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Inspired Inventor (Tensura AU)

AN: taking a break, be back soon. Currently writing: 86th Move Science, the process by which all of our modern lives are made possible. Yet this aspect is denied or rendered irrelevant in most isekai stories. Look on, and ponder the question... Just how powerful is science? Tag: Empire/Civilization Building, Exploration into high sci-fi concept, Hard Science Fiction, Dark, Realistic AU, Genderbend, Slow Romance. Inspirations: Worm, A Ghost of a Chance, Scientia Weaponizes the Future, other CYOAs (namely Built in the Heavens), Xeelee Sequence, and Isaac Arthur's exploration into Sci-Fi. Warning: this story contains dark, gory, and body horror elements in certain sections of the story. Inspired Inventor, if you are familiar with CYOAs you should know where it came from and what it does. However, should you be unfamiliar, this should catch you up to speed. Inspired Inventor- You are the world's first Tinker 12. Each day you have five charges which can be spent to improve your tinker abilities within a specific area or theme. A single charge would make you a good tinker within an area, around Tinker 4-5. Each additional charge doubles your abilities(around a two-point bump up). A single charge in Cybernetics can have you creating robotic limbs centuries ahead of modern technology, spend some on medicine, and create a cure for cancer within the hour. All fields are applicable for this power, meaning spend some charges on Political Science and create forms of government that are overall superior to any we have on Earth. if you own the cover, please prove it to me so I can credit you. Slow romance (first time writing it) Also: AU and semi-OOC due to more realism in the story.

unit_201 · Anime und Comics
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83 Chs

70th Move | Heavenfall

AN: I took some artistic liberties with how angels are summoned.

_____________________________________________

Then.

Like Yin and Yang, if there must be Demons, so too must their counterpart the Angels. Just like with 7 Primordial Demons, there are 7 Primordial Angels that God had made to create balance. Different from the Demons, however, Angels were the first successful creation of Veldanava, and so, they became His Heavenly Army.

Their original purpose back when all 4 True Dragons walked the World was to monitor for any breaches within the Grand Wall, act as Destroyers that resets the newly created Humanity back to the early Medieval Age every 500 years, and contain Ivarage.

The Angels continued to obey even as His precious System slowly started to deteriorate with none of the Primordial Angels being able to do anything but slow the breakdown.

For thousands of years after Veldanava's death, since time immemorial, the Angels continued their bi-millennia genocide against the Cardinal World that God spent much of His time on. Hundreds upon hundreds and more of pointless Great Tenma Wars were waged in His name as the entire System creeps ever closer to the End. When the Angels weren't waging omnicidal wars, they and the Phantoms were busy warring against the Insectars and the Cryptids, which were both races that were isolated to a single Universe, the Universe where the World-Destroying Entity Ivarage resided.

Ivarage was an anomaly, an eldritch multi-dimensional being from the Great Beyond. It was composed of aspects— programs that grant It power different from Magic or Skills. It was the endpoint of a race of parasites that used to feed upon information gathered from mortal species through the use of 'Cycles'.

It came right as Veldanava finished work on the Demons. Its power was enormous, easily dwarfing that of the combined Heavenly Army, and even made short work of Velgrynd and Velzard, yet, It could not defeat Veldanava who had used the System as a weapon. Its alien logic made any attempt at communication all but worthless, forcing God to shatter the almost incomprehensibly large entity into independent shards that each lacked any true intelligence.

All of the Primordial Angels urged Veldanava to kill it, and end the threat once and for all. Whether out of nostalgia or out of inability, God refused. He gathered up all the Shards of Ivarage and isolated them within a single Universe and set some Primordial Angels to guard it.

Being something from the Great Beyond, the Shards of Ivarage were alien, but eventually, they adapted and became part of the System. They released strange extra-dimensional particles that mutated reality in a way different from magicules. These extra-dimensional particles changed the Metaphysics within the universe they resided in, creating an entirely new breed of Spiritual Lifeforms— The Cryptids— that operate on laws wholly different from that of the rest of the System.

