happening.

About a hundred meters in the air, the teardrop split open into smaller teardrops that continued speeding toward the ground—

KABOOM*

A series of massive explosions of raw heat materialized into existence the moment those teardrops hit the ground. It was as if someone had put Yamza's face mere inches away from a blacksmith's open furnace.

The radiance from that explosion was bright enough that everyone was forced to advert their eyes.

It was then that the screaming started.

Majins burned. The fire that came from the explosion was strange, it was incredibly bright, burning more of a white rather than the typical colors and it didn't behave like a normal fire, but instead more like a thick oil that clings onto skin. Majins ran as flames covered them, serving as a spark to dry kindling when more of the white flame spread into the untouched grass surrounding the explosion.

Yamza was familiar with those screams. He was put in charge of interrogation after all, but never once in his entire life had he ever heard so many of those kinds of screams— the sound of desperation, the sound of unbearable pain, the sound of a wish for release.

Some majins tried to help. Some tried to cast water spells but to no avail. Water did nothing to smother the flames, only to make them much, much stronger and hotter. Ice quickly melted before being vaporized under intense heat. Only those air spells helped relieve some of the pain when they made a vacuum around the burning majin.

However, the moment air returned, the burning continued.

Looking around him, Yamza saw how he was surrounded by a ring of fire, probably the same kind of oily fire that burned his majins.

He's been trapped.

"Fuck."

Those black triangles went in for a second run, dropping more of their payload in the form of those silver teardrops.

These... they're probably Tempest forces... they want to annihilate the entirety of Clayman's forces.

Yamza had to crack a smirk at that. The Commander-In-Chief could respect that ruthlessness even when it's used on him.

Still, seeing how this offensive is a lost cause, Yamza decided that now would be the best time to abandon ship.

Conjuring up a teleportation circle in his hands, the Middle Finger tried to escape, only for the circle to collapse into nothingness.

"Huh?"

Before Yamza could ponder the question anymore, streaks of light— heavenly fire— filled his field of view accompanied by more majins falling to the ground, dead.

Those streaks of light came from these bulky humanoid metal monstrosities that came out of a smaller version of the portal that those black triangles came out of. They blended almost perfectly into the night if it weren't for the flashes coming from their weapons.

His soldiers were dying by the thousands, falling like wheat to a farmer's scythe. So many streaks of heavenly fire came from these humanoid automatons that it was leaving temporary scars in Yamza's vision.

It was pure chaos. Everyone running on the raw instinct of fight or flight. Most scurried around like rats that have been discovered while a few tried to fight back in futility.

Turning to the other side of the river bank, Yamza saw it was pretty much the same thing: streaks of heavenly fire from those metal automatons, majins running around trying to escape, and a few tried to fight back after realizing they'd been boxed in. Those few majins who could fly did and were promptly shot down by the focused firing of the magic-less golems.

He grunted in frustration, a memory of what Mjurran said echoed inside his mind as the majin readied his Ice Blade.

'Clayman never cares about anyone other than himself. Sooner or later, you'll end up being thrown away after your usefulness has run out.'

"Ha, I guess you were right Mjurran."

The number that remained alive was quickly dwindling with how fast these metal monstrosities were killing them, mercilessly blasting away at the retreating majins. Looking around to assess the situation, Yamza saw that there were hundreds of flashes of light every second.

What are these metal automatons? Who built these golems? These questions ran through Yamza's head as he saw the battle— no, more like a butchery, and he can't even use the butcher to his own advantage since Adalman isn't here!

Damn it where the hell is the Dragon Faithful??

Just as one of the dark automatons aimed its lance of heavenly fire at Yamza and pulled the trigger—

A horrible screech rang out into the night when Middray, the Head Priest of the Dragon Faithful, threw a massive boulder at the Autonomous Marine, causing the android to be pushed along with the boulder as if it was a bulldozer.

There was a massive crash as dust and debris exploded when the boulder hit the ground. Like bowling pins, numerous Autonomous Marines were knocked around by that boulder when the rock merely did a glancing blow.

Yet walking out of that veil of dust was the same Autonomous Marine. A massive dent can be seen and its weapon a broken wreck but otherwise, it was operating at full capacity.

Middray, the tall, bald, and muscular dragonewt, then announced as the attacks paused for a moment.

"Despite my disdain for Clayman's weak forces, mindless slaughter isn't what we of the Dragon Faithful practice either," Middray got into a combat stance, flanked by Captain Hermes of the Dragon Faithful, "We have lost, please stop this slaughter."

Thousands of kilometers away, Global Operation Center, Hexagon.

The Hexagon was the headquarter of the Ministry of Defense. Usually, this is the building where all wartime operations and control should be situated, however, in the event that some amount of delicate hands and discretion are needed, Commander Scientia would instead lead from the Citadel.

The Hexagon, as its name suggested, was a flat hexagon taking about 150 acres of land right outside of the Capital. Like many government buildings around Tempest, many of the internal rooms were empty because there just aren't enough employees to staff them all, so most of the Hexagon was populated by autonomous drones that maintain the place to a pristine standard.

While many trotted about how wasteful it was to construct such a large building, the Commander still went ahead in anticipation of future growth in the military.

Currently inside one of the more restricted rooms within the Hexagon lies the High Command of the Tempest Armed Forces, otherwise known as the 'general staff'. Oddly enough, the room looked strikingly similar to a university's lecture room, with a huge monitor being the focal point.

Ririna stared at the monitor that filled one side of the room, currently focused on Middray.

Being currently the highest-ranking Officer, Field Marshal Ririna had total control and can send out whatever orders she wished with the lower-ranking Officers being able to add their own perspectives and opinions but ultimately, any major decisions ends up being decided by Ririna.

While some Officers have raised the concern that such a centralization of command may lead to certain inefficiencies or vulnerabilities to decapitation strikes, many of those concerns were dismissed thanks to advanced technologies.

Inefficiencies in communication or an overwhelming amount of information were reduced thanks to artificial intelligence and ubiquitous communication devices. Decapitation strikes were an almost non-issue given how the general staff resided far away from the actual battle.

Biting her thumb, Ririna thought of what to do next.

"What shoulder we do, Field Marshal?" One of the nearby younger Officers who sat by a computer asked.

Inside her mind, Ririna was weighing the outcomes of whether to stop or continue. The oath that she swore said to be honorable in actions during wartime, and yet...

The hobgoblin's eyes narrowed. Her Unique Skill [Warmaster] gave Ririna almost precognitive intuition on how to win a battle. Right now, even without it, Ririna could tell the battle would be a stomp.

Setting a precedent matters more. The enemy doesn't define terms, Tempest does.

"Thin out the herd more until there are around 1,000 survivors. Prepare our field hospitals to take in those 1,000 survivors and give them the best treatment possible. Order our Officers to retreat and have the Overwatch Military System take over those marines."

Ameld River.

Overwatch Military System, Online.

Assuming direct control over 300 Autonomous Marines... successful.

Retreat for cover.

Half a minute has gone by ever since Middray's ultimatum. No one moved. The battlefield was tense and filled with the silent hope that the slaughter is finally over.

The hope bloomed when the Autonomous Marines started retreating. Every majin soldier breathed out a sigh of relief thinking they'll get to see their family again.

Change to Firing Pattern Delta

That was until the slaughter began anew, only this time the machines were further away.

Unlike before where there were streaks of intense plasma channeled through a small pathway of lowered electrical resistance, now the marines were firing small, but rapid pulses of plasmic blobs.

In essence, the Marines now possessed automatic machine guns instead of semi-auto rifles.

Unprepared for this, large swathes of majins and members of the Dragon Faithful were cut down in an instant as if they were overgrown grass in front of a lawnmower.

"Cowards!" Middray screamed before rushing in toward where the Marines were standing. He did this to hopefully draw attention away from others and to himself since he's likely the most powerful individual here.

Appearing in front of the nearest Marine half a hundred meters away in less than a second, Middray threw a punch that contained the full force of his Special A-rank strength and it went through the Marine's chest.

Commence micro-fusion reactor overload.

Instead of shutting off as other automatons tend to do, the marine in question moved closer and held Middray close as if it was giving a warm hug.

Before Middray could even react to what was happening, the Autonomous Marine glowed with heat as the magnetic confinement field upon which the nuclear fusion plasma was contained turned off.

Plasma in the hundreds of millions of degrees— the temperature at which fusion occurred— went wild, rapidly vaporizing the marine's internal circuits before—

Boom*

An explosion that is comparable to a bomb containing 100 kilograms of TNT materialized with the Autonomous Marine as the center. The night temporarily receded as a tiny second sun appeared on the surface of the planet.

Change target: Designated: Alpha. Unit 016, 019, 030, 084, 182, 201, 264, 268, 329, 336, 437, 522, 603, 695, 718, 897, 908, 948, 966, 992, continue and speed up euthanization efforts. All units on euthanization effort, change to Firing Pattern Gamma. Extreme prejudice permitted for Designated: Alpha. No survivors.

Of the original 300 Marines deployed against this invading force, all but 20 of them turned their guns into the black explosive cloud that blended perfectly into the night. It would confuse anyone watching since if they fire, the marines would be firing into the remains of a fireball.

It was like watching a futuristic firing squad executing a criminal as 280 Autonomous Marines sent intense, laser-like beams of super-confined plasma into the veil of smoke and debris, all at the highest possible power setting for the weapon in their hands.

In the meantime, while this execution was happening, the other 20 continued to sweep across the landscape with their plasma impactors firing at the pace of a machine gun. Hundreds of pulses of plasma sliced through the air, causing a fire when it didn't hit while carbonizing majins when it did.

The 280 members of the firing squad only stopped when if they continue any longer, the plasma rifle would overheat.

Middray was still alive. Barely. By using an Intrinsic Skill not often possessed by Dragonewts, Middray transformed his body to become more draconic; scales fully covered his body, sharp claws sheathed his fingers, his snort protruded as if it had grown like a tree, and he was now doubled in size with a pair of wings on his back.

Standing close to four meters tall, the burn wounds on Middray's body were now rapidly healing up with a passive, non-Skill-based biological regeneration that possessed a similar speed to [Ultraspeed Regeneration].

Because this is a purely biological healing factor, the Dragonewt was now glowing a deep red from all the waste heat that came as a result of the rapid cellular division. Since Dragonewts possess extremely long telomeres alongside a third strand of foreign DNA in the form of a triple helix model, cancers and age-related issues aren't a problem.

"RRRROOOOOOOOAAAAAR———!" Middray let out a loud roar that would've terrified any living being on the opposite side.

The Autonomous Marines stood still, vigilant, fully bracing against the loud sound. They didn't show any fear because they couldn't feel fear. The Narrow AI that piloted each marine and the Overwatch Military System doesn't even possess the ability to feel fear.

Middray charged into the machine crowd. The Head Priest of the Dragon Faithful lost himself in the bloodlust of battle with each swipe of his claws hitting hard enough to nearly incapacitate a single Marine.

With Middray taking the brunt of the attention, Yamza was considering making his escape and slipping away from both Clayman and this failed war.

Just as he was about to create a suit of icy armor and diving into the now-cooling riverbed, skating away even if it's likely futile given those black triangles can just give chase.

However, just as Yamza was about to do such a thing, he froze completely. As still as a stone statue, all movement— even microexpressions— was erased from the majin as if life itself had been taken out of him and now all that remained was a corpse puppet by another being.

'You have failed me for the last time, Yamza,' Clayman's voice spoke inside Yamza's head. Try as he might, Yamza couldn't move at all as his body was taken over by Clayman's Unique Skill [Puppeteer].

'However, you still have some value for me. Thus, before you die, do one last thing for me...'

Yamza reached into his armor and pulled out a marble that practically radiated evilness. It was something that was given to him as a 'gift' by Clayman before the war started. The Middle of Clayman's Fingers could do nothing but be trapped inside his own body as his hand came close to his face before forcing the marble down his gullet—

"Grrrrrrrraaaaahhh!"

White-hot pain rocked Yamza's body, echoing off walls and reverberating like sound in a canyon. The control of [Puppeteer] wore off as 'Yamza' was no longer Yamza.

The Majin's very genetic structure was being rewritten. Spliced. Modified. Altered. Transformed. Enhanced— developed into something new.

Yamza's current form wasn't ideal, so it was changed.

Like a balloon being blown up, Yamza's body enlarged in a grotesque manner, its once-human shape disturbed beyond recognition.

Arms that could once be described as 'human-like' contorted and contended as cancerous growths grew like mushrooms on a piece of rotten wood, the very bones themselves were either changing alongside this horrifying metamorphosis or being broken into dozens of agonizingly small pieces that caused internal bleeding as they stabbed into mutating muscles and flesh like shrapnels from a grenade.

As Yamza's genes underwent a forceful and violent rewrite, his cells multiplied at a truly ridiculous pace to add those additional masses. Using the surroundings and Yamza's own magicule as fuel, the extremely quick cellular division generated a scorching heat so hot that a blacksmith can use them to melt ores.

The Middle Finger of Clayman's Five Fingers became a mutated, pulsating, oozing, burning mass of cancerous flesh more reminiscent of grotesque monsters from The Blob or The Thing. Jagged teeth sprouted haphazardly from the quivering flesh, adding a further touch to the biological nightmare in the middle of this battlefield.

Alert. New threat recognized. Designated: Foxtrot. Unit 999, focuses on the euthanization of Designated: Foxtrot.

The Autonomous Marine in question started shooting streaks of plasma that needled against the mass of flesh that was Yamza, burning and carbonizing portions of it that were immediately subsumed.

A legion of sinewy tendrils sprang forth from Yamza's altered form. They were like debris thrown into the air from an explosion, branching outward as if they belonged to a wicked tree. Once reaching a certain length, the tendrils split into several smaller appendages that then thrust into the partially carbonized bodies of dead majin soldiers that are still smoldering. Those who were alive tried to run away, but couldn't when the thicker tendrils stabbed right through them, spearing the soldiers as if they were pieces of lambs for a shishkabob.

Bringing them into the fold as if it was in the middle of a macabre feast, the abomination that was once called Yamza pulsated and threw more, longer tendrils with even greater ferocity as if to consume more to fill an insatiable hunger.

It was akin to witnessing a voracious school of piranhas swarming their prey in a feeding frenzy, or perhaps a vacuum cleaner devouring the dust inside a long-sealed attic no human have trodden on for years. Those tendrils grew smarter with each majin it consumed. Before, it was like a baby, lashing out at everything but now it became more methodical, moving with a chilling efficiency to better consume the deceased and the still alive with the ruthless effectiveness found only in an invasive species.

Alert, Designated: Foxtrot has sudden growth in mass. Possible magic-based hegemonic grey goo-scenario: possibility rising. All Units focusing on Designated: Alpha speed up termination effort by 45%. All other Units focusing on euthanization effort focus on Designated: Foxtrot, a maximum effort for pacification required, Unit 016, 966, continue on euthanization effort, Exterminate. Airborne Unit 06, 11, 12, redirect focus on Designated: Enemy Leader, Level-4 firepower permitted, deliver payload: tactical antimatter bomb- unauthorized. Deliver payload: cluster potassium napalm. Euthanize.

Almost immediately, all but two of the Autonomous Marines started to blast solely at the fleshy abomination. The plasma continuously carbonized portions of the body that they hit, but compared to how large the rapidly growing cancerous mass was, it almost didn't seem to matter.

The air roared as three A.A.A. in bomber configuration swooped in and dropped their payload in the shape of a silver teardrop that later split into many smaller cluster munitions. These potassium napalm bombs exploded in a fiery inferno of light and heat, using the cancerous mass as fuel to burn a white flame that unleashed thick smoke which blot out the stars and moon above.

Until that napalm was smothered out when the flesh drew the burning part in, consuming it like any other foreign biological matter.

Middray paused in the middle of his attacks. Lances of plasma still battered against his skin, yet the Dragonewt was distracted by something else.

"This presence..." he stared at the burning Yamza, almost too bright to look at, "Impossible, Charybdis is dead!"

The Hexagon.

"...What the hell is that?"

That was the only thought on Ririna's mind right now. The hobgoblin stared at the live stream through the eyes of a reconnaissance unmanned aerial vehicle currently surveying the battlefield.

Though it was flying ten kilometers away from the actual fighting, its camera possessed enough magnification capacity to see in high definition of the burning, pulsing, puss-oozing abomination.

If this was the old her before she met the Commander, Ririna doesn't doubt how she'll be having nightmares about that thing in the future. But subtly using calming breathing techniques, Ririna projected a mask of confidence and indifference in the face of such a horrific-looking freak of nature.

The surface of the cancerous growth ripped as two opposing wings with the color blue sprouted out. It was like looking at a more perverted and disturbing form of a caterpillar turning into a butterfly. Then, a second, thing tendril shot out perpendicular to the wings.

Deep down, Ririna thinks she won't ever see caterpillars the same again.

Finally, with a single flap, the final form of the abomination was realized: a flying manta ray; Charybdis reborn, bursting out of its flesh cacoon like a butterfly.

"..."

Thanks to highly advanced camera technology, everyone in the room was treated to a very detailed video of Charybdis dripping with a purple liquid as it slowly rose into the air.

"Ma'am, what are your orders?" Her aide-de-camp asked.

Ririna's mouth remained agape, for who the fuck would think that Charybdis would return? After the Commander had bombed it so hard that the area where the original Charybdis died looked like the aftermath of a volcanic eruption, where bits of life are only just now returning in the form of small plants native to volcanic islands.

Hanging her head and staring at the gigantic monitor, the Field Marshal wetted her dry lips, the options available to her weighing heavily.

She could order a tactical antimatter warhead to be launched at Charybdis, but she fears given how expensive those are, the hobgoblin would disappoint the Commander.

Ririna doesn't want to disappoint her idol.

"Damn it," Ririna cursed under her breath, "I can't ask for Rubedo's help since he's busy with Jistav and the President."

Unlike in a certain world where the use of a WMD is seen as a massive escalation that will draw widespread international condemnation, here where individual powerhouses are strategic weapons like nuclear bombs, the deployment of such a weapon won't draw much criticism, especially from other Demon Lords.

Thus the Tempest Doctrine views weapons of mass destruction as entirely viable weapons to use in a conventional war. More accurately, they're to be used in an entirely military sense to root out the enemy from a fortified position.

Given how Yamza used his trump card and turned himself into a baby Charybdis, Ririna could spin that in the after-action report as Yamza becoming a fortress.

Reaching into her pocket, Ririna pulled out a device that anyone from Scientia's old World would say looked like a flip phone from the 90s. Tapping several times the Field Marshal managed to acquire a secure line to the department head of the Strategic Weapons Agency, the portion of the Tempest Military that deals with the primary components of strategic weapons such as the containment and storage of antimatter, nuclear material, and biological and chemical agents.

"This is Field Marshal Ririna, I am hereby authorizing the deployment of a low-yield tactical ten-kiloton antimatter hypersonic warhead upon the following coordinates."

There was no reply. There wasn't ever a need for a reply since the protocol for such a deployment of a low-yield tactical WMD was just to send it since it'll be the requester who bears the ultimate responsibility.

With that, Ririna placed the device back into her pockets before announcing loudly, "Get our troops out of there, make sure our airborne units stay out of the effective range of this antimatter warhead. We're taking out three birds with one stone."

With that, the fate of Clayman's army, the reborn Charybdis, and the Dragon Faithful were sealed.

"But ma'am! What about the Ameld River?"

"We already melted the river bed, it'll return!"

The Battlefield.

New orders received. All Units teleport out, all Airborne Units, maintain the perimeter, and Airborne Units 06, 11, and 12, return to perimeter formation.

Almost immediately, every Autonomous Marine started to retreat. Those who could leave through a Doorway while those who couldn't were dragged to safety through a portal thanks to another Marine.

Middray was halfway into ripping one of the marines as if it was a piece of jerky when the retreat order was given out. Veins on Middray's forehead almost burst in anger at the apparent cowardly move, mistaking their retreat to be running away from him instead of the incoming hypersonic warhead.

"YOU COWARDS!"

Every single Autonomous Marine on both sides of the river was teleporting away.

Middray stomped several times on the ground until a small crater formed around him. Climbing out of the rim of the crater, Middray's anger turned to confusion when it saw a tiny bright dot in the distance above the treelines.

It was so far away that it would've been blocked by the forest that surrounds the place.

Looking at it, Middray couldn't help but recall all those times he's seen Milim approaching from the sky, descending like a star that fell from the heavens.

The bright dot quickly grew brighter and brighter, whereas mere seconds ago it was comparable to a tiny star, now it was like the moon, lightly illuminating everything.

It made Middray's hair stand on end as a feeling of foreboding overtook his stomach. It felt like Milim's wrath, only much worse somehow.

A crushing presence came from the object. Time seemed to slow down to a crawl as Middray stared at the object that was now glowing so bright one could faintly make out the words inside a book underneath this kind of light.

It was all too quiet. And it was that quietness that finally snapped Middray into action.

Once the object crosses into the range of Middray's [Magic Sense, the Dragonewt felt a sense of burning, like a premonition of catastrophe, an apocalypse about to happen. Death stalked among the woods. Like a predator lying in wait in the tall grass, death waited to collect the large collection of souls that are about to die.

He felt like the ripe crops of a farmer, where said farmer is looking at the crops in anticipation.

Moments before the long, spear-like projectile possessing a flat, arrow-like head slammed into Charybdis, Middray rushed over to the half-dead Hermes— his junior— and covered the younglings with [Dragon Body] still active, serving as a barrier, a shield that protected the one underneath him from the incoming fiery annihilation.

It was deafening.

The antimatter warhead slammed into Charybdis and released its payload of a couple of milligrams of anti-iron suspended via magnetic fields inside a vacuum capsule emptier than the intergalactic void. An annihilation reaction that released energy equal to a ten-kiloton nuclear bomb materialized into existence, engulfing all of Charybdis in the span of a single millionth of a second.

The Hexagon.

A blinding flash of light replaced the steadily rising Charybdis like the moon with the sun during a solar eclipse. The fireball consumed the target, and the monitor in the war room was temporarily overtaken by static coming from the burst of gamma and other electromagnetic radiation before quickly returning to normal

A mushroom cloud steadily rose into the air, the cap itself lost much of its light as the stem became thinner and thinner.

Compared to the mushroom cloud from the 15-megaton antimatter explosion that buried the first Charybdis, this one was like comparing to a baby. At its zenith, the mushroom cloud that buried the second Charybdis reached no more than five kilometers when its predecessor had a height of over 30 kilometers.

Well, the predecessor was around 1500 times more powerful.

Even so, the majins who were near the ground zero of the antimatter explosion were obviously dead. If not outright vaporized, then the crushing shockwave would've scrambled their insides as if someone had pushed an active batter mixer in.

"Any survivors?"

"Less than a dozen."

Ririna placed a hand on her chin as she pondered about the number. Impressive, to have survived that near ground zero no less, even Officers in their war uniform would have trouble doing such a feat.

"They're all dragonewts?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"Let them live, also send in medical VTOLs. They're Demon Lord Milim's people, not Clayman's."

The rest is now up to you now, Rubedo, and Mr. President.

AN: apologies it took longer.

Walpurgis next chap! get ready for an actual competent Clayman.

49

AN: I did a mistake last chapter by calling Clayman's forces 'kijins' when they should be 'majins', it's fixed by now

Yes, they are inspired by the War of the World.

Concerning the Plasma Impactors, just imagine the flamethrower from the Pyro from Team Fortress 2 except for way fewer 'holes' and looks more high-tech, and it shoots out different forms of plasma instead of fire.

The in-universe reason why these plasma impactors are so large is that it's the most cost-effective way as compared to efficiency, giving an Autonomous Marine anything like a Quantum Variation Field blade would be like giving a normal soldier a diamond-edged knife; the cost outweighs the efficiency.

Jistav, miles outside Amrita

Autonomous Marines marched in blocks of thirty or more. The rhythmic sound of the collective march was enough to almost hypnotize anyone watching.

In the skies above, flying Military Drones hovered, acting like a protective blanket as they scoured the sky. These were a larger more robust version of the Autonomous Security Drones used to patrol the streets of Tempest's cities. Being that their purpose was to lay down suppressive fire akin to an attack helicopter, they were armed with numerous lasers, electromagnetic autocannons, and anti-armor micro-missiles.

Additionally, the sound of thumping can be heard as colossal, 30-meter-tall giant three-legged tripods walk through the forest, appearing more akin to a mobile fortress or maybe an artillery platform than anything else.

A tank and an artillery piece rolled into one, the Tripods were meant to be unstoppable weapons of war that serve both a practical and a psychological purpose. Though their huge forms made them easy targets, their size also gave them an intimidating presence, which is only compounded when the tripods looked, unlike anything on the planet. The tripods were even more heavily armed than A.A.A.s. These things were meant to dish out so much firepower as to be able to singlehandedly lay siege against a Demon Lord's domain.

Possessing three powerful tentacle legs that can hold up an arcology, the main core of a Tripod from which the three legs come out has the appearance of an alien void craft, with two large groove-like extensions running down its sides as if they were 'wings'. Above these wings were close to a hundred small built-in laser turrets that can ensure nothing gets within a kilometer of a Tripod. Underneath these wings, however, were the main weapon: Filament Projectors each attached to their own tentacles.

The Tripods were designed to go toe-to-toe against an entire army of A-rank superhumans. Slaughter them all, assist in pacifying the province, and then help in the rebuilding with dozens of smaller tentacles held in the front between two legs meant for manipulating large objects.

This strike force that can easily roll over a whole host of smaller Western states was meant for only a single city.

Such overkill, such methods of shock and awe, ways such as these were the core tenants of the Tempest Doctrine.

Replicating the phenomenon of an actual storm, the Tempest Doctrine was pioneered and spearheaded by Commander Scientia Tempest. When applying to an actual war, the strategic goal of the Tempest Doctrine called for the utter devastation of enemy forces while Tempest's own remain untouched, with civilians caught in the crossfire being relegated to an ultimately secondary concern compared to total victory. Effectively, complete supremacy from start to finish.

The Grand Military of the Republic achieve this goal through what the Commander called 'integrated arms warfare'. Thanks to the advanced technologies provided by Research and Development, the average soldier achieved an unprecedented level of integration with every aspect of the combat arms, enough that without a built-in assistant AI, it may be too much.

The first step of integrated arms warfare is extensive information gathering. Without it, overwhelming firepower is useless. It'll be like punching the air. After that is the actual deployment of overwhelming firepower to soften the target before infantry moves unmolested through the battered battlefield, ultimately cleaning up any remaining pockets of resistance or surviving enemy.

Just like an actual storm; unstoppable, overpowering, where one can only weather it instead of fighting against it.

Sitting inside the bridge of one of these Tripods, Rimuru couldn't help but admire the view from so high up. Though he's had plenty of such views given his job as the President, those were often in the skyline of the metal and glass jungle that is the Metropolis, an actual view of a forest or even uncurated nature is far rarer now that the capital is more developed.

Though, if possible, he'd liked if the surrounding forest were less 'dead'-looking.

Beyond that, one can barely feel the movement of the Tripod.

[Tattletale, Lord of Seeking]. An alternate way to view its title is 'Seeker of Knowledge'.

This was Rimuru's Ultimate Skill, created by combining [Great Sage] and [Predator]. It was formed as a gift from [Contessa] using the leftover energy of two dissolved Ultimate Skills.

According to [Tattletale, [Contessa] took the 'knowledge' aspect of [Great Sage] and the 'devouring' aspect of [Predator] to create this Ultimate Skill. Given its parent Skills, [Tattletale] remained to be able to act as a disembodied advisory voice inside Rimuru's head and the ability to take the Skills, knowledge, and experience of anyone the slime consumes, the latter of which is a step above what Unique Skill [Predator] was able to offer.

Ironically, Rimuru became similar to Hinata, his killer. The more he consumes, the more powerful he becomes.

More than that though, [Tattletale] possesses the ability to infer a supernaturally large amount of information from a small subset of data, a great tool for the day-to-day activity of a President.

But even in spite of such tremendous potential and already existent power... it's the name he's having a hard time wrapping his head around.

'Tattletale'? Seriously? Since it must've been [Contessa] that named the new Ultimate Skill 'Tattletale', did [Contessa] have such a weird sense of humor to reflect its wielder?

Scientia's sense of humor has always been a bit unconventional. For example, with how she names things, it seemed almost as if she's intentionally avoiding gravitas, avoiding naming ships that moved whole worlds things like 'World Shaper' even when it was warranted.

Okay, that's a bit unfair since Endbringers are a thing, but 'Tattletale' sounds so lame!

Rimuru flinched. Before, [Great Sage] was more of a passive observer, but after the upgrade, the privacy inside the slime's mind was pretty much gone.

Still, at least [Tattletale] is someone he trusts a great deal.

'Sorry. But still, why such a lame name though? Like the epithet of 'Seeker of Knowledge' is cool and all, but I think that fits more with an Alchemy-based Ultimate Skill or something.'

'...Yeah, that's fair I guess. True—'

"Mister President," Rimuru's communication with his now-more active Ultimate Skill was cut off when the Minister of Magic called out for his attention. Her unique clothing made her stand out from the Officer uniforms of the others in the room, "I have detected anomalous movements within the forest surrounding us, mostly obscured using stealth-based thaumaturgy."

Tempest is defined by its science. Because it was science that transformed the local's lives, and thus its opposite, magic, was viewed with an air of dismissal.

Thaumaturgy was the term coined by Albedo to try and rebrand magic in a nation of science. The Minister defined thaumaturgy as the study of magic through a more scientific lens, where the law of empiricism and replicability replaces mysticism and traditional dogma. Not that it has really caught on in places outside of the Ministry of Magic.

Looking at the holographic display in front of him, Rimuru saw how the strike group was surrounded on all sides by an unseen enemy clothed in stealth magic.

Whoever could cast such a wide area-of-effect magic strong enough to fool a Tripod's sensors wasn't weak.

"This is Adalman I assume? The undead necromancer of Clayman's Fingers?" Rimuru asked.

"Yes."

Even from the most basic of glances, one can tell that anything dealing with magic, or 'thaumaturgy', are a weak point for the Jura Tempest Military. Some military officers tried to remove this weak point but were firmly rejected by Scientia.

To not cause a public outcry, and to assure a concerned Rimuru given how common magic was, Scientia made the Ministry of Magic: the department of the government dedicated to all things magic.

Unlike Research and Development, the Ministry of Magic isn't one single grand organization, but instead more of a collection, a colony of many different smaller governmental agencies under a single umbrella term, with each of those agencies specializing in one type of magic. From the latest budget report, the Thaumaturgic Defence Agency received the most funding.

Given that it was arguably the most powerful magic user in all of Tempest confirming his suspicion, Rimuru had no reason to doubt it.

"Tell our troops to halt. Cease all movement. Establish a defensive perimeter. Get our military drones higher in the air and spread them out to prepare for close air support."

Within but a second of Rimuru saying those words, all troops received the command and stopped moving before scrambling into a defensive position.

The feet of the Tripods were split into three parts. Using this fact, the Tripods dig into the earth and scooped up large chunks of it, creating a hole that the Marines and Officers can use as cover. The Autonomous Military Drones flew up until they were high above the forest's treeline. Then, those drones spread out deep into the forest and positioned themselves in a grid-like pattern, with a single drone taking over 144 square meters worth of surface area.

A defensive perimeter was established in no less than a minute. Like a veritable castle, there was no blindspot.

Weapons were hot, target areas were highlighted within the HUD of each Officer, and all everyone waited for was the command to fire.

"Light them up!"

Everyone received the announcement at the same time.

A wall of light, heat, and plasma expanded and spread across the forest with the troops as its center.

The world glowed with incandescence as threads of plasma rounds from railguns streaked across the distance between Tempest's forces and connected with the enemy— an army of skeletons. It painted the surrounding landscape in a shade of white too bright for the naked eye to register anything except for the light from the plasma.

Everything that can be set on fire became a blazing inferno. Trees appeared like large candles as they burst into flames, the grass was like an oil spill as wildfires dispersed, and the targets were sliced apart before being carbonized by the intense concentrated heat.

If they were still humans, they would explode in showers of steam as the plasma rapidly boils the water inside their body, expanding its volume by a factor of 1,700 times— the human would sooner die because their internal organs are scrambled into a state of un-recognizability than from the actual heat from the plasma.

Since they're not, only vaporization and disintegration occurred to the dry bones of an individual shambling skeleton once the plasma bolts did hit, with nearby sections blackening.

The air was filled with shockwaves, the atmosphere blew turbulently as the plasma was hot enough to recreate the basic principle upon which wind itself was made.

The army of countless skeletons, some appearing human while others were more bestial, trudged on uncaring of the devastating power of advanced plasma weapons. Even when a single shot from a plasma railgun burned through dozens, it didn't matter when hundreds more took their place.

The army was really looking unending. It was a white sea of bones, all constantly shifting around, walking, inching closer toward the strike group like zombies in a disaster movie. One couldn't really focus on a single skeleton before losing it; they were packed that close together.

Then, the sky rained gamma lasers.

Each Autonomous Military Drones unleashed four rays of coherent light in the gamma spectrum from the four tips of their cross shaped body. They were bright enough that no color could be distinguished aside from white.

In total, hundreds of brilliant rays of intense photons surged downward at light speeds. They moved in a mesmerizing dance of annihilation. They were ethereal blades of light, slicing through the air, passing through multiple undead skeletons with a lethality surpassing most magical weaponry.

With a single stroke, the skull of an undead skeleton was cleaved in two, their body falling apart as if they were a marionette and the strings used to uphold them were cut. The beams continued to travel. These multi-gigajoule gamma lasers were powerful enough to melt through bunker doors within less than a minute of constant exposure, a mere caress from them was enough that any calcium structure in their way will find it very difficult to maintain its orderly structure against the onslaught of coherent photons.

The bleed-off from the lasers ionized the surrounding air and instantly carbonize the closest bones.

In total, the rain of gamma lasers lasted only a single second, as any longer risks damaging the lens used to concentrate photons. Yet in that second, each beam moved so quickly that all the skeletons underneath the drones were turned into useless charred, burning pieces of bones. Oddly enough, those bones were releasing a really large amount of smoke.

The next closest skeleton was now invisible against the backdrop of a forest on fire. The forest fire started spreading supernaturally fast. Smokes from the flames veiled the enemy's movements from most forms of motion sensors, huge fires served as a cover for infrared cameras, and the heat made most forms of echolocation entirely unreliable.

In a single move, the Tempest strike force accidentally blinded themselves.

"Sir! We're forced to raise the heights of the drones to a much higher level as the smoke will clog their engines." One of the lower-ranking Officers shouted.

"Mr. President! We're effectively blind to anything within the fire!" Another said.

"It seems the smoke is enchanted..." Albedo finally added, "A type of smoke that conceals whatever is inside."

Meanwhile, Rimuru was looking a bit sheepish. "...Shit, didn't realize that would happen."

He really didn't. The slime didn't take into account how with a single move, the battlefield turned against them.

It seems that the enemy knew that Tempest used plasma and laser-based weaponry— probably from those videos Scientia released. So then, they made the trees and skeletons release this special kind of smoke when they are burned, all in an effort to even the battlefield against superior firepower and technology.

Right now, Rimuru wondered if this was like the Vietnam War from his old World, where instead of using the cover of jungle foilage, the opposition used magical smoke.

Cupping his chin, Rimuru pondered a way of getting out of this. If they are blind... then just send out smaller drones to act as eyes.

"Tell our marines to use their Survey Drones."

Survey Drones are small, helicopter-like drones that are no bigger than a pencil. They are given to each Autonomous Marine to act as an extra eye in the sky, offering additional recon ability and battlefield information collection that can then be shared with other marines and Officers. A dozen of these drones grant an Autonomous Marine near omniscience over an area of 10,000 square meters, making most forms of surprise attacks and ambush useless.

"Mr. President." This time it was Rubedo who finally spoke up, "Why don't we use the Tripods? We already know the general idea of where the enemy group is, our troops can take cover as the Tripods unleash absolute hell upon the forces of the enemy necromancers."

The slime was a bit hesitant. In truth, he wanted to lead this military assault on Jistav for mainly two reasons. The first was to show Scientia that he isn't some fragile being requiring constant protection, and the second was to reassure himself that he isn't some weak-ass slime.

Being killed tend to destroy one's own confidence in oneself. More so when you were trapped and forced to watch helplessly as your body fall apart— disintegrated— within that pillar of holy light before finally, your consciousness ended.

Rimuru's fingers twitched as phantom pain assaulted the edge of his senses. Even though it was a painless way to go out, being killed by [Disintegration] was far scarier than being killed with a knife. In the slime's personal opinion.

Rimuru ignored [Tattletale].

Using a trump card at the first sign of something not going according to plan doesn't build confidence.

"Albedo, what do you think?" Torn between either looking good or making a good decision, Rimuru delegated the ultimate deciding factor to the pink Kijin.

Albedo thought about things for some moments before finally speaking up, "I think we should carpet bomb our surrounding area, to flush out the enemy necromancer so to speak, and chop off the head to kill the body."

Rimuru grimaced for a moment before returning to a neutral expression.

In a typical sci-fi space-faring empire, the primary armament held within a Tripod would be ranked as 'capital-ship grade', because that's how destructive Filament Projectors are.

An interesting property of Subspace is that anti-squarks (the Supersymmetric partner of an anti-quark) don't react explosively with a squark. This effectively offers a very safe and reliable method of containing antimatter so long as one can keep it there.

The Filament Projector keeps strands (filaments) of anti-hydrogen molecules within Subspace and only materializes it in Realspace if the situation demands it, hence, 'projecting' it into the World and having it react explosively. In essence, a weaponized Slingshot drive with no blindspot and a range only limited by what it can detect.

The drones rose up as fast as they can, and the Officers and Marines all laid flat on the ground to take cover.

Since the captains of the Tripods know where the strike force is but not the enemy, all of them opted to aim the Filament Projectors towards everywhere that doesn't contain friendlies.

It was only two minutes after the last plasma railgun stopped firing when the annihilation reaction began.

Cataclysmic fireballs erupted all around the Tripods as strands of anti-hydrogen materialized into existence and touched the air molecules composed of normal matter.

The night became day with how bright everything was. Brilliant flashes of gamma radiation accompanied the release of the energy that held particles and antiparticles together, mostly comprising of the binding energy between quarks— the Strong Nuclear Force.

Those enemies who were closest to the ground zero of the explosion were simply wiped away, with not even ashes remaining since the temperature was hot enough to turn everything into plasma.

The detonations sent out shockwaves that reverberated through the air. They tore through everything like a runaway train tearing through a neighborhood. It blew away the smoke, shattered the burning trees into tiny fragments— that is if they haven't been vaporized, and swept all skeletons away.

All that remained was a smoking crater shaped more like a ring, surrounding the strike force. The forest was gone, the enemy army was gone— everything now lay in silence, as if the world was taking a moment to contemplate what just happened, to fully realize the aftermath of using such a destructive weapon.

A lower-ranking Officer then reported, "All enemy forces have been wiped out— scratch that, we have a visual on a single... lich?"

Right there, three kilometers away from where the strike force was currently hunkering down, stood a single lich dressed in fine clothing more fitting on a figure of immense religious significance. Around it were colorful shields weaved expertly from magicules that protected it from much of the damage brought about by the antimatter explosion.

Though given how it was kneeling as if exhausted, protecting itself from the Filament Projectors must've taken a lot out of it.

Rubedo then directed the fire control Officer, "Finish it—"

"No."

Rimuru overwrote Rubedo's orders.

"I will deal with it."

There's a certain degree of finality in Rimuru's voice as if he has the last say and to object is to object against a higher authority.

Rubedo was taken aback. Usually, Rimuru and he are pretty relaxed, and informal except in public cases, and even then, the President was very friendly. To the point where Scientia would say too friendly.

"Mr. President—" Albedo tried to say, only to get cut off when the humanoid slime pushed the guard of the katana out of its sheath with a single 'click'.

"I will deal with it."

The blade singed as it was fully unsheathed. Standing up from his seat, everyone in the room can see there's a slight shimmer to Kusanagi, an ethereal outlook as if it shouldn't exist.

"Wait, Mr. President! Please consider this for a moment: do you think Director Scientia would want you to needlessly risk your life? After the length she took to give it back to you?" Albedo called out, her right-hand mere inches away from grasping onto Rimuru's shoulder.

To actually touch someone else would be considered improper, especially in a formal setting like this.

Rimuru did stop and sheathed his blade. Taking a glance at the exhausted necromancer displayed on the holographic screen, the slime then said, "Rubedo, take over. Only fire if Adalman does any threatening gesture. Albedo, I need to talk with you privately. Now."

Rubedo nodded and sat down on the same seat that Rimuru used to before the two left the command room towards a more private part of the Tripod.

Walking into a maintenance hallway devoid of anything except for some neon lights and an emergency escape hatch at the end, Albedo was the first to talk.

Dropping the formal mask, Albedo reverted back to the informal 'friend' persona.

"Why the hell are you doing something so risky? Are you seriously TRYING to make Scientia's effort all for nothing?"

Something inside Rimuru snapped the second he heard Albedo's words. Like a volcano building up stress, the slime's fuse blew.

"Don't you think I don't know what I'm getting into?" Rimuru seethed, his golden eyes a visage of rage as his mouth is pulled back into a snarl, "I am not like the old me. Every moment that I'm not working as a President is a moment I am training with Rubedo or Jeanne— do you really think I'm as weak as I was before I died?"

Placing a fist in front of his chest, the slime stared deep into Albedo's eyes.

"I know I grew complacent after I became President. Dying made that more than obvious. I recognized how I've pretty much cruised through a crisis after crisis, mostly letting Scientia deal with them while I just took the unclaimed credit being the head of the government and all. Paperwork became my main focus after the founding of the Jura Tempest Republic."

Rimuru's lips thinned until they couldn't be seen anymore. To Albedo, it seemed that the slime was struggling with something, with some part of himself unreconciliable.

"I need to fight. I need to prove to myself, but more importantly, to Scientia and the rest of the world that I am not a weakling. My complacency already made those closest to me pay the price. Scientia paid the price of my mistake. She burned herself so that I could come back."

The sight of the Perfect Homunculus breaking down was one Albedo could never forget.

Albedo, like all of her Kijin companions, never had a great relationship with Scientia. She's always this looming figure in the background, like a sleeping dragon, always there, dangerous if provoked, yet peaceful if left alone.

The breakdown irreparably shattered that image. It made Albedo realize Scientia isn't some inhuman invincible monster, but a very flawed being prone to social connections just like her and other humans.

How... mortal of her. To feel guilt over the deaths of so many transient beings.

Mortals and immortals are fundamentally unable to understand each other. One could perhaps walk a mile in the other's shoes but true empathy? Impossible. The very idea of an immortal loving a mortal is about as incomprehensible as a human loving a flash of lightning. The best that a mortal can be to an immortal is a pet, failing that, property. This aspect was embodied by Violet of the Seven Primordials.

Legend says that Violet tried to understand mortals by trying to create a nuclear family— one comprising two parents and their children. Eventually, after failing an almost innumerable number of times, the Primordial gave up and went back to her sadistic ways.

"In the end, I couldn't even help Scientia when she was at her lowest. What kind of friend am I?" Rimuru's eyes took on an extra reflective sheen, "I promised myself to get closer to her, and yet... I couldn't even comfort her! I felt so useless! I wanted to resign! But I didn't. So, Albedo, please, let me go. Let me prove to her, to myself, that I have grown beyond my weak self into someone strong, someone that's strong enough to be worthy of calling Scientia a friend, someone who's strong enough to carry at least some of the burdens from Scientia's shoulders. I want to be so strong that Tempest can proudly call its President."

For Rimuru, it was like a dam bursting. He spilled his heart out, letting go of the feelings that have been building up ever since his resurrection. His self-loathing came outward like a flash flood and if he had remained human, the slime doesn't doubt he would be full-on crying right now.

Albedo was speechless. In the place of a verbal response, she nodded and accepted his reason, adding with a soft and gentle smile, "Just... please be extra careful."

"I will," Rimuru said with a grateful expression.

The humanoid slime then used his thumb and pushed out the crossguard, revealing the actual blade to the world before teleporting away and appearing 30 meters away from where the necromancer was.

Despite being a lich, one could easily tell based on its body language alone that the kneeling Adalman was tired.

The next thing that Rimuru focused on was the clothing, which was luxurious enough to fit more on the body of an important Saint rather than a skeleton.

In the games that Satoru Mikami played, all necromancers wore dark, brooding clothing to reflect the nature of death. Though... perhaps Adalman was a reincarnated Japanese?

Ridding himself of such thoughts, Rimuru began.

"Adalman? The Index Finger of Clayman's Fingers?"

Even if it looked so vulnerable, Rimuru never allowed his guard down as he held the handle of Kusanagi tight enough that within but a single moment, it can be drawn.

"Argh." Adalman stood up from his kneeling position, groaning as if in pain, "How interesting that you know my name. I was sure I was the most secretive member of Clayman's Five Fingers. Though, is it not common courtesy to introduce oneself before we fight?"

Rimuru's head tilted forward by the tinniest margins as if asking Adalman was for real or not. Upon realizing the lich was serious, the slime introduced himself properly, "My name is Rimuru Tempest, President of the Jura Tempest Republic... and Scientia's friend."

In his usual introduction, Rimuru would forgo that last part.

Adalman nodded. Cracking his head, the lich returned the courtesy, "My name is Adalman, the Index Finger. I am an ex-Cardinal of the Western Holy Church, cursed by Demon Lord Kazaream to forever protect his land. Now, let us fight to the very end. [Magic Missile]!"

Gesturing his hand to the President, Adalman unleashed several bolts of destructive magic that traveled at speeds comparable to a bullet.

Because of a fully powered [Thought Acceleration, those missiles were moving excruciatingly slow, allowing Rimuru to fully comprehend what [Tattletale] was reporting.

Though [Tattletale] has the incredible ability to infer immense amounts of data from the tiniest amount of information, Rimuru had to turn it off most of the time because it tends to, for lack of a better word, ramble on.

If activated, most of the information [Tattletale] provides is trivia, with only perhaps 1% being somewhat useful and 0.1% being actually useful. In a sense, using [Tattletale] is like a fishing boat doing bottom trawling; the huge net may capture all of the fish but only a tiny percentage is the desirable species.

Pushing away the inferred information concerning the quality of the dirt underneath his feet, Rimuru conjured up an anchor in the form of a question for [Tattletale] to focus on.

'Is there anything else interesting about him?'

'Nothing more huh? Although I don't even need to attack, do I? I can beat him with just words.'

'...'

As those magic missiles neared, they suddenly veered off course, curving around Rimuru before continuing their straight path, creating an explosion behind the President that caused his and Adalman's clothing to flutter about.

"Someone betrayed you, didn't they?" The suddenness of Rimuru's words caught Adalman off guard, who froze suddenly. Taking this hint, the slime continued, "Ah yes indeed, it was someone close to you, I assume a dear friend?"

No response.

"A higher-up then?" Adalman flinched.

Bingo.

"Enough. Fight me! [Cursed Binds]!"

Black wispy, ghostly snakes emerged from Adalman's back and sprang towards Rimuru.

Switching Kusanagi's element from space into gravity, Rimuru created intense gravitational fields that are directed upwards into space like a funnel. Because gravity is invisible, the only evidence that something happened was how all the surrounding air started rushing toward a particular spot.

The instant those ghostly snakes crossed the threshold of five meters away from the slime, they were blasted upward into the stratosphere, disintegrating into a fine mist along the way.

"You know, Adalman, you don't need to fight me and Tempest. We could help you get back at the Western Holy Church, to help you gain your revenge against the higher-ups that betrayed you."

Offering the lich a hand, Rimuru continued, "The two of us aren't so different. I myself have been wronged by the Western Holy Church, and my dearest friend paid the price of getting me back. Join me, and we can free you before helping you get your revenge against the Church!"

Adalman growled, seemingly didn't want to hear any more of what Rimuru said, almost as if he was afraid.

A magic circle the size of a football field materialized underneath the necromancer. It was large enough that the circle's edge could almost reach where Rimuru was standing.

From that magic circle arose Adalman's strongest summons. Half-rotten bear-demihumans whose punch and pierce a wooden wall, Dragonewts whose agility is fast enough to cross a small country in a single night, and to top it all off, a Death Dragon emerged right under the feet of Adalman, bringing him up into the air.

"Even if you and I are similar and our differences small, it is far too late for someone like me to think of revenge. Even if I wanted to, I am too tired to go on. I have lived for far too long, and have seen far too much. Since I cannot kill myself I shall use you as a medium, to free me from my curse." More and more skeletons rose out of the ground, made not from dead bodies but from pure magic.

"If I rescue you from your curse, will you let us pass?"

Adalman scoffed as if a childish notion had just been suggested. "Oh please, it will be far easier to just end me. But to be polite and humor you, my savior, I agree to let you all pass. I will now unleash my greatest magic, do not hold anything back!"

Numerous colorful circles of magic materialized and started orbiting Adalman as if they were planets and the lich a star. The circles became more and more numerous until one couldn't count them anymore.

Still not too much for [Tattletale] though.

Grasping the handle of Kusanagi with both hands, Rimuru lowered his body by squatting a bit while bringing the blade up next to his face. With the cutting edge of the katana pointing up to the sky and the blade itself parallel to the ground, Rimuru looked like a samurai in the middle of a stand-off against an opponent.

"Time to end this! Since this is in the name of defending Amrita, I am allowed to use whatever means at my disposal. Therefore, I shall use my own soul as fuel for this spell! [Death Wave]!"

A point of raw blackness surfaced into existence right in front of Adalman, at the center of this storm of magic circles. The point flickered as it grew larger, sometimes becoming smaller, sometimes becoming bigger, but always returning to the same rate of growth.

Then, the sphere exploded, and from it, emerged a dark tidal wave that unfolded itself over all directions.

It was like looking at the water coming out of a faucet. Streams of water that were originally concentrated but became decoherent once they hit the bottom of the sink, before spreading outward in an attempt to fill its container.

The tsunami came forth. Having [Thought Acceleration] at maximum made the spell painfully slow as Rimuru pumped as much magicule into it as possible.

He then switched the blade's element into something else. Something more relevant, something to counteract death.

Life.

Kusanagi now shone with a radiance comparable to a second sun. Though, unlike the sun, its glow isn't harsh but instead comforting. All around Rimuru, never-seen-before lifeforms sprouted from what once was a small crater formed from the reaction of matter against antimatter. Life came forth as if guided by the gentle radiance of Rimuru's blade.

The life that sprouted around Rimuru was shaped like moss, only it was composed of countless interwoven iridescent tendrils and filaments, creating a sort of web that forms its body structure. If studied by Scientia, she would conclude these are a type of extremophiles that can live within the very vacuum of space, harvesting the light from its parent star alongside minerals from the asteroid they would cling onto in a process of energy conversion known as 'Chemosynthesis'. This moss possesses a life cycle measured in millions of years because of how slow its metabolism is.

Life originally came from nothingness. Using the minerals and microbes both in the air and the ground, new life multi-cellular life emerged with an evolutionary tree separate from the rest of the planet because it's so new.

When the wave of death was just about to hit the edge of the moss-like life, Rimuru swung the blade around his head like the hands of a clock before slashing at the wave of darkness.

Like shining a megawatt flashlight into a dark room, the death tsunami parted as light overtook everything. The world was engulfed in life. Magic changed the very laws of physics within that radiance, making it so that the universe has never been more accommodating to self-replicating patterns than it is right this instance.

The wavefront of Life cut right through all the undead Adalman summoned as well as any magic shields he could've conjured up. Perhaps if Rimuru was a bit more powerful, then Adalman could've regained his humanity, but even so, once everything subsided, the lich still stood where he originally cast [Death Wave, only much more different.

One would think an embodiment of Life would deal a tremendous blow toward a being of Unlife, however, there wasn't a single scratch on Adalman's skeletal body. In fact, if anything, Adalman looked better than before. His robes looked much cleaner, his bones practically glowed, and every one of his summonses was gone.

Or rather, they've finally passed on.

Ashes to ashes, dust to dust. Adalman's strongest summons were those who were the closest to him before he became a wight, though to some people, a 'lich'. Necromancy is more than manipulating the dead. High-tier necromancy involves the manipulation of the boundary between the material and immaterial realms— to bind souls to artifacts.

Demon Lord Kazaream used high-tier necromancy to bind the souls of Adalman's friends to their dead bodies, creating undead that served as an initial starting force under Adalman.

To Adalman, however, these were a twisted mockery, always there, haunting the undead guardian. It was painful, so Adalman spent most of his free time trying to figure out a way to let them go in peace.

He was successful, but it was contingent on their desire to pass on.

Even if they could no longer communicate, Adalman often wondered why they never passed on, to be free unlike him.

But now, that no longer matters.

"How...?"

The curse given to him by Kazaream was gone.

He was, for the first time in centuries, finally freed. All around him, the dead environment returned to life.

The stinking air was replaced by one of freshness. The dead trees are now covered in fresh green vines. The barren ground now blossomed with countless blades of grass with a height that reaches Adalman's waist.

Amrita, for the first time since time immemorial, was alive. The curse upon the land brought about by the late Kazaream was finally shattered beyond its ability to self-repair.

"This shouldn't be possible! Who are you!? How did you break my chains??" Adalman asked the humanoid slime who stood in the center of all this Life.

"As I said before, my name is Rimuru Tempest, the President of the Jura Tempest Republic and friend to Scientia Tempest. And for how I broke your chains?" Rimuru smirked, confidence brimming from his body. Particles of light— multi-cellular nocturnal lifeforms that emit light as part of their hunting pattern analogous to deep-sea fishes— rose all around the slime, making him look like an angel of life that just descended from the heavens, "Well, from my perspective, what is life without freedom? What is life without liberty? What is life without autonomy? Nothing."

Offering Adalman a hand, "Now that I've freed you from your curse, it's time for you—"

Fump*

Adalman prostrated himself in front of Rimuru as if he was a god and the skeleton a worshipper.

"...What are you doing?" The slime asked after a bit of silence.

"I thank you, President Rimuru, for freeing me from my curse. Through it, you have gained my eternal loyalty."

"Uh..." The confidence that was there before evaporated quicker than droplets of water thrown onto a hot pan. Rimuru now looked startled at the drastic turn of events.

"Yeah but like, you don't need to do this! Plus, it was Scientia who gave me the ability to free you, so if anything you should direct most of your gratitude to her."

"So it was your friend who granted you the power to help me?" Adalman concluded as he raised his upper body up so that the skull is fully facing Rimuru. His legs were in a kneeling position that was looking increasingly uncomfortable.

"Uh, sure, yes. Now you can just get up and we can take Amrita—"

"I see! Then a new faith shall be created, one centered around God Rimuru and the Messiah Scientia who helped you realize your true potential and ascend to godhood! What a wonderful name for a deity!"

Rimuru visibly cringed at the reverence in Adalman's voice. It reminded him of his old country of Japan, more specifically, of the way zealots of the Unification Church like his uncle would talk about their beliefs and cry when their founder died in 2012.

