My Invincible Defense: Traversing the Endless Worlds

“Any news? Did the out-of-towner talk?”

At the top of the thirty-story building, Simpson held a brick-sized communicator and asked.

“B-Boss… the West 5 Sector branch… it’s been blown to hell.” the voice on the other end trembled.

“…”

Simpson stayed quiet for a moment, then asked, “Is everyone dead?”

“Everyone’s dead—John, Sam, Eddie… all of them, except those two bastards!” The voice on the communicator spat the words through gritted teeth. “I saw it with my own eyes. The building came down, and they walked right out of the dust. Not a scratch on them.”

“Terry lied. That man’s at least a Tier 4 Vanguard!” Simpson’s hand tightened around the communicator until his knuckles went white.

“Boss, what do we do?”

“No point throwing more men at him. Send him a proper gift instead. That ‘Judgment Light’ Radiant Path gave us the day before yesterday is finally going to see some use.”

“Understood, Boss.” The line went dead.

Simpson lowered his head and gazed down at the pitch-black streets below. He traced the Radiant Path symbol over his chest and whispered, “Holy Radiance above, watch over me as I purge every heretic. Let me offer my small part in building the Glorious Radiant Paradise upon this sinful world.”

…

The night was black as ink, dotted with a few bright stars that looked like flecks of gold scattered across black velvet.

“Ah~” Jimmy stretched out a long yawn and rubbed his eyes. “Bro, where are we headed now?”

“This place isn’t safe anymore. Let’s go back to the inn, pack our things, and leave first thing tomorrow. You look dead on your feet too—get some sleep.” Finn replied.

The two of them chatted as they walked toward the Michael Inn.

“You said before that all Celestial Sojourners are lonely,” Jimmy asked. “You’ve been wandering through the Endless Worlds all this time—never thought about finding someone to travel with you? In all the novels I’ve read, the real powerhouses always end up with a whole harem of wives and concubines!”

“Harem?” Finn shook his head. “Nah, women are way too much trouble. Though… I wouldn’t mind putting together a proper maid squad. Give myself somewhere that almost feels like home. Somewhere I can come back to and actually have a hot meal waiting.”

The whole maid-squad idea had started after what Finn witnessed while traveling through an ultra-advanced world. That was the place where he ran into a combat maid unit made entirely of bio-engineered humans.

Their master was a fat otaku scientist. Every one of his combat maids could fight like demons and handle housework like pros. They cooked, cleaned, warmed the bed—whatever he wanted—and they were loyal to the bone, never a single thought of betrayal. Finn had been green with envy the second he saw them.

Of course, the Endless Worlds were full of every kind of freak and nightmare imaginable. Finn had come across plenty of combat butler squads too, along with far worse things created just to feed human lust.

They were twisted, grotesque, and sickening—packed with violence and raw sex, no limits whatsoever. Laws and morals got stomped into the dirt. Those people would do absolutely anything, no matter how depraved, just to satisfy the darkest, most evil desires rotting away in the bottom of their hearts.

If you recorded any of the shit that actually happened there and edited it into a movie, it would pass straight as softcore porn or straight-up R-rated without changing a single frame.

To the powerhouses who carved out their own territories and ruled like kings, laws and morals were worthless trash. They trampled all over them without a second thought. They lived exactly how they wanted—extravagant, decadent, drowning in every kind of luxury and filth.

Finn might have looked down on those people, but he had to admit their lives were a hell of a lot more comfortable than his own.

“What’s so great about maids?” Jimmy scratched his head. “I’ve been to one of those maid cafés before. The girls all wear those black-and-white maid dresses. From a distance, they look just like funeral clothes—super ugly!”

“Funeral clothes…” Finn let out a soft chuckle. However, he also admitted that a purely black-and-white maid outfit was too monotonous.He had once seen the artwork from the OrangeMaru circle by artist YD-sensei, and the maid outfit designs in those pieces were incredibly detailed and clever.

Note: The artwork is titled as follows:

(C94) [OrangeMaru (YD)] Chaldea Maid (Fate/Grand Order)

(C96) [OrangeMaru (YD)] Chaldea Maid II (Fate/Grand Order)

[OrangeMaru (YD)] Chaldea Maid III (Fate/Grand Order)

……

They pushed through the biting night wind and arrived at the Michael Inn. Finn pulled out the key, but the lock wouldn’t budge.

Bang! Bang! He pounded on old man Michael’s door. The old guy finally shuffled out, rubbing sleep from his eyes. The moment he saw Finn and Jimmy, his face lit up. “Whoa, you two are still alive!”

“Of course we’re alive,” Jimmy grumbled.

