Chereads / Winds of Change (DxD) / Chapter 116 - Chapter 6 - Part 2 - Complications and Oni Problems

Chapter 116 - Chapter 6 - Part 2 - Complications and Oni Problems

Third Person Point of View

Universe – Fadir Ferdora

Rugatimu one of the Keito Tenkai that was created by the Fierce God Regalzeva was currently in the universe of the Fadir Ferdora. He was tasked with the other members of the Keito Tenkai to continue their conquest throughout this universe.

Originally, they were meant to stop at a certain planet, however, due to Jin's involvement and the Evie faction gaining information from the Khaos Order of him being an outer god—they ordered the Keito Tenkai to look for any power, item, artifact, ability or technique in the universe of Fadir Ferdora that may be able to combat the Dual Dragon Emperor.

Currently, Arkparehur a subordinate to Rugatimu had received updated information from the Khaos Order from the Draconic Deus. He was with his Master, Rugatimu as they had been on this planet for quite some time. They had already destroyed the current governments here, and also any resistance that might try to oppose them.

"Rugatimu-sama, I received updated information from one of ours," said Arkparehur. "It seems that the ones that arrived at our planet are asking for 'that' to be used on them. Melvazoa-sama, Regalzeva-sama and Seraselbes-sama have given the humans permission to use it. You are the last since you created it."

Rugatimu did not look at his subordinates, he only looked forward. He was thinking. In his mind, if the ones to use 'it' were the factions of the Khaos Order that were from the Draconic Deus—he did not know whether they could handle the power it gave them. Normally such power would just kill the individual, however, the Evie are accustomed to it, and are built for it.

"Are they able to handle the power?" asked Rugatimu.

"Unknow. However, they believe that they can. The human female witch, Sonadia is with them. The faction of the Wizards of Oz believe they are able to handle the power," explained Arkparehur.

"That human woman…" Rugatimu squinted his mechanical eyes.

He had only seen a handful of the humans of the Draconic Deus through advanced technologies that had been sent to the Khaos Order per the request of Lapis and Ignia. He scoffed when he saw their general power. They were nothing—however, once he noticed certain individuals in the universe, he became slightly interested just like the rest of the Evie Faction.

But what caught his eye were the supposed three strongest in the Draconic Deus' universe. The Red Dragon God Emperor, the Dragon of Dreams, Great Red. The Jet-Black God of Infinity, the Ouroboros Dragon, Ophis. And finally, what Lapis and the Khaos Order dubbed, the Dual Dragon of New Order and True Outer God Emperor.

These were the prime targets, however, the ones related to Jin were also on their radar as many of them had very high power levels, so high that in-fact, several of the powerful Evie leaders wanted to fight them. Although most of their programming and desires were to conquer, many enjoyed a good battle, and many wished to find worthy opponents.

Rugatimu was one of them—he had not found anyone in many years, including the current planet that they were conquering.

Suddenly, one of his communication devices started to beep, and he answered it. The one that spoke from the other line was Gvardora, the Sky Prime Ruler and one of the Atrocity Fanatics working under the Keito Tenkai, Rugatimu.

He along with a few fanatics were also here to help conquer the vast universe of Fadir Ferdora.

[Rugatimu-sama, we have conquered another planet. We will proceed to the next one and I will leave one of our men here. We still have not found anything that can combat against him.]

[Proceed. Keep an eye out and do not leave anything unturned.]

[Yes, of course!]

Their communication ended there.

"Do we give them permission, Rugatimu-sama?" asked Arkparehur.

"Give them permission. If they can use that power along with what they received from the Phantasma," he stopped there and smirked. "A very interesting event might happen in the Draconic Deus during their holiday that is called 'Halloween'."

"I received another one. The Alliance of the Evil Gods have reached 'those' ruins in our universe. That planet had the strongest beings we have ever encountered. They wish to use it. We were the only ones they could reach for the time being."

"They want to use those? Fuhahaha! Foolishness! To think gods of another world were this naïve!" however, he stopped laughing and looked at his subordinate. "I do not have sole permission to allow them access to that. They need to contact our leaders," he said to Arkparehur.

"I will relay this information to Regalzeva-sama then," replied Arkparehur and he started to send a message to his leaders. "The others, the Nilrem, Qlippoth and other minor factions are also using the devices we provided for them, however, many have died because of it."

"It is up to them. If they are that weak to die from something so trivial and weak, they themselves are weak and deserve to die."

Universe – Evie Etoulde

Etoulde Faction

Resetoras. One of the Pillar Gods of the Evie Etoulde, also known as the 'Father God' and the leader of the Etoulde Faction. He has been at war with Melvazoa and the Evie faction for many years. However, with the recent involvement of Lapis, Nyarlathotep and the Khaos Order… they have been suffering losses after losses.

The Evie faction had purged the remaining organic inhabitants of their universe, leaving only the Etoulde to fight back. Currently, they were on another planet—the only safe place they could reside in. They had many powerful barriers and spells in place to stop the Evie faction from invading them and destroying them.

However, to their luck the Evie had started to point their fangs somewhere else, a different universe. The Etoulde were thankful, but also worried about the other universe's inhabitants. They also found out that a terrorist organization had been collaborating with the Evie faction, as well as another faction from another universe.

Resetoras sat on his throne with many of his advisors and leaders. They all were looking at the situation on the Oracle ball. They watched as some of the Evie faction kept on destroying more parts of the Fadir Ferdora universe, and just now—

"He killed one of them," said one of the higher-ups.

They had seen Jin kill Scias, one of Elanor's subordinates. They also felt the shockwave that he created in their universe and many were hopeful towards the young man.

"There are rumors that he is also an outer god. If we can make contact again, and form an alliance with him, then maybe, just maybe we can save our universe, and many others too!" another shouted enthusiastically.

Everyone in the room turned to a tall woman with light brown hair. She had blue eyes that are usually bowed down, like in reverence. She wore a long white veil with thorns and flowers accenting the sides. She had a tight white turtleneck with a butterfly brooch that extended around a blue gem on her chest. There were various cross-like symbols over her body.

She had black and puffy sleeves that ended in white cuffs. Her shorts were white and frilly. From her torso all the way down to her feet, she donned a long black cloth with golden accessories. Connected to her back was a long robe that resembled blue butterfly wings. There were much shorter, wilted butterfly wings attached to the black piece. Her heeled boots were a simple white.

This woman was called Chimune Chipaoti, or Chichigami or the Goddess of Breasts—Holy Mother Chichi. Several months ago, Jin made contact with one of her Breast Fairies.

Everyone in the room wanted her to do it again, but this time—

"Chimune! You must make contact with that man again! But this time, do it yourself personally! In addition to his love for women, he also has a great deal of affection for breasts, thighs, and buttocks. Many of your servants are to his liking, as well as you!"

"Yes, yes! If you make contact with him, and promise him to give yourself and your servants to him, he will surely help us!" another added.

Chimune Chipaoti felt a bit conflicted. However, she did wish to contact him again and prevent further tragedies. She had been plagued—no, all of them had been plagued by the Evie for many years and saw their destruction.

She had lost many friends and servants over the years, and wished to stop them. However, with the Evie faction joining hands with the Khaos Order that had many powerful allies, their destruction would only increase from now on.

"I… I will try, however, there is no guarantee that he will accept my offer. You are aware of his own morals and ideals, yes?" she asked them.

"He is also an advocate for peace! If we tell him what has been happening to many planets and universes, he will surely step in and help! He is also a rumored outer god; they hold the multiverse in their hands!" another higher-up added in.

"Calm yourselves," said Resetoras. "Chimune Chipaoti, what say you? It is true that the outer gods have remained mostly dormant for years. Nyarlathotep was the one who occasionally played with the multiverse, however…"

"…If our information network of the other worlds and universes is accurate, then the 'Phantasma' are trying to awaken their former master—Magnum Tenebrosum. If he awakens then we will have a much larger problem in our hands," he said to her seriously.

