Chapter 41

With a light, meandering hum, I drop a bruised and nearly broken body of a young man in a cardboard box.

He groans, slowly, as I start folding the flaps over, closing the thing up.

"I'll get you next time…you…bastard…" The guy murmurs, weakly, yet resolutely.

I merely smile as I seal the box up with tape, and slap a big 'DO NOT RETURN' notice on the side.

Right on top, I set the sending address.

Black Dog BAR.

I stand up, taking the box up with me…

…before proceeding to pitch that shit like a baseball in the vague direction of where the bar is located.

I watch as the thing soars through the sky, before shimmering and vanishing off in the distance.

Nodding happily, I turn around and walk right back inside the main house.

That was Kouki Samejima being sent home.

For the third time in the past week.

When I woke up the following morning after returning from Yomi, the guy was indeed still working on getting past the barrier.

So I went out to confront him, he called me a bastard and attacked me on sight.

In return, I beat him down, stuffed his ass in a cardboard box, and mailed him back to his team.

Funnily enough, they sent him back, same box and all, but this time with a letter apologizing for him being a reckless emotional delinquent.

He tried to fight again though, so I mailed his ass back, same as before.

This time though, he came back himself, no box, no nothing, still looking a little roughed up in fact.

I'm pretty damn sure he woke up mid-transit and decided to rush back here, which is…points for stubbornness, I guess?

Still beat his ass and stuffed him in a new fresh box.

Though, this time I'm making sure he gets closer to his intended destination.

Honestly, I can tell the guy isn't legitimately mad with me, it feels more as though he's mad at himself for not being able to do anything, and is getting it out by lashing at me.

The biggest piece of evidence I have for that is that he's coming at me without the intent to kill, or seriously harm.

The guy hasn't even used a Balance Breaker on me.

Still wouldn't change me beating his ass though.

Old Nori from before Izanagi beat divine levels of power into me, would have gotten a pretty good fight out of Kouki, I'd say.

But now? It almost feels like bullying.

Even though he's the one doing the equivalent of slamming himself against a steel wall over and over.

Ah well. I'll humor him for a while. If getting the emotions beat out of him doesn't stick, I'll have to…ugh…talk.

Not going to lie though, I vastly prefer the 'punching it out' method of therapy.

Very therapeutic. Very effective.

The proper shonen way of dealing with things.

"You know," I suddenly stop, both walking and my thoughts, as a familiar voice calls out to me, "if he's becoming a bit much, I can always tell him off, you know?"

I turn, facing the source of the voice with a small smile gracing my face.

Uzume stands there, back in her sexy secretary uniform, twiddling her thumbs uneasily.

I chuckle, before waving it off, "It's fine, it gives him something easy to do while I laze around for a little while." I stop for a second, before adding with a snort.

"Besides sex, that is."

Uzume twitched at that, only prompting me to smile to grow into a smirk.

I would tease the hell out of her being physically unable to stop herself from watching or listening in on us.

But truly, the fact she isn't getting any is torture enough.

Anyhow, yes, it's been around a week of me laying around, for once.

Finally managing to take that break, it's great, even if it's…kind of boring.

I don't have many hobbies, turns out.

Well, hobbies of the relaxing bent, I'm specifically not starting back up my training, because the next step is working on my chakra-based powers.

That step is going to be anything but relaxing.

Even the girls have something to do elsewhere, although I would only really call Kuroka's a hobby.

For instance, Kuroka is really into video games. Specifically, she's been into World of Warcraft.

Or the DxD World's version of World of Warcraft, it goes something like Planet of Battle…something.

The point is, it's pretty much World of Warcraft.

The year is something like 2007 or 2008. Technically, this is the golden age for gaming.

I facepalmed so hard when I realized that.

Shirone was finally forced to go back to school and continue with her Devil Jobs.

Though last I saw, Kuroka was slowly corrupting her little sister with her gaming addiction.

As for me, all I've done this past week was smacking around Kouki a few times, and laying around like a cat.

…Kuroka might be rubbing off on me, just a bit.

There's got to be something I can do though, right?

Most of the stuff I can think of isn't exactly relaxing, like figuring out what exactly is up with Kuroka after I purified her pieces or training, or getting my sword fixed.

Hmm…my sword, huh…

Taking a quick trip out to get it fixed could be fun, as long as it doesn't turn into some supermassive quest, I suppose.