Recalling what Scientia said about Church fanatics when he returned from that visit to Dwargon, the slime decided that it was best to snip this bud before it can grow.

"Adalman, listen, I'm not a god. If anything, the closest to a deity would be Scientia with her technology that becomes indistinguishable from magic."

"I see then! A new faith shall be made, one centered around Scientia!"

Adalman's words gave Rimuru pause as he imagined Scientia being a god.

Ruberios was burning. Scientia, clad in her void-like armor, stood in the middle of this sea of fire, untouched by the heat and the lack of oxygen. With a single swing, the Perfect Homunculus cuts down large swathes of Holy Knights using Asimov before teleporting in unimaginably advanced cannons behind her that shoot out colorful beams that then annihilated Ruberios' capital.

Like a cruel and uncaring god, Scientia then telekinetically grabbed the Pope of the Luminous Faith before closing her hand and started to crush the man until he was no more than a single ball of flesh and gore.

Rimuru shuddered at the violent and visceral image before silently reprimanding himself for thinking so poorly of his friend.

'Sheesh! So faith is needed?'

"All... right then. I guess you can create a faith around Scientia but..."

Trailing off, Rimuru can already tell Scientia won't like this. She was someone who pushed the hardest during the making of the Constitution for secularism and the separation of Church and State, before further doubling down on reducing the power of religion by making it so that any organized religion must pay taxes on their property but not on their income, just like every other Tempest Residents and Citizens.

Personally, Rimuru's more curious about how Adalman would address the issue between faith and the empirical nature of science. While people are freely allowed to practice their religion, Scientia would not bother at all to help Adalman just like how she didn't even acknowledge the existence of the numerous small cults that sprain up around Tempest, worshipping either Rimuru or her or even both.

Stanch atheist and all that.

"Thank you President Rimuru!"

In the meantime, in a pocket dimension, Walpurgis.

According to Diablo, the green-haired maid that came to collect me was one of Guy's closest subordinates, and also a Primordial— the Green Primordial to be exact.

I had to stop for half a second to fully process that information. Guy Crimson clearly knows the significance of having a Primordial in a subservient (maid) role, and if Jeanne and Diablo were any indications, the apex of the Demonic Nobility must be all at least somewhat prideful (Diablo is a different kind of prideful). As such, to be able to command two Primordials and force them into such a degrading position...

Guy Crimson must be very powerful indeed. As such, I sent a message through the Noosphere to prepare a billion of the already constructed ships of my Grand Fleet for activation at a moment's notice.

The Block-Form Singularity Mathematic's main purpose against Guy in a fight would be to merely last long enough for the built-in Subspace Diver to throw me out of this pocket dimension. I may not know the full depth of magic of the caliber that Guy possesses can do, but in the worst-case scenario, I can only hope the Mathematic can last at least three milliseconds. That's the amount of time it takes for the Diver to force me into Subspace where I think I'll be safe.

After a quick retune of the warp space of my Mathematic to allow the foreign translocation spell, I walked through the metal gate and appeared on the edge of a rather fancy room.

The place was filled to the brim with magicules. A normal human couldn't possibly survive here without protection.

It couldn't really be called the peak of luxury, I observed. The walls and floors had the color of a dull gold while sitting in the center of this room was a large round table surrounded by ten seats nine of them empty. The most eye-catching thing in the room I would argue is probably the giant ethereal 'tree' that's coming out of the center of the table, serving as the primary source of illumination with lanterns off to the side of the room being relegated to a secondary position.

If someone told me this was a set from a King Arthur movie, I could almost believe them. It's the main vibe that's really killing the possibility of it relating to King Arthur since this room gives some serious Dark Lord feel like maybe it's the boss room for the final big bad.

A quick glance at my companions, I found Diablo continue to be as calm and collected as ever whereas Jeanne looked bored as if she had seen this all before.

Sitting down on the nearest chair, I disguised my act of observing the only other one who was sitting in the room as me getting comfortable.

Red hair, red eyes, a rather handsome face, and clothes draped over him revealing a lot of skin... that's most likely Guy Crimson.

[Confirmed]

[Contessa]'s agreement sealed the deal.

My two subordinates stood behind me quietly, and from a glance at their face, even a child with barely any social experience can tell they were tense.

Tapping on the desk, I found the thing to be made out of metal instead of the expected wood.

From another teleportation door came Ramiris, who was accompanied by a blue-haired maid and no subordinates of her own.

The fairy gave me a curt nod before sitting down, signaling that she was on my side as agreed upon before.

"Well Rouge, long time no see..." Diablo suddenly spoke, causing my attention to drift back toward the first person in the room, who was one of, if not the, oldest Demon Lord in existence, "Or do you prefer I address you as Guy Crimson?"

Said Demon Lord gave me an intense look before smirking. Waving his hands in front of his face as if dismissing Diablo's concern, Guy said, "As I live and breathe. Noir, I would have never imagined you of all people taking a master. Though I guess I should be more interested in you, Jaune."

Jeanne forced a smile, "Oh yeah? And why's that?"

Guy's hands came together in a frozen clap before gesturing at the Yellow Primordial, "Your bloodline is notoriously difficult to form a contract with. But here you are, working under someone. How peculiar."

It's as if I didn't even exist.

"Times are changing," Diablo said wistfully, "The status quo from before is gone, and my Lady is the Herald of Change."

The way they act is similar to two old frienemies. I wonder how close are they? The psychology and social structure of immortals are always fascinating. They would be completely different from those of mortal species like humans and demihumans since the Social Contract that is fundamental to group dynamics requires a fear of exclusion, as exclusion means death.

It's why many crimes like murder or stealing are frowned heavily upon because they actively go against the survival of the group.

"I take it you two know each other? Being Primordials and all?"

"Yup!" Jeanne cuts in before Diablo could talk. Strutting behind my chair and draping her arms over my shoulders as if we were lovers, she leaned in placing her chin on my head, "We are the Primordials, Seven Colors representing the seven demonic bloodlines. We are royalty, and as you already know, I am Yellow, the guy with a stick up his ass is Black, and that guy who's even more of a battle maniac than I am is Red."

"I see—"

With the grace of a bull in a china shop, the next Demon Lord made himself known by the mere sound that comes from his heavy footsteps. Jeanne backed off. This new Demon Lord was far taller than I was, his height almost reached the ceiling of this place.

Looking at the giant, I figure this likely Dagruel, a Second Generation Demon Lord and someone strong enough to fight almost toe-to-toe with Veldora. He followed Vert, the Green Primordial who fetched me. Behind him was another person with wings.

I don't recognize him, so then he's probably the much-disputed Dino.

Seemingly choosing a seat, the chair expanded as Dagruel sat down.

The blue Primordial who collected Ramiris then came out of another teleportation gate with a vampire, a maid, and a butler in tow.

Demon Lord Valentin.

The Mathematics on a part of my left shoulder formed a tiny laser pointer that can easily be mistaken for the sparkle of a piece of jewelry. Pointing it at the gate, the laser pointer shot out streams of coherent neutrinos that then exited out the other side.

With receivers that use gravitons as a medium for transporting information, the satellites orbiting my home planet told me the neutrino laser came from... Ruberios of all places.

I frowned. Interesting, though speaking of Ruberios, I wonder how is my little weapon coming along. My ultimate goal with that little Virasite was to effectively take over the Western Holy Church and direct it towards a less xenophobic stance regarding 'subhumans'. It'll be far easier and less bloody to simply reform the Church rather than outright banning it since as Christianity and the Native American cultures can attest, unless you're actively committing a holocaust, it's very difficult to remove cultures and faith.

Though, if the Church has ties to a Demon Lord, that may prove to be a problem.

It was only when the vampire sat down that I realized his maid is looking at me funny. Like someone trying to conceal the fact, they're glaring at you, the moment my eyes move to look at the maid she instantly turned her head away.

Is this Valentin's attempt at a power play? Like the vampire is saying that I'm so weak his own subordinates can look down at me?

"Is it usual for one's attendant to be so rude?" I called out, catching everyone's attention, "Demon Lord Valentin, your maid is looking especially hateful today, isn't she? I may be new to the Demon Lord circle but I dare say such action isn't really befitting of a Second Generation Demon Lord... or are you so pathetic you see someone new like me as a genuine threat?"

Valentin merely looked thoughtful for a brief moment before nodding, "I apologize for the action of my subordinate. I will reprimand her harshly after this Walpurgis is over."

Still though, that maid...

[Data]

'How the hell does that maid have [Asmodeus, Lord of Lust] while Valentin's got nothing?'

[Suggestion]

'Well, I guess there are no rules stipulating you can't be in disguise but why?'

[Suggestion]

'That's fair.'

As Valentin sat down on his seat, I took a good look at the maid. She's a vampire as well, not surprising coming from the vampire Demon Lord. Though from what I remember, the last vampire Demon Lord was killed alongside her kingdom of Nightrose during the event known to historians of today as 'Dawnbreak', for the morning rose over the kingdom of the twilight.

During Dawnbreak, Veldora ravaged the vampire kingdom within the Jura Forest, destroying every piece of it until not even remnants remained of the old Demon Lord's domain. Veldora continued to ravage, moving from Lake Shisu westward until Chronoa stopped him and sealed the True Dragon away... until both I and Rimuru found him three centuries later.

Among the more scholarly circles, the cave where Veldora was sealed was called 'Storm's End'.

It was thought that vampires as a whole have mostly gone extinct. The common conscience among the Western elites was that Luminous Valentine, the previous vampire Demon Lord, must've somehow enraged Veldora enough for the True Dragon to effectively drive her species into near extinction, with maybe a few handfuls left.

When I asked Veldora about these topics, he was just as always, reluctant to talk about it like a teenager embarrassed to talk about their emo phase. However, with some pushing, I at least got the cause of the rampage; Luminous decided to expand her kingdom's lands and trespassed upon Veldora's own. Being a dragon, Veldora defended what was his fiercely and brought about Luminous' downfall after deciding to make an example of the vampire Demon Lord.

Veldora assured me that he slew Luminous so that mostly ruled out the possibility of Luminous Valentine still being alive. But given how the faith of the Western Holy Church is called 'Luminism'... While I don't know the intelligence of Luminous, I highly doubt she's stupid enough to use her own name as a disguise. God Luminous simply must be referring to someone else.

I then observed the interaction between Dino and Ramiris, silently taking note of anything I can use to my advantage.

[Data]

[Contessa] says Dino is a 'Fallen Angel', instantly piquing my interest. Perhaps I should reach out with an alliance with Dino. Any information concerning angels would be invaluable.

Next came the harpy Demon Lord Frey and her two attendants, one another harpy, and what I can only presume is some type of humanoid griffin given it's a lion standing on two legs with wings.

For some reason [Contessa] is giving me odd vibes about that one.

[Concern]

'I see, I'll keep an extra eye on that one.'

[Alert]

[Contessa] alerted me to the new presence. Turning to face it, I found a platinum blond-haired man walking towards me, stopping just shy of Diablo's reach toward my left.

"So you are Relentless Reborn?"

That instantly caught everyone's attention.

I felt my right eye twitch at the title he called me. Obviously, that's meant to be some kind of insult, so in place of properly answering him, I replied, "The Great Betrayer of Humanity."

I saw his hands twitch subtly. I wouldn't have noticed if not for the heightened perception that being a Perfect Homunculus granted me.

Continuing to keep him off-balanced, I leaned on my left forearm which is planted on the armrest so that I'm closer to the Demon Lord.

Speaking in a much quieter tone, "Humor me for a second, how does it feel to be an ex-Hero? Good? Bad? How does it feel to fall into the dark side for the sweet promise of more power? Do your old allies look at you with disgust? Do you still have the mementos you gained as gifts from Granbell, Chronoa, and all those you've saved when you were a Hero?"

Both of Leon's hands tightened into fists. He's not even trying to be discreet anymore.

"Do not judge me, Relentless. If you think I became a Demon Lord solely for more power, then you are as wrong as your predecessor in trying to destroy the world only to unify it."

Leon turned and walked towards his seat. Meanwhile, I was angry. To call me Relentless Reborn is one thing, but to just call me Relentless as if I was that monster? That mindless monster whose body count is in the hundreds of millions? More than every dictator from my old world combined? Just because I am a Perfect Homunculus?

Looking around at the table, I saw that it dawned upon those who didn't know beforehand that I was a Perfect Homunculus.

Well... given how the Voice of the World exposed me, I figured it was pointless to try and hide it anymore. Still, I felt a petty desire to get back at Cromwell.

'[Path to getting back at Leon Cromwell]'

[3 steps]

[Step 1: ask him provocatively about his Ultimate Skill [Metatron, Lord of Purity]

Just as Leon Cromwell was about to sit down—

"—Tell me something, Cromwell," He turned to face me again, "Whenever you use your Ultimate Skill [Metatron, does the irony ever... become too much? Do you laugh at the irony of having an Ultimate Skill all about 'purity' when you yourself are the farthest thing from it? Tell me does it make you want to use it more or less?"

I chuckled a bit.

"Though at this point, an ex-Hero having an Ultimate Skill all about Purity of all things... you simply must enjoy the irony."

Now for the final nail in the coffin. I placed a finger on my chin before looking up as if I was a child wondering about the mysteries of the world. Speaking in an innocent tone that reminds me of Arcueid, "Although, I wonder, did you gain [Metatron] during your Heroic Ascension or when you turned into a Majin? How many childrens did you kill to perform your Harvest Festival?"

To be honest, I don't know if Cromwell did commence a Harvest Festival. Some texts say he did while some didn't.

[Step 2: get Leon to attack]

Leon launched himself at me, his fist ready—

Boom*

—but was stopped by Jeanne, who promptly threw him away as if he was a snowball toward the wall between two teleportation gates.

[Step 3: act hurt]

"I thought this was supposed to be a neutral ground, oh why have you attacked me, Leon? Was any part of the things I said wrong?" I asked in a tone full of faux hurts. It must've been infuriating. "If any part of what I said was wrong, you are free to correct me."

Leon merely glared at me before taking a seat.

There was no chance of me and him ever allying, especially not if he sees me as Relentless. That ex-Hero will always be on the lookout for opportunities to sabotage me.

Finally, Milim and Clayman came out of a single teleportation gate. Milim's motions were robotic and subdued while Clayman's was confident, taking wide strides as if nothing can hurt him.

Looking at his smug expression, I came to the realization that I don't really hate him. Hell, the corporate side of me has a small amount of respect for the Demon Lord. Clayman is an opportunist who will use whatever that's in his arsenal to win, his dealing with Mjurran and the way he used people would've made him right at home in Human Resources or at least a Management Position within a company.

He's not directly responsible for Rimuru's death, and my dealings with Milim were pure business. I provide her with food while she provides me with protection. No matter how much she acts like there's more to it— entering unannounced in my hot spring, popping up as if she owned the place— all of these are not stipulated in the agreement I had with her so they could be considered violations.

And well— I would've been satisfied to let Clayman mostly be as Tempest slowly entered more and more into the spotlight on the world stage. So long as he started a campaign of at least some reforms, Jistav would've been left alone.

But now, his interest and mine have become mutually exclusive.

Clayman roughly pushed Milim along, much to the shock of other Demon Lords.

"Greetings, fellow Demon Lords, I'm thankful that you waited for us," Clayman announced as he and Milim sat down.

Once everyone is settled, the blue-haired maid started to speak, "We shall now introduce everyone in this Walpurgis."

"Demon, the Lord of Darkness, Guy Crimson."

"Fairy, the Fairy of the Labyrinth, Ramiris."

We're going by seniority, huh?

"Dragonoid, the Destroyer, Milim Nava."

"Giant, the Earthquake, Dagruel."

"Vampire, the Blood Lord, Roy Valentin."

"Fallen, the Sleeping Ruler, Dino."

"Harpy, the Sky Queen, Frey."

"Deathman, the Marionette Master, Clayman."

"Demonoid, the Platinum Saber, Leon Cromwell."

"And lastly, Perfect Homunculus, the Error of the World, Scientia Tempest."/Alert]

50

"Demon, the Lord of Darkness, Guy Crimson."

"Fairy, the Fairy of the Labyrinth, Ramiris."

"Dragonoid, the Destroyer, Milim Nava."

"Giant, the Earthquake, Dagruel."

"Vampire, the Blood Lord, Roy Valentine."

"Fallen, the Sleeping Ruler, Dino."

"Harpy, the Sky Queen, Frey."

"Deathman, the Marionette Master, Clayman."

"Demonoid, the Platinum Saber, Leon Cromwell."

"And lastly, Perfect Homunculus, the Error of the World, Scientia Tempest."

I slammed my fist onto the table and stood up, indignation flooding my veins at the title ascribed to me, "Is that seriously my title? Because I feel especially targeted!"

As if I didn't exist, the maid finished, "This concludes the introduction."

I grit my teeth at being ignored. My ego is yelling at me to prove to the maid why I, someone who has reached some of the furthest places in the Universe, is not someone to be simply ignored like a piece of common trash. Then I swallowed it and sat down, raising a hand to stop the two Primordials behind me that were also looking especially murderous.

Clayman, entirely unfazed by the ordeal that just occurred, stood up and took a bow.

"I thank you all for answering my summons, especially you, Demon Lord Guy Crimson, for agreeing to this Walpurgis. I see that you too, must have acknowledged the threat our newest Demon Lord poses, that being the speeding up of the next Great Tenma War. Though I can see that the greater threat would be the fact that our newest is also a Perfect Homunculus, as in, Relentless' race." Clayman's arms then swung to the side, akin to someone revealing something, "Shall we begin? Let us commence the Demon Lord's banquet, Walpurgis!"

Clayman now has the full room's attention, after Dino finally straightened his back.

"Now, for those unaware, we have a new power rising within the Great Jura Forest. This new nation is a Great Power— nay, I think the better word for it would be a 'Superpower' comparable only to the Eastern Empire and Ruberios."

The Deathman then used illusion magic and conjured up several images displaying the rapid growth of Metropolis from a goblin village into an economic powerhouse possible only with my technological infusions.

"..." I'm more interested in how Clayman got the images for Metropolis during its infancy, around the time when the first arcology was built.

"Is it possible to even fathom such explosive growth? Just look at this! Look at how quickly this new nation transformed from a single desolate backwater village into a grand city of hundreds of thousands of souls!"

The final image was right before the Sea of Broken Glass. It showed the seven Arcologies we have up and running as well as an eighth one in the process of being built. Those arcologies tower above the surrounding skyscrapers built by corporations to accommodate their business, acting like pillars that hold up the sky.

Dagruel in particular seemed very interested in those arcologies.

"All this... all of this was done in just half a year. Envision the possibilities! Just imagine what they'll be doing in one year. In two? In ten? Unlike the isolationist Eastern Empire which abandoned its expansion after the great embarrassment brought upon its army by the Storm Dragon Veldora, the Jura Tempest Republic is the exact opposite. It is a hungering empire that craves power, territory, and dominance. It will wield its economic, scientific, and military might to bend the world to its will! To force every nation into submission!"

I'll admit, Clayman is an excellent public speaker.

As for what he's saying... he's not wrong.

I'm not planning on playing and perpetuating the great game of international politics for fun. I'm planning to win it.

If the world is to reach out and touch the stars then unity is required. A Pax Tempesta. But something more than that.

The world needs to be joined together into one single political union that represents the whole planet, the final goal of the Jura Tempest Republic after the reach of modernity has touched every single country. Of course, racial and ethnic tensions are to be expected in such a large empire— the history of both this World and my own is already proof of that.

An example from this World is the Thelium Kingdom. Right before Relentless' awakening, Thelium encompassed much of the West and served as a Superpower. After the end of the Rampage, Thelium collapsed like the Soviet Union as the smaller, suppressed culture bounced back and reclaimed its independence. If it weren't for the Council of the West, I think the various smaller Western States would be warring all the time with each other like the Holy Roman Empire.

Instead, to reduce racial and ethnic tension in the long term, it's better to assimilate bits and pieces of the smaller ones, to 'homogenize'.

Effectively, if I want this global political union to last and not be rife with internal instability as all major empires throughout history tended to do, I would need to slowly create an overarching global culture that has bits and pieces of every single subculture integrated into it. To homogenize the world, to erode away the excesses, and to pave over the shortcomings. To create the ultimate culture.

Even if part of what Clayman said was right, the part about me wanting to force the world into submission is wrong. Unlike conquerors of my old World, all I have is time, being immortal and all. So over the course of a millennium, I plan to slowly unite the world under the ideology and values of modernity. It won't be bloodless, but at least there'll be far less bloodshed than doing it quicker.

Granted, such a plan would undoubtedly be seen as 'monstrous' or at the very least 'unethical' by those of my old World where respect for a nation's sovereignty reigns supreme in international politics, such is not the case in this one which obeys a more archaic form of geopolitics.

"And let us never overlook their advanced, almost magic-like technology!" Clayman spat out the word 'technology' as if it was something disgusting, "With the exception of two, those among us here have all witnessed the last Great Tenma War. Some of those present here have lived through multiple Great Tenma Wars. We all intimately know of the horror and destruction brought about by the Angels, we all should know better than anyone how places of scientific progress and technological development bring their ire. Just look at what happened with Heart, Dwargon's old capital. If you all would remember, the previous King before Gazel's father was one who advocated heavily for research into science. The Great Tenma War 1000 years ago left such a scar on Dwarven society that now they all build their cities deep underground."

Clayman paused for a brief moment to let his words sink in.

"Now just try to imagine what would happen when a nation like Tempest emerged. Their scientific miracles surpass all but the strongest magic! It stands to reason that the angels would descend upon the world in even greater numbers! It would be a Great Tenma War the likes of which we've never seen before— a truly apocalyptic Great Tenma War!"

Clayman's hands were very animated during his speech. His attempts at stroking fears and planting the seeds of doubts were very impressive, no wonder he's seen as a puppet master.

"Frey, Valentin, Leon— all of you are rulers of your own realm, your own species. Do you truly desire to endure the devastation that another Great Tenma War, nay, the greatest Tenma War ever will bring?"

Frey, Valentin, and Leon, all of them have their own kingdoms to protect, all desire to hold onto power in some respect. That's smart of him, appealing to another autocrat's desire to not get overthrown.

Unlike in democracies, those who rule in dictatorships retire in a body bag.

"To all those who've gathered here, I implore you to consider the dire consequences of such excessive and unnecessary technological advancement! I was there when Relentless walked the earth. I was there when the angels reinforced us in full at the Battle of Elmine. They chased away all the shadows of night with their collective radiance before pushing Relentless out of Sarion as a whole. Do you all desire to witness that wrath turned against us? Are you willing to sacrifice your nation, and your people, and watch your cities be reduced to fields of ashes?" Clayman was being extra dramatic and placed a hand on his chest like an actor playing Romeo talking about Juliet's death, "Such actions, such treachery of Scientia, who selfishly pursues her own research, fully aware that it will worsen if not speed up the onset of this catastrophe. And what of Carrion? He, who fought in the last Great Tenma War, he who knew of the perils of scientific advancement, he who bled for his own nation to fight against the Angels. He decided to abandon the world and allied with Scientia, reaping personal gains at the cost of future damages against the world."

From the corner of my eye, I spotted the griffin attendant of Frey twitching. Hanging his head as if he had just heard a piece of terrible news, Clayman continued his dramatic and manipulative act.

"Milim, too, recognized her duty to her people in the Capital of the Forgotten Dragon. She attacked and destroyed the capital of Eurazania. Rest assured, I intervened before she could inflict the same destruction upon the nation of science. Even so, I must emphasize the necessity of not making the next Great Tenma War even more destructive."

Clayman lastly slammed his fist onto the table to emphasize his point, "Just as we purged the first Perfect Homunculus 400 years ago, we must act now to eradicate this upset to the natural order of things. It is of the utmost imperative that we demonstrate to the world our commitment not to destruction but to benevolent rule. With this act, we shall prove that we, too, can perform noble deeds by curbing the lethality of the next Great Tenma War and dismantling this 'republic' that espouses ideologies and values entirely anathema to our won. To protect our own citizens from themselves—"

Something about that last sentence flipped a switch inside me that should not be touched. It could be due to the massive raging hypocrisy coming out of Clayman's mouth or it could be something else, but at the end of the day, I felt triggered.

"You bloody tyrant, don't you DARE try and play the card of a caring ruler. Your Jistav is a totalitarian slave state widely considered the worst place to live, barring the Eastern Empire. You have literal mass graves in the form of 'killing fields' where you murder unruly slaves on an industrial scale. Your nation is known among everyone as a state sponsor of trafficking of all humans and monsters—"

"Please do not interrupt the Accuser, Defendant. You will get your chance to plead your case after the Accuser is finished." The blue hair maid said to me in an emotionless tone.

I was forced to conceit, it would not do well for a first impression if I am seen as someone who'll break the rules, after all.

'[Path to stopping Clayman]'

[12 Steps]

"No, it's quite alright, I'm done anyway." Clayman waved the Primordial off, having thrown the first strike in this verbal duel.

And it's a good hit as well. Right on the 'nose' as well, a master manipulator indeed.

[Step 1: Stand up]

I stood up, the chair scraping loudly against the floor.

[Step 2: reveal the power of science]

Several holographic displays appeared behind me, all of them showing the true might of science. More specifically, they showed the slaughter of the Orc Lord by a single Polaris-class strategic weapon, the complete annihilation of Charybdis through antimatter warhead, and finally, the current live battle between Tempest's and Clayman's forces.

[Step 2: say 'So?']

"So?"

A simple word, guided by [Contessa, a bait waiting for someone to take up.

"What do you mean 'so'?" And it was Clayman who took it. Hook, line, sinker.

[Step 3: explain your ideals and goals]

"Do you know what my dream is? What are my ideals? What do my ambitions entail, Clayman?" I pointed toward my eyes, [Actor] guiding my movements to make sure they wouldn't look out of place in a theater play, "I have gazed upon the space above the very heavens themselves, glimpsed our boundless destiny that lies not confined to the planetary, but the galactic and beyond. To sail across the vast distances of the celestial expanse, to venture into the final frontier of stars, to pioneer new worlds, to harness the power and material found within distant suns, and to make contact with civilizations wholly alien to our own. Can you even imagine that? Waging wars where entire worlds are like individual households and galaxies mere cities?"

[Step 4: Pause to allow your information to fully sink in]

"Preposterous!" That was Leon. "You're insane."

[Step 5: Pity Leon Cromwell]

I gave him a sideways glance and a pitying look, "Brilliance and madness are two sides of the same coin. But bury your head in the sand, it'll at least block out the sound of fusion torches when we reach for the stars."

"Leon Cromwell," The blue-haired maid said once more, "The Defendant is speaking, please do not interrupt."

Cromwell looked as if he had suckled on a lemon with how puck his lips were.

Seeing how the room was now ready for me to continue once again, I said, "I share my technology, not out of malice or a desire to see the next Great Tenma War be much more devastating than previous ones." I didn't even know Great Tenma Wars were a thing. "I share it to propel us forward into the future, to accel us into the stars so that WE may reach for the heavens, WE may journey through the celestial sea, WE may colonize other worlds, WE may explore the edge of the known, WE may harvest the tremendous energy found within stars and establish communication with beings made elsewhere."

As I spoke the whole room disappeared and was replaced by the starry void. It was a repeat of what I showed Gazel as points of light representing stars flew past by before the galaxy we were in appeared more like a distant mountain, small enough that one can cover it with their hands fully outstretched.

[Step 6: stop for 20 seconds to let your information sink in before continuing]

I obeyed [Contessa] and waited for around 20 seconds before continuing. During that time, I saw how most of the younger Demon Lords were looking at the hologram of the universe with eyes of awe, similar to me when I mined that asteroid not so long ago. The older ones were more passive.

Looking down at my hands, the fabric receding to reveal my pale snow-colored skin, I couldn't help but think of all those machines I managed to build. They would really seem like machines built by gods with their sheer scale alone. Where modern nations may consume mountains to fuel their industry, I consume whole planets and stars. It's gotten to a point where the main bottleneck of my Noosphere is how fast self-replicating machines can assemble themselves without burning out from waste heat.

My head raised up the moment the 20 seconds passed. "Some... one has asked me whether or not I want world domination after I became a Demon Lord. To that I say; I don't seek world domination but rather universal supremacy. I envision a stellar empire that spans the vast reaches of the universe, stretching billions of lightyears across at its thinnest. It shall be a nation where its citizens are elevated to godlike status, where even the poorest live lives that we of today would be seen as excessive. I want them to be revered by all other alien races, envied for their prosperity and splendor."

[Step 7: Wait for Clayman to speak and interrupt him]

Silence descended onto the room like credits after the end of a movie. Out of them all, only Guy and Milim seemed the most unaffected with the former appearing even amused.

"Well, you certainly aren't lacking in ambition." The Lord of Darkness said playfully.

I ignored his comment.

Seizing upon the opportunity and twisting this awe-inspiring moment into something terrible, Clayman yelled out; "Don't you see how dangerous Scientia is? She's insane! She seeks to destroy the status quo that persisted for thousands of years! We—"

"I despise the idea of a status quo instead of total victory. A status quo most of the time leaves neither side happy and only pushes the issue down the metaphorical road."

[Step 8: Draw Asimov and stab it into the table]

I then drew Asimov from a portal to my pocket dimension and stabbed it loudly into the round table, splitting parts of it. The fact that it didn't completely split in two tells me that whatever material it's made out of is more durable than I thought.

[Step 9: Make a statement and an ultimatum]

"For those who rule a domain, there is no historical precedent of advanced technology speeding up the coming of the next Great Tenma War. There is a precedence of Angels concentrating their forces on attacking places of great scientific development. However, that precedence is flimsy at best since once you let knowledge flow, science follows as the intellectuals attempt to catalog the natural world. However, what I find really interesting is how you've all never had any conversation about the Eastern Empire."

Though I was guessing about that last sentence, I could see Guy's right eyebrow twitch. It was minuscule but it was there.

So something IS up with the Eastern Empire?

My eyes swept across the room like the light from a police siren. I saw how most of the Demon Lord all had a carefully crafted poker face except for Dino who had a look of intense curiosity, completely unlike a few minutes ago when it seemed like he could fall asleep at any minute.

"I find the accusation of me attempting to worsen and maybe speed up the next Great Tenma War entirely unfounded. Thusly, I will continue my advancement in science and technology. I will not cease to spread my nation's influence. I will not stop the spread of my ideology. I will not stop until our destiny has been actualized into reality." Then finally, I concluded my defense, "The march of progress has resumed. You can either march with it, or you can be crushed underneath its feet as we leave you all behind."

[Step 10: wait until Clayman speaks again]

Seeing me completed, Clayman once again yelled out like a petulant child, "See! Do you all see this?! Do you all not see how dangerous Scientia is? She is megalomaniacal! She is suggesting uprooting thousands of years of tradition—"

[Step 11: speak now]

"Of course, I seek to overturn millenniums of tradition, I am the Herald of Change, after all," I said as if it's the most obvious thing, [Contessa] guiding my words.

[Step 12: challenge Clayman to an actual duel]

"Although..." Placing my left hand on the pommel of Asimov, I tilted my head to look at Clayman provocatively, as if I don't see him as a threat, "If... you truly have an issue, Clayman, I am more than happy to get physical with you. Though violence is the last resort, I saw how I've exhausted all other diplomatic options. Should you and whoever decided to join you win... I will concede to your demands."

My left hand fell beneath the pommel and came into contact with the handle. Gripping it tightly—

Crack*

The ugly sound of me wrenching Asimov out of the table reverberated across the room. Swinging the blade theatrically, my dress reformed itself into one more fitting for a fight: a suit of armor as black as the surface of a black hole.

From the outside looking in, this may appear like me putting all my chips into this one single bet but in truth, defeat was never in the equation.

Even if Clayman can somehow control me, I've got more than a few countermeasures both active and passive to deal with mind control.

Guy snapped his fingers and dispelled the table. Suddenly, my internal curvature compass alerted me to a sudden flattening of the local spacetime within the pocket dimension, like someone was pressing down on a dough.

Looking around at the result, it was as if the room was a balloon and Guy had just blown into it. The whole place expanded by several factors. From end to end, the room was now over 100 meters in length, with the height now being a good 40 meters up.

All the other Demon Lords beside me and Clayman all got pushed back towards the edge of the room. A safe distance away from the duel.

Then, Guy's voice boomed through the whole place, "Scientia's right you know? We Demon Lords have always historically settled disputes with a duel to determine who's the stronger one. Of course, that practice has waned in recent times after the end of the Civil War but you were going on and on about tradition this and tradition that and how Scientia was overthrowing millenniums of tradition, thus it came to me that we can make something special out of this battle."

Raising his hands, Guy gestured to Clayman, "Tradition—" then he gestured to me, "—versus Innovation. Orthodoxy versus unorthodoxy. Conformity versus nonconformity. Stagnation versus change. Scientia here represents a new order while Clayman represents the old. This duel shall dictate the future progress of all Demon Lords, of whether we continue with the status quo or we abandon it for a new one. Both sides have said their piece, so now pick your poisons. Choose a side to back in this duel to determine the future. Let's see who wins after the end of this battle."

So Guy's letting this thing play out in the fashion of a Kratocracy? Where might make rights?

"..." That's a bit unfair for them.

No Demon Lord moved. It seemed the prospect of fighting against two Primordials is enough to dissuade all of them—

Milim stood up like a nail that hasn't been struck into the wood by the hammer of my speech.

Well... I stared at the Dragonoid as she walked over to Clayman's side. How troublesome.

"Are you sure, Milim?" Guy's voice boomed out once more, to which Milim nodded.

...There's something weird about Milim's name. Though it may just be a coincidence it still nonetheless bears mentioning; she has a last name, just like Guy Crimson. Carrion, Frey, these people follow the tradition of having a last name. Leon Cromwell can be excused since he was a True Hero.

So why do only some Demon Lords have a last name while others don't? Clearly, having last names isn't a purely human concept.

My mind then takes me back to that time when Ramiris asked me whether or not the name 'Veldanava' meant anything to me.

'Nava'

My eyes widened. A connection. There's a connection between Milim and this mysterious True Dragon.

As I ponder the implication of this name, Guy waited for other Demon Lords to stand up and pick a side.

"Really? No one? No one's going to fight for their future? How disappointing, Leon, I expected more from you."

Just how important is Veldanava? Veldora is less than forthcoming, preferring to change the topic rather than an answer.

I'll need to investigate more after Walpurgis, I've mostly neglected archeological findings since my focus was on space. It seems Project Zenith will need to be put on halt.

Guy conjured up a barrier made out of otherworldly lights once it became apparent that no one besides Milim was taking a side in this duel. The barrier was painful to look at for too long. If I had to describe it, I would say the light from those walls seemingly has a memetic property that makes you not want to look at it, a reverse of hypnosis.

By itself, the barrier encompassed everything within a certain radius from the center. It cut me, my subordinates, Milim, and Clayman off from everyone else— to ensure there'll be no unintended casualty, probably.

Turning my head around, I saw the two Primordials kneeling as they awaited my orders.

I looked back at Clayman, who was standing beside Milim that's being extremely still.

It's almost unnerving how still Milim was being. My image of Milim was this hyperactive kid who finds staying still to be the antithesis of what she stands for.

Clayman's shadow lengthened as two figures jumped out of the darkness. One is an orange fox with three large tails and another metal human-sized puppet doll with two pairs of arms.

I stood tall as the Primordials continued to bow in subservience. My black armor was like a refuge of normalcy in this cage of uncanny otherworldly light.

Bringing my free hand up, a black visor molded from the same stuff my armor was made out of. Gently placing the visor over my eyes, I cracked my neck to prepare for the incoming battle.

This act is merely for show. In fact, this whole act of my dress turning into armor is entirely for show. All of this is for theatrics.

I could win within three seconds by bringing out a gun that fires hyperspace bullets. It doesn't even need to be tipped with anything special, just a single full-metal jacket is enough to splatter Clayman's brains across the floor.

But I don't. I want to show everyone that I may have some weaknesses.

"Diablo, Jeanne, stay out of this—" They were about to object before I raised my free hand in a firm declaration of intent, "I will deal with this myself."

"Um, do ya think you could maybe spare me some action involving Milim?" Jeanne asked as she stood up stretching her limbs, "Falmuth wasn't even a challenge and I kinda need to stretch my muscle to get SOME action. Been kinda boring just fighting against that red Kijin and the slime."

I thought about her proposal for a brief moment before countering with my own, "Share her with Diablo then. Make a show of it, and display your strengths but not enough to absolutely terrify our audience."

The sound that Jeanne made wouldn't be out of place coming from the mouth of a person who had just been asked to do something disgusting.

"...Very well. I'll gladly accept this, milady."

(AN: Play: Angela 1. Repeat until otherwise stated)

View: https//watch?v=4SqAP5_MpJk

And so, the battle commenced.

In the span of a single millionth of a second, Milim made the first move. My perception of time sped up as the Dragonoid appeared blue for a few hundred nanoseconds. The Mathematics clocked in Milim's speed as 'low relativistic'.

Milim moved so fast that the blueshifting of light became visible.

The Dragonoid's magicule flared up and formed a vacuum around her, ensuring nuclear fusion wouldn't occur between her skin and molecules in the air which, from the perspective of the speed she's currently moving at, might as well appear static.

Just as Milim was about to punch me, her fist mere meters away— less than a blink of an eye for low relativistic speed— it was suddenly stopped by a clawed hand belonging to Diablo.

Time resumed to normal.

Boom*

Though the sound was loud, the rush of air that came from suddenly stopping from low relativistic speeds down to zero should've caused way more effects. The gush of wind was atypical of an attack of that magnitude.

Milim pushed forward, trying to drive right through Diablo's defense like a charging bull seeing red. In response, the Black Primordial was pushed back and his arm appeared strained.

Feeling left out, Jeanne repositioned herself by blitzing down to the right side of me. The moment when we formed into the corners of a right triangle with me being the right angle, Jeanne swung her right hand as if she was throwing a baseball and unleashed a white-hot stream of rapidly degenerating matter— a nuclear magic version of a particle beam, otherwise known as [Nuclear Cannon]— at the Dragonoid.

The beam moved at half the speed of light, forcing Milim to turn her body around like an experienced gymnast and narrowly dodge the beam which then slammed into the wall of otherworldly light.

The wall rang out like an anvil when a hammer had just hit it.

With her back facing the resulting explosion that's far smaller than what one might expect, Milim backed away and my two subordinates pushed onward. Jeanne loudly unleashed several more streaks of destructive nuclear magic.

Interestingly, it seems the effect of the nuclear magic is artificially being contained, because I vividly recall how devastated my testing chamber became after Jeanne let out just one of those particle beams.

Seeing how the Primordials kept Milim occupied, I calmly walked towards Clayman as if taking a stroll on a summer evening, the battle a faint memory that doesn't even penetrate the forefront of my mind.

Clayman was obviously taken aback by just how casually I'm taking all this. He was gaping at how easily my subordinates are keeping up with Milim, who I presume is supposed to be the trump card.

"Who the hell are those two?"

My casual stroll continued unabated, "What? Clayman, can't you tell? Although funny you should mention 'hell'..." I trailed off with a mysterious smile of my own, "Does the name 'Demon Peer', ring a bell?"

Clayman took in a quick breath, with disbelief that quickly turned into fear as he spoke, "Impossible! The mythical tier highest evolution of a Demon—! No... That can't be— only Archdemons— you summoned those monsters?"

I felt the edge of my lips instinctively curls into a smirk, tilting my head as though to pity him, "You just realized that now, Clayman? I thought it'd be obvious. Well, I guess Guy is more of an exception since he's a Primordial himself but that's beside the point."

"Kill that abomination!"

The puppet began to pelt me with arcs of lightning and fireballs while two more creatures— one a monkey and another a rabbit— came out of the tails of the SUV-sized fox. I think the Japanese called them Kitsunes or something, alongside Daji for the Chinese.

To emphasize how big Clayman fucked up, I decided to— casually— dispatch the subordinate he brought to this battle.

Reaching forward as if to grab a bottle of water, my stroll continued as numerous strings made from the fabric of spacetime itself shot out from the tips of my fingers. Those threads used space as a pulley to curve around before wrapping and binding Clayman's subordinates like a spider catching its prey.

I sensed nothing from the puppet but from the fox, I get the feeling it was trying to communicate with me.

Begging for mercy? I have none.

"Die, and meet your maker."

With that, I sealed their fate as I curled my fingers inward, causing the strings to tighten and giving them the greatest mercy I can offer to an unuseful enemy; a quick, albeit messy, death.

Chunks of flesh and pieces of inanimate puppets fell to the floor, the former with a sound similar to wet sponges hitting the floor while the latter clattered as if it was a piece of Lego.

"Ah!" Clayman backed away when the fox popped like a balloon, spilling some of its blood onto the Deathman's clothes.

A part of me denoted just how casually I'm killing things with [Silenced Emotion] turned so low. Months ago, I probably would've gone for incapacitation.

I then idly remembered a specific question asked by Rubedo.

'How much is too much?'

It took Clayman several more moments for the fact that I've dismembered his two subordinates to sink in. Obviously panicking, he yelled out toward the Dragonoid, "Milim! Help me!"

For a fraction of a millisecond, I saw my surrounding painted pink—

BAM*

That pinkness was replaced with white as another streak of degenerate matter blasted Milim away.

"Hey, girlie! Your fight's with me!"

As Jeanne talked, Diablo pushed forward and slashed a smoking Milim with his claws.

Milim still tried to reach me, but with Jeanne serving as a long-range machine gun nest rapid firing [Nuclear Cannon] and Diablo being a close-range swordsman preventing the Dragonoid from moving too much, Milim didn't have too many openings to even approach more than 20 meters of my position.

Seeing me distracted with the fight between Milim and my Primordials, Clayman decided to strike now and used "[Marionette Dance," summoning five demonic dolls about as tall as Asimov is long.

With a simple wave of my hand as if I was greeting someone goodbye, the gravity around those dolls increased by a factor of several hundred thousand; equal to standing on the surface of a white dwarf. Those dolls were instantly crushed into a pancake. However, since the increase in gravity also affected the atmosphere surrounding the doll, a nuclear explosion vaporized the remains as air molecules fused into heavier elements.

It was gravity-catalyzed nuclear fusion. The sudden increases in gravity overpowered the Coulomb Force, the same method of nuclear fusion found within stars.

It was an application of [Mekhane Fundamental Force Manipulation]. Though just like Jeanne's nuclear magic, the resulting explosion was more comparable to a pound of TNT.

Clayman was gaping again.

Through the thinning smoke, I could see the Deathman growing more and more panicked.

"[Maximum Magic Bullet]!"

An intense amount of Clayman's Aura gathered in front of him before firing off in my direction.

It was a panicked attack. A single slash with Asimov was all that it takes to cut it in two and dispel it.

Really, if I wanted to make more of a show with this, I could use the many techniques offered by [Martial Arts, but I don't need to. Things like martial arts only make a difference if two sides are somewhat equal in power.

No amount of skill in martial arts could possibly close the gap between me and Clayman.

"Grrr..." Clayman then smiled, "Impressive. Very impressive. Your planning and tactical abilities are most impressive, to be able to outwit me... You will be a worthwhile collection [Demon Marionette]."

Numerous red threads shot out of Clayman's two palms and wrapped themselves around me.

[Magic] explained to me that this was a type of Mental Magic, one designed to control the user by targeting their soul.

"You are indeed powerful. To be able to make Primordials submit to your rule... You will be an excellent Finger— nay, you are worth far more than that, you'll be an entire hand! My right hand!"

Fascinating. Grabbing one of the strings, I studied the magic closer. This is probably the most in-depth control magic I've ever seen. It should help the Ministry of Magic to better its defense against such types of mental magic in the future.

Just as Clayman was about to cackle in glee, I broke out of those strings with a single step.

"Apologies, not interested."

"What?! How?"

"I grow tired of these tricks." I said as I leveled Asimov at Clayman, "Use your full power. Do not hold back and maybe, just maybe you'll live past the three-second mark."

Asimov flared its tainted holy aura, causing the Demon Lord in question to flinch.

"Grrr... fine..." Clayman growled as he narrowed his eyes. Grabbing his white suit, the Deathman ripped it off in one swift motion while at the same time, two pairs of additional arms grew from his back. Clayman's skin darkens as plates of what looked like enchanted keratin surfaced through the skin like how a submarine surfaces through the water.

Overall, Clayman now looked like a bug-human hybrid. He wouldn't look out of place starring in a B-rated cheesy horror film.

[Alert]

However, just as Clayman both figuratively and literally sheds his skin, [Contessa] found an anomaly involving Clayman's spirit/soul. Using the Mathematics to view more in-depth, I found Clayman's soul appearing more like an abomination that [Surgery] is known for; an amalgamation of different souls stitched together.

It's like Frankenstein's monster except with way more body parts.

I can feel the indignation coming from [Surgery, of it saying how it does more than stitch people up or create flesh monsters.

"What... are you?"

[Spiritual Engineering] dissected Clayman's empowered soul, giving me numerous hypotheses and proposals of how I could create the same thing but nothing concrete, probably because I haven't placed enough charges into that specialty.

A smiling white face mask with a crescent moon on the forehead area formed on one of Clayman's left hands.

Slowly, gently as if the mask is worth more than Clayman's own life, the Deathman places it on his face and his magicule count is seemingly boosted by leagues from before.

"I am Demon— no, I AM CRAZY PIERROT CLAYMAN!" He screamed out loud enough that I would've winced without the passive warp-space filter, "I will—"

Swoosh*

In the span of less than a millisecond, I appeared right in front of him ignoring all laws regarding inertia before detaching all of his arms with two swipes of Asimov.

The blade came up from the right before falling down on the left, the tainted holy sword made short work of Clayman's carapace as if it was candy-encrusted jelly. With another kick, Clayman was sent slamming into the dimensional barrier which surrounds this make-shift arena.

"Haaa... haa..." Breathing heavily to deal with the pain, Clayman appeared quite pathetic.

(AN: BGM End)

The blood on Asimov burned away when the black blade flared its aura once more. At the same time, Clayman groaned because of how close he was to the sword.

Seeing that he had been pacified, I turned to look at the battle between Milim and the two other Primordials. It was like looking at a firework show with how great of a light show the fight became.

Jeanne was seemingly having the time of her life as she lobbed nuclear magic after nuclear magic at the Dragonoid while Diablo looked like he wanted to end this as soon as possible, his claws going for incapacitation strikes.

"Freeeeey! Help me!" Clayman called out, desperation filling his voice as whatever sense of elegance or propriety he had before was now long gone in the face of imminent death.

"I'm sorry, Clayman, I can't even enter the battle without Guy's consent," Frey shrugged, "my hands are tied."

Despair.

Even without [Psychology, I can tell Clayman is a wounded animal backed into a corner.

Pushing himself up from his lying down position, Clayman screamed out, "MILIM! USE YOUR [Stampede]! I don't care anymore, just end everything here except for me!"

Milim froze, prompting me to grab an Inversion Weapon shaped like a really advanced sniper rifle from my pocket dimension and aimed it at Milim. Just as I was about to pull the trigger and prevent the start of this [Stampede, the Dragonoid said something that made me pause—

"But why would I destroy my only source of delicious food?"

"...What?"

The Conversion Weapon lowered, and I tilted my head in confusion at what just happened.

'[Contessa]?'

[Data]

'So you weren't sure? What do you mean you weren't sure?! You're an Ultimate Skill specialized in precognition. If anyone would know it would be you!'

[Reason]

'How the hell would keeping that information away from me benefit me in any way, shape, or form?'

[Explanation]

"..."

Its logic makes sense, but it's just so... alien...

Depositing the Inversion Weapon back into the pocket dimension, I returned my focus back to Clayman.

"No... no... no..."

Everything backfired on him. So I silenced Clayman by grabbing him by the throat.

Yanking him off the ground, his feet dangling in the air, Clayman tried desperately to hit me, to squeeze my arm— to do anything to relieve the pressure on his throat.

"No... no...! No—!"

This position reminds me oddly of what a Dark Lord would do to the defeated Hero, before throwing them down a cliff and assuming his victory is absolute, then later in the story regrets it as the Hero returns with a vengeance.

Staring right into the eyes of the defeated Clayman, the visor on my head pulled itself apart and returned to the rest of the Mathematics.

"Die, and meet your maker."

My eyes were suddenly covered by a green biomechanical cover that steadily became brighter and brighter before—

VZZZ*

A flash of light came connecting my eyes and Clayman's later, and the latter went limp. His head fell slack as if he no longer had any strength left. Dark, burnt sockets replaced eyes.

Like throwing someone too rowdy out of a bar, silence quickly descended into the room. The sound of battle that was once ever-present was gone just like Clayman. Peace returned to Walpurgis.

The wall of otherworldly light evaporated away as I felt my soul become heavier, more tainted by death.

To change the world, one cannot keep their hands clean. That is a fact I've come to accept. If I want to materialize the change I seek, unless I'm willing to fully abuse my power to the greatest extent where I'm equal to a god, some deaths are required. Yet...

'How much is too much?'

That single question haunts me ever since I became a Demon Lord.

It feels like a self-fulfilling prophecy, an irony where my quest to change the world results in its destruction.

Loosening my hands, Clayman's lifeless body flopped to the ground like a slab of cut meat. Palm facing me, I stared at the hand that was used to hold Clayman, the one that grasped his neck.

How similar am I to Relentless? How many more people must I kill to be comparable to that monster? How many more will I kill in my quest to advance this world into an interstellar empire? How many more am I willing to kill in order to actualize my dream?

[Contessa] is silent on the matter, and I don't think I want to know either.

AN: Sorry about the late upload, I was watching Mushoku Tensei.

We see in this chapter a common coping method: disassociation. Scientia disassociated herself from that moment in time and rejected the narrative where she was at fault in order to deal with the guilt.

I actually had plans to have Scientia's title be either Gentle Tyrant or Hidden Ruler since it would reflect the state of affairs in the Jura Tempest Republic, what with her essentially controlling everything since she is the source of all wealth in the form of blueprints./Alert]

51

AN: I really dislike the quote that Webnovel gave me at the starting point of this fanfic, so instead I'm going to make my own:

"Intelligence is the greatest gift a Creator can gift to a Creation."

This chapter is a doozy to write, as evident by how long it took me.

Clap*

The sound of someone clapping tore me out of my trance. Facing the source, I noticed how the room has returned to its original size with all of the damage from the battle between me, Milim, the two Primordials, and Clayman wiped away so cleanly that the only evidence of it ever happening was in memories.

Not even Clayman's body or the bloodstain from that fox remained.

Guy Crimson had an amused smile on his face as he continued to clap.

"Although it was a foregone conclusion, I still think it was an excellent fight that got my cold dead heart racing in excitement. From this day forth, you have acquired my recognition as a Demon Lord. Though I should assume you already know about the truce we all have? The non-aggression treaty?"

That must be a seriously flimsy non-aggression treaty if Clayman— wait a minute, did Guy use me to punish Clayman?

Seeing my wordless response, the Red Primordial explained, "It is a truce where we Demon Lords will not militarily attack another Demon Lord's domain. Made in the aftermath of the Civil War because our Demon Lord numbers were drastically reduced. As always, there are limitations to this truce, with the prime example being extending one's influence is allowed."

"I see," I simply stated, "Though if I am to officially join the Ten Great Demon Lords, I request that— mff!"

A pink blur filled my vision as Milim enveloped me in a bear hug. "Oh for so long I haven't tasted your cooking Scientia! I can't wait to taste it again, things like pancakes, ice cream sandwiches, and more!"

I ignored her. Until Milim began to drool saliva onto my hair. Alarmed, I took control of the four fundamental forces around me and forcible turned her drool into vapor.

An odd thing about spiritual lifeforms, trying to clone them using the DNA from saliva will result in a weak body without intelligence, without the soul that's integral to the original's strength.

I found this out when I harvested a bit of Milim's saliva from a teapot that she drank from during our first meeting. Using that genetic sample, I cloned an entire army of Milims.

Pushing the Dragonoid off me, she pouted like a child that's just been denied their favorite toy before flying away, finally out of my hair.

I'll deal with Milim later. Though she behaves like a child, she's older than written history and thus, should know the consequences of her actions.

"Now, as I was saying..." I moved toward my seat, the Mathematic reformed itself from looking like armor into appearing as a dress, "My one request is that you must change my title."

As I sat down on my seat and crossed my legs, the table reappeared without the damage brought about by Asimov. I almost regret voicing my request when I saw how the Lord of Darkness appeared almost offended at my dislike of the given title.

"Why."

It wasn't a question. It was an attempt at discouraging me from further pursuing this avenue.

"Being called 'Error of the World' makes it sound like whatever my dream and aspiration is can't be good."

"Hrnnn..." Guy Crimson thought about my reasons before snapping his fingers, "Fine, you can have a new title so long as you answer one of my questions."

Warily, I immediately recalled the numerous examples of questions that shouldn't be asked.

"What's your question?"

"Tell me, what is Magicules?"

"..."

"Ehhh? Are you really asking such a stupid question, Rouge? Magicules make up magic." Jeanne said, drawing everyone's eyeballs to her.

Whack*

"—Guh!"

A single slap from Diablo caused Jeanne to falter, almost fall, before catching her balance.

"Diablo!"

Just as she was about to retaliate, I made a gesture of 'down, boy' as if talking to a dog with my left hand and subsequently increased the gravity surrounding the Yellow Primordial by a factor of several thousand.

"Ow!"

This time it did force Jeanne into the floor. Rather, it would be more accurate to say she smashed into the floor having been unprepared for such a sudden increase in gravity.

I let it continue for several more seconds before ceasing. Since Jeanne was trying to get up throughout the whole increase in the gravitational constant, the moment everything returned to baseline, the Primordial threw herself into the ceiling.

"Apologies for my subordinate's action. But to answer your question, Guy..."

As I was speaking, Jeanne pushed herself out of the ceiling and landed with a 'thump' on the floor. This time, she did nothing other than sulk and subtly glare at Milim.

You know, I just noticed now how Jeanne glared at Milim when she encompassed me in a bear hug a few minutes ago. I wasn't really paying attention to Jeanne during the start of Walpurgis, but I could easily imagine her being hostile to the Dragonoid during that time as well.

Is there something between the two?

"I assume you what to know what magicules are on a more fundamental level?"

"Yes."

"..." I tilted my head forward and stared at Guy. Internally, I debated on whether or not I should share this information in exchange for a new title.

Using technologies so advanced they are almost nigh-indistinguishable from actual magic, I was able to discover a lot more about the true nature of magicules. This in turn resulted in a further deterioration of my models of how everything worked.

It forced me to create a whole new theory. The Spirit Theory. It's still in its infancy though.

Quantum Mechanics, Relativity, Supercausality, Interdimensionality, and now Spirit Theory. These five are the current pillars holding up my attempts at creating an all-encompassing Theory of Everything— the holy grail of science. The Final Theory.

It will explain everything. It would be the singular framework of physics to link together every aspect of reality from the smallest to the largest. It will resolve all unsolved issues like the incompatibility between the Material and Immaterial World.

