Chaldea.
Two months had passed since the mission to search for Naoki by heading to the Lostbelts began.
In those two months, Chaldea had visited four Lostbelts in succession.
Russia, Nordic, China, India.
Since the primary goal was to find one person, Chaldea didn't linger in each Lostbelt. After locating the local Lostbelt ruler and explaining their purpose, they generally received assistance to a certain extent.
At least that was the case in the Nordic and Chinese Lostbelts. These were the most relaxed Lostbelts Chaldea had experienced, with almost no combat.
Meanwhile, the Indian Lostbelt ended the fastest.
If asked why…
"Haaah~~~~"
As soon as the capsule opened, Ritsuka and Mash, who had successfully returned to Chaldea via reverse Rayshift, immediately lost control of their bodies and collapsed from the capsule.
Rei and Gray, waiting nearby, quickly supported them.
"Thank goodness…"
Seeing both return to the control room, Roman couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief, looking as if he'd just survived a disaster.
And it wasn't just him—everyone in the control room felt the same.
If asked why…
"I never expected the Indian Lostbelt to be like that. Truly eye-opening." Merry said with an intrigued smile. "Witnessing the brutality of the Kurukshetra War, Arjuna, The Awarded Hero, decided to end all suffering in the world. He devoured all the Indian gods and became the sole omnipotent deity. To achieve a perfect world, he continuously cycled through reincarnation."
"—Such a future exists too."
In Indian mythology, there's a concept called Yuga, essentially an age. There are four Yugas total, lasting 1,728,000 years, 1,296,000 years, 864,000 years, and 432,000 years respectively.
When all four Yugas are completed, the world finishes one cycle and returns to the earliest Yuga, beginning a new cycle.
This should be a natural process, but to achieve a perfect world, Arjuna, now an omnipotent god, artificially accelerated the reincarnation rate, continuously creating and destroying. In this process, he eliminated everything he deemed imperfect, unnecessary, or evil one by one.
He believed this would lead to the most perfect world, free of any suffering.
When Ritsuka and Mash arrived in that Lostbelt, they coincided with one of Arjuna's creation-and-destruction reincarnation cycles. The omnipotent god's power left them no time to focus on searching for anyone. They fled back to Chaldea less than a day after arriving.
That's why both returned pale-faced, looking as if they'd barely escaped disaster.
"Omnipotent god Arjuna… No wonder that world became a Lostbelt. If it continued, the world itself would collapse from endless reincarnation. Truly no future at all—Ow, I really want to go there and experience it myself."
Hearing Merry's irritating words, Roman sighed wearily. "Don't say that so casually, Merry… Anyway, this should confirm Natsukawa isn't in this Lostbelt, right?"
This was a Lostbelt in constant reincarnation. Each cycle completely annihilated all existence within except Arjuna. Even someone as strong as Naoki couldn't survive that.
Thus, like the three previous Lostbelts, the fourth contained no trace of Naoki.
"I see… Huh, which Lostbelt did he run off to? Our king is really good at escaping."
Even Merry was slightly annoyed. Naoki had said he'd return on his own after a while, but over half a year had passed with no sign of it!
Don't tell her he's truly gotten too comfortable here and forgotten his home out there.
"Forget it—complain all you want, but the search continues. Immediately begin scouting and investigating the next transferable Lostbelt, King Solomon."
"I told you not to call me that—it's in the past." Roman said with a tearful face.
The Human Order Incineration was already over—why was he still working overtime day and night here! He'd become human to experience a life he never had before. This kind of daily overtime life—he'd already experienced it continuously in a sense back then!
He wanted to go out and live freely!
(Natsukawa, remember this… When you return, just wait and see how I'll collect all this overtime pay from you!)
◆━⊰✧⊱━◆
At the same time.
In a faraway, unknown Lostbelt.
*BAM!*
With a loud crash, a meteor fell from the gray sky, creating a massive crater in the ground.
"Cough, cough, cough!"
Coughing, Naoki crawled out of the deep crater, brushing dust off his body. "Damn, which Lostbelt did I end up in now?"
Honestly, Naoki found Miyamoto Musashi's physique truly bizarre. One second the three of them were walking through the forest, the next they were dragged into the World Gap because of it. When he regained awareness, he was already in freefall from the sky.
About three thousand meters up.
If he weren't a fairy, Naoki might have died from the fall.
"By the way, where are Musashi and Gozen?"
Naoki looked around.
He remembered holding Tomoe and Musashi's hands tightly, but now, within his sensing range, he couldn't feel either. His contract link with Tomoe was also extremely faint, as if they were very far apart.
Not spatially, but…
"Hey! Over here, over here! Aesc!"
At that moment, a voice came from nearby. Naoki looked up and saw a small figure standing at the crater's edge, waving behind her, as if calling someone.
Following the figure's call, another person appeared at the edge.
Instantly, Naoki understood.
He knew which Lostbelt he'd arrived in and roughly where he was.
"Should I say long time no see? Or first time meeting?"
At the crater's edge, a blonde girl holding a magic staff looked down at Naoki below.
"I'm Aesc."
"I've been waiting for you, World Savior."