Early the next morning.
The Spirits gathered on the bridge of the Eternal Snowfall, listening to Mio explain the process of combining their powers to summon Mayuri.
After several fun-filled days with the Commander, everyone was fully satisfied.
Each of them looked at Setsuna with affectionate eyes. Just standing nearby gave Gudako goosebumps.
"Commander, please spend more time with us in the future~"
Yoshino snuggled into his arms and looked up to act cute.
"Sure, next time we can all go out on a... group date."
"The next world on the star chart looks suitable for you girls too. I'll take you all along."
Setsuna gently patted Yoshino's head.
"Hm?"
As they chatted, everyone suddenly noticed someone was missing.
"Where's Origami?"
Kotori looked at Setsuna in confusion.
"Probably still sleeping."
Setsuna cleared his throat.
Not long after—
Click—
The bedroom door creaked open.
Origami Tobiichi stepped out slowly, leaning against the wall.
Her cheeks were flushed, her steps unsteady, and her blue eyes filled with exhaustion and disbelief.
This was the aftermath of being ravaged by dual core!
Spirit powers alone were no match.
Even summoning her Angel, Metatron, was useless.
If anything, her Astral Dress only made her look more alluring and increased Setsuna's attack speed. Totally counterproductive.
"Origami, you're not okay?"
Mio approached with concern, seeing Origami looking sleep-deprived.
"..."
Origami mentally muttered: 'What do you think?'
Did she look like she got any sleep?
The Commander was terrifying.
She had planned it carefully, even reserved the largest room.
But Setsuna had brought her straight to the Eternal Snowfall without a word.
All the props she brought ended up being used on herself.
"All calmed down now?"
Setsuna smiled at Origami, and the girl avoided his gaze.
She was certainly bolder than Gudako—very gutsy.
But courage alone was not enough. In the face of overwhelming power, even she was tamed.
"Where are all those pills you collected?"
"Ugh... I threw them away. The Commander really doesn't need them."
Origami, legs weak, lowered her head and answered obediently.
"That's more like it."
Setsuna pulled her into his arms and snuggled with her a while.
"From now on, get along well with Kurumi and Mio. Let them teach you a thing or two."
...
Once all preparations were complete, the Eternal Snowfall carried everyone to a vast grassland in Central Asia.
The Spirit team jumped off the ship.
Mio's task now was to replicate the original plot: create another spiritual energy aggregate.
With help from the others' spirit power, she would birth a brand-new Spirit.
Clap—
The Spirit of Origin pressed her palms together.
Multicolored energy converged into a small orb in front of her.
Initially glowing in a kaleidoscope of colors, as more energy poured in, the orb eventually turned pitch black.
Its size also grew, eventually matching the diameter of a shuttle.
The black sphere slowly floated into the sky. For a moment, Setsuna had the illusion Mio was casting Planetary Devastation.
Buzz—
With a burst of spatial distortion, four angelic wings extended from the black sphere's sides.
Kerubiel—Mayuri's Angel.
"Hiss, she looks nothing like our Angels, huh?"
"Scary."
The Spirit girls looked up at it, shivering slightly.
A report came in from the starship.
"Commander, we've detected intense spiritual energy fluctuations from the sphere ahead! Please keep your distance!!!"
The black sphere radiated spiritual energy in all directions.
Gales roared, and wind blades tore through the ground, leaving trenches hundreds of meters long.
"Inject your spiritual energy."
At Mio's command, the other Spirits complied, channeling portions of their energy into Kerubiel.
A rainbow-colored aura slowly appeared around the black sphere.
Setsuna could feel it clearly—within it, a brand-new Spirit Crystal was forming.
It did not belong to any node on the Tree of Life, nor was it like the inferior Spirits created by Mio previously.
This was a crystal formed from the combined spirit power of many Spirits.
Boom—
A thunderous blast.
The Spirit Crystal erupted in a blinding flash, and a powerful shockwave surged outward.
