Chapter 46: Anti-Skill

Story: I'm a Daemon, so what?

Disclaimer: I do not own the original setting.

Chapter 46: Anti-Skill

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- Hinata Sakaguchi -

Hinata didn't dare turn around, for fear that she would do or say something that would change the future.

Shizu's sobs continued to echo into her ears, even though she was more than far enough away.

It had been quite some time since she picked up Shizu, they had quite the adventure between the two of them. They had taken care of various bandit groups, taken care of various Magic Beasts and Monsters that had attacked Human territory as well as various other things.

She made sure to teach Shizu more than enough to survive in this world, Shizu was incredibly talented, she was able to pick up almost everything she had taught her with some time. 

Sure she wasn't a monstrous talent, she had no Skills that allowed her to quickly take in knowledge like Felix, nor did she have an ability like Usurper. But when it came to natural learning Shizu was incredible.

Shizu was quickly able to pick up her various swordsmanship forms, it helped that she already had a foundation, who knew the Black Knight would be good for something.

She made sure to teach Shizu of various other Magics, it was best to be aware of the various Magics in the world even if Shizu preferred to stick with her Fire Magic. 

While Shizu's relationship with Ifrit was anything but good, she was still able to freely draw on Ifrit's power, and suppress Ifrit thanks to the Anti-Magic Mask she had passed on to her.

When drawing on Ifrit's power completely Shizu was capable of even reaching the cusps of Disaster Class, and with time she will be firmly in the Disaster Class, not an insignificant level of power.

There was a reason her younger self had grown such a drastic amount under Shizu's tutelage, Shizu's talent was undeniable.

While she made sure to develop Shizu's Magic and swordsmanship she also made sure to help train up Shizu's Battlewill. 

Battlewill was an incredibly useful technique. A well placed Aura Slash was capable of defeating any opponent as long as you weren't out of your league. Not to mention the various higher-level uses of Battlewill she knows of. 

Magic Bullet alone had an incredible amount of potential. She wouldn't be surprised if the Ancient Demon Lords, excluding Ramiris, could use a Magic Bullet to wipe a country off the face of the planet.

Not to mention the various styles of Martial Arts that incorporate Battlewill, she had heard that there was once a Saint that was capable of infusing his Aura into his fists and injecting it into his opponents, destroying their body from within.

A fearsome technique if someone well trained used it.

Hinata and Shizu continued to venture together for months, almost a year before Hinata deemed Shizu strong enough to survive on her own, no matter the situation.

She had to make sure Shizu was strong enough to play her role in the future. 

Part of her felt guilty, she was basically manipulating Shizu for her own ends after all, setting her on a very specific path. Shizu didn't deserve that, but when was the world ever fair?

She wanted to spend more time with Shizu, rather than leave her so suddenly, but she knew it would be unwise. She was already incredibly attached to Shizu, both the Shizu as a child and the one who had mentored her. 

The entire reason she originally left the older Shizu was due to her fear of attachment.

She had informed Shizu that they would be splitting up and that Shizu would likely never meet her again. She felt guilty for saying such a thing to a young teenager who had clearly gotten attached, but she did what she had to.

Shizu's tears didn't make it any easier.

Not to mention she had begun to feel herself weakening. The Ego that Chloe had mentioned, the one that always went on a rampage when it got control of the body, she could feel it fighting her for control over this body. In fact, she had felt that pressure ever since Chloe's presence had vanished into the depths of this body. But the Ego that she had begun calling Chronoa was fighting back more and more as time went on, to the point that she was now having trouble suppressing it.

If things went on as they were, Chronoa would soon gain control over this body and rampage, ruining everything.

Hinata refused to let that happen.

And so she decided to seal herself early so that Chronoa could not be free no matter what. She had sacrificed too much to allow everything to fail here in the end.

No, she would make sure Felix, the kids, Luminous, and everyone else dear to her would survive the upcoming future.

She made her way to Ruberious, Luminism had become a well established religion by this point so she had to be discreet as she made her way to the underground capital of Ruberious, Night Garden. 

She avoided all forms of detection available in Night Garden and made her way to Luminous' current palace.

She slipped past the guards and made her way to Luminous' throne room.

