Takumi was surprised. Rem didn't usually ask about his outings. It was rare.
"What is it, Rem?"
Rem nodded seriously. "Yes. I'm planning to visit the demon tribe in the Netherworld, so I might not return for a few days. If you're going out as well, I won't be back to cook."
Takumi blinked. "Red-horned triple-speed? You're acquainted with the oni from Gensokyo now? If Yuugi Hoshiguma heard that, she might be upset."
Rem couldn't help but complain. "Takumi-sama, you're too much."
"Go ahead. We'll have food regardless. Don't worry about that."
Takumi wasn't concerned. If Rem had to go, someone else would handle the meals.
"I'm worried about Miss Algol starving!" Rem said, exasperated.
That was her actual concern.
Algol had already returned and was now holed up at home all day. If no one brought her food, what would happen?
"Emm she won't starve. She's a strong individual. If she really starved to death, it would be far too embarrassing. Hakushaku would mock her for a lifetime."
Takumi chuckled. The idea of Algol starving was just too ridiculous.
"Alright then."
Since Takumi said so, Rem didn't argue further.
After everyone had breakfast, they went off to do their own things.
Takumi brought Bronya and teleported directly to the newly found world using dimensional transfer magic. The two vanished on the spot.
Because it wasn't a world detected by the group chat, Takumi didn't have to worry. The coordinates he had sent were outside the world, not inside.
If he had gone directly into the world, his power might have accidentally destroyed it.
But by staying outside, there was no such danger.
He and Bronya appeared outside a massive world.
Looking at the immense world before them, they were both amazed.
"This world is pretty big," Takumi couldn't help but say.
If the worlds were ranked, this one would be considered upper tier.
Although it wasn't quite at the highest level, it was certainly impressive.
Even entering it wouldn't be a problem for Takumi.
"Let's take a look inside! I'm curious what kind of world this is."
Bronya's curiosity was also piqued. A world this powerful must be famous.
Takumi nodded, but he had a strange feeling.
This world seemed like it was on the brink of falling into the abyss.
"Hold on. Something seems off. Is this world heading toward its end?"
He focused his senses, then confirmed his suspicion.
This vast world really seemed to be nearing its destruction.
"It feels normal to me," Bronya said, confused.
She couldn't sense anything wrong.
But since Takumi said so, she chose to believe him.
He wouldn't lie to her.
After observing for a moment, Takumi looked away.
"Let's go in and find out what this world is."
With that, he and Bronya entered the world.
Takumi immediately concealed their presence. If he didn't want to be found, no one could detect him.
They planned to first observe what this world was like.
Once inside, Bronya finally felt itthe aura of doom looming over the world.
This world was steeped in despair.
It was her first time experiencing a place like this.
They arrived in the depths of space, where despair saturated the cosmos.
That despair even seemed to be the energy that kept the world running.
As Bronya sensed this energy slowly being consumed, she was shocked.
Using despair as fuel?
"Tsk tsk this civilization seems pretty advanced. I think I know which world this is."
Takumi's arrival hadn't gone unnoticed.
Even though he had hidden his aura, he couldn't hide from the world's will.
He had entered its core after all. How could it not sense him?
The world's will immediately took notice of Takumi's presence.
It was as if it had found a last lifeline.
It frantically poured all kinds of knowledge into Takumi's mind.
At that moment, Takumi's spiritual matrix activated fully.
Because it could feel Takumi's matrix, the world handed over all its information to him.
Bronya looked at Takumi.
He seemed to be organizing something, so she didn't disturb him.
She waited quietly.
It must be Takumi's matrix at work.
Bronya was intensely curious.
What kind of world was this?
A world powered by despairand other negative emotions.
Chapter 549: Braised or Deep-Fried?
This world was, of course, the Puella Magi Madoka Magica world.
The air was thick with despairleft behind by the magical girls themselves.
As Takumi organized the knowledge flooding his mind, he quickly understood what kind of world this was.
"A magical girl world," he murmured. "Little Round Face."
He voiced the name of the world.
Upon hearing it, Bronya frowned. "Let's braise Kyubey! Make Kyubey into a dish!"
The moment she heard the world's identity, Bronya's mood soured. Her first reaction was to cook Kyubey.
That thing needed to be dealt with.
