76 – Pandora’s Box
After a lot more discussion, me mildly regretting the fact that I REALLY should have had that strategy meeting with the Three Stooges earlier... plus the fact that Motoyasu was apparently from the SciADV worlds since he casually mentioned hearing about Makise Kurisu when we were talking about temporal shenanigans...
I headed back to my house.
It was late.
Dinner had stretched on long.
And I was tired.
Not physically, of course. That, at least, was something I didn't ever really have to worry about.
Mentally though... 100000%.
As I unlocked the door to my bedroom, I changed my equipment to a casual black shirt and shorts before walking towards my bed.
And then I paused, seeing that it wasn't empty.
Rishia was sitting there, blushing while wearing a white camisole.
And Daji was sitting next to her, wearing a loose kimono that she had acquired from somewhere, her white fluffy tails making her seem every bit the vixen she was said to be in mythology.
"L-Lord N-Naofumi! U-Um..." Rishia fidgeted, completely red in the face. "L-Like you asked, I-I am here to service you again...?"
Daji pulled Rishia close and let out a smile. "Mmhm. I heard that you had this one sleep with you last night. You would not mind if I joined as well, would you?" She licked her crimson lips and said, "I can assure you I can make it worth your while~"
I stared at them both. And then I sighed and said, "Too tired to deal with this."
After that, without any warning, I flopped into the bed.
"Kya?!" Rishia let out a small yelp.
"Ara~?" Daji sounded amused.
And then I pulled Rishia close, hugging her as a body pillow again before rolling over to use Daji's tails to rest my head.
"L-Lord Naofumi...?"
"Shh. I'm enjoying this. Sleep." After mumbling a sleepy command to Rishia, I immediately checked out.
Mm... could definitely get used to this.
===
Daji watched with amusement as Naofumi naturally settled into the bed, pulling Rishia into an embrace without any hesitation before promptly using Daji's tails as a pillow.
Rishia looked completely nervous. But after staring at Naofumi for a bit, she slowly relaxed and fell asleep against him.
Which left Daji stuck in place watching both of them. As she did, she couldn't help but think that Naofumi was strange.
It wasn't that he didn't appreciate their female beauty.
No, Naofumi had clearly looked interested. And the casual ease in which he pulled Rishia into his arms while pressing himself against her curves also showed that he appreciated her beauty and body.
But even so...
Daji shifted a bit so that she could reach out to fiddle with Naofumi's hair and murmured, "How very interesting you are, my daughter's savior."
A man not moved by riches, beauties, or power, but one who did not hesitate to claim them when it came his way.
It was different from those crazy old monsters who severed all earthly attachments to seek the dao.
It was different still from those degenerate bastards in Four Bray who clung to earthly attachments like it was all they desired.
Daji idly brushed Naofumi's dark bangs and murmured, "Not greed, not lust, not envy, not gluttony, and certainly not sloth... then perhaps pride and wrath?"
Great men always fell due to their vices. In Daji's long life, she had seen it again and again.
Lust, greed, envy, gluttony, and sloth... those were sins that cut many a story short.
But pride and wrath... If tempered well, those sins could be strengths.
"And you seem quite even-tempered, Naofumi." Daji hummed, pulling her hand back and staring at his face. "Interesting..."
Daji's daughter, Yan'er- No, 'Sylvia.'
Sylvia had asked if Daji would be interested in having Naofumi as a partner.
Daji had humored her a bit. And she had arranged this as a mild test to see Naofumi's character.
If he had fallen to lust... well, Daji felt it would have been a proper reward anyway.
But for him to simply appreciate them and then prioritize rest, like a man who had clear priorities and objectives...
Daji would be lying if she wasn't moved. At least a little.
Still...
Daji's lips twitched in amusement as she saw Naofumi boldly shift to nuzzle her tails, clearly enjoying their fluffiness.
"...You are lucky that I appreciate bold men. I have killed for less, you know?" Daji let out a soft chuckle and then made herself comfortable.
Since Naofumi clearly wanted to sleep and ONLY sleep...
Daji might as well do the same.
'Mm... how long has it been since I rested?'
She didn't remember. But it certainly was nice, being able to sleep without fear or worry like this...
===
It was a dream.
That was the first thing I recognized.
After all, there was no other explanation for what I saw.
And as for what I saw...
"So, you must be the young man that Chris Redfield keeps bothering me about."
...It was a weird guy with salt-and-pepper hair, a red cape, and blue robes with a weird golden pendant.
I took a look around and saw that I was standing in a starry expanse with what looked like glowing planets, stars, and other celestial bodies. "Huh. Neat."
The strange man raised an eyebrow, looking amused. "You get a glimpse at the topography of the multiverse and your only response is 'neat?'"
"Well, it's not much different than what I had conjectured, so it's not that surprising. What IS surprising is you. How do you know my uncle? And can I have your name?"
The man looked amused and said, "I know your uncle because we worked together on a certain incident when our worlds overlapped. As for my name... I am Doctor Stephen Vincent Strange, Master of the Mystic Arts and apparently." He snapped his fingers, changing the surroundings into a cafe before gesturing towards the table. "The first person to find you after the mess you've caused. Let's have a talk, shall we?"
