"Come here. Step forward."
Setsuna gestured for Jibril to approach.
She drew in her wings and carefully shuffled over.
"From now on, the Flügel will need a leader to manage them. Jibril, you will temporarily take command of the Flügel."
"Eh? Me?!"
Jibril froze, her face full of disbelief.
Just earlier, she had still been Grey's prisoner.
"Every race will have a corresponding administrator directly responsible to me. You've been here the longest, so guide the others and help them familiarize themselves with the situation."
"Mm... If you perform well, I might consider letting you keep the position permanently. In the future, we'll even create more Flügel."
Setsuna motioned for Jibril to extend her hand.
Soon, she felt power being infused into her body.
Unlike the ordinary Elves that typical Flügel relied upon, this power was mixed with many things Jibril did not recognize—yet it was undeniably effective.
Whoosh—
Almost visibly, little Jibril grew up.
Her height, weight, figure, and even the wings on her back rapidly expanded into a young girl's form.
From a pitiful little loli, she transformed into a dreamlike beautiful young girl, her long pink hair branching into rainbow hues at the tips.
A geometric halo hovered above her head, and the wings at her lower back unfurled, appearing sacred and elegant.
Riiip—
She had been wearing children's clothes. After her body expanded, they tore into several strips of cloth hanging loosely over her.
Jibril herself seemed completely unaware.
Instead, she spun in a few circles beside Setsuna, letting him thoroughly admire her from head to toe.
"Eh?! That was so fast? It used to take me a really long time to recover from exhaustion..."
Jibril flexed her wings and stretched lazily.
A not-insignificant pair of justice swayed back and forth in front of Setsuna, making Formidable's eyelids twitch.
"Can you at least put on some clothes first?! ..."
"Research Division, conduct some studies on the Flügel. Especially this trait where they turn into lolis after exhaustion—it must be corrected."
Setsuna smiled.
"Otherwise, if they turn into lolis every time they use Heavenly Smite, it'll be very inconvenient during field operations. Ikaros doesn't turn into a little girl every time she uses Apollo."
Then he paused, reconsidered, and added a few conditions.
"No, actually, the loli transformation ability should be preserved. It just needs to become controllable. In battle, they must maintain their full form at all times. In daily life... well, lolis are pretty nice too."
The loli-form Flügel had completely melted him.
"Hah???"
"What, you want a loli army that can freely switch forms?!"
Grey narrowed her eyes at him.
"Commander, the Research Division exists to explore the unknown and develop new technology and weapons for the Empire. Could you please stop assigning us weird tasks just to satisfy your personal tastes?"
"Besides, if you like lolis, I can transform for you too. I can even let you do whatever you want with me~"
"Onii-chan can just come find me directly, okay?!"
Kayo Senju puffed her cheeks as a group of research lolis chattered noisily.
"..."
"What a strange person..."
Azril watched the giggling girls in confusion.
She realized that compared to Artosh, Setsuna's style was completely different.
Back on Avant Heim, the Flügel's daily routine had been to go out hunting and challenge stronger races, day after day.
Artosh himself had always sat upon his throne like a lofty god, stern and unsmiling.
The atmosphere within the Starsea Empire was far more lively. Setsuna's strength far surpassed that of the God of War. The shipgirls and Heroic Spirits were not weak either. Meanwhile, in the eyes of the Flügel, those research lolis and scientists were practically powerless.
The gap in strength among them was even greater than that between the Old Deus and Immanity—yet they could laugh and play together. To the Flügel, that was utterly unimaginable.
"Don't be so serious. The Starsea Empire isn't what you imagine. Don't apply Disboard's racial mindset here."
Setsuna saw what she was thinking and flicked Azril lightly on the forehead.
"Ah—uh—oh..."
She nodded quietly.
No matter what, the Flügel would now face a completely different life.
As for whether it would be good or bad, and what kind of person this leader of the Starsea Empire truly was, Azril and the other Flügel did not yet know.
They would need time to adjust and grow accustomed to it.
...
After subduing and temporarily settling the Flügel.
Inside the main control room, Setsuna opened the holographic interface.
At this point, all races of Disboard had come under the rule of the Starsea Empire, unified as one.
News of Artosh's defeat and the Flügel's surrender quickly spread across the world.
"It really succeeded..."
Trembling humans looked up at the fleets of starships in the sky. Other races completely submitted to this civilization from another world.
