Chapter XLII: Edo

Michael POV

I opened my eyes and realized that once again I was in the [Seventh Heaven] on Father's throne. Under normal circumstances, I would not have used it, but after today's events, I have the feeling that I would have to sit on his throne more than I want. All because of…

"Brother." Gabriel's concerned voice interrupted my thoughts, it is always painful to see that sad look on her face.

"Gabriel, for how long did I pass out?" I said as I caressed her hair to make her calm a little bit. 

It seems that it worked as her expression softened a little. "Almost an hour, everyone was concerned since the effect of the System was affecting the lower levels of heaven." 

"Our brothers and sisters are still in the conference room?" While I was not sure if I should relay the information about Lucifer's return to my sibling, at the very least I shall give them information about who he currently is. 

"Sariel and Ramiel went to see if there were some problems after the [Heaven System] while the rest stayed there waiting for further orders." 

"Tell them to return as soon as possible, I know the identity of the person behind the theft of the [Longinus]." 

"Yes, brother." Gabriel nodded at my words and quickly went to gather the rest of our brothers. 

Once I was alone on Father's throne, I took a deep breath and let it out. "Father, please give me strength."

…

"Michael, what happened?, did Azazel finally become deranged enough and tried to take over Father's system?" 

"Calm down, brother. Even while Azazel has an unhealthy …passion for Father's creation. He was the first one to propose the end of the Great War, I am sure he would not risk another war doing something like this." Raphael said, trying to take out their brother's rage, he knew very well that Azazel would do many things, but he would never do something to start a war.

Among my brothers and sisters in [Heaven] that have a greater wish for starting a war than Azazel, we all lost something in that war but Azazel…he will never be the same after the war. If he has an emotion bigger than his obsession with his father's creations and carnal pleasure, is his aversion to war.

"Raphael is right, Uriel. And before you say anything it was not another Fallen Angel." Even if Azazel discovered a way to allow Angels to be able to carry [Sacred Gears] he would wait for a longer period before making that public. 

"First of all, the Longinus that was stolen was [Innovate Clear]." I let out the news of which of Father's creations was stolen and I know that no one would be pleased to know that this particular [Longinus] was stolen.

"Brother that…" Gabriel's face shows utmost concern, the danger that it represents is questionable in comparison with others [Longinus], and while we would never question Father's decisions. But with him gone many of us have… unpleasant thoughts about it. 

"It's fine Gabriel." I tried to appease my sister's worries even if I shared the same ones.

"At least it was not something too destructive," Raphael said with an awkward tone, even if we do not like that particular [Sacred Gear], there are some that have more chances of creating 

"Who was the heretic who stole it?" Uriel smacked the table in anger. "Moreover, what happened that made you faint?!" My brother Uriel said with clear anger in both his eyes and pitch tone. He has been always the most…emotional of the current Archangels 

"I did not faint," I said with finality thinking about how to articulate my words to describe what happened. "My mind as well as a part of me was sent inside [Innovate Clear] or at least that is what I thought at first as the owner who calls himself Luxu, made some negative comments about people intruding into his soul." 

"Luxu? Is not a name that I am familiar with. He cannot be a Fallen Angel since Angels even after falling from father's grace are incompatible with [Sacred Gears] and Devils are too prideful to use them, at least the ones from the 72 pillars." Sariel commented on his point of view. 

"But brother, how did that happen? Even if the [Heaven System] is not working like it used to. That is something that should not be possible." Ramiel said with a thoughtful face, he being the lead researcher of Heaven, had been studying father's system after he perished. 

"Not to mention that intruding into someone's soul is not a simple matter, even if we take the connection with [Innovate Clear] into consideration it is not normal that you went inside that man's soul that would be an abnormality…" Raphael said while looking at me with a curious glance.

"Brother, what are you not telling us?" Gabriel asked with a serious gaze. 

While she for the most time has a cheerful personality this does not mean that she is naive. She commanded many of our brothers and sisters in battles against gods and an uncountable number of lives had ended by the end of her sword in Father's name. 

"Gabriel, I…" However, I was hesitant to tell them the truth, even if he said that was not on the side of the Devils, his mere existence would shift the balance of the Three Factions, not to mention the faction outside our pantheon that has grudges with us and that would lead too…

My thoughts were interrupted by the feeling of someone touching my shoulder. "Brother." Raphael intervened. "You do not have to handle everything alone." 

"It is not that simple…" I wanted the avoid the subject until I had more evidence or had a way to locate him and take care of him, I do not want my sibling to suffer anymore… 

"Brother we are here to support you," Ramiel said with clear determination on his face and it was not just him, but all my siblings had the same expression on their faces.

'Remember Michael no one can do everything by themselves, it is not an act of weakness to rely on somebody else but an act of wisdom to know one own limits.'' A long-forgotten memory surged in my mind. 

'Even if you are gone, you are still helping me father.' 

I know that eventually, someone outside our faction will get hold of the news something…inevitable. But we will be prepared for that. 

I took a deep breath as I felt the determination burning from inside of me. 

"Lucifer is back." 

…

Kanto Region

Day 31

What a good day. Not only was I able to extract a very useful piece of information from Luriel, but it also turns out that they were already developing the [Reversal] ability shown later in the series, and since he is one of the trusted members of the [Grigory] as well as one of the more skilled ones that are no Cadres, he was involved in the project, 

As its name implies, it allows the user to reverse the abilities and/or attributes of special powers and items, causing them to have an inverse effect. In the novels, it was used to reverse the effect on Asia's [Twilight Healing] making it cause damage instead of healing as well as changing [Ascalon's] Holy-Aura to Demonic-Aura. 

A very useful technique similar to the Reverse Curse Technique, well following the order of release in my previous world Reverse Curse Technique is similar to Reversal but well Semantics. But this one looks to be a lot easier to do in comparison, not shitting on Sona's Sitri Peerage, but in the world of Jujutsu Kaisen only a few can use it for healing purpose, and not all of them can apply it on other Cursed Techniques while here a couple of not so experienced devils were able to use it in a short time frame. 

However it has some harsh disadvantages, the main one is that it not only costs a lot to use Energy-wise and is severely taxing to the body, but it also shorts the user's lifespan if it is used multiple times in arrow as well as the possibility of destroying one's abilities, and even one use at day has risks involved in shortening it little by little with time. Also, it seems that it cannot reverse multiple things at the same time, only one at a time. 

