(MC POV)
Right as the world changed, the girls moved closer to me for support.
"Master… What's going on?" Lian Li asked, her hand grasping my arm in terror.
Manami grabbed my other arm, "Master… This feeling… I do not like it…"
Tsuki also took this chance to hug me from the front, "Aniue? Why is this happening?"
I patted their heads to ease their worries, "No need to be afraid. I'll take care of this soon enough. Just stay here ok?"
The three of them nodded, allowing me to fly up into the air to search for the eyeball monsters that I expected to show up.
Contrary to my expectations, there were no giant floating balls of eyes this time but instead, a large army of shadow monsters blanketing an entire part of the city.
The monsters were about the size of an adult and had long tails that were as long as they were tall. Wicked claws stretched from the tips of their fingers and the most notable thing was the fact that they had a mouth but no other facial features.
The moment they sensed me, every single one within the city immediately got down on all fours and made a dash towards me, leaping from building to building and sprinting through the streets and alleyways in a bid to get to me.
Right, this is new…
I'm not sure how resilient these monsters are but I at least knew the buildings and people affected by the time freeze were basically invincible while suspended in time.
That means I can do some really big stuff without worrying about causing collateral damage.
Just as I was about to do what I planned to do, I heard the sound of someone shouting out a warcry of some sort.
Looking down, I realised it was Tsuki's friends facing the horde fearlessly.
Eh? They are moving within this world just fine.
All three of them were wearing the standard fantasy trope armour where Nishimura looks like a swordsman, Fujiwara was an archer and Maeda was their magician.
That's… Surprising…
I decided against using a really big Technique and opted to just watch them for now. I've already placed a few hundred overlapping defensive inscriptions over my disciples so they should be safe at where they are.
Despite the obvious odds stacked against them, none of the three highschool students showed any fear when facing the horde of monsters, as though it was something they faced on a regular basis.
Hmm? I have a weird thought that this scene should be weird, but I can't place my finger on why. Such a scene is normal right? High school students facing off against a horde of monsters… That's… Normal?
Before I could rationalize why such a thought came to me, the monster horde reached my three classmates and the fight started in earnest.
Fujiwara drew her bow and let loose a couple of arrows, killing the monsters at the front.
Maeda waved her staff in an arc and several fireballs popped into existence around her before blasting the monsters further behind into pieces.
The monsters were surprisingly fragile apparently, I thought they might be as tough as the floating eyeballs but that doesn't seem to be the case here.
Nishimura then raised his sword and charged forward, cutting down several of them with a single swing of his sword. That's our baseball ace for you.
I watched them fight against the horde for a good minute, the three of them showing remarkable teamwork which suggests it wasn't their first time fighting together. But even with their skills, they couldn't hold off that many on their own.
The monsters started to push them further and further back with more of them starting to flank them.
Having seen enough, I dropped down in front of Nishimura and sent a wave of force that shoved all the monsters back a distance away.
"O… Onii-san?! What are you doing here?" Nishimura gasped in surprise at my entrance.
"To save you three of course," I grinned before snapping my fingers quickly. "You might want to step back a bit from here."
Fujiwara stepped up, "We're not leaving Onii-san to fight these things alone! Let us help too!"
Maeda appeared beside her while clutching her staff, "Yeah! We'll help too, Onii-san! There's strength in numbers!"
I chuckled and pointed to the sky.
The three of them looked up and gaped at the giant meteor falling down towards the city, covering the entire area in its shadow.
They didn't even get to react before the giant rock crashed into the earth, obliterating everything that was under it and sending a shockwave throughout the entire city.
As though that wasn't enough, the meteor exploded into smaller fragments, throwing pieces of it in every direction.
Any monster that wasn't caught in the initial drop was incinerated by the ensuing explosion, wiping every one of them out.
If I hadn't erected a barrier around us, my classmates and my disciples would have been wiped out too.
With a flick of my wrist, the dust cloud that the meteor created disappeared, leaving us standing on a clear street that was entirely unaffected by what had just happened.
The three of them were still looking at me in awe so I gave them a salute, "I'll see you three at school."
Right as those words left my lips, everything returned back to where it was before the change again.
I still don't know why this is happening but it seems like more people are getting caught in it for some reason.
If it goes on for longer, could the entire world be caught up in it?
I should probably check on this reality and whether someone or something is influencing it. Maybe I can start from--
"Papa! Papa!" I heard Cai Hong squeal, the loli dragon hugging my face from where I was carrying her in my arms.
I patted her head on reflex, making her giggle in delight.
I paused.
Has Cai Hong always been here? Where did she…
.̵̒͑ͅȇ̶̻̾r̵̰̫̅e̶̗̱̔͘h̵̳̮̕ ̵̩̒͝ņ̸͛͘e̸͕͊̓ͅe̵͓̚b̸̨̔ ̶̨̃ş̴̟̀ÿ̶̹́a̶̩̅̾͜w̸̪̋ḽ̶̑͊a̸̯̔̀ ̶̣̝̍š̸͖'̷̹̩̿̌e̴̙͍̋͛h̵͛̀ͅŞ̴̯͗
Wait…
Of course she has always been here. She's been with me for so long already, how could I forget? I must be getting forgetful in my old age.
That's the case… Right? Why do I get the feeling that something is wro--
.̶̗̈̐g̵̳̈́͠ñ̸͖͂ỏ̷̢̘̋r̷̞͛w̸̧̗̓̎ ̶̽ͅg̵̮̚n̵̯͖̆͌i̷̭̎̀h̷̩̾t̶̜̞͝o̷͔̱̔̕n̶̡̳͛̅ ̵͙̅̕s̷͕͖̈́'̵̼̅͆è̶͔r̷͈̞͗́e̴̬͝h̸̠̘͋T̵͚̀
Ah, of course, there's nothing wrong. Cai Hong is cute after all.
"Master? Shall we go before the little brat makes noises at us again?" Manami asked, gesturing to the Takeda boy who was glaring at me from a distance away.
He really doesn't like me patting Cai Hong's head apparently. Is he a lolicon?
Well too bad for him, I get to pat my cute daughter's head whenever I want.
"Let's go then, we'll stop at the usual place for pudding. Does Cai Hong want pudding?"
"Yay! Pudding! Papa, pudding! Cai Hong want!"
She's so cute.
Yep, Lian Li on my left, Manami and Tsuki on my right while carrying Cai Hong in my arms… This is… Entirely normal.
Yes, perfectly normal…
I looked up at the sky and frowned slightly at what I saw.
Was the moon always red?
