60 Chapter XLIII: Idiots who cannot calculate.
Day 33
Third-Person Point of View
"99…8"
"99…9"
A shirtless Yozora groaned while struggling to do a one-armed handstand push-up with his whole body full of sweat.
Usually, this would be nothing but a warmup for him. However, if you look carefully, one would notice that there is a plethora of [Runic Arrays] inscribed all around Yozora's body, and not only that but the gravity has been enhanced by several folds as well as being in a hypoxic environment along with other changes that increase the intensity of the workout.
"1000" Yozora finished his set and stood up properly to clean his sweaty forehead.
"This brings back memories doesn't it?" Yozora's other self said, looking at his counterpart. "It is like when we first got in [The Room of Requirements] ...it is bullshit how our body did not become a bloody mess with the increased gravity."
Yozora just shrugged his shoulders. "Anime body, while there are significant similarities with how the body works with a "normal" one. Even before the reconstruction of our muscles with Kōetsuj's method, we had data that our bone and muscle density was higher than regular people, otherwise, we would end up like Shizuo Heiwajima, hell even a regular Wizard's body can withstand twice the gravity without developing health issues after long exposure to it, but you already know that after all you are me."
"What can I say? I like monologues." Yozora's other self said with the characteristically mocking smile that always gives while saying nonsense. "And it is pretty obvious, you would have to be a deadbrain idiot to not notice this, maybe not to a detailed extent but at least have a vague idea that they are not built the same even if they are human."
"And there are more visual examples, many characters would have died from exsanguination if their bodies worked like the one from our previous world, there an average adult can only lose around 2 liters of blood before dying if that was the case in every world humanity would be on the brink of extinction in Wuxia and Xian Xia worlds."
Even though by all means every single one of them is "Human", it does not mean that all of them share the same "template", and there are many reasons for that. It can be because of the result of genetic engineering as it happened with the humans of the universe of Sidonia No Kishin who can do Photosynthesis and some of them are genderless.
Some other of the results of evolution are either forced like the ones of the Super Gene God universe that consume other beings and acquire either more strength or characteristics of said beings or by spontaneous reasons like the ones from Boku No Hero Academia.
The involvement of "Divine '' Intervention like is the case in universes like Death Mage, in which the Gods created a "System" to give "Humanity" a chance to fight against the Demon Lord and his army. Or the ones from The Second Coming of Gluttony who granted Earthlings/Humans from another world their divine providence with the Paradise System to nurture them and grow their strength with the slim possibility of becoming gods themselves if they acquired enough achievements.
Or just because of how the world works they have strengthened bodies in comparison with their counterparts of other universes, like the ones of One Piece that are capable of feats only possible in their collective dreams. Even not going to such extremes, there are universes where high schoolers can produce athletic displays that only highly trained athletes would be capable of, and sometimes not even they would be able to do said displays.
"So how are the changes after training now?" Yozora's other self asked while using [Structural Analysis] among other means to inspect their body.
"It feels weird…It is not like we gained a [Zenkai Boost] or anything like that, but I feel that improvement has become easier lately, not something immediately but smoother than before." Yozora commented while stroking his invisible beard.
"And is nothing biological." Yozora's other self said, quitting his hand from Yozora to also stroke his invisible beard. "Even if we are not sure of what we are at the moment there have been no changes in our biology since we came here. We are mostly human that much we know, if we go by common isekai logic we would be High-Humans..."
Both of their faces turned slightly green at the mention of that and fought hard to swallow the vomit that traveled to their throats. The pair had seen the atrocities that the human race is capable of, in their daily life saw the darkest and deepest desires that could make the average adult man turn into a puddle of tears in despair, he had done many things that any sane man or woman would depict as heinous and immoral for the sake of his curiosity and seen something which the human mind should not be allowed to see.
All of this should make a man have a mental fortitude like no other and yet...
"Do not ever say that again, you fucking dumbass." Yozora cringed at the thought of someone calling him like that.
"...I am not even going to bother to point out that you just cursed yourself..." Yozora's other self still pointed out. "But yeah this conversation must never be repeated." And without further words, both of them shook hands in a gentlemanly agreement.
Yozora by no means hides his…uniqueness.
But among his eccentricities, some are more prominent than others, like his open disgust towards "Young Masters" or the least known(Or that's what he says) his appreciation for women that dress like maids(read fetish). However, there is another that follows closely behind the hatred towards Young Masters…his hate to be like a Generic Japanese Isekai Protagonist…
Anyways…in this case being a "High-Human" is a classic of classics among the genre and that the name is pretentious (his words not mine) makes him hate the term when in this case it is not an actual race. Among those "classics" are having white hair, dichromatic eyes..having a cheat ability…having a harem…a goddess being in love with him…having a Beast/Demon/Spirit living inside of you…how do we tell him?
"Continuing after having a long pause when the both of us said nothing." Yozora's other self said ignoring the previous conversation. "It means that whatever happened must be of a conceptual nature."
"And it started after our encounter with Luriel and Chazaquiel so it seems that those static and corrupted sounds were more than just our [Origins] awakening and Gilgamesh's incessant whining ." Obviously, Yozora would not pass the opportunity to insult the King of Heroes even one bit.
"So, making an educated guess, it must be [Hero In Training] what changed. Maybe the similarities shared like [Sovereign] can be also interpreted as being supreme or absolute and with [Star] being used as a symbolism of driving to excel, used the [Trait] as a catalyst to make my development unlimited or at least having less bumps in the road." Yozora's other self gave his hypothesis of why the sudden changes in his development.
"It might be, while both [Traits] and [Skills] are deeply engraved in our soul becoming something intrinsic to ourselves, [Traits] are more conceptual in nature, something that before this was not possible to change, different from [Skills] which could be improved."
"And while this change has been only beneficial to us as far as we know, we need to keep a record of any change that we notice and must take upon consideration this for the future to evade any detrimental outcome."
"Agreed, although this is quite an unexpected welcome to us since…"
"We have a glaring weakness that has become more noticeable since we arrived in this world…"
"Our physical strength is…lacking." Both of them said as if they were taking a bitter pill.
Even if these athletic feats were not something to belittle and in the Potterverse handled many of his problems with physical strength alone, sometimes not even bothering to enhance himself besides practice purposes. His raw strength is only overwhelming in that universe, as in the DXD world has already encountered beings with base physical strength than his own.
"From an objective point of view it cannot be helped since at the beginning our body was just slightly better than a regular kid, not to mention that we had to spend a lot of time with the foundations the first year and a half and even if we did not slack training our body, it was until recently that we were able to focus in multiple things with this much efficiency and Magic Research took a lot of our time, but that would be just making excuses."
"And while we can close the gap with our multiple enhancement techniques, skills, weapons, and Martial Arts. But if we encounter one of the High-End Bosses we might not be able to survive…" Both of them started to shiver at all the possible outcomes that they could imagine and how terribly wrong things could go.
Any rational human would be terrified at Yozora's current situation. Surrounded by the uncertainty of what is going to happen in the future, the possibility of dying at any moment at the hands of being beyond human comprehension. Jealous gods wandered among humans and many of them had no regard for other life "beneath" them. And beyond them, some beings could not be classified as anything but materialized concepts who could end their life as easily as breathing.
One wrong move and everything could end before beginning. Again, any rational human would be terrified…
"" HAHAHA"" They laughed.
"This is the best…" A wide wicked smile was visible on Yozora's face.
"...Knowing and being present are certainly different…" An equal smile full of madness was displayed on Yozora's other self's face.
