Back to the current year.
Creak! Shun hadn't visited this world for nearly a month. When he opened the bedroom door, Hilda, Lilia, and Aisha were sleeping together.
"…"
'What could have possibly happened?'
It was still early in the morning, and the three of them were fast asleep.
"Mm… Master? You're back!" Aisha slowly opened her eyes, then tackled Shun with tears in her eyes. "I thought you made a new family somewhere and abandoned us…"
'Well, you're not that far off from the truth.' Shun almost let out a laugh at her accurate prediction.
"Of course not. If I made a family somewhere, I'd take you guys with me." Shun offered a poorly phrased comfort, but it seemed to work for Aisha.
"Shun. You're back…" The two older women weren't worried like Aisha. Over time, they had started to understand Shun's character. He was a possessive man, and unless they asked, he wouldn't leave them, like in the case with Ghislaine.
"Let's eat breakfast, then I have something important to talk to you guys about."
"…"
"Okay." Aisha nodded, then ran off to cook. Having learned from Shun for a total of six years, she was now just a little version of him. Since her magic power capacity was large for this world but not enough to compare with Shun, there were many shortcomings when trying to use magic like him. For example, using Arc of Embodiment to make items permanent, she would never be able to do that no matter how long she trained. It was a matter of magic power capacity.
Well, being a little version of Shun in this world meant she was a tiny monster.
'She should be almost Magic Emperor level, I guess, according to this world's strength measurement.'
After half an hour, they were seated at the table eating breakfast cooked by Aisha. It was a simple meal of bacon, eggs, and toast.
"After eating breakfast, we'll move to a different location." Shun's words were abrupt and surprising.
"What? To where?" Hilda inquired.
"Ranoa Magic University. We might get to meet Rudeus and the others."
"Really?" They were visibly happy. It had been about three years since they last met. Though they exchanged letters, the replies would take more than a month to reach each other.
"Yes, it will probably take some time to travel, so let's start moving now."
"Sure, will we be using the flying bubble thing?" Aisha loved the feeling of flying.
"No, I want to try a new ability this time." Shun said, then walked outside. He used his float-float ability to lift only the house and the land below it, effectively creating a huge crater in the ground.
"Woah!"
"A house is floating!"
"It's the Magic God's house, inform the officials!" The civilians were panicking on the ground, but ignoring them, Shun joined the group.
"It's like Perugius' castle… did you learn his flying method?" Hilda didn't know much about magic, but she knew this was no small feat.
"Yes." Shun nodded. If they made their own explanation, it was fine.
The house was now like Perugius' floating castle, except it was a house.
"Why is there no wind resistance, why is the oxygen level not dropping, and why is it not getting colder?"
"Aisha, stop asking questions. It's probably just one of this ability's benefits." Shun repelled the questions entirely.
"Yes…"
Shun was deeply hurt by Aisha's detailed questions. It was as if you bought a gift for your loved one, only for them to ask for the price and return it to the store.
"Kya!"
Out of spite, Shun grabbed Aisha's mother and entered a room.
"…"
After a few hours, the four of them left their rooms and sat around the table for serious talk. Shun broke the silence.
"Aisha, I think you should leave the party."
"!"
"…But why?!" Aisha already had tears forming in her eyes.
"Because you are too weak, you will only drag the team down if you stay. As the party leader, I'm officially kicking you from the party."
"Ugh!" Aisha cried bitterly, her eyes sharp with hatred and hungry for revenge.
Clack!
"Take those and live somewhere quietly." Shun threw five chips to her.
"I don't need it!" Aisha said, then rolled her dice as it was her turn now.
"…"
"Those two are getting too fired up over this weird board game." Lilia and Hilda were speechless.
Since the travel would take more than a full day, Shun had pulled out a popular board game from the Fairy Tail world. Shun had made a few changes to it, and now the game was called 'Hero Party'.
After a few more minutes, Aisha, who had sworn revenge on Shun and became an emotionless, cold woman, ultimately ended up in jail due to Shun's tricks.
"…" Aisha, who had been playing along and pretending to be frustrated earlier, was now actually getting mad.
"Hahaha!" Shun's loud laughter didn't help her mood.
"Seriously, is beating a child in a board game really that fun?" Hilda came over and hugged Aisha.
"It is. Beating up children is the best feeling ever," Shun declared.
"…"
Hilda and Lilia shook their heads but had smiles on their faces. They noticed something had changed about Shun. There was no longer rage in his eyes.
It was about time for dinner, and using the 'frustration' as an excuse, Aisha didn't try to cook today so she could eat Shun's dinner instead.
Shun didn't mind cooking; rather, it was one of his favorite activities.
