[System binding in progress… Assisting host with reincarnation…]
[Searching for a suitable universe…]
[Loading language module…]
[Error!]
[Warning! Timeline distortion detected during traversal… No human civilization detected. Attempting to fix… Correction failed…]
[Activating fallback protocol. Compensatory measures being constructed…]
[Compensation complete!]
"Cough… cough…"
Takumi's first breath in his new life tasted like dust and wood smoke.
He opened his eyes to a low ceiling of rough planks, the scent of dry timber and disinfectant faint in the air. He blinked, sat up slowly, and stared.
The room was about fifty square meters, carved out of another era: a plain wooden bed, a squat dining table, three mismatched chairs, a big chest in the corner. No lights, no screen, no hum of electronics—just the creak of the floor when he moved.
"Did I… transmigrate?"
His voice sounded strange in the stillness.
The last thing he remembered was an office, a crosswalk, a dump truck, and a painfully bright flash. In that stretched-out instant before the impact, a mechanical voice had appeared in his mind, offering a deal:
Exciting but not horrifying world. No eldritch nonsense. Cheat with multiverse potential.
He'd agreed immediately.
Now he looked at the wooden ceiling and felt profoundly scammed.
"Where am I?"
[Answer: Earth. Year 2260 of the Common Era.]
The cold voice in his head replied like a customer service bot with no soul.
Takumi froze. "Is this… the future? Don't tell me the 23rd century went full 'back to nature' and this is the new minimalist trend."
He swung his legs out of bed, feet touching the rough floor, and checked the chest. Rice, flour, dehydrated vegetables, purified water, basic medical supplies, sealed seeds. Everything packed neatly, almost too neatly.
Not a single smartphone, tablet, or even a solar-powered anything.
The dread in his stomach solidified.
He walked to the door, lifted the bar, and pushed it open.
A cold wind stabbed through the gap, carrying ash and the metallic stink of old ruin.
Outside was not a village.
It was a graveyard of cities.
Collapsed skyscrapers lay like broken ribs on the horizon. Twisted steel, shattered concrete, burnt-out vehicles half-swallowed by weeds. Roots cracked through pavement; trees grew out of windows. The sky was a faded gray smeared with drifting dust.
There were no voices. No distant traffic. No airplanes. No human sound at all.
Takumi's throat went dry. "…World War III?"
[Correction: Global civilizational collapse. Human civilization in this timeline went extinct approximately 30 years ago.]
[Confirmed: Apart from you, there are no human survivors on this planet.]
"…"
He stood on the threshold, fingers tightening on the doorframe until his knuckles turned white.
"This is not a surprise, system. This is a horror game."
[Apologies. An unknown bug occurred during traversal, causing a timeline error.]
[Original "Stellar Conquest System" cannot be loaded due to lack of existing civilization.]
[As compensation, the "Dimensional Civilization System" has been activated.]
[A secondary compensation system has also been activated: "Multiversal Chat Group v1.0 (Alpha)."]
That snapped him out of his daze.
"Hold up—two systems?"
[Affirmative.]
[Dimensional Civilization System: assists host in rebuilding a hyperdimensional civilization from scratch, spanning multiple universes.]
[Multiversal Chat Group System: connects host to chosen individuals across diverse worlds, facilitating cooperation, trade, combat support, and cultural exchange.]
Takumi slowly exhaled. "…So I'm the last human caveman in the universe with a cosmic Discord server and a 4X strategy mod."
It was insane.
It was also… kind of cool.
He stepped back inside and mentally focused. "Show me the Dimensional Civilization stats first."
A translucent blue panel unfolded in his vision.
[Civilization Overview]
• Civilization Type: Technological Civilization
• Technological Level: Stone Age
• Population: 1
• Species: Human
• Territory: 60 m² surface area
Takumi stared.
"So I'm literally a one-man Stone Age empire whose territory is… this shack."
[The level of a civilization is determined by its mastered technologies and producible tools.]
[Host currently lacks any functional technology base. Classification is accurate.]
"…I have a college degree, you know."
[Query: Field of study?]
"Civil engineering."
[Host lacks knowledge of high-energy physics, advanced automation, and practical high-tech manufacturing. Therefore, initial assessment remains Stone Age.]
"Can I at least be Bronze Age for emotional support?"
[Denied.]
He rubbed his face. "Fine. Whatever. Show me the other thing. Dimensional… something."
[Initializing Dimensional Diplomacy Authority.]
The world flickered.