Chimune Chipaoti had more pressure on her now. If she selfishly said no, then it would spell a great deal of destruction to the multiverse.

"I will try my best," she said to them again. "I will go and make the arrangements." She got up and left the room.

"One can only hope that she is successful. The Evies are much stronger now. We do not know how, but my own suspicions fall on Nyarlathotep," said one of the higher-ups.

"She will be successful," said Resetoras.

"What makes you say that?" asked another.

"Do you remember 'that' battle?" he asked them.

"…'That'? Ah, that battle, yes, it was one where we dealt a heavy blow to the Evie, however, after that we could not continue and we were pushed back. But yes, it was a large victory for us," replied another.

"The day before, I had a dream that we would win and continue winning. However, there was an interference that day, they had made a breakthrough and made many advances which caused us to lose. However, in my dream they did not—I believe another world's being interfered during that battle. I believe Nyarlathotep was the one."

"What are you trying to say?" asked another member.

"If the Evie—or this Khaos Order has the backing of Nyarlathotep, and her potential offspring, then we will need to change fate ourselves. We must succeed in bringing the Middleman, and outer god to our rankings—we must form an alliance at all costs, otherwise, I fear we may be wiped out in the near future," said Resetoras grimly.

The room fell silent. Many of them were thinking of their own contingencies if Chimune Chipaoti failed to bring Jin to their side or form an alliance with Team [DxD] and the factions and pantheons of the Draconic Deus.

Chimune Chipaoti walked away from the building that they were having their meeting in. It was a large tree with many facilities built into it. If one were to look from outer space, they would see this large tree jutting out of the planet it was planted on.

The world that they currently inhabited was lush, full of life and greenery. Even during war times, and their losing state, many of the remaining members of the Etoulde were going about their lives like normal. However, there was also a tense atmosphere.

They all knew that today their leaders would have a meeting, and many were waiting to see how it would turn out. When Chimune Chipaoti left the meeting, she had turned herself invisible as she did not want to be spotted.

After that, she teleported back to her forest. She stood on top of a hill looking over her small territory. The planet they were on was at least twenty times larger than earth, so her 'small' territory was still quite big.

Grass and trees were everywhere and it had a tranquil feeling to it. There were also a few buildings in the distance as most of the city she had built was underground for more protection. Chimune Chipaoti stood there admiring the view before she started to walk towards her home.

Many fairies of all sizes started to fly towards her, happy to see her.

"Mother Chichi! How was the meeting?" one of the fairies asked.

"It was—it went well. I will inform everyone now, so please gather everyone in the meeting hall," she told the little fairy who happily oblige.

Chimune Chipaoti eventually reached a small crossroads and teleported to the underground portion of her territory. Once there, she had teleported to a library. She had wanted to see one of her subordinates or Breast Generals.

It didn't take her long to find her. The one she was looking for was Elphina, one of her Breast Generals. She had long black hair that reached her knees, elf-like ears, and white eyes. She wore a skin-tight suit with a red and gold cape.

"Chimune Chipaoti-sama," said Elphina and she kneeled in front of her. "How can I be of service?" she asked.

"Elphina please… we've known each other for a long time. I just wanted to speak with you," said Chimune Chipaoti, a bit troubled by her friend's reaction.

Elphina stood up and smiled. "I was just teasing you, Chichi-chan. How did the meeting go?" she asked in a friendly manner.

Elphina and Chimune Chipaoti had known each other since 'childhood'. They had been friends since Chimune Chipaoti became known as the Goddess of Breasts in their universe. Elphina stood by her side as one of her most trusted people.

"We may need to make contact with the Oppai Dragon once more…" she said in a disheartening tone. "His power is needed even more now, and if we don't, we may… I will tell everyone once we gathered, one of the fairies is doing so, let's go," said she and walked away followed by Elphina.

Chimune Chipaoti, and her subordinates had met up in their meeting hall, and Chimune Chipaoti just finished informing them of what had recently transpired. Many of them had a look of worry or despair, however—

"They want us to do what?! I don't want to whore myself out to someone!" one of the Breast Generals shouted in anger.

"If it's for the sake of peace, I don't really mind…" answered another in a tired tone.

"What if we become his concubines for a short duration? Until this situation is solved, I mean…" another added.

Chimune Chipaoti stood up and put her hand up to stop them. "Everyone, he—Jin Skyward is not like that, so you don't need to worry about that. However, making contact with him again is essential." Chimune Chipaoti looked at another person, the last Breast Fairy to speak with Jin.

"You were the one to speak with him last time were you not, Siphaenien?" Chimune Chipaoti asked the woman.

Siphaenien is a tall woman with long blonde hair, green eyes, and elf-like ears. She wore a crown of leaves around her head, wore very white revealing robes that barely covered her breasts, golden bracelets and earrings.

"Yes, I was, Chichi-sama. He was very… enthusiastic about speaking with you," she said and blushed. "However, once he found out it was me—a Breast Fairy, he was less enthusiastic…" she said and huffed.

Chimune Chipaoti smiled at Siphaenien but said nothing and waited for her to continue.

"I informed him of the coming dangers, and I think he was relatively aware of them, so he will be responsive to our next contact, and this is just my personal opinion, but… I think he will provide us with assistance," she said seriously to everyone.

"That is the impression you got when speaking to the Oppai Dragon?" asked Chimune Chipaoti.

"Yes," said Siphaenien firmly.

Chimune Chipaoti turned to everyone and looked at them one by one. Finally, she addressed them. "You heard, Siphaenien, do any of you have any other opinion?" she asked them.

Everyone one of the Breast Generals and some of the Breast Fairies and Breast Guardians were looking at each other. However, none of them said anything. Chimune Chipaoti smiled at this and nodded.

"In the near future, we will try to contact the Oppai Dragon. Once we do…" she looked at everyone there. Some were not very happy about it since most of them had remained single and or had problematic experiences with the opposite gender. Therefore, they chose to follow Chimune Chipaoti.

"We will offer ourselves to him, and only then will we learn what his response is," said Chimune Chipaoti, and she looked back at Siphaenien. "We will contact him by entering his dreams for the future. Please prepare yourself."

"Yes!" answered Siphaenien.

Universe – Draconic Deus

Shinto Realm

Yoshitsune Minamoto's Soliloquy

In around a day's time, Jin-san will come back to our realm to help with a specific problem. Two small notorious gangs from the Oni's realm had suddenly started acting strange and started to become rowdy. However, recently it became a bit more serious as the known locations of them causing a disturbance… people started to disappear.

We were informed by Shuten-sama that we shouldn't worry, however, even the water serpent Shirayuki-sama had been trouble by it recently. Her waters in the Oni realm had been polluted somehow.

We had investigation teams look through it but they found nothing, so I along with Benkei and Yoichi have been looking into it for the last few days. Both the Oni incident and the one with Shirayuki-sama. But we had found nothing so far, so Amaterasu-sama had enlisted the help of Jin-san.

Although after the meeting, we found out many things and our little planet and realms weren't the only ones out there in the universe. The multiverse and omniverse theories were real and when we heard about them—I, and more specifically Yoichi was very excited about it.

Through our connection with Jin-san it may be possible to venture to those places in the future, however… what made me a bit annoyed with Yoichi was what he said to me.

'Hey, Benkei, Yoshitsune! You two are females, right?! Go join his harem so we can go explore the multiverse!'

Of course, after he said that Benkei beat him up. It was an insensitive thing to say, and he understood that, but we forgave him because of his excitement.

Currently, we were doing one last investigation of the area around Shirayuki-sama's home in the Oni realm.

"Oi! Did you find anything yet you two?!" shouted Benkei.

"No… we have been doing this for days now, of course we won't find anything! If the specialize team couldn't do it, how the hell could we?!" Yoichi snapped back out of frustration. "Can we please stop here!? I'm starving!"

