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Hestia: "Ugh, how can the version of me from that other world be that evil? Anyway, since your world already has a me, I can't go there. The moment I cross over, she'll sense it, and that might ruin your plan. I can't help you with this… but you can ask her. @Luo Hao!"
Luo Hao: "Very well. When does the Human-God Arena begin?"
Valkyrie: "One year from now."
Luo Hao: "A year? With his growth rate, that should be enough."
Hestia: "You want to take Alex with you?"
Luo Hao: "That's right."
Hestia: "Isn't one year too short?"
Luo Hao: "With both of us training him, plus the chat group's special perks, one year is enough."
Hestia: "True… now I'm actually excited."
Yotsuya Miko: "So jealous. The captain is about to take off under the care of several big shots."
Shinobu Kocho: "I'm jealous too."
Misaka Mikoto: "Is he secretly the protagonist of a light novel or something?"
Yotsuya Miko: "Or maybe the main character of a shounen manga!"
Hestia: "@Valkyrie, I still don't know your name. Change your nickname, okay?"
Brynhildr: "Done."
Misaka Mikoto: "Wait—Brynhildr? That Brynhildr from Norse mythology? No wonder your nickname was Valkyrie."
Yotsuya Miko: "Sis please protect me. Do you need another little sister?"
Shinobu: "Miko, you're being way too clingy. Don't forget you're now Lady Hestia's follower."
Yotsuya Miko: "@Alex, the captain is also Lady Luo's little brother!"
Shinobu: "I… have no comeback for that."
Misaka Mikoto: "By the way, isn't there another newcomer?"
Shinobu: "@One-Eyed Owl!"
Takatsuki Izumi: "Judging from your conversation just now, I've figured out how this chat group works. I've already changed my nickname. As for my world, it's just a normal one—no gods or anything."
Misaka Mikoto: "So you're like Alex, Miko, and Saeko—starting as an ordinary human."
Takatsuki Izumi: "Actually, I'm not exactly human. In my world, there are flesh-eating ghouls. And I'm one of them."
Yotsuya Miko: "Whoa—this clashes with Shinobu a bit, doesn't it?"
Misaka Mikoto: "Oh no… I have a bad feeling."
Shinobu: "You eat people?"
Takatsuki Izumi: "Yep."
Shinobu: "Great. How about I visit your world?"
Takatsuki Izumi: "Heh. You want to kill me?"
Shinobu: "That's right."
Takatsuki Izumi: "You sure you have the strength?"
Shinobu: "Try me."
Tsunade: "We're all in the same group. Stop arguing."
Erza: "I don't like fights either, but eating people is wrong. I'm with Shinobu on this."
Tokisaki Kurumi: "Hehe… is eating humans always wrong? I've consumed plenty of human time—but only from those who deserved it."
Busujima Saeko: "Exactly. Not all humans are good people."
Yotsuya Miko: "Everyone stop! We're all members of the same group—one big family!"
Shinobu: "I will never consider demons as family."
Takatsuki Izumi: "As if I'm dying to be family with you."
The group exploded into chaos.
After this argument, the members split into three factions.
Those who sided with Shinobu and hated the idea of Izumi eating humans: Shinobu, Erza, Roxy, Misaka Mikoto.
Those who sided with Izumi, believing humans also commit evil and that eating humans isn't inherently unforgivable—especially since Izumi was born a ghoul and humans are simply her food. Why is it okay for humans to eat animals, but not okay for other creatures to eat humans?
This faction: Izumi, Saeko, Kurumi, Esdeath.
The rest stayed neutral: Tsunade, Miko, Hestia, Brynhildr.
As for Luo Hao—she didn't participate at all, acting like none of this concerned her.
And Alex? He was still peacefully sleeping with his head resting on Artoria's lap.
He didn't sleep for long. Roxy suddenly burst into his tent.
She froze for a moment at the sight of Alex using Artoria's thighs as a pillow, but quickly shook it off. Ignoring whatever their relationship was, she grabbed Alex by the shoulders and shook him awake.
"Alex, wake up! Something's happened in the group!"
Alex rubbed his eyes and snapped, "What are you doing? What big thing could've happened in the group?"
"It's chaos! Everyone's furious! They're practically about to fight!" Roxy said anxiously.
Alex blinked. How did the group go from peaceful to all-out war?
He hurriedly opened the chat interface. Messages were flying nonstop.
He scrolled to the top, starting from when Izumi and Brynhildr joined.
Skimming quickly, he got the full picture.
"I can't believe I sleep for one hour and everything falls apart." He rubbed his temples, already getting a headache.
Shinobu and Izumi were practically made to clash.
Both their worlds had human-eating monsters. And while different, the act itself wasn't.
One was the Insect Hashira who hunted demons. The other was the One-Eyed Owl, a top-tier ghoul.
Different worlds, same contradiction. No way they'd get along.
After thinking it over, Alex finally sent a message.
Alex: "@Shinobu, Shinobu, Izumi isn't the same as the demons from your world. Don't lump them together."
Shinobu: "Captain, are you saying I'm wrong? Ghoul or demon, she still eats humans!"
Izumi: "Yeah, I eat humans. I'm eating right now. This heart is pretty chewy. What can you do about it?"
Shinobu: "Unforgivable. Fight me!"
Izumi: "Not going. Mad yet?"
Alex: "@Shinobu @Izumi stop it. You're not even in the same world. Why fight over something like this?"