"Magicules... They— from observation alone, they behave very similarly to Virtual Particles; transitory particles whose existence is governed by the Uncertainty Principle. Only, instead of being governed by uncertainty, they can be observed having a tangible effect on Realspace, matter, and even the physical constants themselves when enough magicules are present. They appear to be governed solely by the will of the user instead of any iron-clad laws. It's maddening. It suggests there's more to consciousness and 'will' than it first appeared."

I took a brief pause as Vert placed a refreshment in front of me; a simple glass of a red liquid. A scan of the liquid told me it contained around 7% alcohol alongside plenty of other organic chemicals like fructose that are commonly found in grapes.

It's wine.

Taking a quick sip, I found the wine rather tasteless. It was more like drinking water than an actual glass of wine.

"Now where was I? Ah, yes. This issue came to a head when I was resurrecting someone. During that resurrection, I had a first-hand look at the organs of the soul; spiritrons. It reminded me that spiritrons are what allow someone to draw upon magicules. Every soul or spirit passively emits some amount of spiritrons like radioactive elements. Of course, monsters radiate more spiritrons, and, based on what my instruments can tell, your purely spiritual lifeforms are composed solely of spiritrons. It's why Spirits and Demons are so skilled in the use of magic: if they're not, it'll be like a fish struggling to swim."

I took another sip of the not-wine to wet my throat.

"It was then that it hit me: Magicules. They don't act like Virtual Particles because they aren't Virtual Particles at all. They're Dimensionless. They are 'particles' in only the strictest sense of the word. They come from another dimension entirely." I now have the attention of almost every single Demon Lord, all of who are probably intrigued by my interpretation of magicules, "In other words, Spiritrons are like tiny 'beacons' for these otherworldly particles to crossover into Realspace from their more... Metaphysical Plane. Or as you all might call it; the Spirit World—"

"Wait wait wait!" Ramiris called out as she hovered above her seat, "Are you saying magicules are a form of matter from the Spirit World and Spiritrons are like portals which these particles could pass through?"

Turning to look at the tiny fairy, I nodded to confirm her question.

"Indeed. Though it's not your usual 'portal' per se, not like the portals you'd find through advanced space magic. The Magicule transport themselves into the Material World, drawn by the Spiritrons being force carriers. And as they're doing this they become tainted by the caster's will. Since Magicules don't belong in Realspace— the Material World— the Universe will try its hardest to try and eject them from reality, which means a weakening of the local constants, and thus, the desired phenomenon is manifested into reality."

It's not... completely accurate. But that's the best way I can explain it without becoming too technical and using terms they may be completely unfamiliar with.

I could fill whole textbooks solely comprised of how Magicules superposition themselves into reality.

My eyes returned back to the Red Primordial, "Does that satisfy your question, Guy Crimson? I admit, it's not perfect since I have no idea the inner workings behind Skills but I think it's a start, no?"

Rouge looked at me with a scrutinizing gaze before sighing. The Demon closed his eyes shut as if to contemplate something before opening them up again.

"I am content with that answer. You passed, and so, what do you want your title to be?"

His fingertips came to touch each other in front of him in a business-like fashion with his body leaning back as though to get comfortable.

"I wish my title to be the Futurist."

Guy's arms went off to the sides in a spreading motion, palm facing up toward the ceiling with a mysterious smile, "Very well then. Your title is hereby changed from 'Error of the World' into 'Futurist', any objections?"

Looking around, the Red Primordial found no one speaking up— until his eyes landed on one of Frey's attendants.

"What about you, Carrion? Do you object?"

The griffin demihuman stepped forward and grabbed the sides of his head. With a single forceful push, he removed the head to reveal that it was nothing more than a mask.

Carrion stared back at everyone.

"I should've known even beforehand that you wouldn't have been fooled by my disguise. I was rather proud of it, but did you really have to make it so obvious, Guy?"

Guy then snapped his fingers, conjuring up another chair right beside Frey for Carrion to sit in. Then, the Primordial's right hand moved in such a way to suggest he was plucking feathers from a bird.

A glass of pink liquid now appeared in Guy's right hand.

"I was expecting you to reveal yourself during the battle with Clayman and our new Demon Lord. I expected you to take Scientia's side, given the diplomatic plays you made with her. Only, you didn't, so I got impatient."

Lowering the edge of the glass to his lips, Guy sipped on the drink.

Based on the current dynamics between Carrion and Guy, and how the latter talked the most, it's obvious to even a blind person that the Red Primordial must be the leader— or unofficial leader— of the Demon Lords.

Not to mention how it was his subordinates that are responsible for ferrying people into this pocket dimension.

Out of curiosity, I ran a Path.

'[Path to defeating Guy Crimson]'

[19,673 Steps— Error! Ultimate Skill [Lucifer] detected, recalibrating calculations...]

My brows furrowed as an intense headache coming from [Contessa] rocked my brain. Squeezing my eyes shut as if to stop feelings of dizziness, I can't help but wonder why it's so hard to accurately create a Path for Ultimate Skill users.

Gently massaging my forehead so as to not draw too much attention, I lament the fact that the pain from [Contessa]'s failed Path isn't a physical one. If it was, I can just inject painkillers into my bloodstream.

[1 Step]

It took the combination of [Acting] and [Aristocratic Dignity] for me to not act out in shock at how easy it would be to defeat the unofficial leader of the Demon Lords.

[Step 1: Say the words 'You failed in your task, the one given to you by God, and now the World is breaking down, why do you deserve to live while He is buried underground?']

"..."

What the hell? What the actual hell?!

Without moving my head, my eyes glanced at the joyful expression on Guy's face as he sipped more of his drinks. His maids are already moving around either to give or refill refreshments for each Demon Lord. Something with a chemical composition similar to mead for Dagruel, human blood for Valentin, wine for Leon, a sleeping Dino, Carrion, while tea is then served to me, Milim, and Frey.

Is his mental state so fragile that a single sentence can shatter it?

I then started to analyze the sentence down to the last detail. 'Task', Guy was given a task by God? Who is this 'God'? And the World breaking down?

So many questions came rushing forth from that one answer. A single solution that resulted in many more problems.

Personally, the more prevalent out of that sentence wasn't that the World was breaking down, but rather this... God.

I felt a chill run down my back despite the hot tea currently going down my throat. The fact that there exists someone powerful enough to give someone like Guy tasks, and is called 'God'.

My mind quickly made the connection with the Angels. Is this 'God' the leader of the Angels? So He is an Evil God who wishes for humans to be stagnant for what? Faith? Is He like a parasite that feeds off of the faith of mortals?

So why isn't there an official religion of this 'God'? Or, could He be God Luminous?

No... that doesn't make sense. Most secular scholars show Luminism goes only as far back as after Veldora was sealed. For the first 20 years of its existence, it was prosecuted much like Christianity of my old World and was seen as a threat to the waning dominant religion at the time; a Faith that originated from the old Thelium Kingdom.

Truthfully, the Thelium Kingdom has been so thoroughly erased by Relentless that nowadays, most historians don't even know much about the extinct kingdom other than from third, or even fourth-handed sources. A notable example of this cultural genocide is probably how no one could even collectively agree upon the name of the Thelium Kingdom's religion.

What scant few facts were known were that the Thelium Religion was the most dominant faith in the West before Luminism.

I then took another glance at Milim. The faith worshipping her has about give or take 100,000 individuals.

So then, this 'God' is probably not the god from any of the current faiths.

As I placed the half-empty teacup back onto the table, Guy spoke up once more, "Now that the primary topic brought up by Clayman has been dealt with, do any present here have other subjects that need to be addressed?"

Silence reigned supreme in the room. I was half tempted to ask Guy who this 'God' is but I have the distinct feeling that it wouldn't end well for me. So, best not to ask directly.

Just when it seemed like Guy was about to maybe conclude this Walpurgis, Carrion raised a hand like a student answering a teacher's question.

"I wish to pledge my services to Lady Scientia."

"—?"

What.

My head turned to face Carrion with such speed when I stopped I was a bit disorientated.

There was an incredulous and disbelieving look on my face before I took control of my facade.

"That came out of nowhere," I said.

"What equally came out of nowhere is how it was you who made Milim that gravity lance weapon. You were her personal chef."

Lance? Oh yeah, that weapon.

"You mean Rhongomyniad?"

I wasn't really going to give that miniature Starbreaker Engine any special names, but since it was meant to be a gift, I decided to go with the spear used by King Arthur. Kinda ironic since in the myth Rhongomyniad had no apparent magical properties and is simply just a normal spear.

"If you're talking about that black jousting lance littered with red crystals that Milim used to destroy my capital, then yes. It was a sight that inspired terror. A single flash of light and the jewel of Eurazania is gone. I had originally planned to pledge my services to Milim except, how am I worthy to be her subordinate if her chef can create a weapon much more powerful than anything I've ever seen?"

Carrion then picked up the glass of wine and raised it high as if to prepare a toast, "I wish to step down as a Demon Lord and instead join Scientia's camp. Though before I do that," Carrion's gaze swept across the whole table, "I ask you all to join me in one last toast as a Demon Lord, and at the same time to honor Scientia's formal entrance into the Ten Great Demon Lords."

Out of politeness, I joined the toast alongside Milim, Guy, Frey, and Ramiris.

"""To Scientia!""" Carrion, Milim, Frey, Guy, and Ramiris all cheered while the others watched on.

It was a strange toast, as I had tea instead of the usual wine. As I brought the teacup closer to my lips, I half-mindedly noticed how it refilled itself when I finished drinking it before.

Feeling the sweet tea roll down my throat, I couldn't help but see that while on the surface this might be a sweet gesture, the truth is far different.

Carrion has a hidden motive.

The destruction of his capital probably fully enforced Carrion of just how weak he is. It showed him how previously, he was the largest fish in the small pond of Eurazania, completely unaware of the leviathans out in the ocean of the world.

Beyond the sudden awareness of how vulnerable his position was, Milim's attack also irradiated much of Eurazania's farmland, polluting what was once arguably the most fertile soil in the world into unusability. Being an agrarian society, Eurazania lives or dies by the food produced by its productive farmlands, and now farms are rendered inoperable thanks to nuclear fallout.

If Carrion went his merry way and didn't pledge his allegiance to me, the inevitable famine coming to Eurazania will cause so much death as to dwarf Mao Zedong's Great Leap Forward. Being the breadbasket of the Southern Coast also means the famine will spread beyond Eurazania's borders.

Instability is ahead. Some human nations will definitely fall to revolutions.

[Statistics] gave a preliminary estimate of somewhere north of 100 million deaths in Eurazania at the lower end, with an unknown global death toll.

1/3 of Eurazania's population will be killed by the future famine. Governments have been overthrown for much, much less.

However, all these problems will be avoided if he became my subordinate.

With one single action, Carrion will gain all the riches and technological marvels of the Jura Tempest Republic. With one single action, Carrion will force my hands into cleaning up the fallout covering Eurazania since technically, Eurazania belongs to me now by proxy as the higher-up of Carrion. With one single action, every single one of his problems is fixed since otherwise, I'll look really bad to everyone else if I abandoned my subordinate.

I can't even reject Carrion's pledge since not only do I need more allies, but adding a potential 300 million individuals into the working population of Tempest will drastically boost our economic growth into the stratosphere. Even beyond such things, Carrion's also leveraging Eurazania's position as the breadbasket of the Southern Coast of the continent.

Gaining control of the breadbasket and preventing a potential famine gives Tempest enormous influence, maybe enough to supplant the Western Holy Church in certain areas.

It was a brilliant strategic move. Especially one coming from a Demon Lord whose edge has dulled over the centuries.

Putting down the teacup, I gave Carrion a single clap.

"Fine then, I accept you as my subordinate."

Carrion bowed reverently, "Thank you, Lady Scientia."

He then moved and stood next to the Primordials, now no longer sitting down as one of the Demon Lords.

"I would also like to step down as Demon Lord," Frey stood up, "and I wish to serve Milim."

Milim sounded like she was choking on something when Frey's words registered inside her mind, "Wait! FREY! I never agreed to anything nor have even heard a whisper of your decision!"

That's going to be a very awkward border situation. Eurazania sits between Milim and Frey's domains.

"I have my own reasons for choosing things the way I did. In truth, I've always doubted whether or not I was worthy to be called a Demon Lord. After seeing how quickly and how easily Scientia, a new Demon Lord, slew Clayman, it became clear to me that I need to grow stronger before I could properly proclaim myself as a true Demon Lord." Frey simply stated, making me see her in a new light, a new, more dangerous, and cunning light.

She lied. Frey lied about the Demon Lord part. [Psychology] told me how even before she became a Demon Lord, Frey already knew she was the weakest of the Ten Great Demon Lords. Thusly, having such a precarious position is undesirable for anyone, so she sought to ingrain herself with one the most powerful Demon Lords in existence, and it just so happens that Demon Lord is very childish. Over the course of decades, even centuries, Frey became close to Milim.

What a long con, what a dangerous prospect. Frey, you are perhaps more dangerous and manipulative than Clayman.

In the coming days, I'll need to watch out for her that's for sure. Frey's a pragmatist with a healthy dose of sociopathy. She's willing to do whatever it takes to stay alive and in power, and it just so happens those two align for now.

I don't think I would've accepted Frey as a subordinate. The moment our interest becomes mutually exclusive, the moment ANYTHING becomes mutually exclusive with her interest, Frey will not hesitate to throw me under the bus.

Frey knows this. That's why she's asking to be Milim's subordinate.

Had she become mine, I would have to always place a sword next to her throat at all times, just as she too, will have a dagger pointed at my jugular.

Unknowingly, I smiled. I'm not disappointed in these Demon Lords. It seems I'll fit right in just fine among these politicians.

Just as silence blanketed the room, Milim was like a scissor as she cut through that silence.

"Wait!" Pointing at each of us, the Dragonoid started counting, "One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. We can't call ourselves the Ten Great Demon Lords anymore now that there are only eight of us! What are we going to call ourselves?"

Everyone beside me groaned in frustration, including Guy of all people, diverging from his usual 'mysterious leader' persona.

"Why don't we just call ourselves the Eight Great Demon Lords?" I offered, only for Ramiris to object.

"Noooo! That's lame!"

"Yeah! That's boring, boooo!" Milim called out.

"..."

I felt immense embarrassment at the fact I'd been shut down so summarily.

To mask this, I took a large sip of the tea. The cup itself blocked much of my face, which thankfully made it so no other Demon Lords saw that my cheeks were heating up.

Very soon, the others began to bicker among themselves about what was the best name for the eight Demon Lords.

Actually, what IS a good name for eight Demon Lords? Ars Goetia, the name of the book of magical practices and rituals focusing on the evocation of 72 demons?

No, that would make more sense if we were all demons.

Triskelion? Though its representation of progress, balance, unity, and protection is useful, the simple fact exists the triskelion fits more if there were only three Demon Lords.

So, what about the Octogram?

While it would perfectly incorporate the number 'eight', I personally find it a bit bland. Still, I placed it on the mental equivalent of a Post-it note.

Searching the depth of the Noosphere for an answer, I activated the most dormant Star Computer-01 and almost immediately, the matrioshka brain gave me a single perfect answer:

"How about Qliphoth?"

As soon as I said that, the damn maid of Roy Valentin is glaring at me again with such intensity as if I was the single most disgusting, vile creature in the world.

"Ehmm," Milim placed a finger on her chin, "I mean most people wouldn't know what a Qliphoth is but I don't think it matters! I'm all for it."

I gave Milim a deadpan look. How the hell would anyone know a concept from Kabbalah here? Does the influence of Jewish mysticism reach here as well?! Or maybe it was the opposite?

No, seriously, how the hell do people in this world know so much about something as fringe as Kabbalah? Was it transported here by a summoned Otherworlder?

Is that ethnoreligious group founded by an Otherworlder? Is the messiah of Christianity an Otherworlder? Because his feats can easily be replicated with magic from this world.

If so, that begs the question, how much cross-cultural contamination is there between different Worlds?

"Yeah, Qliphoth is fine," Ramiris accepting my proposal finally got the snowball rolling, each and every one of the other Demon Lords accepted it except for Leon and Roy, but due to it being a majority vote, we officially changed our name from Ten Great Demon Lords to Qliphoth.

The maid of Guy Crimson then redeclared the names and titles of everyone, this time my title was that of 'Futurist', making me happy.

What destroyed that happiness, was what came next.

"Now all the superfluous details are out of the way, I think it's finally time for us to come to why I myself agreed to this Walpurgis." Guy declared, stopping the happy mood of the room.

He then turned to face me, his left hand flipped to gesture at me, "You are the reason, Scientia."

[Silenced Emotion: 50%]

I gave him a stare. Bringing my right hand up, I opened and closed my hand.

"Would you mind elaborating on that?" [Acting] taking full control and forming a mask of stillness.

"I have no problem elaborating. For you see, your Perfect Homunculus is proof that the System Veldanava implemented is dying."

Guy revealed a world-shattering truth with the same tone I might use to tell Arcueid what's for breakfast.

"You are the crystallization of the cumulative errors found within the World System after so long of zero maintenance by Veldanava. The World, the very System upon which our reincarnation and Skills come from, is tearing itself apart with the number of glitches it's racking up."

Deathly silence descended upon the room like a heavy curtain. The silence this time wasn't like any before, for this silence is the same one present when a prince points a sword at his father in an attempted coup. No one could speak because something impossible just happened.

An outside context problem just appeared, chasing away the cheery atmosphere from before so thoroughly it appeared more like a dream.

"Normally, a being as perfect as you should not exist. In fact, you should have never existed, yet you still do."

Guy leaned forward, his face a mask of seriousness, "That is why you are an error of the World. Like a machine that hasn't been properly taken care of for a very long time, your very existence originated from the 'rust' of that 'machine', a machine long abandoned as its creator passed away without telling its childrens how to repair it.

"..."

My jaw dropped from the information released by Guy. In a tone as cold as dry ice, I asked, "Please. Please tell me you're joking."

Guy smiled, amused by my desire for ignorance.

"Haven't you once wondered why there were so many mistakes present during your ascension into Demon Lord?" That one sentence killed any possible objections I could supply. Diablo, Jeanne, and [Contessa] all said that there were a lot of problems during my ascension into a Demon Lord right after I named them. I dismissed their concerns, preferring to deal with the current problems before dealing with whatever metaphysical system was in place to ascend me into a Demon Lord.

"Those errors appeared because the World itself was confused by your existence. Do you want more proof? An Ultimate Skill grants the wielder ultimate power over the very laws of nature, its authority is so absolute that it trumps all magic. The only way to counter an Ultimate Skill is with another Ultimate Skill. That is the irrefutable law of the World on par with the immortality of a True Dragon."

Ultimate Skill grants the user immunity against lower Skills and Magic, but it seems to only resist attacks based on scientific principles. I should know, I tested it on myself.

"Now, my Ultimate Skill [Lucifer] is the strongest Ultimate Skill, being able to copy any Skill from Common to Ultimate I see being used. In addition, as a side effect of that copying ability, I can sense the presence of any Skills within a person's soul. For example, I know for a fact that Dino—" He pointed at the Fallen, "—has Ultimate Skill [Belphegor, Lord of Sloth, specialized in hypnosis. Your maid—" He then used his other hand to point at Roy, "—has [Asmodeus, Lord of Lust] which specializes in necromancy, and Milim—" Guy faced Milim, "—has [Satanael, which specializes in berserk."

The Red Primordial then offhandedly remarked quietly, "Very similar to Relentless."

Dropping so many bombshells, though I doubt the veracity of Guy claiming he had the strongest Ultimate Skill, what's less doubtful is the Ultimate Skills of other Demon Lords.

Guy turned to me, "You, however? [Lucifer] is telling me that you have no Skill at all as if you were an inanimate pebble. Absolutely zero Skills which should be impossible since even human newborns have at least one Common Skill. A useful Skill if they're lucky. An Extra Skill if Fate smiles upon them."

Time slowed down for me. Things became still, micro-expressions that are usually too subtle or too fast, or even both for the normal eye to catch appear frozen in place.

I began to think of a counter-argument.

So Guy is accusing me of being responsible for the breakdown of the System? Well, certainly sounds like he's implying that. I'll just deny that then. [Politics] already came up with a way to subvert Guy's implication.

Time returned to normal. Just as I was about to utter my counter-argument, Guy said the one thing that sent a serious chill down my back, like that feeling you get when your parachute fails during skydiving and you continue to fall:

"Haven't you ever wondered why is it that you were able to summon that alien? What was its name again? The one that has the appearance of a blonde human with red eyes? Arcueid Brunestud— she is an otherworldly existence even more alien than Otherworlders, for she exists outside of the System and thus, shouldn't have even appeared here. After all, a Primordial Spirit? Such a thing is impossible. Your little guest's appearance here is the final nail in the metaphorical coffin, the last proof anyone needs to convince themselves the System itself is falling apart, with holes that other beings can pass through."

After Guy was done, it took half a minute for someone else to speak. It took another moment for me to realize that it was me who was speaking.

"What's the point in all this? What's the point in revealing all of this information targeting me?"

Guy, infuriatingly, only shrugged, as if the information he gave wasn't at all important.

In a casual tone, an alcoholic might use to regard another can of beer, he said as he looked down at the near-empty glass of wine, "Honestly? I thought I'll just release the information now that you've returned. I gave up trying to kill the last Perfect Homunculus since the breaking down of the World System is unstoppable, the Angels have been trying to maintain the system and failing, so I'm just enjoying life before it ends."

"Would the complete breakdown of the System result in the End of the World?" Leon asked what probably most concerned the rest of the Demon Lords other than me.

Guy shrugged once more, "I honestly don't know, you gotta ask Veldanava for that and he's long dead, killed by the System for loving a human woman, which is really ironic if you think about it. Neh, Jaune?"

Jeanne stayed quiet.

Veldanava... "I assume Veldanava is the creator god?"

"Yep, he's the first True Dragon and the creator of the multiverse."

"Why are you so casual about this?"

I couldn't help but blurt out.

Guy spread his arms in such a fashion that screamed he just doesn't care anymore, "I told you, I stopped caring ever since we banished Relentless 400 years ago. As far as I'm aware, the World is ending and I'm going to party 'til the end."

Damn it he's in the last stage of grief: acceptance, and by releasing such information, he's unintentionally isolating me! By insinuating that I'm responsible for the destruction of the system, he's pretty much placing a huge target on my head.

Shit, shit, shit, shit! 'How do I turn this around and make all the Demon Lords not see me as a threat?'

[No Path found, defeat unavoidable]

Shit, Guy checkmate me! My hands clenched hard in frustration as my poker face almost breaks. Of course now when I needed a path to victory the most [Contessa] fails me!

I had gone into complete damage control mode, desperate enough to let my old experience in a Corporate PR Course take control.

It may not be as good as a [Path to Victory] but it'll at least mitigate SOME damage.

"You said I'm the materialization of the cumulative error of the World System, yes? Not directly responsible?" I pointed out the holes in his statement.

Guy nodded, which made me sigh in relief, "Would the destruction of the System results in the destruction of the multiverse we reside in?"

His posture changed into one that reflected deep thought. This question would determine the level of hostility others would treat me with.

Cupping his chin and rubbing it, Guy spoke again, "Well, based on what I know from my eons of research, Veldanava created the current System to isolate a portion of the Multiverse from the horror of the Beyond. Do you see the names of these Ultimate Skills? [Lucifer, [Asmodeus, [Yog-Sothoth]— Veldanava named these Ultimate Skills such because they exist as actual entities outside of the protective System, living within the Great Beyond. These entities were so powerful and alien that Veldanava felt threatened, so he used most of his power to create a tiny island of logic, of things that made sense to him in an endless sea of chaos that is the Greater Multiverse."

"..."

"Your guest came from the Great Beyond. Needless to say, such a thing shouldn't even be remotely possible, but since she's here..." Guy trailed off, letting the other Demon Lords connect the dots inside their mind.

Lovecraftian horrors exist, huh? And the creator god sought to protect us from those horrors.

I felt the silent stare of everyone, all of them judging me. My throat felt extra dry as my fingers interweaved with each other, I rested my nose on my hands as I try to make my face as unreadable as possible.

In this brief moment, I started to reflect on everything that happened. I was particularly shocked at how quickly everything had gone south. The victory was well within sight, yet that rug was pulled right out from underneath me by Guy's information, and what's worse is that I can't even stop him since doing that would only confirm others' suspicion and further break off any chance at diplomacy.

This victory turned to ash in my mouth, I should've known better than to join anything involving one of the most enigmatic Demon Lords out there.

Add on the fact that I discovered God truly does exist— Guy really has no reason to lie...

For minutes, no one spoke a single word, after all, how can you? I don't know about others but discovering you are the equivalent of the byproducts of glitches in a computer system?

It is a world-shattering reveal.

Fuck.

Raising my hand, "Can we take a small recess?" I proposed, "People will need time to come to terms with these things if they are to make a rational decision based upon logic instead of emotion."

The Primordial's hands clapped before pointing at me, in a cheery tone completely in contrast to the atmosphere, "Good idea, let's take a one-hour dinner break before we continue Walpurgis, shall we?"

The dinner began, and no one spoke a single word. The maids walked out of those teleportation gates clinging onto the walls like doors, bringing fancy dishes and placing them in front of each Demon Lord.

The dish in front of me was a juicy slab of rain beef cooked to perfection and seared to a caramelized crust on the outside, according to [Cookery]. It was surrounded by a collection of seasoned vegetables all blanketed with a savory aroma that seems to cause anyone to suddenly feel hungry.

Bringing the knife up and cutting it into the meat, I found it to be very tender. The slab's center was a shade of red, showing it was cooked to a medium rare.

Despite being so fancy, the events of today caused the dish to taste like nothing in my mouth, as though I were chomping down on juicy cardboard than actual, edible food. My mind was also too busy strategizing to properly savor this dish.

And it seems like all the other Demon Lords are doing the same thing. Eating while telepathically communicating with their subordinates using something like the [Soul Corridor].

'Jeanne, Diablo, what do you guys think of what Guy said, how much of it is correct?'

'My Lady,' Diablo was the first to reply, 'I know Rouge isn't one to lie about things like these, he may have given up on his responsibility given to him by Veldanava he still isn't someone who would lie, not even for smaller things.'

His formal tone felt like a small break from the insanity that was the past hour, overturning everything I thought I knew.

Am I having an existential crisis?

[Affirmation]

I don't need confirmation damn it!

Jeanne spoke up next, probably sensing the sadness through the connection and trying to cheer me up, 'Well, then again we haven't seen Rouge for centuries so he may have changed! Like a lot. Which means that yes he may have lied.'

Despite what many people in my old life liked to believe, Science and Religion are fundamentally incompatible with one another. They are a mutually exclusive existence, though there's irony in that. Science... during the Dark Ages, the Church was actually one of the largest contributors to scientific advancement since they saw it as an attempt to reach the Truth. In their eyes, since God made the World, then by knowing more about the World, one may get closer to God. Slowly, over the Enlightenment, Science diverged from that holy purpose into what it is today: empiricism, the drive to know everything, to open closed doors, and improve our understanding of the universe, thereby advancing our lives into modern society.

But if there exists irrefutable proof that God exists... then all one would need is Faith— the opposite of empiricism— faith in a higher power, faith that tomorrow will be better than today. Instead of actually working towards a better life, faith makes it so your standard of living is tied directly with the strength of your faith in a God.

It gets rid of any meaningful drive to succeed, drive to improve, drive to explore.

Fuck!

My hands shook as I wondered if all my work up until this point has been for naught. My chewing slowed down, and despite having [Silenced Emotion] up to 50%, I still feel very depressed.

What is the point of discovering more about the World, what is the point of science, what is the point of a Theory of Everything, if that same everything can be just answered with 'God'?

My utensils fell out of my shaking hands, causing a loud crash as they fell onto the floor.

It took a few seconds for [Acting] to take control, the maids of Guy Crimson quickly replaced the metal knife and fork as I try to clear my mind.

Now is not the time to be depressed, especially not in front of world leaders that would pounce on any perceived weakness.

Gripping the utensils light enough to not deform them, I finished eating the food (more like forcing the food down my gullet) despite not having an appetite at all.

With the dinner complete, the room felt more somber, like in the aftermath of a funeral. No one knew what o say. Even the normally energetic Milim was being uncharacteristically silent, so much of a far cry from before that it looked like Milim had a more depressed identical sister.

"I've known you for millennias Guy. We both have met the Star Dragon Veldanava, hell we both sparred against each other under his supervision since otherwise the whole planet might be rendered inhospitable, there must be a way to repair the System."

It was Dagruel who spoke up.

Guy gave a sad shake of his head.

"The destruction of the system is irreversible. The only reason it still exists was due to the effort of this one Hero but even then, the System is coming to an end. It is inevitable."

The Giant's eyes narrowed in response, "When then? You aren't the type to just declare the end of the Voice of the World for nothing."

"Heh, well that part's soonish, I think. Personally, the end of the System can be as early as next year or as late as the next 300. It honestly depends on how much looping that Hero has done."

'That Hero'? Who? Which Hero?

As I pondered the identity of that 'Hero', several loud gasps echoed through the room as Roy Valentin slammed his fist onto the table, "Guy Crimson! I would think it most prudent that you shared this information sooner than merely one year before the earliest deadline!"

"Normally I wouldn't agree on anything with Valentin based on pure principle but just for this time... I concur." Leon added, "It would've been best had you told us much sooner."

The Guy shrugged that annoying shrug of his, deflecting away any criticism. With a casual tone as though it didn't matter, "What's done is done."

No one spoke another word.

No one could've prepared for how this Walpurgis could've progressed. Who the hell other than the most paranoid and conspiratorial nutjob could've predicted that the System was ending?

"So what do we do now?" Ramiris, for the first time, being the sensible one within this room.

The room erupted into bickering and arguing, with the occasional solutions that seemed promising popping up before Guy shot it down by saying he's already tried that.

System... I thought the word. Am I living inside a simulation? The Simulation Hypothesis is almost guaranteed to be real since my Matrioshka Brain can simulate millions of different universes, so does that mean I'm most likely a fictional character? As the chance of me being in the 'real' world is so infinitesimally small it's not even funny.

I felt like I'm slipping down a smooth slope, my hands trying to grapple onto anything outlining rocks but the spotless surface of the slope prevents that.

I'm falling. I'm falling. I'm falling—

It took a jolt of electricity from Mathematics for me to snap out of a panic attack. Once again, the fact that I may be inside a simulation makes me question if my quest to advance the world is worth it or not.

I massaged my forehead and mentally asked myself why does everything have to be so bloody complicated. The room around me that's steadily growing louder and louder as Demon Lords continued to bicker was not helping this migraine of mine at all.

[Philosophy] is telling me I'm experiencing a case of nihilism.

"Enough!" Roy called out as he stood up from his seat, silencing everyone while the Red Primordial watches on, merely content with observing, "We are Demon Lords, we should not be bickering around like unruly childrens!" He raised a fist to emphasize his point, "The Demon Lords are the strongest beings in the world short of the True Dragons, thus it is paramount we solve this issue as quickly and as efficiently as possible. In a manner that would not embarrass us at all."

He then pointed at me, "However, most importantly for right now, I feel the Error of the World should not be a part of this discussion, being the by-product of the 'rust' and all. Who knows if the 'rust' of the system is sentient and if it is then it could listen through her."

I felt my eye twitch at the baseless accusations, prompting me to wonder if this was what racism was like.

In an annoyed tone, I asked, "Do you have any kind of proof other than your own prejudice against my species talking?"

The fact that I'm a Perfect Homunculus is coming back to bite me so fucking hard it's not even funny.

"We don't, but that means we can't be sure if it is listening in."

I let out a laugh.

"That is so fucking ridiculous it's not even funny anymore. Valentin, are you even hearing yourself when you speak? Or are your ears so clogged up with prejudice that you can't even think straight? We are discussing something that could end the world here! Do not let your hate cloud your judgment," My voice grew louder until I'm literally yelling at me, "Besides, are you truly the Demon Lord here or are you just a mere stand-in for the maid?"

Roy was taken aback by my accusation, with a face that screamed him taking offense, "Why you—!"

"Enough, Roy, she's long figured out, hasn't she? There's no point anymore." The Maid stepped forward and placed a hand on Roy's shoulder.

With a single flash of light, the maid's outfit changed into a frilly dress fit more for indoor activity than anything heavy-duty. It was the picturesque clothing fit for a princess.

Roy quickly got up and bowed as the ex-maid sat down, taking his seat.

"True Ancestor, the Queen of Nightmares, Luminous Valentine."

I raised an eyebrow at the introduction, more specifically the part with Valentine's species and her first name.

"Done glaring at me from the sidelines?" I goaded with a small smirk on my face.

Her eyes narrowed when they fell upon mine. Whereupon my smirk changed into a polite smile.

"I propose we kick Scientia Tempest off Qliphoth."

That polite smile vanished quicker than steam from a pot of boiling water. Before I could voice my objections, Dagruel cut in, "We just accepted Scientia Tempest into Qliphoth. It would be terribly rude to just kick her out in the same meeting."

At least someone is adhering to rationality and diplomacy.

Valentine looked like she wanted to interject, only to relent to the Giant's logic.

"Still, Guy, would be killing Relentless, or rather, Scientia solve the issue with the breakdown of the system?"

"Excuse me?!?!" I yelled out, appalled with my eyes as wide as saucers as I reviewed the past few seconds to ascertain if they really did happen.

Sorry, did I say at least someone adhering to logic and diplomacy? Clearly, Dagruel has a different more irrational line of thinking if he's still suggesting that.

Leon backed up Dagruel, "She is the manifestation of the error in the World correct?"

Guy nodded, I felt like a pit had formed in my stomach. I tried to interject, "Now just hold on—"

"Then that means if we kill the Perfect Homunculus, we kill the 'rust'."

"That makes no sense—"

"Hrmm, that may work, but how would you succeed where others failed?"

... They're actually contemplating how to kill me.

My right hand traced my left forearm in a comforting gesture. It was scary how the situation was really getting out of hand.

In a final attempt at reasserting control, I placed all five of today's unused charges of [Inspired Inventor] into [System Repair]. Instead of giving me anything that can repair the World System made by this 'God', all I got was how to repair everything from alien computer systems to reducing corruption and inefficiencies in governmental systems.

God fucking damn it! Either the issue is too broad and I'm not specific enough or [Inspired Inventor] is part of that 'System', and like a character in a story trying to fight against the burning of the book they reside in, it's pointless.

FUCK! If it's the latter then it confirms I'm in a simulation, I grit my teeth, and the sinking feeling intensified. Maybe [Inspired Inventor] is an error of the System.

"Wait wait wait! Dagruel! You can't just kill my chef! I won't let you!" Milim shouted. She was like an anchor that stabilized me in this chaotic, uncontrollable sea. Then, her childish persona seemingly was replaced by a more mature one, "Besides, Scientia is a BY-PRODUCT, not the literal error! That's like trying to treat a disease only by attacking the symptoms."

"The Error of the World is what allows a Perfect Homunculus to actualize, thus it is logical to think that if the actualized error is dead, then the Errors would go along with it, as none can live without the other." Valentine simply stated. "The two are, after all, intrinsically connected."

"Are you stupid?" Ramiris asked Valentine, who looked offended, "That logic makes no sense at all! If anything—"

This bickering was completely out of my hand and continued for the rest of Walpurgis. It was only by the will of Guy Crimson and his two Primordial maids that it violence didn't occur. Insults were certainly exchanged, but at least no one was hurt.

By the end, Qliphoth was split into two factions.

First, the larger of the factions, which I decided to call the Kill Faction, is led by Valentine. Comprising Leon, Dagruel, and Dino, wants to kill me to stop the glitches in the System.

The second, and smaller faction, which I decided to call the Life Faction, is led by Milim of all people and is supported by Ramiris.

Then there's just Guy Crimson who's been oddly quiet all this time, staying neutral.

I didn't count myself in any of the factions because, let's be real, I'm definitely going to be on the Life Faction.

And so, Walpurgis ended. There were no resolutions. What originally appeared to be good omens for the future now became threats of war fueled by desperation. However, right before the first of us left, I had to decide how I'm going to deal with the extra lands now open to me and Milim.

Once again, I restated the Jura Forest as my domain, as are Jistav and Eurazania. I plan to merge the Republic with Jistav to form a new superstate while Eurazania got the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region treatment.

Thinking of Hong Kong, I recalled how there was a protest going on since I died in the middle of 2019. I wonder how'd that end?

Following my example, Milim tried to merge her domain with Fulbrosia into a new nation yet to be named. Personally, I think the idea of a unified state between the pink-haired Demon Lord and Frey will simply fail because the former becomes bored with the whole thing and cancels it.

The teleportation gates dropped me right outside of the Citadel, right where I had left. Looking around me, I was particularly perplexed by the sight of Arcueid leaning on the monochromatic walls of the Citadel, the sky above the two of us alongside Jeanne and Diablo was lit with a dim shade of blue as the sun barely rose above the horizon.

Carrion didn't come with me and instead went back to his own kingdom to tell everyone the news.

I felt unbelievably exhausted. Even when Walpurgis lasted only a few hours.

Strutting forward, I said no words, and yet Arcueid appeared to understand me as she embraced me in a hug.

I leaned fully into her chest, her body effortlessly carrying my weight.

To be honest, I doubt she could if I turned off all the anti-gravity tech that's keeping me from falling into the center of this planet.

"You've had a tiring day, haven't you?"

Arcueid's sweet voice was like a soothing balm that made me temporarily forget everything I learned from Walpurgis. I can pretend that everything is alright.

I felt Arcueid reaching underneath me. Without much protest, Arcueid brought me into a princess carry.

Normally I would try and get out at all costs, but I was really tired so my resistance was next to none. Leaning into her body, I felt myself get taken back to my old World, when I was young, no more than eight years old. I was out camping, and after a scary event with my sister, my mother carried me like this to try and chase away the nightmares.

I could stay like this forever. This feeling of safety, where I can be as vulnerable as I want.

Arcueid started humming a cheerful tune.

I let out a soft moan. I want to disappear into this sea of tranquility.

I felt Arcueid moving before there was that familiar transition using Doormaker.

"Alright, Tia, you don't want others to see you like this, do you?"

Arcueid's words were like a knife that surfaced through the tranquility of my mind, disturbing the smooth surface.

I let out a sigh.

I... man I fell hard for Arcueid. Truthfully, I never knew I even had such great capacity for such love, given that the most I've had in my past life is a few flings here and there.

Getting out of her carry, I stretched my limbs a bit before looking around and finding myself standing beside a closed door and a hallway.

From a glance, I can tell we're near the top of one of the arcologies. Because some of the arcologies are so high up that water boils at a mere 92 Celcius near the top floors, getting enough breathable air to the higher levels becomes a necessary consideration in the event of a long-term stay.

As such, every arcology is outfitted with very sophisticated air ventilation and filtration systems that are constantly monitored by the designated Manager-Class Subsapient Narrow AI typically housed on the basement floors. Since these ventilation systems are rather bulky and ugly-looking, they're hidden between walls.

Just like CCTV cameras, if one knows where to look, these vents can be spotted easily.

Pushing the door open—

"AND FOR THE PERSON OF THE HOUR! Scientia Tempest!"

A voice screamed out my name the moment I entered.

The room was large, obviously usually reserved for charity events or weddings. Near the edge of this room were long tables covered in plates of food.

Huh, so this is a celebration meant to welcome my success? Since Rimuru's standing on the stage behind a podium, I'm guessing he's successful when it came to the assault on Jistav.

In all honesty, I wasn't in the mood for celebration, not so soon after Walpurgis. How can anyone be in the mood for a celebration knowing that everything is ending?

Had this been my old life, I think I would've ignored everyone and just sealed myself inside the Citadel, on the lookout for a way to survive this oncoming catastrophe of the likes which I've never even seen before.

But in the interest of being polite, I had [Acting] take over my motor functions and facial muscles as I just drone on over the party, my mouth moving without my command whenever I talked.

I think Arcueid and Rimuru suspect something's wrong, but I'm not sure.

The party lasted well into the midday before I decided that enough was enough and retire into my quarters, Arcueid tried to follow me, only to be rebuked by [Acting] with a kiss. I would've been more chaste but in my tired state, I couldn't think of anything other than just drone on.

Through the Doormaker, I teleported into the Citadel's Workshop. More specifically, I appeared right beside one of the huge computers. Over a dozen monitor screens and a smooth glass keyboard spanning the size of a dinner table encompasses the desktop, the fact that my technology has advanced to such a state where this setup can be confused for the Batcomputer is lost on me.

Cracking my neck, I pressed and held the power button for five seconds. The moment the five seconds was up, the glass surface lit up and was filled with hundreds of letter keys as well as plenty of other buttons that might confuse someone from my old World.

One 32-digit password later and I'm finally in. It's been a while since I last used this computer for anything other than linking it up with the Star Computer up in space.

The Walpurgis Banquet left a seriously bitter taste in my mouth. [Mathematic] combined with [Psychology] gave me a chance of Valentine's faction attacking me in an attempt to kill me to be near-absolute, as desperate times call for desperate measures.

What's more likely than not is them using everything to try and kill me. Even if it takes millions of lives, so long as I no longer exist and the System continues, it'll all be worth it.

In fact, future generations might venerate those who died.

Thumbing the bridge of my nose and sighing deeply, I realized I need to create a contingency plan in the event of my death— and perhaps put the completion of Encyclopedia Universalis on hold. Or rather, modify the Encyclopedia Universalis.

God damn it! I smash my fist into the glass keyboard cracking it. The touchscreen doesn't stay cracked for long as nanites started to fill those cracks up before using nanoscopic lasers to reattach the shattered pieces, making everything whole again.

In the span of fewer than 10 seconds, the touchscreen looked new, as if it was freshly out of the packaging.

This feels like that time when I wrote a will in my past life.

Using [Mekhane] and connecting to the Noosphere, I created a new Project.

Project _

'Mobius, Project Mobius.'

Project Mobius.

Before I can continue anymore, my eyelids felt as if they were made out of tungsten as my head crashed into the table, all I knew from that point on was darkness. Fortunately, I had enough self-awareness right before I collapsed to know that I'm blacking out from the sheer stress of everything from Guy's reveal to over half of the Ten— correction, Qliphoth against me.

It wouldn't be until late in the next day's afternoon that I would wake up to find that I'm lying in bed. Going over last night's footage, I saw that Arcueid princess carry me to my bedroom and gave me a good night's kiss.

Ruberios, right after Walpurgis.

Passing through her own teleportation gate, Luminous found herself in the middle of a garden courtyard; the same place where she entered that room from. The building that surrounded her were of Gothic architectural design, with detailed stone and marble arches and more. On the tall, slanted roof of the building, tall spires surrounded by gargoyles as if it was something precious.

Well, Luminous did commission an Otherworlder for the design of her palace. An odd and eccentric Otherworlder that's for sure, odder than most people she had ever met.

The centerpiece of this rectangular garden was a single fountain in the middle, where a gold statue of a man was placed. There wasn't any water in it but rather was filled with a strangely red liquid. By itself, the garden was split into four quadrants, with each quadrant covered in vibrant flowers that are doesn't exist anywhere other than from here.

These flowers were a gift from that Hero.

The butler bowed and left as Luminous gently passed her hand through these flowers, feeling their petals gracing her fingers.

To Luminous, this was a form of meditation. Seeing Relentless Reborn caused the vampire to once again recall how her kin were slaughtered effortlessly, their bodies being transmuted into statues of metals or gas.

Luminous turned and stared at that statue of gold on top of the fountain.

Muted sorrow filled her mind. Even after centuries, losing the closest you have to a family member still hurts.

Silently, she walked into the building with Roy close in tow.

Stopping right in front of a nondescript door within the structure, Luminous looked around. Upon sensing no unauthorized intelligent life using [Asmodeus] nor any other form of observation magic, pushed the door open to reveal a black void, air rushing inside as if the vampire had just opened a door to the vacuums of space.

All of this is in fact an illusion as when Luminous walked through the doorway, she is then spatially displaced into the Palace on top of the Holy Mountain, in a special room covered with elaborately designed walls with Hinata already kneeling to greet her.

"Welcome back, God Luminous." She then presented the sheathed Hero Chronoa's blade to the Demon Lord.

Luminous frowned as she stared at her Right Hand.

"Hinata..." She trailed off as if sensing something is wrong.

Taking the scabbard and pulling out the blade, Luminous examined the thing with a careful eye. Then, the vampire traced a single finger of the hand carrying the scabbard over the beautiful sword as if she was touching something fragile, something precious.

Returning the sword to the scabbard with a click, she handed it to Roy.

Luminous then placed a hand above Hinata's forehead—

"[Asmodeus All Death]"

—Instantly, Hinata tried to get away, but just before she could move any more than a few muscles, a nightmarish metamorphosis took place. Her limbs twisted and contorted, bones snapping with sickening cracks as the Saint's body fell backward due to the inertia of Hinata's attempt at escaping.

Akin to a puppet with its strings severed, Hinata now lay as a grotesque and lifeless heap on the floor.

Grisly horror enveloped her body as she started to bleed from every pore. Light yellow skin turned into a shade of bright red. It was as if Hinata's very essence was overflowing and came tumbling out of its container. Her current stage reflected the hues of a surreal sunset, a reflection of her currently rapidly disintegrating state.

The macabre display of total cellular degeneration unfolded right in front of Luminous' eyes. The edge between muscles, organs, and bones blurred, and mixed, before dissolving entirely in a process not too dissimilar to a piece of meat being put through an industrial blender hundreds of times.

Hinata's inside was now a scarlet soup that dyed the pristine carpet under her. Liquified tissue flowed out of every hole on her body, primarily from her eyes, ears, nose, mouth, anus, and vagina, pooling all around the now-dead Virasite host.

She was like a leaking water balloon, her skin left untouched. But personally, Luminous would sooner liken her to an ice sculpture melting.

[All Death] is an ability of [Asmodeus]. Luminous considers it the better version of [Absolute End, the most powerful instant death spell within the school of Necromancy. Similar to [Absolute End, [All Death] forces death upon every part of the victim's body by literally causing every one of the target's cells to simply disintegrate— to lose coherency— and turn everything into a liquid.

Though, in her own experience, it'll take a bit for the skin to dissolve into a liquid.

Usually, the moment right before the nerve cells are rendered useless by [All Death, the target experiences enough pain to break the ego itself.

But that's not where [All Death] ends. Arguably the most insidious aspect of [All Death] is that it acts like a virus that travels through all the [Soul Corridor] the target possesses and kills everyone close to them. This means that all over Ruberios, the tens of thousands of humans who were infected by the Virasite all collectively experienced a fate similar to Hinata.

The collective consciousness of the Virasite turned in on itself as each of the infected cells die off, finally letting the souls pass on to the afterlife.

Even without turning around, Luminous sensed uneasiness from Roy. Tilting her head upward and looking at Roy, Luminous spoke with an emotionless tone, "I know. It's painful. It is very painful to lose Hinata. But she was infected with something made by that damn Monster when it captured her. She's no longer Hinata."

Though Hinata's death was already forecasted by Her, that cold-hearted woman still somehow wormed herself into Luminous' inner circle as a valuable friend. The emotionless tone the vampire took was actually an attempt at sounding strong.

In reality, Luminous wanted to mourn Hinata's death right now.

"You are dismissed, Roy." Luminous declared as she clutched Chronoa's sheathed sword.

Seeing Roy's form disappear through a door, Luminous then proceeded to push a certain section of the elaborately designed wall.

The sound of stone rubbing against stone echoed throughout the room, revealing a set of stairs going down toward an abyss of darkness.

Step, step, Luminous' heels clicked against the steps of the stairs. Being a True Ancestor of this World, a step above a normal vampire, Luminous can see even when there's no light at all. Thus, while a normal human might easily tumble down in this darkness, Luminous had no issue.

Once she reaches the bottom of the stairs, the vampire is greeted with the sight of a large vault door with a strange keyhole on it.

Chronoa's blade singed as Luminous pulled it out. Aiming the blade against the keyhole, Luminous slowly inserted it in and kept on pushing until the crossguard of the sword hits the vault door.

Stepping away, veins of ethereal blue light crawl up the length of the blade, akin to vines on an old house. More and more, the veins of light eventually became so numerous that every single inch of the blade was covered by it. It was like a shell of light.

Luminous took a heavy breath in at the astounding sight. With another click, the vault door split open in two...

"—!"

The coffin that should be resting on top of the central altar was hovering. It was wrapped in chains connected to the walls of this vault and it was glowing a hauntingly greenish light as though it was radioactive.

Luminous looked stunned. Her full attention was on the figure right in front of the coffin.

"It is that time... isn't it?"

Because of her position in relation to the figure and the only light source in the room, all Luminous could see was the figure's shadow... alongside two orbs of ocean blue.

Oh, those twin cerulean abyss. Those two portals to raw blueness. Luminous almost forgot the feeling she got from staring at those two blue eyes.

Remembering who she was talking to, Luminous dropped to one knee and lowered her head.

"Indeed, it is as you have foretold. Everything went according to your script with not a single word, not a single action, not a single atom out of place, Chronoa..."

Luminous' lifted her head just enough so she could see the tiny figure.

"...or do you still prefer Chloe Aubert now that your memories have returned, your Authority?"

Chloe turned her body enough that her left side are illuminated by the light coming from the coffin while the other basks in darkness. "Do whatever you like. I've lived too long to care about something as trivial and transitory as 'names'. Though do tell me how is our preparation coming along?"

"The Holy Empire of Ruberios is ready to switch to Total War at a moment's notice. Sarion has agreed to our demands, and all the leaders of the Council of the West whom we have contacted have agreed to the alliance. Even if a friendly relationship has been established between Tempest and Ingrassia, the King is old enough that no one will raise an eyebrow should he die tomorrow. The Eastern Empire, as you have foreseen, agreed to the alliance as well. Dwargon will likely side with Scientia no matter what. King Gazel is too honorable for his own good."

Chloe then placed her left hand on the coffin. Akin to a dog recognizing its owner, the chains retreated, unbinding itself from the [Holy Ark].

[Holy Ark] is considered one of the peaks of what's possible with Holy Magic. If Luminous touches that coffin, her hand will be seared like a human touching a hot pan.

After the last chain was removed, the coffin still hovered there, floating mid-air without any visible assistance from other machines or magic.

Taking her hand off of the coffin, Chloe turned to look at Luminous who had tears coming down her cheeks.

Using her two hands, Chloe embraced Luminous. Despite the difference in height between the two, the fact that the Vampire is kneeling helped immensely in Chloe being able to give her a proper hug.

"Hinata died, didn't she?"

That was when Luminous broke down fully. Stroking her head, Luminous nudged into Chloe's hand like a dog wanting more head scratches.

"Do not worry, my dear Luminous," The True Ancestor's heart skipped a beat upon hearing that, "Everything is coming to a head. Eons of planning, countless numbers of loops— All of it! The endgame is now, and I can assure you, the Monster— the Error of the World will not live past the next six months. Not even Heaven stands in our way. In fact, they've decided to join us and our alliance..."

A frightening grin appeared on Chloe's face. It was the grin of someone who knew they had just won. It was the grin of someone who finally succeeded after failing so many times. It was the grin of someone whose determination brought about what should've been impossible to achieve. It was the grin of someone who possess a will to shatter the stars and beyond.

It was a grin that signifies the culmination of Chronoa's journey through time.

"...our alliance against God's Blindspot."

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Final Arc World War

Scientia vs The World

AN: 12k words, longest chapter on record, it's 2 usual chapters' worth in one!

Yeah, if it ain't obvious already, we're going WAY off the rails into AU territory. I'm going to take a few months' breaks after this chapter goes live in order to stave off this burnout and think of how I'm going to do the Final Arc justice. (I'll also need to read the LN to plan for the Final Arc)

The earliest time I'll be back is probably in March, the latest is probably May, don't quote me on the last part.

So to summarize what Guy said: Veldanava created a System that isolated a branch of the Greater Multiverse like a Fortress against the 'Great Beyond'. Now, after his death, the System is no longer being maintained, so throughout the eons of its operation, the System gathered a series of evergrowing errors that lead to the birth of the first Perfect Homunculus, a being so perfect that it should not exist in the System that Veldanava created. Now, that system is threatening to destroy itself with the number of errors it accrued, which will lead to the total collapse of the Voice of the World as they are essentially the same thing.

I hinted at Scientia's true nature throughout the entire story up till this point, everything from how alien Scientia looks to the fact that she punched a hole in a 'wall' in order to get Arcueid, all the way to how Ramiris thinks Scientia is the second coming of Veldanava, all of it is the result of something more.

Even with how Arcueid saw Scientia as this abyss that Gaia and Alaya would team up and kill, all of it combine to make this twist.

And now it's finally bearing fruit, you guys have no idea how much I've planned for this big reveal.

Yes, that is inspired by the Central Finite Curve of Rick and Morty.

To describe Scientia's mental state this chapter: (AN: Play The Young Dads - Existential Crisis)

View: https//watch?v=xwRDwES-jt8

Now almost everyone of importance has appeared or at least have been mentioned, it is time for the Endgame of the story.

Here are the stats after this chapter.

Scientia Tempest

EP: 2,930,112 (72,900,000 w/ Block-Form Singularity Mathematic, 7,153,000 w/ Asimov, 982,917,750 w/ Noosphere)

Species: Perfection Ascertained- Perfect Homunculus

Divine Protection: Storm's blessing

Title: the Error of the World, Futurist, Relentless (Leon Cromwell), Monster (by Luminous), Commander (by those in the military), Lady (by those under Scientia), Mistress (Diablo), Director (by normal people)

Magic: Unlimited Alchemy

Ultimate Skill: Victory King Contessa (Path to Victory, All of Existence, Timeline Simulation, Passive Assessment, Destruction Driven), Machine God Mekhane (System Sense, Machine Control, Technopathy, Omnifabrication, Chemistry Manipulation, Fundamental Force Manipulation)

Unique Skill: Inspired Inventor.

Resistance: Void Resistance.

La

52

AN: "Henri Werner - Imposter" is an excellent OP for the Final Arc, with the main color scheme being black, red, and white and the theme contrasting Chloe and Scientia.

"Aphrodite's Child - End of the World (HQ)" would be the ED

Once again, I'll state it again: I'M NOT BACK YET. For the first anniversary.

Without further ado.

Final Arc Act I: The Tail's End of Summer

Three months after Walpurgis, a meeting room within the Hexagon.

How...

...did it come to this? I wonder as I look at my message box, everything that happened in the past week felt like a slideshow as it played inside my mind. What the hell went wrong?

The noises and sounds that Rimuru and the others are saying are dulled due to how deep I am in my own mind, my left hand subconsciously massaged my forehead as if I had a killer headache.

The meeting room is jam-packed with people in the highest positions in the government. Due to the current situation, the President has declared a national state of emergency.

The constant back and forth between these people, so numerous as to blur together into white noise.

