บท 309: Chapter 38 : Sailing Through An Ocean Of Stars (I)

A/N : Aht here!

It looks like power stones aren't currently working for me, and no longer appears in the rankings.

Don't worry and keep this fanfic in your collection to still see updates from me! I've already reached out to someone to look into this. I've received no error message so it's very strange.

But if you're enjoying the story, leave your comments below, enjoy the chapter!

Year 2131, Neo Tokyo, Residential District.

After Nao established Rising Phoenix, the rest of Year 2130 blew by in a blink of an eye. Bukubukuchagama and Tabula Smaragdina were officially welcomed into the Guild. Nao also invited his girls into the Guild as well, totaling 18 people. Nemesia and Lippti have not come online yet and it seems they don't have any intentions to.

During this time, Nao took a tour of the Asgardian Palace before turning it into his Guild Base. It was definitely a Palace suited to gods, but unfortunately for it, it will soon be assimilated into the White Palace. All the while the girls came to the Palace, happy to be united with Nao in the game.

As for Nao, he did not want to let others know that he was in Alfheim during these six months. He still had to take down Hel's Castle in Helheim. Speaking about his level, as well as his guild members, they were all lv90!

And to say the least for Bukubukuchagama and Tabula, they were shocked to see that the girls they met were all related to Nao one way or another. But they could see during this six month period how they were as family, and the two happily accepted this. Everyone welcomed the two with open arms,, and there wasn't an ounce of hatred to be seen, even though they weren't all Heteromorphic players. It was as if the discrimination didn't exist to them.

And during this time, Nao set their first offline meeting, set to happen at the beginning of Year 2131. Fast forwarding these six months, it was now the day of the offline meeting! And boy was it going to be a special one the two will never forget!

At this very moment, a lone slick black hover car could be seen crisscrossing several run down streets in the Residential District. Every so often the car would pass by people slung over on the sides of the sides of the road, next to scattered piles of rubble.

Every so often a bright light would flash in the distance a ways away, only for sounds of gunfire and screams and yells to follow. Yet the hover car ignored those happenings and continued to speed along these eerie streets. Those that managed to open their eyes and see the cars pass couldn't even lift their fingers and do anything, as if they had no strength left.

Well, that made sense as in the air above them, toxic mist could be seen for miles and miles. Anyone without a gas mask or artificial lungs wouldn't survive well in this city, or any city for that matter. And the car was currently driving through the slums of the Residential District.

As for who was driving it...two people could be seen inside it. One in the front passenger seat, who was female, and the driver, who was male. Both were dressed as if they were heading towards a high end restaurant. Fancy.

The girl actually appeared quite young and still had an air of innocence around her. Her hair was orange brown, making it appear vibrant as if it was amber. It was wavy and flew down past her shoulders. She had wavy bangs across her forehead but she could still see clearly. An amber gem brooch could be seen set in the right side of her hair, tying it up into a small ponytail.

As for her dress, it was sparkly and pitch black. It rolled up to her shoulders but only covered up to her breasts, revealing the rest of her neckbone area. A pearl necklace could be seen around her neck. Her figure wasn't that of a model, it actually appeared quite toned, but her muscles were hidden away. Her body had some mass to it, so she wasn't all skin and bones. Her breasts were about a C cup as well, decently sized.

Thanks to her smaller breast size and the tightness of her dress that accentuated her curves, she did not need to wear a bra. But if one was able to have a look underneath she was currently wearing black laced panties.

She had a very mature look despite her air of innocence. She also had an attitude of a tomboy, and often argued over small things with her family. She also had light brown eyes.

Of course, this person was none other than Bukubukuchagama! Her real age was currently 22 years old, and was in the latter half of her college years. Yet despite still being in college, she was already a functional member of society, and a rather high rank one at that.

She was a very popular voice actress, making her debut right as she became that of an adult at age 20. She often voiced the main female lead in popular eroges that would get sold out the moment the game would release on market.

Even though it was now the 22nd century and the government was a thing of a past, the big conglomerates still treated people as adults when they came of age at twenty years old. At this this one aspect hadn't changed for those who live in Japan.

Bukubukuchagama also had a name she went by. Most, if not everyone, called her Iris!

She could currently be seen humming a tune as her feet swayed back and forth. From the outside her dress didn't appear as if it had pockets, but she did her hand down into her waist, only for it to vanish. She then withdrew her hand from her pocket only to pull out a high tech smart phone.

Turning it on, she tapped the screen a few times. She then placed the smart phone near the car's dashboard, which seemed to have a place for it. Iris then turned to look at the man driving their car.

"You don't mind, if I turn up the tunes, do you? This place is such a deadbeat. We need something to liven things up.", Iris said, speaking out to the man.

"...", The man replied back, not saying anything. His eyes were currently focused ahead of him, moving back and forth seeing how dreadful it was out here in the slums. Even the man thought they weren't heading toward the right place.

Iris smiled to herself not hearing a direct no from him.

"Yosh, let's listen to some 21st century music! OxT, you're on!", Iris yelled out. She then pressed the play button on her phone.

It didn't take long before some techno rock started to play inside their hover car.

~Can someone give me the answer, To my question~

~Where is my soul?~

After the opening line was sung, more guitar began to play. Several seconds soon passed and then the first verse started.

~It's like a virus in my body while I'm still dreaming~

~When I wake up all that's left of me are bones~

~I'm in a panic! Get out, hurry~

~Oh, there are mysteries and many miseries--

Yet, before the rest of the first verse could play out, a mark of anger appeared on the man's forehead. He then issued a voice command to his hover car, and the music suddenly stopped playing.

Iris then pouted seeing her music was stopped by the man.

"Boo, Suzaku you're no fun. Do you hate 21st century music that bad?", Iris asked him.

