Chapter 737: Crossover Part 4

[Galaxy’s Note: Before we start, I wanted to mention something. I’ve realized I’ve been adding a lot of notes and context to the side stories. I did it because it’s my first time writing multiple arcs set in different time periods, and I thought those explanations would help with comprehension.

Still, I want to be careful that these notes don’t end up breaking the immersion. If you think I’m overdoing it, feel free to let me know in the comments. That kind of feedback always helps improve the work.

About this crossover — it’s going to be a relatively long arc and it really does stray a bit from the main story. Even so, I decided to write it because I feel it represents an important step in Pandora’s journey.

After achieving everything she sought — her revenge and a family — Pandora didn’t get stuck in the past or start complaining about having no more goals. That just doesn’t fit who she is.

Instead, she found a new purpose: traveling between different universes. As she mentioned in the previous Chapter, to her it’s like someone who travels the world for entertainment and curiosity.

This crossover exists precisely to show this new phase of the character and how she adapts to life after achieving everything she wanted.

Besides Pandora and Ayla, I’ll also introduce one more of my protagonists. In principle, it will just be her; other protagonists are unlikely to appear in this arc.

I have several ideas I want to explore, so this crossover will be a bit longer than the previous side stories.

Now, without further delay, I hope you enjoy the Chapter. And thank you, truly, for all the support so far!!!]

"...Pandora..." Ayla stares at me while listening to the sound of the sofa springs, a soft, repetitive "thump, squeak" that my hips make as they rise and fall on the couch.

"Yes?"

"Seriously... why?" She has almost tears in her eyes as she speaks, like she’s being driven to the edge of madness.

"Why is it every single day you’re doing something bizarre? Seriously, do you have some kind of mental problem? Why the hell are you doing that on the sofa? Why?! WHY? You have your room, you have the bathroom, you have dozens of places to do this, why do you do it right on the sofa near the kitchen, a place I can see and that I can hear from my room?" As she asks, I keep the movement going.

"Don’t be so annoying, it’s my house, I do whatever I want in it—"

"DON’T DO SEXUAL THINGS ON THE SOFA!!"

"Stop bouncing on that damn thing underneath you!!! The noise from the sofa is unbearable, that wet, squelching sound coming from there makes me want to stab a knife into my ears, and you’ve been at it for hours!! It’s not just once, it’s every single day you pull some crap like this! Does your life revolve around lust or something?"

"Seriously, you’re not normal!! Doesn’t that hurt? It’s been seven hours of you in the same position doing that!!! You clearly don’t have enough brain cells, do you? Did your brain fry? Because there’s no way a sane person would do this kind of thing!!" Ironically, Ayla is wrong.

Before she was here, I was sexually inactive to the point of going millennia without doing anything sexual with myself, which is almost funny, because I do this constantly every day just to annoy her. There’s something fascinating about irritating another person. I never realized how lonely I was and how driving someone’s mind until they’re furious is entertaining.

"Come on, it’s not that bad." Yes, the noise is unpleasantly annoying because it’s a repetition of the sofa spring sound mixed with a wet noise. I find the sound irritating myself, but her face is priceless.

"Why, my god... why!! Seriously, Pandora, if you brought me from my universe just to torment me, then send me back!! I didn’t imagine it would be hell living every day near you." I look at her dress and give her a mocking smile.

"Think what you want..." I hear a beeping sound and look at the television, stopping bouncing on my sweet vibrator. It had been a good few years since I’d used it.

’She should be grateful I didn’t get naked and I’m still wearing my clothes.’ I stare at the television, seeing an alert.

"What is that?" she asks, her tone already frustrated.

"Hmmm... someone seems to be trying to get close to my house, and it’s someone strong, stronger than you, very fast too, has the same level of strength as me, maybe stronger than the current me in some aspects like the amount of magic." I’m a little surprised as this thing collides with the house, causing a tremor.

"..." Ayla and I stare at the house door as it’s opened by a girl who’s kind of cute. She has smooth, fair skin, but not pale, and black hair with green streaks, just like she has one black eye and one green eye. Her body physically resembles Ayla’s.

"..." The girl stares at us while I look at the Monitor, which feeds data directly into my brain about this girl.

"You!! What are you doing passing near my universe?!" she asks us while closing the door.

"Whoa, Shizune, is that your name? Curious name, Goddess of Life... no, an entity that represents the very concept of life..." She looks at me, and her eyes gain a faint green glow.

"Demon King Pandora... Goddess of the Apocalypse..." She immediately analyzes my entire life. Unfortunately, I can’t block it — she’s the concept of life from her universe, and from what I see, she’s capable of leaving her own universe to pursue others.

"Haa..." She looks at Ayla, evaluating her too, while Ayla runs behind me, using me as a shield.

"Hey, Shizune, want to travel with us?" I ask while she gives me a strange look.

"...Y-You’re sinister... I’ve never seen so much darkness and evil in the life of a living being, and I can see you’re just an avatar and that your other selves are even worse..." She says, pointing her finger at me.

"Aren’t you sinister too? Actually, I can see you’re running away from your wife and used me as an excuse. You’re a clever little thing. I get it — sometimes we need to breathe a little and slip away from a problematic relationship." From what I can see, this is a version from a pretty chaotic timeline of her own universe, though it seems like she’s only a part of the original.

’A fragment... curious... not an avatar like me.’ I’m curious about this. I didn’t expect to see a fragment of an entity instead of its complete self or an avatar.

"...How—"

"No talking, girl. I don’t need to know more about your life than I already do. In this house, we’re all just girls living life without thinking or talking too much about each other’s past. If you want to run away, pick a room and get ready for a long journey." I stand up while Ayla’s mouth hangs open at the size of the toy that was inside me.

Ayla gives me a look as if I’m bizarre for doing that in front of our "visitor," who isn’t really much of a visitor.

"..." Shizune gives me a certain look of disgust as I walk over to her, extending my hand, but also giving her a threatening look, because she knows too much.

I’m not inviting her just because she’s interesting, but because she, in all her grand concept, just saw every second of my life since its beginning, and I didn’t like that one bit.

"..." She swallows hard, noticing the implicit threat in my gaze. I don’t mind killing entities from other universes and making them collapse — if she’s not careful with what she says, I’ll kill her.

"...Haaa... Sounds very interesting... you’re always like this, huh?... That girl seems to suffer quite a bit at your hands..." She says, looking at Ayla as she urgently tries to change the subject.

"Welcome aboard, sailor. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to take a shower... and fix the hole you made in the reality bubble protecting the house. You’re coming with us, right?" I say, heading toward the bathroom.

"Y-You know you shouldn’t just invite anyone into this house, right!!... b-but I’ll go with you... I don’t have much choice, from what I can see, right?"

"Hahaha, you’re the concept of life, there’s no problem inviting you. And good, you catch on fast," I say to her with a wave.

"Ayla will explain the house rules to you. Just talk to her, gorgeous."