[Kirei Kotomine (narrator): without wanting to play the killjoy, I find your last action pointless and a pure waste.]
[Doma: indeed, you used a wish, why? People who wanted you dead, haha that's not even bad for me~]
[The Void: I never thought I'd say this one day, but I agree with the other two.]
Even though Sukuna had reconnected during the fight, he didn't voice his opinion.
Doma stayed calm, standing in an immaculate white room.
According to the System, this place is a transition zone where he can choose what to keep under the System's influence or not.
If Doma decides to keep an item under the System's influence, the item won't lose its powers and won't be affected by other world laws.
On the other hand, if he doesn't keep it under the System's influence…
'The item and power obtained in the other world may become stronger depending on the future places I'll go to, or become useless,' he analyzed, before Hlökk lightly tugged on his sleeve.
"Where are we? I thought you were taking me home?!" she said, in a slightly high-pitched and annoyed voice.
"Stop saying things like that. It sounds weird, my dear Hlökk," after these words, he stroked the irritated valkyrie's head.
"Stop messing up my hair!! It's hard to maintain my hair, Gré," Hlökk removed his hand from her head before moving a bit away from him while grumbling.
A cute action due to the valkyrie's appearance.
Doma sketched a smile and decided to explain a bit, but without explicitly mentioning the System.
Even though he's compatible with Hlökk, Doma prefers to avoid revealing too many secrets.
"We're indeed on our way home, but we need a short break to avoid bad surprises," he said in an honest tone.
Hlökk didn't understand the meaning of "bad surprises," but decided to trust Doma.
She had already said it in the amphitheater: he and she are now bound.
The loli knew Doma was avoiding the details because he found it embarrassing on several levels.
So, she didn't push him.
An act appreciated by the ice demon, since Hlökk respected his private space.
[defiant demon: indeed, I wasted a precious resource. However, I don't regret my action]
Doma sketched a fake smile toward the live stream after expressing his viewpoint on the matter.
It's true that the temporal wish was an extremely valuable reward on several levels.
Seeing Tatsumi Taiga and his son Mori again was possible thanks to a simple alteration of a key past event.
Even the definitive recovery of the real emotions Doma was seeking is possible.
Yet, Doma prefers to do without it.
'The god of stories is a powerful entity, but not all versions of Loki are really easy people to figure out,' he thought mentally.
Beyond his mistrust toward a patron declared as an important person, Doma didn't want to recover those emotions in a way he qualifies as "pitiful."
Recovering his emotions because a third party grants it to him? No, the idea was immediately rejected.
The ice demon prefers to recover them on his own.
[The Void: Weird, I didn't think you were the sentimental type]
[Doma: Sentimental? Haha, if it's really another me then your words are very poorly chosen]
[Kirei Kotomine (narrator): You seem to share a similar problem given your words]
[Doma: Who knows ~]
The conversations slowly became mundane, while Doma reflected on the options the System allowed him to buy and the powers to alter or not.
The ice demon stayed still for about ten minutes, much to Hlökk's dismay.
The poor valkyrie stood there observing the white space in awkward silence.
'Ok, System! I want to keep Hlökk under your influence and Satan's will fragment but not the rest,' he ordered, after careful thought.
[the Valkyrie Hlökk will be considered by the System as your Item and the total for this procedure will cost 12,000 System points]
[is this acceptable: yes or no?]
'An item? System, are you misogynistic for considering a woman an object?' Unfortunately, the AI provided to the group chat members wasn't sensitive and didn't get the joke.
Doma decided to accept the offer, after noticing his joke hadn't been appreciated at its true value.
The demon didn't want Hlökk to undergo alterations when exploring other realities.
Some could indeed be beneficial, but there are worlds extremely strict with divine beings.
'Personally, I can use the easy and normal level of a mission to escape world rules, but Hlökk is different,' he thought, while observing Satan's price.
[the primordial god's will fragment will become a semi-locked skill and the total for this procedure will cost 4,000 System points]
Surprisingly, Satan's price was cheaper. According to the System, it's considered more of a curse than a real gain.
That's why the System wasn't so expensive with him.
Beyond this detail, Doma unlocked the inventory option with the remaining System points.
Thus, the ice demon became broke again.
[alert!!!]
[member Kinta has died during the quest]
[the quest is still ongoing]
[group chat administrator (narrator), please find another member to replace the now vacant spot]
[here is a list of people (under pseudonyms) matching this group chat's theme and possessing the Fate Breaker trait]
[the shinigami's apple puppet, the stone age man, the only true pirate of One Piece, i love dog, Major, Father, All for One, pray negro pray! (image), PunPun, Bartman, the bastard from a zombie world, i love killing monkeys, i want Ranma 1/2's girlfriend, fucking Xeno, the old lion remains a lion…]
[Kirei Kotomine (narrator): *sigh* Another one dead…]
[Doma: did he really die from "that"? How hungry must a snake woman be?]
