Chapter 290 – Operation Carrot and Stick.

Chapter 290 – Operation Carrot and Stick.

Once Akagi and Co vanished through the portal, they were greeted not with the wondrous sights of another world but rather a long, thin, rainbow bridge that stretched out before them. It was almost surreal and the inky blackness that surrounded them was only broken up by small flickering orange balls of light, the number of which was far too much to count quickly. Halifax, Yumi, and Amakusa were surprised and even taken aback at this strange display, but Akagi looked completely undeterred.

"Come on, the exit should be just up ahead." Akagi beckoned the three to follow, Yumi still hugged around her arm.

"W-Where is this place?" Halifax cautiously followed along. "My journey to Earth looked nothing like this." From her perspective, it was basically just teleportation and seeing something like this was unexpected.

"Yeah this is entirely different than what I expected. Our arrival was basically a free fall and had lots of white rather than this darkness." Amakusa nervously looked down alongside the bridge.

{Holy hell that's horrifying! Its just blackness!} (Amakusa)

"It kinda looks like we're in space." Yumi commented as Akagi pat her head.

"Well its no wonder you're all confused.” Akagi replied. “This isn't exactly something that the average person would even conceive of, let alone actually 'see' with their own 'eyes'.” She used air quotes. “But to answer your questions, we're in a place between worlds." Akagi explained. "As I told Hishya, reality is basically a collection of bubbles where people live." She pointed to the glowing lights above and around them. "You see those? Those individual little orange orbs are actually entire worlds." They looked like stars, though some were larger, indicating that they were likely much closer.

"T-There are so many..." Amakusa said quietly as she looked around. The number of different worlds was far too high to count, and it reminded her of those pictures that showed the night sky on Earth with no light pollution.

{I... Just how many worlds are there?} (Amakusa)

"The number of different worlds climbs into numbers that you could scarcely imagine." Akagi chuckled as the continued forward, seemingly reading the pet's mind. "It's why I said that finding one individual world isn't easy. Inter-dimensional coordinates are hard to find, and even then gathering the needed energy for a trip like this is anything but easy." She figured that most worlds wouldn't be able to generate the kind of power needed to make this trip easily, and that mortals would almost never be able to do something like this on their own.

{It just goes to show how much power that ritual had if they were able to make it from Enoris to Earth. I suppose that's what happens when you use souls as fuel.} (Akagi)

"Morbid curiosity, but what happens if I jump from here?" Halifax asked nervously.

"Very bad things." Akagi answered with a laugh. "I doubt you'd suffer much since your body and mind would evaporate in an instant. Extra-dimensional space isn't very hospitable to living creatures, and plunking you into a place that might just have the laws of physics backwards isn't a very good idea.” She mentioned that the area between worlds had no set rules for how things worked and it was entirely possible that even things like gravity wouldn't exist. “But don't worry about all that. This bridge provides a safe path for you to traverse, so as long as you don't give into those stupid little thoughts in the back of your mind, you'll be safe.”"

{Though, in reality, there is no bridge. That's just how their minds perceive things since, otherwise, it's too complex for mortals to understand what's happening.} (Akagi)

"Fun..." Amakusa gulped, moving slightly closer to Akagi and away from the edge. "So where's the exit?" She wanted out of here ASAP.

"Just up ahead." Akagi pointed to a small glowing vortex along their path. It looked like the one they'd entered through, though it was purple instead.Rread latest chapters at novelhall.com

"Good. I just hope too much time hasn't passed on Enoris since we left. Dad said I was gone from Earth for only five years, but on Enoris ten have passed." Amakusa was worried that a difference in time might cause problems.

"That won't be an issue for us, at least not anymore." Akagi shook her head. "The Spirit's final journey combined with other travels between the two worlds synchronized their time, so one day on one is the same as on the other. Not to mention that even if that wasn't the case, as long as this portal exists between them, time would pass the same anyway." She'd already done some preliminary checks to ensure that no time dilation existed, since that would mean she was away form home for longer than she was comfortable with.

"How do you even know about something like that?" Halifax asked where Akagi's information was coming from. "You're world couldn't have developed enough to understand all this and while you're smart, I doubt you somehow figured out all this information in the last year."

