This chapter was supposed to be released on the 2nd, but I ended up going on a last-minute trip with my family because of my birthday on November 3rd, so that caused a delay.
I'll probably post an extra chapter in the next few days to make up for it.
Ah, yes — the (SITO) next to some of the titles is just an abbreviation of the story's name. I use it on (P)(A)(T) to organize the chapters, and I forgot to delete it before posting here. I didn't edit the post because that would erase the comments, and I like keeping them.
Speaking of (P)(A)(T), if anyone wants to support me or read 3/7/13 chapters ahead of the main story, that's possible over there. If not, I still truly appreciate you all for reading!
Well, I've already written quite a bit up here. Have a good night, everyone — and enjoy the read!
(P)(A)(T)/CalleumArtori.
[...]---[...]
POV: Jeanne D'Arc
I had never read the Bible myself. Not just because I didn't know how to read, but also because it was in Latin.
Very few people actually knew Latin — the nobility or the clergy.
But I had attended Mass. I had spoken with priests who translated it for me. I had listened. I had kept those words in my heart, because even if I couldn't read them to remember them, I would not forget them.
Among all the verses, there were some that stood out to me. I could list a few easily, without even thinking: Isaías 6:8, Psalmus 26:1 e Ioannes 15:13.
Each of them resonated with me in its own way. I held them close to my heart with affection.
But above all, one verse — more than any other — had, for lack of a better word, struck me.
"Liber Genesis 1:3: Dixitque Deus: Fiat lux. Et facta est lux."
I murmured it, staring at the pure green barrier that covered the kingdom of Terraria. At the sun that had risen in the middle of the night, its light reaching me even through the wall between us.
It had lit up the darkness…
I looked at Devas's back, a storm of emotions running through my mind: surprise, awe, shock.
But above all, one feeling stood out most: sorrow.
"You… were afraid, weren't you?…" I reached out to touch his shoulder; my hand passed right through him. Still, I tried. "You still are… even if you don't show it…"
Devas didn't like anything divine. He was open about it. But I don't think that included the Lord.
And yet, he had used His words, as if seeking strength. Imitated His gesture, as if trying to set something in motion…
"…You're terrified…"
I paid no mind to the conversation Devas was having with the others.
I closed my eyes and fell to my knees. My hands clasped, fingers interlaced. I rested my forehead against them and did the only thing I could to try and help him: I prayed.
"Oh Lord, your little servant cries out to You. I beg You, I implore You, send help. Not for me, but for the man fighting against the dark night…"
"I know many see him as unworthy of Your grace…"
"I know the sins he carries are more than condemnable…"
"I know he doesn't seek the warmth of Your light…"
My voice faltered. I choked for a moment. Tiny drops slid down my cheeks.
"But Lord, I beg You… Help Devas…"
"Please, give strength to those lonely shoulders…"
"Amen."
[…]
POV: Jiraiya
It took me a second to realize Devas had vanished, leaving behind some kind of shadow clone in his place.
Literally made of shadows. From shadows.
The damn thing was unnerving — it poked at every instinct I had. The ones responsible for that little voice in my brain that usually said: "Yeah, this shit's fucked, let's get out of here."
That voice normally kicked in around Orochimaru, but that's beside the point.
"We can either follow the 'Shadow Puppet' or Devas himself through Reality 4D," Minato explained, glancing at his phone. He turned the screen so I could see the options.
The name of that thing was pretty self-explanatory…
Weird how the phone even existed in here, considering we were inside the stream — which, in theory, was inside the phone…
Before I could answer, Minato vanished, leaving me with Pa and Ma perched on my shoulders.
"The boy's always in a rush," Pa muttered, shaking his head.
"It's his day off, let him have his fun," I said, staring at the Shadow Puppet. "He's probably only got a few hours of peace before Kushina-chan drags him off somewhere remote." I shivered slightly.
Sensei once told me there used to be a saying back when Uzu was still standing: "Don't fuck with an Uzumaki."