"...All these years I thought that I was motivated enough…"
"..But thinking that mere cannon fodder is equal or stronger than us…"
"..is both disgusting and exciting at the same time…"
"...is so disgusting that it just makes me want to keep improving…"
"...and is exciting that there are so many challenges in our path"
"..so many stepping stones for our enthronement…"
"..So many whetstones to polish our regalia…"
"So many lights illuminate our faces…"
"..To become a real star…"
"..Many will oppose our desire…"
"..But our desire is not weak to be restrained…"
"...Any opposition is gladly received, after all…"
"Great things are done when men and mountains meet," Both of them said at the same time before once again cracking into mad laughter.
…
Somewhere
"...."
Kazuma was speechless seeing for the first time this side of Yozora. While Kazuma knew that Yozora was not a sane person and often spoke like a villain, for the most part, he only thought that he was eccentric, not giving much of a thought as he knows many people with similar antics and himself not being the personification of a "normal" person.
However, he never thought that he had this level of madness hidden within him…
Zelretch on another hand was contemplating Yozora's insight on his [Origins] and its influence over his [Traits] and contemplating the future influence that it might have. 'He really seems to like quoting William Blake..'
Aqua was fangirling and taking countless photographs at an incredible speed which captured every frame of Yozora's speech.
Celes-chan ignored everyone else and started to patch up the problems with the system. 'Hmmm an oversight on my part, I never took into consideration the possibility that [Traits] could evolve or change and treated them as static variables. A good thing is that he was disconnected from the system, otherwise, it would take longer to fix this problem.' This is not the first time that Celes-chan took into consideration Yozora's comment to improve the system, after all this was the beta version and he was the first tester. 'I will just program the possibility of change without anything else so it is not displayed as gibberish by the [System]...the reading on the change will not be a problem for the [System] but the real problem would be the name….]
Celes-chan crossed her fingers and let her chin rest on her hands. 'I could easily program the [System] to create a new name but I will allow him to name it, otherwise, if he does not like the name he will nag me till the end of time to change it, especially if by "coincidence" sound to "chunni".' Waiting no more he proceeded to fix this problem since it was the easier one.
'Even though I know that he is not fond of devils in my world, why do I have the feeling that he would get along with Rizevim?' Antanas thought to himself after seeing Yozora. 'Both of them are mad, have sudden changes of humor, and do not care much about others…is my world going to be all right?'
"HAHAHA." Fuga was also cracking in equal madness without. "I was right about you Yozora, you are interesting!"
….
Day 35
Yozora's P.O.V
Yozora's Soul
"Experiment 626…" Hehe. "Failed," I said aloud with a flying quill taking the notes for me, even if before reincarnating had the habit of recording some of my investigations so I will just place them in my [Library Of Heaven's Path] (I still have not decided if I will stick with that name). While I doubt that I will forget anything related to my experiments with how enhanced my memory has become in this second life, old habits die hard.
"Kill…me." Someone said with a harsh voice.
I looked at the source and saw Experiment 626, deformities were visible all around it as well as many appendages, fur, and even scales over its…well if you want to call a meat blob a body go ahead, quite an ugly side of I have to say.
"Interesting you retained intelligence after hybridization, this is the first specimen that could handle 5 different species without losing rationality." And of course, the reason for his current appearance is me. "So I am on the right route, good to know," I said before snapping my fingers putting Experiment 626 in a stasis for further experiments.
Since I had disposed of all my experiment subjects from the "Potterverse" as I could not take them with me, I had to gather some from this world. One could ask if I was not afraid of worsening the [Butterfly Effect] by taking many people from this era as subjects.
Well, the answer is easy, I just needed to find trash that was about to die, but that I could heal and use as test subjects, so I would not evade some "canon event" from certain people. And while there is also the fact that there is a reincarnation cycle in this world there is not much that I could do about that, but at least I was lessening the possible outcomes.
"You know this kind of scene makes us seem like a villain.." One of the others me commented after looking at Experiment 626. "Nice costume by the way."
"Well thank you," I said grinning, parading a bit the suit. I was wearing a long white lab coat with black buttons on the left flank with a mandarin collar, over the coat I had a black apron with some "blood" stains and of course, a pair of googles adorned my forehead. "At first I thought of going with some Walter vibes, but I think that Dr. Frankenstein was a better option and you know what they said, always be dressed for the occasion." And I always prepared for every occasion. "Yours is not bad either."
The other me was dressed in khaki pants paired with a black belt and shoes; a blue denim shirt with a red bandana on his neck and cream colored hat on the top of his head. The classic outfit of a certain "Dinosaur researcher".
But the other me was lost reading my advances. "Mmm, it is surprising that a normal human was able to withstand this much even if you did not introduce any magical creature to his system." The other me commented after reading the notes. "So by far, 3 is the most that we can meddle without any risk and 4 with some side effects, how about the mental corruption?"
"Meh, Gilgamesh's incessant barking is way more annoying." Even if it sounds like an over exaggeration I really feel like this. "And this "star" is fulfilling its purpose of absorbing corruption very well."
Sure, while I could withstand the corruption of the Graal for long periods of time, it would eventually accumulate, and I would have to do some "cleaning" and stop using it for a bit. But since I am using the [Sephiroth Graal] for research and study and since I am a knowledge enthusiast (Read: Obsessed Scholar), I created this star with the sole purpose of absorbing the corruption. While many could argue that it is insane to keep this inside that inside my soul…but I was never sane in the first place.
Besides, since I want to create a "real" [Kingdom Hearts], this would be useful to make my own version of [The Realm of Darkness], true I cannot use only that to create my [Heartless] but it should be enough to create [Unversed]. And his corruption is ideal for me~. Different from The King of Fools corruption, this corruption is identified as something foreign and is easier to handle. Gilgamesh is as if I had an autoimmune disease, and this one is like a cold.
"So, we are still getting information about the principles of life, creation of souls, and concept of Death while holding it and using it, that is pretty cool even if the information for the most part is hard to process."
"Yup, it is like a bunch of people were talking at the same time and everyone was talking in a different language it is no wonder why it turns its user mad with so much knowledge." If it was me after reincarnating while I doubt that I would turn mad, it would not be pleasant to use it for prolonged periods of time. "Though I could understand several parts of the concept of life, regarding the soul and death were way easier."
"It most likely is because of our status as "Master Of Death" and the fact that we already have direct contact with the concept as well as our natural affinity with souls, as it happened with [Innovate Clear] besides the "perfect integration" with our soul from the records that we glanced with [Eye of The Blacksmith King], we know that a new user would not be able to create complex types of pocket dimensions like us." The other me gave his point of view. "And what are the problems of using it without attaching it to our soul?"
"The first and more obvious problem is that we have to hold it otherwise it won't work." Even if it seems something stupid as even in "canon" every person that used the Graal had to hold it, it is not entirely true as the corruption and knowledge about the creation of life is something passive something really important for my research, not to mention the fact that it hinders the possibility of using it on battle.
"The second is that according to the records, the necessary energy to be used increased at least 13% compared with other users." Even if it does not seem like a lot it is a considerable amount of wasted energy, with one or two experiments it would not be that much of a difference but currently, I was on the 626, so I wasted the required energy necessary for 81.38 experiments and on larger scale uses it would really put a burden on me even with having nigh-infinite [Magic Energy] the strain on my [Magic Circuits] would be considerable after long periods of time.
"And the last and foremost problem would be that it cannot evolve." While it would not seem like much as I am already working on how to integrate it with me it will be a waste of time and also limit what I can make with it for the time being. It has been proven to us that once we assimilate with [Sacred Gears], it causes a mutation/evolution on the gear, so even if we can use it as it was "meant" to do, the hidden potential within it, is a sad lost for the time being.
"*Tsk* So no [Idle Transfiguration] or [Cursed Spirit Manipulation] for the time being." The other me pointed out the worst of the situation, for our otaku side at least. Though we can technically use [Cursed Spirit Manipulation] with Death-Element.
"I know right, but at least we can "use it" for experiments," I said pointing out the meat blob behind me. "But anyways what about yours and the other results?" Even though we could return to become one(Ima Koso Hitotsu Ni) and get all the information, all the other me are busy with their respective tasks.