Like a cup of water being filled, once the particle saturated enough of the Universe to completely altered the Metaphysical Laws, it then started to spread to other Universes in a manner similar to gravitons, infecting them before the Angels had come and removed the spread.

The Cryptids created from this alien radiation were just as alien as Ivarage. Whether in physiology or psychology, each of the newly minted Cryptids was different, but one thing united them all: their hostility that was greater than even those of Demons.

The Cryptids ravaged the isolated universe as the Angels watched on, they fought against each other using matter, energy, gravity, time, space, and magic: nothing was off the table as the Cryptids continued their orgy of violence. Individual Shards within the universe became arenas and centers of a battle royale without either rest or cover as new Cryptids quickly replaced dead ones.

The evolution of Cryptids was extremely quick. What should've been billions of years' worth of natural selection shortened down to centuries as the Insectars were formed. The Insectars were intelligent Cryptids that dominated all other Cryptids, but the most important thing to Veldanava was that they could be communicated with.

The Insectar Progenitor, The First Insectar, was named by Veldanava to be 'Zelanus', the Lord of Insects.

Around the same point, the angels responsible for cleaning up those infections mutated into something else— Phantoms, and the lower-rank angels became something more than simple robots as they gained self-awareness through the mutation. The Seraphim Angels who got mutated became Youtens

Over the course of a thousand years, Zelanus and his Insectar race culled all non-Insectar Cryptids. Of course, they would still spawn due to the influence of the Shards, but they became something akin to disease outbreaks: deadly upon first discovering, yet still manageable. The Shards of Ivarage became cities where these Insectars lived, using the corpses of other Cryptids, these humanoid insects made fascinating ecologies, enslaved xenobiology engineered to serve the Insectars.

For the first time in forever, the isolated universe was at peace.

The Angels and the Insectars became almost friends under the gaze of God, but that friendship deteriorated after Veldanava's death.

The Insectars were expansionists, Zelanus wanted to spread his people like a parasite across the entire System, as a single universe was not enough living space. However, the normal Metaphysical Laws are hostile to Cryptids, they become mortal— their body will start to break down over the course of ten thousand years, long for a human, but a blink of an eye on a cosmological timescale— if they are subjected to it. So if Zelanus wanted to spread his horde, he would have to saturate the target universe with those extra-dimensional particles and 'terraform' it into something more hospitable, while at the same time killing all lifeforms within the target universe.

This was anathema to the Angels. Their God had loved His creations, loved them so much that He had made sure all are equal, so for one race to dominate and push all others to extinction was blasphemous.

Thus began a war spanning all of space and time within a single universe.

The war had no end, and the angels started losing when news of the System's breakdown spread.

It looked like the Insectars were winning as universe after universe fell to the seemingly endless horde, it became so bad that Heaven itself was periodically under siege.

That was until SHE came by.

_____________________________________________

Now.

"What?"

Instead of replying, Mobius projected a holographic screen in front of Rimuru. It showed a zoomed-in image of the blue skies above the Capitol City of Metropolis... which currently has a single large marble white gate high above the city at a level higher than even most clouds, around 12 kilometers if the measuring meter on the side of the holographic screen is any indication. Its height, size, and white coloring made it stand out from the blue sky, appearing like a white dot.

Ignoring how there was a door above a city, the closed marble gate was facing down, as in, towards the city. Beyond being of roman design, the gates had a holy glow to them, and it looked just like how the slime thought the gates to Heaven should look, the only things that are missing are the angels that supposedly guard it...

Angels...

<Angels are spiritual lifeforms similar to Demons>

Rimuru's eyes widen as panic courses through his insides, causing him to instantly stand up and inadvertently pushed his chair back. His mind raced a million miles an hour as [Holmes] connected the dots.

In a quiet and cautious tone, "Is this the Great Tenma War?"

His reply was in the form of the gates opening. Like a dam being opened, the gates spew out humanoid forms that were surrounded by a golden holy light.

Even from this side of the monitor, he could feel an instinctive repulsion to that holy light. Just like how humans tend to avert their eyes from dead bodies, so too would monsters avoid large concentrations of holy energy.

