"Woof…"
While Yuuya and the others were learning about Shu's story.
Night and the others were stumped.
The power of the eerie mask in the storage room of Yuuya's house had suddenly transported them into a mysterious world.
There was no sign of life around them, not even human beings.
However, buildings that were clearly remnants of civilization were buried in the sandy expanse in a state of decay.
It had been some time since they arrived in this mysterious world, but there was no particular indication that they would be able to return to their original world.
Deciding that there was no point in thinking about it any further, Night asked Akatsuki and the others to explore the surrounding buildings for the time being.
"Woof! Woof!"
"Fugo!"
"Pi!"
"Woof…"
But Akatsuki gave up thinking from the beginning and just nodded to Night's words.
Ciel was the same way and never denied that what Night, his senior, said was absolute.
Despite his uneasiness about their situation, Night went to a nearby building.
It was the same structure as the buildings on Earth, which Night also knew.
After telling them to split up and search the area, they began to move individually.
"Woof."
Night was interested in the building itself at first.
He was cautious and tried to touch the walls of the building, but nothing happened.
"Woof!"
Then, with a little more energy, Night attacked the wall of the building in front of him with his claws.
The wall was easily torn apart by his attack.
"Woof!"
Looking at the result, he decided for the moment that the building itself was not made of any special material.
He also examined the interior, but unlike the building itself, it had already decayed, and nothing decent remained.
When the search was over, and he returned to his original location, he found Akatsuki sleeping peacefully.
"Woof!"
"Buhi?"
"Woof…"
When Night asked if something was wrong, Akatsuki seemed not to have moved from the beginning and only gave a dull, indifferent answer.
Ciel returned when Night was startled by Akatsuki's pace.
"Woof!"
"Pii!"
"Woof?"
He asked Ciel if something was wrong after his return, but there was no change.
No, the fact that there was no change was the most unusual thing about this place.
The reason was that despite being in such a special place, the materials and architectural style of this building were no different from those on Earth.
In other words, this world must be related to Earth?
That was, maybe the things from Earth have somehow drifted to this world, just like Night and the others.
Or it could be another world similar to Earth…
With the little information he had, Night made a lot of assumptions.
As he started to move, he suddenly felt the appearance of something nearby.
"Woof!"
Night was startled by the presence.
For Night had not let his guard down while moving.
However, the presence appeared and penetrated Night's vigilance.
"Woof, woof!"
"Pii!"
"Buhi!"
Night immediately called to the others to be alert, and Ciel and Akatsuki took up their fighting stance.
And then──.
"──Guooooooooooooooo!"
──A strange monster appeared in front of Night and the others.
＊＊＊
After listening to Iris-san's story in more detail since then, we returned to the house on Earth at once.
Iris-san was ready to go right away, but her strength had not recovered, so we decided to let her rest for a day.
But I could understand Iris-san's impatience.
Because it seems that Master Usagi and Odis-san were captured by the Katana Saint… Shu in order to let Iris-san escape.
I never thought that Master Usagi and the others would challenge them and lose…
Once again, I informed Kuuya-san and the others about the situation with Iris-san and the others.
"I see…"
"Hmph, that sounds like something stupid people would come up with."
After hearing my explanation, Kuuya-san thought hard, and Ouma-san snickered.
"It seems that things have blown up a lot in this short time… So? What are you going to do, Yuuya?"
"…I'm going to help them."
When I heard that Master Usagi and the others had been captured, there was no way I could stay put.
Of course, there were many things to worry about, like the mysterious woman and the whereabouts of Night and the others.
But I couldn't just leave Iris-san and the rest of the other world alone.
Kuuya-san nodded at my words and continued as if he had just remembered something.
"Speaking of which… I didn't really hear it because I was too distracted to listen properly, but the one next to Yuuya is…"
"Nya."
As if to introduce herself again, Stella meowed once and raised her paw.
"This child is Stella, whom I met in the between worlds. I've heard that she's a Dimensional Cat, but…"
"Hmm, I've never heard of that."
"I've never heard of it either."
Even Ouma-san has never heard of them.
But Ouma-san looked at Stella and continued as if stunned.
"But it is not surprising that I have never heard of it. In the first place, you normally can't even go to the between worlds. So I don't even know what kind of place it is, let alone if there are any life forms there."
"That's right…"
If I had not met the "me" in the parallel universe and learned of Yin's existence, I would not have known about the between worlds.
In any case, we should welcome the new power. After all, Night and the others were gone for now.
"…I suppose so."
Would I really be able to help Iris-san and the others with just me…?
Just as I was thinking about it, I felt a soft touch on my foot.
"Nya, nya."
"Thank you."
Then Stella put her paw on my leg as if to tell me to leave it to her.
Well, I couldn't stay down forever.
Kuuya-san said that he and Ouma-san would look into Night and the others' situation, and I should focus on Iris-san and the others.
When I felt calmer, thanks to Stella, Ouma-san looked at me and Stella again.
"Though you might not need to worry too much…"
"Eh?"
"I don't know how much Divine Power that Shu and the others have acquired. But I'm sure it's less than the sage's."
"No, that's…"
I can't say for sure because I haven't fought them, but… if you say so, I think so, too.
In fact, if it were more than Sage-san, I wouldn't be able to do anything about it.
"Most importantly, my lord received the same power as Stella there in the between worlds, right? Then there should be no problem."
I told them that I fought and won the battle against Yin and the others in the between worlds, but I didn't tell them exactly how I defeated them.
However, Ouma-san seemed to notice the new power swirling inside me at first glance.
…Well, I'm not quite sure what kind of power this "Power of Existence" is…
Then Luna, who had been listening to us in silence, opened her eyes.
"Yuuya… you got stronger again…?"
"Huh? W-well… I guess so?"
