It had been half a year since the global incident in Origin known as the ‘Avalon Conflict’ occurred, and the New Year had passed.

The world was changing into one led by Sergei, who had been formally inaugurated as the president of the Federal States.

But there were no signs that it would return to the peaceful state it had been in before the Avalon Conflict.

“The civil wars in the Nordic Federation and the Chinese Republic are only growing fiercer. It seems even more endless than the conflict in Africa…”

“Europe is going back to being a powder keg as well. How many more years will the European Union last?”

At this rate, it was possible that this world would see a Second World War… No, perhaps it had already entered a state of World War some time ago.

The ‘Avalon’ Rikudou Hijiri had been defeated. His subordinates and supporters had all died, and every single one of the experimental subjects he had created was now missing. None of his research materials and his machines that he had used for experiments had been left behind.

But he had been supported by prominent politicians, military leaders, and criminal organization leaders, as well as their close aides and subordinates. They and their organizations still remained, because the ones invited by Rikudou Hijiri to his main base had only been the most elite among his collaborators and supporters, such as the presidents of nations.

Thus, even after the incident was resolved, nations all over the world had been forced to deal with the aftermath. It was the Federal States, where President Sergei had successfully seized political rule over the nation through a coup d’état, that had accomplished this the most quickly and smoothly.

Without any hesitation to take heavy-handed measures, he had purged the political and business circles of the Federal States, as well as the nation’s intelligence agency, of those who had cooperated with Rikudou, having them arrested one after another. The skill with which he did so was as if he had been possessed, surprising everyone. Nobody had expected such excellent work from a former soldier who was neither a politician nor an expert in intelligence warfare.

This had been made possible by the fact that Sergei had seized near-complete control over the military. Though it was the expected course of action for a soldier who had seized political power through a coup d’état, he had unhesitatingly declared a state of emergency. By placing limits on the human rights of the citizens of the Federal States, he had been able to arrest Rikudou’s collaborators and supporters through heavy-handed methods that would be criticized as extreme during times of peace.

… Although it could not be made public, one of the other major reasons this had been possible was because of the information that Vandalieu had extracted from the spirits of the former president and the director of the intelligence agency when they were charmed by Mei, which he had passed onto Sergei.

The next nation to regain its ability to function normally was Japan. There were several reasons for this, and it wasn’t because the Japanese were more capable than everyone else.

First, only a limited part of Japan had been affected by Rikudou’s influence compared to other nations. In Origin, no Second World War had taken place in the 20th century, but even so, the prime minister and the cabinet ministers of 21st-century Japan did not have as much political influence as those in the Federal States or Europe. And because many of the Bravers had been born in Japan, gathering large numbers of collaborators and supporters from Japan would have increased the risk of Rikudou’s plans becoming discovered.

Wary of that risk, Rikudou had only recruited a few lawmakers from the ruling and opposing parties, as well as the upper ranks of the police, the judicial system, the medical field, and governmental organizations… That alone had created a very serious situation, but there were other countries whose entire intelligence agencies had been taken over by Rikudou. Compared to them, Japan had gotten off lightly.

And perhaps because of the characteristics of Japan’s society, there was a relatively large portion of people who had been influenced by Vandalieu when he appeared in the world of Origin. As a percentage of the entire population, it was only around 0.1 percent, but over a hundred thousand people had encountered Vandalieu in their dreams.

And even in Origin, Japan was allied with the Federal States. Sergei had seen the stabilization of this alliance as an urgent matter, so he had provided his cooperation and eventually succeeded in helping Japan recover.

But although the Federal States and Japan had recovered quickly, chaos continued in regions like Europe and South America. It wasn’t surprising; after all, their presidents had been killed and many of their close aides had been arrested. Each nation had held new elections and elected new presidents and cabinet ministers. However, the new governments were made of non-elite politicians who hadn’t collaborated with Rikudou Hijiri. They lacked not only fame and charisma, but ability and experience as well.

Thus, the new governments had not stabilized, and there were some nations that were already holding their second presidential elections since the Avalon Conflict. Public order was worsening, and strict limits were being placed on entering and exiting each nation, requiring people to pass inspections before being allowed to leave, despite those nations having previously allowed people to enter and leave freely.

