The mere existence of Geocentrism within Little Garden twists the courses of heavenly bodies, brings calamity, and plunges the world into a never-ending dawn, permanent daylight with no night.
That's why the gods could never allow Geocentrism to return.
But even the Lord of the White Night herself couldn't control it. That was why she'd refused Riku for so long; she loves Little Garden, and Geocentrism would harm it.
Only when Riku said he had a way for her to control Geocentrism did she make up her mind.
To other divinities, it sounded like a fairy tale, but if it was Riku, the man who kept producing miracles beyond Little Garden, she believed him.
"Control Geocentrism…?" Kurīma, the World Dragon, was about to object on reflex, but remembering how uncanny Riku was, she swallowed the words and watched in silence.
Riku didn't explain further. He simply took a long-kept card from his system storage.
Seal Card — seals everything of a target up to twice the user's power.
"Seal." With a casual motion, he tapped the card to the Lord of the White Night's chest. It sank into her.
At once, the Geocentrism divinity was sealed by more than half; what remained no longer distorted Little Garden's starwork.
"...What?" Both the Lord of the White Night and Kurīma stared, dumbfounded.
"I'm handing control of the seal to you," Riku said, lightly tapping the lord's fair forehead. "Tighten it or loosen it at will."
"What a marvellous defensive card doing all that." The Lord of the White Night looked straight at him, impressed.
"That's it?" Kurīma blinked. "Geocentrism is under control just like that?"
"What, were you expecting something complicated?" Riku tilted her a look.
"Uh…" Kurīma could only sweatdrop. 'You do know Shakyamuni's only option was to dead-seal it with Three Thousand Worlds, right? Who else does it like this…'
"Heh. Riku, how should I even thank you?" The Lord of the White Night twirled her folding fan, smiling.
"How about we go do something fun?" Riku's eyes roved appreciatively over her elegant figure, a grin playing at his lips.
"Oh? You've made moves on the Queen, Athena, Poseidon, and Laplace and even those four adorable Seraphs of Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter. Finally setting your sights on me?" Her smile was radiant and just a little dangerous.
"These things are between consenting adults," Riku said, matter-of-fact.
"Hmph, I won't argue that," she sniffed. "What irks me is that you waited this long. I'll say nothing about Athena, Poseidon, or Laplace, but the Queen? Are you saying I'm less alluring than she is?"
"Uh…" Riku was speechless. That's what you're fixating on?
Kurīma could only stare between the two of them, overwhelmed. 'So I really did walk into a wolf's den… There goes my dignity, huh.'
"…I just think you being Geocentrism again is more… interesting," Riku said shamelessly.
"I can't pretend I didn't hear that." Her eyes narrowed, amused. "Enough theory time to experiment. You want to play with me? I certainly want to play with you, dear leader~"
With that, the Lord of the White Night strode, regal as ever, toward her room.
"Truly, the goddess of mischief, you don't react like anyone else," Riku chuckled at her retreating back.
The Halloween Queen wanted to beat him at that game.
When he spirited Athena away, Athena had sputtered and blushed, then reluctantly yielded.
Poseidon was far more forward.
Laplace hardly resisted at all; she treats such things as natural.
The Four Seraphs? They only wanted to please their creator.
As for the Lord of the White Night, she'd probably try to turn the tables on him. Which, no thanks; he wasn't exactly a willing M.
Riku grinned, took Kurīma's hand, and headed after her.
"W-wait, why are you taking me along? Hey!" Kurīma protested, cheeks blazing.
"You're my slave, remember? Don't think you can wriggle out now," Riku said, far too pleased with himself.
A flustered yelp echoed through the Skyborne Palace corridors.
The mighty World Dragon, the World-King… had, against all odds, become his special partner.
Let's draw a tasteful veil over what followed; suffice it to say, it was a long "private sparring match," and it's a good thing they were in Skyborne Palace, ordinary places wouldn't have survived. The most harried was poor Kurīma, flustered by Riku's teasing and the Lord of the White Night's relentless playfulness.
While they were making merry, Buddhism, Daoism, and Thousand Eyes were forcibly made to sign a hard-line treaty. The annual tribute of gifts and boons owed to Disboard was enough to make their faces go black.
Time passed. News of the war's outcome spread through the upper strata of Little Garden; communities trembled, scarcely daring to even speak Disboard's name lest they be erased.
Worth noting: Buddhism paid dearly to redeem Indra's divinity from the Holy Son of Jesus. Good for Indra, perhaps, but he fell into a slump, his former edge gone. Many gods were the same this defeat scarred them for life.
A month later, Riku finally left the Lord of the White Night and Kurīma fast asleep, collapsed on that self-cleaning bed.
"Not easy," he muttered, eyeing the two, one tall, one petite, breathing softly beneath the covers.
