1(5) Years Later, Isaac's room
A massive explosion was heard as a part of the mansion was instantly blown away. Hundreds of black cloaks surrounded the mansion and aimed their magic circles at the centre. An explosion of mana ensued and a large golden figure emerged from the rubble. It was a large human clad in a robe which was also golden. One of the alchemists spoke.
"This being greatly looks like Lord Shinokage."
Ashley appeared beside them.
"That IS the Shinokage. Looks like he made some advancements."
"GREETINGS LADY NIKUYANOKAGE."
"Just Nikuya is fine. Leave the kage out."
Ashley vanished and stood on the roof. One of the originals shouted.
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?! EXPRESS YOUR SINCERE GREETINGS TO LORD SHINOKAGE!"
All of them knelt on one knee and bowed their heads.
"SUBORDINATES GREET LORD SHINOKAGE!"
The figure turned its head and looked down at the hundreds of black cloaks at it's feet. In that instant, it vanished and what was left in the air was me in a meditative position. Wisps of golden aura floated around me as my hair which had spiked up fell down as it touched my shoulders. I looked down at the black cloaks below and instantly appeared in front of them.
"It was a mistake on my part disrupting your training but good work on your response time. It shows you're training diligently."
"SUBORDINATES THANK LORD SHINOKAGE FOR HIS KIND PRAISES!"
"Alright. Disperse."
All of them vanished and Ashley came in and hugged me.
"You finally came back huh."
"Yeah. Are you alright now?"
She hugged me tighter and looked right into my eyes.
"I'm fine. Well...I will be soon. I haven't eaten something tasty in 5 years and I think I need to fill up on it again."
We both vanished.
3 days later, Main World, Black Steel Manor
I was enjoying the breeze on the rooftop. Ashley had updated me on the situation during our time together. The Principality was annexed. Prince Sigrid, the prince who I once deceived was killed by his own generals after his inexperience caused them to dreadfully lose the war. The Familia assassins killed off all the nobles while Maria handled the slaves. Princess Renata, the girl I captured as well as Camila helped Maria. They had chosen the job of Merchant while the two twin slaves which had killed King of Aria chose to be assassins. All of them were doing well for themselves.
"Hey Maria. Don't you get tired of all this work?"
"Not really. Since i got Renata, everything's been quite easy for me."
"Then why don't we let her cover for you for a while."
She put down her stacks of papers.
"What do you mean?"
"I'm planning on heading to the Demi-human continent."
"Wasn't it the Elven continent before? Why are you going to Winchelin?"
"After fighting with Karina, I've realised that I will most likely die if I challenge those elves who've lived for thousands of years. I don't want to be that close to death ever again and there's also no assurity that another threat like that won't appear."
Maria vanished and appeared behind me. She held my head.
"Then visit me often."
I sighed.
"You really aren't coming? Renata is quite capable and she could fill in for you."
"I'm sorry Isaac but I need to stay here for a little while longer."
I sighed.
"You know my signature."
I dropped a book on her table and vanished without elaborating, leaving Maria in confusion as she grabbed the book. The book was about my latest research on teleportation magic. Previously, the teleportation magic could only work on places you've been to before but this latest version allows you to teleport to a person if you know their specific mana signature. This means she could come find me whenever she wanted, despite where I am as long as she can find my mana signature. I appeared on the roof of the Imperial Academy and gazed into the horizon.
"Although I didn't spend much time in this place, I will miss it."
"You're already feeling so sentimental? Quite odd for a person like you."
It was Karina. She was a very much smaller version of herself and she had appeared and sat on my shoulder.
"Even a person like me is allowed to have a few sentiments here and there."
"I don't think the people you've killed will empathize with that fact."
"I'm starting to think I should've permanently sealed you inside my body."
Karina smiled.
"But then who are you going to tell your innermost thoughts to? You're afraid of disappointing your girlfriends if you reveal your true self but not me. You don't care what I think of you, which makes me the perfect person to talk to. Also..."
She sat on my head.
"I'm with you everytime!"
I sighed. Karina and I had gotten along quite well these past 5 years in the dimensional world. Time in my consciousness extended much further so for us, these 5 years felt like 150 years, which was more than enough time to mend wounds and get along with each other.
"So are you going to cause chaos in Winchelin too?"
"I'm getting too old for that now. Even though I look 18, I'm already 34."
"Fine fine. Where's your girlfriend Ashley at?"
"She already went ahead of me. Something about wanting to investigate and join the Mercenary guild and getting a higher rank than me."
"Will you join that guild?"
"I'm not sure. I'll decide when we get there."
I breathed in as the air around me started to violently move.
"Vermillion Mode."
