Chapter 381

"….what's going on?" I looked upon the scene in confusion.

"This doesn't concern you!" Susanoo growled.

"There is nothing going on, Indra was just leave." Izzy ignored her son and glared at Indra.

"You can wait there until I'm done, Half-breed." Indra said dismissively.

And all my questions were answered, well I could make a pretty good guess.

"Get out of my Realm, Indra." Izzy's Divinity began to seep out.

"Hand over what belongs to me and I'll gladly leave this disgusting place." Indra scoffed. "I don't know how my Toy's soul ended up in your hands, but it doesn't matter."

"You're in no place to make demands of me." Izzy's words made the entire realm rumble with her barely hidden annoyance.

"Oh please, maybe that works on the trash next to you, but I'm a real God." Indra scoffed. "A decrepit Old Goddess with no worshippers. Do you really think I'm going to fear you, even in this place? You're wasting my time as it is, every second I spend here is agonizing to someone of my position. You should be thankful I came here in person rather than send one of my underlings."

….did he just insult Izzy like that to our faces?

"How dare you talk to my mother like that!" Susanoo roared and a massive bolt of lightning descended from the sky, slamming into the position Indra was in.

"That tingles." A smug smile became visible rather quickly once the dust settled. The lightning arced around him and Indra merely held up a lazy hand, clutching the foreign divine lightning.

That attack was by no means weak. I would have to defend against it with one of my more powerful spells/shields, yet Indra just held his hand up to it like it was nothing.

"Lesser Gods are so easy to anger." Indra said mockingly.

"You – "

"Susanoo, stop letting him rile you up." Izzy stepped infront of her son. "And Wilhelm, please leave for now. I will handle this."

"No, he will wait there until I'm finished." Indra immediately countered.

"As loathed as I am to agree with this gigantic douche, I'm not leaving you alone with him."

"….did you just call me…?" He seemed genuinely surprised that I threw an insult his way.

"Fuck off." I didn't even bother with anything sarcastic.

"And for once, I agree with the mortal." Susanoo bellowed out a laugh.

Indra's expression turned sour. "If I didn't need you to track down the woman calling herself my daughter and flaunting a weapon similar to mine, I would have killed you for your arrogance, mortal."

"Well, you would have tried, and failed. But I'm sure you're not unfamiliar with being a failure."

"…on second thought." His hands alighted with purple lightning, but before he could make a move, Izzy reaffirmed her position as the ruler here, making the shadows around him shoot up from the ground, ready to pounce.

"Indra." Izzy's tone had a new bite to it. "Are you trying to start a war? If you make a move, I will consider it as your Pantheon's declaration."

Indra's Lightning slowly faded as he stared at Izzy, neither backing down. The intense stand off abruptly ended as Indra started laughing maniacally. "War?" He spat out between hearty laughs. "You want to threaten war with me? With what army?"

"Takamagahara –"

"Will do nothing." Indra's face twisted into a scowl. "Do you think I hid myself when I walked over here? Do you think they'd care if you just disappeared?"

I would have normally been mad at his jabs at Izzy, but what really infuriated me was that Izzy didn't respond. Not that I was annoyed she didn't defend herself, but the silent acceptance that what he said was accurate.

"I'm genuinely surprised you even exist still. I would have thought you faded centuries ago. No worshippers, no presence in the world, and not even your own Pantheon cares about you? A cursed existence that hides in a disgusting hole. Give me what is mine, so I can leave this wretched place and find the upstart who had the gall to impersonate my blood."

Something in Izzy just seemed to disappear, the defiance in her gaze turned to reluctant acceptance. "…..just take the soul and leave."

I was angry, so very angry at this point, yet my anger didn't explode. I kept it controlled and contained, and I wasn't the only one.

I looked at the one by her side.

Susanoo's gaze also filled with the fury of a storm.

And he turned to look at me. Our eyes for a brief moment, and with silent agreement we came to an understanding.

Right, there wasn't anything that needed to be said between us in this case.

"Hey Indra, what's that?" I grabbed his attention, opening a Portal right behind him.

"What –" He glanced behind himself to look at it but was suddenly beset with a thunderclap, Susanoo slamming into him, pushing him through, and I quickly followed.

[***]

As soon as I stepped through, the water infront of me erupted, Susanoo broke through the waves and steadied himself on the waves as Indra looked down on us both.

"Izzy is going to be pissed later." I hummed, landing down next to Susanoo.

