Souta didn't immediately return to the real world. Instead, he stayed in the Date A Live world for a few more days with Kurumi.
Thanks to Isaac's memory modification, DEM Industries had completely abandoned its policy of hunting down Spirits and was now functioning as a legitimate company.
Aside from supplying manifestation devices to AST and military forces worldwide, DEM had even started expanding into construction and had founded the world's largest charity organization.
Upon learning this, Souta couldn't help but feel both amused and speechless.
Isaac, the great villain, has now gone so far down the path of virtue that there's no turning back.
Since his personality had been fundamentally rewritten, it was practically the same as "killing" him once.
But Souta didn't find this particularly difficult to accept.
His sense of morality was that of an ordinary person—neither excessively kind nor needlessly cruel.
For example, he would never feel compassion for bandits who pillaged, murdered, or committed heinous crimes. If he encountered such people, he would eliminate them without hesitation.
Want redemption? Sure. But first, how about you die a few times and then we'll talk?
Isaac reminded Souta of a well-known character from the Fate universe—Kirei Kotomine.
The two shared a very distinct similarity—
"They both had PhDs in human suffering."
Watching people suffer and die genuinely brought them joy.
Thirty years ago, when the human military wiped out the village of magicians, the only ones who felt outrage were probably Elliot Baldwin Woodman and Ellen Mira Mathers.
Not only was he not angry about his fellow villagers' deaths—he was delighted.
Because humanity had given him a reason for revenge.
Because he now had a righteous cause to justify his slaughter.
He didn't actually care about revenge—he simply enjoyed killing.
"I have to admit, Altair's memory modification card really works wonders."
Souta muttered while reviewing DEM's current status.
There were other beings in this world who could manipulate memories, such as Mio Takamiya and Hoshimiya Mukuro.
Mio could erase memories. Mukuro could seal memories.
But neither of them could freely rewrite them.
This was a strange limitation in the power system—
Spirits were strong enough to destroy worlds, yet they lacked simple abilities to manipulate the minds of ordinary people.
As for the "Arbitrary Territory"... Souta wasn't sure if it could alter memories.
Honjo Nia had her five years of torture sealed away, but it was only sealed, not rewritten.
If memories could be rewritten, then reverting her back to normal would have been a trivial matter.
For this reason, Souta wasn't worried about Ellen using "Arbitrary Territory" to restore Isaac's memories.
With Isaac no longer a villain, no one was after Kurumi anymore.
Now, she could freely reunite with her parents.
Unlike Yamauchi Sawa, who chose to age normally, Kurumi's parents gladly accepted the Lifespan Card that Souta gifted them.
Their reasoning was simple—
"We'll live for now, and when we no longer want to, we'll decide what to do then."
Souta stayed at Kurumi's home for a few days, and their time together was surprisingly harmonious.
After that, Kurumi reversed her parents' aging, turning them young again.
And just like that, they quit their jobs and set off on a journey to travel the world.
With nothing else holding them back, Souta and Kurumi returned to the real world.
Back in the Real World
Inside his rented apartment, Souta sat on the sofa, browsing through information on his phone.
Kurumi, after preparing some tea for him, asked:
"So, Souta, have you decided which world you'll visit to gather faith?"
"I've already picked a few worlds. I plan to visit them all, but I haven't decided which one to go to first."
Souta handed his phone to Kurumi.
"Take a look. These are my choices."
Kurumi took the phone and examined it carefully. Then...
Souta scratched his cheek and suggested:
"Kurumi, you should find some time to learn Chinese."
"Chinese... isn't that hard to learn?"
Kurumi sighed softly.
During the two months she spent in the real world with Souta, she had attempted to learn it.
But... it was too difficult.
"What do you mean?" "Not enough meaning." "Just a small gesture." "That's interesting." "Excuse me."
And the ultimate headache:
"What I mean is just to show some meaning."
A single "meaning" joke was enough to make her give up.
"Yeah... I guess it's a bit difficult."
Souta pondered for a moment before saying:
"If we ever go to the Campione! world and slay a god, we could gain Pandora's blessing and be reborn as a 'Campione.' That would grant us the 'Language of a Thousand Tongues' skill, making it possible to learn any language in minutes."
"Campione? Gods... can be killed?"
Kurumi immediately thought of Shiroyasha and was stunned.
Going somewhere that dangerous... wouldn't that be risky?
Noticing her expression, Souta smirked and reassured her:
"I'm not talking about gods like Shiroyasha. Different worlds have different power levels. Even if they're called 'gods,' they can still be weak."
"Shiroyasha, for example, is quite powerful. And don't forget—she calls herself a 'Demon God' because she lowered her own Spirit Rank. Her true nature is a Star Spirit."
Kurumi thought for a moment and then asked:
"So, you're saying there's a world where slaying gods grants benefits? And the gods there... aren't that strong?"
"Well... 'strong' depends on what you compare them to."
Souta recalled the Campione! world's "Heretic Gods" and explained:
"If you compare them to Shiroyasha or Mio Takamiya, then no, they're not strong at all. In fact, if we work together, we might even be able to kill one."
And he wasn't exaggerating.
It would be like fighting old Piccolo from Dragon Ball.
If Kurumi prepared Bullet Seven in advance, Souta could land the first attack, and they could take turns using time-stop abilities to lock down a Heretic God.
After that, all they had to do was figure out a way to kill an immobilized god.
Considering that in the Campione! world, Sun Wukong was almost burned to death by atmospheric re-entry, it was clear that gods there weren't invincible.
A mere 1,000–2,000 degrees Celsius was enough to threaten them.
And Souta could create antimatter.
If I can generate antimatter, then I should be able to pull this off...
Suddenly, he felt a strong temptation.
Should I go to the Campione! world and slay a god for some Authorities?
After all, Authorities could be nurtured into Divine Authorities.
"God-slaying, huh..."
Souta was genuinely interested now.
Of course, for now, he still had to focus on gathering faith.
"If you can't read it, I'll explain." Souta told Kurumi.
"I've selected the worlds of Akame ga Kill, Black Bullet, No Game No Life Zero, and FGO/Absolute Demonic Front: Babylonia.
"I plan to visit them all, but I haven't decided which one to go to first."
After introducing each world, Kurumi frowned slightly.
"Black Bullet... isn't that a modern world? It doesn't seem suitable for faith-gathering."
She believed that modern societies weren't ideal for creating religions.
After all, with today's information explosion, feudal superstitions had long since been debunked.
If they tried establishing a religion, they might just get reported to the authorities and labeled as criminals.