D.I.O

*** Epilogue ***

Rumble….

A black jewel sucked up a pile of crystals like water getting drained. Soon, a burst of light flashed, and the sword equipped with the black jewel vibrated.

“Oh, oh….”

“Ack, I can’t bear to watch.”

“How many hundreds of millions was that?”

“It wasn’t just a few hundred million… it exceeded a billion….”

Everyone watched the sword and the man before it with bated breath. Though he felt nervous, the middle-aged man, appearing in his early 40s, watched the unfolding scene intently while cold sweat drenched his whole body.

And soon…

<Reinforcement has failed!>

In the silence that ensued, a situation that could only be described as someone freezing from shock and still mentally processing what had just happened, a sudden inhalation of air, a gasp, could be heard. This was followed by the sound of heavy breathing. The sweaty man’s face was so white and absent of color that it looked like a fresh sheet of paper. However, regardless of the man’s reaction, texts continued popping up without an ounce of emotion.

<Due to the failed reinforcement, the +9 Magic Sword has become a +7 Magic Sword!>

<The Magic Sword cannot be reinforced for two years and eight months!>

“Oh, no! M-my +9 Magic Sword!”

Even if his parents died right in front of him, would he have felt any more heartbroken than now?!

The man collapsed from an overwhelming sense of shock and sadness, but unsurprisingly, of the hundreds of people watching, not everyone had the same response or feelings.

“Wow, my God! It really exploded! 1.3 billion won evaporated just like that!”

“Oh, man. He’s probably lost his will to live….”

“Excessive desire… ah, the whole thing was too exorbitant and dangerous….”

“Since there’s a nearly three-year non-reinforcement tag on that item, its market price will inevitably fall. So, in reality, his losses total more than 1.3 billion won.”

“A +9 weapon is already almost cheating…. He should have just been satisfied with what he had.”

Merlin’s new building, the Reinforcement Center, was bustling with sound like an overcrowded outdoor market. Soon, someone pushed the stunned man aside and put his sword and a spell scroll into the huge machine, which looked like a fireplace. It was a reinforcement and production machine.

<Production Success!>

<The steel sword has been changed to a +0 striking sword due to your successful crafting!>

Since there was no probability of loss or failure in production, Merlin turned around after receiving the success confirmation messages.

“It’s running well.”

“It’s running well…? Didn’t you see that guy fail?”

When Miho tilted her head and asked what Merlin was going on about, he answered, “Well, that person was just unlucky; there’s nothing wrong with the system or machine itself. At this rate, the machine won’t run into any issues until +15 reinforcement. Of course, I don’t know if there’s anyone crazy enough to go that far….”

It had been a year since Tan invaded Earth before eventually meeting his end.

The battle at that time was such a serious and momentous event that it changed the future and ownership of Earth’s civilization, but humankind didn’t remain unaware. This was because over half the battle was carried out in another space rather than on Earth.

Instead…

Following the war, the participants found that the order of the world, as they knew it, had been entirely reorganized.

“Look over there. It’s the GM.”

“Mr. Merlin….”

“Wow, I’ve only read about him in textbooks…. Now that I think about it, aren’t the two next to him Arc and Miho?”

“Maybe I can get their autograph….”

People whispered amongst themselves after spotting Merlin, but he didn’t seem to care as he swiftly left the building.

“Oof! Be careful!”

“Woohoo! Fly Mercury!”

As if he had expected it, Merlin stopped in his tracks to avoid a flying saucer. In addition, a tall black man was holding a microphone by the side of the road.

“Listen to my song!”

[User Michael Jackson has cast the wide area-of-effect magic spell, [Heal the World]!]

“Ah, that buff is trash!”

“It’s just noisy!”

As always, the streets were filled with a cacophony of noise. People flew through the air, rode horses and other mounts, ran around, and even walked up walls. Furthermore, there were displays of players using magic to create and materialize all sorts of fantastical images and clips. Meanwhile, some users sang and busked, while others wearing a full set of gear made their way to the hunting grounds.