"Mother's fury is not what I am concerned about at the moment." Susanoo snorted, gazing at Indra who silently floated up out of the water.

"You're right, there's something much more important to deal with right now."

"Yes, for one of the few times I will admit it, we are in agreement, Devil." Susanoo punched his fist, producing a clap of thunder above with bellowing storm clouds following.

My own Divinity, as if resonating with him, bubbled to the surface. "No one gets away with talking like that to her."

"He is stronger than me." Susanoo spoke in a hushed voice. "It pains me to say, but I am far weaker than him and we share similar Domains."

Indra was one of the strongest beings in this world, I wasn't aware of how I stacked up to him. "…together?"

Susanoo looked at me and nodded. "Together."

I flipped my hand, the Staff of Magus appearing within my fingers. With a swipe, the area around us completely turned to ice and I aimed it up towards the God.

It distorted and turned into spears at my command, shooting up towards the floating deity.

"Cheap tricks." Indra scoffed, his Purple Lightning crackling around him, whipping at any errant ice spears that approached as if it were alive.

With a thunderclap, Susanoo appeared next to the Hindu God, a fist coated in lighting thrown at him. Indra raised his own palm up to catch it, sending shockwaves in every direction.

With a frown, I put my staff away. My wings flapped and with a burst of Shunpo I was on his opposite side, throwing my fist towards him too. "Boost!" I roared, the Red Gauntlet appearing.

Indra blocked it with his other palm as he held off both me and Susanoo.

"Is that it?" Indra mocked.

Susanoo and I shared a look again.

"Boost, Transfer." I called out in succession, targeting the Shinto God.

Susanoo's fist broke through Indra's hold, and I pulled back to throw him further off balance. Indra quickly moved to block the sudden burst of strength that I gave to Susanoo.

"Bakudō #61: Rikujōkōrō." I quickly cast with the Reiatsu I had available. Six beams of light materialized and slammed into his midsection, sealing him in place. A flinch from him made them crack, barely holding him in place, but it was enough for Susanoo's fist wreathed in lightning to connect with Indra's cheek.

The Hindu God went hurling to the ocean below, skipping across the water a few times. The cascading waves made it difficult to see, but that wasn't a particular issue once his anger was made known.

Purple lightning danced across the water and Indra slowly floated up again.

Susanoo didn't wait to re engage, the Shinto God flew towards Indra at blinding speed, only leaving sparks in his wake.

Indra's face twisted back into a snarl and shot towards him as well. However, the Purple lighting around him began to coalesce. It combined and compressed, his Divinity weaving into it to create a solid construct. Two large arms form at of his sides, both of which smashed down on Susanoo as they got close.

Susanoo tried his best to block. But as soon as the two Lightning Arms slammed down, his legs buckled and Indra followed up with a normal fist that connected with Susanoo's face.

I quickly moved with a burst of Shunpo, grabbing hold of Mirage and swinging towards Indra's side.

One of his Lightning Arms grabbed my blade and he held up a hand, palm facing me. It started with a spark, and not even a breath later, a torrent of Purple Lightning discharged right into me.

My Aura sprang up to block, but even so, it blasted me far away, and Susanoo followed shortly, thrown through the air, his large body colliding with me as we fell.

Indra didn't let up, before either of us could react, the two massive Lightning Arms were held above, fingers interlocked and they smashed down onto us.

"Bakudō #44: Sekisho!" I quickly chanted in the brief window of opportunity. The translucent shield appeared, but it was just as quickly shattered by the blow, barely even stopping Indra for a moment.

Wreathed in his own lightning, his constructs slammed into us, a pillar of lightning discharging that could reach the sky.

I activated my Semblance and Susanoo did something too, but the lightning blocked my sight and I did what I could to minimize the damage.

I wobbly stood up, blinking in realization that I was standing on solid ground.

Walls of water around me.

I was standing on the ocean floor. I don't know how many hundreds of feet deep it was, but I pulled myself up from the new crater I made and wiped away the blood dripping from my nose.

Indra's remaining lightning was still arching between the chasm of water he had created and the water was just now starting to fill back in the void that was left from the disturbance/dispersion due to the force of the blow.

"Ddraig, Let's go." I intoned. "Welsh Dragon, Balance Breaker!" I summoned forth the full Scale Mail. Instead of my Devil Wing, Ddriaig's Dragon Wings sprouted from my back and I shot back to the surface before I could be swallowed by the oncoming water.

I reached the sky again only to see Susanoo being held tightly by Indra, almost mockingly.

