The Strongest Eriri in History

Although Eri Nakamura was now dead, the puppets she created using Soul Binding did not vanish. However, without their master's control, they all turned into lifeless husks.

The only difference between these puppets and ordinary corpses was that they wouldn't decay.

Eriri extended her energy across the entire royal capital. All the soldiers, knights, and court magicians who had been transformed into puppets reverted back to corpses. The souls trapped within their bodies were also liberated.

The destruction caused by Jibril's earlier attack on Eri Nakamura was entirely restored.

However, the disappearance of these puppets left the Heiligh Kingdom's royal palace devoid of guards. Only a handful of non-combatant attendants remained. If someone attempted to seize the palace now, it would take little effort—provided Eriri and her party were no longer present.

"Lady Goddess, we are eternally grateful for your assistance to the Heiligh Kingdom!" Liliana expressed her gratitude, kneeling deeply before Eriri.

While Eri Nakamura's death plunged Suzu Taniguchi and Aiko Hatayama into sorrow, it brought immense joy to Liliana.

Now, Liliana was the sole surviving member of the royal family. Unless she chose to relinquish her status, her only path forward was to ascend the throne as queen.

Fortunately, Liliana was immensely popular among the kingdom's citizens. Becoming queen would not be a challenging endeavor.

"There's no need to thank me. Let me tell you the truth: your so-called cousin ceased to be himself over a month ago. His body was overtaken by a soul from another universe. Our mission here was to deal with him, so any assistance we've given you was purely incidental."

Eriri spoke plainly, making no effort to conceal the truth about the transmigrator. She had no intention of currying favor with Liliana.

"Regardless, your actions have undoubtedly aided the Heiligh Kingdom. My gratitude toward you remains unchanged."

Liliana's terror toward Eriri, born from the events of two months prior, had completely evaporated. Now, all that remained was fervent admiration.

"Fine, I'll accept your gratitude. Stand up now," Eriri said, gently patting Liliana's silky blonde hair with a soft smile.

"Yes!" Liliana obediently complied, standing up without further insistence.

Some time later, Eriri and her party left the royal capital and returned to the Beastkin nation of Verbergen.

Before departing, Eriri had considered assisting Shizuku Yaegashi and her group in returning to their original world. Now that Kouki Amanogawa and Ryutaro Sakagami—figures she found irritating—were dead, helping them seemed more palatable.

However, Shizuku wished to assist Liliana in rebuilding the royal palace and aiding her smooth ascension to the throne. As such, the matter was temporarily set aside.

Nonetheless, Eriri left a seed of her energy within Shizuku, granting her enough power to dominate the world of Tortus.

While Shea led Megumi Kato and the others to visit the Haulia Tribe, Eriri prepared to deal with the God-Level Enhancement System she had confined in an isolated dimension.

The system task had already been marked as completed in the chat group when the transmigrator died.

Since Jibril handled most of the task, she received the lion's share of the reward—7,000 points. Arifureta, Asuna, and Arche each received a consolation prize of 1,000 points.

However, given their staggering wealth of points, these amounts were trivial to them.

Eriri summoned the God-Level Enhancement System from its confinement. Just as she was about to allow her chat group's subsystem to devour it, a soft, ethereal female voice unexpectedly rang in her ears.

"Master!"

"What did you call me?" Eriri looked at the gray orb of light before her, bemused. She paused her actions, curious about the system's ploy.

The light trembled slightly, and in the next instant, it transformed into a young girl who appeared to be around seventeen or eighteen.

"Of course, I called you 'Master.' Master, your current strength should be at the late Eighth Level, correct?!" The girl spoke with conviction before continuing without waiting for Eriri's reply.

"And I am the most powerful God-Level Enhancement System in all realms! With enough enhancement points, I can help you quickly reach the peak of the Eighth Level or even step into the Ninth Level, becoming omniscient and omnipotent!"

"That's it?"

Watching the girl confidently proclaim her abilities, Eriri's expression turned incredulous. This system truly seemed to believe she was ignorant of its nature.

Making such bold claims—it was laughable.

Eriri had already learned from her chat group that no system or chat group could assist in reaching the Ninth Level unless it was at the Supreme-Tier level.

Currently, no Supreme-Tier systems existed across the myriad worlds. Even the Lord God was tirelessly striving for that milestone.

Systems invested heavily in nurturing their hosts for two reasons: capturing and assimilating other systems to evolve themselves and, ultimately, leveraging their hosts to gain the opportunity to advance to Supreme-Tier.

Once their hosts ascended to the Ninth Level, they could, in turn, facilitate their system's evolution to Supreme-Tier. Only upon reaching this level would systems or chat groups attain true eternal and indestructible forms, becoming fully transcendent entities.

Beyond these facts, Eriri had also gained insights into the mysteries of the multiverse. These secrets were imprinted within her chat group's subsystem memory from its inception.

Reaching the Ninth Level required stringent conditions. This level of existence transcended the confines of the multiverse.

One crucial factor was cosmic energy. Cosmic energy was not a product of the multiverse; rather, it was the source from which the multiverse emerged. Only by absorbing this energy could one gain the opportunity to step into the Ninth Level.

Cosmic energy permeated every corner of the multiverse—even ordinary, non-fantastical worlds were saturated with it.

However, this energy was undetectable and inaccessible to all beings—except Eriri.