"Sandaime is still outside doing some retcon in Europe and searching for some information about the Church's movements, while Yondaime is practicing with the [Ultra Instinct] with Gramps help though it seems that as for the moment we can only use Martial Arts, [Armiger], and basic enhancements."
I thought about the possibilities of what the other me told me before answering. "We haven't used it many times but since the body can use many things by mere instinct it seems that we have the potential to use more things while being unconscious, it would be better to reach the point where we can maintain control and our personality like Gun Park."
The other me just nodded as he also thought of the possibility, after all, he is me. "Continuing, Godaime is practicing with the [Purgatory Flames], we were capable of some improvement but not something noteworthy but it seems that Asmodeus is getting more annoying lately…" The other me could not help but sigh at the last part. "Everything for the sake of art(explosions)" He muttered while taking another gust of air.
"As for my part, I deepened our investigation related to the living beings that we could create and how far we could stretch it…" While he was about to finish, I raised my hand to ask something important. "And yes, we have both kinds of Dinosaurs, the ones who looked more like birds, those who come from the Potterverse, and the ones that are like lizards from Jurassic Park who came from this universe." I instantly put my hand down since my curiosity was eased.
"Noise." I briefly commented knowing which new "star" I will create once I return to the Potterverse.
"Agree, but continuing, while we received the information that we could create basically any living beings from the worlds that are connected with us, that is not actually true in the strict sense of the word. It is more like we receive a "template" with the characteristics of said beings, but it is just a general one. For example, while we can create Devils they only have the instinct abilities that all devils share such as [Night Vision],[Babel Language],[Demonic Energy], [Devil's Magic].[Magic Resistance], etc. We cannot create Devils with [Worthless], [Demonic Brilliance of Evil Light], [Crack] or [Time]."
"So anything "exclusive" of a determined group of people or beings is excluded, so going to universes like Boku No Hero Academia, Naruto and One Piece would not grant us many abilities." Well, it would be too broken if that was the case, but still, it is good that we can at least have the "basis" of every race.
"Not exactly." The other me interrupted my thoughts. "While it is true that for the moment we cannot create "Unique Skills" to give it a name as I tried to recreate the [Cloud] ability from Chazaquiel. We still copy those from a determined group of people who share those "Hereditary Skills" or "Rare Skills"." The other me said before teleporting 2 of our creations.
"One of these devils is capable of using the Buné Clan [Draconification] while the other one can use [Hell Lingthing] from the Furfur Clan." Then both devils made a little display of their abilities. "But I am curious about what are the requirements to be classified as "Hereditary Skill", in the main timeline Akeno inherited Baraquiel's [Holy Lingthing] so [Cloud] should not be classified as "Unique" so maybe it is needed to be two people in the world to have it, but it is certainly interesting how it difference any "ability", maybe because while some share the same properties it follows different rules, but we need more data for that."
"We have a Pokedex!" I enthusiastically said with a big smile on my face. Seeing how the other me phrased everything and how he used two of the devil clans we have actually seen and battled, it seems that there are still some hidden mysteries on [Innovate Clear], maybe because of a subconscious wish to discover things by ourselves or either some part of evolution related with bonding with our soul.
"Exactly, it seems that there is the pre-requirement of at least seeing the devil or the ability so we could use it, while it is doubtful that we could acquire powers like the ones from [Devil Fruits] or [Zanpakuto] it is obvious that we could acquire things like [Kekkei Genkai], some Mutant powers, Quirks, [Cursed Rituals], [Physic Power] and many more, the best part was that we could get 'that' from the Potterverse!" The other me said with a shit-eating grin.
"Oi oi oi" My hype was immeasurable hearing that. The other me waited no more and brought a seemingly "normal human." male with no remarkable factions other than being blond, the fitting description for him would be, your average Joe.
But suddenly his appearance started to change, first, his hair color turned blue, his hand morphed into claws from an eagle as well as his mouth changed into a snout. This person has a constitution that most of the fans of the Harry Potter Saga will recognize as one VERY beloved character is the same, a Metamorphmagus.
"With this and the graal we can start one of the projects that we left behind for quite a while since we did not have any means to study them in-depth, but with this we will have the perfect base."
This was the understatement of the century, while we had Tonks really close to us for a year and we set some agreements in our first year for her to allow us to study her physiology. At the moment we lacked a way to properly study it without some…invasive methods to give it a name.
So with that in mind, we tried to find another one outside the British Island since I thought that it would be like most cultivation novels when some random elements are extremely rare in the beginning town but once you go outside "mysteriously", they are as common as Silver Grass or a "rare talent only seen every 1000 years". As for the lack of study books related to them, I thought it was just that not many were interested in studying something deemed as "unique" and unreplicable by conventional means.
But no, I was utterly wrong. This was indeed something hard to find, even if I searched around the world and read some "classified documents" regarding people of interest in ministries of many nations. I was only able to find 5 Metamorphmagus in all the world and to my disgrace none of those were trash. 1 was a normal old wizard who used to work in a hospital as a doctor, 2 were a pair of twins which were just 6 years old, 1 was just a middle-aged woman that works as a store clerk and the last one the only one that I had some hopes of him being trash…a politician. But sadly he was actually a nice man who used to work as an Auror and accomplished remarkable deeds for his country and many of the things that he wanted to incorporate were very good. So I had to settle with some blood, skin, and hair samples for research.
"Metamorphmagus are low-key OP is used right, sadly in the Potterverse they lacked the knowledge to properly use this effectively outside of espionage and parlor tricks, sure while it is not as good as Mystique's ability it is still pretty good, but the most important factor is the Malleable Anatomy is present on them " Though there are other magical creatures with similar anatomies, heck two of my known Animagus Transformation (Kitsune and Thunderbird) have the same properties of transforming into humans with the former being a little bit more flexible regarding the human shape…
"With this, we will have the perfect canvas for Project Kars." As the name says, the objective of this project is to create a body that is the ultimate life form, sure there must be a way to do that with the store points but taking into consideration how much information costs, that kind of ability most likely is not cheap or by purchasing a way to go the universe of Jojo's in the timeline of Battle Tendency and either steal his thunder which would be the less optimal option or simply use the Graal to copy his physiology and later improve it, but since I can do it myself why not? Maybe it sounds redundant to do this since I can do something similar to Mahito and change my body through [Soul Manipulation] but…
"There are problems of having a too strong soul." The other me again thought exactly the same. "It should have been obvious from the start, after all the sole reason that we were chosen was that our soul was special enough to not get corrupted or altered through the omniversal travels."
At the moment we are unable to modify our soul in such a significant manner, sure while creating "stars" inside our soul can be technically called a modification, it is only a part which is my [Inner World] well now it is more accurate to call it [Personal Universe] at this point.
But using the earth as an example for convenience's sake, creating "stars" is similar to humans creating houses or buildings. Yes, it changes the topography but those changes are just "superficial", while in another hand changing the shape of my soul would be like changing the earth's shape, it is not just changing from a oblate spheroid to a square or perfect circle for an aesthetic look, but also maintaining it integrity and functionality working while adding some more features.
"Either way we still need to study our soul before trying to modify it and as long as we can affect others it is still pretty good." There are so many uncertainties about my soul at the moment. "And besides we still have to work on [Library of Heaven's Path](Name in revision), Project Kars, and Project χ(Kingdom Hearts) among others and there are still many others that we have not even started."
"Well I have to go, we still have 18 hours before the Omyojis start their attack in Edo, so all of us will come here in about 9 hours we still have some room to rest since we are going to be pretty limited."
"Yeah, yeah." I dismissed the other me since I had some ideas that I wanted to test and I am sure that he(me) is also in the same situation. "It would be a shame that after all this "effort", we just accomplish shame because we were tired."
