Eriri slowly opened her eyes, feeling the changes within her body, and couldn't help but smile.
Although she had previously learned some things about Level 9 abilities through her Omniscient Power, only after truly stepping into Level 9 did she fully understand the unimaginable gap that existed between Level 9 and everything below it.
Now, with a single thought, she could overturn the entire multiverse, reducing all realms to nothingness—or, just as easily, create countless multiverses of equal scale.
The rules and laws that governed all of existence no longer had any effect on her. In fact, she completely controlled—and even far surpassed—them all.
Even the fixed rule of the Void Space, which allowed only nine Cosmic Beasts to exist, could be effortlessly broken by her. With a mere thought, she could create an infinite number of Cosmic Beasts within the Void Space.
Even constructs like the Main God Space were things she could casually recreate—infinitely so.
As for the special universes that once barred her entry, they now stood before her as plain and open as any ordinary cosmos.
Perhaps only Eriri could reach such a level. But since there were no other normal Level 9 beings across the multiverse for comparison, she had no idea just how far above the "average" Level 9 she truly stood.
At that moment, Little Skirt's excited voice echoed in her mind.
"Ooooh! As expected of Onee-sama! You've already ascended to Level 9—this is amazing!!!"
"This is such a momentous day! No, I must announce this good news to the entire chat group!"
As soon as she said that, system notifications began ringing out across the chat group.
[Ding! Congratulations to group member Eriri (Level 9) for successfully ascending to Level 9!]
[Ding! Congratulations to group member Eriri (Level 9) for successfully ascending to Level 9!!]
[Ding! Congratulations to group member Eriri (Level 9) for successfully ascending to Level 9!!!]
[Onee-sama is the best!]
A flurry of system messages immediately drew every group member's attention.
Since Eriri had already informed them of her impending evolution before it began, no one was particularly surprised—but excitement and joy filled every message that followed.
A stream of congratulatory messages flooded the chat, every word radiating genuine happiness.
[Arifureta (Level 7, Stage 5 / Group Leader): I thought the breakthrough would take ages, but it ended so quickly!]
[Arifureta (Level 7, Stage 5 / Group Leader): I'm seriously so excited right now!!!]
[Chika Fujiwara (Level 7, Stage 2): Same here! The moment I realized Eriri had reached Level 9, I couldn't stop laughing!]
[Chika Fujiwara (Level 7, Stage 2): I'm still in class right now, and everyone's giving me weird looks...]
[Asuna Yuuki (Level 7, Stage 2): Hehe, same for me~ I even stood up suddenly, and the teacher thought something was wrong. So embarrassing.]
[Arifureta (Level 7, Stage 5 / Group Leader): Enough talk—let's celebrate with a red packet!]
[Ding! Arifureta (Level 7, Stage 5 / Group Leader) has sent a Lucky Red Packet.]
Overjoyed, Arifureta didn't hold back at all, sending out a total of 100 billion points—one-tenth of her entire fortune.
The moment the red packet appeared, more than half of it was claimed instantly.
Seeing the sheer amount of points inside, everyone was stunned. For some members, their entire wealth didn't even amount to 100 billion.
[Elaina (Level 7, Stage 2): What generosity! Sending that many points all at once!]
[Kanae Kocho (Level 7, Stage 2): In that case, I'll send one too to celebrate!]
[Jibril (Level 7, Stage 2): Of course, I can't miss this! My master ascending to Level 9 is a monumental event—I must send a red packet as well!]
Kanae Kocho and Jibril's messages were like sparks to a fuse, igniting a frenzy of red packet celebrations in the chat.
One after another, red packets were continuously sent out by the members of the group. Even those with very few points, such as Aoyama Nanami and others, offered half of what they had.
Of course, the amount they sent was so little that they could easily earn it back by claiming just one large red packet—especially since there were many massive ones beyond the one Arifureta had sent.
[Eriri (Level 9): Thank you all for your warm congratulations. Once I'm done handling a few things here in the Void Space, let's hold a grand banquet to celebrate!]
[Chika Fujiwara (Level 7, Stage 2): Yay! For something this big, we should totally celebrate for seven days and seven nights! I can come anytime!]
[Kaguya Shinomiya (Level 7, Stage 2): That's a great idea. I agree.]
[Arifureta (Level 7, Stage 5 / Group Leader): I second that.]
[Ruri Gokou (Level 7, Stage 2): I'm in too!]
[Emilia (Level 7, Stage 1): +1 +1]
[...]
[Eriri (Level 9): Alright, since everyone's on board, let's have a seven-day, seven-night banquet!]
[Eriri (Level 9): As for the time… let's make it tomorrow!]
Eriri's declaration reignited everyone's enthusiasm, and soon, the chat was filled with ideas and excitement about how to spend the seven-day celebration.
Eriri joined in the discussion from time to time, though even while chatting, she began to focus on the purpose of her visit to the Void Space.
...
Sweeping her consciousness across the Void Space, Eriri instantly located the Main God and the nine Cosmic Beasts.
The Main God was still tirelessly searching for the Beasts' whereabouts, but based on their locations and movement paths, even if it searched for another hundred years, it would never encounter the nearest Cosmic Beast.
At this point, Eriri had already become the true master of the Void Space—and by extension, the master of the nine Cosmic Beasts themselves.
If she wished, those nine Beasts could move according to her will. Whether she wanted them to invade a particular universe or do something that defied their inherent laws, it was all within her power.
Eriri didn't make the Beasts appear directly within the Main God's detection range. Instead, she altered the course of the one closest to it, guiding it to move toward the Main God's scanning area.
