“I wonder what Liliath said after she killed me? 

I gazed at the sea– the horizon– the moon. There’s a thin line separating the skies and the sea. The bubbles of the crashing wave came and tickled my foot.

The rustling of leaves, gentle sea breeze. Both my hands were placed behind me as I leaned backwards.

Did Liliath wait this long? It’s nerve wracking, really..

I felt a tinge of cold land on my nose. Well, it’s not like I’m going to freeze to death any time soon. 

Slowly, snow began to fall, blanketing the beach.

I initiated my status window– still functional. Apparently, I can bring up my UI from my previous isekai world but can’t use the functions. I can scroll through stuff but.. can’t edit anything. It’s funny to see how the inventory changes, perhaps it's a sign that things are still happening in the other world– I wonder.

It’s been 4 months since then, approximately.

I turned to Liliath lying dead beside me.

Uh.. yeah. Come on, my special quest told me to insert a Philosopher’s stone inside her, alright? Plus, Liliath did it to me last time so call this payback, right?

There was a large pool of blood, bright red. It’s already beginning to coagulate, some of it tuck to my clothes.

Her peaceful face, and lips that I’ve tasted innumerable times by now. Her skin was beginning to turn blue.

Even though she’s in this condition, I can’t help but admit that..

She still looks so beautiful.

What a creep. Prune was right about accusing me of this. No wonder she kept trying to separate me from Liliath. Haha– the memories. 

How much longer?

Should I be anxious?

I touched her cheeks. They were hard– cold.

I turned back to the ocean.

I wonder.. did I do something wrong?

Maybe I should’ve ignored the quest. The impulse of wanting to turn Liliath into a demon lord is there but.. it’s as the previous Liliath said before, demon lords can wed non demon lords. 

The apprehension I felt before wasn’t because Liliath wasn’t a demon lord, but merely because I hadn't stayed with Liliath long enough.
So why did I decide to kill this Liliath because of a mere quest?

I’m I that dumb?

Well.. if it comes down to it, I’ll be branded a murderer. Then I’ll see if I can ask Bleu for help. 

“You called?”
“I almost panicked there, yes..”

I turned around and met Bleu.

Oh, it’s not Bleu.. it’s the old Bleu.
“It’s rude to compare the different Bleu’s alright?”

“How so?” I suppressed a laugh.
I think this is supposed to be where Liliath met me and her in the future but.. I’m meeting Bleu of the past, for some reason.
It’s not like my life in this world was exactly the same as I remembered it. There are some slight variations to things. Such as Kai having a crush on Liliath, Saria having a crush on me and the fact that Xyasin actually made up with Wake. 

“I’ve been trying to find you forever, jeez. I can’t believe you ended up all the way here,” Bleu flipped both her arms.
“So what now?”

“As usual. I need to kill you,” pointing at me with her hand shaped into a finger.
“Sure thing.. how about Nine and Prune?”

“Oh. They won’t be joining you in this world. It becomes, Liliath’s TALENT caused her and her familiar to die.”
“You’re joking..”
“I’m not. Well, Liliath’s parents still have Novelle. The future isn’t all that bleak.”
“It’s still sad knowing that though,” I smiled.

“That’s how life is.”

“Sure is.. by the way, since you’re here, how is it going over on the other side?”
“I’ve slowed down the world progression to a hundredth, so you should still make it in time. The last thing I saw before I went to search for you was Liliath being carried into Javiel’s castle. I don’t know what’s happening right now,” Bleu shrugged.
“I suppose.. by the way, I don’t know if I remember it correctly since it’s been a while but Nine was the person who removed the [Omnipotent Keyboard] skill right?”

“Yup.”

“Is he an enemy then?”
“She.”
“I don’t remember the gender, give me a break..”
“She’s under control but also not your enemy.”

“Any reasons to explain why she needed to kill me back then? Of course.. it’s not like I hold a grudge. If I’m to speak honestly, I’m glad I got to live this life with Liliath.”

“I can’t say. Just as you can’t tell others about it, right?”
“I guess my hypothesis was right. Well..” I stood up and stretched my back, “Bleu, what will happen to the Bleu of this world?”

“She’ll fuse with me. Because both you and Liliath has disappeared, related to your TALENTS will be wiped out from this world.”
“In that case, can I ask you for a favor, Bleu?”

“Sure, give me. I’ll put it in your Inventory. I’m surprised you even thought so far.

“Well, I had your help with coming up with this plan, so thanks,” I went to Liliath and untied the pendant off her neck. I was gentle with it okay? 

It’s an unusual cube pendant with pulsing lights.

