Chapter 18: Passing Time.

- Damien -

I looked at the surroundings.

Clouds and white covered the entire view the eyes could see.

How did I get here?

Suddenly I heard a sound behind me, the sound of an attack. How did it get past my Observation Haki? Almost as if instinctively, I jumped to the side and tried to counter but to my horror, my speed had been reduced to that of a normal human's. I watched as the light spear headed my way only for it to pass through me as if an illusion.

BOOM.

There was an explosion behind me but I didn't feel anything, the shockwave, the energy, nothing.

Ah… it was another one of those.

I watched as two boys appeared behind me.

"See that. I totally mastered that spell. I won again." The silver haired boy laughed with his hands on his waist.

"How do you do that everytime. I cannot even form that spell yet." The golden blonde pouted cutely in the reply

"Hahahaha I am just better it seems."

"Not fair."

"Everyone is different at different things. Your brother is good at Magic while you are good with a sword. You need not be upset over it. Use what you have and strive to be your best." Another voice was heard from behind the two children and there stood HIM.

"Father!" The boys shouted in unison as they ran to the man who patted their heads.

"Did you understand that?" He asked the elder of the two siblings.

The golden blonde nodded his head at the man.

"You did a great job in learning the spell so quickly." He continued towards the silver haired one who preened at the compliment. "But… don't let that turn into pride, my son for…"

"Pride comes before the Fall," The silver haired boy quoted.

"Very good. Now, I believe that you two must be tired. Go and take some rest. Don't overwork yourselves."

"Yes, Father."

The two children walked towards the distance and I followed them.

It was when they were away from the man, the silver haired one smirked. "Father likes me more."

The golden blonde just rolled his eyes, used to his brother's antics by now. "He loves everyone equally, brother."

"Keep telling yourself that, Michael."

"Whatever you say, Helel."

….

….

The scene blacked out in front of me and I woke up on my bed.

Another one of those dreams. Although it was the first time I saw something of the younger days. I wonder if this was because of me getting the second Holy Relic yesterday.

It took four months for my team to find, contact and bring Meredith Ordinton to our base.

She was a young girl even younger than Asia. She was not yet enrolled in the Golden Dawn Mage Association so they had to search for her through other links.

She accepted the offer readily and joined our group since it was Merlin himself who invited her.

An aspiring magician getting an offer from 'The Merlin'. It was like a dream come true for her. In fact she didn't even feel bothered when our identities were revealed as she already knew that magicians made contracts with Devils and thus such a thing was nothing new. She was a bit surprised but that was the extent of it. In fact she was actually a bit of a fangirl and thought that only someone like Merlin could make a contract with Lucifer himself. I laughed at the childish innocence the girl has.

It was quite refreshing.

Awakening her Sacred Gear didn't take much effort as just a slight infusion of Magic and it was enough for her to manifest the Holy Nails, the Alphecca Tyrant.

This time there was no unconscious attraction to the nails.

They just appeared in front of me and I touched them. A momentary flash of light passed in front of me and the process was done. This one didn't turn me into an Archangel or anything thank goodness for that at least. Although I did feel my eyes get wet with some tears for no reason at all.

The energy rushed inside me and I could feel as if a pressure on my soul… on my whole being was becoming lesser. It was hard to express it in words. The last time I had been asleep for a while but this time it didn't even take seconds and thus I was able to feel everything happening to my being, my entire self. My senses cleared and my demonic power started to rise.

The four months of training were mostly spent inside Merlin's Innovate Clear's domain where the time was accelerated by several times and I could spend almost a year and a half inside. My demonic power level as well as the skills in various magic had increased significantly. Even then, the increase from the Holy Relic was significant. It was almost as much Demonic Power as a Peak Satan Class Devil had, slightly lesser than the last one but still enough to push my Demonic Power to almost seven times that of a Peak Satan Class Devil, very close to a Super Devil. One more such gain and some training and I might be there. Eight months were left for my visit to the Tepes Castle in case Valerie's whereabouts were not found by then.

By then if I could get one more Holy Relic or even touch them for a few moments, it should be enough.

This was according to the calculations made by Merlin.

I had spent around one and a half years inside Innovate Clear and was fifteen years old. This gained me two Binder Marks as well as two more from Alphecca Tyrant.

