"So that's what happened," Velzard said with a sigh of relief.
"I'd prefer if you didn't jump to conclusions so much dear," I commented with a sweatdrop on my forehead. "I've been with you for almost a millennium and you still think I'd cheat on the perfect woman?"
Velzaard smiled wryly at my comment. "Says the guy who wanted a harem~" She teased.
"I was young!" I rebuked, slightly embarrassed, glancing at the woman in front of us who snickered at our interaction.
The two of us looked back at her questioningly. It was obvious she knew me but I'd never met her before in my life. 'I'd remember meeting such a beauty.' I thought.
<
'Yes, yes. Irrelevant' I sighed mentally, ignoring [Solomon]'s input.
"Anyway, who are you? I'm with my husband most of the time, so I'd know if we met someone as strong as you before." Velzard asked, genuinely curious.
"Well, you're not going to believe this but-" She started.
"You're a time traveler from the future." I interrupted her explanation.
Velzard and the woman both looked at me with wide eyes. "Y-yes, that's right. How did you-?" She asked.
"Ah, the method you used to arrive here was by warping space-time in a unique way that allows its user to move through time. I can do something similar, however, I didn't think anyone else could, so that's why when I detected it, I thought you were Velda and Lucia." I answered.
The woman looked like she had a troubled expression on her face and frowned. "Who are they?" She asked.
My heart sank at that question since it meant that in whatever time she comes from, they hadn't returned yet. There was no way someone this strong wouldn't know a True Dragon and his wife, after all. I was kinda expecting it, but put that depressing thought behind me for now. What was more important was learning all I could from her. I glanced at Velzard. She's pretty smart, so I guaranteed that she understood what Chloe's question meant. She appeared to be more somber than she was moments earlier but quickly got over it.
"If you don't know them then don't worry about it," I commented. "For now, what are you doing here?"
"Ah, I was sent back in time due to a Unique Skill of mine." She commented.
"A Unique Skill has that kind of power?" Velzard muttered in surprise.
"It's probably a pseudo-Ultimate," I said.
"Like Rudra's [Chosen One]?" She guessed.
"Yup." We finished our short discussion and turned back to the girl. "I'm sorry, you know who I am but I don't know who you are. What's your name?" I asked.
"Chloe O'Bell and Hinata Sakaguchi" She responded with a smile and bow.
Velzard and I looked at each other for a moment before looking back at the woman who just named herself with two names. I faintly recalled the names 'Hinata' and 'Chloe' from the canon, but I couldn't for the life of me recall who they were or why they came back in time. It'd been over a thousand years, and I only bothered memorizing Rimuru's story up until he became a Demon Lord. I wasn't going to babysit him after his evolution after all.
"So... you have a manas named Chloe or is it Hinata?" I asked.
"Manas? No Miss Hinata's soul is currently residing inside of my own soul." She explained.
Velzard looked at me. "Is it like how a part of my soul is inside of you?" She asked me.
"Maybe... It might be something even closer though since the majority of your soul exists outside of mine whereas Hinata's resides entirely inside of hers." I commented.
Velzard frowned. "Closer huh? Can we do something about that?" She muttered.
"If you learn [Parallel Existence] from Velgrynd, you could inhabit my soul like Hinata here and pilot your body in the real world through a Soul Corridor," I suggested. /1\
Velzard gave my words some thought while I turned back to Chloe to talk more with her. "So Chloe, what's our relationship in the future like? It seems you don't exactly have the highest opinion of me. I'm sorry for anything that may have caused that." I apologized.
"Oh no, we are fine in the future, as a matter of fact, you are my useless master!" She explains happily.
"E-eh? Useless Master?" I ask with a sweatdrop on my forehead.
"Yup, you taught me a bunch of stuff in the beginning but then kept throwing me into ridiculous situations and calling it training." She explained.
"Like?" I asked, a bit confused with the whole matter.
"I'd rather not say. It's different every time and if I tell you it usually ends up being worse than the previous times." She complained.
