chapter 303

Chapter 303:

“Now I lay me down to sleep…”

“Dear Lord, can you please allow…”

“Goddess Layla, please grant me the strength to…”

“URG!” I woke up clutching my head in agony. The pain was sharp and overwhelming, like someone was stabbing my brain with a million needles. I rolled off the couch and hit the floor hard, groaning. What was happening? Why did it feel like my mind was being torn apart by an endless sea of voices?

[They’re prayers! Billions and billions of prayers are being directed to you! I’m doing my best to block them out, and the Mind Stone you fused with is helping, but there’s just too many! You need to do something fast!]

I heard the System’s frantic explanation in my mind. I groggily sat up, the world spinning around me. I couldn’t even remember the last time I’d been in this much pain. Why now? I’d occasionally heard some prayers before, but never like this—never an endless flood of them!

Gritting my teeth, I forced myself to focus. A portal to Heaven. I needed to go there now. I pulled together what little concentration I had left and opened the portal, practically throwing myself through it. As soon as I was on the other side, I collapsed on the pristine white floor. My head was pounding so hard I could barely breathe.

“Please God, help me get a good grade on…”

“Please Lord, let Tiffany say yes when I ask…”

“Heavenly Father, please kill that cheating son of a bitch, Tristan…”

“Amen…”

“Amen…”

“Amen…”

“Amen…”

“Amen…”

“Amen…”

The voices kept coming, over and over. I fell to my knees, clutching my head again. My vision blurred, and my stomach churned. It was unbearable!

“Sister! What’s wrong?” Gabriel’s voice cut through the chaos in my mind. She was running toward me, her expression filled with concern. She knelt down and gently placed her hands on my head. Warm, golden light radiated from her fingers, and I felt some of the pain ease. I could finally think—just barely.

“I…I can hear billions of prayers all at once,” I managed to explain. “I can’t take it! It’s too much!”

Michael appeared at my side, his face filled with worry. “We knew Heaven’s system would crash once the worlds fused together, but I didn’t expect all the prayers to be sent your way, little sister. I’m sorry!”

Gabriel stepped back as Michael placed his right hand on my head. I suddenly felt half of the voices go quiet. The relief was immediate, but when I looked up at Michael, I saw him gritting his teeth. His eyes were bloodshot, and he was visibly straining. Unlike me, he didn’t have the Mind Stone or any other advantage to help him bear the weight of so many voices at once. I could tell he was taking some heavy damage!

“Michael, s-stop!” I shouted. “You’re hurting yourself!”

“I c-can manage for now,” he said. “B-But we need a solution fast. This is… a lot more than I expected.”

I glanced toward the center of the room and saw the shattered remains of the Golden Throne. It was covered in cracks and pieces had literally fallen off to the floor. That throne used to be the control center of Heaven’s system. Every human prayer would go there to be heard by whoever sat on it. Michael had taken that role after Father disappeared, but with the throne broken, it seemed like all the prayers were defaulting to me for some reason.

With Michael temporarily shouldering half the burden, I shakily stood up. Gabriel helped me walk over. My wings spread out behind me and my sole crimson pair started to glow with power. I was calling on my newfound power over Reality to fix and improve the throne.

The cracks began to seal themselves, crimson-red patches filled in the gaps. The throne reshaped itself under my will. The broken pieces reassembled. It became a mix of gold and red–I'm sure Tony and Andrea would get a kick out of it if they saw it. By the time it was done, it barely resembled the original.

When I was finished, I collapsed back onto my knees. Michael and I both let out long sighs of relief as the remaining voices in our heads went quiet. I rubbed my aching temples, summoning my Sacred Gear to start healing myself. Gabriel hurried to Michael’s side, her glowing hands tending to him as well.

“I've never even heard of an Archangel giving themselves a stroke, but that's almost what you did!” she told him while pouting in disappointment. She still looked very relieved that we are both okay though.

“It was worth it to make sure our little sister was okay…” Michael said, smiling in my direction.

I hugged Michael tightly. “Thank you for taking half the burden, if only for a few seconds. I don’t know how I’d have managed without you…” That was a fucking close one!

He patted my back briefly before stepping away. “Don’t mention it. But I have to ask, what did you do to the throne? It looks so different now.”

I turned to look at the newly restored and enhanced throne. “I didn’t just fix it. I improved it and changed it. The old system wasn’t cutting it anymore.”

Gabriel tilted her head. “What do you mean by that?”

“The old throne worked, sure,” I said, “but it had a lot of flaws. It was never designed to handle prayers from billions of people every day. That’s what caused all the glitches and errors in Heaven’s System in the first place. I… upgraded it.”

Gabriel’s eyes widened. “Upgraded how?”

