—Several Days Later—
"You are sure you have everything you need?", Lilia asked, as Paul walked out the door with his pack and equipment.
"Yes, I have double-checked that everything I need is packed away.", Paul said, hugging his wife.
"Daddy, be safe!!", Aisha and Norn pleaded, running over and hugging his legs tightly.
"Yeah Dad, come home safe or Mom is going to lose it.", Rudeus stated, joining in the family hug.
"Everything will be fine, we will be back in a few days I promise!", Paul assured them.
Snickering at what he said, Leviathan found his statement quite ominous given our situation. She was currently reading some of the literature from my previous worlds and she had read plenty of books where a protagonist said those lines and something horrible happened. Warning him of his error, Paul did not seem to understand what she meant.
"You should not say something like that before challenging one of your world's toughest dungeons. It usually increases the difficulty for all parties involved.", Leviathan said, as if what she said was factual.
"Really!?", Paul inquired, scratching his head, "I have never heard anything like that before."
"Oh, that explains why most of his ideas end up terribly.", Elinalise remarked, wearing a smug grin, "You should stop talking Paul, the world would be a much better place."
"Alright, time to go!", Paul shouted, wanting this conversation to end before he became a bigger punchline, "Cole, please go ahead and form one of your Light Platforms please."
"I think it will be quicker if we take the express method.", I replied, "Everyone circle up and hold hands."
Once everyone was ready, I turned us into lightning and shot into the sky in a brilliant flash. Quickly regaining their vision those who had shown up to see us off were left stunned and confused by what they had just witnessed.
—Rapan—
Arcing across the upper atmosphere of the Mushoku Tensei world, I got us to Rapan in less than a second. Slamming down outside the city, in the form of a large bolt of lightning, our bodies returned to their usual corporal forms within seconds. As we reformed, a few people dropped to their knees as a wave of nausea hit them. I knew that this ability caused some stomach issues for some people, but it had never dropped them to their knees before.
"You alright?", I asked Paul, Geese, and Elinalise, "Sorry about that, it is not usually this bad for people."
"Just…give us…a moment.", Elinalise requested, trying desperately not to puke her breakfast up.
Using magic intended for seasickness on them, they quickly regained their composure as a detachment of City Guards arrived. Pointing their spears at us, one of the men demanded an explanation for who we were and what sort of magic we had just used.
"It was a unique ability of mine, not magic.", I remarked, using magnetism to pin their spear tips to the ground, "I apologize for rudely dropping in like that, but we are in quite a hurry to save someone in the Teleport Labyrinth. This man's wife was caught up in the Teleportation Event in the Fittoa Region, and an Oracle told us she is trapped on the sixth floor of this labyrinth. If you would be so kind as to forgive us, we will be on our way and out of your hair."
"I do not believe it.", the captain snapped.
"Listen, we can either part peacefully or I send all of you to the Infirmary for three months.", I threatened him, "The choice is yours."
Looking into my eyes for a moment, the captain's complexion quickly turned pale as he realized I was not bluffing. Since we had no business in his city, he reluctantly backed down and told us not to enter Rapan under any circumstances.
"If you promise not to enter the city, I can forget this happened.", the captain compromised.
"Understood, we only intend to go into the Labyrinth and leave the area after we conquer the Labyrinth.", I stated.
"Very well, all of you stand down.", the captain commanded, as I released my hold on their spears.
Returning to the city after that, I cast a spell on the men to erase their memory of this encounter within twenty-four hours. Not wanting to ruin Elinalise, Tallhand, and Geese's ability to come back here someday, this was the easiest option for me to fix that for them. Making our way to the Labyrinth, I asked Geese for more information about the Labyrinth itself to confirm my memories.
"If my memory serves correctly, this is a six-floor Labyrinth right?", I inquired.
"It is a seven-floor Labyrinth.", Geese corrected me, "Much of the information on this place is tightly guarded by the few teams able to clear this place. What I was able to confirm is that we will be dealing with swarms of enemies and that movement will be quite difficult. I was also warned to keep a sharp eye out for Teleportation Traps, that is how this place got its name. The traps could teleport you into a solid wall, into a Monster House, or straight to the boss room…it is completely random."
"I believe I heard someone ended up teleported to the Demon Continent from here, right?", Tallhand inquired.
"I did not hear anything about that, but it is possible.", Geese said, unsure if the claim was genuine.
