Side Story: Afterwards
The next thing she knew, Atila was standing face-to-face with an exhausted-looking boy. She was immediately beset by a feeling of unease and confusion. As a dragon, she could tell at a glance that this boy was a god, but why would a god be here? And what could have left him so tired? Why was she standing in the middle of a forest, when moments ago she’d been standing on top of the pyramid?
As Atila reeled with confusion, the boy slowly began to speak.
“Seriously... You owe me a really big thank-you for this one.” He was immediately patronizing.
“Umm...I can tell that you are a god of some description, but besides that, I have no idea what is happening here,” Atila said timidly. A whine at her side seemed to indicate that Dai felt the same way as he trotted over to her.
“Of course you wouldn’t. That makes sense. Do you at least remember you were traveling with Yogiri Takatou and made it to the top of the pyramid?”
“Yes, I remember that much,” she replied. Everything after that was a blur, though. The Great Sage had appeared, and she had the vague feeling she had gone over to his side, but anything beyond that was lost to her.
“So, after that, a hero showed up to attack the Great Sage and you two got killed in the process.”
“Killed?!”
“You think it’s weird that you’re still alive, right? That’s because I just brought you back to life.”
At that, Atila found herself agreeing with the boy. She did very much owe him a great deal of thanks.
“You guys were totally vaporized, but it hadn’t been that long since you died, so I was still able to bring you back. Of course, it took a huge amount of energy to do so.”
That explained the boy’s current state. For a god to be so worn out, he must have expended a tremendous amount of energy. The only question remaining was why he would go to such effort for some random dragon and dog.
“A god can do pretty much anything in the world they rule, even bring the dead back to life, but that doesn’t mean it’s easy. This is a special exception. Bringing you back a second time if you die again isn’t part of the deal.”
“What deal might that be? I cannot say I remember making a contract with you...”
“Not with you. It was between me and Takatou. I told him that you guys died, and he asked if I could bring back Dai with my powers as a god. I was afraid to lie to him, so I said it was technically possible, but extremely difficult. And of course, he told me to do it anyway.”
“I suppose I should offer my condolences...” Atila said.
“Anyway, he has a message for you: ‘Please look after Dai.’”
“Ah. If that is all, then sure.” Given the way things had gone, she couldn’t really bring herself to refuse.
“Besides that, you wanted to get along well with humans, right?” the boy asked.
“Yes, I believe we discussed something along those lines.” She and Tomochika had talked about it a bit.
“Dannoura asked me to help you out, so I’ll introduce you to a nice community. It’s a pretty small one, so it should be good for learning how to live alongside humankind.”
Atila absolutely couldn’t refuse an offer like that.
◇ ◇ ◇
The half-demons and vampires never joined Cavern Quest. For the time being, at least, they were capable of protecting themselves from the Seyla that rained from the sky. Once the world was completely overrun, life would get quite difficult, but they had emergency provisions to last them for a while, so they chose to hold out.
As a result, they knew nothing of what had occurred in Cavern Quest and only discovered at some point that the Seyla had been wiped out and peace had returned to the world. The damage wrought would take years to recover from, but that didn’t have much impact on the half-demons. Just as they had before, they would keep their distance from humanity and continue their subsistence lifestyle.
“Hello. My name is Kouryu. I’m the god of this world.”
A few days after the death of the Seyla, a young boy appeared to them. Risley and her family had been eating dinner when he suddenly popped into the room beside them. There was no need to question his identity. Everyone present could recognize his divinity at a glance.
“What business do you have here?” Euphemia asked cautiously. She was fully aware of how fickle and cruel the gods could be.
“I have a message for you from Yogiri Takatou. Do you mind?”
“From Yogiri?” Risley’s heart began to race. Though she had never met him this time around, before the reset, she had had very strong feelings for him.
“I killed Seyla,” Yogiri’s voice resounded around them.
“Wait...that’s it?” Risley asked.
“Yup,” Kouryu replied. “I don’t know everything that happened in this world since he arrived, but that seemed to be the only lingering issue he had to talk about.”
