Day 96 of the Examinations

8:41 AM

Pocket Mansion - Library

"As I sat there resting in the depths of the mine, lantern in hand, my thoughts took on precisely this dramatic quality--which was, in a sense, a respite from my suffering. The theater, which may be called a publicly sanctioned respite, must certainly have developed from this kind of experience. Playing the protagonist in a frozen drama deep inside me, I was feeling both defeated and triumphant at the same time." Sai reads the paragraph in the book he is currently reading.

Anshin'in-san looks at him curiously.

"What's with that quote, Sai-kun?" (Anshin'in-san)

"A quote from The Miner by Natsume Soseki. This quote somehow gives me a sense of affinity with it. Especially the last line." (Sai)

"Tiamat can appear any second and you still have the luxury to read a book?" (Anshin'in-san)

"I fought against everything with the result of me being defeated and triumphant at the same time. Killing Tiamat is a simple matter for me." (Sai)

"You really like quotes from novels. It's unexpected from a weeb like you." (Anshin'in-san)

"Do you expect me to use a quote from a shounen manga? All Shounen manga, except JoJo, failed to entertain me." (Sai)

"Why is that?" (Anshin'in-san)

"Probably similar to you. But the difference for me is that, I don't feel any emotion when reading a shounen manga. Whether it is the suffering of the protagonist, the sadness of all character, a death of a character, the hot-blooded fights, or even the happy ending of 'everybody' in the story. From the first page to last page. From the prologue to the epilogue. I only feel the same emptiness from beginning to end." (Sai)

"Is it because you despise it at first, that's why you felt empty when reading it? If you despise something, then let the despise gone out, it will become apathy, which gives you the sensation of emptiness." (Anshin'in-san)

"Yes, that's right. I hate it at first. Everybody can do it as long as they try. Hard work is the main ingredient to success. Friendship allows you to overcome any obstacles. Self-sacrifice is the most noble act. Everyone can be happy. The possibilities of a person are infinite. And so, on and so forth." (Sai)

Anshin'in-san is slight surprised when she Sai's expression. He is wearing a despondent look on his face, which is different to his usual smile.

"But those things are nothing but illusionary fairy tales and naïve ideals. There are people that cannot do it. Hard work is nothing but one of the tools used to succeed that can be replaced by other tools. Friendship is nothing but the admittance that you cannot do things all by yourself. Self-sacrifice is just allowing yourself to be a scapegoat for others. There are people that will never be happy. The possibilities are indeed infinite, but the results are merely finite." (Sai)

"The protagonists can utter those naïve ideals because the world revolves on them. Even if they suffer, it's just for the sake of the story. In the end, everything will go their way. And some protagonist will proclaim that everyone is born equal. That everyone is just a human that will suffer at times and be happy at times. Despite the fact that there are labels called 'main character' and 'background characters'. Even an idiot knows that equality is only a lie." (Sai)

"Are in a bad mood, Sai-kun?" (Anshin'in-san)

"Ever since you entered your monologue, Tiamat appeared here. To be precise, she is in the ocean. It will take a short while until she arrives to the coast." (Anshin'in-san)

"Perfect timing. I already got something for me to vent some of my pent-up grudges." Sai disappeared using a teleportation spell. (Anshin'in-san)

"To sum it up, you hate the protagonist because it's unfair that they are treated specially by the world. You envy their happiness. You were jealous at their comfortable lives. And you felt anger at your own misfortune and your irreversible state." (Anshin'in-san)

"When he forgot to undo the seal with his gift, No Longer Human, I was able to use Parasite Seeing on him. An obsession without salvation. A path of no return. And a burden that no one will bother to carry." (Anshin'in-san)

"Normally, I will not care about it. But realizing those things, I feel like breaking even if I'm not the one in your position. So, this is what a maiden's love is? You don't want the person you love to suffer. Their happiness is also your happiness. To think that the impartial Not Equal would become biased." Anshin'in-san laughed merrily at this fact.

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Examination Grounds – Coast

Just as the Alviria said, Tiamat have appeared today. She is floating in the ocean. Her form is that when she thrown down in the Underworld. Reddish black mud, also known as Sea of Life, is spreading beneath her, And Lahmus are constantly appearing in the reddish black mud.

Sai appeared in the coast, after he appeared, he was followed by Kyouko.

"Are you nervous?" (Sai)

"It's the opposite. I'm very excited, right now. After all, this will be the first time that you asked me to fight with you." (Kyouko)

"I guess we should start this. Primordial Sea of Life and Forsaken Land. Which one will come to the top? Do it, Kyouko." (Sai)

"Okay!" With Sai's signal, black matter appeared on Kyouko's feet and spread out towards the ocean.

Compared to the reddish black mud, the black matter is spreading out quickly. The black matter made contact with the Sea of Life and absorbed the mud while disintegrating the Lahmus. The Lahmus who were laughing before are screaming with fear as they disintegrate.

"Ah. Those screams are good. While their laugh disgusts me, their screams of agony are pleasant to the ear." Sai says with a pleased smile which literally show he is enjoying it.

"Their screams are that good? Should I make them scream louder?" Kyouko tilts her head as she inquired.

"Please do." (Sai)

With that, the Lahmus suffered more than they should. After a short while, the black matter consumed the Sea of Life around Tiamat and reached her hands and feet.