This led to Musashi, Ingvild, Akeno, Tsubaki and Sean getting marked.

Speaking of Merlin. The guy had grown a lot in the last four months. From a Peak Ultimate Class to a Peak Satan Class in just the amount of Magical Reserves. If matched with his Sacred Gear, I am pretty sure, he would even give beings beyond even the Satan Class a good challenge.

Actually everyone had progressed significantly but decided to continue their training.

Some things happened in this time period.

We set up a dimension on the ocean floor. It was difficult to even stay there normally but thanks to the help of our newest member, the Sea Serpent of the End, it was quite easy to do so.

Ingvild was growing at an exponential pace. She was already a High Satan Class when she woke up, without any kind of training. This was not considering her Sacred Gear at all.

With the Binder's mark and training, her Demonic Power soared and so did her training with her Clan Trait. The Sea Serpent of the End matched with her Nereid Kyrie made it easy for us to establish the dimension inside the ocean and prepare for the next Chakra Fruit. This one required quite a lot of effort to make. The absorption was also kept low and will take around a year to complete.

In the meantime, Cleria has been working on something even more ridiculous. A Ten Tails that could absorb the negativity and demonic powers of the pits and make a fruit from it.

Pits were not something anyone ever touched due to the insane amounts of Demonic Beasts present there. Hundreds and thousands of kilometers of area around the pits were completely filled to the brim with demonic beasts who keep on spawning.

If this plan was successful, it would be a great boon for us but… such things were easier said than done.

Cleria did become a solid Satan Class Devil like her cousin with all her training.

Speaking of her cousin, Diehauser hunted a Rating Game player with the King Piece.

Helena is currently studying the piece in her lab.

The one who had progressed the most among my subordinates however was Gretel.

She had watched the ideas I had given from some of the previous anime and picked up a few characters whose powers she tried to mimic. It started with simple teleportation of Minato and the techniques of Obito which she easily mastered. The main difficulty started when she tried to imitate Gojo's Infinity using her Space Magic. Her idea was to repeatedly create several layers of space between the attacks and her to stop any kind of attack.

I won't lie but even I was a bit excited to think about her achieving this.

Her Demonic Power had risen to almost three times that of Serafall. I almost pity her enemies by the end of her training.

Kuroka, while not being able to use the Innovate Clear Dimension, still grew quite well as she gained two tails in this short while and was now a seven tailed Nekoshou, making her enter the Peak of the Ultimate Class level. It was however the skills she was taught by Sun Wukong that made the difference.

Lavinia had also trained quite hard and was a solid Satan Class in her Demonic Power alone. She would be stronger with her Sacred Gear.

On the other hand Vienna and Akeno were training under Merlin and Celine to master their respective powers.

I had asked Azazel about some notes on Holy Lightning from Barakiel for Akeno. Now that had been a talk. Apparently, Azazel had asked Sirzechs to bring Akeno to the peerage of Rias.

This was because some elements in the Grigori were acting up and her life would have been in danger in the Grigori.

He was a bit tired and then relieved that she ended up with me. Apparently Sirzechs didn't say anything about the meeting to Azazel and he had been worried for the worst.

He sent the information and even some equipment to help train Akeno in the use of Holy Lightning. The notes were also helpful for Celine who finally gained her sixth pair of wings. I am waiting for the day she appears in front of the world and especially Uriel. It would be a sight to see. She then got the power from several Fallen Angels who had refused to join us, further boosting her powers.

Ophelia pointed out that the training inside Innovate Clear aged the children faster and putting them through such child soldier-like training would have bad effects on them so for now, only the older members trained inside Innovate Clear until they were of a certain age. Gaining strength too fast wouldn't do any good for Vienna with the habit of getting cocky.

They were still being trained seriously though.

In fact, as funny as it sounded, I was the youngest person to train in Innovate Clear.

Today we were invited to Ukioe Town by Nurarihyon. From what I found out, there have been attacks in Kyoto.

Rikuo and the others had gone to Kyoto to help their friend.

Maybe Nurarihyon wanted to talk about the situation. Kuroka will be arriving too while Shirone will be staying at our base to stay away from the chaos. She was too young to participate against the likes of Hagoromo Gitsune.

This problem was much worse than I had anticipated at first.

