The Youkai King

IV

“So, what do you think?”

Amaterasu could not help it. Her lips curved into a satisfied smile when she saw Naruto’s reaction. She loved how Naruto’s honest facial expressions and body gestures would sometimes answer her questions rather than his words.

“Holy shit! This body looks exactly like my old one. I mean other than those horns and sharp canine-like teeth, which looks awesome by the way, everything is spot on.”

Amaterasu’s lips formed an amused smile, “I may not be one of the strongest around here, but I am one of the leaders of a Pantheon. Creating a replica of your old body was just but a child’s play.”

Hearing her words, Naruto turned his head to face and gave her a knowing smile.

A pause later Amaterasu sighed and started rubbing her forehead, “Yes, the body was not the issue, and yes, I underestimated how difficult it was to combine those two particular types of soul-samples. But,” The smile returned on her face,” You will be pleased to hear that the merge was a success. But there is something strange about these two soul-samples. After these two soul-samples merged, they started acting as one, instead of two.”

“Really?!” Naruto’s tone and expression surprised her. This was the first time she had seen him so excited.

“Yes,” Amaterasu delicately raised one of her eyebrows at him, “What is more surprising is that the merged sample is not only acting as the core DNA of this body but it is also merging with other DNAs. It is subtle, for now. And the only reason this did not raise any concerns is because you said that this was a possibility.”

“Naruto,” Amaterasu noticed that Naruto still had that excited look on his face, “Is it just these two particular people or is there something about their bloodline?”

“It’s a secret~”

Whatever Amaterasu was expecting this was not clearly it.

Naruto laughed, “I am not hiding anything here Lady Amaterasu. It is just that I want to see the result first before telling you about these two clans… bloodlines as you said,” Suddenly he had a melancholic look as he glanced at his new body, “These two clans had a rich history and their lineage goes back all the way to the very beginning of our world. If everything works out well, I will take my time and tell you about them. About their struggles, their ambitions, and their fates,” Naruto turned to face her and smiled, that carefree disarming smile of his, “Maybe you should invite Susanoo and Tsukuyomi as well. I have a feeling they will greatly enjoy this as well. Of course, when I am ready to share that is.”

Suddenly he made a sheepish expression, “Well, after Susanoo stops chasing me around for that prank I pulled. Do you think he has calmed down? At least enough for me to go to the bars.”

Amaterasu snorted, and immediately hid her face behind a conjured hand-fan. An Ancient Goddess like her would not snort like that.

But then again, that was the charm of their new champion.

It had been two months since Amaterasu brought Naruto to their dimension. And she could say with full honesty that she had never seen the Shinto Faction brimming with so much joy and spirit. It was all because of their champion. He was a helpful and kind man by heart, there was no denying that. No matter the time or the status of the deity, Naruto would always lend a helping hand. And the way he could make others open up to him was really admirable.

But that was not all. It was his mischievous pranks that kept everyone at an edge, in a positive way so to speak. His pranks were never harmful, rather the sole purpose of his pranks was to bring smiles to everyone’s faces; most of the time. After all, there were times when his pranks went out of control. Like last week when he thought that the statue of Susanoo lacked creativity, so he gave a helping hand. In her entire lifetime, she had never seen a statue so colorful that it looked intimidating. Needless to say, for the whole day Naruto was chased by Susanoo because of this.

Even she was targeted a few times. Of course, the pranks Naruto planned for her were very different and special; because the aim of those pranks was to make her day all the more interesting.

Chuckling, Amaterasu tried to focus on the topic at hand, “I will keep that in mind. As for your body,” She created hundreds of paper talismans which immediately started covering the body completely, from head to toe.

“Whoa~ I look like a mummy there.”

The childlike expression of his brought a smile to her face, “I will personally monitor the progress of the body until it stabilizes completely. Hmm~ I may need to conduct a few more tests.”

Naruto gave her a questioning look, “I thought the body had been stabilized already.”

“Theoretically, yes,” Amaterasu sighed, “But, as I mentioned just now, after the two soul-samples from your world merged into one, though it is subtle, it is changing the body. And the changes are quite substantial in my opinion. Merging with other DNAs, and yet from an outer perspective, it is not showing any changes. It is as if instead of merging that particular soul-sample is absorbing other elements inside the body while retaining their qualities. A truly marvelous feat, yes, but an unknown factor that I do not want my champion’s body to have.”

Naruto’s eyes softened for a moment, before he started to laugh, “Alright, Lady Amaterasu. I will leave all these complex matters in your hands. But, please remember that if you need any help, don’t hesitate to ask me,” He paused as he frowned, “You know what, please let me know if you need any help. I am quite bored right now.”

Amaterasu chuckled, “Bored of hiding from Susanoo,” Her answer was a sheepish look, “Thank you for your offer, but I think you may be busy for the next few days.”

Seeing the questioning look on Naruto’s face again, Amaterasu decided to elaborate, “First of all, I must say, I am quite impressed at the speed you learned about our faction. Instead of gaining knowledge about Shinto Faction just from books and from us, you took it a step further. You interacted with others, visited places and you even hung out at local gathering spots. Truly,” Amaterasu’s gaze softened as she looked at Naruto, “You have a hero’s heart.”

Naruto chuckled as he started to rub the back of his head.

“Now that you have learned as much as you can about our faction, I think it is time for you to learn about other ones. Not just factions, but other, let’s say, wonders about this universe.”

