chapter 44: Serpentus Interuptus

four days had passed since our encounter with Hanami, those four days were filled with recuperation, preparation, and a rather lucrative trip to the metalworker's shop.Nobara, fully recovered from her injuries and bursting with renewed confidence, walked beside us, A skip in her step and her sapphire Tojo pin glinting in the afternoon sun.Her fancy red dress shimmering in the daylight. Our destination was the magic shop that served as a portal to Kasimir's interplanar bazaar.We needed to acquire the final items necessary for our upcoming confrontation with Jogo, the volcanic douche.As we strolled down the bustling city street, my gaze was drawn to a woman standing near a street vendor, her back turned to us.Her long pale white hair that turned to black at the ends, a white mid-thigh length tube-dress latched onto her body like a second skin.Her long black boots that reached her knees.Then when she turned, the dead black eyes with a hidden glint of malice in them. There was something about her, an aura of otherworldly power and a chilling familiarity that sent a shiver down my spine. Her long, flowing hair, the ethereal quality of her movements... she looked like...No, it couldn't be.It had to be cosplay.I asked our resident nerd. "Have you ever heard of a game called Bravely Default?"Nobara tilted her head. "Nah, I play all the good RPGs though. Is it something from your world?"With trepidation, I activated my Observe ability, focusing on the woman. The information that flooded my mind confirmed my worst fears.Airy (Weakened/Partially sealed.)Titles:(The Lying fairy.)(Servant of the millennium)(The Harbringer of the Devourer of world bounds.)(She who opens the door for the Serpent Who Eats the Horizon.)Airy has just finished murdering her companions for the more than billionth time. They put up a pretty good fight this time, but in the process she was partially sealed and weakened. She woke up in a very different place this time. She Wonders if the Serpent Who Eats the Horizon will reward her if she helps him find this cluster of worlds. She can currently level all of Tokyo with a wave of her hand instead of wiping the planet of all life at once. She doesn't notice you.Horror washed over me as I absorbed the implications of her presence.Airy, that fucking bitch from bravely default! If she was able to summon that thing I dare not even think of the name of-, a being of multiversal power scale and absolute hungry malice, in this world?Although weakened, she still posed a catastrophic threat.She would wipe the floor with us, and turn Gojo into an onion-ring extra fucking fried!I grabbed Nobara and Miu by one hand each and pulled them as fast as I could towards kasimir's shop.I did the stupid clap-ritual and dived through.Before anyone can say anything I speak up. "What does the Multiversal accords say about outsiders who are planar threats who absolutely fucking break the balance of the worlds they are in? What can I buy to stop this shit?!I shoved the observer panel in front of Kasimir, his eyes widened."In this case, I call your benefactor, who you know as jump-chan, and we all skedaddle after freezing this world in time. Indeed, this is a predicament."He grabs a strange looking cube, and tosses it out of the portal.A phone pops up on his desk and he presses a button on it.It rings and I overhear our ditsy, mistake prone, jump-chan speak."Hey? Wait? Kasimir? When did you-""No time, lady &*^!Q of the void ^%$(, Mistress of-."Kasimir, Stop with the formal shit, out with it." she says, impatiently.I realize I have a slight nose-bleed.Nobara is out of breath and bleeding from her left ear and nose.Miu also has a small trickle of blood coming from her left nostril.Kasimir hands us a box of tissues each, and yanks my observer panel until a copy of it appears. He shoves it onto the phone, and the copy seems to fade into it.There's a pause and then Jump-Chan spoke."Damnit. I was having fun! You were about to fight Jogo and wreck his shit, you would then be like- 'wait? I'm actually that strong?' and then you were about to just make sure by immediately going after Dagon. You'd be like 'wow! We totally wrecked his shit! Le'ts go destroy Kenjaku!'Then you'd get your shit wrecked, escape and then you'd train for about a year, killing your assigned fiat backed assassins with ease, then you'd come back all super-powered just as Kenjaku wants to create a void bridge to another world. You'd kill his ass, close the portal and happy ever after for about 8 more years- AND NOW I DON'T GET TO SEE ANY OF IT!""C-can we come back and curb stomp it later? Would that help?" I asked, hoping to appease her."Fiiiiiiine," she grumbled. "You completed the first quest so whatever. We'll come back when you're slightly above the large city level. Bah!"I saw a Kasimir wave, and then my gaze fell upon the cosmically dressed woman with the materially shifting hair as we were shifted to her office without even noticing. She was pouting with her arms crossed, her expression a mix of boredom and annoyance. The office itself was a marvel of interdimensional design, with walls that shimmered like galaxies and furniture that seemed to defy the laws of physics.Nobara POVMy jaw hung open as I took in the scene before me. Sure, Zack and Miu had explained the whole Jumpchain thing, but actually experiencing it was something else entirely. Here I was, standing in some kind of fancy office floating in the middle of freakin' space, with a frozen, black-and-white version of Earth just hanging there below us like a giant snow globe.It was overwhelming, to say the least. I felt like a tiny ant staring up at a skyscraper, completely insignificant compared to the vastness of it all."So," I spoke up, my voice a mixture of awe and disbelief, "this is where you hang out when you're not messing with our lives by sending super-powered martial artists our way?"The goddess, Jump-Chan or whatever her name was, turned her gaze towards me, her pout deepening. "Well, I was supposed to be watching you guys kick ass and take names," she grumbled. "But thanks to that pesky fairy, I'm stuck here with nothing to do but stare at this boring old planet."She gestured towards the frozen Earth below, her voice dripping with disdain. "It's like watching paint dry, only less exciting."Zack, ever the pragmatist, chimed in. "It's only been that way since, what? Five minutes?"Jump-Chan stomped her foot petulantly. "I was supposed to get anywhere from 10 years of non-stop, heart-pounding action and tragedy fixing, or 5 years of that and a romantic happy story following you three for the next 5. Now I just got June-through-August of story fixing, and that's not even a YEAR!"She huffed, crossing her arms and turning away from us. Then, with a dramatic wave of her hand, a stack of papers appeared on a nearby table, accompanied by three plush chairs.I sighed, realizing we wouldn't even get to have lunch before being thrust into another adventure.Just as I blinked, the scene around us shifted. We were now seated at a magnificent dining table, its surface crafted from black metal and adorned with intricate gold and gemstone inlays. An array of our favorite foods, from steaming bowls of ramen to plates piled high with sushi, appeared before us as if by magic.I glanced at Zack and Miu, both of whom seemed equally surprised by the sudden change in scenery. We exchanged shrugs, a silent agreement to simply go with the flow and embrace the absurdity of our situation. After all, what else could we do?"Just chilling in your cosmic office with a view of the entire freaking planet?" I muttered with slight disbelief and awe. Only slight.I was a jumper now. Like a friggin forum story character. bound to the whims of a bored and easily-distracted goddess. Who knew what adventures, or misadventures, awaited us in the next jump?"I know, Nobara, I have locked you into a nearby Hunter X Hunter world to enjoy watching.""OOH! I loved that anime!" I exclaimed."I know."