Why did the angels always spend their time in the arcade?

"This is a waste of time," Opferung groaned in boredom. Herrscher always abused his ability to get every doll from the crane game. Now he was in charge of holding them all.

Herrscher gave the last doll from the machine to Bluhen's hands. "Everything is meaningless. Even the crane can't provide happiness when there's nothing in it anymore."

Bluhen laughed and clapped his hands at Herrscher's performance. "How about a different game, then?"

"Mom, I want a doll too! He got a lot! Waaaaah!"

"It's taken by someone else! Don't be rude!"

Opferung looked at the direction of the crying kid. None of them were interested in keeping the dolls, so why not give it away to people? "You, come here!" He shouted and stared right at the kid.

When the kid approached, Opferung squatted down to match their heights. "Here, I have a lot. Get what you want."

The other kids approached him too. "Mister, can I have one too?"

As more kids surrounded Opferung, the number of the dolls decreased. They finally got rid of everything, even the one that was on Bluhen's hand.

"Thank you, mister! You're an angel!"

The kids merely spitted the fact, but somehow the way they said it felt different. Opferung stared at his hands; it was full of dolls and now it was empty, but the kids thanked him, even though Herrscher took all the dolls.

Richter came back to them with a roll of arcade tickets. "I found out not a real basketball had to enter the ring, so I projected a lot of balls and put them all in."

"You guys are so bad at having fun," Bluhen smiled, despite what his counterparts were doing.

The town got a bit noisy when Labys and Nisha were passing by. All of them had the same goal: make Nisha happy. Nisha also had the same reason, but having 4 Labys trying to make her happy would send her to heaven, resulting in the other 3 Labys from different timelines panicking every time Nisha was about to pass out from happiness.

"Bop!" Twins Picaro threw a bouncy soft ball at a random guy sitting behind his store counter. With their child mentality, this wasn't considered as rude, but funny–except for Nisha. The guy stood up, revealing his well-built body and muscles, looking at them with an angry face.

"Waaah! Are you angry?" Eternity Winner asked with a smile, which actually triggered the guy even more.

"I-It's Laby's fault! Radiant Soul's fault too!" Radiant Soul shouted in surprise when the guy walked out of the counter.

All of them ran away, dashing as fast as the Sander's wind to another part of the town where nobody recognized them anymore. They rested themselves on a public bench to catch their breath.

"Fun! Let's do it again!" Twins Picaro raised her hands to the sky. She had no remorse for what she had done anyway.

Radiant Soul's eyes widened in awe. "Again? Again!"

Nisha sighed, but she couldn't hold her smile. As long as Laby was happy, no matter which timeline they're from, she would be happy too.

"Book store! Laby–Radiant Soul wants to check books!" Radiant Soul's eyes sparkled as she rushed toward the bookstore that Nisha had never seen before. It's located in the far corner of the town.

"Don't troll the place now. I don't have money to pay for all the books," Nisha reminded them, but all of them already entered the bookstore in excitement.

"So… did you guys ever try calling Heaven?"

The Roses gathered on the second floor. Heaven, which was their home world, was disconnected from their navigator's range. For Black Massacre, at least.

"It works here just fine. Are you guys having issues?" Minerva asked with a confused look. "Actually, I had issues in your place, Prime Operator."

"Same with mine. I suspect someone is tampering with the connection to the outside world, but I have yet to find evidence… or the culprit," Tempest Burster nodded her head in agreement.

"Yeah, the connection here is rather easy. I had no problem at all," Prime Operator said with a confused look. It was like suddenly finding a fast internet connection. "Then again, I got kicked from Heaven! Too much trolling."

Black Massacre sighed in relief. "That's good to know. That means we should be able to contact Heaven in the future."

"Don't you find it weird we kinda look alike with Chung? I know it might be a coincidence, but what are the chances? I haven't met anyone else with the same hair and eye color," Tempest Burster said. "I met Dius Aer only recently. People keep mistaking us as siblings."

"I think that's just you," Minerva replied with a smile. "Look, Fatal Phantom uses guns and nobody said we're siblings."