Without further ado, the other me left the place to do his own investigation. "Such a shame that Gressil may not be born in this world, otherwise it would be helpful for my research…whatever is not like he is my only option," I said to myself before continuing my experiments.
…..
…
Edo
The atmosphere of this part of Edo feels a lot tense, from talking with some of the locals, it seems that it has been like this since yesterday as many armed outsiders have been coming to the town. Even members of the Uesugi Clan had given an officiañ notice to the common populace that the incoming people only came for diplomatic reasons, many were skeptical and afraid that a strike would happen at any moment.
'From my investigation, the Uesugi Clan was not involved in the supernatural world but are aware of it, something understandable since in this era Yokais are more active than in the future and do not keep secrecy as much. Maybe they convinced them that they could eradicate all Yokai…poor decision to bother your neighbor but whatever, they are going to get killed in 3 years anyway.'
Though I wonder why they are so shameless walking in the open without trying to hide their intentions, no one of the people here is controlling their [Mana] or [Life-Force] to even try to pass as normal military people to decrease the wariness of the Yokai.
Observing the people who are obviously involved in the supernatural side of the world, I noticed that their strength is not much to write off, the majority were at most at the level of the three grunts that were taunting the Yokai…
I see they are just the disposable members, if I have to make an educated guess many of them are either slaves or low-importance people from branch families, possibly outcasts of those families. So the real "heavy hitters" are hidden somewhere else waiting for the Yokai to get confident facing weak enemies, there is also the chance that some people specialized in the assassination are waiting for the right opportunity to kill one of the high echelons, anyway I will get the right information after contacting with my "brokers".
"You know Little Yozora sometimes is unnerving how easily you manipulate people," Gramps commented on seeing the people from one of the 5 Principal Clans moving around the whole town. "Even if I know that you lived a "modest" life, one could think that you used to do this quite a bit."
I shrugged my shoulders at Gramp's comment. "It is easier than people think, one just needs to carefully read people and their intentions. In this situation, these kinds of people are for the most part greedy and prideful with an inclination towards violence, so they will use any chance they have to demonstrate their "superiority" while at the same time gaining profit, so this setting that I faked is perfect for them.
And if everything fails, in the most likely scenario they will have some measures so the important people can escape and will just feign ignorance saying that those people are labeled as "Nora" and they acted individually. So besides some manpower, there will not be many losses compared with the possible gains but since we are here that statement will be wrong, as they said 'When two parties fight, a third benefits', especially when they don't know the existence of it."
Like in literary works, everything is easier from a third point of view is often referred to as the omniscient point of view. Whichs even if the name sounds pretentious gives a great advantage over the other parties.
"Humans tend to act more harshly when they have less time to think, that is one of the reasons I made them give the information in person since "it is too valuable and could be intercepted by others". That gave them less than a day to decide if they will go for it, for an individual or a small group it could be plenty of time, but for a "big faction" is not enough as they have more to lose and have to think on the possible ramifications of their actions
And here is where their tendency for violence comes up. For generations, they have been indoctrinated to loathe the Yokai and many have personal reasons for that hate. The leader of one of the parties is most likely to be affected by personal hate, so even if needs to look for the clan he would not hesitate to wound their adversary, especially if there are little to no losses on their side." Different from the canon timeline this era was not a "peaceful" one, they do not have to follow so many rules as they are at war. And even in the future, I assume that other than cowardness, peace is something so brittle that could end at any given moment, so they needed to think about every step that they took.
"Either way, even if the head of the clan decided to not move at the bait that I gave him, I already have access to their base so I could always…persuade them to attack this place but it would feel less organic."
"Yes, easy." Gramps rolled his eyes at the explanation. "No wonder those wizards had no chance against you."
"I am a villain for fun after all," I said giving Gramps a thumbs up. I mean I am a part-time Mercenary.
Not wanting to entice my antics at the moment, Gramps decided to change the subject. "Since they are already here I assume that you have some countermeasures to avoid any death on the part of the Yokai."
"Yup, even if I want their gratitude since it is a problem made by me I am not dick enough to let someone die for it." I have my set of rules after all. "Only maim, or seriously injure." I am pretty sure that I can heal most injuries anyway.
But my wise words only made Gramps deadpan at me, most likely because he guessed that I was making a reference. "*sighs* just do not overdo it."
"Relax, I am only half-joking, even if I have to allow them to get injured as otherwise it would not look real, another me is disguised around here watching in case that something goes wrong." Constant vigilance. "However, different from our previous mundus operandi, this time is not my time to "shine"....but yours."
Over the years Gramps got used to my eccentricities…for the most part. But one thing that he never got used to was…"Please tell me that you are not going to dress me like an Edgelord."
Cosplay, is Gramp's bane. While he does not mind that I do it all the time, he does not share the same enthusiasm for doing the same even till today he does not like using the [Black Coat] but does it begrudgingly since it is important for the big picture.
"Worry not, this time I just need you to be you. A kickass old man." I said with a wide grin on my face.
…
Third Person Point of View.
The center of Edo was in Chaos.
The fire was engulfing the building in the area.
The metallic smell of blood permeated the center of the city.
Screeches of pain resonated all around.
Cries for help were abundant in the whole place.
"Secure the civilians! We will hold them until reinforcements arrive." A Pig Yokai wearing numerous metal plates around his body screamed at the top of his lungs while blocking a bunch of humans with his shield. "Kurasawa! move the injured ones!"
"On it." A Tengu answered moving in the chaotic sky of the battlefield evading Ofudas and rocks thrown at him.
"Captain! The space is locked and we still have no idea of what is the poison in the air." A Yokai with Ferret-like features yelled while using [Senjutsu] to try to break the [Space-Lock] that was making them unable to go back to their sub-dimension. "It is not mortal but is only affecting us Youkai making us weaker not affecting humans, but if this attrition battle continues we are going to die."
"Damn it." The captain cursed at the current situation. 'None of this makes any sense, it would be understandable if they tried to invade our dimension it would not be the first time, but they are focusing all their effort on keeping us here as if they are looking for someone, but Nurarihyon-sama did not inform us about anyone important in the area.'
Zhu Zheng one of the Zhu Bajie descendants, is the squad leader in charge of the outer entrance of the Youkai Sub-dimenssion. Was disappointed in himself, this was not the first time since its creation that someone had tried to invade, hell it was not even the first time since he was put in charge of the security of this entrance.
However he got overconfident, at most it was just a group or two of Nora's that tried to invade, he had not faced this scale of organized front. While not looking at humans with contempt he did not think much about them, they have short lifespans and the majority outside of people with blessed bloodlines, struggle to even become "High-Class" and while there are humans that carved their names in history without any known background. Even if he was not born in that era, many of his elders describe the Heian Era as the time when many abnormalities were born.
Before the Heian Era, while Omyoido was practiced by humans at the time it was only seen as Wuxing with another name, it was just a matter of pride and a bad relationship with Zhōngguó(China). But after those two humans were born, Onmyodo became a proper [Magic System] separated from Wuxing. One of the humans was revered almost as a deity with temples enacted on his name, while the other was wiped almost from every written text in the world as if his sole name was taboo with only a handful of people remembering him as a Heavenly Demon…
"Captain, what should we do?" A young Kitsune Yokai said with panic even if his voice sounded harsh.
'If it wasn't for this poison we wouldn't be in this situation, these bastards had developed a kind of poison that even using [Senjutsu] is almost impossible to neutralize.' Even if they were not particularly skilled in the healing arts they received training for detoxifying themselves but it seems that is almost useless. 'Fortunately, no one died, but many had severe injuries and over time we are getting weaker. If this continues it is only a matter of time before the weaker and injured men will perish, they even disregarded the lives of the humans in the area.'
