Esper Harem in the Apocalypse

Chapter 1177: Reunion with Rias

Rudy covered his mouth and let out a lazy yawn. He stepped closer to the enchanted glass. He tapped his index finger against the smooth surface.

Tapping into his reality-warping abilities, Rudy utilized his Clipboard Conjuring. He copied the exact behavioral data of a loyal golden retriever from his memory. He pasted that data directly into the neural network of the SSS-rank Chimera on the screen.

The terrifying beast stopped mid-charge. It dropped its front paws to the dirt and panted happily. Its serpent tail wagged back and forth like a dog. The Chimera flopped onto its back, exposing its scaled belly to the sky. Rias stopped running.

She blinked in pure confusion. Cautiously, she approached the monster and gave its belly a gentle rub. The Chimera let out a joyful, rumbling purr.

Jane stared at the glass. Her jaw dropped.

“Phase three is clear,” Rudy smiled. “What is next?”

Jane marched toward a separate viewing pedestal at the edge of the chamber. The glass shifted to show the Ancestral Gravity Chasm.

“Phase four,” Jane hissed. “The ancient gravity plates on the floor are designed to crush anything possessing human blood. I barely survived it with my ten percent human heritage. Rias is ninety percent human. She will never pass this.”

On the projection, Rias collapsed onto her hands and knees. Her bones cracked under the extreme gravitational pressure. She gasped for oxygen. Tears streamed down her cheeks from the sheer pain.

Rudy refused to watch his future wife suffer. He raised his right hand and casually snapped his fingers.

He applied localized gravitational manipulation to the exact coordinates around Rias. He inverted the physics of the chasm just for her. The crushing weight vanished instantly.

Rias gasped and floated upward. She drifted gracefully through the air, gliding over the treacherous obstacle course like a feather drifting on a warm summer breeze.

Jane fumed. Her face turned a bright shade of red. She pointed a trembling finger at the viewing mirror as her sister effortlessly floated to the finish line.

“She is cheating!” Jane yelled.

“She is adapting,” Rudy corrected her.

Jane stormed out of the viewing room. She led Rudy and Niti down a spiraling staircase to the lowest level of the palace. They entered a cavernous stone vault containing the Portal of the Ancestral Trial. A swirling vortex of dark energy occupied a raised dais in the center of the room.

“This is the final phase,” Jane stated. She pointed at the swirling vortex. “The boss is the Shadow Lord Phantom. I failed to defeat it. Rias is out of mana and trapped in the corner. Let the royal elders intervene right now, or you will lose her.”

Rudy ignored the warning. He walked directly up to the spatial portal. He reached his bare hand straight through the swirling dark energy.

He focused his mind on molecular creation. A glowing celestial sword of pure light manifested within his grasp. He opened his fingers and dropped the radiant weapon right into Rias’s waiting hands on the other side of the rift.

The moment Rias gripped the hilt, the residual Overlord mana on the weapon surged into her body. The magical feedback shattered the 1989 memory seals Rudy had placed on her mind during his time travel.

Eighteen years of sealed, passionate memories of her human lover flooded her brain. She remembered his touch, his voice, and their shared promises. Her eyes flared a bright, glowing blood-red.

Fueled by sheer adrenaline and the Overlord’s residual magic, Rias let out a fierce battle cry. She swung the celestial sword in a wide arc. The radiant blade vaporized the Shadow Lord Phantom in a single, devastating strike.

The dark vortex on the dais rippled. Rias charged out of the portal and stepped onto the stone floor of the vault. Her trial armor hung in shredded tatters around her body, leaving her nearly bare.

She dropped the glowing sword. She leaped forward and threw herself passionately onto Rudy. Her arms wrapped tightly around his neck.

“Rudy!” Rias sobbed against his chest. Tears stained his tailored suit. “I missed you so much! You finally came back to me!”

Jane stood near the stone archway. She stared at the discarded celestial sword and then looked at the tangled pair. Her brain short-circuited.

“Wait, she passed?” Jane stammered. Her eyes darted from her sister’s shredded armor to the smiling man holding her. “And why is she hugging the human burglar who was just in my bed?!”

Rudy held Rias against his chest. He had only unlocked the 1989 memory seals. She remembered their time together in the past and their reunion in this post-reset timeline, but her memories of their full life in the previous world remained missing.

A loud, happy panting echoed from the dark vortex on the dais. The colossal SSS-rank Trial Chimera trotted out of the portal right behind Rias.

The world-ending beast possessed a lion’s head and a dragon’s scaled body, yet it bounded across the stone floor with the joyful enthusiasm of a golden retriever. It sat politely next to Rudy and nudged his hand with its snout to demand head pats.

Rudy smiled and scratched the monster behind its ears.

Jane stared at the scene in profound horror. She barely survived her own trials and still wore armor caked in swamp mud. Her mind completely rejected the absurdity unfolding before her eyes.

“Rias, step back!” Jane yelled, gripping the hilt of her sheathed weapon. She pointed an accusing finger at Rudy, convinced he was nothing more than a master-class human warlock using forbidden illusion magic.

“This human is incredibly dangerous. He is a delusional insect who barged into our war council, defiled our family honor, seduced Niti, and literally projected a fake, highly obscene movie of me onto my bedroom ceiling this morning!”

Rias stopped sobbing against Rudy’s suit. Her head snapped up. The loving reunion instantly vanished, replaced by a fierce, possessive glare. She pulled back slightly, oblivious to her own shredded, nearly bare trial armor.

“Wait,” Rias narrowed her glowing red eyes at her twin. “What do you mean he was in your bed, Jane? Did you touch my Rudy while I was away on my trial?”

Jane flinched under the sudden accusation. She waved her hands frantically to defend herself. “No! Of course not! I found him trespassing in my chambers, so I tried to execute him!”

Niti stepped forward from the shadows of the archway. She folded her hands neatly in front of her apron and offered a perfectly polite bow.

“Actually, Princess Rias, Master Rudy was only in Jane’s bed because I was giving him a thorough physical checkup,” Niti clarified helpfully. “But Princess Jane spent the entire morning aggressively staring at his… ‘Mister Dick’.”

Jane gasped, taking a stumbling step backward. Her face burned so hot her silver hair practically turned pink under the torchlight. “I did no such thing! You are both under his vile spell!”

The two twin sisters immediately descended into a chaotic, high-speed bickering match.

“And why are you treating him like that? He is my lover. Your brother-in-law! Treat him with the respect he deserves! And explain to me what Niti meant!” Rias demanded to know exactly how long Jane had been staring, while Jane furiously tried to reassert her haughty royal authority over the maid.

Rudy sighed. He watched the two princesses argue over him in the middle of the trial vault. Fortunately, a set of velvet curtains hung near the entrance.

He extended his right hand and used his telekinesis to yank the fabric from the iron rod. The velvet floated across the room and wrapped securely around Rias to cover her exposed skin.

“Ladies, please,” Rudy interrupted, pulling the makeshift curtain tighter around Rias. “We can discuss the details of my physical checkup later. Right now, I think we have a war to finish.”