At their current speeds, it wouldn't take long before the Cosmic Beast entered the Main God's detection field.
During that waiting period, Eriri planned to visit some of the special universes herself.
Not only to witness the anime worlds she once knew so well from her past life, but also to explore the cultivation universes—to see firsthand what differences existed between them.
But before any of that, the seven-day, seven-night banquet had to come first.
Having arranged the coming encounter between the Cosmic Beast and the Main God, Eriri didn't leave the Void Space immediately. Instead, she decided to address Little Skirt's situation first.
After all, Little Skirt had accompanied her for so long—always obedient and cheerful, calling her "Onee-sama" in that sweet voice every day.
Naturally, Eriri wouldn't forget her. She intended to help Little Skirt ascend to Supreme-class.
So, she initiated a mental conversation with her.
"Little Skirt, are you ready?"
"Ready?"
Hearing Eriri's sudden voice, Little Skirt—who had been watching the group chat with interest—was momentarily confused.
But being quick-witted, she soon realized what Eriri meant, and her heart immediately leapt with excitement.
"Onee-sama, are you talking about… my Supreme-class ascension?"
Just to be sure, she voiced her guess aloud.
Eriri smiled softly and used her thoughts to manifest a hand, gently patting Little Skirt's head.
"That's right. Are you ready to ascend to Supreme-class?"
"Always ready!"
Without a moment's hesitation, Little Skirt shouted energetically, her face glowing with uncontrollable joy.
"In that case, let's begin."
The moment she said that, Eriri unleashed her immense power, enveloping Little Skirt's core light sphere—instantly causing her manifested form to fade away.
For all system-type existences, the requirements to ascend from High-Level Advanced to Supreme-class were extraordinarily harsh—it wasn't something that could be achieved merely by successfully fusing with cosmic energy.
A system could only ascend to Supreme-class with the aid of a Level 9 being.
The process generally went like this: the system nurtures its host to reach Level 8, Stage 9; then, the host cooperates with other beings of similar level to defeat a Cosmic Beast; after that, the host successfully fuses with cosmic energy and ascends to Level 9. Once that happens, the newly ascended host feeds back their power into the system, helping it to evolve and reach Supreme-class.
This was the fundamental reason why all systems had to bind themselves to hosts—without such a bond, ascending to Supreme-class was impossible.
If there wasn't a strong emotional connection between the system and its host, then once the host ascended to Level 9, there was always a chance they would abandon the system entirely.
Only when the two supported and trusted each other mutually did they have even the faintest hope of ascending together—to Level 9 and Supreme-class.
From these strict conditions, it wasn't hard to see why the Main God Space had virtually no chance of ever reaching Supreme-class.
The Main God's training of Reincarnators was completely devoid of emotion. Even if it could forcibly control Level 8, Stage 9 Reincarnators, that control would inevitably fail once they ascended to Level 9. When that happened, destruction would await the Main God—and possibly even its successor.
Thus, the grand plan it had crafted over countless years to subjugate the Cosmic Beasts was ultimately nothing but a delusion.
Unless it completely changed its method of nurturing Reincarnators—which, without any source of external information, it could never know—it would remain doomed to failure.
At that moment, as Little Skirt began her evolution, a system notification echoed through the chat group.
[Ding! The chat group is evolving. Estimated time: unknown. All functions are temporarily disabled during the evolution period.]
As soon as the message appeared, all members felt as though they had been kicked out of the chat group, unable to sense its presence anymore.
This sudden change caused some panic among them at first—but soon they remembered the existence of the World Gates, and their worries quickly subsided.
Although Eriri could have forced the chat group to continue operating—or even created a new communication network from scratch—she chose not to.
It was only a temporary communication interruption, nothing serious. Moreover, since the worlds of all members were already interconnected through the World Gates, they could easily chat online through LINE or similar networks.
After confirming all was in order, Eriri finally decided to leave the Void Space.
Now that she had reached Level 9, she could freely teleport anywhere within the multiverse or the void, instantly arriving at any location she desired.
So rather than opening a spatial passage as she had ten days ago, she simply willed herself to vanish from the Void Space.
...
In the Saekano world, the afternoon sun had already passed four o'clock. Arifureta and the others had long since returned home from school.
Meanwhile, Irisviel and Artoria—who had been out shopping—ended their outing as soon as they received news from Arifureta that Eriri had successfully ascended to Level 9.
They knew that with Eriri's new strength, handling the Main God's affairs would be as simple as lifting a finger. In fact, they suspected she might return before they even made it home.
Sure enough, as Arifureta and the others gathered at the same spot where Eriri had vanished ten days ago—waiting expectantly for the appearance of a spatial rift—Eriri's figure suddenly appeared before them.
However, since they had seen her teleportation before, their momentary surprise quickly gave way to excitement.
"Eriri, welcome home!"
The first to react was Arifureta, who immediately spread her arms and ran toward Eriri.
"Yue-chan, I'm home~"
Eriri laughed softly, opening her arms to catch the girl who leapt into her embrace, the two pressing close together affectionately.
"Ah, that's not fair, Yue-nee! I want a hug from Eriri too!"
"Yeah, me too!"
Seeing Arifureta's head start, the group of little girls all pouted and surrounded the two.
"Hehe~ You can't blame me for reacting faster~" Arifureta said smugly, glancing proudly at the pouting girls while still clinging tightly to Eriri.
"Hmph! That's just because you're stronger than us. Totally cheating!"
Illya stood nearby with her hands on her hips, looking up at Arifureta with mock indignation, her delicate little face filled with playful defiance.
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