The timer on the sky now has about 1 hour left.
After the announcement, there has been a tremendous uproar for the first time in 2000 years. This marks the second Selection since Love came to the Earth.
Of course, their thoughts are wrong. No one except for Hero and Kan knows that this Selection is not coming from the Goddess of Love, but the Goddess of Curiosity. This whole Selection has been nothing else but a tool for Curiosity to eliminate Love from the cosmos for good.
Earth is now a gigantic knife, being used to cut off the head of their own Goddess.
At first, the people around the globe did not know what to do. But once the clock started clicking, chaos commenced.
Throughout the last 23 hours, instant foods such as noodles and beef jerky, as well as weapons and Manafused items have been sold at an incredible rate.
All the best people are expecting to be chosen by the Goddess, so they have been preparing. If they become the Apostle, the world will be theirs to take. As long as they stay within the limits of Earth, they are practically invulnerable with the blessings given by Her. With such an opportunity, obviously, those who believe they have the ability all want to try and compete.
The roads and the streets are packed with people, trying to stuff the most possible things they think they need. People are actively fighting in places such as a supermarket, or in a Manafused store.
In the penthouse, currently, the gang is gearing up. Luckily, the chaos on the surface means nothing to them. Thanks to the note from Rhan, they have bought the necessity already.
Everyone is wearing light armor similar to what one would see in a paintball shooting range. The armor itself is very simple, focusing mainly on the head, chest, and limbs. However, on the inside of them are very light Manafused metal plates, offering huge defensive capabilities. They were unable to purchase many level S armors because those are exceptionally hard to come by. Only the most prestigious companies such as Kan Steel Industry could produce it, and they are kind of at war with those people. So the girls decided to gear Sam up to the best while wearing only A-level armors.
As for resources, since there is no certainty how long the Selection is going to be, Sam and his girls need to pack big backpacks. Inside are some clothes, foods, and drinks, ...toilet paper, tampons, and birth control pills... the most essential items only. They will not bring smartphones or anything similar. There is probably no way to get the signals in the Goddess' domain so bringing phones is technically useless.
"Yuno! I told you already that ice cream was not important!" Lily is holding a checklist and a pen in her hands. The others sit around her in the living room, waiting. They have already had their luggage checked. So Yuno is the last one, also the silliest.
"Ice cream is important to Yuno! Sam bought it and fed it to Yuno yesterday so it has a commemorative value!" Yuno argues.
Sam did do what he told the girls, which was treating them to the delicious cold desserts and feeding all of them. For some reason, when it was Yuno's turn, she wanted Sam to feed her only half of it.
He now knows why.
Lily covers her face with the checklist like a mother losing her temper. "It's going to melt! How are you going to eat it if it's warm!?"
"Gah?!" Yuno is struck down instantly and has to take her box of ice cream out. "Yuno is going to put this in the refrigerator. If anyone of you except for Sam eats it, then expect pain!"
She turns around before running away. "Lily is always so strict to Yuno. Lily is a grandma."
Lily, understandably, screams. "What did you say!!!!"
"Hehehehe!!" Her small figure disappears, leaving her cute laughter to echo in the hallway.
The masked girl sighs. "Why does she have so much energy? She is not worried at all. What about you Yui? You are her twin sister."
Yui shakes her head. "Yuno is like that because Yuno doesn't think. Yui wants to be the same as Yuno, to be honest."
She looks sad all of a sudden. "After all, ignorance is bliss. Yui wishes to be able to be carefree, too...Just like Sam said. I worry too much all the time."
"Are you okay, Yui?" Sam gets closer to her and puts a hand on her small shoulder.
She turns to meet his gaze, her tiny hand touches him as she smiles. "If not for Sam, Yui would not have been here. Thanks to you, Sam, that Yui was freed from Yui's own mental prison."
"I didn't do anything, though?" The guy understands nothing.
Yui sticks her tongue out. "Dummy Sammy!"
"Tada! Yuno is back!" Yells the bigger sister.
"Great, now we can continue!" Tapping the checklist, Lily breaths out.
"Armor?"
"" Check!"" Everyone says, patting the armors they are wearing.
Nycta then starts explaining. "Remember these are Manafused, so you can take quite a few hits with them. But never get overconfident, though. Where we are going is still unknown! The enemies we will face will probably be vastly different."
*Nods*
"Accessories?"
"" Check!""
On Lily and Nycta's necks, each has a beautiful necklace with a polished gem on them. The same thing can be seen on Yui and Yuno's index fingers. The colors are different, with white on Lily's, black on Nycta's, and light green on Yui and Yuno's. They correspond to the best affinity of the girls, strengthen the effects of magic attacks.
"Weapons?"
Sam shows his dragon gauntlets. "Check!"
And for the girls, they each hold a sword with a gem at the hilt, all Manafused A level. "Check!"
These swords are for when they need to recover their mana. And they also work as an amplifier for their magics, as well.
"Supplies?"
""Check!"'
"I guess that is it." Lily puts down the checklist. "Now we wait for the timer."
*Suuuuhaaaaaaaaa*
Lily breaths heavily. She is clearly worried.
Nycta stands up. "There is one more thing I would like to do, though. I am worried that we are going to be separated when we enter the Goddess' domain. So I should be planting a seed inside each of you, except for Sam since I can hear his thoughts. The magic seed will work as a beacon. The purpose of it is to find and gather quickly."
Throughout this month, it has been shown that the telepathy of Nycta towards Sam strangely has no drawbacks. No matter how far away Sam is, she will be able to know his thoughts and will be able to find him. Even in battles, by reading his thinking, Nycta can have a much easier chance of winning, as well as supporting him. The telepathy is so strong that she has stopped using anyone else's vision except for the maid and relied on this ability alone.
Lily nods. "I have no objection."
Yui and Yuno also agree. "" It is fine.""
"Then hold my hands." Nycta spreads out her fingers.
The others quickly hold her fingers, as a speck of black mist travels inside them.
"Done. Just like that." Nycta smiles.
"Whenever you're doing this with Sam, you always use your whole body..." Yuno mumbles.
The blind girl laughs. "That's because I need to be able to feel him. Sam is my darling, remember?"
"Sam...Sam is...our darling too!" Yui yells.
Hearing the girls starting to go off track, Lily has to intervene. "Why are you girls always like this? There are more important things right now. How many times that I have to say Sam is mine? I should be writing my name first on the family registry."
"Um...Excuse me...Yuno...what are you doing?" The guy is looking at the scene and laughing, but he feels something touching his right hand.
He looks down and sees Yuno holding his index finger, trying to push in down a piece of paper. The tip is covered in black ink, and the paper says 'Family registry' with his name under husband and hers as the first wife.
*Pssssh*
Lily fires a laser beam from her hand, burning the paper instantly.
"Tch." Yuno clicks her tongue. "So close!"
"There are only a few minutes left people!" Lily stares at the older twin sister coldly. "Do not mess around, go to the bathroom, pee, number 2, whatever. Do it fast!"
"Yes, yes."
While indoor, Sam and his girls keep on preparing, outside the clock on the sky is ticking down to its final moment.
...
00:00:00
Time is up.
That ethereal voice appears once more.
"It is time, mortals."
Sam, alongside his girls, disappears in a flash.
In another location, Hero, who has just finished ramming someone else's bodies, also vanishes into thin air.
In the sky, countless screens of different people emerge. There is Sam, Hero, ...All of those who were just taken.
The Selection begins now.