"As expected from Yuuya-sama! But at this rate, we will never be able to catch up!"
"H-huh?"
"…Just ignore that girl."
"Why?"
As usual, Luna and Lexia-san started arguing… but what did they mean by "catch up"?
When I tilted my head at Lexia-san's words, Kuuya-san closed his eyes for a few moments and then opened them quietly.
"…Umu. I told Reimei-sama about what happened in the between worlds."
"T-thank you very much! As soon as things settle down here, I will visit again to greet her!"
This time, Reimei-sama was very helpful to me. So I had to go and greet her properly…
"I also asked her about Night and the others and about Divine Power… Sorry, but Reimei-sama doesn't know any details about the whereabouts of Night and the others. It might be different if she could see the masks directly, but it wouldn't be funny if we were sent somewhere else the moment we touched them again."
"That's… certainly true."
It's frustrating, but to avoid further damage, it's probably best not to touch the mask carelessly.
In fact, if it were true, I would have liked to keep it somewhere safe and secure right now.
"However… I learned a bit about Divine Power."
"Really?"
Although I had heard a little about Iris-san, I did not seem to have a firm grasp on the nature of this power.
I would be grateful if I could find out here.
I thought so, but after listening to Kuuya-san's explanation, I realized just how powerful the existence of Shu really is.
"First of all, the Divine Power is basically the same thing as the Divine Authority that Yuuya and the others can handle. It is literally the power of a god, and it can do anything. It can literally create or destroy the world."
"Yes."
I knew this because I had seen the power of the Observers in action.
The only thing is, I'm not sure if it could actually create the world… but it's still a powerful thing.
"But my and Iris-san's Divine Authority isn't perfect. Could it be that Shu and the others' Divine Power is perfect?"
"Even I don't know. But considering the fact that Iris-dono was able to reach Yuuya's house and the fact that the world is still out of control, Shu's Divine Power must be incomplete as well."
"Huh?"
"Think about it. If he really can handle a complete Divine Power, why doesn't he just use it to rule the world on his own without having to deal with such troublesome things like declaring war?"
"Kuuya is right. They don't have the power to do that, so they take the roundabout way out."
"But here comes the problem. The Divine Authority of Yuuya and the others will probably not become extremely strong. This is because the higher beings, the Observers, were originally born with these qualities, and they were forcibly implanted into the human Yuuya and the others. In fact, you gave up being human to obtain the Divine Authority, didn't you?"
"W-well…"
"…It's an extraordinary story when I hear it again, isn't it?"
"I don't see anything special about his appearance."
Lexia-san and Luna, who had stopped arguing before I knew it, muttered this with somewhat distant eyes.
W-well, in my case, even before I got my Divine Authority, I've already deviated from a normal human with the benefit of leveling up…
"Anyway, Yuuya and the others' Divine Authority can't improve you right away, while Shu and the others' Divine Power increases their power by gaining faith, just like a god."
"Faith?"
"That's right. The power of people who pray to God becomes the Divine Power as it is. Shu is probably acting now to gain that faith."
"I see… Does this mean that we have to defeat Shu before he can gain enough Divine Power to easily change the world?"
"That's right. I don't know how long this Shu guy has been in the works… but he's quite a troublemaker."
That means we have to move faster and faster!
The only thing is, if Iris-san doesn't recover, it will be difficult for us to move.
The reason was that in order to move with Divine Authority to the vicinity of the base where Shu and the others were, we needed Iris-san's power.
It was difficult to move instantly with Divine Authority unless you had been there before, just like with teleportation magic.
I alone, who did not know the place, could not move there.
As I thought about it, I suddenly remembered something Iris-san had told me that bothered me.
"Speaking of that… I heard that Iris-san tried to use Divine Authority when she escaped from Shu and his group's base, but she said that it didn't activate properly…"
"There's a reason for that, too. It might be different if you originally had a powerful Divine Authority, but as long as you have an imperfect Divine Authority, it will not activate properly when it is consumed by the Divine Power that becomes more powerful with the power of faith."
"N-no way…then how can we fight?"
If our Divine Authority doesn't work, it will be a very tough battle.
After all, while we can't use our Divine Power well, our opponents can use not only Divine Power but the power of the Holy as well.
And when you add magic power to that, there is nothing we can do.
In my case, I think I can use magic, sorcery, spiritual power, and the power of existence in the Holy Evil Creation…
"What are you worried about? It is true that the power of a completed god would be mighty, but as long as it is not completed, your power should be enough to deal with them. You don't need to worry about it."
"I-is that so?"
"Yes. That's right. After all, you won't know until you actually fight."
…It is true; there is no point in worrying about it here.
In the end, I have to fight.
I'll just do my best, that's all.
"Oh, by the way… what about that woman?"
After we finished talking about Shu and the others, I asked about the woman who came out of the coffin.
Then…
"U-umu… I don't know what to say… I'm sure she's unconscious right now. I just don't know when she'll wake up."
"Huh?"
"I guess you could say she's sleeping… but she seems to be missing some kind of power, and she won't wake up until she gets it back."
"Power… like magic power?"
"That's right. But instead of magic power, should I say star power? Anyway, it will take a while for her to wake up."
"I see…"
For a moment, I wondered if she was okay not eating, but then I thought about it and realized that I didn't know how long she'd been in that coffin.
Of course, there's no way she could have eaten while she was in the coffin, so maybe she doesn't need to eat.
It's more likely that she's not a human being, even though she looks like one… or else there would be a lot of things wrong with her.
…Before, I would have fainted, not only because of the fact that she's not human, but now that I know about other worlds and have interacted with aliens, Observers, and other non-humans, I'm not so surprised.
Is that a good thing?
After that, we discussed a lot of things, and I rested to prepare for tomorrow.