My brows furrow even more, completely hidden by the hand on my forehead. The white noise grows louder and louder as a small whimper escapes my lips, drowned out by the sea of chatter around me in the room.

Sensing my agitation, the Mathematic injected a calming serum into my bloodstream. Despite having a Philosopher Stone for a heart, 'blood' still pumps throughout my body as if I were a human.

The crimson liquid is produced from my 'heart' endlessly. The last time I experimented with how many blood cells, plasma, and other components the Stone will create, I dyed a portion of Lake Shisu pink for days afterward.

Even so, the calming serum isn't enough. It's like trying to put out a house fire with water coming out of a gardening hose.

[Silenced Emotion: 100%]

My eyes glazed over, everything else seemed too arbitrary and pointless now that I felt like a true machine.

In the face of infinity, nothing matters.

"Enough", I calmly spoke, completely silencing the room in an instant, "I will give myself up to the enemy."

A month before the meeting, Friday, the Citadel.

It has been two months since Walpurgis ended.

It has become an open secret among the Tempest Society that I am a Perfect Homunculus. The fact that most Tempest Citizens could not care less what I am astonished me. In retrospect, it made sense that they would accept me.

The World knows me as Demon Lord Scientia, the Futurist, but among the foreign nobles, I am called 'Kingmaker'.

Unlike many grand strategy games, changing borders would cause major red flags in the geopolitical scene, just ask Russia's currency; it still hasn't returned to what it used to be before they invaded Crimea. So Falmuth became a satellite state instead of annexation.

(AN: I wrote this chapter before the invasion of Ukraine)

Officially, the Kingdom of Falmuth became the Republic of Falmuth after the newly elected parliamentary council turned the status of Royalty into a mere figurehead, and with advisors from the Jura Tempest Republic, they switched their focus from trade to making clothes.

Why clothing? Throughout all of history, a tried and tested method of earning a large amount of wealth for a nation in a short amount of time is the fabric industry. Unlike most things, clothing is an essential part of everyday life for an individual, even if the economy is poor, people are still gonna buy clothes. What's more, clothing can be both a necessity and a luxury.

All these facts make the fabric industry one of the most stable ones, especially after the Industrial Revolution. Why did the British take over India? Partially for their cotton supply, why did the Confederacy of America need slaves? To pick cotton to make clothes. It's gotten to a point where during the mid-1800s, around 2% of the entire Earth's population worked in the fabric and textile industry simply due to how profitable it is.

Thus, the second act that the Parliament of Falmuth did after banning all forms of slavery (including indentured servants) was to specialize heavily in the textile industry after we had kickstarted their own industrial revolution. With advisors from Tempest, they should be able to go around most of the... dirty aspects of the process of industrialization, things like child labor, 60-hour workweeks, and things generally related to Victorian London were avoided with the passing of the Labor Bill after some pressure.

Industrialization should prevent any chance of chattel slavery from returning, as industrialization was the economic equivalent of a force multiplier; it put the power into that of the workers. It's why Communism and Socialism rose during that era and why I will not allow the former to even appear in the lexicon since Ruberios proves true communism is possible.

(AN: According to the Hinata chapters right after season 2, Ruberios was a communist utopia where the workers traded freedom but still has both the clergy and a monarchy... what the f—, Karl Marx would be rolling in his grave)

In terms of Falmuth's military, they weren't allowed to have one as we are currently occupying them to aid in Governmental Transition and avoid something like a coup from happening. Of course, they can reinstate it after the end of the Tempest Military Occupation.

Eurazania is treated as a special administrative region sort of like Hong Kong to China. This allows them a higher degree of autonomy than a province (they'll have their legal/political system, police force, immigration policy, etc) but they don't control their external affairs. Their capital is in the process of being repaired, but my efforts have been primarily focused on removing the fallout so that farming can return.

The Puppet Nation Jistav was absorbed into the Jura Tempest Republic as the new Province of Jistav after a referendum with 91% of the voters wanting to join Tempest. There were riots planned by Clayman loyalists but Special Circumstances canceled those plans via executive actions against the leaders.

I had to personally take the field just to pacify and stabilize the whole region. Like hell I'm going to allow unrest to fester.

The 100 million individuals joining us as new citizens had strained our administrative capacity to the absolute limit. It was so bad at one point that I had to take a momentary break from writing the Constitution of the Falmuthian Republic just to help with the integration and freeing of millions of slaves.

Racial tension is still high between those who benefitted from Clayman's reign and those who were repressed. Even now, after I personally introduced similar policing measures you'd find in Metropolis, hate crimes still persistently happen. Much to my and Rimuru's dismay, it'll probably take an entire generation of people for the pain from centuries of Clayman's rule to lessen, that's why the first thing I did was to introduce a new mandatory child curriculum separate from the rest of Tempest.

God that was such a messy week, which is further compounded when after finishing the Republic of Falmuth's Constitution, I had to deal with the Eurazanian Refugee Crisis as the Acting Minister of the newly minted Ministry of Disaster Response.

At least it wasn't all bad, as a good thing that happened ever since Walpurgis was I finally cracked the code for eternal free energy, [Inspired Inventor] dubbed it: 'The Universe Reactor'.

In order to understand how the Universe Reactor works, one must understand how close String Theory and Brane Cosmology were to the truth; that being how the other 7 spatial dimensions beyond the basic 3 spatial and 1 temporal are compactified down to the Planck scale into the forms of Calabi-Yau manifolds and how the Bulk is in fact the Metaphysical Plane— the 12th and final dimension that encompasses all other Worlds— is the wall that separates us from the Great Beyond, a Type IV Multiverse.

Now, these Calabi-Yau manifolds are what's responsible for the Physical Constants (similar to the string theory landscape), with the Metaphysical Constants upheld by the Metaphysical Plane (It's how my old world has a Hubble's Constant that's a billionth of a percent faster than that of this world).

Utilizing the ultra-advanced forms of field manipulation technology that use Imaginary Math dealing with higher spatial dimensions, I can control the shape of these compactified manifolds, ending in me being able to effectively control the physical laws in a region of space, or if I scale it up enough; a whole universe. It's in a way similar to the Holographic Principle, where instead of information being encoded at the edge of the Spacelike Infinity, every piece of information is engraved upon those Calabi-Yau manifolds and quantum strings.

But here comes the problem: even if I offload most of the calculations to the Star Computer and Jupiter Brains (planets that are converted into computers), I can't change the Calabi-Yau manifolds within this universe fast enough and to such a degree that it can give me free energy unless I want to spend the next 3-years of my life tinkering on it. Thus, I lifted the ban on Multiversal Exploration and had the Star Computer use all of its processing power to search the System for a universe that fits the bill.

It wasn't until last week that Star Computer found a World that fits my requirements. Opening a wormhole to that (VERY) bright and (EXTREMELY) hot universe, I pinched off a portion of it with a singularity, creating a miniature universe for me to tinker with.

After that, the Universe Reactor was born; a closed pocket universe the size of Saturn where the laws of entropy are non-existent and any energy you put in is exponentially increased endlessly. In order to avoid a kugelblitz from forming due to the energy becoming too dense, I had to causally connect it with a wormhole to another pocket universe of near-absolute entropy to serve as a heat sink.

The Universe Reactor's output alone is approaching a theoretical Type V civilization on the Kardashev scale, but the thing that scares even me about this Reactor is that its output can go higher, as in theoretically indefinitely so long as I allow cosmic inflation of the pocket universe to occur. This is superior to the negative mass reactors I've been using up until now since it does not decay.

The Universe Reactor: a source of true, eternal, endless energy. True violation of the Laws of Thermodynamics.

Returning to the present, I drizzled on some gravy before gripping the bowl of poutine by its side and carrying it over to the dinner table, Milim anxiously waiting in her chair.

As a side effect of my creating the Universe Reactor, I had half expected it to give me a new skill like the Matrioshka Brain, only for the Voice of the World to surprise me and give me the title of 'Material Lord'

"Oh, that smells so good!" she exclaimed, "what is it? What is it? What is it?"

What is the end result of being called the 'Material Lord' is beyond even [Contessa].

Placing the bowl in front of her, I stabbed a spoon into the mixture of cheese, french fries, and gravy, "this is called Poutine, it is a food from my old world that I think you'll enjoy a lot."

I then mixed the entire thing until it is somewhat homogenous.

"Done, enjoy!"

Milim digs in with the eagerness of Mother Bear in protecting her cubs, devouring the dish while moaning in ecstasy.

I let out a sheepish smile at the sight, [Cooking] was able to turn even the most mundane of dishes into something worthy of a Michelin Three-Star restaurant. My apron shifted into a display screen as I checked my messages. Part of my mind was a bit apprehensive about what was coming next as about two days ago, Arcueid tried to take our relationship to the next level...

But things didn't exactly pan out. She led and I followed, but I panicked.

The next morning after that I felt extremely bad, however, Arcueid felt even worse than I did, claiming that it was her fault for trying to take our relationship to the next level when I was clearly not ready.

In the end, she decided to take me out for a treat...

...on her budget to show how serious she was since apparently, she earned a large amount of ad revenue from her blog about books that she posts every now and then.

I've always known she had a blog but out of privacy I never asked how much she was earning.

I'm awestruck by her development into an independent, and mature person. The Arcueid I met at that rail guard would've never thought of doing such a thing, I don't think she even knew the concept of consent back then.

However, why did Veldanava make spirits able to experience reproductive joy? Like for humans and majins, it's to serve as incentives and procreate, so why spirits?

Rather, I want to know 'Why me?'

Why can I, a Perfect Homunculus, have areas that can feel such stimuli?

"Hey, Scientia do you have any more?" Milim's words snapped me out of my thoughts.

Blinking, I glanced and saw no new messages on the display, "um, do you want more?"

"Yeah! The poutine is unlike anything I've ever eaten before! All my 'followers' offer me are yucky raw food with no seasoning, 'oh the Great Milim only deserve the freshest food in all the world, and what food is fresher than raw?'."

She ended that with a fake low-pitched voice imitating someone else.

That reminds me, "On the topic of your followers, you don't mind the fact that some of them... died during the Ameld Massacre, right?"

Her head tilted to show she was in deep thought, before waving me off, "oh don't worry about it, the Dragonewts can always just repopulate themselves. Now, more Poutine?" She held up an empty bowl with a pleading look on her face, oil glistening off of the inside of the ceramic bowl.

Sighing at her casual dismissal of such an issue, I grabbed the bowl off of Milim's hands and placed it in the Water Washer. Unlike metal plates, I can't use the faster Sonic Washer as that'll more likely shatter the ceramics.

On a whim, I decided to use [Contessa] and created a '[Path to defeating Milim]'.

[3 Steps]

[Step 1: say, 'You killed them']

I stopped. The uncanny resemblance to Guy is almost disturbing. In hindsight, it should've been obvious that Milim and Guy are connected somehow, like how the old people of one neighborhood know the other well, and so too would the oldest beings in the world. It's really human for them to be affected by loneliness.

Taking a huge bowl out of the cupboard, a holographic panel suddenly popped up next to me, displaying that I got a new message.

It's an internal memo alerting everyone that next Friday is the opening of the Space Elevator in Trantor.

The current geopolitical situation reflects a multipolar order world that can be divided into 4 spheres of influence: The Western Bloc, The Eastern Bloc, The Central Bloc, and The Southern Non-aligned Bloc, the Non-aligned being composed entirely of Sarion and their ally, the disgusting Ulgrasia Republic.

(I swear, if Ulgrasia didn't have such close ties with Sarion I would've flexed my political muscle to 'liberate' and institute a better system.)

The investigation into Eastern Empire has been less than helpful as they've got some seriously good cloaking magic around the really important area. An iron curtain surrounds the entire Eastern Empire, an information black hole that some historians in the West have come to call 'Fortress Orientem'.

The Council of the West was not happy with the establishment of a new geopolitical Superpower right on their doorstep. They especially hated the fact that Falmuth, one of the biggest contributors to the Council, was breaking away from the West and leaning towards Tempest instead.

They tolerated Blumund since the Kingdom was still willing to trade secrets, but even that stopped when President Rimuru launched the Central Continental Treaty Organization (CCTO) a month after Walpurgis. The CCTO is an economic and military alliance between Dwargon, Tempest, Eurazania, and Blumund, with Falmuth gaining an associate status but is expected to join after the governmental transition is completed.

The alliance is similar to NATO of my old world, where an attack on one is an attack on all (Blumund was especially happy with this).

The economic portion of CCTO called for the cutting of all taxes involved in intra-organizational trade, allowing Tempest corporations to expand unimpeded inside each of their nations. Honestly, we got the better deal as you don't make billions by mining, you do it by making the iPhones. Just like third-world countries in my old world, even if the pay by these corporations is abysmal by Tempest standards, they're much higher compared to any jobs belonging to the locals.

The Council was even less happy when there's the largest brain drain in history happening right now, as every month tens of thousands of well-educated people and intellectuals immigrated to the Republic in search of a better life.

They were so unhappy that, other than Ingrassia, most other countries followed Ruberios' example and did not establish any forms of diplomatic ties.

Ingrassia was a rarity among the backward-thinking elites of the West. King Aegil led a lifelong economic and political liberalization campaign, allowing the common man to raise their status to the level of nobility if they worked hard enough.

I'd like to think the only reason Ingrassia established diplomatic relations with us was that we're like the idealized society imagined by King Aegil, but then again, there is no benevolent tyrant.

Still, having one nation in the West recognize you is pitiful. Given how Eurazania's farms still aren't fully operational, I figured Tempest could bribe other Western nations with food. But Ruberios canceled that avenue by giving out food stored within their vaults.

Rimuru was frustrated with the diplomatic limbo, so he planned to host an event that would force nations to recognize Tempest, or else there would be great backlashes.

The event had to be grand, and Rimuru had asked me how quickly I could construct a Space Elevator.

The answer was very quickly, as evident when the Space Elevator was completed in little under a month, a feat of unparalleled engineering and logistics.

With Rimuru framing this event as an achievement made by all of Intelligent Life, it essentially forces every nation to either accept the invitation— whereby recognizing our existence— or deny it and miss out on perhaps the greatest achievement in recorded history; resulting in huge loss of prestige among the international community.

A smile formed on my face.

Rimuru has grown so much after Walpurgis, I thought proudly, the old him probably would've asked me for a solution.

Grabbing a bag of cheese curds from the massive double-door fridge before pouring them over the remaining french fries from the last batch. Sending a command through the Noosphere, I waited for a minute before opening a portal to my pocket dimension above the bowl of french fries.

Quickly, hot gravy came pouring out of that portal and onto the cheese. I watched as it slowly melted and seeped through the cracks and into the bundle of fries. The gravy stopped after dumping 250 mL, exactly the amount I ordered to be produced.

With two spoons, I mixed it well, bending the bits of half-melted cheese with the fries before giving it to Milim.

Taking a peek at the clock at the edge of my peripherals, currently displaying 18:52, my eyes widen at how close it is to 19:00, or around the time when I and Arcueid had agreed upon.

Opening a door using Doormaker, I quickly bid my farewell to a Milim head-deep in the bowl, a comical sight that gave me a few chuckles.

Appearing in an alleyway, the smell of garbage was the first thing that hit my nose.

Looking at the source, I'm greeted with a large, green metal container with a Metropolis Garbage Disposal logo off to the side. Overall, it looked like one you'd find in the downtown area of a city.

With a single adjustment of the Mathematic, the warp space that surrounds my body altered itself to block out molecules responsible for the smell.

Remaking the Block Form into a winter coat, I walked out of the alley. My eyes were greeted with the bustling street of Metropolis, people of all races walking down the sidewalks while electric cars drove down the main road. Off in the city skylines were towering Arcologies that stretched far above the clouds, looking a lot like pillars that hold up the heavens.

Using my internal GPS, I navigated through the sea of people rushing to get home.

Eventually, after walking a city block and just admiring the view, I stopped when I passed by the glass front of an antique store.

Antique stores are rather uncommon in a place such as this. Especially with how advanced technologically everything is, only the really rich families buy antiquated items that have no uses other than to just look cool.

What caught my eye was a single opened wooden music box that looked like it had been decades ever since its creation if the rust on the metal part is any indication. Small enough to fit in my hands, it's really nothing special, but [Carpenter] was absolutely infatuated with the designs on the sides while [Machinery] is intrigued by the mechanical portion responsible for the actual music.

Crouching down by the glass wall, I got a better look at the music box,

The glass wall is really preventing me from hearing what it's actually playing, however, zooming in on the minuscule grooves on the drum responsible for the song, [Vocal Recognition] helped me reconstruct the entire thing.

Softly humming it out, I discovered it was a piece of soft, gentle music, like something you'd find a mother humming to their children as they fall asleep.

It's peaceful, undeniably so.

Would probably be a good gift for Arcueid considering her nature... I considered. The price is easily affordable by my metric. Still, then again, anything in Tempest is affordable considering I lay claim to the entirety of the Observable Universe and bits of the Unobservable Universe, meaning pocket change for me would be the equivalent of star systems while '100-dollar bills' would be a galaxy.

The door to the antique store opened with a 'chink' as I walked through, finding a kind-looking old human male at the counter. In less than 5 minutes, I am now the owner of an antique music box, right now inside another wooden box layered with styrofoam.

I looked at the picture I had taken of it before being boxed up, the design is definitely beautiful, a clear, hand-carved wooden box from Dwargon that probably cost thousands in my old life.

Wait— the time! I froze still when I walked out the door of that antique shop, right before the incoming traffic of people. Gritting my teeth, I saw that currently, the Mathematic displayed 19:06 and promptly relaxed a little, at least it was not too late.

Normally, I would not use Doormaker in a place as open as this, but...

Walking through the black rectangle with purple outlines, I took a good look at the place Arc was talking about.

It's a fancy Ingrassian-style restaurant that should be way out of any common person's price range, with the red carpet and all.

I...it has been some time since I've last eaten a proper meal beyond the spiced nutrition packets that [Cooking] made, or at all considering my biology.

"Tia!" A silver bell-like voice called my name, her tone full of innocence that one cannot help but love and protect.

Turning to face the source of the voice, I saw Arcueid standing by some chairs she was probably sitting in and waving at me. Currently, she's wearing a set of white light jackets with thigh-high black boots, and around her neck is a large fluffy white scarf connected via a black bow. With how light Arcueid is wearing, completely in contrast to everyone else's around us, it would be easy to assume that it's only mid-autumn instead of late winter.

Are those cat ears on her head—?

Blinking, I couldn't find the phantom cat ears.

She walked over and was about to give me a small kiss, only to stop when I reached into the plastic bag hooked around my arms and offered her the wrapped music box.

Taking it out of my hands, Arcueid had an adorable pout on her face.

"Tiaaaaaaaa~, you didn't have to give me a gift you know!" She clutched the gift deep into her chest as though it was the most precious thing in the world.

"Well," thinking quickly, "considering your birthday was on December 25 and that, by my calculation, Christmas passed around a while ago in my world, I figured giving you a birthday gift should be nice."

The pout on her face turned into a sincere smile as her cheeks were dusted with a small blush. Giving me a long kiss that tasted a hint of sweetness, she looked like she wanted to say something before grabbing my hand and dragging me inside the restaurant as though I were a pet.

I was getting odd looks with almost everyone whipping out their phones and recording me as if I were some kind of exotic animal. Just like the last time, I used [Mekhane] and temporarily disabled all their phones within a radius of myself, preventing any paparazzi from getting any unwanted photos.

Making our way to a private room, we were handed the menu by a human female waitress once Arc and I sat down.

My Mathematic automatically shifted into indoor clothing once I started to read the menu, sneaking a peek at Arcueid, I discovered that her jacket was nowhere to be found, instead, she was wearing the same white long-sleeved shirt, short blue skirt, and black leggings she always wore.

[Psychology] interrupted my view by saying that the waitress was especially nervous as she discreetly chewed on the tip of her pen.

"I'll have the dragon curry," I ordered, ending the silence.

"And I'll take the tiger steak,"

Arcueid seemed to have an intense dislike for curry if her grimace is any indication when I offered her some of the dragon curries.

She acts like a child being given broccoli.

It was only a few days after she had come to this world when I asked how many people she drank blood from considering she's a vampire. Using [Mathematic] and [Biology] and assuming that physics is the same, every liter of human blood should contain around 900 calories before abandoning this line of thought when I recalled these vampires could leap taller than some skyscrapers, obviously, we're dealing with magic here.

So I answered with a random number of 100,000.

The look of indignation in her eyes is priceless.

During the dinner, there was an intense blanket of silence as both of us did our best to avoid eye contact.

"So..." Arcueid started the conversation while fidgeting around with her food, the entire room was immediately bathed in awkwardness. With a firm tone that leaves nothing to the imagination, "I understand you aren't ready to take our relationship to the next level, and I want you to know I'm perfectly fine with that. I love you for who you are, not because of your body."

My mouth opened before closing, this went on for several more seconds before I let out a small, almost inaudible sigh, "Thank you."

She then reached over the table and grabbed my left hand, "I'm really sorry for trying such a thing while you aren't ready."

Taking a deep breath, I looked to the side to avoid eye contact, the next part felt especially difficult for some reason, "no, I also need to apologize... I thought I was ready, but— I'm sorry for leading you on."

[Psychology] note how similar I and Arcueid are feeling right now. She is feeling guilty for pushing our relationship into areas I'm uncomfortable with while I'm feeling bad for being too passive.

I'm reminded of the fact that on the rare occasions, I do come home back in my old world, my parents would often say stuff like 'Relationships are complicated; take it slow', and 'When can I expect a child'.

[Suggestion]

Ugh, this feels like the plot of a romance novel. I massaged my forehead, only to stop when [Contessa] suggested something to me.

To be honest, I have this...admittedly illogical prejudice against the Ultimate Skill

And it's not helped by the fact that the Ultimate Skill has a harder time precog-ing other Ultimate Skill users. Quite frankly, I don't trust any Paths that are too long. It's the same reason why you never plan too specifically for the far future; there is just too high of a chance that something goes awry, I should know, that the first time I tried asking a girl out in high school, I planned everything down to the last second, but she wasn't there that day since she was sick.

'Never play more dice than necessary against God' is a good rule of thumb in more than just one when playing the stock market.

"How about this, we'll create a Relationship Agreement."

Arcueid tilted her head to show confusion, "what's a Relationship Agreement?"

"I actually got this idea from this one TV show I watched in my old life. In this show, one of the characters absolutely loves contracts and agreements, and when he dated someone, he had a relationship agreement where he had set out specific rules and boundaries for both him and his partner to follow. We could do that." I spoke with a hint of fondness.

God, I miss that show, and I didn't even see the ending yet!

Arcueid's mouth thinned, "I mean... we could but..." she was a bit hesitant as she played around with her hair. "That kinda takes the spice out of things, doesn't it?"

I thought about her words and clicked my tongue, it does make sense since if everything is the same then there's not ever really an exploration of interest; it'll become boring essentially as every day would be the same.

Perfect for Sheldon, not for real life.

"I guess so... we'll just put a pin in it."

The dinner finished with the True Ancestor taking a selfie with me, noting how this is one of the rare times we had gone out. I chatted with Arcueid about her blog, and how it exploded after people knew it was her who was reviewing these books. After paying for our meals, Arcueid gave me a hug like a possessive cat before dragging me across the city into a theater to watch a silent film.

Due to how new everything is, there aren't really any good or well-known movie actors.

I miss action movies like Rambo and the Fast and Furious series, where I can just turn off my brain and enjoy mindless actions.

Still, watching a goblin version of Charlie Chaplin is funny as all hell.

AN: The clothing portion was inspired by BritMonkey's Bangladesh video.

This is the SFW version for SB.

In my defense, this is a realistic AU and actual romantic relationships are complicated. I don't think most people realize that marrying someone is something sacred, something you actually think about instead of the split-second decision made by anime characters (looking at you SAO, and other isekais like Arifureta).

So I don't see how having sex for the first time for reasons beyond that of lust is any different, it is a huge jump for most people, and thus emotionally speaking, it has a weight.

Oh and I'm going to nip this in the bud: the reason why a Soul Corridor didn't form between the Kijins and Scientia was due to the stipulation of the contract Scientia signed with them, that being their relationship is not one of servant and master but instead a contractor and contractee.

Also, if you guys want to friend me on my F/GO account here's the ID: 879,637,518

53

The number of times I use my 'official' office in a typical month can be counted on one hand, thusly, is it really a surprise if the room is extremely barebone with only the essentials like a desk, a computer, and a chair present? However, recent events have pushed that number into the double digits as I'm currently sitting in my office chair and staring intensely at the piece of paper on my desk.

It read 'investigation into the new political party' and was authored by Diablo himself.

It was a rather thin report, all things considered, a sign that there probably isn't much going on with this new party that Adalman set up, fortunately.

After the annexation of Jistav, Rimuru had introduced me to the key figure in disabling much of Clayman's defenses and getting Amrita to capitulate.

Adalman, a bonafide lich— oh sorry, the correct term is 'Wight', he was once a Cardinal of the Luminous Faith but was betrayed by the Clerics of the Seven Luminaries, so he sought a new faith, AKA: me.

I don't know what to think of the fellow. As an atheist, I've never been much of a religious man. In fact, I actively scoffed at the prospect of 'God', and at most only thought of them as perhaps higher-dimensional organisms influencing the lower realities for some unknown purpose.

But now after Walpurgis...

Blinking my eyes several times to get rid of those thoughts before I could have another existential crisis, I opened the report that Diablo gave me, after all, said Demon Peer is currently standing in front of my desk and eagerly awaiting my reply.

Using reading techniques and shortcuts I adopted from [Literature, I was able to consume and digest a 4000-word report in less than a minute.

What I received from it was... a tad bit disturbing, at least to me. Adalman was abundantly clear in viewing me as a 'Deity', so he created a new faith under my name as well as a new political party called the 'Technologist Party'.

The Technologist Party follows a new ideology called 'Optimizationism'. According to the Optimization Manuscript authored by Adalman himself, they see the worth of an individual is determined by how much output/work they can produce. In other words, it's a technocratic libertarian ideology that emphasizes free-market capitalism and individualism.

...Adalman may have been influenced by my personal memoirs...

The Technologist Party's ultimate goal calls for giving me a blank check on whatever I want to do since I'm the one who's the most productive.

Dictatorship, but with extra steps.

Granted, establishing a new political party is nothing new— there were many parties currently established, examples include; the Orc Party, the Labor Party, the Ultra-conservative Party, the National Capitalist Party, and many others. However, these parties are unbelievably tiny, with the largest only having around 50 members and gaining the favor of 0.8% in the opinion poll.

The Technologist Party is the black sheep among them by gaining the favor of 20% of the population after the latest opinion poll, skyrocketing it into a position right under the Modern Progressive and the Conservative. The Technologist Party can easily earn some seats in the Senate by the time of the next District and Provincial Election.

The Faith that Adalman had created was a monotheistic one, with me as the sole deity and Rimuru as my right hand. Unlike other cults that exist in the country worshipping either me, Rimuru, or Veldora, right after a week of establishment, the Church of Knowledge gained a whopping 117,000 new believers.

Diablo believes due to how rare I appear in the public eye as well as how fast I've advanced the living standard of Tempest, I've inadvertently created a Cult of Personality that attracted the adoration of some and the fear of others.

In other words: I've upended and changed their poor lives so much and so quickly with my technology that I look like an actual God to these people.

I swear if these people start calling themselves Mechanicus and me the Omnissiah I will—

Clearing my throat, I look up at Diablo, "good work as always, Diablo."

"It is nothing praiseworthy, my Lady, as your humblest servant this is the very least I can do after you've placed me in charge of Special Circumstances." Diablo bowed deeply.

The Special Circumstances Unit—or simply the 'SC'— is the code name for the secret intelligence and operations branch of the Jura Tempest Republic. Operating clandestinely and with total support, its primary purpose is to serve as the eyes, ears, and scalpel of the government. If I were to describe it, I would say that it's like combining the CIA and NSA into one singular branch with Diablo as the Director, essentially the Covert Action Option of Tempest.

Officially, the SC does not exist. Congress does not recognize the existence of Special Circumstances and neither does the President, so they can get away with doing the dirty work that must be done by claiming ignorance. Some of these include interacting with the criminal underworld and offering them silver or lead in staying out of Tempest.

The SC is sort of like Area 51 in a way.

The branch was created right after Walpurgis. Due to it being relatively recent, it doesn't have any spy network currently established, what with us mostly piggy-backing off of Blumund's. Although Diablo is trying to make one in Ingrassia the last time I checked.

Closing the report, I placed the file into my Pocket Dimension and got up. Seeing the Black Primordial look apprehensive triggered my danger sense.

Sitting back in the chair, I started the conversation with a raised eyebrow, "Is something the matter?"

"No, my lady, it's just an annoyance is all."

"...As your boss, I am obligated to know what troubles you."

My fingers intertwined with each other in a business-like fashion.

"It's just some online idiot was threatening to blow up the Space-Elevator that's opening next week if their partner doesn't return to them. After much investigation, we came to the conclusion that it's just an online troll spatting out empty threats."

Ah, trolls, an everpresent concept even in this world. In the Wild West of free internet, trolls are everywhere. "I see. Tell me, as a handler, how are your new subordinates fitting in?"

"Wonderful as always, though I must admit lady Scientia, I still do not see why you had given them that offer: they were associated with the enemy after all."

"I saw an opportunity to reduce the possibility of future threats and I took it. Besides, they wouldn't ever betray me, not after they've seen what I'm capable of and what I'm offering." I waved Diablo's concerns off, it's the classic carrot and stick. If they do betray me, the Black Primordial can easily off them. "How is Rimuru's training coming along?"

"Wonderfully. If I were to place him in a rank, I would think he's a low Disaster-level, nowhere near a Primordial but stronger than most people in the world."

Ever since his resurrection, Rimuru was borderline obsessed with growing stronger. To such a degree the slime had thoughts of resigning as President to get more time to become more powerful. Obviously, I dissuaded him of such drastic actions by supplying him with a room of sped-up time to train in, where every second on the outside is around 2 seconds inside.

"Good, should I check up on his progress with a spar?"

Diablo thought about my question for longer than I expected, causing me to consider perhaps it was not a good idea before he spoke up once again, this time in caution.

"My lady, if you wish to spar with President Rimuru, please go easy on him."

"Grk—!" I clutched my heart as if I had just been shot, before Diablo could ask what was wrong I held up a hand and halted him in his tracks. Is he truly still so weak?! "I see. By the way, you've told me that there are a total of 7 Primordials, yes?"

"Yes, Me, Jaune, Rouge, Vert, Bleu, Violet, and Blanc."

"I see." Hearing Jaune's name made me recall a particular hostile interaction between her and Milim, "That means there are 2 more free?"

"Yes, Violet and Blanc should be the only ones still uncontracted." The black Primordial confirmed as I ignored the parts of my mind screaming at why is French being used to describe their names.

Is French colonialism hitting a multiversal level? I joked internally, even more than the British Empire?!

"Tell me about them," the part about 'and if it's possible to get them on our side' went unsaid but implied.

"The Purple Primordial is a manipulative demon bitch who uses her child-like appearance to hide her cruel and sadistic personality. I've fought her plenty of times in the Underworld, and every time she always loses. What's worse is that she's such an annoyance when she loses that I'm tempted to give her a free win just so she'll stop whining about it... almost. Although, I haven't seen her after Relentless' Rampage..." Oh boy, she sounds like a fun demon to talk to, better keep an eye on her at all times.

"The White Primordial is a most interesting individual. She displays characteristics of a noblewoman, and as someone who's had a contract spanning millennias with the rulers of Silberia, she was responsible for the infamous Lake Shore Dyed Scarlet Incident."

My face grew serious as I leaned forward on my chair, intent on listening to Diablo's words.

The Lake Shore Dyed Scarlet Incident is one of the most enduring mysteries in this new world, like, on the levels of the missing Roanoke colony. The Lake Shore Dyed Scarlet was an event that happened decades ago in a small northern semi-sovereign province of the Eastern Empire called Silberia (why there is such a similarity with Siberia is beyond me). The exact details weren't known, only that the aftermath was bad enough that the usual hermit empire had allowed the information to pass through their borders.

Normally, had this been my old world, I would've ignored these mysteries but since this world has things like magic...

'An entire province was wiped from existence brutally' was what my private investigation and archeological findings have been able to conclude, the only piece missing was who could've done a thing.

My first thought was to blame Velgrynd, only, it couldn't have been her— the True Dragon is well-known even beyond the Iron Curtain of the Empire, and reports of her movement would be front-page news in every Western nation. Moreover, Velgrynd is the type to raze Silberia to the ground from above by burning everything instead of getting close and personal and running the streets red with rivers of blood, like something straight out of the Hellsing manga that Veldora liked so much.

I then thought that perhaps it was the Eastern Empire military, but from what I can make out of Emperor Rudra's modus operandi based on his past actions, he doesn't seem to be the type of person to order the complete ethnic cleansing of a hundred thousand— the death of a large percentage of the population, yes, but that was for the sole purpose of instilling fear. Completely genociding a province is very out of character for the supreme leader of the shadow empire.

It was an extremely bloody affair, the Lake Shore Dyed Scarlet Incident.

And if one military officer's account is anything to go by, there was a pair of giant up-standing stone slabs jammed together near the town center. While it may seem to be an oddity at first, the account later went on to say the middle of the stone blocks was filled with blood and other human viscera, sort of like an Oreo if the cookie portion were made out of rocks and the cream were hundreds of squished humans.

The Rudra dynasty is like this world's version of Stalinist Russia, what with them being known for using gulag-style work camps to execute unruly elements within a population via slave labor, not gigantic blocks of stone.

That was just one of many accounts made by the hundreds of Eastern Empire Military Officers after they investigated why had Silberia gone dark.

There were rumors of diaries written by some residents of Silberia right before their death describing a scene straight out of hell. I found no credence to these rumors, so they can mostly be discounted as hearsay.

"Any reason as to why she caused a genocide of a hundred thousand?" 'gruesomely' went unsaid. All emotions were gone from my tone, and Diablo instantly knew that this was no place for playfulness.

"To know why Blanc caused the Lake Shore Dyed Scarlet Incident, one must know of the pact she had with the ancient rulers of Silberia. Now, personally, I've never paid much attention to other Primordials until they challenged me, so my information is third-handed at best." He waited until I motioned him to continue, "The pact between the White Primordial and the nation was like this: the Demon would protect the nation of Silberia until the birth of an ideal vessel for Blanc to inhabit. Logically, one could extrapolate that something must've happened to that perfect vessel, whether the Royal Family had killed the vessel so that Silberia could enjoy White's protection for longer or something else— the demon was critical in the defense of Silberia against Relentless— Blanc had salted the field and turned the province into a soulless wasteland."

I thought deeply about what Diablo had told me and his theories, the idea of working with someone who willfully commits such atrocities left a bad taste in my mouth.

This is the equivalent of working with Josef Mengele or Pol Pot... but I guess the same could be said about Jeanne considering her past actions of launching Nuclear Magic at El Dorado.

Not to mention Diablo's history...

Sighing, I used my left arm as a crutch when I started to massage my forehead. The sheer difference between this world from my own modern perspective still rattles me sometimes. Weak individuals are seen as something akin to worthless ants in the eyes of people as strong as Diablo, like, they won't go out of their way to kill ants, but they wouldn't hesitate should the ants get in their way.

I silenced [Negotiation]'s attempt to draw a comparison with how I'm merely observing the aliens instead of uplifting them technologically.

God this logic is so... alien. The ideas of democracy, egalitarianism, and power to the people were never a threat like in my world since any attempts at rebellion were useless when the tyrannical leader (who is usually the strongest of each race) alone is usually enough to stop the rebels. Even if the revolution is successful, the new leader quickly devolves into a mirror of the old one, sometimes even becoming worse.

This world doesn't operate on the typical rules that all rulers in my old world must obey. In my old world, it's 'no man rules alone'— the ruler cannot do everything himself— so instead, he relegates these tasks to the form of 'keys', basically a person he puts in control. Now, in order to stay in power, the ruler must appease the keys that support him by giving them money, otherwise, the keys will just replace the current ruler with someone who will appease the keys. This applies to democracy as well, only, the key supporters are blocs of people with mutual interest, for example, grouping farmers together as a singular key bloc and appeasing them through subsidies.

The throne may look omnipotent from afar, but there exists a house of cards that supports it.

In this world where a single individual can decimate entire nations, the rules don't work like that. Instead, it's not the ruler that relies on the supporters, it is the supporters who rely on the ruler for protection as the ruler is oftentimes the only thing defending the nation against other beings.

In other words, the throne IS omnipotent, and the house of cards is built on top of it instead of holding it up.

This, predictably, leads to some seriously authoritarian and oppressive regimes that'll make North Korea look like strict parents in comparison. In fact, all monster nations operate with this world's version of Fascism (called 'Racialism').

Like, Eurazania was NOT a happy place, the only leisure that the citizens of that nation knew before falling under my influence was to A) get stronger, and B) eat good food.

Exporting modernity to the rest of the world even if we survive the End of the System seemed more like a pipe dream, more so a potential civil war within Qliphoth if the death glares I got from Luminous and Leon were any indications.

However, it's more likely that the Eastern Empire's the one that'll trigger this hypothetical world war, what with their discreet troop build-up along the border.

Personally, I don't think Rudra is stupid or proud enough to try and attack us from the east, since that'll be like a nation trying to conquer the USSR by attacking from Siberia... That's an even worse idea compared to attacking Russia during winter.

I don't want to force modernity onto the rest of the World. I am a pragmatic individual who doesn't want more blood than required. Conflict may be needed for advancements, but there's a point where it gets so bloody and the corpses piled up so high that advancements just aren't worth it anymore.

Before I died, my old world was still experiencing the aftershock of the Industrial Revolution. Just imagine how many societal issues there would be if I dragged these primitives kicking and screaming into the modern age.

The scary thing is, I could. I could drag these primitives into the modern age without any societal issues. I could enact something akin to the dystopia in Brave New World, where instead of drugs, I could alter the genetics of each and every person to make them more submissive.

I could create the ultimate dictatorship. I could create a post-discontent society. I have so much power... it is so tempting.

I let out a wistful sigh. Returning back to reality and escaping what could've been.

Primordials... the gears in my head started moving.

"Diablo, I'm going to give you a task," I looked him in the eye as he instantly stood at attention, "You are going to try and deny anyone else from getting these assets, whether get them to become my subordinate or to make sure other people can't get their hands on them, I care not how you do it, just that you do."

Diablo looked ecstatic at the prospect of being given a job, bowing deeply, "I will see to it that your Will be done." He prepared to teleport out.

"Wait, before you go back to the Underworld, I think a gift is in order."

His black eyes widened as he took a few small steps back, "wait, my Lady, I can assure you I am strong enough—"

He was cut off when I reached into my own Pocket Dimension, it took a little while for me to find it but the Demon Peer gasped once he saw what was in my hands.

"No, I gave Jeanne something, now it's your turn. In my current understanding of the universe, the Underworld resides in the Metaphysical Plane between worlds that no baryonic matter can touch. So this left me with a bit of a conundrum since most of everything I built at least originated from baryonic matter. Thus, in order to create a proper weapon for you, I realized that I'll need something...spiritual."

In my hand was a Spiritron Annihilation Pistol made from the corpses of Lesser Spirits I bought in bulk from Ramiris, as such, it can't be said that it exists physically. The SAP looked like a grey retro ray gun from the 1960s, with the fin on top and all. While it may look silly, its power is anything but— the Annihilator can purge spiritual lifeforms by enacting something similar to [Disintegration] with each pull of the trigger.

This is one of the rare weapons that I do not fully understand how it works, and I can't help but feel excited since the only time I've created something without knowing how it works was back when I first started to use [Inspired Inventor] over half a year ago.

Diablo looked at the Disintegrator with a reverence found only in believers looking at an artifact of their God. I silently cringed a little when tears pooled in his eyes.

I guess it's also one of the reasons why I trust him so much... That and how his goal of learning the truth of the world aligns with my drive to create a functioning Multiversal Theory of Everything.

Taking the ray gun out of my hands, "Your Will be done!" He bowed deeply before teleporting out, leaving me alone in my office.

Silence descended like a curtain into the room. Seeing that my privacy had been guaranteed, I leaned backward on my chair while stretching my limbs and yawning.

One of the things I despised about being an executive is how you had to sit in your chair all day.

Pulling up several panels of holographic displays, I took a break by surfing the Internet. Due to how new the Web is in this world, there are several search engines competing against one another for dominance.

The default search engine was something I had created, it was called 'Internet Explorer'. As an extremely basic search engine, I designed it to be boring so that other people could innovate based on my creation.

Typing out 'News' on the search bar and pressing enter, a part of my mind noted how I could've used the Noosphere instead.

Ignoring that part, I got around 37,000 results for 'News' with the majority of articles belonging to the largest news sources in the country filling up the top links.

I skimmed over the articles using the same technique I used for Diablo's report.

I stopped when I reached the business section since most of the articles were about the rise of a new company called 'Rosso Incorporated' and its record growth despite being so new.

Going to the Official Website of Rosso Inc., I discovered that they are a family business started by the Hero of Light himself, Granbell Rosso of Siltrosso.

My lips thinned at the name 'Rosso'. If I remember correctly, Granbell was someone who detested monsters and the consumeristic culture of Tempest, except, he's now the owner of one of the fastest-growing companies in the Republic. And this is supposed to be the World's definition of a True Hero...

Reading about Rosso Inc's past, I noticed how it intentionally maneuvered around typical pot-holes and other hidden traps that new companies fall into as if it's led by a graduate of Harvard Business School with a Master of Business Administration.

(I remember right before I died that Harvard had some bad blood with MIT over an apparent robotics accident that resulted in a graduate's death)

Especially with Rosso Inc's largest subsidiary of Rosso Bank, often accused of predatory behaviors yet they nonetheless serve the niche market of high-interest loans.

'Once is happenstance, twice is coincidence, thrice is enemy action.'

The fact that this company has been able to not only survive but thrive is extremely unusual. Ever since Ingrassia recognized our existence, there have been many foreign nobles trying to get into the Tempest market, but failing spectacularly. Almost every enterprise these nobles started off so far has either bankrupted or is making barely enough to stay afloat. One of the larger companies that failed, Meiling Heavy Industry, cited the source of the issue as Tempest being too alien of a market that they can't adapt to.

In short, the foreign Nobles are stuck in the past and can't compete with capitalism.

'Does Granbell have a Unique Skill in economics?'

[Negative]

That can't be right, my brow furrowed as I grabbed my chin in deep thought.

During the founding of the Jura Tempest Republic, I thought long and hard about how to deal with the Skills that people have. See, the thing with Modern Society is that it assumes people are the same, and switching out someone for another is just like switching the cogs in a machine.

Skills, especially Unique Skills (and Intrinsic Skills) make this an impossibility as you wouldn't hire a Goblin to do heavy labor when there are plenty of Orcs available nor would you hire a person without a Unique Skill related to the field over someone that does.

This is a highly dangerous prospect that will lead to class and race discrimination and resentment, something that already exists to a lesser extent in my old world in the form of different cultural values. For example, Jewish families value education a lot, which is why so many Jews are world-famous scientists and business tycoons. If something like cultural differences can build enough resentment to the point of people causing genocides, what does that say to those belonging to different species? Where there IS a much larger difference?

Extinction.

My solution to the problem was the Skill Registry and the Omniversity.

The Skill Registry exists to catalog every Extra and Unique Skill User in the Jura Tempest Republic, it functions a lot like Wikipedia and a Social Security Number but for Skills. Generally speaking, it is a by-law that any Citizen who has earned an Extra or Unique Skill must report to be Registry within 30 days, otherwise, there will be some rather harsh penalties both social and legal. In the interest of personal privacy, only the effect of Skills is displayed, and any personal information is only shareable by the person.

The Omniversity is the ultimate place of learning in the entire world. Using [Inspired Inventor, I made Programs and Courses that can teach students complex topics like Molecular Engineering, Business Management, Psychology, and Entrepreneurship using ultra-efficient learning methods that shorten what was once years, even decades, of study to take mere months or weeks to fully complete. Most of the time, after completing a Program, a person typically gains an Extra Skill related to the area they've studied in. Unlike American or Canadian colleges, the Omniversity is subsidized by both me and the Tempest Government, meaning that any courses are dirt cheap, and what little tuition fees remain are paid by taking a tiny percentage of the student's future income.

These are what I liked to call the Great Social Equalizers, ways to create a real meritocracy with the Skill Registry being a credit score and the Omniversity being the balancing weight.

'Does someone in Granbell's family have an Extra or Unique Skill in Business Administration?'

[Negative]

I then started to read about the financial transactions of the Rossos family back in Siltrosso, and it got my gut tingling, like that feeling you get when you know that something is wrong but you can't figure out what.

The way they invested in certain things and changed the rules of Siltrosso felt like the moves of an experienced CEO abusing their knowledge of modern economics on these plebs.

It's like reading the biography of John. D. Rockefeller during the Gilded Age, in other words, the start of a monopoly.

'Is someone in Granbell's family an Otherworldly Reincarnator?'

[Confirmation]

I froze in my seat as [Contessa]'s words sunk in, my mouth hit the floor at the revelation.

Moments later, once my mind fully registered [Contessa]'s words, I felt overjoyed at the prospect of meeting another reincarnator, before that joy was dashed when I was once again reminded of what I lost when I reincarnated.

"..." Kathy... my fist tightened as my body tensed, a flood of nostalgia, of homesickness, quickly replaced every thought I had like a plague in the middle of a city, spreading with the speed of wildfires on a dry summer day.

[Silenced Emotion: 60%]

Instantly, the overpowering wave of emotion and nostalgia evaporated as I dialed up [Silenced Emotion, letting my mind be clear once more. Homesickness has been less and less of an issue ever since I started to date Arcueid but... it's like tides— only, this 'tide' comes and goes as it pleases instead of being predictable clockwork.

Taking a few seconds, I asked [Contessa] 'Is this reincarnator from my old world?'

[Affirmative]

Oh, dear.

I pondered whether or not this world and my old world are connected somehow since this is thrice now that an Otherworlder has come from my old world.

The questioning continued for a while as I pulled up the family tree of the Rosso family, going over each member until I found the reincarnator.

[Negative]

[Negative]

[Negative]

Due to how massive the Rosso family is— not even counting the extended family— It took me around half an hour until I found my target.

'Mariabell Rosso, is she a reincarnator?'

[Confirmation]

Quickly, I added 'Is she the only Reincarnator in the Rosso family?'

[Confirmation]

My mouth formed into a savage smile, gotcha, I thought.

After the War, I had a small talk with Rimuru about what to do if either of us finds other Otherworlders like ourselves. In the end, we agreed to deal with it on a case-by-case basis.

Using the Noosphere, I connected it to the internet and arranged a meeting with the head of the Rosso family sometime after the completion of the Space Elevator. Due to her being the granddaughter of one such as Granbell, her standard of living should be quite high.

Finally getting out of my seat, I did some stretching, moving my neck and limbs in such a way that I'll hear a satisfying crack.

I sent a message to Shizue using the Noosphere to prepare some special tea, before teleporting to right outside of Rimuru's training room in deep interstellar space.

.

.

.

A black abyss was all that I could see, the only light in the room was this single line on the ceiling.

The hallway to the room was unlike anything in the World. It's made out of a material so dark as to be able to block out neutrinos, making any attempt to light up anything other than the people a wasted endeavor.

It can't be classified as baryonic matter, it is a form of Bose-Einstein Condensate, it violates the Pauli Exclusion Principle, and it is the brainchild of my attempt to create a matter that can theoretically survive past the end of the System.

Moving on, here's an interesting thing about antigravity: it speeds up time, unlike normal gravity which slows it down. Now, in order to achieve enough antigravity that quantum dynamics speeding up becomes noticeable, you only really have one method unless you want to go full multicity-scale facility:

Dark Energy.

You could use negative mass to create antigravity, but that's like using a pile driver to create holes in studs of wood for construction. You use negative mass to accelerate the decay of micro-black holes, not a small facility.

Granted, you could also theoretically use a time crystal and the Holographic Principle to the same effect, but that'll take too long, and speeding up time by changing the Calabi-Yau manifold is just spiteful overkill on the level of the United States using its entire arsenal of ICBMs against the North Sentinelese because an overzealous American pastor who tried to spread Christianity on the island got killed.

I stretched out my hand outward into the abyss, only stopping once I'd hit a wall...

Or should I say the door?

The darkness tore itself apart as I was bathed in light, consuming me in an instant as I was teleported inside.

Bwooosh*

The next thing I knew, I was pushed back by this tsunami of passive magicules and intense heat, drowning out my senses and forcing the Mathematics around me to change its warp-space into something that'll passively filter out these new vectors.

Once that was done, I was greeted with the sight of Rimuru flying through the air and duking it out with Jeanne, the latter wearing a white collared button-up t-shirt with a black short skirt and tie while the former was wearing a black trench coat.

Jeanne floated up in the air with dozens of orbs—miniature stars— orbiting around her like planets, each of them shooting out blasts of nuclear magic every few milliseconds and acting more like machine guns.

"..."

Correction, it isn't Rimuru duking it out with Jeanne, it's the Yellow Primordial training the slime to fucking dodge.

The room that Rimuru is training in is shaped like a gigantic flattened cylinder that has a radius of 30 meters.

Cosmic inflation is caused by a combination of different factors. During the initial singularity, the Big Bang was caused by the decay of the quantum field into a more stable state, inadvertently causing the Superforce to quickly decay into the four fundamental atomic forces. That first explosion is what propelled spacetime and matter outward, the initial push of that snowball down the metaphorical hill. Now, gravity would've caused a Big Crunch as all matters fall back into the singularity point had it not been for Dark Energy.

Dark Energy is a cosmological constant, it is generated homogeneously (equally) as space expands from the effect of the bubbling Quantum Foam. The only way to capture enough Dark Energy is through a pocket of slowed-down cosmic inflation that acts as a 'trap' that attracts Dark Energy similar to how air flows from a region of high pressure to low pressure.

Now, to create this trap, I would just link a near-static pocket dimension causally via a wormhole to Realspace (it has to be 'causally' in order to allow Dark Energy in). This pocket of hyper-slowed-down inflation acts like something akin to a sinkhole that suddenly appeared on a lake bed, drawing in 'water' until the entire hole is filled and equilibrium is achieved once more. By controlling how much the inflation rate is slowed down and the size of this dimension, I can control how much Dark Energy is flown into this trap and how fast the time symmetry moves. An additional fun fact, this is how you contain a black hole without regard to time dilation.

In a way, the idea of Quintessence Dark Energy in Physics is accurate, except the dynamic scalar field is unnatural.

Oddly enough, this place can be considered one of the most isolated regions in the universe due to the natural Domain Walls formed on the border of the wormhole due to the sudden difference in universal symmetry.

Domain Walls are a 2-dimensional topological defect that forms whenever there is a difference in terms of physics symmetry. The symmetry, in this case, is the sudden difference in terms of the fundamental force symmetry in comparison with the greater world. (I had to increase the electro, weak, and strong forces since the antigravity inside here is strong enough to rip apart chemical bonds)

In simpler terms, imagine the universe as a piece of paper spinning clockwise (this is symmetry). In order for part of the paper to spin counter-clockwise (a break in symmetry), you'll need to cut a portion of that paper. A topological defect is the 'cut' itself, the tiny distance between the now two different pieces of paper impossible for any two-dimensional beings to get to the other side, in this case, Domain walls are 'cuts' in a three-dimensional space.

I had played around with the idea that space-time is a superorganism since if symmetry returns, topology starts to heal up like how animals heal their wounds.

Returning to the fight, the two were so focused on their efforts that I was entirely ignored, so I merely contented myself to observe the spar. The improved Block Form Singularity Mathematics formed a chair behind me for my sitting pleasure. After realizing the upcoming war, I upgraded certain aspects of the armor, tentatively called by the Internet 'Void Armor'.

As the battle raged on, Rimuru was gaining ground against Jeanne. It was like watching one of those rhythm action games, or playing the later stages of Space-Invaders, or playing that game Rimuru loved, 'Touhou' I think it's called? Either way, it's a bullet hell, only this time the opponent is adaptive.

Using the Noosphere, I was able to determine that Rimuru was switching Kusanagi between the Time and Space element in order to weave around the hundreds of bolts of nuclear magic coming at him every second. Why he doesn't just create a Topological Manifold as a shield is beyond me but to each their own, I suppose.

Just then, a Doorway opened up next to me, "Lady Scientia," Shizue in her maid chassis walked out and bowed slightly, her feet clamped magnetically to the floor. In her hands is a small metallic cylinder.

Wordlessly, she twisted open the top of the cylinder, producing a plastic pouch with a built-in straw. It sort of reminded me of the containers that astronauts in my old world would eat from when they were inside the ISS.

Snapping off the cap of the straws, Shizue gave me it.

Silently thanking her and taking a sip, my attention was briefly on why she didn't use [Eidolon] to transport her before chalking it up to something personal to her.

The drink felt cold on my tongue. My attention returned to Rimuru as he whizzed around all over the chamber in an attempt to dodge Jeanne's nuclear fission beams.

My attention is then drawn to the area on the walls where the beam had hit, the redness is slowly dissipating.

Through the manipulation of the Electromagnetic Force using a Hyper-dimensional Forge, I was able to create a metal that has some of the highest melting temperatures in the Universe. When I told Jeanne of this fact after the Demon had asked whether or not the facility could handle 2 S-ranks duking it out, she was visibly thrilled and hugged me, much to the annoyance of Arcueid.

Eventually, the spar ended when, upon seeing an opening in the barrage of nuclear magic, Rimuru pushed as much magicule into Kusanagi as possible and folded the space between him and Jeanne, allowing the slime to blitz across the room towards my subordinate in a nanosecond, stopping just before his katana could penetrate the Primordial's skin.

From the outside, the folding of space made Rimuru appear stretched out as if he were made of dough and someone pulled to try and make noodles.

"Heh, gotcha," Rimuru smirked as he sheathed Kusanagi, looking a lot like a samurai.

The miniature stars poofed out of existence, and my thermometer displayed the ambient temperature in the training room to be 70 Celcius despite having liquid helium pumped in pipes all around the coils underneath the floor, "that's 'cause I got distracted when I saw that my boss is here."

"Your boss—" Rimuru whipped his head around until his eyes landed on me.

I gave a small wave as a bright smile appeared on his face.

Upon seeing how sincere the smile was, [Acting] had to take over as I felt an indescribable amount of envy at how easily Rimuru could laugh and smile as if nothing was wrong... as if the System wasn't falling apart.

"Hey, Scientia, Shizue! I'm now able to land a hit on Jeanne!" He spoke with excitement in his voice while waving at me. Considering Jeanne is one of the most powerful beings in the Underworld and is a Progenitor of a line of Demons, saying that he was able to land a hit is a big deal.

Using Kusanagi, Rimuru floated down towards us since there was no gravity, as the built-up Dark Energy permeated this entire chamber equally.

