With a satisfied smile, Eriri withdrew her hands after committing another small act of mischief, then rose from Tearju's lap and sat beside her on the sofa.
"It's almost three o'clock. Yue-chan and the others should be back soon."
"Eh? Does that mean all the Reincarnators have already been wiped out?"
Tearju blinked in surprise. For the past week, Arifureta and the others had been relentlessly hunting down Reincarnators across the universe. For the group members, time meant points—they wouldn't waste a single moment that could be spent earning them.
After all, for beings like them, sleep was merely a form of relaxation and enjoyment. Even going years—or centuries—without rest wouldn't harm their bodies or minds in the slightest.
So when Tearju heard that Arifureta and the others were returning, and realized a week had passed, she immediately guessed that the Reincarnator invasion had reached its conclusion.
"That's right. It's already been a week. There's no point dragging things out any longer, so I just decided to end this little 'game' early."
Eriri leaned back against the sofa, speaking casually.
"I see."
Tearju nodded in understanding.
Just as she finished speaking, several dozen spatial distortions rippled through the room. Moments later, a large group of dazzling figures appeared in the living room out of thin air.
At the front stood Arifureta and a cluster of little girls, followed by Aoi Kujou and Kanae Kocho, who had been operating in different star systems but returned at the same time.
Like Meido, Aoi Kujou, Athena, and Ibiruai served as Eriri's personal maids. They too had been dispatched to hunt Reincarnators across the universe. The ownership of the Main God Fragments they collected depended on whoever managed to secure their assistance first.
Eriri herself had no interest in them—points meant nothing to her.
Just moments ago, with a single snap of her fingers, she had ended the lives of hundreds of thousands of Reincarnators, reaping just as many Main God Fragments. Yet she hadn't even bothered asking Little Skirt (the system) to credit her with the corresponding points.
Each Main God Fragment was worth tens of millions of points. Hundreds of thousands of them amounted to tens of trillions—enough for any group member to soar in rank, potentially reaching mid-Level 8 with ease.
But to Eriri, points were nothing more than numbers. If she wanted, Little Skirt could conjure up hundreds of trillions, even quadrillions of points for her without issue.
"Eriri! It's been a whole week—I missed you so much!"
The moment Arifureta saw her, she rushed forward with open arms, hugging Eriri's petite body tightly.
Seeing this, the group of little girls behind her immediately followed, crowding eagerly around Eriri.
Not used to such a lively scene, Tearju awkwardly stood up to give them space, her movement conveniently freeing up a spot for Illya and the others to squeeze in.
Meanwhile, Aoi Kujou quietly took her place behind Eriri, silently keeping watch as her protector.
Athena and Ibiruai wanted to join the affection as well, but given the current chaos, they had no opportunity. For now, they could only hold back.
"Yue-chan, looks like you've done pretty well this time~"
Eriri smiled, her hands gently stroking Arifureta's back as she glanced up at the glowing number hovering above her head.
"Hehe~ I think so too~"
Arifureta lifted her chin, resting it lightly against Eriri's chest, her delicate face shining with a joyful smile.
Hearing Eriri's praise, the other little girls quickly began chiming in one after another, eager to share their achievements over the past seven days.
"Ehehe, Eriri-nee, I beat up a bunch of bad Reincarnators too~!"
"Me too! Me too! I worked really hard fighting those meanies, Eriri-nee!"
"..."
Their cheerful chatter filled the room, overlapping with the excited voices of others as the living room grew loud and lively. But Eriri showed no sign of irritation. Instead, a soft smile lingered on her lips.
"Mhm, mhm, you all did great!"
A look of approval appeared on Eriri's face as her hands moved from Arifureta's back to gently pat the heads of Illya and the other little girls.
As they chatted, more and more figures began appearing in the living room one after another, like bamboo shoots after the rain.
Fortunately, the villa's living room was large enough to accommodate hundreds of people. Otherwise, with so many beautiful girls showing up at once, there would have been a serious risk of trampling.
"Finally over. How boring."
Dressed in a white princess gown, Chris flopped down onto an empty sofa without a care for her image. Following her were Lilia and Ariel.
The three of them had been acting together throughout the week. While none of them were especially powerful, they could still handle low-tier Reincarnators on their own.
Although they often ran into Reincarnators much stronger than themselves, thanks to the invincibility buff granted by Eriri, those enemies could only retreat in frustration, unable to do anything against them.
Just a few meters away from Eriri's sofa, Chika Fujiwara was enthusiastically bragging to Kaguya Shinomiya and Fumino Furuhashi about her "heroic exploits" over the past week.
However, the enormous number hovering above her head placed her near the lower-middle of all the group members.
As the one who had initiated this week's point-competition event, Elaina glanced at the digits above her own head, then at Arifureta—who was cuddled against Eriri with the glowing number 85366 displayed above her—and couldn't help feeling a little deflated.
Even though she had tried her best to avoid stronger opponents, deliberately seeking out weaker Reincarnators to fight, her total kill count still fell short by more than twenty thousand. She had only defeated 61,654 enemies.
The difference wasn't just due to Arifureta's superior strength—it was also that her luck had been far better.
Meanwhile, among the group chatting nearby, Akino seemed in particularly high spirit, and so was the system lady residing within her mind.
After this operation, everyone could freely decide how to use their obtained Main God Fragments.
