It's been a few weeks since then.
[Cocytus].
Two lights clashed mid air.
From the right, a blue light, and from the left, a red light; these two lights flashed in the air, and what followed naturally, with such vigor, was—
BOOM!
A resounding explosion.
Above the skies of a frozen sea, sitting on the edge of a duplicated bridge connecting two separate landmasses.
Frozen cars and roads cracked beneath the ice, and atop the beam holding the bridge together was Laurel, watching the fight in mid-air.
A fight between Hayes and Aisrehdar, who was now serving him.
As a moderator of her world, she was essentially registered as a follower of both him and a subsidiary worker of the Guild.
Hayes was supposed to have that perk; however, since Lux was already the World Administrator and Moderator of that world, Laurel delegated it.
And to Hayes, this was unfair.
The most she could do was transfer to and fro between her world and Cocytus.
However, other than that, she had no other access to any of the system's other perks.
Aisrehdar had tried to calm her down, but the unstable girl wouldn't listen, and now things had come to this.
BOOM–!
"Ooh. Ais is applying [Time Covenant] to Nidhogg; wait, is that actually allowed?"
He hadn't thought about it, but certainly, rom the looks of it, Hayes was getting suppressed.
Mid-air,
"Dammit! Dammit! What's with that power!"
Hayes frantically scowled at Aisrehdar, gritting her teeth, her hands clenched on the controls of her drag ride.
Not only that, what angered her most was that she was piloting Nidhogg. Nay, that wasn't truly the reason.
Rather, it was because she was piloting Laurel's drag machine.
"Seems like you do have problems with me. However, shouldn't we be… friends, considering we serve the same master now?"
Aisrehdar might not know much, but she knew Hayes came from another universe.
How were they able to travel through worlds? What was the concept?
Even the concept of riding drag rides was instilled into her body with a tap on her head.
Just who was her master?
Many mysteries surrounded him. And now, she couldn't help but feel embarrassed by her status as the Scion of Chronos.
She was quite boastful of that status after all, that was before meeting him.
But then—
TZUI–!
TZUI–!
TZUI–!
While in thought, three shots resounded from Hayes' breath gun, flying towards Aisrehdar, who noticed in time.
"Oath of Time!"
Again, like before, she slowed the laser-like bullets before evading them. Then, as she did, she stared squarely at Hayes.
"Alright. If that's what you want, then fine."
Aisrehdar suddenly said that.
It was now serious and personal. Their next strike would be with the intent to actually harm each other.
Since they were now considered a part of Laurel, they now possessed immortality. If they died now, within the next day, they would simply return.
And then,
CLICK–!
Both gripped their controls tight, and then, as though with a nod of understanding, both charged at each other.
And as they neared, about to clash—
CHING—
A sound like that resounded.
"Both of you should stop already."
It was Laurel, who held the blade of Hayes' machine, the Azi Dahaki. A sleek black machine dragon with some glowing red parts.
On the other hand, for Aisrehdar,
Laurel didn't even need to stop her; rather, the machine itself stopped the moment he stepped to stop the battle.
"This…"
"M-my lord?"
Both of them flinched at his appearance, and Hayes, on the other hand, seemed to be trembling under his gaze.
Despite being on his side,
her instinctive fear of him was always high.
"Haah, guess I was also at fault."
Turning to Hayes, he placed his right palm on her cheek, easing her agitation. It was already instinctive for her.
"How about you manage this place? I also plan on accepting residents in the near future, so you could govern this place for me."
Hayes was naturally someone from a royal family, a princess. In addition, she was an underground marketer.
She's well-versed in politics and all. After all, she even took over an entire republic and was ruling it from behind the scenes.
"Really?"
"Yeah. And if it would make you happy, I'll give you permission to visit other worlds and act as my proxy. How about it?"
Hearing that, with a complete change in her violent attitude from before, she appeared more feminine now, with a faint crimson on her face.
Aisrehdar couldn't help but look over with an indescribable expression on her face.
Technically, though not older, Hayes was also someone who should have lived for at least more than a hundred years.
Completely out of character, one could say.
'She's just like a dog.'
An animal that would bark at the sight of others, but be quiet and meek in front of its owner.
'She has been completely subdued.'
Well, not that she was complaining; after all, she was pretty much the same.
He and that other person were their only hope, so she clung to them.
Though, of course, her own circumstances are different.
Being of someone long-lived and of divine blood, to begin with, she had completely different ideas.
As such, even if she were to be in an embarrassing position, she wouldn't be embarrassed.
But now, thinking of him, the words of a certain divine vampire rang again in her mind.
'Is it really okay…'
If that weren't the case, then her condolences to her lord, truly.
Laurel turned to her as though he could almost sense what she was thinking, so he gave an extremely wry smile.
'...He's aware…'
Thinking that, she said nothing more.
He could handle himself; he was strong enough.
"Anyways, I'm curious how that place has been doing. It's been around three weeks since then, hasn't it?"
Both looked at him with tilted heads; he still had the deal ongoing with Luminous, but for the meantime, since everyone was busy in their world, he was in this situation.
