I didn't think the man in front of us was who he had claimed to be either. I used [Observe] to be sure.
[M#%&I$#o - Level 40]
That clinched it. This was not this universe's God. It was an imposter. One talented enough in illusion magic to not only fool all of the Angels but also block out my upgraded [Observe]. Thankfully, he seemed to be affected by this Universe's power cap. No matter how skilled in magic he was, Level 40 wasn't much of a threat to me at this point.
Still though… I figured it was better to be safe than sorry. 'System, do the trade!'
[You got it. Commencing trade…and done!]
The Boosted Gear that was resting in my hand disappeared as if it was never there. In its place, two eyeballs appeared. They were purple and covered in black ripples.
The Rinnegan!
[You're lucky you have me! Hold the Rinnegan eyes up to your face and they'll fuse to your own eyes. Without me, you'd have to rip out your own eyeballs and you'd never be able to turn the Rinnegan off.]
I held the pair of eyes up to my face. I felt the two orbs in my hand vanish as I felt a burning sensation coming from my eyes! The sensation quickly faded though.
I opened my eyes expecting to have a drastic change in my vision. I was a bit disappointed that I didn't. Then again, my natural eyes were already far better than a human's. I did feel my body begin to change though. I felt a new type of energy flow through me!
[Passive Skill Unlocked: Senjutsu Level 1]
→Level 1: Increase the recovery of MP to 1 MP per second!
My eyes widened. Holy crap! I was getting a recharge of only 1 MP a minute before! Senjutsu was absolutely broken, and I loved it!
[Skill Gained: Six Paths]
→Allows you to use the Six Paths of the Rinnegan. Abilities scale with MP used.
[Skill Gained: Susanoo Level 1]
→Allows you to summon the skeletal frame of Susanoo to protect yourself.
If I was alone right now, I probably would have been jumping up and down and squealing in glee from both of those skills! I was starting to feel like a true gamer now that I had some crazy anime powers!
[The Rinnegan fusing with your eyes has leveled up your Observe skill!]
"Are you alright, Layla?" Heather asked when I paused for a few seconds after bringing my hand to my face. Kunou was also worried next to me.
"I've never felt better!" I admitted. I could understand why people were killing each other over these eyes in Naruto. The abilities they granted were just too amazing!
I snapped back to the current situation. I was still surrounded by over a dozen Angels and 'God' himself. Although with my [Observe] now at Level 4, I wondered if he'd be able to hide his identity from me now.
[Mephisto - Level 40: An Avatar of the Evil Deity Mephisto. He has come to this world to sow chaos.]
Mephisto? I was surprised to see such a big name in such a weak world like this one. Then again, the description said that this was simply one of his avatars. It was interesting that even he couldn't escape the power suppression placed upon the beings here though.
"What happened to the Boosted Gear you were just holding?" Mephisto, still disguised as Yahweh, asked me.
…
Mephisto was curious about what Layla just did. The Boosted Gear simply vanished from her hand one moment, and some powerful small objects appeared in its place. Before he could figure out what they were, the Fallen Angel immediately absorbed them into herself. What's more is that she started feeling immensely more dangerous to his senses after she did so. 'Just what did she fuse to herself!?' He wondered.
"Father, shall we kill her now?" One of 'his' Angels asked him.
Mephisto shook his head. "No, hold back for now." These Angels were too stupid to even sense the massive power difference between Layla and them. They were too blinded by their devotion to his disguise. He was sure that Layla would immediately dispose of them and then he wouldn't even be able to use these winged idiots to serve their only useful purpose!
…
I smirked at 'my father' before I spoke again. "You don't have to worry about the Red Dragon anymore. It's gone forever and never coming back. Instead, you should be worrying about yourself… Mephisto." I casually threw out his real name.
"MEPHISTO!" Heather shrieked behind me in shock. "That's one of the beings the Ancient One told me to never mess with!"
The surrounding Angels all looked confused at the name as well but didn't ask.
Instead of being angry at getting exposed. He just laughed. His head reared back, and he let out a disturbingly loud cackle! "Hahahahaha! Impressive! Truly impressive! It seems the rumors about you were true, Layla of the Fallen. Some Fallen Angel came out of nowhere and slew Belial! On top of that, you then freed all of the souls from Gehenna before other Hell Lords could seize the plane and all those souls for themselves! You essentially crippled that entire realm!"
"And why do you care about all that?" I asked.
His head snapped back forwards, and I was met with glowing red eyes. "I cared because I was planning to take Gehenna for myself one day! Without any souls, it's absolutely worthless!"
"That sucks."
He scowled at my disregard. "I don't like having my fun or plans ruined. And now, Layla, you have ruined both! I demand vengeance! I will have retribution!"
XXX
--------------------------------------------------
You can read chapters in advance over on my Pat.reon.
Pat.reon.com/StarWaves (Remove the first .)