"Dius Aer is a good kid, to be honest. I don't mind having a little brother like him!" Tempest Burster nodded her head with a smile. It might be out of nowhere for the others, but Dius Aer lacked love and care, unlike the other Chungs. It gave her the urge to protect him.

"Nah, no, I'm good," Minerva laughed nervously and looked away from them, knowing how annoying Fatal Phantom could be.

The Ravens were just hanging out in the backyard, drinking coffee and eating snacks. "I don't have energy to do anything. Am I too old?" Revenant muttered. Ever since the fight in the Abyss, he felt extremely tired. Twins Picaro fainted along with him after the fight, but she's already energetic again.

"N-No, we're fine. We're not 30s yet," Rage Hearts said, slowly becoming aware of his age.

Furious Blade looked at his counterparts. "We're pushing 40 next year–"

Nova Imperator smacked Furious Blade's head with his Nasod arm. "Anyway, how are you guys doing? Let's not fight over Nasod arms anymore."

"Pretty good. I screwed up the interrogation several times, though," Rage Hearts reported what he did in Nova Imperator's timeline. "Some of them annoyed me too much, so I slapped them. Apparently it wasn't allowed."

Nova Imperator smiled, even though he was technically screwed too in his timeline. "I didn't do the guild's tasks perfectly. I picked the wrong item a few times because I'm colorblind."

"We defeated Ran. Huge achievement for me. Good enough revenge, I must say," Revenant smiled, remembering how Ran was left alone in the Abyss and will never come back.

But Furious Blade had nothing special. "Just the usual. I'm fine."

"Will you ever move on or not?" Rage Hearts asked in curiosity. "Move on, man. It's impossible you don't get attracted to those girls even for a little bit. Unless you're into men. I won't judge."

"Maybe outside the gang. I'm not a collectible boyfriend," Furious Blade sighed heavily.

"Welcome, master!"

Code: Sariel was stunned with how Centurion looks. He always dressed nicely outside the battle, but now, the usual well dressed boyfriend was wearing his maid outfit proudly with a smile. "I sense an unknown object lingering in my system after seeing you like this," Code: Sariel said with a straight face. She wasn't able to express her emotions anymore, but they could guess what she would express right now.

"I-I… I'm sorry you guys have to do this. Fatal Phantom can be… very concerning," Code: Ultimate apologized on behalf of Fatal Phantom's decision.

"He is f-cked up, I agree," Centurion nodded his head as he led the customers to their seats and handed them the menus.

"They all look so good. Why don't you guys open your own cafe with Abysser as the baker?" Code: Esencia asked as she browsed the menu. All the delightful cakes were catching her attention.

Code: Ultimate thought about what Code: Esencia said too seriously. It sounded possible by theory and a quick planning draft she just made in her system. "I'll think about it. They seem to enjoy working here."

After choosing what they wanted to order, they called the waiter. Dius Aer came, also in his maid outfit. His face was flushed red all the time, unlike Centurion who somehow enjoyed his job and Fatal Phantom with his stoic face. "M-May I take your order?"

"Your timeline has issues, Code: Ultimate," Code: Antithese said. She glanced at Dius Aer and startled him a bit. "Before I say my order, tell Code: Ultimate why do you think Fatal Phantom is doing this. That one counterpart of yours won't tell you anything, because that's just your trait as Chung. You should know him better than my observation."

"What do I think? Um…" Dius Aer faced Code: Ultimate. He obviously questioned Fatal Phantom after they got into the cafe, so he had been thinking about it for a while. "I think… It's just for the sake of making people happy. Crossdress isn't common."

"Isn't he a bookworm? That's what I heard," Code: Esencia asked for more. Fatal Phantom definitely read a lot of books. There's a lot of ways to make people happy. Why crossdress specifically?

Dius Aer laughed nervously and turned his head around. He gulped, noticing that Fatal Phantom somehow heard their conversation, and faced the Eves again. "For someone that reads a lot of books, he… doesn't sound knowledgeable to me. Have you ever checked what he actually read?"

"It's just a novel," Code: Ultimate said, but her counterparts kept staring at her. Now she wasn't sure about it anymore. "...No? Reading novels doesn't make you knowledgeable."