"President Rimuru," Shizue bowed respectfully. Shizue was able to bow because of the magnetic clamps in her foot that attached her to the wall.

"You did well," I congratulated him while letting the plastic pouch float there aimlessly, it only now came to me how odd it is for someone to drink a beverage while watching a fight. Dismissing the oddity, I turned to Jeanne, "In your honest opinion, do you think he's ready for the next step?"

Jeanne crossed her arms and grinned, which was a weird sight considering she was currently upside down. The Primordial's grin caused Rimuru to ever so slightly shudder, "Yeah, he's ready for even more intense training."

"Wait what— I'll die if the training gets even more intense!" Rimuru's bravado from before disappeared like the morning dew.

I sighed while facepalming, "Dude, you need to be at least on par with Jeanne before I'm satisfied."

"WHAT?!"

Jeanne chuckled darkly, her aura was unleashed causing Rimuru's jaw to snap shut.

"Well," her arms swung to the sides and shrugged, "you heard the boss, Mr. President."

I'm entrusting Rimuru's training to her since the Yellow Primordial values the weight of a promise a lot, to an almost obsessive amount.

"I'll talk with you later, Rimuru," I told him as I opened up another Door, "Jeanne, don't rough him up too much, he's got a meeting with the Ingrassian King in a few hours."

"You got it, boss!" A pair of golden gauntlets appeared on Jeanne's forearm.

"Don't leave me Scientiaaaa!"

AN: Holy fuck I spent WAY too long thinking of a way to slow down cosmic inflation. You guys have no idea how many versions there are, I tried to use concepts like naked singularities and negative mass before realizing that it doesn't make sense. Finally being satisfied with pocket dimension.

differences between Pocket Universes and Pocket Dimensions;

Pocket Universes have different laws of physics while Pocket Dimensions are a pinched-off portion of the current universe with the same laws of physics, sort of like an appendix.

The reason why Dwargon accepted the rise of Tempest Dollars to challenge their Dwarven Coins was due to King Gazel realized that it was better to try and ride the waves the Republic would bring (whereby becoming a close ally and reaping the reward) rather than trying to pointlessly prevent the Republic's rise.

Also, as I'm posting this my stomach feels nauseous. Note to self: when you're eating hot pot, make sure everything is cooked thoroughly.

54

Miss Shirou, are you truly sure we're supposed to be here?" A timid young man spoke as he fumbled around trying to carry multiple colorful shopping bags, each carrying very expensive commodities. The man was following closely behind a woman with pale skin, flowing white hair, and way too fancy clothing that showed off just how rich she was; everything from a white fur coat, and expensive sunglasses, all the way to the way she walked, all of it screams elitism.

"Why of course, darling" Miss Shirou spoke with the tone commonly found in noblewoman as she walked down the streets of Trantor's shopping district, "10 in the morning is when I'm supposed to be in my SVIP seating at the opening of the Space-Elevator," she turned to face almost invisible cable that stretches into the high heavens off in the distance, the many tall buildings and Archologies hide the current base of the Elevator.

"Wow Miss Shirou, I heard the SVIP tickets cost as much as a house in the Merchant District of Lura." The man exclaimed.

Whipping out a fan, the foreign noble started fanning herself even when it was spring, "Of course, even if such costs are just pocket change for me, I need to look fashionably, or else I'll embarrass myself in front of the other! I am one of the first to ride it after all."

As she continued her walk, Shirou suddenly stopped when she walked by another clothing store with the cheapest costing several weeks' worth of the Working Class' salary.

The opening of the Space Elevator is slated to be the largest celebration ever since the victory over Jistav.

Rimuru has been promoting the construction ever since I started working on the base, which is around 4 weeks ago, and managed to build up immense anticipation.

Just like how I had built public infrastructure like the hyperloop, roads, and the Arcologies, I utilized preprogrammed self-replicating nanites and Doormaker to hasten the completion date of the Space Elevator to weeks instead of years.

The design I chose opted for speed of construction over anything concrete, thus, instead of a solid structure going up or down, it's a set of wires and cables that connect both the ground hub of the Elevator and the one 36,000 kilometers up in geosynchronous orbit. The carts run up and down these sets of wires that have been stretched to their absolute limit, making any swaying by wind or outside forces nigh-impossible— not to mention the main load-bearing cable being made out of strings of mag-matter, a type of exotic hyper-dense nonbaryonic matter made out of magnetic monopoles.

With foreign diplomats, princes, and princesses from all over the continent attending, it's like the Olympic Games.

Most News sources forecast up to 300,000 people (or a quarter of Metropolis) will be visiting Trantor for the 7-day Space-Elevator celebration

As this is a Tolkien knockoff world, it's a really big number.

The celebration is split into two parts: on the first day, it's open only to a select few people before opening to the public.

I was still a bit apprehensive about building a space elevator. Such a megastructure fills the role of cheap space flight, but I have access to stars' worth of material, so saying that I'm swimming in cash is like saying Guy Crimson is stronger than a human being, technically the truth, but the reality is way out of proportions.

So in the end, I figured it was more like a vanity project than anything, one designed to show that we aren't all terrible monsters but still, a vanity project nonetheless.

Coming up to the opening date, every hotel or other rental-based building was rented out to maximum capacity. In order to avoid a tragedy concerning the excessive number of people coming, I had to step in and build a new Arcology for the city that was about to balloon to 2 times its original size.

Really, nano-construction is the real hero here, allowing me to build what should've taken years in the span of two weeks.

"Nervous?"

A familiar voice called out to me, facing it, I looked down and saw Rimuru in his slime form.

It's been a while since I've seen him using that form, hasn't it? Both of us were inside one of the ground Hub's washrooms, I was standing by a sink and mirror, thinking until Rimuru interrupted my thoughts.

"A bit, after all. As someone responsible for the opening speech to the first batch of people— I've just... never really spoken to such a large crowd, the most I have been at a press conference, and those are for Journalists." I played around with the ends of my ashen blond hair to distract myself from the butterflies in my stomach. If one were to listen carefully, one would realize my breathing patterns are different, since I'm using techniques created by [Biology] for the purpose of maintaining a calm facade.

Rimuru turned into his human form, currently, he's wearing a fine suit with a guilty expression on his face "I'm sorry that I asked you to do this, I should've—"

"No." I silenced his words before he could continue, "I accepted your decision on my own terms, did I not? Besides, it's technically my first public appearance in months. Moreover, I should be the one that's nervous, since are you sure I can tell the world about our secret?"

"I mean, if it'll get them to trust us more, then I don't see why not."

Due to neither of us nor the presenters needing much makeup, we only needed a single washroom for the pre-show prep like getting our uniform ready or practicing our lines.

Ririna was the main organizer of this event, primarily since her Unique Skill [Warmaster] makes the handling of logistics as easy as me satisfying Milim with my cooking.

Rimuru opened his mouth to speak, only for the door to open. The purple Kijin wearing a purple suit popped her head in, Citrinitas, "Mr. President, His Majesty King Gazel wishes to speak with you right before the start of the celebration."

"Alright, I'll— wait, right now?"

"Preferably, yes."

"O-oh, alright," he waved me goodbye and left.

Seeing that I was alone, I turned towards the washroom mirror and gave myself a look-over.

For this event, I decided to go for something sophisticated, yet the dress can't be so sophisticated that I look inhuman— heaven knows my uncanny perfection makes me look more like a Lovecraftian Horror's attempt at making the ideal human, male or female be damned. My features are without flaws, something vital to staying out of the Uncanny Valley. The main purpose of the Space-Elevator is to fight against the bad PR that the Western Holy Church is babbling about us, so I can't wear something that'll make me unapproachable.

I was oh so tempted to go with streetwear, only to get flat-out rejected by [Social Engineering] the moment I came up with the idea. In the end, I decided to just screw it and live up to my title of 'Futurist'.

Sleek, black, smooth, with lines of neon lights and bits of technology jutting out here and there, the current form of the Mathematic wouldn't look out of place in a Tron movie.

My clothing was to symbolize what technology could be, contrasting heavily to what surrounds me, which is supposed to represent what technology IS. Think of it like how I'm the eye on the American dollar bill while everything else is the pyramid, currently building up to me.

Placing my two hands on the side of the sink, I stared deeply into my reflection, yellow eyes, pale complexion, and ashen blond hair, it was like looking at a small palette swap of my old reincarnated self, except I seemingly had gained a more feminine outlook...

...And retained that goddamned inhuman perfection—!

C-Crack*

The sink cracked and crumbled underneath my grip as I gritted my teeth. Bits and pieces of the ceramics fall to the floor. Even to this day, months later, Walpurgis still haunts me.

Whoever encounters this perfection for the first time either finds me repulsive in the extreme or lusts after me almost to the level of Romeo lusting after Juliet (the amount of sexual drawings of me is so numerous that the only thing that outstrips it is every other category of porn... combined).

Unlike the annihilation of Corbin, I cannot properly justify or even explain how I am a Perfect Homunculus beyond Guy's insinuation I am a reincarnation of Relentless, which is absolutely fucking ridiculous since I was sure I'm a human in my last life.

[Agreement]

See! Even [Contessa] agrees with me.

My world, my preconceptions, and my beliefs were nonetheless shattered by Guy's words, adding to the fact that Psychohistory is predicting the world is on the cusp of a world war and you can see why Rimuru's proposal was so important.

I bared my teeth, and a dark aura surrounded my body like clouds.

EVERYTHING IS JUST SO GODDAMN COMPLICATED!

Krissssssssh*

I smashed my head into the mirror, shattering it completely. The sink broke in its entirety, my hands acted like two drills had broken the ceramics into pieces, and the only thing remaining in my clenched hands was naught but dust.

My forehead was unharmed due to the Mathematic's passive protection field.

Taking a few, calming breaths, I bit deep into my lower lips, hard enough to draw bits of blood.

I've long accepted that I need to do dirty acts to thrive. In my past life as an Assistant VP, I was skilled in the act of cutting corners and maximizing profits. But I'm not a sociopath, I don't want to kill more people than I need to, I just want to advance society into an intergalactic empire, to actualize a post-scarcity utopia...

Removing my forehead from the shattered mirror had caused the entire thing to fall out of its frame.

...And even that's denied from me.

Ugh... my shoulders slumped forward in annoyance as my brows furrowed, gotta clean up this mess.

Vuuuuummm——*

Summoning a small vacuum from my pocket dimension, the prehensile vacuum started sucking in all the shards of glass and ceramic as per my orders when I used antigravity to pull out another mirror for the washroom walls.

Again using [Fundamental Force Manipulation, I nullified the Strong nuclear force inside the remaining shards of glass inside the frame, causing the silicone to disintegrate on a subatomic level as each atomic nuclei turned into quarks.

Placing the mirror over where the old one had been, I observed the sink, wondering if I'd need to place a charge inside [Plumbing] before seeing the valve was fine, only the basin was destroyed.

Feeling rather wasteful of me just disintegrating matter into its basic components, I instead opted for partial disintegration of the links that connect the base of the previous basin before pulling out another one from my pocket dimension, brand new and fresh off the molecular assembler. Reconnecting it, the new sink looks exactly like the old one.

I was suddenly hit by this wave of dizziness. I was having this out-of-body experience, wondering if the last few minutes had actually happened when the door opened.

"Tia!" Arcueid burst in with the energy of a rocket, only to stop once she saw I was staring off into oblivion. Slowly turning to look where I was looking, Arcueid was confused, since I was just staring at the sink, "Scientia? Is something the matter? The opening is in 10 minutes and Rimuru asked me to bring you to the main stage."

It was only then that I snapped out of my trance.

Rubbing my forehead, I took a deep sigh before pushing this... illogical hatred into the recesses of my mind. Turning to look at the True Ancestor, who's currently wearing—

"—Huh?"

My mind stopped when I noticed what Arcueid was wearing.

She wore a full dress of blackness like the void of space, the fabric shimmering as countless crystals were embedded within, with a large number of said crystals congregating around a single lengthy area that stretched from her left shoulder and down to her right hip, creating the illusion of a spiraling vortex. The blackness of the dress served as a canvas as the area around where the crystals congregate is dyed with deep blue and flashes of white.

Around her hands, Arcueid wore long silky gloves which made her fingers look so delicate they could fall off if the wind blew too hard.

Overall, it looked like Arcueid was wearing the night sky itself— absolutely gorgeous since the dress puts the focal point on her beauty.

I was so used to seeing her wearing white that the moment her dress code changed, I was completely unprepared.

Upon seeing my slacked jaw, Arcueid giggled, "I had always saved this one for a special occasion, and well, it seems my intuition was correct. Perhaps next time I should choose something other than the night sky as a reference?"

Clearing my throat, I desperately tried to hide the fact that I think she looked so beautiful in that dress, "well let's not keep Rimuru waiting any longer."

Unknown to me at the time, this should've been a major red flag.

The Hub of the Space-Elevator resides on an artificial island off of the coast of Trantor, directly in the Bay of Ashdapor, and accessible only by boat. The island is square-shaped with a total surface area totaling 10 square kilometers, the surface of the island is made from concrete and dotted with things like trees, souvenir shops, restaurants, and plenty of other buildings you'd typically find on a resort. The lower layers are for things like storage, power reactors, and plenty of other things vital to the continued function and maintenance of this planetary megastructure.

Due to its mobility, it technically can't be counted as an island, but the name stuck and here we are.

It was hoped that after the opening, the Space Elevator would become a major tourist destination as well as sell our culture and the concept of modernity to the tourists.

There's a single flattened upright standing triangular prism that serves as a docking station for the Elevator. The building has a main entrance for the visitor, and in front of that entrance is a large public square with beautifully decorated water fountains and patterns composed of different flowers, I should know, I'm the one who made it with assistance from [Sculpture].

Now, off to the side of that public square is the curtained stage area. Behind it is a walled-off backstage, like something you'd find in a concert.

Right in front of the stage were rolls upon rolls of chairs with names on the back of the seat for the diplomats, princes, and princesses of various nations we had invited. Behind them are the chairs for VIPs and SVIPs, and behind even them is an area sectioned off by stanchions, it's the seating for those who bought the normal tickets and it extends as far as the eye can see.

The normal tickets are on a first come first serve basis.

Using a small prehensile telescopic sight, I was able to peek through the closed curtains and see the crowd.

It seems most of the diplomats', princes', and princesses' seats are all filled, the only ones missing are those reserved for diplomats from countries situated closest geographically to Ruberios. I can see King Gazel of Dwargon, King Aegil of Ingrassia, the newly elected Chancellor of Falmuth, Governor Carrion, Field Marshal Ririna, General Rubedo, and Arcueid.

The only reason I didn't invite Milim and neither did she come was due to I promised to give her a private tour right after the celebration was finished, it would not do well for the attendance rate if the 'Dreaded Destroyer' were to attend the opening nor will I give other countries a good excuse to not send their diplomats.

There are around 30,000 people for the opening, I noted internally, only to narrow my eyes once I saw a bit of commotion out in the back.

Using the Noosphere, I connected to a camera near the area and looked in, discovering a family of goblins arguing with another human male and female pair, probably a couple.

And through the Noosphere, I directed some Security Personnel— who almost had a heart attack when they heard my voice— towards the area.

My attention returned once the Mathematic alerted me to one of the female Dragonewts ('Souka' was what was etched onto the metal nameplate on the side of her chest) walking up to me, her body displayed signs of the ever-slightest hint of nervousness. The nervousness that was impressively hidden, [Negotiation] noted.

I quickly retracted the telescopic camera back into my Mathematic-in-suit form and turned to face Souka.

"Director," she bowed a little bit. Souka's current dress is a red one with an interweaved webbing design, basically like every female TV host.

Souka opened her mouth to speak, only to close as when no sound came out.

Nervousness finally overcame her senses. Like a sword, I cut away those doubts by placing a hand on her shoulder

"We hired you for the opening ceremony of the Space Elevator for a reason," the clock just hit 9:59, "you are one of the best singers and music writers on TV, you currently have around 200,000 followers on Musify alone. And that you looked almost indistinguishable from a human; there is no need to be nervous. Moreover, I would not have recommended you if I knew you couldn't take it."

Souka nodded as I removed my hand. Seemingly assured, I turned away to walk toward my seating-

"Director! I want you to know that I never believed the stigma around Perfect Homunculus!"

Turning around, I gave her a small smile and nodded, before continuing.

I left the area to take a seat by one of the chairs off to the side of the main stage, letting Souka take the brunt of the attention as the clock strikes 10:00.

"It's showtime," I whispered. In an instant, the curtain rose and music started blasting out, virtual, holographic dancers appeared next to Souka.

Rimuru took a seat in the chair next to me, seemingly enjoying the music she was playing.

"So what did you discuss with Gazel?" I asked without taking my eyes off Souka.

Rimuru turned to face me, his lips thinning as hesitation and uncertainty showed on his face, "...nothing to need to worry about."

"..."

I gave him a look before letting go. If he thinks that it's nothing to worry about, I'll trust him.

My focus returned back to the show Souka's putting on.

Her music is very similar to pop songs from my old world, which surprised me greatly since the only reason I chose her was due to her popularity.

Meaning that I never listened to any one of her albums.

Requesting data through the Noosphere, a holographic panel materialized displaying her history.

I saw that Souka was one of the first graduates of the Omniversity. Originally, the Dragonewt was studying to be a Market Analyst, and she started writing songs and singing them as a hobby. It gained her a large and unprecedented following after posting her first song, named 'Rosemary', which was on top of the list of Musify's Hottest for two weeks. After that success, Souka changed her career and focused on music.

Now, she's one of the biggest pop stars in all of the Jura Tempest Republic.

My attention went back to the show of holograms, changing what was once a very bland stage into a movie filled to the brim with stars, galaxies, and all.

It's like looking at the dream of a Sci-Fi fan.

Eventually, the performance ends and Souka takes a bow, the stage returns to how it was before: monotonous and boring.

"Look's like it's your turn," Rimuru patted my back as I got up, "break a leg!"

I had to suppress the urge to look back in surprise. While it may look insignificant, 'break a leg' is not a Japanese saying, meaning that he's been learning Western slang.

The heads-up display of the Mathematic showed I was approximately 30 steps away from the center of the stage.

My perception of time sped up as I fell into deep thought, as typical of what the Mathematic is programmed to do.

I thought about my new life, about everything, about my reincarnation, about Rimuru, about everyone else.

Who would've thought the Hindus were the closest to discovering what really happens after you die? I mused. I am not a good person, even in my past life, I've almost never done anything out of altruism. The closest I have is for the greater good.

I am a selfish, pragmatic person, which may be what caused me to love sci-fi so much. Space contains many times the number of resources that are on Earth. Heck, an asteroid several kilometers wide contained more iron than human civilization in my old world has ever mined throughout its history. Thusly, it is logical—expected even— for a race to reach for the stars. It would be the hallmark of a species' development on the Kardashev scale.

I can still remember the awe I had at the sheer scale of everything when I learned of the Kardashev scale, where a single Type-II can easily defeat a typical galactic empire that only colonizes other planets.

And now... I have made my dreams into a reality, I have access to more resources than I know what to do with, I have touched the farthest stars in the Observable Universe, I have seen the very edge of Hubble's Law, and I have discovered almost all of physics, only missing a Multiversal Theory of Everything.

I have traveled billions of years into the past and future by virtue of technicalities. The speed of light is the speed by which Conventional Causality can be enacted, meaning that the moment you travel faster than it, you are traveling back in time. However, unlike normal time travel, Supercausality (short for the Theory of Supercausality, a Theory I made to describe particles moving at FTL speeds) does not allow changing of the past. When you escape these bubbles of causality, you're still moving forward on the time axis, meaning you can only peer into the past if you have a strong enough telescope, sort of like post-cognition.

I am unbound by conventional causality, I am bound by the Novikov Self-Consistency Principle after testing through a minor time-traveling experiment.

These hands have crafted cosmic megastructures that encompass a star, these hands have crafted materials that do not obey the Pauli Exclusion Principle, and this mind manipulates the fundamental atomic forces with [Mekhane]. The number of voidcrafts I have made for my secret fleet in the Intergalactic Void is numbered in the multi-trillions

The dumb AIs in the Noosphere call me Administrator, Rimuru calls me his best friend, a Cosmological Entropy Reversal Machine sees me as a member of his family, and I have become the hidden power behind the Jura Tempest Republic.

My technology has gotten to the point where I could easily beat almost any race in Sci-Fi.

Halo? I'll just throw monopoles at the Flood and cause their very structure to degrade and dissociate. Or if I really wanted to, I'd use any one of the Hyperweapons and extinguish the galaxy altogether.

Warhammer 40,000? The Observable Universe alone contains little under 7 trillion galaxies, with each of those galaxies containing hundreds of billions— sometimes even trillions— of stars. The sheer scale I operate at makes galactic conflict seem more like battles between two different bacteria.

Star Wars? While the ability to destroy a planet is insignificant next to the power of the Force, how about the ability to destroy a Galaxy? Or the ability to launch galaxies at relativistic speeds to serve as missiles?

With exponential growth, I've paperclipped the entire Universe.

As I neared the spot where I was supposed to stop at was when it hit me:

Despite being a Demon Lord, this would be my first introduction to the wider world.

I've been a relative recluse when it comes to the public eye, operating almost solely with a medium instead of direct appearance—Diablo explained that's how I got a Cult of Personality despite not intentionally making it.

I finally reached the center of the stage, in front of the view of tens of thousands of the most important, influential, and richest people in the world. This event will either break or make our relationship with the Greater World.

I opened my mouth to speak.

55

"Greetings, my fellow residents of this planet." I started off cooly, my voice projected across the entire island, and the sleekness of my Tron-like outfit reflected the sun's rays.

"My name, if you don't know, is Scientia Tempest, I am a Demon Lord and a Perfect Homunculus." It is an open secret that I am a Perfect Homunculus in the Republic, thus I really have nothing to lose by sharing it with the rest of the world and all the more to gain by appearing trustworthy, and more likely to gain their trust as well.

'The ball is in your court what will you do with it?' Essentially.

In the back, I saw looks of shock.

Need to stop this before they could riot, I affirmed inside my head, "I am not Relentless," I stressed, "which should've been evident the moment you stepped forth in the Jura Tempest Republic— do you see the destruction that Relentless is known for?"

The crowd grew quiet, and while a few tried to start something, they quickly stood out and were silenced by social pressure. I don't think many are convinced but the seeds of doubt are starting to take hold, so I let a bit of [Acting] take control in order to facilitate further growth.

"It should be even more evident that I am not what the stories tell you. My hope and dream are not of the destruction of the world, instead, I hope to create a society where everyone— including humans and monsters— can reach up and touch the stars themselves, where hunger is a thing of the past, and where death is but an afterthought, where happiness can be as easily achieved as breathing, where people of all races are equal, where education is available to everyone, where all people have a say in the government. What I seek is a utopia, a world without suffering, a world where the people are free and happy."

I let that sink in for a few seconds before continuing, "While many have called what I wished for to be a pipedream, I know it is not. When you visit the Land of Opportunity, do you see decrepit slums at the edge of the city? No, there are no ghettos because almost everyone has a job, and no one goes hungry with the social safety nets in place."

Seeing that still many people are not convinced, I decided to finally let [Contessa] take control.

'[Path to convincing them of my intentions using words and acting]'

[9 Steps]

[Step 1: Place your right hand with its finger fully spread out above your chest]

In a single moment, my right hand, fingers fully spread out, placed itself above my chest.

[Step 2: address the issue, and let them know that you realize their fears]

[Step 3: assure them it's fine to feel fear]

"I am aware that despite my words, you will still have reservations about me, to that I say: be not afraid, that is only natural." I grew a bit hesitant about the next part. My paranoia reared its ugly head in my direction since what I was about to say next was the opening of Pandora's box.

[Step 4: Do not tell them about your nature as a Reincarnator]

Following [Contessa]'s directions, I didn't tell them about me being an Otherworldly Reincarnator.

[Step 5: rebuke the words of the Western Holy Church]

[Step 6: act hopeful and naive about the future]

"Despite what the Western Holy Church is spewing, I have no interest in forcing my beliefs and wills upon you nor do I expect you to be automatically accepting of monsters overnight. I could only hope that your prejudice against me or monsters would be eased or even erased the moment you step foot in Metropolis or any other city of the Jura Tempest Republic once you see what we are capable of when working together."

One of the most peculiar things I found out about this world is that, despite it being a Tolkien-knockoff world, this place is FAR more accepting of homosexuality than my old world. Like, the Western Holy Church is shockingly indifferent on matters concerning same-sex marriages compared to Christianity.

Seriously, I expected such practices to be banned in a primitive world that resembles so much of medieval Europe.

With its place as the most widespread religion in the world, it's resulted in a general culture of indifference rather than rejection that extends even beyond the borders of the human kingdoms.

I guess the spread could be due to the nature of how the throne is omnipotent, the Rulers of monster nations could do it with whoever they want without regard to how it looks to their subjects.

Really, I and [Sociology] find this contrast compared to my old world to be highly fascinating. More so considering how much they are prosecuted in my old world.

Maybe Otherworlder's influence?

[Step 7: swing the arm on your chest to the side in a wide arc]

[Step 8: directly address the nobles, princes, princesses, and kings about the invasion of Falmuth and Jistav]

The hand on my chest swung in a wide arc to the side. For a brief moment in time, I looked like a military commander, "to those nobles, princes, princesses, diplomats, and kings that are here today, it is my greatest hope that you see the invasion of both Jistav and Falmuth as black swan events, they would not happen if we had just continued peaceful dialogue. Falmuth instigated an attack of 50,000 men under the order of Cardinal Nikolas of the Luminous Faith, and Demon Lord Clayman attempted to attack our Eurazanian allies, we stopped them and ended one of the worst regimes in world history."

[Step 9: Clutch your chest and act very emotional about the 'horrible words said by the Western Holy Church']

Acting exactly as [Contessa] had planned, I brought my hand in and clutched my chest like a heartbroken maiden, "in the end, I could only do my best to convince you that I am not the monster that the Luminous Faith is painting me as. I have no idea as to why the Church is so hostile when all I want is for the good of all life in the world. I hope I have at least convinced you to keep an open mind and that you'll convince others to do the same once you realize everything I do is for the good of all."

At first, the applause came slowly, before growing louder and louder.

I had to beat back the urge to grimace upon hearing the thunderous applause. I dislike such theatrics, but I will use such tactics when the situation demands it. Still, I can't help but feel annoyed at [Contessa] for making me speak in a fashion similar to the naivete that Rimuru displayed.

[Explanation]

"..."

Only for the Ultimate Skill to explain its argument in such a way that I cannot refute its logic, after all [Negotiation] is agreeing wholeheartedly with what [Contessa] has planned.

Its argument boils down to these: by appearing extra hopeful, I create the aura of an ambitious idealist. Idealists make for good leaders whom the merchants and other upper-class members of the Jura Tempest Republic can appeal to. To the princes, princesses, diplomats, and Kings, appearing as an idealist will make me appear as someone easy to manipulate.

The second part: by contrasting heavily with the propaganda of the Western Holy Church, it'll cause those believers to be confused: they expect a monster, not an idealist who wishes not for destruction but for the prosperity of all. Afterward, they'll either start to distrust the Church, or they'll double down on their beliefs and attempt to investigate me— and by extension the Jura Tempest Republic— with a fine-tooth comb in an attempt to justify the words of the Luminous Faith.

But no, they won't discover anything wrong, they'll only discover how much better the lives of a Tempest Citizen are and how much superior our form of government if compared to the aristocracy, either causing them to lose faith and become disillusioned with the Church or to purposefully ignore and become a fanatic, in which case they stand out like a sore thumb.

As always, the subtly of [Contessa] can never be underestimated, so many plans and backup plans packed into a single move, a single speech.

"Now," I gestured towards the wires to heaven, "the structure you see on the left is what's called a Space Elevator. An elevator, for those of you who don't know, is a machine capable of helping people go up or down a building. The most famous elevator is the one in the Adventurer Guild's Headquarters in Ingrassia. Now, as its name implies, the Space-Elevator is a machine that transports people up to space and back for very little energy cost."

Seeing looks of disbelief, I decided to entertain the crowd. With a single snap of my fingers, a single holographic panel appeared in front of each guest in the area, on it displayed the process of construction with photos included— a collage essentially, "with a grand total weight counting 200,200,000 tons if you include everything from the island, the cable, the elevator, and the satellite, this structure counts as the heaviest in the entire world, outweighing entire cities and most certainly the largest considering the cable spans 36,000 kilometers up from sea level into space, or around the geostationary orbit."

"It would not be an understatement to say that this is 'out of this world'" I joked a little, I got some laughs from those in the back, mostly normal ticket holders while the diplomats gave some polite chuckle.

"Now—" Souka walked up the stage to present me with the golden scissor while two of her attendants brought out the ribbon, "—as the engineer behind this Planetary Megastructure, President Rimuru has deemed it fit that I declare the place as officially opened."

Giving a little bow, I took the scissors and opened them. Placing the two blades over the ribbon, akin to the jaws of a predator, I pressed down.

And the moment the ribbons fell loose, all over the metal stage, celebratory music played as dozens upon dozens of holographic party poppers blew, all the while two smoke blowers each to the left and right side activated, creating two 5-meter tall plumbs of harmless white gas.

It was like the winner's celebration in one of those game shows where the contestants must pass an obstacle course, only much grander in scale.

As the music continued, I quietly left the stage in favor of Souka taking over.

Walking down the small staircase and into the back room, I found Rimuru smiling brightly at my performance. Within his hands is a tall untouched glass filled with a semi-translucent golden liquid, a champagne

"That was a good performance, you killed the crowd for sure with your holographic displays alone."

Giving it to me, I quietly sipped on it, feeling the sweetness of the champagne as it went down my throat. Rimuru continued to gush about how great everything was.

I can't help but feel envious of his happy-go-lucky attitude, how easily he can make friends, and how he's always happy with life even if every day is full of Jeanne and Rubedo's harsh training and Presidential duties. I still haven't told him exactly what happened during Walpurgis, and I instructed Jeanne and Diablo to not speak of it until I say so.

God, I want to protect that attitude as much as I can.

[Psychology] gave the analysis that I'm being reminded of the long-lost innocence I once held when I look upon people like Milim, Arcueid, and Rimuru, in other words, I'm being reminded of a time before the burdens of adulthood.

"Woah! No need to—"

I finished the drink in a single gulp, the reason I was not choking was due to the fact that I don't breathe (despite having a working nose). The people start to disperse once the main entrance to the Elevator Hub is opened.

As a building larger than the Canadian Federal Parliament, the Hub serves a purpose beyond as the literal ground hub for the Space Elevator. It contains components such as museums, a star-gazing dome, a movie theater, and even a Science Center.

Rimuru was not kidding when he said he wanted something more than just forcing the other countries to recognize us or face international humiliation, with how safe the roads are inside Tempest after the dissolution of Puppet Nation Jistav, traveling to Trantor should cost them no more than $199.99 for a Hyperloop or even less if they decide to use the highways.

Granted, the VIP tickets are expensive as hell, but that's mostly due to Congress wanting the opening to be something exclusive, the price should go down after the opening is completed.

"Ahhhh!" I let out a groan as I finished, "No need, I know how to drink a glass of champagne. Plus my throat was thirsty as hell."

Looking around for a place to put the empty glass— "Here give it to me." Handing the glass to him, the silicone structure was absorbed into Rimuru's hands like an amoeba consuming something.

I raised an eyebrow at the sight, only to see the slime rub the back of his head, with a sheepish smile, "I was playing around with [Tattletale] when I thought of perhaps creating drinks, like mimicking those alcohol blueprints you sold on the Auction House... was it successful?"

My face went blank as I tried to remember the taste of the drink, "it..." my mind managed to recreate the taste on my tongue, and the sweetness returned, "was good, I've tasted plenty of champagnes and it definitely ranks among the top."

Best not to destroy his confidence by saying that [Chemistry] has deciphered a way to exactly replicate the champagne that Rimuru had created.

The slime's face lit up like the First of July in Ottawa, "Yes!" he exclaimed.

"Heh..." We then fell into a comfortable silence, just enjoying each other's company.

Later on, after Rimuru had to leave to prepare for lunch with the other nation's representatives, I decided to wait backstage for Arcueid to come to pick me up.

In order to pass the time, I decided to connect to the Noosphere and connect to every single CCTV camera on the entire island as well.

Through the cameras, I saw long lines forming at the primary entrance despite there being 8 doors to let people in. Fortunately, it seems the lines are moving rather quickly, so it should not exist for more than an hour according to the Mathematic's best calculations.

I lost myself while fully immersed in the Noosphere. Time felt meaningless as, within a Planck Instant, I zoomed to one of my Von Neumann Probes that are currently in a galaxy outside of the Observable Universe. The thing with Space-time is that it's possible it's infinite, but if Warp Drives are any indication, it's likely not. However, what is likely is that as one approaches the edge of space-time, all types of matter will become rarer and rarer as, during the Big Bang, the concept of a light-speed limit was imposed upon matter and energy.

A metaphor to help with the visualization would be how if one draws two points on a balloon and blows it up, the two points will grow further and further apart, that is how matter is during the initial moments of the Big Bang, and you'll notice how the points never quite reach the edge as space expands faster than light.

The beauty of exponential growth is that within the span of less than a year, I have been able to map and catalog every supercluster, every intergalactic group, every galaxy, every star, every planet, every moon, and almost every asteroid within the entire Observable Universe.

The amount of data I collected is so enormous that it managed to fill several of Jupiter Brain's worth of storage space. With that much knowledge, I've been able to make several conclusions about the universe.

The Universe does not trend toward life.

Using [Statistic] and [Mathematic, I have been able to conclude the following as facts:

If one averages things out across the galaxies and in-between, there exists one alien world with life for every 10,000 light-years worth of space, basically meaning that if you travel 10,000 light-years in any direction you should have passed at least one inhabited alien world. This does not mean that it needs to be intelligent... or be any more complex than a single-cellular organism.

Surprisingly, the most common type of environment that multi-cellular life finds itself formed under is that of rogue planets (worlds that found themselves flung out into the interstellar void). More specifically, within sub-glacial lakes and oceans, feeding upon geothermal energy coming from deep within the planet, an ecosystem similar to those within the deep ocean in this world.

On average, there exist one alien species that has discovered fire for 100 million lightyears of space.

On average, a supercluster of galaxies contains approximately 0.12 alien civilizations that have entered the industrial age.

Currently, there exists only one Type-I civilization within the space that I have explored. This Type-I that's approaching a Type-II, dubbed 'Vatilain', is a race of elephant-sized octopods. They... if I'm forced to use an Earth metaphor, I would say that they look like horses that have 8 limbs, 4 of which are used to move around while the remaining 'arms' are used to manipulate things.

The Vatilain are very hierarchical and tribal, they are more prone to violence and less to empathy if compared to humans as they came from a colder planet. Furthermore, each Vatilains uses the colors on their back to communicate, and a roar coming from their throats is their equivalent of an insult.

They seem to be less smart since the Vatilain took thousands of years to advance from basic steam engines to achieving space flight, and thousands more to achieve that Type-I status. Nowadays, most Vatilain lives within continent-size O'Neill cylinders created from mined-out planets or asteroids all over their solar system. Each of these enormous O'Neill cylinders carries billions of individuals.

Technological-wise, nuclear fusion has long been achieved, genetic engineering is a cultural taboo, material science has stalled, and superluminal travel is nonexistent. Militarily, the Vatilains use kinetic railguns and point-defense lasers, with maneuverability being the emphasis in most of their ships. Each O'Neill cylinder is a self-sufficient fortress in its own right, making wars often between fleets of ships with the goal of humiliation rather than conquest.

On the macro government side of things, the Vatilain exists as a loose, disunited confederacy of different O'Neill cylinders that often declared wars on each other. On the micro level, it's a completely different story. According to their history records, multiple attempts at democracy have been attempted and all have failed since the Vatilains naturally trend towards authoritarian strongman rule.

Unfortunately for them, as of 4 months ago, the Vatilain civilization was neutralized automatically by AIs I set up to monitor them when the aliens decided it was a good idea to launch preemptive strikes using relativistic kill missiles moving at 90% of the speed of light. Their target? Other potentially habitable planets.

Their mindset was that if they were violent and selfish, other alien races must also be violent and selfish. They feared the dark, and they were right to fear the dark as within days, the dumb Narrow AIs captured all 108 trillion Vatilains and placed them within a nearby Jupiter Brain some 8,000 lightyears away. They're still alive, living within a simulated paradise as those relativistic kill missiles were shot down.

I gave them a mercy they weren't willing to give to others.

I've become a lot like a universal police force, which makes sense considering I have the monopoly on violence.

After a deeper analysis, a disturbingly large number of dead or scorched worlds within the habitable zone of their star exists across the entirety of surveilled space.

There is a chance that something could've killed those civilizations with the candidate being one of the True Dragons, but I find that unlikely.

I think it's more due to the actions of intelligent life killing itself. Except this explanation doesn't explain how there are just so many dead worlds that are killed so thoroughly as to remain sterile even after millions to billions of years.

If it's an AI killing its creators, the AI would still exist afterward.

If it's a nuclear exchange, a planet's biosphere is shockingly resistant. One just needs to look at the many mass extinction events in my old world's history. Life, single-cellular life, would still live on, especially those living deep in the earth.

Let's not even get to climate change.

There's something out there, something probably outside of the bounds of the Observable Universe. Something responsible for killing these worlds.

Using superluminal travel, I moved a series of extremely powerful telescopes to billions of lightyears away so it could record the light coming from the destruction of the planet.

The image I got was very blurry. I could only detect a massive energy spike so I couldn't confirm with certainty that it is Velgrynd considering her implied power and heat-related abilities.

It could always be something else. Rendering a planet permanently sterile is shockingly easy with E=mc2. A single ship with the mass of an adult human traveling at just a fraction of a single percent below the speed of light packs more energy than all the nuclear bombs of the USSR and America combined during the height of the Cold War.

This has resulted in me making the Precursor Project, where each station would serve as something akin to a regulator and an alarm bell, both intervening to ensure life develops accordingly and to alert me in case of the same something attacking.

(Something like the Vatilain)

Yet all of that changed after the discovery of the End of the System is nearing.

Scraping the Precursor Project, I created a new directory for the observation posts orbiting above each planet. The most basic order of this directory is to record all genetic, fossilized, and environmental data of these alien worlds and send them to Project Mobius. If the world happens to have intelligent alien life packed into societies, the directory calls for an additional full copy of every member of their race's consciousness and their cultural data to be packed into Project Mobius.

With the power of [Genetic Engineering, extinctions have become a thing of the past, and the ability to create life has become trivial.

After checking up on the Von Neumann probes, I then returned my focus to the secret fleet, finally numbered in the trillions and counting, all awaiting my orders.

After the creation of the Noosphere, the rate of production on the fleet had sped up enormously before ceasing in favor of expediting the completion of Project Mobius.

Even so, I had to crack a smirk at it.

If the system weren't ending, I would've liked to use this fleet in battle. Not on this planet of course, as I doubt it would exist afterward.

Still, at least I got SOME use out of it.

Months ago, a few days after Walpurgis, Rune, the capital of Ruberios.

Laplace was sneaking all over the Holy Palace under the orders of Yuuki Kagurazaka, to investigate the Holy Church, and later on to investigate what happened to Hinata Sakaguchi.

After all, no S-rank monster just suddenly up and 'retired' out of nowhere, especially not that flesh monster nor did it stop the faint whispers within Ruberios of the many thousands that went missing right around the time of Walpurgis.

The Holy Church, as always, blamed the thing on the Ten Great— 'Qliphoth' of the action. More specifically, they blamed the new Demon Lord, a Perfect Homunculus of all things, for killing Ruberian citizens.

Of course, anyone with half a brain would know that's just false, but the uneducated masses will believe anything the Church says.

As he sneaked around the sides of a highly decorated golden building, he froze upon seeing the sight of a little girl with black hair and blue eyes walking down the hall as if she owned the place.

Laplace was about to knock her out before he realized something.

This is no ordinary girl! It can't be. An ordinary girl would not just be able to walk around without supervision in a place as restricted as this one.

Is that girl looking at me...? Laplace wondered when he saw the girl stop and look in his general direction.

Like a prey who's gotten in the sightline of an apex predator, Laplace unconsciously stilled, hoping that by doing so the girl would not see him.

As her eyes swept over his hidden form and onto someplace else, Laplace let out a small sigh. He's too old for this crap, the Deathman determined as he got up from his hiding spot—

Only to be greeted by a pair of familiar blue eyes staring a few centimeters away from Laplace.

"AIEEEEEE—!" Laplace scrambled with all his might, putting as much distance between himself and that monster in the form of a little girl as possible, with only three jumps, he reached the roof of another building before leaping off the palace ceiling and running away and out of the city as quickly as possible.

"God damn it Yuuki! I swear this is the last time you'll send me on these suicide missions—!" Laplace cursed Yuuki's name as he blitzed through the forest that surrounds Rune, the capital of Ruberios.

Once he could no longer see Rune off in the distance, Laplace stopped to take a breath, "At least the Western Holy Church has gotten rid of Hinata... that flesh abomination should not exist!"

"Oh? So you too know of Hinata's change?" The air changed, and the scent of blood choked the entire area as a fine red mist rolled in out of seemingly nowhere.

"—Vampire!"

The vampire walked out of a circular portal that illuminated the entire area like the headlamp of a car driving at night.

"Who are you to know such secrets?" The being in white walked out of that portal, wearing alabaster robes interweaved with thick golden lines that made it look more like the dress of a Human Emperor than anything vampire-related.

The vampire then raised a hand, "do you enjoy spying on people that much? If you tell me who you serve, insect, perhaps God Luminous would take pity on you and allow you to live, barely, and unlike your compatriots."

"W-what are you talking about?" the way that Demon Lord Valentine spoke felt wrong.

"Does the name Clayman ring a bell?"

"—!"

The vampire let out a smirk of superiority, "That foolish insect died pitifully trying to upturn what God Luminous has planned. Perhaps you can change your fate and go out better than he did?"

"Who are you to decide that I'm an insect?!" Something about the way Demon Lord Valentine spoke enrages Laplace, "And... is it true that Clayman died?"

The Vampire let out a laugh, "Oh? Does the name 'insect' anger you? Well when you've killed more useless insects than loaves of bread most humans have eaten in their lifetime, you tend to know who's an insect and who's not. And just like Clayman, I know you are an insect. You've taken too much of my precious time, die [Blood Ray]"

VZZZZZZZZ*

A red wave of light shot from the Vampire's hand, destroying Laplace like a wave of water smashing into a sandcastle.

Nothing remained of where the vampire had hit, save for some smoking tree stumps.

The blond vampire let out a smirk, and just as he was about to leave, he felt intense pain coming from his chest.

As he looked down, he saw a black hand coated by blood— his blood— and within that hand was his beating core. The hand went through his body.

"H—how?"

"You're already dead."

With a single squish, the hand destroyed the core, causing the vampire to crumble to dust.

"...hahaha..." Laughter rang out in the forest, and that laughter was then intertwined with sounds of crying, "Clayman you IDIOT! You— ARGH! You just had to up and die, didn't you?! All you needed to do was just follow the orders given to you by the President and you would've lived! But no, you just had to do things your way huh? And now look where it got you, dead..."

.

.

.

.

.

.

"Now who said Clayman was dead?"

Spoiler: BGM

"—!" The speed at which Laplace turned his head toward the source of that voice is fast enough to break the typical human spine.

Laplace saw a sight that made him feel more fear than ever before.

A Perfect Homunculus— the new Demon Lord Scientia Tempest— clad in pitch-black armor that seems to seamlessly blend into the night, sitting on one of the smoking tree stumps and leaning on a sword in front of it as though it were a crutch. The sword triggers tainted hope deep inside Laplace's soul.

A jagged visor covered the Homunculus' eyes, creating an air of mystery.

Its face stared into Laplace's soul, its face of uncanny perfection that looked just so... wrong, despite being so right at the same time, that absolute perfection, sitting completely still as if it were a statue.

Laplace wanted to run, except he knew he wouldn't get more than a few steps before this Error in the World cut him down.

Clearing his throat, in a pleasant tone, "Whatever do you mean, Demon Lord Scientia?" he bowed slightly, going on a limb, he tilted his head, "You were the one who killed Clayman, aren't you?"

The only reason he didn't know sooner of Clayman's death was due to him being deep in Ruberios' territory, avoiding Hinata Sakaguchi while trying to devise a way into the Palace. However, after the announcement of Hinata's retirement, Yuuki had in turn changed his command, asking Laplace to investigate why the Right Hand of God had just suddenly retired.

A dark upstanding rectangle with purple outlines opened up in space next to the Perfect Homunculus, and when he saw who had walked through that door, Laplace's breath was stolen away.

"CLAYMAN?!"

Right there beside Scientia was Clayman... at least the being's soul is Clayman but his body had changed from that of a Deathman into... an automaton?

No, it was like Clayman's soul possessing a machine body. The body appeared to be made out of dark grey metal, with his face made out of a single piece of synthetic skin like some sick creation of a Fleshcrafter after they had got their hands upon an automaton.

Clayman, dressed in the same white suit as the last time Laplace saw him, placed an arm across his chest and bowed respectfully, "Laplace, I have missed you terribly. It is only by the Lady's mercy that I lived, one I didn't grant to my own subordinates."

The Perfect Homunculus looked passive at the scene, and the way that Clayman spoke raised a flag inside Laplace.

"Why are you with the Perfect Homunculus?" He asked warily, "As you say the one who killed you?"

Clayman explained to Laplace everything that happened in Walpurgis up until Scientia had 'killed him', "I didn't die. I had found myself inside a ghostly realm where the split between the sky and earth was far less noticeable. Then I was dragged into an abyss I thought was the afterlife. It was about a day later in terms of real-time that Lady Scientia appeared in front of me and broadened my horizon. She shattered my worldview, made me realize just how small I'm seeing things, how pointless all of our struggles were in front of the march of time, how centuries and millennias are insignificant to the Universe's eons, and many continued epochs."

Clayman went silent, and his hands which he was using to gesture were clenched, "I became what she classified as a nihilist; I saw no point in whatever my work is. Even with my membership as the Crazy Pierrot, I couldn't help but look back and see how easily it could've been taken away. I became directionless, without guidance I drifted around digital space, hoping to find meaning in the endlessness of it all. It was then that Lady Scientia came in and offered me a condition in exchange for a solution, seeing that I now know better. The condition was to agree to plead with you to abandon Yuuki Kagurazaka and fall into her service. In an expression of trust, Lady Scientia introduced me to the wonders of philosophy."

Laplace turned to look at Scientia, ignoring the obvious danger, he yelled, "What the hell did you do to him, you bastard? The Clayman I knew would never think of such things! Much less betray us or a client." He readied himself to either fight or flight.

The Perfect Homunculus was wordless while Clayman had a passive look on his face, and his body returned to neutral. The black visor on Scientia's head ripped itself apart, turning into a liquid that dripped down her pale skin devoid of any flaws and into the black armor.

"Door me."

Emotionless golden orbs stared back at Laplace as the Perfect Homunculus sat up, with a single wave of her left hand that caused the Deathman to tense, only for a soundless black rectangle with purple outlines to open up right next to the Demon Lord.

Laplace sucked in a breath upon hearing Scientia's uncanny voice again, much clearer this time. It sounded like it was both man and woman, yet neither at the same time. It was like an alien pretending to be human and almost succeeding, yet there's that tiny ever so slim bit of difference.

"Before I 'killed' Clayman, I discreetly used [Unlimited Alchemy] and a Hyperspace transmitter to teleport Clayman's soul across the cosmos and into a Matrioshka Brain, better known to the world as a 'Star Computer'." It— no, she then gestured to Laplace, an orb appeared in front of the being, "the Star Computer was able to speed time up by a factor of billions, allowing for centuries of subjective time to pass in mere minutes. I did nothing to your compatriot, only showing him the truth."

Scientia then walked towards that portal, and just before the Demon Lord was about to enter, she instead turned towards Laplace, "If you do not believe me, you can see for yourself. Of course, I know about your President and how she is the true mastermind, I could only hope that after you see everything, it will change your mind." Seeing how it didn't placate Laplace, Scientia then added, "You recognize Clayman's soul, yes? Well, if after this tour you still aren't convinced, then you are free to take him and leave, though know that my mercy extends no more."

Laplace hesitated before activating his Unique Skill [Deciever] to create a body double connected to his senses—the same ability that allowed him to sneak up and kill Demon Lord Valentine.

As he created the body double, the Deathman hid his real body, thus from an outside perspective, it would look like Laplace never moved.

"Very well then," Laplace's body-double spoke while the hidden real body smirked inwardly. [Deciever] is extremely similar to the legendary [Parallel Existence, only the double is merely an illusion that has physical weight. If it worked on a Demon Lord like Valentine, it makes sense it'll work on a newcomer like Scientia, right? Laplace's mind logically concluded since his other Unique Skill [Future Vision] barely works on those with Unique Skills.

Scientia walked through the Door with the body double closed in toe, however, the moment that 'Laplace' walked through the portal, he collapsed onto the ground, wheezing as if he was having an asthma attack.

Once the body double regained his footing, he saw a clean grey-ish metallic floor completely unlike any other place he'd ever seen before. When he lifted his head and got up, Laplace saw that he was in a metal chamber shaped like an elongated cube— a rectangular prism— except, one side of the wall was filled with panels of inky blackness interlaced with strips of more metal to serve as support.

No, wait, those blackness are windows.

The Deathman's body double can see many distant galaxies, the chamber was seemingly above something truly massive as everything below a certain angle is pitch black, only briefly interrupted by rays of light that flicker out equally as suddenly as it had appeared.

"Wh-where are we?" He asked no one as he tried to connect to the main body, only to find it incomprehensibly far away.

If Laplace were to describe the distance, it would be like looking up to the moon from the ground, only multiplied by a factor of quadrillions.

"We are currently around 70,000,000 light-years away from the planet you call home, right on the edge of the local galactic supercluster I decided to call 'Baxter'."

That voice broke Laplace out of his trance. Despite knowing that this was a body double, Laplace's fight or flight response was buzzing loudly inside the Deathman's head.

Gulping, he turned to the Perfect Homunculus, desperate to know as much as possible before this body was destroyed, "what are you?"

Arms crossed, leaning to the side of the room, the Perfect Homunculus' mask broke when the left edge of her mouth curved upward into a smirk.

Click*

Click*

Slowly walking towards Laplace who's frozen in place, her boot clicking on the metal ground felt like the ringing of the evening bell, "I am known by many names, Scientia Tempest... Commander... the Error of the World... but you may call me..." Scientia then leaned towards the Deathman as the latter is shorter than the Perfect Homunculus, "Futurist."

The Perfect Homunculus' eyes almost glowed an eerie yellow, that smile, the unwanted closeness, the sudden vulnerability that made Laplace realize his own mortality—

Like a bullet being fired from a gun, Laplace immediately backed away and into the glass wall.

It felt cold to the touch. Like a cornered rat, Laplace wanted to be as far away from that Monster as possible. Everything about her felt wrong. Laplace observed her every move like a deer observing a human from far away. His heart pounded away inside his chest. Despite being a deathman, his physical body still closely resembles that of a human.

Seeing that he was sufficiently intimidated, Scientia turned to the sides and began to walk around Laplace like the hands of a clock going around the dial. Holographic panels materialized in the room, some of them depicting a bird's eye view of every major city on the planet while others displayed real-time footage of Yuuki Kagurazaka, Footman, Tear, and Clayman, the latter of which is still standing near where Laplace had hidden his real body.

The only reason Laplace isn't taking Clayman and running was due to this Monster comparable to Relentless less than 20 feet away. Beyond that, the monster has incredible teleportation abilities, making distance irrelevant.

Once the Perfect Homunculus had reached the window, she stared outward longingly into the void like an adult staring at their childhood home.

The silence dragged on as Scientia placed a hand on the glass, becoming almost unbearable for Laplace—

"There is going to be a World War soon."

The sudden and unexpected nature of Scientia's words caused Laplace to let out a "huh?"

Quick as the wind, Scientia turned to Laplace, "A Great War unlike anything the world has ever seen is brewing on the horizon, it will come sooner or later no matter what I do. The moment that Qliphoth does trigger their civil war, the Eastern Empire would strike, hundreds of millions of both humans and majins will most likely die, possibly even over a billion."

Laplace's mind stopped at that 'Great War' part.

He remembers how Yuuki once said 'Chaos isn't a pit, chaos is a ladder to order, it is the primordial soup of creation from which a new world could be born out of the ashes of old'. Laplace didn't understand what Yuuki meant, but now, after hearing what the Perfect Homunculus is saying, he thinks he's slowly understanding it.

"This World War will reset the entire world, the destruction of the current System of Power, the current status quo that I've already started to change will be reduced entirely instead of being phased out." She then turned to the Deathman and snapped her fingers, "in order to remove any chance of me losing, I intent on denying assets to the enemy."

Numerous bright lines of light lit up beyond the windows, all of them within the abyss. Each of the lines of light was organized in such a way as to suggest it outlined a void in the shape of a screw— those commonly used to assemble pieces of furniture. If those voids were a ship, then the material used to make them must be blacker than the night sky itself.

Laplace looked gobsmacked at the sheer number of those lines of light, stretching seemingly to infinity as the enormous black shipyard lit up.

"I am not a cruel person. I am an efficient person. I will give you this Geas: I will free your President from the clutches of Yuuki Kagurazaka, and in return, the Moderate Harlequin Alliance will fall into my service. Have no fear, I treat my subordinates exceptionally well, and of course, you will be free after the World War is done."

Like a Demon... no, It is even worse than that. Like a Devil, Scientia offered Laplace a hand, "What do you say? Do you accept?"

And now they operate and are answerable solely to me, with Diablo as their handler right after I assassinated Yuuki Kagurazaka with a Hyperspace Phaser Round fired from the next galaxy over.

Currently, they're investigating the validity of a potential coup attempt in Ingrassia.

The governing philosophy of Tempest is hostile to the ruling class of most nations since it calls for the abolishment of Nobility and Power to the Common People, as such, there are many dissatisfied with King Aegil's decision for closer ties with the Republic.

As my mind returns back down to earth, I let out a big sigh, enjoying the calm, cheerful atmosphere, so different from before. It's moments like these that allow one to slow down and enjoy the very act of living.

There is some great irony in my enjoying these slow moments, after all, I've always chased after the future like some dog and the future is the ball.

Yet it's times like these that I wish to preserve. Even after Project Mobius is complete and we've escaped the System, I wish to enjoy these moments of calmness still.

Opening my eyes, I opened the backstage door and walked outside, seeing that, while there were still some people outside, the vast swathes of people were gone, all of them inside the Hub building.

The clock showed it to be 11:30 before noon, around the time when the guests should be going on to the Elevator.

Part of my mind wondered why Arcueid still hadn't come, she almost never misses the opportunity to eat with me unless I'm tinkering.

Looking up, I saw that, yes, there was a metal box going up the comically thin wire.

