Dawn

Labyrinth

@supertinyking I mean, I won't question your decisions or anything. What God you pick is totally your choice, even if I myself think another would work better.

That said, there's nothing mechanically wrong, so you're approved.

Labyrinth

As it turns out, Alexander didn't have to wait too long.

This is because, when he arrived at the Coliseum, Ares was standing in front of the structure, glaring forwards angrily. It's almost like she was waiting for someone, but who could she be-

...oh.

Oh no.

Striding up to Alexander before he had even reached the entrance to the Coliseum, a very annoyed-looking God of War slapped the half-eaten wrap out of his hand silently, the sinless food flying through the air and falling haplessly onto the ground.

"Follow me. Now. I am going to beat some sense into your wasteful mind. You'll get your status update and second-order blessing when I'm satisfied."

Seething out these words, Ares turned on her heel and began walking back into the Coliseum, muttering under her breath. Alexander might have been able to catch a few snippets.

"Wasting fucking medallion on first floor guardian...money to have Heka make another...underwear missing...Loki pretending she's me..."

Ares had a hard life.

Labyrinth

... If he's a pacifistic monk, wouldn't Vishnu make far more sense for him?

@Zombehs

Thank you for saying what I was going to post.

And alrighty. I'll be posting shortly, need to do a couple things beforehand.

Labyrinth

@Zombehs Mhm.

Labyrinth

Senna did not find Cern.

This is because Cern found Senna.

Appearing from nothing as she was wont to do, the God with the appearance of a child revealed her presence before Senna after the latter had been walking around for a handful of minutes. While one would ordinarily expect a patron God to be annoyed or concerned at Senna's reckless attack on Zhan in the Labyrinth, Cern seemed to be neither of these.

"Ha! What you did in there, shooting the Floor Guardian and then just bailing, classic!" Cernunnos giggled furiously as she appeared in front of Senna, walking backwards with her slender arms crossed behind her head. "You're great, really. Okay, okay, so before you say anything, let me guess: stat boosts? Well, lucky you! Since you encountered a Floor Guardian, you not only get a status update, but you also get my second-order blessing! I won't deny that the way you screwed over that Ares boy like that helped you out in earning the blessing, though~"

And then Cern gave boostos.

"...oh, right, I should probably explain what a Floor Guardian is, now that you've encountered one. Eh, I'll just add it to the Lexicon."

[Key Terms: Floor Guardian has been added to the Lexicon.]

Hell's Coffee Lounge: You're gonna have a bad time....

"Your Japan has light novels too?" Momiji commented, noting it relatively odd that two strangers from different worlds would have said worlds bearing such similarities off the bat.

Even Issei's "Sacred Gear", as he called it, seemed to bear heavy similarities to the magical weapons of Momiji's world. Items that were the essence and manifestations of a user's magic, that emanated magical presence, that seemed to be named in part after human mythology and history, that even seemed to possess a "will" of some sort. The sheer amount of similarity was honestly mind-boggling.

Well, if nothing else, that could be useful. Momiji certainly acknowledged that she was out of her element, and considered herself clever enough to recognize that galavanting about on her own without knowledge of the world was practically a death wish; she wasn't at the level of a true Gaia:Uranus yet after all, even if she had been a de-facto winner of Ragnarok. As that was the case, a temporary ally could be useful. While he seemed to be intent on flirting with her, this Issei didn't seem like a nefarious person.

...then again, a certain string-user was one of Momiji's close friends, and she-

-Ah, that wasn't important. The presence of a bird circling her in the air mere moments ago was hardly important either, as it didn't seem to have any malice. It was probably someone trying to gather information on her or Issei, but nothing had been displayed regarding that; simply seeing Grimoire wasn't enough to know even a bit of how it operated, so she saw no need to shoot the bird down.

"For safety's sake, we can travel together." The magus replied calmly. With that said, she would need to set something straight, though. In a single blow, she would crush her new traveling companion.

"-Please stop trying to flirt, though. I'm in love with someone else."

Hell's Coffee Lounge: You're gonna have a bad time....

@ADamnFiddle
"Hm?"

So, it seemed like this "Hyoudou Issei" was also from Japan. The idea that out of all possible worlds, she'd come across someone who was also from a world that had Japan, let alone Japan itself, was fairly unlikely. Maybe that had something to do with their concurrent arrival.

What made more sense in this light, though, was his subsequent mention of "Angels," "Devils", and "Heroes". The way he used those terms implied that they were some categorization of being in his world of origin. Well, it was easy enough to grasp what the first two meant; the idea of an angel and devil elicited fairly consistent images. As for being the descendant of a hero...maybe that referred to something along the likes of being descended from mythological beings? After all, plenty of magi's weapons were named after or had theoretical roots that were initially based on human mythology, even if the end result was completely different, so the idea that there was magic that drew its power from human history and legend didn't seem too far-fetched. Moreover, if this boy was one of those three classes of being, that would explain why, despite not feeling the presence of a magus from him, she could tell he possessed some power similar to magic.