Amongst this eclectic crowd, one group of people exuded quite a foreign atmosphere. About a hundred individuals marched down the main street while holding a picture of an old man.

For some reason, even the users in this famously noisy beginner city, Starting, felt wary of flying over or mistakenly slamming into this group. Some players even showed their respect by taking off their hats or closing their eyes as the group passed.

“A funeral… it must be starting….”

“They could just be returning from the hunting ground. If a person who’s dead outside passes away here, it’s impossible for the Nether World to retrieve their soul and go through the reincarnation process.”

Tan, the previous operator of DIO, attempted to hijack DIO from Earth and its solar system, causing a large-scale forced DIO connection and resulting in many users’ deaths on Earth.

Some of those people were in the middle of driving, boarding a plane, or stepping onto a subway train…. Others were working in factories or other dangerous places. Literally, billions of people died due to that fateful incident.

However, the real issue was that the people who died on Earth were still alive in DIO.

‘It definitely frightened the Nether World.’

It wasn’t just one or two souls - billions of souls escaped the natural cyclical flow of life and death. There was no way the Nether World would sit still. The souls of these people were trapped inside DIO, so they’d live an eternal life without any special payment or action. Moreover, it was even possible for these souls to re-enter the physical world through DIO’s mission system.

Due to this, a Grim Reaper paid Merlin a visit and struck a deal with him. These souls did not have any physical bodies on Earth, and in exchange for allowing them to eventually go to the Nether World as they gradually aged and reached the end of their productive lives, the users who naturally died on Earth could have their souls remain in DIO for a certain period.

This would cause the fate of the entire planet to undergo a drastic change, but in the end, the Nether World had no other choice but to accept Merlin’s condition. The Nether World’s hands were tied because Merlin was completely free from any responsibility, and since the Nether World strictly followed the Rules, it couldn’t exert any coercive force on him.

“It’s nearly finished.”

Though Arc suddenly spoke without any context, Merlin nodded.

“Yeah.”

Ninety-nine percent of those on Earth subscribed to DIO and became users.

DIO’s influence was no longer limited to being a popular game. In particular, the process of automatically connecting to the service when one died in real life, commonly called Afterlife Welfare, gave people a chance to live an extra one to ten years according to Earth time. This could be translated to six to 60 years in DIO, and the younger an individual was when they died, the more time they were given. Hence, everyone on Earth had no choice but to subordinate themselves to DIO.

DIO was conceptually another life that matched the one a person had in reality.

And Merlin was the master of that life.

If he wanted, he could wield enormous, unrivaled power. He could immediately log out every user on a whim, so who would dare go against him?

However…

“All preparations have been made for the departure.”

Merlin wasn’t interested in those worldly things.

Poof!

In an instant, the space cracked, and a white-haired girl emerged from within the rift. She was tall and had a slender body, but at the same time, she possessed an ample bust and a curvy body. She was DIO’s superstar, Snowflake Flower.

“Oh! Miss Mary!”

“It’s Marionette Hold!”

“Please look over here!”

“Kyak!”

A commotion erupted at once. It was an entirely different reaction from when the bystanders recognized Merlin, and unlike Merlin, Snowflake Flower smiled brightly as if she cared.

“Thank you for your encouragement! Hahaha!”

She then turned around and grabbed Merlin’s hand.

Poof!

The surroundings changed, and Snowflake Flower’s expression hardened as she finished guiding all the party members into her personal place in DIO.

“I’ve been given the right to operate DIO,” Snowflake Flower stated.

“Yeah.”

Merlin nodded. Although he didn’t give her full rights, he shared a considerable number of his operating rights with Snowflake Flower, enough to run DIO independently of him. Although DIO was a complete system that could run on its own, Merlin had prepared this failsafe for possible emergencies.

“I kind of gathered as much when you worked so hard on the reinforcement and production machine… but… you’re really going to go through with it?”

“That’s right.”

