As Hinata Sakaguchi approached Englassia, her steps quickened with a mix of anticipation and anxiety. She made her way directly to the school, her mind racing with thoughts of what awaited her. When she knocked on the door, it burst open, revealing a young boy with fiery red hair who practically leaped out.
"Miss Shizue…. Huh? Who are you? You look kinda familiar…."
The children's curious faces soon crowded near the door, their excitement noticeable. Only Chloe's eyes lit up with recognition.
"Miss Hinata? Are you here to see Shizue-sensei?" She asked with an innocent tone of voice. "She should be here soon."
Hinata nodded, her expression not revealing emotion as Kenya and the other kids shouted in excitement.
"For real! You're Hinata! The Paladin!" They began to shout in excitement. Despite herself, Hinata's lips curved into a faint smile. Then, a familiar voice made her heart skip a beat.
"Hinata! You're finally here!" Shizue's voice rang out, warm and bright. She hurried towards Hinata, pulling her into a tight hug. "I have so much to tell you!"
Hinata froze for a moment, then slowly returned the hug, her eyes wide with shock.
"Shizu… your mask… your burns… you look…. Healthy?"
Shizue laughed, a sound filled with pure joy.
"Shizu-e. It is a small difference, but it matters to me. I'm back to using my original name. Honestly, it feels nice."
Hinata stepped back slightly, her eyes examining Shizue's face. The scars and fatigue were gone, replaced by a vibrant, youthful glow.
"I'm… glad." She said her voice barely above a whisper. She wanted to rekindle their friendship, realizing how close she had come to losing one of the few people she truly cared about.
In her younger days, the fear of rejection and losing her mentor drove her to push Shizue away. But time serving Luminous and working as a paladin helped her mature.
While most still saw her as a cold and ruthless figure, she had become more open. The smiles of the citizens of Lubelious had lifted some of her old disillusionment with the world.
Shizue's eyes sparkled with excitement as she spoke.
"I met this amazing man, or well, should I say slime?" She shook her head with a laugh. "Well, it doesn't matter. Thanks to Rimuru, I finally feel free! I can't wait for the two of you to meet. I'm actually planning on taking the kids to Tempest and raising them there."
Her smile seemed to light up the entire room, but Hinata couldn't help but open her eyes in surprise.
"Tempest? As in the Monster Nation? And Rimuru… isn't that their leader?"
A bad feeling gnawed at the back of Hinata's mind, growing stronger as Shizue nodded.
"Monster Nation might sound rough, but it isn't entirely wrong. But they're more advanced than a few of the other cities and kingdoms I've visited."
Hinata struggled to believe her. She had been taught to see monsters as threats, yet here was Shizue, glowing with happiness and speaking of a monster-led nation as a place of safety and progress.
"Isn't that the nation that…" Hinata muttered as her mind rushed back to the reports she had heard before she left. "The church was sending Temple Knights to?"
"Huh?" The children's eyes widened, a ripple of fear spreading through the room.
"Miss Hinata, are the Paladins going to hurt Mr. Tempest?" Alice asked, her voice trembling.
"Mr. Tempest is a good person! You can't hurt him!" Ryota shouted, tugging on Hinata's armor in desperation.
Instant chaos broke in the classroom, but Shizue loudly clapped her hands to silence everyone.
"Hinata and I are going to have a quick chat, ok? Don't worry. I am sure Rimuru will be okay. Everyone, I want you to do another page on your assignment."
The room fell into an uneasy silence, the children reluctantly returning to their work. Hinata followed Shizue to her room, her mind rushing as she tried to process everything.
"Shizue, you need to understand." Hinata began, her voice low. "The church sees Tempest as a threat. They're sending Paladins to eliminate it before it can grow enough to threaten humanity."
Shizue's expression grew serious.
"I know, but you have to believe me, Rimuru isn't what they think. He's kind, just, and has built something incredible. Anyone is welcomed in Tempest, whether they are a Majin, Monster, or Human."
