"Old man."
"Brat."
The two did not hold themselves back with the disrespectful nicknames.
"I see you're still alive and kickin' after you irresponsibly left us."
"You as well... Carrying out that humanitarian act of yours at the cost of our extinction."
"Pfft. You're merely making excuses. If you decided to ally with us from the start, we wouldn't have been pushed back that hard." Anzeel retorted. "Isn't that right, Shiro?"
Shiro silently looked at them for a second before he wryly smiled.
"The first thing you'd do after remembering everything is to bicker?"
"Damn right. Go inside first. I'm not that disrespectful to let you two outside." He then added, "Unlike a certain girl who never answered her doorbells for two hours straight."
"I'm resting at that time, okay?!"
"Excuses."
The inside of the house was very much what they expected from someone who's retiring. A good amount of potted plants, a bookshelf filled with many books, and a one-way glass accentuated the nature-ish feeling.
Aosta went to the kitchen to prepare them beverages. Once he came back, he carried a tray consisting of a cup of coffee and a glass of orange juice.
"So you know, the orange juice is yours."
Shiro acquiesced as he calmly took the cup of coffee and sipped it. A plethora of memories came crashing to the forefront of his mind when he drank it.
"Three teaspoons of creamer and two cubes of sugar. I haven't forgotten it."
"Well... Your mind's still sharp, huh?" Shiro replied. "This feels quite nostalgic."
"Eh... Why are you acting like an old man?"
He stared at Anzeel's unsuspecting face knowing that she was joking with him.
"You're not wrong. I am definitely older than the old man Aosta here."
"As I have thought, you have changed."
Aosta was the first one to notice his change.He felt more... inhumane—not in a bad way but a more neutral way. It's as if he lost something that makes him human. At the same time, he feels like the same Shiro that he knew.
"W-what? What do you mean, Shiro?!"
"Let's say I have gone through a vicissitudes of adventurers. A 'Tale to Another World~!'... is how I would say it."
He began telling them his story. From how he reincarnated into another world up until he encountered something that connects different worlds together.
"The scale of your adventure is unimaginable."
"...True. Having a smartphone that connects different worlds is impossible before! I mean, interacting with out world's parallel versions are already troublesome enough..!"
To travel between parallel worlds, a META KANSEN has to go over the river of time ad withstand its environment. Once they arrive, they also have to be careful not to turn the parallel world into a "singularity". Not only would the world be destroyed if it happens, its destructiveness might also reach out to other worlds.
"And it's not parallel worlds we're talking about. It's literal worlds!"
She began to get excited over the prospect of interacting with other worlds. To be honest, everything would have ended differently if they could communicate with other worlds. They would have more trump cards and variables against the leviathans that were technologically superior to them.
Simply, their rate of development—while extremely fast—does not suffice.
"You're acting like a child would right now."
Aosta's words brought her out from her fantasies.
"You..! How could you not be surprised?" She asked.
"I'm just processing things better."
Seeing the two bicker back and forth, Shiro decided it is time to drop another bombshell.
"I have two gifts for you two." He gestured with his fingers. "What do you want to hear first? The first one or the second one?"
"The first one."
Shiro smiled as he began his revelation.
"After I came back into our world, I settled everything. By everything, the leviathans and their origins."
""...""
They went silent. They could not believe what they had just heard. It was shocking enough to stop them from bickering!
"I settled every single problem in our world."
"...I see." Surprisingly, Aosta was the first one who recovered. "You have a power similar to Laplace's Demon. Then again, that alone is not enough to settle everything."
Laplace's Demon.
It is the Siren's core, the main reason why they could interact with other parallel worlds and obtain every bit of information from these. It became absurdly powerful due to Aosta's genius as well as the [Will]'s interference. These factors turned it into a sentient object that has the creator attribute .
"It could only mean one thing."
"Oh? What is it~?"
"You became someone higher than it. A god that could rewrite reality itself."
"What a bold claim."