There were various maids and butlers around, each doing their duty, Hinata wanted to leave as little evidence as possible of her relationship with Luminous so she carefully went around them.

Luminous would handle the guards that already knew of her existence, they would tell no one of the relationship between her and Luminous.

She noticed the guards guarding the double door entrance to the throne room, seeing no way to slip by with her current abilities Hinata decided to finally show herself.

She appeared in front of the guards who immediately raised their spears at her.

She raised her hands up in mock surrender. "I'm here to see Luminous, let her know and I'm sure she will let me through."

The guards paused for a moment, and Hinata sensed them using Telepathy to communicate with Luminous.

The guards backed off slightly and bowed. "Lady Luminous is awaiting you inside."

She nodded and walked past the guards and through the doors to be met with Luminous lying on the couch located on the side of the throne room. Usually it would be hidden with Magic, but it seems Luminous did not care for decorum at the moment.

Luminous continued to lay on the couch as she stared at her. "I was not expecting you today."

"Indeed, I had recently decided to change the plan a bit. Do you have the Holy Ark ready?"

Luminous raised a brow and nodded. "I do. It is capable of isolating both your Souls from this Space-Time Continuum, allowing you to exist in a sealed state until your future selves have traveled to the past."

Hinata nodded. "Good. How quickly can you prepare it?"

"Hmm, in some hours I would say, I do need to charge it with an incredible amount of Holy Power as well as prepare a ritual. Even I am incapable of using this kind of Magic on a whim. Why though? What happened?" Luminous asked as she sat up.

"I can feel Chronoa fighting me for control of this body, if things continue as they are, she will win and gain control. The best way to stop that is to seal myself ahead of time."

Luminous' eyes widened slightly. "...I see. It seems our time together is coming to an end hmm?"

"Indeed, though perhaps if things go well, then we will see each other in the future."

Luminous nodded with a determined look on her face. "I will ensure things go well."

Hinata nodded. "Very well, I trust you."

Luminous' face gained a smile. "I will go and begin the preparations now."

She nodded. 

This would be her last day in the past, if all things went well then she would wake up in the future, as if waking up from a nap.

- Felix -

"Well damn." That was all I could say, Hinata really went through some shit huh? Maybe I can be a bit nicer to her when I beat her up in the future.

"So you have Hinata and Chloe sealed somewhere? In this Holy Ark of yours?" Asked Rimuru.

Luminous shook her head. "Not exactly. I have Chronoa sealed in my Holy Ark, and while Hinata and Chloe do still live within her, they are dormant. Should I unseal her, Chronoa will be in the driver's seat rather than Chloe or Hinata. I have not found any way to restore control of the body back to either Chloe or Hinata as they are deeply suppressed within Chronoa. It is nigh impossible to awaken their Egos."

"Hmm. That's going to be bothersome." Rimuru mused.

Luminous pursed her lips. "Quite."

"It's best if we prepare ahead of time. Set up Barriers all around the site of the inevitable battle to contain it. How strong is Chronoa exactly? I'm sure she is incredibly skilled, she likely has access to both Chloe and Hinata's memories, giving her the ability to replicate their individual swordsmanship styles as well as their Magics and other Arts."

She would likely be capable of Melt Slash as well, such an attack could take even me out if I am caught completely off guard.

Luminous nodded along. "Indeed. Barriers will be necessary, especially to keep anyone nosy enough away." 

"Yeah, I'm sure if Guy sensed what was happening, he would show up, either out of curiosity or some other reason." Rimuru added.

He may even think that Humanity was in danger and directly interfere, that would be really annoying.

Luminous nodded. "Indeed, keeping Guy away will be a priority. As for how strong Chronoa is, I do not know exactly. Chloe and Hinata were incredibly strong, strong enough to seal a True Dragon, but I am not sure how well Chronoa could access that strength. There are various factors to account for."

I nodded. "It's probably best to hope for the best and plan for the worst then."

Rimuru and Luminous nodded along.

"Do you have any more information that would be useful Luminous?" Asked Rimuru.

Luminous shook her head. "No, I do not. I have already shared everything I know, Hinata and Chloe were both incredibly vague whenever I asked anything somewhat important." Luminous said in a frustrated tone.