"Do you truly understand the situation we're currently in right now?"

"Yes? We're driving in a fancy car throughout the slums of the Residential District where danger lurks around every corner? So?"

Hearing Iris reply so nonchalantly like that, the man, who was none other than Suzaku, or actually known as Tabula Smaragdina inside Yggdrasil, suddenly gripped the hover car's steering wheel, letting it come to a screeching halt.

Iris's body flew forward a bit, but she quickly regained her footing. The onlookers in the shady street around the hover car tried to look up at it to see why it came to a sudden halt, but they barely had enough strength in their bodies to do anything thanks to the poison mist around them.

Suzaku had already previously introduced himself, but his appearance wasn't known at the time. He always had his eyes curved and shut, much like Gin from Bleach. Yet despite that he could still see clear as day.

Ge was wearing a pitch black tuxedo with a white flower tucked away in one of his breast pocket. His hair was oiled up and groomed backwards, making it appear very slick. It was also short and spiky, but unlike Nao's, his hair was black. To finish off his looks, he wore black dress pants and shoes.

Suzaku couldn't help raise his voice after hearing Iris speak like that while his grip was tight on the wheel.

"So!? That's exactly my point! Now I'm starting to understand why you always argue with that brother of yours...", Suzaku groaned, reaching toward his temple, and rubbed it with his fingers.

Iris blinked her eyes before she also roared out.

"Hah? Oh no, no no no. You aren't going to start using my family here as leverage, bucko."

"Sigh, why did I even bother trying to say something...", Suzaku replied to her outburst, letting out a sigh.

Seeing this only earned a giggle from Iris.

"Hehehe, don't be like that. You should start up the car again, we can't be late to Nao's home. I'm curious to what it looks like. He spends so much money and gold in Yggdrasil yet he lives in such a run down area? I truly find this hard to believe."

"At least that's something we can agree on.", Suzaku replied to her, while giving out another voice command. The hover car started up again, and resumed its path to its destination.

He then opened his eyes a bit and looked at her.

"It's definitely suspicious. You would think he would have a lavish place. You don't think he's taking us for a spin do you?"

"I doubt it. He's a very serious man, and a liar not. I can tell with my eyes he cares much about his family. You said you met his person already, right?"

"Kind of, we chatted through a screen but the room he was in was extremely dark, and most likely cool too. That room must run a lot of hardware for it to stay like that, so it gave me the impression he was running his own net café. Those others in our Guild probably frequent it."

"Is that so? I was surprised that his own family plays too. His daughter really is a big ball of energy, I definitely want to give her a hug when we meet~", Iris replied to him with a teasing tone.

'Well we need to reach our destination for that to happen. I think its taking us all the way to the outer wall. Moreover, he said for us to be aware of aliens. Such a joke. And that's coming from a guy who fancies myths and legends, haha!", Suzaku said with a light laugh.

Yet as he looked at Iris after saying that, he could see Iris no longer moving her lips to speak. He saw her staring right out the wind shield. He wasn't aware that time flew on, and didn't see the car come to a full stop, arriving at their destination.

A moment passed before Iris slightly raised her hand, pointing at the wind shield, or more specifically, at a relatively tall figure wielding something who was standing in front a run down, broken house. No one was nearby to see the hover car now.

Iris then spoke out to him with a shaky voice.

"E-Either that's a really good costume I'm seeing or Nao might actually be right this time...", Iris replied back with a stutter.

"You mean....that topic about aliens?", Suzaku asked with a weird tone.

"Just shut it and get out of the car. It looks like we arrived at Nao's place.", Iris said with a firm voice.

"Ah..."

After the two finished their conversation Tabula also saw a run down house now in front of them with their hover car parked. Cars nowadays in the 22nd century typically had automatic driving capabilities once a person inputted their destination, and Suzaku could now see a pretty run down house in front of them.

Suzaku and Iris then got out of their hover car and made their way toward the run down house. They got a clearer picture of the figure standing in front of it. They became absent minded seeing the long white haired figure, who was relatively tall, light blue skinned, wearing a long green robe, and was holding onto an Angel's Staff. Of course this was Vados, and she smiled at the two approaching.

"Good evening, Tabula's Smaragdina and Bukubukuchagama. Or is it fine to call you two Suzaku and Iris?"

"Did you look into us already?", Tabula asked who couldn't help but utter a retort.

"Hohoho, you could say that, yes. You may call me Vados."

"Vados...This is a bit hard to believe what I'm seeing right now. But aren't you one of our guildmates?", Iris also asked out.

"It would be nice to have you two try and figure out what I truly am, but we are on a schedule. I'm sure you two must be aware that this poor house truly isn't our final destination. Though we will be stepping inside of it for a moment."

"So that truly is the case...then where are we heading next?", Suzaku asked.

"Hoho, let's just say I hope you two don't get queasy over some sailing."

"Sailing? Are we going to sail into an ocean or something with god knows what's out there?"

"You could say that. I will just warn you two to keep an open mind. Come, let us head off to the Dunamis. Nao is waiting for us there."

"The Dunamis...", Suzaku uttered again, but slowly nodded his head.

Iris also nodded her head as well. The one thing the two found it strange is that they were able to breath perfectly fine around Vados, as if the poison mist around them didn't affect the two. But they didn't dare ask why. Vados had long placed a barrier around the house that was invisible to them.

Vados didn't say anything else, and proceeded to open the wooden door, which creaked loudly around them. It added a bit of suspense, but the three went into the house. Suzaku and Iris were gobsmacked seeing a huge golden Portal stand before them.

It soon opened on its own without waiting for them to react, and they saw endless amount of darkness within after the portal opened.

"After you two," Vados simply asked with a smile on her face.