I only really understood what that meant in every sense of the word after seeing Minato limping one day.
"That boy needs to eat more, looks so scrawny…" Ma sighed, then gave my cheek two light taps. "Let's switch to follow Devas-chan instead. That shadow gives me the creeps."
Pa nodded silently, eyes fixed in the direction where Devas had vanished. I looked that way too. I knew what he was thinking — I was thinking the same thing.
"That wasn't teleportation," he said.
"Over ten kilometers in under a second… The kid's gotten terrifying real fast, hasn't he?" I whispered.
My fastest shunshin couldn't match that speed. Not even close — at least not in base form…
Without another word, I pulled out the phone and opened the settings. With a single tap, Pa, Ma, and I reappeared beside Devas.
Then again. And again. And again.
"What the hell is that speed?!" I usually avoided cursing around Pa and Ma, but I couldn't help it.
Devas was moving so fast the world around us blurred into random smears of color. No shape, no form — just motion. Even the colors were warping. I could barely follow his movements, and I was used to training with Minato!
"We'd need Sage Mode just to keep up," Pa said, clearly stunned. "All our estimates about him have been completely shattered…"
"Completely…" I muttered.
Forget that Echo Humanitatis weirdness — Devas was already strong enough that I wasn't sure I could beat him. And that's with me knowing how he fought, using Sage Mode, and prepping strategies in advance.
Without those?…
"I'm gonna have to warn the old man to keep Danzo on a leash…"
I'd already told sensei about the stream. He hadn't told anyone else — treating it like a top-secret classified anomaly. No tier, no access.
Devas would come to our world eventually. Sensei was wise enough not to antagonize him… but that one-eyed, warmongering mutt?…
Better slap a collar or two on him. I'm not about to fight the guy who literally had 'Apex Predator That Hunts Humanity' written in his bio.
I do think Konoha could take Devas down if it ever came to a fight. Even if just to seal him… But at what cost? That guy could wipe out everything within a continental radius that wasn't top-tier jōnin — just by existing.
"Should we switch to the other mode?" Ma asked. I shook my head.
"Go ahead if you want. I'm not going back to his perspective even if you paid me." Maybe they weren't affected, but I sure as hell was.
Feeling every part of myself laid bare and understood in such a raw, primal way was not something I ever want to experience again. Ever.
It was like back when I was a genin and challenged sensei to fight for real. That sensation of being completely at someone's mercy, of potentially being erased from existence — it was the same.
Pa and Ma simply nodded and vanished from my shoulders, switching to the Shared Senses mode of Reality 4D. I looked around, not really grasping much of what was happening.
I could make out three blurs in the swirling mess of colors around me. Two vaguely humanoid, one circular. The circular thing was what Devas was fighting; the other two were Devas and Minato.
He couldn't tag Devas with the Hiraishin… So how the hell was he teleporting?
I shook my head, pulled out my phone, and adjusted my perception — a new option that had popped up today, for some reason. As I tweaked the settings, my senses sharpened, and the environment around me slowed down until I could finally process what was happening.
…Wish I couldn't.
The moment I laid eyes on that abomination, I felt my chakra recoil. Literally shrink back. Worse than being near Kushina when she let the fox's power loose.
The fox's chakra was poisonous, acidic, chaotic, cruel. It had enough killing intent to make even the nastiest ninja I'd met seem cuddly.
And then there was this thing.
It was just wrong. So unnatural. It radiated such vile energy that I didn't need to think, theorize, or analyze to know — that thing was never meant to exist. Not in Terraria. Not in any world.
Alien in every possible way. My chakra knew it. My body knew it.
"And here I was thinking giant chakra monsters were a problem…" Who would've thought the dangerous ninja world was the friendlier of the two…
I turned my focus back to Devas, starting to analyze him.
The first thing I noticed was his calm. That faint smile on his face, the clarity in his eyes — they looked almost pure, innocent.
Wrong. Way too wrong!