The thing was that around three months ago, I had leaked the information about the experiments done on Akira and other similar test subjects by the Naberius House. The information was spread throughout the Underworld and even among the other factions. That had caused a massive and I mean absolutely massive uproar.

The best part was that some of the or rather a number of the traditionalist(read bigotted) devils still blamed Akira after the reveal and some of the idiotic newcommers actually kidnapped several youkai and forced them into their peerages. This blew the matter out of proportion. It was because this matter attracted the ire of several other smaller factions as well rather than just the Youkai who were afraid that they could be the next one in the line. Now one or two small factions wouldn't make the devils sweat but more than a few… that made even them sweat because they knew that they did shit on many people in the last five hundred years due to the Evil Piece System.

Serafall was running around day and night to clean up the mess but the Youkai demanded the members of their race to be released and the traditionalists and the ones who had forced them were explicitly against such a thing as it would set a bad example and show that the Devils are bowing to the other factions, especially one as weak as the Youkai.

Some even made such comments on the Devil Media and the .

And that was it. Several Youkai went ahead and tore apart several devils in Japan. Seventeen High Class Devils were killed.

It was almost a war-like situation. And neither the Devils or any of the three factions could afford a war.

I heard that Azazel and Michael also put some pressure on the Devils.

Finally Amaterasu, Sun Wukong and several others had a meeting with Sirzechs and Serafall. The Devil Faction was forced to agree to some demands. First, the ones who were forced into peerages will be freed. As a middle ground, this would be carried out by making them independent devils. They can make contracts on their own and advance in society as well as keep contact with their own families. The ones who had forced them will be banned from the Rating Games for the next five hundred years. Second, the Devils will be forbidden from entering Japan and China for a certain period without any express permission. This was done for the safety of both sides. Last but not the least, Akira was asked to be acquitted of his criminal charges.

There were obviously severe negotiations but this was the final result.

Sirzechs had to put his foot down against the old traditionalists and Ajuka in a rare show of force supported him. I believe his exact words were, "If you fight this war, we will not take any part in it." That quickly calmed everyone down because no matter how much they tried to show it, those old coots knew why they could get away with so much in the first place.

It was as if the ketchup-head somehow grew a pair from somewhere.

There were obviously some background deals going on but things were still very tense in the underworld.

The saving grace in all this was that the Youkai leaders talked to Akame she was actually happy with Rias which assuaged their worries somehow.

It still worked the way I wanted it to. By creating a chink in the already strained relationship between the New Satans and the Great King Faction.

I will have to work on that chink over a period of time.

I looked to my side.

Vienna was sleeping and drooling from the corner of her mouth and Gretel was hugging my arm.

I won't lie but she has grown into a very beautiful girl. Due to our training inside Innovate Clear's dimension, she aged and was now eighteen… and by the Satans, is she beautiful. I personally haven't seen Grayfia Lucifuge outside of pictures or videos and I can say it without a doubt that my Gretel was beyond her in every aspect. Be it strength or beauty, Gretel surpassed her completely.

I looked at her sleeping face and took a strand of hair and tucked it behind her ear.

Things had changed or rather were changing between us.

It started with my meeting with Ophelia.

- Flashback -

I sat before Ophelia who looked at me with an emotionless expression on her face.

"Master, am I allowed to do something if you don't mind?"

I looked at her and nodded.

She walked up to me and did the last thing I had expected to happen to me. In fact it was so unbelievable that I was unable to react even after seeing the action in my Observation Haki.

Slap.

She slapped me. It took me a moment to realize what had happened.

"Why are you doing this to yourself, Damien?" She asked.

I was still out of it.

"Why are you pushing everyone away? People worrying about you, loving you doesn't mean they need professional help. It just means that they care for you. Why are you so afraid of accepting their love and care? You need help. The place you were raised in could make well off adults go crazy and you went through all that. Losing your mother-figure, finding out that the person you hated the most was protecting you all from the beginning and then even losing them. Such things… such things leave scars Damien. Right now you are projecting the ones you have lost on Gretel. Get a hold of yourself. Gretel is fine. That's the normal reaction anyone would have if the person closest to them is in danger."

I listened to her quietly.

Was I really scared? Did I need help?