But I do not intend to use it like that as it would be idiotic, even while I am sure that my lifespan is several times longer than a normal human I do not want to shorten it without a reason, not to mention the risk of crippling myself. So, I will use it as a base to make a better one as it will be useful in the future to create Kingdom Hearts, not to mention that since I am already using [Domain Expansion] it would be pretty sweet to add this one to my arsenal of powers. 

The other thing that has made my day better is that I am sure that the [Heaven Faction] is pissing their pants at the news of Lucifer's return since I have felt some "tickles" from the pathway between [Innovate Clear] and the [Heaven System], of course, he was not successful at all, but I get the feeling that he is trying to locate me, pff….good luck with that. 

But that is not important at the moment since currently, we are walking in the streets of Edo. At the moment we are just passing as regular humans…something quite difficult under normal circumstances, with Gramps being a [Servant] an exalted spirit, and me…well, even if my core is human my body is not anymore. 

From Ragnuk we learned that even if we concealed most of our abilities to the common eye, they are capable of looking behind our facade, so I took the time to create a [Mystic Code] strong enough to hide our essence, well more like blending in with the rest of the people, the Fae [Magic System] surely was a lot helpful in this regard. 

But walking in this era feels quite strange, at least from my perspective. It is similar to looking at those "historical" dramas but with all the bad stuff included. Sure, in the Potterverse I spent a lot of time in places that looked as if time had not passed but here I was actually experiencing the real deal ... well almost. 

This time, since I wanted to talk with gramps without the mental link and different from before where I could set a [Bounded Field] so anyone could not hear us, I am taking some precautions against the Yokai and other parties that are in the vicinity. So I just used a low consumption spell that would make the sound of everything like a conversation about Rice-Field…well that is not the important thing. 

"Have you noticed Gramps?." 

"Yes, there is an abnormal number of spirits." 

The concept of Spirits is not strange to us at all, in the Potterverse there are a lot of them. Mostly in the form of ghosts and wraiths, in rare cases some are equivalent to Nature Spirits… but here is different. 

In the Potterverse both ghosts and wraiths have spiritual bodies that can interact with the material world to a degree and can be seen by even nonmagical people in some cases, but from what I am seeing it is not the case here. 

They are more similar to my partners, not in the power they hold but in the nature of their spiritual body mainly in the regard that they cannot be seen by the majority of Wizards except for Luna of course and even ghosts are unable to see them. 

It is not like this is something new for me in this world as I had seen a couple of them in other countries that I and the other me visited. And lucky enough I do not have the same effect as Vandalieu that attracted all the spirits with his [Death Attribute-Charm] and had a lot of mindless spirits following him. Maybe if I used [Death Force] in an active way, I could make them come towards me, but in the long run, it will affect my ability to go undercover when I interact with someone able to see spirits. Maybe the Yokai would be able to see them if they become something similar to Wraiths or Onryo with their Senjutsu. 

But the thing here is that at least in Kanto, the amount of spirits is absurdly high. If I have to make a comparison, in Germany(Currently the Holy Roman Empire) there are 2 spirits in a city as big as Edo, here there are 20 spirits. A ten times difference! I do not know if there is a problem with the way souls are managed by Yomi or if there is something special about Japan that lets the spirits wander around the world without being corrupted and/or degraded. 

"By the way, why are you carrying 4 swords?" Gramps asked since currently I have 2 Katanas, a Tachi, and a Wakizashi on my waist. (I am not going the Zoro route). 

"Lately I have lacked the chance to properly practice Nitōjutsu and Battōjutsu since I have not found a good practitioner at the moment, so maybe in this world I can find someone good enough." In my trip to Japan in the Potterverse, I did not have a good chance to find a good partner to practice those particular sword styles since most of the people who used swords were practitioners of other styles. "Besides, in the current era "Samurais" have a lot of prestige so even if I look young, people will at least think twice before doing something retarded." 

Even if I particularly enjoy putting Young Masters in their places(beneath my feet), it gets tiring to do it all day long…stupid Peng Peng Clan. Besides, I have more important things to do than just bullying people, infiltrating Edo(Tokyo) Yokai's sub-dimension, scamming Takamahara/Nurarihyon or whoever can give me property of land, stealing knowledge from important clans(Stealing is bad kids, I am a bad role model), getting [Sacred Gears] while giving Michael the middle finger…you know the important stuff. 

"I see, for someone who doesn't like to be treated above anyone else, you surely abuse that," Gramps said not chastising me but more like a joke. But he has a point, most of the time I did use some kind of advantage of this kind. 

I shrugged my shoulders at his remark. "Well I want to walk around the place so using my [Black Coat] would be very suspicious, I do not doubt that Michael already informed the Church about me, maybe not giving away all the information but being careful about someone's strange black clothes or something similar." While it is mostly paranoia on my part, it is hard to believe that the Church did not do scouting missions considering the Supernatural world. "Also it is pretty stupid not using an advantage for personal bias on important missions." 

Gramps gave me an understanding nod, for maybe he thinks that I am getting more mature, maybe less childish would be a more accurate word. "So what are we going to do?" 

"Let's just wander around until we see someone getting spirited away or one of the Yokai trying to get into the subdimension. If this does not happen before it starts to get dark, we will look for one "trashy" Yokai for interrogation. Even if I can sense the barrier and bypass it as if it was fudge, I do not want to alert them and start conflict..." 

"Yet." Gramps completed my phrase with a smug smile on his face. "What? It is obvious that in one way or another, you will stir problems for the Yokai or Takamahara. Even though you said that to trash the Devil Faction in the future, I know that it is also creating problems with the Shinto Gods." 

"That's not untrue." I did not try to deny it. "I do not have a particular problem with them to be honest. But I do plan to make my main base in Japan as it is the center of many problems in this world and like anyone else they will not be fond of the idea of someone like me being in their territory and not being under their "command", not that I care to be honest, they are just idiots that do not know how to keep their dogs under their leash." Ishibumi stated that he did not want to write about the Shinto Gods because he did not want to make anyone mad at him, but maybe it was simply because they were as Hikikomori as their ruler. "Besides is not just the devil, although they will feel it more than the other it will also be a kick in the nuts for the Church/Heaven and the Fallen Angels." 