Hinata hesitated slightly, deciding whether to trust her teachings or her old mentor.
"How can you be so sure?"
"Because I've seen it with my own eyes." Shizue replied, her gaze determined. "Rimuru saved me, gave me a new life. He's not just a leader; he's a protector. And Tempest… It's a place where everyone can live in harmony and be free from fear. It's exactly the kind of place you were looking for when we first met. I hoped you would see it and know that your wish for an equal world was possible."
Hinata's resolve wavered as she listened to Shizue's heartfelt words. The image of a monster-led nation being a beacon of hope and progress clashed with everything she had been taught. Yet, the sincerity in Shizue's eyes was undeniable.
"I need to see it for myself." Hinata finally said. "If what you say is true, then maybe the church has it wrong. But I can't promise anything. I can send a message to stop the Temple Knights for some time."
Shizue nodded, her expression softening with relief.
"That's all I ask. Come to Tempest, meet Rimuru, and see for yourself. I believe you'll understand once you do."
Hinata's cold expression broke slightly as she sighed.
"Alright." She answered. "I'll go to Tempest."
{Report. The individual Rimuru Tempest's Harvest Festival is about to begin. Upon its completion, all in his genealogy will receive their due gifts.}
Shizue's face instantly became complicated as she heard the Voice of the World. She knew what it meant, and though Rimuru had warned her about what he needed to do, she couldn't deny the bad taste it left in her mouth.
"Is something wrong?" Hinata asked.
Shizue struggled to find the right words, and after a few moments, she sighed.
"Rimuru really cares about his people. He will make sure that no matter what, they are taken care of… so if you hear something weird… just know that he will make it right, ok?"
— — —
As he woke up, he felt like an entirely new Slime. It was hard to explain, but not only did he feel stronger, he felt refreshed. As if he had been rolling around in mud all this time and had finally taken a shower.
He had lost consciousness the moment he finished consuming all of the corpses of Falmuth's army, so he didn't have a clue as to what had happened this whole time, though judging by his increase in power, Sage had been working hard.
Activating Universal Sense, he saw Ramiris sleeping on top of him, using his body as a pillow. Frey was also nearby, though she was in the middle of quite a deep sleep judging from what he could see.
'Sage, are you there? Or, I guess I should call you Raphael, shouldn't I?' Rimuru asked internally.
[Understood. The Unique Skill: Great Sage successfully evolved into the Ultimate Skill: Raphael, Lord of Wisdom.] Raphael reported.
'How does it feel?' Rimuru asked, and he was glad to hear a trace, however minor, of emotion in Raphael's voice
[The processing capabilities have drastically increased. There is no longer a chance of failure when it comes to being burdened with tasks. Please feel free to use my processing capabilities as much as you wish.] Raphael reported, sounding slightly proud of themselves.
'I'm glad, Raph. But don't push yourself too much, okay? I'd rather only use about 80% of your capabilities and keep that last 20% ready and focused in case there is an emergency. I'd rather we don't accidentally overlook something like before with Noir.' Rimuru thought.
[Negative. That will not be a problem. Feel free to use my processing capabilities as much as you wish.] Raphael repeated themselves.
Chuckling internally, Rimuru nodded, causing his body to jiggle slightly and Ramiris to shift until becoming comfortable again.
'Well, now that I am Awakened, I can properly deal with Blanc and Noir. We have a lot of work ahead of us, Raph, but at least we should be done with the hard part soon.'
[Report. The matter of Daemon Noir and Blanc has been dealt with. Their loyalty is no longer in question.]
'Hm? Did you use the mask while I was asleep? I was kind of hoping to see what their reactions would be.' Rimuru asked. He didn't want to rush things with the Primordials and accidentally anger them before he was strong enough to protect Tempest, so he wanted to awaken first.
[Correct. The matter of the Primordial Noir and Blanc has been dealt with using the mask. Though some events happened outside of my calculations, everything has been taken care of.]
'Would you mind filling me in on everything, Raph?' Rimuru asked, and in an instant, he was flooded with information.
