"Hey, you dead yet? If not, make a sound."
Shiroyasha squatted on the ground with an amused expression, poking Aslan, who wasn't even breathing.
Kurousagi and the others had already left. After all, they didn't want to soak in the hot spring with a "corpse."
Normally, Aslan would only have to endure disdainful looks for a few days, and the matter would be settled.
But who told Aslan to use her as a shield?
As his boss, Shiroyasha naturally had to teach Aslan a good lesson.
Though she still felt this kid came out ahead.
After confirming that Kurousagi and the others were truly gone, Aslan finally rolled over.
He opened his mouth and exhaled a puff of black smoke.
"Not dead, but I think I was pretty close to it."
"They really didn't hold back."
Aslan rolled into the hot spring, letting the Jade Spring water wash over his skin, charred from lightning and fire.
Aslan only grumbled. Though they were angry and embarrassed, they still held back, even if their attacks looked ferocious.
Still, it hurt a bit.
"You're lucky and still complaining, huh."
Shiroyasha rolled her eyes. Today, they'd really given Aslan quite the advantage.
"Oh, by the way, what did you do in that world? Tell me the details."
Shiroyasha wrapped herself in a long towel, sat beside Aslan, and asked curiously.
While grabbing a few bottles of alcohol and placing them on a tray, she started drinking with Aslan.
"Didn't do much. Just participated in the Holy Grail War as a Heroic Spirit. Pretty interesting."
The Holy Grail was still sitting in the middle of the Matou residence.
As for granting wishes? At least they didn't have any wishes for the Holy Grail to fulfill.
Might as well keep it as a decoration and souvenir.
Then Aslan recounted his experiences over those few days.
Shiroyasha fell silent for a long time, staring at him, then glancing at the door.
"Your experiences are really 'rich'."
"Be careful. I don't want to hear one day that you've been dismembered."
Aslan thought of Sakura, Manaka, Karyou, Kurousagi, Saeko, Shizuka, and Leticia.
"It… shouldn't come to that, right?"
The last few were fine, but the first two made him sweat a little.
Aslan seemed to understand what kind of "surprise gift" Manaka had prepared for him.
No wonder she left Draco behind.
Algol should be able to stop Manaka from doing anything crazy, right?
It should…
Aslan grew a bit uncertain.
◆━⊰✧⊱━◆
Afterward, he continued enjoying the hot spring with Shiroyasha.
Aslan also returned to No Name. By now, No Name had changed significantly thanks to the funds he'd provided.
At the very least, the place was no longer as barren as before. Many abandoned buildings had been repaired.
The infertile land had been revitalized, and young vegetables were already planted.
At the very least, the standard of living, under the influence of various Gifts, was no less than that of a modern society—perhaps even better.
The only regret was that, throughout the entire community, only the children still greeted him.
Actually, Saeko and Shizuka still acknowledged him.
As for Karyou, she didn't give him a single smile.
"I'm telling you, Karyou, isn't this a bit much? It was just—"
"You still dare to bring it up! This time, I really can't get married!"
Karyou was furious just looking at him. Though she couldn't accept Aslan's playboy nature.
Fine… she really couldn't accept it.
Aslan could have his fun outside, and she could ignore it. But this was practically in front of her eyes—how could she not be angry?
Back at the hot spring, Karyou had been the fiercest.
There were so many outsiders there!
She was the proud Great Roc! In other words, she still had her pride!
"Hmph!"
Karyou didn't give Aslan a chance to defend himself and turned to leave.
◆━⊰✧⊱━◆
In the southern region, the Three-Digit layer, within a European-style courtyard.
Scathach returned to a courtyard covered only by thin curtains.
She walked across the pristine white marble floor. Around her were flower beds filled with seasonal blooms.
Within the flower beds, pairs of beastly eyes flickered.
Those were the gazes of terrifying monsters hiding in the flower bed's world.
"No matter how used to it I am, these gazes still feel unsettling."
Scathach sighed and stepped forward.
Before her, at the center of the flower beds, was a gazebo.
Beside the stone table in the gazebo sat the Halloween Queen.
The Halloween Queen was sipping red tea with a bored expression.
Glancing at Scathach, she set down the half-drunk cup of red tea.
Scathach, dressed in butler attire, approached the stone table gracefully, lifted the teapot, and poured more red tea for the Halloween Queen.
On the stone table were snacks like matcha mousse, donuts, and slices of honeydew melon.
The Halloween Queen stabbed a piece of honeydew with a silver fork and asked boredly.