Even the strongest God of War had fallen before the Starsea Empire. Its absolute authority over Disboard was beyond question.
Members of the Research Division conducted a brief survey of the battlefield between the two, checking whether anything had been left behind.
Unfortunately, the Fallen Star Lance's power had been far too overwhelming. In space, only a gigantic black hole remained—formed from collapsed interstellar matter—ruthlessly devouring everything around it.
Two days later, Grey's search team reported back to Setsuna.
"Commander, I've confirmed it. Nothing is left."
"Your battle caused large-scale spacetime distortions. Everything was either disintegrated by the Fallen Star Lance or torn into fundamental particles by the black hole and swallowed."
"In short, this fight didn't drop any loot."
"Hah?"
Jibril's expression turned strange.
What, so when a challenger fights a boss and loses, the boss is supposed to drop equipment?
There's no justice in the world.
"The God of War was originally a deity born from a concept. His weapons and abilities were all manifestations. Don't entertain unrealistic expectations."
Setsuna waved it off with a smile, unconcerned.
"No, no, that's not what I meant. Even his divine core has disappeared."
Einstein, who had accompanied the team, spoke seriously.
"Hm?"
Setsuna paused.
The Old Deus were embodiments of concepts. Generally speaking, concepts could not be killed.
Just like Holou—the God of Doubt had pierced her own divine core due to self-denial, merely falling into temporary dormancy.
Given external stimulation or sufficient time to recover, she could still awaken.
"Maybe Artosh used up all his power at the end. Or maybe he was disintegrated along with everything by the Fallen Star Lance. After all, the Eternal Snowfall isn't purely technological anymore—it's mixed with Outer God power and the authority of Finality and a bunch of other things."
Grey shrugged.
"Blowing a weakened god into nothingness with a single shot isn't exactly strange."
"That said, in theory, even if the divine core disappears, the concept of war itself won't vanish. If it absorbs more power from the universe, perhaps one day a new divine core named God of War will be born."
"But the God of War born then would be an entirely new deity."
"Interesting."
Setsuna nodded.
The mode of existence of the Old Deus was beyond imagination. However, under the future governance of the Starsea Empire, there would naturally be no more wars on Disboard. Whether a God of War could ever be born again was another matter.
As technology advanced, aside from the God of War, other gods might emerge from people's collective will.
"From now on, set a rule on Disboard—if a newly born Old Deus isn't a girl, send it back for remanufacturing."
Gudako smacked her lips, wearing an expression that said she understood perfectly.
"...I'll consider it."
"Next... we still have two things to do."
Setsuna checked the task list.
"All races have submitted. It's time to obtain the Suniaster."
"Gasp—"
Jibril froze for a moment. Not long ago, she would never have imagined that the one to ultimately claim the Suniaster would be a human.
—Though not an ordinary human.
"And the second?"
"Didn't we make a bet earlier?"
Setsuna looked at Jibril and grinned.
"You said there was absolutely no way I could defeat the God of War. Otherwise, you would what, exactly?"
"Come here, come here. Which one should we handle first?"
"Eh eh eh eh eh—"
Jibril looked at Setsuna in a flustered panic.
Previously, she had possessed absolute confidence in Artosh's strength, believing that the God of War—who could defeat hundreds of Flügel in a single strike—was an insurmountable existence.
After witnessing their battle and seeing the Eternal Snowfall, Jibril was completely dumbfounded.
The two were not even on the same level. Forget two hundred Flügel—even two thousand, twenty thousand, would be instantly vaporized before a warship of that caliber.
"You still remember that? I already forgot..."
She folded her wings and spoke shyly.
"Do Flügel really have such poor memory? Hmm?"
Setsuna raised an eyebrow.
"Eh?"
Jibril became even more nervous.
"Do we have to do it now? Ah... like those defeated female knights in stories, I'm going to be made to do this and that by the enemy, right? ..."
"You plan to first, then next, and finally watch my humiliated expression while questioning me again and again, saying my mouth refuses but my body is honest, right?!"
As she spoke, she swayed closer to Setsuna.
"???"
"Where did you learn all that weird nonsense?"
Setsuna knocked her lightly on the head.
He had only intended to tease Jibril, but somehow she had picked up a pile of strange knowledge.
"Uh, she taught me."
Jibril pointed at Grey.
"She gave me a Starsea Empire party handbook, saying it would be useful in the future."
"???"
"We have something like that?"
Setsuna was stunned.