After they took their orders, they continued their discussion. "Listen here. I don't care whether you lead that gang or not," Code: Antithese sighed and folded her arms. "All of you need to talk. Do you want to find it out yourself or do I tell you some information? Most of your gang was in my timeline."

"Oh, I don't mind a few leaks. Like what?" Code: Ultimate asked with a smile. New information always excited her.

"Nyx Pieta was a pickpocket."

All of them turned silent. Their system gave a list of responses, but none of them seemed to be a good thing to be said. Nyx Pieta was one of the people they would never expect to do something bad.

"Your drinks are here!" Comet Crusader walked toward them with a smile and served the drinks they ordered. He was also wearing the maid outfit, and he seemed both annoyed and embarrassed at the same time.

"Oh, you look good," Code: Esencia smiled at Comet Crusader. "I'm going to save this memory and share the picture to everyone."

"P-Please don't…" Comet Crusader whimpered before he went away to serve the other customers.

Code: Antithese sighed again and continued their talk. "I believe he stopped doing it, as he never steals anything in my timeline. We happened to let a criminal run away, but Nyx Pieta got several belongings from the guy and said he 'found' it on the ground."

"Shakti is lonely, but she cares a lot for you guys. I have no idea how she got left behind when you guys are living under the same roof. At least she has Richter."

"Mad Paradox has another form of himself. Maybe Minerva knew about it?"

"Twilight is simply having fun. Nothing special."

"Oh, while I'm talking about it, maybe Rage Hearts too?" Code: Antithese asked as she looked at Code: Esencia. "He's dying faster than the others. His Nasod arm is more 'alive' than it should be."

Code: Esencia chuckled it off. "We know about it. We convinced him he could live longer."

"Is it because we used that time skip potion…?" Code: Ultimate muttered to herself. They weren't this distant until everyone looked different. Even her boyfriend seemed like a stranger at first.

"It's an issue when Bloody Queen knows Fatal Phantom the most. You guys need to fix a lot of things," Code: Antithese said with a confused look. She didn't get how a group that stayed together for years could be so broken.

"Bloody Queen is obsessive. She took Fatal Phantom. I'm sorry she caused the problems with our timelines," Code: Sariel apologized.

"How sure are you Fatal Phantom didn't ask for it? Chung isn't honest with his feelings," Code: Antithese said, startling all the Chungs in the cafe. "They're still joking and flirting with each other when we all get here. There are no hard feelings between them all. I wouldn't say it's forced."

Code: Ultimate thought about it for a while. Aside from Fatal Phantom, they didn't know each other a lot. Her world was always around Immortal ever since they started dating. "Also he got that same bracelet as Nyx Pieta and Furious Blade. Friendship bracelet, I assume," Code: Antithese said as she stared at Code: Ultimate's wrists. "Where's yours? No need to answer, but I believe you realize the major problem now."

Fatal Phantom approached them and served their food. "What do you say? You heard me. I am correct," Code: Antithese stared at Fatal Phantom with a smirk. She's confident her deduction was true. "You knew Bloody Queen would take you on that day. You asked for it."

"I did," Fatal Phantom said with a smile. His face flushed a bit from recalling what happened between him and Bloody Queen before they went back to meet with everyone. "I was sure Mad Paradox could fix the timelines. The curiosity got me."

Fatal Phantom glanced at Dius Aer. There were still more customers to serve, so he went back to work. "Aren't you lucky his breakdown is so noticeable? I better see you guys in friendlier condition next time," Code: Antithese said with a smile, staring at Dius Aer unusually walking around with a maid outfit. It was oddly entertaining.

"No, no! I'm good!"

"It's fine, you can trust them!"

The redhead siblings had been avoiding Overmind and Nihilida. After the battle to stop the demon invasion, they came home injured. Overmind was clearly suspicious looking, even though Rune Master was healed by him. Nihilida and Tyrannus looked like they would hurt people instead. Bloody Queen was fine, since she could heal herself. Genesis and Adrestia got assistance from Nihilida, but it was still a bit difficult to make people trust her.