"Have you fetched the person?"
Scathach fell silent, not answering. This was a disgrace, her first failure since becoming the Halloween Queen's butler, servant, knight, and head attendant.
"I'm sorry, Your Majesty, I failed to retrieve Aslan."
Long before Aslan left, the Halloween Queen had tasked her with making Aslan her disciple.
She had to do this before Aslan returned to Little Garden and met Shiroyasha, ensuring Shiroyasha remained unaware.
Intercepting Aslan before he returned to Little Garden should've been an easy task for her.
But somehow, Aslan had slipped through her surveillance and returned to Little Garden undetected.
Scathach's mission had failed.
She was now here to receive her punishment.
"Interesting."
The Halloween Queen smiled, unbothered by Scathach's failure.
It wasn't beyond her expectations.
"Please, Your Majesty, deliver my punishment."
Seeing the Halloween Queen show no intent to punish her, Scathach grew a bit anxious.
After all, if she made a mistake and the Halloween Queen didn't punish her immediately, congratulations—she'd become the Queen's new source of entertainment.
Scathach absolutely didn't want to be the Halloween Queen's new toy. Though nothing bad would happen, it would definitely be uncomfortable.
"I don't blame you. It's only natural you couldn't stop a young Creation God."
The Halloween Queen said casually. It had taken her a long time to confirm Aslan's identity.
Aslan, a Planeswalker? Clearly a mini Creation God.
"A young Creation God? What do you mean?"
Scathach looked at the Halloween Queen in confusion. A young Creation God?
In Little Garden, only gods and Buddhas bore the title of creators, but she'd never heard of a god with the immense power to create a world.
Creating a few secret spaces the size of Earth or a solar system was easy for her.
Even creating a world that could sustain itself temporarily wasn't difficult.
But such worlds would collapse quickly without energy.
Creating a world that could function indefinitely without external energy?
She couldn't do it. Even Two-Digit entities might not be capable of it.
Currently, the closest thing to a complete world in Little Garden was Another Cosmology, but that was just a blueprint.
Scathach had never heard of anyone actually creating a world.
The only records in Little Garden might be of Pangu splitting the heavens or rumors of the World Dragon creating a universe.
Beyond that, Scathach knew nothing.
"Look at this."
As she spoke, the Halloween Queen pushed a Magic: The Gathering card with a Planeswalker symbol toward Scathach.
This was a disposable storage card sold by Aslan, now the best-selling storage Gift in Little Garden.
"What's this? It's not an ordinary storage Gift."
Scathach asked, puzzled. Looking at the Magic: The Gathering card, she couldn't make sense of it.
"I saw the Boundary of a world in this card."
The Halloween Queen only realized it after destroying over ten thousand of Aslan's disposable storage Magic: The Gathering cards.
She'd even bought most of the storage cards Aslan sold.
How extravagant these Magic: The Gathering cards were, using world prototypes as storage tools.
However, these world prototypes were too weak, so fragile they weren't sturdier or larger than some spatial bubbles.
If even a small item was stored inside, they'd shatter instantly.
But as the ruler of Boundaries, the Halloween Queen still saw the essence of these Magic: The Gathering cards.
They were tiny worlds.
Real worlds that could exist forever, as long as they weren't damaged externally.
Even if a Magic: The Gathering card was discarded, given enough time, its world prototype might evolve into a real world.
The Halloween Queen realized that creating worlds was Aslan's true ability.
The Magic: The Gathering cards were merely a Gift evolved from his true power.
They were the shallowest manifestation of his true ability.
Shiroyasha, she was truly lucky.
The Halloween Queen grew increasingly jealous of Shiroyasha.
Why was she so fortunate?
For now, very few people realized this. Even she had only guessed it after extensive verification.
As for Aslan himself, he was completely unaware.
She could "steal" Aslan now, if she could.
In fact, Aslan's Spark didn't need anything to be completed. That was just her earlier misjudgment.
The reason he felt incomplete was because he was too "young" and hadn't yet developed.
If a fully mature Aslan was a Creation God who could casually create universe-sized worlds…
Then the current Aslan was just a cell, not even an embryo.
Though the essence of his ability was significant, its scale couldn't be ignored.
Otherwise, while others wave their hand to create a universe, you wave yours and end up with a proton-sized world.
Even if a proton-sized world could birth a civilization-like existence…
For now, all Aslan could do was create empty world prototypes—without matter, energy, or rules.
Anything beyond that required him to grow slowly.