Clear - A10

***

Wh-What do we do now, Hajime-san!?" Shea exclaimed

"We're not out of options yet, but we have to seal her movements first somehow." Hajime confidently said. He glanced at Anam and gestured for her to take one of the platforms near the entrance; she seemed exhausted. He tossed her one of his god water vials before turning back to the situation at hand.

"Okay, leave it to me." Shea was on the verge of panicking when she realized they lacked sufficient firepower.

Hajime still had a trump card up his sleeve, another weapon he has in his spatial inventory hidden within the ring. He'd need to stop the Miledi Golem from moving to use it, though. When he mentioned as much to Shea, she regained her composure for the most part, and together with Yue she prepared to jump out of the way of the flail. However—

"Not this time~" Miledi said in a singsong voice as she started rotating the block they were standing on.

Hajime and the others all lost their balance. Anam, unable to steady herself, slipped and fell off the platform.

"Ah!" Yue and Shea gasped, their eyes widening as they watched Anam fall. Without missing a beat, Hajime, eyes narrowed, prepared to launch an updraft to catch her with a rope.

As she free-fell, Anam swiftly uncorked a vial and drank its contents. The vial of goldwater barely restored a small percentage of her curse energy, but it was more than enough to start the incarnation.

[Do it!] Dark Magician Girl's voice echoed telepathically in her mind.

[Yosh!] Gojo replied.

["Incarnate!"] They both shouted in unison.

Dark Magician Girl felt her control slipping as her body grew bulkier, pulsing with newfound strength.

Not only that but her body began to glow, radiating a mix of bright white and pink lights. Particles of her self started transforming into light and drifting away.

Her appearance has changed, and she started to disperse into particles of light out of the body. Gojo who emerged clung tightly to these lights, drawing them into himself and bringing Dark Magician Girl inside him once more.

***

As the room's attention shifted to the new arrival, replacing Anam, a wave of shock and surprise rippled through everyone present. It was too hard to not notice, Anam's body was glowing really bright, brightening the whole room, stopping them in the middle of a fight.

Miledi, with her golem-like head, tilted it in confusion. "Who?" she questioned.

Amidst the murmurs, Gojo's voice emerged, "Oh, good, I feel alive now," he declared, turning to face Miledi with a smirk that sent shivers down spines.

A chilling confidence emanated from him as he addressed Miledi directly, "You really did a number on my wife, Miledi," He said this with a crazy smile on his face.

In a blink, he closed the distance between them, seemingly defying gravity. "Was that… teleportation? Is he flying?" The collective thought echoed through the minds of onlookers.

With lightning speed, his right arm, infused with a blue energy orb, swung towards her face. The point-blank punch sent Miledi's giant golem hurtling backward, demolishing the walls that were supporting behind her upon impact. 

This punch was fueled by curse energy, body reinforcement, lapse blue, and the application of limitless, along with the intention of landing a black flash. Unfortunately, the black flash failed to materialize.

Gojo clicked his tongue in disappointment as he looked at his clenched hand. It didn't bother him that his attack on the giant golem had caused so much damage.

[That much was okay, though, right?] Gojo telepathically spoke to his wife.

[Mmhmm.] Dark Magician Girl replied while laying flat on her stomach in Gojo's infinite void telepathically mumbling.

[Do you still want me to beat her up for you?]

[No…]

[Wha—? Whatever. But, what should I say to them?] Gojo pondered.

Originally, Gojo was excited to meet anime characters that he had read before. But after being inside Dark Magician Girl's body for quite a while and watching her enjoy life from this unique perspective was fascinating in its own way. Oddly enough, he felt like a house husband while inside her.

Anam was sad she lost her physical human body. But in Gojo's perspective, being a duel spirit held its own advantages. No need for bodily functions like sleep, sickness, eating, drinking, shitting or peeing.

~

Looking down from above, Gojo met the cautious gaze of the trio: Hajime, Shea, and Yue. With a loud clap of his hands, he teleported directly to their platform.

The trio recognized him by appearance, having heard about him and seen him directly from Dark Magician Girl, who often boasted about him and transformed into him during their night talks or whenever they wanted to kill time.

"Um—!" Shea didn't know what to say.

"Save it. I know who you guys are and you guys know who I am. Let's beat Miledi up, then we can talk." Gojo commented, turning his attention back to the wall where the golem was lodged.

"As for who I am, Miledi. I am Gojo, Satoru Gojo. I am here because my wife sacrificed herself to incarnate me. And here is that little icebreaker, I'm with them, trying to find our way back home," he added, then glancing at a hidden room where the real Miledi was watching, and staring at her that sent a shiver down her spine.

Miledi's colossal golem swiftly repaired itself, rising from its damaged state.

"Wawawah!? What was all that about!?" Miledi cried out in surprise. "Why'd you punch me outta the blue before introducing yourself!? Don't you know about common courtesy!?"

"You literally made my wife cry. You should be grateful I'm content with punching this fake body of yours," Gojo retorted with a snort.

Miledi trembled in her room after hearing that.

"I know pretty much how to clear the trial. We just have to destroy the golem's heart." Gojo explained, quickly turning his face towards Hajime's group.

"Yeah, I already know that." Hajime replied, removing his eyepatch.

Miledi, the giant golem knight, had its gaze fixed on the sky, her eyes gleaming. "Hehehe. But can you guys pull it off?" she teased.

There wasn't enough time to ponder what Miledi meant by that. But Hajime felt a sudden unease creeping over him. While Gojo slowly glanced at the ceiling.

Then, it happened. The room shook violently as if the very earth were rebelling. But it wasn't the ground; it was the ceiling. Rocks, or rather, pieces of the ceiling, began to rain down upon them.