{I doubt even the Gods could wrap their heads around this.} (Halifax)

"To give you the most unsatisfying of answers, Demon Lords are born with a great deal of knowledge baked into our souls." Akagi said as she and the others stopped in front of the exit portal. "Once I fully embraced what I was, I got access to a bunch of information, and this, along with other things, was part of it." It was essentially as if she'd downloaded a massive file that gave her more information that she could ever need, and even now she found herself with answers to questions that she thought that she shouldn't know.

{I can only imagine what would happen on Earth if I started answering all those questions that scientists haven't been able to figure out. Hell, the real answer to the Dark Matter problem would probably blow people's minds.} (Akagi)

"Convenient." Halifax rolled her eyes.

"Necessary." Akagi corrected her. "But, enough standing around. Are you ready to get to work?" She looked between the three of them, who nodded before walking into the portal together.

"Were there any issues crossing over?" Akagi asked as she pat Chloe on the head.

"Nopers!" Chloe smiled. "Everyone is a bit sick after the transit, but after a few minutes, I think we'll be fine!"

"Excellent. Then your first task will be setting up a base to protect the portal and project our power outward. Once you've done that, you may begin your infiltration of the various nations of Enoris and sending out diplomats." Akagi explained what her next steps should be.

"Diplomats?" Amakusa asked as the ninja started bringing over various premade base equipment and boxes of supplies. "I figured you were just going to blow up cities, not negotiate." She was only partially joking since she figured that Akagi was the kind of person to shoot first and ask questions later.

"I mean, leveling the world is an option, but one filled with all sorts of problems." Akagi shrugged. "Not to mention that one of my goals here is to find whatever Spirits are still alive and bring them back with me. If I start blowing up cities at random, I'll likely kill any slaves within."

{Though that doesn't mean that mass destruction is completely off the table.} (Akagi)

"I don't know how many people you're actually going to find..." Amakusa's eyes darted back and forth. "The coalition forces were pretty um... through and the number of slaves we took, while high, pales in comparison to the total Spirit population. Not to mention that getting them free won't be easy." She figured that there weren't even that many left at this stage of the game.

"Don't worry about that. Chloe and her team specialize in infiltration and dealing with situations just like these." Yumi quipped. "As long as they're still alive, I don't doubt for a moment that she'll get them out, safe and sound."

"Exactly." Akagi nodded. "I've also assigned Nima the task of being our official Ambassador, and she'll start heading to the different nations to demand the release of their Spirit slaves." Naturally, a refusal would have consequences but Akagi had decided to burn that bridge when she got to it.

"You realize that there is no way in hell they're going to say yes, right?" Halifax said as she watched the ninja bring over more material. "Not only are you an enemy of this world but those Spirits were enslaved on the Gods' orders. Handing them over peacefully isn't an option." She figured that the most likely outcome was that the Ambassador would be killed, and then an army was raised to hunt Akagi down.

{And then everyone died, then end...} (Halifax)

"I do agree that it's unlikely that most nations will just willingly hand over the Spirits in their possession, but I think after the first one is punished they'll get the point." Yumi giggled.

{THAT'S NOT SOMETHING YOU GIGGLE ABOUT! PEOPLE ARE GOING TO DIE HORRIBLY, AND YOU'RE LAUGHING ABOUT IT!} (Amakusa)

"Alright then! Without further ado, let's begin Operation Carrot and Stick!" Akagi decided to name this first push into Enoris after a similar plan that she'd seen in one of her favorite anime.

{I wonder how many sticks we'll have to use before others start choosing the carrot?} (Akagi)

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<Elariel POV>

The Heavenly Realm of Elariel, the Goddess of Time, contained a vast garden of all kinds of flowers. On most days, she would spend a lot of time tending to the different plants that called this place home, and today was no different. However, the peaceful serenity was broken by the loud sound of glass shattering.

*SMASH*

"Ah!" Elariel yelped as she dropped her small glass watering can, which shattered upon hitting the ground. "What was that?!?" She felt a feeling of dread wash over her, causing her to momentarily panic. "That... Was that?" She looked around but saw nothing save for an empty Sword Pedestal and a group of Angels walking nearby.

{That energy... It felt like...} Elariel shook her head, dispelling the unpleasant thoughts.

"No, that couldn't be right. I must be imagining things. That's not possible." Elariel snapped her fingers and fixed the watering can before returning to what she was doing.

Spoiler

Map of Enoris!

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