Preparing for the End [I]

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European Country Listing

Please scroll until you find your respective country, once this game begins, you will be trapped in said country. Constituent countries are not grouped.

Armenia: [OPEN]

Albania: [OPEN]

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.

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England: [OPEN]

. . .

I opened up England's section.

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Primary Game || The Principles of the End

Difficulty: SSS+

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In the beginning of times, there had always been a duality of good and evil. Yet one force always managed to overpower the other. The ending of evil's reign brought along 'The Principles of the End,' lost souls which were abandoned by good and harmony. Evil's comfort nurtured their power on the condition they rebuild its reign and cease the existence of all life.

Each principle will appear in succession after the previous, that is if this world manages to survive the previous. All participants will have a month to either eliminate the principle or bring it salvation. Only 5 worlds before yours managed to overcome this primary game as there are only two endings: the erasure of all life or the erasure of all 4 principles.

The Four Principles are:

In the order in which they'll appear.

1. Isolation

2. Corruption

3. Angels

4. Humanity

Good luck, and may the stars have mercy on your lives.

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"Right into the deep end... Now, what am I meant to do with you?"

Swiping the notification away, I went back to looking at Khai's collapsed body. I was still mentally and physically healing from what just happened. My friend almost died and two people died instead. After dragging Khai back into the dental clinic and onto the hardened couch, since I wasn't planning on dragging him on the ground any more than I had to, I pushed some chairs together to make myself a makeshift bed.

My tiredness kicked in the moment my head landed on the seat standing below it - way more comfortable than the couch. I first had to make sure we were safe before I could rest.

「 Stellar Form, Armillary Sphere, has activated. 」

「 Armillary Sphere isn't performing at maximum capacity. 」

It wasn't big enough to cover the entire dental clinic but it was big enough to defend us both while we slept. I closed my eyes and drifted off into slumber.

「 ■■■■■ helps you fall asleep. 」

「 ■■■■■ comforts your mind while you sleep. 」

「 Stellar Form, Sky's View, has activated. 」

I spent more time with the welcoming nebula than I usually do. After taking in its beauty, I allowed it to detach my sight from the constraints of my body.

The buildings I searched contained no people, only confused stray animals. Speaking of, what happened to all the potential animals, including the tiger, that Lexinus stored away? Did they go down with him or were they released? I hoped they didn't die.

Cries echoed through the empty street I was in.

I looked around - behind me, in front of me, to the left, to the right. The source was nowhere in sight so I moved around until I found a child sobbing in an alleyway. She looked no older than 10. Her curly ginger hair was tied into pigtails. The pink unicorn shirt she wore was covered in blood and dirt while her trousers somehow remained pristine white. Going around her, the corpse of an older woman came into view.

If I could've gagged or gasped I would've. Not only was the corpse horribly deformed but the child continued to hug it. Was it her sister? Or mother? Maybe even grandmother?

"W-w-wake up.. please.."

Her speech was broken up by sniffles and tears. My already shattered heart broke further from watching this, it felt like witnessing a nightmare. I felt the tears form in my eyes as they couldn't get out.

「 Sky's View has been cancelled due to sadness. 」

「 A mysterious force emphasises with you. 」

I woke up the moment Sky's View ended and my body shot up. The Armillary Sphere was still up so that meant nobody found us. Thank god we happened to remain in the city's outskirts when this began, otherwise, we'd be surrounded by people. I could only imagine the chaos and anarchy in the central area.

I had to get that child.

My body started to move on its own. The Armillary Sphere permitted my own movement through it so I didn't have to take it down, meaning Khai could remain protected. I ran through the street trying to remember where the child was; it wasn't too far from what I remembered.

The sun started to set by the time I found her. She remained stationary and clinging to the slowly decomposing corpse. I could see the faint specks of aether slowly emit from the corpse as if it was trying to prevent its own decay.

"Hey there."

Even though I spoke in a soft tone, the child was still scared of me.

"Get away! P-please! Help!"

"I'm here to help."

I lightly raised my hands to show my surrender. It eased the child's nerves slightly but she was obviously still nervous.