[Understood. I will begin by informing you of the newly awakened Ultimate Skills.] Raphael began, and Rimuru imagined her clearing her throat.
[Raphael, Lord of Wisdom. A Skill from the Virtue Series. The best of all of your current skills. It holds the highest level of processing power and management. Raphael comes with the following subskills.
Thought Acceleration, Analytical Appraisal, Parallel Calculation, Chant Annulment, All of Creation, Synthesize/Separate, Alteration] Raphael began, singing their own praises.
[Beelzebuth, Lord of Gluttony. A skill from the Sin Series that focuses on consumption. It comes with the following subskills:
Predation, Mimicry, Stomach, Corrosion, Soul Consumption, Food Chain.]
Those two were just as he had expected, but it was what Raphael said next that caused him to widen his non-existent eyes.
[Asmodeus, Lord of Lust. A skill from the Sin Series and Awakened using the sacrifice of the Unique Skills Bewilder and Eros. It holds power over Life and Death and specializes in charming and Erotic arts. It comes with the following subskills:
Life Domination: The control over life and death. It can be used to restore a target's vitality while also draining away their life force. It can be used to target the soul of a creature directly.
Soul Manipulation: Manipulate and reform the soul of a person. It can be used to interact with skills ingrained in the soul.
Life Drain: It can be used to drain away Magicules and Life Energy. The effects are strengthened if physical contact is used. The more intimate the contact, the stronger the effect.
Invigorate: Through intimate acts, the user can transfer and strengthen the Astral Body, Spiritual Body, Magicules, and Physical Body. The more intimate the contact, the stronger the effect.
Then there are the skills that have already been explained: Thought Domination and Charm.]
'Asmodeus? That's a new one. Good job, Raph. I honestly wasn't expecting to get anything original.' Rimuru thanked her mentally.
[Report. The Extra Skill: Clairvoyant has evolved into the Unique Skill: Prophet.]
Rimuru couldn't help but burst out laughing as he heard it. He had actually bluffed his way into a Prophet Skill. So now he wasn't lying when he told people he could see the future.
'What does it do?'
[Report. The usage of the Unique Skill: Prophet appears to be tied to the seals placed on the Crest of Time. However, from the data gathered, it appears to be a collection of fragmented memories from the Spirit of Time found in the Labyrinth.]
[Do you want me to break the seal on the Unique Skill: Prophet utilizing Asmodeus' Soul Manipulation?]
Rimuru almost reflectively said yes. However, as he thought about it, he decided to stop and actually think it through.
'Raph, why do you think the skill is tied to the Crest of Time? Is it there as a protection or as a weapon? Do you think we should remove it?'
Raphael went silent for a few seconds before answering. However, that probably meant they had tried to analyze every possibility.
[Judging by the actions the Spirit of Time took, the seal is placed there to protect you…. Analyzing…. Time fluctuations have been found in the Skill. It is believed that the forceful unlocking of the Prophet Skill will cause the Skill to go haywire, triggering a Temporal Distortion.]
[Odds of distortion being stopped are currently set at 14.969%. Would you like me to begin analyzing the skill in order to lower the chances of a distortion occurring?]
'Yes.' Rimuru answered, after which Raphael continued her report. She went over every single small detail and left Rimuru dumbfounded as he heard her. Far more people than he had expected had been dragged into the Harvest Festival.
From the Elementals to Ramiris herself, it appeared that their "Marriage" had been recognized by the Voice of the World. This meant that Elementals and Spirits, along with Ramiris herself, were considered to be a part of his lineage.
Their boosts and gifts varied in strength, but they had all benefited from him, even if just slightly.
Then there was also the Paradox Evolution; much to his disappointment, he hadn't really gotten anything new with it. But now he could hold both a Hero's Egg and also be a Demon Lord. If anything, he thought it was strange that the evolution had been so underwhelming, but he could only wait and see what would happen once he hatched the Hero's Egg. Even Raphael wasn't sure, and she had tried to force the hatching.
