Who the hell thought making the word "cyclops" instead of "cyclop" is a good idea? Thank you for telling me about this error.
Also the thing that dropped was Hams. Poor Beast is just tired of Cid's bullshit and decided to lie down for a moment.
And the Cyclops itself… Google Fargo's mod.
It has been an year since Divine Spirit left.
In that time, Japan has finally relented against Magical Beasts. With the blessing of Divine Spirit and his apostles, humanity gained magic en masse and was able to use it however they wished.
People now knew that higher being watched over them and granted His protection. However, they also knew that He wants them to develop on their own and not rely on whims of powerful creatures. And so they did.
World quickly united under the banner of Divine Spirit. They poured all their powers to restore infrastructure that was destroyed in place where Spatial Rift happened. Scientists all over the globe studied the newfound energy with endless curiosity. Government programs were made to ensure that all magically gifted people were able to get proper education.
Even upon leave, Divine Spirit still left something behind: the books about magic and how to wield it, from the tips for beginners, to advanced wielding, to intricate patterns with multiple complex structures that were available only to people proficient in both science and magic. Of course, it did not end on this: Divine Spirit theorized that it was possible to industrialize magic and had no qualms about it, however He wished that people would not neglect their own betterment.
And how could they? Something that before was only stuff of legends was now available to everyone. Maybe, in two or three generations people would grow accustomed to it and treat as yet another daily occurrence, but as of now every person on planet Earth was tapping on powers previously non-existent. Look to the left, and you will see children trying to cosplay mighty fighters. Look to the right, and you will see chefs and blacksmiths inserting magic energy into their instruments and products to increase their quality.
Of course, everything was not shine and rainbows. As it turned out, too much magic could cause mutations, and not always were they positive. However, even here Divine Spirit left the hint: it was a problem of excess energy. If being was not able to handle their magic, they either had to increase the control over their powers, or drop off the magic energy. Faculties were opened to fine-tune the amount of magic in human's body. The results were not great, however they had a lot of time to upgrade their technology.
Cosmos was yet another enigma; only planet Earth was currently able to produce magic. Scientists researching that finally pinpointed the reason: Divine Spirit has left something in planet's core that conversed the thermal energy into magic energy and released it to the planet. It could've been a problem, but the process was mutual: the magic energy that was released by living beings was absorbed back into planet's core, slowly raising the overall quality of it. By estimations, in ten to fifteen years the planet will develop its own magosphere surrounding the whole planet, and in another thirty years it will reach the peak point of its growth, maintaining the status quo after that.
As for the cosmos itself, to great disappointment of humanity, it did not have an ounce of magic. However, Earth's magic slowly seeped into it, and bright minds were already developing the solutions to manually bring the energy to other planets. In theory, the process of terraforming combined with granting magic to the planet's core will heavily benefit the planet itself: even now, with undeveloped magosphere, Earth was slowly shifting to self-sustain. After the magosphere enters its peak, the life across the globe should no longer be reliant on the surrounding cosmos, especially their sun… Or rather, not that much reliant: there were many things brought by stars that could not be replaced even with magic, but most primitive lifeforms and some of the higher ones should be able to survive in magic environment even without sun rays.
As magic has slowly risen, strange beings started manifesting across the globe. At first, people thought that these were ghosts, but as it turned out, these were the concepts. Living concepts that were born in places where magic environment was the most dense, born from humanity's combined knowledge. Each time people capable of wielding magic were heavily invested in their work, concepts would be born. They did not live long, but anyone lucky enough to witness them could obtain enlightment in their field. Many scientific breakthroughs were made that way and heavily accelerated the magic research.
Yet the most important of them was hidden in planet's core. The one that was left behind by Divine Spirit. And its task was simple: increase the magic density across the planet. Without it, scientists calculated, magic would fill up way slower, possibly prolonging it up to a hundred years just to develop a weak magosphere, and thousands years to make it to the peak.
Humanity united under His banner, and started thinking: "If he came down to us, who says we can't go up to Him?"
Despite being clad in shadows, He was the guiding light that granted humanity new future. And they wished to repay Him.
They still did not have any results with understanding where He came from, but it was alright. First, they will make the universe a place worth of His presence by bringing magic into it. Then, they will show their results.
He will be proud, they are sure of that.
The four-star eye looks over them.
"Hams, care to explain why we made it one to fifty instead of one to five how it was before?"
"…"
"Oh, it's temporary? How temporary are we talking about?"
"…"
"Oh, barely a week and then it's back to one to five? Wait, you used Faith, didn't you?"
"…"
"Go think about time manipulation without using such an unreliable resource!"
Yeah, Hamster decided to use Faith to do time shenanigans. What's the reason for bringing science books, then?
At least his first attempt at time manipulation was something safe. Cid doesn't want to think what would happen if Hams tried to do time stop and then couldn't fix it back. Brrr…
They finally landed back in Oriana. And by 'they' he means himself, Victoria, and Nishitane. Oh, and Goose.
Currently they were in some kind of forest, but that didn't matter that much because Cid connected back to the Pylon system and knew exactly where to walk. Why walk? Because, uhh…
Hmm… Stop croaking, Todd, he thinks… Oh, right!