It was like looking at a locust swarm with how many angels the gate is spewing out every second. In fact, Rimuru could barely see the gate with how many moving figures there are surrounding the marble entrance.

Tens of thousands, maybe even hundreds of thousands, of angels started their descent. Explosions rang out on top of the highest arcologies as rays of holy light shot out from the descending swarm like the lightning from a thundercloud.

It was just so numerous! It was so numerous that the swarm had started blotting out the sun above the Downtown area. However, due to angels each individually emitting light, the cityscape underneath the cloud of angels wasn't as dark as it should've been, instead, it looked like the bottom of an outside swimming pool on a windy day as angelic lights crisscrossed the shadows.

"Mobius! Is this happening everywhere?"

The AI nodded, "I have already sent out an alert across the entire Internet for people to start heading towards the underground shelters, however—"

Rimuru then swung his right to the side, "Tell Ririna to pull back, defend the cities! All of them!"

The slime then pulled out Kusanagi. The sword uses far fewer magicules than any teleportation spells within Rimuru's arsenal.

Rimuru slashed the open space next to the desk, connecting it with Metropolis.

_____________________________________________

Above Metropolis.

Instead of falling down with the other Angels, a single figure with 3 pairs of wings floated high above the city, watching the destruction unfold.

'For their own good, as technological progression leads to self-destruction.' He had said after He commanded them.

Zalario, One of the Seven Primordial Angels— now a Youten— could not help but scoff at that as he floated high above Metropolis. Zalario had three pairs of wings, and one could describe him as having a gentle good look paired with a feminine voice.

Explosions rung throughout the city heralded the beginning of a new Great Tenma War, the Last Tenma War if what She said is to be believed.

Zalario felt conflicted. He could care less about science, in fact, he finds science and technology to be fascinating as he's the Primordial Angel that's participated in the least amount of Great Tenma Wars. The only reason he's in this one is due to the order of Feldway.

"Tch, that damnable fool. Doesn't he know she's using him?" Zalario grumbled, before signing and crossing his arms. He contents himself to just watch the destruction for the time being.

"And now I must dirty my hands once more, truly, how far have we soldiers of His Heavenly Army fallen?"

_____________________________________________

The angels started ravaging every corner of Metropolis. Due to the suddenness of the attack and the fact that extremely powerful spatial magic was used, Tempest had no time to prepare, thus in the first minute of the Last Tenma War, most people just gawked at the gate.

In the next, screams quickly replaced the gawking as the sounds of explosions washed over the city, quickly becoming a constant as after one explosion fades, the next one quickly takes its place. It was a bloody massacre as angels slaughtered masses of people with explosive lances or purified dozens of monster citizens with a single swing of a ray of holy light, cutting crowds of people in two.

The sounds of screaming were eclipsed by the sound of an omnipresent blaring alarm all over the entire city.

Overwatch Security System unleashed its entire arsenal of weapons to slow down the angels so more civilians could reach a shelter underneath each arcology. Dozens upon dozens of large pillar-like structures rose out of the ground like bamboo, each serving as a charging station before releasing a single Autonomous Security Drones. These cross-shaped drones were authorized for maximum lethality, and thus, discharged slabs of air frozen in time, acting as inviolable shields and unstoppable bullets.

They could've reformed the portals to their pocket dimension into knives but that would result in a nuclear explosion since a portal cuts at the atomic level.

But that wasn't enough with the sheer overwhelming numbers the angels had.

And thus, that's where an officer like Jon Raussac comes in.

A large Doorway the size of an entire street opened up. From that Doorway out came several Autonomous Marines in a line formation that started blasting away at the angels using a directed energy weapon that's the size of an adult human. Next, 3 Tempest military officers came out of the Doorway as well, on their left breast were the name tag of 'Jon Roussac', 'Elizabeth', and 'Karl Mayer'.

It was a standard platoon, a fraction of a standard Marine company.

Platoon Leader Jon had brown hair and purple eyes. He came from a merchant family situated in Falmuth who had immigrated as soon as he heard of this 'Land of Opportunities'. Never would he have imagined him actually joining the military— never would he have imagined a lot of things but Falmuth takes the cake— but after his old home attacked his new one, he quickly enlisted hoping that his family wouldn't get treated with suspicion. He knew next to nothing about 'modern tactics', since all he had known about militaries up till that point was mostly swords and shields.