Within it contains Liliath’s memories.

Somehow, I could spend the points that I’ve previously collected from the previous world. It was barely enough to afford this item from the shop.

[Forget me Not]

The description is kind of long so I’ll simplify the effects. What it basically does is that it takes the memories of a person and stores them inside. Liliath had been wearing it since we arrived at Mondai High, but it isn’t like the recording begins from there. The pendent store encompasses memories from Liliath’s birth up to this point.

So if I wear this pendant, I’ll have Liliath’s memories.. and because Liliath gave me a try last time, when I returned it to her, she had some of my memories too. Her expression was priceless, it was so funny.

Then again.. it’s a pretty dangerous object. Because I and Liliath have practically become one in the same. If anyone else wore this.. I don’t want to imagine the effects.

“Here. Thank you Bleu.”
“Sure thing.”

Bleu just placed it into an empty void.

“You ready.”

“Ready as ever.. it’s going to hurt right?” I spread my arms apart.
“Of course. To kill a demon lord, I need to crush the heart.”
“Fuck..”
And so a blood curdling scream echoed out on the beach.

Nine, Prune, Saria, Kai, Wendy, Lyndia, Miss Glib, Lieutenant, Miss Tsu, mom, father.. 

And to everyone else in this world.

Thank you for being part of my life.

===

“What’s this?” Nine picked up a lone envelope on the beach.
“I have a bad feeling..” Prune gulped.
“Where are they anyways? Didn’t Liliath say he’ll confess to Noel here?”
“I thought they confessed to each other long ago?”

“This time it’s official.”

“Open the letter and see what’s inside?”

‘Dear everyone,’

‘This letter is written for your reference, so that you know the truth behind our TALENT.’

‘If you’re reading this, it means that Liliath and I have died. Not permanently. We’re traveling to an isekai world, and she’s coming along with me so.. don’t worry everyone. If there’s ever a chance, we’ll come back and visit...’

373. 

I was in a black world, black space.

It’s been a while since I came to this void. No mouth, no hands, no eyes.

The black spirals look rather creepy in the distance. Could someone get caught up in that? I wonder..

Anyways. Now that I’m here, I suppose I’ll just have to wait.

Wait..

Wait.

For how long though?
I need to keep thinking to maintain my thoughts. Yup, so keep thinking Noel.

How lovely Liliath was. She’s so cute really. I can’t believe she had that side to her, casual Liliath is amazing.. and yes, she, just like me, watches porn.

We almost lost to our impulses that day when we had to complete the stupid quest of sitting through a porn movie. Honestly.. it was crap. But pretty fun.

Oh, it’s here, this feeling.

A soft light shone down from above. A magic circle appeared beneath my feet.

Hopefully I don’t go to the wrong world this time around..

Sentience came flooding back to me and I felt my body drop to the floor.
What is this place? A dark themed bedroom with red lights pouring in from the window. It’s like some blood moon.

“Here you go.”
“Thanks Nine.” They remembered to cover me with a blanket. Great.

“Are you alright?”

“Somewhat..”

Prune’s hair had grown really long. She became a Nine Tail huh? That explains it.
As for Nine.. he’s taller than I remember. 

And this elf is.. what’s her name again?
I brought up my status window and set it to my custom present.

Simultaneously, I took out a set of clothes and began putting it on, appraised the elf in front of me, checked the map for the current happenings, and pulled up a window tethered to the current Liliath’s situation. She’s under Javiel’s control. Oh great, so I can put into action the plan we thought out before then.

“Operation let’s call him Jeff I suppose.”
“Excuse me?”

“Noel.. welcome back..” Prune looked like she was going to burst into tears.

“Sorry, we’re in a pickle so I’ll make it short. I’ll assume Nine is back to normal because he’s the one who summoned me, and your pendent is now white,”I think 4 months ago this Nine said that if the pendant is white, it means he’s on outside, anyhow, ”We’re going to do operation let’s call him Jeff, you have the other Nine to thank for the naming sense. Nine, I need you to keep Jeff alive while I disarm Liliath. Prune, keep everything in check, make sure Liliath’s vitality and mana doesn’t fall to a dangerous level and act as the main communicator for everyone. Teal, I’ve given you access to all system functions, support Nine and keep Jeff alive while keeping at bay his other wives. Nine, now, give everyone access to that status editing skill,” there are so many things I’ve forgotten already.

“Done.”
“Good. Good luck everyone.”

“What do you mean by Jeff?”