“For starters, it can now handle potentially trillions of prayers at the same time,” I explained. “No more crashing the System. And it now has an auto-sort feature! Evil or malicious prayers get filtered out immediately. Low-level prayers won’t necessarily be granted, but the System can nudge things in the human’s direction if the prayers are sincere and come from a good person.”

Gabriel’s expression shifted from shock to amazement. “That… actually makes a lot of sense.”

“There’s more,” I said. “For prayers about salvation or incredibly dangerous situations, those will be flagged and immediately sent to lower-level angels. Our brothers and sisters can start going out and genuinely helping people again.” I glanced at the throne. “And the rest of the prayers? Those will be the responsibility of whoever sits there.”

Michael’s gaze followed mine to the throne. He raised an eyebrow. “...You’re not planning to take that seat, are you?”

“Absolutely not.” I crossed my arms. “That job is far too time-consuming, and I have no interest in it.”

Michael let out a sigh and chuckled. “Well, I’ve had the job this long already. I might as well keep going. With the new filter system, it should be much easier. At least now I can focus on the prayers that actually matter.”

Gabriel smiled. “You’ll finally get some relief.”

I nodded. “It’ll be a lot less stressful for everyone. And with more angels actively helping, maybe we can make a real difference again.”

Michael stepped toward the throne and ran his hand along its edge. “You did good, Layla. This will change everything.”

“You’re welcome,” I said, though I didn’t hide my relief at not being the one tied to that chair.

[That was a close one, Host. Glad you’re okay.]

I looked at Gabriel and Michael, brushing my hair back as I sat on the edge of the newly repaired throne room. “How have our siblings been doing in the lower heavens since the Two Earths fused together?”

Gabriel sighed. “It’s been hectic. Just yesterday, we had a massive influx of souls to deal with. Everyone’s been working non-stop.”

I frowned, the memory of a billion lives lost weighing heavily on me. We had done everything we could, taken every precaution possible, and yet it wasn’t enough. So many people were gone.

Gabriel suddenly wrapped me in a hug. “We did the best we could. All of us. Especially considering we were just coming off a war that ended a few days ago. Those darn devils really had some poopy timing.”

That got a chuckle out of me and Michael. Leave it to Gabriel to find a way to avoid swearing even when it was warranted.

Michael crossed his arms and looked at me. “So, what’s your next move? I know you well enough to know you’ve already got something planned.”

I smirked. “You know me too well, brother.” Reaching into my inventory, I pulled out my asauchi katana and handed it to him. “I was hoping you could take a look at this.”

Michael inspected the blade closely. “Interesting. There’s some kind of artificial soul inside the blade. It seems dormant. Maybe even… sickly?”

I nodded. “It’s supposed to be an incredibly powerful weapon. It’s born from my own soul and is meant to handle my power no matter how strong I get. But for some reason, something’s wrong with it. I need to get it fixed.”

Gabriel tilted her head. “Let me guess. That involves traveling to another Universe. You didn’t get such a weapon from here, and I don’t think katanas exist in outer space.”

I laughed. “Surprisingly, katanas do exist in outer space. But you’re right. This came from another universe. Technically, it’s still part of our multiverse, but it’s on the very edge of it.”

Michael raised an eyebrow. “Why is this weapon so important?”

“Lady Death told me it’ll be crucial for a trial I’m going to undertake from the Phoenix Force soon. I need it fixed sooner rather than later,” I explained.

Michael nodded. “If that’s the case, then you should definitely go. Is there any reason you haven’t gone already?”

“A few reasons,” I admitted. “I wanted to give the world a couple of days to stabilize. I also need to let my mates know I’m leaving. And there’s Rizevim Lucifer. He’s been awfully quiet about that Beast he’s planning to unleash. I half-expected it to have shown up by now, but there’s been nothing.”

Michael sighed and walked over to the throne. He lowered himself into it, rubbing his temples. “I have no doubt he’s still planning to follow through with his threat. He’s probably waiting for the perfect moment. When we’re all distracted by something else, he’ll strike. That’s how he operates.”

I frowned. “Maybe I shouldn’t leave right now. If he’s waiting for an opportunity…”

“No,” Michael said. “Now is the perfect time. He would never expect you to disappear while the world is still in an emergency. It’s the last thing he’d think you’d do.”

He had a point. I could leave behind a couple of shadow clones to make it look like I was still here. If Rizevim really was waiting for the right moment, he wouldn’t suspect a thing. Not to mention, the fusion of the Two Earths had likely strengthened the Beast he was planning to unleash on us all because he was insane.

Gabriel hugged me tightly, her arms wrapping around me like she never wanted to let go. “Don’t bring back too many brand-new sister-in-laws from this new universe you’re visiting,” she teased.