His junior Elizabeth had strawberry blond hair cut short and grey eyes. She was one of the first humans to live in Metropolis, but when she was returning to Blumund to visit her parents, traffickers got her instead. The only reason Elizabeth wasn't shipped off to Jistav was due to the traffickers being too sloppy during their convoy movement. Justice came later that night as what she would later come to know as an on-field training of the Officer Corps had silently terminated the whole convoy without a single alarm. It was then that Elizabeth knew she would want to be an Officer, and joined up as soon as she was released from Psychological Evaluation.

Karl Mayer was the Platoon Co-leader. He was a hobgoblin who had black hair and brown eyes. In all honesty, he was probably the most normal one of these people since the reason why he joined the military was due to pressure from his own family.

Jon aimed his Block Pistol at one of the remaining angels and took a shot. The anti-spirit round passed through all magical barriers and wounded the angel heavily before finally being taken out by the Marines.

Jon's platoon was originally situated at the Eastern Theater before they all were ordered to move by the President. His company leader had cleared him for some rest and relaxation with his family. Just after he had taken a shower, put on some civilian clothing, and was ready for some meals that don't compose solely of flavored medium-size condensed ration bars, these angels appeared. The motherfucking Great Tenma War of myth and legends had just begun.

Needless to say, he dried himself and put on his Officer uniform at record speed, and reported for duty.

Their platoon was supposed to guard one of the many Talons, a drone swarm attack system that was surprisingly effective during their time at the Eastern Theater.

Jon looked towards the Doorway as the last of the Marines came out, carrying said Talons. The Talon's launching system looked like a massive truck-sized box. It was categorized officially as a 'Synchronous Multi-directional Attack System' that unleashes bee-size suicide drones ('Talons') that lock onto targets and unleash their payload upon impact. Each of these truck-sized containers carries give or take 50,000 Talons, more than enough to overwhelm all but the strongest of mages and armies.

After all, what can the magitanks and soldiers of the Empire do against tiny, inexpensive drones that cause whole companies to get annihilated?

One of his brothers-in-arms said how it's just like fighting against a hydra: 'cut off one head, and two will take its place'.

In fact, reports from the Tempest Intelligence community that Jon has read showed how all morale drained from Imperial Troops the moment they hear that buzzing sound. Word around the locker room was that the new Director of Research and Development was cooking up some newer, and even more lethal drones.

Jon then looked around at them. Multiple corpses of dead people and angels that bled golden ichor lined the streets, the Autonomous Marines looked roughened up as they continued to blast away the angels within the downtown city block they were on. Fortunately, the skyscrapers to either side of them offered a ton of cover, meaning that they only really need to focus on two sides.

"AAAAIIE!" A distant scream caught all the present Officer's attention.

"Where—" Jon was about to ask before the computer within their helmets isolated the sound coming from a hundred meters down the street, around the tip of the T-intersection.

The platoon leader turned to look at the highlighted area, and the helmet obliged by zooming in. He saw a bloodied elven mother covering her child, a golden lance protruding from the mother's back showing how she sacrificed herself for her son.

The two-winged angel then removed the lance, and before any of the Officers could do a damn thing, a rift in space opened up behind the angel.

"RRRRRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!" The President let out a war cry as he blasted out of the rift in space. His sword off to the side, the humanoid slime moved so fast only the glint of the blade can be seen as he decapitated the angel using the momentum he had with a single slash.

Strong winds followed his movement as all of it happened in less than a second. Stopping a few meters away, Rimuru swung his sword off to the side to get rid of the golden ichor.

The slime turned to look at the dying mother on the ground with a grim expression, completely unlike his usual self on television.

"MOM!" the child was kneeling beside the mother, crying out loud as the mother's eyelid slowly closed. With a single thought, Rimuru changed the element of Kusanagi from 'space' to 'healing', and quickly nicked the mother's arm. The nick was quick enough that one could barely see the sword as it moved. It wouldn't do the child any favor if Rimuru appeared to harm his mother.