"You say that like you've done it multiple times. Is it a groundhog day scenario?" I asked, picking up on the meaning behind her words.
"Sort of. I'm stuck in a loop until I can set a couple of things right." She stated without giving me any details.
I looked at her in the eyes and saw she was rather sad at what she last said, even if she didn't show it outwardly on her face. One of the benefits of living to be 1000 is that you get really good at reading people. I sighed and pat her on the shoulder trying to cheer her up.
"Don't worry. I'll make sure this is your last Cycle." I said giving her a big smile and thumbs up. "Trust me on this!"
"That's what you say every cycle," Chloe shot back mercilessly.
I took 2D6 Mental Damage as an invisible arrow pierced my chest from that remark and recoiled. My skit caused Chloe to smile at my foolishness and cheer up and for Velzard to chuckle softly.
After taking a few minutes to recuperate, I turned back to her and asked. "So, now what? Since I'm supposedly going to supposedly train you in the future, do you want to come back to our place in Amarita? No offense, but I doubt a time traveler has anywhere to stay." I commented.
"Actually I do, or rather, I will. Besides, I need to see Luminous before we do anything. I need to give her a warning." Chloe commented.
"Really? Ok then... you know what? It's been what... 800 years since I last saw her? I'll go with you." I offered.
"Alright, it's the first time you've ever offered. Normally you just go with Velzard back to your place. Come on." Chloe said as she turned to walk towards her castle nearby.
I turned back to look at Velzard. "You going to come?" I asked her.
"No. I think I'll go over to see my sister. It's been a while." She said with slightly shifty eyes.
"Oh, so you're going to learn [Parallel Existance] from her and take me up on the offer I gave you then," I stated matter of factly.
Velzard gained a small blush and turned her head away. "N-no. I just wanted to see my little sister is all."
"In other words, you are jealous that there are two beings in this world with a closer bond than the two of us, so you want to make up for it," I stated what she was really thinking with a smug nod.
"Geez! You're insufferably sometimes!" She yelled before running away and taking off into the sky in the East towards her sister.
<
'Thank you [Solomon]!' I thought quickly. "Punch Rudra for me!" I called out after Velzard.
She didn't stop but gave me a thumbs-up before disappearing. I turned to follow after Chloe, only to see her looking at me with half-closed eyes. "This is why I called you my 'Disappointing' Master." She said with as slightly different tone of voice.
I took more mental damage. "I thought I was 'Useless' not 'Disappointing'?" I asked.
"Ah, sorry about that. That was Hinata." Chloe said, returning to her earlier tone.
"So I'm 'Useless' to Chloe and 'Disappointing' to Hinata? What are you doing, future me?" I asked to the universe. Chloe smirked at this and continued on her way.
...
"This place really got an upgrade since the last time I was here," I stated as we walked up to Luminas' castle Nightrose.
"Really?" Chloe asked. "It is beautiful though."
"Haven't you been here before in a previous loop?" I asked her.
"Ah, well I have, but I've only ever seen it when it was destroyed so..." She commented.
"Is this loop different? And what do you mean destroyed?" I asked.
"Well, usually I spend more time with master and Velzard and don't get here in time to save it before Veldora attacks." She commented.
"Veldora's coming here?" I asked, curious.
"Yeah, it'll be in an hour or so. I want to get the people to evacuate before he attacks." She commented.
"That guy huh?" I asked, vaguely recalling the fact that Luminous hated Veldora for something in the Web and Light Novels but now I understood why. I'd be pissed too if that guy's rampages destroyed my home, doubly so if I was as weak as Luminas and couldn't put him down on my own a few times for it.
"Hello Alaster, it seems you're doing well." I heard a feminine and slightly haughty voice coming from behind me.
Chloe and I turned to see Luminas and her butler Gunther walking up to us. I made no effort to hide my Aura, so it was obvious that both my aura and Chloe's being in the Millions Class set off a few alarm bells.