"Boost, Boost, Boost, Boost, Boost!" I called out quickly, letting my strength reach a new threshold. "Dragon Shot!" I discharged all of it right at Indra.

His Lightning Arm raised up to block it, rather easily, but I just needed a moment.

Spell Circles swirled around my sword. Mirage began to gleam with the accumulated Magical Energy. Nearly point blank, I slashed my sword down. "Ether Cannon!"

A familiar arm pierced through it to grab my neck.

The Magical Energy swirled and dispersed into nothing so I could see the Lighting Arm acting like a Divine shield in application and his regular arm was squeezing me.

I grit my teeth and called upon my Power of Destruction, grabbing onto his fleshly body.

He hissed and pulled back, his Lightning arm slapping my body away through the air.

"Little bastard." He hissed. "But it's nothing compared to Shiva's destruction."

This wasn't going to work. He was not an enemy I could just blow over with physical ability.

Let's take the next step.

I held my hand to the sky and began chanting. "It was here at this place, that Susanoo led a thousand unruly deities in rebellion. A thousand swords standing upon the earth, used as city walls to defend against the enemies. Here! Namely, the Ama-no-Murakumo-no-Tsurugi! The Steel that breaks a thousand blades!" A single bolt of lightning dropped down from the sky into my hand.

My Divine blade comfortably fell into my grasp.

"What is that?" Indra's eyes narrowed from behind his sunglasses.

He was on guard. I could assume he felt the threat that my sword represented. But maybe it was the next action I took that completely befuddled him.

I threw it towards Susanoo.

The blade went spinning through the air and The Storm God caught it, as if the sword was made for him, it sang happily with the sounds of thunder and lighting at merely a touch from him.

Susanoo, without even taking a moment to comprehend what just happened, swung the sword at Indra. A burst of lightning was released from point blank, freeing the Shinto God from the Hindu God's grasp.

Indra appeared a few dozen feet away, his Lightning Arms trembling as they blocked the blow, a small scratch on them.

Susanoo looked at the sword, then looked at me with a widening grin.

My Dragon wings flapped and I shot up again.

Indra, took a more serious stance as Susanoo and I were on opposite sides of him at this point.

"Boost, Boost Boost!" I called out again, and both Susanoo and I moved.

Indra held out both of his Lightning Arms at us, their palms opened and they gathered a significant amount of Lightning before shooting off at us.

I waved my hand, and my other swords appeared around me. They all shot forward towards the blast, dispersing it enough that I tore through it.

Susanoo on the opposite side, merely pointed my Authority at the blast and cleaved right through it.

With a roar, Susanoo slashed the Divine Sword, and I followed suit with my Mirage.

The Two Lighting Arms moved to block, while he fended off my Mirage. The Divine Sword sunk into the Lightning construct of his.

Indra's eyes widened, a jerk of surprise and perhaps a tiny bit of fear made him react swiftly. A weapon of his own suddenly appeared in his hand. It was small, barely peeking out from his grasp. But it looked like a smaller version of Raikou's Noble Phantasm.

[Careful brat!]

Vajra

His Divine Weapon.

He merely waved it in Susanoo's direction and the space was filled with thunderbolts of terrifying power.

I couldn't even see Susanoo anymore, yet out of the purple wave of lightning came from my Sword flying through the air and shot up to catch it in one motion, then slashed downwards with everything I had.

He only had time to bring up his Lightning Arm to block and my sword cleaved right through it, sundering the ocean below.

"Pest!" Indra roared, his Vajra swinging towards me.

"Don't ignore me!" Susanoo roared louder, tearing through the lightning that besieged him, bloodied and panting as he flung himself at Indra, throwing a hail of punches, each one enough to create a tsunami.

I swung my Divine Sword to meet his Vajra. Neither one seemed to have the advantage as the world itself seemed to split into two to reflect the opposing side.

"Boost Boost Boost Boost." I called out again, pushing Indra back.

It was enough that Susanoo slipped through his defense. His lightning-like punches started landing on Indra's body.

The Hindu God spit out blood, forced to retreat backwards at the onslaught.

I tossed the sword back to Susanoo and we flew at him again.

The Hindu God waved his Vajra at us and Susanoo accelerated forward, slicing through the wave of thunder bolts. I briefly glanced at the ones that missed us and each one that landed into the water created an explosion of power that would wipe out a good portion of a city.

He seemed to focus everything on stopping Susanoo with my Divine Sword, his remaining Lighting-Arm Construct and even his Vajra clashed with it in a fierce struggle. With another shout, Indra deflected the sword away.