"Fufufu, here's my revenge. Aside from the knights, I can't give multiple objects orders at once, but I can make everything fall. Try dodging this~" Miledi's words irked Hajime, but there wasn't any time to worry about her.

'Revealing her abilities? But I know she can give multiple objects orders.' Gojo thought. 'Either that or her powers and abilities had deteriorated / stagnated throughout the age of time.' He hadn't read Arifteria Zero, but it seemed a plausible theory.

There were a few platforms making up part of the room's wall, but its ceiling was made almost entirely of platforms. Each of those platforms was easily ten tons, and they were falling as thickly as raindrops. Cold sweat poured down Hajime's forehead.

"Oui—" Hajime glared at Gojo, who was calmly gazing at the ceiling.

"No worries. I'm fine on my own," Gojo said, waving him off as a platform landed on him. They had no idea what he meant by that, but there was no time to ponder it as the platform started crashing down on them too.

Clicking his tongue in frustration, Hajime quickly darted over to Yue and Shea to regroup, holding them tightly. He jumped from one platform to another, desperately using them as footholds as he raced through the room.

Meanwhile, Miledi continued staring up at the ceiling. She had mentioned it before, but the way she controlled the platforms was different from how she controlled the golems. Judging by how quickly Hajime and the others adapted, the golems must have had some level of autonomy. That was why she could coordinate with them and give sophisticated orders.

The sky was falling. Numerous objects, blocks, and platforms rained down continuously.

Rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrummmmmbbllle! The platforms were heavily concentrated on where Hajime and the others were standing.

Hajime guessed the space around Miledi must have been safe and thought of a way to maneuver to where she is. However, there was too much falling debris, rocks, platforms, and blocks raining upon them, and they were soon gonna get crushed.

"Yue, Shea, grab hold of me! Don't let go, no matter what!" Hajime commanded.

"Okay," Yue responded.

"You got it!" Shea echoed.

As soon as they clung to him, Hajime pulled Orkan out of his Treasure Trove. He began firing missiles at the descending rocks, each one hitting its target with precision. Stone after stone was pulverized, clearing the immediate danger above them.

The sky, which had been covered by raining gray stone, finally started to show some cracks due to Orkan's barrage. They could finally see through the rain of stone. Hajime returned Orkan to his Treasure Trove and instead pulled out Donner and Schlag, firing both of them repeatedly. In order to increase their chances of survival by even one percent, Hajime accurately calculated where he needed to shoot to break apart the right fragments, then he shot them down with precision.

'Wow… he's deflecting those rocks just like Dio did with Emerald splash,' thought Gojo, who was sitting comfortably on Miledi's giant golem shoulder, unnoticed by her.

Despite Hajime's efforts, the rocks were closing in. Ensuring Yue and Shea were still holding on tight, Hajime activated his special magic skill, Riftwalk. The world suddenly slowed down around him, and Hajime could make out each piece of death falling toward him.

Conserving his mana for moments like these, Hajime navigated through the falling barrage with precision. Every movement he made was perfect, every shot calculated. He couldn't afford even the smallest mistake, pushing himself beyond his limits to survive.

The difficulty surpassed even his previous encounters in the Great Orcus Labyrinth; therefore he activated another skill, Limit Break, determined to overcome the labyrinth's threats.

Crimson light enveloped his body, then dissipated seconds later. Normally, Limit Break would triple his base stats, but because mana was dispersed in this environment upon being released from the body, it was rendered ineffective. That was because Limit Break achieved its effects by wrapping its user in an aura of mana. But it also wrapped the inside of its user's body with another layer of mana. Which meant that even if the strengthening was ineffective, his heightened senses from using the skill remained.

He was breaking his limits in the very literal sense of the phrase. Naturally, this placed a huge burden on his body. Especially because he'd already enhanced his senses to the limit earlier with Riftwalk. Had his body not been transformed by consuming monster meat back in the Orcus Labyrinth, his body would have self-destructed. He was forcing his body and mind to go beyond overclock while already being overclocked, Hajime was bleeding from his eye and nose. At this point, most people would have passed out, but he is only keeping himself together by his own will.

With fluid motions, he dodged death by a hair's breadth time and time again. This was all the more impressive because Yue and Shea were still clinging to him. He jumped from crumbling platform to crumbling platform with a godlike level of balance, sometimes even using the falling rocks as footholds.

[THERE IT IS! The limit break I have seen and read about.] Gojo smiled, as he meticulously watched. He figured this is one of the few things he could use from this world. [And the story of that man himself.] He was able to see what was happening in real time with Hajime who was desperately trying to survive. He knew the main character wouldn't die from something like this.

From her vantage point across the room, Miledi saw Hajime seemingly consumed by the rocks. Disappointed, she assumed they couldn't withstand the barrage. With a sigh, she moved the giant golem and emerged from her spot on the wall.

The few platforms that weren't completely destroyed floated aimlessly among the remnants of the sky that had dropped.

"Well, I guess it was too much for them after all. But if they can't even survive this, they'd never have been able to take on those bastards." Sighing, Miledi started searching for Hajime's corpse. But at that moment—

"Why are you already quick to assume that we would be dead?" Gojo spoke up revealing where he was.

"HAAAHH?!, I thought you died!" Miledi turned around, her voice a mixture of surprise. 'Did he teleport out of the way before impact?'

"And I thought I already told you that I don't care about fighting those bastards." Hajime looked down at Miledi from one of the few intact platforms. He was bleeding from his eye and nose, but otherwise looked unharmed. 

"Huh?" Miledi heard a familiar voice, that of the arrogant white-haired boy with an eyepatch and mysterious artifacts.