“Where is he now?”
“He went back to his own world.”
“He went home?!”
“And by the way,” Kouryu continued, “if you are thinking of following him, I will do everything in my power to stop you. This world is cutting every tie it has with him. That’s the first law I’m imposing on this new iteration.”
“Ah...I see...” Risley had no response. It was all so sudden, she couldn’t get her thoughts in order.
“Also, this is a bit of a different issue, but could you look after these two for me?” As he said that, a girl and a dog appeared beside him. “These are Atila and Dai. Atila is used to living in the human world, but she hasn’t learned human common sense yet, so I’d like you to teach her.”
“Pleased to meet you!” Atila greeted them as Dai gave a happy bark.
“Very well...” Euphemia seemed confused, but she seemed to understand they weren’t in a position to refuse.
“Okay, see you, then. I’ve still got lots to do.” Kouryu immediately vanished.
“Lady Risley...” Euphemia turned to her with a concerned look.
“I mean...if he says we’re cutting ties with him, there’s not much I can do,” Risley admitted.
“And if Lady Lain never existed in this world, we didn’t have much of a connection to him to begin with.”
“I guess not.”
In truth, Risley’s deep affection for Yogiri had already started to fade. The rest would be up to time to resolve.
◇ ◇ ◇
“Yo.”
A god suddenly appeared in Sage Sion’s mansion. As she sat casually enjoying a cup of tea, she invited Kouryu to sit across from her.
“Have you figured out what’s going on?” he asked.
“Well. Within the territory I can observe, the Seyla has been exterminated. I have to assume Takatou is responsible for that. That’s about as much as I know.”
“The Great Sage has been put into an eternal sleep too, so the one giving you guys the authority to rule this world is gone.”
Sion could only assume Yogiri was responsible for that as well. She couldn’t imagine anyone else having the ability to neutralize the Great Sage.
“I see. So how do you intend to deal with us, then?” she asked.
“Good question. I can’t really ignore the way you guys have been running rampant across the world. I’d like to ask you to minimize your interactions with other people from now on. I don’t want anything else from you.”
“If that is the case, I do not mind complying. Can I assume you will handle the Aggressors from now on?”
“Yeah. They probably won’t show up nearly as often anymore, but it’s the god’s job to take care of invaders in the first place.”
“Then there is no issue on my end. I shall take the chance to have a leisurely life. Is that all you came here to tell me?”
“I also have a message for you from Takatou,” the boy said.
“Make sure you look after the people you summoned,” came Yogiri’s voice.
“That is all? Well...I suppose we were not close enough for him to send anything more intimate.” Sion was a bit taken aback by how utilitarian the message was, but she had to admit, now that the world had been reset, she hadn’t paid all that much attention to the class of Sage Candidates. “If he is sending me a message like that, am I to assume he made it back to his own world?”
“Yup. I kind of half forced him to leave.”
“Will you not be sending his classmates back as well?” she asked.
“That comes next. Getting rid of him was my top priority. I didn’t want to tempt fate by waiting for him to meet up with everyone.”
“A wise decision,” Sion replied. “Do you know where the others are?”
“You know everyone who was on the bus went to Cavern Quest, right?”
“Of course. I personally helped them to get there.” When they had gone into Cavern Quest, Sion had delivered the Gift to them directly.
“So, Cavern Quest was destroyed, sending everyone in it back to the surface,” the boy explained. “I’m going to go find them and talk to them next.”
“My, I didn’t expect such great service from you.”
“Anything to avoid Takatou’s ire. I’ve gotta do everything I can.”
“You will be sending them back as well, correct? Shall I assist you?”
“I’m not sure,” Kouryu replied. “If they don’t want to go back, I feel like I have no reason to force them.”
“I see. Assuming any such people exist, of course.”
“You came from a different world too, didn’t you?” Kouryu asked. “I can send you back as well, if you like.”
“It seems a bit late for that,” Sion replied after taking a short time to think. She had already forgotten the vast majority of her past life, so had no strong feelings about that world.
