Chapter 352: The Grail (1)
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She stood motionlessly amidst the vast expanse of the sky, dressed in a flowing belly dancer outfit of shimmering white, as the gentle, pastel-colored clouds surrounded her in the tranquil morning light.
Behind her, the pale and waning moon descended slowly towards the distant mountains, casting a soft glow on the woman's back. The moonlight highlighted her elegant chocolate curves and illuminated her short ash-white hair, which waved with the wind like feathers.
To the ordinary folks who hadn't seen her appear, she looked like she came out of the moon that was descending behind her.
Rumi Usagiyama, the Moon Rabbit, rested a hand on her waist as she had her head tilted and looked at Neji.
Neji smiled and waved at her. The girls beside him who were staring stunningly at the flying bunny, turned to look at him with questionable frowns.
"You are a lucky man. As expected of a King." said Ozymandias, smiling.
"Hey, who is that?"
Amongst the countless sentences and Ozymandias' one compliment, it was Quetzalcoatl's question that all shared.
"That woman?" Neji replied with a smile. "She is the love of my life."
One-fifth… no, one-sixth of them, anyway.
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'A Goddess has appeared!' – was the general belief of the civilians of Uruk, and its nearby cities.
No, it wasn't just the civilians. Even the soldiers who participated in the war seemed to believe that rumor. Well, they were the initiator of the rumor to begin with.
The King has summoned a Goddess, despite his past history with divinities, so that he could protect his subjects. Uruk was in a state of partying right now.
Of course, none of them were wrong. Rumi was a Goddess in all but divinity. Neji didn't hate the rumor either—it was producing quite a bit of faith points, after all.
While Uruk celebrated, Neji sat on his throne and observed the quest he had completed.
[Main Objective – Defeat all three of the knights, in any way possible – has been completed!]
[Bonus Objective 1 – Defeat all three of the knights yourself – has been completed!!]
[Bonus Objective 2 – Save Uruk from its Destruction – has been completed!!]
He received 100 levels, along with the potions, from the first two objectives. That earned him the 24th Voidmancer Skill, as he reached [Level 2350].
[Void Sealing: The user is able to seal targets using void, making them completely nonexistent, unable to do any action or anything, trapped in the nothingness, where no one can feel their presence.]
That was a handy ability as of right now. Neji used it on the three Knights, and they were currently locked in a prison dungeon beneath this castle.
Neji was using it in moderation though, using a cage-type prison instead of a concealed cube. This made them stay conscious without access to any of their abilities. Otherwise, it wouldn't be a punishment if they weren't even conscious to know they were being punished.
The most interesting part of the quest was the last objective. It didn't specify the reward. That was rare, but that meant it could be something big. Sadly, it said it was by the Director, so it could be something that he couldn't use. Neji was excited anyway since Rumi was here now, and he could share it with him.
Speaking of Rumi,
"Looks like you're enjoying yourself."
She was sitting on his lap, as he sat on the throne. Rumi shrugged off his remark and just refocused on the report Siduri prepared for Neji to read. Neji didn't mind that she was taking his job, and returned to his own checking.
The [Gift] he received from the director. He opened the inventory list and slipped his hand inside the hologram panel. When he yanked his hand out, it was a fingerless glove.
No, it was a mixture between a watch and a fingerless glove. The intricately detailed silver leather glove that had a blue lining, and magic circles, had a watch attached to the part that would rest on the back of the hand; it was a silver watch of intricate details that moved in a weird motion.
Neji couldn't tell the time. The design was too foreign to him.
Using [Observe] though, he knew this was anything but a watch. At least a normal one.
[Details: Hey, customer, have you watched Ben 10 Omniverse? Do you know that villain, Albedo? He had a really cool watch, the red Omnitrix. I designed this watch based on that. Ah, before you misunderstand it's not an alien transformation device. But you could say it's kind of similar.
…Hmm, my assistant says I shouldn't write the details of a premium product in this manner. Hey, is this too unprofessional? Fuck you if you think that way.
Back to the topic of what this watch does. Well, it tells time. If you are receiving this watch, I am sure a being of your height knows how to read the uncommon time right? But other than that, there is also another use for it. I said it's similar to the alien transformation, right?
This watch allows you to summon aliens. Though by 'alien' I don't mean mere space people—I mean anything that is not the same race as you. It can summon creatures that you can play with, have sex with, or simply use to fight you or for you. The summoned creatures will have a leash on their neck that'd force them to obey anything you tell them to.
There is a twist, of course-! It's a watch. So the summoned creatures are limited by time. I was lying when I said it tells time, oopsie, although the clock hands are moving right now, it only truly activates after you summon something. It tells how long the summoned creature will last.
I added this feature mostly because often it'd summon eldritch creatures, and even my magic leash won't contain it for long. So it's set to re-summon the creature.
Note: Only call for a battle-type summon against your big bad opponents! Friendly fire will leave you regretting.]
That was a long explanation. The quipping was quite unprofessional, too. Noting that it didn't have an "Anti-Gamer" thing going on, and the sheer unprofessionalism, Neji would say this was an early product made by the Director of the Last Act. Before the whole gamer hate thing started.
Neji was only guessing, of course.
As of right now, he had no use for it. He didn't have an enemy in this world that he wanted to die for sure. It looked cool though and matched the whole blue and silver theme he went by. So he put it in his hand anyway.
It immediately noted him as the master, thanks to that gesture.
[The "Watch of the Eldritch" has found a master. Only the master can use it. To use it, the master simply has to inject a large amount of mana into the watch, and wish for what sort of thing he wants to summon. A playmate? A sparring partner? A helper in battle? Etc.]
"Huh… You call it the Watch of the Eldritch and then complain about why it summons eldritch creatures. Or was it named after the testing?"
