Chapter 7 Part 5

- Hiro -

He sat in front of two Youkai as several others sat on the side. The man in front of him reminded him of the old man Hakuryu. Old age and experience of centuries backing his strength and the aura he commanded was easy to see from the reaction of his subordinates as they sat there quietly. Complete loyalty.

The young man beside him on the other hand reminded him of the Young Master, Benimaru. Young but with extremely high potential.

"So… what's it that you wanted to talk to me about? Actually, why don't you start by introducing yourself first." The old man addressed them.

Hiro bowed lightly in return. "We are from the White Night group. Originally from a small island, a distance from the mainland, we migrated to the town of Miyama on the outskirts of Kyoto a while ago.

"That vixen's territory?"

"No. Miyama town is a neutral territory or rather was when we entered the area. It was a buffer zone between the Kyoto Youkai and the Five Principal Clans and was not occupied by any group."

He saw the old man raise an eyebrow. "That's quite some guts you have, sitting between those two groups."

"We Kijin are not afraid of fights." he replied resolutely. "We wish to establish a place for our young generations on the mainland and while our leader doesn't like fighting, we will not back down if someone challenges us."

The old man laughed. "Onis who don't like fighting. Now I have seen everything. So… what does it have to do with us?"

"Recently, we were attacked by a group of youkai from Shikoku. It was the son of Inugamigyobu Danuki, Inugamigyobu Tamazuki. We easily destroyed them. But we were attacked by an Onmyoji two weeks later. The goal of the Onmyoji was to recover the weapon which Tamazuki was using. We found out from Tamazuki that the weapon was given to him by someone else and since it was the Onmyoji who knew where to recover it from, it had to be him."

The young man beside him looked impatient and interrupted. "And how is any of this our problem?"

"I thought you would be interested because the weapon… was the same one which was used to kill the previous head of the Nura Clan, Rihan Nura."

Several auras fell on him at the same time. If it was him before the Harvest festival, he wasn't sure he could have stayed upright, most likely would be on the floor.

"Do you understand the meaning of your words?" The old man asked, seriously.

"I do."

"Who was this Onmyoji? What proof do you have?" He asked.

Hiro brought out a file and handed it to them. "According to the information we could collect, he is called Abe no Ariyuki, a member of the Abe no Seimei Clan, former head. As for the proof, we have video proof of the attack, Tamazuki's confession and the attack of Ariyuki himself. You can also visit Shikoku and talk to Tamazuki himself. He was exchanged back yesterday to his father for information and an alliance with us."

The man looked over the file and pictures and the passed over the video to his subordinates to review and then turned to him.

"What is it that you want from us in exchange? You do understand that even if you present all these, I will not make my youkai group move against Seimei Clan with just circumstantial evidence and your words alone no matter what my personal opinion might be. Assisting you with the Abe no Seimei clan would need something more concrete."

He looked blankly at the man. Was he misunderstanding something? "You seem to be misunderstanding something. The Seimei Clan or Abe no Ariyuki infiltrated our territory and attacked us. He will die within this week regardless. We don't need anyone's help with it." The old man raised an eyebrow while many others scoffed but he continued. "All we needed for this was any information on them and maybe an alliance."

"Just a bunch of countryside newbies. Do you think you are worthy of making an alliance with the Nura Clan?" One of the Youkai, a cyclops looking giant, spoke up as one after another many others started shouting.

He sensed his subordinates getting annoyed but held back.

The old man raised a hand and the crowd became quiet. "An alliance you say? Very well but… we of the Nura Clan believe in strength. Show us your strength and we will agree to form an alliance."

Hiro raised an eyebrow. "Sure. Then what do you propose?"

"You are not the leader of the group so I assume that your leader would be stronger than you?"

"I don't even come close to our leader."

"But you are one of his commanders to be sent to make an alliance."

He didn't say anything but just nodded.

"In that case, defeat any of my commanders and I will agree to the alliance. Choose from anyone present here."

