Like greased lightning, all three girls ran with all their strength and threw themselves into the butcher's embrace. Time seemed to stop as the four of them fell to the ground, each girl shedding a lifetime's worth of tears as they deliriously called his name.

"DARLING! DARLING! DARLING! DARLING! DARLING!"

"Husband. Back. Happy. Grateful. So Grateful."

"HIRO-SAMA! HIRO-SAMA! I MISSED YOU SO MUCH! PLEASE DON'T EVER LEAVE US LIKE THAT AGAIN!"

Thus against all odds, the Mitsurugi family was able to reunite even beyond lifetimes. For the next ten minutes, three girls poured out their frustrations, loss, and sorrow into pitiful wails and sobs.

The man lovingly embraced them and allowed them to vent their emotions. He similarly cried silently, This feeling this bliss. After so much hardship he finally felt he returned home.

Home never meant a specific building to the four of them. It meant being in each other's arms. The girls who seemed so frail sought the man's warmth as they buried themselves deeper into his embrace.

They cycled through gratitude, anger, spite, and happiness. throughout the whole time, the girls greedily relished the strong presence of their beloved.

"I am so glad you came back, my love.. Why didn't you come back immediately? Did you not know how much I missed you? I almost got raped! Twice! How could you do that to me?! I should leave you just so you know what it feels like! Huhuhu... My love, I'm sorry. It's fine... So long as you are here safe with me. I am fine. I will be fine.."

"Darling, it was so hard. When I heard you died, my heart hurt so much I couldn't even breathe. Tell me I did a good job. I protected my sisters like you wanted. Please give me my reward. Darling, I wanted to just make my heart stop so many times. I wanted to find you. I longed to be with you. I cried myself to sleep every time when I remembered you were no longer there. Please don't leave again. I do not have the strength to survive again."

"Husband, welcome back. I missed you. So much. Wanted to die. Lene.. tried to jump off a cliff.. Nessa drank poison.. tried to die in the slums.. was hard. Without you. ...so hard..You are my light, Hiro. Dark scared me. I know you at home. So I continue, but when you gone. Who waits for me? Why fight? Why struggle? I'm tired. But you're back. Your back. Husband. I love you. I love you. I love you..."

The girls each chronicled their hardship, their struggles, and their pain. In between their laments, they would express their happiness and joy at his return. Hiro felt his heart continually break and shatter with each tear his wives shed.

He wanted to explain but held back. This was his crime and so his punishment. Hiro could have returned much earlier but choose not to. Everything that happened from how his girls tried to kill themselves, to their fragile egos on the brink of collapse, to them wanting to end it all are all his sins.

The man could not blame Rhyne, the Convent, or even the monsters. Hiro Mitsurugi choose to get stronger and in so doing abandoned his women in their time of need. No matter his reasons this truth would never disappear. And can never be forgiven.

Outside this room, the ground shook even greater. So much so that the entire city started to panic. The Calibers started to affect reality as the emotion of the Wolfen butcher laced his energies and caused havoc.

'It is my fault. Everything is my fault.'

Blaming someone else sounds good on paper, but how can one fix a problem one has no control over? No, blaming others is what cowards do. It absolves one of responsibility and throws away any guilt for the mistakes that happened.

historical

Hiro knew it, the pitiful women who he said he loved, their wretched figures as they cried. It was all on him. Because he took ownership. He could do something about it. Because he didn't cower away, the power to change it never left his side.

'This will never happen again.'

-Alert: Reality Defined: [By your side will I fall], Skill [Heart's Dogma] now grants skill [Dimension Gate] -

-Alert: [Dimension Gate] - short wave gate that allows instantaneous travel. Consumes 500 points for each Caliber. Per traveler, per Entry. Gate opening will be designated by Host, Gate ending will be designated by the wife Targets; all three Wife Targets are present to use.

-Alert: Note each wife target must be present and conscious before exit can be cast. -

- Alert: Wife Targets Selected: 1. Raylene 2. Vanessa. 3. Jade -

- Alert: [Heart's Dogma] realities based on Wife Targets now available -

- Alert: [Heart's Dogma] reality now available [So long as they need me] -

- Alert: [Heart's Dogma] reality now available [By your side will I fall] -

- Alert: Affection rating held by host 1. Raylene 80% 2. Vanessa. 80% 3. Jade 80% -

Hiro could only smile wryly, when he died the affection ratings were all above 100. Now that they dropped back to 80%, it seems he needed to spend some time untangling the heart demons of each wife against him.

The butcher had so many questions but the three women in his embrace all passed out after relief flooded their systems. He was caught in the dilemma of just letting them sleep or moving them into the bed so it would be more comfortable.

After much deliberation, he just stayed put. A lot of things did not make sense to him. But so long as they were together Hiro knew they would eventually understand one another fully.

——————

Outside the city of Partisan five figures were investigating the thousands of corpses on the plains between Partisan and Anvil. This long stretch of dry almost desert-like land was called the Akontio plains.

And currently, there were over eight thousand monster corpses, or what's left of them scattered all over the plains. A man looked over the battlefield trying to piece what happened together.

He was suddenly awakened in the middle of the night due to a prophecy. A SSS class monster invasion would originate from this place and with its destination unknown. The man had a very robust physique, his muscles stretched his simple clothes to the limit.

The man had black hair tied in a short ponytail and carried an intricate-looking spear on his right arm. "Dylan~ No luck I tried every investigation spell I could. There is nothing. The calibers in the area are so used up nothing can be salvaged to see beyond what we know happened."

A woman with pink hair approached and threw herself into the arms of the black-haired man. Despite being stoic, "Dylan" lovingly stroked the hair of the woman in his embrace.

"Thank you, Autumn, it's a shame we can't identify what happened. But thank you for trying." The woman childishly giggled while burying herself into her beloved's embrace.

Three other girls approached, all of them powerful warriors. The one in the lead, a blonde female knight covered in white armor expressed her opinion.

"Dear, Talvi, Vesna, and I checked the other areas. Similar to the one closer to Partisan. We noticed four different caliber signatures. None of them are in our records."

The man then looked back in the direction of Partisan as he expressed his concern. "Thank you for checking Leto. So four people fought off a demon Invasion of rank SSS, and we don't know who such a force belongs to. Looks like things are moving up faster than I anticipated. Let's return home girls. I feel the answers lies there."

"Yes, your highness!"