Two red moons in a purple sky.
In the devastated land, strange architectural structures remained in a crumbling state, perhaps the remnants of a civilization that had perished.
And then──.
"Gaaaahhh!"
A strange creature whose body was partly mechanical but whose entire form was that of a quadruped animal fought while letting out a roar.
"Wooooooooooooonnn!"
Moreover, the opponent was Night, who had been transported to this mysterious world.
The creature, which was at least ten times larger than Night, repeatedly tried to trample him with its front legs, but Night brilliantly dodged the attempts, and when he saw an opening, he attacked with his sharp claws and fangs, tearing at the monster's gray skin.
"Gaaaaaaaah!"
Considering its huge size, the damage from Night's attack was insignificant, but still, its body was slashed here and there, blue bodily fluids gushed out, and its body was gradually showing its limits.
Furthermore…
"Piiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!"
Ciel's blue flaming body spun around at high speed and plunged into the monster, piercing it.
"Guooooooo!"
The monster, apparently reacting to being pierced, fell to its knees.
Night, Ciel, and the remaining Akatsuki…
"Buhii, fugo!"
"Woof…"
He shouted thoughtlessly from a short distance as if he was cheering them on. In other words, he did nothing.
While Night was dismayed by Akatsuki's behavior, he braced himself and bit into the monster's neck, ripping out its throat.
"Guaaaaaaaaaah!"
The monster, which let out a particularly loud scream, seemed to struggle for a while but then became weaker and weaker until it finally died.
Then, the body of the fallen monster collapsed like sand and disappeared into the wind.
When the body was gone, a mysterious green shard appeared from inside.
The shard emitted a blinding light for a moment, then split into three pieces and flew to Night, Ciel, and Akatsuki.
"Woof!"
"Pii!"
"Fugo! Buhi!"
They panicked at the unexpected turn of events, but they could not avoid it, and the fragments disappeared as if melting into their bodies.
Night and the others quickly checked their own condition, and Akatsuki also activated his Sanctuary skill, but nothing unusual appeared in their bodies.
"Woof?"
The three animals looked at each other and tilted their heads.
Hours had passed since they arrived in this mysterious world.
The three of them had been wandering around, trying to somehow return to their original world, but they had been unable to find any clues, and the earlier battle with the monster and the appearance of the green shards were the first things that had happened to them.
"Woof?"
"Pipi?"
"Fugo~"
There was nothing wrong with their bodies for the time being, so Night and the others started to move again, looking for a clue.
Fortunately, they had been able to work without feeling hungry since they came to this world.
However, as soon as they started to move──.
"Grrrr…"
"Pii."
"Buhi?"
Night felt the presence of a creature.
However, the only thing that could be sensed from its presence was hostility, and it didn't seem very friendly.
As soon as they were alerted, the space near Night and the others distorted, and something appeared from it.
It was a huge, single eye with tentacles wrapped around the eye.
This was also the first time they had seen such a monster, and not only Night but also Ciel began to be wary of it.
Night and the others were surprised by the sudden appearance of the monster.
The fact that it suddenly appeared where there had been no sign of the monster made Night wonder what caused it to appear.
For example, did it hear the sound of the battle with the monster earlier, or was it attracted by something that brought it here?
Then, the monster attacked Night and the others relentlessly.
"Shururururu!"
"Woof!"
Night and the others started to fight again.
──At that time, they had no idea that such a battle would continue over and over again.
＊＊＊
We defeated Whips.
Then Iris-san knelt down as if she had lost her strength.
"Kuh…"
"Iris-san!"
I immediately ran to Iris-san and gave her my shoulder.
"I'm sorry. I've lost a bit of my strength…"
"It's okay! Thanks to Iris-san, we were able to defeat Whips. Besides, that attack you just used…"
"Well… I remember being completely absorbed, or rather very focused, but I didn't really notice much more than that…"
After hearing what Iris-san said, I was convinced.
After all, the attack that defeated Whips earlier was nothing more than an idle strike.
I reached that state through the direct instruction of Sage-san, but Iris-san reached it on her own.
While I was surprised by this, Meiko and Stella came over to me.
"Master!"
"Nya~"
"Meiko and Stella! Thank you both for your hard work. Thanks to you, we're all saved."
"No problem at all! I wish I could have been more helpful…"
"Nya, nya!"
"No, no, no, Meiko was a great help. So was Stella, of course."
Mostly thanks to Stella, I found out that if I had the Power of Existence, I could damage Whips, who was manipulating the Divine Power.
Without the two of them, I would have struggled more.
While I was thinking about this, I suddenly heard a lovely sound.
I turned my eyes toward the sound and saw Iris-san with a bright red face.
"That was…"
"I'm sorry… I just got distracted…"
It seems that the extreme concentration of the fight made her hungry.
In addition, Iris-san's physical condition is still not perfect.
"Well… let's go home again."
"B-but…"
"Iris-san is probably not in perfect condition yet, so let's get a good rest and start again. Besides, I'm hungry too."
"…You're right."
After I managed to convince her, we went back to Sage-san's house.
Then Lexia-san and the others came to us.
"Ara? Yuuya-sama, what's wrong?"
"Actually, we just fought the Whip Saint over there…"
"What?"
"…So they had already found this place."
Luna's expression looked serious.
"Yes. But they couldn't break the barrier at Sage-san's house, so everything is fine."
"That makes me realize even more that the barrier at that house is really something else."
Really… The more you know, the more you understand the greatness of Sage-san.
"More importantly, I used up a little too much energy in that fight, so I thought I'd take a break. I'm also hungry."
When I said that, Lexia-san's eyes lit up.