Arriving at the entrance a short time later, I looked back at everyone to confirm they were ready to fight. Quickly checking their armor and equipment, everyone gave me a thumbs up to proceed into the Labyrinth. Letting out a sigh, I cracked my neck and dove headfirst into the Teleport Labyrinth.
—3rd Person POV, Higher Realm—
Gathering for the first time in a very long time, the deities that watched over Omniverse sat down to have a meeting. Having been very busy fixing the mistakes and damages of their former comrades, everyone was thoroughly exhausted from the workload they had shouldered. Now that things were back in order again, it was time for them to begin working their normal jobs again.
"Before we begin, I want to confirm something very important. All systems that can damage or destroy universes have been modified to require authorization from the Gods of Creation, Death, and Life before they can be used, correct?", the God of Creation inquired.
"That is correct, we have tested every single system in our Heavenly Realm to confirm this.", the God of Blacksmithing acknowledged.
"We ensured that no one can falsify your authorizations as well.", the God of Enchantment added.
"Good, I do not want the work all of us have done to be undone in the future by other idiots.", the God of Creation sighed.
"Agreed!", all the deities shouted in unison, still filled with rage for their former colleagues.
With his highest priority item confirmed to be completed, the God of Creation turned toward the God of Knowledge to have him begin the usual meeting. Nodding his head in response, the God of Knowledge began with the most pressing matter on their docket.
"As of this time, half of our rouge allies have been dealt with by Cole. The Gods of Destruction, Nightmares, and Deceit were all killed by him during our absence from watching the mortal realms. He is aware of where the God of Mischief is, but is still unaware of where the Gods of Chaos and Reincarnation are.", the deity informed his colleagues, "The reason I am bringing this up is because…Cole is now on par with many of us at this table. He wields the powers of all three slain deities and also wields countless other powers he has collected on his journey. Currently, only a small number of us could fight him head-on…if he turned his anger toward us."
"That…that is not good news for us.", the God of War said, looking at the three Chief Deities, "This means Cole is on par with those Abominations we keep sealed away in that horrid universe. Should we consider trapping him there as well?"
"Now hold on a moment!!", the Goddess of Love shouted, "Cole is not like those monsters, he still retains his humanity and is not a threat to us. His priority is and always has been his family. So long as we refrain from harming them or attacking Cole, he will not attempt to harm any of us."
"I agree as well.", the Goddess of Fertility seconded.
"Absolutely!", the Goddess of Darkness agreed.
Surveying everyone at the table, the Chief Deities guessed that the group was about evenly split on wanting to seal Cole or leave him alone. Understanding the risks a confrontation with him would bring, the three deities looked a one another for a moment before nodding their heads.
"After all he has gone through, I think it is only fair to trust he will not harm us. We have done enough harm to his life, let us know further trouble him.", the God of Creation commanded.
"Agreed.", the Gods of Life and Death seconded.
"Moving on, in our absences another troublesome entity has appeared in the Omniverse. A cybernetic being, Brainiac, has been wreaking havoc across hundreds of universes. An anomaly allowed him to come into contact with beings that can transverse the planes of reality, and he has latched onto their leader.", the God of Knowledge spoke, "Currently three hundred and twenty-seven universe have died by his hands."
"We can simply destroy the universe that he is in.", the God of War stated.
"That will not work, I am afraid.", the deity replied, "He has created multiple backups of himself and left them in dozens of worlds. We would need to erase all of them at once to remove him from existence. If even one manages to escape, it would create an even bigger issue as it would learn one of our most closely kept secrets."
"Honestly, I do not think we have much of a choice in the matter. This cybernetic being needs to be dealt with before it becomes an Abomination.", the God of Death remarked, "I believe a coordinated assault on all its copies is the best course of action. We will need to be directly involved here to ensure that everything goes smoothly."
Agreeing with his statement, everyone acknowledged that this was their best option. Leaving the planning to the God of War, they told him to plan everything out and bring the finished product to the next meeting. Accepting the task with a grin on his face, the deity swore to not disappoint.
"Next on the docket…we need to begin the process of selecting new deities to replace the six who betrayed us. The automated systems will only maintain things for so long, eventually, we need to have someone competent manning the positions.", the God of Knowledge sighed.
"Ugh…", the God of Creation groaned, "Let us get this over with…"
Dropping several large binders on the table, the deities began to groan realizing that they would need to take some time to thoroughly review all the candidates. Accepting that there was no other option, they began sifting through the sheets…one by one.