Naruto sat straighter and leaned toward Amaterasu. With a nod, she started her explanation, “I told you about ‘The Core Stone’, right? The large stone at the core of the earth that we can only see after every hundred years. I think I should start with this.”

“Why the time-gap?”

An expected question so it was easy for Amaterasu to answer, “Well that is one of the rules of the Biblical God, creator of ‘The Core Stone’. I do not know how he does it but the stone only appears after every hundred years or so. And the reason he created ‘The Core Stone’ is to keep the peace between the factions. A lot of us are dissatisfied with the method but we cannot argue about it since it’s doing the job. It is not perfect but at least it is better than nothing.” Amaterasu chuckled at Naruto’s silent inquiry look, “The stone has the names of ‘The Top Ten’, the strongest top ten beings in our dimension. As for how the strength of the ‘Top Ten’ is measured? Simple, by comparing their power to the Biblical God’s. In a way it works like this, the first in the ‘Top Ten’ list is the closest to the Biblical God in terms of power and abilities, and the second one is the second closest, and it goes on like this.” Amaterasu explained.

“So, he is the strongest one up there?” Naruto asked.

“That he is. He is the strongest and the oldest amongst us. He is also the one who created Heaven realm and Hell realm. And if some old records are to be believed then he had not only re-formed the Earth so that the first humans could live there but he also protected them from the Dragons and other Apex Predators,” Suddenly she sighed, “But even with all his might and power, he still cannot face the menaces known as ‘The Three Beasts’.”

Naruto hummed. Then he shot his next question, “But if he is weaker than those three Ancient Dragons, how come he defeated the strongest amongst them, Trihexa?”

“Good question,” Amaterasu chuckled, “But there is no solid record of the fight. The only thing that we are certain of is that he sealed Trihexa with the help of ‘The Four Horsemen’ and ‘Trimurti’. How did the fight start or how it ended, or even when did it happen, most of us do not know any of it. At first, we thought that Trihexa was not even real. Some of the Gods from various factions were quite persistent about it. But then Ophis confirmed that it was real and stronger than her. That shut down most of those Gods.”

“No one asked him directly? I mean this is huge.”

“The Biblical God is one of the most reclusive Gods I have ever seen, or maybe he just does not want to associate with other Gods,” Amaterasu chuckled. “Regardless, the fact remains that he is the strongest God alive; far overpowering and outranking any other Gods or Goddesses.”

“And since the Biblical God has no intention to take over other factions, no one wants to mess with him directly and deliberately in fear of turning him against their factions.” Naruto voiced out his thought.

“Yes, and then there’s the fact that the beings in High-Tier of ‘The Top Ten’ do not want any conflicts. But it does not stop the factions from having a small squabble here and there with one another, but all of us make sure not to escalate the squabbles into an all-out war.” Amaterasu added.

“What about the Great War?” Naruto asked.

“That’s what happens when the strongest and the largest faction have a civil war. Although the devils and the fallen consider themselves as separate factions, to the rest of the supernatural world, we consider ‘The Three Faction’ as one single faction. And the Great War also gave us a glimpse of what would happen if a full-scale ‘Faction War’ breaks out.” Amaterasu explained.

“I see,” Naruto paused for a moment before continuing, “Later, I will go through all the faction civil wars and take notes. It may come in handy.”

Amaterasu nodded at Naruto’s idea. A moment later, she spoke, “Do you have any more questions? Dinner is going to be served soon.”

“Yeah, one last question,” Naruto started to rub the back of his head, “How does a god or goddess become stronger? I get a feeling it is not just simple training, like us normal folks.”

She knew why Naruto was feeling awkward about asking such a question. Just yesterday when they were discussing about their faction standing, Amaterasu had to let out some harsh truths. One was about their faction being currently amongst the lower side of the mid-rank in overall faction ranking. She blamed it on the civil war of ‘The Devil Faction’ which weakened some of the most powerful youkai clans. She did give him the details but was glad that Naruto was very considerate throughout the whole time. He did not ask anything and just listened.

Truly, he was a wonderful being. But,

“It seems I forgot to tell you one of the most important details.” Amaterasu chuckled, “To become stronger is both simple and at the same time hard for us. We get our powers from two sources; ‘Regalia’ and ‘Prayer’. ‘Regalia’ can be considered as Divine Artefacts that some of us use, mostly the top ranks in each faction since it is very hard to create. The simplest way to make ‘Regalia’ is to defeat a strong entity and then use its soul or corpse to make one. But if the entity is not strong enough or the procedure of the creation fails, instead of ‘Regalia’, we will get an instrument for the mortals.”

“How do you know which is which?” Naruto asked.

“Simple, ‘Regalia’ will possess ‘Divinity’ which only us, Gods or Goddesses, can use. If it does not then it is just a failure.” Amaterasu answered. She took a breather before continuing, “As for ‘Prayer’, it varies from faction to faction. For some factions, it is just getting tributes in various forms from their believers. And for some factions, it is the form of praying to their Gods or Goddesses. This ‘Prayer’ from our believers strengthens our divinity. So, in a simpler term, ‘Regalia’ gives us different kinds of powers and abilities, and ‘Prayer’ strengthens the core of our being.”