A sigh escaped my lips as I stopped searching. Looking up, I saw Yoichi and Benkei on different levels of the pit. It has been a few days and we still haven't found anything. We should leave this to Jin-san. In any case, is the source even here? I had thought of that earlier, but even if Shirayuki-sama said that her waters were 'polluted' we did not see any indication of it.

Perhaps it's a different kind of pollution? We had inquired her about it, but she had been insistent that it had been polluted. Additionally, we equated it to the Khaos Order, as with the case of the gang. Perhaps they had infiltrated our realm? Maybe that's why Amaterasu-sama had asked Jin-san to come here…

"Alright, we can stop here. We probably won't find anything at this rate," I said to them. Yoichi seemed quite happy with this and left first, followed by Benkei.

'I'll just need to tell Jin-san about this. I should be present for his arrival and meeting with Amaterasu-sama… also Raijin-sama may also have her duel with him once he finishes dealing with the problems.'

I left the area and joined my friends at the top. Once up there, I was greeted to Shuten-sama with Rem-san and Ram-san.

"Did you have any luck today, Yoshitsune-kun?" she asked.

"Unfortunately, we didn't, Shuten-sama. We may need to wait for Jin-san to come here to find out the mystery surrounding the contamination that Shirayuki-sama is speaking of," I replied. "Where is she staying for the time being?" I asked her.

"Shira-chan is staying at my home. I have made some renovations since she last stayed there. Therefore, there is a small independent zone underground that is large enough to hold her true size," she said and smiled.

"I see, thank you for informing us. We will go back to Takamagahara then and report to Amaterasu-sama." I bowed and started to leave, but—

"One moment, Yoshitsune," she called out and I turned around.

"Yes?"

"Will Jin… stop him?" she asked a bit uncertainly.

"Him…? Oh, you mean Itto and Asahi? Surely, I mean we have Kuki Shinobu's assistance in tracking all their movements down. She will be able to accomplish it with her word and intelligence along with Jin-san, but it does seem like they are being controlled in some way or another," I replied.

"Good, good. That dumb Oni needs to be punished once he is captured. I will also take full responsibility, inform Amaterasu-sama as such," she said and waked away.

I wanted to ask why she wanted to take responsibility, but perhaps she felt guilty because she was his caretaker for quite some time after all. They're almost like mother and child, and now the child is causing more than just some trouble in their realm.

We also need to factor in Asahi as he's a rival and looks up to Itto. Both are Oni and are quite powerful, but to whoever is controlling them, it doesn't seem like they want to cause too much damage. Unless they're waiting for an opportune time.

All this is speculation. I don't have any evidence to back this up…

"Yoshitsune~ stop looking so serious and let's go back already~ I'm hungry like Yoichi~"

I nodded and said, "You seem excited for Jin-san to come back."

"Aren't we all? That guy already caused more of a stir because of the punch that shook the world. It makes me think about who recorded it," she said as she drank from her gourd while she talked.

Benkei is right. Just a few days ago, there was some leaked footage of what had happened in Romania, a small war with the forces of another universe that had allied themselves with the Khaos Order. However, it was a one-sided fight where Jin-san dominated his opponent who was rumored to be God-class.

Some feel uneasy about seeing something like that—the power Jin-san displayed. If his exhibition match was anything to be judged by, then this new and much more powerful Jin-san terrified many as he didn't show this level of strength back then. But some are relieved that someone that powerful is on our side—the good side.

To the masses, it was the fist—the punch that shook the world, maybe even the universe. However, to the ones who know the truth, it was the fist that most likely shook the multiverse. Azazel-dono, the governor of the fallen angels contacted us when the footage was leaked and asked us to destroy any evidence of it so as not to trigger a mass-panic, but I believe it's too late.

People know, people saw and people are aware. However, it was a mixed reaction as I previously said.

"Yes, I think so. Many more of the heroes of Japanese history are going to come to Takamagahara tomorrow to see Jin-san himself," I replied to Benkei.

"Katou Danzou, Miyamoto Musashi, Ibaraki Doji and Sasaki Kojiro and a few others. They won't miss a showdown between Raijin-sama and Super-duper Famous Jin, fufu~" Benkei said as she pranced around.

"Ah, Jin-san already met Sasaki-dono," I told her.

"Hmmm… hmmm… I think you told us that…?" she asked confused and looked at Yoichi.

"Yeah, she did. You're just drunk half the time," replied Yoichi and then got hit on the head with Benkei's staff.

Once arriving back in Takamagahara we immediately headed for Amaterasu-sama's home, and once we were in front of the door to the meeting room—we heard some hushed voices talking to each other.

We were confused, but I knocked on the door and we were told to enter after a few seconds of silence. Once we stepped inside, Fūjin-sama was sitting on Raijin-sama and Amaterasu-sama had a troubled look on her face.

"U-um, is this a bad time?" I asked a bit hesitantly.

"No it's fine, Yoshitsune-kun. What did you need? Did your investigation pull up any leads?" asked Fūjin-sama.

"Unfortunately, no… we may need to wait for Jin-san. However, I have my own speculations," I said to her.

"Then please do tell."

I nodded and told her my suspicions of the Khaos Order being involved in this. But Amaterasu said that she also speculated about the same thing. She also said we may have a traitor among our ranks which was concerning.

"But… who?" asked Benkei.

"We do not know; however, we had suspected this since before Jin called for the meeting in the Underworld. However, Raijin here used that opportunity to draw out the traitor, and as well as fight Jin herself, so it's killing two birds with one stone," said Amaterasu-sama.

Raijin-sama, who was still being sat on by Fūjin-sama grinned and gave us a thumbs up. Personally, I was shocked. Perhaps Raijin-sama did not like Jin-san initially, but eventually got used to him. Then over time, Amaterasu-sama, Raijin-sama and Fūjin-sama figured out we had a traitor and used this as a plan…?

"For the time being, you're dismissed. We will tell you our plan for the day later on tonight. It seems like the three of you have yet to have lunch," Amaterasu-sama said with a gentle smile and Benkei's stomach growled.

"Yahahaha~! You're right about that, Ama-chan~!" said Benkei without a hint of respect.

I was about to scold Benkei, but she dragged Yoichi and I outside and began to drink from her gourd. I sighed and decided not to say anything. We made our way out and to a nearby restaurant.

"We should be on alert too," said Benkei rather seriously.

"Yeah. I don't like having a traitor here. Didn't the Gaelic Alliance have one? But it ended on a good note for them. Who knows about the real traitor here… what if it's a dead hero brought back for malice?" asked Yoichi.

"I heard they were somewhat close to Jin-kun, so when they stopped her, they managed to bring her back to our side…" muttered Benkei.

"Let's just stay on alert," I said to them.

We had been training in the upgraded chambers that Jin-san made. We definitely grew in power, so hopefully whoever is doing this… they'll be overwhelmed by us.

Present Day

Jin Skyward's Soliloquy

Takamagahara

"Oooooh!"

I decided to teleport to the cliff where we had appeared previously. I thought mom would think the view would be enjoyable, and it seems that I was right. Mom immediately started looking at the city below us from the cliff.

"It's been a while since we've been here, not much has changed," said Suzaku as she looked at the city with Shuri, who had taken out her phone and started taking pictures.

Rias was also taking it all in, silently, though she still shared the same excitement as Shuri. The same with Rose, meanwhile Raiko smiled to herself as she was back to the realm she had been in for so long, the same for Inaie.

"Let's go then, better meet with Amaterasu now before so we'll know about the incident happening," I said to them and started walking down.

I was thinking of asking Raiko and Suzaku to bring Shuri around and I'll work on the problem here with everyone else. If this problem becomes an even more complicated mess, I didn't want her to be part of it. Mom wanted to come here for a small vacation. She had asked dad to come, but he was busy doing something for Azazel.

