Chapter 16: Ruined Chances

Looking at the beautiful sky again, I thought of an idea, is it possible to create something like this? That is what I wanted to know.

Even if it's hard, or even if it'll take time, creating and seeing beautiful stuff like this is so endearing to look at.

A boy, or a girl, even animals would fall in love with beautiful nature like this.

Master, Sora, and I were laying down on the ground again looking at the sky and thinking some stuff together.

Upon experiencing those betrayals and deaths, it's still made me calm and happy being in this beautiful land; sure it's fake, but meh it's okay.

If possible I want to stay here forever where I can live in peace with everyone.

Like Gautama, the three of us kept thinking even if somebody disturbs us.

Doing this made me thought why Gautama Buddha was a genius, well even I don't know what he said or did, but doing things like thinking forever is kinda amazing.

Coming to our way was two beautiful girls with an angry expression to their face.

Opening our eyes to look at them, I asked. "Millie; Akemi. What is the afterlife? Is it something that we can get? Or not?"

Millie furious from what I said, answered me angrily. "Oh, you three will get it all right."

"Okay, everyone time to do Millie's labor." Standing up with the two, Millie and Akemi just looked at each other and both sighed.

"How long would it take Millie? We've been here for almost like a decade."

"The truth is... I don't know."

"I see– what!" Master, Sora, and I were in utmost shock when we heard it, then why did they disturb us from our peace?

"Isn't that bad though Millie? Satanael might be rampaging there now, and can we escape?"

"Of course Master, trust in Luna and Dawn."

"*Groan* But could they hurry right?" Sora was groaning and complaining at the same time, his impatience is getting to him. "Since, I already want to go back to sleep now."

"*Sigh* There might be a chance they're fighting the four, also even if they went to the castle to free us, we have to do it ourselves."

We three looked at each other; dumbfounded by what Millie said. "Then we could've destroyed it in the first place, right?"

"That's impossible, Luna's and Dawn's goal is to weaken the trap, so that we can break the barrier easily, also even if they weaken it already we can't know if they've done it or not."

"But how can we destroy an infinite space, even as your teacher I know that it's impossible."

"*Sigh* A space even if it's endless has an end, there's no such thing as infinite, because everything in the world, even if it's magic; everything is finite."

"So you mean we'll have to travel until we find the barrier?!"

"Yes." That is what both of them answered me with a smile.

"But... What about food or water? To be honest I haven't eaten a thing."

"Do you feel hungry or thirsty?"

Now that I think about it, even if we've been stuck here for hours, I didn't even feel hungry or thirsty. "To be honest when we got here, no."

"That's why we don't need one, because we can't get thirsty or hungry here."

Then why? Is it because Satanael and the others do not want to kill us? Possibly, because if I were them I would make a barrier that'll make the prisoner's hungry and thirsty.

"Also Millie I've been wondering, I know that you sent Lucas to Vladamir about this, but how did you maintain contact with both their daughters when we weren't still trapped?"

Sora laughed with pride and began to point at himself. "Yes, it's because of me!-"

"So Millie how did you really maintain contact with them?"

Sora was in shock and despair when Master and I didn't believe that he's the one who did it; because there's no way this lazy guy would do it!

"Sora is right this time, you two saw Sora at the corner of the meeting rumbling about something right? That's just him sending morse code to Luna."

"Really... But there's no way Sora knows morse code right?"

"I wrote a message on a piece of paper for him to copy, so I think Sora successfully did all the message, right?"

"Of course, I'm a General after all."

What Master and I are now experiencing is beyond our imagination, no actually it's beyond reality.

Sora working? Not possible, Sora doing his work properly? Definitely, not possible.

"Now, now, the others are waiting so let's go."

While walking I looked at Millie and Akemi; seeing them here smiling together, and walking this beautiful field, I can see that these two are better suited to be models.

How sad, if only I can become Akemi's boyfriend, also if Millie isn't my sister, then I would've given in to her a long time ago.