Nova Imperator walked toward Overmind with a troubled look. He didn't remember Doom Bringer having any good intention at all when he needed a quick maintenance with his Nasod arm, but maybe Overmind would be different.

Maybe.

"I'm colorblind. Could you fix my eyes?" Nova Imperator asked directly.

Of course, it brought lights into Overmind's eyes. The wrong lights, though. "Of course, I'll fix you, sweetie. We can borrow Mad Paradox's lab!"

And Nova Imperator regretted his decision. Maybe being colorblind wasn't so bad at all. "Code: Antithese, you're coming? You know his Nasod arm more than me!" Overmind shouted at another person Nova Imperator would avoid at any cost; his own boss. The colorblindness might not be related to Nova Imperator's Nasod arm at all, but his whole body was modified to be compatible with his ability. Something might be affected even if he just fixed the eyes.

Seeing the despair in Nova Imperator's eyes, Overmind called a special someone… for Nova Imperator, at least. "Tempest Burster, you're coming too! He's gonna overheat without you!"

"He overheats on a daily basis!" Tempest Burster shouted back, but she quickly followed them. The four people went into Mad Paradox's lab… without its owner's consent.

Mad Paradox had been wondering about Herrscher's ability to conquer the void. It was the same concept of walking in time and space freely. He's quite fascinated with how Herrscher did his work.

"So how about this timeline's void?" Mad Paradox asked in curiosity. Time and space was more like a galaxy with multiple planets–also known as timelines. No matter where he went, he'd see the same empty space.

"Herrscher always said the void is empty!" Anemos said with a smile. She's usually the one that prevented Herrscher from sending everything to void, so she would be with him every time 'void' or something similar is mentioned around them. This made Chevalier jealous from time to time, but his appearance actually annoyed Herrscher most of the time.

"Hm… What if void can be an element? I would like to do that too!" Aether Sage grinned, imagining herself mastering void and casting void-related magic spells like it was nothing. Deep down she wanted to send every crime to void when it got too complicated.

Herrscher sighed and stared at Mad Paradox. "Void? Maybe you wanted to know about Henir? Someone is having an adventure in this timeline," he said without a single expression. "Henir can be fascinating to explore."

"Henir? That's something I haven't heard in a while," Mad Paradox thought about it. When was the last time he even heard about Henir? It was always demons.

"Ask Nyx Pieta?" Anemos raised her one eyebrow in confusion. "Are you guys just living together without conversation? Noah's big brother was killed by Henir Order."

"Nyx Pieta is secretive. I haven't gotten anything aside from his weapon containing Clamor's soul," Mad Paradox sighed and looked at the Noahs playing around together. What Code: Antithese told Code: Ultimate was previously told to him. He was definitely not the chatty person to do this, but the gang did not even feel like a gang anymore. He didn't want to admit he liked the gang, so he had to do something to change.

More importantly, what did Herrscher mean by someone wandering around the Henir? He might actually need to go there somehow. Maybe Nyx Pieta would open up if someone else knew about Henir.

Unless… some of them acquired some information about Henir. There weren't any in the timeline he fell into, but there should be something the others knew about.

Anyway, there's definitely someone that has already lost his sanity. Mad Paradox already noticed it for quite a while, but maybe it became too much of a problem at this point. He walked into certain 'best friends'; a couple of two unhinged people sitting in the backyard late at night with no views to see. "Did you have your fun?" Mad Paradox asked Fatal Phantom, sitting next to him and looking at both him and Bloody Queen.

"No," Fatal Phantom answered shortly.

Bloody Queen cackled, staring at Mad Paradox with a wide grin. She grabbed Fatal Phantom's body close to her, hugging him from the back really tightly. "I'm gonna have to take him again then."

Mad Paradox glared at Fatal Phantom, even though Bloody Queen was the one saying it. "No more. Stay here."

"Can you trade me with Centurion?" Fatal Phantom asked with a blank stare.

With a heavy sigh, Mad Paradox held himself to not yell. "I checked your books earlier for the first time. Let's talk about it. I want to know what you think."

