Kamen Rider Zi-O, Dimensional Descent

"...You mean all those humans left that place using some kind of spatial power?"

"To be precise, it was one of the girls who didn't seem to look human."

"What... a race that isn't human is mixed up with humans? How is this possible? Aren't all the races in this world supposed to hate humans?"

Gates looked at him with some surprise, but just then—

They all felt a series of vibrations coming from outside.

"Let's get the spaceship away first. It's probably goblins or some other race searching this area."

"Understood, my Demon King."

So Woz took out the Galaxy End control dial and pressed the button on it.

A massive portal instantly transported him to another area.

--------------------------

Today, the hottest news has reached the ears of all races.

During the battle between the goblin and winged races, two strange spaceships suddenly descended.

The people who emerged from the spaceship were from an unknown race.

These two beings directly wiped out all the goblin and winged creature members present at the time.

It's such an absurd thing.

However, what's truly absurd is not just that simple.

"...Humans?"

Nina Cleaver is a person of high status among the Forest Elves.

With her long golden hair and green dress, the image of this girl is enough to attract many Forest Elves, even without considering her majesty, simply because of her beautiful appearance.

Now, this young woman with such youthful looks is instead showing a somewhat displeased expression as she looks at her subordinate.

"You're saying that the two people who wiped out the goblin fleet and defeated all the mysterious winged invaders at the time were two different humans?"

"This, this seems to be a widely circulated topic, because several survivors at the time seemed to say that the goblin warships were constantly broadcasting test results indicating they were human—"

"Ha! You actually believe something like this just because someone says it? Don't you even use your brains to think about whether it's true!"

The girl shouted angrily at her subordinate, who didn't dare to say anything more.

"...However, the destruction of the goblin fleet is also a fact."

Nina quickly fell into deep thought.

"The fact that the Skywing species were also defeated is still questionable... Those guys were monsters strong. If they weren't Dragon Spirits, there shouldn't be anything in this world that could restrain their existence."

"But if such powerful individuals truly exist... why haven't any appeared yet?"

As expected of the forest elves, who are known for their wisdom and resourcefulness, they have grasped the crux of the matter so quickly.

However, for her, this was just a rumor; she hadn't seen it with her own eyes and couldn't draw any conclusions.

The scene shifts to the other end—

This is a magnificent, golden palace high in the sky.

The main hall is pure white. Because it floats above the clouds, the air inside is very thin, but it is not affected by the gray sky below the clouds.

"…I see."

Inside the main hall, a voice echoed.

The incredibly deep and resonant sound, like an echo in the void, reached every corner of the main hall.

"A total of six people were attacked. Three were killed, and the remaining three exhausted their power and reverted to their infant form?"

“That is indeed the case, Lord Artesu.”

The creatures located inside the main hall are of the Skywing race.

Countless winged maidens, instead of floating in the air, were all kneeling in the main hall.

There was another person directly in front of them.

Do not…

That was not a human being, but a higher existence that transcended the concept of a human being.

—They are gods.

Completely white, it sat on a huge throne, its face shrouded in radiance, and had the same wings on its back.

—This is the God of War.

Just sitting here is enough to make everything in the world understand his level of power; just speaking a few words, the weight of his voice is enough to shake time and space.

All the Skywing races were created by him to some extent.

He is both the creator god of the Skywing races and the war god of this world.

"How are the three individuals we brought back?"

"Lord Artes, those three individuals... all of them have been sent for treatment due to exhaustion of their power, and it will take about fifty years for them to fully recover."

"Well, that means we can't ask them about their specific situation yet, right?"

Another powerful winged girl in the room—her name is Azriel.

If we were to use chess as an analogy, then she would be like a cavalryman.

Compared to the regular Winged Race soldiers, Azriel possesses a fundamental difference in strength.

However, she is generally active in the Skywing race's headquarters only as an administrator.

"...How dare any race be so disrespectful to Lord Arteshu's creation! It is truly unforgivable."

"That's alright. What I'm really concerned about is—how exactly is this done?"

Artesius, the God of War, can be said to be the strongest god in the world, truly deserving of the title of God of War.

The Skywing race, which he created, can theoretically be considered the strongest race.

but…

He couldn't think of many races that could wipe out, or even kill, several Skywing races in one go.

