"So? How did you like your five years in that world?" A short and flabby penguin, donned in a black three-piece suit asked Arthur as he floated in nothingness.

After spending a total of five years in the universe of High School of the Dead, Arthur was back in the dimension of nothingness called Black Void.

'Hmm,' Arthur thought about the time he spent in that universe. It was really comfortable in that world. Everything in that world was made to provide the utmost luxury, be it the running faucet providing hot water in the bathroom or the airconditioner in each room.

During those years he lived in peace, for the most part, the only cause of worry was the newly born race of undeads. They weren't exactly strong but they could be a serious cause of disaster if they ever were to evolve into something more.

His research on the undeads told him that the undeads of the HOTD world, after all, had the potential to evolve. The trigger for their evolution was unknown, it could be anything, be it time or external stimulus. That's why he couldn't just use that island as the permanent shelter and he had to build the shelter on another planet. Space stone helped him in that quest.

Anyway, even on the new planet, his lifestyle didn't change much. Though the demands for camping and outdoor sex from his two girlfriends kept increasing.

Arthur stretched his lips, "They were pretty good, I guess. Most comfortable five years of my life for sure..."

Barnes twisted his brows, "Not the best?"

Arthur paused for a bit, and then exhaled sharply through his nose, "I wouldn't say the best. Every day and every moment, I missed Luna... the days spent with Luna..."

He shook his head and sighed, coming back to the present instead of lamenting in the past. "Anyway, what's the meaning of this screen? Revert to default?"

[ Rever to default? Yes/No ]

Barnes noticed Arthur's appearance. Arthur was now 24 years old, the effect of age was visible too, he looked more mature, more manly. He was broader than he was when 19, and his fair cheeks was decorated with a full beard.

"Well, ahem," Barnes cleared his throat, switching to his manager mode, "Basically if you click on the 'Yes' button, it will revert your appearance to what it was when you left the void. I should have explained it after the completion of your first mission but you know what drama we caused back then. soO~ I kinda forgot about it...

Oh, remember how you were all patched up even though you were showered with so many bullets on your first mission when you opened your eyes here? It was because of this only, that time it was triggered automatically due to the emergency protocol, fyi, you can disable that protocol if you want.

By the way, whatever appearance you have in the void is saved in the database of the void, so you can load any appearance you want, whenever you want. At present there are five of them, the default is set to the one which you gained after you were enhanced via super soldier serum, that is, your 19-year-old super soldier body."

"I see," Arthur nodded and clicked on the 'No' button.

He checked the appearances or 'skins' he could choose, the first one was his skinny disabled appearance, the second one was his skinny disabled body with countless bullets pierced inside him, the third and default one was his 19-year-old super soldier body, and the fourth one was 24-year-old super soldier body.

Barnes opened his beak, "Another important thing to note is that you can also equip any of your base stats with any appearance. For example, right now you can lift up to 50 tons while when you were 19, you could only lift up to 20 tons at most. But if you want you can choose your 19-year-old version to have your current base stats! Isn't this feature really fascinating!"

Arthur nodded, "Anyway, the missions are complete, I should be getting my rewards by now, right? Hurry up the procedures, Barnes."

Arthur swiped away the screen and took a look at his inventory to see the figures of his sleeping girlfriends and also an extra addition, also, the Tesseract.

The Tesseract, even though was a useless piece of decoration outside the HOTD universe was better off accumulating dust in his inventory than being handed over to the people of that world.

"I want to head to the next mission asap. I am already done with my preparations... The mission in the Demon Slayer world will be over in just a day, Barnes, I will fucking nuke Muzan!" He chuckled a bit, "The lives of all the milfs will automatically be spared from their tragic fates as soon as I kill that progenitor demon."

"Actually... the contractor made a small change with his contract as well as in the reward... here is what your next mission is now... If you still choose to accept it, that is." Barnes said and a blue screen appeared in front of Arthur.

[ Mission ]

Contractor: Guardian_Of_Milfs&Onee-Sans@69

World: Demon Slayer

Time limit: None

Objective 1: kill Muzan Kibutsuji

Reward: A blood demon art of your choice.