In front of him, the walls and ceiling dissolved into a boundless starfield—then reorganized into a map.
Countless glowing bubbles floated in the dark, overlapping, spinning, each reflecting microcosmic light. Some were bright, some dim, some surrounded by strange glyphs and sigils.
Five of them hovered near a central point labeled with his coordinates:
• Demon Slayer – Steam Age
• Date A Live – Tier-II Magic Age
• Azur Lane – Pre-Space Age
• Fate/Grand Order – Tier-III Magic Age
• Honkai Impact 3rd – Pre-Space Age
"...Okay, that's familiar and terrifying."
Select one, and detailed information spilled out: brief tech level, supernatural entities, rough power rating.
Every single neighbor was rated "Like a God" compared to his pitiable Stone Age micro-civilization.
"Of course. I'm the level 1 tutorial villager in a neighborhood of late-game bosses."
[Dimensional Diplomacy Options for each civilization:]
• Diplomacy – communicate with a key representative.
• Traversal – open a dimensional portal; landing site: random.
• Declare War – unlocked at Space Age or equivalent.
Takumi squinted. "So this really is a Paradox-style grand strategy war sim. You're definitely a war criminal, System."
[No comment.]
He was about to complain more when a new series of prompts overlaid the star map.
[Initial Quest Detected.]
[Quest: Increase the population of your settlement to at least 20 individuals.]
[Reward: Random Initial Technology Tree x1.]
[Compensation Bonus Triggered: Host is the last human in this world-line.]
[Issuing additional systems and authorities…]
His vision blurred.
A second interface—sleeker, darker, with angular icons—slid over the cosmic map like a holographic overlay.
[Multiversal Chat Group – Alpha]
• Host: Takumi (Admin, Owner)
• Status: Initializing…
• Synchronizing with Dimensional Civilization System…
• Linking nearby compatible souls…
[Chat Group established.]
[Recruiting initial members based on compatibility, potential, and narrative spice…]
"Narrative spice?" Takumi muttered. "Are you serious?"
[Always.]
[Host has obtained a core personal Authority set.]
• Authority of Finality (End): Conceptual dominion over completion, cessation, and irreversible outcomes.
• Authority of Domination: Control over derivatives, clones, and subordinated aspects of self and civilization.
• Authority of Storage (Infinite Dimensional Archive): Infinite, layered storage of matter, energy, data, and conceptual artifacts across dimensions.
[Host's physical and mental parameters upscale to safely interface with these Authorities.]
Takumi abruptly felt… more.
The shabby wooden room, the ruined world outside, the drifting ash—everything sharpened as if the resolution of reality had increased. Threads of possibility brushed his mind: what would happen if the chair broke, if the roof rotted, if time leaped a thousand years from now.
He swallowed.
"Whoa."
A chill slipped down his spine. The Authority of Finality sat in his mind like a silent black sun, heavy and patient. Just knowing he could will something into ending—a motion, an event, a process—made his fingers tremble.
If he lost control…
The thought cut off as another notification appeared.
[Chat Group Time-Space Harvest Protocol Activated.]
[World of Origin (Takumi) designated as Primary Sanctuary.]
[Baseline temporal flow: 1 unit in Sanctuary ≈ 100 units in external linked worlds.]
[Within Chat Group Headquarters, dynamic modulation applies. Example: 5 minutes Sanctuary time ≈ 1 week average external world time.]
[Purpose: allow host civilization to grow and prepare while allies live their lives.]
Takumi let out a breath. "So I'm in the slow lane. Everyone else speed-runs life, I do long, cozy base-building."
He could work with that.
[Would host like to instantiate Chat Group Headquarters in Primary Sanctuary?]
"Yes," he said without hesitation. "Put it somewhere I can walk to."
[Processing… Allocating dimensional space… Importing hypertech blueprints…]
The ground shook.
Takumi hurried outside.
Beyond the cabin, in the middle of an overgrown parking lot, space folded.
Air bent inward like glass softening under invisible heat. Lines of blue-white light traced a cube in midair, then expanded, unfolded, and sank into the earth. Old asphalt peeled back as if rewound in time. Steel beams erupted from nothing, assembling themselves into a tower that wasn't exactly a building and not quite a spaceship—sleek obsidian surfaces, floating rings of light, and crystal windows that reflected only starfield.
Within seconds, a glossy, multi-level complex stood where ruins had been.
It looked like someone had mashed together a sci-fi headquarters, a magic academy, and a subtle mecha aesthetic—then asked an AI to 'make it prettier.'