She cupped my face and made me look towards her and by instinct my Prince of Lies and Observation Haki peered into her to seek out any trace of deception or manipulation in her words. I found none. She was not lying. Did I really need help?

"Talk to me, talk to anyone you feel comfortable with. It is not normal for someone to take everything on themselves. It's not good for your mental health. I understand the need for it and that's why I didn't stop you but try to get some help. What's the use of getting your goals just to end up reaching there broken and empty, all alone? That's not a life we ever want for you."

"But they…"

"They will be fine. Just tell me something, did I ever tell you that Gretel was relapsing or was becoming worse?"

I shook my head.

"Then why do you think her worrying about you, hugging you and crying is something wrong. You once said that you want her to be able to make her own decisions, to choose her own future without any kind of bias. I understand your reason and I respect you for thinking so much about her but… She chose you. Even in her unbiased opinion, she loves you."

She took a breath and continued. "One of the main reasons for her lack of confidence was the fact that you have been keeping her at arm's length all this time. She was feeling as if she's not worthy of you, as if she was tainted in some way due to the actions of Euclid and that's why you weren't accepting her. It started being cleared after you started to sleep with her and Vienna in the same room and started initiating physical gestures. I left it for that reason because you had enough on your plate as it is and then you both were sorting out your problems yourself. Later on I even understood your reasons but this time… you are going too far. Do you not like her?"

"I… " I found myself at a loss of words. Did I like Gretel? Obviously I did. Was it love though? I don't know. What was love even like dammit? This was so confusing.

"What is it? Do you like her or are just just leading her on?"

"I would never…"

"Then what is the problem? Are you afraid to form any new bonds, confirm those feelings? Is this because of Aria, the day you opened your thoughts, she died."

My fists clenched. "This is not about Aria."

"No this is not. This is about you. So face it already. Are you afraid that if you bring those words to your lips again, if you confess to your feelings, you will lose them? The world is not out to kill all your loved ones, Damien. Aria's situation was different. You read her letter. She didn't want you to blame yourself. Had you not been there, she would have done the same thing. So stop blaming yourself."

- Flashback End -

Her words hit me hard.

I have taken some sessions with her since then and it has helped. Later on I found out that it was actually Merlin who had put her to it… Because Sean was quite worried about me.

Those guys…

They can be such…

I shook my head but I was pretty sure I had a smile on my face.

My movements woke Gretel up and she looked at me. "Master, you're awake."

"Hmm."

"Let me get ready." She started to get up but I held her back.

"It's fine. Just stay with me for a while."

Her cheeks blushed a little but she lay down beside me and I held her closer to my chest.

Maybe those idiots did have a point.

- Scene Change -

"So, where are we going?" I asked, looking around the area. Kyoto looked so… dark.

"You will see in a while." the weird headed Youkai answered as he led the way

Kuroka, Magari and a cloaked member followed behind us.

When we got to Ukioe town, Nurarihyon asked us to come for a walk with him. Shirone was sent back to our base with Musashi and Gretel. It would attract too much attention with more people.

"Kyoto looks like it's dead. Was this done by Hagoromo Gitsune?" Kuroka asked, looking at the scenes around the abandoned streets.

"Hagoromo Gitsune gets more powerful by absorbing the negative feelings in the air. Fear, pain, terror, anger and despair all make her stronger and thus her Ayakashi are causing terror in the city to make her stronger." Magari explained to her apprentice.

"I am still surprised that even after all this, the Shinto Deities haven't interfered." I said.

"They want us to solve the crisis by ourselves because this is a Youkai matter." Magari replied.

"Is that why Yasaka is not interfering? Because she is Amaterasu's Miko? I thought that she was supposed to be in-charge of the Kyoto Youkai." I asked Nurarihyon who just nodded.

"There… have been some problems. You will see soon."

And see soon I did.

We entered the area with the patrols of several Youkai, both old and young. They tensed sensing our presence but soon calmed down as soon as they saw Nurarihyon and Magari.

I did observe them throwing looks at Kuroka and distrustful to downright hostile looks towards our last member and me. Ah, the devil crisis.

A Tengu came forward to meet the group.

