We’re All Connected Part 2

I was about to activate [Teleport] in order to save the girls, but I stopped

when I noticed a surge of magic in their vicinity.

The strike impacted, leaving an enormous crater. This one was even bigger

than the first. If the girls had been in the impact zone, then not a trace of them

would have remained.

Thankfully, that wasn't the case. All the girls were on the ground beneath

Reginleif, perfectly safe in their Frame Gears.

The moment they saw the orb of light headed in their direction, they

activated [Teleport] themselves and moved right to me.

They hadn't done it via Sakura's power, even though it was her spell. The

Mochizuki Touya app was still active, so they simply borrowed my power and

did it that way.

"I'm glad you're okay, Touya."

"Yeah. Sorry, you guys. Yula sealed me away for a while there. I managed to

bust out, though."

Man, I must have really had them shook. Wait, hold on a sec...

"Where's Ende and his group?"

I looked around but I could only see my nine fiancees. Ende, Melle, Ney, and

Lycee weren't in the area.

"We had Melle and the others go help fight the mutants. The Dragoon was

pretty banged up, and we didn't really wanna make them fight against this thing

with just their bodies," Elze answered over the comms. That was fair. Even with

the Mochizuki Touya app, going bare-fisted against the wicked god probably

wasn't the wisest idea.

"So that is the wicked god, it is..."

"I like the size, but I don't like the bug parts!"

Yae and Sue offered their comments as everyone looked over the enemy. Its

enormous compound eyes focused on us. I couldn't sense any emotion or will

coming from it at all, it was just a being of pure instinctive chaos.

Particles of light began sparking between its antennae. An attack was coming!

"Everyone, fan out!"

On my command, the girls used [Fly] to soar upward with their Frame Gears.

And right after we moved, a bolt of lightning flew from the wicked god's

antennae and scorched the ground where we'd just stood.

Its attacks were just as big as its body. It was kind of a pain, honestly.

"Touya... Um, I wanted to ask something..."

"Hm? What is it?"

"This power that's flowing through us... Is it yours?"

"Huh?"

Linze's words were a little confusing, so I glanced a little more closely at her

and the girls. They had platinum divinity emanating from their Frame Gears.

What the...? That's just like mine! Are they receiving it because of their

connection to me? Wait, this also explains how they were able to move their

Frame Gears with [Fly] and [Teleport], too.

My divinity had improved the breadth of their skills.

"This certainly feels warm."

"It's like the grand duke is right by me... I know we can't lose..."

"Heheh. We're all wrapped in our darling's love."

"We got Touya's love on our side, now! We're unbeatable!"

Ugh, that's embarrassing! I-I know it's true, but don't just say it out loud!

"Alright, girls! Let's take Touya's love and use it to strike down our foe!"

All the girls nodded in unison, moved by Yumina's words. Then, they began

emitting their own divinity from within their bodies. It wasn't as strong as mine,

but it was every bit as pure.

The realization hit me like a truck. The girls had already made up their minds

to walk with me on the path of godhood. They hadn't hesitated in the slightest.

They had no lingering attachments. And that meant I'd been the most indecisive

person here. I felt a little bit of shame.

"Let's do this!" Elze spearheaded the charge, nimbly weaving in between the

laser rays.

"Take this! My chi-infused finisher! Cannon Break!" Gerhilde smashed a pile

bunker into one of the wicked god's limbs. The massive arm wasn't broken off,

but cracks spread across the entirety of its surface. And those cracks then began

to smolder and smoke. Elze's divinity was preventing it from regenerating.

"Hiyaaaah!"

"Haaaaagh!"

Next came two Frame Gears, one purple and one orange, Yae's Schwertleite

and Hilde's Siegrune. They each swerved toward the cracked limb, raising their

blades high.

"Kokonoe Secret Style: Dragonfang Disaster!"

"Lestian Sacred Sword: Sixth Roaring Thunder!"

Their two slashes intersected, creating a mighty cross against the enemy's

arm. The limb shattered like a glass sculpture, breaking to pieces and tumbling

to the ground.

Black smoke continued to rise from the wounds in its body. The wicked god

responded by launching a barrage of lightning toward the three Frame Gears

that had just attacked it. But they managed to avoid the attack by simply

teleporting away.

The wicked god started scanning the area with its compound eyes, but

suddenly, a bullet enchanted with [Mega Explosion] smashed into one of those

eyes.

Skreeeekch!

The wicked god found itself jostled by the impact. Another bullet struck it in

the throat, detonating on impact. The explosion left a few trails of fire on the

surface of the wicked god's body.

"It's an easy target, that's for sure," Yumina spoke up as Brunnhilde hefted its

rifle and launched a third bullet. This one struck the enemy's belly, erupting into

another massive explosion.

Another explosion rang out on the monstrous being's shoulder. But that one

hadn't been caused by Brunnhilde, it was thanks to Lu's Waltraute. The emerald

mech had used its C-Unit attachment to launch a bombardment.

"Wow, it really is easy to hit! My aim isn't so good, usually!"

Shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiieeeeeeekch!

A strange noise rang out from the wicked god as it raised and fluttered its

wings. The strange sound carried an unusual force with it, rocking our Frame

Gears with a shockwave. The sound it was emitting had muddied divinity

imbued into it. Our Frame Gears were being crushed by an intangible force,

somewhat similar to the effects of [Gravity].

It was probably a way to prevent us from getting closer, but we had

something to counteract that.