"So basically you are just doing all of this for politics and giving them a metaphorical slap in the face before actually giving them a slap on the face." 

"Yup." I wonder why I like to do that much. "And maybe give them VERY convincing arguments.." That is the name of my fist for those who don't remember. "Since most likely they will be knocking on my door even if I just decide to be in my public face instead as Luxu." 

I mean I could always play it out as if I was a regular person as far as Energy Sources that I use at the moment. I don't leak [Magic Energy] if I do not have my [Magic Circuits] opened, my [Life-Force] is always in control thanks to [Nen] and my [Death Force] is not an energy that is constantly used unless I wish for, so I could pretend if I wanted. But…that would be boring, not to mention that I would feel like my edge would increase if I played like that. Sure, doing it for a little bit of time or to prank someone is perfectly viable, but going on the Shadow-Sama route is not for me. 

"So I guess that instead of having a great faction like all the others, you will stick to your original plan of just having a small group of capable people with you." 

"Yup, and I will rub it to their faces that we are just a few strong people or people with a lot of potential, so they will have the need to go against us either for getting my things or trying to absorb us into their ranks but hehe I am THE Anty-Mob." While I am more than capable in One-on-one fights most of my skill set is capable of trashing great numbers of weaker foes, from the beginning with [Armiger] alone I can Swiss-Cheese most armies, and with many of my techniques and [Innovate Clear], well…people will understand in the future that they will have better chances if they sent only a few strong ones and that percentage will just increase a little bit. 

"You changed little Yozora," Gramps commented.

"Is that so? I have indeed, in the past maybe I would have tried to be in some sort of alliance with the Judeo-Christian Pantheon, maybe even give them some benefits to sweeten the deal…but now honestly I hardly believe that is possible in my current situation." 

"I never asked before since it seemed pointless but, do you have any faction that you see in this world with a good light? When you talk about other worlds you always talk about people that you would like to meet, talk to, share a food, train, spar or disgust you, but I hardly heard you talk positively about someone in this world." 

"If we go for the mythos and the little information that I have about the other factions besides the Judeo-Christian Pantheon it would be hard to guess since the novels are based on the devil's perspective. But the ones that I think that I could get along with, would be the Norse, the Yokai depending on how their relationship with the Shinto Gods are, and The Norse Pantheon even if I quite dislike Odin's and Shiva's faction. But on the other side, I do not hate everyone in a faction as a whole, it just happens that there are more individuals that piss me off in some of them." 

"From the Heaven Faction, I want to meet Vasco Estrada who in the future will have the title of The Strongest Human, honestly even in this world the old man was bullshit, honestly I would love to recruit him but I know that it's just a lost cause even before trying. There is also Dulio Gesualdo who could be considered a fellow Foodie …also the fact that he was the epithet of the Strongest Exorcist but that is only secondary if I have to be honest. Metraton might be the only Angel that I would not mind meeting if he is like in the novels, it is stated that he is kinda quirky but I am not one to talk about that." 

"As for the Devil Faction…besides the ones that I previously talked about I do not have anyone that I have interest in meeting, the same goes for the Fallen Angels, but that is mostly because they didn't have much representation, kinda weird if you ask me." 

"Quite curious indeed. But what makes me more curious is that young man that you mentioned Dulio, if my memory serves me right you mentioned him when you were talking about [Sacred Gears] before coming to this world, and with how you are speaking it almost sounds as if he will have his in the future." 

"Cause is the most likely situation," I said without beating the eye. "Even if after dying the [Heaven System] searches for the most suitable user there is no rule that says that all of [Sacred Gears] have to be present at the same time. This did happen in "cannon" because there was a child of the world present, however since this is not the case at the moment, it is unlikely that all of them are in this year that we are about to spend here." 

Azazel extensively described every user that he came to know and some others that became famous with the passing of time, however, it is not possible that he got to know every user as some of them most likely died in infancy before even awakening or in the case of the host of the "Heavenly Dragons" after a traumatic experience they unlocked the [Juggernaut Drive] draining their Life-Force and dying soon after. 

"So what would you have done, if [Innovate Clear] previous wielder had died before you got it?" 

"I had other ways to complete this part of the plan, it would be a little more tedious and time-consuming, yes, but not impossible." Honestly, for the deadbrained plot that was shown in the anime and the novels, it is quite a good garden just waiting to be harvested. "But enough of " what if" scenarios, there are a couple of people quite suspicious among the common folk." 

"I noticed too, three human men with levels of Qi that would be classified in this world by standards as Middle-Class," Gramps commented. "They are trying to conceal their power level and although their technique is not half bad they are forcing it too much, I doubt that the Yokai's in this area have not noticed them, so the most likely scenario is that they are taunting them." 

Staring at both parties I used [Clairvoyance(Beast)] and did not find something that I hadn't seen earlier, just the same "boring" and "dark" thoughts that I see in almost every conscious being. "Well neither of them are trash enough, just the usual." 

"So which side do you want to "help" when things go south?." Gramps said emphasizing with air quotes the part of aiding someone. 

I scratched my chin thinking of the possibilities. "On one hand we have a species whose ruin and vile acts had been written by many authors and had several interpretations across the world with some of them trying to justify the actions made by them as well as beings born in the dark with some outliers being considered "good people"…And on the other, we have the Yokai," I said, looking with disgust at the Onmyōji. 

Even though I said that it is the usual trash I meant the usual supernatural trash so their Young Master egos are so full of themselves that with the current appearance of my body, they would scream at me within the first 0.2 seconds of meeting me: JUNIOR DO YOU DARE! 

"..." Gramps looked at me with an incredulous stare. 

"What? I did not say anything incorrect, while both of them have tales about disturbing actions humans win by a large margin, for example, there is this story about a pot, two little kids, and a man who was searching for immortality as he...." 

"Yeah yeah, my fault." Gramps begrudgingly accepted my reasons. "But besides your constant stopour of silliness, I would suggest that we side with the Yokai on this occasion," Gramps said, still looking at the situation in front of us. "Leaving aside your inherent hatred towards those kinds of fools, this is an opportunity to enter the East Yokai sub-dimension without conflict, not to mention that you can use them as either experiments, extract information, or use them as spies…" 

"So we can sneak and steal all their secrets and treasures!" I said without trying to hide my charming(read evil) smile. "Good good." I nodded in approval to Gramps' evil mind. 