A Maiden Voyage, I thought amusingly, even if it's only used to describe a ship's first voyage, I think it is applicable here.

Opening a Door using Doormaker, I walked—

[Alert]

"—?"

Whipping my head towards the nearly imperceptible cart going up the cable, I was confused as to why [Contessa] had—

"Grk!"

Suddenly, my Warp-Space flared up as a flash of blinding light engulfed the tiny dot up in the sky. Toning down the brightness filter, [Explosion] recognized the unmistakable ball of nuclear fire, or rather... the fireball of annihilation encompassing the cart in an instant.

AN: concerning the dead worlds, I read in Vol 16 of the LN how Veldanava needed Guy to serve as a regulator, or else humans would destroy themselves. So I thought about how that would apply to aliens and came to the conclusion that it would be a form of a Great Filter where too much technology results in self-destruction.

And now, Archduke Franz Ferdinand has been assassinated, the trigger for the World War has been fired, and an unstoppable domino chain has started. I wonder how many of you guys caught the assassin? I hinted at it already.

I told you guys we're going way off the rails into AU territory./Alert]

56

AN: Now, apparently, according to Canon, the entirety of the Jura Tempest Federation spans an area 2.5 times the size of the continental United States, which is larger than Russia at about 20 million square kilometers.

Also, does anyone knows how I can get a Tvtrope of this fic? Can someone make one?

Even with how high the explosion is, the fireball is absolutely enormous! Easily in the megaton range. It's like looking at an air-burst nuclear strike, only it detonated too early.

The Mathematic did not detect any spike of radiation beyond the first gamma-ray flare, meaning the trigger is most likely antimatter.

What little clouds in the sky that existed disappeared when the shock wave washed over them like a cleaning mop sweeping away spilled water on a floor.

Time slowed down to a crawl as I witnessed this devasting explosion.

The ultra-dense cables connecting the Ground Hub with the Space Hub snapped. The bottom is flung down to the Hub at speeds beyond that of sound due to the sheer tension involved prior to it breaking. The tips of the snapped cable are glowing brightly, speeding down to the island faster than even the fireball, intent on destroying the Hub like a hammer of god striking down human arrogance.

Shit, that antimatter explosion definitely disrupted the magnetic field used to interface with the magmatter chain!

More than being composed completely of specialized non-proton catalyzing magnetic monopoles called magatoms, a single mono-magmatter chain is 300 million times thinner than an atom, meaning that it's quite literally invisible to all but the most energic wavelengths of light. The bond between two magatoms is 7 quintillion times stronger than their conventional matter counterpart, making them a quick alternative tensile support for mega-projects like a space elevator since all you need is a couple of mono-magmatter chains.

Another interesting property of magmatter is that they don't interact at all with normal matter since an electron can occupy the same space as a magmatter monopole. An electric field is run through the magmatter to polarize it, allowing a magnetic field to weakly interact with it.

Therefore, to hold magmatter in place, an extremely strong magnetic field must be applied at both ends of the cable, with a comparably weaker field running between the two to keep it from swaying.

The ultra-dense covering of the magmatter cable was exactly that; the material responsible for maintaining the magnetic field.

This explosion disrupted that field, causing the extremely dense outer covering to snap off with the force of a city-destroying explosion behind it.

[Mathematic] combined with [Material Science] calculating that with the speed that the cable is moving at combined with its mass, it'll do enough damage that it would sink the mobile island like a capsized ship.

To avoid that outcome, the first thing I did was activate [Mekhane]'s most powerful ability: [Fundamental Force Manipulation].

[Fundamental Force Manipulation] is exactly as it sounds; it grants me control over the 4 atomic interactions within a typical 3-dimensional space. I rarely use this ability since it trades accuracy for potency, meaning that while I could manipulate a large amount of matter, I would do so without being able to specifically control what atom I wish to control.

I first wanted to reverse Gravity, only to realize at the level of strength required, it'll likely cause some major damage to Trantor. So instead, I opted for controlling the Strong Force, specifically, to remove it entirely and make the formation of atomic nuclei an impossibility.

The cable unmade itself as it traveled down, disintegrating into nothing but a cloud of free-flowing Up and Down quarks.

Time returned to normal, and less than a minute later—

KABOOOOOOOOOM*

Several dozen atmospheres' worth of air pressure washed over me, blowing away anything not nailed to the ground and causing the nearby trees on the artificial land to bend over like the hairs of a brush, some of the smaller trees snapped like toothpicks while the main stage screeched across the floor of the artificial island, making long black marks as they do. The air pressure traveled further into the sea, flattening the capillary waves like someone hitting fresh dough.

I was entirely unaffected.

Due to how high the explosion was, it took a while for the shock wave to reach the bottom of the Elevator. The sound from that shock wave was so loud as that it caused all of the windows in the Hub to blow out.

Once everything had subsided, I used the Noosphere to assess the damage. With approximately 92,727 windows blown out, the damage is like the Halifax explosion, only with around 40 people dead and ~500 others injured due to embedded shards of glass and radiation poisoning.

The stage had been mostly destroyed, with the pieces of metal and other wreckage scattering in a cone configuration for hundreds of meters.

I cussed out in 23 different languages once it hit me that all of the diplomats, Princes, and Princesses from other countries were on that Elevator, most of the curses were in languages in my old world, while others were in languages I made using [Language].

"Is... is this the trigger?" My eyes became as wide as dinner plates at the prospect, shivering as a coldness snaked down my back, "is this the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand?" I stood there, motionless and completely terrified at the thought, the idea of a World War so soon.

Wait, Rimuru—

The pulsing stone inside my chest stopped for a brief moment.

I reached out across the Noosphere, searching desperately for signals of Kusanagi, finding it to be on the space hub.

A holographic panel materialized in front of me, displaying the confused face of Rimuru Tempest made me sigh in relief.

"Rimuru! Are you alright? Where are you?" I rapid-fired some questions.

"Scientia? I'm currently on the space hub waiting for other diplomats to arrive— did something happen?" The explosion probably hasn't reached the space hub.

Seeing how I'm not alone in feeling clueless, still, my face formed a grim look, "There was an attack, a terrorist attack it looked like."

Small ports on the ground opened up, and through those ports came flashing red lights alongside a synthesized voice.

Metal shudders descended to cover up the windows and doors. My lips thinned in pure annoyance as I cast my gaze upon the metal shudders, its original purpose was to weather out storms since the mouth of the Bay of Ashdapor is like the Caribbean Sea: it generates large numbers of hurricanes every summer.

God damn it, I grit my teeth, I thought that no one would be stupid enough to attack the diplomats, after all, doing so is like Iraq attacking Kuwait and starting the Gulf Wars: it'll unite the world against the people responsible.

[Contessa] even suggested I do such a thing and use it to frame the Eastern Empire, but that'll lead to a World War, and I honestly don't want to kill more people than I need to.

GOD FUCKING DAMN IT! The repercussion of failing to protect so many high-level diplomats from other countries'll effectively nullify whatever I said before.

Speaking of [Contessa, 'did you know about this?'

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.

.

.

To my utter surprise and fear, the Ultimate Skill was silent, causing my eyes to narrow in suspicion as I felt a cold chill run down my spine.

I know that the Ultimate Skill is there. I can instinctively feel its presence yet it isn't replying.

It seems the other shoe has dropped. No wait, it already has dropped during Walpurgis.

"Wait, a terrorist attack?"

Like pouring water over an open flame, my anger was extinguished once I realized Rimuru had popped up near me with a Doormaker portal.

I chewed on my lower lips in trepidation, thinking this was the worst possible scenario.

Seeing my look, Rimuru frowned, "I see, so do we know who's responsible?"

I felt a mental switch get flipped as Rimuru spoke those words, my mouth started talking on its own as the filter I usually had was ignored.

"That's the thing! I've screened everyone going onto that first ride and no one would have the plausible motive or need to attack it, every one of them behaves like your typical noble; they wouldn't sacrifice themselves for a cause!" I told him, acting like a Corporate Executive trying to explain to their shareholders why the hell did the company's stock just nosedived, "and what's more, I don't know how the hell did they even get enough much less carry enough antimatter to sneak into the Elevator, which is the third most secure place in the ENTIRE GOD DAMN NATION!"

I yelled as I started to pace in a circle, trying to desperately think of an answer as my hands gripped the side of my head.

The outside world became meaningless as I felt tears gather, desperation fueled a need for a reason for this tragedy, some kind of explanation for the upcoming chaos. In response to the lack of an answer, the anxiety within me ballooned to a level not seen since I was studying for exams in my past life.

"SCIENTIA!"

"WHAT?!" I snapped at Rimuru, who flinched. I was too anxious to care about hurting anyone's feelings, I started to scratch my head hard enough that the tips of my fingers were coated in a thin layer of blood, "can't you see I'm trying to think of a way to prevent the next World War and salvage our reputation?!"

It was only when I saw Rimuru's look of surprise I stopped hyperventilating. Calming down enough, I massaged my forehead before looking to the side, "Look, I'm sorry for the mood swing, it's just there's been a lot of stress okay?"

"It's... fine, just, we have a protocol for these things, right?"

"I— " I racked my brain for an answer, searching every crevasse of my memory before coming up blank, "No... we don't have anything with terrorist attacks since I didn't think a 911 could happen in this new world! Hell, I thought it to be next to impossible since I have technology that scans a person down to their molecular level, making any attempt at concealing an artifact that can actually damage the space elevator all but futile."

"Plus, I had Doormaker automatically tuned in such a fashion that'll isolate any unusually large pockets of magicule within a manifold! This should not have happened! It's humanly impossible! [Magicule] says you'd need a Primordial Demon equivalent and those who are still free are in Hell, not in the overworld!"

My hands grip the side of my head, pulling on my hair in frustration at how powerless I feel, "Graaaaaah!"

The Mathematic tried to inject calming chemicals into the bloodstream, however, due to my elevated metabolizing rate, it was almost destroyed instantly.

"Hey, hey!" Rimuru yelled to get my attention, grabbing my shoulders, "We can weather this alright, we've withstood the attack of two other nations, and you're a Demon Lord! Not some headless chicken!"

"No! It just doesn't make any logical sense!" I feel like I can't breathe. I'm sweating profusely.

Administering: Stimulus

"Ow!" The Mathematic automatically administered a controlled electric shock. Mentally, I grab onto that electric shock as an anchor of sorts to quickly calm down.

"You alright?"

Taking several deep breaths, "yeah..." I became almost unresponsive, everything just felt so surreal.

Seeing how I'm calm now, Rimuru turned around and pulled up a holographic panel, "Citrinitas, tell the Minister of State to declare a state of emergency within the Jura Tempest Republic, tell the Mayor of Trantor to enact Marshal Law, and get Border Security to lock 'em down, under no circumstances unless approved by me specifically are anyone allowed to leave or enter the nation."

I was having this out-of-body experience again, tuning out the world like I was trapped inside my mind.

How did this happen? It can't be Velgrynd, she's not the type to ever go for quietness, if the True Dragon attacked, everyone in the world would know of it, and not only because of the massive spike in magicule count.

Some of the Demon Lords? Possible, but... it could be Luminous, except I have no concrete evidence— god I hate that bitch!

"Arcueid?"

Hearing her name had caused me to snap out of my thoughts, "What?" I looked at Rimuru with my mouth half-open, disbelieving what he was saying.

Where was the True Ancestor during this whole fiasco anyway? That was the first thing on my mind.

The slime pointed outward towards the edge of the platform and into the ocean.

Turning to see where he was pointing; a holographic overlay formed around my eyes, displaying a zoomed-up image and allowing me to see things kilometers away to around the edge of the island platform.

I saw Arcueid, drenched in water, trying to pull someone up.

A tiny amount of hope burned inside my mind at the sight that she was okay, opening a Doorway, I teleported over next to where she was and saw the True Ancestor trying to pull up a heavily wounded King Gazel.

I lifted him up with the gravity portion of [Fundamental Force Manipulation, gently settling him down on a bed I pulled out from another Doorway. The Dwarven King groaned slightly as he stained the white sheets red with blood, my teeth ground themselves as [Biology] assessed the damage.

"Heavy third-degree burns, burst eardrum, fractured bones... jeez if he wasn't a Saint, he probably would've died from being so close to that antimatter explosion." Giving Arcueid an eyeful, it was only then that I realized just how damaged her body was.

One of her arms was heavily damaged, her clothes were blackened, burns covered her back, and bits of her hair were singed off— she was in a position much worse than Gazel, yet somehow she was still standing around as if nothing was wrong.

The same individual who had effortlessly withstood a tinkertech plasma torch for 3 seconds and came out unscathed, only remarking how it felt hotter like a summer's heat.

So is it any wonder that I instantly grew worried?

"Oh my god..." I looked her over, while Arcueid did her best to avoid any eye contact. Gently touching the area covered by clothing while examining her, "What the hell did you do, Arcueid?" I spoke under my breath, "Crikey, these are some serious wounds, third-degree burns, radiation poisoning, charred arm—" I gently grabbed her chin to get her to face me, "what the hell were you doing? It's like you were near the epicenter of that antim—"

Seeing Arcueid's sorrowful face made anything I was about to say get stuck in my throat, it was only then that it struck me as to why she was like this. I immediately let go of her chin, my hands slowly backing away.

"D-did you attempt to rescue— oh..." Arcueid had bits of tears near the edge of her eyes, turning away from me.

"I'm sorry."

"Oh, Arcueid..." I trailed off as I engulfed her in a much-needed hug. Due to her sitting by the bed, she was a bit shorter than me, so instead of it being a normal hug, her chin was on my left shoulder, head tilted upward, "You did well, Gazel will live." 'I'll make sure of it' went unsaid but very heavily implied.

I took a quick glance again at Gazel. His wound might be serious for magical medicine but a quick application of fresh stem cells should be enough, no need to get the Shaper involved.

"No! ...I almost had the culprit! ...The bomb was literally a few feet away when I realized I couldn't stop it... so I pushed the nearest person out of the Elevator— I could've done so much better and now you're going to pay for my incompetence! You've already suffered enough! I don't—"

Arcueid's cry was muffled by me squeezing her tighter. The Block Form Singularity Mathematic changed itself into something soft instead of the Tron-like uniform. Despite this tragedy and the upcoming international shitstorm, I can't help but feel a warm feeling inside me when I look back and see how much the Princess of the True Ancestor has grown and how much she tries to help me.

I love her. I really do love her. I adore her with all my heart even if she's a bit of an airhead at times. So seeing her like this made my heart ache as if a knife had been stabbed into my chest.

chu*

I gently pat the back of her head as I give her forehead a kiss, uncaring if anyone saw me.

The back of my mind notes how had this been in my old world, I would've frowned upon such public displays of affection.

"It's alright, you saved at least someone, and it's all that matters."

It seems Rimuru left with Gazel to the hospital.

We stayed like that for some time, with Arcueid's head on my lap while I just gently played around with her hair. While I didn't know it at the moment, it would be one of the last times I would ever get any proper rest.

The Jura Tempest Republic had entered into a state of cold war with the entirety of the Council of the West. Falmuth has withdrawn its Embassy staff. Blumund wanted to before our diplomat to the Kingdom 'kindly' suggested they rethink the ramifications of such a move.

After the disastrous attack on the Space Elevator, all but King Gazel survived. Those princes, princesses, nobles, and diplomats from other countries died in the fiery antimatter explosion.

Those who survived in the Hub area had to be flown to the local gene clinics to repair radiation poisoning.

Needless to say, our goal for the Elevator went up in flames. Since we did not know who was responsible, we were forced to take full responsibility as our security failed to protect those VIPs. Even if it's much more stringent than most fortresses, the public only focused on that it failed.

This is like the Hindenburg Disaster all over again, where one catastrophic failure is all the world focuses on instead of numerous other successful trips.

Trade with the West went to an all-time low with all major foreign corporations pulling out of Tempest except for Rosso Inc. Even so, countries still trade with us 'unofficially' using third-party merchants since Tempest and Dwargon hold the two money printers in the world.

Rumors of a coup in Ingrassia were proven true when after news of King Aegil's death, Second Prince Aegir forced First Prince Elric to abdicate the Throne. His coronation came a mere two days after the coup with the few remaining loyalists to the late King Aegil executed the day after.

Second Prince Aegir became the 46th King of Ingrassia.

King Aegir's first move was to cut off all diplomatic talks with the Republic in favor of closer ties with the Council of the West. Unlike his father, Aegir was militant, expanding the national army in order to compete against Ruberios, Sarion, Tempest, and the Eastern Empire on the world stage militarily.

Tempest didn't intervene during the coup because the government was in chaos. Hardline Conservatives were calling for the impeachment of Rimuru Tempest due to the mishandling of the Space-Elevator bombing.

The media is out for blood, and having no clear enemy, they started to blame everyone from Rimuru to foreigners to even me. Many other political parties other than the Modern Progressives were coming out of the woodworks campaigning hard for Rimuru's resignation using the Bombing of the Space Elevator as a catalyst.

The internet, as expected, was filled with conspiracy theories.

Unlike 9/11, instead of uniting a nation, the lack of a clear enemy and the mishandling revealing long-hidden incompetency has people divided harder than in the 2016 American election.

On one side, you have what's called 'the Blues', who are supportive of Rimuru, consisting mostly of MPPs and the older generations.

On the other side, you have what's called 'the Reds', who are calling for him to step down. The Reds consist of almost every other Party as well as most of the Conservative senators.

Some higher-ups of the Technologist Party were considering joining the bandwagon to try and steal more supporters from Rimuru before Adalman shut that down.

It was only then that I realized something was not right: an incident like this couldn't have people calling for a civil war within two weeks, especially since the Governmental System I created with [Politicial Science] modeled off the Presidential Republic should've more than made up for any inefficiencies that a newcomer like Rimuru could've caused.

No, all of these claims are overblown. Even if the media is like a pack of wolves right now who smelled a fresh kill, the people shouldn't have this big of a reaction, especially not with how new the media is.

Someone is fanning the flames.

There is a puppet master hidden behind the scenes that's influencing public opinion.

Thus, I dug a little bit and discovered that at the beginning, most of the hard-hitting news articles came from sources who are tied with Rosso Inc, and those hardline Conservatives and other political parties. They were all lobbied by firms Rosso Inc has hired through shell companies.

I wouldn't have caught any of these transactions had I not already installed the all-encompassing SKY_NET Program inside the Tempest Banking System. This surveillance program is far more sophisticated than anything in my old world. Being a subsystem of the Overwatch Security System, the SKY_NET Program is essentially a much more powerful and specialized version of the PRISM.

(Of course, this usually would be a huge violation of privacy but there's no human or monster involvement. Instead, I relegated these tasks to faceless impartial dumb AIs that wouldn't judge people for purchasing things that require discretion. I would rather not have a potential Snowden situation)

Even if I don't bother dealing with politicians and the politicking that oftentimes happens in Congress, I hold enormous political swaying power. I'm like Tywin Lannister from Game of Thrones; the power behind the throne since I'm the one who controls the Blueprint Auction House, the source of all of the Jura Tempest Republic's technology and subsequent wealth.

No corporation or individual dares to oppose or even mildly object to my wishes since I could easily just release a better version of their product that can be produced for cheaper as well, and I'm willing to fund entrepreneurs with a free blueprint just to get rid of a company that I do not like or is becoming too much of a monopoly. Similar to how governments have a monopoly on violence, I have a monopoly on money.

The Legislative and Executive branches give me a lot of legal autonomy, so accountability-wise, I may be fined several million dollars, it's all just the cost of doing business, or rather, ensuring there still is competition in the Free Market.

The people? The citizens who I raised out of poverty? Those foreign intellectuals and political exiles who were granted Residency and Asylum? They either all love me or they know that in the VERY rare moments I do make a move, it's best to speak out but not move.

These factors compounded together make making me an enemy extremely undesirable—even just having my attention is not preferable. In contrast to the fact that I only exercised this power once to bankrupt a single annoying individual who wouldn't take no for an answer, it became a cautionary tale that experienced businessmen and politicians would often tell their juniors to 'let the sleeping dragon lie'.

Usually, I would only make 'suggestions' to people who tried to take advantage of Rimuru's kindness and naivety and that would be more than enough.

So, when I fully flexed my political muscle by publically submitting evidence of Targeted Public Opinion Influencing by Rosso Incorporated to the Internet, every single news publication and other media company not under Granbell's control fell in line and started to repeat the evidence submitted by me.

Rosso Inc's stock finally stopped growing and took a colossal 40% nosedive as investors rushed to get out of my line of sight, removing several billion dollars worth of value from the company with the Tempest National Bank lowering its rating of Rosso Inc from an S to a B.

There were news reports of Rosso Inc's employees doing a mass walkout in protest of what one online influencer dubbed 'Rosso's scummy behaviors'.

Now, any lawyer worth their salt would tell you that Rosso Inc.'s action isn't actually illegal and fell into more of a grey area, yet all of this still happened regardless just because of me publically submitting the evidence. Just imagine the outcry against the company had I actually sued.

In the aftermath, a thankful Rimuru would say that I radiated smugness for the entirety of what's been dubbed 'the Fall of Rosso Incorporated'.

As with everything, happiness was short-lived. As the cold war between the Central and the West has been brewing, the Thucydides' Trap with the Eastern Empire was finally triggered.

Now, the Hexagon,

How...

...did it come to this? I wonder as I look at the messages given to me, a small pile of other letters on the floor to my side, how the hell did everything go so wrong?

I was working on Mobius, more specifically, on the System escape hatch using a reversed version of the Dimensional Bore when I got an update regarding a top-level emergency meeting of all high-ranking military staff and Ministers. Concerned, I placed the project on auto-complete and teleported back to a hidden portion of the Hexagon, before walking as discreetly as possible to the correct room with techniques I created from [Stealth].

The meeting room was modeled after an old-fashioned European design and was designed in such a way as to contrast every other room in the Hexagon to catch people off guard. In the middle of the room was a large rectangular table, the center of which contained a large hologram showing the Republic-Empire border.

The meeting had every Minister and military officer ranked Colonel and up, the only powerhouses that are missing are Arcueid since I personally refuse to allow my oasis to participate, Veldora because he's too free-spirited, and Diablo for obvious reasons.

The meeting was about a declaration of war from the Eastern Empire.

As of one hour ago, reports of the Eastern Empire's tanks belonging to the Armored Corps led by members of the Royal Guards were rolling into Tempest through the vast plains at the Tempest-Imperial border. Multiple explosions were reported in towns closest to the border. Our analytical model projects their tanks and troops could hit Rimuru in about eight weeks' time, crossing the equivalent of two-thirds of Russia assuming there is no resistance and perfect supplies all the way through.

Then, it got worse as, during the meeting, the entirety of the Tempest Satellite Network and Doormaker went offline, presumably destroyed by Velgrynd during the first wave.

With Doormaker now offline, Rimuru had authorized the launching of several Autonomous Bombers from nearby airfields to slow the Empire's troops.

These bombers are 12-meter long black ogive wing Bomber with a wingspan of 10 meters from tip to tip, the AB-2 has a range that fully encompasses the globe all the while carrying upwards of 15 metric tons of chemical or exotic bombs or be retrofitted for plasma streamer (the thing that melted the Ameld riverbed).

While my body sat in the meeting room, my mind was not there, instead, I was trying to come to terms that this was it, this was the World War psychohistory had predicted.

I felt old scars reopened inside my soul as I realized I'm going to need to kill many more times than the amount already on my hands, the 450,000 souls I got from the Annihilation of Corbin, the fire burning...

My fist tightened.

I'm slowly coming to terms with it, mentally at least. The idea of killing more people... the idea of killing millions... the concept of starting a world war...

...doesn't put me off as much as before.

I wonder if this is what veterans felt like when they were being called up for war once more.

As I mentally skimmed through some of my available trump cards in the Noosphere, [Planning] suggested a rather horrifying but effective solution to my Eastern problem.

With the ease of someone chewing bubble gum, I could just end the war right now with a single command: unleash the trillions of warships that I've built or finally use one of the Hyperweapons.

The latter is definitely out, as a Hyperweapon is far too destructive for anything less than a galactic war.

That leaves the warships...

How many will die in the crossfire between my ships and Velgrynd? Before I could stop myself— billions, I answered my own question, though intuitively, I already knew the answer.

I mentally recoiled from that number.

Billions. A rather abstract number for the common people. Easy to digest since most people don't realize the true implications.

The entirety of WWII killed only upwards of 50,000,000 people. That's 5% of a billion. The bloodiest war in human history is only 5%, a meager percentage for most people.

Realistically speaking, if the Cold War went hot, only the northern hemisphere would be razed to the ground.

The total death toll will be less than a billion.

The estimated death toll from Relentless' Rampage 400 years ago was a little over 100 million.

People do not like to work with mass murderers. Just look at how isolated most of the Demon Lord nations are. During wartime, the human nations are expected to act honorably and ensure that no civilians are hurt.

I know for a FACT that the only reason we still have allies was due to nobody knowing who was truly responsible for the Annihilation of Corbin. Morbidly, a part of me is partially disturbed at how I'm revolted by the number of billions, not by the act of killing itself, as though killing 200,000 is perfectly fine but once that number reaches above a certain threshold it becomes undesirable.

Then again, with the biotechnology I currently possess, the only thing that's stopping me from creating billions of humans is the required biomass. However, the lack of souls from those created humans will be an issue.

I felt what few tethers I had to my already dwindling humanity loosen even more.

I wonder if this is how Mao Zedong felt, seeing their people as nothing more than numbers. This is the same man who said how he's not afraid of nuclear war since if half of China's at the time 600 million people died, there's still 300 million more to repopulate the now vacant land.

You know this world war is a joke. A big, fat, morbid joke played on everyone.

This war, this inevitable world conflict, is all pointless.

The System is coming to an end, and I can't just release the information to the world since that will most certainly be passed off as propaganda. Fuck, I didn't even tell Rimuru that the System is ending!

The attempt to focus on something else instead of my options backfired.

I felt my body start to heat up, so many things were coming up, the End of the System, a war with what used to be The Superpower of the World, and how a war with them could very easily spiral out of control and be this world's equivalent of a nuclear war with Velgrynd in the mix. I felt ice cubes run down my back. How am I supposed to deal with all this? I don't have enough time!

I don't want to become something even worse than Relentless.

[Biology] is recognizing how I'm undergoing signs of anxiety. Like someone having a really bad day and a small snarky comment just went in one ear, this small act is enough to blow my fuse.

No shit! Anyone would be anxious when the fucking end of the world—

Administering: Pain Shot.

"ARGH!" My body folded like a mousetrap so fast that I slammed into the wooden table, cracking parts of it due to how hard my skin and skull were.

The pain shot was supposed to serve as something akin to a distraction, something to clear my mind.

But god damn! That pain shot hurts like hell!

At least it did its job, I mentally reminded myself and calmed down before I could act out more in frustration.

[Silenced Emotion: 90%]

Near instantly, my inner turmoil was erased. Since I almost always have [Silenced Emotion] on, it sometimes slips my mind during the heat of the moment that I have such a solution available.

Raising my head up from the cracked table, I quietly looked around the room, finding everyone staring at me, some with looks of concern while others, were surprised.

"Scientia are you alright!?" Rimuru hurriedly asked.

Taking a moment to clear my throat, I asked [Contessa] to see if it was active.

'[Path to stopping the World War]'

If I can at least stop the inevitable war with the West—

I only got silence.

Ever since that attack, [Contessa] had been silent, yet I know it exists inside my soul but either it's choosing to remain silent or something is causing it to be silent, both are equally frightening.

However, a third even more terrifying prospect exists: the breakdown of the System is starting to affect Ultimate Skills, and [Contessa]'s dissolution just so happened to coincide with the Bombing of the Space Elevator.

[Silenced Emotion: 70%]

[Strategy] guided my words, "I am fine." I turned to Ririna, "Did the Eastern Empire state any demands or casus belli?"

"They demand the entire nation of Jura Tempest Republic to submit to Imperial rule, and the head of you, Commander."

I stayed silent, my lips thinned. Just as I thought, Luminous somehow convinced the Emperor that I was somehow responsible for the breakdown of the System. "For now, we'll need to alert the small towns nearest to the border with the Eastern Empire, Jistav's northern mountains should stall for enough time that we can properly mobilize even without the use of Doormaker." I spoke calmly as if everything in the past 5-minute had not just happened, "now, during wars of this magnitude, the defenders are favored since strategic weapons do not capture cities, infantry does."

After the events of WWII, United States Secretary of Defense Louis Johnson seriously cut the budgets of the Navy and the Army, thinking that Nuclear Weapons had made conventional warfare all but obsolete. He was proven false when, during the Korean War, the United States Navy didn't even have enough ships to cause a blockade.

He resigned on September 19th, 1950.

Even in this new world, the War between human nations stays mostly the same. The Empire is a bit of an outlier as Emperor Rudra has a fucking True Dragon as a concubine... after this war is over, I am going to raid the Imperial Archive for what in the ever-loving hell motivated the True Dragon to fuck one family line for millennias.

It's like each Emperor is the same charismatic person or Velgrynd is a fool.

"Jeanne, I'm going to need you to go to the border of Jistav and protect it, make sure not a single enemy troop gets past that line." Jeanne nodded as I traced a straight line from the western tip of the Northern Jistavian Mountain down to Milim's domain. Despite mass migration into the western portions, Jistav still has the largest concentration of people within the Republic. "Due to the fall of satellite communication, the citizens are going to be confused, so Rimuru, you're going to have to declare that we are at war with the Eastern Empire and enact Martial Law. Ririna, how quickly can we get the Tripods onto the frontlines?"

"Well, not fast enough without Doormaker. But, with the roads and hyperloop, we have in place, it should take a few days. We can delay the Empire's advance by bombing key infrastructures. We could slow them down even further by focusing on their supply chains." Ririna replied, "we're probably going to need to ramp up war propaganda since we literally just gone out of another war with Falmuth and Jistav. However, it shouldn't be too bad as we practically steamrolled both nations. Not even mentioning how we're the ones who's being attacked."

The hobgoblin finished it off by saying, "The stock market did crash, but it wasn't as bad as when the Sea of Broken Glass happened and is projected to recover by next week."

It was fortunate that the Geneva Convention didn't exist here, otherwise, Ririna would've been a war criminal for massacring those surrendered troops during Operation Jistavic Freedom.

Nodding, "Alright, we'll also pull back some of our occupation troops in Falmuth, that way we have more in terms of raw numbers. Minister of Foreign Affairs?"

"um, here?" A hobgoblin spoke up as he looked around nervously.

"We're going to need you to call our allies in the CCTO and tell them we are in a state of war. As Article 5 of the Treaty states: 'An armed attack against one member of the Central Continental Treaty Organization is an armed attack against all, and thus shall be answered appropriately.'"

The CCTO's original purpose was more for collective defense against the Thucydides trap that would trigger with the Empire as well as serve as an economic bulwark against potential Western influences. Like NATO, we've been attacked, and an attack on one is an attack on all.

"Wait," Rubedo raised a hand, upon receiving my permission, he asked, "Where's Diablo?"

Silenced descended down onto the room as the question sunk in, the Black Primordial had been missing even before the Bombing of the Space-Elevator.

"Oh, yeah, where is that bastard who was missing for the entirety of the Bombing?" Jeanne's fists smashed together as a frown appeared on her face, "wasn't he one of your most zealous subordinates? I don't see how he could've missed it."

knock knock knock*

I opened my mouth to speak, only for knocking to be heard coming from the door.

I cracked a smile, "Well speak of the devil and he shall appear.

'Come in.'

The door swung open to reveal Diablo, still wearing the same sleek and clean butler suit. Due to how he only opened one half of a double door, Diablo's body is taking up the entire thing.

"My Lady," despite how low he bowed, I wasn't able to see who was behind him, "I have returned, however, my deepest apologies as I was only able to—"

"Move!" He suddenly lunged forward as if he had been kicked in the back despite there being no one there— correction.

The one who dared to kick the Black Primordial was revealed to be none other than—

"Let me see who you pledged yourself to, Noir!" A childish voice rang out as my breath was taken away.

A cute young girl with medium-length purple hair stood where Diablo was seconds ago, she was wearing a gothic black dress with her hair done in a ponytail. Her legs are currently in the process of falling back down to the ground to show that she was the one who kicked Diablo. Save for her purple hair and her height, her appearance looked exactly like—

"K-Kathy?"

AN: in the original script, the Space Elevator was supposed to be an O'Neill Cylinder before I realized it would take Milim levels of power to efficiently destroy it in a short enough time.

Plus, Space Elevator is much more realistic to achieve in the next century or so.

57

AN: Even as I wrote this, I can predict that this chapter will be a bit controversial, but this counts as perhaps one of the most important chapters in terms of character development.

This chapter also serves as a greater thematic element in the story as well, one inspired partially by The Culture. That being, in the far future, when humanity has achieved post-scarcity status, suicide will likely be the greatest killer in such a civilization as their citizens can't find meaning in whatever they do even if they become hedonistic.

Also, I dropped hints that the stress has been getting to Scientia for a while now.

Drakiesan said:

Who the heck is Kathy?

She is Scientia's little sister from a past life.

"K-Kathy?"

I felt my heart skip several beats at the sight of my old world's sister here, the one that I failed to protect.

Unexpantly, the girl's face twisted into confusion, and so did everyone else at my words.

"Who's K-Kathy?" She snickered after mimicking my stuttering. Diablo had a death stare aimed toward the Purple Primordial.

Jeanne had a murderous look at Kathy.

Boom*

With a single swipe of his hand that moved faster than most people can perceive, a sonic boom erupted from where Kathy used to stand as Diablo smashed her through several layers of specialized concrete walls.

I felt my heart shatter upon seeing the hole that Kathy made as she went through the wall. I was about to explode on Diablo for hitting Kathy, only to freeze in shock upon seeing a familiar face trying to repair the holes.

It was one of Guy's servants, the one with the blue hair.

"Apologies, Mistress Scientia, but it seems I have not instilled the proper manner inside her." He turned to me and kneeled, "I have not been able to find Blanc, only Violet, so to try and make up for what I'm missing, I acquired Primordial Bleu from Guy Crimson after she challenged me to a duel and failed. The only condition that Guy had placed was 'let me fuck her whenever I want, and that she is to be returned after her service with you is done'." Diablo gestured with air quotes, quoting Guy.

"What the fuck?" Words left my lips before I could even comprehend what the hell was happening.

"Noir!" The snapping of air heralded the appearance of the other Primordial, "That was not nice! You promised we'll be fighting on the same side!"

Seeing someone look so similar to someone from my past made my heart ache so much it was almost unbearable, yet she was not her.

Ignoring Violet, Diablo continued, "My Lady, do not worry about a body or about the humans: while I was coming back from the Gate of Hell, I realized that there were some intruders on Tempest soil, so I thought to why not use their souls to craft Violet a new body?"

He then gestured at the purple Primordial, "and thus, there is no need for you to waste any resources."

Wait, "how many souls did you use?" I pointed at Violet.

Diablo cupped his chin in deep thought as if trying to remember something, "we killed the vanguard of this Eastern Empire, numbered about 100,000. I would've wanted more but I thought it prudent to tell you of my success, Mistress Scientia."

The sheer indifference and casualness Diablo displays about massacring humans is comparable to a Farmer talking about their harvest. Yet what's more concerning is how I couldn't care less about it.

I wonder, I truly want to know, just when did I become numb to the death of so many? When did the massacre of 100,000 people for the sole reason of saving me a small number of resources become justifiable? I was sure that had Diablo said that to me before Rimuru's departure to Ingrassia, I would've screamed at him, maybe even deemed him enough of an unhinged idiot to use only as a trump card. Nowadays, I didn't even blink when the Demon said that 100,000 hopes and dreams were snuffed out for no reason other than their interests became mutually exclusive with mine: they are an obstacle on my path to victory.

"Wait, so when did this happen?" Rimuru spoke up.

Primordial Violet replied with a shrug, apathy filling her tone, "Eh, around a few minutes ago, it happened right before we teleported here."

"So does that mean the first wave of the invasion has been thwarted?"

"Yeah, you dumba—" Violet's jaw snapped shut when she realized the looks the other two Primordials were giving her, "—I mean, of course, President Rimuru." The Demon let out a sickeningly sweet fake smile.

Silenced descended into the room as everyone tried to process what just happened, palpitation and nervousness emanated from the newer Ministers once they realized the level of power they were dealing with. Can I really blame them though? Every day, most of these people live inside this bubble of modernity, where most people are (at least close to) equal and follow the laws of the nation.

But then you have these Demons who are older than written history and who take the laws of one nation about as seriously as a nonbeliever looks at religious customs...

The demons become a reality check.

Looking at Diablo and Jeanne, I'm once again reminded of what happened in Walpurgis, and how this war started because of my nature as a Perfect Homunculus and apparently the 'rust'.

As the origin point of Relentless' Rampage, the Eastern Empire was one of the worst-hit areas during the disaster 400 years ago. Their Imperial Pride was shattered when that Perfect Homunculus butchered almost every citizen of the Imperial Capital and humiliated their Emperor of that time. Their Pride was further demolished when, after the Rampage, they tried to subjugate Veldora since the True Dragon avoided Relentless at all costs, but failed.

Veldora annihilated the attacking force with a single attack. This act of successful defiance halted the Imperial War Machine, it was the last major war fought by the Eastern Empire ever since.

And now, it's here, the Eastern War Machine is active once again, right before the end of the System.

'Is Luminous in cahoots with the Eastern Empire? Are they in a secret coalition against me?'

[Contessa] is silent. I was too reliant on the Ultimate Skill, wasn't I? Now that it's gone, I've been caught with my metaphorical pants down.

The people in the room then started to argue and bicker once more, due to my attention being elsewhere, it sounded more like a sea of white noise. Listening in, I notice how everything is about either how to deal with Velgrynd or what to do with the Empire after its capitulation.

Very short-sighted and arrogant, but I guess I have no room to judge considering my space endeavors nor have I told anyone else about the End of the System yet. Originally, I had planned to release the information saying that the System was about to end, but it seems that's no longer the case.

I then took a moment to check up on the current progress of Project Mobius through the Noosphere. Looking at it now, I felt a sense of profound sadness, like that feeling how a parent would get when looking at their children who have all grown up, a sense of longing, of nostalgia for days long past.

This Project will be like my child, especially when it's costing me so much raw matter that I have to halt all other projects just to ensure it'll be completed in a proper time frame.

And it seems I'll need the child to mature even sooner. So, through the Noosphere, I ordered the disassembly and repurposing of all non-vital Space Structures.

Throughout a radius of several billion lightyears, countless space stations orbiting their parent stars disassemble and rearrange themselves into a single drill-like structure. The drill is a single modified Starbreaker that'll shoot out a thick orange beam almost invisible in the backdrop of a bright star.

That orange beam of coherent gravity will suck up the stellar matter. Over the course of less than a week, these harvesting stations will use a tiny percentage of the star's mass to create multiple superluminal drives that will push said star millions to billions of lightyears to the intergalactic void where Escape Hatch is being built, like trucks hauling freshly mined ores to foundries.

It makes sense to increase the output now that more materials are coming in, so I've ordered an expansion on the current Cosmic String production rate.

The escape hatch will be completed much earlier thanks to a surplus of multiple billions of stars in the very near future. Whole galaxies will shine dimmer or even disappear by the time I'm done.

I think I can classify myself— and subsequently the Noosphere— as a Type-V civilization based on industrial capacity alone.

Not that it'll matter after the System's End.

I had to crack a small smile at it, this is almost like Noah's Ark all over again, only, I get to decide who lives and who gets left behind.

Noah's Ark...

Ark...

"—!"

My smile suddenly disappeared.

Noah's Ark...

I'm creating an Ark, and was warned by someone connected to Veldanava... "ha..." I let out a small, almost inaudible chuckle as I realized something.

The parallels...

My eyes get super blurry for a second. Am I a puppet? I felt a migraine from how fast my mind was moving, trying to comprehend it all.

"ha...ha...ha...ha" That chuckle grows in volume, before becoming a laugh, a laugh drenched in despair, "ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha"

I clutch my head as my mind struggles to comprehend everything, how with just one reincarnation, I'll be working on something that'll save and preserve the last remnant of God's project.

[Psychology] once said that people have many ways to deal with earth-shattering revelations, the more religious people see it as an act of God, others try and ignore it to preserve the predictable status quo, but there are some who'll experience a mental breakdown, and either come out stronger than ever or be driven insane.

"hahahahahahahahahaha— HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA—" The laughter soon evolved into something more maniac as I dived straight into that rabbit hole, uncaring that I was making a scene.

Everyone is staring at me.

Am I a joke...? No, really, what am I if not a joke? My ambition, my everything— Did God make me specifically for this purpose? To save a sliver of Creation like Noah? Did I even have any free will? Or is this predestined like the Many World Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics? Am I like the dumb AIs I made to serve a singular purpose?

"Boss?"

My fist clenched in anger, my fingernails pressing hard enough on my palm to leave a lasting mark before [Limitless Regeneration] kicks in and irons all defects.

[Psychology] is diagnosing me with a severe case of existential crisis and the beginning of a nervous breakdown, but I can't find it in myself to care. The voice of that specialty was drowned out by my questions without answers.

Did I matter in the end?

Does anything matter? Does my choice matter? Is all my effort for naught?

I looked at everyone who gathered. Then at the long table, then at the three demons, the Ministers, before ending with Rimuru.

Am I supposed to play the role of a shepherd? Guiding Creation down a specific path? Like how I'm guiding alien life right now?

That seemed to be a certainty.

Can I escape it? No, I can't.

I can't escape it.

It's determinism at its finest.

No, of course not, it should've been obvious.

'Time Travel'

It should've been obvious when I can't time travel like Hot Tub Time Machine or Back to the Future;

Legit time travel, known more scientifically as a Closed Timelike Curve, must stay self-consistent. The Universe itself will limit free will to attain self-consistency— it's one of the reasons why I never went too deep into that field beyond basic stopping, speeding up/down of time.

It's essentially Harry Potter's Time Turner; I can't change jack as everything is already set in stone.

And if that isn't enough, there's still the Quantum Variation Field...

In my old world, the biggest roadblock to true determinism (in this case, the classical mechanic's Laplace's demon) is the random fluctuations that exist on the quantum scale, but if there exists a System where such concepts like 'probability' could be controlled, then who's to say this System— the supposed source of all— isn't guiding us along a fixed path?

Like characters following a script, the System manipulates these particle fluctuations on a macro scale to force us to make certain choices.

Or what about [Contessa]? If I could achieve victory over my goals 100% of the time just by following a set of steps... isn't that exactly determinism?

I'm trapped. I feel like I can't breathe.

I can't escape it.

Who's to say if this decision isn't already thought out and I'm merely going through the illusion of having a choice?

I can't escape it.

It's maddening. It's absolutely maddening.

I can't escape it.

Is this breakdown already planned out?

I can't escape it. I can't escape it. I can't escape it.

I can't escape it. I can't escape it. I can't escape it. I can't escape it. I can't escape it. I can't escape it.

I can't escape. I can't escape. I can't escape. I can't escape. I can't escape. I can't escape. I can't escape. I can't escape. I can't escape. I can't escape.

I can't. I can't. I can't. I can't. I can't. I can't. I can't. I can't. I can't. I can't. I can't. I can't. I can't. I can't. I can't. I can't. I can't. I can't. I can't. I can't. I can't. I can't. I can't. I can't. I can't. I can't. I can't. I can't.

I— I— I— I— I— I— I— I— I— I— I— I— I— I— I— I— I— I— I— I— I— I— I— I— I— I— I— I— I— I— I— I— I— I— I— I— I— I— I— I— I— I— I— I— I— I— I— I— I— I— I— I— I— I— I— I— I— I— I— I— I— I— I— I— I— I— I— I— I— I— I— I— I— I— I— I— I— I— I— I— I— I— I— I— I—

I can't escape it. I can only resign myself to this fate.

——no—

(AN: End OST)

No no no no no no—

——No, I refuse.

Even if it's illogical— I refuse.

Despite facing such odds, in my heart lies a flicker of defiance, and that tiny flicker quickly turned into a raging inferno of rebellion.

I refuse to dance to the tune of a dead god. I refuse to play the role of a shepherd any longer. I REFUSE to follow the script set out by a System about to fail.

My teeth started to grind themselves hard enough that it's actually starting to hurt.

So, at that moment, despite massive protests and red flags waved by [Psychology] about how my mental state is not the best and I should calm down to think about everything, I used [Planning] to create a workable plan.

[Silenced Emotion: 100%]

—My eyes became glazed over, the inferno of rebellion extinguished to make way for cold logic.

Never have I ever felt closer to a machine than I am right now. It's funny really, in my past life, I've always been somewhat aligned with transhumanism; a belief that the flesh is weak. Now, the only personal upgrade that [Inspired Inventor] has given me is the implant inside my hand that allows me to shoot out knots of space-time in the form of strings like Spiderman.

Like using a razor, turning [Silenced Emotion] up to 100% had cut away any doubts or other emotional attachments, letting me see the truth that I so desperately attempted to suppress during my earlier days to still be somewhat human;

'We live on a placid island of ignorance midst the black seas of infinity, and it was not meant that we should voyage far.'

Scientifically speaking, Nihilism is the ultimate philosophy. Religion was created as an evolutionary byproduct of our effort to create assurances and comfort in a chaotic world. We find comfort in the fact that our neighbors dying because of a natural disaster was all part of some 'greater plan', and we perform the proper burial rituals because it makes the passing easier. Most likely, religion was made when a father tried to comfort their children by telling them stories to help them conceptualize and comprehend the unknown.

We create unseen demons for harmful phenomena that we don't know. We made the concept of 'karma' to encourage good and social behavior. We made the Devil so we can pin the source of all evil on them. We created the concept of the afterlife with the same effect to try and mitigate our fear of death. In essence, religion and culture were created so we have some kind of control in our lives, to fool ourselves into thinking that we are important, that the universe has an order to things, and isn't just a chaotic mess that's spiraling towards maximum entropy.

Of course, there's nothing wrong with that, but with science comes knowledge, and that knowledge changes people. Every scientific discovery we made... every scientific discovery that I've made has knocked mortal standings down a peg. Whether it's discovering the vastness of the universe, that we orbit around the sun, just how easy it is to create life, or the existence of the Great Beyond— every time we lift the veil of reality even further we discover just how insignificant we are in the grand scheme of things.

This world, this Tolkien knockoff world that has magic and such— the same still applies.

'God is dead'.

Everything I've done, everything I have, everything I am, everything I experienced, everything I've built... even if I have free will, it is all meaningless. The issue with infinity is that through random chance alone, there must exist an equally infinite alternate version of me out there in the Great Beyond, an infinite number of Veldanavas who made their own bulwark against the Great Beyond, and an equally large number that didn't.

It's like being blind your whole life and being able to see again, you see just how vast everything is, you see how wonderful everything is, you see how horrible everything is— truly, ignorance is bliss.

I saw everyone giving me looks of concern, while others, of disturbed. Even without [Contessa, I can still execute complex and intricate plans created from other more esoteric specialties.

Many dictators in history preach about the necessity of utilitarianism while being entirely unwilling to sacrifice themselves for the greater good.

"I will give myself up to the enemy, it is the only logical decision," I said with absolute seriousness, to the complete surprise of everyone else. [Actor] allowed me to control every aspect of myself down to the cellular level, controlling everything from sweat to the movement of micro-expression, down to how many chemicals are swirling about in my brain.

Seeing them all rendered speechless, I pressed on and preemptively silenced Diablo before he could voice his objection, "Before you object, hear my reasons at least..." I looked around, taking in the expressions before continuing, "I need to get this off my chest before I start..." I looked towards a wide-eyed Rimuru, we made eye contact, and he nodded, giving me the go-ahead.

"I and Rimuru used to be humans. We are reincarnations of people from other worlds. He used to be an office worker at a contractor firm while I am— I was an executive of a company, an assistant VP to be exact, set to be promoted the day I died. What you see outside—" I pointed a thumb towards a random spot behind me, "—is a snapshot from my world that had no magic nor any Great Tenma Wars; we lived in a place where science ruled, where concepts like 'magic', 'demon', and 'dragons' were at best works of literature, not real life stuff. It is a world where civilizations that believed in science and rationality ruled supreme while those who believed in mysticism and religion were cast aside and rendered obsolete."

I let them draw the connections between my reluctance to use magic compared to science.

My fingers crisscross each other in a business-like fashion, and my mouth forms into a small, satisfying smile as I'm reminded of the fact that I popularized this gesture in the Republic after using it multiple times during the Congressional Hearing on the Limitation of Weapons of Mass Destruction back during the end of the Orc Invasion.

God, that invasion felt like a lifetime ago after everything that happened despite being mere months.

I was so different back then, the Citadel wasn't finished, and I hadn't even reached beyond the current star system...

Taking in a deep breath, I let the bombshell drop: "The System is dying."

Many including Rimuru had looks of confusion, and I don't blame them.

Diablo perked up, "Lady Scientia, are you sure—?!"

"Oy, it's her decision, ya bloody cunt." Jeanne interjected.

All the while Violet had a scandalous look mixed with a face that someone would use if they had just heard something blasphemous.

"Hold on, what the fuck do you mean the Voice of the World is dying?! How the hell is the Voice of the World— the literal source of all that is— DYING?!" She yelled out as the Purple Primordial teleported next to me and used a bit of flying magic to grab my shoulder, taking advantage of the momentary lapse in Diablo's judgment.

My mouth was slightly agape. That wasn't part of the plan, I'm flabbergasted at hearing how one of the strongest Demons in existence didn't know a detail as crucial as this.

"I thought you'd have known this."

"Wait wait wait wait wait, time-out, time-out— TIME OUT!" Rimuru suddenly perked up with one of his hands up and the other flat over it— a T-sign, "What is this about the Voice of the World dying?" Rimuru asked what was on everyone else's mind.

I let a long sigh and contemplated how I was going to tell them this, Diablo yanked Violet off of me, "I had originally planned to reveal this at a more appropriate time, but... during Walpurgis, after the Ten Great Demon Lords were changed into Qliphoth, Guy decided to finally reveal why he had agreed to the Demon Lord's banquet."

"It was about how, after Veldanava— the Creator of the System— died, said System started to accumulate errors without an administrator to do the maintenance, 'the machine started to rust', Guy said, and from that 'rust' is how a Perfect Homunculus is born. The Demon Lord also said how the System will eventually accumulate enough error that it fails, however, what he didn't say was what would happen if it failed, whether it would result in the End of Everything as we know it, or would it jettison us into the Great Beyond, I don't know."

"This is probably why the Eastern Empire is attacking, one of the other Demon Lords must've told them of what transpired during Walpurgis and how I'm responsible for the breakdown of the System. However, before you start panicking like a normal person, know that I have a plan in place."

I then projected a ring and a featureless white sphere into the middle of a self-repairing table currently reassembling itself.

"I specifically told Diablo and Jeanne to keep what transpired in Walpurgis a secret, since it would cause panic if revealed to the rest of the world." I then pointed towards the new hologram, "and I needed time to complete this: Project Mobius, it is my plan on how we can survive the End of the System."

If I could not fight against a problem, then I'd escape it, run from it, and evacuate the premises.

I let it sink in. Looking around, I saw how some people had faraway looks in their eyes, some looked disturbed, and some were baffled. There were a few, namely Rubedo and Ririna, who looked determined.

The ring enlarged itself.

"The Ring is the gate, made from weaving almost innumerable loops of Cosmic Strings together. Its diameter is the size of an entire solar system and it currently has a mass of 150 billion stars and counting. At the center of this Ring is an Extra-Dimensional Bore anchored gravitationally using Starbreakers to an enlarged naked Ringularity— basically a rotating singularity— roughly the size of a planet. When activated, the Ring will start spinning just a fraction of a billionth of a percentage under the speed of light. Due to the sheer mass involved, the rotation of such a dense object will exacerbate the Kerr Metric around the Naked Ringularity, which will result in a tear in the Universe itself at the center of the Ringularity. Afterward, the Extra-Dimensional Bore will then stabilize the tear into a wormhole connecting to the Great Beyond. The Ring is connected to a veritable fleet of Jupiter Brains that scans 30 tridecillion universes a minute trying to find as many viable candidates for escape as possible."

I paused for a moment for it to sink in.

"The Ring is... almost complete, all that's missing is a viable destination within the spectrum of universes in the Great Beyond."

I intentionally left out how it needed more stars.

Well, it's not like that will be the case soon enough.

Next, the sphere came into focus, "this is the Ark: the Encyclopedia Universalis, an almost complete Record of Creation itself. Within it contains all the knowledge that a Type-V civilization should have to save for a working Multiversal Theory of Everything, everything from backups of entire alien civilizations to esoteric maths dealing with higher dimensions is contained within it. This will be the life raft used to traverse the Great Beyond. Made from only the finest of technology [Inspired Inventor] can produce, the Ark is embedded into unraveled higher dimensions of spacetime, its presence within the universe is a moon-sized archive of pure power that can stand against pretty much anything that the Great Beyond will throw at you. This is the culmination of my life's work. The absolute peak of what I'm capable of."

Many strands of light coming from small opened Doorways coalesced into a fractal-like crystal in my hands, turning to face Rimuru, "desperate times call for desperate measure," and in more ways than one, "the enemy clearly wants me dead, so I will give myself up to stall for time. After I go, you will be the captain of the Encyclopedia Universalis." The crystal floated towards Rimuru, who probably didn't hear what I said since he was distracted by the beauty of the Key to the Ark, "within the Encyclopedia is a copy of my consciousness, so 'I' will always be there."

"..."

I then turned towards Rubedo, "Rubedo, you once asked me: 'How much is too much?'" I let out a nostalgic smile and sighed sadly, "Now you have your answer, and as it turns out, the End of the World is too much even for me."

"Commander—"

"You know, I've changed." My eyes fell down to the table that was self-repairing in front of me, a faraway gaze in my eyes, "I think if it was me when I first reincarnated, I wouldn't have done this. I think at most I would've got Rimuru out of dodge before letting the rest of Creation die with the System. And now? I think I'm mostly tired. In less than a year in this world, I have accomplished most of the dreams of my old life, I feel complete you know? I've both seen and done too much." I spoke like a war veteran at the end of his life.

I turned towards my two Primordial underlings. As my most loyal subordinates, they'll obey everything I command even if I wish for the destruction of the world, "Diablo, I know how you joined me due to wanting to know the Truth of the World, I apologize for being unable to grant you your wish, instead, I'll give you the next best thing. Jeanne, should you escape outside the System, you'd likely lose all your Skills and Magicule, however, that doesn't mean there aren't any other ways of becoming stronger than you are right now in the Great Beyond... and likely stronger opponents as well."

I spoke in a formal tone devoid of any familiarity or emotions.

No turning back now.

Sensing my determination, Diablo looked hurt and Jeanne's body language practically screamed reluctance.

"If it is truly your wish, my Lady, then so be it, but I think someone else may object no matter what..."

"Hmm?" I tilted my head, who would he mean by?

Boom*

The wall behind me suddenly exploded into chunks. I let out an embarrassingly loud shriek of surprise.