“All right. In that case, I’ll be on my way. Oh! There’s one more thing!” As Kouryu stood to leave, one more thought occurred to him.
“What is it?”
“From now on, could you avoid summoning people from other worlds?” he asked.
“Naturally. I have learned full well there are true monsters out there that defy the imagination. Knowing that they exist, I could hardly risk summoning one of them again.”
“Glad to hear it.” With that, Kouryu vanished.
“Was someone just here?” Youichi, Sion’s attendant, asked, stepping into the room. He had lost function in much of his body thanks to Yogiri, but with magical support, he was able to go about his daily life as usual.
“Yes, to deliver a message. It seems we have been relieved of our duties here. The Sages’ rule over this world has been dissolved.”
“What? How did that happen?” Youichi wasn’t quite able to swallow what she was saying.
“As such, it is time for a vacation!”
“A vacation?” he echoed. He very clearly was being left behind by the conversation.
◇ ◇ ◇
When Ein awoke, he was lying on a soft bed. He had fought the Great Sage, exhausted all of his power, and been thoroughly crushed despite his efforts. Even so, he was entirely unhurt. Though he didn’t understand why, he didn’t have the energy to cause a fuss. He had perfectly understood just how outmatched he had been.
It was quiet. The room had a calm, peaceful atmosphere, which was utterly smashed by someone slamming open the door.
“Hey! You awake?” A woman strode shamelessly into the room.
“You are?”
“Rio.”
“Where—”
“Mitsuki’s house.”
Ein looked around, starting to panic.
“Don’t worry, he’s not here right now,” Rio explained. “You had quite a rough time, didn’t you?”
“Why am I here?” Ein asked.
“Alexia brought you. She said you wanted to take Ariel home with you?”
“Is she... Is she here?” Ein was almost afraid to ask. He had lost. Even so, he was alive and had been brought to the Great Sage’s abode. Things were going so well for him, he had a hard time believing it was real.
“Sure. I was told to let you meet her. So? Think you can manage?”
“Y-Yeah...” He didn’t seem to be injured in any way. He wasn’t even tired. But still, he hesitated. He recalled the Ariel from before the world reset all too well.
“Okay, I’ll take you to her.” Rio stepped out of the room.
Steeling himself, Ein got out of bed and followed her. Things hadn’t gone the way he had planned, but in the end he was still getting to see Ariel. There was no point in being scared of moving forward now.
Stepping out of the room, he found himself in a resplendent garden. Rather than being dominated by a huge mansion, it was dotted with small buildings here and there. They each seemed to be homes for individuals, similar to the one Ein had just emerged from.
Rio wasted no time in getting moving, so Ein had to hurry to follow her. After walking for a time, they stopped in front of a particular house.
“Ariel, you in there?” Rio knocked on the door.
“I’m here!” a nostalgic, unforgettable voice answered from inside.
“Are you free? Your brother wants to see you.”
The door opened, revealing Ariel on the other side.
“Ariel...are you okay?” Ein asked.
“Uh, why wouldn’t I be?” she replied, a bit confused.
“Do you know who I am?”
“You’re my brother, Ein, right? So, why are you here?”
“Let’s go home!”
“Huh? I’d rather not,” she replied with obvious disdain.
“But...you’re only here because they kidnapped you!”
“That’s true, but I chose to stay here of my own accord. I can leave any time I want to.”
“Then why?! What are you still doing here?!”
“Lord Mitsuki is here,” she answered. “Why would I ever leave?”
“Okay, I understand!” Ein said. “He’s put some kind of magic on you! Don’t worry, I’ll find a way to fix this!” He took Ariel’s hand.
“Stop! Let go of me!”
“We’re going home!”
“Oh, by the way,” Rio interrupted their argument, “you can’t force her to leave or anything. You wouldn’t even know how to get out of here, would you?”
As she said, he had no idea how he was going to get out of this place.