“The way a slave collar works by using name. I believe it’s the same for the taliman.”
“What?”
“Just keep Javiel alive for Liliath’s sake, don’t let anyone kill him.”
I pasted Javiel’s name into my status and changed his name to Jeff. Good. As a bonus, let’s remove his Unique Skill, done. 

I teleported over to Liliath.

“Yo, it’s been a while, and see ya.”

“You..!”
Grabbing Liliath, I took her and jumped off the ledge of the tower.

“Liliath, stop all previous commands or orders given by Javiel and rest.”
She nodded, leaning against my arms.

“Let’s go somewhere secluded shall we..”
I looked up and saw black dragons circling around the place. Wow, this is fantasy alright, I haven’t even gotten settled in yet and I have to face this chaos.

I unfurled my demon wings and landed gently on the ground.

“Liliath, can you say hi?”
She looked at me with blank eyes.

“Tell me if you’re feeling hurt anywhere, this is an order.”
Her eyes shook, lifting her hands, she gripped her chest.

I see.. so I need to figure out a way to remove this talisman binding her Philosopher’s stone. Damn, these sons of bitches dare to hurt my girl..

Calm down Noel.. remember the promise you made with Liliath.. you can’t kill him.. yet.

“We need to go some..”
I kicked off the ground, dodging the dark elf and flew into the air.

“Give back my lord’s toy!”
“Oh, you want to try me asshole?”
With a grin, I activated the most deadly spell in my arsenal– Absolute End.

Plop, the dark elf fell asleep just like that. Suck on that hahaha.. okay, it’s not the most deadly spell but come on, I could at least make things dramatic right?

“Is there anywhere you want to go, Liliath?”

She snuggled up closer to me.
“Huh.. Let’s get you somewhere safe first.”
I’m concerned with how exactly I should remove the taliman from..

Swoosh.

I beat my wings and made a sharp turn. A blade sliced my flank.. fuck that hurt. Oh right, the Regressor exists in this world too. What’s his name again? Ji.. something.

Before the blades wrapped again to slice me down, I teleported to.. damn, we don’t have many points left do we now?
I chose an alternate option and casted a thick shield around me.

Whow.. it’s being chipped away super fast.
“Oi! Regressor! You got the wrong guy!!”
The attacks stopped and I saw the tower demon lord Javiel was standing at crumble.
We need to get out of here. Nine, Teal, I’ll leave this to you.

I flew towards the forest, far away from the battlefield.

“Noel.. why..”
“Hm?.”
“I.. I was so scared..”

“I’m sorry I was late.” I put on a smile and stroked her hair.

Liliath began crying, non stop. 

It’s alright now, I’m here.. 

===

“This is overpowered.”
“Be careful not to trip.. what was Noel’s orders again? He told us to protect, master.. I mean, Javiel right?”
“I thought he renamed the guy Jeff?”

“Oh, is it?” Nine could only tilt his head at the reverse Noel pulled. What happened to Noel anyways? Nine was curious. In any case, what’s important now was to put things into plan and..

“I’m going.” Teal disappeared.

“Prune, are you going to stay here?”
“I’ll notify the rest about what’s going on… we need to stop the war, don’t we?”
“Oh yeah.. you’re right..”
Nine used teleport and dropped himself in front of his master– Javiel– Jeff. Yes, Jeff. His Unique Skill has been removed it seems.

“What now I wonder..”
“O-Onii-san..”
“Hm.. it doesn’t seem like we need to do anything here? Noel-sama has already secured Liliath-sama hasn’t he,” Teal who arrived as fast as Nine said.

“I suppose..”

“Haha.. hahahaha.. you’re absurd. Now everyone will die.”
“Not..”
Nine turned around and created a barrier around the tower– it was easily pierced through, the black ether blades caused the bricks to explode.

“Nine-sama!”
“On it!”
Teal grabbed Iona, Nine grabbed Javiel and they both leapt away.
“Oh? What’s this?”

“Shit.. it’s a big misunderstanding..”

“What the hell are you doing! Let me down!”
Nine was carrying a person bigger than himself like a princess.

“Shut up!” Nine set Javiel’s status to one digit values and quickly erected a dozen barriers.

“Moirae.”

“On it!”

“Wha..”
A yellow bubble appeared where Nine stood– and everything within that bubble– was now stuck in a time-stasis.

===

‘Noel is back, Liliath is safe!’

“H-Huh?”

Rin was staring at the time bubble in front of her, Nine in the midst of yelling, Javiel in his arms. 

“Pfft.. ahahahaha..” Moirae began laughing.
“Focus.”

“I’m sorry.. ahahaha.. it’s just.. hahaha..”
Laura was also trying to contain her laughter. The scene was really just.. too surreal.

