Hold over Myriad of Worlds

In the end, I spent the next hour alternating between playing the accompaniment for Eden and giving some pointers to the young idols. On the subject, all the young girls present here declared themself my fans after hearing me play, so at the end of the class, I had to hold an autograph signing session for the first time in my life.

After the lesson ended, the girls mostly dispersed, leaving me, Eden, and the original group of girls I met by the entrance, with the addition of three of their friends, two sisters, Rika and Mika Jougasaki, and Shiki Ichinose. All of us sat in the adjacent room, and after Kokkoro prepared everyone's tea, we started our talk.

~"So for everyone to understand what's going on, how about you explain what you see, Little Shirayuki."

Chiyo nodded and described how I look in her eyes. The contrast between her description and the appearance I show in modern settings was quite jarring.

Chiyo's description was consistent with my 'true' appearance, wearing my armor with nine tails and even antlers. The illusion that everyone else sees is entirely different. It is similar to how I dressed in Erina's world but a bit older so as not to appear as a teenager in the eyes of others, though I still looked young enough to be asked for ID while buying alcohol.

When Chiyo was finished, the rest of the idols looked at me with doubts, wanting to trust her words, but with their sight contradicting her description, they had a hard time believing. Not keeping them in suspense, I allowed my tails to show while partly explaining my and Eden's origin at the same time.

-"So you are aliens?"-Asked Yukimi while touching my tail.

~"Depending on the definition of alien."

-"But why are you even here?"-Anastasia spoke aloud what everyone was thinking.

~"Short answer, it was Fate, long one, we seek entertainment."

-"You are like those gods in stories that play with the lives of ignorant people?"-Shiki behaved most level-headed of the girls present.

~"I feel no need to play with your lives."~I shook my head at her accusation.~"The world Eden and I belong to lacks in terms of entertainment and such things, so we decided to seek them from other worlds. Our idea was to slowly mix into this world and connect it with our world in the future."

-"So you plan an invasion?"

~"Sigh, with the advancement of our world, if we were to invade, you stand no chance."~One of my tails swung behind me, creating a few balls of elements in the air as proof.

-"You might not believe us, but we truly wish to cooperate with this world, creating mutual benefits."-Eden supported me.

-"Well, it's not like we can do anything about that."-Mika shrugged her shoulders.

-"Can you show us to your world?"-Rika jumped from her seat and asked Eden.

-"This... You'll have to get Yue's permission."

~"I don't mind, but I have an appointment which I can't miss shortly, so you'll have to bring them on your own."

-"Yey!"-Rika celebrated and hugged Eden.

-"Then I'll take them around the Hold later."

~"Sure, just ask someone from Duty to make vows so everything there isn't disclosed."

-"Of course. Regulations set by Astraea are not to be ignored."

~"Then I'll be going as Elysia is about to enter the building."~I stood up from my seat.

-"Let's go together."-Eden also stood up and took my hand.

When we walked down to the entrance, Elysia ran up to us and jumped at me.

-"Yue!"

~"How was the shopping?"~I asked after I caught her with my free arm.

-"It was fun."

~"In the not-so-distant future, you will be able to make similar shopping trips in Hold."

-"Yes. I'll drag you with me that time."

~"Let's get going, or Umi will worry that we will be late."

After quickly gathering everyone, we left Eden's company after bidding farewell to her and the young idols, though Elysia promised to visit and talk with the girls sometime later. A short walk later, we arrived at the Otonokizaka High School, where, at the entrance, three people waited for us.

-"Umi! We are here!"-As one could expect, Elysia was the first one to act.

-"Sister Elysia."-Greeted Kotori, who was waiting next to Umi.

-"Hello Kotori, how are you?"

-"Quite nervous. This is our first public show, after all."

~"You'll do great. Have confidence in yourself."~I spoke after catching up with Elysia.

-"Thank you, Yue."

-"Ehem."-A woman who stood together with two Muses coughed to get our attention.-"Would you mind introducing me to your friends, Kotori?"

-"Yes, Mom, this is Yue and Elysia. They helped us before, teaching us how to sing and dance better. Sister Elysia, Yue, this is my Mother, Hiyoko Minami."

-"Thank you for taking care of my daughter."

-"There is no need for thanks. I'm happy for Kotori to pursue her ideas."-Elysia greeted Hiyoko.

