The Youkai King

I

Ajuka Beelzebub did not want to be here. He had better things to do than to sit on this exaggerated show of authority and power. Unfortunately, he had no other choice. This was one of those occasions where he needed to attend as a Maou. But at least, to him that is, he was not the one who was taking the blunt of this farce of a show. As his eyes subtly landed on his longtime best friend, Sirzechs Lucifer, he could not help but feel sorry for him.

At least for Ajuka, all he had to do was sit, nod and answer a few questions here and there. In a sense, he had to act like a mascot… a prized and glorified mascot to be shown and presented to the mass. He was fine going along with it. But unlike him, Sirzechs had to take the full consequences of being a Maou, whether he liked it or not.

“Maou, is it?” Ajuka snorted seeing the slight twitch on Sirzechs’ index and middle finger of his right hand. Not many know of it, but it was his bad habit when he wanted to blow someone’s head off, literally speaking. It did not come as a surprise to Ajuka seeing who Sirzechs was talking to. Closing his eyes, he turned away from the discussion happening a few feet away from him. He did not need to listen until the end of the conversation since he already knew the outcome. Even though the term Maou means they should have the full authority over the Underworld, the truth was very far from it. It was the Bael clan along with few other individuals who truly control the underworld, through politics and connection. The four Maou did have some hold over the Underworld but their roles were similar to that of celebrities.

If he were to put it in a human term, the four Maou were the powerful and honorable generals while those old devils were the crafty and resourceful senators.

Ajuka turned to his side to see his friend sitting back down, his wife stood on the other side of the chair. Although he looked like his usual self, Ajuka did not miss the exhaustion and regret in his eyes.

“Did they agree?” Ajuka knew the answer but he still had to ask.

Just for a split second, Sirzechs’ mask cracked. But he quickly composed himself. After all, his best friend had been handling these types of situations for around two hundred years. Putting back the fake smile, he looked down toward the middle of the stadium, “They did.”

Ajuka did not say anything, he did not need to because he knew that there was a ‘But’ coming. And just like he thought, a moment later Sirzechs added the last part, “They want to put on a show first. They want me to intervene at the very last minute.”

Usually, Ajuka did not care much about others if they were strangers to him. But as he looked down, he unknowingly let out a heavy sigh.

In the middle of this huge stadium the devils created a small stage, just for her. The little Nekoshou girl who was no more than eleven years old. Four powerful devil guards were surrounding her, each holding a chain connected to her body. They were presenting her as if she was a notorious criminal. The girl was not crying anymore but Ajuka could tell, she was terrified… terrified to the point that she could not express her emotions at all. It would not be long before she would start to throw away all those emotions, just to stay sane.

That was not the worst part.

All the devils inside the stadium were booing or shouting at the little Nekoshou. Some were even making very crude and vulgar remarks. But Ajuka knew that many of these devils took part in that heinous act the day before. Some of them should be the ones down there instead of that little girl. But unfortunately, most of these devils were heirs and heiresses while quite a few lords participated as well.

In other words, their hands were tied for the time being. Fortunately, Falbium Asmodeus was personally leading the investigation. He just hoped Falbium would find anything concrete to bring all the guilty ones out in the open. As for punishment, of that he did not have high hope.

It was a mess.

“It’s a mess.”

Ajuka looked at Sirzechs with a raised eyebrow.

“We are supposed to be different from the Old Devils, Ajuka.” Sirzechs murmured, his face still held that forced smile but his voice did not, “We are supposed to be the civilized ones. And look at what we just pardoned.”

“We have not pardoned anyone yet,” Ajuka answered. Though it was vague, he was sure Sirzechs got the rest of it.

“Yes, but we both know…”

Ajuka knew why Sirzechs did not finish. The stadium became very quiet all of a sudden. Their battle instincts immediately kicked in. But instead of showing distress or jumping to action, they calmly looked at the source.

There was a sixth member on that small stage now.

The fact that their unexpected guest was able to teleport right into the middle of the stadium without alerting the security… without alerting them, rang all the warning bells on Ajuka’s mind.

The moment Ajuka’s eyes landed on their guest, he immediately cast several high level ‘Scan’ and ‘Sensor’ types of magic on him, and around him.