"H-How did you..." She was sure she'd seen him get swallowed up by the barrage of rocks, yet here he was, standing before her.

Hajime smiled victoriously.

"I don't mind telling you... but don't you think you should be worrying about something else?" His grin widened as he observed Gojo channeling peculiar energy and mana into his legs.

"Huh?" Miledi began again, only to have her confusion abruptly replaced by a sudden physical blow struck her from the side.

It was Gojo, lifting his leg and delivering a powerful kick that sent her crashing to the ground, her armor crumbling upon impact.

The previously sturdy Azantium part of her armor bent under the force, shocking Miledi to her core.

For the trio, this moment triggered a quick flashback to Anam's absurd late-night boasts about who is the strongest member in their group, with Anam's repeated stating: "MY HUSBAND IS THE STRONGEST!!!!!!" Though it had seemed absolutely nonsensical at the time, now it seemed a bit more believable.

"Ahaha, you almost got me! But even you can't pierce my Azantium armor." Her voice was shaky, but she tried to feign confidence. Miledi was still confident they couldn't win. However she didn't know Gojo's main purpose was to make her immobilized. She seemed to hold absolute confidence in the Azantium armor as it is the strongest material in this world. She even let Hajime take out a cannon from his treasure trove ring. 

"Is your old age finally kicking in? This is exactly the part where you underestimated us." Gojo scoffed. Though he could have easily resolved the situation by using the reverse curse technique red, he found himself almost depleted of curse energy after incarnating. He had entered this world with the same meager amount of curse energy that Dark Magician Girl had before incarnating: a mere five percent. He'd need to replenish his curse energy after all this.

The object Hajime pulled out was a two and a half meter long cannon. The outside was covered in all manner of odd knobs and switches, while the inside was loaded with a twenty centimeter wide jet black spike. There were four sturdy stands attached to the lower part of the cannon, while the middle part connected to his prosthetic arm, allowing him to operate it.

The entire thing was coated in a thick layer of Azantium, making it the densest, hardest object on the planet. He ignited the massive amount of compressed blastrock inside the pile bunker and accelerated it with Lightning Field for good measure.

To make sure Miledi has his undivided attention on him, Gojo was going to reveal his technique.

"Did you know? My technique is called Limitless or Infinity. It's why I can fly, teleport, and levitate," Gojo explained, disclosing his abilities before empowering himself with curse energy, projecting a visible aura that heightened his presence.

Miledi was taken aback. "Are you revealing your abilities?" she exclaimed, surprised.

Whiiiiiiiir! The spinning spike let out a high pitched whirring noise. Hajime's smile was so ghastly that had Miledi not been a golem, she surely would have stiffened in fear.

"Don't pay attention to him; pay attention to me," Gojo urged, his grin just as crazed. "You see, this technique of mine is like a convergent series of infinite numbers. Anything that approaches me slows down and ultimately fails to ever reach me," he explained.

Miledi and Yue were able to understand this in a practical sense and both thought, 'That is impossible!'

"Infinity exists everywhere. My jujutsu just brings it forward into reality," he added.

Miledi desperately tried to get up, but Gojo who was standing on top of her with his infinity kept her pinned down.

Seeing that Hajime had completed his preparations, he stepped back, allowing him to take control of the situation.

"Eat this." Hajime drove the spike straight through Miledi's heart, as if he were staking a vampire.

With a resounding crash, his pile bunker pierced through Miledi's Azantium armor. Cracks radiated from the point of impact, the damage spreading throughout the plating. The platform Miledi was stuck to nearly shattered, plummeting down a considerable distance from the force of the blow. The friction of the spinning pile bunker generated enough heat to cause plumes of smoke to rise from her chest.

...However, the light in Miledi's eyes was still burning bright.

"Ha...haha. Looks like even that wasn't enough. But well, props to you guys. You pierced through a good three-fourths of my armor, you know?"

Internally, she was panicking. The pile bunker she'd just experienced had been one not fully accelerated by Hajime's max power Lightning Field. That was the only reason it hadn't penetrated all the way to her core. And yet, despair still didn't color Hajime's eyes. It was almost as if he'd expected it to not be enough.

"Now, Shea! Finish it!" Hajime put everything but the spike back into his Treasure Trove and leaped out of the way.

From above came Shea, falling from a great height. Her rabbit ears were flopping in the wind as she held Drucken high over her head.

"Wha—!?" Miledi instantly guessed what was about to happen. There was real panic in her eyes now, and she desperately tried to break free. Realizing that wouldn't work, she tried to move the platform she was stuck to instead, but she quickly realized it was too late. At the last moment she stopped struggling, accepting her inevitable fate.

Shea fired off multiple shotgun blasts that were embedded in her hammer to accelerate her even further, then slammed down her war hammer with all the power of gravity behind it. With a thunderous roar, the spike sank deeper into Miledi.

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!" Shea's scream echoed across the room. She poured every last ounce of her strength into her war hammer. Every. Last. Ounce.

The spike drove even further into Miledi's chest, breaking the core apart, shattering it completely.

"Wow, I can even feel that." Gojo whistled watching from above.

There was a satisfying crack as the core broke. Then, with her body strengthening focused on her legs, she kicked Drucken's handle, making doubly sure that Miledi was done for.

The light faded from Miledi's eyes. Shea let out a sigh of relief, then let the tension drain from her body.

She heard two objects land behind her and turned around. As she expected, it was Hajime and Yue. Shea broke out into an ecstatic grin and gave them a thumbs-up. Both of them smiled back and returned her gesture.

They were certain of it now. They'd cleared the final trial Reisen's labyrinth had to offer. With the help…of the newcomer.