The European Union was now a union only in name, and once tariffs were placed on commercial trading between the nations, it would likely break apart.

However, the nations whose chaos was kept within their borders were still better off than some. In the Chinese Republic and the Nordic Federation, the bombs the nations had planted themselves had been teleported into the center of both nations and detonated. This had resulted in continuous fighting even after the Avalon Conflict, and these had developed from civil wars into regional conflicts.

These nations had supported Rikudou Hijiri’s ambitions on a national level, provided him with orphans with no relatives and politically inconvenient individuals to be used in inhumane experiments, and fired missiles at Rikudou Hijiri’s base while knowing that the Bravers, who had been trying to resolve the situation, and the victims of Rikudou’s research, were still inside. All of that had become publicly known, drawing a barrage of international criticism… though it could be presumed that the criticism from European and African nations had the purpose of diverting attention away from their own failures.

Having been criticized by the whole world, the Chinese Republic and Nordic Federation had each discussed what steps they needed to take – after replacing the individuals who had been lost to rebuild their governments. That was likely one of the strengths of socialism and communism – the ability to decide the nation’s leadership without elections.

However, the governments in both nations had grown weaker. If one thought that they could ignore the international criticism and come out unscathed, they would be wrong.

And both nations had provided vast aid to Rikudou Hijiri’s research into the death attribute. It wasn’t just that they had provided the capital funding, the research facilities, and the humans to be used in experiments. They had also provided the personnel, such as researchers, workers, and security guards, as well as many other benefits. All of that had become nothing but debt due to Rikudou’s betrayal.

The actions they had taken after Rikudou’s betrayal became clear had also been poor decisions. Nobody could blame them for falling into a state of chaos due to Vandalieu’s descent upon Origin, but they had repeatedly fired missiles, which had only served to increase the amount of damage inflicted back onto the nations in return.

Despite all of that, the new top-level leaders refused to give up their positions of power. The second and third most powerful individuals in the nations were trying to use this opportunity to topple the new leaders and seize power themselves. There were ethnic groups that were making a move to seize the chance to declare independence… As a result, the Chinese Republic and Nordic Federation were breaking apart, and conflict had risen in both nations.

The Bravers had worked hard; at the request of the Federal States, they had stripped the Chinese Republic and the Nordic Federation of dangerous arms such as biological and nuclear weapons and prevented terrorist attacks that could fan even more conflict.

Thanks to their efforts, the world of Origin was currently in a stable state. At the very least, there was no World War, and no large-scale massacres had occurred.

Having returned home from their mission, the ‘Braver’ Amemiya Hiroto, the ‘Titan’ Iwao, the ‘Angel’ Amemiya Narumi, the ‘Chiron’ Derrick Sander, and the ‘Druid’ Joseph Smith were exchanging complaints about adult problems that couldn’t be solved through ideals alone.

“‘The conflict is convenient. That nation breaking down is beneficial to our nation.’ To think they’d say something like that so clearly…” Amemiya muttered.

“Forcibly dividing up an excessively large area of land through the dissolution of another nation… They really come up with some nasty ideas,” said Iwao.

“We can’t tell Hiroshi and Mei about this,” said Narumi.

“Well, we can’t exactly tell the Federal States to suppress it with their military might, and I know there isn’t much we can do, considering that international organizations have lost their power,” said Derrick.

“… But I really would like to avoid going to the Chinese Republic and the Nordic Federation right now,” Joseph remarked.

“How about we just broadcast the footage from when Vandalieu’s soul descended in the Nordic Federation and the Chinese Republic?” said Iwao. “We’d have to take over a television station to do it, though.”

“As unfortunate as it is, Iwao, the Chinese Republic and Nordic Federation have almost perfect information censorship. The moment we begin broadcasting footage of Vandalieu’s soul from back then, the police and army would come at us like an avalanche,” said Amemiya.

Vandalieu’s soul had descended upon Origin in order to protect the outside world from Arch-Avalon’s magic and to protect his allies from the Chinese Republic and Nordic Federation’s attempts at retaliation against Rikudou for his betrayal.