While his guesses are accurate to a terrifying degree, he continued sipping his coffee with ease.
Clang.
"That's right. If I am not that strong, I wouldn't have survived through my journey."
Strangely, Anzeel lost her liveliness from before. She became quieter than Aosta who calmly nodded at him.
"I'm curious... How did you take in everything this calmly?"
Hearing this, Aosta flashed a small grin.
"I somewhat anticipated this. If you lived, you would have gone further than just the "Quantum State". We all know that the name is purely satirical. If someone was in 'Quantum State', they would've been able to manipulate reality itself."
While Aosta and Anzeel's brains are their specialties, Shiro has his own uniqueness: his existence. He is brave and fearless enough to participate on an experiment that has a low chance of succeeding. If not for him secretly doing so, anybody else would have prevented him from doing so.
After all, he was the first and last human who could directly affect a Wisdom Cube—a person born out of extreme luck.
"How does being in the true 'Quantum State' feel?"
"It's not that different... As long as you have perfect control of yourself, you could restrict the information going inside your head. If not, you would slowly lose your self over that abundant chunk of information."
"It's risky, huh? Even gods feel troubled at times."
"They are, unfortunately."
Shiro recalled the calamity of the future. Even in the face of that, gods has no solution. He saw many like Rimuru and the 14th Herrscher, yet they could not do much about it. His friends barely held everything in when they took control over the resistance group. Shiro is the only one who knows about the impending crisis. Worse, he could not do much about it.
After this mission, he is prepared to spread a large number of contingencies. His max-level luck and the UR-items he would acquire are a major factor of it.
"Shiro. How... do you feel?"
"I'm pretty fine. Why?"
"I thought that living a long life would somehow affect you greatly. Why—"
"—I am still like this? The Shiro you knew?"
To that question, he downed his cup of coffee before responding:
"I had a shit-ton of character development. Once could let a shounen protagonist to overcome whatever he's facing. If I couldn't develop within such a long time, I'm better off dead."
To be honest, Shiro truly found himself during this journey. He became more inhumane during his 3rd lives—both as Fenrir and Magus—as he went through things no mortal would suffer from. He killed innumerable lives and thoroughly obliterated their souls. He became a ruthless monster in the face of his enemies.
When he faced off Chaldea once, he did not care about their situation nor their world's. All that mattered was they tried to destroy Castoria's world. Even, the Ritsuka Fujimaru of that time had the gall to "empathize" and pity its residents, all the while they cause that world's descent. It was not wrong to say that Ritsuka single-handedly became the catalyst which led to every destructive factor from activating.
Ritsuka sparked and joined the rebellion to the Fairy Queen, Morgan le Fay. Just by that, he triggered the world's destruction. If not for his intervention, the lostbelt would have ceased to exist. Then again, his anger led to him directly attacking Chaldea's base which caused the subsequent battle.
He had to use his [Beyond Creator] trial card just to survive many terrifying beings who were just sealed due to the Human Order's summoning method.
"I see..."
"Hey, this isn't like you. Are you worried about me that much?" He asked.
"It's... You toiled for many years and even cleaned this mess up... Thank you."
"I should give my thanks as well."
"You two... getting sentimental, aren't you?"
""You just have to break it.""
They deadpanned at him. This current trend also affected Shiro's friends in his past life.
"Haha, you'll definitely have fun when meeting with the others."
*****
A/N: Next chapter, it'll be Shiro dealing with the rest of the loose ends in Azur Lane world before he comes back to Arknights and consecutively, Fate/stay night. Castoria and Altera are still waiting for his arrival there. The curtain to his world's crisis falls.
I just graduated yesterday. That was why there are no updates over the last two days. To be honest, this event made me realize how long this fic has been running. We are nearing the 300th chapter! Seeing it and expecting it are two different things. Simply, we have come a long way. All the ups and downs this fic has, they are all experienced by us. Anyways, I will save the long message for the 300th chapter and conclude today's chapter for now.
Happy Reading~!