But that left him wide open.

I used every ounce of my strength and with all the Boosts I currently hand, and I planted my fist right in the center of his face.

Seeing him get sent flying was extremely cathartic.

Even Susanoo floated to my side, and we watched him hit the water a fair ways away. The splash as he landed was something special, rising very high into the sky.

It took several moments for the Hindu God to reappear. Slowly, he breached the surface, placing his feet into the waves like they were solid land.

Indra was expressionless as he met our gaze. His Sunglasses, which he seemed to wear regardless of the fight, suddenly cracked and shattered into tiny pieces, dropping into the water and sinking down.

His hand slowly moved to grab onto his nose and he yanked it to the side, straightening it out properly before wiping away blood that flowed out of his nostrils.

"I'm done." Indra said rather softly, yet the words boomed across the raging seas. He tilted his head and a purply bolt of lightning ascended into the sky above. It connected him from earth to heaven as the crackling energy didn't seem to stop.

No, something else happened. It seemed to pull apart at the edges, as if reality itself was making way for something.

An eye, there was a singular eye that shone through. And it reminded me heavily of Karna's Noble Phantasm back in the Grail War.

Susanoo noticed the danger too, because he suddenly burst out with the entirety of his Divine Power. The same 'form' he used on me was unleashed. His body became engulfed in Lightning and he ascended several stories in size.

Yet, he was still smaller than the eye that was starting back at us.

"Be reduced to ashes." Indra held up his hand at us, the eye blinked.

Space and time felt like they were distorted. The world shook at the sheer weight of the power released. It was hard to comprehend what actually happened at the end of the attack. Everything everywhere was simply filled with his Divine Lightning.

I saw Susanoo attempt to defend with both his full Divine Power and my Authority

I think it managed to ward off some of it. My Authority sealing away the partial manifestation of Indra's full Divine Might.

And Susanoo himself positioned himself in front of me as I called up my strongest shields and focused everything I had into my Aura, letting it burst outwards.

But everything seemed to go white.

[***]

Why was I on something solid?

Why….was everything gone?

It felt familiar.

I was on my back and I sat up to see nothing but a white void around me. Well, almost nothing. There was but a mirror a few feet away standing upright, only a tad taller than I was.

I looked for my weapons, but they weren't there.

I looked for my Magic, my spells, my Divinity, but nothing responded.

Strangely, it didn't bother me. I felt oddly at peace where I was right now.

Before I knew it, my feet carried me towards the mirror.

At least….I thought it was a mirror, yet there was nothing reflected on it. Hesitantly, I reached out to touch it and surprisingly, it wasn't solid. It almost reminded me of mercury, it was liquid-like yet also heavy. And for some reason, I felt the need to push into it.

The mercury-like liquid happily accepted me and I was pulled inside.

My surroundings immediately changed.

I was standing in the middle of Kyoto.

There was nobody around, it was deathly silent, which just felt all kinds of wrong.

I turned around to look at the mirror again. Once more, I pushed inside of it to see if I would go back. Instead, I fell out onto another familiar area.

It was the Colored Rooms.

I was standing before Meridia's favorite throne.

But she was missing.

Again, I pushed through, and again the world changed.

Zelretch's Home.

Pandora's Home.

The Jorrvaskr where I usually met with Thorum.

Fuyuki City where Rin and Medea lived.

I popped out of every place that had any semblance of meaning to me. Every place I visited more than a few times. I even popped out at my old house in Kuoh that I burned down.

I left that place quickly, but I noticed there was one place that had yet to pop up.

And as I stared at the mirror again, I had the strangest feeling that I knew it was next.

I stepped through and Yomi unfolded to greet me with Izzy's house just a few steps away.

However, this time, the mirror disappeared and I took that as my cue to go inside. I pushed the door open, and a fragrant aroma reached my nostrils. There was a man I didn't recognize sitting at a small table.

He wore a Kimono, but his had more western features than Japanese ones. He also had long white hair and a very gentle smile on his face. It contrasted quite heavily with the void-like eyes he had. It was as if I was looking into the Kaleidoscope when I met his gaze.

"This isn't Izzy's house." I spoke, staring at the man.

"It's not, but I thought it was appropriate, given the situation." He gently set down a cup of tea he was sipping. "I'm surprised to see you here. I only just started calling out, yet here you are. I had thought it would have taken a few more months to reach this point."