He warded the room to keep them from being disturbed, then slipped out alone to lie on the palace roof and admire the moon.
"So you finally came up for air," the Halloween Queen said as the boundary rippled and she alighted beside him, smiling.
"Peeking's a bit of a bad habit," Riku rolled his eyes.
"Don't humans say being watched by your other wife just adds to the thrill?" She tilted her head, smiling like a fox.
"Er." He choked. Sure, "one big futon" is a classic dream; maybe being watched ups the excitement… still felt a little off to hear it stated so plainly.
"Heh. I've stored the Lord of the White Night's performance in perfect detail and little Kurīma's too," the Halloween Queen sing-songed.
"Figures that's your angle," Riku deadpanned. If she started teasing the Lord of the White Night with that, the two problem children would definitely clash.
"There's something important I want to ask," she added, suddenly serious.
"Mhm?" Riku sobered.
"Which felt better, playing with my body, or with hers?" she asked, tone calm but eyes intent.
"…" He sighed. A trap question, if ever there was one. "Each has her charms. Overall… about the same."
"Hmph. What a non-answer," she huffed, shooting him a look.
They fell quiet and watched the moon, soaking in the rare stillness.
Riku, meanwhile, sank his mind into the system. After the war, he'd been… busy… with the Lord of the White Night and Kurīma, and a month had slipped by. Only now was he ready to open the real spoils.
He had four black chests: one each from Shakyamuni, Yuanshi Tianzun, Kurīma, and the Lord of the White Night.
There were also six diamond chests.
He cracked the diamonds first… and frowned. Mostly god-grade armaments. Top-tier by Little Garden standards, Gungnir-class, but not much use to him now.
After all, he was both Humanity's Last Trial and Humanity's Last Hope. Even untransformed, with his trump cards sealed, his baseline sat around the top of double-digits.
"Fine gifts for Athena and the others. Good prizes to motivate the ranks," he decided.
Then he focused on the four black chests.
[Ding! Congratulations, Host, Black Chest opened. Item acquired: Miracle Card.]
Miracle Card: transcends the concepts of past, present, and future; manifests miracles and beyond according to the user's willpower.
He frowned, thinking. Black chests scale to the strength of the one they're taken from, and all four donors were top-tier two-digits. The pulls would be excellent and just what he needed.
"Later. Next," he said, stowing the card.
[Ding! Congratulations, Host—Black Chest opened. Acquired: Kaiō-ken.]
Kaiō-ken (Dragon Ball): not an attack, but a self-buff multiplying strength, speed, offence, and defence. Note: adjusted to reduce side effects; ceiling up to 100×, provided your body can take it.
"Kaiō-ken, huh? Not bad." Riku nodded once.
He didn't dwell on it and kept opening chests.
[Ding! Black Chest opened. Reward: One Body Enhancement.]
Apply enhancement now?
Y/N
"Yeah." Riku agreed.
In that instant, his physical stats surged at a terrifying rate.
When the rush settled, even he was startled at this point, with no buffs or trump cards, his body alone could pulp a two-digit.
Pure force approaching the very principle of power.
"Eh? Riku, you just got stronger again." The Halloween Queen's eyes narrowed; she'd clearly felt the spike.
"Mhm. Just poked at a little toy," he said with a faint smile.
She shot him a look at his non-answer, but let it drop.
[Ding! Black Chest opened. Reward: Large quantity of World Authority.]
"World Authority, is it…" Riku's eyes glinted. He'd thrown Little Garden into chaos, crushed the gods, built the strongest demon-lord alliance, bent heavy hitters to his banner, cracked a mountain of loot, yet his hold on the world's authority still hadn't crossed the halfway mark. Until now.
As he accepted it, the power pooled in the Star Grail within him swelled; his grip over Little Garden passed the halfway line.
"The chips against End Emptiness are almost all on the table," he murmured, the edge of his mouth lifting.
Crossing blades with the most powerful single-digit Humanity's Last Trial, End Emptiness, was inevitable. Which meant he had to keep climbing. Otherwise, against End Emptiness, there was only defeat.
"Hmm? Interesting." Bored, Riku flicked open the System map and something fun popped up.
"What is it?" asked the Halloween Queen.
"A new Humanity's Last Trial is about to be born," Riku said, amused.
"Another Last Trial? They've been popping up too often lately, though that's mostly your doing." She shook her head.
"Another? No, two." He smiled.
"Two?" Her expression turned grave. Last Trials did not just appear on a whim, let alone two at once.
"Yeah. A major crisis is brewing in the West. And in the East… that one's going to awaken early probably because of us." The corner of his lip curled.
The western Last Trial: the Dystopia Demon Lord, the Last Trial of the Sealed World, once said to have ravaged the West for nearly a millennium.
