Very quickly, astonishing news spread throughout both the human kingdoms and the Devil Empire. Everyone was already aware of the competition that was held, but the result shocked everyone. Many thought The King of Regnum had gotten his comeuppance when he united with a Devil general to assassinate the Empress. The surprising thing that happened was that the Mage Association won and only with the Archmage. Additionally, the Archmage ended up being the Dracul from the prophecy. Many people were afraid, but there was much propaganda to calm them, explaining that the Dracul only wanted to enforce peace between two races.  

Two days later, a funeral for the King was held. Three days later, Eustathius officially became King of Regnum. Lucibelle had gone back with the protection of Cali while Marty, Eustathius, and Angelique worked together to finalize the new legislation. Marty was very tactful in giving Eustathius and Angelique time alone. He also went out of his way to create a Space Magic engraving allowing for the connection between the human and devil castles. Naturally, these engravings were known only by himself, Eustathius, Lucibelle, and Angelique. They were also well hidden in their private quarters so that they would be less likely to be found.

...

Marty sighed as a puff of smoke escaped his lips. Over the last week, he had been incredibly busy managing both kingdoms so he could go home without worry. Any concerns he had were abated by Angelique and Eustathius, who sat close to one another.

“Marty, there you are,” Lucibelle said arm-in-arm with Yutsuki. A potential rivalry over Marty that could have occurred between them didn’t happen. Lucibelle had quickly taken some time to get to know Yutsuki, who was too good-natured to turn her away. Being that they both had something in common to talk about, namely Marty, the two of them became good friends.

“Onii-sama, are you tired?” Yutsuki asked in concern, knowing he had been working hard.

Marty nodded. “Yes, I am, because a certain somebody doesn’t want to do her job.”

“Hey Marty, can you show me that large sword you used in the fight?” Lucibelle asked to change the subject as she and Yutsuki sat down flanking Marty.

“You want to see my large sword? Well, sure.” Marty said with a slight smile. He took his hand, and Gram slowly began to come out of his palm. However, the blade itself barely passed the hilt.

“Why is it so small?” Lucibelle asked.

“It gets bigger if you touch it,” Marty replied as he desperately tried to hold in his laughter.

“Really?” Lucibelle asked as she began to reach out.

“Lucibelle, don’t listen to this pervert!” Angelique suddenly shouted out.

Momentarily surprised, it took Lucibelle a second to figure out why. “Pervert.” She said as she punched his shoulder.

“Onii-sama is a pervert.” Yutsuki reaffirmed with a slightly red face.

“I’m surprised you got the joke little miss innocent,” Marty said with a smile as he looked at Yutsuki.

Yutsuki refused to meet his gaze out of embarrassment.

“Well, I have good news.” Marty began. “Thanks to everyone’s efforts, all the work has been completed. As such, we are ready to return-summon tonight.”

Lucibelle suddenly went from happy, to slightly pale very quickly. Marty noticed, but he didn’t say anything.

“I just remembered I have something to do,” Lucibelle said with a slightly trembling voice. “I’ll see you all this evening.” She continued as she dashed out of the room with watering eyes.

Marty sighed.

“Marty, she likes you,” Angelique said softly.

“I know,” Marty replied listlessly before he also exited, but not to chase after her.

After he left, Angelique’s attention also fell on Yutsuki. “You like him too, don’t you?”

Yutsuki shyly lowered her head but still nodded.

“From what I’ve gathered from him, monogamy seems pretty normal where you live, but I hope you won’t be too narrow-minded.” Angelique continued before she began to leave the room with Eustathius following her. “The both of you could choose to stay here.” She softly said before she closed the door.

Yutsuki thought it over, but she knew she wouldn’t stay. What Marty would do, she wasn’t sure. She did not know that he could freely jump between worlds, so she wanted to go to him to find an answer. She found him lying on his bed, exhausted and depressed.

“Yutsuki, what’s up?” He asked with a small smile.

“Onii-sama, you like her, don’t you?” She said softly.

Marty sighed. “I do. I really do.”

“Are you going to stay then?”

I can’t.”  

“Did you ever figure out a way to make the summoning magic so you could summon her?”

“No, I haven’t started yet,” Marty said before he gave Yutsuki a quizzical look. “It sounds like you want Lucibelle and me to be together.”