Though he is currently fighting against humans, the safety of these humans is his responsibility as many of these humans are the partners of many of the Youkai who for several reasons could not live inside the Sub-Dimension, so they are part of their people too. 'If I treated them the same I would be no better than the Five Principal Clans. Not to mention that it would be unbecoming of me, a descendant of Zhu Bajie who traveled with Tang Sanzang-Sama who at the time was a human, to be disregarded just because of their race.'
"Everyone get behind me!" Zhu Zheng ordered his men as he steeled his resolve. "I will hold them as much as I can. Flee towards the forest outside the city and wait until Nurarihyon-sama and the others arrive."
"We can also fight Zhu-Taichō!." A Dog Youkai yelled at his captain's orders.
"I know, but I am the only one who is not being seriously affected by the poison, if you stay here it would be harder for you all to stand a chance with the place surrounded by poison, so I will entrust you with the civilians." Under normal circumstances it would be a foolish decision for just one man to remain, however, under these circumstances was the only one that Zhu Zheng could think to allow the majority of his men to survive. "Protect the civilians."
With those words, Zhu Zheng rushed to the middle of the battlefield enhancing his body with [Touki]. While he inherited many of his predecessor's talents like like his skill in commanding and his talent with Water and Fire, he had no talent when it came to the use of pole weapons( Nine-Toothed Rake/Jiu Chi Ding Pa)), so he used his inherent strength to the best of his capabilities.
Wielding a Kanakō(Metal Mace with spikes) in his left hand and a Tower-like shield in his right hand. Bashing with his shield forward he made his way to the center of the area, sending everyone on his way flying as he screamed at the top of his lungs. "Come at me !"
Zhu Zheng's words were not a mere display of bravery or just a foolish attempt to taunt his enemies. His shout was infused with an application of [Senjutsu] which made all the negative emotions from living beings being directed at him. In simple terms, he is taking the aggro.
Although all of the members are accustomed to fighting Youkai and have experience against [Senjutsu] it does not mean that all of them are capable of defending themselves against those arts. While all the clan members are trained in this regard, the majority of them are just Low-Class and Middle-Class beings, and not all of the people here are proficient enough in the use of [Touki] to defend themselves against a technique of an Ultimate-Class being such as Zhu Zheng even if he is injured and poisoned.
The sound of trembling steel echoed through the district as the clan members' hands started to shake, their breath began to turn rough while their pupils started to get dilated and their eyes turned bloodshot. Grunting noises with some words that were not understandable started to be spoken by those people.
"Ghaaaaa" Finally one of the clan members succumbed to the effect of Zhu Zheng's shout and started to run in his direction.
"Whooou!"
"Aaaaaa!"
"Kill the Youkai!"
"He is humanity's enemy!"
Not long after, the rest of the Low and Middle-Class humans started to rush with maddened eyes toward the Youkai Captain with the sole intention of killing him.
"What should we do, Nakiri-sama?" One of the attendants of the Nakiri clan asked while being on his knees.
The man in question showed no hurry whatsoever. He just stood there contemplating the scene in front of him. "While this beast is certainly more capable than the rest of his kind, it is not a treat for us for the people of the main branch, but it would be useful if the lower members could wear him out so we could save our energy for "that" thing." Nakiri Shou said with a calm tone as their main objective was none of the Youkai that they had seen so far, but killing them was just a bonus, one of the reasons why he did not try to chase the running Youkai.
"And if our members go down a little bit more than we expected it will look positively on us since the mission was harder than the information we got." Most if not all of the members that were influenced by Zhu Zheng's shout were merely disposable humans in the eyes of the main branch, so their death was not something significant for them. "Though it will definitely reflect poorly if too many die." In his eyes, while he surely used their death as an excuse for getting an advantage in a discussion with other clans or with the Youkai under "normal" circumstances, for the most part, he only considered them as cannon fodder.
"Let's watch for the moment, it would be unfortunate if "that" thing took us by surprise, but once either we lose an acceptable amount of members or the Pig Youkai is on the verge of death we'll move even if "that" thing is not here." No matter if his main objective was not here, the mere fact of killing an Ultimate-Class Youkai and one of Zhu Baije's descendants was far too good an accomplishment to let pass.
'Either way, I already have people waiting outside this place to kill those filthy animals.' Even though their main objective was to kill "that" thing, as members of one of the Five Principal Clans, it is their "sacred duty" to erase those monstrosities from existence.
While the previous conversation was taking place, Zhu Baije was engaging with the maddened members of the Nakiri Clan. Even if his Tower Shield was enormous for a regular human being, for him who possesses a monstrous amount of strength was no difficult to wield it with one hand and use it to bash the bodies of the Nakiri members who tried to approach him and with his left hand swung his Kanakō sending them flying pulverizing the bones and internal organs of many of the Low-Class clan's members and providing heinous wound for some Middle-Class members.
Even if he is somewhat weakened and his senses are dulled by the unknown poison, Zhu Zheng will not fall easily.
Zhu Zheng forced his perception to the limit for two reasons, the first one, and his priority, was to make sure that none of the Nakiri Clan members followed his people and the second one was to avoid any surprise attacks from the ones currently standing a little far from the battlefield.
'Those fuckers are just waiting.' Zhu Zheng thought to himself in anger. 'They are waiting to wear me out with either the poison or their men.' This was a common tactic used when facing a stronger opponent, disregarding the lives of the weaker individuals.
However, even if things looked at Zhu Zheng's advantages this does not mean that he was completely unscattered. While many of them lost their rationality after going into a "Berserk" state, the majority were just simply affected in a way that would center all their attention and effort to "hurt" Zhu Zheng.
So the ones who were not maddened were still capable of rational thought. This means that they were capable of using their abilities granted by their [Divine Protection] without a problem and not just mindlessly swinging their weapons. While not to the extreme degree of each generation Ouryuu, it was above anything that an "average" person with a normal affinity to the [Earth] element would have.
So they used to create problems for Zhu Zheng by either turning the ground beneath his feet into quicksand or spike stones or simply terraforming the ground below his feet to disrupt his pace. While normally this wouldn't be that much of an inconvenience for him, in his current state and with the number of people he is facing
With dexterity and speed superior than his body would suggest, Zhu Zheng "danced" around the battlefield taking care not to go too far from the current area in case some of the Nakiri members with still rational capability would give up on him and chase his people even if there are people currently chasing after them.
Under normal circumstances this possibility would not slip from Zhu Zheng's mind, however unknowingly to him, the poison had taken more effect in affecting his cognitive ability than he thought. And being in a constant confrontation against many opponents gave him no room to even think in this way.
"Ghuaaa" A guttural scream left Zhu Zheng's throat as he swung once more his Kanakō, he tried to obliterate one of the groups formed by the not-maddened members.
*Crash*
But to his surprise, his trustworthy Kanakō broke into millions of pieces before his eyes at a sudden attack of a stone stake that appeared at an unprecedented speed compared with the previous usage of the other members of the Nakiri Clan,
"You lasted longer than I expected from a pig." A mocking voice from afar fell on Zhu Zheng's ears.
"You!" Zhu Zheng glared at the source of the voice.
Finally, Nakiri Shou decided to step on the battlefield.
…
Meanwhile the other fleeing members.
The Youkai and Humans from the district close to the Sub-Dimension gate were running in the woods while carrying the injured ones. Even if their legs felt as if they were being stabbed by hot irons, even if they had run a considerable distance away from the city, they were capable of hearing the start of the fight between Zhe Zheng and the Nakiri clan members, but that was not that…
"Keep running!" One of Zhu Zheng's men, a Fox Youkai, ordered as he started to feel someone chasing them.
"It is no use, Rine all of them are tired." A Dog Youkai said. "We are still weakened by that poison and we are carrying a lot of injured people, they will soon catch up with us."
