"Hmm, she really did a lot of damage," I mumble, looking at the pile of dust that is now the planet. It's ironic that the world ended this way. Kurumi even came here to the moon where I am to complain to me.
She seemed tired. I guess she tried to use her time powers to prevent the world's destruction. She must have repeated it numerous times, but there's something that makes it impossible for her to succeed.
I didn't belong to the history of this world, and that's precisely why no matter how many times she repeats time, I'll always find a way to make Shiori destroy the world.
And probably only Shiori is capable of altering the past to fix problems in the present, and without her, Kurumi can't do anything, even with half of Nia's angel.
In the end, this was the result. Although I saw a couple of ships leave the planet, I can't say who they belonged to, as they were smaller and more compact versions I don't recognize. But since they left the city where it all started, there's a good chance they were from Ratatoskr.
I'm not curious to go investigate, though. The world is over, and with that, I fulfilled my part with Nix in this world. There may have been survivors, like Kurumi who is full of hatred here on the moon, or the crew of that ship.
However, the focus was always to destroy the world, not to ensure the extinction of all life on the planet.
Kurumi just walked away from me, frustrated, angry, and also sad that she couldn't do anything against me.
I feel much stronger. I'd say my power has practically tripled now that the world is gone. This is what Nix meant by obtaining Karma through others. The destruction caused by Shiori has given me a great level of Karma, and in a safe way without revealing myself to any other god or goddess.
'I wonder if Shiori is aware... or if she'll attack me without realizing it's me.' It was pretty easy to survive Ellen's attack, and acting like I was dying was also easy, but I can't just tell Shiori that I tricked her.
I like her, and she likes me, and with the current level of emotional dependence she has, even if I told her the whole truth, including the fact that I'm the one responsible for her being a girl, she would still forgive me and want to stay with me.
However, if I tell her the truth, even if she accepts to continue with me, she'll never be able to look at me the same way again, with total trust in me. If she knows the truth, she'll always think that I'm just using her or something similar.
So I'll just calm her down and keep it this way. She doesn't even want to know the truth, so there's no reason for me to tell her.
'I think it's time for me to go get her.' I want to take Shiori with me to meet Nix and decide what we'll do. I feel like I can go to where Nix is right now, but I want to take Shiori with me.
"Nix won't mind, I think," I murmur as I fly to Shiori. Even from here on the moon, I can see and feel where she is. Her Reiryoku is so dense and vast that it's visible from here.
It practically forms a completely black and purple constellation that covers the entire view of where the planet used to be, while the dust orbits this dense energy as if the energy were a planet and Shiori the center of it.
'Ironically... this reminds me of Mukuro...' I didn't watch the fight. I didn't do that because I spent all my concentration to completely hide myself from Shiori, in case she detected my energy and stopped what she was doing.
So I'm not entirely sure what she did, although I saw some things like massive energy explosions and the planet freezing on one side and turning to dust on the other, so I know she caused a great catastrophe in the places she passed through.
"..."
Entering her dense energy, I quickly see her in a fetal position, hugging the spear in her hands while crying. The whole place has a strange gravitational pressure due to the power leaking from her.
'She's stronger than me...' Even with my tremendous increase in power, I still feel a bit weaker, although I'm close to her power, which is already incredible, considering she has the power of several spirits.
She seems not to have noticed my approach, so as soon as I'm close enough, I hug her, hearing her sobs. Her Reiryoku is so dense that it managed to maintain part of the Earth's atmosphere still present.
This is curious. I didn't even know it was possible to make it so dense that it physically affects the environment.
"..." Shiori opens her eyes, looking up and seeing me, her tears increasing as she seems confused, maybe thinking it's a hallucination or a mirage in her head.
"Shh, you don't need to say anything... just enjoy the moment. I'm alive, and that's all that matters," I say, hugging her tighter as she briefly releases the spear, which remains between our embrace.
"..." Shiori just hugs me tightly while crying silently. I caress her back, giving her time to adjust to the situation. She seems very happy that I'm alive, hugging me with great force, as if I might disappear.
"Y-You're really here?" She says with tears in her eyes, which flow and float through space, but are quickly destroyed by her power.
"Yes, I survived. I wouldn't lose so easily, so don't worry," I say to her with a smile.
"I-I thought I had lost you forever... and the s-spear said it was all my fault," Shiori says between tears with some difficulty.
'The spear... spoke...' As I suspected, this weapon is a problem, but for now, it seems to only be able to communicate with Shiori. This was one of the possible hypotheses. It must be Mukuro's soul inhabiting the spear.
"Don't worry, Shiori, it wasn't your fault." It was 100% my fault, really, since I let it happen. After all, killing Ellen in that situation wouldn't have been so difficult, and evading that blow would have been equally easy.
"B-But..." She tries to speak, but I interrupt her with a kiss, something I know will make her stop blaming herself. After a brief moment, she's silent.
"Shiori, it's okay if you think it's your fault, but I assure you, you're not to blame. Let's just say I got distracted when I shouldn't have, and I paid for it."
"But that doesn't matter. I'm fine now, and we can still be together, and that's what's really important, right?" I say to her, as she looks around at our surroundings.
"..." She seems dejected, finally noticing what she's done, but she's much less sad about the planet and seems more concerned about what I'm going to say.
"Don't worry about the planet. Neither you nor I cared about this planet. I'm not angry that you destroyed everything. In fact, I'm happy about it. The most important thing is that you're okay," I say to her with a smile.
"R-Really?" She questions.
"Of course. In fact, I have a place we can go. You could listen patiently, and then choose whether you want to come with me or stay here," I say, planning to share some information.
She nods positively, and I think about how much to say, deciding to only reveal a small part.
"Shiori, I know a goddess named Nix, and she can take us to other worlds. Since this world no longer exists, I'd like to take you to her."
"With that, we can both go to another world. Imagine how good it would be for us to start over in a new world, a new life away from this place that hates spirits like us."
"This goddess is an acquaintance of mine, and I did her a favor in exchange for a favor she did for me. I'm sure she can help us if we go talk to her, but I still need to go see her."
"So if you decide to stay here, I probably won't be able to see you again. But if you decide to come with me, I promise I'll take good care of you the best I can," I say to her, and she doesn't hesitate to respond.
"I'll go with you! Wherever you go is where I belong." She speaks a little too hastily, as if taking too long to respond would mean being abandoned. She doesn't even suspect anything, trusting quickly in what I said. I give her another kiss, caressing her head.
"I'm so glad you decided to come with me, Shiori. I'm immensely happy with your choice," I say to her, giving Shiori a bit of space.
'She is undoubtedly incredible in many ways.' Since she's accepted, there's no reason to waste time here.