The group spent the time leisurely, with Hilda and Lilia switching bedrooms often between Shun's and Aisha's.
Rudeus Grayrat POV.
'It's been about three years since that fated encounter. After leaving Shirone with Shun-san's gift, Hitogami really stopped showing up in my dreams. I initially didn't know who to trust, either Hitogami or the guy called the Magic God. But he turned out to be a guy in a similar situation to me; who wouldn't feel familiarity and a sense of trust after that?' Rudeus sighed as he looked through the window. He was currently living in a dorm at Ranoa Magic University.
'Because Shun-san insisted that I don't have to look for Zenith yet, and instead should come here to study clues about how to find Hitogami's home, I did, but… I still have no clue about it.'
Rudeus thought he would feel familiarity and become close friends with Shun after hearing his side of the story, but while he did feel familiarity, he couldn't help but treat him with more respect than before. Because…
'He is the 'overpowered reincarnated' type; he isn't like me! Do you know how ridiculously dangerous those types are?!' Rudeus complained to no one in particular.
'A hand that could repel anything, even concepts, and hop between worlds. After hearing those things, I no longer wanted to have anything to do with Hitogami, not that I was ever really allies with him.'
'After parting with Shun-san, our group immediately met another dangerous guy, but he wasn't as dangerous as Shun-san. I was told to ask about Hitogami from him if I was still doubting Shun-san.'
That was Rudeus' biggest regret. The group got completely destroyed by that man alone. Physically and mentally.
'No one died, but after the incident, Eris and Ghislaine went together to train, while Ruijerd also left the party, so I didn't have anywhere else to go except here.'
'Later, I found out that the dangerous guy was the third ranker of the Seven Great Powers. Whenever Shun-san hops into different worlds, the Seven Great Power monuments update and the Dragon God jumps to rank two; that should explain my point.'
'I thought I was really going to die that day, using such a brutal method to prove his words.'
Rudeus sighed, stopped reminiscing about his past, and went out of his dorm to go to his classes.
On his way, he met his classmates. They weren't on his level, but they were as unique as he was.
"Rudeus-kun, good morning." A soft voice called out to him. It was a guy named Fitts.
"Fitts-senpai, good morning."
While the two of them were having their usual walk together, an unfamiliar beastfolk rushed up to them.
"You're Rudeus, right? I challenge you!"
"Ha?!"
"I won't let you make an excuse!" The guy, for some reason, started a punching motion, despite being a student at the Magic University.
"Agh!" Rudeus cast a simple earth spell that hit the guy's head in one punch K.O.
"…"
Rudeus ignored him and started walking, which made Fitts' cheeks blush. As soon as they walked for one more minute, another challenger came, then another, until there was a line of beastfolk waiting for their turn to challenge him.
"…"
"What the hell is happening?" Rudeus and Fitts started running toward the school and soon got their answer.
"So it's because Rudeus-kun defeated Pursena and Linia in a fight that he became their boss. To become potential mates, they have to first defeat Rudeus-kun…" Fitts summed up the story.
Currently, the two of them were hiding inside the school while, just outside, more than a hundred beastfolk were lined up. They knew they couldn't hole up here forever.
"Sorry for the problem, I'll go deal with it." Rudeus spoke and went out the door. Fitts immediately ran up to go with him.
"It's okay, it's not like it's your fault."
When they got out, there was an argument.
"Hey, don't you see there's a line here, fatass?!" It was a vulgar tone, not fitting the Ranoa Magic University where there were only high-class citizens of the world.
"Huh? There's a line? But I don't wanna wait, why don't we fight and decide our turn?" The fatass in question offered a solution.
"Oh, you don't look that strong. Are you sure?" Despite his tiny size compared to the fatass, the trash talker didn't shrink back from a challenge.
Hearing that things were about to turn uglier, Rudeus and Fitts ran faster to stop them. Only to find those two troublemakers' identities to be more ridiculous than they expected.
On one side, the fatass was a guy with an imposing figure, dark, obsidian-like skin, and six powerful arms that signaled his immense demonic heritage. He possessed a wild, voluminous mane of red hair and distinct, fierce features that reflected his status.
On the other side stood a guy whom normal people found tiny and weak. The guy's unique features were… almost everything about him was white. His hair, clothes, and even eyes…
"!"
Only Rudeus realized the truth. Rudeus started shaking a bit due to nervousness.
'Shun-san! What is he doing here?! And why is there a weird white ape with him?'
"Rudeus-kun?" Fitts was confused by this reaction.
"Shun!" Before Rudeus could offer words, the fatass named Badigadi, the Demon King of Immortality, struck first. His enormous arm reached forward to punch the rude guy.
The tiny individual named Shun didn't turn away from the inevitable clash. He prepared to meet it with a… flick.
