199: They’re here… (3)

Chapter 199: They're here… (3)



When Kimi walked out of the portal after the other girls, she found herself in UA's backyard and froze just like everyone else.

"What… is this?" Rumi mumbled, dazed as she watched the scene ahead.

"..."

The other girls stayed silent, except for Momo who covered her gasp with a hand, her eyes shaking.

The world around them was in ashes, charred ashes. Green gas of radiation was everywhere, rising from every destroyed building, or at least what remained of those "buildings", filling the atmosphere to the brink. 

Kimi's eyes wandered, a feeling of blob on her throat as she gulped it down. She could see skulls, bones and parts of human skeletons lying around the ground, the skeletons belonging to UA students, teachers, and even the civilians who took shelter here.

A few ten metres away from them, Kimi's eyes fell on a black-furred mouse with red eyes and green gas coming out of its mouth that was chewing on the remnants of another mouse-like skeleton, albeit much bigger than itself.

'Wait… is that Principal Nezu's corpse?'

That thought made the blob in her throat intensify. She suddenly wanted to vomit. 

To shake away her nausea, she snapped her head in another direction, only for her thoughts to go silent.

UA was a mountain, so it gave a view of the city below it, and she could easily see the fire that was dancing there, it looked fresh. Buildings were broken, smashed to the ground as green smoke and fire with a taint of green in it danced around them, looking like the deepest part of hell.

What the hell was this place? Was this really Japan?

The more she looked around, along with the other girls, she saw more and more skeletons, fire in the far and radioactive animals running around. 

She couldn't help but curse.

"Holy fuck…"

She silently cast a spell at the same time to keep her and the girls safe from the radiation, though it was unneeded with their now much stronger bodies she didn't want to take a risk.

Neji was right, his words didn't do this destruction justice. This country… and even this entire planet if this a worldwide phenomenon, it was too far gone already, too deep down the sink for it to be saved.

Heck, her [Search] spell couldn't sense any living human a thousand kilometres from here! The only living beings she could sense at all were radioactive animals!

This…

This was the doomsday.

"What a sight, whew." Neji's voice came from behind her as he walked out of the portal that closed by itself. "Antarctica looks the best, at this time. The auroras in the sky are gorgeous, illuminating the place like the centre of the cosmos."

"Neji, this isn't a joking matter!" Nejire yelled as she glared at him, her hands on her waist. "You are being a bad influence on Kurai!"

Kurai, who had run to the radioactive mouse by then, threatening it with her claws for fun, stopped in her spot and blinked.

"I think it's too late," Momo said, looking at the mouse. "She's irredeemable."

"Hey, don't talk about my daughter like that. She's just having fun." Neji protested, walking over and patting Kurai in the head, placing her on his shoulder.

"..."

"..."

"Though I already said this before, let me repeat myself," he stood up, looking at Rumi and Ryuko. "Your friends and family, I tried to save them but as you understand it's hard to do so amidst a nuclear world war."

The girls just shrugged at that. They have kept a cool about all this since the start, Kimi guessed they just didn't want to show anger or sadness for losing their friends in front of Momo and Nejire who had lost their parents, of all people. That'd make the little girls look at them unfavourably.

"Anyway, we should move away from the Tower's gate and Japan as a whole. I can confirm that destroying the tower wouldn't harm the world inside, but if any of the Gods manage to slip inside, it would be bad." Neji said. 

Kimi nodded at that. "That's true. But where- Oh, I have an idea! Let's go to America, that's where all the big super fights happen in comics!"

While the other girls went silent, looking at her strangely, Neji brightened up.

"Brilliant idea!" He high fived her, making the others sigh.

Heh, jealous little girls.

Then walked closer to Neji and touched his body, one by one. Taking the sign, Neji used his [Teleport] quirk and Kimi and the others found themselves in America in the next second.

…Turns out, America was in no better shape than Japan. It was destroyed even before the alien invasion.

Was any other human even alive on this planet?

Just that thought made Kimi shudder. 

"This is just a country-sized 9/11, what a bummer." She said, looking around at the destroyed skyscrapers. "Haah, I wanted to enjoy some things here…" 

Kimi sighed, shaking her head and Neji patted her shoulder.

"We can enjoy that in some other world," Neji said, suddenly frowning as he looked up at the sky and slipped a hand inside his personal dimension, taking out the Dimension Travel coupon.

Kimi followed his eyes and looked at the sky too. 

She froze immediately.

The sky was splitting apart, as if a huge eye was opening, showing a purple world on the other side that started to enlarge and eat the sky out.

They were here.