Lord of the Forsaken Land (EX)

•Forsaken Land [A Primordial Land where souls tainted with Evil seeks solace. Even though it is called a Land, it is able to contain a galaxy and make it its own. The Land can also store objects and organisms inside it.]

•Black Out [Once a target is touched by the Forsaken Land, it will convert them to subjects of its Lord. The target will be modified from outside to the inside, and no method will be able to return them to their former state. If the Forsaken Land vanishes, the subjects will vanish along it.]

•Infinite Capacity [The Land provides its Lord with an infinite energy capacity, that can contain any kind of energy regardless of how potent it is.]

•Perpetual Energy [The Land provides its Lord with unlimited energy that can be converted to types of energy that the Land encounters.]

•Time Conversion [The Lord can decide the time conversion between the Forsaken Land and reality.]

Black Out [Once a target is touched by the Forsaken Land, it will convert them to subjects of its Lord. The target will be modified from outside to the inside, and no method will be able to return them to their former state. If the Forsaken Land vanishes, the subjects will vanish along it.]

What Kyouko used is a feature that is from the fusion of Salvation (Dark), Solace of the Forsaken Ones, Captivation by the Tranquility of Darkness, and All World's Evil.

The black matter instantly covered 75% of Tiamat's body when Kyouko used Black Out. She is screaming as she attempts to move her body. But that was in vain since she is immobile due to the black matter covering her body. Her screams have ceased when the black matter reached her head.

"How is it?" (Sai)

"Everything under control. Tiamat struggled but it didn't caused trouble to me. When her processing is finished, I can call her out and will do anything you order to her." (Kyouko)

"How much time will the processing will take?" (Sai)

"It's already finished." (Kyouko)

"Eh?" Sai's mouth opened a little wide for a moment.

"Fufu. Sai's surprised face, get. Although, I'm not as capable as you, I can also do things in an above-excellent manner." Kyouko giggled when she saw Sai's reaction.

*Finger Snap SFX*

Kyouko snapped her fingers and Tiamat appeared. She is in her human-scale body. A Femme Fatale with a very, very long light blue hair whose appearance is so beautiful that she will be a prime target for R-34 artists. She is wearing the employees' uniform made by Sai yesterday in advance.

And one last thing, her horns are gone.

"Wah?!" (Sai)

Once she saw Sai, Tiamat immediately pulled Sai to her embrace, and pressed his face to her c.h.e.s.t and started giving Sai head pats.

Kyouko recalled the records of the process when Black Out was used on Tiamat.

(Tiamat's mind is modified so that she will be useful to Sai. The most efficient approach is to alter her perception. Since she loves her children, more than her husband, all I need to do is take advantage of that. By making her love Sai as 'her only child' and not 'one of her children' is effective. The finishing touch is to maximize that love to its absolute limits. With this, she will take the initiative to eliminate or destroy anyone and anything that she determines that will harm Sai.) (Kyouko)

"About her form, there's no need to worry. She cannot return to her Dragon Form, because I made her current form as her strongest one. When I reduced her size, I converted the reduced mass and used it to strengthen her body. In summary, even if she got smaller, she can use the strength she has in her Dragon Form. To top it off, she is faster than she than before." (Kyouko)

Sai managed separate from Tiamat and asked Kyouko.

"In easier terms, if she is able to crush a mountain with a single wave of her hand in her Dragon Form, then she can crush a mountain with a single punch in her current from. Did I get it correctly?" (Sai)

"That's right." (Kyouko)

"Then, today's battle is over. Let's go home." Sai declared their victory and used a mass- teleportation spell to make the three of them to return to Pocket Mansion.

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Announcements

"I know everyone expects the Question and Answer with Anshin'in-san, so pardon this sudden announcement. Yeah, Anshin'in-san blasted me with 500,000 skills due to her anger to me." (Author-kun)

"Anyways, I'm pondering to the worlds that will be involve for the second, third, and fourth arc. The changes were caused by motivation and lack of materials. I don't have the other volumes for Unbreakable Machine Doll. Well, I can just cover the ones that were animated. However, I wasn't able to muster any motivation when thinking of how things will go in that arc. Sorry for that." (Author-kun)

"And the order of the arcs has changed. I thought that sending people to a kill-or-be-killed world is overkill, so I will go with this order." (Author-kun being a hypocrite. Killing 10,000 people in one chapter is not overkill)

Second Arc: My Hero Academia

Third Arc: Demon Slayer

Fourth Arc: Akame ga Kill

"Sai-kun's role in the second arc will be somehow not noticeable, since he is much better as an Anti-hero than a hero. So, I will be placing him as a spectator that will participate a little." (Author-kun)

"As for the Teaser I released for My Hero Academia, I axed the idea. I will use that for the Fifth Arc." (Author-kun)

"And I will speed things up, because the power-up Sai Arc is taking too long." (Author-kun)

"That's all! Please look forward to the next chapter!" (Author-kun)

The walls in the studio were smashed by a powerful force.

"I finally found you. Did you really think you can escape me? If I want to, I can just use Alibi Block, but that is giving you more leeway." Anshin'in-san hold Sai by the collar and lifts him from his seat.

"HEEELLLPPPPP MEEEEE!!!!" (Author-kun)