“I said let go!” Ariel shook off her brother’s grip. He had been holding back so as not to hurt her, but even so, he was still a Hero. He could hardly believe she had the strength to resist him. An awful memory surfaced in his mind, of the time before the reset. Memories of the kind of fits Ariel would throw after she had been sent home.
“Umm...I’m not going to get involved, so you two settle this,” Rio said before stepping away.
“Just leave! I belong to Lord Mitsuki now! I’m happy here!” Ariel glared at him like he was a sworn enemy.
“Damn...it’s the same as before!”
Nothing he could say would change her mind. He hadn’t thought things through well enough. He had been optimistic that as long as he could find her, things would work out, but clearly, that wasn’t going to happen.
“If you don’t leave...I’ll kill you!”
Ein started to panic at the open hostility coming from his sister. He had no idea what he was supposed to do. But just as he was about to accept that everything was going to be the same, that things would end exactly as they had before the reset, his sister collapsed.
“Ariel!” Ein dashed forward and lifted her up in his arms. She had just passed out. “What is happening?”
“I’m just cleaning up.”
Turning at the new voice, Ein saw the Great Sage’s secretary, Alexia, standing behind him.
“I have erased all memories of Lord Mitsuki from her mind. You should have no issue bringing her home now.”
“But...why?” Ein asked. “Isn’t that against what the Great Sage wants?”
“He no longer has any such will.”
“So...you’re helping me?” It was all still too hard to believe. The Great Sage’s closest ally coming to save him was too convenient to be true.
“I am not here for your sake,” Alexia replied. “I just wish to be the only one remaining who knows of Lord Mitsuki. Driving you out of this place is not for your sake either. You will only be in my way here.”
As she finished speaking, the scenery around Ein changed dramatically. He was suddenly standing in his old home, in the forest outside the city.
“What’s that supposed to mean? I thought you weren’t helping us...”
Despite her words, Ein felt like he had been rescued. Gently he laid his sister down on a bed that hadn’t been touched in ages. He had no idea what she would be like when she woke up, but he could only hope things would go better than they had last time.
◇ ◇ ◇
At present, the greatest threat to the world was easily the invasive life form that had fallen from the sky. The Divine King was expending every effort to combat it. Raining down across the entire world at once, infecting and assimilating any life it encountered, there were no half measures when attempting to deal with it.
Being immortal, simply fighting the creatures was out of the question. Even incinerating them would result in them reappearing where they had vanished, so blowing them away seemed to be the only option. With the abilities of the Divine King and her Knights, the creatures could be thrown a considerable distance, and so they had managed to create a reasonably safe area. However, their efforts were all but trying to cool a hot stone with a few drops of water. They had persisted for now, but if they were to be attacked by a large number of the creatures all at once, they would easily be overrun.
However, the Divine King wasn’t just sitting on her hands. The events in the Crystal Plains had provided a hint for her. The invasive life forms possessed some measure of intelligence, as they attempted to avoid being crystallized. In other words, as immortal as they were, they couldn’t resist being transformed.
The current plan the Divine King and her Knights had concocted was to petrify them. If the creatures were stuck in place, it could limit the spread of damage. But there was no point if they were only petrifying the enemy one at a time. They would need to hit a huge area all at once.
And so, the Divine King began the construction of a new tower, a facility for the collection and amplification of a huge amount of magical energy. It was built on the plains outside the capital of Manii. They cleared the area and fortified it, keeping out the invaders while building the tower.
One day, while the Divine King was leading the forces protecting the tower, a young boy appeared in front of her.
“Do you have a minute?”
As a member of the Axis Church, the Divine King worshiped no particular god. However, she could still recognize such a being at a single glance.
“Yes, but I cannot speak for long.”
“Oh, you don’t have to worry about that,” the boy explained. “The Seyla are gone now. You don’t need to finish the tower or sacrifice any more of your followers. That’s what I came to tell you.”
“I cannot bring myself to believe you so easily...” the Divine King replied.
“You can check for yourself.”
Without some sort of evidence, there was no way she would stop their plan partway through. The Divine King called over those who were responsible for defending their encampment. Apparently, there had been no attacks for quite some time. That in and of itself was abnormal. Until now, the invasive species had attacked quite regularly.
