Chapter 229: True Identity

The moment Shiro went back to his home, he collapsed to the ground. Since he did not want to leave any traces, he did not teleport directly into his house but into a faraway street instead. This forced him to walk for thirty minutes while feeling weak and dizzy. If not for his foresight to take out his restorative medicine while he acted as the mysterious cloaked man, he would not have made it here.

"Damn it... Fooling the entire world is a huge burden here."

When he was erasing the memories of everyone—machines included—he continuously fought back against the will of this world. He was kept being pushed out of this world by its restorative forces. If not for his current power to be strong enough to ignore it to some degree, he would have been ejected out of it.

Pouring the starry silver liquid in the thin vial in his mouth he soon became better. It is the same as the [Soul Restoration (SSR)] that he drank back in the Walpurgisnacht battle. He planned to end his fatigue and injuries in one go, which is why he only drank it now. Before this, he consumed more than half a dozen consumables.

Truly, he is the definition of pay-to-win.

Shiro: "Battle end. What a tough fight."

Kuroneko: "Did we just... like, almost fail the mission in that moment?"

Kal'tsit: "It is. If not for Shiro, we would have failed the mission."

Touka: "A mission that we've almost failed, huh? This is definitely our first..."

Shiro: "We should not let our guard down here. That girl... She is very strong."

During his brief confrontation with the military girl, he came to understand her strength. Simply put, her physical body is not a "physical" one, but a projected image from somewhere else. Her "core" is none other than a concept, something connected to countless people in this world. He saw her connected with them through his [Karmic Lord] authority.

Shockingly, one such authority of her is "Indestructible" for as long as she lives in a person's heart, she will not die. Even if he tries to make them forget about her, it will be fruitless. With their connected to her, a suspected <Creator> level existence, it is akin to kitting a rock with a wooden spear.

Not only that, he also found her "real" name.

Shiro: "Altair. This is the military girl's name."

Kuroneko: "Altair? The constellation?"

Kal'tsit: "Did you search her on Internet?"

Shiro: "Just now."

Shiro focused on his smartphone while chatting in the translucent panel. He took some time, but he found her. With the correct keywords, he found out Altair's identity in many websites. From fan illustrations to fanfictions, he saw her. She did not have an origin story like the rest of the [Creations], but she was brought into this world. Moreover, the powers that she had demonstrated are all present in those works.

Shiro: "She is a product made out of fan works."

Kuroneko: "Fan works? She came from a doujinshi?"

Shiro: "Not quite. She came from an original work, just like others, but it was kind of discontinued."

He looked at the original video where "Altair" came from. He was lucky enough to see a link in the fan art's description, which helped him find its original source.

[Altair: World Etude]

The one-minute video featured Altair and a brief description of her plot. She was supposed to be a princess who was forced to commandeer the war that her kingdom was facing. Though, that was everything. She did not have any other story.

'A character born out of fan works? The power of this world's collective unconsciousness is much stronger than I thought.'

Shiro: "She is made out of the collective will of the people in this world. It's terrifying."

Shinji: "She is made from their imagination?"

Madoka: "Imagination..."

Kal'tsit: "I understand. I will continue the deduction using [Great Sage] first."

After seeing that, he closed the chat group.

"Altair... Your creator is... Shimazaki Setsuna?"

He became determined to investigate her alone.

*****

Selesia Upiritira.

She is a knight from her home world. She fought against demons who disturbed the peace of their world. In order to rid them once and for all, she set on a journey with Charon, her trusted comrade. While she is in her journey, she was suddenly interrupted by the military girl and got sent into the "World of Gods".

She met her creator, encountered many things, and ate many delicious food during her stay here. However, now that the origin of all worlds are being threatened by a very powerful person, she decided to save this world, too. Most of it is due to her moral compass, but there's also a part of her that wanted to let her creator write their endings. She knew that her creator loved his creations sincerely.

"...So that's what happened today?" Matsubara said exasperatedly. "I didn't know that this world had almost ended."

Shivers were sent down to his spine with this thought. It is very terrifying to know that you and everyone else could die without even you realizing it. This is the fate of the weak, something that they can't get rid of as normal humans.

"Everything was resolved so you don't need to worry."

"I know. It's just that... it's still terrifying to know."

"I understand."

Bam-!

"I'm the only one who could not join that fight!"

"I think it's for the better."

Kanoya and his creator, Nakanogane, entered the conference room. When they noticed the two in this room, they greeted them.

"It's been a long day."

"It is. How I wish that I only have my deadlines as the problem." Matsubara replied to Nakanogane. "By the way, how about the others?"

From what he knew, Meteora is confined due to her injuries. Together with her is Yuuya, the lanky man who barged into their fight suddenly. There's also Mamika who's feeling depressed due to the ruckus that her powers caused.

"Meteora-san already woke up. Kikuchihara-san is with her too. It seems like they are talking about something very important."

"The cloaked man." Selesia intervened.

When she thought that everything's helpless, the cloaked man dispersed Mamika's full-powered attack. Not only that, he can also match the military girl in some way. She could not imagine the identity behind such a powerful character.

"He's also against the military girl, right?"

Hearing this, she replied, "We don't know. He always appeared whenever she did. For now, we could only trust that he would not go against us."

"I see. I wonder what Kikuchihara-san would do now..." Matsubara muttered.

"The government would support us. They now know how dangerous they are fighting against."

For a moment, Shiro almost sneezed.

"They should be talking behind my back..."