If Merlin desired, he could wield power unmatched by anyone and rule over Earth. Absolute power was unlike the power wielded by corporations, which was derived from enormous resources, and it also differed from political power, acquired from the constituents one represented.

Yet, Merlin didn’t utilize his absolute power and authority. He wasn’t interested in those things.

“I have something to do. I postponed it until now because it wasn’t urgent, but… I feel sort of unsettled after putting it off for so long.”

“What is it that you have to do?”

Merlin was silent for a moment after hearing Snowflake Flower’s question. He recalled the contents of the Rule Book that he received from [Him], and he remembered the Mission stated within.

The Rule Book didn’t state that there would be any disadvantages or penalties for ignoring that Mission, but Merlin felt a sense of burden nonetheless.

“It’s…”

“It’s a secret ♥.”

“What!?”

“Who is that?!”

Without any delay, the whole party took a battle posture. Merlin, in particular, was so taken aback that he awakened his Eternal Sun in case he needed to take immediate action. The foreign voice was all the more surprising and unexpected because, despite being logged in, it had avoided his awareness as the ‘operator’ of DIO.

However, Snowflake Flower’s following words explained the foreign voice’s true identity.

“Jenica! You’re alive!”

“Hahaha, are you surprised? Wow, long time no see.”

A beautiful woman appeared with a flashy first impression, her black hair hanging down to her waist. She slapped Snowflake Flower’s back while letting out a hearty laugh. Standing beside her was a being that Merlin knew.

“Emperor of Martial Arts…”

“Hi. Hey, Arc. It’s been a while.”

“Yes, master.”

“Ah, don’t call me by that title; it’s burdensome. All I did was imbue you with some internal energy and teach you a few tricks, so you shouldn’t make an effort to call me your master.”

Regrants had a laid-back attitude as he waved. He had fought Merlin once before, but he didn’t seem to place any weight on their past clash.

“It’s good that you came,” Merlin eventually said.

“Huh? Why?” Jenica responded.

“Aren’t you here to take back DIO’s management and operation rights?”

The Empress of Magic, Jenica, was the main developer who created DIO with the support of the Noblesse. The news that she died due to Tan’s betrayal had circulated widely, so Merlin didn’t expect her return. However, since Jenica was here now, wasn’t it obvious that she wanted DIO’s operational rights, as she had the greatest claim to them?

Yet, Jenica shook her head.

“No, not interested. The process was much more important than the result. Besides, if I get DIO back now, the Noblesse are going to hound me.”

“Then… why are you here?”

“An errand of sorts. I knew you were an unusual guy, but I never thought you’d reach the level of transcendence and catch my master’s eye.”

She grumbled and pulled a black ticket out of her bosom. Even though it was made of paper, it emanated a strong power. The pattern of a snake biting its tail was engraved on the ticket’s surface.

“Ouroboros…”

Ouroboros was the best academic institution in the universe, a special education institution that even gods couldn’t affect. It was famous for having over 100 great mages under its rank and file, and in particular, the principal, Mystery, was known as the strongest mage in the universe. Mystery had reached Class 11 and had powers that surpassed those of even the high-ranking gods.

“Obviously, this isn’t an admissions letter or anything of the sort. It’s a position appointment.”

“A Letter of Appointment?”

“Yeah. Even Master acknowledges you. As the founder of amplification, you’ve fulfilled the qualifications to be appointed to a position. You’ll start as a professor, not a student.”

Merlin’s eyes narrowed after hearing Jenica’s explanation.

“So, you’re saying you won’t meddle with DIO?”

“Why would I meddle? You seem to be taking good care of it anyway. Besides, I’m a bit busy since I’ve become a newlywed.”

“Newlywed my butt… you don’t care an ounce about such- ugh!”

Pop!

An explosion occurred. Surprised by the abrupt sound, everyone in the room turned around. Regrants’ head was aflame and burning.

“Shut up and be quiet.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

As Jenica grumbled, she lightly waved her hand and put out the flame atop Regrants’ head. Then, his face returned to normal without even a bit of soot.