Many had already seen its grotesque form, but the majority of the people in the Chinese Republic and Nordic Federation, which had strict information censorship, had not. Thus, there were very few people who had been influenced by Vandalieu in those two nations.

And Vandalieu was magnanimous; from the perspective of Amemiya and the others, he was practically a philanthropist. But he wouldn’t go so far as to stop people that were unrelated to him or his companions from killing each other.

Even if civil war raged on in the Chinese Republic and the Nordic Federation, Vandalieu simply perceived it as people he had never even met killing each other. And even President Sergei, the most famous worshiper of Vandalieu in Origin, prioritized the interests of his own nation, then those of its allied nations.

Thus, putting more people under Vandalieu’s influence – under the effects of his guidance – would lead to the Chinese Republic and Nordic Federation being saved, but… it seemed that none of the leaders of the separatists groups of either nation were the kind of people who could be guided by Vandalieu.

“Like on Earth, the Chinese and Nordic people hate religion, after all,” said Amemiya.

“Amemiya, that seems to be true of the Nordic nations in this world, but I am certain that Earth’s Russia had a religion called the Russian Orthodox Church,” said Joseph.

TLN: I know Russia isn’t a Nordic country but that’s what the author wrote. The Japanese word that is generally translated as ‘Nordic’ is more literally ‘Northern European’ and maybe the author considers Russia to be a part of that. 

“… Is that right?” said Amemiya.

“It seems that we can’t rely on our knowledge from when we were on Earth anymore,” said Narumi.

“And I want to make it clear that even if we increase the number of people under Vandalieu’s influence, it doesn’t mean that Vandalieu is going to save them directly. Those who are guided save themselves as a result of their own efforts,” said Joseph.

Indeed, Vandalieu had not directly intervened in the world of Origin ever since the Avalon Conflict. People were simply guided by him after seeing him in dreams or seeing images of his soul.

However, those who were guided received the effects of his guidance, despite there being no Status System in this world. No, because Statuses didn’t exist, there were no words and numbers with which one could clearly see the guidance’s effects, but it could be said that the people of Origin received broader effects from it than the people of Lambda.

Some stranger examples of this included improved eyesight, improved immunity against diseases, and the ability to survive extreme situations with nothing other than one’s survival instincts.

“Joseph, that’s what we’re counting on. If there are more people in the Chinese Republic and Nordic Federation under the effects of Vandalieu’s influence, I’m sure they would work with one another to end the civil wars,” said Amemiya.

They weren’t hoping that Vandalieu would intervene directly. People who had been affected by Vandalieu’s influence had a strong tendency to feel a sense of kinship with one another, even if they were from different countries, of different ethnicities, or had different religious beliefs.

Even if such people didn’t become a majority, once they reached a certain number, they would hold a significant amount of power.

And it was impossible to expect the Bravers to do something about the situation on their own without relying on Vandalieu at all. Although they were heroes who had gained the respect of the people of Origin, the people’s trust in them had been drastically harmed by the Avalon Conflict. Nobody could blame the people for that; after all, the culprit behind the Avalon Conflict was Rikudou Hijiri, who had served in a leadership role for the Bravers.

However, the main people who had led the effort to resolve the incident had also been members of the Bravers, so society’s criticism of them was not so harsh. This was due to the fact that the presidents of nations all over the world and their close aides had collaborated with Rikudou, and also because there were easier targets to blame and villainize – the Chinese Republic and Nordic Federation.

However, even without being harshly criticized, the Bravers were unable to force nations to act. They were not politicians; they did not have the support of the people in the Chinese Republic and Nordic Federation, nor did they have the power to rule over those people. The only way for the Bravers to end the conflicts in these nations was to silence them using force.

And if they began doing that, the only change would be the Bravers joining the conflicts in the two nations as a new participating faction.

There was also the option of taking a more steady approach – Traveling to the Chinese Republic and Nordic Federation to form cooperative relationships with influential people there with the aim of emerging victorious in the conflict and establishing new governments, but… they were already doing that.

The Federal States and the Bravers were acting with the objective of splitting up these two large, mighty nations and establishing balance.

“If only those two nations could become like Japan and the Federal States… No, I have a feeling that Japan and the Federal States have been influenced too much,” said Iwao.

