379 Chapter 355: Plot, I hate you…
The rooms were divided in such a way that the little girls stayed with the two teachers, while the boy, his mother and I stayed in another room.
After leaving our things in the rooms, we headed to the town elementary school to get the basketball team registered for the game that will be in four days.
The idea of this match is to foster competitiveness and gain experience in both teams, so before the match, the little girls will study together with the little girls from the other school.
In Japan, academic education is very important, so Miyu and the little girls cannot miss classes, so they will take classes together with the girls from the other school.
Honestly, all this seems like a waste of time, but well, Miyu seems happy so it's fine.
Miyu stayed in school as the little girls went to the classroom to continue their studies. Before leaving, I had Abby and Laplus hide in a spatial barrier near Miyu to protect her in case of danger.
The two teachers will stay at the school just to see that the girls don't cause trouble, meanwhile, the mother, the boy and I have free time, so we can go sightseeing around the city.
I said that it would be good if we take a walk to see the city, but the boy turned out to be quite responsible with his studies and he preferred to stay in the hotel to study.
Nayu, the boy's mother, wanted to take a walk since she liked the idea of getting out of her usual routine, but she did not want to leave her son alone, so she decided to stay at the hotel to help her son to study.
Nayu wanted me to stay to talk with her since in this short time I became her confidant, but she insisted that I go out for a walk so I wouldn't get bored. She is an overly kind woman who thinks of the well-being of others before her own wishes.
I already knew this would happen and just pretended to be slightly disappointed.
Now that I'm free, I left the hotel while carrying a bag of food in my hand and started walking towards a park.
Currently it is the time where adults are working and children are at school, so there are not many people on the street.
There were no people in the park, so I sat on a bench and pulled out a hamburger to eat.
"Hey Listen! Bitch, pass me the nom nom nom hot sauce!" – Navi appeared next to me with a box of chips and she also began to eat. By the way, the jerk became visible to anyone.
The Higher Entities of Hell can't see me directly, they actually sensed Auriel's blessing.
I'm not the only person who has been blessed by Auriel, but most of Auriel's heroes and soldiers can only use 1% of Auriel's power while her generals can only reach 10%.
Before Auriel gave me her heart, I could only use 15%, which showed that the Archangel of Hope favored me over anyone else and caused many people to be jealous or see me as a threat.
With Auriel's heart, I can now summon 70% of the power of Hope, which makes me a near-perfect meat shield and top-of-the-line medical kit, but I'm using [Mythomania] to hide that.
The entities from Hell cannot directly enter this World since the barrier can still affect them despite the cracks, but they can observe the big picture of Fuyuki.
To give an example, it is as if the demons were using a GPS application to look at a satellite image of the city.
They cannot see my direct actions, my interactions with other people, nor can they hear my conversations, but they can feel my energy.
Based on the quality of the holy power in my body, the Higher Entities can easily guess that I am the Hero of Harmony and thus see me as a threat to their plans, but they are being discreet so that I will not call for reinforcements from Paradise.
Even though the demons can't see me directly, I'm 70% sure that they have spies in the city, so I must be careful in my actions.
For now, BB and the girls are discreetly scouting the city for traps and clues to the enemy's plans. Meanwhile, I'm in the park to attract the attention of potential allies and enemies.
Something important is that in the multiverse appearance and name are not enough to validate a person's identity, especially since there are mimicry skills, dopelgangers, illusion magic and shapeshifting artifacts.
The two surest signatures for proving identity are soul frequency and conceptual skills.
Soul frequency is very hard to fake and only high level skills can alter it, but there are also specialized skills in seeing through lies and disguises.
On the other hand, it is almost impossible to fake a concept skill. Sure, there are always exceptions, but even [Mythomania] isn't able to perfectly imitate Auriel's power.
This is one of the reasons why Concepts are the most important characteristic of a Higher Entity.
Anyway, what I'm getting at with all this useless explanation is that my Hero of Harmony identity is valuable since I'm Auriel's favorite hero.
This not only shows that I am Auriel's most important confidant, but that I am also the representative of Hope.
Something important is that the word 'Hope' can cause many misunderstandings.