The man was an Oni type youkai. He had the horns, the physiques… and yet, he did not feel like one. The youkai, who had his eyes closed, did not have a single weapon on him. He was wearing a simple white robe, and underneath it, he had a full-bodied black garment. His outfit looked like it was something one would wear for a formal meeting, not something that one would choose when entering an enemy’s territory.

He was powerful, from what he could sense. At max he was at medium ultimate class level… maybe slightly lower? But it did not make any sense.

And then, he opened his eyes.

Ajuka felt his hair standing up on the back of his neck. His power did not increase, his appearance did not change… And yet, he had this sense of foreboding. And he knew, his friend was feeling the same without looking at him.

His eyes did not have any irises, just a black ripple pattern that spread over the golden sclera. He had never seen or heard about the existence of such eyes.

Then Ajuka noticed it.

The four guards on the stage, although looking at him, were not moving at all.

Sirzechs stood up and stepped forward, so did he. But he was slightly behind, standing beside Grayfia.

“May I know who you are?” Sirzechs asked, although his voice was polite but his face was devoid of smiles.

The being did not answer, rather he turned toward the little girl. From here, they could not hear what he said but it was his next move that made everyone to be truly wary of him, because he destroyed the young Nekoshou’s bindings just by simply touching them. Those were special chains created by Ajuka to detain even the ultimate-class devils. And the worst part, even now, they did not feel any power-ups nor saw any abilities being used.

“Apprehend him right now!”

Immediately the stadium came to life. Ajuka did not know who gave that order since both he and Sirzechs were too preoccupied gauging out the guest. It was because of this that Sirzechs could not react on time to nullify the order, as tens of guards rushed toward the stage.

In response, the being only waved his hand.

The guards who were going toward him were now going away from him, thrice as fast. They crashed onto the wall, and the one after it. And Ajuka could sense that those elite guards would not be getting up anytime soon.

The stadium became silent once again.

Then the being put his right hand on top of the little Nekoshou’s head. And instantly she disappeared. Ajuka knew Sirzechs was not the type to make the same mistake twice. So before every devil in the stadium could lash out again, Sirzechs let out a little of his power. A silent command to all… to stay put.

“My name is Naruto Ōtsutsuki.”

His first sentence had answered all of his and Sirzechs’ questions.

“You are Lady Yasaka’s husband, leader of…”

The youkai called Naruto interrupted Sirzechs, “The King of Youkai.” Then he turned his head from one side to another. Ajuka had a hunch that it was not just a simple gaze.

“And, you should know why I am here.”

His tone did not hold any anger. It was as if he was just stating a simple fact.

“For the Nekoshou incident I presume.”

Sirzechs turned to look at the speaker. But Ajuka didn’t. There was no need since he knew that voice anywhere. It was Zekram Bael. It was only times like these that he appreciated the old fox. Because when it came to ‘Politics’, he was the best there was.

The youkai, Naruto, did not respond as if he was waiting for Zekram to continue.

“Seeing that you just deliberately took away the convict’s sister, it is safe to assume that you, and in extension, the whole Youkai faction is housing the convict.”

Ajuka had to give it to Zekram. The old devil was a master at manipulating and turning the tables during discussions. He was very good at twisting words and pointing fingers. After all, that was how he became the de facto leader of the Devils after the death of the original Four Great Satan.

“I will safely return the convict and her sister, only if you return the Nekoshou clan to us.”

Zekram did not stop for a moment. He calmly replied back as if he knew this was coming from miles away, “Are you really trying to play word game here, boy?” Ajuka knew he deliberately belittled the youkai to get a reaction out of him. Unfortunately, Naruto did not even twitch. Zekram continued regardless, “If you are here then you should know what happened to them and why?”

The self-proclaimed king of youkai did not reply immediately. It was very hard to distinguish his true emotions, especially because of his eyes. And although Naruto was fully facing Zekram, for some reason Ajuka could feel his gaze on him. It was quite unsettling.

“You are right. I do know what happened to them. But I just cannot comprehend the reason behind this. I mean there was an agreement between the two factions. And as far as I remember, our Queen covered all the scenarios in the agreement, even scenario such as this.”

Ajuka’s eyebrow twitched for a moment. He could sense that Sirzechs also got uncomfortable at the mention of the ‘Agreement’.