Rinne, the Fox Youkai gritted his teeth at the feeling of impotence at their current situation. "Kiba, are you suggesting that we should leave them?"
"No." Kiba, the Dog Youkai denied it without blinking an eye. "I will stay behind to buy you all some time."
"If someone must stay behind it should be me." Another man said. "You all are still young, so let this old man be useful before the winter comes to claim me," The man said.
Different from the other members, he did not have any particular characteristics; he looked like a completely normal human. And that is because he was actually a normal human. A human in their ranks was not exactly rare, either because they married a Yokai and moved to the territory, or sometimes old couples adopted abandoned babies since they could not have children on their own, or because they took pity on the child.
"Hanataro-san…" Rine said. "You are just a little older than us and you have family to take care of…" Even with their current situation, he couldn't help but sigh at the words of his companion.
But different from his words by modern standards he would not be considered an old man, at most he could be considered a middle-aged uncle. There were some white hairs on his head and wrinkles started to be visible below his eyes but his body seemed to be in shape, one could say that he was a very healthy man, regardless of this.
"Bah, I am almost double your age and my rascal is already an adult, he can take care of his mother, furthermore at most I have 10 useful years, you all have quite long lives to live." But from his point of view, someone who is in his 40s is considered an old man. "And most important it is the job of the old to take care of the young." There was a visible resolution in his eyes.
"I understand Hanataro-san." Kiba said, closing his eyes. "Is there anything that you want me to say to your family?"
"Kiba!" Rine said enraged.
"Hanataro-san has a point, normally either of us would be a little bit stronger than him, but because of that cursed poison we are capable of showing the strength of someone who just stepped in the Middle-Class and if they have more with them at best we could just buy 5 minutes."
"Not to mention that I have more experience than both of you, so I have higher probabilities of surviving if someone from the reinforcements comes in time." Hanataro said not really meaning the last part, but he was trying to convince Rine to let him say.
"You…are right." Rine could not argue with their logic, even if he feels terrible for leaving behind Hanataro he was his best option.
"So just in case that I don't make it, tell my wife and son to have a happy life and…ask Hahaue(mother) to forgive this unfilial son who is leaving earlier than he should." For the expression he was making, the later was a sore subject for him.
But before either Rine or Kiba could say anything else, a big rock wall was created in front of everyone.
"It seems that all of you will stay." Someone said in a mocking tone.
From both sides of the woods, four men came out of each side and another one appeared in front of them. This man, different from the other who had dirty blonde hair, had blonde hair that nearly looked as if it was yellow, a characteristic from the mark of those who are people from the Main Branch of the Nakiri Clan.
"In other circumstances this would be rather heartwarming…if it was not for the fact you are all filthy animals and humanity traitors." The disgust in his words was palpable in the air.
"It seems that brats nowadays have rather dirty mouths." Hanataro commented calmly. "Wouldn't ya want to learn something without your busy bodies around?" But the look on his eyes was absolutely not calm as his dominant hand was ready to unsheathe his Katana.
"Nakiri all are brenching the treaty between the Principal Clans and the West and East Youkai Faction that has been held since the Heian Era, do you know the consequences of this?!" Rine was beyond outraged at the current situation.
After the chaotic situation in the Heian Era, both the Five Principal Clans and the Youkais entered into a non-aggression pact. Well, it would be more accurate to say that they were forced into one by the Shinto gods moreover by Amaterasu herself but not only that but she made a Kyubi No Kitsune her Shiren Maiden. So even if begrudgingly, everyone followed that agreement, as no one wanted to have the ire of the chief deity to fall upon their heads.
"*Pfff* Hahaha, what about that? That only applies when both sides are abiding by the rules, and with the information we have in our hands, we are free to rightfully send your souls into Yomi, where your master is!" The member of the main branch laughed in a mad-like crackle.
"What are you talking about!" Kiba yelled really confused at the sudden accusation.
The man however shaked his head as if they were just playing to be innocent. "You cannot fool me creatures of darkness, I do not know how you had fooled Amaterasu-sama for so long, but with this you filthy…"
*smack*
*smack*
The loud noises of the geta could be heard all around the forest.
"I apologize, it seems that this trash is here because of me." Someone muttered behind the member of the Nakiri Clan interrupting him. "But worry not, we will make things right."
The member of the Nakiri Clan looked back to see a young man not older than 15, even if his overall aura expressed a nonchalant attitude and gave no signs of being part of the supernatural world. Yet his heterochromatic eyes radiated a dangerous aura.
In the first place, it was strange for someone to appear in this situation and be so calm in the face of Yokai and armed humans.
But before either made a move, another man quickly got close to the aforementioned clan member. "Nakiri-sama, the kid in front of us, matches the description given by the scouts."
The person that they were looking at was wearing a black kimono with some blue adornments on the sleeves and white undergarments. His long silver-grayish hair reached his shoulder blade, and three swords of different sizes were hanging from his waist.
"Ho? What a pleasant surprise for a moment I thought that you had escaped or that brute already had got you, but it seems that you will have the privilege of being skinned by the great…"
*Bzz*
But for Yozora, the target of those words, he was just babbling nonsense and ignored him as he used [Sonido] to move in front of the people who were escaping.
Taking something from apparently nowhere, Yozora took some vials. "Here, the green one is the antidote and the red one is something to alleviate your wounds, please distribute one of each to everyone here."
All of the people in the forest gave incredulous looks to Yozora, and even more, so the Youkai since an unknown person was giving them some mysterious concoctions, one of them being the antidote to the poison that had given them so much suffering, an unknown poison that none of them knew of and the other one is not less surprising, a potion…something extremely precious in this world yet, a stranger was giving them without asking anything…
"You!" But Yozora's 'altruistic' actions were not seen as good-hearted for someone. "You are the reason they tried to slaughter us!" Rine yelled in rage at Yozora, and by his body language, he seemed ready to try to kill Yozora at any moment.
But Hanataro grabbed him by his shoulder trying to stop Rine. "Oi, I understand that you are mad at the current situation, I really do, but he is just a ki.."
"Yes, it is my fault," Yozora confirmed Rine's words without a hint of shame.
"You!" Rine's eyes turned bloodshot in rage, but suddenly his face turned pale while staring at Yozora.
As if an illusion broke, from Yozora's back 9 silver tails appeared out of nowhere, and two long ears were visible on the top of his head. "You…" Once more Rine muttered those same words, but this time were said in a completely different tone.
"Impossible…" Hanatoro was bewildered at the sight.
"Am I dreaming?" Kiba
"I have trash to take out, so please drink the potions and after that, you can continue with your rant." Yozora said with a "kind" smile on his face as he turned his back to them.
"Oi you damn animal, how dare you call Nakiri-sama like that!" One of the henchmen yelled as he moved at high speed to stab Yozora with his sword.
Yozora raised his eyebrow with clear confusion. "Your indignation, I cannot understand it."
*Bzzz*
"Wha-" The henchmen tried to say something but were incapable of saying anything else as Yozora grabbed him by the face.
*BOOOM!*
The ground cracked and a cloud of dust arose in the vicinity of the impact, just letting at the simple sight of the people surprised not just by the second display of Yozora's speed, but also by his monstrous strength. None of them dared to say a single word, but was Yozora who broke the silence.
"What is wrong about calling trash by what it is?...oh he is dead." Yozora's astonishment was evident in widened eyes and baffled countenance.
But even if those words were not mockery but a statement, in the ears of the members of the Nakiri Clan, were nothing but derision.
"How dare you! A flighty animal spitting disrespectful words from your snout towards your betters…" But his speech was interrupted by Yozora.
"Who allowed you to speak?" Yozora did not speak loudly, it was in the same intensity as all his previous talk. However the heaviness behind his words was on another level, if his previous tone was calm and nonchalant now is cold and authoritarian.