“I just think it’s sad that she loves you so much, yet you may never see each other again.”

“Yutsuki, if I stayed here to be with her, what would you do?”

“I would stay too.”

Marty couldn’t help but sigh bitterly. He seemed to have a talent when it came to provoking women. “We’ll head home tonight.”

“Yes, Onii-sama,” Yutsuki said with a nod before she began to leave as she noticed that Marty wanted to be alone.

...

Marty, Lucibelle, Eustathius, Angelique, Yutsuki, Erica, Gifford, and Gifford’s maid all gathered in the magic circle room where the three heroes originally appeared. Lucibelle tried to force a happy face.

“Who is first?” Marty asked as he would be using the engraving, and it only allowed one person at a time.

“I will go first!” Erica said as she jumped into the magic circle.

Marty nodded, and he began to cast a spell.

“If you bully Yutsuki, I won’t forgive you,” Erica said with a threatening gesture before she disappeared.

“Next?” Marty asked after he had confirmed that she had returned home with the mark he had placed on her.

“I’ll go next, Onii-sama,” Yutsuki said as she walked onto the engraving.

“Good,” Marty replied with a smile as he activated the spell.

“Onii-sama, I’ll come to visit you, and might even stay for a while, so be sure to take care of me.” She said with a smile before she disappeared. Marty couldn’t help but break into a cold sweat when he tried to imagine how she would react to seeing his house and its current occupants.

“I guess that leaves me,” Gifford said as he held his maid’s hand. The two of them had become quite close during his stay here. “I have to go.” He said gently.

“I know.” The maid said, tears streaming down her face.

Gifford took a deep breath and walked onto the engraving as he turned to look at the maid. “Ready.”

Marty nodded and began to activate the spell. He wasn’t sure how deep their relationship was, but the fact that the two of them seemed relatively composed most likely meant that they hadn’t gone too far. With a flash, Gifford disappeared, and the maid started bawling.

Marty wouldn’t have minded, but his complexion crazily changed when he noticed she was clutching her stomach. “Are you pregnant?” He asked her.

The maid was startled before she timidly nodded.  

“That bastard!” Marty exclaimed extremely angry.

“I didn’t tell him, he doesn’t know.” The maid suddenly said to defend him.

“Why not?”

“Because I know he wants to go back, and I don’t want to hold him here.”

“Do you have any family?”

“No, it’s just the two of us.” She said with a soft smile as she held her belly.

Marty was outraged. The circumstances made it forgivable, but, if anyone but Marty were here, the three of them would’ve separated permanently. Marty felt very strongly about responsibility when it came to relationships, especially those that crossed that line, much less resulting in a child. “Do you have any personal belongings?”

“Besides what I have on me, no.” The maid replied, confused by his sudden question.

“Good, come with me.” He grabbed the maid’s shoulder, locked onto the mark he put on Gifford, and Dimension Doored the two of them to where he was.

Gifford hugged by his parents, all three of them crying. However, their joyful reunion was paused momentarily as two people suddenly appeared in the room.  

“Hey, bastard, take responsibility,” Marty said as he gave her a slight push towards him. Gifford and the maid looked at each other as if it was a dream. They thought that they had said goodbye forever, yet they had already reunited. Marty began to turn around to leave the Dimension Door that he had left there, but paused and gave Gifford a look. “I’ll beat you up if you don’t take good care of the two of them, dad.” He said before he disappeared through the door.  

The reason why Martel went back instead of Dimension Dooring away was that it required very little energy to maintain a Dimension Door and he didn’t have the information he needed to teleport with his new magic. It would be more efficient to use the provided magic circle. The moment he appeared inside the room, he began to walk toward the engraving. His body lurched to the side as someone tackled him.

Lucibelle put forth every bit of strength she could to ensure she would reach him before he began. She forced herself against him started pounding on his chest with tears in her eyes. “You bastard! You bastard! You clearly can take other people to your world, and you’re not going to take me!”

Marty wanted to facepalm as he didn’t want her to know that he could jump between worlds. He felt guilty by separating like this, but he didn’t want to face the situation. Unfortunately, in his anger, he even forgot to disguise the Dimension Door letting everyone in the room both see and hear what he had just done. As a result, Lucibelle now knew that he could not only return home on his own but take other people, something that the engraving wasn’t capable of doing.