And just like Ajuka expected, Zekram once again took control of the conversation, “I do not know what lies the convict told you. But here is the truth, she went crazy while practicing senjutsu and killed her master. She ran away before we could capture her. And later, we found out that most of the Nekoshou knew Senjutsu to some extent. The devils went to the Nekoshou clan to apprehend them just to be on the safe side. But, they retaliated badly and things escalated…”

Naruto did not let him finish, “How can things escalate to a point that not a single Nekoshou survived yet not a single devil was harmed?”

This time Zekram came to a full stop. And this comment made Ajuka frown. Because the only way Naruto could have known about this was…

“And last time I checked, according to your laws, the convict was not supposed to be considered as a Nekoshou but rather as a reincarnated devil.” Naruto did not wait for them as he went on, “Also if she had gone crazy from practicing Senjutsu, which is quite laughable to be honest but I will go along with you, how come she killed only one person? And how was she able to run away?”

The silence lingered only for few seconds, but it felt quite long for Ajuka. Finally,

“Are you saying that I am lying?”

Ajuka did not like where this was going. And he knew neither did Sirzechs. Zekram was trying to rile up other devils.

Zekram’s voice was low, to the most devils it was as if the old fox’s voice was filled with pride and warning, but Sirzechs and he knew that it was nothing but a hoax, “I will agree that you are making some valid points. But,” He took a step forward, and let his power out, “Not only did you barged in unannounced, took away our prisoner, but now you are… mocking me; in our territory?”

Just like that the hold Sirzechs had on the devils inside the stadium till now… broke.

“Who the fuck you think you are?”

“A lowly youkai thinks he can talk back to us!”

“Those bitches got what they deserve.”

And it went on.

The once quiet stadium erupted. The anger and the power from the masses were coming in waves. The only reason Naruto was not outright attacked by other devils was the small barrier Ajuka immediately created between the sitting area and the open field. Sirzechs also flared a bit of his power to warn them again, but this did not have as much impact as the first time. And the reason the Maou did not attack him was because of the disturbing feeling they were getting. It was not his power but something about him just did not feel right with them.

“So, this is your answer.”

The voice was barely audible.

And in the next moment, Sirzechs was in front of Naruto, his right hand trying to grab the youkai by his face. Ajuka was on behind the youkai, readying his ‘Kankara Formula’. His aim was to detain him. Grayfia was on top of the youkai, gathering her magical energy to create a barrier around them.

The reason they finally reacted was that, in a split second, Naruto’s energy just vanished. From all the way to Ultimate class to suddenly… nothing. There were only three possibilities. One was that the being died in a way that not even a speck of him remained. The second was that he could be readying a technique that required all of his energy. Third, which was the most worrying, was that his energy went on a level that they could not properly sense it anymore.

In Naruto’s case, Ajuka had a hunch that it was the third case. He wished he was wrong but he knew it was highly unlikely; which meant that the situation had changed. And Ajuka was not going to sit around and wait for Naruto to pull something in the middle of the stadium, not when one-third of the stadium was filled with high-ranking devils.

Ajuka moved first, but Sirzechs followed immediately and took the lead. Grayfia was behind to make sure to cover for them.

But ultimately he could not activate his ‘Kankara Formula’ since Naruto disappeared… along with Sirzechs, right in front of them.

Grayfia landed in front of him, pure shock and disbelief filled her gaze, which slowly were turning to fear. And Ajuka was sure that even his eyes were mirroring Grayfia’s emotions. Then he felt it, the sudden change in the atmosphere. A sudden intense pressure fell upon them.

And he looked up, at the source.

After Zekram’s enticement, the stadium was filled with shouts of anger at Naruto, which a second later should have turned into cries of surprise to see their Lucifer vanishing. But they were not given that time. Right now almost all the devils were screaming for their lives as a massive meteorite, at least seven times larger than the stadium, was falling down.

Falling down would not be the right word to use as the meteorite was barely few hundred feet above the stadium.

Ajuka immediately cast multiple types of ‘Scan’ magic on the meteorite, on the stadium, and around him.

The initial feedback he received did not bode well for him. The meteorite was made using, if he was not wrong, an advanced version of Senjutsu. And the faded energy surrounding the meteorite told him that it was brought here using a high-rank teleportation magic.