Most people might think that hope can forgive any sin and help all people regardless of the crime, but those people forget that death and punishment are the hope towards redemption.
Because of this kind of misunderstanding, many people believe that I am a kind and noble idiot, but they forget that the reports explicitly say that I am a person with a bad temper.
For example, Seiji is a yakuza who hates when people watch him while he is eating.
"You have ten seconds to get out of that stupid hiding place or I'll go for you" – I spoke with annoyance while my Hero presence began to grow to cause an intimidating effect.
My plan worked, and I attracted the attention of two entities with huge reserves of magical power. These two entities are quite strong despite not being Higher Entities, but they are not impressive compared to the things I have already faced.
The space in front of me was distorted as if the space was a crystal of dozens of colors moving to form shapes. It reminds me of a kaleidoscope.
From the space hole appeared two men and a creature.
Something important is that these people put up stealth barriers so they won't be detected by the demons. It is high-level magic by this World's standards, so these two men can be considered among the top of the most important people.
"Boy, calm down, we don't want to fight..." - One of the men was an old man who seemed to be some evolved variant of a vampire.
I was able to recognize the old man based on the Ichijo family records and Koyanskaya's reports. He is Kischur Zelretch Schweinorg, one of the founders of the Clock Tower, one of the strongest sorcerers in the world, and an ancestor of vampires or something.
The information about this man is not clear in some aspects, but it seems that he has some kind of ability that allows him to move through the different realities of Gaia.
"Hello Mr. Hero! This is a magical gathering so let's celebrate!" – With a big smile, a transvestite idiot who pretended to be a magical girl in a children's program showed up…
"Hey Listen! Get out of here you idiot, you're ruining my food!" – Navi threw a dirty napkin at the transvestite.
"Oh, how cruel!" – The idiot pretended to cry…
I massaged my forehead. – "Stop acting like that or I will tear your face off"
"…" – The transvestite smiled wryly. – "You are more violent than I heard"
"Hey Listen! Violence is the only answer for fagots!" – Navi, by God…
"Eh? What are you taking about? I'm just an adorable magical girl… "– The idiot wanted to continue playing, so I summoned my new chainsaw sword and pointed it at his stupid face.
"My patience has a limit" - I frowned.
The idiot raised his hands in surrender. – "It was just a joke, come on, you don't need to be so violent, hahaha…"
I want to break that idiot's face...
The idiot realized that I'm losing patience, so his body was covered in pink petals and in an instant his appearance changed to a white-haired man in an ancient wizard's costume.
I didn't need to use [Character Sheet] to know the idiot's identity.
The ancient books recorded the presence of the man who was King Arthur's teacher and guide. This idiot is the legendary wizard Merlin.
How disappointing…
I averted my gaze from the two unpleasant men and looked at the small creature next to Merlin.
Well this is interesting. I didn't think I'd see a Beast under these circumstances.
If I'm not mistaken, that creature is Beast IV, but its Beast power and authority were sealed.
From what I see, Merlin sealed off Beast IV and made it something like his familiar or pet, which is impressive since the Beasts were enhanced by Beast VII with technology from other worlds.
Merlin looks and acts like a jerk, but it's clear that he's pretty dangerous.
On the other hand, Zelretch is no small feat either.
Yesterday I had a little chat with Arcueid to convince her to help me protect this World.
She still looks at me with a bit of displeasure since she was created to fight the Outer Gods, but in the end she agreed to work together with me to defend this World.
In that conversation she mentioned that an old man had cared for her after she was badly injured in her battle against Yog-Sothoth.
Subsequently, she could no longer see the old man since most people thought that she died when she fought Shub-Niggurath, but in reality she was badly injured with a broken body, so she has been wandering for thousands of years in looking for a food to help her regain her power, however, now she can only feed on Madness and Shiki has strived to destroy every trace of that energy, so Arcueid has been starving for a long time until she found me .
By the way, she still remembered that the old man was something like her grandfather and she had a certain appreciation for him.
Arcueid doesn't remember the old man's name, but according to the description, she was talking about Zelretch.
Oh, what a nuisance. I plan to make Arcueid a part of my harem, so I can't crush Zelretch's stupid grin.