A flash of green light encompassed the mother. Her wounds all but disappeared once the light faded.

The elven child looked with awe in his eyes while the mother quickly placed a hand on the lance wound behind her, finding it nonexistent. The mother and son reunited in a fierce hug.

The President watched on, a smile appearing on his face.

His enjoyment of the current scene was interrupted by the sound of boots approaching. Turning to face the sound, Rimuru found Jon and his Platoon stopping in a line and saluting, """Mr. President!"""

His head shifted, and Rimuru saw the many Autonomous Marines guarding what appears to be a truck-sized box.

In a commanding tone, he pointed at the mother and son, "get these people to the nearest shelter."

"""Yes, Sir!"""

The slime nodded before blasting off again like a rocket as he changed the element back to space. His target this time is a group of three angels hundreds of meters down the horizontal street of the T-intersection.

Moving so fast as to appear like a blur, Rimuru ran up along the side of a skyscraper as though gravity was a mere suggestion before using the glass surface as a platform and leaping off.

Rimuru held Kusanagi in a reverse grip as he stabbed a four-winged angel so deep only the crossguard stopped it from going completely through. Before the angel could fall more than a few millimeters, Rimuru used their body as a platform as he leaped toward the other two flying angels nearby, the sword easily slipping out of the four-winged angel's chest.

*Slash*

Despite the tip of his sword being too far to actually touch the other two, he used the element of space to extend his cutting edge further than it actually is, causing the angels to be bisected as though a huge sword had cleaved through both of them.

Quickly, Rimuru used [Holmes] and devoured the angelic remains.

<Notice: You have gained Extra Skill [Holy Manipulation]>

<Notice: You have gained Extra Skill [Effortless Flight]>

<Notice: You have gained [Holy Magic Resistance]>

The slime floated there in the air. Using the newly gained [Effortless Flight], he could stay up in the air forever. Rimuru took a moment to look around him, to look around Metropolis.

Large flames poured out of the arcologies while some of the smaller skyscrapers had their top floors trimmed off. Stacks of smoke were everywhere— it was like looking at 9/11 except multiplied on a city-wide scale.

And this was just in one city, Mobius said how this was happening across the entire country.

Through his [Magic Sense], Rimuru could precisely hear the ever-present screams, feel the robotic movements of these angels, smell the stench of blood, and see the souls that are drifting away, their physical bodies having been killed.

97097 Souls.

In this one small radius, 97097 people had died.

His [Magic Sense] could accurately make out every within a dozen city blocks' range, and within this range, he sensed the death of 97097 civilians.

Rimuru's hold on Kusanagi tightened to the point of applying enough pressure to rival that of being at the bottom of the ocean. Rage and hatred bubbled up to the surface of his mind like water being boiled. Slowly, more and more bubbles came to the surface as the 'water' was subjected to more heat, Rimuru felt angry at these angels, he felt hatred for them as he grits his teeth.

But most importantly, he felt hatred for himself.

He failed them. He failed those 97097 citizens who put their trust in him.

The slime never felt more hatred for himself than right now. His death, the Bombing of the Space Elevator, Scientia's death, Veldora's fall, and now the Great Tenma War— He should've seen this coming.

Oh god, Rimuru's eyes expanded as his mind dragged him back to a specific meeting with Gazel.

_____________________________________________

Before the ceremony of the Opening of the Space Elevator, Trantor.

"King Gazel you wished to see me?"

Rimuru looked intently as he took a seat next to the Dwarven King, who was currently smoking a cigar from El Dorado. They were both situated on a private balcony of an arcology overlooking the entire city of Trantor. The balcony was high enough that the unaided human eye can barely make out any individuals below beyond a simple mass of different colors compared to the road.

<Is expecting you>

<Is disappointed by your lack of urgency>

"Ah, President Rimuru," Gazel breathed out a puff of smoke, pushing the still-lit cigar into an ashtray, "your nation's feats of engineering impress me more every day."

<Is guinune>

<Is worried about something>

"Thank you, Your Majesty." Rimuru nodded as he gestured to one of the servants nearby to bring something to drink.