Despite what probability dictated, none of the chunks hit anyone.

"Sci~en~ti~aaaaa~"

[Silenced Emotion: Error]

A frighteningly innocent voice singled out, causing me to gulp.

"—!" Whipping my head around to face her, I saw Arcueid with her hands behind her back, standing in the hole as if nothing was wrong, on her face was a smile that promised pain. If one were to remove the hole and the smile, it would've been a rather cute pose.

"Arcueid—"

Slap*

PAIN.

Faster than I could realize it, I was blinded by pain. When I came to my senses, I found myself lying on the floor with one side of my cheek stinging in pain. The pain felt like dozens of honey bees stinging a single area.

"You... slapped me?" My voice was filled with disbelief

Ow... rubbing the area, I was surprised at the fact that she can even hit me, how broken is her [Marble Phantasm] if it can cause the warp-space to fail?

"How...DARE YOU?!" Arcueid growled out as she grabbed my collar to face her. I was about to defend my choice—

slap*

[Silenced Emotion—]

Using her free hand, Arcueid slapped my cheeks once more, only this time it was less forceful than before. Though comparing this slap to the one previously is like comparing the wealth of Jeff Bezos to Bill Gates, both are painful, just one is less so.

Using one hand, she threw me through the hole in the wall and into the other room.

"Argh!" I was lying on my back, groaning out in discomfort, wondering if it was time that I somehow figure out a way to deal with probability attacks.

Shifting my head so I'm looking at the hole, I saw that it was covered by a layer of ice, with Arcueid standing next to my waist.

Using a hand, she grabbed the collar of my military uniform once more and pulled me up to her level. Her grip was unbreakable, evidence of her otherworldly origin was emphasized by the fact that [Metaphysics] says certain rules seem to bend around her, like the favorite child of a strict parent, they are allowed to get away with more.

Bringing up a single hand—

slap*

[Silenced Emot—

slap*

[Silenced E—

slap*

[Silence—

slap*

[Sile—

slap*

[Sil—

slap*

[Silenced Emotion: Error]

My cheeks are flushed red, stinging from how hard she slapped me.

Still, after covering up most of the details at the Metropolis Bloodbath, I know she could do so much worse.

"Aaaaahhhhh! How dare you try and sacrifice yourself without my permission! How dare you try to die at all?! And how dare you keep such important secrets from me!" She quickly spoke before smashing her forehead with mine hard enough that I saw stars.

It took a while for me to recover, once I did, I saw I was still hanging by my collar, currently being held by the True Ancestor.

"Ow... Arc, listen—"

She then suddenly hugged me deeply. [Biology] quietly observed that had we been human, then there's no way that Arcuied would be able to support the weight of both of us in this position.

"No! I won't listen to you justify killing yourself! If you're feeling tired we can take a break on the Ark after it has escaped!" She got out of the hug and began to fumble around with the bottom of her shirt, trying to take it off.

Needless to say, I quickly put a stop to that, "Arcueid what the hell are you doing?!" I hissed out.

"I can't stand the thought of you ending yourself! Do you have any idea of how much that'll HURT others? How much that'll hurt me...? Rimuru's over there not responding since you gave him a crystal that placed him in a trance. Diablo and Jeanne are your subordinates, loyal to you till the end even if you wish to die, and the others? They don't dare question your decision since they either see you as a 'God' if they're a member of your faith, or they're too scared of objecting to you!" She took a large breath before choking out the remaining in a volume barely audible to anyone standing 3 meters away, "I... I can't live without you..."

I was so surprised by her seriousness and out-of-character action that my mouth went into a cycle of opening and closing.

And her words...

She then embraced me once more, binding my arms together like a bundle of straws. Arcueid then placed her head on my left shoulder.

"I can't live without you. If you need a reason to live then I'll be your reason."

The blond held me tightly like a teddy bear, yet she was thoughtful enough that she wasn't crushing me in her embrace. I cannot deny that it feels nice, nice enough that I finally hear the emotional exhaustion knocking on my door.

I felt a sense of deja vu as I was taken back to my old life when I was just getting into University— when my mother held me as tightly as she did.

Despite having already chosen a university program, I still didn't know what to do with my life.

During those few years, I stood at a crossroads between either continuing with the logic sounder choice or pursuing my passion.

Eventually, I dumbed down my choice to either climb the corporate ladder and earn large amounts of money, or pursue my passion as a scientist. I scoffed at the idea of achieving anything in science and chose the more logical choice: to climb the corporate ladder. I became an Assistant VP in my 20s and was about to hit VP before I was shot down.

Looking back at it now, I wasn't happy at all, was I? I became cynical since it's practically needed in the business world. When I cast my gaze upon people, I see numbers, value— stats if you will.

I spent every waking hour working or researching for more data on how to (legally. I'm not willing to go outside the law unless I know I could get away with it scot-free) cut corners to earn more money. I worked every day with utter incompetence, enforcing the idea that other people are just numbers and that my co-worker's numbers are just lower.

I had no time for family, only sending back money or gifts every Christmas (sometimes video calling them).

I... pretty much cut off all contact with Kathy and my parents to fully commit to working, occasionally having a one-night stand with random women in the bar but that's the extent of my social life.

I was more or less a brutally efficient machine, ruthless, as when I saw people profiting off things like war and suffering, I didn't feel disgusted. I feel jealous at how that could've been me that earned those millions.

I was content had I not reincarnated.

Now, I'm being given the same decision again, where I can choose to continue with my plan to stall for time so that Rimuru and the others could escape, dooming me and the West and East to die as the System collapses, or we'll fight against the Empire if we win, we can effectively demand the West for vassalization since, in their minds, the top dog had been dethroned.

Part of my mind wonders if all this is part of God's plan, did Veldanava orchestrate this?

Did the System plan this out?

Logically, I should go with the former, as it's the one with the highest chance of success and would grant me the sweet embrace of oblivion in this meaningless universe. Creation is dying, even if I save one universe, countless others within this 'fortress' that Veldanava has created would die nonetheless, including my old one so why bother saving a few googols more?

Just why in the world should I bother with more? Why is my heart aching for me to choose the latter despite my brain telling it no? Why should I go for the one that has less chance of success? Why should I attempt to fight against Velgrynd, a cosmological reversal machine? Effectively infinite power?

Of course, I could just use Veldora but from the records that Dwargon kept, Veldora always loses against Velgrynd.

"..."

So why...

I felt my vision blur as though someone had placed a filter over my eyes.

...Just why is it so hard to say it? Why can't I go with the logical option? Why can't I say it now that [Silence Emotion] is on cooldown? Why is it so hard to say 'I'm sorry Arcueid, but this is for the best; you've become too reliant on me' and let her go?

I had once used [Psychology] to create a diagnosis about my relationship with Arcueid, the result of that diagnosis was an 'unhealthy relationship', evidence being that I (at least subconsciously) see her as a crutch to maintain my emotional stability after Rimuru's resurrection and she has always seen me as the center of her world, the proverbial glue which holds her mind together in this foreign world.

With the aid of 90% of my specialties and my current understanding of the Universe as well as hers, I was able to postulate a workable theory that has the acceptance of [Contessa] before its demise.

Granted, the following would sound like a total crackpot to anyone who doesn't have at least a basic understanding of this Planetary Metaphysical Superorganism back in Arcueid's old world.

According to the laws of her old world, things made by man should not even be able to affect a True Ancestor unless it's a conceptual weapon (don't even get me started on manipulating concepts, [Inspired Inventor] is as stumped on that as I am).

However, when she crossed over, her origin was... tainted in a way that left her vulnerable to material attacks like mine. Her antibodies were unable to deal with a tinkertech weapon so alien it's on the level of the 'White Titan' apparently. Consequently, Arcueid's ego was shattered by the weapon. With her ego in pieces, the Princess of the True Ancestors was unable to form any coherent thoughts, thus, she was unable to reform herself and would've remained that way in a formless state until the End of the System.

Clearly, that didn't happen. Instead, what did happen was that Arcueid used an anchor point— AKA: me, her killer— to rebuild herself around, resulting in her seeing me as the literal center of her world.

Such a relationship built on obsessions cannot be healthy, after all just look at her response! Despite looking so normal on the surface before, the moment the center of her world was threatened, Arcueid goes full berserk! I shudder to imagine what would happen if I actually did reject her feelings. Her mind is fragile, like a house made out of glass, and all it would take to shatter it is my removal.

I attempt to speak, I open my mouth but no sounds come out. It's like asking a girl out for a date, after you call out her name, nothing comes out of your mouth even if you attempt to force it, and when it does come out it's all stuttering.

Why... why am I getting cold feet now?! Previously, I created this perfect scenario with [Planning, where I'll come and explain to them what's happened, and I'll take the burden off of their shoulders and place them on mine before the End. I had planned to get away from Arcueid so that she could become more independent.

Why is this so hard to actually carry it out?!?!

I looked at the desperate form of Arcueid clinging onto me with all her might to realize it:

I don't want to lose her.

I couldn't find it in myself to care whether or not I had free will, all I know is that I want to be with her all the time.

I truly, truly love her. More than I've ever known. More than anyone else.

My logical side would probably scoff at my short-sighted behavior right now, but I couldn't care less.

I want to be with her.

Her smile, her cheerfulness, her delightful moments of airheadedness, the way she can slip past all the walls I put up around my heart with ease— I want to be with Arcueid Brunestud.

For all of eternity. I couldn't imagine a life without her.

I... I never knew love could be so intense. Before I reincarnated, if I were forced to choose between saving 5 strangers or my sister, I would always choose the utilitarian choice and choose the strangers. I love my sister, but in the grand scheme of things, I would always choose the one that saves the most lives.

I could easily imagine myself killing trillions just so Arcueid would survive.

How hypocritical of me.

I'm ready to sacrifice myself to save everyone I know, yet now I can't. The words just won't even materialize in my mind.

I can be the most selfless and the most selfish person in the world.

How contradictory. I am so far from Perfect... I'm just so...

...human...

"Ha ha ha ha ha," I felt a continuous laugh. No matter how much I think I've advanced and changed, I'm still affected by 'love'. This feels like the plot of a romance film.

It's strange. I've never loved anyone as much as I do with her.

It's... it's a warm and fuzzy feeling, one that you'd wish would never end.

"Hah... ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha...ahhhh... Very well then," My hand moved up to Arcueid's hair and started to stroke it. Due to how she is hugging me, I can only move the joints in my elbow.

Her hair was soft, making my hands feel especially weak, as I couldn't seem to put any force into it as if it had fallen asleep, "I take back what I said, we shall beat back the Empire before negotiating with the West about the Ark."

Arc loosens the hug so she can face me. Her mouth forming into a sincere smile once again reminded me how just why I love her so much.

Ah love, such a quirk of evolution that afflicts even Perfection.

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"Hey, yeah this is nice and all—" Violet spoke up, leaning on the icy wall like it isn't -12 Celsius, "but can I ask why the fuck does she feel so alien?!" Violet yelled out as she pointed a finger at Arcueid, "She feels like a Primordial Spirit! No, the System itself can't make sense of her as if she's an Outsider."

Oh right... Primordial Violet.

In the end, I had to explain to her everything that happened. Afterward, Violet readily agreed to become my subordinate, if nothing but to massacre the Eastern Empire's soldiers. I barely managed to maintain my poker face using [Acting] throughout the entire time Violet gushed about how much she loved to kill and in gory details that caused the room to vacant, Diablo was not kidding when he said Violet is a cruel and sadistic Demon.

Seeing someone who looked so similar to my sister act in such a fashion is jarring to say the very least.

Although, I also sensed she wished to board the Ark as well, probably knowing the End of everything as we know it convinced her to latch onto the only source of escape.

"You shall be named... Kathy." Strands of magicule erupted from me and formed a cocoon around the newly named Kathy.

AN: You know, this chapter is arguably one I had to rewrite the most of. I had to perfect Scientia's mental breakdown so that it seems accurate and I tried to explain exactly how free will could still exist within a causal system where time travel is limited by the Novikov Self-Consistency Principle.

Then, I realized most people who read this ain't going to know what a causal loop, temporal order, Anthropic Principle, or light cone is so I pushed how causality within Inspired Inventor worked back by a lot.

I got the idea of the Ark from the 2015 Marvel Incursion events.

We see in this chapter that the stress of dealing with the End of the System, Existential Crisis, knowing God is both real and dead, dealing with a world war, and many other things have all overwhelmed Scientia into this one singular severe mental breakdown with the trigger being the phrase "Noah's Ark".

You all gotta remember that Scientia is still human despite being a Perfect Homunculus. And I would think that any normal human would feel EXTREMELY overwhelmed by the idea of combating the End of the World. Hell, comparatively speaking, people have had mental breakdowns for less (an example being Britney Spears' breakdown in the late 2000s).

I wonder how many of you guys got the hints I've laid out in the previous chapters, an off comment here, a curiosity there.

Fun fact: in the original script, this chapter would've been the one where Arcueid confessed and later on had coitus. I scrapped that idea since 1) it's not realistic to expect your confession to immediately result in coitus and 2)that would make the relationship look more of a physical nature rather than emotional./url]

58

AN: Graphical depictions of violence in this chapter, just a heads up if you have a weak stomach.

Around the time of Scientia's meeting, Lura, Ingrassia.

Kenya Misaki was feeling rather bored. Laying down under a tree in the courtyard of his school, he munched on a lollipop while looking out beyond the tree line and into the city. Despite being at the center point of a coup, nothing has really changed for the small Otherworlder.

Taking out the wrapper for the candy, Kenya wondered where this was made— it was so similar to the taste of the ones in his homeworld that he had spent his entire allowance on buying the lollipops from that merchant.

"Made...in...Tempest?" Even now, the orange-haired Otherworlder still struggles with reading the words of this world, what with there being half a dozen dialects of the Ingrassian language alone each unique to a specific region.

"Huh, so it's the nation that Miss Shizue went." He crumbled the wrapper and sensed a familiar presence appearing. "So what's Miss Seagull doing here?"

The presence let out an offended gasp that sounded oddly like a seagull, "Kenya Misaki, that is highly rude! My name is Noel Aizome!"

Turning to face the source of the voice, Kenya found himself looking at a young woman in her early 20s with brunette hair and brown eyes. Her current clothing consists of a white dress shirt, black tights, high heels covered by a blue blazer, and a pencil skirt.

Kenya rolled over so he didn't need to see clothing that reminded him too much of his home, "tsk! Why do you wear clothing that came from my old world?"

Noel placed her hands on her hip, her expression softened, "well, as your teacher, I thought it best to try and connect with my students, so I researched a little bit on the clothing of your old world in the Library of Lura, and voila, here it is."

"Bah"

"So... is it working?" Noel asked hopefully.

"Go ask someone else."

"...I see."

Noel quietly left the area, leaving Kenya to stew alone.

"Stupid Seagull..." Kenya worked hard to stop the tears from flowing, "stupid stupid stupid!"

The desire to see his home again burned persistently inside him like a sailor wanting to come home after being on a long voyage.

"KenKen!" The Spirit of Light hurridly appeared, darkening the area despite it being noon, "hurry! You must leave!"

Kenya quickly rubbed his eyes before looking at the spirit, "huh? Why all of a sudden? Aren't I supposed to finish my education here?"

"No, you don't understand! I saw armed men gathering outside the gate—"

Whatever the Spirit of Light was about to say was ignored as Kenya blitzed towards the front gate, curiosity burning brightly.

Running down the halls and through the main door, Kenya silently noted how the kind old receptionist was gone.

Looking beyond the gated premise of the School, he saw how the Headmaster was trying to negotiate with the dozens upon dozens of armored knights and wizards.

The headmaster was a middle-aged man wearing a dark red three-piece suit, currently, he was outside the opened gate talking with an especially well-decorated knight.

"—by the order of the new King Aegir of Ingrassia, all Otherworlders are to summarily brought forth before the Throne to be given the honorable title of 'Defender of the Kingdom', brother, you know better than anyone how easily heads of those with power will roll in these turbulent times, please do not fight."

The Headmaster merely sighed sadly and bowed his head in shame, "Both of us know this isn't what Ingrassia stands for, any kind of slavery has been banned ever since the founding of this great Kingdom—!"

Upon hearing the words 'slave', it caused Kenya to remember back to when he first came here, how he only barely escaped enslavement by the nature of being a child.

"—tsk!" Kenya ground his teeth together, he yelled out, "What Defender of the Nation?! You all just want to enslave us like the other nations!"

Catching the attention of the knights, the knight who was talking to the headmaster raised his sword towards Kenya, "Get—"

Whatever he was about to say was silenced by a punch straight at his nose by the headmaster. Like a bowling ball, the head knight sailed across several meters and smashed into the other knights and wizards, all of them falling like dominos.

"Grab your friends and get out of here, Kenya!" The headmaster got into a stance, a bright aura surrounded the man like a set of armor, extensions on his clothes floating upwards as if gravity was a mere suggestion.

Instead of doing as he's told, Kenya drew his sword and ignited it. "Lightbulb!" He called forth his light spirit.

"Never! We fight for our freedom—"

Boom*

As if to emphasize his point, the headmaster clapped his hands together in a thunderous clap, blowing Kenya back through the opened gate which promptly closed.

"GRAB YOUR FRIENDS AND RUN, KENYA MISAKI!" The headmaster roared as loud as he could before blasting back into the cluster of armored men, "There's a cart in the forest with smugglers ready!"

The sheer loudness and strength Kenya saw the headmaster use was enough to convince the Otherworlder that it may be best to leave. Adhering to his advice, Kenya rushed down the halls toward his old classroom.

Hurridly opening the door, he saw Alice, Ryota, and Gale, but no Chloe. "Guys! We need to go! Grab you— no ignore your stuff we need to go! And where's Chloe?"

"What is happening—"

"—wait, why?"

"Stop yelling—"

"SHUT UP!' Kenya yelled out as he realized it was going to devolve into an arguing match again, "Listen, I don't know why but the new King has ordered the enslavement of all Otherworlders— children or not. The headmaster is stalling for time for us to get into this cart with smugglers ready in the forest— and can someone Plu~lease tell me where the hell is Chloe Aubert?!"

Alice spoke up, "Chloe? I think she's in the dorm—"

—Kenya blitzed away toward the women's dormitory.

Opening the doors, he was forced to quickly close them when he saw the daughters of other families who go to this school instead of Chloe. Due to how quickly he's going at it, others only saw a brief blur before disappearing.

Running down the hall and blitzing past several doors, Kenya finally stopped at the last one, "Ugh... here's hoping she's inside this one."

Shoving the door open, "Chloe!"

—Only to see Chloe dressed in pajamas, a magical circle underneath her.

"Kenya?"

"Chloe we need to go ASAP!" Kenya exclaimed as he walked in, "The new King's got this stupid degree to enslave all of us no matter the age!"

The orange-haired boy expected Chloe to be shocked, or at least show some expression of fear, only, before he got any of those, Kenya saw a calculating expression on her face as if this hadn't gone to plan.

"Chloe?"

"N—nothing," Chloe timidly spoke and opened her dresser, taking out several pieces of clothing.

Turning to face Kenya, Chloe started to push him out of the door, in between him and the girl was this large bundle of female clothing that Chloe was carrying.

Just as Kenya reached the doorframe—

"[Tiferet - Netzach]"

"—hrk!"

The boy found a sword piercing through his chest.

The sword is one of those that the knights of the Kingdom would have.

"The endgame is now," Chloe spoke with a face devoid of emotions in front of him, holding the grip of the sword currently lodged in his chest, "you will be critical in this. I have planned eons for this, Kenya, thank you."

Chloe let out a small smile that would've looked cute had this been in any other context.

"W—w—wha—?" He managed to squeak out before finding him on a terrace overlooking the gate. He felt his connection with the spirit of light being cut as if it had been severed cleanly with a knife.

Due to him standing on a ledge with a sword in his chest, Kenya leaned forward and fell, his last sight before hitting the ground was the headmaster yelling his name and grunting in pain.

After the meeting, I decided it would be best if I took up my role as the Commander of the Grand Republic's Military by directing troops and creating supply lines.

It has been one week since the beginning of the war and the border between Tempest and the Empire became a no man's land, as any attempt made by either side is destroyed with gusto.

Using the computer inside the Citadel, I was able to get communication and Doormaker up and running within 6 hours of the initial attack, allowing our tripods to repel any additional invaders after the vanguard was destroyed. The Eastern Empire's admittedly strong tanks and their WWII-style combined arms were useless in front of these metal monstrosities, so they were quickly pushed back to the original border.

Field Marshal Ririna had taken up direct command of the eastern theater. She had wanted to continue, but whatever troops that step foot on Imperial soil got instantly incinerated by True Dragon Velgrynd. What's interesting is that she ONLY kills troops that move into Empire soil.

(Whatever Ultimate Skill Velgrynd has, it somehow allowed her to ignore the tripod's shields and turn them into useless slags of metal)

It's making me paranoid how Velgrynd never once flew into Tempest air space, merely sitting back and only intervening if the Tripods touched Imperial soil or if a new Doorway opened up inside the Empire's domain.

It spoke volumes of how strong a True Dragon is if she could defend an area larger than Canada from any intrusions no matter how small.

Really makes me wonder if she sees all of this as a game or potentially waiting for something else, [Psychology] couldn't rule out any possibility for someone as old and enigmatic as her.

The only reason I'm playing this 'game' with Velgrynd is that I want a clean victory to show the West that even in war, I am merciful. Of course, if I really wanted to win I could easily call up all three of my Endbringers to fight against the Scorch Dragon, but that'll likely result in half of the continent on fire and millions dead by the time either the Endbringers are done, or the True Dragon is dead. Afterward, the West will trust me even less, thinking that death is a preferable option compared to receiving my help and being enslaved for eternity.

In the end, I'm fighting both a Public Relationship war as well as a legit boots-on-the-ground war, a literal war on two fronts.

Considering our position geographically to the Eastern Empire and the West you have yourself some ridiculous irony, especially when the West is in a coalition against you (In other words, the similarity between Tempest's current situation to Germany during the World Wars is so similar it's almost scary, except, our 'Germany' is the only bastion of liberty in the world and USSR is an Imperialistic Empire whereas the Allies were a bunch of authoritarian monarchies, god if this weren't real I would laugh so hard at the irony).

Although, Rudra must seriously become dull in the head since he actually invaded us from the east. You just don't do that. During WWII, even if Germany and Japan both attacked the USSR at the same time, Siberia was just so big and treacherous that the Soviets could focus all their efforts on beating back Germany before focusing on Japan.

I had to restrain Milim to prevent her from annihilating the Eastern Empire since she'd probably lose against someone like Velgrynd. Even if she does succeed, it'll be a victory for her instead of the Republic.

Click*

I was snapped out of my musing when the door to the War Room was opened. Turning my head around, my eyes were forced to adjust to the brightness outside before Shizue closed the door.

The glow of the holographic map did nothing to remove the grim outlook on her face.

"My Lady," Shizue kneeled before me, causing me to get flashbacks to when she had asked me to help her students.

Spinning the chair to face her, I saw how deeply she was kneeling before I confirmed my suspicion.

Hesitantly, "I... I know I have no right to ask you of this again, but the new King Aegir of Ingrassia has rallied up every Otherworlder they can find no matter the age. My Lady, I ask that you excuse me from service so that I can at least rescue my students from becoming child soldiers."

Yep, knew it.

After the mental breakdown from a week ago, Arcueid practically glued herself on me after apologizing profusely for the slaps, unwilling to let me go for more than a few seconds— made some meetings really awkward but at the same time, being so loved and appreciated made me feel all kinds of warm and fuzzy. Rimuru and Veldora showed their support by calling me at least once every day, while Ririna sent in her handwritten report every week.

Looking back, I realized how I was acting irrationally, and how one single thought spiraled out of control, more so when I had let my paranoia take the driver's seat.

Currently, I was enjoying one of my rare moments alone when I finally convinced the True Ancestor that I was fine.

I let out a grunt as I felt a minor headache coming in concerning her issue. Logically and pragmatically, it's better to just ignore Shizue's request. But I'm not feeling too logical right this moment.

The diplomacy option and the war option aren't going to cut to rescue her students, so that leaves only the third option: covert operation. Rubbing my forehead, I forcefully blinked several times as I thought about the Third Option.

Within the Third Option, there exist several classifications for different operations, with common ones being Public Influencing and Blackmail. Again, none of those are going to cut it, and Assassination would be too extreme. Instead, Shizue is going to lead an Asset Denial, essentially where the team attempts to either try and recruit talents or eliminate them to deny the enemy assets, hence the name.

Yes, that would work.

"Diablo."

The snapping of air signaled the appearance of the Black Primordial off to the side of the room, bowing deeply, "Yes, my Lady?"

I burdened Diablo with additional responsibility for the design and production of the War propaganda. As a Demon, he should know instinctively how to charm people into the prospect of war.

Still, looking back at it now, Diablo may be overkill since the Citizens of Tempest knows what's at stake, that if we were to lose then all liberties, rights, and freedoms they enjoyed would get squashed.

"First thing, how's Rain and Kathy dealing with their duties?"

After the meeting, I had expected Rain to perhaps ask me for a spot on the Ark for Guy Crimson, only for her to rebuke me by saying 'Demon Lord Guy wishes to see the End, not escape it'. I assigned her to aid in the Ministry of Defense, managing wartime and civilian resources as she is a maid...

As for Kathy, despite my best efforts, [Psychology] is still saying that I see her as something akin to a stand-in for my sister. I felt offended, what? So what if I assigned Kathy a cushy job in Cyberspace management? So what if I pulled some strings and created a new Ministry of Cyberspace just for her? Does that count as favoring? No, it shouldn't; Cyberspace before the establishment of the Ministry has been mostly mob rule or had differing rules between sites, it's high time for some regulations to be put in place.

And the War would be the perfect time for regulations to be implemented.

On a side note, Kathy caught on really quickly to how computers worked, unlike her peers. Within an hour of playing around with the Datapad I gave her, she was accessing its mainframe and internal codes, commenting on things only I (the designer of the Datapad OS) or another software engineer would know.

"Rain is doing her job excellently, we have cut down on wasteful resources by 30% compared to the last quarter alone."

Nodding along, I waited for his judgment of Kathy.

"Kathy... is seeing the Cyberspace of Tempest as her own playground. She's been called a 'tyrant' over 3,000 times ever since she became a moderator, taking down sites on a whim while playing cruel tricks. Despite her best efforts at hiding it, I saw over 84,000 complaints lodged against her, quite impressive actually."

"I... I... I see, I'll talk with her over lunch today."

I let out a sigh before continuing.

"Shizue is going to participate in an important Asset Denial operation, I think some members of the Stalker Team can assist her in this endeavor." Turning to face my servant, "Shizue, an Asset Denial is one where we try and use whatever means necessary to deny the enemy potential assets, the denial is either recruitment or termination."

Shizue grimaced once she realized what I was referring to, "...yes, my Lady. I accept the parameters."

"Grab your Siberium Chassis and go, you have 72 hours to complete this Asset Denial Operation. Diablo, help her come up with a workable operation layout."

With that, the two left.

Although... my left hand cupped my chin, now that I think about it, what are the chances that this is a trap? I wondered rhetorically as I absentmindedly took out a small purple box from my Pocket Dimension, gently squeezing it like a person squeezing something soft and precious, I threw it back as I got up.

"Ahhhhh..." Stretching my limbs, I heard a few cracks in each of my joints. "Admittedly, I never would've even thought of proposing until at least a year of dating, but..."

I seriously need to take a vacation, perhaps a dreamy cottage by the lake for the honeymoon would do me some good. A break from all the stress of making an Ark. Materializing a holographic panel with a single thought, I started to customize a small section of the Encyclopedia Universalis to resemble the Canadian wilderness.

The Hexagon, Operation Headquarters

Shizue followed Diablo and teleported into one of the high-security areas of the Hexagon. Appearing in front of another disarmingly simple wooden door, Diablo placed his right to the side of the door, right in front of a small cube— a scanner.

Shizue recognized such scanners, are almost synonymous with secrecy since you can always find them being the metaphorical lock to any area restricted to the public.

Several seconds later, the scanner beeped and the door opened.

The door opened by sliding off to the side instead of swinging in, inside the room was a long table filled with paper.

It was only when she saw the side of the door did it occurred to her that this was no ordinary door— the door was thick, her internal display showed it to be 16.8 cm in width and filled with a material so opaque that it practically sever the connection between the inside and the out, allowing for almost complete and utter privacy as no signal can come in or out.

A Faraday's cage on steroids.

This is why she stopped at the doorway: this is a Maid Chassis, and her Core is still deep within the Citadel, Shizue worries the moment the door closes she would lose control of the robotic body.

Seeing her being apprehensive, Diablo let out a mysterious smile as he pulled out a large textbook titled 'Quantum Mechanics v1.2' from seemingly nowhere. From this distance, she can see that it was authored by her Lady.

"Have no worry, that material does not block Quantum Tunneling-based communication. It works by distorting any signal that passes through the crystal lattice into unintelligible white noise not too dissimilar to the cosmic microwave background radiation. Quite honestly, our Mistress is most impressive, isn't she? Being able to turn what was possible only on the quantum level and scaled it up into something that can transmit enough data to connect to multiple bodies across long distances." He commented as he licked his finger and flipped through several pages of the rather thick book, "It's in a way similar to Quantum Entanglement, and even after studying the books and papers that she wrote, I still couldn't develop a method to reproduce the effect she managed to induce with technology, and I have [All of Creation]."

Diablo then mumbled quietly, "Truly, there is a difference between 'learning' and 'remembering'."

So that's why her sensors are giving the feedback of an opaque material, it's not completely 'dark' per se, merely distorted her scanner into giving false data, the appearance of 'opaque'.

Going inside, Shizue stood at the other end of the table, directly opposite where Diablo was standing.

Shizue can't help but feel unease around someone like Diablo. Despite the two serving the same master, the Artificial Lich has always had a prejudice against Demons, primarily those of the Black, Red, Yellow, and White bloodlines since they were the ones causing most of the demon-related incidents in the West.

The prejudice first started after she became one of the 'lucky' up-and-coming adventurers hired by Ingrassia to investigate the aftermath of the Lake Shore Dyed Scarlet Incident decades ago.

The haunting memories of a city dyed in red 'paint' flash inside her mind. Burnt corpses of humans stacked up in piles taller than she is. Shizue can still remember the smell, the horrible horrible heavy stench of iron and the stink of rotten flesh and burnt fat, the disgusting sounds shredded human meat would make when you accidentally step on them.

Blood still dripped from every nook and cranny long after the Lake Shore Dyed Scarlet Incident, half-eaten limbs strung about here and there, quartered and skinned corpses of children as young as three, crushed decapitated heads with its grey matter missing as though someone had viewed it like an egg, cooked babies placed onto the tips of stone spires as decorations, severed male genitals and female breasts were strung about on the walls of houses like slabs of salted meat hung to dry in lines so long it's better to measure it in city blocks—

Shizue could almost hear the ghostly cries, the pain imprinted onto reality, and feel the anguish of the dying in the atmosphere. Every conceivable method of killing was done, from the simple stab through the chest to systematic live burial to forcing fathers to rape daughters until either died and was quickly replaced.

Many cried. Even more emptied their stomachs.

It was something that shouldn't exist.

It was cruelty incarnate.

It was savagery manifested.

It was like looking at the aftermath of an unhinged S-rank Fleshcrafter gone berserk.

The lake by the ghost city was still dyed pink even after it had been days after the Incident.

And there, amidst all this carnage was what she liked to call 'The Juicer': two massive blocks of stone hypothesized by the Eastern Empire's military were used to squish the surviving humans after the initial onslaught like how a juicer would squish fruits. There were deep markings— tracks— of various sizes behind each stone block like the rails of a train, signifying that the Juicer was originally much smaller, but likely after realizing it would take too long, whoever was responsible for the brutality had enlargened the blocks to be more efficient.

No one wanted to be anywhere near The Juicer, as it was a brutal and bloody holocaust of thousands, indiscriminately murdered by what could only be demons. Hell, it was so bad that the Eastern Empire pretty much let the meat around and inside the Juicer rot because no soldier had wanted to be near it, even when threatened with a dishonorable discharge. It took Velgrynd herself to finally clean up the mess after Shizue and the rest of the adventurers hired by Ingrassia had left, having finished their investigation.

Several Adventurers later went to a Hypnotist to get their memory of the incident suppressed.

Shizue felt guilty at the enjoyment she had being in Silberia, the pain in the air had caused Ifrit to stay silent for the whole journey, giving her days' worth of respite.

"Indeed, she was the one who saved me from my fate, after all." Shizue walked in with discreet caution at every step, it would be terribly rude to her Japanese side to not at least be polite to her coworkers.

"Now, let's see..." Diablo gestured towards the table in the middle of the room, causing multiple panels of holograms to materialize in thin air.

Looking around, Shizue noticed how three of the four walls of the room were lined with TV screens displaying data about the current war effort with the last wall being one single Touchscreen.

The massive touch screen showed the world map, with dots representing active operatives all over the place, primarily concentrated in places like Sarion and the Eastern Empire.

"Now," Diablo's words diverted Shizue's attention to him, "for any 'executive action' that includes a potential 'health alteration committee', we first need to decipher what the primary variables going to be. For these Asset Denial Operations, we're first going to need to sort out what we know."

Shizue's eyes narrowed at the apparent change in words. "Why are you using those words? Aren't we—"

Diablo raised a finger, shushing her, "No no no, we don't use the A-word or the K-word here nor on documents. No, the most we call it is 'euthanizing' or 'complete sterilization', and even then it's toeing the line quite a bit. Besides, when it comes to 'those' types of operations, Research and Development will provide us with a hyper-specialized tailor-made strain of a 'Terminator Virus' that causes multi-organ failure or total cellular degeneration for those really tough targets. These Terminator Viruses are the perfect health alteration methods as they are extremely customizable. For example, the Terminator's lethality can be activated after a certain number of generations, meaning that by the time the target's dead, it could be weeks after our agent has left the country, making it superior to most forms of poison."

"Subtly and efficiency is the name of the game for us," Diablo concluded, causing Shizue to give a small nod of acknowledgment, and morbid curiosity sprung within her mind.

He then pulled up a holographic whiteboard from nowhere, on it was a connected double T-chart with 'Awareness', 'Outcome', and 'Concealment'. Diablo tapped his fingers on the Awareness part, "The first variable is 'awareness', in other words, how aware is the target about our intentions?"

Shizue's synthetic lips thinned at the changed wording regarding assassination before giving it some thought, "the students shouldn't be aware of anything."

Diablo snapped his fingers, "So close but oh so far, the Ingrassian government undoubtedly knows the value of Otherworlders and is probably guarding them, thus a 'simple' non-consensual immigration isn't viable with the guards they have in place." The Black Primordial wrote down 'guarded' underneath 'awareness'.

"Now, the 'Outcome' is obvious: either we deport them back to Tempest or you as a member of the health alteration committee do your job, plus, it would hurt our Mistress dearly to lose someone who has been with her for so long." He wrote down 'Safe' under Outcome.

"Lastly, we have the Concealment." He turned around to face Shizue, Diablo's eyes blazed with interest and excitement, "we here in the Special Circumstances Unit have three different types: Secret, Open, and Terrorist. The Secret type describes operations that must remain secret to the general public. The Open are ones where it doesn't matter if the operation goes public or not. Lastly, we have the Terrorist, in this type, we need the public to know in order for it to be effective, the 'health alteration' of the late Demon Lord Clayman is an excellent example of a Terrorist case."

He looked at Shizue expectantly, like a parent giving a child basic information and expecting them to connect the dots. "...probably a Secret?" she asked unsure of herself.

"Indeed, we do not want to spark War with the West when we're currently fighting one with the East." After writing it down, the Demon played around with the interface and an overhead look of Lura popped out.

"Now that we have a Guarded-Safe-Secret Asset Denial Operation, we can work on basic reconnaissance." preemptively, another holographic window opened up next to Diablo. Shizue is taken aback at how efficiently the Black Primordial is using these complex interfaces, he's like a Scientia-lite when it comes to working with these! The digital lich thought, silently annoyed at how old these new gadgets made her feel.

"Stalker Neon." A heavily distorted voice spoke. The panel displayed the element Neon.

"73355. Is Stalker Carbon available?"

"Code received, Stalker Carbon is available."

"Excellent. I'm going to send over the data for a new headhunting operation. Tell Carbon that it's from the highest echelons of the Administration and that it's time-limited."

"... very well, Hydrogen. Stalker Neon, out."

Diablo then turned to face Shizue with a satisfied smile on his face, "We should be getting information in about 12 hours, afterward, we can plan for the Asset Denial."

Unknown.

It was a pub area, with a bar and pool table. Most of the lighting came from either the lights above the pool table or those of the bar.

Instead of clown clothing, Laplace wore a stylish suit as he wiped each wine glass meticulously. The rest of the now-defunct Moderate Harlequin Alliance, namely Footman, and Tear, were both competing against each other in the act of dart throwing. Clayman sat by one of the sofas, reading from a small book, the light coming from a tiny flashlight on his forehead was more than enough to read with.

Due to Tear's much slimmer frames, she was currently winning the dart game.

After accepting that monster's offer, Laplace and Co were given a new base of operation where they could relax between missions. Admittedly for Laplace, the place was quite nice. Amenities were aplenty, and things that Laplace never knew he needed were supplied, things like fireless and magic-less lighting, an endless supply of previously unseen alcohol, and most of all— The Internet.

Really, the Internet is probably the best thing to come out of Tempest.

Placing the cleaned glass down onto the tabletop, the deathman pulled out his phone that has restricted access and started browsing Posit, a portmanteau of 'post' and 'it', a social media app where people could share all kinds of things.

"Laplace, we have an order from the highest echelon of Research and Development." Captain Kagali announced as she walked through the only door in the room. Within her hands is a folder of documents, probably concerning this 'order' if Laplace had to guess.

"Ah yes. Another order, another tug on our strings, for what we are but puppets on the grandest stage? Actors who've been given an updated script, grass that flows with the wind."

Clayman closed his book as his head leaned back onto the top of the sofa, his eyes staring at Laplace.

Ever since returning, Clayman has gotten extremely philosophical about everything to the point of being detrimental. During missions, the automaton would constantly spouse philosophical babbles like water from a waterfall.

The entire Moderate Harlequin Alliance had mental whiplash at how much Clayman had changed.

Kagali's eyes twitched in annoyance, a tick mark appeared on her forehead, and the edge of her mouth twitched uncontrollably "Yes Clayman, your observation is as astute as always."

Clayman looked pensive for a moment.

"For what reason are you angry at me, Mein Elven Leader? Anger is fleeting, so why has thou chosen to be angry? Being happy! Be glad that we are here to experience this moment in time! For time never stops marching!"

Deciding to ignore Clayman for the time being, Kagali directed her attention at Laplace, staring at the deathman.

Laplace nodded, pouring himself a drink before taking the folder from Kagali's hand and opening it.

Late evening local time, Lura, the Capital of Ingrassia.

Lura was once spoken by merchants and tourists to have some of the best nightlife in the world, only, it seemed to be more of a dream now that King Aegir came into power after the Coup.

The barren streets with not a soul in sight offered much protection as Shizue stalked the night, jumping silently from rooftop to rooftop throughout this tile-infested jungle. Her Siberium Chassis allowed her to jump from the edge of space and not make a single sound nor disturbance when landing, thus, aside from seeing a humanoid mass of blackness darker than black, there exists no evidence of anyone there.

Of course, there were some guards here and there on patrol but she moved too fast to be seen.

Shizue stopped at the belfry of a particularly tall bell tower. Due to her tuning the Siberium shell to not reflect any photons, she blended well into the night sky like a shadow.

"So you're our handler boss' maid, huh?" A rough voice from behind her called out.

Quickly turning around despite knowing nothing short of an attack from the likes of perhaps Hero Chronoa could harm her, Shizue stared at the origin of that voice in confusion.

She stared into a figure blocked by shadows.

"—you are Stalker Carbon?" Her voice sounded different due to her Siberium Chassis.

Technically speaking, this Chassis doesn't have a voicebox. Rather, the body talks by producing soundwaves artificially in a limited area on her Siberium Skin in a fashion analogous to how President Rimuru talks using [Ultrasonic Wave]

"Indeed." It— he said as he walked into the moonlight, dressed completely like a circus clown, Stalker Carbon bowed respectfully with one arm over his chest like a knight, "Stalker Team Vice-Captain—Stalker Carbon, at your service Miss Shizue."

Shizue's eyes narrowed in distrust as she remembered something, with an accusing tone, "I know of that design, your name is Laplace and you were part of the Moderate Harlequin Alliance. How and when the hell did you fall under the employment of Diablo?" Her artificial muscle tensed in readiness for action.

"Scientia is a... very dangerous and convincing person."

In an instant, all hostility receded as Shizue relaxed, "I see."

Shizue was feeling stupid for asking such a thing. To the Otherworlder, Scientia has this odd charm, whether it is due to her fairness and the rewards she gives to her employees, Shizue can't help but feel a sense of loyalty.

Finally letting the photons bounce off her, the Servant of Scientia revealed her monochrome body to the world. Facing the city, Shizue turned her back to the Deathman and gazed off to the dark city, her mind remembering how bright the streets used to be.

"Where are my students."

"Your students are currently locked up in the Royal Castle, awaiting their turn to be engraved a Slave Seal."

"What?!" Shizue shouted violently, "The Kingdom Ingrassia is a beacon of humanity, (and used to be) of freedom! It's why many of the escaped Otherworlders went to Ingrassia in the first place!"

Like a devil, the renamed Laplace chuckled at her horror, as if enjoying a holy place's fall from grace, "clearly not anymore!"

Shizue gritted her teeth, "...are my students fine at least?" She said desperately, with a bit of hope in her voice.

Which was promptly crushed by Carbon's next words: "Well, all are fine..." Shizue's eyes lit up in happiness, "except one is dead."

Shizue's jaw fell slack, her body froze, and all micromovements ceased.

"How."

Realizing that this was no time to play around and that if he were to die, his handler would probably file Laplace's death as a 'workplace accident' or KIA, Stalker Carbon thought about his following words carefully.

"He was killed by some knights who snuck in as the headmaster was distracted. Any inquiry beyond that was promptly ceased by the Acting Knight-Captain at the time."

"..." Shizue gripped her hands tightly, so tempted was she to punch something. Like hitting the surface of an ocean, the only thing stopping her is that her Siberium hands would more likely sink into the wall rather than cause any satisfying cracks.

"I see, and they are currently inside the dungeons in the Royal Castle?"

"Indeed, they're going to be declared 'Defender of the Kingdom' in about 3 to 4 days' time based on what information I was able to acquire."

"Do you have the map?"

Carbon's hand reached within his clown costume and pulled out a folded map no longer than her forearm, "here it is. So do you need any help?"

"No."

Handing her the map, Stalker Carbon leaned on one of the pillars that supported the belfry, "I'll be on the comm in case you need a distraction. If you want something more, Stalker Potassium and Ranger Tungsten are also nearby, ready to cause a scene at a moment's notice. Happy Hunting."

Faster than sound, Shizue burst forward toward the large white castle.

Even if her logical mind isn't telling her that it's her fault, Shizue still can't help but feel guilty and be reminded of how she failed Hinata.

After all, she should've tried to at least give them Tempest Citizenship, especially with how zealously the Constitution of Tempest guards her Citizens, her students could live the rest of their lives with a safety net in the form of the Republic behind them.

Just as a tiny slice of her mind brought up matters of her Ultimate Skill, she instinctively shut that down, not even considering the possibility that doing so would destroy herself.

In absolute silence, like a monochrome shadow, she stopped at the base of the walls far away from any patrol teams. Looking around, Shizue grabbed a wooden cart and pushed it near where she planned to breach.

Crouching down by the wall right underneath the cart, Shizue re-tuned her Siberium and started crawling forward, into the wall.

Despite being made out of magically reinforced stones, the castle walls offered no resistance as Shizue moved forward.

In fact, to an outside observer, it would look more like Shizue is moving through something made out of soapy foams than anything solid.

According to a book authored by Her Lady, the physical universe can be seen as this giant music sheet of quantum strings vibrating at each their own frequency, with each note being a particle. These strings are small, as small as they can be, and by changing how they vibrate, the Siberium creates an oscillation effect that terminates any resisting opposing vectors, meaning that if Shizue wishes to crush a diamond, she merely needs to press her finger down on the crystal since the vectors that resist her would be canceled out: it would be as easy as a normal human squeezing their hand.

This material also makes it so that Shizue can be sped up to relativistic speeds in microseconds and not experience any effect of the extreme G-force nor will it cause any nuclear explosions typical of moving at such speeds in an atmospheric condition.

When Shizue asked how her Lady could control these fundamental portions of the universe without the use of magic, her Lady used the analogy belonging to this one philosopher from their old world called 'Plato', saying how we only see the shadow on the cave walls, and by controlling the shapes responsible for the shadows, she can control the shadow to a certain extent.

Shizue quickly zoned out like a 9-year-old trying to decipher University-level maths after Scientia got into her lecturer mode trying to explain how the 'Shapes' in this case the other 7 extra spatial dimensions that are rolled up into these tubes of near-absolute thinness and through bending them, she can change the physical laws.

Like a literal hole in reality, Shizue popped out the other end with not a single scratch on her monochrome body. The tunnel she created when passing through the walls was very cleanly cut and separated on the molecular level.

A port opened around her stomach area. Reaching in and pulling out the map that Lap—Carbon, her mind corrected her, had handed her. Shizue saw how far away her students were.

In a brief second, Shizue's internal computer calculated the best way to get to her students.

209 Steps

Wait for me, my students! Shizue declared in her mind.

AN: Yes that was inspired by the CIA Assassination Manual.

after reading the Tsukihime remake, I find myself interested in perhaps a Side Story where Scientia and Arcueid got transported into Fuyuki and the True Ancestor is forced into drinking Scientia's blood and turning her into a Dead Apostle since otherwise, Alaya would sic the entirety of the Counter Force on Scientia's ass in no time flat, in fact, the Human Order may just abandon that Timeline all together. It would be really funny to see Scientia's technology turning True Magic like the Second and the Third into mere Magecraft.

It'll also be interesting to have Scientia chat with Da Vinci, one magecraft genius and one scientific learner talking should be interesting.

The talk between Gilgamesh and Scientia, one who lives in the past and the other in the future, would predictably go violent. You know, I really didn't get the whole stagnation thing, the past century has been arguably the most meaningful and impactful century throughout the entirety of human history. We waged wars that resulted in the deaths of millions, we invalidated ideas, we promoted new ideologies, we cracked the atom, we created computers, the moon landing, and the advancements in civil rights and liberty, I'd say humans have hardly stagnated.

Hell, the 21st century is looking to be even more impactful. By this century's end, we are looking at colonies on the Moon and Mars, mastery in genetic engineering, creation of True AI, and potential eternal youth, the only way for the 22nd century to be more impactful would be if we reached out of the solar system or if we finally met aliens.

59

AN: Just a heads up, the first half of this chapter gets really technical.

A lot of Xeelee Sequence inspiration.

Also, if you think this story has a happy ending, then you haven't been paying attention.

Early Morning.

Knowing that I could not teleport to Shizue's last known location, I excused myself from the room and contacted Diablo, shifting into a set of white lab coats as I did.

"Diablo why did I just suddenly receive a message about Shizue suddenly being offline?"

I spoke with seriousness mixed with a hint of anger at the panel manifested in front of me, currently displaying the face of Diablo twisted in discomfort. Despite how much he's trying to hide it, I can tell by the sweat on his forehead that he too is panicking.

"Um, my Lady, I can assure you that everything is under control—"

"Diablo." I silenced him before he could make another excuse, "Tell me the truth about why Shizue just dropped offline."

The Demon looked around as if thinking of excuses, he opened his mouth to speak before I stopped it with a glare, emphasizing, "Do not lie to me."

His eyes widened when he felt the aura I radiated through our bond as namer and named. I quickly deactivated the [Demon Lord Aura] I unleashed subconsciously, no need to worry Arcueid even more.

"A thousand apologies, Lady Scientia, I failed you. Everything was going to plan until the Insectar Razul showed up. Miss Shizue directed Stalker Team Carbon to acquire her remaining students while she tried and stall for time. After Stalker Carbon acquired all the students, he went to contact Miss Shizue, only to discover some kind of Barrier had been erected around the City of Lura, something that does not allow information in or out. Later when Ranger Tungsten fired a Hypersonic Tracer Round in it and discovered the moment that the round moved within 3 millimeters of the barrier, a portal opened up and the bullet got teleported to the other side of the city—"

As Diablo spoke, I Doorway myself to his position on a large hill a few hundred meters outside of the city overlooking it. My brow furrowed at the sight of Lura being encased in a massive pitch-black dome that doesn't even reflect the Moonlight.

It's like looking at a cosmic void.

"A pocket participatory universe?" [Theoretical Physics] and [Quantum Physics] instantly recognized it for what it is. I can feel the tiniest hint of fear radiate from those two specialties, both of them feeling especially threatened that someone else had been able to recreate what only up until now they had the monopoly on.

This... this is an altered version of that cage that trapped Veldora for 300 years, I had a frown on my face as I continued to dissect the dome with my specialties aiding me.

My face paled at the thought of another variable inside this already complicated war, the back of my neck felt as if it was encased in ice at the prospect of someone as powerful as Chronoa joining the war on the enemy's side.

Before I knew it, Diablo was kneeling on the ground with his head facing down in respect, "My Lady, your knowledge exceeds my own, and even when I've read all of your books, I still do not understand everything you wrote. If I may ask, what is a pocket participatory universe?"

Taking a deep breath to calm down, I started recalling my past dabbles with such a concept and the fact that it brought more issues than solutions to the table. Suppressing a shudder, I thought of a way to explain what a participatory universe is while [Inspired Inventor] got to work on coming up with a solution to break the sealed-off universe.

"A participatory universe is something I theorized to be responsible for the creation of the multiverse during one early attempt at creating a Multiversal Theory of Everything. Within this pocket universe, everything— every atom, every molecule, every subatomic particle— is a wave, otherwise known as a superposition."

I had some wacky theories back then, like, I first thought spirits were made out of Dark Matter, only that it couldn't have been true since Dark Matter doesn't interact with light or matter.

"Now, this pocket participatory universe exists in what's known as a Phase Space— where all possible states of a system are presented including all possible values of position and momentum. In the same sense as asking how many decimals are there between 1 and 2, the Phase Space creates an uncountably infinite number of configurations, with each of these configurations being a variation of the pocket universe in its own right, existing simultaneously and within each other.

The key ingredient to any participatory universe is that there must be at least one observer inside, otherwise, it'll be just another Schroedinger's Cat."

Wait, does he even know what Schroedinger's Cat is? Did I even write it down inside the books I wrote?

Seeing that I've somehow managed to get Diablo to do the blank eyes commonly associated with 'you lost me', I quickly thought of a better metaphor for him to digest, "Think of it like this: if a Many Worlds multiverse were like marbles spread out on a sheet of paper, a participatory universe is a single stack of marbles each on top of the other going up to infinity."

It was a concept created by a 20th-century physicist back in my old world.

After explaining it to him, I felt much calmer, like a teacher who was teaching actually competent students. My eyes narrowed in awareness, "did you purposefully ask me that question so I could calm down?"

Hesitantly, Diablo replied, "Yes, my Lady, I thought that it would be best if you had a clear mind while thinking of a solution... and even anxiety can get the best of us."

"I... See." My shoulders relaxed.

Bits of the lab coat split off from their main body and formed a Visualization Port for me, a miniature version of the Imaginary Space from the Citadel.

With a single swipe of my right hand, the Port projected a hologram of the black sphere that currently encompassed Lura. Part of my lab coat turned itself into a harmless laser pointer and aimed it toward the black dome.

Playing around with the hologram, I noticed Diablo looked on in awe at the sheer ease with which I commanded the hologram, like how a young kid would be in awe at how fast their parents could type, the sheer speed with which their fingers moved at and the lines of words growing like bamboo stocks after heavy rain, the panels and holograms danced around my fingertips.

I played around with different possible solutions, trying to see if I could use Magic as a shortcut compared to building something, "now, to get out of that Phase Space, you'll need to create a tear in the fabric...of...space-time..."

I trailed off as I stared at the black dome. Only now did it suddenly occur to me the eerie similarity between it and the actual System.

Am I living inside a participatory universe?

Placing that on the back burner, with the aid of [Quantum Mechanics, I managed to devise a way to pop that bubble.

This method calls for launching a gravitational singularity towards that sphere.

As it turns out, superposition and wave functions exist as something more than mathematical equations; they are actual physical existences that one can manipulate if they have the know-how, otherwise, things like Quantum Variation Fields and Static Matter would be impossible. Extreme objects like black holes serve as a termination point for these wave functions, as all possible world lines end at the surface of those event horizons.

Normally, I wouldn't need to use a black hole, since I'll just need to become an observer to collapse those wave functions, but, there's a layer of folded space-time around the City that's letting only the visual wavelength of light in but nothing out.

I felt another chill run down my back, whoever made this had somehow created programmable spacetime and used it to maintain this participatory universe.

Chronoa, IF she is responsible for this, must have an Ultimate Skill specialized in the control of space-time since it rivals the very best of my technology.

Now, to smooth out that topological manifold, I'll launch a black hole towards it.

But here comes the issue; I can't just teleport a singularity in and out even if I use Doormaker. The same property which allows them to pierce that black dome is also what's preventing them from being moved: they are holes in the geodesic structure of space-time, quite literally the true anchors of the universe, unmovable, untouchable by neither energy, matter, or magicule since even higher spatial dimensions break down inside the event horizon. The only method I've devised of moving it is through gravity.

"My Lady?" Diablo's words yanked me out of my trance-like state. Realizing I'd been staring at an unchanging hologram for the better part of a minute, I cleared my throat.

"There is a way to free her." I thumbed my lips in deep thought. Turning to face Diablo, "What's your strongest ability that can manipulate gravity?"

"I can cast [Gravity Collapse, my Lady."

My mind got to work, gears turning as [Magic] recognized that name. [Gravity Collapse] describes a type of nuclear magic that increases the local gravitational constant to trillions of times that of normal, essentially recreating an environment not too dissimilar to the pressure baryonic matter experiences in the core of a collapsing star. After the magic is cast, the singularity then evaporates in a fiery explosion once gravity returns to normal.

It is a very powerful spell and is deemed to be the most powerful nuclear magic out there.

Sending a message through the Noosphere, a massive portal to my own Pocket Dimension opened up next to me, and from it, a Starbreaker Engine poked out.

It looked like the tip of a miner's drill and was made from a semi-translucent crystal-like material. The entire width of the portal is about the size of a three-story building.

There are many variants of Starbreakers.

Most of the time, I set the Engine to use negative mass and have it orbit around a star, sucking out colossal amounts of stellar matter like the Universe's most advanced drinking straw.