"..." Gramps deadpanned for reasons that I do (not) know. Maybe he is too proud of me for finishing his sentence. "*sighs* I call dibs on the Tea Sets as well as the liquor," Gramps said, finally dropping his deadpan stare. 

"So the usual, no problem." Even if I like to collect all sorts of things, the Tea sets are not something I am particularly interested in. Besides that Gramps' little hobby as for alcohol, I am not quite fond of it, I just like to drink with friends or on special occasions. "But first we shall set the proper conditions to allow that to happen." 

Although it was evident that the men were taunting the people here, they were not stupid enough to blatantly cause problems without any "justification" as this was by all means Yokai territory, too far away from their own, and even there they had to share with the West Yokai Faction. 

Politics so they say, *pfff*, pathetic. 

"They seem to have a predetermined pattern in their route, but not out of a plan but because they have been doing this for a while. The only thing that is done on purpose is that they never leave each other from their sight; So taking them individually is not an option as would alert both parties, not to mention that we are in the middle of the normal populace." 

Nodding at Gramp's words, I decided on the next course of action. "The best way to handle the situation would be to wait until they retreat to their base, but that is too time-consuming not to mention that I have other things to do, so the best will be to manipulate them at the same time, but only 3 people would not cause enough problem for they to thank me so this is what we are going to do." 

… 

"Well, that was easier than I thought," I said as I was placing a talisman in a tree in a forest outside of Edo and for some odd reason I felt as if I skipped something… 

"I would be surprised if it was not," Gramps commented as he was inspecting the area around him. "While they are competent people for the little that I gathered from them if your spell works in Fallen Angels and Devils who have higher [Magic Resistance]. Unless they had something to counter it, it was a losing battle for them." 

"I guess so, but you know, constant vigilance." There is no such thing as overkill, just kill. I refuse to become like one of those people who thought that they defeated someone just to fall into a suicide trap or even worse. 

"In that much, we can agree." Gramps nodded in understanding as the very essence of Bajiquan can be considered an "Overkill" Martial Art. "But I cannot help but notice that there is an increased amount of Wraiths as well as an unreasonable amount of Negative Energy in the surroundings." 

"Yeah…" it seems that I was not as lucky as I was with the previous one." Well, it cannot be helped, it would be just slightly more annoying that the previous one, besides the others me, should be returning by the time we finish here." 

// A: N/: I just had in mind that I have not explained why Yozora refers to his clones as "Other me." This is a reference to the Yu-Gi-Oh anime series. As far as I know, as I haven't watched the anime in English, usually the Pharaoh(Phaowowoah) is referred to as Yami Yugi or Dark Yugi, but in the Japanese version Yugi calls him "Mou Hitori No Boku'' which can be literally translated as "Also Self Of I" but it is commonly translated as "The other me". The first one perfectly describes Yozora's obsession with being himself and no one else and how he believes that there cannot be anyone else like him, even his clones, so he sees themselves just as like him. But it would be too mouthful so I just write it as "Other Me" // 

The others me are perfectly capable of taking almost every [Non-Longinus] user in case they awakened their [Sacred Gear], even a couple of not-so-experienced [Longinus users] as they cannot handle too much damage as their bodies are made out of [Magic Energy]. So I sent them(It was just a Rock-Paper-Scissor competition) to a [Sacred Gear] that I detected before coming to Japan as well as others that I detected after stepping into Edo. 

"Only the extraction process should be annoying for you as long as the wielder is not "trash" in your eyes." 

"Guess you are right," I said as I threw the last talisman into the air. "Converge: Five Element Formation." 

With my words, a barrier was enacted in the surroundings of the forest. Using the principles of Wuxing(Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, Water). This barrier has two specific functions; The first one is hiding what is happening inside the barrier, harmonizing with the world it is less probable that [Senjutsu] practitioners will be able to detect this barrier; The second one is that no spirit can enter or leave the place. 

Once I verified that there was no problem with the barrier, I raised my right hand to continue with the preparations. "Oversoul!" 

"Kuri Kurii!" Winged Kuriboh squealed in happiness, going towards me to hug me, almost making me suffer from a diabetic coma. 

"Hahaha, I am also a happy partner." Even though they are always with me in their spiritual form, they also enjoy being summoned in the Ether Vessels so they can have more interaction with the world. "You are going to have a lot of fun today as you can see." 

"Kurii!!" Winged Kuriboh chilled looking at all the Evil Spirits as well as the corrupted ones. 

Servants and Monster Spirits have a lot in common. Both of them are exalted spirits that even the weakest of them are on a higher order than the common ones. For the most part, both need the other party to sustain their corporeal state but the difference is that one is linked through a contract and the other one is sustained by the soul. But the similarity I am focusing on this time is that both are capable of consuming souls. 

When Gramps was summoned he was summoned at his "peak" and while I was not strong at the moment, since the System Made the summon instead of being carried by the normal Grail Summoning his strength was not diminished. And while he could theoretically become stronger by consuming souls, he is not particularly fond of the idea, something that I can understand by how he lived his life. Of course, he would not be stubborn about this if our situation in the Potterverse was different and we were in danger but maybe this would not matter in the future. 

Winged Kuriboh here is another story, he is the "weakest" of my Spirit Partners. I mean by no means he is weak, even the weakest of "Spirit Monsters" are capable of erasing towns or cities by themselves, this is just in comparison with my other Partners. Besides, Winged Kuriboh's specialty is not in confrontation, different from the others. 

Moreover, consuming the souls of other beings will not only make him stronger but will also allow him to "unlock" other variations that were shown in the Anime/Manga/Game. Kinda similar to how Tamerless Digimons were able to absorb others' Digimon Data to become stronger and finally [DigiEvolve] like it happened on Digimon Tamers. 

The same can be possible for Blue-Eyes and Red-Demon but with them, my technique is not perfect and I am not strong enough to bring out all their power. Besides, everyone has different sorts of requirements before they can access their alternate forms. 

In Winged Kuriboh's case, besides his kind personality of not wanting to hurt innocent people if possible, at his very core he is a protector and a defender. So consuming the souls of innocent beings would be going against his very self…but that does not apply to evil spirits and corrupted beings beyond salvation. 

