Chapter 30

These past few days were hectic, to say the least. I was just juggling so many projects, trying to complete them all at the same time. Some of them could've turned out to be a rightful mess if I didn't have people like Ajuka and Helel giving me a helpful hand every now and then, pointing out my mistakes or optimizing some of my designs.

Regardless, my Hyperbolic Time Chamber was finally completed, though it wasn't perfect. It just wasn't possible to include everything I wanted and make it work all the time. It still did its job as it could turn one hour in the real world into twenty-four inside it. That was amazing, but it also couldn't be used more than once a day since it needed quite a bit of time to charge up.

Again, this was incredible since it provided us with an extra twenty-three hours every single day. Naturally, we used all of them to train like madmen, pushing our bodies to the limit under the pressure of the increased gravity.

Afterwards, we each had a whole day to do whatever we wanted. Except for Saiborg since he immediately jumped inside the Gravity Chamber, unwilling to let me take the lead in our competition of strength as I had nearly caught up to him in our base forms.

The others usually spend their time relaxing, taking advantage of the virtual reality and enjoying all the games Ajuka and Helel created so far. Of course, since they were all hungry to prove themselves, they tended to pick up the ones that could help them improve even though they were supposed to be relaxing.

The sparring function was the most commonly used since it allowed them to work on their skills without the risk of injury. The other one they enjoyed was the teaching system, which consisted of Helel giving them lessons about Magic as he had learned a lot about the subject from both me and Ajuka. One of us developed different types of Magic just by existing and observing the world while the other one had hundreds of years of experience.

It was safe to say that the group was developing extremely quickly. All of us were making tremendous progress due to how many advantages we had on our side. At this point, I doubted there was anything that could prevent them from winning the upcoming tournament. Unless their opponents had just as many cheats on their side, something that was highly unlikely.

The other thing I focused on in those past few days was Sacred Gears and how they interacted with the soul. After enough research on this topic, I decided that it was impossible for me to perfectly replicate one of those divine artifacts with my current capabilities. I simply lacked the Holy Power necessary to enact the Miracle for their creation.

Sure, I could apply a Holy effect to my attacks, but that wasn't enough. However, we did come to the conclusion that Demonic Power could act as a replacement, though I wasn't sure how exactly it would affect the Sacred Gear. I also couldn't test it out since Ajuka refused to work on this as this didn't interest him since it wasn't a new and interesting project, after all, and the rest just weren't skilled enough to help me make one.

That was why I was forced to improvise with my measly Magic Power, wasting a good few dozen of the Magic batteries I had stockpiled until now. Helel wasn't that happy with that since my phone was dimensionally connected to those batteries, and they acted as the power source for my teleportation. Though he had added a few more extra spells, which was the reason he was displeased since I might've ruined some of his plans.

Thankfully, he was more than satisfied with the end results of my experiments. Well, I still had to refine it some more, and it was far from a finished project, but it was good enough for the time being.

"Alright," I said as I looked at the latest iteration of the pod. It still looked the same, but now it was impossible for anyone to discover its hidden functions. Or at least, I thought it was.

I mean, it was made using Ajuka's black box technology, which was further enhanced with what I learned from Nurarihyon's techniques. I couldn't perfectly replicate his unique hiding ability on my own, but I understood the principles behind it due to how busted my newest Perk was, so I managed to apply it to the pod through the power of Science!

"Time to test it out."

A Magic Circle formed under my feet, teleporting me to the Youkai compound in Tokyo. A few guards greeted me, curiously gazing at the pod on my shoulders as I walked in. I nodded to them in return and made my way towards a particular energy signature.

"Yo, Rihan, stop skulking around and hiding in the shadows like an edgelord," I said as I turned to the side, watching as he walked out of the darkness, the shadows parting around him as if they were alive.

"One day… I will catch you lacking and chop off one of your limbs as payback," he told me with a wide smile. "Not like that will inconvenience you in any way…"

"Do you want to get slapped like last time?" I raised my eyebrow at him. "Because that's how you'll get turned into a meme."

"Into a what?" Rihan blinked his eyes at me in confusion. "Did you mean to say a joke?"

