Battle Across The Omniverse

Jayr POV - Tortus, Frost Caverns of Schnee - 2013

We are standing in the center of the crossroad in silence and ready to fight as the frozen zombies are quickly marching toward us from all four sides, I can already hear their intermittent groans.

All of a sudden, Eri breaks the silence and says, "Leave these annoyances to me... Rise!" she then taps the ground with her staff, she enlarges her shadow, and from it, her Undead Puppets start to rise, their numbers over one hundred, filling this big room so much that it appears quite small and stifling.

Then I turn my head to look at one of the tunnels, and from it, some of them can be seen moving toward us, it is the figure of people wearing a service uniform of the Garland Nation, with most of their skin having lost their coloring and a thick layer of frost over their entire body, indeed they are the corpses we saw embedded in the wall before, that start to pour into this room one after another from all four the tunnels.

Soon the frost zombie's dull movements suddenly become fierce as they charge toward us with a disturbing roar, but at the same time, Eri commands, "Attack!!" and her Undead Puppet rush toward the frost zombie easily decimating them, crushing them into many little pieces as they produce a sound similar to crystal breaking.

But as expected soon, the splinters begin to gather, reforming their bodies in no time at all, and those that had parts of their body completely destroyed, are still able to regenerate using pieces from the icy walls.

Seeing this, Tio reminds us, "Master, let's take advantage of the time brought by Mistress' Puppet to find the core and destroy it!" hearing that I nod and say, "Right! This way!" and using the Compass of Eternal Paths, I lead the way, and start running toward the left passage, as the Compass indicates that the core is 500 or so meters away, as Eri's Undead Puppets open the way.

After dashing for five minutes, our group finally arrives at a large area that seems to be about twice the size of the Colosseum, and checking the Compass once more, I see that the core seems to be encased in a certain ice wall facing the entrance we have just passed through, so I say, "I found it. Here, I see it."

Then without hesitation, I pull out the Tactical Arms in its Gatling Form and use Evolution Magic on it to increase its stats and power even more, and as I'm about to pull the trigger and unleash a storm of magic bullets made of Sagitta Magica, Series Obscuri, scattering a vivid bright black light.

At the same time, Tio yells, "Master, be careful!" even without her warning, I sense something flying toward me from behind, so without hesitation, I turn around and shoot down what appears to be a large transparent eagle made entirely out of ice that shatters in an instant, but I also notice that more are coming out of the ceiling, but I easily destroy them and their pieces start to fall down like a downpour of ice.

Then I focus back on the core in the wall, but the next moment, I click my tongue as I sense that it is moving through the wall, moving out of the Tactical Arms' line of sight, and say, "It moved..." hearing that, Tio suggests, "Apparently, it's similar to the creature we faced in Melusine Labyrinth, so we should think all the surrounding ice is its territory. Make a note of that."

Then she focuses, on dealing with the other eagles that are coming out of the walls, while Eri is commanding her Undead Puppets to keep the frost zombies away.

That advice is proven correct immediately, as the next moment, from the surrounding ice wall, a large number of two-legged wolves are created as well as more frost eagles.

The wolves have large dark red eyes, which are two meters tall, with sharp teeth and claws, groaning with a bestial voice, in fact, it reminds me of werewolves, moreover, their numbers keep increasing.

In addition, the core in the ice wall, lets out an amazing amount of power, increasing every second, and soon, with a loud roar followed by a large shockwave, the creature that holds the core finally shows itself.

It is like the turtle-like familiars used by Freid, but its body is mostly composed of ice and the shell has icicles like a pin cushion and it's over twenty meters in length, seeing that I think, 'So this is the true trial... Destroying the core held by that monster while fending off the horde of frozen zombies, ice creatures, and the almost unbearable cold... For a normal adventurer, such a thing is almost a death sentence... And seeing the many corpses before, it was such for many...'