“I see,” Naruto’s gaze shifted downwards as he started to tap the desk lightly with his index finger. The mature look Naruto had now was completely opposite from what he had just moments ago. Suddenly, his gaze shifted again and his eyes met hers, “What about training and self-improvement? I may be a bit biased here, but I think hard work can also be considered as another alternative.”

“Maybe,” Amaterasu tried to sound positive but it was hard for her since she had seen some of the truly terrifying beings with powers that could give nightmares even to the Gods and Goddesses.

Naruto did not say anything for some time. The silence stretched for a few minutes before one of Amaterasu’s servants came and stated that the dinner was ready.

“Shall we continue this after dinner then?” Amaterasu asked when the servant left.

Naruto nodded. But as they got up from their chairs, Naruto turned toward Amaterasu, “I think I know what I need to do first.”

Amaterasu stopped but stayed silent.

Then he gave her that charming disarming smile of his again, “It’s to show you and everyone here that even hard-work and dedication can be just as terrifying.”

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X

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The Avalon Kingdom

Naruto was furious.

If he wanted to, he could have defeated both Sirzechs and Ajuka together at the stadium, right in front of every devil present there. It would have absolutely crushed their spirits and beliefs. But he did not because, one, there would have been a lot of casualties. He avoided that not because he cared for the devils but to show that he was not like them. He would not take the lives of the innocents just because he could. And two, he did not want to show what he could do. His techniques and skills were very unique. Even his fighting style was considered abnormal in this world. And so, most of the time, he would fight away from everyone’s prying eyes. And if he could not then he would go with ‘Minimal Power but High Efficiency’ method. This time was not any different.

Regardless, he knocked down their strongest devil and gave the whole faction one week time. His messages were simple. ‘The Devil Faction’ was not invincible. And all ‘The Avalon Kingdom’ wanted was justice, fitting and merciless. He even sent an official letter to ‘The Devil Faction’, stating the terms. But the steps the devils started taking were escalating this event to war.

First, the devils started spreading rumors about how their Kingdom was using this incident as an excuse to conquer their lands. They had one legit point, and it was that after ‘The Civil War’, for two hundred years, the devils did not cause any incident at this level. And yet within ten years of ‘The Avalon Kingdom’s’ birth, this huge incident occurred. But, it was well within Jiraiya and August’s expectation. And just as those two expected; to maintain their pride, the devil faction did not play the main card. They did not point out that he defeated Sirzechs, which could have diverted the supernatural world’s attention to him. But the way the devils kept saying that the massacre was nothing but a part of a grand scheme, made him want to snap some necks.

Fortunately, it was quite easy to defend their case since this was not the first time the Devil faction harmed the youkai. Even during their civil war, many of the youkai clans were forced to participated and many of them perished. And after the invention of that bothersome ‘Evil Pieces’, many of the devils started to collect youkai. Last but not least after releasing copies of the contract to the Supernatural World, almost all the other factions either took a neutral position or indirectly pointed the finger at the Devil faction.

Up to this point, everything was still somewhat fine, but their next action completely broke all his restraints.

Naruto had sent a small force to barricade and watch over the Nekoshou compound. There was nothing left there but he did not want the Nekoshou’s land to be ravaged anymore. He could not send a large force since some might take it as an aggressive stance from their side. He also explicitly ordered the squad to stay inside the land no matter what. Nothing was amiss on the first few days. And then out of nowhere, ‘The Devil Faction’ attacked the compound, with full force. The unit took a heavy blow, with few deaths. The leader of the squad made a full retreat otherwise they would have been completely wiped out.

Then, the devils had the gall to play the victim when they attacked without any warnings. Their official statement about the attack was that until one week was over, they would not allow any youkai near their land, even though the Nekoshou compound legally belonged to the youkai and was completely outside of their land. Of course, they had put other excuses. But just after the first line, Naruto burnt the paper.

And now the devils had decided to hide behind their greatest defense.

Naruto finally approached his destination, one of the most highly secured guest rooms in the Avalon Palace. This room also worked as a small conference room, which was why he chose this place for their guests.

He was not surprised to see Jiraiya in front of the door, who was wearing a blank mask similar to what Roots used to wear. Naruto just raised an eyebrow, silently telling Jiraiya to say his thoughts.

“We both know why,” Jiraiya pointed at the door with his thumb, “They are here. I know you can handle yourself. But just a suggestion, if things get complicated, back down. We can’t have them get tangled in this.”

With that, Jiraiya opened the door and entered first to announce his arrival.

But Naruto did not enter immediately. He looked up to see his reflection from the marble ceiling staring back at him. He lips slightly curved upward as he saw his normal azure eyes changed into his special Rinnegan, where the sclera had a golden hue instead of the silver-purple. After the transformation was done, he entered.

The first one to catch Naruto’s attention was the Archangel. And the reason for this was not his flashy dress or the unique holy power emitting from him, but his expression. The moment Naruto entered, and the moment Michael saw him, the Archangel’s eyes went wide and just for a fraction of a second his power flickered. But Michael composed himself quite fast. The slip up came and went really fast but Naruto caught it. The reason why most did not notice it was because all their attention was purely toward Naruto. But he was sure, Jiraiya sensed the abnormality as well since he was facing Michael.

His eyes quickly scanned the other two guests, as he approached his seat, one male and one female. He read about their profiles before. Vasco Strada, one of the big shots in the Church as he was ranked the second highest official in the Church as Cardinal Priest. And then there was Griselda Quarta, famous for being the strongest female exorcist alive.