I felt a tug on my sleeve and turned to see it was Shigune. "What's up?" I asked her.

"Will we be staying here overnight?" she asked in a whisper.

"I doubt it, unless you guys want to," I said and turned to them.

"Overnight stay…!" Shuri said excitedly. She then looked at everyone with expectant eyes making them awkwardly smile at her.

"Er, let's just see how the day goes first, mom…" I replied and we arrived at the small bridge. "Hello, Miu, Kurota," I said to the two guards.

"You remember us?" asked Miu, slightly shocked.

"Yes? I can assume Amaterasu is in her—"

"Jin-san!!" a familiar voice shouted. When I looked up it was Yoshitsune with Benkei, Yoichi and Kojiro.

"Oh, hey Yoshitsune, Yoichi, Benkei and Kojiro. I didn't expect to see you guys so soon," I said and put my hand up.

"Hahaha! To think you'd…" Kojiro started but stopped to look at Shuri. The old man looked dumbstruck and blushed. He then walked over to Shuri, grabbed her hands and asked, "Ma'am are you single?!"

This left everyone stunned. Especially me… so I walked over to him and said, "Yeah, she's married with a kid… and she's my mother-in-law…"

"Ara? Fufu, the famous Kojiro Sasaki is asking me out? Ara, ara~ I'm so flattered, but I'm happily married," she said to him and showed off her ring.

'Ring? When did she… unless Baraqiel kept it or somehow found it…' I looked at mom's finger and ring a bit surprised.

It looked like Kojiro got shot through the heart with an arrow since he looked like his soul had just shattered. He stumbled away saying nothing. I honestly didn't expect something like that to happen.

"Ara? Did I break his heart~?" mom asked innocently. I didn't think she was that brutally honest when being hit on.

"A-anyway, Amaterasu-sama is eagerly waiting for you, Jin-san," said Yoshitsune. "Please follow us!"

"Right," I replied and we started following them. Suzaku, behind me started to tell Shuri about everything she knew about the place, and who the three that were leading us around. She became surprised and wanted to speak to them.

I along with Rose and Raiko took the lead, just behind the trio in front of us.

"By the way, Jin-kun. How many more women did you add to your harem? How about you, Raiko-san~?" asked Benkei sounding a little drunk.

"Are you drunk?" I ignored the question and asked her that instead.

"Uhahahaha~! Noooo~, I'm like this all the time~!"

'She's definitely drunk…' I thought and sighed. "I don't really keep count…" I replied to her question.

"Then I offer Yoshitsune-kun to you!"

"B-Benkei!" Yoshitsune shouted.

We bantered on like this until we walked past Kathleen's blacksmith and she waved at us. It seemed like business was booming because of the recent events. I wanted to check up on her, and as well as the others back in Asgard.

Finally, we reached the two novel shops—Yae's and Kogitsunemaru who both spotted us.

"Jin!"

"Jin, fufu~"

"…I'll try to stop by before I do my business here. But please leave it until then," I said to them. Thankfully they both understood and headed back to their shops.

"Who were those?" asked Shuri.

"They own book shops and sell books. If you want, Auntie we can go there after speaking with Amaterasu-sama," said Suzaku.

"Oh, some books, huh? I am looking for some new books to read. I've finished reading all the ones in my home."

"Shuri-san, Aaron has a library in his home," Rose said to her as she turned around and told mom about my infinite library.

"I'll make sure to learn some teleportation magic then, so I can visit that library, ufufu~"

We quickly arrived at the castle and Sara greeted us.

"Middleman, Amaterasu-sama and the others are waiting for you. Follow me."

"As stoic as usual, huh, Sara?" I asked as we followed her. She didn't answer me and we eventually arrived in front of the door and we entered it after knocking.

I could tell that mom had become a bit nervous but was still quite excited. Once we stepped into the room, we were greeted by the sight of the three women of Amaterasu in the middle, Fūjin to her right and Raijin to the left.

"Hello, I'm here like you asked," I said to Amaterasu.

"Welcome back to our realm, Jin. Thank you for coming early to our realm and I would like to start immediately." Amaterasu then summoned a piece of paper and made it float to me. I took it and read through it.

A shortened version of it is: Two Oni's are terrorizing multiple sub-realms of the Shinto Realm. They speculated that they were mind-controlled by someone, probably the Khaos Order. The second problem was the water of the water serpent Shirayuki had been 'polluted' and they want me to find out the source and purify it/return it too normal. They also speculated that it was due to the Khaos Order.

The two Oni's are probably Itto and his rival Asahi Sato. They don't know where they are, but… I could feel Itto's aura jumping around the place, so I was a bit confused about that—however, Asahi's aura was nowhere to be felt. I grew suspicious of this, so I extended my search from this realm and into Japan, but still didn't find it.

"…"

Hopefully he didn't do something stupid like join the Khaos Order so he could compete with Itto in strength. Apparently, Shinobu led the search team since the rest of his gang was also involved, but she was the only one who sparred.

You would think that they would mind-control the smartest one in the gang first… also… they think that there's a traitor in this realm, but to whom? They're not sure. Also, the last part—since I'm here, they want me to proceed with my duel with Raijin.

"I can start with either one, do you want me to start on any specific one?" I asked.

"Our first request is that you investigate what is causing the water pollution. Shirayuki is getting quite upset about it," said Fūjin.

"Afterward, would be the two Oni's and finally the duel between you and Raijin, if that's okay, Jin?" asked Amaterasu.

"I don't see a problem with that. I'll get on with it then… but first… this is my mother-in-law, Shuri Himejima. She wanted to speak to you, Amaterasu." I gestured to Shuri who waved at Amaterasu.

"Ah, another Himejima… if I remember correctly, you're the one who was exiled… I also wish to speak to you eventually," she said and gestured for Shuri to join her.

"Leave her to us, Jin. We will keep your mother-in-law company~" said Fūjin and grinned.

"Rose…" I called out to Rossweisse.

"I-if it isn't an issue, I would like to stay with Shuri-san!" announced Rossweisse.

"One of Jin's lovers? Very well, I have a lot of questions for you!" Fūjin again said enthusiastically.

Rossweisse was a bit confused, but walked over to them too. So this was my team for the day, huh? Very well…

"We'll get moving then," I announced and left the room. I immediately heard a bunch of questions directed at mom and Rose. I think they'll be fine… Fūjin seemed a bit mischievous, but it should be… okay…?

"So, we're heading to the Oni realm, huh?" I asked everyone, and then turned to Sara. "Sara, care to tell me what happened in Shifengu?"

After I asked that, both Raiko and Inaie expressed some interest. She looked at me as we walked away from the room and then back down at the ground.

"Those two stupid Oni's did a lot of damage. They nearly knocked over a pregnant Tengu. However, most of the damage was small, so no one was adversely affected. However, they still disturbed the peace over there. This happened in the Kitsune realm, and here in Takamagahara."

"So, all of the realms then?" I asked and she nodded. "I wonder why. Reports say they were mind-controlled… where is Kuki Shinobu by the way?"

"She is back in the Oni realm and investigating everything in their base as that's where it all started. After a certain day they started to act strangely, however, she herself was not affected," explained Sara.

[Maybe they're sexist?]

{You know, it's not that unbelievable if I'm being honest…}

'They agreed on something…'

{[Shut up old hag/Velgrynd!]}

'I thought you left for—'

'I was just checking up on you, hmph. Never mind then,' she said and left.

What a tsundere…

We eventually reached the entrance hallway where the staircase that led to the teleportation pads were located.

"I won't be coming with you, unfortunately. I will be staying here for extra security," she said and departed for her post.

I turned to address everyone when I saw that Rias was shaking. I was confused by this and put a hand on her shoulder. "Is something wrong?"

"I met Amaterasu-sama! It was like a dream of mine! This place—it's beautiful! Aaron! We have to help them all!" she exclaimed enthusiastically.

