Chapter 82: Entering Honkaiverse

Uncountable amount of time had passed and Ray finally opened his eyes and breathed in relief. Both the Imaginary Tree and Sea of Quanta had disappeared from this dimension which triggered the anger of the outer god to descend faster but Ray is faster to flee into Ars Paulina.

Upon entering, he sat upon his throne with the worried Artoria by his side.

"Ray? What happened? A massive tree suddenly appeared at the horizon and suddenly a heavy pressure came crashing down. Thankfully the Temple activated its barrier." Artoria said with concern as she felt the presence of two powerful beings appeared in Ray's personal dimension.

"Nothing. Just grabbing some treasures." Ray replied while putting down a barrier around the Imaginary Tree and Sea of Quanta to encase it so their presence doesn't disturb others in this dimension.

"Let's go. We will enter a new world." Ray pulled her arm gently and lifted her up.

Excitement instantly replaced the brooding mood on Artoria after being denied by Ray. Only adventures can distract her after all and having some butt to kick is always great to release pent up feelings.

"Let's go." Artoria nods and changes from her casual outfit to her black indigo plate armor.

Ray pinpoints the signal and opens a portal to that bubble universe before both walk into it.

———

[WARNING!!!]

[WARNING!!!]

[WARNING!!!]

[A powerful being has locked on to the host and is currently seeking the host.]

"The fuck? I thought you said I will be perfectly safe as long as I complete all these quests you forced me to do." A teenage guy with typical anime protagonist appearance of white hair, face handsome enough even rock can come to life and fall in love, thin and muscular body with six-pack and of course the red pupils as if it isn't obvious enough and wanted to paint a big target on himself.

[Host is correct but this Evil God manages to disable the countermeasure and obtain Host location.]

[Host are advised to complete the host's quest quickly to stand a chance of victory.]

"That's absurd! How the heck am I supposed to brainwash the Herrscher to fall in love with me and fuck them to steal their power? They hadn't even turned into one yet."

[Hos- ERROR! ERROR! ERROR!]

[CONNECTION TO MAIN BODY WAS SEVERED]

"FUCK! What the heck is wrong with my system? After more than a decade of waiting just to end up with a broken system." He vented his anger by punching a wall and broke it with his enhanced strength.

"Shit. There must be something I can do." He thinks desperately and the only Herrscher active currently is the Herrscher of Reason, Welt Yang. No way in hell he is going to fuck a guy even if it's for power.

His main power is Sin Series: Lust which allows him to steal the power of his conquest after making them fall in love with him. However the definition of 'love' isn't specified which means as long as his target is infatuated with him, any method is a go.

His first significant target was a Rank-C Valkyrie of Schicksal. His gain was Swordsman: Selena stigmatas and Honkai energy resistance.

He is currently taking advantage of the event where Raiden Ryoma was arrested to get close to Raiden Mei to make use of her vulnerability. To get close with her in hope to steal her Natural Stigmata but he was suddenly interrupted by this life threatening alert from his trash system.

[SYSTEM RECOVERED FUNCTIONALITY…]

[Host has a minute to decide. Accept help from the system and fight off the Evil God or ignore the system's help.]

[Accept/Deny]

"Of course I accept. I'm barely enjoying my second life and you think I wanna wait like a good boy to be butchered?" He scowled and pressed accept without hesitation only to regret a second later.

His life was forfeited as the pawn of the outer god, now furious that Ray stole his meal and wanted revenge. After all, a prideful god that wanders aloof across dimensions unchallenged suddenly gets robbed by a nobody. Of course it will get angry.

An aura spread around the possessed man and turned people insane simply by being near to him, slowly turning them into twisted creatures of horror that had become eldritch-like.

The crowd went mad and started attacking nearby bystanders, rapidly whispering unintelligible words like a chant as they tear and mutilate and offer sacrifice to the eldritch being.

"ＤєᏕȶＲ⊙Ꮍ! ＲÄłᏕє ₵нÄ⊙Ꮥ ÄᑎＤ нÄѴ⊙₵ ғ⊙Ｒ ȶнłᏕ Ш⊙ＲﾚＤ ᏕнÄﾚﾚ ฿є ʍłᑎє ȶ⊙ ғєÄᏕȶ!" The possessed man howled in demonic screech.

The city soon descended into chaos as it desired. Its thralls run free and destroy everything in their path while converting more victims into hideous monsters of horror as local law enforcers and military sent to deal with it were helpless until hundreds of mechs and women in battle suits came to help.

———

Ray arrived at the universe and the world, he stayed hidden in a parallel dimension similar to the mirror dimension to gather information. It's a foolish move to act without assessing the situation first, especially when this world is foreign to him.

He planned to use his privileges to Akasha to access this universe's Akasha but was interrupted by a sudden burst of energy, very similar to divine power but more violent. He saw people fleeing the city as part of its descent into chaos with the arrival of that outer god. He sensed and the presence of this thing matches the one he sensed in the previous dimension.

"Please stay calm and evacuate to the shelter!" A policewoman and a few of her colleagues tried to direct the panicking masses but the arrival of few thralls caused the masses to ditch the shelter and keep running as their mind is affected by the aura the thrall releases, an aura that induces fear and terror.

