Chapter 25

"Yo, I'm back!" I called out as I strolled into the Gravity Chamber.

My growth had slowed down even with all the advantages that I had, which wasn't that surprising since I was stepping into the realm of Gods. I almost couldn't believe those words. This was something truly unbelievable, something I had only dreamed of in the past, but here I was doing just that.

Hell, I could probably fight and kill a weaker God with my current abilities, as hard as that was to believe. Though I wouldn't gain anything out of that since this world didn't reward humans for such actions. Then again, my Grimoire might just trigger and give me something for the achievement…

Bad and potentially very dangerous thoughts aside, even if my growth had slowed down, that didn't mean I would just stop training. In fact, it meant I had to train even harder from now on!

Saiborg and his peerage stopped what they were doing and turned to me just as I prepared to join them, staring at me with weird expressions as if I had somehow done something stupid again. I blinked in confusion, abusing my perfect memory to confirm I hadn't done such a thing.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" I asked after going through all of my recent actions and finding nothing out of the ordinary.

"Satan Beelzebub wishes to meet with you," Kuisha delivered the news. "He'll be visiting tomorrow."

"What the fuck," I fluently expresed my thoughts, showing off my articulate vocabulary.

But seriously, what was this? Were those guys all going to visit me one by one? Should I expect Asmodeus to also express his desire to visit me after this?

Did Beelzebub also want to be included in the game alongside a family member of his? He didn't have a sibling to my knowledge, but he did have a niece and a cousin. I figured that could be one of the reasons for his visit.

'Will meeting all four Satans get me another Perk?' I idly thought while trying to figure out why Beelzebub wished to meet with me.

"I'm assuming you also aren't sure why he's visiting," Kuisha said with a sigh.

"Lemme find out," I replied as I took out my phone to text one of my friends.

"Who will you ask?" Cori curiously asked as she stepped closer.

"Levi-tan!" I looked up from my phone and grinned as I watched them all cringe.

I chuckled at their expressions before I started scrolling through the wall of text. The gremlin was the reason why I had my phone on mute at all times, trusting that Helel would notify me if something important popped up.

Otherwise, I would get a notification every ten minutes or so because she just kept spamming me all the time. The little gremlin didn't even care if I responded or not as she could clearly hold an entire conversation on her own without my input.

"Why is another Satan visiting me?" I sent the message and only had to wait for a minute before I received a response.

"Juka wants to see that cool new game you're working on!"

"Why'd you show it to Zechy but not me? Huh?"

"Are you trying to tell me something? Like that you like him more than me, Magical Girl Levi-tan?"

As expected of the gremlin, she flooded me with messages the moment I responded to her.

"You left before I can show it to you." Naturally, I lied without blinking an eye.

"That doesn't stop you from calling me over!"

"Magical Girl Levi-tan will arrive the moment you need her, and she will do anything to make you feel better!"

I couldn't help myself. She just made it too easy for me.

"Anything, you say?"

"Bad, contracted Magician! Bad! Bad! No lewd thoughts!"

"Lewd thoughts? I never said anything about that. Why are you jumping to such a conclusion? Have you perhaps been thinking naughty things about me?"

"Nu uh! You can't prove nothing!"

I chuckled at her antics as I typed away.

"Maybe I just need someone to watch Magical Girl shows with?"

"Ohhhhh! Tell me more!"

"Someone cute I can cuddle on the couch with."

"Noooooo! Bad thoughts! You're not allowed to have bad thoughts as my contracted Magician!"

"What are you chuckling about?" Cori asked as she peeked at the screen, only to see the messages between me and the gremlin.

"You know…" She looked at me with a complicated expression. "When I told you I wouldn't mind another girl, I didn't think you'd jump right into flirting with Satan Leviathan."

The group stared at me in silence as they went over her words in their heads. The hush was then broken by Ladora.

"Damn!" He called out before giving me a thumbs up. "You got balls, kid!"

"I admit, I got distracted and got carried away… whoops." I scratched my head awkwardly before I started typing again.

"Hah, "whoops," he says as he flirts with one of the Satans." I ignored Ladora's remark.

"Anyway! So he just wants to see the game?"

"Juka is reaaaaally interested in that virtual reality!"

"He also might want to help out with the game?"

My eyes opened wide as that was specifically what I didn't want!

"I don't need any help!"

More specifically, Helel didn't need any help, and I doubted he would be pleased with someone else meddling with his world.

"Please, please, please, please! Just give him a chance! Juka doesn't have many friends, so it will be nice if you two get along. Do it for me, please!"

As much I wished to outright refuse her, I knew I couldn't do that. She acted like a gremlin, but she was still one of the leaders of the Devils and so was Beelzebub. I had to at least try to accommodate them even if I didn't want to.

"I will give him a chance, but you will owe me for this!"

"Fine!"

Huh. I didn't think that would work, so I continued pressing my luck.

"You will do anything I ask of you!"

I already knew exactly what I would ask her to do. And, no, it wasn't anything lewd since I wasn't willing to push my luck that much.

"Define anything."

