Kurumi lowered her head in thought—Souta's plan was highly feasible.
However, there was one glaring issue.
"Shiroyasha, do you actually have a way to transport over a hundred million people?" Kurumi asked.
"Of course. I've created planetary-scale Game Fields before—multiple times, actually," Shiroyasha replied nonchalantly.
"Forget a mere hundred million, I could store this entire world's population inside if I wanted to."
Kurumi forced a wry smile.
That childlike appearance of hers was so deceptive—it was far too easy to forget she was actually an absolute powerhouse.
Souta, sitting beside her, didn't say anything, but he vaguely recalled that inside one of Shiroyasha's Game Fields, there was a silver sun floating around.
Was that truly just a planetary Game Field... or was it stellar level?
"There's still another problem," Kurumi added after a moment.
"Dropping a hundred million people into the modern era all at once... Are we really sure that won't cause major issues?"
Souta froze, carefully considering the implications... and then he realized—yeah, that was a huge issue.
He muttered, "You're right... Food shortages, employment concerns, housing crises—if all these things aren't addressed, it would be the equivalent of suddenly creating a hundred million refugees. If that leads to riots..."
A hundred million refugees.
That was a truly insane number.
Handled improperly, it could even ignite a war.
"In that case," Souta suggested, "why don't we stagger their release? As long as it doesn't disrupt key historical events, we can release them in waves—maybe a few tens of thousands at a time. Also, we should avoid Japan, since it has too many connections to the birth of the Spirits."
"Hmm... If we space out their return, that does make things much easier. I imagine that after a few instances of this, the world governments will establish special institutions to handle the situation," Kurumi said, considering the idea.
At the very least, this plan was far less reckless than dumping one hundred million people all at once.
"As for providing them with food in the beginning..."
Souta turned toward Shiroyasha.
"Shiroyasha, if you can create entire planets, then producing a massive supply of food should be no problem, right?"
"Creating planets? You're talking about the Game Fields I made back when I was at full power. Right now, making planets isn't that easy... But..."
Shiroyasha mentally calculated for a moment before saying:
"If it's just feeding a hundred million people, that shouldn't be an issue."
"Alright, then that takes care of the food problem," Souta said with a relieved smile.
"As for jobs—post-disaster recovery is bound to create tons of employment opportunities. Any remaining issues? Well, we'll just leave those to the modern governments to figure out."
Of course, they weren't actually planning to wait thirty years before releasing those people.
They'd obviously use time-travel to fast-forward and release them in batches.
After all, waiting three whole decades just to complete a single mission? That'd be absurd.
"We have the ability to freely travel through time," Souta pointed out.
"We can afford to experiment a few times. If something goes wrong, we can just undo it and try again. Sooner or later, we'll figure out the most optimal solution. It's just that..."
"It's gonna be a lot of work."
"Workload isn't an issue. As long as I get my points in the end, I really don't mind some extra effort," Shiroyasha said, far more relaxed than Souta was.
She had already been fulfilling her duties as a "Floor Master", handling tons of responsibilities without a single complaint.
Despite her eccentric personality, Shiroyasha might actually be the hard-working, diligent type when it came to her job.
"Well, since you're the main force behind this operation and you don't have a problem with it, then I've got no complaints either," Souta said, nodding in agreement.
"Let's move forward with this plan to solve the Eurasian Great Spacequake issue."
With that settled, Souta moved on to the next topic.
"The only thing left... is rescuing those girls who died due to Mio Takamiya refining the Sephira Crystal."
"That won't be a problem," Kurumi assured him.
"Even after their transformation into monsters, those girls didn't die immediately after Mio extracted the Spirit Crystals. There was a delay. I can take advantage of that window—once Mio takes the Crystal and leaves, I can secretly save them."
"Even if they do die, we should still be able to bring them back."
Souta turned toward Shiroyasha again.
"Shiroyasha, you should have the ability to reconstruct souls, right?"
"Soul manipulation, huh... That's not really my area of expertise," Shiroyasha admitted.
"But if it's just retrieving the souls of recently deceased ordinary humans, that's totally doable."
With that confirmation, everything was finally falling into place.
"Then that settles it," Souta exhaled deeply and smiled.
Near the China-Mongolia Border
An endless grassland stretched to the horizon.
Scattered shepherds watched over their flocks, while the air carried the scent of damp earth.
The soil beneath their feet was soft, and the wind rustled through the prairie.
After spending the entire night discussing details, the trio arrived at the ground zero of the soon-to-happen Eurasian Great Spacequake.
Souta was currently being held in Kurumi's arms, floating in midair.
Beside them, Shiroyasha walked through the sky as if it were solid ground.
Souta glanced at her, a little envious.
He did have a transformation ability like Shinobu's, but even if he sprouted bat wings, flight was... impossible.
At best, he could turn his hands into blades.
He could also harden certain parts of his body.
Kurumi held onto him tightly, as if afraid he might fall.
Not that it would actually kill him.
"They're here! Those three magicians you mentioned," Shiroyasha suddenly announced, pointing eastward.
Kurumi and Souta turned to look.
Using his enhanced vampire vision, Souta barely made out three blurred figures in the distance.
Isaac Ray Pelham Westcott, Elliot Baldwin Woodman, and Ellen Mira Mathers—these were the three magicians who created Mio Takamiya.
They had all been born in a magician's village—a village that was ultimately destroyed by humans.
So, in retaliation, they planned to create Spirits to wage war against humanity and the world itself.
From Souta's perspective, that was textbook insanity.
If someone kills your loved ones, then you go after those responsible.
Dragging millions of innocent people into your revenge scheme?
What the hell did they do to deserve that?
Of course, Souta had already grown numb to these kinds of villains in anime.
So, when he spotted the three figures below, his expression barely changed.
"By the way, Kurumi," Souta suddenly remembered something.
"That Isaac guy? He's actually one of the biggest antagonists in your world."
Kurumi blinked. "He is?"
"If you count from this moment onward, 25 years from now, he'll kidnap the Second Spirit, Nia Honjou."
Kurumi's expression stiffened.
"For five years straight, he'll repeatedly torture her—gutting her open, drilling into her skull, slicing off her limbs piece by piece... Just full-on psychopathic madness."
Kurumi's crimson-and-gold eyes narrowed dangerously.
"The Second Spirit... he kidnapped her? And tortured her... for five years?"
"Yeah. So, let's not waste any sympathy on him."
Souta glanced down at the three figures.
"Of course, we can't touch him right now—or we'll risk screwing up history."
"Be careful. A strange energy is beginning to gather," Shiroyasha suddenly warned.
"It's probably that 'Reiryoku' you mentioned."
(TL Note: A bit busy! I'll update next chap tomorrow!)