His former aura where none of the "people" present felt anything but a normal person is long gone and now they feel nothing but fear by the simple fact of being in front of him as if he was someone completely different than before.
Each of Yozora's hands grabbed one of the Tsubas(Handle) of his swords in a cross position. " In less than 5 minutes you keep calling us filthy animals so many times, that it makes me question how reduced your vocabulary is." Yozora slightly crutched. "Even more, you act as if humans were better when at the end of the day, as a whole are just hairless monkeys with questionable little higher intellect, but in your case, there is no doubt that you are a monkey that does not know how to climb a tree, most likely because your direct ancestor is from the same branch."
Trembling from both anger and fear, the member of Nakiri's main branch pointed at Yozora. "Kill him!"
Without a hint of doubt as if they were puppets, the people accompanying him rushed at Yozora.
"The ego of the entropic world…" Yozora's half-crouched position changed, his knees almost touching the ground.
His "enemies" approached at a speed that for the most, would be something worth talking about.
"...can be slashed into pieces." Yozora's grip on his blades became visible as the veins on his arms started to pump.
When they were just a couple of meters away, rock spikes started to move toward Yozora's direction "threatening" to impale him and end his life, however, Yozora's face did not look impassive at all.
*Clink*
*Slash*
The world was devoid of sound and time as a dim flash of light came out of Yozora's blades.
"[Nitoryu Iai:...]"
*Clank*
The sound of his retrieving Katana being sheathed was the first sound that was heard followed by the sound of falling trees and dripping sounds.
"[Rashomon]"
The bodies of all the henchmen were split in two falling on the ground, and the trees 100 meters behind them were bisected while showing deep cuts on the ground. The only person left unscattered was the branch member of the Nakiri clan whose legs were trembling and eyes were widened by the surprise, and the same bewilderment was shared with the people from the Nurarihyon faction.
"*Tsk* I am still lacking."The only one disappointed was Yozora who shook his head momentarily thinking about how to improve that move but shortly after looked at the only survivor with a malicious smile.
"Since you are a fine member of the distinguishing branch of the Nakiri clan." Sarcasm was dripping from his words while walking calmly until he was in front of him only making the other one fall on his but and making Yozora's grin even wider. "You are bound to know the good stuff right?"
Even if his tone was similar to someone talking with a good friend, in the other person's perspective, he was nothing but the words of a demon.
…
Inside Edo, the clash between Zhu Zheng and the members of the Nakiri clan.
On one side there were fewer members than before, some of them were roughed and others had some deep wounds and Nakiri Shou was almost completely uninjured with just some tears on his clothes.
On Zhu Zheng's side, his situation was many times worse. The broken Kanakō looked so brittle that some swarfs of metal were falling from it with a little movement. His tower shield now was in a pitiful state, broken in many places just barely able to protect some vital organs if placed in front of him. His clothes were tattered, dirty, and drenched in blood of his own and from his enemies. A plethora of wounds adorned his body.
"You should give up and beg for death." Nakiri Shou arrogantly said. "If you do, at least it would be a painless one."
Zhu Zheng, haggardly breathing, gave him a hateful look. "I will not fall." He was both mentally and physically exhausted, on top of continuously having to engage in battle, the exhaustion and wounds, little by little the unknown poison started to take a toll on him.
'If I fall right now they will chase my people, I need to buy them more time..' These were the thoughts of Zhu Zheng, whose sole motivation to remain standing was to protect his people. But a dreadful fear started to appear in his heart as Nakiri Shou started to give a sadistic smile.
"You must be thinking that you must stall us here to protect your "people", am I right?" Nakiri Shou said sardonically
A pit formed on the bottom of Zhu Zheng's stomach. He knows that his intentions were obvious as he was the only one who remained here, those words should not be surprising at all, however, the tone of how they were.
"If that is the case, worry not, by this moment they should be dead." Even if those words were expressed calmly as if he was talking about the weather, the sadistic look on his eyes seeing Zhu Zheng's enraged face.
At this moment Zhu Zheng lost all sense of self-preservation and rushed towards Nakiri Shou "You damn coward!"
Previously, the only thing that maintained Zhu Zheng's rationality was the thought that he needed to keep going for the security of his comrades. But with Nakiri Shou's words, the last strand of rationality was lost. Even if there is no definitive proof of the veracity of those words his mind was already on edge, no begin with there was no reason for him to lie as he was already half-step into death's embrace,
Spikes pierced his feet, while stalagmites and sharp rocks pierced his body, often the ground would become unstable, but he ignored that. The pain became null, even if a new wound appeared on his tattered body he ignored all that, he ignored everything but the culprit of all his rage. His tunnel vision ignored even other members of the Nakiri Clan.
With none left to protect his resolve changed into killing Nakiri Shou with his last embers of life as his demise was nothing but a matter of time, so there was no point in trying to prolong the inevitable, so he used all his remaining might to move forward.
His strive was worthy of high praises, many would have already fallen if they were in his place and would have succumbed to death's sweet whispers, but the only thing that could grant him solace before dying was so close to him that he persevered, going step by step, almost reaching his end goal.
However, even if his spirit was burning with determination there is a limit of how much the flesh can withstand even the body of a supernatural being has its limits.
*drip*
*drip*
*drip*
Zhu Zheng body's was in an awful state, his body was impaled from several angles, the skin of many parts of his body looked like tattered leather, and his most atrocious wound was on his right arm which looked as if it would fall at any second but even with all those horrendous wounds, he was still standing.
"*tsk* What a stubborn animal." The displeasure of Nakiri Shou was evident in both his face and voice. "Regardless if I cut one of your legs there is no way that you will be standing with that arrogant look of yours."
With those words, the ground morphed into a sharp rock which traveled at an incredible speed toward Zhu Zheng who was no longer able to protect himself. But instead of closing his eyes or moving his gaze, he decided to see everything to the bitter end.
But somehow when the sharp rocks were just a mere meter about to reach Zhu Zheng a violent explosion occurred in front of him, turning what was about to take Zhu Zheng's life into debris creating a dust cloud around the area.
Everyone had perplexed looks on their faces, none of them felt anything before the explosion. No [Magic Energy], [Life Force], [Spiritual Energy], no nothing. It was as if an invisible wall protected Zhu Zheng, but if that was the case, it would just collide with the "invisible wall" instead of blowing up.
"No matter which time it is, youngsters are always reckless." A voice was heard in the middle of the dust, answering everyone's question.
After the dust started to dissipate the image of the voice started to be visible. It was a slightly short man wearing a red changshan which seemed to be made of expensive fabrics. The most notable thing at first glance is that he was old, older than the average people in that period of time for a normal human, however, nothing about him seemed normal in the eyes of a seasoned warrior.
Meanwhile the man in question "ignored" the people from the Nakiri Clan and focused on Zhu Zheng. Looking at the deplorable state he shook his head and took out of nowhere a red vial and poured the contents over Zhu Zheng's body. "This will just give you some time as your wounds are quite severe and it would be foolish to detach all the spikes as you would bleed to death, so wait until someone more capable arrives."
"Who are you?" Zhu Zhen was as perplexed as the members of the Nakiri Clan since he did not recognize the man in front of him, something strange as the number of human fighters in their ranks is low and someone like him would stand out.
"Reinforcement."
"*Pfff* Hahahaha." Nakiri Shou cracked in mad hysteria. "Struggling so far, just to get rewarded with a dying partner, hahaha"
"Kuahahaha." But the old man did not care about the blatant disrespect and laughed loudly. "Another thing that does not change no matter the country or time, is how big-headed young people can be, kuahaha."
For him, it is only natural to not care about those foolish words, a tiger does not need to care about the words of a worm.
However, his heartily laugh not only made Zhu Zheng to be confused as the situation in which they are was a complicated one, but also made Nakiri Shou's expression twist in mad anger as he was not being taken seriously.