"We don't have those kinds of books in demon realms. You should lend me something," Bloody Queen said to Fatal Phantom.

"I read one. Phoru Metaphysics," Mad Paradox said, finally catching Fatal Phantom's attention. It was weird when Fatal Phantom and Metamorphy used to read fiction together. Since when did he even read this weird book? "I found a book called Lizardman Yoga. Should we buy it? We can browse other books and order them online."

"Yes, I want that," Fatal Phantom smiled at the idea. It's been a while since he got excited at something. "I want new books. I'll bring Nisha to your lab tomorrow morning!"

"Oh, maybe you can get that 'Breeding Poco with Total Mind Power'?" Bloody Queen asked with a smile. Fatal Phantom grabbed Bloody Queen's hand and walked upstairs to show his book collection.

Nisha walked into the backyard after seeing them going upstairs. Mad Paradox stood up, facing the girl. He had so many things to say to her, but he would start with what happened recently. "We're browsing books online tomorrow morning. Chung said so."

Nisha smiled at the idea. "I saw a book called 'Teach Your Kid to be an Orphan' in a bookstore on the corner of this town. Let's go there too."

"Let's bring Noah too. We need to talk to him," Mad Paradox said with a serious look.

"Hm? You knew something," Nisha stared at Mad Paradox creepily. Her mirror started feeling uneasy with Mad Paradox's words. But she sighed and eventually gave a smile. "Sure. Is your annoying girlfriend coming too?"

Mad Paradox looked away for a bit. He wouldn't deny that Minerva could be too talkative and annoying sometimes. But if it's about making people open up, starting with Nisha's friend circle would be a good idea. "No. Just us."

Once again, they were reminded that they couldn't stay together. They had to go back to their timelines. What Code: Antithese said would linger in some people's mind for quite a while.

And of course, Prophetess had something to say too. She had been there for more than a week. It would be private, just between her and Twilight. "I need you to stop using the potions for a while. Or maybe… just use the fun or harmless ones."

"What happened when I was away?" Twilight asked in curiosity. The last time she lived in her own timeline, everything was still fine. Acceptable, at least.

"Everything," Prophetess forced herself to smile. Since her words startled Twilight, she decided to talk about everyone. "This is just based on my observation, but please think about it, okay?"

"Metamorphy is depressed, although she didn't show it much to everyone. Fatal Phantom is… well… he kinda lost it after we learned about his father's death. Shakti needs someone to talk to, not just Richter. Timoria and Abysser were trying to live separately, but it was too hard for them. I'm not sure what they were planning, but maybe you should be friends with them more, so they won't just talk to each other all the time. Nisha is hiding a lot of things. She seemed to be rather protective of her close friends and knows them a lot. Nyx Pieta is… I think we need Nisha's help so he would open up. Furious Blade, Code: Ultimate, Empire Sword, Mad Paradox, Minerva, and Richter are fine. Immortal is surprisingly fine too. He's been very stable, even when Code: Ultimate wasn't around."

"That's… a lot. Thank you," Twilight smiled and hugged Prophetess tightly. They didn't have a leader anymore, so she had to make a move. Even if the others were trying to, she had to do something as well.

They went back inside where everyone was present. They were saying their goodbyes, but they knew they're gonna meet again anyway.

Because Mad Paradox couldn't do it alone, he asked Nisha for help. It seemed that things became worse, but at least Fatal Phantom wasn't trying to escape again. "Everything can be a magic trick," Nisha said, summoning a dark bud.

"Clap clap magic!" Both Fatal Phantom and Bloody Queen clapped their hands twice and waited for the trick. They were better at using magical power, but magical shows were always fun to watch.

The bud blossomed into a flower, but it splashed blood into Bloody Queen's body. She laughed, looking at the realistic splattered blood.

Their counterparts' bodies were slowly disappearing. It was finally their time to go home. Nisha held Fatal Phantom's hand tightly, preventing him from breaking the timeline again.

Mad Paradox sighed in relief when everyone finally got home. "Early morning. Just knock on the door," he said to Fatal Phantom and Nisha before he went back to his lab.