“I think Vandalieu would agree with you there. I met him in a dream a while ago, and he was… depressed,” said Joseph.

“Depressed, huh. Well, I can’t blame him,” said Amemiya.

Immediately following the Avalon Conflict, there had been a huge variety of ways in which Vandalieu had been perceived in the world of Origin – An alien named Johnny Yamaoka who had grown enormous, a demon who had been resurrected from Hell, the materialization of an evil spirit created by a death-attribute research experiment gone wrong, a god who had descended upon the world, an enormous magical organism created by a magical experiment, a failed creation by Rikudou Hijiri, and so on.

But President Sergei had declared, “That is a god!” and after it became clear that Vandalieu had protected the world, people had started perceiving him as a god who had descended upon the world.

What came after that was controversial debates among the leaders of already-existing religions in Origin regarding how they should treat Vandalieu.

One might wonder why they would be discussing such a thing when the world was in a state of great turmoil, but that turmoil was a problem to be dealt with by politicians and corporations. Religious leaders had religious problems to deal with.

There were fans of the Eighth Guidance who claimed that Vandalieu was the divine form of the ‘Undead’ who had saved Pluto and the others – a claim that was exceedingly close to the truth. These fans were a group that had been considered a cult that supported terrorists by politicians and leaders of already-existing religions.

Now, they were gathering power as a large religion known as the ‘Eighth Guidance Faith’ – or the ‘Eighth Faith’ for short. The most famous of its members was President Sergei.

All of the important people in his administration had been guided by Vandalieu, and when he rebuilt the nation’s intelligence agency, ‘prior experience of meeting a god in a dream’ had been a hiring condition for applicants.

His eventual goal was to convert all of humanity to the Eighth Faith, and he had used heavy-handed methods towards that as well – creating various facilities in the Federal States with statues, monuments, and artworks dedicated to Vandalieu and Pluto. He was also trying to plan theme parks, movies, and an anime series with the Eighth Faith as their theme, though it seemed that there were a significant number of people who opposed such forceful measures.

Other religions’ interpretation of Vandalieu included him being a descended angel, a reincarnated god, and so on. But it seemed that they were struggling to interpret him under the framework of their already existing scriptures… It was likely that they would have liked to ignore him if possible, but given that there was clear footage of him and he was still appearing in people’s dreams even now, it seemed that they were unable to deny the existence of a god who granted his divine protection to the people.

… Buddhism had already given up on trying to incorporate him into the religion and stated that he was a neighbor who had flown to the planet from somewhere in outer space.

And currently, there were researchers who studied folklore, religion, and the occult who tied Vandalieu to various legends and presented their conclusions in an amusing way on TV, in magazines, and on the internet.

Vandalieu was aware of all of this, and nobody could blame him for being depressed… and it was mainly Sergei’s fault.

If he really disliked all of this that much, he could simply stop guiding people, stop inviting them into dreams, to stop granting them his divine protection, but… there was, in fact, nothing that could be done regarding his guidance.

People were guided of their own accord when they saw the recorded footage of Vandalieu’s form or came across the teachings of the Eighth Faith. Vandalieu wasn’t consciously guiding them because he wanted to.

He wasn’t deliberately inviting people into his dreams, either; he simply happened to encounter people who were on the same wavelength as him. However… he did not turn them away when he encountered them; he listened to what they had to say and spent time with them, and if he got along with them and liked them, he would give them his divine protection as a gift, so one could say that he had brought this upon himself.

Vandalieu had become a part of the God of Origin; it was impossible for him to give up on Origin’s people.

“What, has everyone gathered to complain about their missions?” said the ‘Sandman’ Youdou Masaki, walking over with a newspaper in one hand.

“Complain… Yes, they’re complaints. When will peace come? There’s no end in sight,” said Amemiya.

Youdou looked surprised. “No end in sight? That’s always been the case, hasn’t it?”

Amemiya looked up to ask him what he meant, but Youdou answered before he could.

“The conflict never ends, disasters have happened, and terrorist attacks have been planned and carried out. Nothing’s changed between before and now. Because Rikudou and his guys are gone now, it’s easier for things like that to surface,” Youdou said.