His seat was not a grand throne in this room, everyone’s seat here was the same. It was done to show equality. After he took his seat, everyone else did as well. Naruto had Yasaka sitting down to his right and August to his left. And on the opposite side of the table, Michael was in the middle while Vasco and Griselda sat left and right of him respectively. And Jiraiya was standing by the door.

“Welcome to ‘The Avalon Kingdom’. I wish I could say it is an honor to have such esteemed guests on our humble kingdom, but we are not having this meeting to share our pleasantries… even though I really wish it was the case; not everything goes how we want them to be, right?” Naruto started, with a rueful smile.

There was a pause. Finally, Michael coughed. It seemed for some reason he looked quite out of it. Composing himself once again, the Archangel started, “Please trust us when we say we also wished it to be different.”

“And yet here you are.” Naruto cut Michael off. He released a tired sigh, and gazed over the other exorcists, “Let’s just cut the chitchat, shall we? What did the devils ask you to do?”

His blunt question surprised his guests. There was a small pause before Vasco implored, “King Ōtsutsuki, we know that you are angry, and you have every right to be. But all we ask of you is to listen to us for few minutes.”

The silence that lingered afterward was anything but comfortable, but at the end Naruto gave them his consent.

Releasing a deep breath, Vasco started his explanation, “You want justice for the Nekoshou, we all understand that. Unfortunately, the devils are reacting to this situation very poorly. And if this goes on it can and will lead to war, we know that. And I am sure that neither side wants that outcome. But there is a reason as to why the devils are acting this way.” Vasco paused to Naruto’s reaction. He did not say anything, just stared back. Coughing into his hand, Vasco continued, “The devils believe that this is the work of the Old Satan, especially Rizevim Lucifer. Ajuka did some tests on the devils for the possibility of being manipulated. And all the results came positive. They think that the old Satan are coming back to take control over ‘The Devil Faction’. And this is why they are trying to weaken the faction by pitting them with other strong factions. This is also the reason why they did not announce that you have defeated Sirzechs, except for a few individuals. Otherwise, the devils would have been targeted by other beings or organizations with devious motives.”

“So what do you suggest we do?”

The question from Naruto brought down that eerie silence once again.

“We are not suggesting anything. We are only hoping that you will look into the bigger picture.” This time it was Griselda who spoke up. Naruto thought Michael would be the one doing most of the talking but it seemed he was wrong. And for some reason, the look he was getting from the Archangel felt quite unnatural. His gaze had a nostalgic look to it. Suddenly, Griselda’s next words took his focus away, “If you retaliate badly, both factions will only be doing exactly what Rizevim wants. But do not get us wrong, we also want the Nekoshou clan to get their justice. We just do not want this incident to be the catalyst of the next war.”

“Are you done?”

The dumbstruck looks on his guests were priceless.

“First of all, your concerns are noted but unwanted. Let me tell you the truth then,” Naruto relaxed on his chair, and closed his eyes, “I have mastered Senjutsu to the point I have awakened few unique abilities. And one of the abilities allows me to directly use the spirit energy from a location to look into the past of that place. Of course, it has its restriction but I will not divulge into that. What I want to say is that I saw what happened at that compound. I know that the devils were influenced to throw the first attack. But,” Naruto opened his eyes and his guests filched. After all, the power he was releasing through his eyes might be subtle but it was not anything his guests were accustomed to, “The atrocities committed by the devils cannot be brushed off, by simply saying that they were influenced by a third party. They could have stopped but they did not. They went on killing and raping till there were none left. There is no excuse, no justification, for what they have done.” Naruto felt his powers rising, he could see the sweats on his guests’ forehead. But he could not stop. Fortunately, a gentle touch from his wife calmed down his raging emotions. Her aura brought him back before he lost himself in those horrific memories.

Naruto grabbed her hand tightly and took few short breaths.

“We are truly sorry to hear that, but rest assured that the new Satan will properly deliver their punishment.” Vasco replied back.

“So I am guessing, ‘The Heaven Faction’ is trying to be the mediator in this situation.” Naruto’s gaze went over all three of them, “If so, then I will ask again. What do you think is the best solution? The devils massacred the Nekoshou clan, influenced by an enemy that they could not kill or imprison within two hundred years. Pretty sure they also have the excuses ready for this. Then, they did not honor our contract. They are refusing to give the justice that the Nekoshou clan deserves. I mean when I went to the stadium to save the younger sister, who was completely innocent and unrelated to the event by the way, I saw many devils who took part in the crime were just sitting there and going on with their lives. They did not have an ounce of guilt in them for what they did. Or, now they are going to say that someone also brainwashed them to act like this. The funniest part though, it did not end here, now did it? Just yesterday, they attacked the Nekoshou compound again. I had sent a squad of twenty people, who stayed only inside the compound to watch over the land, which in every way belongs to us. Then without any sorts of warnings or messages the devils attacked with full force, seven of our men were killed in action and quite a few suffered heavy injuries. And the best part in all of these, the devils are playing the victim again.” Naruto smiled, but he was sure it didn’t come out as intended, “So tell me, what do you think is the best solution?”

“The devils are in the wrong and so are their actions, no one is denying this.” Finally Michael spoke up, taking the center of everyone’s attention, “But if you take actions similar to them, a war will break out. We are not here to defend what the devils did. We are here, hoping and trying, that this does not escalate to a war. And if everything fails, then the flames of war will spread to the human world and to other factions again.”

