"Let me see if I understood this correctly, then... I'm here because of Marco, right?
Since Marco deviated from the script he was sent here, and I just ended up here by accident? Ha, I knew everyone here was weird except me" Heekapoo joked. "Alright, let's fuse for now, I'll decide the rest later."
"That easily?" Kaito exclaimed in surprise, not expecting her to take it so well, much less joke about it.
"Well, you're terrible at explaining things" Heekapoo replied. "I have a lot of questions and things I want to know. And that's exactly why I want us to fuse as soon as possible so I can look through your memories directly instead of listening to your confusing explanations."
"You can see my memories?" Kaito frowned at the implications that would have.
"I'll be able to. After all, your magic is part of you. Why? Is there something you want to hide?"
"...No" Kaito replied after thinking about it for a moment, getting out of there was more important.
"Then let's do it already, or do you just want to enjoy the feeling of my thighs a little longer?" Heekapoo joked, while Kaito merely smiled without answering before beginning.
In reality, Kaito didn't have to do much. His only task was not to reject the energy that was entering him, or more precisely, entering his magic.
The process only took about ten seconds. What had previously felt like an intrusive energy inside his body fighting against his magic had now completely disappeared, merging entirely with it.
"Done" Heekapoo said, confirming what Kaito was already feeling.
When Kaito opened his eyes, Heekapoo was no longer there, and her voice was no longer coming from anywhere nearby, it was coming directly from inside his head.
"Kaito, this is incredible! What kind of absurd amount of magic is this?! And from what I can see in your memories, you're not even one of the best at this? Just looking at that girl Mashiro in your memories, I can already feel the ridiculous amount of magic she has, and above all, her control is completely insane.
But speaking of Mashiro, what the hell is with the number of girls around you? You have like seven girlfriends and even more girls chasing after you, I'm honestly surprised you never flirted with me even once.
Your life is insane, you were even born twice. Once on Earth and once in Shiho's world. Wow, you even classify worlds by the name of the girl you fell in love with there? Can you be any more of a womanizer?..."
Heekapoo kept talking for quite a while, in what Kaito assumed was excitement from the sudden surge in power combined with the shock of all the information flooding her mind.
'She only mentioned those two births. So she can't see anything before my reincarnation' Kaito thought with relief. 'Now that I think about it, can you read my mind?'
"Only if you want me to" Heekapoo replied after hearing him. "Think of it like magic. Just imagining fire doesn't create fire, you need the conscious intention to create it. As long as you want to talk to me, I'll be able to hear you."
"I see. Did you see everything you needed?" Kaito asked, deciding to speak out loud instead. It felt more natural.
"Yes, let's leave Gaia and the Lords for later. I understood what happened when you tried to improve the scissors, and I think it's actually pretty easy. Not only did I recognize most of the rules governing the scissors, most of them are written by me or based on what I wrote."
"Then what are we waiting for?" Kaito asked with an anticipatory smile.
"Nothing." Heekapoo returned the smile, one that reflected exactly how he felt.
Kaito closed his eyes, activated Soul Manipulation, and once again attempted to move the Fragments of Divinity in order to improve the scissors.
This time, although he still had to control the Fragments of Divinity, he no longer had to specify how the scissors worked or understand their structure. More accurately, it wasn't that Kaito didn't have to do it, it was that he felt a part of himself doing it already, but as if that part possessed its own consciousness. Kaito recognized that part as his own magic acting on its own, or rather, Heekapoo.
Although controlling the Fragments of Divinity was still incredibly difficult, requiring extreme concentration, allowing absolutely no room for error, and making it impossible to let his thoughts wander for even an instant because everything would stop working, doing it without having to focus on several other things at the same time made it much easier.
As for how it was possible that he needed to devote his full concentration to one thing while simultaneously splitting his concentration between three different things, the only explanation was that manipulating the very energy that created everything in the universe was simply that difficult and contradictory.
While Kaito and Heekapoo were occupied with that, Star and Marco had finally finished catching each other up. Since both versions were obsessed with love, and even obsessed with each other, they got along far too quickly.
Once they finished, they finally paid attention to their surroundings. Surprised that Heekapoo was nowhere to be found, they wanted to ask Kaito, but seeing that he was busy, they had no choice but to wait for him to wake up. To both of their boredom and frustration, two full days passed before Kaito finally opened his eyes again.
Upon waking up, Kaito did not pay attention to his surroundings either. Even with Impenetrable Mind activated at almost its maximum, he could not help but smile in satisfaction and anticipation as he looked at the scissors in his hands.
They were a pair of red scissors with a somewhat medieval design and oversized blades. Nothing had really changed on the outside. But Kaito and Heekapoo knew what those scissors could do now.
After three whole days, they had finally succeeded.
"Shall we go?" Heekapoo asked, unable to contain herself. She even made little hops and clapped like an excited little girl after manifesting physically once again.
Kaito did not point it out, because he was just as happy as she was. Instead, he used the scissors in the air. As if cutting a simple sheet of paper, they sliced through space, opening a golden dimensional portal.