“That’s… true,” said Amemiya.

Youdou’s words opened Amemiya Hiroto’s eyes. Indeed, there had never been complete peace in this world, even before Amemiya and the others were reincarnated here. Wars, crimes, and disasters had always happened.

It was true that nations and criminal organizations had less unity now that their and Rikudou Hijiri’s common goal of immortality and creating a new world had collapsed, causing chaos.

But that was all.

I’ve always thought that this world is in a terrible state because of Rikudou… because of us reincarnated individuals. But maybe I shouldn’t get so worked up about it, Amemiya thought.

Rikudou Hijiri and his subordinates like Moriya had been reincarnated individuals and members of the Bravers, just like Amemiya and his companions. That was why Amemiya had felt some responsibility for what Rikudou had done.

But with Youdou’s words, Amemiya had realized that perhaps he didn’t need to brood over it so much.

“What is it, Amemiya? Have you decided to aim for world peace? Create a Neo-United Nations?” Youdou said.

“Youdou, the current United Nations still exists without the ‘Neo!’” Derrick pointed out. “Though it doesn’t feel like it has much presence…” he added.

“And besides, it will be problematic if things don’t return to the level of peace we had before… if things don’t calm down. Otherwise we won’t be able to see Hiroshi and Mei for a long time,” said Narumi.

“Ah, you guys have that problem to worry about, too. Sorry,” said Youdou.

The Bravers were currently operating with their headquarters in the Federal States. Naturally, there were those who criticized the fact that the Federal States had so much influence on the Bravers. However, because the United Nations’ presence had grown weaker and they had much less influence themselves, the current situation of there being no nations that could raise complaints against the Federal States had continued for some time.

“That’s right. We need to do this for Hiroshi and Mei… We need to make this world a place where the people who were turned into experimental subjects by Rikudou can live,” said Amemiya.

“Dear… Had you forgotten that?” said Narumi accusingly.

“N-no! I was just renewing my determination!” Amemiya said hastily.

“This isn’t even surprising, but it’s possible that it’s more comfortable for them to live over there. Especially for the people who were turned into experimental subjects; I can’t see them returning to a world without Vandalieu in it,” said Joseph, continuing the conversation while ignoring the sudden quarrel between husband and wife.

“You’re right… There might not be any internet, television, or video games over there, but Vandalieu’s there. He even made a theme park for Mei and Hiroshi, and he might still be making all kinds of other things,” said Amemiya.

“Mari and her friends, Bokor, Yukijoro, and Gabriel, probably won’t be coming back, at least,” said Derrick.

“And in this world, there are still guys who are after Mei and everyone else,” said Amemiya.

“Yes, there’s no end to them, no matter how many we catch,” said Narumi.

Even after the Avalon Conflict, there was no end to the criminal organizations who wished to acquire the death attribute. There were those who knew that there was one successful example – Arch-Avalon – despite this information not having been made public. Those people lurked in the shadows of society, seeking immortality and a power great enough to destroy all of humanity.

Although Rikudou Hijiri’s research materials and experimental records were gone, there were still his collaborators who had not gathered at his base that day. Among them were those who had been told things such as the fact that the ‘Metamorph’ Shihouin Mari had successfully acquired the ability to use death-attribute magic, the fact that there were other experimental subjects who had a limited ability to use death-attribute magic, and the fact that Mei, the Amemiyas’ daughter, very likely possessed death-attribute Mana.

Based on information such as this, there were criminal organizations, top-secret military branches in charge of carrying out illegal operations, and private armies owned by rich individuals who were after Mei and the others. And they believed that the most likely location where Mei and the others were being kept hidden was in the Federal States.

“If President Sergei’s strategy goes well, things will die down… I think. We just need to be patient until then,” said Joseph.

The strategy of President Sergei that Joseph mentioned involved the Federal States announcing the results of its own research into death-attribute magic.

This was disinformation, of course, as no actual research had been conducted.

“Reincarnation carried out by death-attribute magic has a failure rate of over ninety percent, and even in the event of a successful reincarnation, the mind of the subject is altered to the point that they turn into an uncontrollable monster.”

“In the event of a successful reincarnation, the subject does not become immortal; they completely turn into an Undead within a short period of time.”