At the entrance, a glowing logo spun: [Multiversal Chat Group HQ].
Takumi whistled. "Okay. That's actually sick."
[Headquarters anchored. Internal time flow synchronized with Primary Sanctuary.]
[Recruiting initial members…]
Lines of text rolled through his vision.
[Inviting: Misaka Mikoto… Rimuru Tempest… Tohsaka Rin… Satou Kazuma… Gokou Ruri… Shiba Miori…]
[Sending compensation packages via Chat Group System.]
[All members granted baseline access to supernatural abilities derived from group systems and host's Authorities.]
"Hey, wait—are you sure—"
He didn't finish.
Six pillars of light shot down in front of the HQ.
They flickered, stabilized, and turned into people.
The first was a brown-haired middle-school-looking girl in a Tokiwadai-style uniform, short hair slightly messy, electricity crackling around her fingertips as she spun in place, eyes wide.
"What the—?!" she yelped. Sparks jumped off her and into nearby rubble, which exploded in a shower of stone fragments.
Right next to her, a small, androgynous, slime-core-in-human-form figure in a casual outfit looked around with far too much calm curiosity. Their golden eyes blinked. "Hm. Dimensional displacement? But the magicule density is… odd."
A long-haired girl in a red outfit with twintails, green eyes, and a pendant at her throat pressed a hand to her temple. "W-wait. This isn't Fuyuki. The mana texture is all wrong. Is this some sort of bounded field experiment?"
Behind them, a dark-haired young man in cheap adventurer gear immediately dropped to his knees.
"I died again, didn't I? Is this another goddess? Or is this hell? It feels like hell."
A gothic-lolita girl with black hair, frills, and a cool expression pulled out a folding fan, hiding a smile. Shadows seemed to cling to her like affectionate pets.
"Hou… have we been summoned to the throne room of the Dark Dimension Lord?" she murmured in a low, theatrical tone. "Interesting."
The last arrival—Miori Shiba—adjusted her glasses, eyes narrowing. She radiated the calm danger of someone who'd already calculated seven ways to kill everyone in the room, just in case.
"Unknown environment. Unknown magecraft—or not magecraft," she corrected herself, looking straight up toward the invisible system interface. "This feels like a structured information overlay, not a spell. Artificial intelligence?"
Takumi realized he was standing there in plain clothes, ash on his hair, in front of a gleaming megastructure, surrounded by six fictional characters who looked very real and very volatile.
He raised both hands. "Okay. First of all: welcome."
All six sets of eyes turned to him.
"No offense," Kazuma said, squinting. "But who are you, and are you about to send us on a tutorial quest to fight giant rats?"
"Takumi," he replied. "Former salaryman. Current last human of Earth, Stone Age civilization, future hyperdimensional emperor… and, apparently, your chat group leader."
The system helpfully added a floating tag above his head visible only to them:
[Host – Takumi]
Admin / Leader / Walking Bug Exploit
Rimuru's eyes brightened. "Oooh, a system. I can see the structure… It's stitching together multiple conceptual frameworks. Dimensional civilization scaffolding, plus a group interface built around your Authorities."
"You can see that?" Takumi asked.
Rimuru smiled cheerfully. "Analytical perception is kind of my thing."
Misaka snapped a small bolt of electricity between her fingers. "So you dragged us out of our worlds, system-chan, and gave us these… powers?" Her gaze focused on Takumi. "And made you our leader?"
Takumi felt the weight of their attention press down.
He could say no. He could panic.
Or he could act like the narrative protagonist the system clearly wanted.
"Yeah," he said quietly. "I didn't choose you in particular, but… I did choose to rebuild something instead of just lying down and dying. And I think it chose you because you're the kind of people who change worlds."
Ruri's fan twitched, hiding the faintest hint of approval.
"Fufufu… the Lord of Endings gathers heroes at the final graveyard of humanity. How very chuunibyou."
"…Lord of Endings?" Takumi muttered.
[Term aligns with Authority of Finality. Acceptable title.]
He ignored the system.
"Look," he said. "This planet is dead. I'm alone here. Or I was. The systems attached to me let me rebuild civilization across universes—but I can't do it by myself. So the chat group connects us. You keep your lives, your worlds. Time flows faster where you're from. Five minutes you spend here is like a week back home. You can come and go, take missions, earn points, buy items—"
"Buy?" Kazuma's head shot up. "There's a shop?"
A new window pinged in all of their vision.