Winged Kuriboh said as he sent rays of salvation(Light Spears) towards the Evil Spirits destroying their physical representation in this realm, however, the souls had no time to leave the place since as soon as their [Material Body] was destroyed he enveloped the souls in a small barrier for consuming them later as a snack. "Kurii!"

"One couldn't guess that someone as cute as Xiao Kuriboh would be so happy tearing apart evil spirits," Gramps said, looking at Winged Kuriboh's face of joy while slaughtering the Evil Spirits. 

// A.N: Gramps A.K.A Li, always calls young people or who look young "Little". In Chinese Xiao means "Little" or "Small", it can also be used as a prefix to indicate affection or familiarity. I always write it as Little just because it is easier for everyone to understand, but in Winged Kuriboh's case, I would feel weird to write "Little Kuriboh" for the creator of "Yu-Gi-Oh Abridged Series"//

"I know right? But as long as he is happy it is not a problem." As cute as Winged Kuriboh looks and acts in front of everyone, he never backs down from a fight, not to mention that he would proactively try to finish anyone whom he deems dangerous like it happened at the start of the second year with Malfoy and his increased negative thoughts against everyone. 

Leaving Winged Kuriboh doing his thing, Gramps and I continued our trip towards the source of this anomaly. Even though there are more Spirits and Ghosts in Japan than in the other places that I and the others I have visited, the amount of spirits here is not normal. Usually, this would be because of a great amount of negative energy, Ley Lines of great quality, places with a lot of Spiritual Energy, or… 

"Little Yozora look over here," Gramps called me to look at the spot where he currently is. 

In one of the trees, there were a couple of Ofudas arranged in a pentagram pattern commonly used by Onmyodo practitioners. It is pretty similar to what I just did to not allow spirits to escape from the area, but this one works like a usual barrier not allowing the spirits to enter. So in layman's terms, my barrier is stronger on the inside than the outside while this one is the opposite. 

"Well, well, well, this is pretty neat, definitely not the work of an amateur," I said after analyzing the barrier, I do not have many points in comparison with how barriers in this world are made with this particular [Magic System], however using the ones in the Potterverse as a reference it is pretty good. "But it seems that it has not been maintained for quite a while." 

"Leaving aside how perplexed I am for you to give someone a compliment." I couldn't help but groan at Gramps' comment who had a smug face while saying that. "Do you want to enter the usual way or are you using a more subtle way?" 

I contemplated for a bit what to do, normally I would just use [Displacement Magecraft] to enter without making a fuss, while Space Magecraft/Magic is not something exactly rare in the Potterverse, however their methods to avoid teleportation are as bad as I am having patience with young masters, hell they do not consider House-Elves when they set up, [Bounded Fields]/[Wards]...they are certainly a bunch of imbeciles. 

However, in this world, it seems that their protection against teleportation are…acceptable, this being quite obvious since in this world there are many forms of it. In my case, it would not be much of a problem since I am quite capable in this area thanks to my training with Oberon. But this is quite a good opportunity to test something…

"I want to try something new," I said as I placed my hand in the array of Ofudas. 

Besides being able to create fake worlds, there are other not-so-known abilities of [Innovate Clear] including the one that it can take control over [Barriers]/[Bounded Fields]/[Dimensions]. After integrating [Innovate Clear] with my soul, I had access to all the abilities of [Innovate Clear] without the bullshit development of acquiring the ability while facing danger or conveniently(read Plot Armor) having this ability awakened in a dire situation after having an outrage…ugh, I am already too much cliche for that shit. 

Continuing, for a normal [Innovate Clear] wielder it would be hard to take control of this barrier taking into consideration the amount of time that I have been using it, but I am not a normal wielder. 

"Done," I said as a small aperture opened for us to pass. "It was easier than I thought." Well, to be fair I have plenty of experience when it comes to this particular craft. 

"Huh? I truthfully believed that something flamboyant would happen for this." Gramps commented as we passed through the newly created "door". 

"Maybe if this barrier was stronger it would happen as it would put more resistance which would have created a more "flamboyant" visual effect. I as with the "portals" to my soul, I can make them look like whatever I like, so in other situations it would be helpful for dramatic purposes," I said as we continued walking to the center of the barrier. 

While looking around I realized that there were some hidden Ofudas among the leaves and the trees which were not linked to the main barrier. If anything they are just auxiliary measures in case some spirit could bypass the barrier to distract enough time so the barrier could accomplish its purpose after taking enough [Magic Energy] from the area to power up. 

Another remarkable thing that was easily discerned was that there were multiple slashes in many of the trees as well as many of them just laying on the ground after being severed as we got closer to the center of the forest.. The curious about these slashes was that they were clean-cut but were not that deep, certainly, they were not made by claws but rather a sharpened blade… a Tachi to be precise. 

"Little Yozora, it's here," Gramps said as we felt a presence coming at high speed toward our direction. 

Feeling a tingling in my neck, I rapidly turned around while unsheathing the Tachi on my waist to stop the incoming attack. 

*Clank* 

I looked at the appearance of my attacker and the more accurate word to describe it would be….wildish. It is a man that looks to be in his late 30s, his hair is long and messy with clear signs that he has not taken care of himself for a long time. His wearing if they could be called that by this point they just looked like ragged hangings. The fabrics themselves were not cheap if anything they could be considered expensive in this era. A Hamaka was barely covering his genitalia while what it seems to be the remains of a Kosede was barely covering anything. But what surprised me the most was the hollow look in his eyes…. 

Trying to make distance by kicking me on the abdomen with his knee, but trying was the best word to describe the futility of his actions as I stopped him with the Kashira(Pommel) of one of my Katanas with my left hand. 

"He is dead," I whispered after finishing to analyze the man. 

It was not just a euphemism, it was a statement. After taking a look at the man with [Clairvoyance (Beast)] I realized something, the man in front of me has no desires. Besides infants, there were so few occasions when I saw no desire from a person. On one occasion I sneaked into the St Mungo's hospital to see Alice and Frank Longbottom and try to do something about their situation but their problem was not something I was able to handle at the moment as it required me to do something about their shattered minds and as stupid as it sounds it would have been tons of time easier if it was a problem of the Soul. 