"I said what I said." I sighed with a wistful look. The term meme was only now starting to gain popularity, but people still haven't fully integrated the word into their vocabulary. Soon, things would change if I had anything to say about it.

"Uhu." Of course, he didn't get it and decided to just not think about it, instead focusing on the pod. "Is that it?"

"Yep." I gave it a good pat. "So let's go to your room to set it up."

"His room?" Nurarihyon asked as he turned the corner. "Shouldn't it be placed somewhere where everyone can access it?"

"Nah, this is his. I just want to make sure it works properly, then I'm gonna give you a bunch more to play around with." All of our simulation indicated that there weren't any issues, but we still hadn't live tested it with an actual Youkai.

"It's not dangerous?" The old man asked as he looked at it with a bit of worry.

"Not at all. Just have to make sure it can accurately simulate a Youkai. That's all."

"Hmm. Let's test it out then, eh?" Nurarihyon said before he turned around and marched towards his son's room.

I followed along and curiously looked around when we reached the place. His room was pretty empty all things considered. Just a simple futon and a large wardrobe in the corner, though his walls were lined up with multiple different katanas, alongside two of his newest Demon Swords.

Gram, of course, was now attached to his waist as he carried it around all the time. After all, it was the strongest Demonic Blade and being its wielder was something any swordsman would be proud about. There wasn't a single person on this world who would throw it away and treat it like trash… hehehe.

"Okay," I said as we set it up in the corner and plugged it in the outlet. This thing still needed energy to function even if we were planning to subtly drain the energy of some. "Now you can jump in and put on the helmet."

"What about my sword?" Rihan asked as he opened the pod, curiously looking inside it. "Do I bring it with me?"

"I mean… you can, but you don't need to," I said as I scratched my chin. Maybe we should make it so that others would need to bring their weapon with them if they wanted to bring it to the virtual world? This would certainly get us more data about all the Magical weapons in the world, though it also might give away the game here.

"Well, let's hope this is as interesting as you made it sound like." Rihan nodded to himself before entering and placing the helmet on his head.

'Any issues?'

'Soul has been analyzed. Parsing the information. No issues detected. Youki and Ki have been measured. No issues detected,' Helel's voice sounded in my mind, assuring me there were no problems.

'Activating combat simulation as per request,' he continued, informing me Rihan had already started using the sparing function.

"Everything seems to be going well," I told Nurarihyon, who nodded in return.

"So you're gonna release this to the public?" He asked as he stared at the pod.

"Yes."

"The mundane as well?"

"Yes."

"You sure this is a good idea?" Nurarihyon looked at me skeptically.

"Yes, because the mundane people won't get access to the same function as the supernatural ones," I answered that easily enough.

"How will you guarantee that?"

"By selling two different ones. The regular people will get the basic version while supernatural beings will get the advanced pods," I lied through my teeth.

We were really going to release only a single type of pod. The rest would be handled by Helel, who would monitor the various users, checking their information and analyzing their capabilities to decide what functions they would be allowed to access. Simple as that.

"I see." He nodded in understanding before looking at the pod again. "What kind of functions are currently available."

"Eh, some simple games that can teach basic mundane skills. A few fighting simulations with tanks and planes. There's also a game in which regular people can play as characters with special abilities. You have to play it in a five man team, so it will be a good way to learn team tactics. Some supernatural beings might also enjoy it as the characters can scale up to about Mid-Class."

"And you're releasing that to the public?" He gave me a questioning look.

I shrugged. "It's not like it will teach people about the supernatural, and it will give them the chance to fulfill some of their fantasy dreams. We've thought it over already, no need to worry about that."

"Hmm, is that it? What about the supernatural? You mentioned something about fighting others?" He continued probing.

"Rihan should be testing that right now." I nodded towards the pod. "But you can basically fight against your clone that will adapt and use any move you use against it. Or you can fight against other people that have decided to make their simulated clone public. Currently, only my simulation is available to fight against."

"You're not afraid that others will learn from it, figure out your weakness, and use them to take your life?" Nurarihyon asked with a raised eyebrow.