"Yes, I'm from Japan. I'm not sure that my world's Japan and your world's are the same, but if they have the same name, they should at least be similar." Momiji replied simply, the crystals of her Grimoire glinting in the light as they hovered around her. "I wouldn't say I'm a student of magic, and in my world at least, Angels and Devils don't exist, as far as I know. I'm just a magus, in my world's terms; I don't know how magic works where you're from. The crystals are my magic weapon." She explained, not even bothering to address his compliment; even if she was the kind to respond to something like that, which was more than certainly not the case, she was decidedly "taken".

It was an odd feeling though, speaking about magic so casually like this. In her daily life, magic had been a secret. In Ragnarok, it had been a tool. In this, it was apparently a conversation piece.

Labyrinth

It was time.

At long last, it was time for the greatest hero to bring to bear his legend.

One man cannot change the tide of a war. One man cannot seal the heavens. One man cannot challenge god.

-However, one man can create a system. For with that system, it becomes possible to step out of the bounds of humanity and into something Other. Like an army, attacking in concert again and again.

It is for this reason that he exists. A hero who commands the system that stands over all things exists here, displaying his transcendent might in full. Yes, while his patron God had laughed at him when he had told her he wanted to go into the Labyrinth, while the notion of half of his wares seemed nonsensical to reasonable humans, while the world itself seemed turned against him, he would maintain this system until his last breath.

Its name: Capitalism.

Before this hero appeared a little girl, attempting to sell her wares. With this, an opportunity to display his power in full would be meted out.

"One gold, four silvers."

Did it matter that he had not seen her wares? No, for he could not be weighed down by such pleasantries.

For this was Tarou Tanaka.

Hell's Coffee Lounge: You're gonna have a bad time....

@ADamnFiddle

Strange. Incredibly strange. That power to step through worlds, derived from the gift that the Yoshino Reiji who was not Yoshino Reiji had handed down, should have been something that did not have a parallel in any other world. That ability at the root of Gaia:Uranus, who stands atop all magi, should not be replicable.

And yet, the second person to step into this world besides her had just appeared. Was this a world where the barrier to entry was low? It was possible for even people like that damnable game master to enter worlds within the world, so maybe this was similar to that, a world where those with sufficient aptitude could enter without difficulty, even if they were not at the peak called Gaia:Uranus.

Well, all the same, it didn't matter. That wish to protect her normal daily life would never die, but before it could be made, there had to be the hope for everyone else to have that same wish granted.

Momiji turned to face the new arrival with a curious expression that smoothed itself over moments later, looking him over. Though in recent times, the time she spent with Reiji, she hadn't maintained her usual visage, the fact was that when with those who were not her friends, Satomura Momiji was renowned for her coldness, particularly to males.

"...I'm Satomura Momiji." The magus replied somewhat curtly. The boy didn't seem to be a magus, but there was some sort of "pressure" he exuded that felt similar. Then again, if he was from another world, she could hardly expect every world to follow the same notion of magic as hers did. "This place...I think it's called Tsubasa. I've only just gotten here myself."

Labyrinth

As Alexander withdrew, Zhan sneered slightly, though given his physical form this gesture went unnoticed. While that blinding power the human bore was still visible, it was beginning to flicker; no doubt, he was attempting to flee before it expired. Regardless, until it wore off, Zhan couldn't take the risk of launching an attack at the fleeing adventurer, and simply allowed him to leave instead.

"...damnable Father, damnable Will, constraining me here. Had I been assigned to Yggdrasil's...no, even Kalki's domain, he would have been nothing."

The fourth floor returned to silence as the Metal Slime Prince's body spread out, gathering his form back together.

---

???
???, ???

Reduction has occurred. Accumulation of Authority sufficient. Awakening Failed Autonomous Will Extensions. Verifying Inherent Seal on Omnipotent Autonomous Will Extension ■ ■ ■ ■ and Extrinsic Seal on Failed Autonomous Will Extension ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■. Verified.

Contingency for ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ arranged. Check finished.

Given current starting point in reality, obtainment of ■ ■ ■ ■ occurs in 98% of all possible worlds. Deemed sufficient. Removing Priority from task, reassigning to background task to be performed by ■ ■ ■ ■ ■.

Engaging of Temporal Distortion Principle has begun. Actualization in progress.

...alert. Former Secondary Priority, ascertaining status of ■ ■ ■ ■, is incomplete.

Cross-check. Verify.

Error: data unavailable. Cannot gauge location or status. Calculation of possible worlds in order to gauge result impossible; accumulation of Authority is not sufficient to reach total infinity.

"...where?"

Where is he?

Where is he?

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