“Do you not like me?” Lucibelle asked with tear-filled eyes.

Marty couldn’t help but shake his head. “It’s not like that Lucibelle. I have someone, so I can’t marry you.”

“Mary?” Lucibelle repeated when she heard of that word. She suddenly became delighted because what he had said inferred that he liked her or at least felt responsible enough to marry her, but couldn’t because he had someone else. When she thought of this, she very quickly hugged him tightly. “You can’t leave without me! You have to take me with you! I don’t care if you don’t marry me, I just want to be with you!”

Marty was taken aback by her sudden enthusiasm, the opposite of what he expected when he turned her down.

“Marty, it seems as though you don’t understand a certain aspect of our culture,” Angelique said, clearly aware of the reason for Lucibelle’s change. “You see, our society revolves heavily around strength. Those with strength can attain what they want. As such, it’s common for both males and females to have harems. As for marriage, while it exists, it is rarely done as it means the two of them to have a true connection and desire to be together for the rest of their lives. It’s relatively uncommon for Devils to get married. Lucibelle’s dream was to find a good person who loved her enough to marry her. That was part of the reason why she always loved reading romance novels. She was waiting for her Sir Black.”

Marty couldn’t help but smile bitterly at Angelique’s explanation. He looked toward Lucibelle and saw her stubborn gaze. While he did think he could use the engraving to send only himself back, he could not bring himself to do it. “If you are gone, what about your position as Empress?”

“Angelique can do it.”

Angelique’s eyebrow twitched when she heard this. “I do it already. She will still be considered Empress, and I will be considered her Regent. Please take her.”

“Some of your body’s traits could be considered evil where I am from, so you may be persecuted if you come with me,” Marty added.

“I don’t mind, as long as I’m with you. Besides, you’ll protect me.” She replied.

Marty sighed. “I can’t promise you anything further than spending time with you.”

“I’ll wait; even forever.” She said as she hugged him tighter.

Marty was starting to feel uncomfortable. He was a healthy male, and she was attacking him with two very destructive weapons. Marty looked between Angelique and Lucibelle several times before he sighed. He hated himself for being so soft. “Okay, you can come with me.”

In happiness, Lucibelle gave him a few quick pecks on the cheek. She almost went for his lips, but she was smart enough to know not to try and take a yard after getting an inch. She would take her time and make sure that her feelings were reciprocated.

“Is there anything you need to take from here?” Marty asked.

“No. Besides, if I do, you can come back and get it for me, right?” She asked as she beat her eyes cutely.

Marty’s face went heavy when he saw this. Her tendency to be a little irresponsible was already showing.

“Fine. We’ll go in a moment. Eustathius, take care of Angelique or I won’t forgive you.”

“Of course,” Eustathius said with a smile.

“Who are you to take care of me?” Angelique complained, but she was happy as she tried to hide the smile on her lips.

“Angelique, go for it,” Lucibelle said with a smile.

“Yes, yes, hurry up and go already.”

“Ready?” Marty asked Lucibelle.

Lucibelle nodded, and with a snap of Marty’s fingers, the scenery around her changed. She wasn’t completely surprised as she had used the space magic Marty had invented, but this was a little different. She suddenly found herself in a strange world. In front of her was a large house that was made with a design she had never seen before.

“You will be living here from now on,” Marty said with a smile. “Just please try not to embarrass me.” He said as he walked to the door and opened it. “I’m home.” He announced when he walked through while Cali transformed from the jacket back into her normal form.

“Welcome back,” Caelia responded with a smile as she approached them. She smiled at Lucibelle before she looked over their shoulders. “Just one?” She asked with a smile.

Marty’s eyebrow twitched. “You make it sound as though the reason why I stay in these worlds is to get girls.

““Don’t you?”” Shalgana and Morgan’s voices suddenly rang out from somewhere in the house. 

“You girls.” Marty shook his head, bitterly.