'No, because I learn new techniques and gain new abilities way too quickly for others to prepare for all of them. Plus, my publicly available simulation won't use every single thing I know. Not to mention that Helel will also know everyone that has challenged me. They might decide to keep their own simulation private, but… good luck with that.'

That was what I wanted to say, but instead I went with, "That will just make them a nice challenge."

Nurarihyon snorted. "Don't get too big a head. I'll be pretty sad if my favorite human kicks the bucket because he got too overconfident."

I couldn't help it. I burst out laughing at that. This old man had the gall to tell me that? Has he not looked in the mirror as of late?

He narrowed his eyes, realizing what I was laughing about, but he didn't get the chance to retort as the pod opened. Rihan stepped out, hand massaging his neck.

"That was… unpleasant," he said with a frown before looking me up and down. "Are you sure that the simulation is accurate? Because I'm confident I killed your clone with Gram, but it ended up restoring itself and taking me out by surprise."

"Yeah, that's something I can do." I proudly grinned at him.

"What an annoying cockroach," Rihan murmured as he closed his eyes. "How many times do I have to kill your clone to put it down for good?"

"Find out on your own," I said, still happily grinning at him.

I could confidently say I was the most annoying type of enemy to fight. I confirmed as much when I fought against my own clone, and the result was always the same. The fight just went on and on, turning into a battle of attrition and willpower. Whoever slipped up first and lost the advantage was usually the one that got defeated.

"You died in there?" The old man asked, intently focusing on his son.

"Yeah," Rihan replied, rubbing his neck again. "Wasn't a very pleasant experience."

"Don't make this a habit. Do not get used to the experience or I won't let you use this thing," Nurarihyon said with a grave tone, indicating how serious he was about this. Which was understandable since that was an actual issue.

My friends were already aware of this, and they knew that they should use this to sharpen their skills and find out where they were lacking. However, they shouldn't get used to dying and make a habit out of it as that could lead to their actual death if they fought without caring about their lives in the real world.

"I know, I know. I'm not that stupid." Rihan rolled his eyes at his father. "And it's not like the sensation was pleasant. It's not something I would like a repeat of. You don't have to worry about that."

"As long as you understand," Nurarihyon said after taking a moment to inspect his son, confirming that Rihan meant his words.

"Are you the only one I can fight against?" Rihan asked as he looked at me. "Don't get me wrong, it's fun fighting you, but I wouldn't mind some diversity in my opponents."

"For now? Yes." Saiborg and his peerage didn't wish to have their simulated clones be public, so they weren't available. "And your own simulated clone is also someone you can challenge."

"I suppose that will have to do," he said, sounding a bit disappointed.

"Cheer up. I'm planning to add an option that will allow you to queue up and fight against other people of similar strength. Maybe I can even set up a ranking to decide who is the strongest in their power level."

"Oh? Now that sounds exciting!" He grinned widely in response.

"This…" Nurarihyon intently focused on me. "This can change a lot of things for the supernatural world."

"It can, yes." I nodded.

This could give the more violent people an outlet, a place where they could go wild without caring about the consequences. It could also serve as a way for some to deal with their resentment. Though it could also lead to them creating entirely new grudges as well.

"Well, it seems like there's no problems with the pod, so I'll bring over a few more tomorrow. But now? I have a lesson with Magari," I said and walked away to go find my Senjutsu teacher.

'Reminder. Invite Rihan to train with the rest,' Helel informed me, making me stop in place. I did ask them if they would be okay with this, and they gave me the go ahead, trusting my judgment.

"Oh, and I almost forgot." I turned around. "Are you interested in training alongside Saiborg and his peerage? We have a pretty impressive spot for working out. Trust me, you won't regret it."

"That does sound interesting," he mused, though he looked at his father first.

"Do what you want," Nurarihyon said with a wave of his hand.

"I suppose it wouldn't hurt to take a look," Rihan said, barely keeping his grin down.

"Alright, I'll come pick you up tomorrow morning," I said before walking out.

"Don't forget to bring some of those pods to the West faction," Nurarihyon called out as I left the room. "Though maybe you can do this old man a solid and delay them for a few days, eh?"