As my thoughts wander, my focus is brought back by the Frost Turtle's roar, at the same time, I decide to end this fight shiftily, as I don't want to lose more time than necessary to clear this Labyrinth, not when I'm so close to complete all my objectives in this world, and can finally return back home where my family waits for me.

And so, I use both Body Enhancement Magic and Limit Break to raise my stats to the maximum, then I rush toward the Ice Turtle at my top speed, and before it could even react, I'm standing in front of it, then I simply raise my hand and chant, "Spēlaion Mikron Bary Melan!" generating a medium-sized black swirling sphere, basically a small black hole, that as soon as it comes in contact with the Frost Turtle, in an instant it expands, and soundlessly obliterates most of its body Core included.

At the same time, the large amounts of monsters filling the hall all collapse together with a rattle, becoming nothing more than lumps of ice.

Then Tio and Eri come next to me and see that both of them are fine, their breathing is even, and there isn't any wound on their bodies, there isn't any indication that they took on a thousand monsters, 'Indeed, such trial is quite easy for us... In fact, both Eri and Tio could have cleared it alone...'

Then Eri asks, "What that out of the way, where should we go next?" I once more check the Compass, then point at the passage that was opened in the wall where the Frost Turtle had come from, and say, "That way..."

After saying that, the girls nod and we continue our advance into the passage enclosed with large ice walls, and after walking peacefully for thirty minutes, we reach the exit of this passage find ourselves at the top of stairs leading down to the next trial, all I can see below us is a very vast maze.

I stop a moment to study the structure in front of us, the walls overhead form a vault, the maze can easily be confused with an athletic park if not for its sheer size, 'Based only on what I can see, the maze is at least 1 kilometer deep. I can't see anything further because of the snowfall, but since the width of the maze seems to be at least 10 kilometers, it can be guessed that the depth wouldn't be any less.'

From where I'm standing there are stairs leading down to the maze, at the end of the stairs stands an arch-shaped entrance to the maze.

While I'm studying the structure, I hear Tio behind me as she says, "It seems that after entering the maze, getting to the exit would be the second trial of this Great Labyrinth." followed by Eri who comments and asks, "Is the Labyrinth trying to annoy us to death!? Can't we just fly over it?"

But Tio explains, "No, it is more probable that there is something more to this trial... The Liberators were very throughout when designing the Labyrinths, such an easy exploit isn't possible." I nod and explain, "Yeah, from what I remember when reading the spoilers, in this Labyrinth, one can't fly over it, as it will be instantly teleported back to the entrance and activate some kind of trap..."

Hearing that, Eri lets out a sigh and says, "Then let's do this the old-fashioned way... By the way... some other spoiler?" I nod and think back on what I have read on the wiki many years ago and say, "It seems that to get out of the Labyrinth we have to find three keys to open the exit gate... Without them, we can't get out..."

But then I grin and pull out the Compass of Eternal Paths and say, "...Luckily we have the perfect cheat code for such a situation!" and hearing that, Tio and Eri smile back.

Then we all descend the staircase toward the maze's entrance, right at the entrance there is a reversed T-Junction that leads to the right and left, and looking at the compass needle I see that it is slightly, pointing toward the right passage, and as she looks over my shoulder, Tio says, "Ah. The maze won't be a maze, thanks to this" I nod and say, "This way we won't lose too much time in this maze..." and then I lead the way as I pass through the arch.

As we easily move through the maze, Eri stops and comments, "Un, Miledi's Labyrinth would have been no problem with this Compass..."

Hearing that, I nod and say, "Maybe that's why they entrusted it to Lyutillis..."

After that, we continue to move forward, as the icy walls of the maze give a similar disorientating feeling as a mirror house.

Even so, we are able to ignore that and start to calmly chat as if nothing happened, so much so that Eri asks, "Tio, how was your first time with Jayr?" to which Tio blushes a little and replies, "It was amazing! At first Master was gentle and careful, but then he let go of all restraints and in the end, he even used this one ass making this one pass out in bliss..." hearing that Eri nods and says, "Un, that is about right... Jayr can be quite the beast in the bedroom, in fact, I'm sure that if it wasn't for his aftercare, we would be barely able to walk after one session with him..."