"Say, Uzume?" I pipe up, causing her to flinch out of some, very likely lewd, thought, "You know if any good blacksmiths are around in this era?"

My purple-haired secretary and maid blinks at me for that, tilting her head in thought, "A…blacksmith? Why do you need one all of a sudden?"

Oh yeah, I didn't tell her Susanoo broke my sword. Kind of glossed over it when I was filling her in the other day.

"Susanoo broke my sword." I huff out, annoyed. "Cut it clean in two, so I need to look into getting it fixed. Also wanna see about getting some armor, maybe. Or at least more durable clothes so I'm not nearly naked after every…" I trail off, as a new pressure begins to mount in the room, "...fight? Uzume?"

I eye her, confused, as a multi-colored aura of purple, blue, orange, and red begins to bubble and burst from her forms.

Her eye twitches as it glows with a dangerous burning orange light.

"He. Did. What." She mutters so quietly, yet the rage boiling behind every word makes it sound so much louder.

It is at that moment, that my eyes widen in a realization I really should have seen coming.

The sword was my Dad's. It's the last thing she, and I suppose my mother, have left from him.

Of course she's not going to be happy it got busted in the middle of a fight!

Acting quickly, I walk up to the purple-haired time bomb and take her by the shoulders, ushering her to a room with the nearest piece of furniture to sit her down.

In this case, it's the newly half-furnished living room, and I set her down on the couch.

Only to plop down next to her, wrap an arm around her, and hold her as I pet her hair.

"Hey now…" I mutter softly into her ear, "It's fine, the sword only got broken in half…I still have most of it. There's no need to go nuclear, alright?"

"It isn't fine…" she grumbles, leaning into me, "that sword…" she trails off with a harsh click of her tongue.

"I know, I know." I pat her on the back, "It means a lot to you. But we can get it fixed, as I said, I still have most of it. And the sword being broken doesn't seem to have made it lose any of its powers."

Uzume continues grumbling nonsense into my side for a little while longer, her aura slowly and eventually receding.

"Feeling better?" I inquire lightly.

"Mostly…" she sniffles out, "you're right, it's just…"

"I know what you're getting at Uzume." I stop her before she breaks out into tears mid-sentence, "Just don't worry, okay? We'll get it fixed."

"I'm…not so sure about that." Uzume speaks up, wearily.

I blink in confusion, "...what do you mean by that?"

"You asked about blacksmiths earlier, right?" At my nod, she continues, "As far as I'm aware, there is no human smith in the current modern age that can reforge that sword."

"Not even a Spirit Inheritor from the past?" I ask, surprised.

Uzume shakes her head, "No. The way Spirit Inheritors works, they'd need regrets strong enough to make their spirit come back.

"Besides, the only mortal I can think of with the skill to work your sword would be Masamune, but I can't think of any regrets that would make him return."

She shrugs, "Even then if he did somehow come back, I haven't heard of him returning, and don't know where to even begin finding him if he is back."

I click my tongue at that.

Well. There goes my gear quest.

Unfortunate, but that might just mean I'll have to do everything myself after all.

"Well damn…guess I'll have to fix it myself then." I state suddenly.

"Eh!?" Uzume perks up, before slowly at me, confusion written across her face, "Huh? How would you…? You've never even…" She trails off, flabbergasted.

I merely chuckle, "Picked up a hammer? I know. I'm shocked you haven't noticed it yet, Uzume, but doesn't something seem a little different with me?"

Uzume blinks, before narrowing her eyes at me, "Well…you feel more fiery, I guess?"

I deadpanned at her. Dropping into an unamused stare.

I continue doing that, Uzume wiggling in my grasp at the prolonged silent stare, until she finally speaks up, "Okay! Fine! I don't know! What is it!?"

I give a disappointed sigh, "Kagustuchi's divinity and musubi." I state plainly, "I have both now."

Uzume stares at me, her mouth closing and opening repeatedly like a fish.

"...How!?" She finally exclaims.

"In simple terms you can understand, Uzume?" I ignore her offended outcry of 'Hey!' and continue, "I stab Susan. Susan isn't a Fire God, but I'm kind of like a Fire God, so when Susan died, those powers went to me instead as they didn't belong to him."

"Susanoo…had Kagustuchi's powers?" Uzume muttered, "That's…we always thought Kagustuchi had been sealed away this whole time by Izanagi, but he…" Uzume's eyes widened as she shivered in some form of realization.

