"Where..." It was a place that resembled a garden, but no end was in sight, no matter how hard I tried to see the horizon.
"Hello, Aurélio. I thought you'd take longer," a beautiful voice spoke, with an almost angelic tone.
"You...Nix?" A girl holding a cup was seated in a chair at a white marble table.
The girl had long black hair and red eyes. She was the owner of the voice. She wore a black and white dress with a red sash around her waist. In front of her chest was a large silver medallion, and on her head rested a silver tiara, complemented by two mismatched earrings.
"Beautiful..." This was the first time I truly saw her appearance, as before her image had been almost indistinguishable. What made her even more beautiful was some kind of aura around her, making her seem like a painting come to life.
"Could you stop that, please?" I asked her to stop, realizing what was happening.
"You noticed quickly," she said, acknowledging how sharp my understanding of my own abilities was. I realized right away that what she did was almost a mental attack.
"But it wasn't intentional; it's just my natural aura," she said melodically.
"Yet, you're one of the few who would call it 'beautiful.'"
"?" I was confused by her statement.
"My aura is based on my karma. Since your karma is negative and you're connected to me, you see it as 'beautiful,' but to others, it's simply something horrible and disgusting to look at."
I understood then—it was almost the same situation as animals avoiding me.
"So, what is this place?" I asked, still puzzled by the strange surroundings.
"...It's my dream world. I was able to invite you here because your karma increased significantly."
"I don't think it was a big improvement...the range of Reversal only went up by 50 meters."
"Reversal?" she asked, puzzled.
"Oh, right, I renamed it... it's the
"...I didn't exactly 'give' it. It was created with your own karma. All I did was make your karma form something." Does that mean I could have other powers like this? Wait...
"Then how did you know what the ability was and its limits?"
"Because we're connected, it's natural... when your connection to me deepens, you'll also know what abilities I have and their limits."
"Isn't that bad for you?"
"Not really. Many already know everything I can do," she said, sounding disinterested.
"Back to the point, your range didn't increase much because you're doing it wrong."
"...Doing what wrong exactly?" Now I was curious. I thought I was using it well.
"At your current level, your Reversal should be able to cover a city."
Seriously! That's way more than I thought possible.
"And how do I use that full range?"
"I don't know... it's not my power, it's yours. All I know is that your range is intimately linked to both your karma and your divine power. For now, all the divine power you have is automatically converted into Reiryoku. You must have noticed the increase, right?"
"Yeah, it increased by more than half of my original energy," Kurumi told me.
"Then you'll have to figure out for yourself how to use the full range of your... 'Reversal.'"
"Why did you call me here?"
"To congratulate you. Your karma returned to a high rank, which is great."
"And to warn you, there's a demigod after you." I've been found out?
"Isn't that bad?" It seemed terrible from my perspective.
"Not really. There are more worlds than you can count... as long as you're careful, the chances of them finding you are slim."
"How slim?"
"..." She seemed to be thinking about something, taking a moment to respond.
"It would be like trying to find a needle in a desert planet."
"But it's not impossible, and the fact that she's half-Spirit makes it easier for her to find you."
"She's a Spirit..."
"Not the same as you. She doesn't use Reiryoku and has no crystal... to you, she'd be like a Spirit from a fantasy world, but she still emanates a spiritual aura, and you're a Spirit, so that aura could end up helping her find you."
"..." That sounds really bad.
"Could I beat her?"
"No, not a chance," she laughed as if the very idea I posed was hilarious.
"...That's encouraging," I said sarcastically.
"Don't be discouraged. She's a demigod over 10,000 years old, and you're only 25. If you could defeat her in your current state, I'd have to call that girl pathetic."
"Of course, the situation changes if your karma increases enough," she said with a suspicious smile.
"So, if my karma increases, I could defeat a demigod. But how much would it need to increase?"
"Good question," she said, creating a piece of paper out of nowhere.
"Take a seat here." A chair appeared out of thin air next to the table as she handed me the paper.
I glanced at it and saw some kind of classification.
"Is this?"
"These are the general levels of Karma with a brief explanation."
I start reading the list.
Murderer: Those who have committed the murder of multiple people, ranging from 1 to 1000 individuals.
Genocidal: Those who have killed between 1001 and 20,000 people.
