Delusional Multiversal Travels

Fanfiction by: Final_Order

Delusional Multiversal Travels

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Chapter 7.5: Standing here, I realized a lot: The state of Things.

- - -

"Fuuu."

I exhaled, stretching both arms forward as I made a finger gun and aimed it lazily toward the tree in the distance.

WHIRRR.

A low whir buzzed through the air as particles of dust coalesced midair, forming into a rough, dirt-forged spear, about thirty centimeters long.

TSUU!

With a flick, I let it fly. The spear zipped through the clearing and punched a clean hole through a tree bark.

"Not bad."

I muttered, clenching and unclenching my hand, fingers flexing to feel the residual feedback. 

Since then, it's been about two weeks.

Having delved deeper into this world's magic within that time frame, I had to admit—

It wasn't quite as basic as I'd initially assumed.

But at the same time… it wasn't special, either. Well, maybe I'm being too forward again.

At the very least, we didn't require magic circles or chanting to cast magic. 

If anything, the magic here is a little bit based on imagination and word magic.

How to put it…

With mana as the catalyst, you just need a clear mental picture of the effect you want, and the will to execute it.

Of course, that's the ideal.

In practice, affinity plays a role too.

That part still escapes me. I haven't wrapped my head around how it's determined yet.

And what I've learnt is the basics of it.

Still, with everything I've come to understand so far, I can at least say this much:

Magic in this world isn't omnipotent—but it is formidable.

For instance, [Continuous Conversion] lets me nullify tiredness almost entirely, keeping me at peak performance near-constantly. 

So long as I'm not interrupted, I can keep going for days.

And so far?

I've yet to read any form of Anti-Magic or Anti-Skill mechanics. If those exist, they haven't shown up yet.

But if they do, they'll be a serious pain in the ass. As nullifying skills directly take a large part of anyone's combat capabilities.

Even then, it depends on their mechanism.

But that aside, there's this whole "Holy Empire" business. 

For an empire branding itself as holy, you'd expect some evidence of a god—or at least a named deity.

So far, the ones closer to "gods" in a sense are Rei and their party.

The Goddess of War, and the Oni Goddess. Not that those titles can be taken literally.

It's more akin to mere titles people bestowed on them because of their strength.

"So far, I've figured out that this world deviates—slightly—from the usual fantasy scripts."

Holy power? Doesn't seem to exist.

Anti-magic/skill? Missing in action for now.

Some great divine being pulling strings behind the curtain? No signs of one.

Honestly, it just seems like the inhabitants of this world are the problem.

Haha…

It's one of those worlds, huh?

That kind of setup where mortals are more dangerous than monsters. 

Where there's no god or demon lord to pin the blame on. Just people and their choices.

Funny enough, that reminds me—

Now that I'm reminded of it, I'm reminded of a certain book which tried to be slightly different.

It was written by someone clearly familiar with the genre, fantasy worlds with a Demon Lord and summoned hero party with flashy powers and sad backstories.

Instead of playing it straight, the author took another route.

According to them,

Fantasy isn't limited by a set rule.

Not entirely original, I'll give them that, but just different enough to sting, and also not in the good way.

Still, it was the normal: heroes fighting evil. But rather, these heroes weren't summoned from another world.

And, to make things different.

This final boss wasn't a demon nor a demon lord. Rather, it was a cosmic entity from beyond the world.

This cosmic entity killed the gods of that world, thereby erasing the powers of faith and the source of magic humans could use.

As the story continued, one would expect that, since they were the main cast, they would find a way to save the world or something.

No.

That world was completely ravaged by the cosmic entity, and it ended in humanity's loss.

Humanity was destroyed along with everything.

"Iyaaa. That was really a shitty light novel."

Even I myself found it shitty.

Stupid even.

And it was painful. The so-called main character? Wasn't even the hero.

He was just the Saint tagging along.. And yet… he was the one who took the final stand.

A meaningless stand, in the end. Just enough resistance to make his death feel poetic.

"Tch. At the very least, I'm grateful I didn't spawn into that world."

However…

Just because I didn't wake up in a world-ending novel didn't mean I was safe here.

"Anyway," I muttered, dusting my gloves off, "I should probably head back to the castle."

A meeting had been called for the afternoon. Apparently, without anyone realizing it, a full month had passed already.

Everybody continues about their usual routine, slightly drunk on power. Not that I could blame them, really.

Especially for the males. I mean, at some point, every guy imagines themselves with superpowers, no?

This was a dream come true for them.

So, it'd only make sense that they are drunk on it. However, I have a feeling they would more or less realize how wrong they are.

"Aya-san, you're here already?"

Heading out from my room, Yuto was already waiting by the corridor.

"Yeah, afternoon."

I blinked and then noticed him in his new attire, which I had thought the kingdom had specially crafted for us.

He was wearing a scale mail ensemble, featuring a blend of black and silver armor.

Meanwhile, I completely ignored the necessity for armor, opting for the classic assassin style.

Given my skills, that was indeed the type of build I had.

"So? What's going on?"

"Mhm. It's already time. They are summoning us to the audience chambers. It's time to showcase the powers of the heroes, or so they claim."

So, it's already that time, huh?