I don't have the heart to tell her it's probably the wrong realization, that Susan killed Kagu until the guy didn't come back anymore.

Different conversation. Different time.

In short order, Uzume snaps out of it, shaking her head.

"Nori," she starts back up, almost chastisingly, "Kagustuchi is a minor patron of blacksmiths, although his powers would help…well, your sword, a Holy Spirit Sword, would require more time, effort, and skill to fix.

"You wouldn't be able to just snap your fingers, and fix it instantly. You'll need to do this work by hand, gather your materials, and more.

"And since you've never even used a hammer, nor these powers before, it could take even longer than if we just–" she stops herself all of a sudden with a wince.

I raise an eyebrow as I catch her in the act, "We just…what?"

"...We could just…" she continued slowly, "go to Takamagahara? I know a guy, he's the smith up there, thee Blacksmith God for the pantheon…Amatsumara. But I don't think you'd–"

"Sure." I suddenly cut in.

"...Huh?" Uzume looks at me, dumbfounded.

"I said sure?" I look at her right back, "What's so surprising now?"

"I-I just thought…I assumed…" Uzume stuttered out, "That you wouldn't want to go because of…you know…Ama?"

I snorted, "Well you assumed wrong Uzume." Then proceeded to pat her on the head, like a cat, or maybe a baby.

"H-Hey!" She whined, "I just figured you wouldn't wanna see her and all–"

"I don't hate her if that's what you're trying to get at." I interrupt, evenly, "If anything, I'm apathetic to her entire existence." I shrug, "After all, how am I supposed to hate someone I've never met?"

"N-Noriaki…" Uzume muttered solemnly.

I shake my head, "I'll admit though, that I'd rather not go, not because of her, but because traveling to Takamagahara so soon after getting back from Yomi feels like another big adventure and all."

If a significantly chiller adventure, perhaps.

Though knowing my luck, I wouldn't be shocked if my going to Takamagahara results in some Shinto Evil God showing up because he wants to kill everyone or take revenge, or some stupid shit.

…Also, I find the idea of meeting literally every other god in Japan before my mother, funny.

Not going to say that bit out loud though.

As Uzume sits there, biting her lip, a thought occurs.

Eh. Fuck it. I have time, and I could use a hobby that doesn't involve hitting the air with a sword.

Besides, hitting metal with a hammer sounds like something I can do that doesn't take extensive brain power, like say, learning magic.

Going to need a forge and all the tools, so an anvil, punch, vise, vice with a 'c', tongs, something to quench the-

…How do I know all of this?

Oh. Right. Minor patron of blacksmiths. I guess I just know the tools at the very least.

Don't know where I'm going to shove all this stuff, but I can find a place. Got plenty of free space not being put to use.

Now, as for materials…

"You know where I can get more of that metal my sword is made from, Uzume?" I inquire all of a sudden.

"Hihi'irokane?" Uzume tilts her head, before revealing, "In the early days, shortly after Japan's creation and Ama was born, it was common back then…especially on top of mountains, you could find it in the rocks up there." She stops, before wincing, "Nowadays, it's only found naturally in Takamagahara."

I click my tongue in annoyance, "Think I could make some?"

She shrugs, slowly, "...Maybe? I don't know the exact process beyond, 'hit iron with a metric fuckton of Holy sunlight.'...that's how Ama described it, anyhow."

"How much would it cost to just buy some?" I sigh, my patience straining.

Uzume grimaced, "A lot more than you'd probably expect."

Well, damn.

Wait.

"Ahah!" I exclaim as I get an idea, prompting Uzume to jump slightly.

"W-What!?" She parrots back, startled.

"So, you know how Kagustuchi has worshipers in the Himejima Clan, right?" I start with Uzume nodding.

"Kagustuchi is one of that clan's main gods, yes." She confirms easily.

"And Kagustuchi is a patron of blacksmiths, riiight~?" I continued, staring at Uzume.

Uzume stares back until her eyes flicker in realization.

"You think the Himejima have smiths that can help?" She asks.

"Bingo!" I confirm jubilantly, patting her on the head, "Good girl! See, you can use that brain of yours!"

She gives a stupid silly smile as I pat her, almost purring at my praise.

Then she fully realized what I said, and jerked back, whining, "Heyyy!"

I simply snicker at her in response.

