After bidding farewell to Himeko and the others aboard the Astral Express, Victor stepped through his dimensional gate and returned home.
The moment he crossed the threshold, two notification chimes rang in his mind.
[Ding! Welcome Jibril to the chat group!]
[Ding! Welcome Fradilena to the chat group!]
Victor paused, a slow smile spreading across his face. After months of silence, new members had finally joined the group.
[Kiana: It's not easy! The time between new arrivals keeps getting longer and longer!]
[Belle: Welcome, both of you! If you have any questions, please check the chat group announcement.]
[Gu Yuena: Status +1. I'm finally not the newest member anymore!]
[Lumine: Victor, do you know who these two newcomers are?]
[Victor: I know Jibril. She's an Exceptional Individual of the Flügel race. As for Fradilena... the name sounds familiar. Let me think.]
Jibril's identity was unmistakable. Anyone familiar with anime had heard of No Game No Life, and even those who'd never watched it knew Jibril's name.
As for Fradilena, Victor could only be certain he'd heard the name somewhere before. Which specific anime, though, escaped him for the moment.
[Shinoa: A Flügel Exceptional Individual? I have no idea what that means, but it sounds impressive.]
[Victor: In a sense, she is indeed impressive.]
As an Exceptional Individual, Jibril was designed to improve her strength through continuous learning, unlike the other Flügel whose combat power was locked upon creation. Theoretically, given enough time, she could even surpass her creator, the God of War Artosh.
Victor just didn't know what timeline this Jibril came from.
[Jibril: Fascinating. Beings from other worlds? How intriguing.]
[Jibril: So what races are you all? How strong are you?]
[Rin Tohsaka: We're human, and our strength is... decent.]
Since this newcomer had received Victor's certification of being impressive, Rin decided not to exaggerate when describing her own abilities.
[Jibril: Human? You mean monkeys?]
[Everyone: ???]
[Victor: ...]
Well, that confirmed it. This Jibril was definitely from before the Great War ended.
[Bai Yuekui: Has any newcomer ever been this brave?]
[Gu Yuena: It was Kikyo!]
[Kikyo: ...]
[Kiana: Newbie, watch your mouth. You might get beaten up.]
[Jibril: What right does a mere monkey have to lecture me?]
[Kiana: That's it! I can't stand this anymore! I'm going to teach this newbie a lesson!]
[Kurumi Tokisaki: I'll come watch too.]
[Lumine: If you're going, I'm going. It's rare to see a newcomer getting beaten up!]
[Belle: Wait! Before you go, let's ask Victor how strong she is!]
After all, this was someone Victor had certified as impressive. If Jibril turned out to be powerful, what if they couldn't win?
Kiana instantly calmed down after Belle's reminder.
[Victor: Her strength is average. She's no match for you.]
[Jibril: Hehehe...]
In the world of No Game No Life, Jibril had originally planned to quit this group full of monkeys. But after hearing Victor's dismissive assessment, she postponed her departure.
A cold glint flashed across her delicate face. One day, she'd be looked down upon by a mere monkey? She couldn't stand it!
[Jibril: Come then. I want to see if you monkeys are as powerful as you claim.]
[Kiana: Perfect! What are we waiting for? Let's go!]
As soon as she finished speaking, Kiana activated her travel talisman and headed to the world of No Game No Life.
The other girls from various worlds followed closely behind.
Even Victor decided to tag along.
In the end, everyone except Stelle, who was still sleeping, and the other newcomer joined the spectacle.
"So you're Jibril?"
Kiana looked the girl before her up and down. Pink waist-length hair, wings sprouting from her back, and a gorgeous halo floating above her head, she looked like an angel.
"Pretty," Kiana admitted, "but your mouth stinks."
Jibril was also studying Kiana at that moment, as well as Victor and the others behind her. Seeing the entire group floating effortlessly in the air, she finally put away the contempt in her eyes.
"I'll admit you monkeys from another world might have something going for you, but..."
Whoosh!
A pitch-black scythe materialized in Jibril's hand, and a sickly, bloodthirsty smile spread across her delicate face.
"This makes it more interesting, doesn't it? I'll take your head!"
The moment the words left her mouth, Jibril launched her attack.
She vanished and reappeared instantly in front of Kiana, swinging her scythe at Kiana's neck with blinding speed.
Just as the blade was about to touch fair skin, two slender fingers clamped down on the scythe's edge, stopping it cold.
"What?!"
Seeing her attack so easily blocked, Jibril's pupils contracted in shock.
How is this possible?! My scythe can cut through space itself, how could a mere monkey stop it?!
"Is this all you've got?" Kiana sneered. "Too weak!"
Boom!
A flying kick sent Jibril hurtling through the air before she could react.
Her body became a human-shaped cannonball, skipping across the ground like a stone on water before finally crashing into a distant mountain.
The mountain collapsed instantly, transforming into a massive crater!
"With your level of strength, you still dare to look down on humanity so brazenly? Pathetic!"
Jibril pushed away the massive rocks pinning her down and flew out of the debris with a flap of her wings.
When she returned to everyone's sight, her previously calm demeanor had completely vanished.
Her clothes were torn in several places, exposing large swaths of pale skin. Dust covered her once-pristine wings, and a size-37 shoe print was clearly visible on her delicate face.
"Monkey, you've angered me!" Jibril's face twisted with fury. "I've changed my mind. I'm going to obliterate you! Not even ash will remain!"
A surge of oppressive dark energy erupted from Jibril's body, gathering toward the sky until it formed an enormous sphere of energy with a one-kilometer diameter.
"Feel my strongest attack!" Jibril screamed. "Heavenly Smite!"
The massive sphere plummeted downward with devastating momentum.
Seeing this, Kiana didn't dodge or hide. Instead, her gaze filled with even greater contempt.
"You call this your strongest attack? Just brute-forcing all your energy into a ball and dropping it? Laughable!"
Kiana raised her hand and waved it casually.
A thousand-foot-long crescent of sword energy sliced through the air, instantly splitting the energy sphere in two!
BOOM!
The explosion lit up the sky like a newborn sun, parting the clouds and revealing the endless blue beyond.
The sword energy continued its upward trajectory without slowing, rushing out of the planet's atmosphere and disappearing into the dark void of space!