"Nishimura."
"Sensei?… It's Nishino," Akane blinked at him.
"Oh, yeah, sorry about. Got a bit… caught up."
"I understand," she nodded at him seriously, "You did a lot for humanity."
"Right, so… Nishitane."
"S-Sensei, it's Nishino."
"I have a gift for you," he decided to ignore her protests. He already knows she's Nishikage! "Both of you."
"G-Gift?" Akane perked up, while Victoria…
"T-To think I would receive blessing directly from Divine Lord…! A-Ah!" yeah, last part was unneeded…
"This is for you, my disciple," he took out the emerald. "Place it on your crowbar."
"A-Alright…"
Once she did so, emerald started sinking into tool by itself (actually with Cid's silent control to make it look cool); once it finished, a wave of magic went through the crowbar, placing enchantments onto it and creating an artifact. The emerald shone brightly, seemingly connecting with Nishitane.
"T-That's…" her breath hitched.
"Now that you have graduated, I thought your weapon deserves an upgrade," more smart words! "This is a graduation gift."
She raised her head, but he already turned to Victoria.
"And this is for you, my faithful servant," he showed a beautiful necklace made in his symbol… or rather, whatever the hell they made his symbol, "A sign that I recognize your faith in me."
"L-Lord Shadow!" she accepted the gift with shaking hands. Cid had a feeling that if it was not for the fact that Shades practically claimed him for themselves, she would jump on his bones right here and then.
Victoria wore it, dropping the eye part in her… cleavage. Yeah, where else does necklace go? Should not have made the chain so long…
"Now, Nishimura…"
"Nishino…"
"I have a task for you."
"Yes?" she tensed up.
Now, random bullshit go!
"Not only your world was plagued by disasters. A lot of other worlds are in danger as we speak. However, even I wished to, I am not able to be everywhere at once. That's why…" dramatic pause!
"That's why you need apostles and people who would do the job in your stead," Akane stole his line!
"…Precisely."
Now, where was the mini-Pylon… Oh, here!
"Take this. It serves as a spatial artifact that will allow you to travel easily. You merely need to connect it with spatial channels, and it's ready to use."
Yeah, he and Hams spent some time crafting this thing! Of course, the main part was the fact that it connected to his Soul Space, where Hamster just finished making a cool screen. When he's bored, he could go and watch whatever the hell is happening with her! Oh, and the spatial abilities were inserted, too. Artifact Station for the win!
"So, I am to save the other worlds…" she nodded at him seriously. "I am ready. But I have one favor to ask, if you don't mind…"
"Speak."
"…Could you please remove your hood and show me your face?"
Victoria tensed up at Akane's words, but did not go aggressive.
Cid thought it over. Like, there's no harm in doing that, right? She's bound by contract, she will go to another world anyway… Why not?
He allowed the shadows on his face disperse and removed (literally; slime suit, after all) the hood.
Nishimura suddenly paled as if she was looking at a ghost.
"N-No… T-That's impossible…"
What's with her? Nevermind, time to use the Black Rose!
The air cracked as the spatial rift opened once more.
"H-How could that be?…"
Hmm, she will need company, right? Goose, you are going with her!
"I-I thought…" she finally noticed the anomaly, "N-No, wait!"
In the next moment, Akane and Minoru went on an adventure.
"O' Heroes, please save our world!"
'What?'
Akane Nishino suddenly found herself in a stone room, surrounded by people in robes. Her mind was still processing what just happened.
The Divine Spirit…
"…We have summoned you, four Heroes…"
There was no way, right?
The Divine Spirit simply could not be her long dead classmate…
"…We can go back in our own world, right?…"
But if so, that meant…
That meant…
"Um, what is this… animal?"
"Isn't that a canada goose? I heard these guys are ferocious, but I didn't think they were that big!"
"How did it even appear here?"
Akane finally focused on the situation around her. There were three teenage-looking boys in circle with her, one with sword, one with bow, one with spear. And she was surrounded by mage-looking men.
She reached for her trusty crowbar; a weak shock passed through her body as she tried to take it in her hands.
And in the next moment, crowbar jumped out of her hand and aimed at something at her hand. A shield?…
Crowbar quickly reached under shield and started pulling the defensive item out. It tried to resist with its straps, but in the end tool proved victorious and finally yanked the shield. It felt down on the ground, followed by the crowbar.
Tool started beating the defensive item, and suddenly, it bended. Shield tried to 'crawl' away, to no avail; crowbar slowly, but surely broke the item apart.
And then, shield was destroyed. Crowbar 'crawled' to the gem that fell out of shield and took it into the notch. Shortly after everyone could hear the eating sound that was eerily similar to the one in a popular block game.
Crowbar finished, and its own gem suddenly became brighter. The tool returned to its owner's hand.
Everyone stared in shock as shards of Legendary Weapon that was the epitome of word 'indestructible' lay on the ground. Crowbar's gem shone… menacingly.
Akane Nishino's brain finally rebooted. She realized whose fault was all of that.
"KAGENO-O-O-O!"
Hero of Crowbar is here!
…What, you thought I was joking back then?