Actually, he could have gone about the missions, but, eh… let's chalk it off to him not being mentally motivated for that yet.
"Well then, let's go."
Without much thought, without answering further, he snapped his fingers, and a bright light lit from the bottom of the air.
The first week had been him taking over Chronos, helping them create better gears.
Having allied with their world, Lux and Luminous will supply them with materials, while Mei will supply them with infrastructure.
Of course, they were far from building plasma weapons, but they weren't that far off.
Chronos scientists were smart, as they had replicated UNIQUE from scratch, a weapon that can slow down and speed up time simultaneously.
With Laurel leading them, though he had no prior knowledge, basically acting more like an observer, things went smoothly.
The guild was not at a stage where it could invite unaffiliated people to other worlds.
The only world closer to that was the High School of the Dead world. And now, that was where they dropped.
[Apoca-High World]
Japan.
On a rooftop.
A brilliant light shone before dimming. Three figures dropped from it onto the rooftop.
It was the rooftop of Fujimi Academy.
"So, this is another world…"
Aisrehdar muttered. She had been to Cocytus, but otherwise, she had never been anywhere else.
The same could be said for Hayes.
Hayes came from a somewhat medieval world, so seeing the somewhat advanced building styles made her stare in shock.
"Oh…"
Laurel, on the other hand, focused on the field part of the school.
Crowds were being filed into a single line. In the middle were several canopies.
People went toward the canopy and in return would come out with a plate in hand.
"That is…post-disaster relief?"
It was Hayes who said this.
Laurel nodded, sitting down on the edge of the rooftop where the tank was hung.
"Yeah, their world was plagued with zombies. And though we arrived early, I guess things still happened."
"Moreover, I did cheat a little and might have made a certain percentage of the people wield supernatural powers."
Laurel dropped that with a matter-of-fact tone.
Aisrehdar felt chills run up her spine, but Hayes adopted a more worshipful gaze.
Guess…Laurel did really fix her.
Not really, though. She was only like this in front of him.
Once he was no longer there, to other people, she'd return to the vile, sarcastic person she always was.
It was just then.
"I knew it, you're back."
A voice resounded. Though it was to be expected. If he wanted, he would have hidden, but he purposefully allowed her presence here.
"Yo. Saeko. I see you're doing a good job."
Without turning to her, he said that; however, the girl didn't reply immediately.
During the past few weeks, she had been concerned with…everything.
But thanks to the system guide, she and Takashi were able to do their part.
When it came to negotiating with world leaders, and even using Goddess Luminous's name, saying they were "servants."
In short, a lot of things happened.
"What is it? You look troubled?"
It wasn't until then that he glanced at her; then he saw Saeko exchanging glances with the two other women standing behind him.
Ahh…
He could almost say.
And like he thought, Saeko was really intimidated by them.
One was an Abyssal human who'd received baptism, which had boosted her powers beyond human limits.
Additionally, she had also been baptized by Laurel.
The other was the scion of a powerful deity, so there was that pressure.
"So, there really are more of Goddess Luminous's people."
Seeing both made them think that. If Laurel was the apostle, then both of them would be something like attendants to him.
"Hayes, Ais, excuse us for a moment."
""...As you wish.""
Saying that, both seemed to disappear from the place, leaving only each other.
Tapping the space beside him, he motioned to her.
"Come sit."
Saeko fell silent for a moment. Then, she nodded, walking towards him and sitting where he had tapped.
"So, where should I start?"
"The apocalypse, and your mission. I already know. Goddess Luminous is just a front. You're the real figure behind all this, right?"
After weeks of using the system, with the level of access she had, she had deduced that much.
While she knew of it, she never spread it, even to Takashi.
Firstly, she wanted to confront him about it.
And then, she wasn't sure; maybe roll on with it? Not like she had any goal to work towards.
Besides, he was strong.
Strong enough to stop wars with a snap, grant powers with a snap. But at the same time, she knew he was dangerous.
But did she care one bit?
For the people she had to protect, maybe. But personally, it was different for her.
"The apocalypse wasn't caused by us. That much is true. However, I know of it and made it our mission to stop it."
"As for our goal, to connect worlds together, under one banner, is the goal."
Saying that, Laurel pointed a finger gun to the sky and made a shooting motion with it.
It was afterward, he looked back to Saeko.
"And you, are you telling me that you are satisfied with the current peace?"
"A fun world, like that, came crumbling down because of unexpected interruptions. Tell me, how do you feel?"
"That—" Saeko jolted back a little.
"You see, those two submitted their body, mind, and soul to me. In return, I would grant them their heart's desire."
"One was to rule the masses. The other is to save her world. And what is yours? To trample other people beneath your feet?"
At this point, he stood up, looking at her before looking straight at the horizon.
"Well, it doesn't matter regardless."
"However, if you still want, I'll be hanging around for a few days; come meet me anytime."
It wasn't like he gave her a time limit, but due to the way he said those words, it appeared so.
And by the time Saeko blinked, she was left alone.