Multiversal Missions

When his vision returned, Kazuki found himself in a completely different place. It was a plain with barren ground and several pitch-black rocks scattered around. The sky was cloudy, and in front of him stood the boy that that kind of deity had called Enea, now without his hood, so that what was underneath was completely visible. Practically the entire right half of his face was covered by a long tuft of dark brown, slightly curly hair. There were slight dark circles under the only visible eye, which was the same color as the hair. On his neck, he wore a pair of headphones with two stylized gray dragons drawn on the earpieces, one on each side. As Kazuki expected, Enea seemed to be about the same age as him, at most a year or two older. But there were more important questions to ask.

"What does that guy want from me? If I understood correctly, he said that you would be the one to explain it to me," Kazuki asked, now resigned to the fact that he could not escape.

"Yes, I will do that right away, but first, let me at least introduce myself, since we will most likely be working together in the end. My name is Enea Draghi, I'm theoretically 20 years old and I've been working for that bastard for more or less two years. I come from a Earth that's pretty much the same as yours; from what I've seen, the history and the countries of my Earth seem to be identical to yours. There are probably some differences in the presence or absence of unimportant people in human history, but for the most part they are the same."

"Theoretically twenty years? How can you not know your exact age? Don't you know what day you were born?"

"No, but there's no point in me explaining it to you now. I think you will understand after I explain your probable new job."

"Could you at least untie me before you start?"

"Sorry, but no. That bastard ordered me to keep you tied up until I explain everything to you, so I understand that it's not very comfortable, but just hold on a little longer. When I'm done, I'll untie you right away."

"Then hurry up, it's really uncomfortable like this."

"I'll do my best, although I don't think I'm very good at explaining things," Enea replied, and then began to explain. "As that bastard has already told you, from now on your job will be to carry out various missions in the universes he sends you to. The content of these missions will vary greatly, as will their duration, depending on what he thinks is most interesting at the time. Sometimes it can be something classic and straightforward like 'defeat the demon king', or something more vague like 'solve the mystery of this town'. But be forewarned: you will almost always have to fight to complete the mission. After all, I'm sure that thing really likes to watch people fight."

The last part of the explanation raised a doubt in Kazuki's mind, which he immediately expressed: "But if he is so interested in watching fights, why did he choose me? I'm pretty good at boxing, but I'm still a normal high school student. What can he find interesting in watching me fight when he already has superhuman beings like you at his service?"

"That's a good question, but for the future, I would advise against thinking too much about that asshole's motives. Most of the time the answer is something like 'because it seemed interesting' or 'because I felt like it', so I'm pretty sure the answer to your question is one of those two. But there's one thing you're wrong about: you're not a normal high school student anymore."

Kazuki's eyes widened and with a voice that was a mixture of anger and concern, he shouted, "What did you do to me?!"

Enea replied immediately, "If anything, what did he do to you, if you don't count when I knocked you unconscious to get you into this room, I didn't do anything to you. But that was just a kick in the stomach hard enough to knock you out, which I healed before you woke up, leaving you with no permanent damage. But to answer your question, did you notice the tiny blue spark that entered your chest a moment before you were transported here?"

Kazuki had to think for a moment, but then he remembered. Just before he was transported there, a tiny blue light had come out of the scepter of the strange man, so small that he was surprised to have noticed it, and it had gone directly into his chest.

"Are you telling me that that spark turned me into what you are?", Kazuki asked.

"Yes and no. That spark was a small part of the "energy" that allows that bastard to do anything, and by 'anything' I really mean anything, like creating portals to any universe, stopping time, or even creating and destroying the multiverse. Basically, this "energy" - though I'm not sure that's the right term - is his omnipotence in physical form, and he often uses it to give people various abilities, sometimes randomly, sometimes personally, so that they can better entertain him. But there is a difference between abilities given to randomly chosen people and those given to personally chosen people. In the former case, the person, like me, receives abilities that he or she has imagined or dreamed of during his or her lifetime, but only those that have been part of the same group. For example, if a randomly selected person dreamed of flying as a child, but at the time of selection only wanted to shoot laser beams out of his eyes, he will only receive the latter ability. However, if at the time of selection he imagined both flying and shooting laser beams, he will receive both abilities. In the second case, however, as in your case, the skills will be chosen by him on the basis of what he finds most interesting to give to that person".

"So that spark gave me a ability chosen by that strange old man. What ability is that?"

"Don't worry, you'll find out for yourself when we start training. But be patient, the explanation is not finished yet. In addition to the often unique abilities that this bastard bestows upon the people who work for him, there is a group of characteristics that he bestows upon each of his "employees" so that they can survive in any universe. These include: immunity to air and water toxicity, inability to starve to death, slowed aging, a tougher body with superhuman strength, the ability to move even when time is stop, immunity to changes in gravity, and separation from the time axis".