Master noticing me feeling sad patted my back and whispered. "Don't worry, if we finish business with Satanael, Lucas and I can show you a good place filled with girls."

Of course, Lucas knows where girls are, but... As a man of my word: I only lust for girls I know, and not girls I can only meet once.

"Hey Millie, how long would the expedition take?"

"In my calculation, maybe... a day or two."

Expected that, but what if Millie's wrong about this space not being infinite? Then I just wasted my feet.

Looking at the distance, we saw Lucas, Shot, and the others waving at us, and for some unknown reason, they're standing on a hill that I didn't even notice the hill here.

I thought that this entire place was flat that grass can only be seen here, and only a civil twilight sky can be seen here, but I guess that flat place was wrong all along.

"Hoy! There you four are, we've been waiting for all of you, come on look at this!" Look at this? I wonder what's Shota's talking about? It's just gonna be nothing but more grass.

Going up above the hill, I looked below the horizon, and there I saw caught me off guard.

I can't believe we're gonna walk through that. "It's a f*cking twin of Antarctica!"

"But how didn't we find this earlier? Didn't Vladamir sent his bats to check the entire place?" Even Master was confused as I am; because he's right. Why didn't we found this long ago?

"This is proof that the space is becoming weaker because the scenery of the space is changing bit by bit. Also, look at our back."

All of us looked at where we came from before, and what we saw shocked us. "It's disappearing..." The land is slowly fading behind us and it's being swallowed in darkness, so that's why Millie wants an expedition, I can't believe that the place I found peace has disappeared.

Sora screamed in agony that our peace has been destroyed. I feel you Sora, I even named one of the grass here. "Okay let's go, I want to go home now."

"*Sigh* Lucas what do you see after this desert?"

"Ocean... I see an ocean, and animals from Earth are appearing here."

"I bet, that's why I'm turning hungry now, well we better go now, or else we'll be consumed by that darkness."

"Wait, but won't we freeze to death if we walk on that desert?"

"Big brother, did you forgot that we devils are resistant to cold and hot temperatures."

D*mn... What is this? Am I unlucky or not? "*Sigh* Fine let's go!"

All of us have been walking for hours, and we haven't got into the ocean yet, why? Because instead of heading north like we're supposed to, Millie told us to head west, which made it farther to the ocean.

Why?! I tried asking Millie about this, but she always casually say. "Don't worry this is a shortcut." That is what she says! I don't want to get mad at Millie, but my feet hurt a lot! "Millie, are we there yet?"

"I think so, as I remember we're already close to our designation- oops, told you. Right there!" Pointing at the distance, we saw a giant hidden fortress.

"What is that? and why is it here?"

"I'll show you, come on let's go." Entering the weird fortress, I noticed two things that shocked everyone, first: valuable things that can only be seen back on Earth, things like phones, monies from various countries, and many more.

And second: gadgets and technologies that are not on Earth, but gadgets that are similar to gadgets back on Millie's lab, and the things that the residents use back on Hell. "What is this?" This was my only question to Millie.

"My theory is correct all along." Theory? What is Millie talking about? Did Millie know about this being here? But how? "Hey Millie, by theory, do you mean that you expected that this fortress is gonna be here?"

"Yes, because this is one of our bases for research back on Earth."

A base back on Earth... "Wait-, so that means we're on Earth!" But how though?

"No, we're not on Earth. But this space that Satanael trapped us in, is a copy of the entire Earth, also look at outside now." Sora and I looked at each other and run to the window when we saw the sky changed.

It's not a twilight sky anymore, This world has developed time, there's a moon now and not a sun, but there are no stars though, and we can see it slowly moving. "So the space is turning to Earth more..."

"Yes, slowly it'll turn to a copy of Earth, so that's why we need to escape and destroy this space; because it'll not only cause trouble to us but also the entire Universe."