~"It's indeed rare to find young people with enough passion and determination like the Muses. Our help is not worth mentioning."

-"Don't sell yourself short. I heard many things about you from Kotori, and after meeting you, I can understand why she likes to speak about you two. It's rare to meet such a young man like you."

~"Well, I'm not exactly young, despite my appearance..."

Despite my quick explanation, Hiyoko just smiled at me, continuing to think that I was barely twenty.

-"Mom!"

-"Sorry, I wanted to meet the boy who you speak so much about."

-"..."-Kotori's face turned beat red. She glanced a few times at me before running into the school, dragging her mother with her.

-"There is no better assistance than motherly help."-Kirari smiled as everyone else from the Chat Group joined Elysia and me.

-"Haha, I doubt that she sees it as anything else but betrayal."-Tsunade laughed at the situation.

-"Mou! Yue, stop harming girls!"-Elysia pouted.

~"I see that kettle is calling the pot black."~I motioned my head to the group of boys standing nearby, looking at my wife with enamored expressions.

-"It's my god-given right to be cute."

~"Sigh."

-"Well... Can we go?"-Umi smiled a little awkwardly after being ignored by everyone.

~"Yes, sorry for that."

Under Umi's lead, we entered the schoolyard, where the stage for their performance was built. After we took some of the best places, Umi joined the rest of the Muses as we waited for the beginning of the show.

As we were waiting there, my other avatar in Hold met with Kosma to finally uphold my promise to him. He gathered what items he could, as I asked him before, so now we could start with the revival directly.

-"Are you sure you are all right?"-Fu Xuan, who once again was my assistant, asked me with concern.

~"Can't say I'm all right, but there is no issue that will come in the way of revival."

-"Sigh, if you say so."

~"I'll deal with isolating us from the Timeline and the main part of the revival process while stabilizing and sustaining the Time Bubble, and the minor tasks during the revival will be left to you, Fu Xuan."

-"Leave them to me."-The worry disappeared from her face, replaced by seriousness and focus.

~"Are you also ready, Kosma?"

-"Yes."-He also was unusually serious, though his eyes couldn't hide glimmers of expectations.

~"Then let's start."

After walking to Omniscia's main position, I began to mobilize the Path of Ordination and the Helheim to start the revival process. This time, there was no Terminus to assist us, so I needed to use my full power to have perfect control over the whole procedure. Luckily, now that I had Path of Abundance under my control, even if I was not using it actively, it further strengthened my power, so I was sure of myself to perform the revival without issues.

So, the process started without trouble. After creating and isolating us in Time Bubble, I started to reconstruct Dystopia's Soul by tracing the Karma of objects Kosma brought. As those items had a strong connection to Dystopia, the job was rather easy this time.

Soon, the first part of the Soul was completed, so I began to form both Destiny and Fate upon the recreated Karma. This would normally be the hardest, if not outright impossible, part, but as Aeon of Ordination, it was as easy as just using my Path for me.

Moments later, a complete Soul was created by me, though it was still fragile due to some missing Karmatic connections. Now, it was time to create a body to house the Soul, but here again, my second Path was a perfect fit for the task.

With easier parts now done, only restoring the spirit was left. Using the Karmatic connections as the base once again, I started to form a pseudo spirit that would grow into Dystopia's self. And this was when the first major issue occurred.

While not a Flame-chaser, she was an experienced MANTIS, and that posed an issue that I was not expecting: trauma. Despite being described by her friends as a cheerful person, the memories of the apocalypse, tragic battles, and Mobius' experiments were heavy enough to turn Kevin into a popsicle, let alone shatter not fully formed spirit.

In previous revivals, I had to remove memories of death while reviving people, and they would still need days, if not weeks, before being able to think about their past. Here, such a thing would be impossible, as those tragedies were formative memories, and by removing them, the Soul would reject a false spirit, leading to its shattering and failure of the revival.

After trying and failing a few times, I knew that I needed to take a different approach, one that I used when reviving Saiguu.

~"Fu Xuan, can you take full control of everything here?"

-"Yes, but not for long. Day, give or take, though certainly longer than 20 hours."

~"Kosma, I'll send you back to Hold. Call Kevin, Su, Felis, Fu Hua, Aponia, and most importantly, Black Swan. If Acheron wants to come, bring her too, but be quick."