Lucibelle was slightly surprised when she realized that Marty’s house was full of girls. However, she wasn’t disappointed in the slightest, but rather happy. She was knowledgeable when it came to people and how to deal with them, which was the reason why she was such an effective Empress, at least on the outside. She didn’t find it strange that many women would be around Marty. After all, he was powerful and kind. She also realized that Marty wasn’t very lecherous and wasn’t the type of person to be with a girl just because of her looks. Instead, he would only be with them if he had feelings for them. This also meant that the girls here were most likely in the same boat as her. Given Marty’s reaction to Gifford and his maid, she knew he also had an extreme sense of responsibility. This, combined with growing up monogamous society meant that he was very resistant to the idea of being intimate with multiple women as he felt he had to be responsible for them.  

Lucibelle was very happy that she would now have many allies. She knew that she only had to seduce him once successfully, and he would take responsibility. Naturally, she had no intention of stealing him all for herself.

“The second girl went home first; I’m sure she’ll show up at some point,” Lucibelle said with a chuckle as she covered her mouth with her hand.

Marty suddenly couldn’t help but feel slightly depressed.

“Nice to meet you, I’m Caelia,” Caelia said as she extends her hand to Lucibelle.

“Lucibelle, it’s a pleasure,” Lucibelle replied as she returned the handshake.

“I’ll show you around and introduce everyone else to you.”

Marty shook his head. “Thanks, Caelia. I’ll be up in my room if you need me. Come on, Cali.” Marty said with two of them went up to his room, leaving the girls to get to know each other.

Lucibelle very quickly managed to get along with the other girls. Surprisingly, she got along very well with Morgan, who reminded her of her sister.

Marty calmed himself down in his room. The reason why he brought Cali was that he was going to try an experiment. His strength had reached a bottleneck. No matter what he tried, he couldn’t think of a way to improve his strength. So, he decided to try and go to another world. There he might obtain a new ability to make him stronger. 

Once, when Marty had initially gone to another world to save a former friend, he had experienced a time when his consciousness seemed to be able to touch the different worlds that had started to appear after the Convergence. He was going to attempt to enter that state again. Cali remained to help him against contingencies.

Marty closed his eyes and began to try to recreate that feeling, and he was soon successful. He began to touch the lines that represented the timelines of these different worlds. Some of these worlds, he could not enter. Others, he couldn’t enter before a certain point. There were also those that he could freely enter at any time, but he knew that he could not enter them at an earlier point that he had already been there. It seemed to be one of the rules of using time as a variable. Out of curiosity, he tried to force his way into a world that didn’t allow him entry.

[Insolent!] A voice suddenly rang out, causing Marty to spit a mouthful of blood. [I don’t know which Deity gave you this ability, but I will not allow you to come to this world!] A powerful voice telepathically said.  

Marty was terrified. He was aware that beings stronger than him existed, and he just experienced one firsthand. He took some time to heal his body with Cali’s help and realized that even his soul seemed to be damaged. With a little testing, it appeared that Emotion Magic, the very first magic he ever learned, could be used to help heal the soul.

After he had felt he was back in peak condition, he immediately began to search again. He was looking for something that drew him to these worlds. If he just entered these worlds randomly, it could be disastrous if not simply a waste of time. He searched for nearly half an hour without any noticeable difference between the worlds, but that changed when he touched one world.  

[Come quickly. She is out there, waiting. I need to keep my promise.] A voice said. Marty was taken aback when he heard this voice because he didn’t know how it was possible, and it sounded extremely familiar. However, he could not recognize who this voice belonged to. He thought it might just sound like some he knew, but there was something that he couldn’t deny. He wanted to go to this world. It was a compulsion that felt as though it was coming from the depths of his soul. It was so strong that he Dimension Doored there almost immediately without telling anyone, and he disappeared from Earth.

Marty suddenly found himself in an extraordinary place. It was black all around with no discernable end, and little blue lights were floating around him. It was strange because there was no oxygen or even air, but he didn’t need to breathe. As he looked at these little blue lights, he suddenly realized that they seemed to be people. One of these lights approached him, and he looked at the person who appeared in front of him. He was Caucasian, decent looking, with a beard. “I’m sorry; I need your help to keep my promise; Our promise,” the man said.

When Marty saw this man and heard his voice, he was so shocked he didn’t move as the man moved toward him, shrunk, and disappeared into his forehead. The last thing he thought before he passed out was: [Was that… Me?]