Higher above that filthy, run down alley, there were houses and apartment buildings. Even higher were skyscrapers, and higher still, the star filled night sky.
Higher than the starry sky here, and even higher than the starry sky Kaito was looking at, was the nearly infinite expanse of space.
But if you looked even higher, beyond even the universe itself, you would find a strange place.
A place that existed outside of all existence, a place that looked like a mixture of crystal and stars, as if everything there had been made from the universe itself.
At that moment, around a kind of round table made of solidified darkness, several mysterious beings were gathered, their faces and even their figures impossible to make out.
"What happened? Why are we having an emergency meeting at this hour?" one of them complained lazily.
"It's important" said the tallest among them, the one who had called the meeting.
"Saksin, if you're the one calling an emergency meeting then..."
"That's right, it has to do with the plan and the protagonist" finished the being now identified as Saksin.
"Does it have something to do with Yuno?" another one asked in a joking tone.
"Antaka? How do you know that?" Saksin asked.
"Who knows?" Antaka replied, pretending ignorance.
"Antaka, this isn't the time for jokes! You know how serious this is."
"Now then, calm down, both of you" another interrupted. "Saksin, tell us what's happening."
"Yojaka" Saksin said respectfully, revealing the higher position of the one he was addressing. "It's an important matter. It concerns our plan, something has gone wrong."
Upon hearing this, not only did Yojaka become serious, but everyone else straightened their posture and paid attention.
It was far too important, after all, and deserved to be treated with the seriousness it warranted.
"Are you sure? I spent centuries designing the plan, every part has thousands of historical backups to ensure everything follows the intended path."
"Look at this" Saksin said, preferring to show them rather than explain.
Immediately, the void above the table seemed to open, revealing images. They showed the life of an ordinary boy, albeit a somewhat unfortunate one, and his daily routine.
The strangest part was the life he had lived from the age of five to eighteen, when everything changed completely because of certain events. But since those present had planned everything from the beginning, none of them were surprised.
However, in Saksin's images, they could see how this seemingly ordinary boy, after turning eighteen, was now interacting with a pink haired girl.
"Yuno Gasai?" Yojaka asked in surprise before becoming even more serious. "What is she doing in the main universe, and more importantly, why is she interacting with the protagonist? This could derail the entire plan."
"That... I don't know either" Saksin apologized.
His role was to ensure that the entire universe followed the plan to the letter. However, while monitoring it, a girl who should not exist in this universe suddenly appeared right in front of the monitored subject. He had not even had time to react before they interacted.
"I know" Antaka's ever playful voice broke the tense atmosphere.
"I thought only Saksin had permission to monitor Earth. How do you know?" Yojaka asked.
"Well, it's a funny story, you know?" Antaka laughed. "Turns out that while I was watching over the soul realm like always, one soul left."
"It left?" Yojaka frowned.
"That's right. I followed it to see what was happening, and it turned out someone had resurrected it just to make his girlfriend happy. Do you know the shock that gave me? The Lords are only on the seventh world, and one of them can already resurrect people? That's insane.
But guess what? It gets even worse.
I became interested in this guy, so I kept watching him for a while. Can you believe that after leaving, he used divinity to keep that world going even without himself there? And you should see his territory, it's ridiculous for someone at this stage.
You all like talking about how you planned everything and nothing can go wrong, but trust me, you didn't plan for this person. And if anyone can interfere with our plans... it's him.
Just as I predicted, he did. I'll show you what happened."
Like Saksin before him, Antaka projected his memories, showing the previous scene between Yuno and Kaito in the Mirai Nikki world.
When it ended, everyone remained silent for a while.
At first, Saksin wanted to argue, to ask why Antaka had not stopped it. But after seeing the scene, it was obvious there had been no way. Even setting aside the fact that interfering would have violated the rules, there had been no way to predict that the girl would disappear and appear right in front of the protagonist.
"Looks like it's my turn" one of them said as he stood up.
"Oh? Earth, you're going to act?" Antaka joked with a grin.
"'Kartr'! My name is Kartr, don't call me what humans call me" the being complained irritably.
"Wait, Kartr, you know how dangerous it is to act. It could ruin all our plans. Even if you're the one in charge of intervening when necessary, we still have to decide whether it really is necessary" Yojaka stopped him.
"Whether it's necessary? You saw his strength, he's completely outside our plans. Not only that, he's the same race as this universe's guardian. He's already interfered with our plans once, we can't let him do it again. Either we kill him now or we'll regret it later. I won't make the same mistake again."
