D.I.O

“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.

“Anyway…”

After flashing a smile, Jenica turned to Merlin.

“Have you completed all your preparations?”

“Preparations…”

For the past year, Merlin had been organizing all his personal affairs like a patient who knew of his impending death. In the real world, he met with influential people all around the globe and created various agreements, and within DIO, he made most of its system functions robust enough to run on their own.

That wasn’t all. He also reasonably compensated those who were sacrificed in the battle with Tan and restored the destroyed portions of Earth’s civilization by generously donating his wealth and using his influence. Furthermore, Merlin established a foundation and created a system to manage the massive amount of goods and wealth he currently owned, as well as what he would earn in the future. This way, even if he suddenly disappeared, no problems would arise on Earth.

‘It’s probably not a coincidence that she came here today.’

Merlin recalled his family members.

His father, Seokwoo, eventually committed himself to politics. However, surprisingly, Seokwoo didn’t ask Merlin for help, nor did he mention Merlin in any of his endeavors. Of course, Merlin’s presence was so notable that the association alone must’ve helped his father in some way, but with that said, his father was faithfully serving as an ordinary Minister of Defense.

His older brother, Taewoong, was still rising through the Korean military as an elite soldier, while his older sister, Boram, became a journalist. Among them, Boram kept trying to meet and talk with Merlin, but he consciously avoided her.

Then, Merlin’s thoughts drifted to his colleagues. Colleagues… in truth, there weren’t that many. During his time in DIO, Merlin firmly stuck to his solo gameplay, so he didn’t enjoy a guild life and rarely joined raiding parties. Moreover, most of the Masters he was close to had their souls annihilated in the battle with Tan. While Lancelot resurrected himself after being annihilated, his case was rare; even if someone scoured the entire universe and overturned every stone, they would be hard-pressed to find any being that had resurrected themself after having their soul annihilated. Even the undead couldn’t be revived without their souls.

In the end, aside from the party members who lasted until the very end, the Masters that had left before the battle moved to another dimension were the only ones who survived or who could be resurrected. Bruce was another case, as he’d received help from the Planet God after simply dying.

Among those who survived with partially intact souls, Adol changed his occupation from a priest of the Darian religion to a general priest, so he was busy doing good work to gain achievements in his new occupational field. Meanwhile, Bruce had sent Merlin a message saying he would run for the next presidential election.

“Yes…”

Suddenly, Merlin nodded.

“I’ve finished my preparations.”

Right, his preparations were over. In fact, everything he had done so far was to ensure he was ready to ultimately leave.

“Then let’s move.”

“You mean right now?”

“Do you expect me to wait here while you go? Oh, also…”

Bam! Bam! Bam!

The space shuddered, and three people - one man and two women - fell beside them. Judging by the questioning screams of ‘kyak’ and ‘woah,’ it seemed Jenica had forcibly dragged and teleported them here. Yet, in contrast to the others, one of the three suddenly made sounds like a bee aggressively flapping its wings.

Woong!

Boom!

Jenica temporarily made a dumbfounded expression. And Merlin’s eyes widened when he saw her body.

Her right arm…

… was gone.

“Ha… hahaha… this… this…”

The corners of her eyes, which had been relaxed until now, furiously curled up. Her long hair stood up all over her head.

“Would you look at this?”

Rumble!

A storm of magic power raged around her. The true nature of the Empress of Magic, a human stronger than a Demon King and whose name was widely known throughout the universe, was revealed.

Crack! Crackle!

“Stop! Dynamic Island is being destroyed!”

Merlin yelled as he confirmed that DIO’s emergency systems were beeping, signifying that the moon’s surface was being ripped apart. The place they were in was tagged with the non-destructive setting, but it was useless against Jenica, as she was an external being.

The problem was that Lancelot- no, Dongsoo, one of the people dragged into this area without being logged in, wasn’t even scratched as such a bloody magic power storm hit him head-on.

Jenica’s overwhelming magic power disappeared before it could even get near him.

“Oho! You’re able to block it, huh? Hey, junior, you’re pretty amazing!”

Whoosh.

Jenica’s power tore the dimension apart, revealing countless pupils from within the rifts. The space was being compressed and distorted, and a new space was getting created in DIO.

“Hmm.”

Lancelot grew somewhat cautious once he sensed this overwhelming additional momentum. Even though the energy of destruction enveloped his body, Dongsoo felt that the new power could possibly penetrate his destruction barrier.

Yet, at that moment…

“Oh, you stupid little girl….”

Bam.

With a scream, Jenica fell over. The Emperor of Martial Arts, Regrants, had power comparable to the Empress of Magic, and he struck the back of Jenica’s head with a fierce punch.