Switching his focus, he was attracted to a school or rather a person.

"Help…"

A middle school girl aged 15 with blueish purple hair and wearing her school uniform. She hid in a corner of the school, cowering in fear but unaffected by the aura that the tralls spread as another energy from her body envelope her in a pinkish cocoon that isn't visible to naked eyes. Her name was…

"Raiden Mei…" Ray discovered by tapping slightly into Akasha of this world and strangely enough, she has many similarities to Raiden Shogun from Teyvat.

Ray established a telepathy with the cowering girl that was terrorized by the thralls bashing at the barricade door.

'Do you wish for help or be saved?'

"Eh?" Raiden Mei lifts up her head in surprise while sniffling and wiping her tears.

"Who?"

'Do you wish for help or be saved?' Ray repeats his question again while summoning Baal to help him with a task.

(Raiden Mei PoV)

"Who?" I asked while looking left and right in fear of a ghost since some classmates once said the school has ghosts and it's haunted.

'Do you wish for help or be saved?'

The toneless voice repeated again and asked the same question. Instantly, the worry about the monster outside the barricaded door vanished from my mind and I had a flashback of what had happened recently.

My father was framed for fraud, everyone distanced from me and shunned me for being a daughter to a 'criminal' and etc. I always pray to god for help to save my father, to save myself. But I also realized, until when I needed to be saved? Once? Twice? At the end of the day, only I can save myself. To do so I need strength.

"Help me. I want to be stronger. Strong enough to defend myself and help my father." I started but the voice didn't reply and I felt ashamed.

"Am I too stressed that I have hallucinations…" I asked myself before lowering my head again into a fetal position.

'Then pledge yourself and your absolute loyalty to me and in exchange I will bestow you power beyond your recognition.'

I heard the voice talk to me again and I lift my head once again to check but instantly terrified by the appearance of a demon.

A human-like demon wearing a demonic robe that covers half of his body and surrounded by three rows of diamond shaped crystal eyes. The eyes were all staring at me which made me also wet myself in terror.

[Image Here]

'What have I done! I-Its a demon?' I screamed in my eyes and squeaked when it offered his palm and then a purple chess-like piece appeared in its hand.

Some part of my mind was screaming in terror, from the trall to a demon appearing in front of me to sell away my soul. But another part of me was attracted to the thing in its hand.

"A-Are you g-going to take my s-soul away?" I asked for confirmation.

'Well, actually no. I only need your service to me as my agent. An apostle you could say. However, I also need to have a guarantee you would just run away after I give you power. So, it's merely a formality. A contract of sorts to bind both us to our promise.' The voice somehow explains more enthusiastically than the toneless voice before it ends with a cough.

"Oh, I get it." I replied with a subtle nod as I am familiar with contracts from my father's job as a businessman.

'So, do we have an accord?' The voice asked in an unhurried voice.

"Umm… Okay." I answered hesitantly but it was apparently acceptable and the purple chess-like piece suddenly emitting electric discharge and shot into my body, vanishing into my chest. Then everything became a blur as I passed out.

(Ray PoV)

"The merge is perfect without any problems. Good." I muttered as the husk of the Gnosis that no longer contained divinity and nothing more than a fancier Vision in function, entered her body.

"Take care of her and protect her, Baal." I pass my order to the Demon God.

'As you commanded, king.' Baal nods and proceeds to exterminate the nearby thrall that poses danger to the sleeping Mei.

After I sorted this matter out, I turned my attention to another location, the whole city itself. People are running like headless chicken and the newly arrived mechs and people in combat suits started to contain the chaos and set up a safe zone for the civilians to gather but the corruption of the outer god's divine power is so strong that the defenders also fell victim to it.

They noticeably are better defended unlike the civilians. Having this similar pinkish cocoon or the mechs having a forcefield. But their energy is insufficient as the corrupting divine power easily saps away the resisting pink energy or the forcefield energy, leaving these combatants vulnerable and then turning against their ally. Which poses even more danger than normal thrall.

I simply watch instead of helping because honestly, I found no reason to help. Better just stay here and observe my opponent to assess it to find weakness rather than exposing myself. However, due to my Divinity of Soul. I can hear the anguished cries of the victims. Trapped in their body which turned into horrific monsters that prey on their fellow kin. Crying for help from god, a deity that they individually believed in.

"Yeah… I am responsible for this technically." The outer god will still attack this world regardless. I just speed up the process.

Thus he spread hope. 'Pray to me and devote your life to me and I shall offer you protection.' He said while thinking, why not create a religion? The faith might be miniscule to strengthen my divinity but something is better than nothing, right?

Immediately, people who heard his words prayed earnestly for protection and protection they got as horsemen appeared from their shadow, killing the foe that threatened their life. Shadow spread across the land, creating a domain where the influence of the outer god's divine power is nullified by his Divinity.

People start to cheer and also pray even harder for his forces to prevail against the monster that killed their families and friends.

—————

(On April 1st sharp, the novel I just made should post its chapter automatically. It's obvious the novel was made for April Fool's but try to guess the prank/joke.)