You are very strong, but my painting style is better than yours!

"You seem to have misunderstood something."

The princess in military uniform showed great patience in the face of the little girl's panic: "It wasn't adapted based on your image. On the contrary, the world you live in came into being after the anime 'Magical Killer Mamika' was created first."

"..."

After a moment of silence, Mami Kaoru did not panic; instead, she became incredibly calm.

"Although I still don't understand the situation, but...aren't you my enemy? Incredibly, I inexplicably want to believe you."

"You are simply bound by your existing perceptions, which is why you have never noticed the problem. But once you see a new world, you will naturally realize how illogical everything in the past was."

Look around you—this steel forest dominated by industry is the true decadent city inhabited by humankind, Sodom built in the third millennium!

"..."

When she came to her senses, Momi looked around and found herself surrounded by high-rise buildings made of steel and concrete.

It seems to have landed on the top floor of a building, with a huge electronic screen opposite it playing a promotional video for some anime series.

"Dimensional jump...to the modern era?"

After looking around and confirming that it was the real world and not an illusion, Mami was truly stunned.

Why modern times?

In her "worldview," there also exists magic that allows one to travel between different planes, but it only appears at certain specific times.

For example, teammates might turn evil, family members might be kidnapped, or the final boss might escape... Generally speaking, the destination is the "Great Demon Realm" where various enemies reside.

However, Mami never expected that after being magically transported, she would find herself in a brightly lit, neon-lit modern metropolis in the darkness!

In some ways, this was even more shocking than going to the Demon World, because this was Mami's first time in a city outside her hometown, and the feeling she had here...

"Ugh! This smell!"

The pink-haired girl covered her nose.

The princess in military uniform shook her head: "This is the stench of reality. The Immaculate Child living in the Garden of Eden cannot withstand such murky air, can he?"

That's right!

In Mamika's hometown, there is neither death nor accidents, and even the air is always filled with a faint fragrance of flowers. The only disaster is the enemy from the Demon Realm, and the biggest trouble is how to get along with her companions. In comparison, the real world is too ugly, and it is unbearable just to be in it.

"You say this is reality? But Mami's hometown... and this place... could it be?!"

The magical girl turned her head and stared blankly at her image appearing on the big screen, saying incredulously, "I... wasn't the place I lived in real life?"

"You must have realized long ago that your living environment was abnormal. As the embodiment of truth, goodness, and beauty, you certainly wouldn't harbor any ill will towards the gods here, but that's alright... Once the whole truth is laid bare, you will naturally make your choice."

The princess in military uniform waved her hand. "I'm certain you'll eventually join forces with me, because the reality of this world is so ugly... so despairing!"

"What this world is really like is for me to judge with my own eyes, but before that, I have a question."

Mami looked at the princess in military uniform with a serious expression: "Ordinary civilians—where is the man who was with me?"

"Ok?"

Princess in military uniform was surprised. She looked around and found that Iori was not there. Her face immediately darkened.

When did they disappear?

【Lock Bars and Binding】

—A thick, serpentine chain flew out from a blind spot and instantly wrapped tightly around the princess in her military uniform!

"what!"

Princess in military uniform glanced at Iori, who was standing on a corner of the rooftop, teetering on the edge of a precarious fall, looking down at the city in an extremely dangerous posture.

"Why?"

The princess in military uniform remained calm and asked, "Does Your Excellency intend to wage war against me?"

"No, it was just an experiment—I'm so relieved that Ghost Path was able to contact you."

"Hmph~ These little tricks are meaningless."

Snapped!

Her bound right hand snapped its fingers, and as if musical notes and scores were flashing, translucent ripples swept through the air, and then all the chains binding her disappeared.

—It is disappearance, not brute force tearing.

Like deleted data, the ghost path composed of spirit particles turned into a pile of small blue crystals and quickly "evaporated" without a trace.

"Do you want to test my strength? No need for all that trouble, I can tell you directly:"

What I possess is the power to control all things in the universe, the ultimate hymn composed by the gods. All malice is meaningless before me!

"It completely erased my demonic path..."

Iori turned her head, gave a brief glance, her expression calm and composed.

Although he had just come to this "real world" from the world of "magical girls," he adapted much faster than Mamika. By simply combining and analyzing all the information before and after, he was able to grasp the current situation.

"You can freely travel between reality and parallel worlds, and even transform virtual characters into reality. This is the manifestation of fantasy... no, it's a conceptual ability related to cause and effect."

This type is the most difficult to deal with; if you possess the protection of causality that evades all interference, then it can be a real headache.

"...Do I need to worry?"

The princess in military uniform lowered her head slightly, the brim of her hat obscuring her eyes. "Because you guessed my trump card."

"A bluff?"

Iori laughed. "I don't think you're that powerful. Otherwise, you could do whatever you want. Why would you go to all this trouble to abduct a little girl and keep implying that she should hate the world?"

"well!?"

Mami was stunned, looking at Iori in surprise: "Kidnapping? Me?"

The princess in military uniform gradually lost the smile on her lips, looking at Iori as if she were examining a corpse.

Undeterred, Iori continued to remind Mamika, "So you really are a 'magical girl,' huh? Didn't you notice something so obvious?"

From the moment she appeared, her attention was focused on you. Her words and the illusion of time travel were all designed to throw you into confusion, allowing her to take advantage of your vulnerability and make you trust her without you even realizing it.

"Yes, is that so?"