No wonder this world was filled with despairit was Madoka's world.
Hearing Bronya, Takumi laughed. "Indeed. Let's go straight to attack Kyubey's headquarters."
He seemed genuinely interested.
The Kyubeys on Earth were merely avatars; their true race had a main base.
Since they were already here, why not strike their core?
After conquering Kyubey's base, they could find Madoka and the othersthen transfer the whole world away.
Takumi would naturally gain everything else, including the Law of Cycles.
Since the world had already begun entrusting everything to Takumi, all of Kyubey's technology and systems would become his.
Once he obtained Kyubey's magical girl system, he could even have Madoka wish for something newperhaps even change the fate of all magical girls.
As for the world teetering on the edge of destruction? That was easily solvable.
The issue was just energy. Eliminate Kyubey and migrate the world to his ownproblem solved.
Collapse energy would only increase from there.
Bronya pondered for a moment before offering a suggestion. "Why don't you try unleashing Honkai energy on this world? If it floods the universe, this place should produce strong collapse energy too. Kyubey's civilization isn't weak, after all."
Directly introducing collapse could solve many problems.
Takumi's eyes lit up. "That might be a good idea."
He stroked his chin, liking the plan.
Introduce Honkai energy to the worldtwo birds with one stone.
For a world facing its end, collapse energyeven toxicwas a lifesaving miracle.
It was both poison and cure.
Besides, the world needed to be moved into his realm anyway.
So why not try it?
Kyubey would surely be baffled.
Without hesitation, Takumi acted immediately.
He began deploying Honkai energy into the world.
The moment the collapse energy appeared, it was as if the entire world froze.
A new, unfamiliar energy had entereda delectable feast for a world already with one foot in the grave.
Kyubey's energy converters detected it right away.
"Impossible! What is this unknown energy?"
The sudden spike in unfamiliar power shocked the entire Kyubey race.
What was going on?
Why was there such a powerful energy reaction?
And it seemed... highly useful?
Kyubey's forces descended into chaos.
Meanwhile, the universe began madly absorbing the newly introduced energy.
The collapse had begun invading this world.
A realm that had nearly succumbed to ruin now began radiating vitality.
The universe was recovering.
But the Kyubeys were completely confused.
They couldn't figure out the origin of this energy.
Desperate, they began scanning the universe, trying to find its source.
But that wasn't an easy task.
Takumi, after unleashing Honkai energy, had embedded a trait within it.
It would begin corrupting all energy in this world.
Despair? Just fuel for the collapse.
Strange cosmic energies? All would be infected.
Like a virus, Honkai energy spread rapidly.
The once-stagnant universe began expanding again.
Though the collapse energy was being consumed, it wasn't fast enough to outpace the contamination.
Takumi observed the results with satisfaction.
"Not bad, not bad. Looks like everything's fine now. Next, let's attack the Kyubey race. I already know where they are."
Grinning, Takumi had already pinpointed their base.
Time to wipe them out.
Bronya, of course, had no objections.
She was all in on destroying Kyubey.
With their goal set, Takumi brought Bronya along and headed out.
After locking onto Kyubey's location, the two traveled there via a spatial portal.
What awaited them was a swarm of starships and an enormous facility.
All the despair harvested from magical girls was funneled to this place.
Takumi looked at the scene and smiled.
Without hesitation, he activated his Herrscher of Corruption authority and seized control of the entire area.
As soon as he acted, Kyubey's forces noticed.
Their eyes turned red with alarmthey realized they were facing a powerful enemy.
Bronya didn't hesitate. She summoned her weapons and began attacking fiercely.
When denied their technology, the Kyubey were no stronger than pets.
Most of their power came from science, after all.
Takumi, watching it unfold, started streaming the whole thing live.
When the others saw Takumi suddenly start a livestream, they were confused but joined quickly.
Inside the stream, everyone was stunned by what they saw.
Fujiwara Chika: [Kyubey??]
Sagiri: [What the heck, you went to kill Kyubey without me?!]
Kaguya Houraisan: [Did you go to Little Round Face's world? Did someone from there come over?]
Seeing it was Kyubey, everyone was floored.
Those two actually went to that world?
And didn't invite the others?
The group chat erupted in chaos.