“Very well. I understand. I will not call the plan off entirely, but for now, at least, I will suspend operations.”
The Divine King gave the order, and work came to a halt. However, the tower they were building was not specialized for dealing with the Seyla. It could be put to use for a wide array of purposes. In other words, it would also help to deal with Yogiri Takatou.
Before the world reset, she had been making preparations to seal him away. The UEG had ended up interfering with her plans, but the threat Yogiri posed still remained. If the invasive species was gone, she could turn her attention to dealing with him now.
“The next thing is that Yogiri Takatou has left this world, so you don’t have to worry about him anymore.”
“Excuse me?” the Divine King stiffened at his words. “Has the Great Sage done something about him?”
She had heard the Great Sage’s message, that he would reset the world again after Yogiri Takatou was killed. That plan couldn’t have come to fruition yet, though—if it had, the world would have been reset. There were no signs of that happening now. That meant Yogiri should still be alive, which left her confused at Kouryu’s words.
“To tell the story in order, the Great Sage’s plan failed. After putting him into an eternal sleep, Takatou went back to his own world.”
“He is...no longer here?”
“That’s right. Takatou isn’t a threat to this world anymore. Okay, maybe that’s going too far. The threat he posed to this world is mostly gone. That should be safe to say.”
“That is absurd! He left without taking any responsibility for what he has done?!”
“No matter your feelings, he had his own reasons,” Kouryu said. “And in spite of what complaints you may have, the fact is, he’s gone now. So I’d rather you turned your efforts towards rebuilding this world. I feel bad for you, but this is your world, after all. It’s your responsibility to fix it.”
Having said his piece, Kouryu vanished.
“I suppose...we must first confirm the state of things, then.”
The world as it was faced a tremendous number of problems. There were plenty of complaints she had for Yogiri Takatou, but if he was never going to return, she couldn’t let herself obsess over him. Putting a hold on the construction of what now seemed to be a useless tower, she turned her efforts first to proving that the Seyla had truly been dealt with.
◇ ◇ ◇
Defeated in the second round of the last stage of the Last Boss Quest, then summoned by Sora Akino’s ability after Yogiri had been victorious and left, Hanakawa was left alone. While Yogiri had gone on to the third round, he hadn’t been part of Hanakawa’s group and had left him behind.
Hanakawa was at a total loss. If Carol and Ryouko had been around, he would have felt more confident, but he was standing alone in the city park.
“So...what am I supposed to do now? I suppose the ideal would be to reunite with Carol and Ryouko, but...”
Even looking around for them would be a challenge. There were likely still parties searching for opponents to advance themselves to the third round. For now, he decided to hide behind one of the trees in the park. It probably would do little to protect him, but it was at least better than standing out in the open.
After hiding for a while, an announcement played in the air above him.
Last Boss Quest, Final Stage, Round Two: Finished!
“Finished?! I had already assumed I would not be winning at this point, but does this mean I no longer have to worry about fighting?”
Hanakawa timidly poked his head out from behind the tree. There were no signs of the area having changed, nor of anyone appearing to attack him.
“Hm? But then, what am I to do now?”
In the worst case, the losers would be rounded up and executed, but it didn’t seem anything like that was happening. However, “nothing happening” was in and of itself going to prove to be a problem.
“Am I going to be left in this place forever?!”
That thought drew Hanakawa out of his hiding place. Wandering around the city, he found no one. At first, he was relieved at the lack of enemies, but the complete loneliness was now starting to make him feel uneasy.
“I suppose the vast majority of the losers were killed? Survivors like me are likely a rare case.” There was a good chance Van hadn’t made any considerations for people like him. “Ugh...being abandoned on an uninhabited island like this is too much.”
Hanakawa continued plodding around the city. He checked inside a few buildings, but naturally, they were all empty. While they were furnished to some degree, they showed no sign of having been lived in. They seemed to have been arranged perfectly for show, meaning this area had likely been prepared as a mere backdrop for the game.