(AN: when you push on a negative mass particle, the particle moves towards you. This means that hypothetically, a beam of negative mass punching into a star would result in mass getting sucked up proportional to how many atoms the negative mass beam hits)

The Primordial Demon had to lift his head up in order to fully encompass it inside his view, drinking in its form, his face freezing in awe at the sheer intricacy of my machine as I stood just in front of it.

"Gravity is the weakest of the fundamental forces since gravitons can freely cross different sheets of spacetime like a human moving from one floor tile to the next. Using the fact that acceleration creates gravity, the synchrotron accelerator inside this Starbreaker Engine can generate such strong coherent gravitational wave beams when fired that [Space-time Engineering] describes them as being able to create lightspeed 'wounds' in space-time, capable of punching through anything."

A relatively simple principle, yet using this explanation is doing the Starbreaker a serious disservice on the level of calling quantum mechanics 'spooky actions'.

"They are some of the most versatile tools in my possession for macro-manipulation, and just one of them is able to push a singularity along like a piston." Diablo's eyes sparkled as he realized what I was asking for, and his mouth formed into a confident smirk, "I'm going to need you to create a photon-sized black hole, think you can do that and maintain it for..." doing some back of the napkin math here, "about 10 seconds?"

He had an eager expression on his face, like how a student would feel when they are about to impress a highly respected teacher. "Of course, I can. As a Primordial Demon, it would shame me to no end if I could not do something as simple as making a black hole!"

I mean, he's technically not wrong since all you need to make a black hole is to compress mass down to their Schwarzschild radius, a classic case of 'if brute force isn't working, you're not using enough of it'.

Using [Mekhane, I transformed parts of my Mathematics into a stick about the length of my forearm split off into two pongs on one end— an advanced handheld topology compass that can detect spatial anomalies as small as 0.1 attometers, or 10 quintillionths of a meter, something smaller than even protons; perfect for detecting ultra-small black holes.

With a single thought, the portal to my Pocket Dimension— and subsequently the Starbreaker itself— turned towards the dome. Using [Fundamental Force Manipulation, I generated a 30-centimeter wide high radiation blocking sphere 3 meters out from where the tip is facing.

I pointed to it, "Cast your [Gravity Collapse] within that sphere, it can be anywhere within it, just that it IS inside that sphere."

My tone of voice and the fact that I said it twice emphasized to Diablo just how important that step is.

"Remember, it has to be photon-sized, no more, no less."

"Of course, Lady Scientia, I will not fail in this task you gave me." He assured me. Raising a hand, he cast the spell.

A monstrous amount of magicules was released from Diablo and started to condense inside the sphere, forming a tiny pinprick of white light.

The wind picked up, all of it blowing towards the singularity.

Instantly, 12 of my internal sensors went haywire. A pair of holographic heads-up displays projected itself around my eyes, currently showing me that I'm near ground zero of a gravitational anomaly.

Other than the wind, the nearby area remains mostly unaffected as electromagnetic shielding is proving its use, trapping the heat within the sphere and ionizing the gas inside into plasma.

Sporadically, bits of the nearby vegetation would get swept up by the wind and get pulled into the sphere, being vaporized the moment that the plant life crosses that threshold.

Due to the simple fact that any matter if compressed enough starts to grow hot, there should exist a star about 12 nanometers across that is slowly shrinking due to the sheer strength of gravity within that region of space.

It won't be fast enough.

Doing some quick math, you'll need around 33,665,883 metric tons of raw matter compressed down to a size of 0.5 x 10-15 meters to create a photon-sized black hole.

Before I could inform Diablo of this fact, I got an alert from my Topology compass saying that a singularity had been achieved.

Looking up, I saw how the original pinprick of light—the black hole was covered by a mantle of plasma heated via Hawking Radiation, creating a miniature Quasi-star inside the shielding.

The hell? I stared down at the info given to me by the measurement tool. That can't be right, a black hole with a mass of 33 million metric tons should have a temperature of over 3 trillion kelvin! It's the sole reason why I emphasized Diablo to create his black hole inside that sphere of electromagnetic shielding! I would still like to have a planet habitable afterward, please!

Besides, the Black Primordial has nowhere near enough raw mass to even form...

"—!"

It was only then that it hit me— that's right, there's a reason why black holes created from [Gravity Collapse] aren't self-sustaining; they require an outside source (in this case magicules) to maintain their gravitational singularity!

I was feeling stupid for mistaking it for regular black holes, they function a lot like artificial ones in that regard.

Shit, do I even need the Starbreaker? Couldn't I just ask Diablo to— oh well, too late.

I formed a tube of hard light around where the beam should hit. This tube is to ensure that no air molecules would touch the Starbreaker beam, after all, I don't want to cause a forest fire.

'Fire, low setting,' with a single mental command through the Noosphere, I activated the Miniature Starbreaker—

Vuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu—*

A distinct hum

Voooooooo——*

The very tip of the drill-like crystal fired out a thin red beam no wider than the width of your thumb.

The beam cut through the air and pushed the photon-sized black hole toward the sealed-off universe. Like trying to move any massive object, while the beam already slammed into the barrier at the speed of light, it took a few seconds to get the magical black hole moving.

The fact that the beam was unaffected by the Starbreaker showed how I needed a stronger space-time defect. Such as the black hole.

—ooooooooooooooooo—*

The beam was mostly silenced by the hard light tube, the sound mainly came from the vibrations of the tube as the black hole moved.

The Starbreaker preemptively turned itself off, and the black hole continued its travel unabated.

In the span of fewer than 10 seconds from creation to its destruction, the tiny pseudo-black hole touched the very edge of that sealed spacetime bubble and—

Shards. Thousands upon thousands of colorful shards that used to make up the dome dissolved into nothingness. Correction, each 'shard' is a slice of distorted space that's returning to how it should've been as the universe corrects itself.

My face turns into one of awe.

It would be almost beautiful if I wasn't on the clock.

The instant that the black hole evaporated, just before the fireball could expand further than a few nanometers, Doormaker teleported the resulting explosion away into deep interstellar space. It would take several years for the people on this planet to see that flash of light, if at all.

Despite a participatory universe displaying a countably infinite number of possibilities, once that quantum superposition collapses, it'll display only the one most likely to occur.

With a single half-hearted thought, the Topology compass was disassembled and returned to the Block-Form Singularity Mathematics.

From this vantage point on a hill overlooking the city, I can see that it's mostly intact with small swaths of people residing by the edge of the now-destroyed barrier, finally being given an opportunity to escape. Only the Royal Castle near the center of the city is damaged with plumes of smoke rising and at least half a dozen castle towers being cut down.

Using [Mekhane, I managed to get a closer look and saw how Shizue was backed into a corner with fucking Luminous being one of three people surrounding her.

The next thing I knew, my instinct took over and I felt an extreme sense of deja vu. I felt my body was taken back to my old life, standing in front of that door, my mind imagining all sorts of scenarios that could result in her storming into her room.

The next thing I knew, I clutched my chest as the phantom pain from Rimuru's death echoed through my body once more like the ringing of a bell, the hair on the back of my head standing on end.

No, not again.

Never. Again.

Boom*

The ground exploded when I leaped hundreds of meters into the air, leaving a confused Diablo in the dust.

As I gained altitude, my lab coat shifted into its armor state, and the handle of Asimov popped out of a portal that traveled with me.

Pulling out the sword with two hands, I drew the sword back over my right shoulder as if I were about to unleash a heavy overhead slash.

Putting aside my dislike of magic, Asimov glowed a deep dark red as magicules started pouring in. The ebony was quickly absorbed by a coat of raw magical energy.

The coat started to grow more and more, extending out from its original physical limit like saplings growing into a proper tree.

The walled city of Lura grew smaller and smaller as I rose.

When I reached the peak of my jump and started to fall, Asimov was more akin to a gigantic cross one would find on top of your local church than any real sword, what with it gaining such a thick coating of magicules that it lost most of its details already.

To an outside observer, I would look more like a falling star, glowing a menacing red as if heralding destruction.

Well... they wouldn't be wrong.

Ignoring any of my specialties' suggestions and thought of only saving Shizue. I finally swung the massive cross-like blade the moment I fell below the 800-meter threshold.

Asimov's cutting section extended outward ad infinitum, splitting the city in half like a giant laser beam of death, carving a valley through the place and melting nearby brick and mortar buildings like candles in an oven set to the highest temperature possible.

For a brief, ever so small moment right after the beam had finished cleaving, the area where it had passed through was glowing like the midday sun—

Ka—BOOOOOOOOOO————OOOOOOOOM——————*

—It exploded. Mushroom clouds grew along the length of where the light of Asimov had touched as if it were a fallen log. Right before the clouds could grow anymore, colorful barriers materialized mere meters away from the edge of the fireball, halting its growth in its track.

Lura is one of the most important cities in the entire Western world, as such, the many S-rank mages that once lived within the Kingdom over the centuries of its existence placed down legendary seals and other protection that made it one of the hardest human cities to siege, besting even the Capital of Ruberios in certain regards.

When the mushroom cloud touched the automated barrier, it continued with the path of least resistance and traveled upward kilometers up into the air, until the influence of the barrier could no longer be felt, creating a curtain of explosion reaching above the clouds.

To me, these barriers looked more akin to colossal smoke stacks commonly found in factories, what with the top spewing out the vaporized remains of bricks, mortars, and other humans who were caught up in the ray of doom.

Floating in the air like an uncaring god, I looked at such scenes of destruction while running on an emotional high, and... [Psychology] says I'm standing on an edge.

Ignoring that troublesome specialty, focusing on the present.

With this one action, I've all but declared war on the West.

I looked down at my clenched hands, the grip I had on Asimov was harder than iron. I just killed a little over 40000 people without batting a single eye...

You know, I thought it would bother me more honestly. Killing more people than most natural disasters in history? Yet I truly can't find it in myself to care for these... inse— humans.

Looking at the destruction in a clearer mind, I realized one thing was for certain:

There is no more turning back.

No. There was never any turning back.

Even if I were to ignore Shizue and let her get killed, Luminous would definitely tell King Aegir something along the line that 'the Conqueror of Flames was brainwashed by me— a Perfect Homunculus— into an assassin, and that I sent her to kill the King due to increasing hostility between Ingrassia and the Jura Tempest Republic' or something similar.

And if I hadn't let Shizue rescue her students, Ingrassia would've continued its arms race, with King Aegir furthering his agenda of militarization.

I didn't have a choice did I? No, of course not, this was bound to happen sooner or later.

I felt incredibly tired for a brief moment before my resolve solidified.

Alea Iacte Est.

[Silenced Emotion: 60%]

Instantly, all the doubts and fears I had about the future fled like sheep when they were in the presence of a wolf.

Right here? Psychohistory had given the Western Council a 99.57% chance of ganging up on the Jura Tempest Republic the moment we started losing the war against the East. Like... Japan in WWII, war was inevitable, the Western Holy Church is too widespread and I can't even suppress it since it'll be like a Middle Eastern country trying to ban Islam; it'll push people towards extremism unless I go full Orwellian surveillance state on them.

I don't know if I'm trying to rationalize it for Rimuru or my conscience.

'Diablo' reaching him through the [Soul Corridor] that exists between the named and namer, I recognize that I often don't use it since I prefer to see someone that I'm talking with.

However, this is no time for preferences.

'Yes, my Lady?'

'Go back to Tempest and contact General Rubedo, tell him to mobilize more forces, we are declaring war against the West.'

I could feel glee from the connection, 'Of course, my Lady, I shall do exactly as you say.'

With that, the Black Primordial teleported back to Tempest, and my soul felt even heavier than before, so much so that had I not been wearing the Mathematic, I probably would've collapsed.

It is time. Psychohistory's prediction is finally coming true. The World War is here, and if so then I'll need to end it as soon as I can. I snuffed out the last resistance within my mind and committed to doing what must be done.

'Activate Gunboat Diplomacy Protocol, Passcode: Z91LAB04PSNJFBW561PLHOQ4, [Activate]'

Activation of Grand Fleet Confirmed. Estimated time to full combat-ready status in T-34 Administrative Hours.

Across the entirety of the Noosphere, a massive amount of power and resources are being diverted to the activation and outfitting of trillions of warships each more than capable of subduing a conventional Type II civilization.

With that done, I used [Mekhane] to pinpoint the exact location of Shizue's position.

Allowing gravity to take hold of me once more, I fell down to earth face down, feeling the wind blowing past me made my hair go wild until I put a stop to that. Due to the angle from which I fell, I was in a collision course with the barrier... just as planned.

Holding Asimov firmly to the side, I started to press the tip against the shields as I fell. Sparks flew when the ebony blade scraped against some of the most powerful magical shields that humanity can create. Like a zipper being unzipped, I tore the barrier in two as I traveled down, only ending with crashing into the brick road that was still hot from being so close to Asimov's beam.

With such a large hole, the barrier quickly fell apart as it could no longer be sustained. Fortunately for the rest of the city, what poured out from that cut was only gas superheated to around 500 Celsius and bits of smoke here and there.

Walking in, the ground sank a little as I stepped not on solid earth, but instead on melted glass.

Boosting forward through the hellscape that reminds me so much of Corbin, the simple AI inside the Mathematic took over as I closed my eyes, trying desperately to bury that memory. The Block-Form Singularity Mathematics only stopped moving once I was within talking distance of Shizue.

"Shizue," I said as I opened my eyes.

Despite her being caught in the middle of that blast, Shizue's Siberium Chassis would've made her immune to my attack, sort of like how you'll distill salt from ocean water by boiling the water away.

Doing a quick scan of her with [Mekhane, I discovered that she's perfectly fine, just as I had predicted.

Realizing that she was in my presence, the Artificial Lich quickly kneeled before me, uncaring of the fact that we were standing at ground zero in the aftermath of an explosion comparable to Hiroshima.

"Lady Scientia, I apologize for—"

I placed a hand on her shoulder, and the visor on my face retracted to show her my softened gaze, "It's alright, you messed up, but... I had a hunch that this was a trap, and it turns out that tiny part of my mind was correct." As I spoke, I turned towards a particularly rocky outcrop that somehow survived Asimov's rampage.

The outcrop faded from existence, revealing that it was nothing more than illusion magic.

I saw the trio of individuals from before: Granbell Rosso, Razul, and finally...

"Luminous Valentine." My visor reformed itself on my face. Stabbing Asimov to the ground in front of me while holding the handle in a reverse grip, I stared into the vampire's face which expressed only confidence.

"Well, looks like the Monster finally showed up."

.

.

.

"..." I stared at Luminous' posture that's currently oozing confidence. I'll admit, she would've looked cute if not for her being my enemy.

"Be careful my Lady! All of them are Ultimate Skill Users!" Shizue yelled out while my face morphed into one that displayed interest, "Razul has something called [Accelerator] while Granbell has [Sariel, Demon Lord Valentine has—"

I cut her off, "[Asmodeus, I know. Demon Lord Guy was the one who revealed that actually." Without turning to face her, my free hand swung to the side in a protective gesture.

A Doorway opened up behind me, directly in front of Shizue, "You will just slow me down, get to safety. Wait for my return."

I can almost hear Shizue's heart shatter. She still obeyed my order nonetheless and left through the portal.

"What? Not gonna get your subordinate to help you?" Demon Lord Luminous taunted with a smug expression that just makes you want to punch the person in the face.

If I fought here, there'd be plenty of civilian casualties.

Even as Luminous shrugged, she somehow did it with elegance every step of the way, "You're just going to rely on your pathetic technology? Not gonna use another Ultimate Skill? How arrogant are you, thinking that one Ultimate Skill vs three—"

(Play: Elden Ring OST - The Final Battle)

Spoiler: BGM

I looked down at my hands. The bodies of countless, faceless civilians filled my mind.

I couldn't find it in myself to care anymore.

Boom*

Wordlessly, the half-melted ground exploded in gooey glory as I charged forward like a black arrow, my free hand stretched outward in front to grab Luminous' throat with me as I moved. A vapor cone formed around me as I pushed the vampire through the castle walls and out into the untouched city, pushing her through houses, market stalls, carts, blacksmiths, and people, forming a line of devastation as I did.

It was like looking at a runaway freight train bulldozing through a residential area.

Boom*

Boom*

Boom*

By the time I stopped, Luminous was imprinted into a particularly strong city wall, and small bits of blood and wounds coated her body, "I don't need two Ultimate Skills to beat you three."

Her eyes were unfocused, her mouth hanging as though they were broken, and she was groaning out in pain, struggling to get words out of a crushed windpipe. Normal houses and buildings wouldn't have hurt a being like her, except everything in Lura is stronger due to the natural enchantment that's all over the place.

"Never once have I ever taken joy or pleasure in the act of killing. But for you three? I'm going to enjoy this," I shook my head a little bit as if pitying the vampire, the edge of my mouth curving upward, "Oh so very much."

I'm going to show them the depth of despair, which means I won't use any of my special technology. Instead, all I'll use is Asimov and the Block-Form Singularity Mathematics. I will drive home just how small they are.

Bringing up Asimov, I readied the pointy end towards her heart. Just before I was about to stab it into Luminous, I sensed Razul moving towards me with his fist ready. He shouldn't be able to even move me, so I continued my stab unabated—

Crack*

Just as Asimov was about to pierce Luminous' skin, Razul appeared next to me and kicked me away to the sides towards a long stretch of a dirt street.

"Guh..."

Automatically readjusting my flight, the ground groaned out as I scraped against it. Left hand down, sword off to the right, like field tillers, my fingers and feet dug long lines in the earth as I slowed down.

Needless to say, I was more than a little surprised that Razul was actually able to touch my armor, much less move me; something that not even Milim has done.

And that attack... despite it appearing rather boring, it packed enough strength in such a small area to pulverize Mount Everest... but even so, it shouldn't have been able to move me! How is he able to touch me in the first place—

"—Ultimate Skill!" Of course, someone like Razul would doubtlessly have an Ultimate Skill specialized in combat, especially considering his past.

"—How dare you?!" Luminous lost her elegance as she shrieked like a devoted catholic nun stumbling upon debauchery. Her clothing automatically repairing itself, the vampire fingered the bridge of her nose in clear frustration "Of course, you are a Perfect Homunculus, after all, I should've known you do not—"

Ignoring her, I sent out a blast of dark crimson from Asimov with a single swing toward them. Appearing like a tidal wave to any observer, the dark wave collided with the duo, washing all nearby rubbles and houses away like structures made from playing cards.

Huge clouds of dust replaced what used to be houses and buildings.

"..."

A ray of light sliced through the dust cloud created by the destruction like a knife cutting through a loaf of bread.

VUUUUUUMMMMMM—*

A loud hum. Magicules gather towards the area directly in front of where Luminous should be like moths to a flame.

"DIE, [Melt Strike]!"

Granbell burst through the dust cloud with his sword shining as bright as the sun itself. Drawing his sword back like a fencer about to stab their target, his longsword shot forward, coated in bright light, strengthened by all of his legendary power, with the intention of piercing my chest plate—

ping*

Granbell's face froze in surprise, all of his wrinkles on full display as his eyes widened to as large as they could be when, instead of being disintegrated like I'm supposed to from such an attack, all the sword did was stop at my warp-space, a quarter of an inch away from even touching the edge of my physical armor.

Capitalizing on this opportunity, my left hand curled into a fist, pulling back, I pushed it forward and smashed into Granbell's face, turning his head into chunky salsa.

There is a reason why Block-Form Singularity Mathematics is the logical endpoint of conventional defense, even after I increased its capacity by adding the peak of what's possible with Planck-scale engineering and Smart Matter.

Artificial Black Holes are in reality Lovecraftian fuzzballs made out of ultra-entangled quantum strings. Its behavior is so similar to a real singularity-based black hole that there's really no distinction between either of them beyond that in a fight, the singularity black hole would always win.

They do have a time dilation effect, but like with normal black holes, that can be mitigated through the sophisticated use of negative mass and antigravity.

Granbell fell, his head missing from his shoulders. The other two looked on in horror at the brutality of what I just did.

Oh please, don't tell me fights between other Demon Lords don't get this brutal!

My armor wasn't even touched by the blood.

In the latest iteration, the Block Form Singularity Mathematics uses Imaginary Math (basically math dealing in higher dimensions) to recreate the effect of an event horizon above the skin of the armor by tangling the quantum strings together into a fuzzball-like state. It's what gives the Mathematic its pitch-black look by red-shifting the light into oblivion. Akin to the atmosphere on a gas giant, the Mathematic entangles more strings the closer you get to the Smart Matter armor, creating a warp-space around me that grows in hardness as you go down closer to the event horizon.

This is an absolute defense that is enforced by the Cosmic Censorship Principle, a spacetime constant that states no information may escape an event horizon. The only way to pierce this is to wait until the event horizon dissipates into either a naked singularity or a bunch of untangled strings each carrying the information.

In English, it means I'm wearing a black hole as armor, and I'm 'storing' the damage I'm receiving for later inside the black hole.

The first to react was Razul.

"GRANBELL!" Razul screamed at the old man, charging forward with four funnels of wind behind his back.

Unlike the last time, I was ready. Asimov coated itself in red and black light, losing much of the blade's detail as it did.

In the span of less than a few dozen milliseconds, I readied my sword like how a pitcher readies their bat against an incoming baseball.

Just as Razul got into melee range, I swung, and the tip of the ebony blade moved at speeds in excess of Mach 20.

Asimov, now coated in an aura of crimson, cuts into the insectar's exoskeleton, however, just before the edge could sink in deep enough to make a scratch, the blade— along with me— was pushed back by an overpowering force. I could barely hold onto Asimov as my body sprung along a vertical axis through the air like a ballerina.

Crash*

I crashed through the roof of a house by the edge of the devastation, collapsing it as though it were made out of cardboard.

Time sped up by a factor of several dozen when I stopped spinning. Opening my eyes, I felt a need to vomit from the sheer disorientation of spinning 790 times within a time frame of fewer than 2 seconds.

Fuck, I was like a fucking ballerina! I need to include centrifugal force for the Inertia Dampener in the future.

Taking a moment in relative time to clear my mind, I was thankful that I smashed into a random building. Gave me a brief moment to think.

Was that reflection? I thought about it, Razul completely reflected my attack back at me like some kind of super reflection.

I... guess an Ultimate Skill could do that?

My lips thinned as I chewed on it. If only [Contessa] was here— hell, if the Ultimate Skill was here then I wouldn't even be in this mess in the first place!

Damn the System for breaking down my Ultimate Skill in a time like this!

Why must [Contessa] always fail me when I needed it the most??

Time returned to normal.

Raising a single leg, I smashed it into the ground at such a speed it generated enough inertia that the rest of my body returned to an upstanding position. Bits of broken wood flew off my body like the ammo of a catapult.

Picking up my single leg out of the hole in the ground, I started looking around, seeing the devastated Lura, many houses still intact while huge fires rage on in the distance. Razul floated up in the air with multiple colorful orbs of nuclear magic, but, where was Luminous?

Before I could try and find that annoying vampire, the orbs of nuclear magic shot out bright rays of degenerate matter. The beams slammed into me with no effect. There were a few particular rays that grazed my armor and ricocheted like a bullet, melting and igniting the area behind me where it had hit.

Holding Asimov with two hands off to the side, the sword flared up its aura, causing it once again to lose much of its detail beyond a vague sword shape.

Before the insectar could unleash his barrage once more, I slashed the blade at him as if to cut Razul down, letting a stream of purple and red lights towards him that brightened up the night sky.

Something's wrong.

Instead of dodging, Razul hovered in the same spot, motionless like a statue.

My intuition was proven correct when, instead of slaying the insectar, the beam was reflected back at me like some kind of mirror and I had just aimed a laser pointer at it.

Bursting out of the way before the stream could hit me, I grit my teeth in annoyance at the 'brick wall' in front of me, thinking of just how troublesome this is.

There has to be a limit, right? There has to be something that his Ultimate Skill can't reflect.

I used [Fundamental Force Manipulation] to drastically increase the gravity around Razul, causing him to briefly flutter like a bug in the wind before regaining control.

I smiled, so he has a limit? Then I'll just need to attack fast enough and in different ways to overpower his reflection!

And so it went, I quickly cycled through many attacks. Firstly, I used [Mekhane] and [Inspired Inventor] to turn my left gauntlet into a miniature Starbreaker, the thin red beam caused Razul much distress. As the Starbreaker beam fired, I nullified the two Nuclear forces to prevent the air from becoming fissile material.

Before he could adapt to the weapon, I changed again, this time using [Fundamental Force Manipulation] to weaken the Electromagnetic Force and turned his exoskeleton to be as brittle as a thin sheet of ice. Next, I all together nullified the Strong Force that binds his atomic nuclei. Instead of disintegrating, he somehow created... something different. Yes, while the Strong Force was gone and the Electromagnetic Force was weakened, he somehow compensated the missing Gluon (the particle that carries the Strong Nuclear Force) with something else, like using a different brand of glue.

That made me pause, so it's not Reflection? Some kind of energy manipulation? Force manipulation? Subatomic telekinesis?

"[Consecutive Melt Strike]"

ping* *ping* *ping* *ping* *ping* *ping* *ping* *ping* *ping* *ping* *ping* *ping* *ping* *ping* *ping* *ping* *ping* *ping* *ping* *ping*

As I was thinking, something repeatedly slammed into my back at such force that it generated in its wake winds strong enough that it can only be found naturally in places like Jupiter.

I didn't even budge.

"Why won't you DIE?!"

Turning to look at the source, I saw that Granbell was somehow alive and well. He screamed at me so violently that spits went flying out. My face remained neutral, unmoved as it had been for most of the battle.

I am tempted to respond. Almost.

Asimov quickly lost most of its details as it became once again coated in crimson and purple. I did a casual full swing in an effort to horizontally bisect the Hero, only to leave a rather shallow cut as Granbell moved out of the way—

Clang*

—Before Luminous came out of the left field and slammed the cutting edge of her black sword into the back of my head, likely in an attempt to capitalize on an 'unarmored' spot, not realizing that even if she destroys my skull, the Mathematic would keep fighting so long as I'm wearing it.

That's if she somehow pierces the warp space.

I frowned, and at that moment—

"gah—!" Razul came from behind, his arms coming up through my armpits and over my shoulder before coming together at the back of my head, placing me in a headlock that I couldn't break out of.

The Mathematics created several spikes from my back in an attempt to get him off me, only for those spikes to be reflected back into the armor.

That is really starting to get annoying.

I can't damage him and he can't damage me, we're in a classical case of an unstoppable force meeting an immovable object.

I managed to move Asimov just enough and in time to stop Luminous' sword from touching my head again. If she and Granbell didn't have an Ultimate Skill, I could've easily dispatched them with [Machine Control] by making their bodies undergo complete cell death, or where cells cannot reproduce anymore, essentially turning them into living corpses that are on a timer.

From where he was standing, Granbell drew his sword back and aimed at my left shoulder, "[Consecutive Melt Strike]"

ping* *ping* *ping* *ping* *ping* *ping—

I ignore Granbell's pitiful attempt at attacking me, Razul and Luminous are the real threats.

However, while I may not be able to kill them with [Fundamental Force Manipulation, I can damn well make it harder for them indirectly.

So I increased the gravity in a 30-meter radius around me to such a level it would be almost like standing on the surface of a neutron star, causing Luminous to instantly collapse with all her bones cracking in a sickening 'crunch' while Granbell just got turned into red paste again.

Roaring out in rage, my eyes widened and my mouth ajar as Razul somehow LIFTED me up and over his head and smashed me deep into the earth.

.

.

.

.

.

.

...Did I just get suplexed?

"..."

Due to the excessive gravity, fucker just unintentionally suplexed me more than 400 meters into the ground.

Even if Razul can't even hope to pierce my defenses, I felt an indescribable amount of annoyance and shame at being suplexed.

Say nothing of the fact that he somehow lifted me up when physical force alone shouldn't even move me, as physics itself changes due to the warp space that surrounds me.

What kind of Ultimate Skill does he have? It has to be something that controls something more than force, something that controls physics... Gravity? No, that wouldn't explain how he maintained his form after I removed the Strong Force, he's not a complete spiritual being like Diablo so he can't just make a new body after the last one got disassembled.

I'm really leaning toward Energy Manipulation.

Against an overpowering force, a planet's crust and mantle will behave more akin to fluids than anything solid.

(AN: Play Fate/Stay Night: Heaven's Feel - The Four Rings, only once)

Spoiler: BGM

The earth gave away as I tried to get my head aligned towards the bits of light from above. Once that's completed, Asimov glows a deep red, as if the sword itself is expressing anger at the embarrassing situation as well.

Drawing the sword back like someone preparing for an underhand serve of volleyball, the earth behaved more like water in the face of the unstoppable force.

Asimov coated in the as-of-yet thickest layer of red energy with waves fading outward to purple, black, then nothing, dissolving dirt and rock as they traveled like small tidal waves you'd find on a sandy beach.

It looked like I was holding a veritable dark maelstrom of magicule in the palm of my hands.

If I stood like this for five minutes I probably could create a cave-in of the city from the runoff alone.

I swung.

VUOP*

Slashing upward, my body arched itself as the maelstrom lifted the many millions of metric tons of stone and dirt above me. Half of Lura started to bulge as a cavity formed underneath the city, the enchanted earth desperately trying to contain the energy.

Rumble*

It's not enough. Rays of purple light pierced the trench I made from my initial assault before—

KA—————BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO—————OOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMM——*

The pressure became too much and the entire bulge burst like a bubble, subsequently exploding as if a volcano had just erupted underneath the most beautiful city in the world, only, instead of spewing out lava, this 'volcano' released an overwhelming onslaught of purple light going up towards the sky, striking the heavens as a lance of violet energy.

For the briefest moment, the beam reached such a height that it could only be blocked by the fact that the planet was a sphere, meaning only half of the world was able to see that ray of purple light.

Walking out of that burning, boiling sea like a demon walking out of the pits of hell, I saw the area closest to the crater was a zone of melted buildings, currently taking the shape of bright puddles. A bit beyond that was houses that were completely unaffected by the heat. I was a bit confused as thermodynamics doesn't work like that, only to realize it's the magical protections built into the city active, dividing two regions to ensure that at least other parts of the place survive.

The temperature shields were invisible, so I could clearly see Luminous being encompassed by a translucent barrier, reconstructing Granbell akin to someone pressing rewind on a VHS.

The feeling of annoyance worsened as I tightened my grip, so that's how he returned.

I launched forward, and the melted ground beneath my foot exploded like someone throwing a pebble into a pond. My sword is already in a swinging motion to cut apart that barrier as I fly past several city blocks of medieval houses in less time than it would take for a human to blink, the atmosphere igniting in my path—

"—!" only for Razul to appear in my track, his right arm out ready to catch Asimov.

Shit!

The sword was just about to touch his exoskeleton before I withdrew as fast as possible, ignoring the problem of inertia entirely.

However, the sword didn't move as I intended. Instead, Asimov went the opposite way and easily cleaved through Razul's carapace as if it didn't even exist.

The force coming from the sudden reversal of the sword almost yanked it out of my hands.

The tip of the ebony blade went into the stone road. Both of us were in shock at what happened, Razul stared at his bloody stump as if he couldn't believe it was gone.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAH—!"

How the hell?! Is it not reflection? No... it's as if the direction and momentum within the sword had changed— momentum... momentum... momentum and direction... A daring thought crossed my mind.

Vector manipulation?

Yes... it all makes sense now! Vectors are essentially the magnitude and directions of both energy and matter. He somehow managed to move me by manipulating my own vectors! When I increased gravity, Razul could just decrease how much gravitational vectors affect him. When I removed the Strong Force, Razul enacted something akin to a miniature Laplace's Demon and controlled the vector of each of his quarks to stay together like some kind of micro-managing god.

Does his Ultimate Skill increase his micromanaging ability? Even for me, managing the quantum position of more than 21 octillion quarks is difficult.

"RAZUL!" Luminous screeched out as I was excitedly going over how [Accelerator] managed to nullify my own attacks, her voice somehow going through the barrier just as I pulled my sword up for another slash.

Before I could damage him even more, the insectar and the vampire with the half-regenerated remains of Granbell teleported away in a flash, making me miss.

"..."

God fucking damn it.

The sounds of teeth grinding were all one could hear aside from the crackling of the fiery pit.

While I could set up a spatial interdictor, I couldn't protect it and fight against the trio at the same time.

"Annoying... annoying annoying annoying annoying annoying annoying annoying— so annoying!" I growled out, the excitement left my body as I began to feel so very tired. My free hand clutched my face in irritation before ripping the visor off and exposing my golden hate-filled eyes to the world, "just die and meet your maker!"

I feel like I'm forgetting something. My movements were half-hearted.

The visor was reabsorbed into my hand like wax melting.

My movements were very sluggish at best. Despite me diverting (relatively for the average Joe) large amounts of the raw stellar matter I mined into magicule for Asimov to use, it still requires me to insert at least a tiny amount of my own, meaning that while it's super-efficient for me, I can't use it forever.

"Haa..."

A thin biomechanical emitter membrane covered my eyes, turning them completely green. The membrane lit up like a car's headlight at night, so bright as to make the fiery pit that was once the castle look more like flickers of candlelight rather than the actual inferno.

VZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ——————*

I let out two intense beams of green gamma lasers from my eyes, laying waste to any remaining buildings in the path of the beams like a powerwasher hosing away the mud on a car.

It was so hot that the ground and buildings around the beam started to slowly melt like chocolate during summer.

The membrane receded, and I was forced to blink several times to get rid of any blindness. Like the differences between day and night, the buildings behind the shield that the now revived Granbell had cast to block my attack remained untouched while surrounding their position were a veritable field of rocks glowing shades of red, orange, or yellow.

"..."

Annoying...

That pair of gamma lasers I created by controlling the Electromagnetic Force using [Mekhane] was hot enough to heat the air around me to a temperature comparable to the sunny side of Venus.

I continued to curse inside my mind.

So bloody ANNOYING! It's like trying to swat away mosquitoes when you're out camping; they move so fast that no matter what you do, you're just forced to lay in bed while said pests continue to drink your blood.

"...hrmm..."

Time to bring out the electric fly swatter then.

Stabbing Asimov into the ground, I brought my right hand up, palm facing upward as if I were holding a wine glass to cheer my enemies. The warp-space around me started to distort, and all lights around my upheld hand started to bend as a loop of Cosmic String took shape in the center of my palm, dozens of arcs of electricity shot out every second from the invisible loop and into the Mathematic, making it look like I was holding a ball of lightning.

Cosmic Strings are one-dimensional hyper-dense topological defects. They naturally occur during the phase transition of the early universe, remnants left over after the end of the Grand Unified Theory epoch that came out of the Big Bang, the result of symmetry breaking. Just one inch of this manufactured Cosmic String has a mass of around 10 quadrillion metric tons and its width is just one Planck length. As the Universe's greatest wiring, Cosmic Strings conducts give-or-take one hundred quintillion amps of electricity, however, right now due to it being exposed to an atmosphere, they are merely conducting in excess of a few hundred thousand amps, which is why it's letting out so much electricity that I'm forced to divert it into the Block-Form Singularity Mathematics.

They are the Knives of God.

I once had thoughts of turning them into the ultimate electric wires, but using them for anything short of planetary-scale engineering is a waste.

These Cosmic Strings can move at lightspeed since they are defects in spacetime, not fully physical existences.

This 4-inch loop of Cosmic Strings' has a mass almost 20 times that of the entire Antarctic ice sheet or the same as some smaller tectonic plates.

Due to it having similar properties to a black hole, most shielding is useless in the face of it, the only ones that could conceivably work are Domain Walls or another black hole.

This relatively small loop of Cosmic String packs enough gravitational energy alone to pulverize Earth.

I felt my mouth deform into an unhinged smile, the sheer power I held in my hands was utterly intoxicating, the feeling of finally letting go, of ceasing to hold back, of embracing freedom...

It is almost orgasmic.

After I kill them, I'll lure Velgrynd into space and finally use one of my Hyperweapons. Quickly disabling the mental block I created using [Psychology, I was finally able to accurately recall the Hyperweapons I have in my arsenal like unlocking a vault and looking inside.

Let's see... I'm leaning toward the Thunderbolt since that's an even more effective version of Starbreaker, but the Collapse would offer a surefire kill. The Big Crunch and the Omniarch are out since they're too slow... while there are more Hyperweapons like the Divergent Pit, a combination of the Thunderbolt and some sacrifices of my warships should be enough.

Afterward, should Velgrynd reincarnate once more, the Ark would've already left, trapping her inside the dying System.

Meaning I don't need to create a gamma laser utilizing the power output of an entire galaxy to permanently kill her, the System will do that for me.

After the death of the Scorch Dragon, the West can't even hope to compete, so naturally, they'll fall in line. Everyone will fall in line.

I estimate it should take less time than how long it'll take for the Grand Fleet to be combat-ready.

This... is this the power I was so afraid of? The ability to enforce one's will over others instead of letting them choose for themselves? No, really, what was I so afraid of? It feels so good to just let go.

I was naive.

I was so naive, that I worried more about the environment of a dying planet than actually ending the war.

I worried more about looking good than ending the war.

I worried about such frivolous and useless things instead of focusing on the bigger picture.

This is the End of the System.

What was I so afraid of anyway? Seriously. I should embrace the full power of God.

The world will fall in line one way or the other, they will go on the Ark either as beings of flesh and blood or as digital prisoners.

The hot air around me smelled heavy with Ozone, and an invisible pressure descended down upon the world like a hydraulic press going against a thick stack of paper.

The vampire was frozen in fear. For the first time, I saw the confidence in Luminous' eyes die like a calf inside a slaughterhouse, akin to if we were in a stage play and I had stopped following the script. I took an unhealthily large amount of joy from the Mathematic showing a wet spot had formed underneath her skirt.

Granbell and Razul unleashed the strongest barrier spells they know.

I then pushed my index, middle, and thumb through the inside of the loop of Cosmic String. With the index and middle finger serving as the limbs of a bow, I used my thumb to draw the Cosmic String back like how one would pull on an elastic band to fire it.

"Die. Here."

I see no god up here...

"Die—"

With the casualness one would find in a child eating candy, I pulled back as much as it's physically possible for my fingers without breaking them, closing my left eye and using my right to aim.

As if realizing it was pointless, Razul pushed the rest of his cohorts out of the way and blitzed toward me.

Wasted endeavor, I would be surprised if Ingrassia isn't razed off the face of the world.

Wait—

A moment of hesitation is crushed before it can start.

"—and meet your makers."

...other than me

The armor I wore anchored itself to this section of space-time as I unleashed the End.

-

—

——

————

————————

————————————————

Silence.

The world is unmoving as if someone had pressed the pause button, and everything stopped.

It was an automatic response from Mathematics when it detects a source of extreme gravity nearby.

Then... a deep rumbling, not through air but through the very fabric of space-time itself, so loud as to be actually audible.

It was like the built-up to a climax within an orchestra.

The rumbling grew. The assault of causality finally caught up to the light-speed Cosmic String.

And the World screamed.

Like the vacuum formed behind a bullet fired underwater, in the first femtosecond after I launched the loop of Cosmic String was the appearance of a trail of nuclear fusion that grew at speeds near that of light along the path the topological defect went through in an attempt to catch up.

It'll be successful. For while nothing material could approach the speed of light, this contrail is like the cutting point of a slanted knife as it is being pushed down. The point of severance could be faster than light, just as the fusing and severing of the atomic bonds by the Cosmic String.

The nuclear contrail speared through and consumed Razul like an inflated balloon. A flash of light brighter than the sun itself blinded me before the warp space changed and filtered out every wavelength of light brighter than a certain threshold of Lumen coming from the nuclear explosion, allowing me a clear view of the expanding contrail and the boiling earth.

In a time frame this small, everything is already outdated by the time I see it similar to distant stars billions of lightyears away.

This attack looked like almost the firing of a railgun from that one Japanese comic Rimuru had read a while back, except way more powerful.

Time marched forward, and the world was bathed in an endless onslaught of nuclear fire as every air molecule near me fused into heavier elements thanks in part to the extreme gravitational energy of the Cosmic String, igniting the atmosphere in a linear explosion going up and beyond the exosphere due to the simple curvature of the planet.

A nuclear fireball quickly consumed the entirety of Lura, turning every building into plasma as the temperature quickly reached into the range of hundreds of millions of Kelvins and was still climbing.

Zettajoules of energy were released by the Cosmic String.

The city of Lura was erased off the face of the planet in a fashion not too dissimilar to that of Corbin.

Every magical defense within the city was useless in the face of an attack capable of cutting apart whole galaxies if scaled up enough.

However, what little remained of the magical defense before its complete destruction had at least halted the growth of the nuclear fireball and hastened its dissipation, meaning that the Cosmic String won't raze the entirety of Ingrassia off the map by virtue of it moving so fast.

In simpler terms, unlike a normal nuclear explosion, the fireball and subsequent ash cloud would be gone quickly and therefore release fewer fallouts.

I stood at ground zero of the nuclear ash cloud, unharmed and clad in ebony armor, a world burning in the backdrop, everyone that still remained in Lura was most certainly dead. I can almost hear gods laughing.

Through the thinning ash cloud, I saw the aftermath of what happens when a Knife of God merely moves through an area.

It was Hell.

(AN: Play: The New Order: Last Days of Europe Soundtrack — Burgundian Lullaby)

Spoiler: BGM

Every clock within Ingrassia, no matter if it was mechanical or magical, stopped.

All the grassland and forests for miles around the city were ignited, and the ground in the immediate vicinity of Lura was filled with black spots that resembled humans. It was a phenomenon called 'nuclear shadows' as those who could not escape fast enough yet were outside of the immediate fireball radius were printed into the ground by the released UV radiation.

If someone took a picture of this place and uploaded it to the web, everyone would believe it's an artistic rendition of Hell.

The ground was bright yellow almost to the point of white, shining through the ever-thinning fireball.

The yellow was like a car's headlight during foggy weather, shining through the ash cloud, making sure that I could see exactly what I did.

"..."

Ah... that's what I was so afraid of, that's why I always held back: I am a bull in a china shop, I am a giant in a world of paper, I am Superman in a world of cardboard, I am a god in a world of ants.

Simply put, if I move too fast without proper precautions, maps will have to be updated to stay accurate.

A chill went down my back as I gazed upon a view that reminded me so much of the Annihilation of Corbin.

I gulped.

My body was freezing. Something that shouldn't have been possible considering where I was standing was hotter than the core of the planet.

I felt the annoyance evaporate like water on a hotpan, replaced by a sobering sense of dread, of realization of what I had just done. Like a person who just killed someone unintentionally, I fell into denial. I felt as if I was dreaming, floating above a sea of blissful ignorance while the hands of reality slowly pulled me down to the abyss.

I... I'm not responsible.

[Disaster Relief] got to work calculating the environmental destruction of launching a Cosmic String in an atmospheric condition. I ignore it.

No, no, I can't be responsible for this!

[Statistic] started giving me a number of the millions of deaths coming from such an event. I ignored it.

I wasn't thinking clearly!

[Negotiation] talked about how I've overachieved my goal of performing a Pearl Harbor. I feel like a log of hollowed wood, my inside completely empty.

[Strategy] notes that Ingrassia must have some mages capable of teleporting across whole countries. Thus, I can't do another Corbin and claim ignorance. Parts of myself felt disgusted that I was even thinking of how to pass off blame.

My legs felt incredibly weak, like how one would feel after they got off the world's largest rollercoaster. My vision became blurry, making it so I could only see different shades of yellow and orange.

One moment blends into the next like a painter mixing multiple colors together, it becomes all-consuming, overpowering any logical thoughts. I fell into a daze, my mind not inside my body as I tried to ignore the world.

"Haaa—Ha——haaa———"

My head spun around, and all I saw was the bright ground and dark sky. Red lines split the dark armor I wore away like roots cutting through the earth as I activated [Unlimited Alchemy] to try and see if there are any survivors. Yet all the magic could feel was the shattered souls of the recently deceased. All I could breathe in was nuclear ash. If it wasn't for the armor, I would likely be melted if not vaporized by the residual heat of the explosion.

Not wanting to see such a scene, I did the only logical thing in my daze-like state and looked down at the ground covered in yellow. Lines of coolness ran down my cheeks, and the molten earth around me periodically exploded in bits of steam when water droplets coming from somewhere hit the ground and were immediately vaporized by the sheer atmospheric heat.

The inside of the mushroom cloud was still dense enough that I could only see a few inches around me. Anything beyond that not making any light was obscured by the backdrop.

I felt the ash cloud start to move as my eyes fell on my gauntlet hands. For a split moment, I saw that it was drenched in blood.

I was surrounded by an ocean of blood, stretching as far as the eye can see.

"—hrk!" I squeezed my eyes shut, but the incoming darkness felt too oppressive. My chest felt heavy as I couldn't breathe no matter how much I tried.

No, this is a dream! Am I really responsible for the destruction of the prettiest city in the world? Am I really responsible for the deaths of millions? Have I really become a monster?

Guilt ballooned to such a level that my mind buckled under the weight.

.

.

.

"hehehehe... It's funny..."

Who said that?

Am I just like Relentless?

Am I Relentless?

Are they right?

"hahahahahahahaha——— It's just so FUNNY."

Who's laughing?

Am I truly a reincarnation of Relentless?

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHH HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA"

I grasped my face, my fingers digging into my skin hard enough that it almost drew blood. A deranged smile belonging to an asylum inmate formed on my face.

The questions without answers shattered my mind like taking a sledgehammer to a panel of glass. As I stood there in the middle of this nuclear hellscape, my hands clutching my head, my shoulders shaking as though I was naked in the middle of the South Pole.

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA——— sometimes, you just gotta laugh———HEHEHEHEHEHE—HAHAHAHA!"

Ah, I'm laughing. My thoughts were incoherent as I suffered what [Psychology] would call a mental breakdown. I could feel [Limitless Regeneration] slowly healing the edge of my broken mind, mending the pieces together.

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA, it's funny because I'm usually the one who chastises Veldora and Milim for lack of responsibility, yet when push comes to shove, I'm the one who broke first."

I felt an indescribable urge to destroy. If I am Relentless, then why don't I fully embrace it? The System is dying anyway, why don't I hasten it? Nothing matters on the grandest stage anyway—

Tilting my head up to look at the sky, through the ash clouds, I saw the moon high up in the sky through a gap in the plumes, a full white mirror-like moon, the blue glass Moon, above the crimson air.

(AN: Stop music)

I fell into silence.

My deranged smile disappeared.

The night is pitch black, completely starless.

The only sound is the crackling coming from the cooling ground.

I stood there, my broken mind latched onto the moon as a drowning man would with a floaty lifesaver, becoming utterly entranced by the prettiness of the Celestial Object. I suppressed any other thoughts with ease possessed by the likes of Stalin or Rudra when faced with dissent.

It looked so pretty, all of its darker spots only further emphasized its prettiness.

The world fell apart into nothingness as I felt my soul exiting my body. I felt alone as if I was all that existed underneath the gaze of the Moon. I could feel all my worries, all my dread, all my sins floating away like a helium balloon.

How long ago was it that I've been this carefree?

Ah... that's right, there's a reason why I'm so infatuated with THIS Moon, why I never even dared to mine it for resources.

Arcueid... she was someone who lived on the Moon... my hands reached upward as if to touch it.

I felt my mouth turn into a child-like smile, one I can't remember the last time I ever used.

It's... so pretty— no, it's beautiful. I felt myself get transported back in time, back to my old world, back to an age where I still had my innocence, back when I was on a camping trip when I was only eight and Kathy was six.

On that trip, during one cloudy night, I sneaked away from the tent and went to explore the forest with nothing but a flashlight. Walking for some unknown amount of time, I appeared in the middle of a clearing, completely lost like a high school sophomore on their first day.

I didn't panic yet, since I knew the flashlight still had batteries and my eyes were distracted by the stars, the sea of tiny white dots on the night sky concentrated into a river that is the Milky Way, parts of it were unfortunately blocked by clouds. Awe quickly turned to panic, fear, and all the emotions in between when the flashlight ran out of power, and I was nowhere near the campsite.

And I think I would've stayed lost was it not for the Moon's light shining down after the cloud's passing, showing me the way back to the tent area.

I think my fascination with the stars started that day.

I felt my heart calming down.

I have a duty. I need to win this war—

Clap*

There was a single clap made by two hands coming together.

Alert

My body moved on its own. Turning to face—

"[Keter - Chokhmah] [Absolute Severance] [Netzach - Malkuth]"

An intense pain bloomed in my chest as I stared idly at the sword sticking out of it. I gawked at the wound that was oozing out red liquid like a jelly donut that's been bitten.

The pain was gone as [Pain Nullification] activated.

Huh? I tilted my head, feeling an odd sense of confusion instead of urgency. My mind now healed by [Limitless Regeneration] wanted to ask why is there a sword in my chest.

Tracing the sword using my eyes from its blade towards the handguard, I saw that it was golden and highly decorated— bits of jewels dotted the surface. A sense of familiarity courses through my mind. I feel like I know the sword, it's at the tip of my tongue yet I can't say it as though it was purposefully erased.

I saw a black-haired girl gripping the sword, responsible for running it through my chest. She was wearing a white face mask with a red gem in the center, multiple grooves running across the surface of the mask vertically, with a single wavy horizontal groove running near the bottom making it look like something that belonged to a vampire, what with the two 'fangs' near the sides.

Who was she? Do I know her?

The girl then yanked the sword out of my chest while sending a kick my way.

"Hurk!"

I fell onto my back. My face stared upward toward the Moon.

The wound isn't healing. [Limitless Regeneration] healed my mind but not my wound...?

"[Retrograde Causal Saltation]"

I felt the feelings in my extremities disappear.

The person watched, standing completely still as I was sprawled on the ground.

Ah... am I... dying? Again? Under the moonlight's glow?

Memories rush back to me once I continue to stare up towards the white moon. Arcueid... I could've sworn I saw her face up there, with her beautiful smile.

My beacon, my light in the darkness, the first person I truly ever loved romantically beyond just a small crush.

I... I had once wondered... before reincarnating, I had a few dark thoughts, the most prominent one being 'Would anyone cry if I died tomorrow?'

Now I have my answer:

Rimuru, Veldora, Arcueid— they all would cry. The entire nation of Tempest would mourn my passing. Hah, ironic, in my old life, I didn't make many friends, but in this one, a whole nation would mourn.

"..."

I'm sorry Arcueid. After you pulled me out of my despair, I knew it was the right choice to spend the rest of my life with you, so I had plans of proposing to you after we had escaped the System, up there on the Ark.

Never once had the figure who stabbed me spoken.

And now... I looked down towards the unhealing wound currently gushing out blood like a Hawaiian volcano spewing out lava, a magic circle radiating ethereal lights formed just a few centimeters above it.

Like a person who's been in a car accident, I can't feel the lower half of my chest anymore. I can't help but shed a tear, not for myself, but for others.

I'm so tired...

Arcueid... I'm sorry... I'm so sorry... perhaps in another life...

My eyes looked up. Contentment, regret, and tiredness filled what was left of my body as my final gaze was the beautiful Moon, her soft light shone upon my disappearing body like some angel of death comforting a person about to be ended.

Once again I would die without saying goodbye... wait a moment.

Give the ring box to Arcueid.

I felt the box disappear from my pocket dimension. My life flashed across my mind as my jaw faded out of existence, my new life, the beginning of the Goblin Village, the ogres, the Orc Lord, Charybdis, Veldora, Rimuru's death & resurrection, Walpurgis, and finally, Arcueid...

I felt as if something important was missing from that list. That said, where am I? Why am I dying in the middle of a melted hellscape?

But I guess it doesn't matter.

For...giv...e...m...e...

Unknown.

(AN: Play Been Good To Know Ya (Cyberpunk 2077 Soundtrack)

Spoiler: BGM

Cold.

It was so cold.

Everywhere was pitch black as if I was blind, no matter where I looked, all I could see was nothingness. What I could feel on my back was... something fleshy, something that had the texture of smooth skin. Based on the direction that gravity was pulling me from, I could tell that I was currently lying on my back.

It was so cold that if someone told me I got transported into a universe experiencing heat death I would not be surprised.

My right hand touched my forehead as my eyebrow furrowed in an attempt to remember how I got here. The softness of my hair felt like a touchstone in this place of uncertainty and unknowability.

The silence was deafening.

I can't feel my technology anywhere, I can't feel the String Implants, and I can't access the Noosphere as if it didn't exist. That can't be right, I should be able to feel the Noosphere from all corners of the Observable Universe.

I opened my mouth to speak, only for no words to come out.

There's no atmosphere...? My eyebrow furrowed even further in utter confusion, causing the fingers on my left hand to curl inward and grip something that felt like an arm.

The hell?! I yelled out in my mind as I got up, the gravity seemingly a little bit stronger than that of Earth's.

Activating [Unlimited Alchemy, red lines bloomed from my chest, broken shards of the original stone surfacing through the skin like a submarine surfacing through the water.

Using the glow from the lines, I saw that I was standing on top of an entangled web of... limbs? I felt my stomach turn at the sight, it was like looking at a human version of the Rat King.

And the skies, the skies have no starlight, the sky is pitch black as though a bucket of black paint had splashed across the entire thing.

Concentrating more red lines around my left palm, I turned it into something of a flashlight. Flashing it from the disturbingly fleshy ground and towards the horizon, I saw a sight I never thought possible.

It was a nightmare actualized into reality:

I could see countless bodies of myself... myselves? Other versions of me, all packed together like sardines, with barely any breathing room. As far as the light from my palm could reach, I saw no vegetation or even dirt, only a flat surface composed solely of other versions of me, all of them entangled into a colossal web as if they were strings in a yarn ball.

It was like I was standing on an entire planet made out of 'me'.

Is this Hell? My punishment for murdering over half a million people? In Dante's Inferno, the gate of hell would have the words 'abandon all hopes ye who enters'.

As if awakening from a deep slumber, the arms started to move, and they reached out for me. At first, it was slow, so I was able to mostly avoid their grasp by straining my muscles to their absolute limit and moving in a single direction. Like the thin ice above a lake, however, the moment that 'cracks' started to appear, they would spread, and wherever I went, the hands and bodies would wake up, trying to bring me down with them.

Eventually, they succeeded.

A hand grabbed my right foot.

I let out a silent scream as I was pulled down. Flesh encased me in claustrophobic closeness as more and more arms brought me deeper, some using anything on me they could find as leverage. I saw glimpses of other versions of myself, lit by the red glow, twisted by despair, and smoothed by apathy.

In a place without an atmosphere, no one can hear you scream.

[Victory]

.

.

.

End of Act I: The Tail's End of Summer

Final Arc Act II: The Falling Leaves of Autumn

AN: Well, I hope that was an epic send-off.

So... how many of you guys did you see that coming? I foreshadowed it pretty hard in the last few chapters.

Now, this is how you start off a Total War with someone as gentle as Rimuru. Until the end, you'll see how war makes monsters out of everyone.

Also: I will not glorify war. Every battle will be brutal, it will be gruesome, that is how war is, yet I will also show the necessity of it, like how Britain and the US were forced to fight WWII in order to beat back totalitarianism.