But getting back to the point, in St Mungo's I found a couple of people who were just considered alive as the biological functions were still functioning, their souls had already abandoned their bodies or were damaged to the point that it was surprising that they were not dead. The Longbottom's even in their pitiful state they still had desires deep in their souls however those people had nothing left in them, they were just breathing bodies barely functioning. 

The man in front of me is the same, a strained soul just barely hanging it together before shattering and returning to the cycle of reincarnation. He has no sense of I most of his movements were just out of primordial instinct sharpened when he was a person and not this…being, but it is quite understandable after taking into consideration the [Sacred Gear] in this person's possession. 

Looking at the man's Tachi, I was capable of reading the whole history of the sword alongside the man who was called Arata without a surname. "If there were another instance I would gladly take a duel with a swordmaster like you." I complimented the man, even if he was not there. 

The husk that once was Arata "feeling" that he was not able to win in a contest of raw strength retracted his leg and started to emanate a white-looking "Aura" full of vitality that surrounded his whole body and I certainly felt that his strength increased by a wide margin. 

"So this is [Touki] huh?" I said as I as well released my own [Ryu] to not lose in this contest of strength and this time was my turn to kick him to create some distance between us. 

But it seems that I underestimated the reaction speed of Arata as he quickly with his free hand used my leg as a pivot point and tried to stab me on the side. But his effort was futile as I stopped it with the flat of my tachi. 

Taking a katana from my waist I tried to slash Arata's neck, however, his instincts worked fast as he jumped back gaining a little bit of distance between us as well as using the momentum to positionate himself again in a battle stance almost ready to continue his pursuit. But I did not want to give him any advantage so I moved at great speed, chasing him to get the pace of the battle in my own rhythm. 

Respect must be given when it is earned, Arata was able to keep with the current speed I was using, even if it was not the maximum output it was still pretty high on the scale for the beginning of the Ultimate Class by Devil's standards. He blocked all my slashes as well as skillfully deflecting all my thrusts that were trying to pierce his joints. 

'This almost reminds me of how Big Daniel's body acted but less OP in this situation.' Certainly, a novel experience fighting a skilled warrior just fighting by mere instinct. 

Taking this into consideration I decided to notch up the pace a little bit. 

*Sonido* 

*Clang* 

A hollow sound enveloped the area as mild amusement was present as I smirked at the sight of Arata blocking my attempt to backstab him by using the Saya however… 

*Crack* 

The durability of his Saya was not even close to being capable of receiving the end of my sword. I may not be using a [Noble Phantasm] but the quality of my blades is beyond normal. "First blood." I couldn't help but comment in a humorous tone as I pierced his side. 

Arata quickly moved away from me before my blade pierced even deeper. Sadly I was not able to hit any vital areas but I was able to touch the hip bone, usually, this would hamper the person's movement, however… 

Not bothered by the wound on his hip, he started to run making circles around me as after images were being created. Honestly, I am quite baffled, the skill itself was not something difficult to replicate with the right timing and footwork, but to be this capable of doing this just by mere instinct, shows how much he trained when he was "alive". 'Honestly, this is almost as bullshit as Daniel Park' I did not think of this as a way of complaining, rather it was a compliment. 

This though was ineffective against me as I had a plethora of ways to detect who was the real one, and that is the same for many in the supernatural world, so I doubt it is that simple. The first two afterimages came towards me, however when the third afterimage was close, almost at the instant that it was about to collide with me [Life Energy] was present on it. 

Slashing the afterimage I felt the "weight" behind the blow, and not allowing me to take a rest, more and more afterimages went towards me each with a different amount of [Life Energy] behind them. What is more interesting is that I could not feel the main source, which means that for most people would be hard to distinguish who is the real one. 

"If I had to make some comparisons would be as if he was using [In] as well as projecting some of his energy at the same time…interesting I didn't know that this was possible with just [Touki], maybe he was knowledgeable of some principles [Senjutsu], that is something to look in the future." Or maybe I am wrong and [Touki] was not only capable of increasing physical parameters and it is a little more "flexible" that I gave it credit. 

This emission of [Touki] was not that strong if I had to be honest, even without covering my body with [Ryu] the damage would not be that much but regardless that kind of mentality could make me overconfident and give Arata an opening to strike me down. 

The burst of [Life Force] can be heard all around the forest as I use both of my blades to put down every one of the "afterimages" imbued with [Touki]. Arata was fast there is no doubt about it, many times faster than the "High Rank" devils… 

*Clank*

A metallic sound resounded in the area with Arata finally trying his move but my Tachi blocked his own. 

'I'm faster' I thought as I slashed Arata's torso with the Katana in my left hand giving him a horrible wound going from the left side of his hip to his right shoulder. Different from the last wound this one was so deep and big that I could ribs without a problem. 

*drip* 

*drip* 

Arata was losing too much blood and even if his body was acting not caring about his actual wellbeing, it would be extraneously hard for him to keep fighting in a matter of minutes if not seconds, however…

*ruumblw* 

An immense amount of [Holy Power] started to irradiate from Arata's body, while not the biggest raw output I have seen so far, the quality of the energy is undisputable I would say that is just a few levels behind Michael's in this regard. It was easily discernable that this energy was not prominent from Arata's body but from the object that appeared in Arata's left hand. 

A golden cup engraved with beautiful gems on the top as well as some inscriptions written in the Enochian alphabet, I can see the whole inscription but I can recognise the word that means "Blood". I have never seen a cup in front of my eyes, yet I have not an ounce of doubt about the identity of the object in front of me. 

Arata's wound started to heal…no the best way to describe it would be regenerating, as new muscle tissue and skiing started to be created from Arata's wound. But the display of power did not end there as Arata's Aura started to change as if he… 

"Damn it, I underestimated its connection with souls." I could not help but groan in annoyance at my miscalculation, it seemed that I would need to step up my game with [Bounded Fields] in this specific area. 

"Kuahahaha." Arata…no the one possessing his body let out a laugh full of exhilaration. "Finally I could get control over this body once again and with his soul on the brink of extinction I shall…" 

But whatever he wanted to say was halted as his body was impaled by multiple of my [Phantasmal Weapons]. "I am not interested anymore." 

Whoever was inside Arata's body did not move even if he was still breathing and conscious…no he could not as the weapons that pierced the body were either cursed or enchanted to the point that he could not even mutter a word. 