“If that happens, a lot of people will die,” Michael gave that unnatural look again, “Your people will die. Will you be okay with that?”

This… caught Naruto off-guard. And somehow, he could feel that there was something else hidden deep inside the archangel’s words.

“Do you know why we named our faction ‘The Avalon Kingdom’?” Everyone turned their gaze toward the speaker, who was none other than Yasaka. With a smile toward the guests, she continued, “Our king here, has united all the youkai, be it a large prestigious clan or a small newly formed group, within ten years; a feat that even the Gods and Goddesses from ‘The Shinto Faction’ dubbed as a miracle. Of course, fights had occurred and bloods had been spilled. But it was still considered as the most peaceful unification recorded since the birth of youkai. Then he made the most remarkable achievement that none of us had ever thought was possible. He made an alliance, a true union between the Faerie Faction and the Youkai Faction, without spilling a single drop of blood. He named this new allied faction ‘The Avalon Kingdom’. Avalon, in faerie’s term, is similar to ‘Heaven’. It is considered as the ever-distant utopia for the faeries, untouched and uncontrolled by any being or laws. Our king liked the concept of that place so much that he named our Kingdom after it, rather than giving it more of a youkai or eastern-culture related name. And the way he presented the Kingdom’s name to us, his people, made faeries respect him and youkai to adore him.”

Yasaka gave Naruto’s hand a light squeeze, “Also, ‘The Avalon Kingdom’ of ours is not a faction. Because, to our king, to our people, faction indicates a society that consists of certain types of races, or beings who follow certain Gods or Faiths. ‘The Avalon Kingdom’ does not possess that prejudice. We take in and protect anyone, as long as you love the land you live in, respect everyone regardless of their races, and honor the rules that uphold the peace. And all this was made possible by our king, Naruto Ōtsutsuki.”

Then the smile left her face as she frowned, “So if he asks us to go to war, we will gladly lay down our lives knowing that he is doing so to protect our future, our freedom, our beloved, and our rights. And we will do it as many times as he asks because everyone in ‘The Avalon Kingdom’ believes in him. After all, until now, he had always been our guiding star. So, I ask you, Lord Michael, do not judge our king’s actions and values based on your beliefs on protecting a balance that does not exist.”

This was totally not on purpose, but Naruto let out a low whistle when his wife was done.

There was no doubt in Naruto’s mind regarding the actions that he had to take, and the recent actions of the Devils solidified his resolve. But he would not lie, hearing the badass speech of his queen did make him feel good. He faced the Archangel and smiled, “Lord Michael, you heard our Queen. Also, that remark about the innocents dying… Lives of many innocent youkai had already been lost. And more are still being killed by the Devils. I do not know how you are looking at this but to me it seems they had already made the decision. Instead of giving us the Justice that we seek, the devils want to protect their pride. And they will do it regardless the consequences.”

Naruto started to rub his eyes as he released a deep breath, “Punish those that took part in the massacre and execute the leaders of the raid. That is all we asked. We do not want any monetary benefits, we do not want the whole Devil Faction to be punished. It is so simple, and yet…” Naruto took another deep breath.

After a pause, he shook his head, “This is going nowhere,” And then looked at August to his side, “August, will you show our guest the way out.”

Now, this snapped them back to the reality. And it seemed they had things to say but Naruto knew how to shut them up. After all, he was not the Hokage for show. The way he sat, the way he looked at his guests was enough to tell them he had made his decision and would not hear a single word. They were welcomed to try though.

Vasco and Griselda gave up quickly and got up. But Michael did not get up immediately. The stare down between the Archangel and the Youkai King continued for few moments. Finally, Michael averted his gaze, not on his own, it was because Vasco called him out.

Slowly they followed August but just before leaving the room Michael stopped, “I have no right to say this but please, I implore you again, reconsider this.”

He did not wait for any answer after that and just left.

Jiraiya also followed the guests from behind, closing the door on his way out.

When everyone was gone, Yasaka got up from her chair and knelt in front of Naruto, tightly holding both his hands, “What are you afraid of, my love?”

Naruto chuckled. She still had the power to see through him, to understand his inner-conflicts. Even though he had the Rinnegan, her eyes were more special than him. They always had been, Even now, without any special power, she could see through the masks and facades of her beloved ones.

Letting out another chuckle, he bent down and kissed her hands, “I am worried about the future.” Yasaka did not say anything. Her silent support made him continue, “Every faction, big or small, will know about us; about our bloody and vicious entrance on the Supernatural world. This may create some doubts and complications, which will affect our future relationship between our Kingdom and other factions. Not only that, but there are also a lot of youkai clans and faerie societies out there. They will be in danger from now on.”

When he was done, Yasaka just smiled. But her expression said enough.

Then she let out a cute scream, as Naruto pulled her onto his lap and buried his face on her chest.

“This sucks.”

Yasaka giggled and started brushing his hair, “You are not omnipotent, my love. You cannot control everything. But you can learn from this and make sure something like this won’t happen to our people again.”

“Michael is right about one thing though. People will die.” Naruto whispered.

“Unfortunately, there will be casualties, yes. But what are the alternatives?” Yasaka answered, “You have seen how evil and ruthless this world can be. Even our previous world, which was full of fights and deaths, does not hold a candle to this one. Without power, words and beliefs alone are not enough to move people. Without spilling blood, no one can create a Kingdom. But you did.”