Whoosh…

Subsequently, as he whipped his arms around, which were swirling with strong qi, he restored the torn dimensional space. After the situation stabilized to a certain extent, Regrants smiled.

“Ah, please understand. She’s a little stupid and hotheaded.”

“Ugh… How can this amoeba-brained idiot call the Empress of Magic stupid?”

As if she had suffered more than a slap on the wrist, Jenica pulled her body up as blood dripped from her head. Fortunately, her raging mana storm had subsided.

“What’s going on, Merlin?” Dongsoo asked.

Merlin had grown quite close to Dongsoo, and he said,

“Ah, sorry, hyung. This is DIO’s original operator, Jenica.”

“Original operator or not, why the hell did she drag me over here?”

Dongsoo clicked his tongue when he felt Miri’s hand gently grabbing his sleeve. Judging by the atmosphere, it didn’t seem like Jenica had any bad intentions, but weren’t her actions a bit too selfish? Dragging a person somewhere without their consent….

Meanwhile, Leaf, slightly intimidated by the clash between the two, cautiously approached Merlin. She was wearing a white costume for the stage.

“Hey, what’s going on?” Leaf asked Merlin.

“That…” Merlin responded.

“Ugh… you’ve really crimped my style….” Jenica soon muttered.

Jenica was annoyed at the situation, but she soon seemed to have calmed down and found her reasoning. She went on to explain,

“I called you three to ask for your opinions.”

“Opinion about what?” Lancelot barked back.

“Merlin is planning to leave Earth to go to the best academic institution in the universe. After looking at you three and your development, you’re also eligible for admission.”

Saying so, Jenica pulled out three more tickets and threw them at Dongsoo, Miri, and Leaf. However, Dongsoo was the first to respond, and he declined the offer.

“Not interested.”

“You’ll be able to learn a lot if you go there.”

“I have people to protect. And above all….”

Dongsoo spoke while holding his materialized spear by his side, having wielded it against Jenica just moments ago.

“I have a lot to learn from myself.”

“Oh, my… I didn’t know I was speaking to such an esteemed egotistical figure… anyway, on to the next. What about you two?”

When Jenica moved her gaze towards Cruze- no, Miri, the user flinched. She briefly considered the offer but then shook her head and gave the same answer as Dongsoo.

“There’s still a lot for me to do here as well…. The spaceship I was building is still far from being completed.”

“You, the Celesti puppet, what about you?”

“Hey, I’m not a puppet….”

Leaf hesitated momentarily after being called a puppet and asked, “That school… or is it an academy? Anyway, if I go there, when can I come back?”

“Even at the speed of light, it’ll take tens of billions of years to get there, so it’ll be difficult to come back soon. Ten years at the earliest.”

Leaf’s face darkened after she heard Jenica’s answer. She pondered for a second, then turned her head to look at Merlin.

“Do you really have to go? Yongno, you’ve already accomplished everything on Earth. Aren’t you strong enough?”

Merlin closed his eyes for a moment. However, this didn’t mean he was trapped in thought.

The Mission written in the Rule Book was actually just an excuse that he repeated to himself.

Once Merlin realized how wide and vast the universe was, he could no longer stay on Earth and live as a powerful being. He couldn’t stand the boredom that burned his heart every second he remained on Earth or in DIO.

Merlin was a born adventurer.

He wanted to explore the universe just like he did when he swam across DIO’s sea into the New Continent, lacking any care in the world and with no goal of leveling up or training. Merlin wanted to see all the different species, learn the secrets of the universe, and experience the diverse civilizations and worlds that existed.

And at the end of the day…

“Outside…”

“What?”

“Huh, no. Sorry.”

Leaf’s eyes widened after seeing Merlin’s bitter smile. She liked Merlin. He was her savior. He saved her life, and he shone brighter than anyone she had ever seen.

However, Leaf still had a lot left to do on Earth. Rather than the terrible people that were her family or relatives, she wanted to help her CEO, who nurtured her like a parent. This was in addition to assisting her co-workers and acquaintances who always cared for her, and most of all, her countless fans, who gave her their love and adoration.

In the end, she hung her head without saying anything.

“Okay, then. End of story. Ah, now that I think of it, Youngmin told me to say hello,” Jenica stated.

“… Eh?”

Everyone’s expressions changed strangely after hearing these unexpected words.

Miho, having remained quiet all this time, asked, “Didn’t Youngmin go back to his dimension?”

Youngmin left for his dimension once their battle with Tan concluded. The place that the penguin, Earth’s Planet God, dragged them to, where they fought and eventually defeated Tan, was Youngmin’s hometown - his dimension.

[Since I came over here through a dimensional rift, maybe the two planets are connected in some way.]