I had not seen Rias this excited in a long time. She was acting more like her age—like a teenager. I smiled at her and patted her head. "Well, that was the plan from the start, so let's get to it," I said to them and we descended the stairs.

Zyoto, Vadaya

We arrived in the Oni realm, Zyoto shortly after. Rias, still excited about being here, ran down the stairs and arrived in that room before any of us, so we ran after her to catch up. That's how we got here so quickly.

"The realm isn't going anywhere, Rias, no need to run," I told her and she blushed.

However, she immediately switched back to looking around the building we were in. I turned to Yoshitsune and asked, "Where does she live at right now?"

"In Shuten-sama's home, she made an additional section just for Shirayuki-sama," replied Yoshitsune.

Once we left the building we were greeted with the same sights from before. However, to the ones who hadn't been here before, mainly Rias and Inaie, both of them were in awe of the place. She suddenly clicked her fingers and her clothes changed. She suddenly wore a crimson and black kimono with a kasa (traditional Japanese hat).

"Rias-chan, you seem eager to explore the place~ it's nothing too special you know? But I can take you with me, the same with Yoichi since I know he doesn't want to explore that place again~" offered Benkei.

"R-really?!" she squeaked out then looked at me and started to fidget in place. "U-um…"

"Haha, alright. Go ahead and explore the place," I said to her and kissed her on the forehead.

"Oooh! Look at that affection~! Now, follow me Crimson-haired Princess of Destruction! For I, Benkei shall show you this little realm!" she said and wobbled away with Yoichi and Rias in tow.

Yoshitsune, Shigune, Suzaku, Inaie and I were the only ones left. I asked if Inaie wanted to go off and explore the place, but she declined.

A serious look crossed her face as she declared, "I want to learn about the mystery behind the polluted water!"

I chuckled at her and patted her head. "I see, let's go to the water pool."

We quickly made our way there and it didn't look any different from last time, but when I looked down at the water…

"Something feels 'off' about it," I muttered and Raiko agreed with me.

"Yes, it doesn't feel like the other times I've been here…"

"So it wasn't just me? When I said this to Benkei and Yoichi they couldn't sense it. Perhaps it was because I had been here many times to speak with Shuten-sama about various things… even Shirayuki-sama thought the same things, but couldn't tell us why," Yoshitsune said and frowned at the pool of water below us.

Suzaku, Shigune and Inaie were staring intently at the water too, and it looked like they agreed with the rest of us.

"Well, we better go down then," I said and jumped off. As soon as I grabbed Suzaku, she naturally wrapped her arms around my neck.

"A small warning would have been appreciated, Aaron…" she cutely protested.

"My bad, I'll try to do it next time," I said to her and landed on the water.

Inaie flew down, while Yoshitsune jumped off the sides of the walls to slowly descend. The rest flew down using magic, although all three women who came with me seemed a bit displeased with my actions.

"Playing favorites, hmph." Inaie then cutely turned away after she said that.

'She was the closest to me, and on my other side was Yoshitsune…'

I shook my head and looked around, noticing nothing different. I turned my attention to the water and touched it. I was standing on it like the other three, but Yoshitsune was watching from an area of land she had landed on.

"…" I closed my eyes and tried to analyze it myself. After a few seconds, I opened my eyes back up and looked to the right side, at where one of the waterfalls was obstructing the walls of the place.

I waked over to it and put my hand on it.

"Aaron?" they called out.

Yoshitsune asked, "Aaron?" sounding confused, so the girls explained. "I see…"

'A spell… a powerful illusion-based one,' I thought and dispelled it. The wall that was previously there disappeared and a medium-sized opening appeared. I glanced back at my comrades and said, "Let's investigate and check it out."

We entered the hole and started walking down it. What I thought would be a quick journey lasted somewhere around thirty minutes. It felt never-ending and it stayed the same—cramped, damp and wet with no light apart from the one I created with fire.

However, we eventually arrived at a large opening and I was a bit stunned by what I saw.

"W-what is this…?" asked a horrified Yoshitsune.

I told them, "It appears that we found where those people disappeared."

In front of us were hundreds of corpses hanging from the ceiling, dripping transparent blood. But the stench of rotting corpses finally hit us and Yoshitsune ran to the side to vomit. I examined the area and the blood was dripping down into a small pool of water beneath them.

"That's probably where the 'pollution' came from. Their transparent blood was transported from that small pool to the main one. Yoshitsune, does the pool where Shirayuki connect to any other parts of the realm?" I asked the girl as she came back to us looking rather pale.

"Y-yes. It connects to all the waterways and pools around the realm that Shirayuki-sama uses. However, it doesn't connect to any of the drinking water for the people, so we haven't… drank any of this, thankfully," replied the girl. "I'm sorry, I should be used to this, but it's been a while since I've seen something so gruesome."

"Some are still fresh. When was the last report of a missing person?"

"…Just last night—"

She was cut off when we heard a noise, and a bunch of robed individuals appeared. I quickly used [Observe] on them and the names that were shown were a few fodder magicians, and…

A clone of Apophis and Sakata Kintoki (clone). Apophis had the appearance of a handsome brown-skinned young male in black vestments.

'What? Why the… no, so he was found and taken in by the Khaos Order… and now Apophis is here too, well a clone of him.'

I grabbed Yoshitsune and put her behind me, confusing her.

"Hmm? Ah, the Middleman and his lively companions. Greetings," said Apophis.

Sakata Kintoki remained silent and silently stared at us. His entire body was covered by the robe he was wearing so I couldn't see his face. The only one who didn't have a robe was Apophis.

"Why are you here? Did you do this?" I asked them. I had already started to surround them with my shadows and cancelled any possibility of escape. There is a chance of me getting some memories from Sakata Kintoki, even if it's a slim margin.

"This…? Me? No, the man beside me? Certainly, with the help of certain individuals in this realm, it was possible to kidnap them all after all,' replied Apophis.

"Why?" I calmly asked.

The Evil Dragon Apophis looked at Sakata Kintoki, who didn't answer. However, the Evil Dragon answered in his place instead.

"Even if you kill us, there are two other clones waiting in this realm. You cannot find us until we attack, Middleman—ah, I should not have said that. Well, at the very least you are now aware of this—very well, I will announce it. We will attack Takamagahara," he said calmly.

"We are also responsible for the brainwashing of a certain Oni—well partially," he added. He then changed into a fighting stance, and so did the rest—however, to my surprise Sakata Kintoki took out something and stabbed himself with it before crumbling away into nothingness.

"Hmm, he ended his own clone? Well, it matters not," he said and burned the remaining ashes. The other magicians behind him also opened some magic circles.

"Entertain me, Middleman!" he said and charged me.

"Those magicians won't have anything useful for me, leave the Evil Dragon to me!" I said to them and quickly entered my [Boosted Gear] Balance Breaker.

Don! Fwsssssssssssh!

Our fists collided and he was pushed away from us, creating a strong pressure around us. I would have liked to take a look at Sakata Kintoki's memories, but that's probably impossible now. I didn't account for him taking his own life—maybe I can try to bring him back?

Cúntóir: Answer: Impossible. That item had [Reality Warping], [Soul Destruction] and [Memory Erasure] combined. I believe one of the Evie Gods created the item. Perhaps they are working together with Sakata Kintoki's faction?

So it's impossible then, great…! I frowned and punched Apophis in the face and followed it up by summoning [Ascalon] and slashing him in the throat. These assholes are getting smarter and trying to hinder me as much as possible.

I punched the dragon in the throat and lunched him backwards. I put my left hand forward and summoned a small draconic ball of energy and then punched it with my right.