On the other hand, the records do not mention that Merlin left descendants...
There shouldn't be a problem if I leave him half dead...
"Why do I feel like you want to punch my friendly innocent face?" - Merlin tilted his head in confusion as he continued to grin like an idiot.
Gosh, he's like a chill and non-homophobic version of Navi…
I put away the chainsaw sword and wiped my mouth with a napkin, then spoke in frustration. – "Why are the wizard marshal and the legendary sorcerer spying on me?"
"Oh, you're straight to the point, that's good, you remind me of little Artoria-chan" – Merlin raised his thumb in approval.
Why does he use Japanese honorifics even though he is technically British?
Oh whatever.
Wait.
Artoria?
That sounds girly...
[Paranoia: There is a 100% chance that King Arthur is female in this World]
…I hate fucking Japanese stories…
I sighed with disappointment towards life. – "Look, I'm on vacation and I don't want any problems, I'm only here to watch my daughter's game so just say what you want and leave me alone"
Both men looked at each other and smiled wryly.
"Ahem, well, young hero, the thing is like this..." – Merlin raised the wooden staff and its petals began to move until they formed a kind of illusory mirror in front of us.
In the mirror you could see three little girls of which I recognized one, it was Miyu. I don't know the other two little girls, but they look like twins since they are practically the same, only the color of their skin, hair and eyes changed.
"Tch" – Abby clicked her tongue when she saw one of the little girls.
I'll have to talk to her about racism later...
I can guess what this image is, but I had to take a deep breath to keep my violent urges from getting out of control.
The image is not in real time, it is something like a prediction or a prophecy, but what made me angry is that the image showed the death of the three little girls.
I sighed. – "If this is a threat, then closes your mouth because I am about to tear it up for you"
"Fou fou (Do it!)" – Beast IV gave a leap of approval.
It seems that the seal in Beast IV also limits its language, but I find it easy to understand it based on its intentions rather than explicit language. It is basically reading the heart instead of listening to the words.
Merlin waved his hands. – "No, no, no, nothing like that, it is not a threat, it is a kind warning to prevent a disaster, look…"
The image changed and what appeared increased my headache.
Fuyuki City was on fire, the sky had shattered like glass, and thousands of dimensional cracks covered the night sky.
Each crack displayed an alternate version of Fuyuki. It is assumed that each reality was different, but all cities shared the same fate, all were apocalyptic scenarios where humanity was destroyed.
Each alternate version of Fuyuki was connecting with the version I'm in, which increased the chaos as the beings that destroyed the city were gathering in one place to put an end to humanity.
The most annoying thing was that Fuyuki's version of my reality was the most destroyed.
While alternate versions of the city were destroyed by entities native to Gaia, my version of the city was overrun by grotesque demons that shouldn't exist on this World. They were the Riders of Chaos who had come from Hell.
This is a simulation of what can happen according to Merlin's knowledge. This is not a real future, but just the fact that this possibility exists is already a huge problem.
The Lostbelt in China is pathetic child's play compared to this. This is already an invasion that could destroy the whole world...
"This is a simulation of what is about to happen, I still don't have enough data to predict all the chaos that will come, but this is the most optimistic scenario..." – Merlin began to explain without leaving his idiotic smile as if this were a game.
I massaged my forehead.
This is much worse than I would have liked, although this has not yet risen to the level of my worst concerns.
I prepared myself for much worse scenarios and this still has a solution, but it will be a huge headache...
Oh shit, I'm going to have to sacrifice my vacations and a lot of my plans… What a nuisance.
Now I understand why Shiki didn't warn me about this. She couldn't see what was going on in Fuyuki, she just felt that something was wrong and she decided to trust me.
In fact, it's likely that she did something so that Miyu would have to come to this town...
I'm a little angry, but she hasn't crossed the line yet, so I won't kill her.
I understand that if she didn't do something, then not only Miyu would have died, but all of Gaia would be destroyed before I could do anything to protect the World, which would also be dangerous for my wives.
Well, I'll just spank Shiki's ass until she can't walk for a century. That should suffice.
I sighed and raised my hand to stop Merlin from continuing to give me a long explanation. This man seems to like acting like a know-it-all.
