Izumi shook his head and stopped dwelling on the matter.
He would deal with Little Garden when the time came.
While the beings behind Little Garden were connected to the One-Digit realm, it wasn't something he considered impossible to handle.
After all, the moment those One-Digit beings helped guide countless worlds toward his own, Izumi understood one thing clearly—
They held no hostility toward him.
Retracting his perception, Izumi looked toward the group obediently sitting before him.
Led by Kuko, countless girls dressed in strange and extravagant outfits stared back at him.
There were gothic lolitas.
Elegant onee-sans.
Mature beauties.
Every type imaginable.
Kuko gazed directly at Izumi, mysterious emotions flickering in her crimson eyes.
"What exactly is your relationship with Lord Azathoth?"
"Why do you possess her power… and her aura?"
That was what she wanted to know most right now.
As for Nyarlathotep—
She could wait.
Not only Kuko, but every girl behind her fixed their eyes on Izumi with intense curiosity.
Hearing the question, Izumi merely shrugged.
"I'm her successor."
"The one chosen by the power she left behind after her death."
It was the truth.
There was no reason to hide it.
The moment those words left his mouth, the entire group froze in shock.
"A second generation?"
Kuko tilted her head adorably.
"If you inherited her power… then that makes you the second Azathoth, right?"
The other girls looked at him expectantly as well.
If Izumi truly was their new leader…
Then that sounded wonderful.
Some of them were already thinking dangerous thoughts.
Izumi nodded.
"Well… I suppose that's one way to put it."
"I did inherit most of her power, after all."
The Primordial Light and Primordial Darkness had originally belonged to Azathoth—
The power of the Primordial Chaos itself.
The instant Izumi finished speaking, Kuko stood up and extended her hand toward him.
"Then please take us with you."
"From now on… we belong to you."
There wasn't even the slightest hesitation in her voice.
To her, the moment Izumi inherited Azathoth's power, he had become their new master.
And deep down, she had another suspicion.
Nyarlathotep probably already knew all of this.
That was why she had approached Izumi in the first place.
Izumi glanced at the girls standing behind Kuko.
All of them stared at him with sparkling eyes.
After thinking for a moment, he nodded.
"Alright."
"Then come back to my world with me."
As soon as he finished speaking, a dimensional gate opened before them.
Izumi stepped through first.
Kuko immediately followed after him.
The rest of the girls hurried after them excitedly.
Ever since Azathoth's death, the Outer Gods had scattered throughout the dimensional multiverse.
They had believed they would never gather together again.
Yet now—
Their new successor had appeared.
To them, this reunion felt almost miraculous.
And as for why they never chose a new leader among themselves?
Simple.
None of them accepted each other.
No one was willing to submit unless that person possessed the power of the Primordial Chaos itself.
But now that a true inheritor had appeared…
There was finally someone worthy.
The group cheerfully passed through the gate together.
Some of them practically skipped along the way.
They looked surprisingly adorable despite being terrifying cosmic entities.
Clearly, they were in an exceptionally good mood.
After all—
The successor to Lord Azathoth had finally appeared.
Watching them, Izumi couldn't help finding the situation amusing.
Ever since inheriting Azathoth's power, his feelings toward these Outer Gods had changed considerably.
If it were the old him, he probably would have remained cautious around them.
But now?
They all felt like loyal fangirls.
...
The moment Izumi brought an entire army of Two-Digit and Three-Digit Outer Gods into his world—
Gaia and Alaya nearly fainted from terror.
The two world wills stared at the newcomers in complete disbelief.
"I-Izumi-sama!!"
"Who are these people!?"
Alaya, the expressionless little girl, looked utterly overwhelmed.
Wasn't this way too terrifying!?
He disappeared for a while and came back with this many monsters!?
The pressure radiating from them was horrifying beyond words.
Izumi simply smiled.
"From now on, they're part of our side."
As he spoke, he directly engraved his own mark upon every one of them.
The instant the mark settled onto their bodies, the Outer Gods became fully integrated with Izumi's world itself.
And immediately afterward—
Subtle changes began occurring throughout the world.
For example:
More tentacle monsters started appearing in the wild.
Eris suddenly discovered her powers becoming stronger.
And countless similar abnormalities quietly emerged everywhere.
Still, because Izumi had branded them with his authority, Gaia and Alaya no longer felt overwhelming fear toward them.
However—
Just as the two world wills relaxed—
A tall black-haired woman with ram horns suddenly walked up and poked Gaia's cheek.
"Not bad."
"So this is a world will?"
"Hm… should I make a few children that look like this?"
Gaia instantly froze.
"…Eh?"
"My brain stopped working…"
The poor girl stared blankly at the woman before her.
Shub-Niggurath.
The Black Goat of the Woods.
The moment Gaia recognized her identity, her entire body trembled.
"NO!!"
"I refuse!!"
"Absolutely not!!"
What kind of nightmare proposal was that!?
Shub-Niggurath merely chuckled softly.
"I'm joking."
"Relax."
Then she looked down toward the world below.
"This world seems to contain several beings related to us."
Hearing that, the other Outer Gods spread out their senses as well.
And indeed—
They discovered multiple powers within this world that shared the same origin as themselves.
At the same time, Kuko also sensed something familiar.
Nyarlathotep.
"She's here."
"Found you."
The instant those words left her mouth, Kuko vanished from the spot.
...
Meanwhile…
The moment Izumi returned with the Outer Gods, Nyarlathotep immediately sensed disaster approaching.
So naturally—
She began frantically packing her belongings in preparation to flee.
Unfortunately for her—
Before she could escape, a familiar voice suddenly rang out behind her.
"Wifey~!"
"Found you at last!"
The next instant, someone hugged her tightly from behind.
"Wait just a second!!"
"Let go of me, you lunatic!!"
"Get your hands off me already!!"
Nyarlathotep desperately tried shoving the girl away with a face full of disgust.
But Kuko held onto her firmly without moving an inch.
Kuko's expression had completely melted into that of a lovestruck idiot.
Drool practically dripped from the corner of her mouth as she stared at Nyarlathotep excitedly.
"Nyarlathotep…"
"I finally found you again."
"This time, you're not escaping."
"Let's make babies together."
"We'll build an entire soccer team for Izumi-sama to play with!"
"Hehehehehe~!"