It wasn’t just them.. the inhabitants of the demon territory were also trying their best to suppress their laughter. For their king to display such an expression– 

“NOo!! How dare you take onii-san away..!! Owh..?!”
“Calm down can’t you.. don’t you know what kind of situation you’re in?” Teal gave Iona, who was piggyback, a chop on the head.

“Moirae, prepare to release the bubble. I didn’t think it would be so convenient.”
“N-No wait!” Rin shouted.. but by this point 63 swords had already made their way into the bubble.

“Jiwon-sama, I suggest you keep him alive.” Teal stood up to say.

“Why?”
“It’s Noel-sama’s wish.”
“So that was him huh.. no thank you. He’s supposed to be my prey.”
“No, you can’t! You’ll hurt Nine and.. I can’t let him die.”
“Then I’ll be careful only to kill the perpetrator. Will that be good?”

“E-Erm.. it would be alright if you do that..”
“No, Jiwon-sama, listen. There must be some reason why Noel-sama wanted him alive. You can’t kill him.”

“I never made a deal with the creator, Moirae, release the time stasis.

“Jiwon-san but..”

“Do it!”
“Jiwon-sama!”
“Onii-san!!”

The Regressor took away the Philosopher’s stone from Moirae’s hand. The time stasis crumbled.
An explosion akin to ten tons of TNT, a mushroom cloud of dust blew into the air. Everyone cupped their ears, a low buzzing continued to reverberate inside their minds. Jiwon stared silently as the dust cleared.

“Damn.. you’re one difficult guy to deal with.”

The 63 blades warped back to Jiwon’s side, and as he was about to fire them forth once more..
“Well, it’s too late. I’ve tempered with your stats.”

“You..” Jiwon felt his entire body turn sluggish. The black ether projections all dispersed.

“Uh.. I’m going to drop you know.”
Nine dropped Jeff down on the ground with a plop and raised both his hands into the air.

The barrier Nine created, fortunately, held up with the swords coming at him from all directions.
“I’ll kill you!!”

“Hold it!” Teal grabbed Jiwon by the arm.

“Let me go! That guy deserves death!!”
“Calm down, everyone calm down!”

Silence filled the venue.

Who appeared was Prune in a black dress, her silver-gold hair swaying loosely in the wind. She looked at the diabolical situation while holding her head.

Was this the task Noel assigned her? She didn’t know. In any case, she was told to coordinate things.
Just that..

“What?” She asked, cold sweat now pouring out of her body.

Everyone looked at Prune in silence.

– she didn’t know why her words were so effective.

“What happened to her?”

“She turned into a Nine Tail.”
“Don’t look!” Laura covered Jiwon’s eyes.

“...”

“I’m charmed..”

As the awkward tension hung in the air.

Purple light filled the sky once again.

Roars could be heard from beyond the walls. Since the golems were now gone, the army was making their way into the inner city.
“We should probably put an end to this war, shouldn’t we..” Nine muttered, preparing another large shield spell to protect the people against the rain of flames.
“I get it, I get it.. I know what to do,” Prune sighed.
Now that she’s a Nine Tail, her voice probably contained some special qualities which made people obey. 

In that case..

Prune dragged her sorry ass towards the gates in the midst of being breaching.

[Rinalanashina’s Special Quest Completed!]

===

“It all worked out well in the end as expected huh..”

“Nn.”

Liliath was leaning against me, we were sitting on a grassy hill, overlooking the retreating forces. 

Fantasy is fantasy. In no other place can you witness war end as fast as this.

“How are you feeling? Does your chest still feel tight?”
“Nn..”
What even is this thing. It’s invisible to the naked eye unless you can see mana. And to me, it’s as if a bunch of runes had been drawn all over Liliath’s body, linked to her heart.

I wanted to pull it out but.. I’m scared of hurting her.

Well.. if it comes down to it, I might have to kill Liliath again.

But it’ll be up to her.

I checked my inventory and saw the ‘Forget me Not’ pendant. I think this should wait. If Liliath regained her memories now.. I don’t know what kind of reaction she would have.

‘Noel, done. War ended. How are you?’

‘I’m fine. Just watching everything with Liliath.’

‘You have some explaining to do. By the way, who’s Jeff?’ Nine joked.

‘Your boyfriend.’

Yeah, I saw everything that happened, so damn funny. I erected a couple more shields around Nine as insurance, I’m glad that did the trick.

“Noel..”

“Yes Liliath?”
“Are you.. alright?”

With a smile, I brought Liliath’s face close and kissed her forehead.

“Yes. Thanks to you.”

You’ll understand once everything settles down.