Kimi panicked, along with everyone else as they took formation, not knowing what to do at all. An instinctual fear crept down her back as she looked at the purple world above, the presence of Godly beings pressing down on her. 

"Ah shit, we shouldn't have procrastinated," Neji on the other hand, still sounded casual. 

He grumbled and casually poked fingers with Kurai. A draconic tail lashed out of his back and two ears popped on his head. He had achieved the Perfect Fusion, something that came out right most of the time because of his luck.

Then, Kimi and everyone watched, as Neji channelled Mana inside the Dimension Travel coupon, making it shine golden. The shine indicated it was working, catching all the girls' attention.

"Is… is it working?!"

"It looks like it is…"

As the girls whispered amongst each other, the coupon burst into golden particles of light, the light then gathered together, forming a complex magic circle beneath them. 

Kimi suddenly felt gravity become stronger beneath them.

"Hey Neji! Is it working?" Momo gasped from the side, slightly nervous.

Everyone, including Kimi, knew the answer, it was working! They were about to escape before the Gods could hunt them down! However, they still expected to hear confirmation from Neji's mouth. But–

Neji stepped outside the magic circle.

What?

Why?!

"...Neji? Oi, what the hell, Neji?!" Nejire yelled aloud, confused, as she reached out to grab Neji's shoulder, but her hand couldn't pass the red circular light that came from the magic circle beneath her feet.

Kimi's heart skipped a beat. She suddenly felt something… ominous.

No, this wasn't good.

"Young master?! What are you doing, get back here!"

"It won't work." He finally said something.

"But it's working-"

She tried to say, but Neji turned around, his clock-like purple eyes locking up with hers as a calm voice left his mouth.

"You all die in the future I am seeing."

"..."

"The magic circle is working, but things wouldn't work if I tag along."

"Stop with that bullshit, step inside!" Rumi yelled, anxious. "We are successfully escaping from here!" 

For all her tantrums, Neji didn't move his eyes from Kimi.

"Raven helped me reverse engineer the Coupon. It doesn't just bring one person when cast, it brings everyone inside the circle except for the person who cast it. Unfortunately, reverse engineering meant you all would end up in any world except for the world that was chosen. I chose the Marvel Universe, that's one danger of the window." He smiled. "And yes, fictional worlds do exist. That slime manga you like so much exists in some corner of the omniverse, too."

"..."

"Bastard! Why are you doing all this after making us so strong?!" Nejire had enough of his bullshit. She slammed on the magic circle's barrier, but it didn't bulge. Rumi joined in to help, kicking it and even attacking it with her Dark Spells, but it still didn't bulge.

He gazed at Nejire, smiling. "Like I said, you all will end up in a different universe than the one I chose. This means each of you would most likely end up in a different world, alone without anybody else to help you. That's the reason why I made you guys strong, so that you can hold your own without me."

"Neji, don't say that!" Ryuko and Momo joined in. "We don't want to be without you, if it's death we all would die together! You don't have to bear all the responsibility on your lone shoulder-"

Neji suddenly turned at Momo, blinking. "What? Ah, no, no. I am not dying. In the future I see, I don't die as long as you guys aren't in the picture. What I am trying to say is… Well how to put it." He sighed, scratching his neck. "You guys would fucking drag me down in this battle, causing both mine and your death. The same happens when I follow you on Dimension Travel. They follow us too, and we all die."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"...Why didn't you leave us inside the dungeon then?!"

Hearing Ryuko's complaint, he turned around, looking up at the purple sky.

"But even though I don't die in this current scenario… something debatably much worse happens. That's why I didn't leave you guys inside the dungeon because I am not sure if that place will survive today's battle."

His dragon tail twisted behind him as he stood with his hands in his pockets, his cat ears twitching at the creepy sounds coming from above the purple split in the sky.

The purple light that came out from the other side was covering the whole world now, overshadowing the setting sun that was facing Neji.

"Kimi," he suddenly said, not turning around. "I am not… sure how long it would take for me to find you guys since time flows differently in each universe. But, time shouldn't be a problem for you with your Chronomancy. So I have a mission for you," he turned around, his eyes blue again but with octagrams above them. "Gather all the girls from wherever they end up, please, and then wait for me. I know you can do that much, you are smart and strong."

"..."

Kimi was silent. Her expression was a mixture of a dozen emotions.

He gave her a last smile, his last smile. Even as the girls kept yelling, he just gave them all a smile, waving his hand once as he spoke one word. "See you soon."

-Pss!

The golden light flashed brighter, overwhelming the purple for a moment's instance as Kimi barely managed to see people plunging down from the purple split in the sky. Before she could see more, the golden light engulfed her along with the other girls. At last, her world went bright.

Too bright for her to see.

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