Setsuna raised a shield to block the flying debris as the ground trembled beneath them.
Thanks to being crafted directly by the Spirit of Origin, Kerubiel was structurally stable, avoiding the uncontrollable rampage that had occurred in the original story.
Still, creating a Spirit from nothing brought some anomalies.
"It's done."
Mio spoke softly.
As the light faded—
A golden-haired girl in a black skirt, with two pairs of pure white angel wings on her back, appeared in the sky.
She looked about the same age as Kurumi, eyes closed, and fell like a meteor.
Thud—
Setsuna caught her in his arms.
"Mmm..."
The girl whimpered softly, then slowly opened her purple eyes.
She had a cute and pure appearance, with a hint of innocent charm.
The other Spirits crowded around, curious about the new arrival.
"Setsuna, Commander."
The first thing Mayuri did after opening her eyes was gently stroke Setsuna's face.
She looked at him like he was a piece of art—serious and full of emotion.
"How do you know me?"
Setsuna and the others were surprised.
When Tohka had first appeared, she was completely confused.
She had no knowledge of this world, and even her name was given by Setsuna.
"Because... I was born from everyone's spiritual energy, so I inherited part of your knowledge."
"I know you're the Spirit of Origin, the creator and mother of all Spirits. You are Origami Tobiichi, and you are Yoshino..."
Mayuri pointed to each Spirit by name, astonishing them all.
Finally, she looked at Setsuna.
"You're the Commander, Mio's husband, and the others all listen to you."
"That kind of knowledge is included too? Don't tell me you inherited their memories?!"
Setsuna marveled at the power of the Spirit of Origin.
"No."
Mayuri shook her head.
"I'm a brand-new individual. I only retained their knowledge, not their personalities."
After Setsuna set her down, she dismissed her Astral Dress.
Now she appeared as a normal girl.
She changed into a white sailor uniform, paired with black stockings and little leather shoes—showing off a perfect absolute territory.
"From now on, live with the others. Since you already know each other, it should be easy to get along."
Setsuna patted Mayuri's shoulder and pointed at the Spirits.
Future wife count +1.
"Hmm..."
Mayuri glanced at Setsuna, then the Spirits.
Freshly born, her mind was filled with a flood of knowledge she was slowly organizing.
"Commander, Commander..."
"You're the head of this nation, Mio's husband, Kurumi's husband, and Origami's too..."
Quickly, Mayuri discovered a glitch in her mental database.
"Commander, your family relationships are kinda messy, huh?!"
"No, no. That's irrelevant. You just need to remember that everyone here is my wing."
Setsuna made a crystal harem master declaration.
"..."
Mayuri rubbed her temples.
...
Setsuna left the follow-up summoning plans for Rinne Sonogami, Rio Sonogami, and a few other Spirits to Mio.
With the Spirit of Origin around, they could summon every member of the Date A Live family without exception.
As for the artificial Spirits, they'd ask the Siren girls to come up with something.
After helping Mayuri get oriented and taming Origami a bit more,
the fleet completed its inspection of the Date A Live world and set out once more.
Other worlds like Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid, Nekopara, Arpeggio of Blue Steel, Girls und Panzer, and Akame ga Kill had nothing requiring special attention—left to the responsible shipgirls for steady development.
Considering he had spent quite some time playing with the Spirits, Setsuna figured his cooldown for the space-piercing skill was almost over.
So, he led the team back to the capital.
The lolis, Observer, and Purifier were still studying things brought back from the Transformers world.
Kayo Senju, along with Bulin and the loli research team, were working nonstop on starship construction and experiments at the stellar base. No point disturbing them.
Setsuna turned his attention to the next target world.
Swipe—
The star chart opened before him.
Most neighboring worlds had already been conquered, leaving three prominently visible.
"Alright, let's deal with the old neighbors first, then explore new ones."
Setsuna glanced over the Goblin Slayer and Overlord worlds and called over a few shipgirls.
"Alright, come with me to slay goblins and undead."