"I wrote it last week!"
The nanobot replied confidently.
"Look, we've recruited so many races this time—Flügel, Ex-Machina, Elves... many of them never received proper education."
"To maintain harmony within your harem, I specially compiled a Starsea Empire party manual for limited circulation, to help you achieve ultimate life harmony aboard the Eternal Snowfall..."
"???"
Bonk—
Setsuna delivered a hand chop, and Grey crouched on the ground clutching her head.
"So my good intentions are treated like trash..."
"I usually handle that sort of thing myself... no, wait, you just want to tease everyone, don't you?"
It was hard for the Flügel and Ex-Machina to understand emotions like "love." For a nanobot with even greater processing power and intelligence, teasing lower-performance artificial intelligences was simply amusing.
"Uh, then what about me? ..."
Jibril actually began thinking seriously, then knelt before Setsuna.
"Do you want me to kneel and lick your feet, or...???"
Just imagining doing such things in front of the other Flügel gave Jibril an inexplicable tingling down her spine.
It felt like some strange new hobby was awakening within her.
"Stand up."
Setsuna pinched her cheek and helped her up.
"We still have proper business to handle. Behave yourself from now on. Don't cause trouble."
"Oh..."
Jibril lowered her head, secretly glancing at Setsuna.
After Artosh's death, he had become the Flügel's new master.
Yet this man remained somewhat incomprehensible and difficult for her to grasp.
"What kind of person is the strongest from another world...? ..."
...
"Ahem—"
After teasing little Jibril, Setsuna turned his attention to another major matter within the No Game No Life world.
On Disboard, there were two most important objectives.
One was conquering the world and all races, researching the magic and technological trees of different species.
The second was another goal of this journey: the Suniaster.
"Question. The manifestation condition of the Suniaster is that only one Old Deus remains after all others are defeated. So are you going to eliminate the other Old Deus on Disboard?"
Holou popped out from the crowd and asked.
Then she suddenly thought of something.
"Doubt. According to that logic, only one Old Deus can survive. Then who would own the Suniaster?"
"And which Old Deus does Commander plan to leave behind?"
Judging from the power previously displayed, the Old Deus of Disboard were like chickens and dogs before Setsuna. One shot would completely erase them.
The loli god began to seriously worry whether she would survive to the end.
"You need to update your version."
Shing—
The research lolis opened a holographic interface, displaying countless complex calculation results.
"The commonly understood manifestation condition of the Suniaster is that only a single Old Deus remains, which under normal circumstances is impossible to achieve."
"Because aside from the Commander, no Old Deus on Disboard possesses the ability to completely eliminate their opponents. Furthermore, based on collective wishes, new Old Deus would continue to be born. War would never truly end."
Grey explained.
"But this condition can actually be interpreted more deeply. The real manifestation condition of the Suniaster is the strongest power. Among all races, the strongest are the Old Deus, whose power comes from the planet Disboard itself."
"If the Spirit Corridor is pierced, the energy released by the planet will far surpass that of all Old Deus combined. Naturally, the Suniaster will appear."
Just like in the original plot, the energy generated by piercing the Spirit Corridor caused the Suniaster to manifest.
"Oh..."
This theory was nothing special to the Research Division, but for Holou, the Flügel, and the other races, it was the first time hearing such an explanation.
"I remember those mole people tried something similar?"
Think Nirvalen frowned.
"You mean the Dwarves' E-Bomb? That thing can indeed destroy the Spirit Corridor, but unfortunately they originally intended to use it as a nuclear weapon."
"Even if they accidentally succeeded, without us present, Artosh would most likely have obtained the Suniaster. You don't actually think Ocain could fight the God of War, right?"
"Hiss..."
The Elves and Dwarves fell silent.
"Next is the specific execution process."
Grey projected a holographic map of Disboard, marking several specific locations.
"The Spirit Corridor is essentially a magical pathway entirely composed of Spirits. With our capabilities, breaking through it isn't difficult."
"We just need to hold back slightly and improve strike precision... so we don't accidentally reduce the entire planet into molecular dust. Rebuilding it would be troublesome."
The Starsea Empire possessed plenty of planet-destroying weapons—from the Fallen Star Lance to neutron annihilation systems, as well as widely deployed photoids.
Not just planets, even stars could be shattered with ease.
Thus, the only real challenge was how to penetrate the target with precise and controlled force.
"That's easy... give me the coordinates. Lock on. Let's go."