"No" a female voice interrupted, silencing everyone.
"Dayalu, do you even understand..."
"I do" Dayalu interrupted. "But if we kill someone just because we're afraid, what happens next time?
From the beginning we knew that, even with Yojaka reviewing the plan millions of times, things could still go off course. Isn't that your role, Kartr? To fix those deviations? If we kill someone today just because they don't follow our plans, what will we do when it happens again? Perhaps by the time we're done, there won't be anyone left to save.
Killing him isn't the solution."
"But still..."
"Kartr" Dayalu interrupted again, this time with a much more serious voice.
He immediately fell silent.
"Although I agree that killing him isn't the solution" Yojaka broke the silence, "I still believe he should be punished."
"Punish someone who doesn't even know what he did?" Dayalu asked.
"He knows. You saw Antaka's memories. He knows the importance of the protagonist and our plans. It will be a warning, that he must be careful about what he does. He may go off script, as long as it doesn't affect the protagonist's script.
His freedom ends where the protagonist's begins."
"...Fine" Dayalu finally gave in. "Then let's decide the punishment."
"Let's send him to the cemetery for a thousand years. That will also ensure he doesn't interfere with the chosen one" Yojaka said, having already decided before speaking.
"Sounds good to me."
"I agree."
"Appropriate."
"It'd be funny if he escaped before then, so I'm in."
"I don't agree... but I'll give in this once."
...
Meanwhile, Kaito had no idea what kind of trouble he had caused, nor that a discussion about him was taking place on a plane separate from existence.
He simply returned to Gaia, sat on the throne, and began checking his rewards.
"Kind of disappointing" he said after reading everything.
[Disappointing?]
"Yeah. Honestly, I was hoping for something that would let me somehow find the Shadow Beasts I killed before. Maybe something that lets me travel to dead universes.
Killing those things would make my level skyrocket."
[I think you should be worrying about something else.]
"...Yeah, I have to look for Yuno. Do you know what the consequences are of canceling the card earlier?"
[I don't. Not much time has passed, so there are very few cards like that, very few people have used one, and only one has ever canceled it.]
"And that one is me, huh?" Kaito sighed. "Looks like all I can do is wait and see."
As he was thinking that, the doors to the hall opened and all of his Sub Lords entered, looking worried.
When they saw him sitting there, they all showed expressions of relief.
But it didn't last long. They couldn't even greet him before everything began to tremble while thunder roared across the heavens, as though a storm had appeared despite the perfectly clear sky. Even the sun seemed to dim its light in reverence to the being that was about to appear.
The sky itself, not outer space but the sky, began cracking like glass, and from the opening that formed, an enormous face emerged. It was completely azure, as though made of water, with waves forming its facial features.
This scene was not limited to that location. It was a crack in the sky visible from thousands of kilometers away, and even then it looked tiny compared to the face peering through it, of which only a fraction could be seen through the crack.
One could only imagine how enormous the rest of that being's body truly was.
While everyone stood frozen in shock, the titan began to speak.
"Lucifer, current World Rank Number One Lord, you have interfered with the protagonist and disrupted plans greater than your very existence.
Your punishment has been decided. You are sentenced to spend one thousand years in the cemetery."
After saying that, the titan withdrew, leaving behind a glimpse of the universe itself, which was quickly concealed as the crack in the sky repaired itself within seconds.
On the ground, Kaito did not react dramatically. He simply frowned upon hearing those words, realizing that even knowing the future, it was truly difficult to avoid it.
"Kaito."
Kaito turned and found Mashiro looking at him with worried eyes, almost on the verge of tears.
Behind her stood everyone else, Koneko, Ai, Shiho, Kaguya, Lala, Chika, Hope, Megumi, Diane, Kirito, Asuma, Hikigaya, Miura, Arima, Kaori, Gwen, Mio, Maria, Meliodas, Elizabeth, Ban, Elaine, King, Escanor.
Too many people, some looking at him sadly, others with concern, some with confidence, others with love.
Seeing them, Yuuji could only smile. Before he had even realized it, he had gathered quite a large group.
"It's okay, you all said it before, didn't you? I'll come back" he said with a confident smile.
"Kai..." Koneko did not finish speaking before the person standing in front of her vanished in a white light, leaving behind nothing but a small handheld game console that fell heavily onto the floor.
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+15 chapters in advance on Patreon.
p-atreon.com/IAMME26
(just delete the hyphen)
80 power stones = 1 extra chapter (cumulative)