...
...
"Commander, open your mouth, ah—"
"Here, let me feed you."
In the administrative center's main office—
Origami Tobiichi sat on Setsuna's lap, blowing on a spoonful of tangyuan and offering it to his lips.
Her clinginess rivaled Mio and Taihou. This kind of behavior, like she was nursing a bedridden patient, left Setsuna feeling slightly awkward.
But not wanting to disappoint her, he obediently complied.
"Stare..."
Nearby, Belfast and the maid squad were giving him a gaze usually reserved for perverts.
"Commander, hentai."
Dido looked between the petite Origami, who was perched on him, and Setsuna, who was enjoying a feeding play session.
She had an almost overwhelming urge to call the military police.
Origami looked around cruiser-size, maybe even smaller.
Right on the borderline between illegal and barely legal.
"What? You girls misunderstand me or something?"
Setsuna noticed Belfast's odd gaze.
"Don't just look at Origami's tiny figure and assume she's a kid! Spirits don't age!"
"She's been living in the capital for years."
Once they accept a Spirit Crystal, their age freezes at the moment of Spirit manifestation.
Just like in the original story, where Kurumi looked like a young girl but was actually a decades-old lady.
Among the Spirit squad, the youngest were likely the newly born Mayuri and the few-years-old Tohka.
"...No wonder. Has anyone even changed at all? My sense of time is breaking..."
Richelieu rubbed her forehead in mild distress.
Shipgirls, Spirits, Heroic Spirits, Dragon Girls—they all stayed eternally youthful. The way they looked years ago was exactly how they looked now.
Only some ordinary girls in the capital—millions of lolis, members of the Demon Slayer Corps or Night Raid—had changed a bit.
Even then, due to genetic ascension and enhancement, their appearance barely aged.
Lolis remained lolis. Some only grew a little taller.
Not to mention, quite a few had accepted Spirit Crystals to study magic, just like Gudako.
Now they were lolis who would never grow up.
"I'm not a loli. But if thinking of me as one excites you more, that's fine too."
Origami continued her explosive statements with a straight face.
"No thanks, I like you just the way you are."
Setsuna pinched her cheek.
Despite her outrageous lines, Origami was actually quite sensitive deep down.
For some reason, she had absorbed a ton of bizarre knowledge.
Their relationship had developed rather suddenly, but now that things had happened, Setsuna had to take responsibility.
"From now on, stay by my side."
He gave her a gentle kiss on the cheek.
"Mm..."
Origami blushed for once and tilted her head up to respond.
A few moments later—
Richelieu was coughing so hard she nearly lost her voice.
Finally, Origami reluctantly got down and sat back in her seat, shyly, no longer disturbing Setsuna's work.
"Hmm..."
Still savoring her soft scent, Setsuna turned to business.
Swipe—
He projected the star chart in front of everyone.
"There are three unclaimed worlds left nearby: Honkai, Goblin Slayer, and Overlord."
"The Honkai world is a hassle. We'd need spiritron transfer tech to perform wide-scale time jumps. Better to go for Deus Machina-style world visits later, no need to follow the plot."
He shifted his focus to the remaining two:
Goblin Slayer and Overlord.
Both magical worlds had been unlocked since humanity first entered space, but they hadn't been explored yet.
Back then, Setsuna had even greeted Momonga from afar, scaring him half to death.
He was probably still off somewhere trying to outwit the wind.
"The Overlord world can be fully conquered, but Goblin Slayer's world is more troublesome."
"We should still go check it out. The worldview there is rather bizarre."
Setsuna gave the team a rough briefing on the Goblin Slayer world.
On the starmap, it was labeled as a "Tier-III Magic Age," while the Overlord world was "Tier-II Magic Age."
In simple terms, Goblin Slayer's story is basically about a man with a vendetta against goblins.
He has zero interest in slaying demon kings or high-tier monsters. All his work revolves around exterminating goblins.