"…"
"Is that guy insane?"
"Well, at least he spoke for us against a bastard skipping the line."
"Yeah, let's give him a good funeral later."
"…"
The next moment, a giant fist of a Demon King and the flick from Shun met.
Crack!
The moment the two sides met, Shun's flick shattered the world around the impact.
"!"
Swoosh!
With the impact came a sound of shattering, then a raging wind that almost blew everyone away.
"Agh! Grab onto something!" The audience desperately grabbed onto nearby buildings and trees to avoid being blown away. Meanwhile, Badigadi's arm that met the impact was… gone. What remained was a bloody mess.
End of Rudeus POV.
Back to Shun's POV.
'This guy doesn't recognize my face after the height increase and white hair, huh…' Shun wasn't really bothered by it.
"Hahaha! That's an impressive attack!" Badigadi laughed loudly. He was an immortal Demon King. Losing an arm that would be regenerated in ten seconds wasn't even an issue for him. "What's your name!"
"Hello. My name is Inigo Shun. You had a part in the eventual death of one of my friends. Prepare to die."
"…"
"Eh? Master's full name is Inigo Shun?!" Aisha was having an existential crisis; spending six years without knowing his full name?
"That shouldn't be… I don't know." Lilia and Hilda, who were standing nearby, replied.
In the hundreds of audience members, only Rudeus caught the reference.
"…"
Meanwhile…
"Hahaha! I don't remember!" Badigadi laughed and attacked again, now with all of his arms, doing an attack that resembled Luffy's Gatling.
Against the storm of attacks, Shun wasn't going to fight back in melee range. Not because of fear. A man avoids dog poop on the street; is it because he fears it?
"Seastone chain." Shun chanted, as always, to help his imagination.
Around the giant six-armed Demon King, countless chains were summoned out of thin air. The summoned chains would just fall to the ground normally, but…
'Float-float fruit is sure handy. Thanks to Shiki awakening it, I can do such tedious, controlled telekinesis.'
Clatter!
The chains moved smoothly as if they were alive and completely blocked off Badigadi's movements.
"What is this? Where did it come from?" At this point, Badigadi wasn't panicking yet; he could break mere chains whenever he wanted.
"Hmm, wake up." Shun smacked the head of a Vulcan he brought from the Fairy Tail world. Though it may sound cruel, Vulcans were the species Shun often used for his magic experiments.
"Sensory Link." Shun chanted a lost magic that belonged to Ultear's little sister in her guild.
'For the past month, I tried many ways to use the Ice Shell without a sacrifice… the result was a complete failure. So I came up with another way; I'm just going to make someone else be the sacrifice!'
Shun pulled out a hair from the Vulcan and placed it on cursed doll number two.
'I have only two of those dolls; the first one still has Garling's hair.'
Badigadi and the audience watched Shun's moves curiously. When Shun moved the doll, the Vulcan's body started imitating the exact moves.
'All right, preparation is complete.' The next second, an enormous amount of magic power was released from… the Vulcan.
What Shun was about to do was a combination of two lost magics and one forbidden magic to cheat the sacrifice of the Ice Shell. The Vulcan crossed its hands.
'You don't know how to use Ice Shell? Don't worry, I'll control your body. You don't have enough magic power? Don't worry about that either, I'll give you more than enough.' Shun smiled as he gave the Vulcan magic power through the sensory link.
"Hey, what is this charade?" Badigadi still had the composure of a true immortal, even if Shun repelled his immortality and killed him. He would be reincarnated in another body in a few decades.
"What this Vulcan is casting is a unique magic; it's a sealing magic that is banned in the entire world." Shun explained as the Vulcan was almost done with its work.
The next moment…
"It's cold!"
"Everyone stand back!"
By now, the audience and Badigadi realized the seriousness of this show.
Clatter! Clatter!
Badigadi struggled violently, but no matter how he tried, the chains didn't break.
'Even Garp or Kaido wouldn't be able to break those.'
"Huh? He is surprisingly smart." Shun muttered as Badigadi started to break his own body into pieces and snap his bones in unnatural ways to get out of the chain. Though it was a smart move, it was way too late.
"Ice Shell." Shun chanted it in place of the Vulcan.
Whoosh!!
The Vulcan's body slowly shattered like ice until it was gone. With it, a white light shone, illuminating the whole place. After it cleared, what remained was the mutilated Badigadi completely sealed in an Ice Shell.
"So that's the way you want to be remembered forever?" Shun muttered with a smile as he saw Badigadi's face in a panic as he broke his own body to escape the chains. "This ice will never melt; even if the world was destroyed, it will survive alone in space."
Shun's chilling words resonated in the ears of everyone.