[Chat Group Mall – Preview]
• [Beginner Pack: Universal Healing Potion] – 10 pts
• [Basic Barrier Blueprint] – 20 pts
• [Dimensional Storage Upgrade] – 30 pts
• [Authority-Compatible Weapon Seeds] – 100 pts
• [???] – Locked
"We get points by doing missions?" Misaka asked, scanning the UI with surprising speed.
"Missions issued by the system," Miori said, tone cool. "Cross-world tasks, perhaps stabilization operations… or invasions."
Her eyes met Takumi's.
"You are planning empire-building, aren't you?"
He didn't deny it.
"Not the kind that steamrolls everything," he said. "Not yet, anyway. First I want safety. Then stability. Then… maybe something better than the kind of worlds we came from."
A faint silence followed.
The ruined city around them creaked in the wind. HQ's polished black glass reflected the six of them and one last human standing together in front of the end of the world.
Rin crossed her arms. "Before I agree to anything, I need to know what kind of 'power' you're playing with. This 'Authority' thing—the system called it conceptual. Equivalent to a Divine Spirit? A Reality Marble? Something else?"
Rimuru nodded. "I'm curious too. It doesn't feel like magicules or simple energy. It's like… a root-level administrative permission."
Takumi hesitated.
He could feel Finality. It was like a switch he could flip on anything that continued—flames, motion, heartbeat, aging—and simply decide it was over.
The idea of demonstrating on a living creature made him queasy.
"Let's start small," he said.
He walked a few steps away and picked up a chunk of broken rebar embedded in cracked concrete. A strand of creeping vine wrapped around it; hardy weeds pushed up through the cracks.
He set the chunk down in front of them, took a breath, and reached inward.
The Authority stirred.
End, he thought—not of the object, but of a narrower thing. End the rusting. End the plant growth in this spot.
Reality seemed to blink.
The air around the rebar went utterly still.
The rust stopped mid-patch, arrested halfway between flaking orange and raw steel. The vine froze, mid-curl, its new growth utterly static. Wind slipped around the area without touching it, as if unwilling to disturb the quiet.
It was a silence that wasn't sound-based at all—a stillness in causality.
Rimuru's expression sharpened. Misaka's sparks sputtered out. Rin unconsciously stepped closer to Miori; Miori's hand flexed near her side, calculations flashing behind her glasses.
Takumi swallowed. The authority wanted him to do more. Finality was hungry for bigger closures: lives, wars, stars, civilizations.
He forced it back down.
The world's normal motion returned with a soft shiver.
"Authority of Finality," Takumi said, voice a little tight. "I can… close things. Mostly processes, for now. Stop them forever. No restart button."
Misaka whistled softly. "That's… really broken."
"Conceptual authority," Rin muttered. "Closer to something like the Root's backdoor access than magecraft. Definitely not something that should exist in quantity."
"It doesn't," Miori said slowly. "The signature is unique. And there are traces of a second Authority. Sub-entities… clones?"
Takumi nodded reluctantly. "Domination. I can create… derivatives of myself. Copies with limited autonomy, linked back to me. And there's also infinite storage."
He gestured, and space rippled beside him.
A black, doorless frame of nothing appeared—a slice of absence. He reached into the opening and pulled out a crystalline tablet, then a stack of steel beams, then a sealed container, all of which should never have fit into the thin opening.
"Infinite Dimensional Storage," he explained. "I can store… almost anything. Matter, energy, data, concepts. HQ's blueprints are in here too."
Kazuma took a step back. "So you're a walking cheat inventory, time chamber, and end-of-the-world button. Great. Fantastic. I'm absolutely not going to die horribly because of this."
"Calm down, Satou-san," Ruri said in her chuunibyou cadence, eyes gleaming. "This is the domain of a true dark lord. We are merely his apostles standing at the crossroads of oblivion and rebirth."
"You like this too much," Misaka muttered.
Rimuru was already poking at the floating UI. "The Authority framework is modular. It's not just you—some of the chat group abilities we got are patterned off your stuff."
Rin focused, feeling the mana circuits in her body shift slightly as the system synced.
Indeed, a small panel popped up for each of them.