Kazuki was confused by two of the listed characteristics and worried about a third. If what Enea said was true, he would age slower than all the people he knew, which could cause various problems in the future. However, he quickly dismissed these thoughts, knowing that there was no point in worrying now, since he did not even know if he would ever return to his normal life. Then he decided to ask for explanations about the two traits he did not fully understand.

"The rest I understand, they are obviously useful in extreme conditions, but what are immunity to gravity changes and separation from the temporal axis? From the name alone, I can't get a clear idea of their effect."

"Immunity to gravity changes makes the gravitational force on your body always equal to that of your home planet. Of course, this only applies to us: it doesn't mean that if we set foot on a planet with a different gravitational force than Earth, it will be shift to the same as on our planet. The other thing is a little more complicated to explain, but I'll try. The moment the spark entered your body, you as an existence were separated from the time axis of any universe. Simply put, you exist only in the present: you are completely separated from the self of the past, and the self of the future no longer exists. For example, if someone went into the past of your universe and killed you as a child, you would not be affected. Or if someone tried to look at your future, he would see nothing. I hope I've made myself clear; as I said, I don't think I'm very good at explaining, so if there's anything you don't understand, please ask me."

"No, there is no need, I have more or less understood everything. But are you finished with all these explanations? I really wish I could move around freely, being tied to this chair is really uncomfortable. Besides, are you sure that I'm stronger now than before? I've been trying to free myself from this rope for a while now, but it doesn't seem to be breaking."

"Ah, don't worry, you are definitely stronger than before. The problem is that this rope was created by that bastard and is literally indestructible. I don't think even someone capable of destroying a planet with one punch could scratch it. Anyway, no, I'm not done yet, but we're pretty much at the end."

"Then hurry up, so I can at least move."

"Okay, pay attention, because what I'm about to tell you is definitely the most important part."

After saying that, Enea's expression, which had been sarcastic or bored at times, but still friendly, suddenly became serious. Kazuki could not help but feel uneasy about what he was about to reveal, but he nodded anyway.

Enea began his final explanation, "I guess you've already come to terms with the fact that you can't refuse missions, right?" Kazuki nodded bitterly and seeing his answer, Enea continued, "But, technically, you would have the ability to refuse any mission or order coming from that asshole and absolutely nothing would happen to you bu-"

"Really?!" Kazuki interrupted. Although slightly annoyed, Enea replied, "Technically, yes, but only you would be unharmed. Because if you refuse a mission, don't follow his orders or don't try hard enough, you will have to say goodbye to your universe and all the people in it. He will eliminate them the moment you disobey. And I assure you this is no bluff - I saw it for the first time about two months ago. I had been sent with a boy on his first mission to watch him and help him from time to time. At one point, the boy faced an opponent much stronger than himself, and he had to defeat him without my help in order to complete the mission. He was in bad shape, with several wounds that would have been fatal to a normal human, but he still had the strength to fight. However, unable to bear the pain, he gave up and stopped fighting, his opponent spared him, but that bastard took that as a refusal to complete the mission, so at that moment he eliminated the universe the boy came from."

What little hope Kazuki had to return to a normal life was completely destroyed by these words. Of course, after hearing that, he could no longer afford to refuse any orders, otherwise he would endanger the lives of everyone he knew, especially his little sister. So Kazuki swore to himself that he would complete every mission, even at the cost of his own life, because if there was even the slightest chance that his sister would die because of him, he could never forgive himself. However, one regret continued to haunt him. "I would have liked to see Yui at least one last time," he thought and then made a heartfelt request: "Okay, I'll do as many missions as he wants. I don't want to see my universe destroyed, but first... would you ask him if I could see my sister Yui one last time?"

Enea's eyes widened in surprise. Then he stood still for a few seconds, thinking, and finally said, "Sorry, it's my fault for not explaining it well, but you don't have to worry: between missions you can return home. The length of time between missions depends on how interested the bastard is in you, but it usually ranges from a week to a few months. At the end of each mission, he will return you to your universe unless you ask him to stay. So as long as you survive the missions, you should have no problem to see your sister again".

Kazuki's cheeks blushed slightly as he thought, "I'm really glad that I still have a chance to go home, but this is embarrassing."

He quickly tried to change the subject, "After all, what happened to the boy who lost his universe?"

Enea's expression became somber again and he replied, "That boy, shortly after realizing that his universe and all the people he loved were lost forever, took his own life, unable to bear the guilt of having caused the death of all those people, even if unintentionally."

Enea's answer made Kazuki feel guilty for asking the question so easily and left him speechless.

After a few seconds of silence, Enea continued, "I think I have explained the most important things to you, so if you have no more questions, I will let you go." Kazuki nodded in agreement. Seeing Kazuki's reaction, Enea said, "Well then..." When what seemed to be a katana made of ice appeared in his right hand, he cut the rope that bound him to the chair with a movement so fast that Kazuki's brain did not register it and then finished the sentence he had started, "...let the training begin," with a disturbing smile on his face, to say the least.