Objective 2: Save Tamayo, Shinobu Kocho, Mitsuri Kanroji, Daki

Reward: Supreme Heal- The user can heal any mental or physical injury of themselves or someone else's. Revive a dead person or self. Can age and de-age a person or self. Grant Eternal youth. Grant immortality.

Optional Objective: Save Kei Kamado

Reward: ???

=============

Drop Point: The day on which Tanjiro Kamado's family dies.

=============

[ ]

"Hmm, I guess, he added Daki as well in the list of people that I have to save. It complicates things a bit, I guess. Now, I won't be able to just nuke the demon. The upgrade in the reward of that mission is also great. Now, there is no time limit of 60 seconds to revive a person, plus, more added benefits... I see no reason to reject it." Arthur thought out loud.

Barnes beamed up, "Great! Oh, here are your rewards!"

"Nice, Barnes!"

The rewards showed themselves one by one, a blue screen showing the names as well as details of the rewards.

[ Objective 1: Survive in the Apocalypse without becoming Undead, has been accomplished! ]

[ You have gained Self-Sustenance: You won't need any kind of sustenance to be at your top condition. The need of breathing is also removed.

Note: Doesn't mean you can't eat, drink, or breathe. ]

[ Objective 2: Build a shelter that could last for at least 50 years. The shelter must contain at least four people from the main cast, has been accomplished! ]

[ You have gained Undead Manipulation - Control limited unowned Undeads. Your limit depends on your mental strength. ]

[Objective 3: Kill Koichi Shido, has been accomplished! ]

[ You have gained Unlimited access to the High School Of The Dead World. ]

[ Optional Objective: Change the Main Character of High School Of The Dead world, has been accomplished! ]

[Calculating Reward...]

[ You have gained Astral-Mental Shield: Omniversal Level. No being in the whole omniverse, be it omniversal gods themselves, won't be able to harm or control your soul or mind. No type of curse or abnormal state skills would affect you. ( This is a unique skill, the full extent of the skill is hidden.) ]

Arthur sighed, the rewards for this mission were so... uninteresting. Considering the mission's difficulty and all... it was fine. But he expected more from the reward of the optional objective.

They were useless in no way, but none of them directly boosted his strength. And also, if it turns out that even after using the Undead Manipulation skill he can't store the undeads in his inventory then even this skill was all but useless for now.

'I've got to check it right now.'

Arthur sighed, "So, I have unlimited access to HOTD world right? How do I go there, Barnes? Just willing so would do?"

Barnes nodded, "Yup~"

Arthur blinked... and his view changed.

He was transferred back to the New Earth, on the same spot from where he was teleported to the Black Void. The terrace of his mansion on this planet.

It appeared that it has been a week for the people in this universe since he was gone. After meeting with a few important people like Soichiro, Saya, and her husband - Kohta... Kazu and his wife Miku, and also playing with their daughter, Sui... Arthur went to the research facility where the portal to Old Earth was stored.

Installing Tesseract back into the machine, he went back to the Old Earth and stored 20,000 undeads in his inventory. It wasn't that he could control all those 20,000 undeads at once, he felt like his head would explode once he was controlling just 50 undeads at once. Meaning, his current limit was 50 undeads.

To store 20,000 undeads, he would make a batch of 50 undeads forn a chain by making them hold their hands, and force them to sleep and then he would store them all together. Ordinarily, forcing the undeads to sleep was impossible even with all kinds of poisons and sedatives, but his skill - Undead Manipulation enabled him to do so with ease. The process was repeated several times until Arthur was satisfied.

But unfortunately, even after such tedious and repetitive task his limit of 50 didn't increase...

After storing the undeads, he rested for a few hours in the New Earth, and then after storing the Tesseract back into his inventory, he went back to the Black Void.

He also took some time to explore his new skills. They were much more than their names let on he concluded.

There, after careful consideration of his newly acquired skills, he formulated a few strategies to clear the next mission.

And then finally...

"Now then Barnes, send me to the Demon Slayer World!"

==============

With this HOTD arc finally ends!

His new skills will be explored in detail in the later chapters.

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