Chapter 165: At the Dragon God's Divine Nest
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"Onii-chan! Aqua! Open the door! Or I'm opening it myself!" Ruby's voice woke me up as I blinked at the ceiling.
That little time was time wasted, the door swung open and Ruby stormed inside with a wide smile on her face.
"We returned from the tri-...."
Ruby's voice cut off as her eyes registered the scene inside. I woke myself up, with a blanket resting over my body, and Akeno sleeping on my left arm, her arms hugging my chest and her lips pressed against my skin.
"Ah, you're back," I ruffled Akeno's hair and greeted Ruby. "Go freshen up. I need a shower too. I'll see you at breakfast."
"....." Ruby's cheerful expression dropped and she looked at me for a long moment. Then she stepped out of the door, no, she stomped out while slamming the door hard as she left.
Huh, what's up with her? It's not news to her that I sleep around, so her reaction was odd to me. These girls need to stop.
I gently shook Akeno to her up, accepting the kiss she threw against my lips, and pulled her into the shower.
****
"Oh, Aqua is here! Hey-"
Once we headed to the dining room for breakfast, the girls turned their heads to me and Shoko greeted me with a wide smile and a wave of her hand.
Her entire body paused when she noticed Akeno walking behind me, and from the way both our hair glistened, indicating our recent shower, she could guess that we'd spent the night together. Kana must have noticed that too, as she clenched her jaw for a moment before letting out a sigh.
"Sup," I waved back at her, while Akeno followed after me. I helped her by drawing a chair for her to sit on and followed suit.
"...You two look like you just came out of a shower," Memmy didn't bother to hide her thoughts and spoke out loud.
I blinked and smiled at her, "Ah yes. She and I were dealing with some blood and other stains last night. We had to clean it, I'm sure none of you would enjoy such a bad smell early in the morning."
Ruby kept her head lowered as she ate her food, a frown playing on her brows. I also noticed Ai acting like I wasn't there; she was mad at me. Akeno and I explored each other in the bedroom of an Instant Dungeon copy of our house so that Ai couldn't have seen or heard us in action, so she must have seen us sleeping on the bed naked with her X-ray eyes. Did she stalk us?
Unlike the two, the other girls were fools, oblivious to any of it. So my lies made their faces relax. Unfortunately, my partner in crime was Akeno.
And she found the situation far too amusing to let it pass this easily.
"Oh~?" She leaned against my body, her chest pressing against my arm, while she brought her lips near my ears to whisper. But her tone, as she spoke, was far from a whisper. "You're going to hide what we did last night from them~? Am I nothing but a side piece to you, you bad, bad man~?"
"...." I turned to her with a deadpan look in my eyes, noticing her amused smirk and the girls at the table began to fume. Tsubasa and Mem just shook their heads and took a sip of their drink, not even surprised, while the indifferent Ai burst out laughing.
How did she of all people find this amusing?
The girls glared at me, while I began to explain bullshit to try to save myself, but my reputation was far gone for any of it to work.
This would cost Akeno dearly down the line, but something told me she'd enjoy that.
****
After the girls left, this time even Shoko denied me from giving her a lift, I slumped onto the couch with a yawn. I wasn't really sleepy, but slightly tired.
Akeno was gone too, in a flash of teleportation, and Tsubasa went back to her home. Ruby fled to her room without talking to me, and Asia went to 'play' with the two exorcist girls in the gym, as well as Fallen Angel Kalawarna who was there too. That left me alone with Ai in the room, as she did the dishes while humming.
"Don't you think you're far too happy at my suffering," I asked, a tone of betrayal in my voice, even as a small smile played on my lips. She's so cute like this.
"It's funny," she said as she washed a glass and put it on the shelf beside her. I stood up and approached her. She wore a yellow sundress under an apron, with her hair swept to one side, leaving the other side of her shoulder bare.
"Is it?" I wrapped my arms around her and breathed down her fragrant nape. I'm glad she's not mad at me anymore. She's been a little annoyed at me since yesterday when I was seen with Quetzalcoatl and then accepted her invitation to visit Aztec in a heartbeat. "All my annoyance from earlier vanished seeing you enjoy it."