"Nurari-sama, Magari-sama. Welcome. I apologize for not being able to give you a proper welcome due to our current circumstances. Although, I will have to ask why you brought someone like them." He pointed towards our last member and me. "You already know the current relations with the Devils. In fact we are sure that there are some Devil supporting Hagoromo Gitsune's forces. Some of our forces observed them among her numbers." He said looking at me warily as if I would snap and attack them at any moment.

"These people have my full trust. I vouch for them." Nurarihyon stood in front of us.

The tengu in question looked conflicted but nodded and Nurarihyon continued.

"Trust me. We can help. I have brought them to help us out. They have a way."

Magari walked up and vouched too.

The tengu finally took a step back.

"Please don't break our trust, Nurarihyon or I and my entire tribe will swear an eternal enmity with the Nura Clan."

"We don't intend to do so. The things are as tense as they are. We don't want to cause any more trouble."

The tengu led us to the insides of the area where the guards bowed and moved closer to see who we were.

"How has Yasaka-Hime been?" Nurarihyon asked, confirming my guesses that something had happened to her.

"She was poisoned. Princess Kunou is also missing. How could we have missed such an obvious threat."

"It was not something any of us could have predicted. He was hiding there for hundreds of years and was still loyal to Hagoromo Gitsune and Abe No Seimei. He was…"

I looked at the guy for explanations for the last bit of information.

He signed but explained more. "Yasaka's husband was a spy from the cult of Seimei. He had been planted there for hundreds of years and had even managed to catch the eyes of Yasaka. He poisoned her. His actual aim was to use her body to provide a stronger vessel for Hagoromo Gitsune to reincarnate but apparently they already chose a different body for her so they decided to take her out. She defended herself but the overexhaustion caused her to go into a comatose state while the traitor took his own daughter hostage to keep anyone from attacking him."

… What the fuck?

Is that why Yasaka didn't have a husband?

Now that I think about it, it was quite weird that someone like her husband would simply die or never even be talked about.

If he was a traitor though… it would make sense that he was not brought up to poke at unpleasant memories.

We soon reached the shrine where the tengu went ahead and talked to the guards about something who looked at us before moving to the side, granting us a passage inside.

Inside the room, there were several people tending to a woman in the center of the room who seemed like she was asleep.

The tengu looked at us and Nurarihyon looked at both Magari and Kuroka.

Magari looked at Kuroka and nodded.

The teacher-student pair walked to the woman while the people moved to the side and let the two work.

Nature Energy started gathering as if a hurricane around Kuroka as seven tails popped out of her backside, finally attracting the attention of the people. With her training under Sun Wukong, she had reigned her Senjutsu in so well that not a hint of her power was visible for others to see. I saw it for the first time in a while and it seems that Vienna might need more dedicated training to keep up with her old rival. She was borderline Satan Class, not a Peak Ultimate.

The pair worked continuously to remove the poison and awaken the Nine Tailed Fox from her slumber.

- Scene Change -

It would take some time for Magari and Kuroka to work so Nurarihyon brought me out with him.

"Would you accompany this old man to meet someone?" He asked, looking towards the castle in the distance.

"Meeting an old enemy?" I asked.

"Enemies and allies are decided by circumstances more often than not. Hagoromo Gitsune wasn't always such an Ayakashi. She has in her long lifespan lived as many famous personages and was once in love with a human which bore her a child called Abe No Seimei. She had once dreamed of a world where both Humans and Ayakashi could live together and had even worked towards it with Seimei… well, that was until human greed ruined it all. But that is a long story. Despite her flaws, she cares for her Kyoto Youkai. I want to talk to her once and see if this can be solved without a fight. If the devils are truly involved…"

"I will make sure it will be the last thing they ever do." I answered as the two of us walked towards the castle in the distance in silence.

Nurarihyon's fear wrapped around him as it hid him from the view of others.

I watched and analysed it. My Archmage, now strengthened by the healed soul of mine, trying its best to copy the technique and although not a perfect copy, I managed to get something of a make-do job, earning a raised eyebrow from the Youkai to which I just shrugged my shoulders. Using it for a few minutes, I realised that I would be better off using my own Illusions which I did right under Nurarihyon's technique. It was still a novelty to copy the old youkai's signature technique. It could maybe be of use someday.

We walked into the castle undetected. It was only till the last room where spears were thrown towards Nurarihyon who defended against them using his sword. As for me, I simply walked towards the side.