His movements were fluid. More fluid than when he fought the witch in Remnant. Every strike flowed into the next, never truly ending — like a… dance.
"A ridiculously versatile technique…" Too bad I never managed to create my own breathing style.
Pa and Ma were the ones who had the most success. Their Toad Breathing wasn't fully finished yet, but it was only a matter of time. Minato had more success than I did, too, though nowhere near the two elders.
I'll just wait and learn theirs when it's done. Easier that way.
But what really caught my eye was Devas's footwork. It was… weird, to say the least. It didn't seem stable, or controlled, or even logical.
But it worked. Way too well, actually.
The way he alternated — shifting between heel and ball of the foot — made it look like he was gliding through the air while being stuck to the ground at the same time.
It was, like everything else Devas did, bizarre.
[…]
POV: Anthony Stark
"Jarvis, what's the estimate?" I asked, forcing myself to stare at 'The Eye'.
Disgusting abomination. Might as well start getting used to these things now. If what Devas says is true — and pretty much everything he says is, except maybe his mental state — then I better start preparing.
Weird alien on their side, weird alien on mine.
"Insufficient data, Mr. Stark. Mana, nightmare energy, and Shadowflame values are not enough for an accurate calculation," Jarvis replied after a second, then added:
"However, based on rough estimates that the Hallucination Storm spans ten to twenty kilometers, with Mr. Devas's gravity magic output being fifty to a hundred times stronger than Earth's, and factoring in that the Shadowflame web managed to gather roughly 10% of the atomic mass within the storm…"
"The Proto-Planetary Core created by Mr. Devas is estimated to be between five and ten kilometers wide. Temperature: between one hundred thousand and 1.5 million degrees Celsius, with a burn duration ranging from ten thousand to one hundred thousand years..."
"That's enough energy to power one or two continents for a few millennia, right?" Pepper commented beside me. It had been a while since we watched a stream together.
Obie was probably watching from his cell. That conversation I had with him was… enlightening.
He seemed changed, but that alone didn't cut it. If it weren't for all the chaos Devas was currently dealing with, I would've asked him for advice by now.
Frankly, I had no idea what to do. Family issues were never my strong suit.
"More or less. Give or take a few continents, subtract or add a few hundred years, and that's probably about right…" I muttered, still thinking.
"You can just admit you don't know the answer, you know?"
I ignored her. I did know the answer — future me did, anyway.
Jarvis's calculations said the Proto-Planetary Core should last at least ten thousand years, but didn't Devas say it would only last an hour?…
I looked up. The Blood Moon seemed to stare back at me. Alone, in a Starless Sky.
I shivered slightly as a chill ran down my spine.
What the hell were these things, to suppress something that was supposed to last ten thousand years… in just an hour — or less?…
"Jarvis, note: ask Devas how to acquire knowledge of magic, arcane arts, or exotic knowledge in general." I said, turning to Jarvis.
He didn't have a real body — just a deep blue hologram with a butler's appearance. I noticed he had some of my features… and some of Devas's. When I asked him why, he simply said: "I based this look on the two greatest men I know."
I wondered if this was what being proud of a son felt like…
"Noted, Mr. Stark—"
▄▃▅▂▃▅▄▄▂▃▃▅▄▄▂
My vision blurred. The temperature plummeted. Whispers echoed from every direction — above, below, left, right, even from my shadow. Insane whispers. Animalistic mutters. Random words in languages I didn't recognize. Echoes of knowledge I couldn't begin — or want — to understand…
The voices were male, female, young, old. Not even voices, really. More like growls. Not even growls.
Colors became over-saturated. Black-and-red tendrils burst into my vision, along with dozens, hundreds, thousands of ravenous eyes…
It lasted maybe a second. Maybe two. But it felt much, much longer before everything snapped back to normal.
"What a shit system, what a shit power…" I muttered, pressing my hand to my forehead. Reflex. I didn't even have a headache, but it felt like I should.