[Chat Group Blessing: Member Profile – Misaka Mikoto]
• Lightning Output Enhancement
• Electromagnetic Perception: Expanded cross-world synchronization
• Limited "End Lock" – can momentarily stabilize electric phenomena for perfect control
[Member – Rimuru]
• Analytical Parallel Thought Speedup in HQ
• Authority Interaction Layer: Safe sandbox to test conceptual effects
[Member – Tohsaka Rin]
• System-Compatible Magic Crest Interface
• Blueprint Translation: Magecraft ⇄ Tech Tree schematics
[Member – Satou Kazuma]
• Ultra High Luck in Quest Rewards (Hidden)
• "Absurd Ability" – Temporary Reality Bias in extremely specific & stupid situations
[Member – Gokou Ruri]
• Narrative Intuition: Higher odds of "genre-appropriate" outcomes
• Darkness Affinity: Cosmetic now, scalable later
[Member – Shiba Miori]
• Finality Trace Analysis: Can detect and classify Authority signatures
• Strategy Module: Access to partial civilization data
Kazuma stared at his sheet.
"…'Absurd Ability'? What does that mean?"
Right on cue, a chunk of ruined wall in the distance suddenly collapsed with no warning whatsoever, revealing a fully intact vending machine buried behind it.
The machine flickered to life for exactly three seconds, beeped, and a single unopened canned coffee clattered out, rolling all the way across the cracked ground until it stopped at Kazuma's feet.
Everyone turned to look at him.
Kazuma slowly bent, picked up the can, and looked at the label.
"It's chilled," he whispered.
Silence.
And then Misaka burst out laughing.
"Okay, that's kind of amazing," she admitted. "Maybe you're not completely useless."
"I'm still going to die," Kazuma muttered, but he opened the can anyway.
Rimuru chuckled. "So this is the comedy parameter."
Rin massaged her temple. "The system is literally embedding narrative tropes into causality. That's… horrifying. And interesting."
Miori's gaze slid back to Takumi. "You understand this makes you not just a leader, but a central axis, right? Your psyche will influence how this entire framework develops. Empires, religions, philosophies—"
"I know," Takumi said softly.
He did.
He looked at the dead city; at the sleek HQ humming with quiet power; at the six people in front of him—each from a world where survival meant fighting, bleeding, laughing, and crying through madness.
"Back in my old life," he said, "I was just… average. No one special. I got up, worked, complained about overtime, watched anime, slept. And humanity still ended up here."
His hand clenched.
"This time, I have power. Too much power. If I let it turn me into a tyrant, I'd just be another reason for a universe to die. So…"
He met each gaze in turn.
"Help me. Call me out when I'm being stupid. Build with me, but don't worship me. We'll make something new. Not perfect, but better than… this."
Ruri's eyes softened behind the chuunibyou mask. Rimuru nodded thoughtfully. Misaka smirked, sparks returning to her fingertips.
Rin sighed. "…Fine. I'll tentatively classify this as a long-term research opportunity."
Miori gave a tiny, almost invisible smile. "I'll join. Someone has to make sure Finality doesn't overstep its bounds."
Kazuma shrugged. "As long as there's a shop, a bed, and food, I'm in. Also, please don't end me."
Takumi smiled despite himself. "Deal."
A new notification chimed.
[First Meeting Objective Achieved.]
[Chat Group Headquarters unlocked: Common Room, Training Zone, Strategy Hall.]
[Optional Tutorial Mission: Test your abilities in the Training Zone.]
Misaka cracked her knuckles, a grin tugging at her lips. "Training zone, huh? Mind if I test something, Leader?"
Takumi raised an eyebrow. "What did you have in mind?"
"Your Authority versus my railgun." Electricity danced between her fingers. "I kinda wanna see if your 'End' can stop my lightning."
Rimuru's eyes sparkled. "I'll monitor the interaction!"
Rin muttered, "I'll classify it."
Kazuma quietly edged behind Ruri. "I'll… provide moral support from over here."
Miori watched the interplay of forces already building in the air, calculating risk. "We should do it inside the training area. It looks like the HQ can contain high-level phenomena."
Takumi glanced up at the looming structure.
Inside there would be training rooms, simulation chambers, maybe even spaces to test how his Authorities interacted with other powers. Empire-building began with understanding what tools you had.
Outside, the dead world stretched in all directions—silent, waiting.
Inside, the future was about to start yelling, experimenting, blowing things up, and ridiculously overcomplicating everything.
He exhaled, feeling Finality simmer quietly, Domination's potential humming under his skin, infinite storage thrumming like a quiet storm in his shadow.
"Alright," Takumi said. "Let's see what a multiversal chat group can do."
He turned toward the entrance of the HQ.
The doors slid open with a soft chime, spilling warm light onto cracked asphalt.
Behind him, six extraordinary beings followed the last human into the heart of a dead world, where a new civilization—half comedy, half terror, all possibility—was about to take its first step.