-"Yes."

I partly connected the Time Bubble to the Hold's Timeline, sending Kosma outside while using illusions to cover what is happening here. Five minutes later, Kosma returned with everyone I mentioned, and I cut the connection to outside once again.

-"What's going on?"-Kevin asked after noticing the seriousness of Kosma, who brought him here.

~"I need to use different methods to bring Dystopia back. Black Swan, I want you to create a Memory Zone that depicts their Earth around the time of Dystopia's death. We will create an illusion of her being seriously injured after the battle, thus resulting in amnesia to let her slowly digest the traumatic memories and rebuild her spirit."

-"I can do it. Give me some time."-Black Swan was also serious after hearing my plan. She then addressed Flame-chasers present-"I will need to use some of your memories."

-"Do it."-Kevind didn't even hesitate.

~"Then allow me to brief you quickly. Black Swan will need some time to set everything up, and after she is ready, I'll bring the remaining Flame-chasers here, and we will enter that Memory Zone. Our job will be to keep Dystopia stable and slowly help her regain her 'self'."

Everyone nodded, signaling their understanding.

-"What about you and Acheron?"-Aponia asked, as we weren't part of their world.

~"I'll take the identity of MANTIS, who possesses healing powers, so I'll be a doctor helping you all. Acheron will also act as MANTIS. She will act as if taking Dystopia's place in active combat."

-"I understand why you are necessary, but why do you bring Acheron with you?"-As he was worried about any mishaps, Su asked me to resolve his doubts.

~"First, she will act as slight pressure for Dystopia to recover, and second, Acheron will also benefit from this, so I decided to bring her."

-"I see."-Su nodded, understanding my idea.

~"We will start when Black Swan is ready, but be aware that we will be constrained by time. The time limit in the Memory Zone will be sixty days, or Fu Xuan won't be able to sustain the Time Bubble any longer."~I calculated the time dilation based on the variables in this space.

-"I'll be ready in a few hours."-Black Swan added.

Seeing that everyone was on the same page, I continued to focus on the Soul while helping Black Swan to set the Memory Zone up.

Despite the Time Bubble being separated from the Timeline of the [Myriad of Worlds], I could reconnect it at any point in time I wanted, without breaking any Taboos, of course, so after receiving the knowledge from the Time Buble, I notified Elysia about everything and decided to first deal with matters of the Chat Group before entering the Memory Zone.

As Elysia and I were talking on the side, the Muse appeared on the stage, so the two of us returned to everyone else.

-"Did something happen?"-Rias asked after seeing us with more serious expressions.

~"There is an issue, but nothing we can't deal with."

-"Can we help you?"

~"Thank you for your thoughts, but there is no way, sadly."~I smiled at Rias' initiative.

-"Would you mind at least telling us what is going on?"

~"I don't mind that. As you are most likely already aware, I control multiple avatars of myself at the same time. One of them was performing a somewhat complicated ceremony during which an issue occurred."

-"A ceremony?"

~"Yes. A ceremony as it is understood by magicians and mystics, mind you."

-"Hou? So what were you trying to achieve?"

~"Revival."

Hearing my answer, all other members of the Chat Group but Elysia looked at me with varying degrees of shock and disbelief.

-"Is it possible?"-As the person who was most interested in such a thing, Tsunde asked for everyone.

~"Sigh. I can only answer it depends."~I shook my head slightly.~"To revive a person, their Destiny must be unclaimed. In simple terms, there can't be two same people."

-"This doesn't sound like an issue."

~"It is when you see people from the level of Souls. Solomon and Romani are good examples. Goetia took over the Destiny of Solomon when he abandoned it. Until Goetia held said Destiny, I wouldn't be able to 'revive' Solomon, and when Romiani were to take it back, an anomaly would occur."

-"Then..."

~"I know what you want to ask, Tsunade, but it's most likely impossible due to one reason. The afterlife in your world is a little anomalous. Your world is also governed by Laws of Reincarnation, and those can also meddle with revival. I can try, but you shouldn't hold high expectations."

-"I see."

My answer dampened her enthusiasm, bringing some melancholy to Tsunade's face.

-"OK, now there is not the time for that. Muse are starting."-Rias called out, making us focus on the stage.