— — — — — —
Three months later—deep in the heart of the sun.
In the core, where over 4 million tons of matter fuse into energy every second, a figure slowly opened his eyes.
"…Stuck already?"
Staring at the task progress stuck at 72% for the past day, Veyron raised an eyebrow. Still, he wasn't exactly disappointed.
After all, up to this point, all he'd really done in this world was meet a few key characters, hand out some blessings, and then… basically go AFK for three months.
For that to get him three-quarters of the way to completing the mission? Honestly, that was already a pretty sweet deal.
"Guess it's time to move."
Stretching a little, he took a single step—and instantly appeared a million kilometers from the sun.
He looked back at the solar core where he'd been soaking for the past three months, a trace of satisfaction still lingering in his gaze.
[Divine Ki (Lv. 82)]
[Divine Will (Lv. 82)]
[Divine Body (Lv. 82)]
After three months, all of his traits had leveled up twice.
Level 80 to 81 took 800 billion XP, and 81 to 82 required 8.1 trillion. The massive XP gains mainly came from the [Limiter Release (Gold)] buff, and from the ever-expanding Soul Light.
That said, he couldn't overlook the sun's "generosity" either.
As strange as it sounded, during those three months spent lounging in the sun's core, he absorbed more energy per second than the sun would emit in its entire lifespan—from birth, to red giant, to white dwarf.
Credit where credit's due: the [Photosynthesis] trait—originally derived from the yokai Yuuka Kazami—had never played by the rules of energy conservation. Or maybe it's just that the Earth-science-based energy laws from the 21st century simply didn't apply here.
Because energy? Yeah, it was a joke to him now…
With a flick of his wrist, he ripped a piece of space the size of a palm from reality. In his hand, that tiny fragment of 'space' condensed into a blast of energy powerful enough to wipe out a galaxy.
"Hey, can I have this sun?"
Veyron politely asked the Will of World-4.
「???」
"I mean, when the system from the world you're about to merge with gave me my quest, it only said I couldn't cause more than 30% casualties to Earth's population, and no more than 10% damage to the Earth itself."
He continued calmly, "But it never said I couldn't take the sun. Right?"
「!!!」
「Nooooo please don't... ╥﹏╥ 」
"…Fine."
Veyron sighed, clearly disappointed.
Plan A scrapped. Guess he'd have to settle for something less.
He casually reached out toward the deep void of space—and just like that, pulled together a necklace made of thousands of stars from a galaxy even bigger than the Milky Way. The string of suns sparkled in radiant reds, oranges, yellows, whites, and blues.
…But still, it wasn't the same.
Wearing the starry necklace, he tapped into it using Photosynthesis to draw in energy. Even then, he couldn't help glancing back at the one star that outshone them all.
The sun.
「...…」
"Relax. Since you said no, I won't push it," Veyron said with a helpless chuckle. "It's not like I absolutely need it—it's just the cherry on top."
He tried to comfort the sulking Will of the World.
Still that little exchange sparked a question he'd been curious about for a while.
"Hey, you probably know why I was sent to this world in the first place, right?"
「To form bonds with the Destiny Holders.」
"Right… but do you know what those 'bonds' actually are? I mean, at their core?"
「They're the entanglement of fate itself.」
"Fate?"
「Yes. Destiny, fortune—call it what you like.」
「When this world merges with another, the fate and influence I originally held here will inevitably be disrupted. To protect my people's relevance in the new world, I need individuals from that merged world—people with high enough standing or their own strong 'fate'—to entangle their fortunes with mine. That way, my original Destiny Holders don't just get reduced to background characters.」
"Huh… I see now…"
Veyron recalled his past experiences—during his time in the time-stop world academy, the apocalypse world, and when Chika Fujiwara bonded with him in the K-ON! universe. It felt like he'd just uncovered an important clue.
"So in other words, if you wanted to, you could just max out the 'bond' progress bar for me, right?"
「...」
"Don't even try to deny it," Veyron said, amused. "You're not the only World Will I've run into. I know how this works. You guys might not be able to go full 'Creative Mode' inside your own world, but fate? That's one thing you do have authority over."
「I wasn't going to deny it.」
「You're right. I can do it—but only if you're willing to bear part of this world's fate yourself.」
"…Man, you could've just led with that."
Veyron nodded, satisfied. "Alright, let's get started."
「Don't resist.」
「If your heart doesn't accept it, I won't be able to force fate onto you.」
As soon as the words fell, Veyron felt it—just like that time back in the Treeborn World—a wave of world-shaking, plot-armored, absolute main character energy descended onto him.
Instantly, his mission interface jumped from 72% straight to 100%—and based on the flashing completion bar, it was obvious the system had capped out.
He used his Soul Light to analyze the flood of fate energy he'd just received.
The biggest chunk came from Hachiman Hikigaya's protagonist aura. Then there was the fate of Haruno & Yukino Yukinoshita's father, the fate of Yui Yuigahama's dad, Komachi Hikigaya's dad, and even the future father of Saki Kawasaki and her sister, Keika Kawasaki…
"…Just to double-check—you're aware that the main heroine in this world is going to be Yukinoshita Yukino, right?"
Even though she wouldn't be born for another twenty-some years, Veyron had no doubt that a World Will could easily see that far into the future.
「I know.」
You knew that, and still dumped her father's fate—and the main character's—onto me?
Wait. Hold on.
"...I ended up unconsciously accepting their fates—but if I really accepted anything from you... Would you have dumped every single heroine's fate on me too? The love rivals, side characters, all of them?"
He remembered what the World Will had said earlier—"If your heart doesn't accept it, I won't be able to force fate onto you."
And that made him suspicious.
「Ehehe~☆」
"You're a world, not a magical girl—quit trying to act cute!"
"Why can't you be more like the Highschool of the Dead world? A natural world of culture. It used the best way ever~"
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