A large stream of draconic energy consumed everything in front of us. I used a [Dragon Shot] on the clone of Apophis and it seemed to have killed him. Looking back at my comrades, they had killed the magicians too. There was a small part of the Evil Dragon left, and I tried to look at its memories, but…

"Nothing," I turned to where Sakata Kintoki was and touched the ground. "Also, nothing." I clicked my tongue and walked over to the magicians and read their memories. It was also blank, I shook my head and said, "For now, let's take these guys down and give them a temporary burial and inform the families."

After a few minutes of moving around dead and decaying bodies, we were ready. I had stored them in a newly created item I created and told Yoshitsune how to use it. She left first to inform Shuten and then Amaterasu.

"This has become a lot more serious, huh?" asked Inaie with a gloomy face.

"Yeah… also there is more than one traitor, but who?" I said and looked at the ground where Sakata Kintoki was. "Also, the other robed person was Sakata Kintoki—I'm pretty sure Raiko was close to him. He was part of her [Heavenly Kings] squad when she was still human."

After I mentioned that, Raiko looked utterly shocked. She froze on the spot, not sure how to process what I said. She looked at me and asked, "Are you sure it was him?"

"Positive. My eyes and ability don't lie," I said to her. She just remained silent after that.

I wanted to try to reverse what he had done, so I put my hand out at where he once stood and the clone of Sakata Kintoki came back, but… he was hollow—the memories I tried to recover, but they were also blank. Whatever the hell they did, they simply removed them from existence.

I sighed and dismissed the clone and turned back to everyone. "I'll purify the water first; you guys can go ahead. Actually, Suzaku can you tell Shuten about this for me? If Yoshitsune hasn't done it yet, I mean. The same with Amaterasu," I said to her.

"Okay," she said and left followed by Inaie.

"…"

Shigune and Raiko stayed behind and looked at the ceiling where the bodies once hung. Shigune was affected by the dead in the past, especially during my first request with Team Slash/Dog. Meanwhile, Raiko should still be thinking about Kintoki.

When I touched the water that had been the most polluted, I purified it. Once that was done, I also did this to the rest of the realm's waterways since I didn't want to risk it spreading any further. Once done I walked back over to Shigune and patted her head.

"Let's go," I said and we left the area and headed back to the pit. I covered the entrance to the cave back up and also made that area inaccessible to normal people.

Once we arrived back in the town, I wanted to do a few things. One was to go meet up with Shirayuki and see her for myself. I also wanted to ask Shuten about Itto and maybe about Asahi? I can ask more questions towards Kuki Shinobu since I'm going to her after speaking with Shuten. I didn't feel Inaie and Suzaku's aura in this realm anymore so they must be back in Takamagahara.

"Let's meet up with Shuten and Shirayuki first, after that we'll go speak with Shinobu. Yoichi, Benkei and Rias are still here after all."

Both of them agreed and we made our way to Shuten's home. We also abided by the rules of that bridge we had to cross. Thankfully, we didn't have any trouble crossing it this time around. However, Poh came out and decided to make my shoulder his home.

"Poh became really attached to you, I sometimes think if he wants you to be his wielder, the same with Natsume-san's Griffon," she said with slight jealously.

"I don't think I was popular with animals in my previous life, so I'm as equally confused as you are, but here…" I took Poh off my shoulder and handed him back to Shigune who happily accepted him back. Poh himself wasn't against it either.

"…I don't want to do the parkour, let's take the back," I said to her and we walked over there. We found the elevator and we used it.

Once we arrived at the top we were greeted by two Oni maids on alert, but once they saw us they calmed down and sighed.

"Middleman-sama, please refrain from using this unless you inform us beforehand," said Ram.

"Noted. Although we didn't want to go through the parkour that Shuten made, so we used this instead."

They just sighed at me and we were brought to Shuten's 'throne' room and to both our surprise, we saw someone else there. She had gorgeous, black glossy hair held up by a tricolored flower hairpin, yellow eyes, and wore a white, elegant kimono with flower patterns and geta shoes.

"Oya? If it isn't the Middleman, have you come here to see me? Or are you here about little Itto and his group causing trouble again~?" Shuten asked and took a sip from her cup. She gave Raiko as side glance but mostly ignored her.

"Yeah, I'm going to ask Shinobu after this, so just say anything you think is relevant."

She nodded and looked at the young woman with her.

"Ah, yes, this is the famous water serpent here, Shirayuki. Oh, did you fix the pollution yet?" she asked.

"Yeah, it should be done, although—" I told them about how it was linked to the disappearances happening around the realm, how it was the Khaos Order and how the corpses' blood had polluted the water.

"They dare?! Those are sacred waters that I have blessed for hundreds of years!" Shirayuki hissed out, and her aura increased significantly. It was clear she was angry at this.

"Hmm, so what happened to them?"

"Hmm? Didn't two of my friends stop by here?" I asked, also confused. But she shook her head.

"No, you three are the first to come here today, not including Shirayuki here," said Shuten.

I nodded, turned away and contacted Suzaku.

'Suzaku?'

'Aaron, I'm sorry, we decided to speak to Amaterasu first and tell them everything that happened. We were going to head back to the Oni realm afterward,' she said as soon as I contacted her.

'Ah, no, it's fine. We're speaking to Shuten now. I was just worried. I'll leave that side to you then,' I said to her.

'Yes, of course. And I'm sorry again.'

I told her not to worry about it and turned back to Shuten. She gave me a strange look, but I ignored it and continued with our conversation.

"Sakata Kintoki is involved in this incident. He may be controlled by the Khaos Order," Raiko said to Shuten.

"Oh? One of your [Four Heavenly Kings], eh? Was he not in love with you? Ara, who would have thought that this would occur? A fight between captain and subordinate—an unrequited love? Fufu~" said Shuten. She was probably trying to rile up Raiko.

'But… he was in love with her, huh? Who would have thought?' I looked at Raiko who saw me looking at her and looked away. 'I guess she's not comfortable speaking about it.' I glanced back at Shuten and she smirked at us.

"Well, it matters not. That boy is quite powerful. If he was somehow made stronger by the Khaos Order, you'll have a problem on your hands—is what I'd like to say, but seeing that leaked footage and the rumors, I doubt you'll have problems."

"Now back to the topic at hand. About little Itto… well he did come to me about wanting to know how to cook? That silly dumb ball of brawn wanted to cook for his small group that he got himself. It was admirable. However, that's it. He did not mention anything strange or unusual happening. However, that's just like him," she said.

"…Do you know anything about Asahi Sato?" I asked her.

"Asahi… Sato? That's the little Oni that looks up to my little Itto, no? …Hmmm…" Shuten looked like she was thinking about it seriously. After a minute of thinking she looked back up. "I do not remember when, but one day he just started to follow Itto, and tried to mimic him. He was a bit awkward about it, but he eventually became 'part' of his circle, and then he said he would try to start his own 'gang'. But before that, there was nothing about him," she said with a puzzled expression.

"Nothing, huh?" I repeated. It was strange, almost like me. I appeared one day, with zero information about myself and started making a fuss in the supernatural world. In Asahi's case, it was on a smaller scale and only in the Oni realm and towards Itto.

"Thanks, I think you gave me a good idea of what might be happening. We'll be leaving then," I said to them and turned around.

"Ah, one second, Jin," called out Shuten. I turned my head and looked at her. "If Sakata Kintoki were to try to steal Raiko and make her join the Khaos Order, what would you say?" she asked with a sly smile.

Raiko looked angry and shocked, but was also curious of my reply. Everyone in the room was staring at me. I feel like I get questions like this from time-to-time. I sighed and looked at her seriously and said—

"Tell him that she's mine and he can die trying to take her from me."

"Oh-ho-ho-ho~! Did you hear that you cow? It seems like you already won the Middleman's heart after a short amount of time with him," Shuten said with a snicker and laughed to herself. Raiko simply glared at Shuten while blushing.

"Anyway, we'll be going then," I said and left the room.

"You can say the cheesiest things with a straight face," said Shigune as she arrived by my side. So did Raiko, although she was still blushing and avoided looking at me.