City Breaker: Those who have destroyed cities.
Kingdom Fall: Those who have brought down nations.
Country Breaker: Those who have destroyed entire countries.
Anti-Continent: Those who have obliterated a continent.
Destroyer: Those who have devastated multiple continents.
Mass Killer: Someone who has exterminated the race of an entire planet.
World Destroyer: Those who have annihilated a world.
Divine Slayer: Someone who has killed a Demigod.
God's Enemy: Someone who has killed a God.
Galaxy Destroyer: Someone who has destroyed a galaxy.
Unique Genocidal: Someone who has exterminated multiple races across different planets.
Universe Destroyer: Someone who has destroyed an entire universe.
Divine Divider: Someone who has become an enemy of Paradise.
Unique Enemy: Considered a threat by Hell.
All-Life Slayer: Someone who has become a threat to the multiverse.
Overlord: ???
"Nix, what's an Overlord?" This list has some insane stuff. But the Overlord is curious, there's nothing written about it.
"I don't know..."
"What? How can you not know and still include it in the list?" Does that make sense? Why include something that could just confuse people?
"No one knows. Apparently, one existed in the past, but any records were destroyed. Some say it's just a legend and doesn't exist, because the Karma level of an All-Life Slayer is already nearly impossible to reach, with only a few ever achieving it."
"Anyway, just ignore it. The level of Karma I recommend for you is Divine Divider. When someone reaches that level, the gods simply give up trying to mess with them."
"How does one become an enemy of Paradise?" That sounds complicated.
"There are many ways to achieve that. This list is basic, there are many more below that I didn't need to include. Also, this list isn't really in the correct order since I combined the Karma for murder with the Karma for destruction."
"There are many types of Karma, but yours is the Karma of Murder and the Karma of Destruction." I guess it's pretty obvious why that's my Karma.
"That's why I gave you this list—to give you a better understanding of the subject."
"To become the Enemy of Paradise, you just need to become a threat to the existence of Paradise... basically, a being that threatens the balance of its existence." That still doesn't tell me how to do it.
"Paradise is semi-sentient, though not fully. You could say it's almost alive," she says, as if it were common knowledge.
"Paradise isn't just a place?" I thought Paradise was where the 'good' people go when they die.
"It is, but it's also alive, just like the planet is alive too."
"What do you mean by that?"
"Planets are slightly sentient. In your world's knowledge, it's called the Voice of the World or a system in anime or something like that."
Seriously? That's how it really is... so humans are literally killing a living being, slowly.
"To humans, the planet is probably just a mass of matter, but to the gods who can see beyond, the planets are almost like living beings."
"And that's why there are so many gods to take care of these planets, which can't take care of themselves."
"But keep in mind, just because you have a Karma level doesn't mean you have the same power as someone else with the same Karma. There are many gods with low Karma but a lot of power."
"High Karma indicates power, but power doesn't always indicate Karma. Got it?"
"Yeah, that was really clear."
I notice several cracks in the sky, and the ground around us begins to break.
"It's ending... too bad. Looks like our time together is up, Aurélio. Until next time," she says with a smile that I can only describe as beautiful.
Suddenly, I wake up, drenched in sweat. I feel exhausted and am breathing heavily.
"What exhaustion." I'm completely worn out for some reason after waking up.
"Well, that was useful." I managed to get some good information from Nix... Nix? I notice that the way I refer to her has changed again.
This is the second time... but it's not really worrying, so I just ignore it.
I look at my phone and notice the date—April 26th.
"I SLEPT FOR 5 DAYS STRAIGHT!" I shout in surprise.
"How? Only a few minutes passed with Nix."
No wonder I'm tired. My Reiryoku is also considerably low, probably used to maintain our conversation.
Even with my power boost, I could only talk for a few minutes, so in the beginning, it probably lasted just a few seconds.
I get up to shower, brush my teeth, and make breakfast.
I notice a bunch of missed calls from Shido, and one from an unknown number.
"Who... THAT BASTARD," I say angrily, staring at my phone screen.
"Hey Aurélio-Kun, you didn't respond, so as payment for the necklace, plus a 7-day late fee, I charged some interest. Hope you'll order from us again!" A message from Lars, with a statement from my account now showing 700 million yen missing.
"This is more than I paid to communicate with him." Now my funds are significantly low, considering where I started.