The eastern Last Trial: Aži Dahāka, bearer of Absolute Evil, scourge of the East.
One East, one West, together they'd turn Little Garden inside out. Which is why those two names were far more infamous than most of the Last Trials that would come after.
Riku knew why the Dystopia Demon Lord would manifest.
Humanity's technology surged into the steam and electric ages. Capitalists were born; like vampires, they sucked up wealth and labour, birthing a dark society: the rich richer, the poor poorer, the masses freezing and starving.
Voices rose, 'equality for all, erase the gap,' and the downtrodden rallied. Marches, manifestos, dreams of an ideal land… utopianism.
Utopianism drew crackdowns; capital protected its interests. Malice spread thick and choking.
Crackdowns only fanned the flame. Kill one wave and two rose up.
Thus formed a Great Historical Turning Point was formed.
Malice swelled, and with it the divinity of Absolute Evil. In truth, the Dystopia Demon Lord's rise only accelerated the inflation of Aži Dahāka's Absolute Evil.
Of course, Aži Dahāka is deeply entangled with the Third Perpetual Motion Engine.
Its early awakening now? That was on Riku, he'd summoned the Perpetual Motion Engine, and on top of that, he himself had become both the Perpetual Motion Engine and Humanity's Last Hope.
Taken together, that cocktail led to this moment. If Riku didn't intervene, the two Last Trials would rampage simultaneously across East and West.
Worse, the East's divinities had just been routed by Disboard, killed in droves, their divinities seized. Stopping Aži Dahāka and its special simulated star map, Avestā, in this state… "difficult" didn't begin to cover it.
"You're not planning to step in?" the Halloween Queen asked.
"Heh. I've neither the duty nor the interest to stop them and no interest in recruiting them, either. Frankly, I'd rather watch them run rampant," Riku said, clearly entertained. "When those gods swallow their pride and pay a steep price to beg us for help… won't their faces be delicious?"
"Heh. Fair point." She smiled, visibly looking forward to it.
"What if the eastern Last Trial heads for Skyborne City?" she asked.
"Then we swat it away for now," Riku said breezily.
To Little Garden's gods, a Last Trial is a nightmare. To Riku, now Humanity's Last Hope, armed with a cabinet of trump cards, his strength peaking, they were just… troublesome. If he wanted one dead, he had plenty of ways.
She nodded, unsurprised.
"By the way, I've got a favour," Riku added, eyes glinting.
She leaned in to listen.
"In the West, I want you to find a human girl and become her mentor, raise her."
"Oh? For a human girl to catch your eye, she must be special."
"Very. If I don't intervene, she'll be the key player against those two incoming Last Trials," he said with a small smile.
"…!" Even the Halloween Queen looked taken aback.
"If she's that important, why not train her yourself?" she asked.
"I hate hassle," Riku said blithely.
She stared, speechless, resisting the urge to smack him. 'You're already the ultimate hands-off boss, don't push it!'
"Time and place are roughly…" Star of Omniscience and Omnipotence within Riku flared; he peered into the near future and relayed the essentials.
Canary's role is a trigger for future events, important, sure. But not important enough for Riku to upend his schedule.
"So I'm counting on you, my lovely Queen." He tapped a kiss against her lips, then vanished from the rooftop of Skyborne Palace before she could object.
"Honestly… you incorrigible man." She rubbed her brow and sighed at the moonlit sky. Then a sly smile. "Well, moulding a little heroine who'll help topple Last Trials does sound… fun. Which one she crosses? Not my problem."
—
While Riku was off "fishing," in Vajra Heaven's Śubha-Vista City, Indra and the remaining god-kings used what little Solar Authority they still held to observe a massive Historical Shift.
Faces went pale.
It wasn't weakness, it was trauma. Disboard had broken them.
Especially Riku and under his banner, Geocentrism and the Perpetual Motion Engine. Shadows none of them could shake.
Many who survived that battle died permanently, faith and all, never to revive. Others had been resurrected by that temporal anomaly, calling herself Vados, only to have their divinities stripped. Most of the old guard were gone.
For a new Historical Turning Point to erupt now, one that might birth a new Last Trial, made their scalps prickle.
Indra could only sigh. Even he, the mightiest war-god, still flinched at the thought of Riku; if forced to face him again, his grip might fail him. His divinity had been stolen; Buddhism had ransomed it back at great cost.
Still terror or not, it was their duty not to sit and watch a new disaster bloom.
"You've all seen it. Brahmā's observations confirm a Great Historical Turning Point; malice is spreading. We must guide humanity. Otherwise, a new Humanity's Last Trial will be born," Indra said.
"It's not 'will be born.' While you were still fumbling, it already was."
A voice cut through the chamber before the others could answer. At the same time, a figure appeared, seated upon the centre of the council table.
Indra's face blanched; his pupils shrank to pinpoints.