"You don't mean that it's copying the entire Universe too? With a smile at Akemi's question, Millie laughed and said "Yes." With that, the Archdukes knew that it's gonna be trouble, except Sora and me. "But it's just a copy, right? So what's the problem? Also, the darkness we saw will just consume it either way."

"The only thing that the darkness consumed is the grassy place to make it as the atmosphere of this copy."

"Atmosphere? How did you know?"

"We would be long dead if there's no atmosphere here."

"I guess that makes sense... Then the possibility of humans being copied here is possible?!"

"Yes, but my guess is every one hour of earth time, something will be copied, but humans appearing is below 2%, because this copy has a different way of placement and time, which would make humans appearing seems impossible."

So that means, we need to get out of here quickly as possible.

"*Sigh* For now, let's sleep here, and we'll plan things tomorrow, so all of you rest tight, and us girls can cook dinner."

"Then us males can talk to get each other to know more about ourselves, and for Haruki to know some stuff." Lucas replied.

The girls went to the kitchen and finally cooked us food, finally no more hunger.

"*Cough* Now Prince Haruki if I may ask, what is that skill that you used against the Archangels?" Vladamir asked me with a straight face.

"Umm... Actually, I don't know how I got it or even used it..."

"Really... But can you use it now?"

"I don't know-" Thinking about it, why didn't I even used it? Making eye contact with Sora and Master, we immediately ran outside for a test.

The boys followed us too, to check on us.

"Oh boy, but what is it called?"

"*Groan* Its Soul Bound, I remember Yahweh mentioning the name in front of us."

"Then, Soul Bound!" Blue light enveloped me from every corner of my body.

The intense heat was filling my body that even if I, a devil can feel the heat filling me; even if they say that I have built-up resistance. It's still hot, and blue flames are circulating everywhere from my body.

A heavy metallic object that resembles a skeleton was forcedly worn to me, and blue flames came out of it that made me in awe seeing it.

The others were also in awe when they saw me transform into a cool-looking skeleton. "*Groan* D*mn Haruki, that's cool." Sora said.

Looking at myself, I was surprised how I got this kind of skill, and why I got this kind of skill. "D*mn this is coo-! What..?" All of a sudden I felt dizzy and nauseous when I was suppose to chat with them.

I fell on my knee, and the other hurriedly got closer to me. "Haruki! What's wrong?! Haruki!"

Immediately, everyone brought me inside the fortress and put me on a futon.

Warning this to the girls, they made the food as fast as they can and went to me immediately to check on his condition. "It's just a normal cold, what happened?"

"I'm sorry Millie; if I hadn't suggested for Prince Haruki to use the skill from the war, this would've not happened, please forgive me."

"It's okay, good thing it didn't kill him."

"But... Why are there only Japanese futons here? Seriously what's with this base of yours Millie?"

Master Ifrit angrily asked.

"I'm not the one researching here, so it's not my fault."

In the midst of that pain and cold, I was thinking of the memory of my parents when I met them again.

It was a wonderful memory, and at the same time, I also met wonderful friends that I can call family and are very dear to me.

I remembered what my father said to me at the party. "But what's more important is trustable allies." That's what he said, and I'll never forget that.

But... Trustable allies? I don't know if he's joking since the persons who I trusted and admired; all were lies. In the end, I was betrayed by them;

Satanael, Milicas, Mammon, Azazel, and finally El, if I met you five again, I want to ask, why? Is there a problem? Betraying not only me but everyone too? It's funny... Laughing at my father's joke.

Opening my eyes, I felt something comfy from the back of my head that I never experienced before, opening my eyes fully, I saw Akemi above me. "Are you awake Haruki?"

Now I know what's on the back of my head, this is one of those moments in many anime and manga; I, Haruki Hotaru have finally done one of the goals I've wanted: lay on a girl's lap.

But... What do I say?! One wrong move then it's done!

"*Giggle* Sit Haruki, you're probably hungry."