And the worst part is that most of this was interest, because the necklace for Shido was only 120 million yen.
"You mercenary... Shido better never take that necklace off, or I'll have to knock some 'sense' into him now that I've seen the price." The necklace cost me way more than I expected, but at least its efficiency should be guaranteed.
I decide to call Shido later. After losing all that money, I'm not in the mood to answer the barrage of questions he's sure to have.
After breakfast, I head out for a walk around the city.
I notice someone following me, but I ignore them as I speed up.
"Hey, wait up!" a voice calls out as I ignore it and pick up the pace.
The girl speeds up too. I'm just walking quickly, but she's running, so she catches up.
"Hey, didn't you hear me calling?" she says, her voice irritating me at this moment.
"Yeah... Kotori, sorry, I didn't hear you. I was in a hurry to get to... the mall." I notice Kotori wearing a white school uniform.
"Who are you?" she asks, her tone commanding. I also notice she's wearing black ribbons.
"Yeah... I'm Aurélio? We've met, haven't we? Shido already brought me to your house once..."
"I know. That's not what I'm talking about," she says, irritated.
"Then what do you mean?"
"I don't know what you've done with Shido, but you're not trustworthy."
"Haha, I have no idea what you're talking about." Annoying brat. I want to leave already. While I speak politely, all I can think about is how uncomfortable this situation is.
"Why is there no record of you from before a few months ago? Tell me."
"Are you spying on my life?" I say with mock irritation. I knew this would happen eventually, so it's not really a surprise.
"This isn't something I need to explain to you, don't you think? You know that invading someone's privacy is a crime, right? You could go to jail."
"Imagine how Shido would feel if he found out his little sister was invading his friends' privacy."
"Don't mention Shido. You're deceiving him. I don't know what you want with him, but you'd better stay away from him." I look at her without hiding my true personality.
"What are you going to do if I don't stay away from him?" I say in a tone that makes Kotori shudder. I notice her eyes trembling.
"Tell me, Kotori, what are you going to do if I don't stay away from him?" I say, grabbing her hand and pinning it against a wall.
"..." She seems scared.
"Let me... let me go, or I'll scream for help." Interesting.
"Really... do you think I'm afraid of your empty threat?" The sight of this girl, the commander of Fraxinus, breaking down feeds my sadism.
My voice, which has a certain effect on the mind, also proves extremely useful in threats, which came in handy now.
Normally, she wouldn't be in this frightened state, but my voice's effect is making it hard for her to regain her courage, plus she's not fully in commander mode.
"Scream, Kotori, why don't you ask for help right now?" I say, moving closer to her, now holding both of her hands against the wall.
"Let me go, now!" She yells, trying to kick me, but she's weak, so it doesn't hurt.
"HELP..." Okay, if that's how you want to play.
"Hmm hmm," when she starts to scream, I kiss her. She's momentarily surprised as I force my tongue into her mouth.
"HMMM..." She tries to shout, but can't. She starts trembling and struggling, trying to escape, but she's not strong enough, and with her being pinned against the wall, there's no room for her to break free.
Due to the shock, she doesn't even think to bite me, not that it would help since I reinforced my body with Reiryoku.
"Hmm arh arh..." She breathes heavily as we continue kissing. She's still trying to get away, but her resistance is gradually fading. I notice her cheeks turning slightly red.
I swirl my tongue in her mouth, and not knowing what else to do, she follows my movement. I see tears forming in her eyes as we continue kissing.
I gently bite her lip before going back to a deep kiss.
"Humm arf arf," she's breathing heavily, desperate for oxygen.
After what feels like an eternity, I release her.
She momentarily loses her balance, falling to the ground.
"Tastes like strawberries, not bad, Kotori," I say to her as a provocation while I start to walk away.
"You're not half bad yourself, haha," I say honestly, with a slight laugh at the end.
Kotori's not really my type, but it wasn't bad.
As I'm walking away, I turn back and say:
"Kotori... don't get too involved where you're not wanted." She's still on the ground, her eyes slightly teary. I notice she's extremely red, with a slight touch of lust in her gaze.
That might be due to my voice, which I've noticed has an exceptional effect on the human psyche.
"See you around, Kotori," I say loud enough for her to hear as I walk away completely, leaving her there.