Once they arrived at the ISV Carpark 1A, which definitely looked like a graveyard to Dia too, the way onwards was quite easily. The two pioneers that were probably holding hands when they forged onwards had mapped down the route ahead, as well as the dangers that they faced.

Their goal was quite simple. Dia and the others mainly wanted to get to the plaza in front of the secretary-general building, since it was a safe open space with a lot of amenities. Apparently, there was a bathroom there, as well as a nearby farm where plants grew…

As for why there were such things?

That was the million-platinum question that no one could answer, so Dia wasn’t going to waste more of her attention on foolish things like this. Rather, she wanted to complete the mission that the world had given her — to witness the end of this world.

It was a weird request, but there was a high chance that they wanted to see it through her somehow. Dia was quite sure that she had turned into a conduit of sorts for the five grand skies and whatever, and the powers that reigned up high wanted to see the end for themselves…probably. After all, a bit of digging around for information would reveal that the Celestia Ruins were destroyed by three immense powers.

“What are you thinking about?” Schwarz asked.

Farah, who was still hitching a ride on Dia’s back, moved slightly. “Who, me?”

“Not you, you’re busy. I’m talking about Dia,” the bartender replied. “You look very distracted.”

“I’ll probably rupture your eardrums if I reply, so no.”

“No, you won’t,” Nero cut in. “Authority doesn’t seem to work here…partially, at least. I’m not too sure about the details, but Claud apparently tried to experiment with random bullshit. To a certain extent, he was able to reveal truths to Lily, but he stopped the moment he felt a touch of danger.”

“So how does that work?”

“Some fragmented consciousness of this world, probably,” Nero replied. “I’m hedging this really badly, but there is a certain possibility that this set of ruins can resist the influence of the outside world. As long as you don’t reveal too much or too sensitive data, the ruins can stop weaker punishments.”

“Really now?” Dia raised an eyebrow. “Alright. I’ll try. I want to see the end of the Celestia Ruins because I’ve been offered a mission. The five grand skies intend to destroy the Celestia Ruins afterwards.”

“Okay, I’m still fine…” Schwarz’s voice trailed off. “Sorry, destroy the what?”

“The Celestia Ruins,” Dia replied. “Yeap. Apparently, the ruins were never meant to be here, and as the world moves on to a new cy—”

A deathly chill flooded her nerves instantly, and her instincts took over, screaming madly at the same time. Every part of her body was warning Dia that if she continued that sentence, she would be killed, body and soul — even the Celestia Ruins could not save her.

Her sudden movements didn’t go unnoticed either, but other than the premonition of complete annihilation, nothing else happened to her.

“Are you fine?” Nero asked.

“I’m fine.” Dia wiped her forehead with her left forearm, before letting out a breath. “It was just a premonition of instant death if I completed my sentence.”

“You sound far too light-hearted, though…”

“It’s nothing much,” Dia replied, her eyes on the translucent moving coffin-like carriages. “Let’s hurry up.”

“Well, if you say so, then.” Schwarz looked at her again. “Sound off if you don’t feel fine. And don’t worry about the surroundings. Just make sure you keep Farah on your back.”

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“Right, Farah. I forgot about her.”

“Hey!”

“It’s a good thing, because I can’t feel much of your weight. Or any at all,” Dia replied. “This means that you’re light, or I’m strong enough that I can carry an adult woman and not feel anything. Both are good results, right?”

“What kind of warped argument is that?” Farah muttered. “But you’re right, I suppose. If I’m this light, maybe I should binge on more unhealthy food. I mean, to begin with, mana-folders don’t really grow fat. It’s just that I’m very used to watching my diet.”

“Eat freely, I tell you.” Dia adjusted Farah’s body. “Alright, let’s continue on.”

After a few more minutes of mana-walking and stopping to obey the weird lights, the four of them found themselves at an impossibly huge wall. A glance at it told Dia that those walls were probably quite flimsy; for something to be this tall, they had to be built in a particular manner.