The stream didn't just filter the sensation — it let you feel just enough of the real thing to know how utterly screwed you'd be if you were actually there… but still far enough to not be literally screwed.
And then it normalized everything.
"Is that what he sees and hears every time?…" Pepper's voice was both frightened and sad. "How is he even sane?…"
"I don't think he sees or hears that all the time." I also don't think he's actually sane — but that part went unsaid.
Good thing Pepper wasn't in the habit of using Shared Senses from Reality 4D. Seeing things from Devas's perspective right now was not something I'd wish on anything remotely human…
I shook my head, clearing those thoughts, and looked around.
The whole environment had completely changed. The blood-soaked plains, rivers of gore, zombies — all gone. Replaced by ice and shadows.
The eyes and the madness, though? Still there. I looked up.
The Starless Sky was still there too.
I turned my attention back to the fight. This was several degrees past my understanding of reality distortion, but I tried anyway.
Devas and his shadow fought in perfect sync. Mirrored movements, flawlessly combined attacks — a synchronization like computer code.
Even as a total martial arts layman, it was clear that what they were doing was impressive. It was like they shared a single mind.
Which, in retrospect, was probably true.
The physical part of the fight I could wrap my head around. The part where the Shadow Puppet — as Reality 4D had named it — began controlling the storm like it was part of its body, and 'The Eye' seemed to just ignore time and space altogether — that part went right over me.
Curiously — and disturbingly — Devas seemed like the most normal one there. Which was total BS. Not only were the shadow, the storm, and even Ozma — who had joined the fight in a Nightmare body — all his doing, but the way he just casually disregarded the constants of reality made my genius brain hurt.
Dragging that abomination back to some initial spawn point while muttering "One error cancels out another" didn't make sense — not even if you factored in magic!
But honestly, all that flew right out the window when I saw him pull something vaguely familiar out of the VoidBag.
"This the one?"
"Yeah, it is," Pepper replied. Jarvis followed up:
"Uranium-238. Judging by the size, I estimate anywhere from five hundred grams to one or two kilograms," he reported helpfully.
"I deny any and all accusations of influencing him!" I raised my hands as both Pepper and Jarvis turned to look at me.
Swear to God, he was already insane when I met him!
[...]
POV: Kazuma Satou
Considering that Devas created a sun — and I don't care what kind of crap he says, a sun is a sun — it was obvious he could make a "mini" version too.
I should have expected some crazy shit like this, seriously. He'd been making jokes about nukes for a while now.
But I didn't think this psychopath would actually go and detonate one! And he made it right in the palm of his fucking hand!
"Do you know what happens when you split a uranium-238 atom?!"
And the guy still had the audacity to drop a badass one-liner like that!
I swear, he's just been tossing out epic quotes left and right today for no reason! No context, no build-up — he literally went from "Let me create a creepy shadow version of myself" straight into "Time to start dropping feats and lines like I'm in a highlight reel."
I grabbed my face and dragged it down.
"Why can't I do that?! It should've been me!" I yelled — at the floor. I wasn't crazy enough to look back up at the moon.
Or the weird giant eye. Or the Storm. Or the Starless Sky.
In fact, I'd been staring at the ground for a while now…
And the worst part of all this? The goddamn Three Stooges!
Aqua was having some kind of meltdown. She lasted maybe three minutes in Reality 4D before bailing completely. I went to check on her just to make sure she wasn't out blowing our money on booze.
I found her curled up on her bed, trembling and muttering things like: "The starless void isn't real!" and "Humanity doesn't have orange eyes!"
First of all: Devas and that freaky eye gave a goddess PTSD — without even trying!
Second: isn't the stream supposed to prevent crap like this?! I thought this thing was supposed to be safe! What the hell am I even paying for?!
And out of the three, Aqua was the least concerning. I was pretty sure she'd recover eventually — a drink or two usually resets her factory settings.
But the masochistic crusader apparently discovered something while she was in Devas's perspective. I don't know what, and I didn't touch that crap to find out. I knew something was going to happen.