[Oh, are you leaving? Whatever you do, don’t get mixed up in a cosmic fight again… having said that…]

[Yeah, I know… I’ll be returning to a world where it's normal for nations to declare war and fight each other.]

While Merlin recalled Youngmin’s last words, Jenica shrugged as she answered Miho’s question.

“You don’t need to know. Well, anyway…”

Poof!

Soon, Leaf disappeared, shortly followed by Miri and Dongsoo. Unlike before, they didn’t resist.

Woong!

Merlin, Miho, and Arc were next.

“Ah.”

Snowflake Flower sighed lightly as she watched Merlin fade away.

“Travel safely, you bastard.”

“Please take good care of things while I’m gone.”

Poof!

Merlin’s surroundings changed.

Clunk. Clunk.

His eyes narrowed after hearing a familiar sound. It was a feeling that he had experienced a few times before.

He moved his eyes and looked around. He was in a location that he’d obviously been in before. There were only 12 seats in the train cabin car; each seat was made of luxurious material and was quite spacious. Even the carpet was made from the fur of an unknown beast.

“A train…” Miho said.

“She said we had to travel tens of billions of light years, so why did she place us in a train? Is it the Galaxy Express?” Eunhye commented.

Unlike Merlin, Eunhye and Miho were teleported without a chance to express their opinions, so they looked at their new surroundings with confused expressions.

Just then…

“Oh, why are you all so noisy? Don’t you know about public space etiquette, hm?”

Someone sitting in the seat in front of them suddenly stood. She was 1.8 meters tall, a woman with gray hair and an impressive vest-shaped blouse that stuck to the contours of her body and exposed both arms and shoulders.

‘Who is this woman?’

She had a beautiful appearance. The woman possessed a sort of charm with her wildly flowing, loose gray hair and the numerous exposed scars on her arms and neck, which didn’t look like flaws but closer to accents that revealed her vibrant personality.

The problem wasn’t her looks.

‘Oh, my god.’

Merlin was stunned by her formidable power and aura. Like a well-trained swordsman, her sharp momentum wasn’t far behind the Empress of Magic, Jenica’s, who had almost fought Dongsoo before.

However, a new voice spoke up and stopped her in her tracks.

“Sit down and don’t be so bothersome, Kaust.”

“But Myung, these guys….”

“What about those guys? It’s not like you paid for this entire car, so stop acting like a fool.”

Myung grumbled as he turned around.

And then…

“Ah…”

“Wow.”

For a second, Miho and Eunhye saw the manly figure’s face and were stunned.

Beautiful.

Undoubtedly, Myung was a man, but his appearance could only be described as beautiful. When he smiled brightly, he was like an innocent child, and when Myung hardened his expression, he became a trustworthy guardian deity. Anyone could see he was manly and cool, but if he ever dressed as a woman, he could become a beauty far superior to any woman. This was the contradictory image Myung possessed.

With his ebony hair tied back, he stared at the group with his black eyes, which seemed so deep and immersive that one could fall into them. And, as Miho and Eunhye were momentarily lost for words, a Persian cat, sitting on the other side of the aisle, laughed loudly with a voice that didn’t fit its image as a cat.

“Hahaha! The new riders are mesmerized by the Emperor of Color!”

“Ah, mister, stop calling me by that title!”

“But you are the current Emperor of Color of the universe, are you not?”

Meow.

The man, Myung, dropped his head after seeing the cat wagging its tongue.

“Ugh… I’ve trained in both swordsmanship and magic power for over a thousand years, but in the end, the result is becoming the Emperor of Color….”

“W-what are you disappointed about?! Should I give you the title of Sword Emperor instead? You’re pretty good with the sword, right?”

“Do you think that title will stick just because you gave it to me, you fool…”

The woman, Kaust, lost interest in the party and sat back down in her seat as she tried to appease Myung, who seemed like he was in utter despair for some unknown reason. Merlin briefly felt dazed before laughing inwardly.

‘Indeed, a great universe. It’s quite exciting from the start.’

The feeling of being bored and depressed no matter what he did on Earth was starting to dissipate. With a more upbeat mood, Merlin looked out the window. Unlike when he rode in the same compartment as the Emperor of Martial Arts and the Empress of Magic, countless stars were visible outside.

“Sounds like things will be fun.”

“You must’ve lost your mind.”

“You spent every day babbling about your boredom and how you feel so depressed… ugh, it’s my fault for caring. Anyway, what the hell is a nine-tailed fox like me doing traveling through space?”

As he saw the two grumbling girls, Merlin burst out laughing. The woman named Kaust squinted at him, but Merlin didn’t mind.

He buried his body deeper into his seat.

The train sped through space.

*** DIO. Completed ***