79 Morningstar

Kyoto has…changed.

Kyoto has always been a little special. It is the home of the Youkais, after all—even if most of the supernatural is hidden behind a carefully crafted Illusion barrier. In the end, once I got past all the Youkais and some of the feudal culture that remains even hundreds of years later, it's not so different that it wedges itself above the rest of Japan.

That no longer applies. Even from a glance, I can see oddities peppering the city. Giant jungles cover one area, another is occupied by a volcano spilling a constant river of lava, and by the corner is an area covered by low-hanging clouds. Ki floods the air, and it gives the entire city an unnatural, greenish glow.

Each of these 'regions' belong to one species of Youkai, it seems. With the need for secrecy now gone, they've gone and changed their homes as much as they wanted. The Onis forged their own volcano, the Tengus filled their home with permanent winds, and so many more. 

…I can't really focus on any of that though. Not with all the shrines spread all across the city, all built to commemorate my ascension to the divine. The Faith flowing from this city rivals that of Kuoh, and that's quite the feat, considering most of it comes from the Youkais.

I walk among the unchanged roads, and I cast my gaze upon the buildings around me. Things are better now. Kyoto once had an issue regarding the many empty houses—Machiyas, they're called. Remnants from decades, or even centuries back.

It's different now. People are living inside them, and the city feels livelier than it's ever been. Many people have come back here once they learnt that this is the home of the Youkais. 

But many more came once they learnt that Kyoto is a place I often frequent, and an ally of Kuoh. It seems Nurarihyon decided to market the history of this city, and it worked. The population ballooned, and the issue of dwindling population seems almost like a dream now.

It also means that there are many of my followers here, and I can feel their reverent gazes from the windows and the alleyways. 

I think I'm slowly getting used to it. My polite facade comes up easier the longer I walk on, though my cheeks still ache from the smile I've kept up for several hours now. 

No one's approached me though. No Humans nor Youkai have come before me, leaving me to my own as I walk along this familiar road. It seems like Yasaka's told them to keep their distance. How kind of her. 

I'm not walking blindly, though. I'm using my eyes as I walk, and I can distinctly spot a black spot just a distance away. That's the destination I'm heading towards.

As I walk, the streets start becoming emptier. Less and less houses are built around me, and the eyes that'd watched me begin to turn away. There's an off-putting feeling in the air—an unreality that shakes any whose rationale is tethered to the perceived common reality. The more 'rational' one is, the more dangerous it is for them to experience this.

I'm not affected, naturally. I deal with infinites and impossibilities and eldritch understanding on a daily basis. This strange emptiness is nothing.

And past a certain point, the land becomes barren. The road stops, no buildings are built, and there's nothing but a sign written in Japanese. "Here rests the Honored one, who rests in wait for He Who Sits upon the Golden Throne." It reads, written in beautiful lettering and glowing a mystical green.

I recognize the writing. Yasaka's the one who's written this sign, it seems. But those words-, they strike awfully close to the truth. Did she use her connection to Amaterasu to see into the future?

Mm. I'll confirm later. Akeno's waiting.

I take a step into this barren land, and the ground shakes. The earth cracks, and from it rises a plume of purple smoke. It rises and rises and rises, forming into a ghastly abomination, its body made of a million gasping faces, their eyes empty sans a single dot of vicious red. 

I grin. Now I see why no one's gone to this place in a while.

"You've been protecting her, haven't you?" I say. The ghastly abomination groans in agreement, the air trembling from its voice. I take a breath, and I smile. "All this time, staying in this place, trapping yourself when you've just gained consciousness-"

I step forward, and I gently cup the cheek of one of its faces. "Thank you, Grima."

The faces twist. Their frightened frown remains, but I can see a hint of a smile mixed into that frightful look. The ghastly abomination begins merging back into the earth, and the soil that'd cracked magically fixes itself. 

Suddenly, the slight pressure pushing me back vanishes, as if Grima is allowing me to finally walk forth.

So I do. I walk across the barren land, towards the center of this dome of emptiness I'd stepped into. The earth is barren—all grass and ferns have died out months ago. Even the soil seems dry, the water and electrolytes somehow missing from the ground.

And then, atop a small hill, I find it.

A massive black crystal, just around the size of the large amber I'd been floating in just hours before. It's pitch black, reflecting not a single ray of light that comes in contact with it. 

At least that's how it looks to the mundane eye. To me, I see a kaleidoscope of colors. Every band of light from every inch of the color spectrum, all gathered and coiled together into a singular object. It's bright—extremely so—and I wince slightly at the sheer vibrancy it holds.

And I realize it then.

The dichotomy between us is clear. When I was asleep, my energy leaked out into the world, and people prayed for me to experience that warmth. Akeno, instead, gathers up all the energy she receives, so much so that her crystal more closely mimics a black hole. 

