"Alright, guys. I need you to make sure that nobody enters the Sealed Cave until I'm done, okay? Under any circumstances."
"Understood." Benimaru replied.
"Yessir. I, Diablo Onyx, live to obey your commands, Lord Rimuru."
Beside me, Risa rolled her eyes (or whatever her slime form had for eyes).
"...Diablo."
"A bit much, sir?" Diablo caught on quick. He had quite a bit of potential as my new secretary.
"Just a smidge." I replied.
"Understood, sir."
…
In the deepest recesses of the Sealed Cave, Risa and I stood together at the entrance to a large cavern, side-by-side in our human form.
"Remember the last time we were here?" I reminisced.
"I still called him 'Mr. Magic Man.'" She replied with a giggle, "I never forget anything, Big Bro… Rimuru."
I chuckled in reply. "Right. You have two Big Bros now. Better start using my name." I sighed. It was time. "You ready, Veldora?" I asked.
'Absolutely. I, the great and venerable Veldora Tempest, am ready for my return to the physical plane!'
"Venerable?"
'Report. He has been reading manga from your memories.' That explains why Risa's old Databank sub-skill had always been full of manga volumes.
Well, it didn't really matter. After our skills had evolved, the combination of Faust, Isis, Thoth, and Horus had turned a 100-year analysis into something almost instant. The only reason that we'd waited for a whole day after my harvest festival ended was because I hadn't been able to find a good time to break away, since I was certain that Veldora would not be able to completely control his aura when he left my stomach.
'So, how do you plan to do this?' Veldora asked.
In reply, I created an Enhanced Replication. It looked exactly like me in every way. Huh, I look like someone in the later half of middle school now. Great. Still look a bit younger than Risa, who looks like she'd just barely finished growing.
'Oh! Yes, a body that's literally a part of you! The perfect vessel for my mighty power!' And with that, Veldora let his consciousness flow straight from my Stomach into the replication.
Immediately, the replication's physical form changed. It became manlier… and manlier. Until it was seven feet tall, shirtless, tanned, and rippling with muscles. The hair became short and blonde. This form really did suit one of the strongest beings in this world. I couldn't be that manly if I'd actively tried.
"Gah-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha! I am the Storm Dragon Veldora! RE-VIVED! And all who defy me will be slaughtered!"
That was from a manga, right?
'Answer. Correct.'
But the real shock about Veldora's resurrection was… that aura.
'Report. That is the effect of individual Veldora's new Ultimate Skill: Set, Lord of Destruction.'
Wait, what?!
'Would you like to review skill changes caused by your Harvest Festival now?' Even though it didn't specifically say it, I could practically feel Isis add 'which you should have done sooner' to the end of its question.
'Hmph.'
Sorry! Please update me, oh great and wise Isis!
The results were…terrifying.
Now, I already knew what Isis and Belzebuth did, as well as what Risa's Thoth did. Those were basically just evolved versions of the skills that we'd always relied on, Wise One, Gluttony, and Curiosity.
But Risa and I now had three Ultimate skills each. Veldora himself had two. The only other person in Tempest who'd awakened an Ultimate was Risa's new attendant, the Dragon Lord Althea, who'd somehow awakened Nephthys, Lord of Honor.
Which brought us to my new skill, Aether, Lord of Bonds. Basically, what Aether did was create a network between everyone with whom I had any sort of soul connection. That ran from Risa and Veldora, all the way to the very last monster in Risa's new White Force, even though she was the one who'd named them, and I'd never met them before, not even once. Naturally, I acted as some sort of 'network hub,' meaning that I had access to it all. Every single skill any of my friends had, so long as I was capable of copying it, had a backup inside Aether, and I could technically interfere with the version that they had, too.
For example, Geld's new Unique Skill, Feast, granted him a stomach that he could share with any of his High Orc subordinates. Using Aether, I was able to connect his stomach to my own, naturally subverting all capacity limitations.
There were only three skills that Isis noted capable of subverting Aether's authority. Risa's Horus, Lord of Dominion was a weird skill that, just by existing, subverted part of Aether's authority. Since it was Risa's skill, it was currently extending Aether's authority, allowing me to do more with it, but if Risa didn't want Aether to be capable of something, she could easily use Horus to shut any part of it down, and I honestly wasn't sure if I'd be able to fight against the restriction.
Then, there was Althea's new Ultimate skill, Nephthys, Lord of Honor, which was another stupid useful skill without many limitations. So long as she had the right pact, I wasn't sure what she could accomplish with it.
Luckily for me, Althea and Risa were my dear friends. That meant that their skills were invaluably helpful.
However, Veldora's second Ultimate skill was an entirely different story.
In a word, it was horrifying.
Set, Lord of Destruction came directly from Veldora's Concept as a True Dragon. Chaos.
Another way of putting it was that the skill rejected things, breaking them down until they simply stopped existing.
Example, the rocks in this cavern. The moment Veldora released his aura, the cavern walls all became perfectly smooth, the sharp edges turning directly into dust, which was broken down even further, losing their subatomic composition before they'd even hit the ground, despite Veldora not even actively unleashing the skill in question.
It'd required a Pact from Nephthys and full use of Horus before Isis could even dare attempting to analyze Set, apparently. And immediately upon analyzing it, Isis put a Pact on my skills to keep me from accidentally unleashing the Destruction aspect of Set into Aether.
Good going, Isis!
'Thank you.'