[Chapter 72]
[It's Up to the Loli of Speed and Creation, Isn't It?]
[Faraday]
[Heaven]
All of Heaven is shaken by the mere presence of the Goddess of Speed and Creation: Lolibaba. The feeling of her arrival moves through the districts like a tremor. it's sensed before it is seen.
The air shifts.Conversations stop mid-sentence. Eyes turn toward the streets. Some people are scared.
Some are angry. Some are even glad she's back.
Lolibaba blitzes through the streets of the Hometown District, cutting down anyone who attempts to stop her from reaching the Goddesses.
She moves with the kind of speed that leaves afterimages, a blur through the familiar Tokyo-like streets that sends bystanders scattering in every direction.
One man, either brave or foolish enough to hold his ground, calls out to her,
"Lolibaba! What is your reason for being here?!"
"Why must you terrorize your own people!"
Lolibaba then says,
"Simple. I am Lolibaba. I am the Goddess of Speed and Creation. I am an over-200-year-old woman who looks like she just got out of school for the day. I am Creation. I am Speed. Both eternal forces of the world. Why must I terrorize my own people? My own PEOPLE are the ones who threw me out when I was young. My OWN PEOPLE caused mass destruction across the universe — all because of one man's order. I have come here today to destroy the other Goddesses and to become God."
At that moment she activates her eyes to their fullest extent. The ground beneath her feet spiderwebs with cracks. The light around her bends inward, drawn toward her like everything in the vicinity is being slowly pulled into her orbit. She is preparing to banish the entire Hometown District — every building, every street, every soul standing in it.
However, right before that can happen, a voice cuts through the pressure. Lolibaba turns around.
Goddess Madrina says,
"Mother, I have become far more powerful since we last saw each other."
"There have been many wars and battles fought since I fell from Heaven."
"Now — what exactly are you doing here, causing all of this fuss?"
Lolibaba then says,
"It's simple, really. The world is going to become new, and I must claim it."
"Our story is coming to a fitting end."
"Look around you."
Goddess Madrina turns to survey the state Heaven is currently in. The fractured order, the empty seat at its center, the instability quietly spreading through every district like a crack working its way through old stone. She understands immediately that something is about to break — and that Lolibaba intends to be the one holding the hammer when it does.
Lolibaba then continues,
"We have the power — all Goddesses do — to build a better world. Not for themselves, but for the people living beneath them."
"We stand in the very place that helped give birth to the universes below."
"I have grown much stronger since YOU last saw me."
"The invention of the story we currently exist within has caused the one closest to you to be pushed aside — which means we never got to fight our final battle, did we?"
"Because despite everything, we missed out on quite a lot. We are behind schedule now."
"Soshin didn't anticipate this. But I have amassed a power to see all fictions."
Madrina then responds with,
"W-When did you gain this power?"
"You've never had anything like this!"
Lolibaba then says,
"I created it just now."
"But the story would have never told you that."
"The power of the narrators is greater than most people realize, and yet they take them for granted."
"I am Lolibaba, the Goddess of Speed and Creation. You are my creation, Madrina."
"This is the Party. The Sekkai Sekkai Party."
"Once our job here is done, you can have your time."
"But I wonder how we will continue the Developer Showdown story."
"Chang, Rosaria, Zigzag! Come out!"
Chang, Rosaria, and Zigzag come rushing toward Lolibaba from the side street they had been waiting in.
Chang then says,
"What's up, Lolibaba?"
Lolibaba then says,
"I apologize for ruining your great adventure all those years ago."
"It's been a long time since the day Veldona first came into contact with you."
"But do not let that discourage you. You've had quite the adventure despite it all."
Chang then responds with,
"I do think there's some greater purpose in the world. But I also understand that I may not be fit for that purpose. I'm just glad to finally be having some real fun around here."
"All of you gods may be strange, but you're good people trying to save the world."
"Don't be too harsh on yourselves."
Lolibaba then says,
"What a response."
"I like it."
"I can see fiction as fiction now."
"Or rather — as clearly as Mama-Sama."
[A WILD MAMA APPEARS]
Mama Multiverse tears through a portal directly from Hell, fighting off demons mid-stride as she crosses into Heaven with her daughter at her side.
The portal snaps shut behind them. Both Mama Multiverse and Foxina Multiverse are wearing attire that can only be described as American Royalty — composed, immaculate, and entirely too calm for two women who just walked out of Hell.
Foxina says,
"Hello, Madrina. It's been a while, hasn't it."
Madrina then responds with,
"It has."
"Now, before we get into all of this — let's address the elephant in the room."
"Why haven't we been attacked yet?"
Lolibaba then says,
"Oh, that's simple! I created a barrier between us and everyone else."
"You can't have a long dialogue scene without one."
"Now — Chang, tell me one thing you want."
Chang then says,
"One thing?"
"I want me and my friends to be strong enough to serve not only Veldona, but the other Gods as well."