"Don't take it too hard Luminous, those two were doing what they had to. They were put in a bad situation and did the best they could." I comforted, but internally I was still reeling.

"I have not fallen so low that I need you of all people to comfort me." Luminous retorted.

"Woah woah, what's with the sudden hostility? No need to get your panties in a twist." I joked.

Luminous gritted her teeth and then turned her head away.

That gave me a moment to think everything through.

There were other timelines…. I didn't think it would be possible for multiple variations of the Cardinal World to exist at once, in fact, it should have been impossible.

Was there a version of me out there that was somehow a Hero? A version that was never transported to the Cardinal World? Maybe one where I was isekaid to another world instead of Jujutsu Kaisen? The possibilities are endless.

But that is all under the condition that multiple versions of the Cardinal World do exist out there. That there are other timelines, where Time is moving forward as of this moment.

However, everything I know contradicts such a theory.

But if what Luminous is telling is true, which I don't doubt, Chloe herself directly told her that she had over 2,000 years of memories, memories from different timelines. 

Sure, she could be lying for whatever reason, but I won't pretend to understand the mind of someone like her, she is mentally far older than I am, as well as more experienced.

She is not the child she once was.

But I'll just have to take her words as truth for now, I don't really have any other choice.

This was the world God once lived in, if there were multiple Cardinal Worlds then what would make this world so special for him to reside in.

Not to mention there are many inconsistencies with such a theory. For one, the Primordials were born at the dawn of time from the Great Spirit of Darkness, there are only Seven Primordials, no more, no less.

There is only a single Great Spirit of Darkness, so only a single version of each Primordial I would think which disproves the theory of there being multiple timelines of the Cardinal World.

The Primordials are a significant factor in the Cardinal World, Guy is one, if he never showed up in the Cardinal World things would be drastically different then they currently are.

He established the Demon Lord Council for whatever reason, he stopped Milim's rampage when she Awakened as a True Demon Lord, he has been the protector of Humanity for who knows how long.

Safe to say he is key to this world's history and stability.

Not to mention Arcueid, Lalatina, or Megumin would have brought such a thing up at some point. It would be practically impossible for those three to be unaware of some alternate timelines with alternate versions of themselves.

There is only a single Milim Nava in existence, as she is the child of God so it is safe to say that she is a unique individual. Same with the rest of the Primordials.

Hell, Veldora is a True Dragon, the sibling of Veldanava, the Supreme Creator, an aspect of nature itself. If there were alternate timelines of the Cardinal World he would know, probably.

No, I was still missing something, something that would make all this make sense.

What could it be?

'Notice. It is impossible for other timelines of the Cardinal World to exist at the present moment.'

'Then how is it possible for Chloe to have had memories of these other timelines, of how differently things could go?'

'It is likely that the individual Chloe Aubert is resetting the timeline whenever she goes back to the start of everything.'

…..

…..

…..

…..

That's…. horrifying.

How… how many versions of me have been erased? How many versions of Saeko, Raiden, Arcueid, Megumin, Lalatina, or everyone have been erased? Forgotten to Time itself, never to be remembered, going out without even having a chance to fight.

Were all their experiences worthless?

That's fucked up. Absolutely fucked up. My fists clenched under the table.

That's basically a form of death, but worse. 

I am a firm believer that the memories make the man, your experiences in life make you who you are. 

Without those experiences you are a different person, you may have the same soul, but you are inherently different.

My beliefs are comparable to the philosophical question about the ship of Theseus. Thesius, the mythical King of Athens, had once gone on a quest on a ship, the ship was preserved by replacing all of its decaying parts.

But it could be argued if all of the parts were replaced, was it even the same ship anymore?

In my opinion no, it is not the same ship anymore, it is not the ship that sailed through the oceans in ancient times anymore, it is a mere replica.

Perhaps my views will change as I grow older.

A version of me that never reincarnated as a Daemon, maybe if I reincarnated as a Human, I would be a different person than I currently am.

My experiences made me the current me, whether through slaughtering thousands or just having a good time with my friends. Each of those makes me who I am.

I wouldn't have met the Old Man, I likely wouldn't have met Milim, Rimuru, Veldora, or even the bratty Pixie. I may have even remained as complete fodder, my fate out of my hands.