"I understand the situation" - I massaged my forehead. – "So what is the idea?"
Both men sighed.
"We were only supposed to come to this city to investigate some suspicious incidents, but there is a barrier that prevents us from leaving and contacting the Will of the World" – Zelretch shook his head like a tired grandfather. – "My magic allows me to move between the different layers of reality, but even in other timelines I cannot leave this city, so we are trapped"
Merlin sighed too. – "I have the same problem, my real body was forced to enter this place and I cannot return to Avalon, now I know what a pet mouse inside a small cage feels like, it is very unpleasant"
"Fou fou (Heh, now you see how it feels, idiot)" – Beast IV sneered dismissively.
Anyone can enter, no one can leave...
An impressive design, I will have System Goddess study this barrier to imitate it. It will be useful to get food for Ortro.
I pretended to focus as Auriel's blessing covered my hands, then frowned. – "I cannot contact Paradise, we are totally isolated…"
Zelretch sighed, though he didn't look disappointed. – "I expected this, we are really trapped without reinforcements… I should not have brought my disciples"
"Hey, Hero-chan, did you happen to bring some allies to help us not die miserably?" – Merlin asked me like a child asking his father for a toy. – "You know, the system user and the female cultivator who helped you in the chaos of China, I heard they are very strong"
Although Nyaruko and Aotian are strong, they would have to use all their strength to stop the demons, but even that would not mean victory.
The full strength of my group can destroy the demons, but the battle could destroy most of the timelines, which would be a huge disaster for this World and Shiki may need to restart the World again.
Ah, it's harder to protect than to attack...
"Yes, they are here, I also have a group of Servants that were granted by the Will of the World" – I sighed seeing that the two idiots began to have false hope that we can fight. – "Everything will be useless if the demons can open a Gate that allows high-level entities to enter, at which point we will truly be exterminated"
Zelretch frowned seriously. – "It is true that the world will end if the Dimensional Door opens completely, but that means that we only have to prevent the connection with another world"
I nodded. – "Yes, but we do not know where the Door is, and seeing the magnitude of the problem, it is likely that the Door is already complete and it only takes a ritual to open it completely"
That is not an unfounded assumption. With everything that's going on, I can assure that Miyu and the two unknown girls are the key to fully open the Dimensional Gate.
[Paranoia: There is a 100% chance that the master's assumptions are true]
This is a headache.
The three of us stopped talking as Navi continued to chew her food.
"So..." – Merlin smiled. – "There is no hope and we are going to die… Oh well, I had a good life"
"Your optimism makes me sick" – I sighed.
Zelretch narrowed his eyes as if he had an idea. – "Actually, I think there is a way to lessen the danger…"
I also have various ideas, but I don't want to sacrifice a lot of my secrets, so I listened to the old man.
"The data shows that the three girls of the prophecy are the key to destroying our world, so we must protect them at any cost" – Zelretch is in tune with my thoughts.
"The black-haired girl is my daughter and some kind of instinctive desire made her come to this city, so she must be able to find the other two girls" – I spoke seriously.
Merlin and Zelretch were instructed by Shiki to investigate the anomalies in this city. While both men seem like irresponsible and troublesome idiots, I can see that Shiki trusts them enough to assign them a task that could define the future of this World.
"As for the timelines doomed to destruction…" – Zelretch pointed to the spatial rifts shown in the simulation formed by Merlin. – "The apocalypse has not yet corrupted those timelines, so we can prevent the disaster before the damage is irreparable"
I narrowed my eyes. - "But?"
There is always a 'but'.
Zelretch smiled bitterly. – "But the influence of the different layers of reality have already begun to mix and affecting those time lines will make the destruction of this time line happen faster, in addition, it is possible that the enemies will notice our actions and decide to advance the invasion "
I see.
If we decide to lessen the impact of the disaster, then the disaster will happen sooner, but if we don't do something, then the disaster will be bigger.
Now the question is which is more important.
The first option is to focus on setting traps and preparing for a defense war. This is an all or nothing where our defeat is guaranteed.