The guy's already weird when things are normal — and when things go abnormal? I seriously considered skipping the stream today.
The color orange has been feeling way too dangerous lately…
I don't know what Darkness saw, but the fact she was drooling — from two places — while whispering, "He knows everything about me… he knows how filthy and sinful I am…" and rubbing her thighs?
Yeah, not a great sign.
On the bright side: the stream did block her from accessing Shared Senses. Something about it being dangerous for her mental health.
I was right not to stare into the orange eyes of the abyss.
Megumin was my surprise — well, not really a surprise. When Devas pulled a nuke out of his bag, I already expected things to go south. But her just fainting really caught me off guard.
She literally just passed out. No weird moaning like Darkness, no hysterical rambling like Aqua.
Devas went "Boom!" and she dropped backward with her eyes still open. Like her brain just decided, Nope, and flipped the switch.
Seriously, this Reality 4D thing? False advertising.
There's nothing safe about it!
[…]
POV: Saya Takagi
I was way past the point of just being stressed. Anger and stress were things of the past!
It was like my emotions had done a full 360. I wasn't even mad anymore — I was just… in disbelief.
How did things escalate this fast?! A sun. He created a sun just to passively counter 'The Eye'!
He threw a nuclear bomb at the thing and it somehow got stronger! The stream wasn't even showing it anymore — said the exposure was too dangerous!
… A FUCKING SUN!
"I'm going to kill that pathetic bitch of a dryad…" I growled.
She was supposed to be helping! I felt her power — she was literally beyond compare. And yet she just hid like a cowardly mutt and left everything to him!
"You're gonna have a stroke if you keep this up," Rei commented beside me. I growled at her.
… Okay, maybe I lied about not being stressed.
"Is she, uh… on her period or something?" I heard Takashi mutter under his breath to Hirano.
Not low enough.
Hirano, being slightly less of an idiot, chose to say nothing and just backed away with his girlfriend, sweating bullets.
I ignored the dumbass shounen protagonist and locked eyes with Rei.
"Gave up already?"
"Didn't you give him permission to have a harem?"
"You're the only one with zero chance of being in it."
"You're gonna go bald if you keep this up. Did something bite you?"
This little—
"Saya-sama," Saeko stepped in, placing a hand on my shoulder. "I understand your concern. We all feel it. But please try to calm down — it's bad for your health, and it won't help anything."
I turned to her. I wanted to scream, to say no one seemed worried. But that was a lie… I knew them well enough to see it — they just had different ways of showing it.
Saeko was squeezing the hilt of her katana with her free hand. Her face was unusually calm — like a statue.
Rei was biting the inside of her cheek, glancing around like she was hoping to find some magical solution.
Takashi kept cracking his knuckles and could barely stand still. Probably wanting to train more so he could "help Aniki."
Hirano was holding his girlfriend like that alone would somehow give him answers. His other hand trembled near his waist like he was about to draw a weapon.
"I don't…" I took a deep breath. Then another. I needed to calm down. "You're right… sorry…"
"And I told you to just call me Saya." She just gave a faint smile and said nothing. She did that on purpose…
Good thing Alice-chan wasn't here. My mom was looking after her and would block the stream if needed.
Actually, most kids were banned from using Reality 4D. It was hard to supervise, but Devas had helped a bit. The Pylon had some kind of list that let us keep a vague eye on things.
"It's just…" I started, looking at Devas, who was fighting against literal nothingness. His muscles were spasming. His whole body shook and glitched like a static-filled old TV.
His left eye was bleeding, along with his forehead and palms. The blood didn't stop — it evaporated, thanks to the heat radiating off him. It just dripped slowly, like bloody tears…
Even the Shadow Puppet — because I refused to call that thing by his name — had been affected. It had lost an eye.
But what bothered me most… was that peaceful smile. That pure look in his eyes, that strange innocence…
It didn't feel right…
That wasn't him…
It was wrong. Deeply, horribly wrong.
