Kill stealing is one way of griefing in MMOs that is viewed as an active problem. The act of kill stealing specifically refers to when a third party suddenly swoops in to finish off a weakened enemy, thus taking the experience, materials, and money dropped by defeating it. Of course, doing so is considered extremely rude and not something good people should do.
That was what I had just done. I'd changed the directionality of the experience, or mana, that was trying to flow into the Hero, Ruby. Since she had refused what had originally been intended for her, there was no one who had a claim over the mana. Therefore, I activated my skill, and all the experience flooded into me.
"A—Whoa, whoa, whoa… Level 4000… 5000… 7000… 8000… I-It's over 9000! How far are you planning to go?!"
Given that this was experience from the ouroboroses, which were agents of divinity, the amount was on an entirely different scale from normal monsters. Not to mention, there were four of them. The Wood Ouroboros was weirdly light on mana for some reason, but my level still shot up like a rocket. No, wait a second. It seemed the Fire Ouroboros's experience hadn't come to me, so I only had three ouroboroses's worth, but… Well, whatever. Even then, my level reached 10000. I'd gotten a big boost, and it was still going up.
Now then, how will you respond, Goddess? You won't be able to deal with me while in Hinata's body anymore. You get it now, don't you? The only way to stop me is to fight me yourself.
"Xgate."
As a finishing touch, I activated Xgate, setting the entire world as the target. This world was already done for. It would soon disappear, so before that happened, I had to evacuate all the living things left here to the other side for a while. I was pretty sure that after all this, no one would insist on staying.
As expected, I succeeded in sending them off, only leaving a small number of people still with me. From what I could sense, those who had stayed behind were Sakura and Satsuki.
Sakura and Satsuki flew through the air before landing next to me. As I thought… They also have the right to challenge the Goddess.
"It seems I'm not alone, Yggdra."
"Grrr… Anyone and everyone is just ignoring the rules I set…"
I reached into a pocket and touched the Key to Reach the Heavens. It was about time for it to take the stage. I'm going to use it, Hinata. The final hand that you prepared, that is. With this, I'll put the king in check.
For a long while, the Goddess said nothing. "Yes, fine. I get it. I get it already…" the Goddess/Hinata muttered before heaving a sigh, seeming to have given up.
Then, she looked back up, staring at me with a bored look. At this point, she was out of pieces. We had crushed every single move she could make, so now, things were at an end. Having lost all chances of winning, she had no choice but to flip over the board.
The ground crumbled away, and finally, Midgar was no more. It exploded.
Our mother planet no longer existed, but in the midst of the explosion, we still faced off against each other, unmoved.
"This universe was a failure. To be honest, I find tossing away something I've taken so much time to raise like this hard to swallow, but there's nothing for it. I'll just have to take another couple hundred million years to build up another one."
The Goddess/Hinata was no longer smiling. Instead, she just seemed endlessly tired and apathetic. The curtains had closed, and now the stage would disappear. I was sure that she had put no thought towards what was next. Of course she hadn't; she didn't expect anyone to survive the destruction of the universe, and she was right in that expectation.
"Ragnarök," the Goddess/Hinata muttered.
The universe started to contract. The stars and planets all began flying at us at once, or rather, they'd been pulled towards us, as the universe itself was getting smaller.
However, I did not move. Similarly, neither Sakura nor Satsuki even twitched. Though I hadn't told them anything, they'd probably figured that I had some sort of solution to this. If that was the case, I had to live up to their expectations.
"That reminds me. You wanted me to return this, didn't you? That's fine. I don't need it anymore. Here you go. Please, share your fate with this universe."
After spitting out those last words, Hinata fell as if her strings had been cut. I caught her and immediately activated heaven-arts. Not even she would be able to survive if left alone in space, after all. As the shrinking that heralded the end of the universe continued, I lightly slapped Hinata's cheek, having finally gotten her back.
After a moment she murmured, "Mnwha? Ah, Naru."
"So you're awake, you sleepyhead."
"That's… Ah, right. So you did it."
Even while still groggy from her slumber, Hinata managed to look around and figure out what was going on. She was right. Everything has gone well so far. From here, Sakura, Satsuki, and I would be strutting our stuff. Unfortunately, all the others without the right to challenge could not participate.
I took out the Key to Reach the Heavens and activated it. When I did so, the ownership of the universe shifted to me. This universe had already been tossed aside, so it was free for me—the one with the key—to claim, though I still wasn't able to stop its destruction, of course.
"U-um, Naru! What should we do about this?"
"Calm down, Hinata. The universe is just going to end a little," I said.
"Whaaaaa?!"
I laughed and activated my skill. This universe was the magic of the Goddess, and now that she'd abandoned it, it was mine. So naturally, it was within my right to absorb all of it.
"Gather to me, Goddess's power!"
This universe was a magic spell, and spells were made of mana. Mana was a piece of the Goddess's power, as well as exp itself. This all made a certain thing possible. I would fuse myself with the universe and reach the realm of divinity.
Yes, this was my final move. The plan was to absorb the universe the Goddess had left behind, reach the same domain as her, punch her, and send her flying. Also, I wasn't the only one absorbing the universe. Thanks to the effects of my skill Ascella, Sakura and Satsuki were sharing in the exp.
This was the right to challenge. Those still fettered by the limits of the world would never move beyond level 1000, no matter how much experience they took in. That was why being able to break through that limit was a prerequisite.
"Well done up to this point, my friends. From here on out, we will be going without you. Please, believe in our victory and wait for us."
I activated Xgate, the other side of which connected to the Ark, and created an escape route for them. From here on, the only ones to move forward would be Sakura, Satsuki, and I. Our friends began to disappear through the gate one by one, Hinata was the only one left.
"Naru… I believe in you. I believe you'll come back to us!"
"Yeah, I'll be back soon. Wait for me."
After receiving my promise, Hinata left this universe. Now, it was just Sakura, Satsuki, and I. We had also nearly finished absorbing the universe. Our levels are… No, I guess numbers like that don't mean anything anymore. At this point, levels would not be a good indicator of anything.
"Now, let's go! First, we start off with a light greeting; then we smash her in the face!"
"Sounds good. Make sure you sync up with us, Naru."
In order to signal the start of battle, I fired off a spell first. "Prophet Who Nocks the Golden Bow."
It was the strongest buff the Sun attribute had. On top of that, Sakura followed up with Maiden Who Shoots a Silver Arrow, and there wasn't only one arrow. Satsuki also cast the spell. Now then, Goddess. Are you ready? You are no longer a player who just manipulates the game from safety. It's time for the behind-the-scenes brawl.
"Fire!"
On my signal, two silver arrows flew off, literally piercing through space. The wall between dimensions broke, and a hole formed. We flew towards the hole, and all together, we escaped this universe. Then, we came upon a pure-white world that seemed to stretch on into infinity. Finally, we came face-to-face with the Goddess, who stood there dazed and in disbelief.