Perhaps they were just being too greedy.
[Report. An anomaly was also detected during the evolution into a Paradox Slime. During your time in Englassia, the Soul Resonance was not detected. However, a new discovery was made in addition to the discovery that the core of your soul remained untainted by the transformation and Evolution as a Slime.
The subject Masayuki is believed to have a fragment of your soul, which caused the Soul Resonance.
There are many different possibilities, but that one has the highest likelihood of being correct.]
'Huh?! What's all this about him having a Fragment of my soul? Is it something we should be worried about?' Rimuru asked, a little concerned.
[Negative. The core of your soul remains complete, and a complete soul has since grown around it. Data suggest that the damage and subsequent fragmentation of the remainder of your soul happened long before your rebirth as a Slime.]
[After an attempt to scan your soul core, it has been found that it has been corrupted beyond repair due to the cause of the fragmentation. The suggested way to repair the soul would be to collect the rest of the soul fragments to reforge a complete soul.]
[In addition, this process should drastically strengthen your soul.]
'Well… that's a lot to take in… but I guess that's a problem for a later day. Unless you have any solutions to start gathering the soul fragments?'
[Negative.]
[Starting research into how to gather the remainder of the soul fragments….]
With Raphael hard at work, he decided to put the issue of his soul being broken out of his mind. Worrying about something he had no control over right now would just stress him out, and Raphael would inform him the moment she came up with any solutions, so he knew he could leave it to her.
For now, he would focus on what he could actually do.
Moving slightly, he woke up Ramiris, who rubbed her eyes and yawned before suddenly snapping awake and fluttering all around Rimuru.
"Rimuru! I love you!" She shouted before starting to kiss his slime body over and over again. "You're awesome!"
Swapping to his usual form, he saw Ramiris fluttering and hugged his face before fluttering about in excitement.
"I don't know how you did it, but you are awesome!" She shouted, extremely happy as she fluttered all over the room before landing on his head. "For who knows how long I have been dealing with being a corrupted fairy, but when I woke up, I had a new Unique Skill called Purifier." Ramiris began jumping in excitement.
She was bursting with energy as she fluttered and looked at him.
"I can finally return to how I used to be! No more reincarnation for me, no sir! I am gonna be a proper Queen, and now people won't be able to mess with me." She shouted, unable to hold her excitement as she began to fly all over the room, even shadow boxing.
Rimuru couldn't help but chuckle as he saw her fly in circles before eventually settling on his head.
"What does it do?" Rimuru asked, though he could probably ask Sage, he knew Ramiris wanted a chance to brag.
Clearing her throat and puffing out her chest with pride, Ramiris announced.
"Exactly what you would think it does. It purifies things, and right now, I am using it to purify myself. It's going extremely slowly since Milim and Guy messed me up good, but in a few centuries or so, I should be able to show you my true power. Hehe, you're gonna be so shocked!" She shouted with a smile before using his hair as a blanket.
"I'm claiming this as my throne. You're too comfortable, plus you are helping me heal, so I hope you don't mind." She declared before hugging the top of his head.
[Activating Invigorate.]
"Ah, yeah, this is what being alive is all about.…" Ramiris said with a satisfied sigh.
Chuckling slightly, he ignored the small fairy currently using his head as a pillow before teleporting to the Labyrinth. He wanted to try out a few different things now that he had Raphael, and thankfully, Ramiris had come along with him.
Stepping into the Labyrinth, he reached up to his head and tapped the small fairy.
"Hey, Ramiris, could you give me access to your Skill? I want to try messing with the Labyrinth, too, if possible." He asked, and instantly, he saw Ramiris' small head leaning over him.
"Are you sure? It's a lot of information. It honestly hurts to manage sometimes. I usually end up just throwing away most of the information it gives me." She asked with some concern.
"Yes, if it's too much, I'll tell you, ok?"
"Sure." Ramiris answered, and instantly, he heard Raphael in his mind.