"That won't work..." Sakura's Rossweisse blared her muttering from its

speakers, and then Sakura broke into song. She was singing the same song

she'd performed during the battle against the mutant Upper Constructs. It was

a pretty straightforward song about the power of love that was associated with

a popular time travel movie. "That's the power that makes the world go 'round"

and all that.

The wicked god couldn't stand in the way of such a force. Its attack vanished

thanks to Sakura's song, and we could move again.

"Now it's my turn!"

Sue's gigantic golden Frame Gear, the Ortlinde Overlord, pulled a certain

weapon out of [Storage]. It was the specialized anti-Upper Construct giga

gravity weapon, the Gold Hammer. It was an enormous golden ball covered in

spikes.

Ortlinde Overlord clutched the handle and tugged on the long chain before

starting to spin in a massive circle. She began with a horizontal spin before

pulling it in closer and spinning it vertically. The magi-graviton particles began

to accumulate within the throwing hammer's main body thanks to the effects of

[Gravity] and [Prison].

Schhhhkkkrreeeeeeckh!

The wicked god shrieked, raining lasers down on Ortlinde Overlord. The mech

seemed utterly defenseless at a glance, but Sue had the power of the Mochizuki

Touya app on her side.

"[Reflection]!"

A translucent barrier appeared in the air, deflecting all the laser blasts far off

into the sky. Then, the Gold Hammer began sparking, prompting Sue to finally

let go.

"Crumble to dust!"

The golden ball, now a swirling mass of magi-graviton energy, soared toward

its mark. The wicked god, likely sensing the danger, swung its tail up to deflect

the projectile.

The moment the weapon made contact with the tail, we were assaulted by a

blinding flash of light that filled up the entire sky.

Schhhhkkkrreeeehh?!

Half of the wicked god's tail evaporated, turning to golden dust and flying

away with the wind. The Gold Hammer broke down with it.

"Aw, I messed it up."

If this were an ordinary set of circumstances, Ortlinde would've been broken

down due to the Gold Hammer's recoil, but we'd made several tweaks to the

mech's design since then, and the extra magic from the Mochizuki Touya app

meant that it was still functional.

"I wish I had another Gold Hammer, but I'm all out!"

"You did well, but you can leave the rest to us!"

Sue's lamentations were met by Leen's voice. I looked back down toward the

ground.

Leen's Grimgerde and Linze's Helmwige were prepping a gigantic cannon. It

was the Brionac, our specialized magic artillery. The ultimate weapon prepared

for deployment against Upper Constructs. It required a crazy amount of precise

magical control, as well as a deep well of mana, to fire out its massive drill

bullet.

It was just a bit too hard to control alone, and the Leen and Linze combo only

allowed for one shot. It was pretty unwieldy.

That wasn't even getting into how long it took to charge it up... But

apparently, the two girls had accounted for that, since they'd been charging the

weapon up since the fight started. I could tell because the meter was almost

completely full.

"We're ready to fire!"

"Launch it!"

A massive explosion rang out, propelling the drill bit toward its target. The

drill hit the wicked god's belly, starting to rotate at high speeds. It began

shredding the creature, digging deeper and deeper with each rotation.

Skreeeeekch?!

The wicked got let out a piercing scream, powerlessly glaring down at the drill

bit.

The drill bit continued piercing through the wicked god until it fully

penetrated and burst out the other side. If we looked at this on human terms, it

would be like someone having a golf ball driven through their stomach. That

would pretty much be lethal, but the wicked god didn't have internal organs or

anything. That being said, the monster was definitely injured by the divinityinfused bullet.

Skreeeeeeeeekkkccccccchhhh... Ghh... Ghho... Ghhhoood...

"Huh?"

The wicked god suddenly stopped moving, and it started making noises in a

voice that I recognized.

"I am a God... I am absolute... I am sublime... I will not forgive those who dare

defy my right... You filthy, scuttling insects... Perish underfoot!"

Light began to glow from the wicked god's body. A rainbow-like haze

appeared in the air around it, and cracks started running all over its surface.

Then, beams started bursting out of the wicked god's body as its entire back

split open. Its silkmoth-esque wings fell to the ground with a great crash, along

with some of its outer shell.

Something started emerging from the hole in its back. Rainbow-colored

particles of light, kind of like the colors you'd see on the back of a CD or DVD,

flowed out and took the form of leathery, bat-like wings.

There were three pairs, forming six in total. Though they were shaped like bat

wings, there was something strangely artificial about their structure.

A jagged back rose out from the hole, following the wings. After that, six limbs

pulled out as well, shedding the old body like a discarded husk. These arms

weren't insectoid like the shell's, they were large and muscular. The area

between the elbow and the forearm was coated in a black exoskeleton. Equally

beefy legs burst forth from the lower body, and a new, thorn-lined tail exploded

from the halved stump of the old one.

The newly-emerged head resembled an iron helmet, with menacing horns

jutting from either side.

The insectoid shell fell apart as the creature within finished shedding it,

revealing its full presence to us.

The divinity it emanated was a far cry from the muddy gold I'd been feeling. It

was releasing a pure, rainbow-colored light. But its body didn't really seem

organic at all. Its structure wasn't something that felt like a natural occurrence.

It was almost like... Or rather, it was completely like a mechanical structure.

This rainbow-colored wicked god had the distinct form of a twisted, warped

Frame Gear.

It was somewhat similar to the witch-king's Gollem, but that one was more

clunky-looking. This one clearly had remnants of its Phrase origins in the design,

but it was sleeker. If the Hecatoncheir was a mere robot, then this was more of

an android. It gave off that kind of vibe.

It felt like it was trying to imitate life, but the uncanny valley was still right

there. It felt wrong.