“If this is an island in the sky, I suppose jumping off it is an option. Hopefully there is water below us...though I have heard that falling from such a height into water is similar to hitting concrete. But wait, my level as a Monk should provide some resilience, should it not? Together with my regenerative abilities, I imagine I should be able to manage.”
If he could make it back to the beach, he could go through the gate and reach the starting town. But as he set out to search for the edge of the island, he heard a noise in the distance.
“Hm? Is this perhaps the sound of footsteps? Hello! Is someone there?!”
Perhaps they were an enemy, but for now, Hanakawa’s desire to see another person had won out.
“Y-Yes! I’m here!” A man emerged from the shadow of a building. He was tall and thin, looking somehow a little pathetic, and Hanakawa thought he looked a bit familiar. He was likely one of the many people he had seen on top of the pyramid.
“My name is Daimon Hanakawa. Might I ask yours?”
“Ah, yes. I’m Lynel. I lost in round two and was left here...” It seemed he had met a similar fate to Hanakawa’s. “So, what are we supposed to do now?”
“I have been pondering the same question myself. I have a bit of a hunch, at the very least.”
“And what would that be?” Lynel asked.
“If we leap off the side of the island, perhaps we will be able to make it back to the city. That is all I have.”
“I see. I was so confused I hadn’t thought much about it, but that sounds reasonable to me. Let’s go give it a try.”
With that, the two began searching for the edge of the island together. Leaving the castle town, passing through the fields and forests, they made it to their destination. Looking down, they could see nothing but white, as if the island floated inside a giant cumulonimbus cloud.
“Is it actually safe for us to jump off here?” Lynel asked.
“Now that I see it for myself, I am starting to lose confidence. Out of curiosity, do you have some method to survive the fall?”
“Yeah, I’ve got these star crystals,” he said, pulling out some rainbow stones from his pocket. “They can be used to heal me or boost my stats for a short time. Besides that, I guess their only use is to roll the gacha.”
“Ha ha, a gacha, huh? What are the chances you might win an aircraft?”
“I’ve never gotten anything that nice from it before,” he replied.
As they considered their options, a line cut through the world. It had been sliced in two and started coming apart, but there was no way for the two of them to know that. They did understand, however, that something unbelievable was happening—the first of many such events.
In short order, they appeared in the Crystal Plains. The Seyla attacking them suddenly stopped moving, a huge number of star forts appeared in the sky above them, and then they suddenly all fell to the ground. The pair could do nothing but watch, stupefied, as the ridiculous happenings continued. The earth shook as the massive structures struck the ground, but luckily none of them had fallen near the two of them.
“Hey. My name is Kouryu. You’re Hanakawa, right?”
After they had been staring dumbly for a while, a boy calling himself Kouryu appeared beside them.
“Yes, that would be me,” Hanakawa replied, curious.
“I know this is a bit sudden, but Takatou has gone home.”
“How did that happen?!”
“He defeated the Great Sage. That got me what I needed to send him back, so I had him go right away. Now I’m going around checking if anyone else wants to go home.”
“I would much prefer to stay here!” Hanakawa replied instantly. With the Great Sage gone and the Sages no longer ruling over the world, he felt it would turn into a much safer place. He had already planned on staying if he could avoid that danger to any extent, so knowing the Sages were gone was just a bonus.
“If you change your mind later, it’ll be too late. You okay with that?” Kouryu asked.
“Of course! There is nothing interesting waiting for me back home!”
“Um, is it possible you could send me back?” Lynel asked. “I was reborn in this world, but I originally came from a different one.”
Hanakawa had figured it was something like that, considering he knew what a gacha was.
“You were reincarnated here, huh? That’s a bit different...but for now I’ll put you in the group. It’s up to the god of that world what happens to you when you get there, though. All right, that’s all for now.”
Kouryu and Lynel disappeared, leaving Hanakawa on his own.
“W-Well, I am far different than I was before...” Hanakawa was now a high-level Monk and still possessed Friendship Counter. He figured he’d find some way to make it work.
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