— — — — — —
The next morning, 9 AM
Ryo arrived at the Thousand Eyes headquarters in the outer gate district 3345 and came face to face with Shiroyasha.
Her reaction to his speed was… less than impressed. Dressed in a panda onesie, she shot him a long, exasperated look.
"What is it this time? Did you piss off a two-digit, or is the whole Little Garden about to collapse?"
Ryo ignored the jab and asked instead, "Can I get reimbursed for the boundary gate fees?"
Traveling from a seven-digit gate to a four-digit one cost ten gold per person. After so many trips recently, he'd burned through a painful amount of cash, especially since the community still hadn't stabilized. Every coin stung.
"Ugh, you're so annoying!"
Shiroyasha pulled out a handful of checks and smacked them onto his chest.
"Write whatever you want."
Unbothered, Ryo caught the stack, pulled out a pen from his gift card, and calmly started adding zeros from the right.
"What the—are you robbing me?!"
Shiroyasha snatched the checks back, glaring in disbelief. "How are you this shameless?"
"Sorry, force of habit," Ryo said with a sheepish smile, realizing what he'd done.
He thought to himself, "You said 'whatever I want,' didn't you? I just took you at your word."
Shiroyasha sighed, scribbled a new check for a thousand gold, and handed it to him with a snort. "Half and half. Got it?"
Ryo glanced from the check to her and instantly understood.
'Ah. So that's how it is. Fair enough—but couldn't you have written a bit more?'
Shiroyasha seemed to read his mind. She looked around, lowered her voice, and muttered, "If I write more, the boss will smack me."
"Ohh," Ryo said, dragging out the sound. "I get it."
"So," he asked, "we heading to the boundary gate now?"
Since this was an official Thousand Eyes assignment, he had to use their exclusive gate to reach the Campione world. That was the proper protocol.
"What's the rush?" Shiroyasha rolled her eyes. "No one's competing with you."
She barely finished speaking when a maid in uniform came running up, whispered urgently into her ear, and retreated.
"What? The Celestial Army already sent people down? The Cross too? Zeus dispatched Heracles? The Egyptians also sent agents?"
Her voice rose with each name. "Wait—Halloween's getting involved too? She sent Scathach, her right-hand? Seriously?"
Shiroyasha froze, staring blankly at Ryo.
"Isn't that normal?" he said, shrugging.
"No. Definitely not normal."
She frowned, muttering under her breath. "Those lazy bastards barely move most days. Why are they so fast this time?"
She'd gotten intel from Omega: the Little Garden's observation of other worlds was slower than normal, and only the Campione world was prioritized. Which meant the current situation was far too strange.
It could only mean one thing—those "mixed divinities" Ryo mentioned had already caught the gods' attention.
Otherwise, there was no way all these factions would mobilize this quickly.
Thinking that, Shiroyasha straightened and looked him in the eye. "Kid, you'd better be ready for what's coming."
Ryo frowned. "Shouldn't we first figure out who's friend and who's foe?"
"That part's on you," she said, rolling her eyes again. "Thousand Eyes stays neutral, remember?"
"So I've got to decide that myself, huh?" Ryo narrowed his eyes slightly, saying nothing.
Seeing that he'd already made up his mind, Shiroyasha didn't bother changing clothes. She waved him along.
"Alright, come on. Time's tight—the flow of time outside moves way faster than in the Garden."
Before long, they arrived in the underground sector of the Thousand Eyes base.
"This place goes down at least a hundred meters," Ryo said, looking up at the artificial sky painted across the ceiling.
"Can't fit the equipment otherwise," she replied. "Anyway, we're here."
Ryo lowered his gaze. Standing before them was a massive metallic gate, nearly fifty meters tall and gleaming steel-gray. His eyelid twitched.
"It's this big?"
"Well, it is for traveling beyond the world," Shiroyasha said with a shrug. "Or maybe it's just Laplace's weird sense of aesthetics."
"Laplace… the Demon of the West Area?"
One of the four-digit devils—said to hold a fragment of omniscience, and one of Thousand Eyes' top cadres. A terrifying information broker… and apparently also an expert at building dimensional gates. Who knew?
Shiroyasha tossed him a single wireless earpiece.
"By the way—when you're down there, don't destroy any planets, and don't use power beyond five digits. Some worlds have exceptions, but ask first."
She pointed at the earpiece. "If you ever need to go beyond the limit, apply to Laplace. That thing connects to her directly—it's one of her avatars."
"Huh?"
Ryo looked at the earpiece, then at her, face twisting in mild suspicion.
He had too many secrets to just… wear something that could spy on him.
Shiroyasha rolled her eyes again.
"It's a special model. Only I and the boss can access the data."
"You've been rolling your eyes a lot lately," Ryo said with a teasing grin.
"What of it?" She rolled them again, fists half raised.
"Nothing. It's kinda cute." He said it before he could stop himself.
Shiroyasha shot him a look, then stepped aside to clear the way. "Go on."
Ryo slipped the earpiece into his right ear and stepped through the gate.
The world twisted. Colors and shapes shattered into chaotic pixels that swirled endlessly before his eyes.
— — —
The Campione World
India, a small hill.
Rama lay on a rock, chewing a stalk of grass between his lips. Suddenly, his brow furrowed. He sat up sharply, breathing hard.
"Prince?" came a low, rumbling voice full of concern.
"I'm fine, Hanuman," Rama said, shaking his head before reclining again. A faint smile tugged at his lips. "Just a bad dream."
He chuckled softly as fragments of the dream resurfaced.
"Fate appeared again—begging me to be the mantle of fate and choose the next 'King of End.' It's absurd."
"Turning me, a victim of fate, into the one who manipulates it? How ironic."
"And that talk about our world facing destruction… so dull. Ryo Yagami's still walking the earth, isn't he?"
But something felt off. Hanuman hadn't answered him this time.
"Hanuman?" Rama opened his eyes. "What's wro—"
He froze.
His eyes widened, mouth falling open, the grass slipping from his lips.
He swallowed hard. "Three suns…" he whispered.
"No, my prince," Hanuman said, kneeling beside him, eyes fixed skyward in horror. "Those aren't suns—they're eyes."
Above them, two of the "suns" expanded at impossible speed, swelling until they filled the sky.
And then Rama realized—they weren't suns at all.
They were eyes.
Enormous golden vertical pupils, gleaming like twin stars.
A young girl's voice echoed softly in his ear—sweet, clear, and innocent.
"Kuu-chan found you."
In the next instant, Rama's consciousness was swallowed by darkness.
.
.
.