"Foolish, puny mortals... Pathetic little humans who only exist to consume,

waste, and corrupt the land they walk... Pathetic... Pathetic... You misguided

fools! You should have just obeyed me from the start!"

There was no doubt as to the origin of the voice. Annoying as it was, it was

someone I hoped had died.

"...Long time no see, NEET God."

"...Mh? You wretch! You foiled me last time, didn't you?! This is all your

fault!"

"Don't blame me for your screw-ups, pal. You reap what you sow."

"Silence!"

The tips of the horns on his helmet began glowing before firing off a triplebarrage of laser fire in my direction.

"[Shield]!"

I didn't want to use [Reflection] for fear of the lasers hitting anyone else, so I

simply blocked the attack.

The wicked god stepped forward, white smoke billowing from its body. The

long, spiky tail slithered behind it.

"You pathetic little interlopers! I would have created a perfect world if you

had only let me! Free of war! Free of poverty! Of discrimination and injustice!

Why would you deny me?! All I wanted was a truly equal world, governed by

justice and pure order! The beings of this world are lesser than the divine, so

there's no harm in showing them the light! It's a god's job to guide and lead

lesser beings, is it not?! We could have lived in a true society, a society where I

was the unquestionable ruler!"

I didn't really have a response for the word vomit he'd just spewed at me.

Judging from his infantile behavior, God Almighty had made the right call when

it came to not promoting this jackass. Maybe he'd thought the guy would learn

and grow as a person over time, but there was no saving him now. He thought

his ideology was absolute and just wanted to impose his way of living on others.

I quietly willed my next command, and Reginleif's greatsword morphed into

forty-eight daggers that circled my Frame Gear like satellites. Each of the

daggers emanated platinum divinity, almost looking like they were on fire. I

wasn't about to show the foul creature any mercy. He was an enemy of my

world.

"[Gladius]"

All forty-eight platinum-imbued projectiles flew outward, piercing the neo

wicked god's arms, legs, wings, chest, and head. They all stabbed at the enemy

full-force.

When the attack finished, they returned to their standby position, orbiting my

mech as the neo wicked god recoiled in pain.

"Gaaaauuugh! You little shit! You little brat! You're just a human playing dress

up! I am the real deal! I am a real god! I cannot forgive you, do you

understand?! You are a lesser being! You're pathetic, something cobbled

together in the corner without any true power!"

"Enough. Let me tell you something, buddy. See, back home, there are all

kinds of political structures. But we have a word for what you wanted to create.

It's called a dystopia."

Reginleif's daggers blazed with platinum fire once more, ready to put an end

to their mark. I was ready to put him down, to destroy this selfish, egotistical

maniac. He'd gone on rambling too far, and this world was sick of hearing him

talk.

"[Gladius]!"

My platinum blades ripped through the air, intent on slicing the wicked god to

ribbons.

◇ ◇ ◇

"You miscreants! Miserable ants! You dare to look down upon me?! Me?! I

am a god! A being who has lived eons! I will now pass down my judgment upon

you!"

Even as my [Gladius] strikes pierced his body, the neo wicked god continued

to berate us. He waved his arms and summoned lightning from the sky. Each

bolt was extremely powerful, and the slower Frame Gears of the group, namely

Grimgerde and Ortlinde, couldn't avoid any of them.

"You two okay?!"

"I'm good! Barrier wall is down by forty percent, though!"

"Same here. We can probably only take one more direct hit like that."

The barriers around Reginleif and the Valkyrie Gears automatically blocked

incoming damage, but it wasn't an absolute defense. An extremely powerful

strike would be enough to break it, and it would eventually wear down after a

few strong strikes as well.

The barriers had been created with a considerable amount of magical power,

which was a testament to just how powerful those attacks were. And they were

also way too quick to avoid with [Teleport]. Sakura would probably have

managed, but the others weren't experienced enough to get away in time.

"You won't get away, worms! Get a load of this!"

The wicked god's six arms flexed, and he fired laser blasts from his fingers. We

suddenly found ourselves under fire from thirty-six bolts of light.

"Gah!" "Eek!" "Mh!" Hilde, Linze, and Yae took direct hits. Their barriers

weren't broken, but they ended up being knocked back by the sheer force. With

their balance lost, it left them open for another attack!

"Stardust Shell!" Sue's Ortlinde Overlord suddenly charged forward, reaching

out its left hand as it emanated a starry light. The light transformed into a

protective shield that coated the other girls.

When the lasers stopped coming, Ortlinde Overlord held out its right arm and

pointed it at the enemy.

"Cannon Knuckle Spiral!"

The mech's arm detached at the elbow and launched forward, smashing into

the neo wicked god's throat with a glorious rocket punch. A little bit of the

wicked god's skin was bruised in the process.

"How about that, huh?!"

"You vermin! I could understand if it was that scumbag... But you're mere

humans! How dare you attack me! I am a god, I am above all! How dare you

damage my opulent form! I will never forgive you!"

The neo wicked god roared, emanating rainbow-hued divinity as lightning

crashed all around us.

"You're not a god anymore. Not a real one. You're just a wicked imitation.

Hell, I'd hesitate to even call you a demi-god."

"SILENCE!"

The neo wicked god held up his arms and spread out his hands. His palms

began to glow different colors. One was red, one blue, one green, one brown,

one yellow, and one black. I had a sinking feeling about what those colors

represented.

"He's calling down elemental magic! Look out!" Leen warned everyone,

beating me to the punch. In an instant, we came under assault by a raging

inferno, a frigid blizzard, a roaring tornado, a barrage of rock, a lightningimbued laser, and a hideous black smoke that seemed to writhe as it traveled.