The door crashed and behind it was the black haired woman with nine white fox tails swinging from side to side as she watched Nurarihyon with rage in her eyes.

I in the meanwhile took the opportunity to search for the devils in the castle and I did find some signals near the lower floors. I left a shadow clone in place to look over Nurarihyon and walked towards the room where I detected the signals.

The room was on the lower floors, near the basements. I could hear the shouts from outside it.

"Why can't we just take the brat. It was our price for the cooperation. Are you trying to back out from your deal?" I heard a shout.

"The deal was for Nue-sama to be born. We keep our deal when that is complete." A different voice answered.

The people were under my illusion and wouldn't even know if a bomb blasted beside them.

I unlocked the door with magic and walked past the youkai standing in front of the door.

Inside the room stood a devil. I recognized him. This guy was the Naberius Head who was under the most shit recently due to his actions and he was not alone.

There was another devil, a famous one at that.

One of the Top Ten Rating Game Players and another of the King Piece users, Lord Purson. His son was one of the idiots who got banned from the Rating Games due to the Youkai fiasco.

I had honestly thought that this would have been the conspiracy of the Old Satan Faction but it seems that it was not the case.

I even found out who the so-called brat was. In the corner of the room, lay a sleeping child with nine golden tails around her.

So was the fucker near the door, Yasaka's husband?

I might have struck gold.

I listened to their talks and got some information like Nue's plans might be different from Hagoromo Gitsune and that the devils and the youkai were planning to betray each other at a crucial time, but it was time to wrap things up. Nurarihyon was fighting Hagoromo Gitsune and the fight was getting bad.

It didn't take any time for me to subdue all three of them in an instant. A simple overpowered sleep spell with some magical bindings and they fell on the floor like puppets with their strings cut.

I looked at Kunou who was sleeping and was actually alright. I created two shadow clones.

I picked her up while my Shadow Clones transferred the Devils away. They would help me know about the devil's side of things. The other Shadow Clone grabbed the traitor and waited outside.

I went ahead to check on Nurarihyon who was now breathing heavily after the fight. My Shadow Clone didn't get any opportunity to interfere because he didn't need it yet but he might need it soon. I however decided to stop the fight because it would attract even more attention.

I walked before Hagoromo Gitsune and picked her up by her neck and let my Illusion disperse. The stunned Nine Tailed Fox was too shocked to even resist what was happening.

But as soon as she did, she started to use everything she could to get free from my grip.

It was all for naught however. Future Sight + Archmage + Worthless made it so that I could foresee and analyse any of her moves and make it useless even before she completed the spell. It only resulted in her thrashing around like a fish out of the water, uselessly without even being able to do anything. Her tails attacked me and the castle ground below us, tearing concrete as though cardboard but unable to move my Armament Haki covered body.

"Would you please stop destroying historical landmarks? I have promised a good friend of mine a date in the city. She would be very sad if this castle is destroyed. So, here we only have two choices. First, you, be calm and listen to what the old guy here has to say. Second… violent decapitation. The choice is yours. Oh, and did I add that I can not only kill you but wipe out every trace of your soul so that you don't ever get to reincarnate again? Now choose."

I looked back at the open-mouthed Nurarihyon who looked surprised beyond his mind. "Your turn. Speak. I need to go back early for dinner. Let's get this over with quickly."

I dropped her to the ground and as expected she tried to attack me but was pushed into the ground by a concentrated Conqueror's Haki attack.

"Last chance." I sat down.

Fear and Haki are forces that more or less counteract each other. If the Haki is stronger then it overpowers Fear and if the Fear is stronger, it overpowers Haki, but… between her fear and my Haki… it wasn't even a question of any comparison.

She stared at me but didn't attack anymore.

Finally Nurarihyon got out of his trance and looked towards Hagoromo Gitsune who was still staring at me.

"Hagoromo Gitsune, stop this war. It will cause our entire kind to suffer. Things have changed a lot in the last four hundred years. These things will only make matters worse. I know that you don't desire the destruction of the Ayakashi and Youkai either. Our enmity was due to Yōhime. It is something between you and me. End this with just the two of us." He tried to reason.