Uzume eventually huffs, crossing her arms, and pouts, "I guess it makes sense for them to have them, but still, there's no guarantee they'll be skilled enough to work the metal…or even have any in the first place."

"Ah? Correct, but you see," I point to her, "that last bit is where you come in."

"Huh?" She looks at my finger in confusion.

"While I hit up the Himejima, you're going to Takamagahara to get some of that metal for me." I state plainly.

After all, if they do have any, it would be kind of a dick move on my part to show up and use it all of a sudden.

"Hold on now," Uzume injects, "if you're going to send me to Takamagahara anyway, why don't we just go together to get the sword fixed up there?"

"Because I have business with the Himejima anyway." I state plainly, "This way, I can also kill two birds with one stone."

Aftee all, I still need to tell Suzaku what's going on with her clan's main god, his blessings, and the like.

"Also," I elaborate further, "I'm not going to them just to see if they can fix my sword, but also to see if I can get a jump start learning how to smith myself."

At the same time as I do that, I could also get a start on learning how to hit metal really well.

Maybe, I could even eventually go beyond that and figure out how to make armor and such.

That'd be nice, though I doubt blacksmithing is going to help teach me how to armor up my usual attire.

Might need magic for that.

"It would be a whole lot more effective learning under Amatsumara…" Uzume tries to weakly argue.

"Perhaps," I hum, "but even if the worst comes to pass, and the Himejima smiths are absolute ass at teaching to the point where a literal newbie patron god of the art can't learn, I can always pull some Kami bullshit and bless them enough to where they should be able to at least fix my sword."

Uzume's head almost robotically swivels to look at me in the eyes, "...since when could you give blessings at that scale? Hell, since when did you know how to give blessings!?"

"About a week ago." I reply easily, "Izanagi taught me how."

Uzume stared straight at me as I smirked. She continued simply staring, for a long, scrutinizing while.

"Okay, now you have to be fucking with me." She finally said.

"Maaaybe~!" I draw out, before hopping to my feet with a chuckle, "But then again, who else would teach me?" I boop her on the nose, "You?"

I then proceed to turn, chuckling as I damn near skip away with Uzume crying out behind me.

~ A New Sun ~

It's always something, isn't it?

Murphy is a bastard, and he has it out for me specifically.

The trip to the Himejima Clan compound, as all the other times I went, had gone smoothly.

I got up to the gates, and unlike last time, some guards let me in without questions asked.

Think they might have recognized me, either personally, or maybe my divinity.

Either way, it's all smooth sailing, no problems, no issues, nothing.

Hell, even the atmosphere is nice, with the constant summer effect over the area being fully realized in the daytime sun, people milling about the clan grounds without fear of, say, a particular fallen blowing them up from the sky.

Then, I reached the main house, at the southernmost point, and found a particular sight.

Everyone's avoiding it. Giving the main house a weary gaze and a wide, very wide, berth.

I sigh, while silently cursing Murphy for his entire existence.

I can only sense one presence in this building, one familiar presence.

Which means the girl I need to see is the reason for this strangeness.

Somehow, I have a feeling I already know what the problem is.

But I guess there's only one way to find out.

So, steeling myself for what I'm fairly certain I'll find, I waltz right in.

No guards, hidden or otherwise, so it was a pretty standard march right up to the top floor holding the room where Suzaku was.

I'm not a complete idiot though, so my march stops at the pretty deep vermillion wooden door, with a big bird etched on it.

This is her room, ain't it?

Thank heaven for brain cells.

I quickly, yet sternly, rapt my knuckles against the door.

"Ooooh Suza-chan~? Are you in there?" I call out.

I wait a moment.

Silence.

Then, something falls and hits the floor, but doesn't break, followed by a low feminine groan.

Hmm. I'll take that as a 'maybe'.

I clear my throat, "I've respected your privacy by knocking, but asserting my authority as your friend by coming in anyway to check on you!"

With that, I push the door open.

Luckily, it wasn't locked.

Though it probably should have been, considering the sight before me.

"Mmmm~..." Suzaku, from her place in the middle of the floor, slowly sits up, "Noriaki Kusanagi-kun~...?" She tilts her head as she eyes me, her face absurdly red.

I'd almost say she has a fever, but then I eye the table in front of her.

The table with several, empty, sake bottles and cups.

Oh yeah, she's drunk as fuck.

"That~...insufferable~...cat…better not be sneaking around here~..." She slowly slurs out, while trying to stand up.