Kaito bowed slightly while extending his right arm toward it.
"After you."
Without the slightest bit of modesty, Heekapoo stepped through the portal while Kaito invited Marco and Star.
"Shall we?"
"It would be our pleasure." Both smiled and held hands before walking through the portal.
The last one to pass through the portal was Kaito himself, disappearing from the place while hoping he would never have to return if possible.
...
"Hahahaha, what the hell? How did he escape?"
On a higher plane of the universe, Antaka, who from time to time checked on Kaito's territory without the other administrators' permission, simply hoping to find something interesting, or hoping Kaito would somehow escape, stared in disbelief after seeing that he had actually escaped.
"Hahaha, I have to tell the others about this. I wonder what kind of interesting argument they'll put on for me."
Antaka's first thought was not to capture Kaito or send him back to the cemetery. Instead, he decided to inform the others just to see the chaos that would follow.
After all, they had sent someone to the same place where they had sent hundreds of thousands of other people over thousands of years without a single mistake until now, and yet Kaito escaped in only a few weeks?
Antaka could not suppress his mischievous smile as he imagined how everyone would react.
But while doing so, his expression suddenly changed. His eyes widened in disbelief when he saw what Kaito was doing.
He immediately abandoned any thought of contacting the others and instead rushed straight to the Soul Space, the place he should have been watching instead of looking for entertainment on Earth.
As soon as he arrived, he saw the chaos that had broken out. There might have been countless souls there, but Antaka, as the one in charge, could see and sense every single one of them. That was exactly why he could tell that thousands of them were being interfered with, and some were even awakening because of that very interference.
With this happening, all he could do was find a way to purify each one, turning the newly fused soul fragment into part of the original soul while trying to minimize the changes in personality, as well as putting the awakened ones back to sleep.
"Damn it, this is exactly why the corrupted ones are sent to the cemetery," he complained as he continued moving through the place that seemed endless.
...
Back in Gaia, Kaito held the destroyed Beast's Lamp in his hands. He had just released every soul it contained.
"They should have returned to the rest of their souls by now. This is the best I can do at the moment" Kaito said while looking at the sky, where all the souls had already disappeared.
[I have no idea how you did it. But I knew you would succeed.]
"System, somehow... I actually missed that voice." Kaito smiled. "Where is everyone?"
[It's Sunday, so everyone is in the Tower of Worlds. Are you going?]
"Let's go. By the time I get out, everyone will be there anyway, so it's better this way" Kaito nodded.
Once inside the Tower of Worlds' waiting area, Kaito looked around in confusion.
"This feels strange" he said after seeing a crowd of unfamiliar faces instead of the usual people.
[Yes, you were gone for three weeks, so everyone here is weak. If you want to catch up with the others, you'll have to complete two additional missions.]
"Three weeks, huh?" Kaito muttered. It seemed that time inside and outside the cemetery flowed differently.
"As far as I understand, as long as I don't leave the System Space and go to the next mission immediately after this one, I can complete as many pending missions as I have without time passing outside, right?" Kaito asked. He knew how the Tower of Worlds worked, but there were many functions meant for people who did not complete missions on the day they were unlocked.
[Yes. Just keep traveling through worlds and it will be easy.]
"Well then, let's begin." Kaito stretched a little, extending his arms and rolling his neck before reading the mission description.
But while he was doing so, a commotion had already begun around him. It was something Kaito had already gotten used to because of his identity, so he did not pay much attention.
Compared to those who were up to date, people completing older missions and who were clearly weaker tended to admire the strongest Lords much more. So among all these people, there was not a single one who failed to recognize him, even without Kaito introducing himself.
"Wait, is that... who I think it is?"
"What? Who are you talking about?"
"That guy over there, isn't that..."
"Damn it! Is that Lucifer?!"
"What?!"
"Lucifer?!"
"Where?! I want to see him!"
"But I thought he was dead! He even disappeared from the rankings."
"Don't be ridiculous. The absolute number one, how could he die without anyone knowing?"
"But the rankings said..."
"Forget the rankings, man. Can't you see him standing right there? He wouldn't die, at least not without making some noise."
"But are you sure it's really him? What would he be doing here, three levels behind?"
"Isn't it obvious? He disappeared from the rankings, so he must have been somewhere super secret, probably busy. Maybe he went through some secret training and now he's ridiculously strong."
"That's true. That would explain why he's here. I have to take a picture, my friends are never going to believe this."
"Here with the king on his return. Upload. Man, it's a shame it won't be uploaded until I get back. I bet it'd get tons of likes."
"The king, huh? Now that I think about it, if he's three levels behind, what rank would he be now?"
"Right, if he's here, then he should have returned to the rankings too."
"Ah..."
"What is it?"
"The rankings, look at the rankings."
"Well, it's impressive, but at the same time..."
"Yeah, even being three levels behind, that position could only belong to him."
"I guess, in the end, there really isn't any way to beat him."
"Yeah."
"It looks like the number one Lord... has finally returned."
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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)