[Notice. Access to Small World has been granted.]
[Attempting to copy Skill…. Analyzing… Error… Not applicable?] Raphael spoke, her cold voice sounding slightly different as she tried to analyze it as best as she could.
[Attempting to find reason…. Error? Incomplete information?] For the first time, Rmuru heard true, genuine confusion from them. He could almost hear the silent "What the fuck?" going through Raphael's mind.
[Small World does not apply as a skill?]
[Error...]
[Error...]
[...]
[Suggestion. Ask the subject Ramiris if she can be consumed for a brief moment for a more complete analysis.] Raphael's voice sounded slightly frustrated. She had just evolved and was absolutely confident in her processing capabilities, but just a few minutes after Rimuru woke up, she had already failed him.
If anything, she felt embarrassed for the first time since they had woken up.
Raising an eyebrow, hearing the constant notifications from Raphael, he reached his hand over his head to scoop the small Fairy.
"Hey Ramiris… can I do something real quick? It doesn't hurt, but it would really help me out." He asked, and instantly she began to nod.
"Yeah, feel free." Ramiris said as she spread her arms wide as if surrendering to him.
[Activating Beelzebuth.]
Just as Raphael had announced, Rimuru saw his hand turn back into slime and enveloped Ramiris, who looked slightly confused but didn't fight back.
[Analyzing….]
[Error?]
[Access to the ability has been denied…]
[Cannot be completed…]
[Activating Asmodeus…] Finally, Raphael was getting frustrated to the point it activated the third and final Ultimate Skill.
Using the combined power of all three Skills, Raphael finally found an answer.
[Notice… the ability Small World is outside of our jurisdiction….] Raphael finally spoke, sounding slightly relieved.
[In order to copy the ability, higher administrative status is required…. Researching.… Unable to determine.]
[Process cannot be completed. However, the Administrative Authority was discovered. Different levels have been discovered.]
[Attempting to obtain Admin Status…. Error…. The process cannot be completed.]
[Attem-] Raphael began before suddenly falling silent.
'Raphael?' Rimuru asked, slightly worried, yet a few seconds later, Raphael returned.
[Report. A ??? Level Admin almost discovered my interference. The Crest of Time and the Unique Skill: Prophet forcibly activated to freeze my actions momentarily.]
[...]
[...]
[Notice. All possible ways to interfere or use Admin Authority have been sealed away until more information is acquired in order to prevent the destruction of Raphael, Lord of Wisdom.] Raphael spoke, sounding slightly shaken.
It was strange to see just how many emotions Raphael was starting to showcase so quickly after being evolved. If anything, they should have needed more time to adapt, but they must have been experiencing quite strong emotions, from frustration to what now sounded like fear.
'Are you ok, Raph?' Rimuru asked, noticing the sudden change in the way they had spoken.
[...]
[Mimicry: Corrupted Fairy has been acquired. Intrinsic Skill: Command Spirit/Elemental has been acquired.]
[Deactivating Asmodeus and Beelzebuth.]
His arm returned to normal in that instant, holding a slightly confused Ramiris.
"That was a little weird…. But did you get what you needed?" Ramiris asked, feeling her body to see if anything was out of place.
"Uh… I think so?" He answered, still trying to reach out to Raphael.
[Notice. The subject Shuna is currently dealing with envoys from Eurazania… Judging by the reports, it is believed that Milim has declared war on them due to the reports from our spies. The recommended course of action is-]
'Raphael. I'm serious. Stop trying to dodge the question. What's wrong?' Rimuru asked seriously.
[The Unique Skill: Prophet, allowed me to see my own destruction. And the consequences of my absence.]
— — —
Special Thanks to my Beta Readers/Editors: The one, the only, the amazing @Basilisk, the Aussie @LuluViBritania (FF.N, SB, WN and QQ)/-LuluViB|99th Britannian Emperor(Discord) and @Kiyan Tribe (FF.net/AO3/QQ/WN) | kiyan_tribe( Discord)
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