The laser came in first, forcing us into evasive maneuvers. We managed to use

[Shield] and [Reflection] to block the fire, ice, wind, and rockfall. Then, we used

[Teleport] to move away from the incoming black smoke. I could tell it was

some kind of curse-based magic, probably similar to [Energy Drain].

The laser we'd dodged obliterated a nearby mountain, while the deflected

inferno scorched the earth below, and the blizzard chilled the air around us.

It was absolute environmental destruction. The neo wicked god was certainly

equipped to wreak havoc upon the world.

"I am a god! You hear me?! An immortal, a divine being! I am the rightful ruler

of this world, I am the rightful god of this world! Kneel before me! Take your

natural positions... and beg for your lives!"

"I'm really getting sick of this... You're not a god anymore. Not a real one.

We're sure as hell not kneeling before you, either. You're just a deluded idiot,

prattling on about stuff he doesn't have any business involving himself in!"

Talking to him was clearly pointless, since he was too far gone to listen to

reason. Part of me felt a bit sorry for him.

He refused to accept that things were going downhill for him. He was stuck in

the belief that he was right, and everyone else was wrong. It was pathetic

escapism. He was just lashing out and blaming others for his own insecurities.

I was amazed that someone who'd lived so long as a servile god was really

capable of kicking up such a noisy tantrum. From where I was standing, it

seemed like he'd just wasted away his entire life.

"You're pretty pathetic, aren't you?"

"Enough out of you! You are a fool, I am in charge here! I am a god, beyond

petty human squabbles!"

"...Buddy, look at yourself. You're lashing out with a whole bunch of negative

human emotions, aren't you? You're angry, you're jealous, you're clearly upset.

You're in full-blown hysterics right now. You're not above anything, you're

acting like a human. A child, at that."

"Me? Acting as a human?! Don't make me laugh, worm!"

His tail suddenly arched upward, launching several spiny barbs into the air.

The barbs blew up once airborne, revealing a cluster of smaller spikes that were

set to rain down below.

It was the same type of attack as the cluster bombs used by Upper Constructs.

"[Prison]!"

I summoned a barrier around myself. If my power hadn't fully awakened, then

the attack would have definitely broken my defenses. Luckily, my platinum

divinity kept me safe.

The girls managed to use defensive magic to protect themselves too. But

then, all of a sudden, the wicked god swung his arms upward. The falling spikes

detonated, releasing a fine golden mist that washed over everyone except me,

since I was still in the [Prison].

"Oh no!"

"Wh-What is this?!"

"Nghn... M-My strength is... fading, it is..."

The golden mist swirled around, prompting the girls to lose their balance in

the air. They all went crashing to the ground. I started to feel a strange sense of

nausea as well... before I finally realized what had happened.

"Gwahahahah! I hope it hurts, vermin! That's all the divine venom I've been

storing within my body! Now, I'll grant a slow and painful death to those

women, and after that, I'll finally move on to you... Don't think you can—"

"Shut your mouth. Now."

Divine venom? Killing Yumina and the girls? Does this childish bastard really

think I'm gonna let him come here, throw a tantrum, and hurt the people I care

about?! What the hell is this guy's problem, huh? He's absolutely goddamn

hopeless. I'm putting him down for good.

"You better shut the hell up now, you pathetic NEET fuckhead. You're the one

always blaming others for your mistakes. You're the one who trashed

everything just because he was insecure!"

"Wretch! You still talk ill of me?! I'll—"

My platinum-hued divinity began surging and bubbling within me until it

finally boiled over. My blood began pumping in overdrive, unfettered divinity

surging through my veins until every pore in my body exuded the pure,

platinum sheen of my godhood. Any dizziness and nausea I'd previously felt was

gone.

"Wh-What kind of power is that?!"

I glared down at the pathetic imitation god and called back the forty-eight

daggers. Then, I morphed them together until they took the form of a

greatsword.

Not big enough. I need a bigger weapon to destroy this piece of shit... Almost

as if responding to my thoughts, my divinity began gathering around the blade,

giving it a larger form. The divinity wrapped around my blade hardened up...

until I was wielding a shining, platinum holy blade. I knew instinctively that this

blade was designed to smite the wicked.

Did I just use my divinity to... create something? This feels weird... I used that

power like it was second nature to me...

"Wh-What?! Impossible! H-How did you Treasurecraft so easily?! Th-That's a

power only the upper echelons of the divine have!"

"Enough. You don't belong in this world."

Reginleif easily hefted up the holy blade. I charged forward at unprecedented

speeds and immediately used the weapon to cleave off one of the neo wicked

god's arms.

"Aaaaauuuugh!! Wh-What?! H-How did you hurt me?!"

The severed arm burned away to ashes mid-fall. But I didn't stop there.

Instead, I swooped down, swinging my blade once more. And that time, I

lopped off the tail. My blade cleaved through the entirety of the appendage like

a knife through butter.

"AAAAAARGGGH! Y-You bastard! You insect! E-Enough of this!"

"You're still spouting stuff like that? Aren't you meant to be some sublime,

all-powerful god? Or did you mean you were the god of crying and pissing your

pants?"

"I'LL KILL YOUUU!"

The failure god lumbered forward in an attempt to grab Reginleif, but I nimbly

avoided all of its swipes. I even sliced off a few fingers in the process.

"GRAAAAARGH!! DAMN IT! DAMN YOU TO HELL! WHY IS THIS HAPPENING?!