"Nice one, Shea. That last kick of yours was perfect. I might even respect you a little now." Hajime offered words of compliments.

"...Yeah, you did good." Yue chimed in.

"Ehehe, thanks guys. But Hajime-san, shouldn't you be saying you might have fallen in love with me a little instead?"

"Not happening. Not even a little." Though his words seemed blunt, his expression was nowhere near as stern as it usually was when it came to Shea's pathetic jokes.

"Ummm… What do we do about Anam?" Shea asked as her bunny ears drooped a little, before they all turned to face the newcomer who walked to their platform.

Hajime approached Gojo with a solemn expression. "I'm sorry about Anam. We couldn't save her," he said with confidence.

Gojo nodded slowly. "Oh, right. That's how it looks," he muttered.

"Apologies accepted. She wanted to sacrifice herself to incarnate me," Gojo waved dismissively. "That's all there is to it."

Shea, taken aback, stuttered, "But... your wife died, and you're not upset? You're not even angry!?" she was getting angry now.

"Oh no no. You guys got it wrong. You see, Anam wasn't human to begin with. But she still wanted to try being human. Incarnating me means I killed her chances of being human. But she did so in order to help you guys have a better chance at Miledi. Though I don't think my help was absolutely necessary. Then there was that case of her curse energy dropping to zero and causing some side effects that I didn't even know of." Gojo blammered on and on. He was also telepathically trying to calm his wife in his mind.

Hajime and Yue exchanged a knowing glance. 'Curse techniques and curse energy seem linked,' they silently agreed.

Yue, curious, asked, "So, can she reincarnate like you?"

Gojo shook his head. "No, that was a unique ability bestowed upon me when I arrived here together with my wife. I just shared the info with her."

"She's... dead then?" Shea's voice trembled.

"Doesn't this mean she is deaaaaaaaaaaaad!?" Shea cried out, tears were starting to come out.

"She is inside me right now." Gojo answered with a weird smile as he faced Shea.

The trio froze at Gojo's statement, recalling Anam muttering those lines before. They remembered their nightly discussions where Anam would say, "My husband is inside me!" It would have made more sense if she had actually explained what she meant by that. Gojo being inside her made it sound like he was dead or that they were spiritually connected from afar, which was a confusing kind of logic, or that he was fucking her in some weird way.

"That aside, Hajime Nagumo. Oh, wait. Can I call you guys without honorifics? I'm originally raised in the western part of the blue-planet san where people address each other on a first-name basis. So it's fucking weird for me if I have to address people by their last name and attach with a 'san,' 'chan,' 'tan,' 'kun,' or whatever."

"Go for it." Hajime replied seemingly understood. Yue didn't find a problem with it seeing how Hajime agreed so she agreed as well and Shea followed suit.

"Great. Anyway, Dark Magician Girl, as Hajime might know, is a duel spirit in a very special world. But she's my soul partner. She can manifest at will, but at the cost of mana or my life force. This could be fixed with the age of god magics."

"Ah," Hajime, Yue, and Shea murmured in unison, realizing why Gojo wasn't too concerned. With the age of god magics, anything seemed possible.

"You see, our circumstances were special when we were brought into this world. She became human, and I... was imprisoned inside her? Really a strange way to be brought into this world by a god." Gojo continued, tilting his head and holding his chin thoughtfully.

"That aside, it's nice to meet all of you," Gojo said with a smile. "Since you are all friends with my wife, that makes you all my friends too."

Naturally, Hajime wanted to deny that instantly but couldn't.

Hajime swallowed his retort, glancing at Yue and Shea, who seemed equally puzzled but intrigued. The unusual circumstances surrounding Gojo and Dark Magician Girl piqued their curiosity. Especially Hajime—who exactly is Satoru Gojo in the world of Yu-Gi-Oh!?

Gojo's smile remained warm as he observed the group. Hajime shifted uncomfortably, trying to find the right words.

"So," Hajime began, hesitant but curious, "What are you going to do now?"

Hajime stared at Gojo, his mind racing with questions and skepticism. This guy's story was beyond bizarre, and he wasn't sure whether to believe it or not. But there was something about Gojo's earnest expression that made Hajime consider giving him the benefit of the doubt.

"What am I going to do?" Gojo pointed at himself with a confident smile. "Well, honestly I don't know. But if you guys don't mind, can we tag along?"

Hajime blinked, processing Gojo's request. He glanced at Yue and Shea, silently communicating with them before turning his attention back to Gojo.

"Well," Hajime began, choosing his words carefully, trying to find the right way to phrase his thoughts. "If you're willing to help us achieve our goals, then I don't see why not."

Yue and Shea trusted Hajime's judgment. If he was open to the idea, then they would follow suit.

"Though," Hajime continued, his tone turning serious, "I hope you're not just here for a casual adventure. We're on a mission with the goal of gathering all seven ages of god magic, and we can't afford any distractions."

With a grin, Gojo extended his hand towards Hajime, "Great! Looking forward to fighting alongside you all."

Hajime clasped his hand firmly, reciprocating the gesture. "Likewise."

With a nod of agreement from Hajime.

'Canon can go fuck itself now.' Gojo thought to himself.

"Ummm... Sorry to interrupt your little party, but things aren't looking that great for me, so I'd like to get this out of the way before it's too late." They knew that voice. The group all turned back in surprise. The light from Miledi's eyes, which had gone out moments ago, had returned. Instantly, they all jumped back. Eyeing Miledi warily, as they were certain they'd destroyed her core.