"Whether it's cheesy or not, I mean them, you know?" I said to her and patted her head.

"We know… we all know," replied Shigune.

"Next up, Shinobu. It seems like Rias and the other two are with her already, so they might have already grilled her with questions. Let's go," I told them and we teleported to their spot.

Once there, Rias spotted us and waved us over. We arrived to see them sitting on a bench and Shinobu looking troubled. Everyone else looked up to see us.

"Ah, Jin-kun. Glad you could join us. We had a hunch that you'd try to find Shinobu-kun here, so we found her first after showing the Princess here in this quaint town~," said Benkei. She seemed even drunker than before we separated.

Yoichi looked exhausted as he was slumped over the bench they were sitting on.

"Yeah, so… what happened?" I asked them, and Shinobu looked at me.

"Well, this is what I saw over the few weeks before the boss, the rest of the gang and Asahi went crazy. First, it was normal, nothing was out of the ordinary. I found it somewhat strange that the boss wanted to know how to cook since the rest and I did it for him, but he spoke to Shuten-sama about it…"

"But not too long after, he and everyone else started to act strangely. It was like they were possessed—like in those horror films. Anyway, they didn't do anything too outlandish after it started, but it slowly escalated from their usual petty tricks to nearly hurting people intentionally. I know they're not like this, so I want them to be stopped," explained Shinobu.

They just started acting strangely, huh? But what does she mean by that? So I asked her to elaborate on the 'strange' part. Shinobu looked a bit uncomfortable but explained further.

"It was… well, just strange! All of them, except Asahi would strip naked and run around for hours at a time, and then eventually exhaustion caught up to them and they passed out. They would poop on trees and smear it all around the area we used as a base!" she said and continued to tell us more strange happenings that occurred to them.

[You know, the exception to this is always Asahi. Maybe he's one of the traitors?]

{Or he could have had some resistance to it, and that's why he didn't do those things? Itto from what we saw last time was on another level of stupid.}

[But Asahi was following him like some kind of sick puppy.]

"Do you know where their last sighting was?" I asked her.

"I believe it was in the Kitsune realm, Yulgana."

Yulgana, huh? I do wonder how they're all doing… it's been a while since I last saw them. Alright, we'll head over there after stopping by to check on Amaterasu and mom. When I looked back at Shinobu, Rias had stars in her eyes.

"Let's check back on everyone else in Takamagahara, then we'll head over to Yulgana," I said to Rias and she immediately got up.

"Please take me with you!" said Shinobu as she also stood up.

I glanced around us and saw many people, so I gestured for them to follow us. Yoichi had to drag the drunk Benkei with us. I touched her shoulder and removed her intoxication; she seemed surprised by this but said nothing. I covered us with a barrier and told them what we found while investigating Shirayuki's troubles and the pollution.

"Sakata Kintoki is alive? Color me surprised. Hey Raiko-san, wasn't he your subordinate?" asked Benkei and Raiko nodded.

"Yes, he was," she gave a short answer and didn't say anything else. Benkei saw it was an uncomfortable topic so she didn't press her any further.

"What will you do, Benkei, Yoichi?" I asked the two of them. They weren't our guides this time around, so they didn't really need to come with us.

"Well, we were already tasked to look into these two things, so with you, it should be done faster, but it seems like it has become an even bigger deal. Traitors, the Khaos Order and resurrected people? Talk about being a drag, haha~!" chuckled Benkei.

"Yeah. Yoshitsune also said we would be helping you with these requests, so rely on us, Jin-aniki," said Yoichi.

"Aniki?" asked Benkei. "When did you start calling him that, eh? Eh? Heheheh~" she then started to nudge him on the side as he turned his head away.

"Well, not all of us need to travel back to Takamagahara. You three can go to Yulgana before us and maybe start some of your own investigations? I'll need to check the Tengu realm and maybe the Dragon mountain too, after going there, so…"

"Alright, we'll head over there first. Send Yoshitsune to us if you see her~" Benkei agreed and dragged Yoichi away. Shinobu joined them and gave me a thankful nod.

"Let's move then," I said to my group and we headed back to Takamagahara.

To save him, I'm teleporting us around instead of using the official teleportation pads. We arrived in front of the door again and I knocked on it, and entered after hearing them give us the okay. Once inside, I was greeted by a strange scene.

Yoshitsune was standing to the side looking very awkward and uncomfortable. Rossweisse and Amaterasu blushed furiously, while Raijin quietly sipped tea. Fūjin and mom were chatting away like best friends.

I walked over to Yoshitsune and asked, "What happened?" However, she just turned redder and shook her head.

Inaie and Suzaku weren't here, but I felt them… in this town though, so I'll go get them after this.

"Uh, mom, what's going on?" I asked.

"Ara~? Oh, Rias-chan is in different clothing just like me~" she exclaimed with great delight. Just like Fūjin, she was wearing the same outfit, but purple and black. "We were just having girls talk, Aaron~ fufu. But Ama-chan and Rose-chan are so innocent, fufufu~"

'Ama-chan…?' I looked at Amaterasu who was covering her face out of sheer embarrassment. However, Rose was trying to keep a straight face, but she was also blushing just as much as the Sun Goddess.

'What in the world happened after we left…?' I shook my head and continued with why we were here. "So, did you receive information from Yoshitsune about what had transpired there?" I asked.

The room fell silent, and Amaterasu's face changed. She looked serious now and nodded. "Yes, we did. We have alerted many of our trusted heroes here. The entire city is on alert. We have also alerted the other leaders of the sub-realm. For now, we need to capture the two Oni's and locate the two clones of Sakata Kintoki and the Evil Dragon Apophis," she explained.

"Also, do not worry. We will keep your mother-in-law safe, Aaron," she said to me. I guess they'll refer to me as Aaron then. However, Fūjin kept on taking glances at me, so I just stared her down which made her squirm.

Noticing this, mom grinned. "Aaron, honey, I'm working on a deal for you," she said.

"A… deal?" I asked confused.

She spread her arms out and happily said, "To marry these fine ladies!"

"...…Excuse me?" I asked even more confused. "Weren't you so against me having a harem at the start…?" I asked her.

"Details, Aaron, details~ that was then, but this is now. As your mother, I fully support you!" she said with glee.

The rest of the girls with me were also dumbfounded by what she said. Amaterasu, who previously had a serious face of a leader, turned beet red as she covered it up again. The only person who showed indifference was Raijin.

She shrugged and said, "If he wins the duel, then I do not mind. Our realm needs powerful heirs after all."

'So I'm just a seed donor?' I asked myself and smiled wearily. I felt a headache coming on, so I put my hand up to stop her from explaining. "We'll talk about this after I'm done with my job, okay? Please stay close to them, mom. I wouldn't be able to face Akeno if I failed to keep you safe."

"Your mother is strong; you worry too much!" she said and flexed her right arm.

I smiled at her and looked at Rose. She nodded and we finally left, with her and the four shadow soldiers in her shadow and the necklace, she should be fine.

"So we're heading to the Kitsune realm, right? Tamamo no Mae and Inari Ōkami should be there…!" Rias said excitedly. Even after all the news about the Khaos Order and potential attacks, she was still trying to keep our spirits up.

"Yeah, they should be," I replied to Rias. "We can eat and talk while we're doing this," I said and brought out some sandwiches. "I prepared some in case you were too excited to sit down and eat, though it still serves its purpose."

Rias blushed and everyone took one. "I-I would have agreed to sit down and eat, Aaron…"

"I know, anyway, stay here. I'll go get Inaie and Suzaku." We had arrived at the entrance hallway again and I quickly located Inaie and Suzaku's auras and I appeared behind them. They seemed to be looking for a place to eat.

I tapped them both on the shoulder and they turned around—explained what was happening and gave them sandwiches.

"Super chef to the rescue! As expected of Aaron~" sang Inaie as she ate her food.