"I'll think about it." I snorted in amusement.

My lessons with Magari were progressing smoothly. Manipulating the life force and souls of plants was something that we had already moved on from, and now we were working with simple animals.

Healing was something we skipped entirely because, well, I was frankly too good at it. In fact, I was already one of the best healers in the world. That was how ridiculous my healing was.

So instead of wasting time on that, we moved onto some simple soul manipulation techniques. Nothing that complex, just basic ways to speed up the growth of more primitive life forms.

Plants were exceptionally easy to handle with this technique. I had to gently infuse their souls with life force and slowly expand them until they reached their limit. Their bodies would then attempt to reflect the growth of their souls, and they'll quickly start growing to match it.

It was that simple. However, the plants would need to be placed in the right environment, and they needed to have enough sustenance. Otherwise, they would wither and die.

Animals followed the same logic, though there were some differences. For example, it was harder to enlarge the size of their souls since they tended to unconsciously resist the change. I also couldn't push too much as they could end up starving themselves as their bodies attempted to reflect the growth of their souls. Some might even end up developing weird mutations if I wasn't too careful.

This was indeed a bit more difficult, but I wasn't having that many issues with it, though that was mostly because I was cheating yet again. This technique was eerily similar to what I was doing with my food, so I was piggybacking on all the experience I had accumulated with that, allowing me to rapidly progress with it. As a bonus, I gave Magari a headache with how fast I was picking it up.

We finished with insects during our previous lesson, so now we moved onto fish. My lovely teacher was staring at me with a tired expression as I happily hummed to myself while gently infusing a fish with my life force, guiding its soul to expand by just a little bit.

My head tilted to the side as I felt an interesting presence, though I didn't pause my actions even for a moment. I was tempted to go and check it out, but I didn't want to butt in their business. I was close with the Youkai here, but I was still their guest and ally at most.

Magari had also sensed the newest presence, judging by how her ears twitched, but she didn't seem too concerned about it. Maybe they were already expected and this wasn't a random visit? Either way, it wasn't something I had to concern myself with.

Or so I thought because a Youkai came over to call me over as the person was apparently here for me. I somewhat expected something like this, but I thought it would take a bit longer before they sought me out.

Vali Image. 

The white-haired teenage Devil had a questionable choice of fashion, but he was strong for his age. That was without even accounting the fact that he had an extremely powerful Sacred Gear. A Longinus if I wasn't mistaken since it was pretty much on the same level as Regulus.

'Why haven't I heard about him?' I figured someone like this would be famous in the Underworld. Unless he was in the same situation as Saiborg's peerage members? He was a half Devil, after all, and they weren't that liked by the rest of their society.

'There is no information regarding this individual on the DevilNet,' Helel informed, already having combed all the available information.

He seized me up and frowned. "I thought you'd be stronger. No, you're probably masking your strength like the old man."

Nurarihyon snorted and shook his head. "Quite arrogant, this one. Though he did say he had a message for you."

"A message?" I asked and curiously looked at him.

"Azazel wants to scold you for holding out on him. He also wants to know if you are interested in a drink or two since he knows the perfect place to discuss the wonders of… femboys," he said with a straight face.

I blinked, taking me a moment to actually process those words before I shivered and cringed. "I think I'm gonna beat the shit out of him the next time I meet him."

Was threatening a faction leader a good idea? Absolutely not! But Azazel clearly deserved it! What the hell kind of things was he spreading about me? He really deserved a good beating.

"He deserves it." He grinned, my answer somehow greatly pleasing him.

"Well, if that's all?" I asked, knowing there was something more he wanted from me. I just hoped he didn't want to invite me to his peerage, though he might not have one if he was working for Azazel.

"Fight me," he declared, full of intensity.

"Hmm?" I raised an eyebrow.

"You and me. Let's fight!" He pointed at me, voice full of hunger for battle.

Something clicked for me at that moment. 'If Saiborg is the Naruto or Goku of this world… then I might've just found the Sasuke or Vegeta of this world!'