Naruto blinked. Then he looked up to meet her warm gaze. She continued with that adorable smile of hers, “Even actual Gods and Goddesses consider your achievements as miracles, things they thought were impossible. But that’s who you are. You can create miracles, not just with your words but also with your power. Your power far surpasses all the Gods and Goddesses of Shinto Faction, combined. An unimaginable amount of power, but yet, you do not use it like the most. You use your powers, your beliefs, and your ideas to do the right thing, to create the correct path; no matter how hard it is. You always had. And I know that you will do the same this time as well.”

She kissed his forehead and then slowly got up from his lap.

“Dirty politics is not your specialty, my love. Leave that to us. You just sit down and create your miracles,” Yasaka giggled again and gently pulled him up from his chair, “But you cannot create those miracles if you are not yourself. Do not fret over what anyone else said to you. They are not you. They have limited vision, faulty beliefs. So, just forget about those and,” She poked her chest, “Listen to your heart. You will do the right thing.”

The silence this time was comforting.

Then suddenly, without a word, Naruto hugged his wife. She returned the hug, and they just stood there like this for a couple of minutes. Finally, Yasaka tugged his jacket. After a tight squeeze, he reluctantly broke the hug.

“I love you, so much~” That’s the first thing he said, he gave her a gentle kiss after his statement.

“It seems I need to change some of our plans.” Yasaka raised an eyebrow after hearing that, whose cheeks were lightly pink right now.

Naruto just laughed and gave her another kiss.

“You’re right. I have been overthinking this too much. It is time I handle this situation Naruto-style.”

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X

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The Underworld

Roygun Belphegor, former Head of the Belphegor Clan and the second ranker of the Rating Games, was monitoring the devil squads with an exhausted face. All the top ‘Rating Game Champions’ were called and was asked to act as the Overseers of the devil army, stationed at the Nekoshou compound. While most of the devils in the army were alert, none knew the depth of the situation they were in.

She was in the stadium. She saw with her own eyes the state their mighty Sirzechs Lucifer was put into, by the Youkai King.

And now the devils were poking the already angered dragon.

Roygun looked at the moon. For some reason, to her, the color of the moon seemed to be different than the usual crimson color. It almost looked like a blood-red.

And the moon was like that after the declaration of the Youkai King.

Or maybe… maybe, it was just her.

Everything was escalating too fast, and not in the good direction.

The day the Youkai King gave the ultimatum, the Zekram Bael’s group immediately went to work. A gag order was given to conceal the fact that the one and only Sirzechs Lucifer had been put into a coma by an enemy. Even now, many of the devils do not know about this fact.

The same day, rest of the Satan and the Devil Council tried to take control of the incident. Fabricating the event about the Nekoshou and reaching out to the other factions to gain their sympathy. But the Avalon Kingdom was one step ahead of them.

From what she had heard, the next two days, the devil persisted in this approach. They tried to raise doubts about the Kingdom’s motives and paint them in a bad light. That did not work either since Avalon Kingdom put up solid defenses against such accusations.

Then her faction did something that they should not have.

On the fifth day, they attacked the Nekoshou compound and drove away the youkai units stationed there. And it was not a simple attack, the devils went all out knowing what they were truly doing. They even went after the youkai clans living in the underworld, but fortunately, all of them had moved away.

It was a drastic and stupid move. Anyone could tell that the devils had invaded foreign lands and occupied those lands without giving any declarations.

There was no logic, no reason behind such action. No… there was a reason. It was fear. Fear of other factions siding with the Kingdom if the Devil Faction showed any weaknesses. Fear of Avalon Kingdom harming their faction. And most importantly, it was the fear of losing against such a small and newly formed faction.

This attack of their faction was nothing but an act of provocation toward the youkai king; and it was done deliberately.

And that action showed her what path her faction had chosen. They had chosen war.

Somehow, this did not surprise her.

Lives would be lost because of these selfish acts, Roygun had no doubt about it. The easiest way to solve this was to give justice to the Nekoshou. The solution was simple but not the execution, since somehow, a lot of nobles got tangled into this. Now the higher ups were blaming the Old Satan, saying that they influenced the devils.

But she knew no one was going to buy this justification, even she did not fall for such obvious lie. After all, if it was so easy to influence the devils then the Old Satan faction would have easily won the Civil War.

Roygun could see why such actions were being taken, and she was sure so could the reasonable devils. Bael clan wanted to protect the status quo and they think the only way to do so was to protect those nobles since some of them were quite high-up. They also want to maintain the pride of the devils to satisfy the general populace. And this was their absurd solution, to force ‘The Avalon Kingdom’ to come to an agreement which would benefit the devils most. She also heard that in order to have more power on their side, they had a meeting with ‘The Heaven Faction’ and ‘The Grigori’. In another word, the Bael clan was trying to pull the other two side of ‘The Three Faction’ into this mess.

Even they, the rating game champions, were not excluded. Zekram knew the corruption inside the rating game from the start, but he did not stop it. Why would he? After all, because of this, he had control over most of the champions. Unfortunately, all of them were too deep into the rating game corruption to go against his words, except for Diehauser Belial. But she was sure even though Diehauser was clean, the old fox had other ways to have control over the number one rating game champion.