The other option is to go to the alternate timelines to stop the destruction of the alternate timelines, which will weaken the power of the enemy when the invasion occurs, but that will increase the chance of the disaster occurring sooner as well as generating unpredictable variables.
…This is annoying…
Right now what we need most are allies of this World.
I can open a portal to bring in my army, but it would be more useful to have native entities from Gaia since the natives have more strength within this World.
My soldiers are not weak, but the protection of the Laws of a World is something that cannot be underestimated. That power can define victory or defeat in a war between Worlds.
"Hey Listen! I have an idea!" – Navi finished eating and joined the conversation. – "Some of the apocalypses were caused by resentful feminazis who have not received a good dose of dick! The solution is that my bitch is in charge of filling the holes of those idiot women! As for men, hahaha nobody cares about men, fuck those fucking cucks!"
...… Fucking idiot. – "Navi you are a…"
"No, no, no, it's actually not a bad idea" – Merlin looked at the flying idiot in astonishment.
"You have to be kidding" – I blankly looked at the patetic and disappointing wizard.
"I'm serious, look" – The petals around Merlin fluttered and the illusory image changed to show different scenarios. – "The original fate flow had already been written to follow a path, but the invaders did something to corrupt the timelines, so all the lines became bad endings…"
A purple-haired girl devouring the souls of the entire city to later become some kind of cheap copy of an Great Old One.
A white-haired, red-eyed milf who holds a golden cup which spills a black liquid that covers people with sins and corrupted emotions.
An arrogant idiot-faced blonde man who is enslaving humanity while using a blonde girl as his sex slave.
A war between Servants where the humans were exterminated and the Heroic Spirits were corrupted by a mixture of sins, negative emotions and something similar to Madness, but of low quality.
A world where there is only suffering and pain while a priest watches the horizon from the top of a mountain of corpses.
A city where humans have been turned into separate aberrations of the cycle of life and the laws of nature, and whose tragic and disgusting existences are bound to the will of a single man with a savior complex.
These were the easiest scenarios to understand, but there were timelines that didn't even make sense, they were just plain destruction where there's no villain to defeat, it's just a hopeless catastrophe.
I held my forehead. – "Let me see if I understand… Your fucking plan is to travel to those time lines, recruit the monsters that will destroy the world and everything through the power of love…"
"Love can do everything~!" - Merlin made a disgusting magical girl pose.
"Hey Listen! Love can go to hell, the power of netori is the answer!" – Navi is just as stupid as the wizard…
"Hm, the power of magical girls is superior" – Zelretch lost the last trace of respect I felt for his person.
Why do I keep surrounding myself with idiots?
I started talking to both men about the situation we are facing.
Apparently, Zelretch was in charge of collecting information while Merlin did the calculations to create a magical simulator that can determine some possible futures.
This is rubbish compared to the simulations Paranoia can run, but I have to admit I'm a little impressed by the intellect of both men. Both managed to predict some of the plans and movements of almost unpredictable Higher Entities such as the demons of hell.
Despite the fact that they knew a little of the danger that was over our heads, they continue to underestimate the situation.
To be honest, there is very little chance that this city will survive.
Our best bet would be to counterattack towards Hell and invade that group, then destroy the Dimension Gate from the Hell side, but that's too dangerous even for me.
If the Gate is connected to the border regions of Hell, then I will be able to fight the Demons if I use the real strength of my group, but if the Gate is connected to the central base of the Riders of Chaos, then I can only escape if I use the Gogh's power, but that will only cause more problems than solutions.
My options are getting more and more limited...
This couldn't be more troublesome...
"Luis, a magical artifact chose Miyu to give her magical powers, then a blonde woman appeared saying something about a mission to collect magic cards…" – Abby sent me a mental message. – "I didn't stop her from becoming a magical girl because you said that I should only protect her and not intervene in her decisions, so Miyu agreed to help since she thinks it will make you proud of her, but I asked Daoloth for help to make the contract won't activate in Miyu's soul… What should I do? Should I destroy the blonde woman and her allies or continue to observe the situation?"
...
I hate the plot.
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Author's Note:
Sorry for missing a few days, I had a little burnout episode that turned into anemia, but I'm fine now <3
A hug <3