She scoffed, even as her smile grew a bit wider, her hands still busy with the dishes. "Stop hitting on me and go pack your bags. Wasn't your teacher supposed to come in the morning? It's past that already."
"If you think that another woman's visit can dissuade me from showing affection to the dearest women in my life, then you've judged me wrong, Mother," I grabbed her wrist with my hands and watched her frown. I looked at the dishes and said, "Clean." And the world cleaned them for me in a sparkle of light, leaving them new.
"I thought you were against using your power for minor conveniences," she said as I let go of her hands, my hands holding her by the waist and turning her around.
"And how is it just a minor convenience if it's letting me have your time and focus on myself?" I pulled her toward me, and our bodies [Blinked] from the kitchen to back to the couch. I slumped into the couch with her above me, her ass on my lap.
She smiled at me for a long moment before it slowly dropped, a shadow of worry on her forehead. I frowned, "What's wrong?"
"I'm not sure if I want you to go, Aqua," she said. "More than fearing that you might get with Quetzalcoatl, which is whatever, probably not the first time you slept with a dragon, what worries me more is the danger outside. Japan is safe, you told me, but the outside countries are not. What if… that man… sends more people after you?"
She meant her Ex, Hikaru Kamiki, Yaggdrissil the God Tree. When I first revealed that to her, she didn't say anything—she was too stunned to. So far, we've only had small talks about it, she didn't want to talk about it.
Her worry was understandable, but I waved it off, "I'll be with Quetzalcoatl. Those Nordic Gods attacked last time because Quku was not in Japan. They fear her, she is immensely powerful." Even I might not be able to defeat her, if I don't take similar risks like what I did against Yaggdrissil. "Unless Odin himself comes, they wouldn't pose any threat to me. And Odin will be a fool to come now when his faction is at its weakest after the death of Thor."
Politically it wouldn't make sense, more so since Serafall will be with us too.
"Still," she gently held my face. "I have a bad feeling about this. I'm not stupid, so I wouldn't stop you on that, but… I don't feel like letting you go."
I kissed her on the nose and smiled, "It's okay." A mother's worry was just out of her gentleness, but at times it worked as a premonition for legitimate danger. But I'm sure I can handle it even if something were to go wrong. "I'll be sure to keep myself safe. I can't end up dying when I have a family to take care of."
She pushed a smile through her worries and sighed, "Alright. I'll count you on that. I'll be really mad if things do go wrong and I turn out to be right."
"Sure thing," I pulled her into a kiss with that, feeling her soft and plump lips over mine.
****
We left an hour later.
Quetzalcoatl landed from the sky in front of our house, and Serafall teleported not so long after. Sona and her Queen were there too, to see Serafall off, and the latter called me to the side to talk about something.
"The Clan leader is still waiting," she said and I blinked in realization.
Right, I had asked her to notify the Shinra Clan for a meeting 'soon'. I didn't specify a date for them, which made me ignore it so far and focus on my training instead.
Of course, they must have been patiently waiting for me since I went and defeated their strongest member and proceeded to basically demand a meeting.
I rubbed the back of my head, "Uh, I'll go meet them after I return from my vacation. Sorry, I forgot about it."
She shrugged, showing a soft smile, "It's okay, serves them right. It's usually them who make people wait as a power move, it's good that they're getting a taste of their own medicine for once."
I raised an eyebrow, "I'm glad you like me bullying your family."
"Bully them more, it makes me happy."
"Sure thing, sure thing," I gave her a pat on her back and began to walk back to the group with her. I knew she went through a lot in her family; I should ask her about the details someday.
"You two are done talking?" Quetzalcoatl asked, hands on her waist, as she looked at me disapprovingly for making her wait.
"Yes. How do we travel now?" I asked, although I already had a guess on the top of my head. "Teleportation?"
"Hah! No." Quetzalcoatl smirked, "You think the Aztec deities are like some cheap devils? I will receive my guests in the best possible arrangements."
She raised a hand, snapping her fingers. It was just fingers, but the sound it made was a resonant boom that echoed through the skies like a divine proclamation. It and it rippled upwards like a series of explosions, splitting in half to reveal a dimension of colors on the other side.