And the worst part was the pitch-black metal rods. He could not analyze them no matter how much he tried. They were reacting violently to his magic. If he were to take a guess, those rods were acting as some sort of protection against any sort of devil magic. Yes, he could break them by force. But there were hundreds of them on that meteorite. And he had a hunch that they were connected meaning if one were to be destroyed or nullified, rest of the rods would immediately react.

For that reason, his first option was out. Ajuka thought of using ‘Kankara Formula’ to take control over the power residing inside the meteorite, and then he would disperse or siphon the said energy.

Second option was out as well. It was to use raw energy to push it back or at least hold it off until everyone could go to safety.

Ajuka blinked once as he finally noticed the second problem.

The devils were not leaving the stadium… No, they could not leave the stadium.

The barriers surrounding the stadium had been activated and altered. Those spells were meant to keep the enemies out; but now, they were keeping the devils in. They were stopping any and all sorts of teleportation spells. Even a physical barrier with multiple layers were created to prevent the devils from flying away.

One good outcome was that the barriers were also preventing the devils’ attacks from reaching the meteorite.

“Grayfia, destroy the barrier, and stop the devils from attacking the meteorite. It has a failsafe trigger,” Ajuka said without taking his eyes away from the meteorite.

Grayfia hesitated for a moment, before she left his side.

In real world, only few seconds had passed. Both Ajuka and Grayfia would have reacted faster but seeing Sirzechs disappearing shook them up more than he thought.

Then it hit him. Within a fraction of a second, all three of them came up with a plan and almost executed it. It was to detain the youkai king while erecting a barrier to make sure their power clash would not hurt the bystanders.

And within the same timeframe, the youkai king altered the stadium’s barriers, brought a humongous meteorite through teleportation… and took his friend away right in front of them.

Ajuka could feel the fear slowly creeping in. Their opponent was dangerous.

Shaking those thoughts away, Ajuka focused again. He raised his hands and created thousands of strong but intermediate level ‘Levitation’ and ‘Gravity’ type spells. He placed the ‘Levitation’ ones at the lower part and ‘Gravity’ ones at the upper part of the meteorite. From far, it looked like he had just created a pseudo barrier around it.

If any sort of direct attack was out of the equation, then all he had to do was to stop it by indirect means.

His aim was to hold the meteorite in place. The levitation spells were pushing the meteorite upward and the gravity spells were pulling it upward. The trick here was to do it subtly to make sure he did not trigger any of those black rods.

From the corner of his eyes, he saw the barriers were taken down. But Grayfia had to forcedly calm the devils down. A hard task considering she herself was anything but calm.

One second turned to five, then to ten. To Ajuka, it felt like hours.

Finally, few minutes later, the meteorite stopped descending and was slowly moving upwards.

While the devils started cheering, Ajuka focused on the spot in front him. The spot where the youkai king was standing, before he disappeared with Sirzechs.

Was it a minute ago? Or five?

But before he could think any further, to his surprise, and to the horror of the masses, the magical circles around the meteorite shattered all at once.

And then he appeared, beneath the gigantic rock.

The whole stadium went quiet once again.

The scene that greeted Ajuka, he knew that he would never forget it.

Sirzechs was the very first to go beyond the boundaries of normal devil ranks, far exceeding even those of the Four Original Satan. He was the strongest super devil, and the first devil ever to reach ‘The Top Ten’. His true form was so terrifying and powerful that some of the very dominant beings called him ‘The True Monster’.

And now, the mighty Sirzechs Lucifer was unconscious, bloody and was missing an arm. The worst part… he was being held by his hair, by Naruto who looked angry.

The first one to react was Grayfia, who screamed and rushed toward Naruto. The youkai immediately threw Sirzechs, as if he was an unnecessary baggage, toward Grayfia who stopped in midair and caught her husband.

Ajuka was seeing red. He knew that his true form was coming out. But he also knew that he would be playing right into the enemy’s hand. His left hand gripped his right one to stop it from shaking, the grip was so strong that his hand went numb. He bit his lips hard, drawing blood. The pain… The pain gave him a much needed clarity.

Naruto then raised his index finger,

“This is just the beginning. I will give you one week, no more, no less. If you do not follow the agreement to the letter, it will get much worse. This is a promise. And Naruto Ōtsutsuki always keeps his promise.”

Then he disappeared, along with the huge meteorite.