"Ara! Then I'll cook for you──"
"Eh? N-no, I mean, I can't even ask Lexia-san to cook for me…"
"T-That's right! You're a princess, right? Just behave properly!"
"Why? Yuuya-sama is hungry, isn't he? I'll prepare a home-cooked meal──"
"I said it's okay!"
Knowing Lexia-san's cooking skills, Luna and I kept eye contact and tried our best to suppress her anyway.
Then Meiko opened her mouth.
"I'm sorry, Lexia-sama. I thought I would do the cooking this time…"
"Ara, Meiko? It is true that Meiko is a very good cook! If Meiko cooks, I'll give it to you!"
"Why are you acting so superior…?"
Somehow, we managed to avoid a situation where Lexia-san did the cooking.
When I was relieved about that, Meiko called me.
"So, Master. May I use some of the ingredients from your kitchen when I cook…?"
"Of course! Oh, by the way, I'll also put out the items in my Item Box that could be used as ingredients."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes, it's fine. It would be a waste if we didn't use them…"
There was a variety of food in my Item Box.
Since time froze in my Item Box, I tend to leave things there.
Besides, even in my daily meals, I usually only use products from the Earth, except for vegetables from Sage-san's garden…
At this point, I thought it would be a good idea to have Meiko prepare them deliciously.
After putting the items from the Item Box in the kitchen, Meiko's cooking began immediately.
While Meiko was cooking for us, we decided to exchange information about Whips and god soldiers.
Then Yuti, Kuuya-san, and Ouma-san came over.
"Looks like you two had a nice fight."
"Ouma-san! Did you notice?"
"It's hard not to notice when there are so many strong presences."
"Hey, Luna. Did you notice?"
"How could I? We were in the house of this Earth, you know. Don't compare me with Ouma-sama."
"Agreed. It's impossible to read the presence across worlds."
"Well, detecting signs between worlds is quite difficult."
It seems that Ouma-sama and Kuuya-sama were the only ones who were aware of the attack by Whips and the others.
"So what happened?"
"Actually, the Whip Saint came to Sage-san's house. We fought with her, but the Divine Power was more troublesome than I expected… and numerous knight-like beings called god soldiers were summoned and attacked us."
"God soldiers is another grand name, isn't it?"
"Yes, it is. But actually, as the name implies, they were like messengers of god."
As Iris-san said, I felt that they were god soldiers not only in appearance but also in power.
Most importantly, although it was very small, I could feel the Divine Power of the god soldier.
Fortunately, compared to the Whip Saint, the Divine Power of the god soldiers was so small that it was able to damage them even without the Power of Existence.
However, when it came to the level of the Whip Saint, we still needed to have either the Power of Existence or the Divine Authority to inflict damage.
"After we eat, we will leave, but another Holy might come."
"Well, don't worry about that. I'm here too, and they can't get past Zenovis' barrier."
"…That's true."
"Instead, you should worry about yourselves. You can't do anything if you're tired every time you fight the Holy."
"…That's a shame."
Iris-san made a regretful expression.
"Hmph. Well, but it was all right, wasn't it? You found out that the Divine Authority and the Power of Existence could work together before you fought the main culprit, didn't you?"
"Yes."
Ouma-san was right; in a way, it was a great help that Whips attacked us at this place.
If I had to fight Shu without knowing anything, I would have struggled even more than before.
While we were discussing such things, Lexia-san's eyes lit up.
"That reminds me, Yuuya-sama! I haven't been properly introduced to this child yet!"
"Nya?"
When Lexia-san looked at Stella as she said this, Stella herself looked up for a moment but immediately started licking her fur as if she had lost interest.
"Sure, I've been wondering about her for a long time."
"Affirmative. New family?"
I had told them that Stella and I had met in between worlds, but I hadn't told them much about the rest, had I?
"Yes. New family member, Stella."
"Nya."
As I introduced her, Stella raised her hand slightly.
"As I told you before, we met when I went to the between worlds. Well, I don't know exactly how we became a family, but…"
"Even Yuuya doesn't understand… I believe she was a Dimensional Cat, wasn't she? What in the world is that?"
Even if you ask me, I can't answer.
I no longer cared what Stella was.
When I thought about it, Stella was kind to me from the moment we met.
But even though she had such a beautiful appearance, she had the same Power of Existence as Yin and the others, so much so that she was cast out of the world.
If you looked at her like that, she's just a cat with amazingly beautiful fur.
While I was thinking about that, Lexia-san continued in an excited tone.
"It doesn't really matter! More importantly, can I pet her?"
"Well, um… if it's okay with Stella…"
"It's okay, right?"
Lexia-san asked with a snort.
Stella looked at her for a moment.
"Nya."
But as if rejecting Lexia-san, she immediately turned her face away from her.
Seeing Stella like that, Lexia-san's eyes widened.
"Wha-!"
"Hahaha! Give it up, Lexia. Apparently, she doesn't want to be touched by you?"
"What did you say?"
Then Luna immediately started provoking Lexia-san as usual.
H-hmm… Originally, Lexia-san was a princess, and Luna was her escort, so it would be disrespectful… but the two of them really got along.
While I was thinking about them, Luna suddenly held out her hand to Stella.
"Even if you can't, I will…"
"Nya."
Smack.
Stella slapped Luna's hand away.
After a moment of silence, Lexia-san blurted out.
"Pfft…! Luna, you got rejected too!"
"Kuh! Hey, Stella! Let me pet you!"
Irritated, Luna stretched out her hand again.
But…
"Nya!"
"Wha-?"
Again, Stella slapped Luna's hand away.
After that, Luna reached out her hand to Stella as if to challenge her several times, but she was easily dodged or could not touch her properly.