The fabric of the ordinary world split and unveiled a celestial spectacle beyond. I felt the world pressing its will to cover that wound, to make the mortals not catch this sight. For us at the Hoshino Household, we watched as a golden canoe descended from the sky, gleaming with a blinding radiance under the sunlight that seemed to filter through from another dimension.
It floated gracefully down, aloft by unseen forces, while two colossal black jaguars, majestic with shimmering golden spots in their skin, led the boat downward. These celestial creatures moved with an otherworldly grace, their eyes glowing with a fierce, intelligent light as they surveyed their earthly surroundings.
"Holy fuck, you weren't lying…" even I was impressed at the sight. A canoe, it was usually depicted as a means of transport to the afterworld in the Aztec sculptures.
Serafall, on the other hand, who was curious earlier about how great Quetzalcoatl's means of transport was that she dared call out the devils, stayed silent with the mask of an indifferent expression. I didn't miss the light of barely hidden jealousy though.
The canoe stopped a few meters above the ground, and Quetzalcoatl leaped upward to land on its deck. She stood beside the ethereal vessel with a proud smile, patting the black jaguars as she looked at us. "Let's not delay any further," she said. "Hop on."
I said some last goodbyes to my family, excluding Ruby who was watching us from the window from the second-story. Our eyes met, but she refused to say anything and looked away instead. Serafall's goodbyes were less dramatic with Sona and Tsubaki, the former of whom warned her sister to mind her behavior as a Satan and to not let her urges control her—whatever that meant.
"Come, come~!" The two of us then boarded the canoe at Quetzalcoatl's hurry. The dragon woman then whispered an incantation just as the jaguars let out a powerful, resonant roar that seemed to shake the very air around us. With a majestic leap, the canoe lifted higher, soaring upwards into the torn sky.
The world below shrank rapidly, and the familiar sights of my home faded into the distance as we ascended. The sky around us turned into a canvas of swirling nebulas and distant stars, and we entered the Layer between dimensions, the Way—a cosmic road that shimmered with ethereal blues.
We journeyed through the Layer between dimensions; the scenery around us shifted dramatically. The nebulous blues gave way to vibrant hues, a breathtaking mosaic of cosmic colors that danced around us like celestial fireflies. It was a surreal spectacle, as if we were traversing through the dreamscape of a deity. It was a divine realm.
The canoe sailed smoothly through this cosmic ocean, creating ripples in the ethereal fabric of space-time that glowed like moonlit water. The sight was beautiful.
…..
"Fuck, this place is gorgeous…" Serafall muttered as she bit her fingernails in pure jealousy, while I laughed by her side and patted her back.
"Don't be like that. Why not take inspiration to decorate the underworld better?" I suggested, although my eyes too wandered around. It has been a while since my eyes saw cosmic beauty.
After what seemed like an eternity suspended between realities, the scenery had begun to shift into a more defined structure. Ahead of us, a magical land emerged. It was a vast forest emerged, stretching as far as the eye could see.
I could tell that this was no ordinary woodland; my eyes didn't miss the mixture of Mayan and Aztec architectures in the forest, with pyramids and temples majestically jutting out from here and there, their stone facades adorned with intricate carvings that gleamed under the light of distant stars.
The land was a floating island, an ethereal piece of earth suspended in the cosmic void. It was surrounded by a thin mist that shimmered with a silver glow, giving the place an otherworldly aura. The forest was alive with the sounds of unseen creatures, their calls echoing mysteriously through the trees.
We already knew that was our destination. As our celestial canoe approached, going toward the large castle at the center, Quetzalcoatl watched our reaction with a grin.
"Welcome," she announced with a sweeping gesture, "to my majestic and sacred home, where the old gods whisper, and the stars listen. Welcome to Ilhuicatl-Teoiztac, the Ninth Heaven."
As she said that, her outfit changed. She wore an ordinary white shirt and a long skirt earlier, but with a spark of fire she gained the regality of a queen. A crown formed on her head, and her body adorned the revealing dress of a warrior, yet littered with enough jewelry around her body to keep her royal status.
[Image Here]
We had reached the Aztec safeholds.
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