A powerful young Devil with a Longinus Sacred Gear that had a slightly emo appearance. He only needed a tragic backstory and to be part of some nearly extinct family with some special bloodline, and he would perfectly fit the description!

"What's your name?" I asked, holding back my interest.

"Vali," he replied simply, though he didn't reveal his family name. However, that only proved my theory in my eyes since he was clearly trying to hide it.

"Alright then, let's fight." I grinned back at him. This would be good!

"Not here," Nurarihyon interjected. "We can set up a barrier outside the city, but you aren't fighting here!"

"That's fine with me," I easily agreed to that.

Vali seemed like he wanted to protest, but he held back his words. Nurarihyon informed us of the location before leaving to set up the barrier.

"Why do you listen to him?" He asked once the old man was gone.

"Because he's a friend, for one. And also because he's stronger than both of us."

"Stronger? The–" Vali's words died in his throat, and his eyes opened wide, staring in the distance.

Wasn't that interesting? Because it sure looked like someone else confirmed my words. Soon enough I even found out who, as a pair of light blue wings formed on his back once we left the compound to fly over to the location that the old man provided us. Divine Dividing, the container of the White Dragon Emperor, Albion. This was just becoming better and better.

"Well, this will be interesting." My grin only grew in response to this new information.

"If I beat you, you will join my team," he said, proving my theory that he was an idiot like Sasuke.

"And what happens when I win?" I asked, full of confidence.

"I will not lose!" Vali declared, eyes tightening in intensity. How scary!

"But what if you do?" I continued probing him.

"Then I'll continue challenging you until I win," he replied, and I had to resist the urge to facepalm.

"That doesn't seem very fair, no? If you win, I have to join your team, but if I win, you get to pester me."

"Fine! You don't have to join if I win…. I'll just have to convince you it'll be worth it," he said, sounding pretty confident about it.

We soon arrived at the location. The Youkai had already placed a barrier around it, and it was big enough for us to comfortably move around in our upcoming fight. We landed on opposites side of each other, both of us sizing up the other.

"I watched your fight," Vali said as he rose off the ground until he was floating high in the air. "You are strong, but you lack any kind of ranged abilities other than your weird teleportation trick, which isn't something you can use often."

"Oh, really?" I asked as my nails turned into claws.

Life force flowed in my hand as I enhanced it with sharpness and the Dragon Slaying effect. For good measure, I added something else as well before I swung my hand, firing a wave of Ki towards him. Vali scoffed and looked like he was about to try and block the attack with Magic before he decided to dodge out of the way at the last moment.

"Did yo– GAH!" He screamed as a large gash opened on his chest, blood spurting out of his open wound as my attack somehow ended up hitting him despite him dodging out of its way.

"What? How?" He asked, watching me in bewilderment. "I see, Senjutsu."

Indeed, Senjutsu. The chance of my attack hitting him when he decided to avoid it was close to zero percent. However, since it wasn't exactly zero, that meant that it could hit him, so it did.

"Don't lose too fast," I said with a smirk as Ki flowed in both of my hands.

"Divine Dividing, Scale Mail!" White armor in the shape of a lizard formed around him just as I started swinging, sending devastating slashes of Ki his way.

I could've been mean and added a Holy effect to my attacks as well, but I stuck with sharpness and Dragon Slaying only. However, I enhanced only a few of them with the probability of hitting him, mixing it up a bit to keep him on his toes.

Of course, Vali wasn't aware of that, so he tried his best to block every single attack by summoning multiple shields in quick succession. Though my slashes cut through them with relative ease.

"Divide! Divide! Divide!" Ablion's deep voice roared from the wings as some of the slashes landed on Vali, reducing their power just before they hit him, though they still left marks on his armor.

I leisurely continued attacking, curiously observing Divine Dividing's ability in action. It absorbed the energy from my attacks and funneled into Vali, though there was clearly a limit, and he was quickly approaching it.

He was clearly aware of that and used part of the energy to strengthen his Barrier Magic. The rest formed a massive Magic Circle that fired off hundreds of beams of light my way.

