168 -=Guess who's back=-

"Bro, I don't even know who you are" Rimuru pointed out

"Who I am? The question is who am I?"

Jashin asked

"No, I don't really care-"

Rimuru tried to say

"I am-"

*BAM*

"I said that I don't care" Rimuru said with a neutral face as he appeared right where Jashin stood a second ago

And Jashin?

*CRACK* *CRASH*

Well, his body was still going through multiple trees...

Did Rimuru punch him? Kick him? Well, he wasn't sure about it, in one instant he was screaming to Rimuru and in the other he was already flying and going through trees like they were made of butter...

'He is fast...' Jashin thought the obvious as he somersaulted to land on his feet, dragging his feet across the forest

-

Rimuru was about to leave when he was stopped by Ceres

<You know that guy must be after the shinju root as well, right?> She questioned

'Or maybe hes just here by coincidence' Rimuru argued

<You know there are no coincidences, if he's here, he must about the Shinju root>

'It's not like it is a big deal anyway... Right?'

<Actually, it kinda is< p>

If he destroys or moves the root when we are in another dimension, we could loose or way home since the root will be our beacon to come back...>

*Groan*

'And that's a problem because?'

<Because you're lazy, and youd need to redo everything you did in this dimension the other one? Because you'd loose every subbordinate including Touka Blizzard? that may have another Rimuru like one encountered before?>

*GROAN*

'What a drag...

So why did I not need something like that the last time I traveled worlds?'

<I could go on for hours explaining to you how time and dimension traveling are different, had a unstable tunnel created by that turtle thingy>

'and what about the other Rimuru? Do you think he had to go through such thing?'

<Considering how much more advanced than us and the fundamental difference between magicules chakra, it's hard to say< p>

Maybe magicules create a temporary beacon when he travels making such measures irrelevant, or maybe he had a permanent beacon in his world, it would be impossible to know without seeing it for ourselves>

'yeah... He bested us quite a bit... Who do you think would win if we fought today?'

<Most definitely him>

'Tch...'

For a good second, there was silence between them

'hey...'

'...

Do you think it was him?' after hesitating for a bit, Rimuru finally asked what was on his mind

<...I do not know...>

Ceres's answer didn't help him either

<But I sincerely hope it wasn't...< p>

Or else I'm sorry to say that, but...

You won't be able to do anything about it...>

Those words hit Rimuru like a truck

Thus he reincarnated again, damn you truck-chan!

No

They hit him like a truck, because for the first time in... Probably years, he felt genuinely afraid

As someone who knew the relative future of the world even before awakening a time related skill, Rimuru always felt in control of everything, anything he wanted to do, he did. No second thoughts given

Yet now he is facing a reality that clashes with that core part of him... Not only is he not in control, he is the one being controlled, and not only THAT but he also cannot do anything about it

'... cannot do anything about it...' he repeated those words for a while

<... > Albeit Ceres wished to comfort him, she knew that, doesn't matter.what she says... It will only make things worst

Unless she lies, of course, but then their trust would be ruined forever, and that may be the only worse outcome...

While Rimuru was having a small breakdown and Ceres was not having any success finding a way to stop it that didn't involve manipulating his emotions directly, which she didn't want to do for obvious reasons, the previous occasion being an exception as he was being manipulated in her vision

Well, while all of that went unseen if not for the all knowing readers and narrator... Jashin stopped his momentum and went back to confront Rimuru

"Oi!" With a risky voice, he called out

"..." (Having that internal conversation with Ceres)

Only to be ignored by Rimuru

#

With a vein popping on his forehead, Jashin called out again

"Oi! you bastard! Are you ignoring me?" He asked angrily

"..." Rimuru, again, didn't answer but his expression dropped, making him look quite sad, his mind filled with the thought of not being able to do anything

!!!

Jashin snapped

Not in anger like one would expect, but his mind snapped back to a distant memory

One he didn't with to remember

-=flashback no jutsu=-

*Bam*

Something hit the ground with incredible force

"D-Damn it!" That something was quickly revealed to be Jashin, looking quite beaten up

"I have to say" a deep voice coming from the dust cloud originated from the impact said

"I'm feeling pretty disappointed with your performance right now"

It continued

Strangely, even though the words said by the hidden figure could absolutely be seen as mockery, they didn't sound like it

But that didn't matter to Jashin

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY THAT YOU STUPID ALIEN? ARE YOU MAKING FUN OF ME? YOU WERE JUST LUCKY, YOU HEAR ME? YOU WERE JUST LUCKY!" Jashin screamed from the top of his lungs

But, the figure barely payed the fallen demon lord any mind as he muttered

"In retrospect, it was my fault for having high expectations for how he would handle this situation... It seems he fell short of those expectations..."