I'VE WORKED FOR THE GODS FOR THOUSANDS UPON THOUSANDS UPON

THOUSANDS OF YEARS, AND THIS IS WHAT I GET?! I CAN'T HAVE JUST ONE TINY

WORLD AS MY REWARD? ARE THE GODS SO STINGY THAT I CAN'T EVEN HAVE

ONE LITTLE WIN IN MY LONG, MISERABLE LIFE?!"

"This world might be little to you, but it's my home. The fact that you'll never

understand what it means to its people is why you'll always be a failure."

He just saw the world as a reward, something to be claimed. He didn't care

about the people living on it. He just saw them as cannon fodder or ants. Who

would want to be in the care of a god like that?

God Almighty and the others didn't interfere in the mortal realms much, and

that was because they believed in freedom for all the people below. Even if the

worlds struggled sometimes, or hit strange dead ends, they believed in the

people and their ability to work things out long-term.

That was why they were real gods and not this pathetic imitation. He couldn't

ever understand the feelings or connections between people. Someone like him

could never be truly divine.

I wasn't quite at the level of becoming a real god, but I knew I would never

become someone like him. I would work hard, for the sake of everyone who put

their faith in me.

"[Copy]."

I let go of the beautiful holy blade in Reginleif's hands, which then split off

into an identical copy of itself. The two blades then became four, which became

eight, constantly dividing until there were a total of forty-eight holy blades

circling Reginleif.

I'd never heard of a Null spell called [Copy] before. I just knew that it was an

ability I could use, somehow. It could've been part of the Treasurecrafting

ability mentioned by my enemy, but I didn't have time to think about it.

Reginleif's arm pointed into the sky, and all forty-eight swords turned their

blades toward the neo wicked god.

"Y-You bastard, no! What are you planning?! Stop! Stop! Stop, stop, please!

Stop! Don't. Don't you dare! Nooo! I don't want to die!"

"And I don't care. [Claiomh Solais]."

The forty-eight greatswords streaked through the air like missiles, leaving a

platinum trail in their wake. I heard the sounds of metal piercing flesh, and saw

the blades enter his shoulders, chest, arms, legs, belly, and head.

"GRAAAAUUUUUGH!"

The failure before me screamed out in agony as his body began to split apart.

The holy blades gouged and writhed in his wounds, increasing the damage.

The wicked god arched his spine, falling back due to the pain. And the holy

blades, still embedded inside him, almost looked like grave markers as they

pointed up from his body.

"I'm a... god... Sublime, and... All-powerful..."

One of the holy blades split back into twelve crystal boards before flying back

to Reginleif's back. The other holy blades faded away like mist.

The once-mighty body of the wicked god began to flake apart, dissolving into

rainbow-colored sand. The sand broke down into even finer grains until

eventually, it vanished into black smoke.

I glanced over to the girls, still fallen in their Valkyrie Gears. I reached out my

hand.

"[Delete]."

The golden powder was washed away in an instant, wiping out the divine

venom from the world entirely.

"Are you girls ok?"

"Ugh... I feel a little weak, but I should be alright... I'm sorry, Touya... You had

to do most of the work in the end."

"That's okay, Yumina. I think, in the end, it had to be me handling it, anyway."

Brunnhilde rose up from the ground, followed by all the others. Thankfully,

none of them were badly hurt.

"Now then, let's wrap this up."

I reached out to my smartphone on Reginleif's console and began contacting

the other leaders around the world.

◇ ◇ ◇

"Th-This can't be! How did that mortal defeat my god?! Just what is he?!"

Yula stood within the Niflheim boundary, totally dumbfounded by the events

he'd just witnessed.

This was an utter nightmare. He'd been aiming for the power of a god, and

then he wished to seize a world of his own. But now his ambitions of controlling

this world and one day returning to dominate Phrasia had gone up in smoke.

Just what had he done wrong? Just where had he miscalculated? He'd fed the

cocoon with all the souls it required. He'd done everything to the letter.

Was Mochizuki Touya telling the truth? That this god he'd staked all his faith

in was actually a weakling...? Could he really have gotten so carried away with

elation that he'd overlooked the fact that he'd been lied to? This just wasn't

fair. How could he have been so stupid? Yula, filled with rage at this turn of

events, slammed his fist into the wall of his barrier world.

But something began happening when he looked at his fist. Something that

utterly horrified him.

"Wh-What?!"

The color was draining from his body. Yula's muddy-gold form had lost its

divine blessing, and as such, was reverting to a dull lead-like color.

Niflheim, the entire realm around him, also began breaking down. This was

only natural, of course. It took the power of a god to create and maintain a

world, even a small one like this, and now that power was gone.

The live feed from around the world showed the mutants losing their color as

well.

"N-No! My plans! H-How can this be?! Gah... F-Fine, plan B, then! I'll return to

Phrasia and make the young Sovereign my puppet, and then I'll..."

"I don't think so."

"What now?!" Yula roared as he turned around and saw something that made

a chill run up his spine. It was his former leader. Standing by her side were the

two Dominant Constructs he'd traveled alongside in the past, and a younglooking white-haired man who wore a white scarf.

"Sovereign?! H-How did you come here?"

"A friend from another world told me where I might find you."

Melle waved her smartphone lightly. Ende was familiar with the method of

traveling through worlds, and now that Niflheim was breaking down, it was just

a matter of looking for him.

"Gah!"

"Prisma Rose."

Melle cast vines from her right hand, snaring Yula in them and slamming him

to the ground.

"Gaugh!"

"You've been awfully persistent so far, Yula. But it's time to pay the piper."