"They have done so much for us, and we want to help them more."
Lolibaba then says,
"You want to do more for the Gods?"
"But we Gods are such cruel beings — and yet you still want to help us?"
"I gladly accept your offer."
"I AM BEGINNING THE LEGENDARY CHANT!"
The moment those words leave her mouth, the barrier ignites. A warm, pulsing glow radiates outward from its edges, and from outside it, the people of Heaven watch as Love Energy pours in from everywhere at once — washing over the district in great rolling waves of light that are impossible to look at directly and impossible to look away from. Multiple Goddesses begin evacuating the surrounding area, unwilling to be caught in whatever is being built inside that barrier.
Shotajiji climbs up onto a box just outside the barrier's edge, faces the gathering crowd, and raises his voice.
Shotajiji then says,
"The Great Lolibaba is currently granting a wish! Yes — that's right! A WISH!"
Goddess Serenda, the Goddess of Law, steps forward from the crowd. Her bearing is precise and cold, the kind of composure that comes from never having been seriously challenged.
Goddess Serenda says,
"And what do we have here?"
"Why is there a little child standing in my way?"
"Lower God — leave at once."
Shotajiji then says, "No can do, woman. I really can't do that."
"I've got a stall to stall and I'm going to stall until I fall."
"Now, how about a little battle?"
Goddess Serenda then says,
"A battle? You truly wish to fight multiple Goddesses?"
As soon as the words are out, Goddesses pour in from all sides, forming a tight ring around both the barrier and Shotajiji. The street fills wall to wall with divine presence, each one radiating enough power to level a city block without effort.
Shotajiji then says,
"Oh wow — I've got an audience!"
"Guess it's time to use my Expensive Store Katana."
He draws it smoothly, rolls his shoulders, and leaps high into the sky. A magic circle erupts into being between himself and the Goddess of Law, hanging in the air like a declaration.
Serenda says,
"If you will not stand down, then I am forced to fight you."
"Prepare to be crushed under the word of the law."
Before closing the distance, Shotajiji says,
"You have access to the Law attribute, correct?"
"Here's my offer — I'll let you live if you call off all the other Goddesses."
Serenda then responds with,
"Are you afraid I might kill you?"
Shotajiji then says,
"Not really. I just don't want to sully my blade on a Goddess. I'd rather use this pistol."
In one clean motion he holsters the katana and produces a Goddess Killer Degale. Four shots fired in quick succession, each one deliberate. Serenda takes all four to the chest and collapses, the divine energy around her flickering as she hits the ground.
Serenda then says,
"Y-You monster! Why would you?! We gave you everything!"
Shotajiji then says, "You're a strong Goddess. You're going to live."
"I made sure not to aim for your vitals."
He raises one hand and banishes the Goddess of Law — cleanly and temporarily. The space where she had been standing is empty. The remaining Goddesses go very still for just a moment.
Shotajiji then says to Lolibaba telepathically, "One Goddess down. More are closing in fast. You had better finish that chant."
Lolibaba then says, "Despite how fast I am, these chants cannot be rushed."
She breathes. Steadies. Continues.
"Now — I, Lolibaba, the Goddess of Speed and Creation, the one who sees all truths and all lies that exist beneath them, declare my greatest wish. The one wish. Chang and friends — you shall transcend your current forms into ones that serve the Gods, and you will be granted abilities and powers beyond what most mortals will ever accomplish."
"Rank Up Spell: Templar Fibrax!"
The chant completes. The Love Energy surges inward and then releases — a single, enormous pulse that rolls through the barrier and pours directly into Chang, Rosaria, and Zigzag. The light is blinding for just a second. When it fades, all three of them stand at God Tier 1. The change is immediate and visible — their bearing different, the air around them carrying a new and unfamiliar weight.
Rosaria then says,
"My hair is white now?"
Lolibaba then says,
"Since most Goddesses and beings of that rank appear as white, the forms that elevate people into that tier tend to take on a white appearance. It's just how it works."
"Now — everyone, we are leaving."
Lolibaba BFRs everyone inside the barrier, then Shotajiji, depositing them all at the Space-Cat-Cafe in one clean motion.
[Space-Cat-Cafe]
Lolibaba drops into a chair, exhales slowly, and says,
"We are never getting into Heaven again."
"But we disrupted public order long enough to leave a fracture. That's what matters."
"Shota — how many Goddesses did you take down?"
Shotajiji then says,
"None dead. But a lot of them are wounded."
"They've gotten noticeably stronger these past few years."
"What's the next move?"
Madrina then says,
"Our next move is to build our own country out here in space."
"Since Rei Aki-ma and the Observable Universe have basically given up control over the universe, it's free real estate."
Lolibaba then says,
"Madrina, you're an idiot."
"The main universe is the last place we'd want to set up base."
"We're going directly to the middle of N-E."
"In fact — while you were talking just now, I already built us a small universe."
"Now. Let's go."
[end] [end]