Standing up from her lap to sit, Akemi took the food from the desk and took a spoon to feed it to me.

Wait... This scene, it's familiar... d*mmit if that old man tried to disturb me again, I'll kill him.

Reaching for the spoon, I successfully did it. Thank you, god of luck or love. Feeding me again, and looking at her cute smile, I almost died from a heart attack looking at this beauty.

D*mn it, what should I ask her? I want to have a conversation with her, maybe start of basic? "Akemi, I was wondering, why do you wear a kimono? Also, your name is Japanese like Sora and Shota, why's that?"

"I love the culture of Japan, and not only do Japanese names exist in Hell, but some names in various countries of Earth also exist back in Hell."

"Really..? Then what about the things that you like? Like food, book genre, and many more."

"Let's see... The food that I like is takoyaki."

"Really? I love takoyaki too." To be honest, I'm a fan but not a big fan, but if it's to impress Akemi then I don't care.

"There's a restaurant that sells takoyaki, if you want the both of us can go."Wait... Is she asking me for a date?! D*mn my heart is beating quickly! If she continues I might die from a heart attack.

"My favorite book genre is romance." I guess that's normal for someone like her. Akemi came closer to me and whispered. "And... The person that I like is you..."

"Rea-really?!" Oh my god, no way, this is too much for my heart to handle. Is she telling the truth?! Thank you, god of luck or love! What do I do now that she confessed?! Seriously, I hate my life for having 0 knowledge of romance!

With a cute giggle, Akemi flicked me on the head. "Joke..." That is what she said.

I was saddened when she said it was a joke, just what I thought, no one would ever like me. I want to die now that I heard that. is

"*Giggle* but if you want, I can make an exception from that joke."

Nope, there's still a chance. "Sure, hehe."

Feeding me more, I asked her. "Akemi, you represent envy right?"

"Yes, I'm the General Sin of Envy."

"Sora is lazy that's obvious, Shota even though he's slim he actually eats a lot, Lucas is... Something, so what about you? How did you represent envy?" A little tear from Akemi's eye fell. "Akemi, what's wrong?"

"Nothing, it's just... Sorry, I need to go outside for a bit."

"Wait... Akemi." Sh*t, did I ask something very sensitive? Of course, asking her what's she's jealous of is kinda going too far.

There must be something bad that happened to her that made her feel envious.

"Wow, you completely lost Haruki."

"Really? Wait... Sora?! How did you get here?! And you heard our conversation?"

"One of my skills is to forcedly make someone go to sleep, so when I noticed Akemi putting you on her lap I cast a sleep skill on everyone."

"Thank you, Sora. But I just hurt Akemi's feeling and wasted the chance you gave me..."

"Well, I suppose it's my fault too, even all of us Archdukes doesn't know what happened to Akemi's envy, and if we ask, she just started to get emotional, and as far as I know only the King and Queen knows what happened."

"Really... What do I do?! I failed my chance."

"I know, you're definitely a failure." Sora coldly replied

"What about you? You're about the same age as me, and you don't have a girlfriend yet."

"Excuse me, you're 18 and I'm only 16, so that's the difference, and I don't have an interest in things like romance."

"Really..." I can see deep inside him that he's jealous of me being famous with girls.

"Haruki, just get some sleep and then think about it later."

"Then cast me that sleeping skill."

Sora touched my forehead with his index finger. "Sleep." With one word, I suddenly fell asleep.

We woke up early because Millie woke us up telling us that we need to go home now. Millie showed us a weird circle that she found in the fortress.

"This is a teleporter back to Hell that Faust and I created last night, so this is our way home guys."

Before going home I tried to talk to Akemi, but she said that we'll talk after we beat Satanael. I'm really unlucky aren't I? Then I hope we just beat the sh*t out of that snake.

All of us stepped into the circle and a light shone from the circle. Upon opening our eyes, we saw the same old meeting room that we were in before getting trap. "Finally we're back."