The woman however hissed in reply. Seriously I didn't know that Foxes could hiss like that. "And forget everything. Forget you killing me? Forget you ruining my Nue's birth? Don't joke around. My Nue would have brought a new era for the Youkai. An era where we didn't need to fear and hide in cowardice. An era where no one would look down on us. My Youkai wouldn't be hunted by those selfish humans, chased around for their hearts or treated as lowly beasts." She then looked towards me. "And yet again you come to ruin everything."

I raised an eyebrow. "Me, I am just following the old man on a walk. I would kill you if you become troublesome though. But I just heard something interesting so I'll have to ask. Why are you going so far? I know you have some issues with humans. Trust me, most of the races do. It's nothing new. But that doesn't mean that the entire race deserves to die. There are bad apples everywhere. Youkai have it. Devils have it. Even those holier than thou Angels have it. So… . what makes you think you have any right to judge?"

"They are greedy, abhorrent creatures. I have lived among humans for centuries. Living different lives, from normal peasants to heroic samurai and yet in every such life, all I saw was hatred and betrayal. I have lived as Tomoe Gozen, loved a human, married and gave birth to my son, fought wars for the Genji and yet… and yet when my husband's use was over, they turned on my husband and killed him. I still gave them a chance. I went away to live a life of seclusion while my son tried to change things from the inside, to create an era where both humans and youkai can live peacefully together. And yet again, they destroyed everything. They belong to no one. They will always be a cause of strife. The only way to stop that is by the Youkai taking control of everything."

I listened to her with my Prince of Lies and found out that she truly believed it and let out a sigh. "You really think that things will change by the Youkai taking control? You think that Youkai cannot betray each other?"

"My people will never betray me."

That line made me stop.

"Hehe… . Hehehe Hahaha that's the funniest thing I have heard in a long time. Even the Father of Angels never claimed that his people would never betray him and you…. you a little… . newborn claim of such a thing. Truly delusions have no bounds."

She bristled at my comments, her pride being hurt.

"It might not be a concept you people of the three factions might understand, your entire being is based on backstabbing and treachery but I trust my own people. They have worked for hundreds of years to bring me back, serve me even in death. They will never betray me."

My eyes narrowed a bit and then a thought came to my mind. "Then how about a deal?"

Both the youkai looked at me but I just stared at the woman in front of me.

I continued. "I will not kill you or even interfere in this…. Whatever this is that you are doing, but in return, if you are betrayed by your….hmm, subordinates would be too easy, how about it, if you get betrayed by your son, you will become my servant, mind, body, heart and soul. You however cannot tell Nue or anyone else about this deal in any way at all. This is a chance that I am giving you to see for yourself how foolish your thoughts are….do you have what it takes to take it? Do you have the courage to make a Deal with the Devil?" I gave her my hand for a handshake.

"Damien!" Nurarihyon shouted, surprised.

"I made my decision, Nurarihyon. Trust me on this. People with hopes and dreams keep on moving forward, no matter how stupid or delusional they are. If you want to show them the error of their ways, you have to bash their heads in their dreams until they wake up from their delusions. Let her wake up from her delusions and then work to repent for all her mistakes. So, do we have a deal?" I asked the woman again who looked at me to see if I was joking.

A moment later, she took my hand and the deal was made.

- Scene Change -

"You were too hasty, Damien. Do you think it was wise to let that woman get away so easily?" Nurarihyon said as we were on our way back to Yasaka's place.

"I could have killed her, erased her even but what next? Her people would have fled everywhere. Nue would have found one way or another to come back. At best we would have pushed the war to a later date, not avoid it completely. Let's use this opportunity to show the ways of the world to the younger generation, make them realise just what kind of world we live in. The Devils were behind the incident as reported by Yasaka's people. They were from the Great King Faction but I will tell you the information that I get from them. Do you think they will just give up after this? Prepare the kids. I have a feeling that the world will be changing and change….is never peaceful."

"Are you planning to cause a war?"

"Obviously not. War is the last thing I would ever want. I am just telling you about my thoughts. People are starting to move all over the world. Something is causing ripples and in time these ripples might become waves that could drown everything. I'd rather my allies learn to swim in a relatively fast river than drown in the tsunami. As for Hagoromo Gitsune….I promised that I would not interfere and I am the Devil of my word. I will not break it…. but I never said anything about my subordinates. If anything gets out of hand, I will send my best people to bring the matter under control and end this whole fiasco entirely."