"Thank you, Aaron."

After getting their food and my thanks, we made our way back to everyone else. We arrived there shortly after; I had many people in the realm looking at me. Some with respect, some with fear, and others were just curious about me.

'I should visit Uwabami before we leave. I'll tell her the details of my plans for my future business venture. I think she'll be on board with it, hopefully.'

"Alright, let's go," I said to them once we were all reunited.

"…I-it's like old-era Japan!" Rias said excitedly. However, due to her shouting that, it attracted a lot of attention and—

"It's the Middleman!"

"Oppai Dragoooon!"

Were shouted our way and I lifted using magic and disappeared and appeared in front of Inari's home. I didn't want to get hounded right now, and wanted to focus on this job. I also planned on coming here first, so it was fine… I guess.

"Eh? W-where are we?" the crimson-haired princess asked.

"We're in front of Inari's home. I can also feel her with Maho, Tamamo and a few of her guards." I started walking towards them and a few kitsune's with masks appeared, saw me and then vanished.

Once we arrived at the area where we first met Maho and spoke with Inari, they saw us and greeted us. The masked kitsunes were also there whispering something into Inari's ear.

"Ara~? If it isn't Jin-kun! Come here, it's been a while! I can guess why you came here!" Inari said energetically. Both Tamamo and Maho nodded at us while their guards Youko and Soushi stood there and remained silent.

"It's little Shigune~! Are you still a jealous little girl~?" Maho asked teasingly, and as if on reflex, Shigune hugged my arm rather defensively surprising everyone there. "Ufufufu, it seems that is the case~"

"Maho-sama, please don't tease her too much," said Tamamo and gave her an annoyed glance.

"Ignoring Maho, are you here to ask about the two Oni's?" asked Inari and I nodded. "Haaa… well you just missed them by a few days. But it's like the other realms. They caused some damage, but after that they left. However, I was informed of that tree near the training waterfall and they tried to destroy it, so Youko here was forced to fight them. One of them is injured. I believe his name was Itto?"

Youko stepped forward and said, "It wasn't serious. His left arm should have been broken. I believe Yoshitsune-sama and Kuki Shinobu should be at the waterfall right at this moment."

"We were also informed by Amaterasu-sama about the truth, so we have higher-ups and a few high-level to ultimate-level Kitsunes on alert just in case anything else happens," added Inari.

"I see, we'll go check that area then. If I have a chance, we'll come back before we go back home. Nice seeing you all again," I said and turned around.

"It's unfortunate, but we look forward to it!" shouted Inari. After that, we heard Maho saying something about a nighttime rendezvous which I ignored.

"What night time rendezvous?" asked Rias and Raiko.

"Nothing happened," I assured them and Shigune told them what had happened.

I teleported us to the outskirts of the city, on the side where the waterfall area was. We walked through the short pathway to it and found Shinobu, Yoshitsune, Benkei and Yoichi.

"Ah, Jin-san. Welcome back. We were told about how they went through here. There wasn't too much damage done here, but as you can see…" Yoshitsune gestured around her and some of the areas had small holes in the walls or ground and some trees were knocked over.

Thankfully, the tree that Physis made wasn't affected at all. We walked over to them and I asked, "Did you find any leads?"

"No, but this tree is very unique," replied Yoshitsune.

"Yeah, it is." I then told them the real history of the tree while I looked around the area and repaired it.

Since finding out the truth, I have been aware of Itto's aura. If the Khaos Order was involved, then I was expecting them to force the guy to drink some blood, but… it seemed like they didn't for whatever reason. But I do know he's in Shifengu, the Tengu sub-realm. I can assume that the rest of his gang and Asahi are there.

They hadn't moved from that sub-realm. They were either doing this on purpose, or were planning on 'attacking' it again. My other new Electa that I had made, I sent them here to keep an eye out on this entire thing.

I'm not entirely sure if they know the truth of the matter, or if they know about the attacks. However, they hadn't updated me on anything yet, so I was waiting for that. I'll try to speak with them before I go to the Tengu realm.

"So a goddess of the Greek realm was here? Interesting…" Yoshitsune said and touched the tree.

"I'd like to meet her. Does she have a big rack like the rest of the women you have in your harem?" asked Benkei.

"…Do you think that's some sort of criteria or something?" I asked and gave her a strange look.

She groped herself and said "Yes?"

I have no idea what she was implying there, but I just shook my head and turned around. "It doesn't seem like there's anything else here. I located Itto's aura to be in the Tengu realm. We should go there to catch them," I told them.

"W-wait, the boss is over there? Do you have any idea why?" Shinobu asked a bit confused by the sudden information.

"No, but… give me a second." I walked away from them and contacted my Electa. 'Are you in the Tengu realm? Have you been following them? Update me on the situation,' I said to them.

'…Yes, not too long after those events started to happen. The news of this realm began to interest me, and I followed the group once the destruction began to occur. It was being led by two Oni's and there were three others following them. However—'

'Tell me in person, come to me,' I cut them off and told them that.

'Yes, of course, Aaron-sama.'

I then turned around to face everyone with me, as they stared at me curiously. Suddenly, someone emerged from my back alerting them, however, they then kneeled in front of me.

"Is… is that another Electa, Aaron? When did you create her?" Rias asked as she pointed at the female in front of me.

"Not too long ago, anyway—Yuanteng tell us in detail what you had found out."

Yuanteng, like Zeno, Siva, and Elsa were my assassins and spies. They excel at information gathering and missions of that nature. I had tasked Zeno and Silva to go search for Tosca. Those two are currently traveling from one European country to another looking for any traces of Kiba's comrades.

Since Kiba had no idea where he was taken to for those experiments, he couldn't help me much on that part. Therefore, those two were tasked with searching all the countries. Their last update, they had passed through five countries so far. In addition to them, there are my shadows soldiers in Europe, as well as the brainwashed XxX members, Kanzaki and Shizuka.

However, they had been mostly silence since then—but I did set up a new system for all the brain-washed people to send me updates through a certain channel, and that has yet to be utilized. I should do it before going on the date with Rias, unless this counts as one…

Yuanteng is a tall, slender young woman who has long pine green hair that is layered in length, spiked up, and neatly clipped while her eyes are indigo. She wore a black and green cheongsam decorated with a golden dragon and a panda in the middle. The cheongsam had a high slit and she wore a garter that held her talismans on her left leg.

She told us everything she learned up to the point I cut her off and she then continued.

"I had been following them for the last few days, and they had been in the Tengu realm for quite some time now. They have used Inaie-sama's previous home as their base. The clones of the Evil Dragon and Sakata Kintoki are not with them. I saw them prior to their demise earlier in the day, however…"

"However?" I repeated.

"I believe that the other traitors are two other Oni. My own theories are that they work for the Monkai Association and have been here for quite some time. I also believe that Asahi Sato is part of the Khaos Order. Although I haven't confirmed this yet. Furthermore, I suspect they are trying to kill the two Tengu leaders. I do not know their reasons. But I have prevented them in secret—especially Asahi Sato. It seems he holds a grudge against them."

Two other Oni? And Asahi wants to kill the two Tengu leaders? Most of this doesn't make any sense… I feel like I've been fighting the Oni species a lot lately, from Scias to Asahi and Itto in the future…

[Ram and Rem?] Ddraig suggested.

{What? Why?}

[I dunno, they're Oni.]

{That's racist…}

[Whatever. That's my pick.]

'Well it's not like you know of Asahi Sato's history, Aaron,' said Rudra. 'You also said it yourself—he is just like you. You appeared out of nowhere one day and started associating yourself with the supernatural realm—to him—it was the Oni realm, Zyoto, Vadaya,' said Rudra.

"I see, thank you, Yuanteng." I thanked her and touched her cheek making the woman blush. I turned to everyone and said, "Let's go to the Tengu realm then."

Check the chapter comments to see images of certain characters.