"Old man."
"Brat."
The two did not hold themselves back with the disrespectful nicknames.
"I see you're still alive and kickin' after you irresponsibly left us."
"You as well... Carrying out that humanitarian act of yours at the cost of our extinction."
"Pfft. You're merely making excuses. If you decided to ally with us from the start, we wouldn't have been pushed back that hard." Anzeel retorted. "Isn't that right, Shiro?"
Shiro silently looked at them for a second before he wryly smiled.
"The first thing you'd do after remembering everything is to bicker?"
"Damn right. Go inside first. I'm not that disrespectful to let you two outside." He then added, "Unlike a certain girl who never answered her doorbells for two hours straight."
"I'm resting at that time, okay?!"
"Excuses."
The inside of the house was very much what they expected from someone who's retiring. A good amount of potted plants, a bookshelf filled with many books, and a one-way glass accentuated the nature-ish feeling.
Aosta went to the kitchen to prepare them beverages. Once he came back, he carried a tray consisting of a cup of coffee and a glass of orange juice.
"So you know, the orange juice is yours."
Shiro acquiesced as he calmly took the cup of coffee and sipped it. A plethora of memories came crashing to the forefront of his mind when he drank it.
"Three teaspoons of creamer and two cubes of sugar. I haven't forgotten it."
"Well... Your mind's still sharp, huh?" Shiro replied. "This feels quite nostalgic."
"Eh... Why are you acting like an old man?"
He stared at Anzeel's unsuspecting face knowing that she was joking with him.
"You're not wrong. I am definitely older than the old man Aosta here."
"As I have thought, you have changed."
Aosta was the first one to notice his change.He felt more... inhumane—not in a bad way but a more neutral way. It's as if he lost something that makes him human. At the same time, he feels like the same Shiro that he knew.
"W-what? What do you mean, Shiro?!"
"Let's say I have gone through a vicissitudes of adventurers. A 'Tale to Another World~!'... is how I would say it."
He began telling them his story. From how he reincarnated into another world up until he encountered something that connects different worlds together.
"The scale of your adventure is unimaginable."
"...True. Having a smartphone that connects different worlds is impossible before! I mean, interacting with out world's parallel versions are already troublesome enough..!"
To travel between parallel worlds, a META KANSEN has to go over the river of time ad withstand its environment. Once they arrive, they also have to be careful not to turn the parallel world into a "singularity". Not only would the world be destroyed if it happens, its destructiveness might also reach out to other worlds.
"And it's not parallel worlds we're talking about. It's literal worlds!"
She began to get excited over the prospect of interacting with other worlds. To be honest, everything would have ended differently if they could communicate with other worlds. They would have more trump cards and variables against the leviathans that were technologically superior to them.
Simply, their rate of development—while extremely fast—does not suffice.
"You're acting like a child would right now."
Aosta's words brought her out from her fantasies.
"You..! How could you not be surprised?" She asked.
"I'm just processing things better."
Seeing the two bicker back and forth, Shiro decided it is time to drop another bombshell.
"I have two gifts for you two." He gestured with his fingers. "What do you want to hear first? The first one or the second one?"
"The first one."
Shiro smiled as he began his revelation.
"After I came back into our world, I settled everything. By everything, the leviathans and their origins."
""...""
They went silent. They could not believe what they had just heard. It was shocking enough to stop them from bickering!
"I settled every single problem in our world."
"...I see." Surprisingly, Aosta was the first one who recovered. "You have a power similar to Laplace's Demon. Then again, that alone is not enough to settle everything."
Laplace's Demon.
It is the Siren's core, the main reason why they could interact with other parallel worlds and obtain every bit of information from these. It became absurdly powerful due to Aosta's genius as well as the [Will]'s interference. These factors turned it into a sentient object that has the creator attribute .
"It could only mean one thing."
"Oh? What is it~?"
"You became someone higher than it. A god that could rewrite reality itself."
"What a bold claim."