If this were Rimuru before he was resurrected, the slime would've felt embarrassed at the compliment. The old Rimuru probably would've let out an awkward smile and rubbed the back of his head. This Rimuru instead held his head up high and accepted the compliment.

Gazel's gaze returned to look at the massive tower off in the distance, stretching seemingly upward towards infinity.

Rimuru was partially surprised at the lack of wind this high up, before realizing that Scientia probably manipulated the local weather so that everything is absolutely perfect.

The two of them fell into a comfortable silence, Gazel continued to admire the Space Elevator while Rimuru wondered why he was called here as he took a sip of some apple juice that the servants brought.

"You know, after learning that Demon Lord Scientia is unwed, some voices in my court push me to propose to her."

"Pffft!" Rimuru immediately spat out his drinks. Not a single cough was heard as the slime doesn't breathe. "What—"

Rimuru stopped himself before he could yell out 'who the fuck starts a conversation like that?!'. It would be terribly rude to yell at the King of an allied nation of the CCTO. Gazel let out a few chuckles at Rimuru's reaction

<Does not want to marry Scientia>

Taking in a deep breath, the slime managed to calm himself down.

<Sees Scientia as a monster>

It took all of Rimuru's will to maintain his poker mask. Ignoring that comment made by [Tattletale], Rimuru reminded himself how common arranged and political marriages were in feudal Japan, more specifically, in Aristocracies in general. "Are you going to go through with it?"

"No, and I'm only 327 years old, so I have plenty of time."

Rimuru breathed out a silent sigh of relief, the fact that Gazel is over 300 years old is lost on the slime after meeting so many immortals. The concept of arranged marriages is pretty common in the isekai anime he's watched, but those were for mostly 'harem-building' purposes with busty noble's daughter.

"So if it's not... that, what did you need to talk to me about?"

Gazel's face turned serious, "it's concerning the Great Tenma War."

The slime's face stilled after Gazel's words. Like Scientia, Rimuru thought that the Great Tenma War was a myth at best, more so after her assurances. Steps are being taken by the Director to ensure the Jura Tempest Republic stays relatively immune to the eventual angel attack, but trying to discern facts from fables and other legends is difficult at the best of times.

"What about it?"

Gazel took a sip before replying, "Your nation of technology will most likely be hit the hardest. Throughout history, the Great Tenma War affected nations with the greatest technological advancements the most. Your Republic's technology dwarfs even those of the Eastern Empire, therefore, it is feasible to assume the angels would focus on you. In fact, the Angels might even attack earlier."

"How powerful are these Angels?"

"The grunts are around B-rank, the real monsters are Demon Lord level."

The slime's eyes hardened, and his face looked thoughtful, "are...

...are they really that weak?"

"What?" Gazel was not expecting that reply.

Rimuru had to control himself to prevent from asking how are they struggling against such weak monsters. He raised his right hand to the side, a casual gesture that showed Rimuru isn't afraid, "Within Tempest, B-rank monsters are classified as 'dangerous wildlife' like bears or lions in the West. Granted, Demon Lords might prove to be some challenge, but we have Veldora for threats that our technology could not handle."

"I— I see. But I'll warn you nonetheless—"

"There's no need for you to worry, Your Majesty! I appreciate your concern but there's really no need!"

_____________________________________________

Now

Even B-rank monsters are deadly if they attack in such numbers.

As a leader, he was responsible for his people. He was warned. Rimuru brought to mind, that Gazel asked for a private meeting to specifically warn him of the Great Tenma War. The slime dismissed his warnings. Even if individually the angels are weak, the sheer number is more than enough to make them deadly.

He failed the oath to protect Tempest citizens when he was sworn in as the President. He failed at defending himself, causing Scientia to sacrifice what little of her humanity left to get him back. He failed to prevent the Space Elevator Bombing, causing the entire world to hate his country. He failed to rein in Veldora, causing the Storm Dragon to sever his [Soul Corridor] and be mind-controlled by Emperor Rudra. And now, he failed to protect against the initial wave of the Great Tenma War.