"Hey, hey, no need to be so tense. You did it! You won! I'm just using what little power's left in my core to talk to you guys for a bit! I'll be gone for good in a few minutes." The fact that the light in her eyes was flickering and fainter than before, combined with the fact that she didn't move, seemed to support her statement. She was on the verge of disappearing for good.

Gojo remained silent as he looked around the room.

Relaxing slightly, Hajime cautiously responded to her. "So? What'd you want to talk to us about, you half-dead golem? Seeing as you're about to die and still can't read the mood... I guess I'll award you the title of most insensitive annoying Liberator."

Miledi chuckled weakly. "Heeey, there's no need to be so mean. I was just starting to like you, too."

"Well, we don't," Hajime retorted.

"I'm just here to give you a piece of advice," Miledi continued, her voice growing faint. "Even if the spell you're looking for isn't in the labyrinths you explore, you'll need to acquire all of the ancient magic the Liberators left behind... in order to achieve your goal..."

Unperturbed, Hajime pressed for answers. "All of it, huh... Well, why don't you tell us where all the other labyrinths are, then. The records have been lost and no one knows where most of them are anymore."

Miledi sighed. "Ah, I see... So it's already been so long... that even the people have forgotten where the labyrinths are... Okay, well... they're..." Her voice faded, lost in memories of the past.

Yue and Shea looked down at her silently. They respected her determination. For the sake of her goal, for the sake of her dream, she'd abandoned human form and transferred her spirit into this inanimate object. 

However, Gojo was looking at her with a face of complete disgust. 'This old hag is still playing mind games with us!?'

Miledi mumbled out the location of the remaining Great Labyrinths. Among them was one that came as a surprise to most people here.

"That's all of them... Good luck."

But Gojo halted the conversation. "Wait a moment."

All eyes turned to him.

"Supposedly we encounter this shitty mad god by chance, are there any abilities we should be aware of?" Gojo asked thoughtfully.

A heavy silence settled in the room.

After a moment of contemplation, Miledi responded, "It's hard to say. It's been ages since my group encountered him. His tactics and powers might have completely changed over the years."

"And what about his lackeys then?" Gojo pressed on.

Miledi responded confidently, "Ah, right. I can bet those angels of his haven't changed at all!~" Her laughter was faint. "They are warriors… created by Ethos… who are devoted to carrying out his will. Mindless beings… who can't think for themselves. As of right now… they are currently as strong… if not stronger… than you guys."

Yue suddenly walked up to Miledi. There was already almost no light left in the golem's eyes.

"What is it?" Miledi's voice was barely a whisper. Yue replied in the same hushed whisper, giving her last parting words to the great Liberator.

"...You did well. You can rest now."

"..."

Words of praise. It was all one of the living could give to her, an almost legendary hero that had waited all alone in the darkness for centuries, never giving up hope that her dream would one day be realized. It might have been odd hearing those words from someone far younger than her. Still, Yue could think of nothing else to say.

Miledi hadn't been expecting that either. She just stared in surprise for a while. Finally, she spoke. Her muttered words were far gentler than anything they'd heard her say thus far.

"...Thank you."

"Mhmm."

'Just get on with it already!' Behind them, Hajime was nearing the end of his patience. Hajime knew this was one of her pranks. She was speaking with sincerity he could hardly believe from her. She had shown hints of this personality before their fight, so Hajime was beginning to suspect this really was her true nature. And now that she was moments from death, she had no need to keep up the facade.

"Now then... it's finally time... I pray that... the blessings of the gods... never reach you..."

Entranced, Yue and Shea watched as the light of her soul rose up to the sky. We all watched as the colorful thing moved out of the room.

"...At first I thought she was just a rotten, twisted little woman, but she really gave it her all, didn't she?"

"Yeah..."

The two women's words were somber. However, two other members of their party didn't seem to care about Miledi's passing at all, and hurried the two of them up. 

"Alright, done yet? Let's get out of here. Also, I know for a fact that that annoying part of her personality wasn't faked. There's no actor that good, she had to have been a bitch from the start." 

"And just so we're clear on this, that light of hers wasn't her soul," Gojo's eyes were fixed on a nearby wall.

"What on earth are you talking about? She just died in front of us," Shea retorted.

"And you too Hajime-san, speaking ill of the dead isn't cool. You're really bad at reading the room," she added, shaking her head.

"...Hajime, are you dense?" Yue chimed in.

"Not you too, Yue... Bah, whatever. Also, it's not that I can't read the mood, I'm just choosing not to." Hajime grumbled.

Their conversation was interrupted by a glowing section of the wall, drawing their attention.

As they approached, the light dimmed, revealing a passage hidden behind the wall, crafted from gleaming white stone.

Soon, they stood before a wall adorned with the crests of the seven Liberators, reminiscent of Oscar's labyrinth.

The wall slid open, revealing...

"Hey there! Not-so-long time no see! It's me, Miledi-chan!" A miniature Miledi Golem struck a playful pose.

"..."

"What'd I tell you? I knew she'd pull something like this."

Shea and Yue were stunned speechless. Hajime just looked annoyed. He had been hoping his guess was incorrect. 

Gojo, however, had seen it coming, tracing her presence back to when he emerged from his wife's body.

It didn't make sense for her to set things up so that she'd just vanish once she was defeated. After all, that would mean subsequent challengers would no longer have any trials to overcome.

In stark contrast to Shea and Yue's glum expressions, Miledi seemed sickeningly cheerful.

"Huh? What's this? Why's everyone all quiet? Come on, shouldn't you be more surprised? Or are you just so surprised you don't know what to say? I guess my surprise was a huge hit!"