Melle's words were devoid of feeling. Yula knew how frightening the

Sovereign could be, and now that the ice-cold rage was directed toward him, he

was terrified.

"It was my error in failing to recognize your greed, Yula. I didn't want to

believe that such wickedness would be in my immediate vicinity... It was my

own naive nature that caused untold destruction across countless worlds.

Touya dealt with the brunt of it, but it's time I put an end to this for good."

As her right hand continued producing vines that stretched out and trapped

Yula, Melle suddenly raised her left. A thick, crystal vine extended from her left

hand, forming into a long blade at the tip.

Yula started to muster all the power he could in an attempt to summon his

Zenith Armor, but his lead-grey body didn't shift. He had lost the divinity within

him, along with the phrasium characteristics he was born with. It was at this

point that the reality of the situation sank in. Yula was about to die a truly

meaningless death.

"W-Wait, Sovereign! Please, have mercy! A-At least grant me an honorable

death on Phrasia. A-At least grant me that, please! Honor our traditions!"

"There's no honor in this, Yula. Begging just makes it worse, so keep quiet.

Accept your fate, and break apart. At least there's quiet beauty in that."

"W-Wait! No! Stop! Stop! I can't die here! I'm not meant to—"

"Prisma Guillotine."

The blade came swinging down, slicing cleanly through Yula's neck, and

obliterating the core before he could finish his sentence.

Yula's body crumbled to pieces before it began dissolving into a black haze.

"N-No, why... I... I'm..."

Yula had brought countless worlds to the brink of darkness. He had led armies

of Phrase on a mindless campaign of slaughter. But in the end, in a dark space

between worlds, Yula pitifully died. And eventually, nobody would remember

his name.

◇ ◇ ◇

Even after we beat the wicked god, the mutants still remained in the world.

Even when the wicked god's divinity left their bodies, weakening them and

turning their bodies a dull grey, they still survived.

The mutants had been freed from Yula and the wicked god, but their directive

to kill humans was still something that ran deep. Thus, they continued trying to

do exactly that.

But they'd lost their abilities to regenerate, and they'd also lost their ability to

harden their bodies. They were about as powerful as generic Stone Golems. The

mutants, now weakened, were easily dispatched by knights and adventurers

around the world.

We also decided to fly around the world and pick off any we found, which was

kind of tedious work, honestly. Still, someone had to clean up.

There were many countries where mutants appeared all over the place, but

some nations didn't have any emergence events at all. Some locations suffered

major losses and damages to their towns, while others didn't lose a single

building.

The world had been saved, but I wouldn't forget the losses we'd incurred that

day. Thinking I could save the day without anything going wrong was sheer

arrogance on my part.

All in all, it took about two more days to completely wipe the mutants from

the face of our planet. And with everything settled, Brunhild put out a formal

announcement to the other countries. Thus, tentatively, the world came to

know peace.

After everything was dealt with, I went back to Brunhild and fell asleep. I was

out so hard I didn't even dream.

"Mmh...?"

I woke up in my bed, but it was still dark out. I glanced at my smartphone,

noticing it was only five in the morning.

The Mochizuki Touya app had been removed from everyone's phones. It was

the pivotal piece that led to our victory all around the world, but it squeezed

Babylon dry of almost all its mana stores. Everyone kind of went hog wild with

it, but we wouldn't have won so quickly otherwise.

"Hmnh..." I yawned and stretched my arms before throwing on a coat and

heading out to the balcony.

The sun was just starting to rise. I could see faint traces of light around me.

I sat down at the table and reached into [Storage] to produce a pot of coffee

and a mug. Then, I poured out the coffee and took a sip. It was good.

"Would you mind if I partook in a drink?"

"Of course I wouldn't."

I took out another mug and placed it in front of God Almighty, who appeared

before me as if out of nowhere. I set down a little cup of milk and a sugar bowl

for him as well.

"I see you are no longer caught by surprise, hm?"

"Well, I'm kind of used to it now. But it might be because I fully awakened to

my divinity."

"I would say it is likely because it is me. You and I are connected by divinity,

my boy. I have a feeling that if it were Karen, you may have been a bit more

surprised."

Dang. And here I'd thought that I'd just gotten used to their random poppingup.

"I suppose congratulations are in order, are they not? You have vanquished

the wicked god, and purged the threat from this world. I, through my authority

as the god of worlds, do hereby acknowledge you as my kin. Though your

divinity is certainly enough to match gods of the highest echelon, your formal

position would be just above the servile gods."

"Starting from the bottom, huh?"

"Alas, that is how it must be. I cannot show favoritism solely on the basis of us

being connected through divinity. That being said, the other gods are aware of

your potential and our connection. I am quite certain you will be fast-tracked to

a high status. It should only take around ten-thousand years."

"That's hardly fast-tracking to me..."

"Now, now... After the first two or three thousand have elapsed, ten will feel

like a mere blink of the eye."

That reminded me of something the French philosopher Paul Janet once

proposed. It was a law about psychological time in relation to the self.

The idea that when you were a little kid, a whole day could feel like forever.

But when you were an adult, a whole year could pass without you realizing.

At fifty, a year was a fiftieth of your entire life, but at five, it was a whole fifth.

Janet proposed that this proportional length affected how we perceived time.

Basically, when you were a kid, everything was new and unique, so those new

experiences felt longer and fresher. But as you grew and repeated the same

processes, your brain optimized the handling of those things and made time

seem shorter. Still, putting that on the scale of thousands of years felt wild.

"So, what'll I do from here?"