"You're my Zanpakutō spirit." I realized.

"Correct." He smiled happily. "I've tried reaching out several times now. But only recently have you even been able to perceive my voice."

"I thought I was hearing something." I took a seat opposite of him. "Can Ddraig see us?"

"Not quite yet. And not because I don't want to, I would love it if I could finally meet Ddraig."

"Why not?"

"You need to release me first." He said simply.

"….I just need to call your name right? That's what you mean, my Shikai?"

"Yes." He nodded. "This is your inner world, it's not complete until you learn my true name and solidify my existence. Right now I'm too…..ambiguous. If you waited another few days, I may have completely changed. Such is the nature of one who wields the Kaleidoscope, the possibilities are endless."

"So you were molded from that as well."

"Everything you are is what made me." He chuckled. "Both the good and the bad."

"Can I ask a question?"

"This is your world."

"I admit, I was expecting a woman. Not that I was hoping, mind you, but well…I'm aware of my own preferences and where they stem from."

"Maybe I'm just what you needed instead?"

"Maybe." I hummed. "How does the Hogyoku taste?"

"Delicious."

"Really? Not going to give me crap for asking a stupid question like that?"

"I know everything you do. I would think it odd that you don't ask me a silly question like that." He merely smiled. "But I appreciate you letting me have it. If I did not have access to that object, I don't think I would have emerged for several more years and even that is unlikely. You're a lot more….full than what a normal Shinigami would be when they first acquire their Zanpakutōs."

"Were you the one that made my Devil Ancestry come out? You're basically nomming on the Hogyoku as is."

"No, it has a mind of its own to an extent, but my will can influence it by this point. However, even if I did, what's wrong with letting out your Devil Side every now and then?"

"Ugh, I don't want to get into this right now. More pressing concerns, like, what's going on outside, Indra, and all that."

"I suppose that is a pressing concern. I would rather you not take such a powerful attack head on like you're currently planning to do without Avalon."

"Right….we don't have that right now." I frowned. "I should be able to survive."

"Of course, but it's going to be dreadfully painful and cause extensive harm. Do you wish to see your lovers worry over you?' He asked.

"You're right, I'm just saying. I wasn't quite prepared for him to suddenly amp up to 10 because he got hit once. It's not like Susanoo or I were going for killing blows, major dick move on his part."

"Agreed."

"So is this place working on a different Time Axis? And How can we abuse this in the future?"

"Sorry, but this is likely a one time occurrence. Because you were on the precipice of releasing me for the first time, I was able to fudge things to pull you into your inner world. We're still in flux, a state of nonexistence until you affirm me."

"Oh well, I won't look a gift horse in the mouth." I sighed. "So how long do I have before this cheat ends?"

"Roughly eight minutes left." He sipped his tea.

"I get it now."

"Do you?" He raised an eyebrow.

"The Mirror. It represents an infinite amount of possibilities."

"Well done." He said evenly.

"It wasn't very difficult." I rolled my eyes.

"I have… a lot more I want to talk to you about."

"Why do you make it sound like this is goodbye?" He tilted his head with a chuckle. "I'll be here when you return. Besides, you have more important matters to take care of."

"Is it important to you too?" I asked curiously.

"I want to protect what you want to protect. I cherish what you cherish."

I stood up, dusting myself off. "It's weird not referring to you with a name. I think we should fix that."

He also stood up, smiling brightly. "I would like that very much." He held out his hands and my Zanpakutō appeared. "You will need this."

"….before I go."

"Yes?"

"As a sword, do you look at my other swords the same way I look at – "

He flicked my forehead. "Get going. You have an Arrogant God to humble."

"Thank you."

"You don't need to thank me, I'm you after all." He smiled warmly once more. "Be quick, you'll only have a second while Susanoo holds it off."

The mirror returned, but this time, it showed the scene outside.

"I'm glad you can hear me." He looked at me and his eyes were like starlight, showing the vast infinity of existence. "My name is – "

[***]

I opened my eyes again, the weight of Indra's power pressing down on us and Susanoo was barely holding back the lion's share of it.

My Zanpakutō was in my hand, summoned without even a thought.

I held it up and declared.

"Reflect -- Musū Tengai."

[***]

A/N

First off, I don't speak Japanese. I don't know Kanji and I basically used a Kanji dictionary to figure out the 'proper' name, which is still probably wrong on many levels. The meaning is supposed to be 'Infinite Horizons'. It can also mean Myriad Heavens as well, which I thought was neat.