Mami seemed to understand, but not quite, "But I didn't feel particularly panicked..."

"Hmph~ You treat me like an enemy the moment we meet... Or is it that you treat everyone this way, and you simply don't trust humans?"

The princess in military uniform looked at Iori, not with much hostility, but rather with interest: "May I know your name, uninvited visitor?"

"Aizen Iori—have you heard of her?"

"No."

The princess in military uniform pondered for a moment, "I don't remember this name, and there is no corresponding character in any of my works."

"That's good~"

Iori nodded, completely relaxing.

"If you knew me, I would have turned around and left without hesitation."

"Heh~"

The princess in military uniform smiled slightly: "You've grasped the essence of my abilities so quickly? Amazing man."

What a peculiar fellow—Iori remained outwardly calm, but inwardly he was extremely cautious.

Princess in military uniform doesn't have a very large energy scale. At least in Iori's perception, she's just a normal captain-level being. When she gets serious, she can destroy a city block, and at her limit, she can pose a threat to an entire city.

Furthermore, his martial arts level is only average; he doesn't exude the sharpness of a warrior... and his aura is more like that of a mage.

However, this being, who seems to pose no threat to Iori, possesses an extremely terrifying causal ability capable of "rewriting reality"!

Magical Girl Mamika should just be a character in an anime in this world, but the princess in military uniform is able to travel to that virtual world and bring this pink-haired little girl directly out into reality.

—This may seem similar to Iori's time travel, but it is actually something completely different.

The story CGs all identify the "real world," which is an objectively existing alternate world with a complete worldview and operating rules.

The princess in military uniform opened up a "virtual world," which, simply put, is a human fantasy that exists only in data and spirit, and does not exist in the material world.

However, the princess in military uniform has the ability to reverse cause and effect, turning a part of fantasy into reality, which is why she was able to bring Mamika out of the anime.

—This feels like the ability that every otaku dreams of.

Iori was supposed to travel directly to Tokyo, Japan, which is the world of [Re:Creator], but that's not the case. Instead, she plunged into the stage of a children's magical girl.

This situation should not have occurred otherwise:

In the past, when Iori traveled through time, some things that were unreasonable in the original work were corrected in various forms in reality, so there were no breaks in the laws of physics.

As for Mamika's hometown... it clearly has various logical flaws in children's works, and it would never be considered an alternate world as a coordinate for CG to travel to!

However, probably because Iori's CG has a higher priority, the boundary between reality and illusion in "Magical Killer Mamika" is blurred when the princess in military uniform opens the virtual world and reverses cause and effect. Both are captured by the plot CG and can be used as target locations.

Therefore, it seems that this guy only enters a fantasy world in a certain scene and makes the paper figures come to life, but he does not yet have the ability to transform the entire worldview into "reality".

Fortunately, that's how it is, otherwise even I wouldn't have been able to handle it—Iori frowned slightly.

"Your existence is extremely special; you are a character whose name I do not even know... Where do you come from?"

The princess in military uniform looked at Iori with a smile: "Would you be interested in joining me to overturn this world?"

"subversion?"

Iori looked up: "Why do something so meaningless? For someone like you who can freely move between fantasy and reality, this real world shouldn't be able to bind you."

For something that poses no real obstacle, is there any difference between destroying it or saving it?

"Yes, but I still want to do it, for no particular reason."

"Just want to see the world burn?"

Iori analyzed casually: "There are many reasons to conquer the world, but there are only two kinds of destruction—fate and revenge."

It's hard to imagine that someone who can rewrite reality would care about fate. What would it be for, or for whom, that this world has lost its meaning in your eyes?

For you, destruction is equivalent to mourning… Ah, I see.

Seeing the princess in military uniform's changed expression, Iori narrowed her eyes.

"How romantic... Is turning the world upside down just to straighten someone's reflection?"

"Well!!!"

The princess in military uniform suddenly narrowed her square pupils, and for the first time, a cold killing intent appeared on her face.

"Who exactly are you?!"

"He's just a death god passing by."

Iori smiled slightly.

……

Under the same night sky, in another corner of the city.

A handsome young man with blond hair and red eyes, wearing a blue jacket and loose trousers, was gazing at the starry sky with great interest, muttering something to himself. Upon closer listening, it was discovered that he was counting stars.

"It's definitely different. The arrangement of stars here is neither the 'Earth' I remember nor the 'other world'."

"Yes, now I can be sure we've really traveled to another world."

The boy turned around with a smile and said, "You're not lying to me, this really is a completely different world. But... do you think this is 'the abode of the gods'?"

"Sigh, even now you still doubt me?"

“I know you’re not lying, but where is God?”

It's ridiculous. Gods in other worlds are just more powerful individuals. If gods in the concept of reality really existed... then the world would definitely not be the way it is now!

This is nothing but a lost paradise of fallen false gods, old man.

The boy, who looked only fifteen or sixteen, had a smile that was both handsome and dangerous.

His crimson eyes seemed to conceal something terrifying, deep and mysterious.

"It seems that even if you understand the fact that this is the realm of the gods, you're unwilling to admit it... Should I call you Your Majesty?"

A tall, rugged-looking middle-aged man in a dark red overcoat smoked a cigarette and said slowly, "After learning that the 'god' who created you was just an ordinary mortal, were you disappointed with this world?"

"Disappointed? No, not at all. On the contrary, I'm quite excited right now. By the way, just call me by my name. Although it has the word 'king' in it, I never intended to rule any person or place."