My Ki formed into the shape of a drill as I took a punching stance as if I was to meet the barrage of spells with my fist alone. A large part of my life force disappeared before the beams of light hit me, and I appeared above him, fist already in motion as I delivered a devastating blow to his head, pummeling him to the ground.

I rushed after him, landing just a moment after he fell down. Vali was already in motion as he barely took any time to recover. However, I was faster, and my hand shot out, grabbing onto the solid part of his wings.

"Divide!" Albion's voice roared as he attempted to drain my energy.

"No," I replied with a smile, completely blocking his ability with that stupid Perk I refused to name.

""WHAT?!"" Both Vali and Albion yelled at the same time.

"Let me just wield you for a bit," I said as I lifted him off the ground before slamming him back down.

"Divide!"

"No."

"Divide!"

"Nu uh."

A mental exhaustion overcame me as I used it for the third time, and I knew that I could pass out if I tried it one more time. Despite that, I continued swinging him around as if he was a weapon as I covered myself with Touki while applying the Dragon Slaying and Holy effects to it.

"DIVIDE!"

This time, it worked, and I felt how his ability drained my energy. However, it couldn't halve my power as it was supposed to. My Touki blocked a part of it, and the Dragon Slaying and Holy effects nullified some as well.

"DIVIDE!"

He continued draining my power with each second that I held onto him, but I continued swinging him around without hesitation. Vali even managed to recover somewhat, and he started punching and kicking my way, the strength behind his attacks increasing with each Divide.

"DIVIDE!"

I activated my Kaio-ken, doubling my power and basically nullifying all of his effort while I continued using him like a weapon.

"DIVIDE!"

I grinned as my Kaio-ken grew in intensity, increasing my power yet again. That was a nifty side effect from my consumption of the weird drink I made as I could now push my enhancing ability even further.

"DIVIDE!"

Something clicked inside me with the last roar from Albion, and my grin only grew wider. My free hand then shot out, slamming against his armor, my Ki easily bypassing it and reaching his body.

"Gah!" He yelled while Albion continued absorbing my power. "DIVIDE!"

I quickly landed a few more hits, completely ignoring his armor due to my Senjutsu and hitting his body directly. Vali endured far longer than I thought he would, but he finally went limp in my grasp, and his lizard armor disappeared.

"Well, that was fun," I said as I gently placed him down, watching him for a moment to ensure that he wasn't faking it. Once I knew that he wasn't, I quickly healed him back to consciousness.

"What?!" He jumped to his feet, hands clenched as he stared at me. Vali took a deep breath and closed his eyes for a moment before he opened them back again. And then he quickly flew away with an aura of embarrassment as he called out, "I'll be back tomorrow for a rematch."

"Wait!" I yelled, but he was already out of earshot.

I wanted to ask him if he was interested in training with me, to see if I could get him to meet with Saiborg. That would be really fun to watch. A real life Naruto and Sasuke meeting with each other. Hehehe. Oh, well, he did say he would be back for a rematch tomorrow.

"Did you really have to embarrass him like that?" Nurarihyon asked as he appeared beside me.

"I just wanted to get a better feel for his Divide ability," I argued back.

"So you threw him around like that?"

I stayed quiet in response. How was I supposed to explain that I could copy his ability by holding onto his Sacred Gear and wielding him around like a weapon?

"Let's get back to the compound, I still have a lesson with Magari."

I returned later to the Underworld, appearing back in my workshop. I wanted to go and tell the others about my meeting with Vali and to also inform them that Rihan would be joining us from tomorrow, but there was something else I needed to do first.

Focusing on myself, I reached into my soul and pulled, taking out a small glistering orb out of my body. It broke apart as soon as I pulled it out, and my smartphone fell out of it. This was yet another failure, but we were definitely making progress. Soon, I would be capable of making an imitation Sacred Gear that would last for more than a day.

I pocketed my phone once I was sure that there was nothing wrong with it, and I went ahead to meet the rest and tell them about my day.

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Beta'd by Gerald of Revea. 

A/N

If only Vali had challenged him before Michael got his hands on both the Holy and Dragon Slaying effect. Or the Anti-Magic Perk for that matter. Michael really is his worst match up.