With that, I activated my chaos mana as a pure red aura surrounded me. I had
succeeded in mastering the chaos mana in my body as it was no longer harming me. It surrounded me like a cloak as nine tails coated in chaos mana protruded. Karina and I were essentially one being now as it had reached a point where we couldn't exist without the other. Naturally I'd be able to use or imitate her powers and utilise her unique chaos mana like I did when I activated my Avatorial Form. I activated my Kansatsume as Karina floated around and looked at me.
"Running?"
I jumped down from the roof.
"Running."
I braced my legs and shot forward at highly insane speeds. I darted through the forests, barely leaving any marks that I was there. The tails kept me balanced at my high speeds and my footsteps were so light that I didn't break any branches when I jumped on them. I would vault over any obstacles as I blazed through the forest.
"Seems like I'll be reaching Ash in a few minutes."
City of Braza, Second Wife Bar
Ashley was drinking a glass of wine when she felt my massive mana signature appearing. She laughed.
"If he carries on like this, the city guard will eventually sense him coming."
She was right. Soon, there was an alarm going out in the city as everyone rushed to their homes and the guards rushed to the Eastern Gate. Hundreds of Mercenaries were mobilised on the city walls. The Beastmen didn't take any chances. I was soon approaching closer and I saw them. I stopped about 500 metres from them. My tails gently waved about in the air as the Beastmen drew their arrows. I made them disintegrate in flames right in front of their eyes. Before anyone else could make a move, one of my tails transformed into a giant golden hand which extended to the sky. I held it up there as a warning. The city lord appeared a few metres away from me with a sword in hand. He was a burly old man with long white hair. He was wearing golden robes. He spoke.
"May I ask who his excellency is and what he is doing here?"
"..."
He started sweating profusely.
"Y-your excellency. Please treat any offense commited against you as a fart."
I simply vanished. I left behind writing on the ground that read as follows:
[You are not worth talking to.]
The city lord fell to his knees.
"H-he had the time to write in this short amount of time he vanished?!"
I appeared at the Second Wife Bar and went in. I had cancelled my Vermillion form and as I entered, countless eyes looked at me. Ashley approached me.
"It's your hair Isaac. In the entire city, you're the only one with blonde hair."
She held my hand.
"C'mon let's sit."
She pulled me to her seat and we spoke telepathically.
{You caused quite the ruckus just now.}
{I wanted to find out who were the strongest beings by forcing them to come out. None of them even came close to the power of an Original.}
{You know, you were categorised as Calamity Class."
I looked at her in a confused expression. She elaborated.
{They have a particular way of ranking power levels. They have a F-Rank, which is basically trash by their opinion. It goes all up to A-Rank which is roughly the power of a recruit we trained for 2 years. Then it goes on to S-Rank, SS-Rank and SSS-Rank, which translates to a recruit we trained for 8, 18 and 30 years respectively. It then carries on into Destruction Class, Disaster Class, Calamity Class and Annihilation Class.}
{Who's the most powerful then?"}
{I didn't have enough time to investigate that however I can say that all are...}
She looked around.
{...terribly weak compared to us. There are some impressive geniuses who have been working hard but they haven't had proper training. They'd lose to a third year black cloak (Black Death Familia members) in seconds.}
I took a sip of the wine we ordered.
{What about the mercenary guild you spoke of?}
{It's basically where, based on your rank, you're sent out on quests to do. It can be an escort mission, subjugation mission or a simple errand. For escort missions, you could escort royalty, merchants, etc depending on your rank. For subjugation missions, you can be sent to kill various demon beasts or bandits. Of course that also depends on your rank. As for errand missions, those are like gathering herbs, picking up trash or delivering letters. You're paid when you complete the mission and you get penalized when you don't. The number and variety of missions you can do depends on your rank. So, are you going to do?}
{I'm particularly interested but, I'm not starting with the scrubs in the bottom...like him.}
There was a big guy approaching me. He had his hair in a red mohawk.
"Hey brat. Can you do me a favour and let me have a chat with the little miss next to you?"
I put my glass of wine down and looked at him straight in the eye. Karina was busy floating around me telling me to kill him.
"Don't do something you'll regret."
He laughed.
"Now listen here bra-"
I put my glass down forcefully, making a loud *clank* sound.
"Don't do something you'll regret. Walk away."
He started looking around. Everyone was staring.
"Tch this brat!"
He tried punching me but I seemingly vanished as I grabbed his arm and performed a takedown. I put my foot on his back and pulled back both of his arms all before he could react. I started slowly pushing his arms forward as his shoulders started to lock up. He begged.
"WAIT WAIT STOP! PLEASE STOP! THEY'LL BREAK!"
"I told you not to do something you'll regret."
"I'm sorry. I-I've learnt my lesson!"
As I paused, I felt the anger he had towards me. I could already invision him stalking me and seeking revenge.
"No you haven't."
*Snap*
He let out a huge scream as his shoulders were dislocated.
"Hey Ash. I think I might check out this mercenary guild."