If she didn’t get it wrong, these walls were for show or something along these lines. Maybe they were actually hollow inside or something, but Dia wasn’t going to break the rules here and there. A crowd of illusory people sat down on queues of moving chairs, and the frontmost person would be served by the translucent person at the counter.

This was quite a well-crafted bait to weed out the impatient, though. Any attempt to cut the line or to spoil the peace here would be met with lethal force; apparently, there were guards here that could kill penta-folders with ease. This was simply a trap meant for impatient fools that wanted to rush to the afterlife, since the solution was very, very simple.

One just needed to act like a civilised person.

Without much ado, the four of them occupied one seat each. Farah had ceased her use of Skyward Eye, and was now looking at everyone else with a rather odd expression on her face, but that was probably to be expected.

“Anyway,” said Dia, “since we have nothing to do, why not check your Statuses? You guys haven’t opened them yet, right?”

“Right, that’s something we should do too…”

Dia watched everyone’s expressions closely as they opened their own Status, and then stifled her laughter as they tried to reason with their new changes. Mostly, though, confusion was the main thing on their faces, rather than something like shock.

“So, how is it?”

“A bunch of translation failures and nothing much,” Farah replied.

“Same here.” Schwarz made a face. “Still, it’s a bit shocking. I was looking at the Energy Grade bit. It seems like I’m a D or something?”

“That’s me too,” Farah added. “What about Nero? You’re a hexa-folder, right?”

“Penta-folder,” Nero corrected. “There’s a big fat D+ sitting there in the middle…no, I can’t advance to a hexa-folder just yet, so stop looking at me curiously, Dia. In the first place, I thought you knew I was a penta-folder?”

“It was always ambiguous,” Dia replied. “And besides, I thought you advanced to a hexa-folder some time ago, but you never announced it, so I assumed you had some deeper, darker reason.”

“Don’t be silly.” Nero made a small snort. “Still, do you guys have something under ‘Class’? Oddly enough, I do have one, contrary to the records. I’m apparently a ‘Chosen’, which is a Tier-6 something.”

“Oh, you too?” Dia asked, her voice filled with joy. “I have one too! Salvation Star, Tier-8. Apparently, I’m really powerful or something, since my Physical Modifier says 8750.”

“…What?” Nero looked at her. “That’s nearly nine thousand…are you fine?”

“That’s a very rude way to phrase things, okay?” Dia replied. “And it’s not my fault if your numbers are smaller than mine, got it? I’m very innocent here, thank you very much. You can’t blame me just because I have nearly nine thousand in my Physical Modifier.”

“Not a very good thing for your marriage prospects, but as expected of the princess’ bodyguard, I suppose.” Farah cackled. “So, what kind of partner are you looking for? I hope you aren’t looking for someone stronger than you.”

“Not interested in love right now, really. I think watching Lily and Claud flirt is making me swear off love or something,” Dia replied. “They’re always all over each other, and I feel like dying from sugar or something.”

“…Usually, that induces a predisposition to fall in love,” Farah replied. “I’ve done studies before on this thing. Around eight years ago, I sent out a secret order to all couples to display their affection in public. The number of people who got together afterwards shot up faster than the Moons.”

“That’s…kinda scary, but okay.” Dia laughed dryly.

“Hmm. Or did the princess promise to get you a hunky knight as a husband?” Farah muttered to herself.

“Yeah, no. Just no.” Dia patted her head. “Now, if we’re done talking about this crap, let’s focus on literally anything else. Like the Trial of Aeons. For some reason, I get the feeling that I should be out of this place before Phase 3 of the Trial begins.”

“And how do you know that?” Nero asked. “Another mission?”

“Yeah. It came in right before I entered the Celestia Ruins, but I haven’t had the time to look at it yet,” Dia replied. “Only skimmed through the whole thing, see?”

“And?”

“What do you mean, and?”

“What’s the mission about?” Nero asked.

“Let me read it first,” Dia replied. “Give me a moment…”