The miniature Miledi Golem looked more human than her giant counterpart. She had a white mask over her face and wore a slender white robe. The mask's smiley face was rather off-putting. Speaking in the same cutesy manner she had when they first met, Mini Miledi walked up to them.

Yue and Shea's bangs were covering their faces, hiding their expressions. Hajime could see where this was headed and quickly took a step back.

Yue and Shea whispered quietly.

"...Then what was that back there?" Yue asked.

"Hm? Back there? Oh, did you think I died? Nah, no way! I'd never leave!" Miledi replied.

"But we saw light leaving your body," Shea added.

"Fufufu, pretty good performance, right? I'm such a good actor! I really am a genius at everything I do!" Miledi's voice grew louder and more annoying.

Yue stuck her hand out while Shea pulled out Drucken.

"Uh oh, did I go too far?" Miledi muttered worriedly.

"U-Umm...." She looked apprehensively from Yue to Shea, momentarily at a loss for words, but then she seemed to resign herself to her fate as she spoke.

"Ehehe, just kidding~"

"Die."

"I'm going to kill you!"

"W-Wait! Please wait! This body's really weak! I really will die if you smash it! Calm down, please! I'll apologize, I promise!"

That marked the start of a scuffle in which a great deal of the surrounding area was destroyed, but Hajime paid it all no mind and explored the room they were in instead. The floors and walls were all white, and aside from the magic circle engraved into its center, the room was empty. There was a single door set into the far wall, which Hajime assumed led to Miledi's house.

Gojo glanced around, discovering a few hidden rooms. They appeared to be miscellaneous, some containing stored materials.

With a faint shimmer of light, Dark Magician Girl materialized beside Gojo, her presence both ethereal and radiant. She appeared using mana that came from Gojo, who had incarnated. It seemed that Gojo now also held mana.

"..." Hajime, Miledi, Shea, and Yue all paused, their attention drawn to Dark Magician Girl. She looked shorter now, more feminine and girlish, with striking blonde hair. Holding onto Gojo's arm, she pouted grumpily, glaring at Miledi.

"Ah! Anam! You're back! I was so worried about you!" Shea exclaimed, quickly hopping over to Anam and hugging her tightly. Anam hugged her back, but with Shea now taller, her ample bosom squished Anam's face, nearly suffocating her until she tapped out.

"Bwweeeh," Anam mumbled, her face squished by Shea's embrace.

Gojo gently disentangled Anam from Shea's enthusiastic embrace. "Oui, Shea,"

Shea blushed and stepped back, giving Anam some space to breathe. "Sorry, Anam! I was just so happy."

Anam smiled, adjusting her hat. "It's okay, Shea."

Miledi, who had been watching, approached her with curiosity. "Ne—Ne, what's with the new look? You seem... different."

Dark Magician Girl's smile faded, replaced by a pout as she faced Miledi. She folded her arms defiantly and declared, "I hate you!" With a huff, she turned her head away, her frustration clear in her childish display.

Miledi's eyebrows shot up in surprise at Dark Magician Girl's sudden outburst. She took a step back, momentarily taken aback by the unexpected reaction. 'She… She is just like a kid!'

Yue and Hajime watched in silence, though they had anticipated something like this based on Anam's manner of speaking. Seeing it happen like this was unexpectedly endearing. The duo exchanged nods with Anam, who nodded back.

While Miledi tried probing Dark Magician Girl, she found herself once again pursued, by a bloodthirsty vampire and a murderous rabbit. Hajime walked over to the magic circle and started examining it. Miledi hurried over to him when she saw what he was doing.

"Heeey, don't touch that. Also, they're your comrades, right!? Don't just ignore me, do something about them!" Miledi cowered behind Hajime's back, hoping he would provide some protection against the two demonic girls chasing her.

But then she was cut short by Hajime's metal arm grabbing her face. He tightened his hold on her until her smiley face mask was twisted in a grotesque expression of pain. There was an ominous creaking noise coming out of her head.

"If you don't want to end up like your bigger self, hand over the ancient magic already."

"Heeey, you do know you sound totally like a villain— Creaak! Okay, okay, fine, I'll give it to you! I promise, so please stop! I'm really going to break if you keep going!" Seeing Miledi finally humbled, Yue and Shea calmed down a little as well. Realizing any more fooling around might really get her destroyed, Miledi quickly started up the magic circle. 

The five of them stepped inside it. Since Miledi herself had been the one to test them here, there was no spell that searched their memories like the one in Orcus' home. Instead, the knowledge of how to use the ancient magic she protected was transferred directly to their brain.

In just a few seconds, all five of them had the knowledge of how to use Miledi's ancient spell.

"This is... I knew it, a spell that lets you manipulate gravity." Hajime murmurs.

"Exactly~ Gravity magic is my forte. Make sure you make good use of it... Well, I would say that, but it seems like you guys and that bunny girl over there have zero affinity for it. Like, absolutely none, wow!" Miledi exclaimed.

"Oh shut up. I figured that would happen anyway." Just as Miledi had said, though Hajime and Shea now had the knowledge of how to manipulate gravity, they wouldn't easily be able to use it. It was like how Yue didn't have any aptitude for the creation magic Hajime uses.

"Funny… even though I incarnated in my wife's body, I didn't inherit her magic affinity… Just only language comprehension?" Gojo smiled. 'But I can still use this. I just need to apply the knowledge with curse energy, and it might just work. Moreover, I can sense mana within me…' He smiled at the thought that the knowledge could work with curse techniques.

Gojo had already begun experimenting with using curse energy to create a miniature gravitational field around himself, in a similar fashion to a simple domain, before transitioning it to mana. He then transitioned it to mana, observing and testing it on himself to gauge his understanding of it between mana and curse energy.