Neji shook his head at the system notification and waved it off. He shouldn't worry about such a meaningless thing.
"Hey, what's that on your hand?"
Rumi suddenly lifted her head up and saw the watch in his hand.
"It looks weird. I want one too."
"Out of stock."
Neji shoved his hand away before she could snatch it away from him. This was the second thing by the Director that he could use—he wasn't giving it up. He knew from using the armor he got back in the Hero world, on the first day of his quirk hunting.
[Personal Super Armor: One of the first armors made by the Director. The God-Class spell, "Adaptability" is imbued within this item, it has no stats until it's worn for the first time.
–"Adaptability" makes this item a 'growth-type' item, as it can grow stronger along with the user (without hindering his growth). It also makes the costume 'suitable' for the user's powers, as in it'd turn invisible if the user has the power to turn invisible.
–The user can customize this armor anytime he wishes, as long as he's not wearing it at that moment.]
Some might say this was what earned his win against Fotia, the daughter of Primordial. Without it, he couldn't have survived the black holes he created. Just like it affected Fotia, it would have affected him too. He regretted losing that armor when it was destroyed by the breath of the Primordial God.
In fact, this was the armor that made Neji not hate this Director figure any longer. If he ever met that person, he would like to thank them instead.
So no way was he giving up this watch. He was sure this would come in handy sooner or later.
"Tch."
Rumi gave up soon and handed the report papers back to Siduri who was standing nearby the throne. She was done adjusting the actions Uruk will take.
"You shouldn't be clicking your tongue, I should be. You killed all the demonic beasts that were coming toward Uruk. Killing them would have benefited me."
"How would I know? You never explained that whole killing equal power thing to any of us, so it's not on the front of my head all the time. I didn't know."
"Fine."
Neji sighed and hugged her from behind, his fingertips brushing past her abs, tickling her alluring chocolate muscles.
"I am thankful for your help. It would have been bad if you weren't there."
"That's true. Now you're being a good boy."
"I'll not remark back to show I am truly thankful."
Rumi broke into a laugh and turned around on his lap, facing him. Siduri quickly fidgeted on the papers, as if to prove her attention was locked there. While Rumi brought her face near his and hummed.
"I am thirsty."
"I am too."
"Let's do it then."
"Can't do."
Neji grabbed her butt and felt it, his fingers digging in. He looked into her demanding red eyes and explained.
"You know how the situation is, right? The others, including the goddesses, all are outside right now, celebrating with the people."
That was lucky, as Neji didn't have to answer their countless questions yet. And Rumi also didn't get to pick on anyone, as she did back in Naruto world.
"While Ozymandias is back at her place to bring the Grail back to me. When they're done, and they'll be done soon, we will have to start moving. What Ryuko did was a declaration of war, and if we don't move now, the attacks won't stop. We are at a disadvantage; we have to do something to overcome that."
Rumi tilted her head and gave him a sad look. "You have changed, you know? You are too serious now. Even when we were training inside the Arcane Plane back in the day, for eight months, you were not this serious. You'd have sex in the name of punishing us for failing to live up to assignments, and whatnot. But now… I am horny, yet you are talking shit. Am I an old thing for you now?"
Neji sighed. "You know that's not true—you're just emotionally blackmailing me. Look, what if we are fucking and she sends another nuke? Open your Byakugan and look in that direction, she's staring."
Rumi frowned and looked in the direction he was pointing at. Her veins popped up near her eyes, her red eyes turned white, and she zoomed into where Jerusalem was. Where the Holy City was located, and where the blonde woman was sitting on her throne.
Rumi's range was greater than Neji's. So she saw it better, from closer, as Ryukyu was staring back at them. She looked different from what Rumi remembered, in both her outer appearance and the overall feels of her. She seemed… dead inside.
"…My bad. If I saw that expression earlier, I wouldn't be horny either. It's hurtful seeing her like that, I understand." Rumi sighed, closing her Byakugan, and turning to look at him. "How many days are you planning?"
"Less than a week. But honestly, I have no idea how to free her. She saw both of us, yet she isn't back. In the original timeline, just seeing Excalibur brought Artoria back to her senses. Well, it was just for a few moments though—she returned to her cold and apathetic self not long after. Even after she regained her lost memories. That worries me."
"I guess that's a thing to worry about."
Rumi gently got off his lap. She hopped to the nearby large window and looked outside.
"Everyone's celebrating. To think they were about to become the same as the people from our world. I can't believe Ryukyu would do this…"
Neji looked at her back. Of the first five girls he came to love, Rumi and Ryukyu were close to one another—while the other three were close among themselves. Of course, all were close to one another, but it helped that Rumi and Ryukyu have been childhood friends.
Of all the people, Neji and Rumi were the closest people to Ryukyu. It affected them the most seeing the apathetic state she was currently in.
Neji walked behind Rumi and looked outside.
She asked slowly, "When will you attack that white and blue city?"
"Holy City of Camelot. I need a few more powerhouses before the attack. I will summon Merlin and maybe some others after I get the Grail."
"Merlin? Like the Mage?"
Rumi looked at him and continued.
"I haven't watched Fate. Everyone except you and Kimi skipped it because of how big it is. So I don't know much."
"Yes, it's the mage. Let's-"
Just as Neji was about to speak, he paused. He looked to the side and used Kamui. From the spinning vortex of nothingness, Ozymandias walked out with a golden grail in her hand.
The Holy Grail.
"Here you go. Come talk to me when you have a plan."
Ozy tossed the Grail at him, and Neji caught it. She shot Rumi a look, giving her a smile and nod before walking back into the vortex.
Neji grinned as he felt the Grail in his clutch, looking down at it and feeling its immense magical power.
"Let's get to it, Rumi. I need some strong offense."
As the grail shimmered in a golden light, Neji began.
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