After all, plenty of them had always wanted to kill Kyubey.
Raid bosses could be optional.
But Kyubey? Must die!!
Chapter 550: Homura Digging Through the Trash Bin
Everyone in the group thought that someone from the Madoka world had come to Takumi's world.
That was why Takumi and Bronya went over thereor so they assumed.
Looking at the messages in the group chat, Takumi couldn't help but explain.
"It was a world discovered by one of the probes I launched."
"Kyubey is actually kind of cute."
"Should I catch some and bring them back as pets?"
"Just erase their consciousness and brainwash them. Then they could be pets."
"If needed, they could even be immortal."
As Takumi spoke, he started to genuinely consider it.
It did seem like a decent idea.
However, everyone immediately rejected it without hesitation.
Fujiwara Chika: [No way!] [Just seeing Kyubey makes me want to strangle it!] [Immortal or not, I don't want one!!]
Sagiri: [I don't want one either!] [Kyubey just pisses me off.]
Megumi Kato: [Seeing Kyubey reminds me of the Headless Senpai. I refuse.]
Akeno: [Even I don't like it.]
Kurumi Tokisaki: [Maybe in the past I'd like it, since I could crazily drain time from itbasically a perfect portable battery.] [But I don't need that now.]
No one in the group was interested.
Seeing all these responses, Takumi laughed.
Just how hated was Kyubey?
After thinking it over, he gave up.
Everyone already had their own spirit partnerspart weapon, part companion. Much better than Kyubey.
Besides, if they needed to vent, there were plenty of other targets.
Sure, Kyubey was cute, but cute enough to make them want to kill it on sight? Definitely not.
Since that was the case, Takumi didn't press the issue.
With more and more Kyubeys appearing, Bronya was clearly wearing herself out fighting them.
Takumi wasn't going to just stand by and watch that happen.
Kyubey's whole strategy seemed to be overwhelming Bronya with sheer numbers.
If quality fails, use quantity?
Thinking that, Takumi glanced over the horde of Kyubeys.
Then he launched an attack.
He directly erased their consciousness.
As soon as he acted, large groups of Kyubeys collapsed as if someone had pulled the plug.
Not just the ones they were fighting either.
Even the Kyubeys back on Earth, who were conversing with magical girls, suddenly fell over.
The magical girls were startled.
"Eh? Eh?"
"What happened to Kyubey?"
The Headless Senpai looked utterly confused.
Homura was also stunned. Had anything like this ever happened before?
Kyubey had just... shut down?
The already fallen Kyubeys were even mumbling something about an invader.
Invader?
Homura froze.
What on earth was happening?
She had no idea.
Why had the enemy suddenly been wiped out?
Had something drastically changed in this timeline?
With Kyubey no longer responding, everyone rushed to investigate.
No matter how they called out, the Kyubeys remained motionless.
As if they were truly dead.
Everyone was baffled.
But there was no one around to explain what had happened.
So they placed Kyubey's body on the table for research.
Homura even ran out.
She wanted to check if the rest of the Kyubeys were the same.
She knew very well that there were many Kyubeys.
If they were all like this, something serious had definitely happened.
Something unlike anything she had experienced before.
Her eyes sparkled with strange hope.
Could it be... that Madoka could be saved?
Thinking of that despair-filled ending, Homura was overwhelmed with emotion.
...
Takumi had wiped out all the Kyubeys.
Seeing this, Bronya was left speechless.
Still, she didn't say anything.
She knew full well that on her own, she couldn't defeat that many Kyubeys.
"What a pain."
"So many corpseswhat are you going to do with them? Take them back for research?"
She looked at the field of Kyubey corpses and turned to ask Takumi.
He nodded.
"This species is quite interesting."
"Let Mobius take a look."
"Herta might be interested too, right?"
"Aren't you peeking, Herta? I'm right, aren't I?"
He turned to the livestream.
No need to say itHerta was definitely watching.
Sure enough, Herta immediately popped up.
Herta: [I'm very interested!! Send them to me!!]
Obviously.
She was definitely curious about Kyubey.
Their method of reproduction was fascinating.
She wanted to study them properly.
Kyubeys were a species governed by a singular consciousnesscold and emotionless.
She wanted to study them and use the knowledge to enhance her own clones.