The floor around Gojo cracked from the sheer force, but he stood firm, smiling confidently. 'It's the same type of technique Kenjaku has for his reverse curse technique,' he noted, recognizing the similarity with a thoughtful expression.

"W—wow…" Miledi gasped, staring at Gojo in shock. 'He said he doesn't have magic affinities, yet he's using it on the fly without a magic circle and chantless too?'

'Monster…' both Miledi and Yue thought to themselves as they observed Gojo's remarkable display of power.

"Well, that bunny girl over there can at least use it well enough to make herself heavier. And you... you've got your creation magic, so think of something. At least the Blondies over here are fit to use it. Train hard until you master it, okay?"

Hajime shrugged his shoulders, Anam huffed, Yue nodded seriously, and Shea looked stricken. She'd finally gotten her hands on god-level magic only to be told the most she'd be able to do with it was make herself heavier. The shock must have been pretty great. Obviously, she had no intention of making herself heavier, but even learning how to make herself lighter wouldn't be of much help. Becoming lighter could mess up her body proportions just as badly. Either way, it was of no use to her... Shea sunk to the ground, clearly depressed.

Hajime ignored her and continued mercilessly making more demands. Anam had to go to Shea and cheer her up.

"Hey, Miledi. Hand over the proof that we conquered this dungeon. Oh, and give us all the useful artifacts you have hidden here and all the high quality spirit stones you've got stored up."

"You do realize that you sound like a mugger right now, right?" It felt to Hajime that the eyes behind the now warped smiley face mask were glaring at him angrily, but he ignored them. Mini Miledi ruffled through her pockets before pulling out a ring and throwing it to Hajime. He caught it in midair. Reisen's crest was two ellipses connected by a single stake piercing through both of them.

She then brought out a large quantity of ore from seemingly nowhere, then rifled through it, picking out the same ore the dungeon was made from. She must have had a Treasure Trove of her own.

Gojo was thoroughly enjoying his experiments with the gravity he controlled, showcasing various feats he could accomplish. "Compression, mini black hole, nuclear fusion (with curse energy), gravitational force… So many options," he mused aloud. Yet, he couldn't help but acknowledge, "But changing the gravitational time dilation is a bit out of reach for me at the moment," he murmured to himself.

For whatever reason, Miledi seemed convinced that Hajime and the others would indeed end up fighting the gods, so it made sense for her to offer all this assistance.

Though, leave it to Hajime to not be satisfied with all that. He started packing the ores into his own Treasure Trove while he looked coldly at Miledi. He definitely max the extortion skill somewhere along the lines in his life.

"That's a Treasure Trove, isn't it? Hand it over. You've got some good artifacts in there too, right?" 

"N-Now look here, that's everything I have to give you. I need the Treasure Trove and all the other artifacts I have left to repair and maintain this labyrinth."

"Like I care. Hand it over."

"Hey, I said no!" Miledi hurriedly stepped back, away from Hajime's grabbing hands. Besides, these things wouldn't be of any use to them anyway. She explained as much to Hajime, but it seemed to be of no use.

"Hmm, I see... Alright, hand it over." At this point, he really was acting like a villain.

"I told you already, I can't! Now go home!" Miledi fled from Hajime's groping clutches and jumped up onto the block that had led them here. She manipulated it so that she was floating somewhere near the ceiling. 

"Haaah, to think the first people to conquer my dungeon would be this crazy... Whatever, I give up. I'm sending all of you guys out of here! You better not come back!" Just before Hajime could leap at her, a rope suddenly appeared from the ceiling, which Miledi promptly pulled.

"Huh?" Hajime looked up in confusion, but then he heard that same terrible noise he'd grown to hate.

Clunk!

"Wha—!?" She'd activated another trap. A second later, water started rushing into the room from all four walls. Because of the angle it came out at, the room they were in was soon a raging whirlpool of water. At the same time, the magic circle in the center of the room sunk, creating a neat little hole in the floor. The whirlpool started draining into it.

"Hey! You little fuc—" Hajime stiffened as he realized the humiliation they were about to be subjected to. A circular white room, a hole in its center, and water whirlpooling its way down said hole... Miledi had led them to a massive toilet.

[...Babe, to me.] Gojo telepathically ordered.

Immediately, Dark Magician Girl obeyed her hubby's order, transforming into a ball of light and merging straight into Gojo's body.

Meanwhile, the trio that had been flushed out of the room was currently being carried down a long tunnel by a powerful current. There were no breaks for them to take a breath, so they just got swept along. It took all of their concentration just to stay conscious and avoid crashing into the walls.

They caught sight of a number of shadows passing them by as they were being swept away. Fish. The tunnel they were being funneled through must have connected to a river or lake somewhere. Unlike Hajime and the others, the fish were able to swim against the current and many of them passed the trio.

One of them even came up to Shea's face as it swam by, keeping pace with her. She looked over at it. Their eyes met. Hers and the fish's. Or rather, what she'd thought was a fish. Though it had the body of one, its face looked like that of an old man. It was a difficult impression to convey, but Shea had run into a fish with a person's face.

Shea opened her eyes wide in surprise. She almost let out the breath she'd been holding in, but she managed to clamp down on her mouth in time. Still, she couldn't take her eyes off it. The two of them stared each other down as they were swept away by the current. But Shea was abruptly interrupted by a voice that popped up in her head.

—What the heck are you staring at?— It was even accompanied by a mental clicking of the tongue. This time Shea couldn't contain her surprise. She opened her mouth with a garbled scream, letting out the air she'd been holding in. 'Wait, is this fish a monster of some kind!? One that can use the telepathy skill?' But Shea's question would remain forever unanswered as the torrent of water swept them away, while the fish continued swimming in a different direction.