"Wh-who.. are you?"

"I'm Wyatt, what's your name?"

"I-I'm A-A-Ava."

"Hi Ava, will you come with me? My friend and I can protect you."

"But-but my mom..."

So it was her mother after all. My heart hurt for her, losing a parent would never be easy, especially for someone of her age.

"Your mom will be fine Ava, don't worry."

I stuck my hand out and she looked at her mother's corpse, my hand, the corpse, my hand, and so on until she decided to grab my hand and walk away with me. The body's aether decay sped up once we got far enough from the body; she was holding on for her daughter after all.

Ava had ended up in my arms. She was too tired to walk so I carried her to the dental clinic. Her body prevented her from sleeping, or my rough walking did.

Once we reached it, the Armillary Sphere fascinated her and she smiled at it in awe. The fact that the description of Armillary Sphere didn't mean that the star rings literally rotated around me was fortunate. If they did then using this would be a lot harder. I quickly deactivated and reactivated it so Ava and I could enter.

Trying to check her aspect, she didn't have one - but it was unlockable at the moment. Now wasn't the best time to unlock it though so I disregarded that and helped her get cleaned up. We didn't have any clothes for children so I just lent her my jacket; the Armillary Sphere was sort of insulating so it kept me warm either way.

I let Ava rest on the row of chairs I previously set up. Her nerves finally ceased and she dozed off, poor child. She must've been through a lot today. I nudged Khai's legs to the back of the couch and sat down in the small empty space. His legs were now in an uncomfortable position so his sleepy body moved autonomously and pulled them out of the space between my back and the couch's back.

His long legs curled up and he continued to rest in a foetal position.

From the floor, a liquid came up and formed our truly beloved game moderator... Ervant.

"Hey there Wyatt."

He was whispering to not wake up Khai and our new companion.

"What now?"

"Chill, I'm only here to tell you that your tokens of support were processed and I'm here to deliver them. Some were scrapped by the equilibrium sadly."

Damn, is this one of the ways the equilibrium worked outside of the aspect domain?

"How many? Also, why does your personality keep changing?"

"The terraformation phase distorts the emotions of all entities present in the solar system, including moderators. Anyway, like 90% - give or take - were scrapped. Don't get used to me right now, I'm a sadist at heart."

I could tell that he was a sadist even with the emotional distortion in action. Did that also mean I'd go back to being an isolated squirm and Khai would go back to being a lone wolf? What about Ava? I supposed we'd see soon.

"Give me the leftovers then."

「 A spectator gifts you a token of support: Cosmic Slicer. 」

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Cosmic Slicer

Grade || A

Description || A longsword crafted from the dying essence of a magnificent star and a sub-part to the Cosmic Arsenal. It only fully responds to those who wield spatial powers; otherwise, its potential is severely eroded. When not activated, the Cosmic Slicer takes the form of a dice-sized star that the user has to crush in order to unleash the Cosmic Slicer.

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「 A spectator gifts you a token of support: Equipment Repair Kit. 」

Equipment Repair Kit

Grade || S

Description || A kit of tools that can automatically repair any physically broken equipment within 12 hours. It has no limit on its uses however its effectiveness decreases the more that it is used. You can repair the kit by replacing the tools stored within it. Comes with a base set of tools of average quality.

「 A spectator gifts you a token of support: 100 coins. 」

「 Gold Balance || 300 」

「 A spectator gifts you a token of support: EXP-Boost package. 」

「 Would you like to activate the EXP-Boost package? 」

I ignored the choice of activating the EXP-Boost package as I planned to save it for when it was hard to get EXP. On the other hand, I watched the Equipment Repair Kit and the Cosmic Slicer materialise in the air. Finally, a weapon.

Taking the star out of its locked place in the air, I crushed it as instructed and the remains shone. The projected white light formed into the promised longswords. Its handle remained white and glowing but the blade itself was like a separate dimension. The white light of the handle faded into a stunning collection of constellations and nebulas that covered the entirety of the blade. As if a rip was created in its space, revealing the infinite expansion of the cosmos right in front of me.