But this was not the worst part.

They had to bring in their full team. Now, this was what made Roygun angry. She was ready to die for her foolishness, but she would refuse to let any harm come to any of her peerages. She would do anything to protect them. Unfortunately, she knew that the world did not work that way. Not everyone had the luxury to hold their own fates in their hands.

“Lady Roygun, the unit is in position.” Her queen, her surrogate younger sister, came to her side and started to read her the report, “All of your peerage members are not having any problems with their positions.”

“What about Bedeze and Diehauser?”

“Lord Bedeze is making another patrol around the compound. And Lord Diehauser has returned to meet with Lord Ruval.” Her queen did not look at her report to answer those questions.

The jobs of the rating game champions were simple; Oversee the army units situated around the compound. Inform the main army which was far away from the compound should they notice anything unusual. And they were to hold their position should there be an attack.

“So much exaggeration,” Roygun sighed as she rubbed her forehead. At least, she was able to take the position of the messenger, which was the last line of defense and furthest from the compound. She did not want her team to be anywhere near the compound. She even explicitly told her peerages to withdraw immediately should a fight break out, as she and her queen would protect their back.

“Return to your post.” Hearing Roygun’s command, her queen retreated.

She opened the map again.

There were four units, consisting of around few hundred troops, stationed on the four side of the compound. There was also an extra unit of a hundred devils, and their job was to circle around the compound. And the main army was roughly few hundred kilometer away from them, just outside of their border.

Suddenly she felt it. The chill on her spine. The wind around her quieting down. She followed her instinct and looked up from the map, toward the sky.

And she blinked.

Right on top of the compound, there was a flying ship, one fourth the size of the compound.

“It’s the enemy…” The shout was not even finished.

Shots were fired, seemingly from all the sides from the ship. And just moments later, she could see fires engulfing all the area where their armies were stationed. She quickly turned around to see the place where her peerages were also on fire.

Without a second thought, she rushed there.

She looked back when she heard the huge explosion. The ship was down. But before she could rejoice, four more emerged out of nowhere and took the fallen one’s place. And they also immediately started firing. She could hear the screams of outrage soon turning into cries for help. But she did not care, she had her own peerages to save.

She almost made it to the camp without any problem. But at the very end, a single youkai stood there, blocking her path.

She did not care about her opponent as she threw a large explosive energy blast. Her carelessness almost killed her if it was not for her years of honed instinct.

The energy blade narrowly missed her neck.

That woke her up.

Even though she could see the camp where her peerages were, even though the said camp was on fire and she was hearing the sounds of fighting, she still put all her focus on the opponent in front of her. Her senses were telling her that one wrong move and the match would be over. After all, if the blade was aiming for her chest, she would not have come out scot-free.

She started examining the woman in front of her. Her opponent was strong, no doubt about it seeing how the blue-colored lightning was smoothly dancing around her body. But it was not the powerful lightning or her beauty that took her focus. It was the look on her opponent’s face and her stance.

Her stance told Roygun that it would be a fight to the death.

With a defeated sigh, she introduced herself, “Roygun Belphegor, the Second Ranker of the Rating Games.”

“Magari, Head of the Nekomata Clan.”

Once again her instinct managed to save her from another fatal strike. This time the nekomata aimed at her eyes. And she did not stop there. The attacks kept coming and even though she was fast, her opponent was faster and swifter. After getting two more shallow cuts, she released a burst of power to get some distance, and immediately readied her special magic.

One of her specialty was ‘Earth Magic’. And due to the usage of her king piece, she had gained immense demonic power, which she used to unlock various powerful branches of ‘Earth Magic’.

She immediately created tens of strong golems, all of which surrounded her to create a wall around her. But she was once again surprised by how precise the attack of that Nekomata was. She hit all the vital points of a golem, all the while dodging the onslaught of the golems’ attacks. They were slow but not this much as to how her opponent was showing. With an astonishing speed and precision, she took down her golem wall within mere ten seconds.

But those ten seconds were enough for her.

“Crack Whip.”

‘Crack Magic’ was the specialty of the Belphegor clan. And as a member of the Belphegor Clan, Roygun has shown incredible mastery in creating a tear on anything, even if it was ‘flesh’. But the problem was to do so, she either would need her opponent to stay still for one second or she would have to directly touch her opponent to have her magic take effect.

Fortunately, she was able to improve ‘Crack’ magic further, even though she needed to use the ‘King Piece’. The whip she created using her crack magic not only gave her the extra reach she needed but also the movement of the whip was quite unpredictable meaning it was not so-easy to dodge.

Right now, she only needed to land one solid blow to win the match. But the speed and the agility of her opponent was nothing to scoff at.

So, the battle was all about who could the land first lethal hit.

Five minutes, it took five full minutes to land her first strong blow on the Nekomata. Her opponent was not using the lighting to just move around, she was also using the same lightning to create blades of different sizes to reach her. It seemed her opponent knew about her magic, she knew that if she were to touch Roygun’s skin directly, she would be affected by the ‘Crack Magic’. So, she tried to use lightning-based elemental weapon to strike her.

Fortunately for Roygun, her ‘Crack Magic’ was affecting her opponent’s lightning attacks as well. Otherwise, she would have lost long ago.

Unfortunately, her opponent was a fast learner. She kept hitting the same places so many times that the magic she used to coat her skin was wearing down faster than she was comfortable with.

