"..."
For a while, I couldn't think of anything. Only Mashiro's last words echoed in my ears.
"If it will happen… then so be it."
There's nothing that could be done. Lord Nettesheim couldn't permanently keep them at bay. He is still suffering now at this moment.
The only thing I could do is to become stronger. That, and…
"I need to tell them the truth."
******
Everyone lived their lives as usual. Mashiro went to school, and so does Hitori. However, the latter changed a bit when she found out that Mashiro and her childhood friend lived together… under the same roof.
As for Ryuunosuke…
"That shouldn't be it…"
Currently, there was a girl who 'wrecked havoc' inside Sakurasou. She is currently searching for 'someone', and that someone happened to 'reside' within Sakurasou.
Unfortunately, she hadn't received any message pertaining to it until now.
During her stay within Sakurasou, Ryuunosuke was the most affected—by being an 'annoyance', that is.
'She's like Ijichi-san… but Ijichi-san is more considerate.'
As a 'returning' drummer, it was inevitable that he interacted with Kessoku Band's drummer during their practices. Nijika has the same, if not even more, enthusiasm as his new roommate, Rita Ainsworth.
Nevertheless, he hadn't realized yet that giving advice to Rita was the main reason why he was 'pestered' badly. The girl admired his unexpected maturity, in turn leading to his current situation.
'This day… could it be that aniki became even richer?'
Usually, it was Nobu who visited him inside Sakurasou. It was only this time he was invited to his current house.
When he went inside, he was surprised to see a pink-haired girl having a 'silent staredown' with another blonde-haired girl. It ended with the former's defeat as she became more downcast—a usual show of Hitori's eccentricness.
Unfortunately for her, Mashiro was even more eccentric than her.
"A-ah, Ryuu-kun."
"H-hello, Hitori-san."
Ryuunosuke turned to look at Mashiro, who then gave him a nod.
"Where's aniki?" He asked.
"I'm here."
A blue slit appeared out of nowhere before Nobu stepped out. He was in his casual clothes, yet the other side of the slit suggested that he was in an air-conditioned room.
Everyone was quiet due to their surprise. Even Mashiro's eyes widened before she went with an "Ah".
"...Aniki. Was that something you invented?!"
As someone who worked with him, Ryuunosuke already knows about Nobu's hidden 'weapons' on the basement level of their company office. That includes the combat suits that allowed him to fly. Ryuunosuken even has one of them, which is deeply hidden inside his room in Sakurasou.
Knowing Nobu's technological prowess, he wouldn't be too surprised if he could appear out of nowhere.
"...This is going to be a long explanation, but to answer your question, it is."
The blue slit gradually disappeared as Nobu sat down on the sofa.
"You all knew about my three-year trip around the world, but I haven't told you the truth about it, yet."
Even Hitori's overarching mind remained quiet as to what Nobu is about to reveal.
"It was a lie." He said. "The truth is… I went into another world."
Nobu began explaining everything he went through. From his meeting with his goddess up until his battle against giant monsters and dragons, he left no details unattended.
At this moment, he seemed like a professional storyteller.
'Another world? Gods? Aniki… he wouldn't make a joke with this atmosphere…'
Ryuunosuke's first thought wasn't 'disbelief', but even he couldn't figure out why his big brother began telling a story straight out of a light novel.
"I know it's hard to believe. That's why…"
Sparkle-!
A small spark appeared on top of his hand. It turned into a fireball that grew bigger as it existed. Then, without a warning, the flames turned blue before ascending to the ceiling.
These flames separated, turning into blue petals as they fell. Finally, when they reached the ground, they turned into flower-shaped ice.
"This is what someone would call magic. There are also things like wands, but I don't use them."
Nobu proceeded to show several things in front of the three people. At one point, he even projected 'Avalon' out of nowhere, which truly convinced them that 'magic' does exist.
"Nobu. If Artoria-san was the same as them, how about the two goddesses?"
Upon hearing Mashiro's question, Ryuunosuke's and Hitori's ears perked up.
"Them? They're…"
It was at this moment did Nobu feel a hint of ominousness. He knew what would've happened in the future, but it is different from the present.
"They're my girlfriends."
"..."
"..."
"Aniki…"
Despite not using Lapis Judaicus, Nobu felt his surroundings become colder.
******
***
*
Hours turned into days; days turned into months.
It was October when I returned to this world. Two months have passed since I returned from Gekai.
Five weeks have passed since my trip to another world.
It is currently a special week since we are transitioning to yet another year.
"Mondays… This will be the last normal Monday we'll ever have."
Supposedly, the duel between Satoru-san and Sukuna should've occurred a few days ago. Only, Sukuna couldn't even find enough strength to scheme. He remained still within Itadori's body all this time.
Without Noritoshi Kamo's help, the fingers he ingested only reached six.
As for the rest?
Satoru-san made a deal to utilize Gluttony's specialty overseas. Without the knowledge of the higher ups of the Sorcerer Society, more than half of Sukuna's fingers disappeared from the face of the world.
Thus, it prevented the tragedy of Culling Game as well as the subsequent chaos Sukuna caused with Fushiguro-kun's body—through the Divine Silla General inside his body.
One thing that changed, however, is the fact that Satoru-san asked for several fights throughout this month. I only used my cursed technique against him, but he lost every time I bypassed his "Infinity". That opened up the awareness that his cursed technique isn't as strong as it seems… which would lead to his improvement.
In our most recent fight, he actually managed to cut down the possibility of his infinity being bypassed into 'one'. Although it meant that I still bypassed it, his improvements are huge.