"I will make you wear a very specific outfit."

"As long as it's cute, I'm in!"

Oh, it would be cute alright.

"Also, please inform him that I'll be busy tomorrow and won't be able to see him. However, I'm free the day after."

"Busy? Busy with what?"

"I'll be accompanying the East Youkai faction to visit the West Youkai faction to set up a cooking academy."

"I have so many questions."

"Keep them to yourself."

"Nooooo! My contracted Magician is bullying me again!"

I pocketed my phone, knowing that Helel would notify me should something important come up.

"Welp, he wants to check out the virtual reality," I informed the rest with a shrug.

"We thought it might be something like that," Saiborg remarked before he shook his head, ready to return to his training.

"Satan Beelzebub is the one responsible for creating much of our technology, so this makes sense," Kuisha added her own two cents.

"Anyway… I made a new friend today," I said as I joined them on the training. "He's almost as strong as Borg over here when he isn't using Regulus. I even got to slap him with my hand."

"Michael," Gandoma said with a tired sigh. "How else will you slap someone if not with your hand?"

"Okay, let me rephrase that. I slapped him with my severed hand!" I declared with a proud grin.

"What?!"

That got their attention, and I told them all about Rihan and my spar with him while we trained. He was a pretty cool dude, though I admit that he took me by surprise when he told me his name.

For a moment, I thought that the Nura: Rise of Youkai Clan manga was somehow real in this world. However, it turned out that this was just a happy coincidence.

The Youkai didn't use something like Fear in this world, nor did Rihan have a son. Though he did mention his mother was a human, so there was that. Then again, that wasn't that surprising since the father of Yasaka's daughter also happened to be a human.

This tidbit brought on so many questions. Like, how and why were humans compatible with the many supernatural races? With how many were they compatible? Well, maybe I would find out in the future, depending on how things played out.

Kyoto was pretty different compared to the modern-looking Tokyo. It felt a lot more spiritual if that made any sense. And that wasn't just because of the older architecture style. No, it was probably due to the massive layline flowing underneath the city.

It was one of the biggest in the world, according to Nurarihyon. I looked at it curiously with my mind's eye before giving it a little poke, only for Magari to slap me from behind.

"Ayo?" I turned to her with a raised eyebrow. "If you want to fight, you can just say so."

"Is that all you think about?" Magari asked with narrowed eyes.

"No?" I tilted my head at her.

Fighting was fun, but what I really wanted was someone to push me until I triggered my new power. Was that too much to ask for?

"I thought we told you to behave," she continued with a grumble.

"But I haven't done anything?" Now she was slandering me since I was on my best behavior ever since we stepped foot in the city.

"Don't go around poking the leyline." Magari tried slapping me again, but I ducked under her hand. She clicked her tongue as she continued, "The leader of the Youkai here is directly connected to the leyline. We already told you as much. You poking at it can be perceived at minimum as a slight."

"Sheesh. Calm down. I just wanted to take a look," I replied as I pulled back my attention from the leyline. As interesting as it was, it wasn't worth offending the local leader over it.

"You…" Magari seethed as she narrowed her eyes even further at my response.

"Anyway," I said as I looked away from her, focusing on Rihan. "You might enjoy sparring with Liban since he's a skilled swordsman. He'll at least give you a good challenge."

That grabbed his interest, and I ended up telling him some more about Saiborg's peerage. The others also listened carefully, intrigued to hear about the heir of the Bael Family. I would've missed it if I wasn't paying attention, but they were all surprised to hear exactly how hard working the group was.

You know… I even considered inviting Rihan to join us for a training session or two. Of course, I would have to bring it up to the others first, but I didn't think they would refuse. He was a cool dude, and I saw him fitting well with the team.

Saiborg might even offer him a spot on his peerage, though Rihan would more than likely refuse as he was going to be the next leader of the East Youkai faction. Even if he wished to accept, he wouldn't be able to do it without giving away his position and possibly disappointing his father in the process.

I noticed multiple people coming over to check on us as we walked towards Yasaka's base of operation–followed by the few guards that Nurarihiyon had brought with him. However, not a single one of them greeted us, and they all kept their distance.

They were probably just keeping an eye on us, or maybe something else was going on behind the scenes. Who knew what was going on because I certainly didn't.

We were respectfully greeted once we reached a large compound by a dozen Tengu with half of them being Ultimate-Class in terms of strength. A show of power, perhaps?

Not that I cared about this since I was here to display my cooking skills and give the Youkai a lesson or two about my technique at the same time. The Tengu led us inside, guiding us to the meeting room where I finally got to see Yasaka in person.

Nurarihyon grabbed the attention of others due to his weird-looking head. You just had to look at him twice to make sure you weren't seeing things. But Yasaka? She drew the attention of everyone with a specific feature of hers. Her cute fox ears and nine golden tails were fascinating, but…

Holy crap! I had to physically stop myself from staring because those breasts were humongous! I called Serafall a shortstack, but Yasaka took the cake, ate it all, and all of it somehow ended up in her chest.