"Could it have been done by a dragon spirit?"

"...No, we investigated the site, and there was no trace of any dragon spirit species there."

"That's strange. If it wasn't them, then who else in this world could achieve such a feat of fighting against the Skywing race with their own strength?"

"Whoever that guy is, Lord Artesu, we will make him pay for all of this!"

Azriel seemed quite indignant about this.

but…

As the strongest, Althu actually became interested in this.

He had a vague feeling that this matter was not as simple as he had imagined.

"Have someone continue investigating this matter... I hope to obtain more information in the future."

"As ordered!"

Seeing Azriel hurriedly send people to investigate, Altshu continued to prop his chin up with his hand, but a sense of unease was vaguely rising in his heart.

"...Has someone finally appeared in this world who can defeat the strongest person?"

Volume 7, No Game No Life ZERO: Chapter 293 Human? Or Enemy?

A huge warship slowly flew by in the sky.

Under Woz's control, the warship was directly switched to stealth and automatic modes, allowing Yan Ming and the other two to discuss and rest inside the warship.

First, they organized most of the intelligence they had gathered so far.

Then... they should consider what they should care about most in this world.

That is, the fate of the human race.

"Then it can be basically confirmed that the human race is completely disliked by any other race in this world."

"If that's the case, Woz, according to you, there's a machine girl living among the humans... Why is that?"

"Humans have such a small place in this world, so why would they risk being targeted and wiped out by other races to come to such a dangerous place?"

After raising these questions, Gates and Wozniak began to think about them quickly.

"Could they have been forced to come here? Maybe those people just happened to be in this area being chased by those monsters."

"It just so happens to appear in such a vast desert?"

Yan Ming's words left Gates speechless. Indeed... if those humans had simply lived their lives honestly, they would never have appeared in such a vast desert. They would have become easy targets for other races.

"What do you think, my Demon King?"

"I think those humans are far more complex than they appear to us."

Considering all the information available now, Yan Ming... has actually made a very bold conjecture.

If we say—

"What if those humans don't actually want to live in the world as ants, but instead want to find opportunities to fight against other races?"

"What did you say? The humans of this world want to fight against those guys who fought us before?"

Even Gates found this claim unbelievable.

"Hey, the reason we can fight those monsters is because we have superhuman strength. Humans in this world aren't like that, are they?"

"That's true, Gates... but have you thought about something?"

Wozniak, who was standing nearby, turned around and took over Gates' question.

His answer was as follows.

"In the future, in 2068, when you faced an existence like Oma Zi-O, weren't you also completely helpless, with only despair and an invincible future?"

"...!"

Even so, didn't you still choose to keep fighting?

For people living in 2068, Oma Zi-O is an absolutely invincible being, an absolute barrier that cannot be harmed even by using the entire power of the Earth.

Everyone knows this.

But they still chose to form a resistance army and fight on in that apocalyptic world.

If we substitute this idea for the thoughts of other humans living in this world where the battle for the Star Grail is taking place... what about their thoughts?

"But... so what if that's the case?"

Gates looked very annoyed.

"Humans living in this world have no chance of winning, just as we, living in 2068, had no chance of winning no matter what..."

"That's not necessarily true."

As he spoke, Yan Ming looked at the various projected information on the large screen of the warship in front of him.

“Woz translated it for me before. It says that about one kilometer from here, there is an abandoned base belonging to the Forest Elf race.”

"It seems that there are some documents left behind by the forest elves that have not yet been collected. The purpose of the goblins coming here this time was to steal those documents, but they were attacked by the winged goblins on the way, which led to the situation we are seeing."

Based on these circumstances, the reason why humans appeared in this desert becomes quite clear.

"Are they trying to take the documents left behind by the forest elves...?"

"I guess so. First of all, according to the records here, the Forest Elf's documents seem to contain very profound encrypted text. One of the races that can understand and decipher these texts is the Machine Elf."

Machine type...?

At this point, Gates thought of the machine girl that Woz had mentioned before, who stayed among the humans.

"So, that machine-type creature was with those people because... it was helping them decipher the text in the Forest Elf documents?"

"This is just a guess, but if I continue to extend this guess, I have discovered some interesting things."

Yan Ming continued to state his reasoning.