I sputtered, feeling my cheeks heat up. “I’m not planning on making my harem any bigger! Ten girls is already hard enough to handle!”

Gabriel pulled back, smirking. “You say that now, but we all know what’s going to happen.” She let out a sigh and released me, shaking her head. “I’ll be waiting to hear the stories.”

I pouted at her, crossing my arms. “You’re impossible.”

Turning to Michael, I gave him one last smile. “Thanks again for helping me with all those prayers. I don’t know how you handled it for so long, but I’m glad you’re still here.”

Michael nodded, his expression soft. “Be safe, Layla. And come back soon. There’s always more work to be done.”

“Don’t remind me,” I said with a chuckle. I focused on opening a portal, purple light swirling as I connected it to my penthouse on Earth. With one last glance at my siblings, I stepped through, leaving Heaven behind. I wanted to spend the rest of the day with my harem members that are still on Earth before I go on another adventure into the unknown. Well, not technically unknown, I know the general plot of Bleach, although I never made it through the entire anime in my past life…

…

The next day I said goodbye to everyone and ventured off.

“So this was Karakura Town. It’s very mundane…” I said it out loud as I stepped through the portal into a new Universe, taking in the normal-looking streets and buildings. Lady Death had given me the coordinates, and she hadn’t steered me wrong yet, so I was fairly certain I was in the right place.

A glowing prompt popped up in front of me.

{Quest Started: Slice and Dice!}

{Objective: Get your asauchi fixed and turned into a proper zanpakutō.}

{Reward: A cool new sword! +5 levels.}

“That seems easy enough,” I muttered and dismissed the prompt with a wave of my hand. Now I just needed to figure out how to get to the Soul Society. Maybe I could just teleport there myself if I could sense it?

I closed my eyes and focused, letting my senses stretch out as far as they could go. With the Mind Stone fused to me, I was shocked at just how far my perception reached. It wasn’t long before I felt like I could sense all of Japan and every person in it. My awareness even started brushing up against China as it continued to spread further and further before I stopped it and pulled back my senses.

That didn’t work. I had no doubts I could teleport to the Soul Society, but I wasn’t going to find it that way. It looked like I’d have to find myself a Shinigami or something to start.

– Yoruichi Shihoin –

Yoruichi Shihoin stretched out lazily in her cat form, her tail flicking back and forth as she watched Kisuke Urahara work on another one of his experiments. She was bored, and that usually meant one thing—it was time to annoy Kisuke.

“Kisuke! When are you going to buy me more catnip?” she complained, hopping onto the table and swishing her tail across his face.

Kisuke didn’t even flinch. “I’m not buying you catnip anymore, Yoruichi. Last time, you got so high you activated Shunkō and trashed half my workshop. Do you know how long it took to fix everything?”

Yoruichi pouted, turning around and fixing him with her saddest cat eyes. “Don’t you care about my happiness?”

Kisuke glanced at her and smirked. “Nice try, but I’m not falling for that again…”

“Fine,” she sighed, hopping down from the table. Her mind shifted to the real reason she’d come to bother him. “So, what’s this I hear about weird signals coming from the Soul Society?”

Kisuke’s expression turned serious as he adjusted a device on the table. “It’s not just the Soul Society. My sensors have been picking up strange energy readings in Hueco Mundo and the human world too.”

“Any idea what’s causing it?” Yoruichi asked.

“If I had to guess, Quincies,” Kisuke said. “The energy matches their signatures, but that’s supposed to be impossible. Uryū is the last Quincy, as far as we know.”

Yoruichi crossed her paws and scowled. “We just finished dealing with Aizen. Are you telling me we have another enemy rising from the grave?”

Kisuke muttered under his breath, “999 years…”

“That prophecy again? You really buy into that crap?” Yoruichi said, rolling her eyes.

Before Kisuke could respond, the air shifted. Yoruichi froze as an overwhelming pressure crushed down on her. She couldn’t breathe. Her body trembled uncontrollably, and before she could stop it, she was forced out of her cat form. She landed on the table, butt ass naked and gasping for air! Her chest heaving up and down.

Kisuke wasn’t faring any better. He clutched the edge of the table, choking and shaking as his knuckles turned white.

The aura of power that washed over them wasn’t malicious, but it was beyond anything they had ever felt. Yoruichi’s heart raced as she tried to process it. Not even the Head Captain’s Bankai had come close to this. It felt like that times a hundred.

“What the fucking shit was that?” Yoruichi managed to say between ragged breaths.

Kisuke wiped sweat from his brow. “I have no idea,” he said. “But it’s coming from Karakura Town.”

Yoruichi groaned. “Ah, shit. Why did we ever think living here was a good idea?”

XXX