Shinobu: "Captain… do you think I'm being unreasonable?"
Alex: "No. I just want both of you to calm down. You don't even understand each other's circumstances, so why argue?"
Shinobu: "No matter the circumstances, I can't tolerate human-eating monsters."
After that, Shinobu stopped responding. Not even to private messages.
Alex sighed helplessly.
Beside him, Roxy asked softly, "Do you think Izumi is right to eat humans?"
Alex shook his head. "From a human point of view, no matter the reason, eating humans is wrong."
Roxy huffed. "Then why didn't you support Shinobu? She's part of our familia! You're the captain—you can't act like that!"
"I…" Alex choked, unsure how to explain.
He had watched Tokyo Ghoul, so he understood Izumi's circumstances.
But the others hadn't. To them, there was no nuance to understand.
Roxy really did have a point. Shinobu was part of his faction too, and as the leader he was supposed to help her.
Ugh.
What a mess.
Roxy left the tent in a huff, clearly annoyed that Alex hadn't stepped in for Shinobu.
The group chat had gone dead as well—since Shinobu wasn't talking anymore, the argument had fizzled out. Now it was completely silent, not a single message popping up.
Alex sighed. He honestly had no idea what to do.
Maybe… maybe he should recreate the Tokyo Ghoul anime and play it for everyone? And while he was at it, Demon Slayer too.
If Shinobu and Takatsuki Izumi watched each other's stories, maybe they'd finally understand each other.
Once the idea formed, he stood up and said to Artoria, "Thanks for the reward. That massage felt amazing."
With that, he stepped out of the tent and went looking for Merlin.
When he reached her tent, he found her sprawled on a carpet in loose pajamas, fast asleep.
"Up. I need your help." Alex sat beside her and smacked her lightly on the butt.
Merlin shot awake instantly, bolting upright with a startled gasp.
Her cheeks reddened as she glared at him through clenched teeth. "Captain, do you have any idea that what you just did counts as a crime?"
"Uh… I was just in a hurry." He scratched the back of his head with an embarrassed grin.
"Hmph. What do you want?" she grumbled.
"You know tons of magic. Is there anything that can turn the images in my mind into reality?" he asked, full of hope.
There was no way he could produce actual animation. Not only did he lack the skills, but this world didn't even have the technology.
So the only option was magic—to project the anime he'd seen in his previous life straight from memory.
"This tiny spell? Of course. It's just memory projection," Merlin said with open disdain.
Her expression clearly said: You woke me up for this? Really?
"Perfect. Teach me!" Alex said excitedly.
"Fine. First memorize the chant. It goes like this…" Merlin began instructing him.
It was a simple spell, barely a beginner technique, and Alex learned it quickly.
When he returned to his tent, Artoria was already gone.
He sat cross-legged, recited the chant, and began projecting his memories.
Thankfully, after Hestia's sacred fire had reforged his body, every part of him had been strengthened—his brain included.
His memory had become incredible.
He could skim ten lines at a glance, recall anything he'd ever seen, even memories he'd forgotten were now crystal-clear.
He recalled Tokyo Ghoul and Demon Slayer episode by episode while shaping them into reality—every frame, every second, even the background music.
Before long, both series were fully reconstructed.
Alex fast-forwarded through them to check the results, and once he confirmed they were identical to what he remembered, he uploaded them to the group.
[Group member Alex has uploaded a memory-projection: "Tokyo Ghoul." Free to download and watch!]
[Group member Alex has uploaded a memory-projection: "Demon Slayer." Free to download and watch!]
Even after the upload, the chat remained dead silent.
But he could see the download count, and in the blink of an eye, everyone had downloaded both anime.
"They each have multiple seasons… probably take two days to finish," he muttered, then let it be.
He'd done everything he could. Whether they reconciled now was up to fate.
What he didn't know was that after watching the anime, every single person in the chat was shaken to the core.
None of them understood how Alex knew the details of Shinobu's world or Takatsuki Izumi's.
And seeing their entire worlds turned into anime—complete with settings, personal histories, and even events that hadn't happened yet—was terrifying.
Anyone would be disturbed. Especially Shinobu and Takatsuki Izumi.
They weren't the protagonists in their respective series, but they were important supporting characters.
As they watched, both girls spiraled into existential doubt—questioning whether they were real, whether their worlds were just anime.
From the moment Alex uploaded the shows, the chat had taken on a strange atmosphere.
Days passed in complete silence.
Even in Alex's party, Roxy and Saeko Busujima began giving him strange looks.
Alex didn't think much of it. After resting on the 28th floor, he led the group deeper into the dungeon.
They fought their way downward and in a few days reached the 39th floor.
They even managed to kill the 37th-floor boss, Udaeus—a Level 6 monster.
Even with him teaming up with Merlin and the others, the fight dragged on for ages, and they'd all gotten injured.
But the reward was worth it. Udaeus dropped the "Black Sword of Udaeus," a top-tier crafting material—strong enough to be used as a powerful weapon even without reforging.
The 39th-floor safe zone.
They set up camp here, planning to rest before returning.
Alex, Merlin, Morgan, and Artoria could have continued deeper, but Saeko and the others couldn't.
Below this depth, even normal monsters started at Level 4.
Saeko and the rest were only Level 1. Even with battle-aura boosting them, they were barely at the peak of Level 1.
The harvest from this expedition was already massive—they'd defeated two floor bosses and collected a mountain of magic stones and materials.
"..."
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