"Correction. The mess that a wannabe planet of gods or something caused." I sat down and said, "But of course. I have a genuine question though."
Doctor Strange sat down across from me and raised an eyebrow. "A question, hm? Well, I suppose we have time." He looked amused and glanced down at his pendant, which was emitting a green glow. "...Technically, all the time in the world."
I glanced at the pendant too and tilted my head, observing it. The moment I did...
> NOTICE: Unknown singularity detected. Estimated time to process: 9,999,999,999 years.
...I got a strange message. "Fascinating."
Doctor Strange paused, suddenly wary. "...You can tell what this is?"
"Well. I've had a lot of weird things happen to me since I got world-napped. But anyway, back to my question." I looked at Doctor Strange, genuinely concerned. "Do you always give away your true name when you introduce yourself? Isn't that dangerous?"
Doctor Strange blinked. Then he laughed and said, "Oh? For most, it would be. But for a man like me... Well. Let's just say I have countermeasures."
"Really? Hm..."
I quietly checked [Death Note] to make sure I could deactivate it.
Then I tried it out. But the moment I did-
> An unknown axiomatic defense bars <Death Note>!
"Huh."
Doctor Strange froze and then gave me a sharp look. "...What was that?"
"I tried to see if an instakill spell works against you since I had your true name. But interesting..." I rubbed my chin. "So if there's a clash in axiomatic logic, things can just get flat ignored. Then if I create a Godelian defense by purposefully crafting a Syntactically complete system, that should allow me to persist even against an omnipotent being due to being inviolable... Good to know."
Doctor Strange blinked. And then he dropped all pretenses and said, "Okay. Back up. Who the hell are you, how do you know that, and just what the hell have you been fighting?" He paused. "...And hypothetically, how would you create a defense against a being who may or may not possess powers to manipulate reality?"
I crossed my arms and rested my chin against my hand to think. "Well, it depends on how they're manipulating reality. If it's just raw power, then you just need to direct the flow of that power better than them. Structure and logic can do that. If it's conceptual manipulation, you play with semantics. If its omnipotence... Well, that's complicated. But I doubt you'd ever meet someone with true omnipotence... Why?"
Doctor Strange stared at me.
I stared back.
Then Doctor Strange flicked his wrist, causing emerald magic circles to spiral around us. "Okay. We DEFINITELY have time. Tell me more."
"Well..."
===
A certain desolated planet in the same universe that contained Earth-616.
There, Doctor Strange dropped to the ground, gasping after using the Time Stone to look into alternate futures.
Tony Stark noticed and called out. "Strange. You alright?"
Doctor Strange blinked, confused for a moment on where he was. Then he burst out laughing. "Oh. I'm more than alright." He slowly stood up. As he did, azure light flickered around him. "I just learned that existence is far, far, FAR vaster than we think it is. And that there's a twenty something year old out there who should NEVER have been given access to any form of magic."
"Uh..." Tony blinked and said, "What?"
Doctor Strange smirked and snapped his fingers. The moment he did, a floating blue message box appeared in front of Tony's eyes.
Tony blinked again and said, "...What the fuck am I looking at?"
Doctor Strange laughed. "The way to beat Thanos without losing anyone."
===
> The Legendary System Hero J.F.K has granted access to a branch of the [Counterfeit Magic System: Solaris].
> Would you like to install [Counterfeit Magic System: Solaris]?
===
[Counterfeit Magic System: Solaris]
Not magic, but physics molded to replicate the concept of magic itself through extensive programming and axioms. Rather than mana, it operates by an initial mana cost to establish the framework before utilizing photons and photonic energy for its source of power.
Using the fact that consciousness itself is stored as a form of light, as well as leveraging the manipulation of energy that mana allows, a cascade of axioms are utilized to bootstrap the ability to transmute energy from the fundamental and universal premise that "energy is not created or destroyed, but simply transformed."
It is leveraging the fundamental laws of physics to recreate the fantasical nature of magic through sheer logic, rationale, ingenuity, and a replicated Von Neumann machine that can be utilized as both a normal and personalized computer as well as a system to transmute and manipulate energy to produce physical phenomenon.
===
Tony read the messages. Then he read them again, his eyes wide. And after that, he burst out laughing. "You're kidding. No, if you're not kidding..."
In the back, Peter Parker cleared his throat and said, "Um. Mister Stark? What's going on?"
"Give me a sec, Kid."
Tony pressed on confirm. And the moment he did, he heard a voice echo from the speakers in his armor.
"Hello there, Mister Stark. If you're hearing this message, Doctor Strange must have transferred the install package properly. Now, it'll take too long to explain since I understand you have a megalomaniac purple guy inbound with a batallion of starships. But basically, this lets you use light in every form for power. It's the ultimate form of your Arc Reactor or whatever. Have fun, good luck, and when you have the chance, call my parents and tell them I'm doing fine and that I'll be back within the year."
Tony blinked. And then his eyes widened as his suit automatically began to adapt, emitting a crackling blue energy just like the Tesseract. "...Strange."
"Yeah?" Doctor Strange smirked.
Tony smirked right back at him, eyes already assessing the system diagnostics that JARVIS was giving him. "...Think this kid needs an internship?"
Doctor Strange laughed.