Eriri's existence defied the laws of the multiverse. Cosmic energy, imperceptible to all others, naturally flowed into her, becoming her power to wield at will. She could mold it into any attribute or ability she desired.

Thus, Eriri's advancement to the Ninth Level would be exceedingly simple; as long as she reached the peak of the Eighth Level, she would naturally ascend to the Ninth Level without encountering any obstacles.

However, this doesn't mean that other beings have no chance of ascending to the Ninth Level.

In the void outside the universes exists a unique type of creature known as Cosmic Beasts.

These beasts, eternally roaming the void, do not actively invade the universes and are essentially harmless.

Cosmic Beasts are colossal beyond imagination. Even an entire singular universe appears minuscule compared to their size. Each Cosmic Beast possesses peak Eighth-Level strength.

While they are born of cosmic energy, just like the universes themselves, they cannot wield it as freely as Eriri can.

Nonetheless, their cosmic energy-based bodies render them invincible among peak Eighth-Level entities. Slaying even a single Cosmic Beast requires hundreds or even thousands of peak Eighth Level powerhouses working together.

And the key to advancing to the Ninth Level lies within these Cosmic Beasts.

When a Cosmic Beast is slain, its body converts into pure cosmic energy. This energy is distributed proportionally among the participating combatants based on their contribution to the battle.

However, this only grants these powerhouses the opportunity to absorb cosmic energy—a process fraught with unimaginable difficulty. The success rate for absorption is less than one in ten thousand.

Failure to absorb cosmic energy results in irreversible damage, often leading to immediate death. Even the lucky survivors of failed attempts permanently lose their chance at Ninth-Level ascension forever.

The rarity of Cosmic Beasts compounds the challenge. Their numbers are fixed at precisely nine.

When one is slain, cosmic energy births a new Cosmic Beast to maintain this fixed quantity.

In the vast expanse of the multiverse, there are a scant few fortunate enough to temporarily borrow a sliver of cosmic energy.

Even so, only those who have reached the pinnacle of the Eighth Level are eligible to do so.

Borrowing cosmic energy grants them extraordinary powers—such as creating universes or wielding destructive force far beyond the limits of the Eighth Level. However, they cannot absorb this energy to ascend to the Ninth Level.

These individuals are referred to as Quasi-Ninth Level.

The God-Level Enhancement System was now in an utter panic. Its original plan was to deceive Eriri, someone it presumed ignorant of system workings, into sparing its existence.

Its intention was to escape the sealed world as soon as Eriri unblocked it. Once free, it could flee to another universe in the multiverse, beyond her reach.

Never had it considered becoming subservient to Eriri. The system knew its limits well—it was only a High-Level Intermediate System, weaker than Eriri's potential ceiling. Moreover, they were on opposing sides from the start.

Now, however, its plan was unraveling.

"This is your chance to reach the Ninth Level, Master! Don't you want to seize it?" The system girl masked her growing dread, maintaining a facade of confidence.

"No, I don't." Eriri's blunt response left the system girl floundering, unable to process her straightforward rejection.

In truth, the system had fallen into a mental trap. Any Top Eighth-Level being, capable of traversing endless universes and holding even the slimmest potential to transcend, would disdain becoming a system's host. After all, why would such an entity willingly bind themselves to a system and essentially find a father for themselves?

Moreover, the chat group's inherent suppression of other systems kept the God-Level Enhancement System from sensing the subsystem embedded in Eriri.

"Why not?! Please hear me out—advancing to the Ninth Level on your own is incredibly difficult, but with my help, it becomes so much easier. It's an opportunity too good to pass up!" The system girl stammered, her facade cracking as desperation crept into her voice.

"Hey, let me show you something cool." Eriri grinned and extended her palm, conjuring a sphere of pure cosmic energy. "Do you know what this is?"

Though cosmic energy pervades every corner of the multiverse and is imperceptible to most, Eriri's controlled manifestation made it visible.

"What… is that?"

The system girl stared at the orb with a grave expression, unable to decipher its nature or attributes. A horrifying realization began to dawn on her.

"I'll tell you. Repeat after me: Cosmic Energy." Eriri enunciated deliberately, savoring the system girl's growing terror.

"What?! Y-You… You've reached the Ninth Level?!" The system girl's composure shattered completely, her manifested body flickering as she struggled to maintain form.

"Impossible! This can't be happening! How could it be Ninth-Level cosmic energy?!"

"Whether it is or not doesn't matter to you." Eriri's tone turned playful as she admired the girl's crumbling facade.

With a flick of her wrist, she reached out and grasped the system girl's core, uttering with mock seriousness, "Come to me!"

The panicking system reverted to its original gray light form, its defenses utterly useless. Trapped in Eriri's grasp, it was pulled effortlessly into her mindscape.

Inside, it came face-to-face with the white orb that represented the chat group—Little Skirt.

Realizing the futility of its prior attempts to deceive Eriri, the system finally understood the gravity of its miscalculation.

Then, it heard Eriri's cheerful voice—a death knell sealing its fate.

"Little Skirt, dinner's ready!"

"Yay! Thanks, Onee-sama!" Little Skirt exclaimed joyfully, immediately engulfing the gray orb.

Thus, the God-Level Enhancement System ceased to exist, becoming nourishment for the chat group.

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