[The Void: personally, I would've preferred the other mad chimera scientist to die.]
Doma stayed silent for a moment facing the absurdity of the situation, but he somewhat expected it.
According to his knowledge of the Dandadan manga, Kinta didn't yet have the nanorobot technology that allowed him to temporarily stop an alien invasion.
He was still just a teenager.
Yet, his death remained far too pitiful.
'The kid probably died happy… that's the main thing.' he concluded mentally, before addressing a topic that concerned him.
[defiant demon: Kirei-san, are you going to choose someone from the list now?]
At Doma's question, the group chat temporarily fell silent.
The demon unconsciously narrowed his eyes at this reaction, but kept his calm outwardly.
[Kirei Kotomine (narrator): Would the demon of fate have a suggestion?]
This question clearly proved that the group chat members distrusted his alleged gift of premonition.
Yet, none of them really wanted to do without it.
A situation comparable to a bourgeois who despises the working class… but depends entirely on it.
Doma was a necessary evil in their eyes — a useful danger.
[defiant demon: I simply advise avoiding the man named the only true pirate of One Piece… and I recommend Major.]
This choice wasn't random.
Doma had guessed the identities of the two men:
one, a pirate ready to do anything to achieve his goals, even killing his adoptive father; the other, a military man embodying humanity's madness in its rawest sense.
'Knowing Kirei, he'll choose the one I advise against, hoping to sow chaos. That's why I prefer to manipulate him toward the lesser evil: the Major.' thought Doma.
He deliberately drew the priest's attention to the Major from Hellsing, knowing that Kirei, sadistic at heart, would surely want to spite him… and thus choose the other.
The other, of course, being Blackbeard, Doma's real target.
'In One Piece, I could cure my ailment thanks to the Tontatta race princess.'
The demon's rational mind analyzed every option carefully.
Thus, logically, Kirei would be indirectly guided toward Doma's proposals.
After all, he firmly believed in the "prophet."
This therefore reduced the fake priest's choices to two possible targets, whether he wanted it or not.
[Kirei Kotomine: I will take your suggestion into account. But I advise you to leave, given the state of your "weapon."]
At Kirei's words, the demon noticed the readable impatience on Hlökk's face.
[defiant demon stops the live stream]
[defiant demon returns to his world]
…
The moment he arrived, he felt an impact on his face. Doma thought about redirecting the force toward his assailant, but stopped just in time.
The scent of this blood was familiar to him.
'Rin? Did she hurt herself?' he thought calmly before noticing an unusual presence.
A soul.
As the dust still floated in the air due to the impact, Doma perceived Akaza struggling against Muzan's will, unable to notice the wandering spirit beside him.
'Interesting… I've become able to see spiritual bodies since my transformation into a demigod,' he thought, while shifting his attention back to Rin.
"D-did I kill Onii-san?" muttered the Thunder Hashira, but Doma was fine.
The demon even sketched a smile before speaking to his descendant:
"Not bad, but Hercules hits harder," he said honestly before drawing her into a light embrace.
"You seem to have really suffered a lot… do you want your Onii-san to settle things?"
Rin was disturbed by Doma's speed and nonchalance after taking her attack.
However, her rationality quickly gave way to embarrassment.
She realized the state of her clothes… and especially, her position with Doma — under the eyes of Mugen and his opponent.
"Onii-san!! This isn't the time!! I'm in the middle of a fight and…"
Rin vividly expressed her dissatisfaction with Doma's grip on her slim waist.
But, even though she complained, the demon felt she wasn't doing anything to break free from his embrace.
"Doma, who's this girl?"
As the duo celebrated their reunion in their own way, Hlökk's icy voice interrupted the scene.
"Who's this little girl?" asked Rin, after spotting the unusual sight of a young girl floating beside Doma.
As a divine being, the valkyrie naturally possessed several spiritual powers, including flight.
"Oh, it's nothing much… she's my wife," he replied in a nonchalant tone.
"What?!"
"The boss leaves and picks up another one…"
"What do you mean, another one? Doma… do you have other women?!"
***
Author's note: the guy in the previous comment was right (even though Doma had already hinted at this possibility). Yes, there was indeed a death — planned by my Gege side, lol.
Luckily for Laios, I like his sister… cough… it sounded better in my head.
Well… I have some sad news.
I'm not giving a bonus this Sunday. Why? Because I'm working on a project and haven't been able to focus on it recently.
Not sure about the quality of the crap I'd put out otherwise — and my heart is too fragile for online clashes with disappointed readers.
Please support with reviews and comments if you feel your stones are too precious (thank you very much).