To be honest, I was capable of just taking the body out of commission pretty easily with [Magecraft] or [Magic], keeping him in control inside my soul, just simply using one of my [Noble Phantasm] or the easier way of trying to influence his body with [Death Force] to simply extract the [Sacred Gear] out of him. 

But I wanted to give him one decent battle before letting him rest, not because of some Shonnen moment or any other bullshit like that. It is just because he earned my respect. 

Even if I had not crossed a single word with him, I had seen the history behind his Tachi. All the effort that he had been through, all the sweat, tears, and blood that he shed trying to master his technique, a man of commitment and motivation. That is why I wanted to give him one last battle before going to the reincarnation cycle, even if he was not here. 

But from the moment that someone took control over his body, his soul started to get strained by the pressure of both the new soul and the grail's power, so if I took too much time to defeat the spirit residing in Arata's body, his soul would have got shattered, possibly would cease to exist even if he goes through the reincarnation cycle. And while maybe he was no saint, he did not deserve that, at least from my point of view. 

"Life is unfair." I said as I got next to Arata's body and placed an Ofuda in the head "But you already knew that, didn't you? Arata" With this the spirit that was possessing his body was returned to the place he belonged. 

Without further ado, I started to sever the tendrils in Arata's soul that were connected with the [Sephirot Graal]. While I had to be more careful in how I cut those tendrils without adding more damage to his soul. And without much of a hitch with the previous experience that I gained with retiring [Innovate Clear], the process was smoother than the previous one. 

With this, the [Sephirot Graal] was removed from Arata's soul and placed in one of my [Black Cards] for security purposes. But without the support of it, his body started to fail and his soul started to go to the reincarnation cycle. "I hope that in your next life, we can settle our fight, without intervention of course," I said with a smile on my face. 

"That was…" Gramps tried to say but I interrupted him. 

"Anticlimactic." Well the other me interrupted to be precise, holding a [Black Card] in his hand. 

"I was going to say out of character," Gramps commented looking at Arata's body. "Usually you would not act like a "Shonnen Main Character" using your words." 

"Hey, it was not that bad." The second other me said also holding a [Black Card]. "Respect must be given when it is earned." 

"Besides it did not take much time for us to give him a final battle, though we must admit that it would have been a good fight if his body and soul were not in such a pitiful state." The other me said shaking his head. 

"We also overlook the possibility of using the [Sephirot Graal] to channel a possession," I said also shaking my head in disappointment. "But well, we should at least give him a proper burial, but not here." Even if this was the last place in which he lived it is rather obvious that he did not want to stay here but used it as a refugee against other spirits. 

"Agree." The other me and Gramps said in unison as I put Arata's body in one of the [Black Cards] in the meanwhile that we find a place to bury him. 

"Well, here you go boss." The first other me said throwing the [Black Card]. "It is the state that we assumed, but since there is nothing in this era to experiment with you will have to check it inside our soul." And with those words, the first other me disappeared in motes of light as the second other me threw the card. 

"This one is quite good." The second other me said without saying anything else as we knew that the information would be shared once he returned to me. The memories of both of them entered my brain and I sorted them easily as it was just a couple of hours ... .damn! 

{Winged Kuriboh, are you done?} I asked him through our mental link. 

{Kurii Kurii!} Winged Kuriboh informed me that all evil spirits and corrupted ones are gone.

{Good job partner!} I complimented him for being as efficient as always. {I will open a portal towards the main base, we will see each other there.} 

{Kurii!} Winged Kuribioh confirmed before passing toward the portal that I created beside him. 

"Gramps we are leaving," I said to Gramps in a little of a hurry as I needed to run some tests as soon as possible. 

….

Day 32 

Yozora's Workshop. 

"iT's JuSt A sIgHtLy DiFfErEnT vErSiOn Of ThE CaNnOn," I said out aloud doing the best imitation of Kazuma in history. "It'S nOt ThAtH bAd." 

To be honest, I was just ranting for the sake of it,...well mostly. I know that they are seeing me at this moment so I might just piss off Kazuma to earn some good grace from Fuga and whoever is crazy enough to be friends with him. 

"*slurp* Are you done?" Gramps said, passing me a cup of tea with his free hand. 

"Yeah." It took the cup of tea in Gramps' hand. "Thanks." 

Even if I said that Gramps was only capable of making simple dishes, that only applies to things outside of tea. He not only likes tea sets but also experiments with different ways of making tea in his free time, so of course his tea is delicious without a question. 

"So how bad is it? You already assumed that we are in a "Crossover" world, but looking at your weird but accurate imitation of Kazuma-san, whatever you saw makes me believe that it was not within your expectations." 

 "Quite the opposite this time." I could not help but laugh at this. "It is not that important for the time being, but it will be just slightly annoying in the future." There is no use in worrying about it in this era, and it does not change any of my plans. 

"Worse than the outer god in the "Potterverse"." 

"Not as bad, but it seems that the "Korean novel setup" is following me," I said letting out a sigh. "Well, at least it is not the Chinese Novel Setup." That would be a real problem. 

"Either way, what [Sacred Gears] did you acquire this time?" Gramps asked with a hint of curiosity since he didn't know all of them. 

"The first one is the[Sephiroth Graal], one of the three most important [Longinus] that I need to acquire in this world, capable of many things among those being able to summon spirits from the afterlife, perfect resurrection, reducing racial weakness, extending lifespan, returning someone to their peak, manipulation of the soul and receiving knowledge of the principles of life in how life and souls are made." The last part is the one that interests me the most to be able to create a perfect [Kingdom Hearts], not to mention that "perfect resurrection" is something quite rare. 

"But of course, it has its weakness and limits by itself, the most important is that this knowledge is forcefully integrated into the host, corrupting it and making turn into madness and/or turning into a vegetable after using it for a prolonged period time." A normal human soul is not supposed to get in hand this kind of knowledge, but I think that after handling the King of Douches for a long time I can handle this, but either way I have something planned for this "corruption" that ironically will only help me to make [Kingdom Hearts]. 

"It seems that is quite perfect for you Little Yozora, you had been complaining quite a bit for the lack of knowledge referring to the Soul in the "Potterverse"," Gramps said with a gentle smile on his face. 

He is right, even if there is information about the soul, the creation of the soul is something that had no conclusive information in the research field and even if I am Death's Master, the world does not allow her to share the information with others and that is more of her brother's field. 