She gives up immediately and collapses back to the floor in a fit of giggles.

I sigh, and walk over to her side, "Nah, Kuroka's not here…she's too busy raiding, last I checked on her."

"Raiding~...?" Suzaku tilted her head, "Raiding the…fridge~?"

I snorted to that, "Probably that as well.'

Suzaku burst into another fit of giggles at my agreement.

Speaking of Kuroka though, Suzaku is a mess.

Much like the aforementioned black cat, Suzaku's clothes are barely on her, and she's not wearing around half her outfit, I'd say.

Essentially, damn near everything is on display right now, or mostly so, the most prominent being the only tits I'd ever call 'melons' unironically.

Scratch that, Rias' own qualifies, I've just never seen them before.

Technically, Akeno's do as well, it's just. Akeno. No.

I'd say the sight of this miko pulling a Kuroka is hot as fuck, but truly, her being absolutely shit-faced drunk kind of ruins it.

Thus it is with a heavy sigh that I reach down, and pick the host of the Vermilion Bird up in a princess carry.

"Ah~? Ara ara~? Noriaki Kusanagi-kun~! How bold! Ufufufu~!" She slurs and giggles.

I deadpan straight ahead, not even looking at her as I carry her to her bed.

It's dark in this room, all the lights are off and the windows are completely covered, yet the bed at the end of the room is so large that even without night vision I'd be able to see it easily.

I toss her onto the bed like a particularly plush pillow, the young woman giggling as she soars the second or two through the air, landing on the bed with a throaty giggle.

Suzaku sprawls out on the bed, running her hands across her body as she speaks up, "My oh my~...Noriaki-kun~...I didn't know you were like those barbaric gods of the west~...! Coming all the way here to have your wicked way with me~...! Hmm~!"

I deadpan down at her.

Yeah, I kind of walked into that one, didn't I?

All of my hate, Murphy.

"No, no I didn't come here for that," I state, tiredly, causing her to freeze in place, "I actually came here for something else…but seeing as there's clearly something wro–"

I burst into flames.

Well, more like I spontaneously combust.

My deadpan returns in full force as I eye Suzaku, pointing a finger gun at me, a livid scowl all of a sudden stretched across her red face.

"W-Why not~!?" She exclaims, some part angry, some part offended, but mostly she just sounds depressed, "A-Am I not beautiful enough~!? Is my hair the w-wrong color? Is my chest to f-fat~!?"

Every time she speaks, it sounds like both an accusation and a question, followed by her flicking her finger gun back, as though it fired and had recoil.

I combust again and again, each time she does it.

Fire Immunity. Very thankful for that right now.

Can't say if it's entirely because of my heritage, Kagustuchi's power, or both…but in any case, it's much appreciated right now.

She keeps going, continuously drunkenly accusing me of stuff while trying to flame-explode me.

And honestly? I quickly tune out most of what she says after a bit. I already know why she's like this, after all.

Doesn't take a genius to figure it out.

I can't say for certain how long she keeps yelling and trying to finger-bang me out of existence, but eventually, she slows her assault down, before completely stopping it.

Her words have long since broken down into quiet sniffles and sobs by this point.

Usually, at this point, I'd sit on the bed and try and console her…but my everything is currently on fire, so that's an issue.

How the hell am I supposed to put myself out now? Not like there's water lying around.

I end up doing the first thing that comes to mind, which isn't stop drop and roll.

No, it's to eat the flames.

My aura flares up around me, latching onto the fire easily, taking immediate control.

It's here I realize I could just command it to snuff itself out.

Instead, I make the flames burst out around me and take a deep breath as they converge straight into my mouth.

It's not entirely for show, or to be extra. When I 'ate' them, the flames dispersed into something that my body took and stored.

It is not ki, not chakra, not divine power.

Magical Power, if I had to guess?

It went to my soul, or where it feels like my soul I'd, but I kind of lost track of it eventually.

That now done, with the benefit that my clothes also seemed to share my immunity in this case, I sat down next to Suzaku on the bed.

She eased up on the waterworks slightly as I put my hand on her head.

"Whenever you're ready to talk about it, I'll be right here." I state softly.

They picked up immediately after I said that.

I pet her head, giving her a small reassuring smile as she reaches over, and shakily clings to my robe.

I suppose I'll have to wait a bit to see about those blacksmiths, huh?

Once more, allow me to reiterate.

All of my hate, Murphy. All of it!