"You damn has been! how dare you to make fun of me!." The members of the main branch could not withstand the "humiliation" of being looked down on. "Not only are you in the presence of the great me, but you are also outnumbered and more of my people will come at any moment!"
The old man on another hand, just sighed at his words. "You know? I do not hate naivety and stupidity that comes with young age, however, I seriously dislike something…idiots that cannot calculate."
The later part of his statement confused all the people present as it was apparently just a random fact about himself…or it seemed to be the case.
The old man moved at an unconscionable speed which made everyone present unable to follow with their gaze, even Zhu Zheng who was already in the ranks of the Ultimate-Class could not follow his speed. But even if they could not follow his speed, soon they "realized" where he was.
"Kuaah!"
"Ghuaa!"
"Gaaa!"
"Protect Nakiri-sam-" Someone tried to shout, but was murdered before he could finish.
One by one the members of the Nakiri Clan were turned into meat paste by an "invisible" force. Describing the current situation as a fight would be one of the biggest misconceptions of the century, this was just as Yozora ordered…a massacre.
Most if not everything until this point was just something orchestrated by Yozora.
Under their normal mundus operandi in the Potterverse, is a common thing for Yozora to be the one displaying an overwhelming amount of power, partially because he is the main focus of their plans in his Luxu persona. However there are other two reasons, the first one is that Yozora needed experience, so Li Shuwen allowed the young man to take care of almost everything.
And the second reason…
"See? You are so stupid that you cannot even count how many people are on your side." The old man was visible once again and was only wiping the blood on his fist with a handkerchief. "It's just addition, it is not even that hard."
Previously a dozen people were standing including Li Shuwen and Zhu Zheng, but now only 3 people are breathing.
"Impossible…" Nakiri Shou felt that his knee became weaker to the point of almost falling on the ground.
Zhu Zheng on another hand was equally horrified even if the cause of the slaughter was proclaimed to be "reinforcement". 'Who is this human!? I haven't heard of anyone with his characteristics on this land, any faction would do everything on their hands to have him in their ranks! Even more, I cannot believe that someone with his strength is unknown to us!' While Zhu Zheng would not claim to know every strong person in the world, he would at least know everyone at that level.
The second reason is that Li Shuwen is strong.
"Well, it is time to finish this fanfare." Li Shuwen said, putting away his handkerchief and starting to walk slowly towards Nakiri Shou.
"Wa-wait! Please spare my life, I can pay you whichever amount of gold you want!" Nakiri Shou pledged for his life, however, Li Shuwen was not interested at all. "If you do not want gold, my family can provide you with anything you want! Status, women whatever you say is yours!"
Finishing those words, Li Shuwen stopped for a moment. "For most people, your offer would be too good to ignore…" The old man said.
Those words, a fleeting spark of hope appeared in Nakiri Shou's eyes, who had a chance to continue living…
*Splash*
*Tuud*
The headless body of Nakiri Shou dropped to the ground.
"My Aruji-dono(Master) deemed you as non-recyclable trash, so there is no point in keeping you alive." Li Shuwen calmly said, cleaning his hands once again.
For him, it has been ages since he referred to Yozora as his Master. Not only did he not like to be called like that, but also their relationship was beyond just a mere Master-Servant contract. But there is a reason for saying that, the only witness that remained alive.
"Captain!" Kiba rushed directly to Zhu Zheng's direction ignoring Li Shuwen. "Quick, someone bring bandages, Rine give me one of the antidotes and potion!"
Witnessing that his people were safe allowed him to finally rest on the ground.
"Captain!" Rine panicked seeing his captain fall on the ground.
"I am fine…well as good as I can be." Zhu Zheng tried to joke, but looking at his men's reaction it did not work at all. "Moreover I am surprised that you did not rush at the old man…do not do that he is an ally." Zhu Zheng's first statement was understandable since they were attacked by a Human Faction and the old man was a stranger. "More importantly, is the rest of the group safe?"
"Yes, Hanataro remained behind to take care of the rest of the group that could move as fast as us," Kiba explained.
"As for your first question, Yozora-sama notified us that Lee-sama was here to help you and warned us to not try anything violent towards him," Rine spoke with a somewhat stiff tone but very respectfully about what happened.
"Is Yozora the person who saved you?" Zhu Zhen gave a confused look towards Rine. "Moreover, why are you calling him "sama"?" It is not that he is disregarding their saviors, Rine was not the type of person to use that suffix loosely.
"Well…it is complicated," Rine said, turning a little bit pale.
"Oi Gramps! it seems that you finished here pretty fast." The voice of a young man was heard close to them without any noticing when he arrived.
Speaking of the devil.
"None of them were particularly strong and were tired after fighting the young one," Li said with a nonchalant attitude. "You should have been a little bit more challenging if anything."
"Nah, they were even weaker than the devils from last time, so the hardest part of this was to not destroy the forest." The young man flatly almost to the point of looking bored.
Zhu Zheng looked at the source of the voice and understood why Rine acted so stiff. "A Kyubi-No-Kitsune…" He could only mutter that looking at Yozora's appearance, to his knowledge the only two Kyubi-No-Kitsune in Japan were both female, and on top of that were Golden Kitsune…
"Hmmm?." Yozora turned around to look at the berated Zhu Zheng. "They did a number on you, it seems that I will have to dust off my needles…" But before Yozora could finish his words, he felt a [Spatial Distortion], and 3 dozen warriors appeared out of nowhere.
"Well maybe my services will not be required, but first…" Yozora said and at the same time he unsheltered one of his katanas in a swift motion, and had the tip facing behind him.
"I know that you are worried about your people, but could you at least try to not go for the back? I do not know if you know, but it is a shameful thing for a warrior(swordsman) to have a wound on his back…" Everyone was confused as to why Yozora started to talk to the air, but soon the people that he rescued and Zhu Zheng bowed immediately after realizing that he was not talking alone.
"Nurarihyon-sama."
…..
Hello, Nice and nephew it is Uncle Author and I hope you enjoyed the chapter.
Sorry for not posting a chapter for over two months but things have been…difficult, Leaving aside my shitty job that became even shittier hahaha. I had some personal problems that I had to work with, a little bit after publishing the last chapter I entered a really bad depression(or at least was for me).
You know that I always say that writing makes me happy and it is one of the things that brings joy to my life, as well as reading and answering your comments. Well, I felt so bad that I could not do even any of that. I think that for many weeks I went full autopilot to do all the things that I have to do as I am an adult and I cannot push away my responsibilities.
I tried to write, I did, but once I was in front of the monitor I couldn't, I had the idea of what I wanted to write but I couldn't bring myself to write, maybe I had the idea but I couldn't describe what I wanted with words…it is hard to describe, but basically I had a blocked or yips and that made me more unhappy and stressed hahaha.
But last Monday was my birthday…and I was still depressed hahaha. But my best friend came to my house to my surprise and that made me happy. I think that the last time I saw him before that day was 3-4 months ago since he had some responsibilities that made it hard to meet each other regularly. We did not do anything particularly big or anything, we just talked for a couple of hours like we used to when we were younger.
I know that I call myself uncle and I am an uncle, but I am not that old hahaha. But maybe remembering the time when we were college students and talking shit like before helped me out a little bit. And this week I was able to finish the chapter after so long hahaha.
When I say that I will not drop this fic, is not just empty words but what I want. It has been 2 years since I wrote the draft of this FF, and a little more than a year and a half since I started to publish it. So as long as I can I will write this FF, I hope that in the future you will not have to wait so much for each chapter.
So that's everything I wanted to say, and with anything else to say…
Thank you for reading this chapter.
If you like this ff so far, please make a review on the main page, this will help me a lot so more people get interested in reading it.
Also, leave a comment with your thoughts on this chapter and maybe drop a stone or two(My precious) hahaha.
See you again in the next chapter!