Before Shea could start drowning, a new mini current formed behind them. It was Gojo, the last to be flushed out, blitzing through the water towards the group. Surprising them, he quickly dragged them to the surface before teleporting them to nearby land. He had a one-on-one talk with Miledi before he left, but that wasn't important right now.

***

"Ack... God. Seriously, I did not know you could do that." Hajime, who was breathing heavily, glanced at Gojo before turning to face the others. "I'm gonna crush that little bitch into pieces, mark my words. Yue, Shea, you alright?" 

"urgh... Yeah, somehow." Yue responded to him.

Shea was busy coughing up the water she had accidentally swallowed.

Gojo, who was surprisingly dry, was exploring every little thing he saw. With an almost excessive level of excitement, he surveyed his surroundings, meticulously examining every corner. Once his inspection was complete, a sense of satisfaction washed over him.

"I'M FINALLY OUT! WOOOOOOOOO!" Gojo shouted.

"..." Hajime and Yue stared at him as he yelled, though they sympathized with him just a little. They understood how he felt what it's like to be trapped.

Dark Magician Girl materialized beside him, hugged his right arm, and stared at him in a daze. Despite being able to visit him in his domain, she still missed him intensely. This feeling only grew stronger when she had to endure countless flirtatious exchanges between Hajime and Yue. She was going to get really flirty with Gojo once they found a private room to rest. Oh I'm sorry did I say rest? I meant to say catch up.

***

As we journeyed back to the inn, Hajime took the wheel while Shea and Yue sparked a conversation about Gojo's first encounter with Dark Magician Girl (Anam).

Gojo hesitated, averting his eyes as he began his story. "I met Dark Magician Girl by pure chance," he started, his voice low yet tinged with a hint of excitement. "She became my soul partner, and, well, we eventually fell in love."

The group leaned in, captivated, but soon, confusion crept into their expressions. "After unintentionally trying to summon an evil god," Gojo continued, "I had to marry her to fix the whole problem I created."

But there were so many things wrong with what he said that it didn't make any sense. Shea and Yue couldn't keep up with the conversation and just opted to stay silent, though they found the story intriguing. Meanwhile, Hajime furrowed his brow, trying to piece together the bizarre narrative.

"Wait a minute," Hajime interrupted, "What exactly do you mean by that? How does marrying her fix anything?" Even with a basic understanding of the Yu-Gi-Oh! universe, he struggled to make sense of Gojo's logic.

Gojo hesitated, his gaze shifting uncomfortably, especially under the piercing stare of Dark Magician Girl, who seemed less than pleased with his recounting. "It's complicated," he finally responded, choosing not to delve into the details. Yeah, on that day, it was the day he nearly turned his beloved into a mortal enemy.

A brief glance from Hajime in the rearview mirror caught Dark Magician Girl's expression, and he realized that Gojo had only scratched the surface of the story—it was merely a simplified version of events. "Got it," Hajime murmured, choosing to remain silent for the rest of the journey.

"Anyway," Gojo continued, eager to steer the conversation away from the awkward topic, "We've been training together regularly. It's why my wife, despite being a magical girl, can throw hands, not just glitter and laser beams~" Gojo said with a proud gleam in his eyes.

"Like the Precure magical girl series…" Hajime muttered, shivering slightly. He had a basic understanding of how broken magical girls are back in his world.

"Ohhh yeah! That reminds me, you taught Anam, right!?" Shea's excitement bubbled over as she bombarded Gojo with questions.

Gojo smiled, recalling their sessions. "She's mostly self-taught, but I did lend a hand in refining her skills." He praised Dark Magician Girl, remembering the progress she had made.

"...By the way, what's that on your eye?" Yue asked, curious, despite sitting up front.

Hajime, sitting beside Yue, chimed in before Gojo could respond. "Those are sunglasses," he explained.

"Exactly what Hajime said. But I'm using these to just cover my sight. You see, I have some special eyes. They enhance my perception and allow me to see things that others might not be able to see. To put it in a way, what I'm feeling without them, it's like being bombarded with an overload of visual information constantly. These sunglasses help reduce the burden of mental exhaustion of intaking loads of information," Gojo explained. "Though anything covering my eyes works just the same."

"You can see without your sight?" Shea asked in shock.

"Damn right," Gojo replied.

As they chatted, they swiftly returned to town. Exiting the car, they hurried towards the Masaka Inn.

***

"W-Will you really turn me into a hero? You won't turn around and betray me?" A missing Hero who is wanted by the Church was conversing with an unknown man from an unknown origin.

"Of course. As long as you're truly willing to throw everything away and come to our master's side, that is. You'll have to prove yourself by fighting that agricultural goddess of yours and her bodyguards, but if you do, we'll treat you as our hero. I promise we won't betray you. There's no one else we can rely on. It's precisely because you're special that we want to invite you to our camp."

"Me... a hero. I'll finally become the protagonist of my own story..."

He gulped again at the man's seductive words. The black flames of ambition burned fiercely within his eyes. His desire and desperation spilled forth like a burst dam, staining their silhouette black. Without even bothering to hide his excitement, he nodded vigorously and licked their lips.

"I'll do it. I'll become your hero." His expression couldn't be called heroic by any stretch of the imagination.

"A wise choice. I look forward to working with you... hero." The man smiled gently, while internally cackling to himself. Not only was a wonderful slaughter about to occur, it would be brought about by one of their own. The irony was simply delicious.

In a quiet corner of the Northern Mountain Range, two sets of laughter overlapped each other. The only ones present to bear witness were a legion of unthinking monsters.

***