Extra chapter because we reached the goal (I have to update all the scheduled upload dates, damn it).
---
"Everything you said is true."
"Then…!" exclaimed Lala, excited.
"But…" Kaito cut her off coldly, "that is not all, is it? You may be brilliant at creating things, but your naivety betrays you."
"Naivety?" she repeated, bewildered.
"Completely. At first glance it is obvious what kind of genius you are, someone who focuses on one aspect and neglects everything else. Do you really expect me to surrender now? You even offer to make something for me? It is obvious you are hiding something. I do not doubt that you can revive, you treat your life with too much lightness for it to be otherwise. But it is clear you are concealing more than you show. And until I discover it…" Kaito looked straight into her eyes with icy resolve, "…I will keep killing you."
Panic showed on Lala's face. "Wa—!"
She did not finish. Kaito was already before her, and her body dissolved into pixels before she could react. As soon as she reformed, she was destroyed again. Over and over. Five minutes of instant deaths, until at last she could speak between gasps.
"Alright… I lose."
"Will you tell me what exactly you did?"
"Of course not, bleh." Lala stuck out her tongue childishly, mocking him, before walking toward the edge of the arena.
That gesture triggered a memory in Kaito. That way of behaving… that childish air amid so much genius. The image finally fit.
Lala Satalin Deviluke.
Princess of the planet Deviluke. Daughter of Gid Lucione Deviluke, emperor of the entire Milky Way.
In the anime she was naive and playful in everyday life, but a genius of invention, although almost always her inventions ended up going wrong.
Setting aside the shock of discovering that aliens existed, and the many things that happened in that anime, and that the girl before him was one of the most influential figures in the entire galaxy, Kaito's mind connected another possibility.
He recalled that event at the beginning of Gaia, when someone had tried to hack the system and was punished. If there had been punishment, it was because that person truly had the means to attempt it, unlike an ordinary human who could only "try" without results.
If anyone had the intelligence and resources to do it…
Kaito looked at Lala. The conclusion struck him like lightning. And with it, a simple way to confirm it.
"Wait."
Lala, halfway out of the arena, froze. Fear betrayed her. She tried to run, but Kaito had already moved. In the blink of an eye, he dragged her back to the center of the arena.
"Haha? Is something wrong?" she tried to cover with a nervous laugh.
"I will give you the victory," Kaito asked with unsettling calm.
"What? No, there is no need! You won fair and square, you deserve it."
"Fair and square?" His eyes cut into her like blades. "Is it even possible to cheat here?"
"N-no, of course not. I was just talking."
But her eyes widened as she saw Kaito walking out of the arena.
"Wait!" she shouted.
It was too late.
The notification appeared before them both, proclaiming Lala's victory and Kaito's defeat… but the usual blue screen turned into an alarming red.
[ERROR!]
[ERROR!]
[IMPOSSIBLE CONDITIONS FULFILLED]
[VARIABLE 'DEATHS' OF HOST 'DEVILUKE PRINCESS' IS GREATER THAN 3]
[IMPOSSIBLE CONDITION]
[THE ADMINISTRATOR IS INVESTIGATING THE ERROR]
[CAUSE OF ERROR FOUND]
[EXTERNAL INTERFERENCE BY HOST 'DEVILUKE PRINCESS']
[SEARCHING FOR MORE PROBLEMS IN THE HOST]
[HOST 'DEVILUKE PRINCESS' WAS DETECTED TO HAVE FORCEFULLY ACTIVATED THE BACKPACK FUNCTION, HOST WAS DETECTED TO HAVE DISABLED THE DEATH COUNTER, HOST WAS DETECTED TO HAVE DISABLED PRIVATE MESSAGES FROM OTHERS, HOST WAS DETECTED…]
[LEVEL 3 INFRACTION. ISSUING PUNISHMENT]
[ALL ITEMS CONFISCATED, LEVELS RESET, TERRITORY RESET, RE…]
[CONDITION 'INTERFERE WITH THE SYSTEM FOR THE SECOND TIME' FULFILLED, ISSUING HIGHER LEVEL PUNISHMENT]
[THE FREEDOM OF HOST 'DEVILUKE PRINCESS' IS REVOKED. YOU HAVE 10 SECONDS TO CHOOSE A LORD TO SUBORDINATE TO OR ONE WILL BE CHOSEN RANDOMLY]
Alongside the red system messages appeared a normal blue one.