Because goblins in that world are indeed disgusting, Setsuna could only chalk it up to dark fantasy tastes.
They have no females and reproduce by abducting women of other races, with human women suffering the most.
Not particularly smart, but they use scavenged adventurer gear.
Most are weak individually but attack in large swarms. Some rare, hero-tier individuals appear, sometimes even leading raids on towns or villages.
As for what happens to human women captured by goblins… refer to the dream lord of nightmare fuel.
Beyond goblins, the world of Goblin Slayer does have actual "gods."
To the gods, the entire Goblin Slayer world is essentially a tabletop RPG campaign.
Every race and individual—heroes, demon kings, monsters, commoners—are game pieces.
The gods balance all factions. If humanity grows too powerful, they introduce a demon king. If monsters rise too fast, they spawn a hero.
This keeps the game running endlessly, with divine hands maintaining the equilibrium.
People like adventurers, mages, and peasants think they're changing fate through hard work—but it's just the dice rolls of gods.
Maybe today they find a legendary item and feel lucky. Tomorrow, a freak monster smashes them flat.
The game of gods never ends, and the chaos of Goblin Slayer's world continues.
"Speaking of which, if there are gods in that world… I'd really like to fight them..."
Tohru wagged her tail.
"???"
"Snap out of it!"
Setsuna bonked the dragon girl.
Tohru was strong, but the gods in Goblin Slayer were absurdly overpowered.
They're background deities—basically omnipotent by narrative fiat.
"Just because I can't beat the gods in our world doesn't mean I can't take on gods in others..."
Tohru muttered, rubbing her head.
Her chaotic instincts made her yearn for worthy battles. The past worlds had been too easy.
"I just don't want you to take unnecessary risks."
Setsuna coaxed her.
"Ehehe! So the Commander's worried about me? Commander, you're the best!"
Tohru lunged into his arms and nuzzled.
"..."
"Still, since Goblin Slayer's world is a magic world, it might be worth studying."
Mio spoke thoughtfully.
"Currently, our base only has dragon magic and spirit magic. We haven't encountered other magic systems yet."
"It'd be good to add other world's magical knowledge to the academy."
"Right."
Setsuna nodded.
Bringing back the Sword Maiden would be great too. She was exceptional in many ways, incredibly talented and powerful.
And learning more about that world's power system would be even better.
Even when picking up girls, some real work had to be done.
"Alright then, we have a clear mission."
"Head to Goblin Slayer's world, rescue the Sword Maiden, exterminate goblins, and gather any valuable artifacts or knowledge."
Setsuna finalized the plan and opened the communications interface.
[Goblin Slayer (Tier-III Magic Age)]
A world of swords and magic, with medieval-level technology. The planet's powers are split among various races, no global government.
It is under the control of gods and possesses extremely powerful supernatural forces.
Comparison of Strengths:
• Technological Level: Like a God.
• Military Power: Like a God.
• Economic Strength: Like a God.
"..."
"Another three 'like a god' ratings?!"
Setsuna found some of these world evaluations ridiculous.
In Stellaris terms, if your neighbor had triple divine ratings, you wouldn't even dare poke them. They could squash you like a bug.
But that wasn't the case here.
Worlds like Heaven's Lost Property, Transformers, and now Goblin Slayer all had those triple divine rankings.
But their actual combat power came from narrative background artifacts.
Like the Wishing Stone Tablet, Unicron, or gods.
Strip away the background gimmicks and the natives were helpless against his fleet.
After some thought, he opened the diplomatic interface.
Bzzzt—bzzzt—
The screen briefly filled with static.
No full hologram appeared—just a hazy silhouette.
It didn't resemble any being Setsuna had ever seen, as if it had no concrete form.
"You... who are you?"
Text appeared on the holoscreen.
"?"
Setsuna paused in confusion.
The diplomacy function was supposed to contact the world's leader. If there was no unified leader, it would connect to the faction head.
"Did I just connect to a god from Goblin Slayer's world?!"
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