While they were chatting, I focus my sense on our surroundings, as I felt the presence of something other than us moving, and the next instant, I turn around and look at Eri, and raising my hand I cast a single Sagitta Magica, Series Obscuri.

The dark magical bolt passes overhead a calm Eri and crushes the arm with claws that were growing soundlessly from the wall, at the same time, without me saying anything, Tio raises her hands and casts a double Wind Blade, at the right and left wall destroying the ice statue like armored Bullet Beetle that was coming out from it.

Meanwhile, Eri summoned her Undead Puppets once more to take care of the five Frost Orges that just got out, easily dealing with this failed attempt of an ambush, then we continue our advance like nothing happened.

Afterward, we encounter various traps, ice spikes that came from the walls, ice walls collapsed, and other monsters appearing from the walls for the next twelve hours as we continue to explore this huge maze.

While it isn't extremely challenging, the continuous and monotonous scenery is becoming increasingly annoying, luckily we have already gathered one key and only two remain so that we can leave this place, but it is becoming too much for Eri, so she suggests, "Jayr, why don't we go in your dimension and rest for the night?"

This catches Tio's attention, as she nods and adds, "This one agrees, it looks like this maze is bigger than we thought, some rest can be useful so that we will remain in top shape or we can do something else..." then she blushes and says, "... if Master wants he can also use this one's ass as he likes to relieve his stress...".

Then she starts muttering with a perverted expression on her face, "Of course, every day, be it morning, day or night, this one wants to do "this–" and "that–" to Master, and then this one will do "that–" and "this–" again together with Mistress. Then, Master will do "this–" to reward me, right? That's why this one will return the favor by doing "that–". Ah, this one is getting wet. Doing "this–" and "that–" properly, then "that—" Ababababababababa-!?" but Eri quickly uses the twin-tailed wolf Undead Puppet's magic to shock Tio, and rebuts, "You Ero-Dragon, just how many times you have to get fucked silly before it is enough for you!?"

Hearing Eri's question, the smoking Tio gets up as if nothing happened and proudly pushes up her jiggling bosom and declares, "This one kept her purity for over 500 years, now it's time to make up for all the lost time, and so for the next 500 years, this one will never lose the occasion to be in the embrace of Master! Moreover, this one is a Dragonman, unlike humans, having too much of that doesn't make us weaker or even harm us, instead, we grow stronger each time our partner pushes us to our limits, this is also the reason why we generally seek a partner stronger than us..." leaving both Eri and me speechless.

Hearing what Tio just said, I can't help but exclaim in my mind, 'So I wasn't wrong! Tio did get stronger after I had sex with her!! What kind of fucked up Zenkai Boost is this!!? This race can fuck themselves to omnipotence!!! I should have chosen to be reborn as Dragonman in the Arifureta Universe!!' and while I'm regretting a little my previous choices, I open the portal to my Soulbond Territory.

And once in my villa, I have to once again fend off a joined attack of a Necromancer and a Dragon, and after a battle that lasted 2 and half hours, I'm once more victorious and go to sleep with a smile on my face as I lay between a passed out Eri and Tio, of course after cleaning them of the bodily fluids that covered their bodies and changing the sheets.

The next day we resume our conquest of the Labyrinth, and after a few more hours we are now standing in front of a large double door, which the compass indicates we needed to pass through to retrieve the last of the keys.

I take out a shiny gray metal plate from my pockets, it has an uneven sharp tip and a magic square engraved on it, and with it, I open this gate.

On the other side of the gate, there is a gem-like object emitting yellow light from a pedestal in a room surrounded by ice walls, furthermore, there is one more thing.

"GuruaAAAAAAA!!!" from the other side of the gem, there is also the form of a five meters tall furious-looking frost ogre approaching as it lets out a loud war cry.