"Hey Luminas, it's been a minute. How's life?" I asked her, earning a slightly frustrated look from Gunther, probably because I wasn't simping after her like all the other Vampires do. I get admiring her, but I'd never understood why they seem to kiss the ground she walked on all the time. There's a difference between respecting a girl and hardcore simping like they do.
Luminas smiled wryly, noticing Gunther becoming upset on her behalf. It wasn't like they could do anything about my behavior anyway. I was stronger than everyone here put together and they knew it. Causing a scene over this would only serve to endanger Luminas, so they kept their mouths shut.
"I have been fine ever since you killed my father. What about you? Cheating on Velzard?" She said, peering at Chloe and smiling slightly with a mixture of smugness and seduction.
"Don't even joke about that!" I pleaded. "Actually, I'm here with a time traveler bringing a warning from the future about the destruction of your kingdom!" I explained to her while pointing at Chloe, which caused her to facepalm.
"Fine, don't tell me," Luminas said with half-closed eyes, completely not believing a word I just said.
...
"GAHAHAHA!!! Demon Lord! I've come to play! Let's fight it out! I hope you're as entertaining as Dagruel!" An annoying voice challenged from the sky above the castle.
"Are you sure you don't want me to discipline him this time?" I asked Luminas who walked past me to the balcony below where Veldora was floating.
"This is something I must do. My pride as a Demon Lord will not allow this insult to go unpunished." Luminas replied to me coldly.
"Hmm..." I hummed for a moment before raising my hand to her.
A faint glow of light surrounded Luminas' body for a moment as she looked at me in shock before flexing her muscles a bit. What I had just done was use my Ultimate Skill [Shiva] to infuse her body with a large quantity of my Magicules. Since [Shiva] originally came from [Metatron], they were perfectly purified and extremely potent, nearly doubling Luminas' own usable energy and fighting power.
"How did you-?" She was about to ask but I interrupted her.
"Don't worry about it too much," I replied.
Luminas nodded and took off after the dragon while Chloe led the civilians to safety in evacuation shelters. I watched on from the ground, ready to step in to help Luminas if she was ever in a pinch, but it looked like my help was unneeded. Luminas and Veldora fought for four hours, and during the course of that time, much of the infrastructure of Nightrose was destroyed. The castle resembled a ruin by the time Veldora got bored with the fight and left. He was only slightly injured but nothing he couldn't heal from in mere moments.
Luminas wasn't exactly in a good way either, being quite roughed up, but it looked a lot worse than it actually was. She had just exhausted most of her energy was all. Without my buff though, she'd probably be on the brink of death. Still, this didn't mean she wasn't any less pissed off after floating back down to the ground.
"Ah! That damn evil dragon! My precious Nightrose!" She cursed, stomping her feet on the ground so hard it cracked the stone floors to relieve some stress.
I gave a tired sigh at the sight before calling her attention to myself. "Want me to go 'discipline' him?" I asked.
She looked me in the eye. Her beautiful scarlet and sapphire orbs matched my own amethyst spheres. She then closed her eyes and let out a defeated sigh, finally calming down. "Thank you. I'll owe you one." She commented.
I gave a nod and took off after the troublesome Dragon at top speed. I heard that one time when he was killed by Velzard, his next incarnation was a girl, so I wanted to see if when I killed him a few more times if I could do the same. Seeing a female Veldora acting all scared of me or Velzard would be a nice sight.
<
'Oh quiet you! When was the last time we got to fight at this level?' I thought. 'Here, I'll let you have the first lick in...' I bribed my own skill.
<<... Allocating Appropriate Magical Energy needed to defeat Veldora in one shot...>> [Solomon] commented with a slightly ominous tone in her voice.
'Now whose sadist side is showing?' I thought to myself but received no response.
.~.~.~.
/1\:
This is how Veldora and Rimuru's relationship is in the WN, as Veldora's 'main body' resides within Rimuru after being taken over in the Eastern Empire War.