'The future…'
With a thought, a multi-colored jewel appeared in my hand.
Immediately, I could feel the powers inside me becoming 'excited'. It is only through the control I developed did I calm them down.
'The parallel world project…'
Quite a long time had passed since I revealed everything to the people I know. Ryuunosuke went as usual with his life, but he became 'a bit' curious about magic. With some miracle usage, I was able to 'teach' him some experiences. Ultimately, it'll rely on him on whether he could become successful.
Worse comes to worst, I will help him forcefully achieve the Magister state.
With my current strength…
'Suimei acted differently back then… This is the reason why.'
That day, I managed to successfully merge the Philosopher's Stone back with the help of Suimei's notes. I didn't have to do experiments blindly and simply implemented it.
It was successfully contained within the [Holy Grail], allowing me to reach a 'higher state', namely, the [World Magister] level.
It was a strange state to be in, to begin with. It felt like my dream organ's [Infinite Conversion] state is active at all times. I could only 'suppress' it through my 'dreamland', something that evolved way past its initial form. It helped that I was able to see Sir Michael's 'technique' that allowed him to remain 'perceptible'.
'Power in exchange of humanity… Kazamitsu-san was right.'
Now, even being blown away into nothingness is not enough to kill me. That's how resilient [World Magisters] are due to the fact they are 'embedded concepts' within the world, much like the final fourteenth calamity having an embodiment of human form.
Somehow, I also received my concept, a title granted by the world, so to speak.
Revelations.
With the complete Philosopher's Stone inside the Holy Grail, the latter could finally perform at its full potential. I could resurrect the dead, remove fundamental physical laws, erase concepts, and the likes.
The power to manipulate probabilities, utilize [Lapis Judaicus]'s energy, and manifest dreams have become omnipotence.
The power given by the [Lapis Philosophorus] to 'connect' to the [Akashic Records[] granted omniscience.
The power to create miracles and travel through space and time granted omnipresence.
With the experiment to fully 'embed' the Philosopher's Stone as well as the Holy Grail to myself, I managed to reach His level.
Perhaps, only the fourteenth calamity would serve as my biggest threat.
Hum-!
A blue slit was formed by a swipe of my finger. I stepped inside it, revealing a familiar city wall. Beneath it are the bustling streets of Orario.
This is my first visit to Gekai after I 'contained' the stone within the grail. For once, I saw an 'unfamiliar' projection high up in the sky. It was a 'realm' that stayed on the borders of physical and spiritual—something that defied the laws of my world.
It was extremely huge, by far the largest 'realm' I saw during my travels. It is a world of its own, only remaining anchored to Gekai since it is their intention.
"Tenkai."
Three stars shone the brightest. They are the God-kings of this world, a being at the level of a [World Magister]. Considering we had five in the spirit realm and two in the physical realm, it was a good enough force.
Other than them, there are a dozen gods assigned on each 'major pillar'. It must be the Twelve Main Gods mentioned to me by Artemis.
Just then, I noticed a familiar silhouette practicing on top of the city wall.
Her golden pupils are extremely concentrated. It was a simple practice of a thrust and a cut, but I could see her trying to surpass a 'limit'. In the first place, 'normal attacks' relied more on the 'sheer force' behind it to catch up with techniques that distort mysteries. However, once a swordsman reaches a high enough level, his "basic attacks" would have the same lethality as his sword techniques.
'A slight push…'
This time, the Holy Grail worked without any 'prompts'. It directly performed what I asked for.
The girl's shoulders jolted as she caught onto something.
Fwoosh-!
Her simple sword thrust sent a spiraling force all over the wall. It destroyed the top of the entire Western wall. Not only that, her attack sent 'something else' in the realm outside of perception. More accurately, it is her attack directly distorting the 'core principle' of a world, allowing her to unleash a blow far stronger than what it should've been.
It is for such a reason that [Magisters] are 'unchained beings'. Even if they come to another world, they won't lose their powers—they will simply adapt to the laws of a world.
When I saw her snap out of it, her eyes already went towards me.
"It's been some time."
*****
The parallel world operation.
Its exact name was coincidentally 'Kaleidoscope'. Inside a kaleidoscope, one would be able to see many things at once.
In a sense, its function is to build an effective communication path between parallel worlds. Though, its purpose changed when Nobu himself got involved with the parallel world that has the 'best ending' so far.
One of its side effects is to 'manifest' a memory of a parallel self as a dream.
That happened to the current Aiz. She had several dreams, each with varying intensity. She already had them when Nobu visited several times, but she chose to keep it to herself.
When seeing him for this time, however, she had a different kind of feeling.
'What is this..?'
She couldn't express it well, but it was as if something inside her didn't want to let Nobu leave.
Aiz shook this strange feeling off.
"You feel… different."
"Your senses are really sharp." Nobu replied. "I reached a new level."
"...I see."
With dream organs, "leveling up" became far easier than before. Aiz had more assurances in 'desperate battles' that allowed her to keep a last resort—her active [Mana Furnace].
As long as she fought monsters without it, she could still receive the usual excelia. Coupled with the techniques from Nobu's world as well as his teaching, it wasn't difficult to climb to level nine within two or so years. Moreover, she was already halfway through it back then.
Now that she reached the [Magister], or rather, the [Sword Meister] state, she became even more powerful than before.
Still, it wasn't enough to catch up to his side…
"Nobu. Your world is facing a problem, right?"
"Well… yes."
Just then, the 'inexplicable' feeling returned. It became more overwhelming until she expressed this emotion.
"I want to go there."
Deep within her, she did not want to repeat the same mistake as that in the past.