"Yes, it is, honestly I am quite excited about researching this field." I could not help but get excited at the thought of the knowledge that I would receive. "But continuing." 

"The second one it is not a [Longinus] well at least not for the time being but in cannon at the time where the "protagonist" lives, it will be one." Before coming to this era I was debating quite a bit if I should just wait until it evolved, but after acquiring the first [Sacred Gear] this thought was thrown through the window. 

"I did not mention this one, [Unknown Dictator] also known as the "Imperial Child of Machine World", at the moment it is only capable of manipulating iron, but in the future, it will be capable of controlling and creating electronic and mechanical devices, I previously did not explore this field since I got quite enticed with [Magecraft] and [Magic] but it is a field that I do certainly want to explore, with this in the future I could create Nanomachines, spaceships, laser guns, healing pods, Gundams! and many many other things!" I couldn't help to smile at this even though I truly love [Magecraft]/[Magic] with all my heart, a true giant robot it is a man romance! 

Also, there is the fact that I was currently in the 90s in the Potterverse and it was not a world technology-centered world and with the limited points that I had, it would have been only a waste of points in that moment. "There are other applications, but in a long way it would be a good thing to have and will help me a lot." Especially when I go to worlds like Marvel…hehe I already know what I will do. 

"And the third is one that I did not though much about, it is called [Sturdy Saint] which enhances the defense of the user by quite a bit and continuously increases it every time the user receives damage, something that any Tank or Templar since it is based in [Holy Energy] would wish to have." I think that I can use this with some modifications. The world shall see the terror imposed by thy mighty Tank…should I start Project Maple? It would be nice along with the project Skynet….Thoughts for later. 

"So you only need one piece for the plan, quite fast if I have to say," Gramps commented as he knows that usually collecting [Sacred Gears] especially [Longinus] is a pain in the ass if you do not have the plot on your side, which I have, it is called a bribe. "So you will look for the last one in the meantime that the idiots prepare to attack the Yokai?" 

"Yes…or that is what I would like to say." I groaned in annoyance thinking of the last [Longinus] necessary to create [Kingdom Hearts]. "The last piece is quite complicated, it was the second one that I started looking for, at first I thought that I was just unlucky and was not present in this era, but I tried to read the signs with something that I was certain would not exist on this era and the reads were completely different." I was looking for a signed first edition of The Modern Prometheus, something that has not been written yet. 

"Either it is because the nature of the [Sacred Gear] makes it nearly impossible to detect with any type of [Clairvoyance] or the current wielder knows how to hide its presence." While annoying it is not like the chance window got closed it just got narrow. "Either way we still have plenty of time before going back and even if I am unable to acquire it, it will just be a slight inconvenience on the long way." It is not wise to pull all your eggs in the same basket. 

"So we are just going to wait until those guys make their move?" Gramps asked wanting a little bit of action after seeing my fight with Arata. 

"Pretty much, even if I want to inspect that sub-dimension in just 3 days we will be able to get there without making a fuss, and with the new data I need to make some adjustments to integrate the [Sephiroth Graal] to [Innovate Clear], also there is the fact that with the fight with Arata I got new information about [Touki] so I want to experiment with it and the creations made with [Innovate Clear]." Even if I get the baseline of almost all living beings thanks to it, the processes of how they utilize their abilities still depends on me as I have to "program them". 

"By the way Little Yozora, why do you sometimes avoid telling some names of the [Sacred Gears] that are you trying to acquire as well as some of the names of people you are going to meet/use?" Gramps asked quite curious since he knows what I am planning and besides the books themselves, it is not a big secret what I want to do. 

"That is quite easy to answer Gramps," I said while staring at the ceiling thinking about what was going to happen in the future. 

"I do not want to give spoilers." 

…

Hello niece and nephews, it's Uncle Author and I am Back!!

I hope you enjoyed the chapter, honestly, I wish that I could done it earlier but December and January are crazy hahaha especially since the company I work for got a new CEO so you can guess how that changed many things. 

I hope that so far everyone is having a nice year! I can't say that I am having a terrible start of the year, just a busy one hahaha.

Before anything, do you remember that I wrote that Yozora did not want to go to the One Piece world because he was sure that he would commit genocide? Well after reading the most recent chapters of the manga genocide will not be enough to describe the slaughter that he would commit, if you are up to date with the manga you know what I am talking about. Punch of the year btw. 

So, Michael is pissing his pants off with Lucifer A.K.A Luxu A.K.A Yozora's return. This while it can sound a little bit exaggerated since old good Lucy was not one of the strongest beings in the world, there are old grudges from all sides of the supernatural world to take into consideration. And not to mention the most likely "boost" in the devil's hype as well as the most likely situation of them getting more confident in doing some sick shit. 

As for Yozora and the Onmyōji well, I want to talk about it in the next chapter, so it was unnecessary to talk about what he did at the moment. He decides to help the Yokai not just because he hates Young Masters and Nobles or his preconception based on the Light Novel but for other reasons that he will talk about in the next chapter. 

And finally with him getting [Sephiroth Graal] right now after just getting [Innovate Clear]. Look at first I thought to write this for later after doing some mayhem but being honest it would be idiotic to do this from a reasonable point of view. If he knows where to find the damn grail and just let it roam around with the possibility of getting in the reincarnation cycle it would be just for the sake of the plot and I think that Yozora is a little bit too smart to allow this possibility. Of course, as he stated he won't be able to use it for the moment, but it is better to have it in your hands than risk losing it. 

As for [Unknown Dictator] and [Sturdy Saint]. The first one I think like [Innovate Clear] has so much potential that not many have written about or the few that use it are dropped. As for [Sturdy Saint]... to be honest, this was not really in Yozora's plan (or mine), but it will help me to develop something for the future plot. 

So in the next chapter, we will meet some of the Edo(Tokyo) Yokai as well as some of the principal clans from cannon. How do you think that this will develop? Of course besides the obvious slaughter. 

So with anything else to say, thank you for reading this chapter.

If you liked the first chapter please add it to your library so you can receive the notifications when a chapter is out. Also leave a comment, with your opinion about the chapter, it will help me a lot. Maybe a review but I won't be greedy since it's just the beginning hahaha

See you again, in the next chapter. 

Uncle out *drops the mic*