And she was moving so fast that her attack could not keep up with her. The precision of her attacks, and the flexibility of her movements… they were insane. She was able to hit her few times but they were only grazes.

But finally, she was able to land a solid hit.

Magari faltered and it gave her the perfect opportunity to take the next shot, to finish this match. But then it happened again. All of her senses started screaming at her.

The cloths Magari had on her were torn apart by the intense lightning she started creating. The lightning she was using before was blue in color, now it was completely dark-purple. Her legs starting from her knees, her arms starting from her elbows, and the tips of all her seven tails and ears were completely covered in lightning.

Roygun did not even blink.

She was sent flying. She immediately tried to reinforce her body and adjust herself in midair but a solid kick on her throat broke her concentration. And it was the brutal attack on her head that told her that she was going to die, no questions about it. Her magic was not fast enough to affect her opponent.

But even with all the odds against her, she did not give up. She could not. She kept trying to reinforce and replenish her magic using the full power of her king piece. But it was futile. Her magic was depleting faster than she could replenish; and the injuries now were becoming more fatal.

As her vision started to blur, she tried to concentrate her senses toward the camp. At least, she wanted to make sure that her peerages made it out alive.

And suddenly the attack stopped.

She blinked few times to adjust her vision as she shakily tried to take a defensive stance. When she could finally focus on Magari, she saw that her opponent also had a surprised look on her face. And the reason was, her lightning was gone.

Then she felt him beside her.

“Sorry, I’m late.” Diehauser said.

Immediately, the Nekomata jumped back. Not because of Diehauser, but because flames consumed the area she was standing on.

“Ruval,” She shouted, her voice was hoarse.

The next heir of the Phenex Clan did not turn to look at her as he pressed on the attack.

Another loud explosion took away her focus. She looked up, and her jaw dropped slightly.

‘Eve’ the fabled flying warship was here. She never saw it this up-close. It was easily ten times the size of the youkai bombarding ships. Another huge sound came from the warship, and she looked ahead to see another of the youkai ship was destroyed in an instant. The remaining two youkai ships started focusing their fires at their warship, but it seemed it had an energy barrier that was properly shielding the ship.

“The main army has already started moving,” Roygun raised her eyebrows at the statement. Diehauser just nodded at her and then looked in front, “Her lightning ability is powerful, but the concept is simple.”

She understood what he meant. As a member of the House of Belial, Diehauser was able to nullify the abilities of people or objects. However, he first had to understand the concepts of the ability in order to render it ‘Worthless’. The more complicated the concept behind the ability was, the more time it would take for him to use his ability. But if the concept was simple, it would take mere seconds. Just like how it literally took him two seconds to cut down her golem wall in one of the rating games.

She turned to look at the Nekomata who was having a hard time defending against Ruval without her lightning powers. It seemed, her lightning element was not hard for Diehauser to decipher. Still …

“Meidō Zangetsuha.”

She felt a unique energy. It came out of nowhere. She looked up, at the source of the energy.

The warship that changed the tides of the early battles in the civil war, the warship that took the hits of the Old Satans and still survived… was collapsing. There was a black orb at the middle of the warship and it was slowly increasing in size, while destroying the ship and pulling everything inside of it.

It looked like a small black-hole.

Suddenly her scenery changed. She blinked. There was nothing in the sky now. She looked down to see the familiar muscular hand tightly holding her. She blushed, but just for a second before her gaze stopped at the place they were standing.

Green energy flame was covering that place.

She finally understood what happened. Someone attacked where they were standing, and she did not even notice let alone react to it. And if it was not for Diehauser moving her away… she shuddered at the thought.

Then she saw him.

He was a handsome and tall young man, with fair skin, pointed ear and knee-length silver hair. He was wearing an elegant looking kimono with samurai-type armor on top of it; and there was a huge fur on top of his right shoulder. And one look at the sword he was wielding told her that it was a very dangerous weapon. Yet it was the wielder that scared her.

As the green fire dissipated, her eyes landed on the kneeling Ruval who was just a few feet away from the dangerous man. It seemed to her that he got caught in the fire attack at point blank range. She wanted to shout but she could not. The man just walked passed him without a care. And suddenly Ruval fell down on the ground. Then she understood. Although Diehauser dodged the green fire attack along with her, it was not aimed at them. The attack was meant for Ruval. And she could sense it.

Ruval Phenex, heir of the Phenex Clan, was dead.

“Roygun,” Diehauser grabbed her attention, she looked at him, still unable to comprehend what was happening.

“Retreat,”

It was this word that made all her senses to come back. But before she could retort, he continued, his eyes not moving away from the man, “Retreat and regroup with the main force. Tell them what happened and wait for Lord Ajuka’s arrival. If he does not arrive within the time limit, and if you do not receive any messages from me by that time… make a full retreat. Do not wait for anyone other than Lord Ajuka.”

Roygun wanted to object. She wanted to stay. She knew Diehauser was a Satan class devil and was a monster even by their terms, and it was all his power unlike her. But the man in front of them was dangerous, she could feel it. The fights between these two individuals would only end with one of them dying.

“Go,”

She did not want to. She did not want to lose any more of her precious people. But she had no choice. She stood on her toes and kissed him on the cheek before leaving the place.

And the moment, she was out of their sights, she heard an explosion.

She choked on a sob.

“Someone, stop this nightmare.”