That's why she fell asleep too. When the Faith of over 7 billion people rushed into me all at once, my physical shell had failed to contain it all. It'd rushed out into the world, spilling out like an oil spill. My body managed to gather some of it, forming into that amber that enshrined me for many months.

But much of that power was absorbed into Akeno as well. And through a combination of our relationship and the nature of the beast that hides beneath her skin, she'd undergone a transformation much like my own.

However,

"It's time to wake up." I say, placing my palm against the crystal. A soft tremble courses through my arm at the touch. "Mom and dad are waiting for us back home."

With a breath, I push a gargantuan amount of Primal Energy into the crystal. It merges with the cacophony of energies, catalyzing them beyond their maximum and breaking the fragile equilibrium the crystal was being held up by. A crack appears on the crystal, then two, and then a hundred.

From those cracks come light. Whites and blues and greens and purples, rising towards the empty sky. The ground trembles, and the air shakes in both fear and anticipation.

Then it happens. 

The crystal shatters, and a massive pillar of blackened light rises towards the heavens, shooting through the atmosphere and dispersing in all directions at the edge of space. All that energy begins spinning around the earth, forming into a bright purple line that runs across the middle of the sky.

And finally, Akeno is revealed.

She's…different. Her hair is slightly more purple, and there's an unearthly glow to it. Her nails are long and sharp, glowing blood red. Her horns are larger, and I can see runes drawn across the base of her horns. She's taller too, her height actually matching mine now. And her eyes have become sharper, gaining an animal-like ferocity.

But more than anything, I can't take my eyes off the pair of wings on her back—although calling them 'Wings' isn't quite right. A pair of jagged, black energy constantly sprouts from her back, cackling and snapping like lightning, yet somehow fluid-like in their consistency. They're small now, just barely growing past her back, but my eyes tell me she can make it grow much longer.

Her eyes meet mine, and a beautiful smile forms on her lips. 

We stand there in silence for a good minute. It doesn't matter that she's barely wearing anything, her body only covered by threads of black energy swirling around her. It doesn't matter that the land is barren—new life is growing beneath our feet by the second. 

After all,

We've changed the world, and now we stand at the precipice of a new age.

And the first thing she says is, "Your dick's even bigger now."

My eye twitches. "And your boobs are as well." I say back, trying my best not to acknowledge those changes. "Why do you always look at that first?"

She giggles. "Baby, I'm the one who introduced Sin to Mankind." She says with a mischievous glint. "I'm just being on-brand."

I roll my eyes. "Sure, sure." I then quickly steal a kiss on her lips. "Welcome back, by the way." I say, feeling some of the tension I've been building slip away like butter. "Freaked out a little when I couldn't find you."

She smiles, and kisses me. "I was scared when I saw you almost explode." She confesses, softly hugging me. "I-, I thought you were going to die."

My eyes soften. "So you absorbed all that energy." I press my forehead onto hers. "Was that the advice from your friend?"

"Mhm." She hums, nuzzling back. "Said that I can use it to grow as well." She giggles. "In hindsight, I should've realized he was trying to use all that power to take control of me."

I blink. "What?"

She blinks back. "Oh, I guess I forgot to say that?" She grins. "Satan tried to take control of me. I think he was trying to corrupt all that power I gained from you and use it to kill my soul." She gestures down at herself. "And as you can see, he didn't succeed."

I force out a laugh. "So…" I cough. "What did you do to him?"

"Hmm." She spins around for a moment, her movements playful. "Well, he tried to eat me, so I just returned the favor." She says, as if she's just describing the weather. "Oh, not before I tortured him for all his information though! I mean, I can't let someone like that just die so easily, you know?"

"...you are one scary woman."

She appears before me. "True." She says, and then lays her cheek on my chest. "But I'm your woman, right?"

I smile. "Of course."

…

I pull her into a hug. "I'm glad you're still alive."

She giggles. "It's all thanks to you, you know?" She whispers as she returns the hug. "If you hadn't awakened my Primal Energy, if you didn't have so much Faith in me that I awakened my own divinity," She takes a slow breath. "I think I could've really died there."

"Then I'll give you as much as you want." I say. "I'll give you everything and more." I hug her closer, and for a moment, the aurora wafting from me becomes a rampaging torrent of colors. The air behind me cracks like glass. "It's a shame he's dead. I would've liked a chance as well."

She smiles. "It's a shame indeed." Her smile turns a little menacing then, and her 'wings' begin stretching out across the sky. Black lightning surges across the air, filling the air with Mana and curses. "But don't worry. He didn't die easily." She leans towards my ear. Her breath is warm. "I can show my memories to you all night."

I grin. "Why don't we do it now?" I hold her hand in mine. "After all," I lean into her ear. "It's only us two right now."

She giggles. "How forward."

…

We stayed in that area for a few hours more.