"…I want to take the coast back by next week," I said after a tense silence. "It's been a month. Let's clear out the zombies and start reclaiming part of Japan."
"What's the rush?" Saeko was the one who asked, but I could feel everyone's eyes on me.
"We're useless. We're not going to be able to help him." I said it flatly, without hesitation. It was the purest truth. No one disagreed, even if their faces tensed up. "So the least we can do is not cause more trouble."
"Devas will return to our world. It's not if, it's when," I added. "So the least we can do is not make more of a mess for him to clean up."
Again, no one disagreed.
After I spoke, silence fell and everyone went back to watching the fight. The one who broke it, unfortunately, was Rei.
She nudged me in the ribs and said:
"You really are grumpy lately… You need to fuck."
No one responded. This time, I didn't disagree.
Sun Breathing or not, regeneration or not — I didn't care.
I was going to drain Devas. And if not that, at least wear him down…
Three days. That was the minimum amount of time the bedroom door was staying locked.
[...]
POV: Third Person
As the world around him began to blur, Zhou Mingrui's eyes met darkness—only for it to suddenly erupt into blinding sunlight.
He blinked slowly, still processing the last bits of information he had absorbed, then looked around.
He was still standing in the middle of his apartment.
"It was like a dream... What the heck was that foggy world...? Who or what kind of power caused those changes..." Zhou Mingrui muttered softly. Utterly confused, he walked over to his study desk as if his legs were weighed down with lead.
He picked up the pocket watch he had left outside, hoping to figure out how much time had passed.
"Time flowed at the same pace," Zhou Mingrui estimated.
Setting the watch down, he could no longer bear the headache. He slumped into his chair and lowered his head, rubbing his temples with his left thumb and middle finger.
After a long moment, he suddenly let out a sigh and murmured in Mandarin:
"Looks like I won't be going back anytime soon…"
Only the ignorant could remain fearless. After witnessing something so otherworldly—learning of Beyonders and the hidden world—Zhou Mingrui no longer dared to recklessly attempt any luck-enhancing rituals in ancient Feysac or Loen.
"At the very least, I'll wait until I have a firm grasp of mysticism," he thought with a bitter smile.
Thankfully, the Gathering could offer him some guidance.
After another long silence, he spoke again, voice heavy with discouragement, disappointment, pain, and regret:
"From this moment on… I am Klein."
[…]
Just as he was about to stand, drained and defeated, Zhou Mingrui—now Klein Moretti—felt an odd weight in his front pocket.
His mind had been too foggy to notice it before, but as he moved to rise, it was impossible to ignore. A rectangular shape… strangely familiar.
Frowning, Klein absentmindedly felt the shape through the fabric. The next second, his eyes widened and his entire body froze.
Slowly, he pulled the object out with trembling hands, his eyes brimming with hope.
A smartphone?! How did I not realize this before? Since when have I had this? Was it the strange world above the gray fog? Or something else entirely?! Is this my golden finger or part of that eerie world?
No… That doesn't make sense. Calm down! Too much is happening today…
Taking a deep breath, Klein forced himself to stay still for ten long seconds. It didn't help much. He couldn't wait any longer—he needed to turn the device on.
Gripping the phone with both hands—far tighter than necessary—he feared that if he loosened his hold, it would vanish like mist.
He pressed the button on the right side. The screen lit up.
Klein went stiff when a bizarre orange-eyed pupil stared back at him.
Don't move!
That was the only thought pounding through his aching head. His exhausted body seemed to find a second wind—not to run, but to remain utterly still.
A heartbeat later, the eye vanished, replaced by words in Mandarin:
[Enter the nickname you wish to use for this system.]
Klein exhaled in relief.
What the hell was that...? It felt like I was about to die—no, worse. It felt like I wasn't even allowed to exist if that eye decided I shouldn't. That was terrifying...
What once seemed like salvation now looked suspiciously like a monkey's paw.