Damn! Those had to be the biggest breasts I had ever seen, and they didn't even seem like they were sagging that much. Though I would have to get a better look to confirm that.

Ehem. What did the gremlin say again? Ah, yes, no lewd thoughts. I cleared my head from those bad and corruptive ideas, and instead, focused on this very important meeting.

"... and this is Michael Wilder," Nurarihyon introduced me, and I politely bowed as was tradition around here.

"It's a pleasure to meet you."

"The pleasure is all ours," Yasaka politely replied with a voice as smooth as silk. "I heard some of my people talk about you as you have become a bit of a… sensation among a few of them."

"Huh?" Eloquence thy name is Michael.

"Quite a few have discussed your interesting slapping technique," she continued, her golden eyes flickering with mischief.

It seemed Yasaka had a few agents among Nurarihyon's Youkai. Not that surprising all things considered, and he probably had a few spies of his own running around here.

"One of my men had published a video of your spar with Rihan," Nurarihyon informed me, completely shattering my theory.

"It was?" I asked while wondering why Helel hadn't alerted me of this.

"Indeed," Yasaka confirmed. "It was uploaded to a website shared among the Youkai, though I won't be surprised if it gets published on different domains in the next few days."

That must be why Helel hadn't noticed then. Although he was connected to the internet, he didn't have access to every single website. Not to mention that a majority of his processing power was focused on the games he was currently making.

"Well… let me assure you that my amazing fighting capabilities cannot even compare to my cooking skills," I awkwardly replied, a bit caught off guard from being put on the spot like this.

What was I even supposed to say to this? I was simply not prepared to talk about my spar with Rihan.

"So I've heard." Yasaka offered me a warm smile before turning her attention back to Nurarihyon.

The meeting officially started after that, and they began politicking. I zoned out their talk as it was way too boring and allowed my eyes to wander. For a very long moment, I observed Yasaka's breasts out of the corner of my eyes, wondering if those things were natural.

They definitely didn't look like an illusion, though Nurarihyon proved that my senses weren't absolute. Once I had my fill of that sight, I looked to the side, where a ball of fluff was sitting next to Yasaka.

Kunou looked like a younger and still growing Yasaka. Her nine golden tails flickered behind her, twitching every now and then as a sign of discomfort. She was trying hard to make herself look like she belonged here, but it was obvious to me that she had no personal interest in the meeting itself.

Kunou looked over, noticing my gaze on her, and my inner child came out as I stuck my tongue at her. That startled her, and she looked away, carefully watching me from the corner of her eyes.

She observed the rest, making sure they were all focused on their talk. Clearly, none of them were paying attention to us. Not at all.

Then she slowly turned towards me and quickly stuck her tongue out. I responded by puffing my cheeks, making another silly face at her. Her eyes opened wide in delight before she copied me. I proceed to pull out another silly face, turning this into a giddy game of monkey see, monkey do.

Unfortunately, the bad and responsible adults had to ruin our fun, and our game was interrupted by Nurarihyon fake coughing in his hand. That startled Kunou, and she immediately straightened her back, pretending as if nothing had happened.

"You should drink some tea," I said as I turned towards him with a smile. "Cause it sounds like your throat is a bit hoarse from all the talking."

Nurarihyon stared back with a blank look on his face while Yasaka fondly chuckled, finding my words amusing.

"Will you need any help in the kitchen?" Yasaka politely asked, and I noticed Kunou secretly tugging on her mother's dress.

"Not necessarily, but I won't mind if some of your people observe me as I cook. This is the perfect opportunity to display the technique in person. Perhaps it can even serve as a lesson."

"What do you think, Kunou?" Yasaka looked at her daughter. "Are you interested?"

"Can I?" Kunou asked with big shining eyes.

"Of course." Yasaka brightly smiled with affection. "Though we'll first have to get you into some more appropriate clothes."

She then turned to me with a warm look in her eyes. "I hope you won't mind waiting for a bit?"

"Not at all. Please take your time."

Yasaka gently smiled at me before leaving alongside her daughter. Once they left, I turned to Nurarihyon with a massive grin.

See? I obviously hadn't been fooling around during the meeting. No, no, no. Clearly, this had been a tactical decision on my part, one made with the intent of winning Yasaka's favor. Yep, that was my story, and I was sticking with it.

Nurarihyon got the meaning of my look and dubiously raised his eyebrow. He shook his head with a sigh moments later.

"So… what are your thoughts about Yasaka?"

Now it was my time to dubiously look at him. Some of her people were still in the room, and I had no doubt that she could hear us talking. Those cute fox ears of hers weren't just for show. Nevertheless, I had the perfect answer.

"She must have very strong back muscles," I replied with a proud nod, ignoring the gobsmacked expressions of everyone present.

"Eeeeh!"

I had to stop myself chuckling after hearing the weird, embarrassed-sounding voice that came from just outside of the room. Yup, that was definitely the perfect response.

A/N

I wasn't planning for the fight to be recorded, but you guys talked it into existence smh.

I also wanted to write one massive chapter, but it's too fucking hot. Sad life.