But before it could even get close enough,  Tio and Eri raise their hand and staff and once again, they chant at the same time, ""Soul Shock!!"" and a pale white wave hits the frost ogre, that in an instant, falls on the ground dead with a loud crashing sound.

Looking at the result of their combined spell, Eri comments, "The more I use this spell the closer I get to merging it with Cry of the Banshee and making it even more perfect and powerful..."

Meanwhile, I move toward the pedestal, to reach that gem-like object, this is the last of the three keys needed to open the sealed door, and without hesitation, I pick it up, then I lead the girls toward the exit.

After a while, we finally reach the exit of the maze blocked by huge ice doors, but I can see that it isn't just made of ice, it is carved with flowers, thorns, and roses, with a large round hole that takes up about the fourth of the door within the design.

Looking at the door, Eri exclaims, "Finally! I can't stand this shitty maze any longer..." and Tio next to her, nods and adds, "This one agrees, not only was this maze stupidly expansive, but also full of the same boring and monotonous traps, and those meaningless ambushes from the frost monster that made us only spend time... time that could be better used to be embraced by Master!"

And to my surprise, this time, Eri agrees with Tio as she says, "That's right! For once I agree with you! Being loved and spoiled by Jayr is for sure the best way to spend time."

I look at their interaction with a smile on my face while thinking, 'Ever since Tio officially joined our family, she and Eri grew a lot closer... They still bicker a lot, but Eri is a lot more comfortable and natural with her now, well there is also the fact that her sadistic tendencies are very compatible with Tio's masochistic ones, especially when we spend our intimacy together...'.

I then move to insert the keys the three keys in the socket of the large round hole that takes up about a fourth of the door, and immediately after, the thorny shrub on the door is covered in light.

The gems start to shine brightly in all their splendor, then, the gate's impressive doors begin opening on their own showing what lies beyond this maze.

At a glance, the passage starting from the entrance of the gate looks no different from the labyrinth's passages so far, if anything is different, it seems to be the bright reflection of the ice walls, as our figures are vividly reflected, seeing this, I say, "Well then, let's go." and as I said this, everyone simultaneously steps through the door.

The sight before us, sure enough, gives off the feeling of a mirror house, the ice acts just like mirrors, and the bright light is reflected endlessly, indeed, the ice walls on both sides of the passage act like opposite mirrors, and our party is reflected a countless number of times.

Aside from the ceiling hidden by a spray of snow, it looks really like an endless corridor, and the sound of our footsteps echoes along as we proceed, making me realize that not only light but also sounds seem to reverberate.

As we continue walking, I hear Eri mutter, "… Somehow it feels like we've been sucked into the abyss." and see that she is looking at our reflection in the walls.

Looking at it I see that the worlds pile up inside the ice walls repeat endlessly, and the deepest parts are being shrouded in darkness, giving really such a strange discomforting feeling.

Then noticing her obvious discomfort, I gently grasp Eri's hand and comfort her, "I won't let go of you so it's alright..." and do the same for Tio's hand and looking at her I add, "... Any of you!" both look at me with a bright smile and say, "Un...", "Master..." then we continue to advance.

After walking for a while, we still haven't encountered the sign of any traps or monsters in a while and the compass is still indicating that we are on the right path, when Eri suddenly halts and starts to look around restlessly.

I look at her and ask, "Eri? What is wrong?" still looking around Eri answer, "I heard something... it was like a whisper, very light, but still at the same time, the voice also seemed familiar..." and as she said this, I finally remember what this trial is about and without hesitation I explain, "Keep calm, it won't hurt you, what are you hearing is your own voice in your head that will expose all of the fears and hatred that you have... Basically, this trial will make you confront the worst part of yourself..."

Eri POV - Tortus, Frost Caverns of Schnee - 2013

After hearing Jayr's words, a heavy silence falls between us, but even so, we continue walking through this icy corridor, and at each step, the whispers in my head become louder and clearer, and as Jayr said, this is indeed my own voice that is speaking.