Why does this feel more like I've made a deal with the Devil? Can I just toss this golden finger away? The world above the gray fog honestly feels more reliable right now...
Reluctantly, Klein placed the phone on the desk and stared at it. Of all the thoughts crowding his mind, only one truly stood out:
Should I...?
Only the ignorant could be fearless. After witnessing not one, but two supernatural events and learning of the mysterious world of Beyonders, Klein hesitated to tempt fate a second time.
I got lucky once. Twice might be pushing it.
Rubbing his temple, Klein counted to ten. Then ten again. And once more.
Only after a full thirty seconds did he decide: he had to take the risk.
Moving before hesitation or fear could overtake his body, Klein grabbed the phone. His fingers slid deftly across the acrylic screen.
He was a seasoned keyboard warrior—but that didn't mean he wasn't used to touchscreens!
What nickname should I use? The same one from the Gathering? That could completely ruin my persona if it's discovered. But… who would even discover it?
Maybe I could pretend to be Mr. Fool, wherever this phone leads. Some sort of chatroom, maybe? I've read stories like that before. Or could it be connected to Earth's internet?!
As his thoughts grew more animated with each new possibility, Klein made his choice.
His fingers moved again, finally typing:
[Mr.Fool]
It took less than a second for the words to vanish—but for Klein, it felt like ten... no, twenty!
When the message disappeared, something familiar popped up on screen: a stream.
He recognized several standard elements: a chat panel to the right, a gear icon—likely for settings—small emoticon buttons...
But none of that caught his attention.
The moment the stream started, his wide eyes glued themselves to the screen.
His body trembled, cold sweat soaking his back.
Fuck! This guy is the owner of that weird orange eye! Now there are two of them! And he's armed with magic swords!
A Beyonder? An immortal? A mage? He's unbelievably fast too!
Almost hissing under his breath, Klein barely stopped himself from throwing the phone across the room. Fearing his body would act on its own, he gripped the device tightly.
Steadying himself, he shook his head and forced his eyes back to the scene.
The man with the orange eyes had a tattoo on his forehead: something resembling a sun, surrounded by twelve triangles, with two wavy lines on either side.
He wore a strange deer mask. In his left hand, he wielded a violet ice sword—single-edged, just over a meter long, maybe close to one and a half.
In his right, a dual-edged ornamental blade. The dark gray metal shimmered with violet fire.
His left eye was bleeding, the crimson liquid trickling slowly. Klein noticed the drop fell unnaturally slow—odd, considering how quickly the man was moving.
The environment around him was nearly a blur. But from what little Klein could make out, it looked hostile: dead, twisted trees. Some bled, oozing clots and eyes. Others were made of shadow and eyes. Still others, ice and eyes. And fire and eyes.
Why the hell does everything have eyes?! And why does the crimson moonlight here feel so much more terrifying than mine?!
He quickly looked away, afraid one of the eyes might turn to meet his—or worse, leap off the screen. Klein turned to the chat.
The messages were in Mandarin. For a moment, he assumed they were all members of the Food-Crazy Empire, but he quickly realized that wasn't quite right.
The way they write doesn't remind me of Chinese stream chats. And the usernames… I don't recognize them, but some feel weirdly familiar.
The chat was fast—all three were. Even the slowest moved too quickly for Klein to read more than one or two lines at a time.
His eyes caught one in particular before it vanished into the flood of text:
[MoonPrincess]: This princess is quite curious to see how you'll slay that abomination. Be swift, Devas. I do not wish to look upon such a creature a second longer.
(Emote of a princess smiling behind a fan.)
Klein recoiled internally at the message.
Is this person a chūnibyō, maybe? …No, I shouldn't assume that. Mystery is normal in this world. This MoonPrincess could very well be an actual princess, not a "youthful" thirty-year-old-man living in her mom's basement…
That is—if this phone is even broadcasting something from this world. It might be from an entirely different one! I transmigrated once already—others could've gone through the same!