The guilt chewed away all sense of accomplishment and confidence, leaving only self-loathing and despair. In such a state, he couldn't pay attention to what [Holmes] was telling him.

Everything... he failed at EVERYTHING...

He failed. He failed. He failed, he failed, he failed he failed he failed he failed HE FAILED! All he had to do was just one thing— to live up to a fraction of Scientia's achievement, to just not disappoint her, to just not mess up... and he failed at that, at such simple things!

His own people would've likely rebelled without Mobius' help.

God, he is such a failure! He was so selfish!

In truth, Rimuru originally thought that a leadership position was easy considering how many anime and manga protagonists became Kings and how they lived in luxury... how in his old life, every head of state lived in luxury. Rimuru, like any person coming from the middle class, wanted that luxury, and so he accepted that leadership position without fully comprehending the amount of responsibility that came with it.

Rimuru slowly brought his hands up. They were shaking, his vision was blurry. "Such a failure, I am... So selfish..."

Every time he messed up, Scientia would always be there to bail him out. Even when she's dead, her specter continues to aid him in the form of Mobius.

If given the chance to switch spots with Scientia, he would gladly pay his life for hers.

He— Rimuru's line of thought was interrupted when his [Multilayer Barrier] flared up as several beams of holy magic slammed into them.

As the smoke covered his entire form, the attack yanked Rimuru out of his self-loathing. The slime realized that it's probably best to not get distracted in the middle of a war zone, and so, he temporarily buried such thoughts and extended his [Magic Sense] outward, furthering its reach to the very edge of Metropolis.

"Gah!" Rimuru was assaulted by distress and fear from millions of citizens. Thousands of those pockets of fear and distress were being extinguished by the second, indicating how they were being killed.

Rimuru then used [Mind Acceleration] and recognized he won't be fast enough to save them all.

He can't stop this genocide. [Holmes] morbidly added how, at this rate, one can expect the death toll to be in the high six digits, in Metropolis alone.

Even with a portal, he still won't be fast enough.

No... Rimuru tightened his loosen grip on Kusanagi, his yellow eyes now steeled in determination.

Never again.

An intense desire bloomed inside the slime. Every part of his body rejected the reality that he won't be there fast enough. He refuses to acknowledge the fact that he won't be there fast enough. He will absolutely be there no matter the distance.

Never again. He will not fail this time.

"I will not fail anymore."

HE WILL SUCCEED!

And so, Rimuru started pushing a truly gargantuan amount of— almost all of his— magicules into Kusanagi. As if alive, the Sword of Control responded in kind and released the restraints placed upon it by its Creator.

Channeling power coming from a miniature black hole some 4,000 lightyears away through the Noosphere and empowered by Rimuru's own magicule, the Herrscher Core embedded within Kusanagi started glowing bright enough that the world seem to darken. The bright singularity that is the Herrscher Core outshone the Heavenly Army.

The citywide slaughter paused as every angel's [Magic Sense] detected a terrifyingly large concentration of magicule within Metropolis. If they were sapiens, their instincts would scream at them to escape, to ignore their orders and run.

As if testing the water, Rimuru did a casual swing with Kusanagi in overdrive mode—

——Space warps, twists, and turns like a kaleidoscope, a distance of kilometers is shortened down to millimeters while the space between individual cells is expanded ignorant of muscular structure, dealing horrendous damage to any life caught in such distortions that it wouldn't be inaccurate to describe them as looking like a mind-bending higher dimension object—————

Subsequently, all angels in front of where the slime is facing are sundered from existence. It was like someone cutting into and taking out a slice of a birthday cake, the holy light from those angels in front of Rimuru was just gone. Distance and obstacles were a complete non-factor, as that section of the city became suddenly devoid of holy light.

Rimuru recalled how Scientia once estimated that his magicule count could level a city block if he pushes it all inside.

Rimuru could not help but smile as he admired the falling lumps of flesh that used to be angels, each giving out a faint golden glow. It was like looking at golden droplets of rain during a thunderstorm, thousands upon thousands of angels were slain in an instant.

"Oh yeah."