Jashin was fuming, not only was he ignored but he was also mocked again! (In his view)

The dust slowly settled and Jashin could see the withe face with one single horn on his head slowly reverting back to what it had been moments before, a normal face with a bunch of what he described as 'nonsensical black markings' on it

And that face... Looked disappointed... Even sad as he looked at Jashin

"I expected more from someone crowned a 'demon lord' " the figure said making Jashin explode in anger

His anger was so great he undid the flashback jutsu

-=Flashback ends=-

Jashin's mind came back from the flashback

His face was not contorting in anger like his past self in said flashback

No, instead his face was cold

In his mind the disappointed/sad faces of Isshiki and Rimuru overlapped

"You may not be him... But... You'll do for now..." Jashin said in a low tone, completely different from his tone just seconds ago

This, naturally confused Rimuru, but he didn't care about it enough to try to figure it out

Also, he was obviously not sad about Jashin being weak or something, he was sad because he had to fight someone before doing something he wanted

*Sigh*

Rimuru sighed as he scratched his head in helplessness

"So..." Rimuru started, but before he could properly start his question, Jashin was in front of him swinging his scythe at him

'this guy is kinda fast...' Rimuru thought

But he wasn't worried, after all, he was faster

With a simple small jump back, he dodged the scythe that cut through the air in front of him as he opened his mouth to ask the question he was going to ask previously

"So, who are you anyway?"

Rimuru obviously had a good idea of who this guy was, but you never know

But Jashin didn't answer with words, instead he looked up grinning with a cocky expression

'why is he smiling?' Rimuru had a bad feeling, but before he could act on it

[Erythnul]

Rimuru's eyes widened as he felt his connection with his skills disappear

"... What?

...

What did you do?" He asked the still grinning Jashin

Erythnul is the god of slaughter, that much you already knew, but he is also a god of envy

There is a reason Jashin, who was so full of envy for Isshiki's powers got this ultimate skill

Jashin thought he had Rimuru already, after all, loosing your connection to your skills would plunge anyone into panic

Except... He didn't account for one thing...

Rimuru had... Far too many ultimate skills, and even origin skills which his skill could not affect

So while Rimuru was indeed caught off guard, he wasn't panicking like Jashin thought

Jashin drew his scythe again, this time he sliced a 'X' in the air, with the middle being right where Rimuru stood in his view

Rimuru could feel Jashin trying to connect both of their bodies

He could easily block that, but he was curious why Jashin was connecting their bodies and not their souls, some let him do it

Thinking Rimuru was just paralyzed from losing his skills and that he had already won, Jashin took his scythe and stabbed his own heart with it, a similar cut opening on Rimuru's chest

"That's what you get for underestimating me" Jashin said, and Rimuru had only one answer for that

*Facepalm*

Rimuru slapped his own head strongly, turns out Jashin didn't have some crazy plan like he thought, he just didn't know how a slime worked as none existed in the elemental nations

'how stu-'

"Ack!"

Rimuru's thoughts were interrupted by Jashin who was holding his now swollen forehead

'wait a second...' Rimuru noticed something, and so... He was the one grinning this time

He raised his fist above his head and simply charged it to the extreme with chakra

*BAM*

*BOOOOOM*

And then he punched his chest

But since his resistance was otherworldly, I. Seemed like a normal punch

That is, untill the air compressed between his fist and chest exploded in nuclear fission

The area around Rimuru was destroyed completely, and when the dust settled there was only him and the shinju root in a big clearing

No signs of Jashin

'that was easy...'

<That was horrible>

Ceres commented, having been one of.the skills that had their connection with Rimuru cut

Every skill was back, the connection Rimuru felt with Jashin was gone and scanning dozens of kilometers around them he found no trace of Jashin, so he could only assume the guy had some escape plan, maybe a skill even

But eh

Who cares?

He thought as he walked towards the shinju root, finally going to do what he came here to do

-=-

Meanwhile... Miles away from there, a familiar face was running in a forest

White skin and an Akatsuki robe, yes it was Hidan

He kept running without noticing the purple markings around his body growing denser and creating two eye-like spots on the back of his head

And right before Hidan disappeared into the forest, said eyes blinked

-=-

Turns out I had this chap written for a while...

...

Uhh... Yeah...

10 months of cliffhanger tho, so that's nice :)