The old man eyed Finn up and down. “What happened to the Demon Gang guys? I was afraid they’d come looking for trouble, so I chained the door from the inside.”

“They’re all dead,” Finn said flatly.

“Dead…? They’re dead?” Michael’s face went slack with shock. He clutched his head and cried out, “Holy Radiance above! What the hell did you do?! Have you lost your minds? They’re the biggest gang in Black Mountain! Crossing them is asking for disaster! When I saw you two come back, I thought they’d let you off easy!”

Finn shook his head and rapped on the metal door. “Just open the door already. It’s the middle of the night—are you really making us sleep out here?”

Michael let out a deep sigh. The old man’s wrinkled face creased with worry as he spoke in earnest:

“You two need to leave right now. Get out of Black Mountain. I’m saying this for your own good. I’ll refund the rest of your rent.”

“You two outsiders have no idea how vicious the Demon Gang really is. They chopped off the last Operations Commander’s head. The Commander from North 2 Sector was strung up and hanged right in front of the Judgment Hall…”

It was obvious the old man was truly worried about Finn and Jimmy. Finn patted him on the shoulder. “Don’t worry, we’ll be gone tomorrow.”

Michael breathed another soft sigh. He climbed a wooden ladder to the roof, slipped through a hidden door in the ceiling into the room, and unlocked the chains from the inside. The door finally swung open.

Suddenly, a brilliant streak of light shot across the pitch-black night sky. The meteor burned bright, dragging an extremely long silver-white tail behind it.

“A shooting star!” Jimmy clapped his hands together, squeezed his eyes shut, and blurted, “Quick, make a wish!”

“That’s no shooting star,” Michael said, tilting his head up to watch the falling light. “It’s a Heaven-sent Object. Another Heaven-sent Object has come down.” Faint starlight shimmered in his cloudy single eye.

“What’s a Heaven-sent Object?” Finn asked, surprised.

“According to the Radiant Path, Heaven-sent Objects are gifts from the Holy Radiance, sent down to grant humanity divine power. One usually falls every four or five months, sometimes every seven or eight.”

“The Radiant Path built its entire empire on Heaven-sent Objects. Every time one falls, they seal off the area immediately.”

As the Heaven-sent Object streaked across the pitch-black night sky, the people living in this neighborhood stepped out of their houses one after another, staring up at the miraculous sight.

“Mom! Look, a Heaven-sent Object!” In a small shack two buildings away from the inn, the little girl Beverly Jackson shouted in her high, childish voice.

“Holy Radiance above, this is a divine miracle…” The woman traced the Radiant Path symbol over her chest and bowed her head in prayer.

Heaven-sent Objects, huh? Is it really not just a shooting star? Finn looked up at the bright falling light. This world really still had plenty of wonders left to uncover.

…

The Judgment Hall—Black Mountain’s military headquarters. Diesel generators roared loudly as the entire building blazed with lights.

A massive emblem of the towering black mountain range was plastered across the wall. Under the harsh glare, a huge sand table model of Black Mountain sat right in the center. More than a dozen officers in black combat uniforms stood around it, mapping out their battle plans.

“Fourth and Seventh squads, advance from West Street and link up with First squad. Your target is the Demon Gang’s East 1 Sector branch. Watch for heavy weapons…”

“Latest intel: the Demon Gang’s West 5 Sector branch has been reduced to rubble. Scratch it off the target list…”

“Demon Gang headquarters is on Hoffman Avenue in South 1 Sector. All available reinforcements, rally there immediately. Snipers, maintain overwatch and keep your heads down.”

“Last time we hit one of their security posts, Demon Gang mutants tracked five of our snipers by the sound of their shots. The bastards came up behind them and slit their throats…”

A sharp-nosed officer with deep-set eyes slammed his fist on the sand table. “All Sector Commanders and Operations Commanders, coordinate your units. This time, we rip the Demon Gang out by the roots and wipe them clean off the map!”

“An operation this big, and the City Lord isn’t joining us?” a dark-skinned female officer asked.

“The City Lord took two people with him to negotiate with the Sandhawk Raiders at the dam,” the striking girl with short golden hair replied. It was Olivia. “Starting a war with the Sandhawk Raiders is too risky. If we can take the hydroelectric plant without a fight, that’s the best outcome.”

The officers around the table let out a wave of gasps and murmurs.

“That’s way too dangerous! Those Sandhawk Raiders are all brain-fried lunatics!”

“Relax. This is the City Lord we’re talking about. Even if the talks go south, he’ll walk away without a scratch!”

“The City Lord is the only Tier 5 Vanguard we’ve got, after all!”