President Sergei’s plan intended to release such false findings, designed to deceive those who sought to attain immortality.

These false findings would be made more credible by simultaneously making public the destructive, uncharacteristic actions that Rikudou Hijiri had taken after being reincarnated as Arch-Avalon.

At the same time, the Federal States would release death-attribute Magic Items into the market, announcing that these Magic Items – cures for otherwise incurable diseases, fertility treatments, and hair-growth products – had been developed and created by collaborators who were under the Federal States’ protection.

This would decrease the scarcity of the death attribute, turning it from some unattainable commodity into a specialty product of the Federal States. It would also lend even more credibility to the Federal States’ announcements regarding the research.

Even so, there would probably be those who would target Mei and the others in order to get a chance to attain immortality, no matter how slim it was. But the number of people targeting them would certainly still decrease.

“All that’s left to do is get Vandalieu’s permission. I’m sure he doesn’t have any fond memories of creating Magic Items in this world,” said Derrick. “He might refuse–”

“No, when I talked to him in a dream just now, he said he doesn’t mind. ‘I’ll try to see if I’m able to go over there sometime in the near future, so let’s talk again then,’ he said,” said Youdou.

“Just now?!” Derrick repeated. “Did you take a nap or something?!”

“Derrick, the important thing is to get Vandalieu to cooperate with us, right?” Youdou said.

“That’s true, but…” Derrick agreed reluctantly.

“Hold up, everyone!” said the ‘Asclepius’ Nanamori Misato as she ran over, her hair still clearly disheveled after having just woken up.

“Come on, you’re an adult already. You should at least learn to make yourself presentable…” said Derrick.

“There’s no time for that! Vandalieu said he’s coming here! Now!” Nanamori said.

“Now?!” the others all shouted incredulously.

With an unpleasant squelching noise, Vandalieu popped out head-first from empty space.

“Yes. Here I am,” he said.

“Va–?!”

“Yes, it’s me, in person… Bringing my body over here makes it difficult to move because of the different laws of physics. I feel like it’s harder to speak properly, too,” he said with just the upper half of his body protruding from empty space.

Amemiya and the others stood there, frozen in shock.

“I’ve defeated Rikudou once more in my world, for good this time, but a lot has happened after that, so I’m currently trying to set up split entities of myself in this world so that I can go between the worlds more easily,” Vandalieu continued. “That would make it easier for Meh-kun and Hiroshi to see their parents more often, and it would also allow me to directly protest against Sergei for what he’s done… Sorry, but this is still quite rough on me, so I’m going back for now.”

“W-wait a second! Just what in the world has happened over there?!” shouted Amemiya.

“I’ll explain when I see Youdou or Joseph or someone in our dreams again, so ask them later. Ah, and please give this to Sergei and his friends,” said Vandalieu, producing something resembling a crystal in his hand and dropping it. “Also, Meh-kun and Hiroshi have made friends and are doing just fine,” he added.

And with that, he vanished into thin air once more.

Amemiya picked up the crystal and felt that there was a tremendous amount of Mana contained inside it. This was likely the death-attribute Mana needed to create Magic Items.

“I’d like to meet you in a dream as well, since that would make it a lot easier to talk, but… that’s probably impossible,” Amemiya muttered.

To Vandalieu, the Amemiyas were nothing more than Meh-kun and Hiroshi’s parents. He didn’t hate or resent them, but he didn’t feel the need to become closer to them in the slightest.

“That’s how it is. I’m not showing any signs of being influenced by him at all, either,” said Derrick. “But nobody thinks that this makes us the same as the guys in the Chinese Republic and the Nordic Federation, and we aren’t, are we?”

“Yes, it is nothing to be concerned about. Whether you are guided or not doesn’t determine whether you are a good or bad person,” said Joseph.

 

“Thanks,” said Amemiya, nodding.

In order to do what he could as Hiroshi and Mei’s father, he sent a report to Sergei to inform him that he had been given the crystal.

When the president and his close aides learned that they had missed an opportunity to meet with their god, they would demand, “Why didn’t you call us?!” and start an argument, but that didn’t discourage Amemiya from doing what had to be done.