"Well, let us see... I think that for the first two hundred years or so, it should

be fine to have you live here as a regular human. After that, we will bring you to

reside in the divine realm. You will still be the custodian of this world, of course,

and can freely visit it now and then."

"How exactly am I gonna go about managing the world?"

I was a bit concerned about looking after an entire planet when I had to rely

on so many others just to keep my country together.

"I do not believe you will need to do much at all. You would only really need

to interfere if the world barrels down a dangerous path or if it is threatened

with imminent destruction."

"And what should I do in that case?"

"I imagine you would grant a sacred blade to someone you designate as

messiah, or perhaps you could give some kind of divine guidance to the devout.

You will not be able to directly interfere, as that would be a violation of the

rules. Though, you could always circumvent this by assuming human form and

descending to their world."

I was pretty glad to hear I wouldn't have too many responsibilities, but I really

didn't want the world to deteriorate to the point where direct intervention

became necessary.

"Well, we need not worry about that for now. This world is in your hands at

this time, and that is a good thing. I mentioned earlier that I wished for this

place to become something of a resort for the divine, do you recall? Keep this

between us two, but a great many gods have expressed interest in the idea.

There is quite the waiting list for deities requesting time off to enjoy themselves

here."

"Is that gonna be okay? I don't know how well the world'll adapt to a bunch

of gods chilling down here."

"Fret not, we will screen all the applicants carefully. They can only descend

after converting into human form, anyway. Even if they run rampant, the world

should remain safe. Ultimately, they only want to live an ordinary life for a

while down here. Well... as ordinary as they can be. There is novelty in living out

life as a regular human for a while. It is somewhat like those video games you

had back on your original world."

That made sense to me. Video games were a great form of escapism. You

could be a hero in an RPG, or lucky with the ladies in a dating sim, or even

uncover mysteries as a detective in point-and-click games. The gods were keen

to live a life that was unlike their everyday ones. It was a little funny to think

about it like that.

I wondered if they were a bit jealous of Karen and the others.

"The god of love and the god of blades will stay to support and mentor you, as

will the god of agriculture and the others. Is this alright?"

"I won't say no, but it kinda feels like you're giving me the favoritism you just

told me you couldn't give..."

"Ohoho, I am sure nobody will mind, so long as we keep it implicit. The last

time I had a direct benefactor was hundreds of billions of years ago, and I rather

enjoy it. I would like to see you grow. Consider this an expression of familial

love... Or the love of a grandfather for his grandson."

I was thankful that God Almighty cared about me so much, but I had a feeling

all these gods on the ground were going to be a pain in my butt.

"Well, it will all come together in the end. Ah, one last thing... No world lasts

forever. All come to an end with time. That applies to this world, and your

former world as well. What is important, at the very end, is what kind of world

it was. I hope that the fruits of your labor make other gods comment on what a

splendid place it was when the end finally comes. And I hope that the god of

destruction never has to visit this place on official business."

"Yeah. I don't want that to happen either..."

"I am sure you will do well, my boy. I'll be watching, and waiting, warmly."

Just like that, God Almighty vanished before my eyes. The sun had risen

before I'd even noticed, illuminating the surrounding area.

I'm this world's custodian...

It honestly didn't feel real. Still, I had a couple hundred years to live as a

regular human, so I wanted to start doing regular human things.

First thing's first...

◇ ◇ ◇

"Hmm... I'm not sure about this one... What do you think, Lu?"

"Umm... I like frills, to be honest... I'd also love it if it had Regulus' national

colors."

"Ooh. This is rather outrageous, it is. But perhaps I would be better suited to

this one, I would..."

"This one looks good for moving in, Yae. I've seen this kind of style in Lestia

before."

"Too much choice... Don't like this... I'll just choose one randomly..."

"Sakura, you can't choose something so important at random! You'll regret it

later on."

"Please keep out of the way, Paula. You won't need a dress."

"Aw geez... This is so tough."

My fiancees were currently hard at work flipping through a big book of

wedding dresses.

That was natural, given this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for them.

Personally, I thought they were making too big of a deal out of it, but I wasn't

stupid enough to say that out loud.

"You just gotta go with what you feel! I chose mine right away!" Sue was

sitting by me on the couch, shrugging as she spoke bluntly.

She had indeed chosen her dress right away and passed the photo on to Lapis,

our chief maid. I kind of wanted to tell her to consider it a little more, but Sue

was the kind of person who typically knew what she wanted at a glance.

"It's the wedding soon! I'll finally be able to call myself your wife. Isn't that

amazing?" Sue laughed and gave me a tight hug from the side as she said that.

She'd certainly changed the most compared to the first time I met her. She

hadn't grown much in terms of size, but she was maturing at a fair rate.

In all honesty, there were still parts of me that viewed her as a kid, but then

she'd come out with something that took me aback, and I realized just how

much she'd grown.

In terms of my world's years, she was in her mid-teens. She was also around

the same age that this world considered childhood to be over, so it was just a

case of accepting the reality I was in. I was hardly an adult myself, after all.

"I feel a little bad about marrying Sue when she's this young... I get worried

about how Duke Ortlinde's taking it."

"Don't worry, Touya! My parents are busy with little Edo, anyway. I love that

little cutie too, he's such a good boy."

The Edo in question here was Edoward Ernes Ortlinde, Sue's little brother. He

was the heir to Duke Ortlinde's household and my future brother-in-law. He

wasn't even a year old yet.

Once I married Sue and the others, I'd gain a whole host of in-laws, but the

only ones younger than me were Ed and Yumina's little brother Yamato. I kind

of wondered how my relationship with them would be in the future.