_____________________________________________

AN: And with that, the Last Tenma War started. The End creeps ever closer with each chapter, I wonder how would it end.

Also, I've been playing Lobotomy Corporations a lot while writing this chapter, so I thought of what would happen if the Perfect Homunculus was an abnormality.

Abnormality Basic Information:

Classification Code: O-01-145 'Tinkertech Solution'

Attack type: Red (5-10)

E-boxes: 32

Risk level: Aleph

-This abnormality is capable of a breach

-This abnormality is capable of instadeath

-This abnormality can benefit the Facility

-This abnormality is capable of Spawning/Summoning/Converting an Employee to gain a Minion/Creature

Mood range:

:)— 28-32

:|— 10-27

:(— 0-9

Qliphoth Counter: X

Abnormality Defense: Red— Normal (1.0), White— Resistant (0.1), Black— Normal (1.0), Pale— Normal (1.0).

Abnormality Work Favor: (I/II/III/IV/V)

Instinct: Very Low/Very Low/Very Low/Very Low/Very Low

Insight: Very Low/Very Low/Very Low/Common/Common

Attachment: Very Low/Very Low/Low/Common/High

Repression: Very Low/Very Low/Very Low/Very Low/Very Low

(Repression has been changed to "Improve")

Managerial Tips

1. When the work result was bad, James was killed and became material for tinkering.

2. When the work result was good, Tinkertech Solution offered to improve Joanne. All improvements are not removed after the day ends.

3. Requesting Improvement from Tinkertech Solution is permitted. Tinkertech Solution will improve any Agent's Main Level for 200 E-Boxes.

4. Tinkertech Solution will instantly breach containment if an employee who had previously worked on F-01-178 enters its room, at the same time, F-01-178 will simultaneously breach.

5. If F-01-178 breaches in their berserk state, Tinkertech Solution will instantly breach in order to contain F-01-178.

6. If an improved employee has been improved more than 3 times and tries to be improved once more, Tinkertech Solution will breach. Any existing improved employees will be turned into Tinkertech drones that will indiscriminately attack nearby employees. Tinkertech drones will operate on dead bodies to create more Tinkertech drones.

E.G.O. Weapon: X-Series

Grade: Aleph

Cost: 222

Max Amount: 1

Damage: 40-50 Red

Attack Speed: Very Slow

Range: Very Long

Observation Level 4

Requirement: Fortitude Level 5, Justice Level 5

Description: officially named 'X-11 Electromagnetic Autocannon", this 3-barrel Gatling railgun is the size of an adult human. This is the only weapon that Tinkertech Solution was able to make from the materials available.

Special Ability: The fire rate of the X-11 will increase the longer an employee fires at an enemy. Movement decreased by 90% unless paired with this anomaly's E.G.O. Armor.

E.G.O. Suit: X-Series

Grade: Aleph

Cost: 120

Max Amount: 1

Defenses (Red/White/Black/Pale): Immune 0.0/Resistant 0.2/Endured 0.4/ Vulnerable 2.0

Description: an Offensive Power Armor created from scraps Tinkertech Solution found in their containment chamber. Extremely powerful and revolutionary by contemporary standards, very outdated compared to what they could have built if given the proper material.

Special Ability: Movement Speed increased by 10. Removes the 90% movement debuff given by X-11.

E.G.O. Gift: X-Series

Description: a Target Acquisition Program, it looks like a sci-fi helmet.

Head 2

Effects: Attack Speed +25. The Agent becomes immune to all White damage when the corresponding Abnormality's armor is equipped.

When breaching, Tinkertech Solution will have 1,800 HP and will heal 100 HP every second even if it's being attacked. Tinkertech Solution will be wearing power armor and will have fast movement speed.

-Basic attack: wielding a plasma blade, Tinkertech Solution will attack with a basic swipe dealing 10-20 Red damage

-Advanced attack: Tinkertech Solution will grab an employee and hold them up in the air. This will deal progressively more Pale damage until the employee is dead, where Tinkertech Solution will then start tinkering on the corpse to create a Tinkertech drone. Tinkertech Solution will not be able to attack while they are tinkering on a corpse.