With that thought, Klein couldn't help but feel a bit of kinship with The Human, whom he assumed was the man fighting—and likely, the streamer.
Looks like our situations are similar… But the way you act is that of a veteran transmigrator! Your situation also seems way more miserable than mine…
Was I lucky, then? The world I landed in is full of mysteries—and probably dangers—but Senior Devas seems to be fighting for his life against some invisible nightmare...
After a few more moments of reflection, Klein concluded: he had been lucky!
The fantastic battle raged on. Klein couldn't make sense of most of it—not only because of his lingering headache and fatigue, which were slightly eased by the excitement.
No—Klein couldn't understand it because everything, beyond the swords, felt overwhelmingly magical and unfamiliar!
Preparing to type a message into the chat, Klein wondered which of the three it would appear in. If this stream worked like the ones he knew, one chat was likely for beggars, another for nobles, and the last for kings and queens.
Klein knew he was a beggar.
But before he could start typing, his body froze again. A sharp jolt of pain stabbed through his left eye the moment the creature The Human was fighting struck.
It was a blur of white and black, partially censored with polygonal filters—Klein could only vaguely make out the outline of what seemed like a giant sphere... or an eye.
Given everything he'd seen, he was willing to bet it was a giant eye.
Why is it censored? Is it because of the pain it caused my eye? Can this thing hurt me just by being seen?! That's terrifying!
Wait... Does that mean I could die just from watching this?!
Klein had another deep urge to fling the phone away.
Taking a deep breath to calm himself, he hesitated to keep watching… but eventually did.
The enemy's censored, so the stream must have some kind of filter to protect the viewers...
Clinging to that thought, Klein continued watching.
From the way The Human was positioned, Klein guessed he was gripping something with his left hand—or perhaps he had shoved it into something.
Into the creature's iris, maybe… But it looked wrong, like the thing was trying to eat him... Klein shivered at the mental image: an eye with a mouth. Disgusting.
The next moment, while Klein watched, golden chains burst from The Human's shadow and pierced the enemy. They slithered like angry serpents, driving through the creature's pale flesh.
Then, a massive arrow slammed into the censored body. Klein couldn't gauge its size precisely, but based on the impact, he guessed it was over two meters long.
...And with that, Klein's headache vanished.
Like a revitalizing balm, the moment he saw the light in The Human's hand, his body surged with energy. Not relaxation—but readiness.
His headache felt meaningless. His tired limbs felt recharged. His senses sharpened.
A final, desperate stand.
That sword… Have I seen it before?… It feels familiar…
He felt it in his chest. A resonance. Not visual, but instinctive—like something within the sword echoed with the core of his being.
Then, The Human's voice rang out:
"I shall bring an end to this bloodstained night..."
"I shall bring an end to this nightmare..."
With each word, Klein felt something inside him stir. His despair and sorrow ebbed.
"You, invader from beyond..."
"Eye of the Moon that threatens this planet..."
"Look closely—
and witness the weight of fear that saved the final flame!"
A chant—yet also a declaration. Klein knew it, somehow. Not precisely, but it was something he felt had always been within him.
"This is not the light of salvation..."
"It is the flare of a world that refuses to die!"
"Then burn—" The words escaped Klein's lips like hounds on a scent. A firm whisper.
"Then burn—"
"…burn with the sins of humanity."
"…burn with the sins of humanity!"
And then, the name—
The name of the personification of humanity's desperate will to survive was proclaimed.
"Excalibur Asura!!"
And the moonlight of that world was crimson no more.
[...]---[...]
Well, this is the last POV chapter; next time, we'll get back to normal.
I won't go on too much here. If you have any questions, just leave a comment, and I'll do my best to answer.
Before you crucify me, the opinions and ideas expressed in the characters' POVs are based on their own understanding of what they're seeing — not the actual truth.
The French girl has her own ideas, don't blame me!
Well, as always, have a good night and enjoy the reading!