While his guesses are accurate to a terrifying degree, he continued sipping his coffee with ease.
Clang.
"That's right. If I am not that strong, I wouldn't have survived through my journey."
Strangely, Anzeel lost her liveliness from before. She became quieter than Aosta who calmly nodded at him.
"I'm curious... How did you take in everything this calmly?"
Hearing this, Aosta flashed a small grin.
"I somewhat anticipated this. If you lived, you would have gone further than just the "Quantum State". We all know that the name is purely satirical. If someone was in 'Quantum State', they would've been able to manipulate reality itself."
While Aosta and Anzeel's brains are their specialties, Shiro has his own uniqueness: his existence. He is brave and fearless enough to participate on an experiment that has a low chance of succeeding. If not for him secretly doing so, anybody else would have prevented him from doing so.
After all, he was the first and last human who could directly affect a Wisdom Cube—a person born out of extreme luck.
"How does being in the true 'Quantum State' feel?"
"It's not that different... As long as you have perfect control of yourself, you could restrict the information going inside your head. If not, you would slowly lose your self over that abundant chunk of information."
"It's risky, huh? Even gods feel troubled at times."
"They are, unfortunately."
Shiro recalled the calamity of the future. Even in the face of that, gods has no solution. He saw many like Rimuru and the 14th Herrscher, yet they could not do much about it. His friends barely held everything in when they took control over the resistance group. Shiro is the only one who knows about the impending crisis. Worse, he could not do much about it.
After this mission, he is prepared to spread a large number of contingencies. His max-level luck and the UR-items he would acquire are a major factor of it.
"Shiro. How... do you feel?"
"I'm pretty fine. Why?"
"I thought that living a long life would somehow affect you greatly. Why—"
"—I am still like this? The Shiro you knew?"
To that question, he downed his cup of coffee before responding:
"I had a shit-ton of character development. Once could let a shounen protagonist to overcome whatever he's facing. If I couldn't develop within such a long time, I'm better off dead."
To be honest, Shiro truly found himself during this journey. He became more inhumane during his 3rd lives—both as Fenrir and Magus—as he went through things no mortal would suffer from. He killed innumerable lives and thoroughly obliterated their souls. He became a ruthless monster in the face of his enemies.
When he faced off Chaldea once, he did not care about their situation nor their world's. All that mattered was they tried to destroy Castoria's world. Even, the Ritsuka Fujimaru of that time had the gall to "empathize" and pity its residents, all the while they cause that world's descent. It was not wrong to say that Ritsuka single-handedly became the catalyst which led to every destructive factor from activating.
Ritsuka sparked and joined the rebellion to the Fairy Queen, Morgan le Fay. Just by that, he triggered the world's destruction. If not for his intervention, the lostbelt would have ceased to exist. Then again, his anger led to him directly attacking Chaldea's base which caused the subsequent battle.
He had to use his [Beyond Creator] trial card just to survive many terrifying beings who were just sealed due to the Human Order's summoning method.
"I see..."
"Hey, this isn't like you. Are you worried about me that much?" He asked.
"It's... You toiled for many years and even cleaned this mess up... Thank you."
"I should give my thanks as well."
"You two... getting sentimental, aren't you?"
""You just have to break it.""
They deadpanned at him. This current trend also affected Shiro's friends in his past life.
"Haha, you'll definitely have fun when meeting with the others."
*****
A/N: Next chapter, it'll be Shiro dealing with the rest of the loose ends in Azur Lane world before he comes back to Arknights and consecutively, Fate/stay night. Castoria and Altera are still waiting for his arrival there. The curtain to his world's crisis falls.
I just graduated yesterday. That was why there are no updates over the last two days. To be honest, this event made me realize how long this fic has been running. We are nearing the 300th chapter! Seeing it and expecting it are two different things. Simply, we have come a long way. All the ups and downs this fic has, they are all experienced by us. Anyways, I will save the long message for the 300th chapter and conclude today's chapter for now.
Happy Reading~!