Most non-group members had chosen to gift their fragments to the chat members they were closest to. Only the three sisters—Akino, Yukino, and Haruno—had chosen differently.
After so much time, their system lady was still at mid-advanced level. So Akino decided to feed all of her collected Main God Fragments to her system, helping her advance to high-advanced level.
Yukino and Haruno, of course, chose to help their sister, as upgrading a system from mid-advanced to high-advanced required a massive amount of fragments.
But through their combined efforts, they finally succeeded—the system lady had advanced to high-advanced level.
As for Yuzuru Hanyu, who also possessed a system, she had no such plans. Her system was purely an entertainment-based one, incapable of evolving by absorbing other systems.
Thus, the Main God Fragments were useless to her, and Yuzuru simply gifted hers to close friends like Arifureta and Kanae Kocho.
...
Meanwhile, at the very moment Eriri had casually wiped out hundreds of thousands of Reincarnators, the Main God—who was outside the universe searching the void for cosmic beasts—sensed something alarming.
Hundreds of thousands of fragments had vanished completely, without returning to his body as they should have upon the Reincarnators' deaths.
This wasn't the first time fragments had been absorbed by other systems, but this case was different. Including the previously lost fragments, more than a million had now permanently detached from his being.
This situation demanded his attention.
Though such a loss was negligible in terms of his overall power, he could not simply ignore the fact that other systems were devouring his fragments.
Thus, abandoning his decades-long pursuit of the cosmic beasts, the Main God left the void he had resided in for so long.
After all, within the void, even he could not fully perceive what was occurring across the countless worlds of the multiverse.
After returning to the multiverse, the Main God immediately detected what had occurred within the To Love-Ru universe. He also sensed the presence of the system entities residing within Yuzuru Hanyu and Akino, as well as the being inhabiting Eriri's consciousness—Little Skirt.
Upon perceiving that Eriri possessed the power of a Level 8, Stage 9 entity, the Main God instantly understood why hundreds of thousands of Reincarnators had died simultaneously.
After all, to a peak Level 8, Stage 9 existence, all beings beneath that level were nothing more than ants—fragile lives that could be crushed at will.
For such a being, forcibly extracting the Main God Fragments from within Reincarnators was hardly a challenge.
However, the Main God had not perceived Eriri's true power. He assumed she was merely a powerful Level 8, Stage 9 being—only slightly stronger than the retired Reincarnators under his command
As for Arifureta and the others around Eriri, he dismissed them entirely. In his eyes, they were mere insects, most of them only at Level 7. Among his legions of Reincarnators, there were tens of billions of such beings.
Thus, he did not regard Eriri's group as any kind of threat.
At the moment, he had no intention of provoking Eriri either. He was preparing to initiate a grand campaign to hunt down the Cosmic Beasts, and an additional Level 8, Stage 9 ally would be nothing but advantageous.
So the Main God decided to extend an invitation to Eriri—to join his crusade against the Cosmic Beasts.
Having made up his mind, he wasted no time. A thread of divine information shot toward Eriri.
Meanwhile, as Eriri was chatting with the little girls, she suddenly sensed a foreign message attempting to enter her mind. However, her passive defenses instantly repelled it.
With a thought, Eriri discerned the origin of the signal. Reaching out with her consciousness, she grasped it—and a mechanical female voice echoed within her mind.
"Do you wish to transcend your limits? To witness the scenery beyond Level 8, Stage 9?"
"Yes or no."
Staring at the two glowing lines of text that appeared alongside the voice, Eriri's lips curved into an amused smile.
The Main God patiently awaited her response. If she chose yes, all would proceed smoothly. But if she chose no, he would have no choice but to dispatch a legion of retired Level 8, Stage 9 Reincarnators to the To Love-Ru universe.
Still, he was confident in her answer. Every Level 8, Stage 9 being sought ascension beyond that realm. Surely, Eriri would be no exception.
And indeed, she did not disappoint him—selecting yes without hesitation.
Of course, Eriri could easily have overpowered and subdued the Third-Generation Main God, feeding him to Little Skirt as nourishment. But that would have been far too boring.
She was, in truth, curious—eager to witness with her own eyes a battle involving thousands of Level 8, Stage 9 powerhouses and a Cosmic Beast. It promised to be a magnificent spectacle.
With Eriri's participation, the Main God's chances of success would have soared from less than ten percent to a full hundred. Yet she had no intention of actually helping him.
Her yes merely affirmed her interest in seeing what lay beyond Level 8, Stage 9. She had never agreed to join the Cosmic Beast crusade. The Main God, of course, had no idea he was being played.
Satisfied with the response he had received, the Main God withdrew his awareness from Eriri and returned to the void, resuming his search for the Cosmic Beasts.
Finding one, however, was no simple matter. Without extraordinary luck, even the Main God could spend centuries without success.
Eriri, however, decided she would help move things along. Otherwise, she might have to wait a hundred years or more before witnessing the grand spectacle of Reincarnators versus Cosmic Beasts.
With her current power, she could not yet interfere directly with the void from within the multiverse.
So she planned to personally visit the void, lure a Cosmic Beast herself, and guide it to the Main God's location.
And as far as Eriri was concerned, there wasn't the slightest doubt she could accomplish such a task.
Through her omniscient awareness, she knew the void contained no elemental energies—only pure, unadulterated cosmic energy.
To her, that place was nothing short of paradise.
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