"So it was really devils behind this." He sighed.

"It was obvious that they would make some moves. This was probably the first time they ever faced any kind of backlash from their peerage shenanigans. It would be surprising if they didn't make any moves at all. You however can't put the whole blame on the devil side for this. At best they provided a way for Hagoromo Gitsune to regain her strength faster and disable Yasaka's guards. Her people were already planning to make some moves. They just did things more easily due to the help."

"Did you find someone from their side?" He asked.

"Yasaka's ex-husband or rather soon to be ex-husband. He was holding her child in a basement floor and was apparently making a deal with the Naberius Head to trade the child for their help. I subdued them all and sent them ahead with the child to Yasaka's place. What do you think I was doing when you both were fighting? By the way, do you think she will be able to control the Leylines?"

The man took a few seconds to digest the news and then answered. "No. The Leylines have a seal in the castle. As long as she stays there, Yasaka cannot gain control of the Leylines. Moreover, I don't think she will recover so soon. While Kuroka's help will be good, it will still take her some time to recover."

"Can she control the Leylines?" I asked.

"Not really. In her current situation, she cannot. She wants to give birth to Nue and the energies of the world will be harmful to a being being reincarnated from Yomi. She will not risk such a thing. It was one of the reasons why I was able to defeat her so easily, the last time. She was protecting her child." He answered.

"Well, too bad her child has been plotting against her all this time."

"What!"

"Nue has been plotting against her all this time. Why do you think I made such a deal?"

I didn't say anything and walked ahead, giving the stunned ayakashi some time to collect himself….once again.

- Scene Change -

A week had passed since that meeting.

The prisoners had been talking properly in our dungeons. I gained good information about the inner workings of the Great King Faction and some of the more well-kept secrets.

Yasaka's now ex-husband was handed over to the woman after she woke up. She personally tortured and extracted infromation from him, amd then ripped the idiot's head off with her bare hands.

She thanked me for the cooperation and then Nurarihyon went ahead to explain my situation to her. Who I was, my relation with Kuroka and why Sirzechs was being so cooperative.

Kuroka's status as the newest sage also helped but the turning point was our last member. With his eight tails out Akira removed his cloak and greeted Yasaka. The cloak was enchanted by Merlin to hide the user so they didn't know of his identity yet.

I gave Akira a chakra fruit too and he had consumed it after the first meeting with his sister. Kuroka had instructed the guy in the Sage Arts training she was receiving from Sun Wukong through me and he instantly gained another pair of tails from the chakra fruit. The last tail was gained when he controlled his power more. He was stronger than Kuroka because he was using the Innovate Clear's Dimension and could spend more time in training. His Demonic Power had also increased a lot, making the guy a solid Satan Class in terms of strength.

He had explained the circumstances of his escape and rescue by me and his life until now. Nothing in details about how he became stronger but just that it was not from the experiments and because of my support. It was enough to get Yasaka hooked for now and for her to sign an alliance with me like Nurarihyon.

She offered to teach Akira the skills of a Nine Tailed Fox since it looked as if he would become one soon enough. I accepted it because the Fox Fire of a Nine Tailed Fox was said to rival the Black Flames of the Prison Dragon King, Vritra. Moreover there were several other Youkai specific techniques that I had no idea about. We decided to keep his identity and presence here a secret though. At least until he was strong enough to be a deterrence on his own.

Although I believe that rescuing Kunou was the best part.

I also found out why Kunou never remembered much about her father.

Yasaka personally erased her memory because the girl was traumatised and couldn't even sleep properly.

In the meantime, Rikuo had entered Kyoto with his followers to assist his friend.

They were met with a harsh attack at the start and Kuroka had to step in and assist them to get away with their lives.

The kids had been running around and fighting since then while their enemies were breaking the seal on Kyoto for Hagoromo Gitsune to be able to give birth to Nue.

Things were starting to become interesting.

The Youkai under Yasaka didn't make any moves yet and she didn't ask me for any assistance either. She was of the view that the Youkai should solve this problem by themselves. They wouldn't be able to raise their heads in front of the other factions if they had to call for assistance in such a matter, especially the devils.

It went along with everything I had planned so it was not a problem for me.

Now I only had to wait for things to reach the climax.

_x_x_