[Lord 'Deviluke Princess' wants to subordinate to you.]
[Do you accept?
-Yes -No]
Kaito looked at the girl before him, who gazed back with a pitiful hope. He accepted.
The red messages continued.
[THE 'LORD' CONDITION OF 'DEVILUKE PRINCESS' HAS CHANGED TO 'SUB-LORD']
[PUNISHMENT ISSUED]
[IN CASE OF RECURRENCE, HOST 'DEVILUKE PRINCESS' WILL BE PERMANENTLY BANNED FROM THE GAME]
[ENJOY YOUR DAY]
When he finished reading the notifications, Kaito let out an incredulous laugh. "Did you really hack the system? You must be insane to do something like that."
Lala fell to her knees, striking the ground dramatically. "No way! Warp-kun!, Toaster-kun!, Pencil-kun!, Neko-chan-kun!, Silver Spoon-kun!, Calculator-kun!, Swivel Chair-kun!, Chef Hat-kun!, Microphone-kun!, Candy Bag-kun!, Joke Book-kun!, Anti-Gravity Ball-kun!, Quantum Teapot-kun!, Robot Servant-kun!, Baby Car-kun!, Constellation Lamp-kun!, Legendary Sword-kun!, Universe Doom-kun!, Chocolate Planet-kun!, Dragon King-kun!…" she listed her lost inventions with tears in her eyes.
"There, there, enough. You can build more later."
"You don't understand! Some of them took me entire days!"
"The fact that you built something called Universe Doom-kun in a single day is already incredible." Kaito shook his head. "But we do not have time for this. I want to see Kaguya's fight. Coming, princess?"
"Princess? You know who I am?"
"A little. Are you coming or not?"
Lala frowned, but let it go. "Anyway, now I have to follow you…" she muttered with a pout.
"Fine. You can build whatever you want in my territory. You do not have to do anything else."
"Really!?" Lala's eyes sparkled. "Great! Now I understand why my father likes you."
"Your father?"
"Ah! We will talk about that later. Let's hurry!"
They arrived just as Kaguya was fighting her opponent. A burly man, broad-shouldered, with hair white as snow. His light-blue eyes had a strange, ethereal glow.
He did not move with simple agility, he seemed to always be in the exact place, at the precise instant. To common eyes it looked like warrior's instinct. To Kaito's senses, it was something more.
"I know him," Lala commented.
"You do?"
"I already saw him fight. He activated Chrono-Pyon-kun."
Kaito raised an eyebrow.
"The name comes from Chrono, time, and Pyon, jump. Amazing, right?" she said proudly.
"No. I want to know what it does."
"It detects temporal fluctuations. If someone alters the timeline, he knows. Believe me, it happens more often than you think. When your father is invincible, many try to beat him before he reaches his prime. None have succeeded."
Kaito observed. Every one of Kaguya's attacks was anticipated, dodged with perfect precision. When she seemed to trap him, the man disappeared and reappeared behind her.
"He travels through time…" Kaito murmured.
"Yes. Only a few seconds back, and sometimes he stops time."
Against such power, Kaguya was quickly defeated.
The man laughed, his voice rumbling like thunder. "Hahaha! Is that all the famous Shinigami has?"
Then he looked at Kaito.
"Lucifer. I promised I would crush you, and here I am."
A spark of recognition flashed in Kaito's eyes.
"So it is you."
"Tokigawa Aratake. You may call me Arata. And I will prove to the world that the first place belongs to me."
With that, he turned and walked away without looking back.
______________________________________
+15 chapters in advance on Patreon.
p-atreon.com/IAMME26
(just delete the hyphen)
80 power stones = 1 extra chapter (cumulative)