Edo had a lot of hopes resting on him, and I hoped that he'd grow up to be a

competent right-hand man to Yamato, the future king. It was kind of funny that

Yamato and Edo ended up having Japanese-sounding names, but that was more

a coincidence than anything else. Edo was just a nickname.

"When we get married, I can live here! I'll be with you dawn to dusk! Isn't that

great?"

"It's great, yeah. I'll be happy to have you living here full-time, Sue."

"I've been doing a lot of preparation at home! I learned about sewing and

cooking! All my tutors said nobles don't need to learn that stuff, but I want you

to eat my cooking! And I want my children to have handmade clothes as well! I

wanna do my best!"

Sue was the type to undertake a task and then see it through to the end.

There wasn't much to read with her, since she was just straightforward and

honest. The thought of her taking that kind of initiative for the sake of our

future made me smile, and I hugged her back.

"No fair... Me too..." Sakura grumbled slightly as she walked toward me. It

seemed like she'd chosen her dress as well.

"Did you pick out a dress?"

"Not gonna worry about it... Inside's more important than outside... Hug me...

Hug me..." Sakura said as she held her arms out, giving a little pout in the

process. I laughed a little before reaching out and embracing her as well.

There was definitely part of Sakura that enjoyed being pampered. She would

definitely deny it if I brought it up, but I had a feeling daddy issues could've

been at play there. She never knew her father during her childhood, so she

probably had some repressed or unfulfilled feelings of wanting to be doted on

by a fatherly figure.

To be honest, I wished she'd direct some of that need toward her actual dad,

though. The overlord was so pathetic that it just made me cringe. I wondered if

you could even call it daddy issues if the person with the issues didn't direct

them toward her dad. Still, I knew at least that Sakura loved me as an equal.

That was only part of her.

"Sakura's so spoiled."

"He's my husband... I can be a little spoiled... It's normal, especially when he's

older..." Sakura matter-of-factly replied to Sue. That reminded me, every one of

my wives except Leen was younger than me.

Yae and Hilde were a year younger. Elze and Linze were two years younger.

Sakura was three years younger. Yumina and Lu were four years younger... And

Sue was six years younger.

I knew that it wasn't exactly the same as how things were in my world, but I

still had some reservations about being an eighteen-year-old about to marry a

twelve-year-old.

Technically, Sue was sixteen in my calendar... but she sure didn't look like it. I

couldn't tell if that was because people in this world aged slower or if it was

because of my divinity influencing her.

Apparently, my divine benefactors would age up until a certain point and then

stop growing, kind of similar to what happened with Leen and the other fairies.

Sadly for Leen, her growth already stopped a while back, so she'd just stay the

same regardless.

After a few years, it was entirely likely that Leen would look like the youngest

of all my wives.

"When are we holding the ceremony...?"

"The world's still recovering, so probably not for half a year. We need to work

hard on a lot of stuff right now, anyway," I gave a casual reply to Sakura's

question.

We'd start preparing for the wedding while everything else was going on, but

my current priority was dealing with Isengard. It wasn't really a functional

country at this point. It was just a barren wasteland like Yulong. The only good

thing about that bad situation was the presence of the puretree.

The spirits that had fled the country thanks to the divine venom were slowly

coming back because of the puretree's allure. It would eventually become a

landmass with a great number of spiritual inhabitants.

The main issue was deciding who that territory belonged to. Nothing had

happened yet, but I didn't want a Yulong situation where people started laying

claim to the remnants of the country. It was kind of good that the witch-king

didn't produce any heirs, come to think of it.

All I could do was hope the three bordering nations, Lassei, Gardio, and Strain,

would keep a close eye on the situation.

"Mmm... You're thinking about complicated stuff again. Forget about that and

pay attention to us, Touya!"

"Sue's right... Pay attention..."

The two of them started chanting "pay attention" over and over after that. I

didn't know whether to smile or feel freaked out.

It was definitely true that I'd been too busy for quality time in recent months,

though. The issue with the wicked god had finally been squared away, so I did

want to make it up to my wives... But I also had a lot of duties on the

backburner.

"Well, I guess I can take the afternoon off."

I smiled and took out my smartphone, projecting its display into the air.

"We gonna watch a movie?"

"Yeah. Looks like the others are taking their sweet time, so let's watch

something in the meantime."

"Okay... I wanna watch something funny... No horror movies..." Sakura made

her needs known. I showed everyone a horror movie once and they freaked the

hell out. It was pretty bad, honestly. Though it was a little bit funny seeing them

scramble, given that they were born in a world with real zombies and wraiths

out there.

"Hmm... Let's go for something simple."

The smartphone was a sacred treasure, and it actually translated any movie

into the common tongue through divine means. But even if we had the

language barrier cleared, that didn't mean the girls would be able to

understand a movie that relied on too many foreign concepts.

Like, if I showed the girls a movie about the high-flying lives of the men on

Wall Street, they wouldn't understand it. Though, I had a feeling maybe Doc

Babylon would understand it more than I did.

I settled on a nice comedy. It was a simplistic story, but a classic one that was

easy to pay attention to. It was the story of a piglet that learned how to herd

sheep. If I recalled correctly, it was highly regarded and had a heartwarming

ending.

"Alright, it's starting."

"Hurray..."

I sat, sandwiched between Sue and Sakura, and decided to relax for the first

time in a long while. It was nice to just take it easy for once.

As an aside, the girls did end up picking out their dresses. The movie was

almost over by that point, so I restarted it to give them a chance to enjoy it as

well. It was a lovely, happy scene.