He looked around the room and the aura from the people got heavier. Turning back to the old man, he bowed lightly. "I am not aware of their strengths and weaknesses, so… why don't you send your strongest and I will fight them."

The smile on the old man's face grew.

- Nurarihyon -

He watched as the commanders of Nura Clan lay on the ground, unable to even move a muscle in front of the Kijin in front of him.

Aotabo, Kuratobo and even Gyuki were all defeated one after the other while the guy barely had a nick on his blade. The rest were just rooted to in place due to fear. And their leader was stronger than him….

At first, he had taken these Oni as the upstarts from a small island with no idea how deep the water in this area was. Especially Kyoto during this time when Hagoromo Gitsune's people were already moving. They had the guts to sit in the buffer zone between the Youkai and the five Principal Clans. Well, some might call it guts while others, foolishness but it still didn't take away from the fact that this Kijin was strong.

As strong as him in his prime, maybe even stronger.

How was such a tribe unknown all this time?

And if so, what did they want now?

Maybe the alliance wouldn't be a bad option to know more about them.

And even more so if the Seimei Clan and Hagoromo Gitsune were really involved in the death of Rihan.

First that Mysterious Lucifer, then the Ice Devil and now these Oni. Just what was becoming of this country suddenly?

- Guy Crimson -

"You look awfully happy today? Did you find something of interest?" Velzard asked him quite curiously, as she sat down beside him.

He smiled. In fact he was sure he hadn't stopped smiling since he left that Restaurant.

A pathway to countless different worlds. Beings from those countless worlds. New powers and the possibilities they bring with them.

Helel.

The twin of Michael and the other name of Lucifer.

An Angelic Lucifer.

"Hahahaha yes yes Velzard. I haven't been so excited in centuries."

"Oh. I didn't think a mere few demon lords would make you so excited." She asked. "Was it the one who froze the continent?"

"Yes. I saw the area myself. He supposedly held back and only froze the city because Clayman was hiding inside and….hahahaha he didn't want to play hide and seek. That guy destroyed the entirety of Clayman's army, fought three Demon Lord seeds and then chased Clayman back to his own territory and killed him to awaken as a Demon Lord….all because Clayman killed one girl close to him. It reminded me of my own awakening. Coincidentally, the guy is also a Devil Lord like me."

He then went on to explain everything to a now interested Velzard.

"A Skill as strong as your Lucifer and Rudra's Michael….Really? Is he really that strong?"

"Yes. In a fair fight, he would have around a double digit percentage to kill me."

"Hoh. That's quite high praise. And for an ice user like myself from another world. I won't lie and say that I am not interested in him too."

"Because it is interesting, Velzard. Clayman was playing his games but this time he struck his foot on a hatchet.Even the Slime Rimuru awakened an Ultimate Skill, Beelzebub. This next Walpurgis is going to be something else."

"Is that so? In that case, why don't I come with you too? I am also interested in the cuisine of the other worlds."

"Why not? Those cake things were quite delicious."

"By the way, what is the guy's name?"

"The people have given him a title already. It's…."

- Damrada -

He looked at the vast expanse of white that covered half the continent and felt a chill down his spine.

It was still snowing across half the continent, even after a week of said attack.

No one would have thought that an attack on Tempest would result in something like this.

It was a simple plan that would have given them an Awakened Demon Lord in the Walpurgis under their control, removed a major threat in Hinata Sakaguchi as well as weaken the Jura forest for the future invasion of the empire.

But this….

In a single night, that monster, that daemon….It was like watching the second coming of Guy Crimson.

Yuuki, Clayman….Emperor Rudra….just what kind of enemy did these plans give birth to? He didn't think anyone of them could have expected that.

He looked at the file. The entire fiasco was recorded by his people in the file and on the top, was the title people had given to the new Demon Lord.

The Daemon who turned half a continent white in just a single night….Lord of the White Night, Silas.