- You know what you want, right?

Hearing that question is like receiving a stab right through the heart, as the fear of what the voice is about to reveal gets stronger, and as we continue to move forward, these whispers become, more and more frequent.

- You're jealous to the point you want to kill, isn't that right?

And hearing that, I once more look back at my image reflected in the icy wall, as it seems that I'm about to be swallowed by darkness, 'That is true... Many times I wanted to remove all those that stood in my way, but I never did...'

Meanwhile, the whisper continues.

- You are afraid of losing this happiness you've finally found, that everything you've gained will be stolen, to be once more left behind, alone and unloved.

The whisper's words get sharper, causing my mind to enter a state of disorder and despair, but just as I'm about to crumble, I feel Jayr's hand holding my own hand tighter, then I remember the words he said a few moments ago, "I won't let go of you so it's alright... Any of you!"

And my mind clears, 'That is right! Jayr won't let me go! I'm his forever! Moreover, I'm not alone anymore, even if she is a degenerate pervert, Tio also knows the true me and accepted me! And she isn't the only one, thanks to Jayr's encouragement, I also told everything to Suzu, and even so, she forgave me and continues to be my friend!'

And now with firmer steps, I raise my head and walk forward while thinking, 'It is true that I fear what I could do, and to remain alone... But I know that everything will be fine as long as I'm together with my family!' with a smile on my face, I continue to walk next to Jayr, pushing away and ignoring all these annoying whispers.

Tio POV - Tortus, Frost Caverns of Schnee - 2013

- There is no such thing as your being accepted by others.

My voice invades my mind once more, as it whispers such things, and immediately the things that happened in the past come to my mind, 'Long ago, when I was inexperienced and couldn't control my power, and my family was facing persecution… Fire surged, the sound of an explosion shook the atmosphere, and a scream and an angry roar reverberated. While I was kicking at the gathered remains of my compatriot, the surrounding eyes were staring at me with extreme fear and contempt…'.

And remembering all that, I start to reflect, 'It took me many years, to overcome the impression that they had of me but in the end, I was successful, even so, it seems that my past marked me more than I thought, if my main fear is still not being accepted... But such fears won't be able to stop me, moreover, they still accepted me and despise my shameful behavior' indeed, I feel Master's hand holding mine tighter as if reminding me of his presence.

Looking at his face, I can't help but think, 'At first I joined him because I thought I could use him to fight the false gods to suit my vengeance upon the so-called "gods" and the Holy Church to avenge my parents and people... But over time, I got more and more attracted to him, to his strength, his kind and noble spirit, and in the end, I realized that I truly fell in love with him and wanted to spend the rest of my life by his side...'

And so, with a smile on my face, I withstand the attacks of these whispers, my will won't be shaken by something as weak as this useless fear, I will stand by my master's side until the very end.

Jayr POV - Tortus, Frost Caverns of Schnee - 2013

- You know you're a scumbag, right?

As I continue walking, the whisper in my head continue to attack my fear, insecurities, and aspect of myself that I hate, but even so, they aren't able to shake my will, 'Si, si, lo so, (Yes, yes, I know), there isn't a need to repeat that, I'm a selfish guy that has many lovers... Surprise, I'm not the first and won't be the last, even in my previous life there were polyamorous and polygamous relationships, sure some were frowned upon by society, but in the end they made it work...' and while thinking that, the whisper in my head continues.

- You just use them to satisfy your greed and lust! You aren't worthy of their love!

And a little annoyed by his continuous remark around the same topic, I think, 'Yes, I do... But that doesn't mean that I don't love them, they accepted and loved me despite all my flaws, and so they became the most important people to me, my family! And I will do anything to keep them safe and happy!'

At the same time, I hold Eri and Tio's hands tighter, and they both look at me and let out a bright smile, seeing that, I smile back and continue walking while thinking, 'And this shitty trial can't do anything to stop us...' and the oppressive atmosphere caused by the whispers disappears completely.