Not to mention I likely wouldn't have received my closest companion, Odin.

'!!!!!'

The dead are at the very least remembered by those that cared for them, by the world. This… this doesn't even allow that.

What experiences did my alternate have that I would never learn of? That I may never experience?

These other versions of me had their own lives, their own highs and lows, and they had died. There was no denying that.

I could empathize with them, because they were me but different, perhaps I was seeing myself in them, seeing what could happen to me.

What if something like that happens to this timeline? I will be practically helpless to do anything about it.

Truly, Time is a cruel mistress. 

'Notice. It may be theoretically possible to remain unaffected through sufficient analysis through the Intrinsic Skill: Adapter. However, the Adapter remains too weak to adapt to such a thing as it currently is.'

So it needs to be upgraded then huh? That's fine, at the very least the situation isn't entirely hopeless.

But even then what would this resistance to Chloe's timeline resets do for me exactly?

Would my younger version in the past just have my memories? Would I tag along with Chloe when she Time Leaps?

And even then, if what Luminous had said is correct, then there cannot be two versions of the same person in existence, as in I cannot be in the past or the future if my younger or older self respectively exist in the same Space-Time.

The world will try and fix the aberration and erase me from existence.

I don't want that happening.

'Further analysis is needed for sufficient understanding.'

Yeah, that's about what I expected.

Perhaps I could survive in that scenario if I somehow became so powerful that the Voice of the World is just incapable of affecting me.

The Voice of the World is multiversal if my understanding is accurate, it basically administrates the entirety of Veldanava's Creation, and while I'm strong, I am still far from the Voice of the World, the Authority and power it wields over the Multiverse is likely unrivaled.

It is basically the Administrator of this Multiverse after all.

Still, that doesn't mean I'm just going to give up on becoming stronger. My Skill repertoire is growing thanks to Odin's constant analysis. My Magicule Capacity is slowly increasing over time, same with my Magic Power.

Perhaps one day, should the stars align I may even evolve further.

Things might not be as hopeless as it seemed.

But man, this story of Luminous is pretty nuts. I could totally see an anime based around it being successful.

Still, I could feel myself calming down, things weren't as hopeless as I imagined. 

Now isn't the time to be panicking anyway. I still have some time to figure out a good solution to this mess.

My mind wandered to another revelation Luminous shared, Rimuru would die in the future. 

A Rimuru that made it back before the people in Tempest were massacred, leaving Rimuru with no reason to become a True Demon Lord. Leaving me with no reason to become a True Demon Lord, significantly weakening both of us.

Veldora would still be sealed in Rimuru's Stomach, and even I wouldn't have a tenth of my current capabilities.

At least I wouldn't be as helpless as Rimuru, I would still have Odin at that point. 

Though according to Luminous he died after 5 years, 5 years after the Falmuth invasion. That gave both Rimuru and me 5 years to expand our capabilities, I know I could do a lot with 5 years, and even with the limited Magicule Capacity, my variant had I'm sure Odin was able to develop some crazy shit.

And yet Rimuru still died while I was apparently busy with something else.

Luminous didn't know who Rimuru died to, or even the circumstances behind it. All she knew was that Rimuru went to a battlefield of some kind and did not return. 

It could be someone from the Western Nations, maybe Mariabell had something to do with it, or maybe not. There are plenty of people who would want to see Tempest wiped out.

Maybe it could have even been the Eastern Empire, who knows. We don't have enough information to come up with a good guess so it's best not to focus on that.

Once Rimuru dies, Veldora would be unleashed. From what Luminous was saying Hinata and I were lovers in this alternate timeline, and she died while I was helpless to do anything.

I imagine that I likely didn't take that too well and went on a rampage of my own. Though I'm sure, Odin would have gotten me under control eventually.

'If the Master wished to destroy the world from the bottom of his heart then Odin would assist to the best of its abilities. Odin will do anything the Master wishes for and will remain his ever-present protector.'

….Woah.

That's giving off intense yandere vibes… but, that's completely okay! After all, yanderes are hot!

It doesn't matter either way, I must be imagining things in the first place. Odin has been acting incredibly… human recently but being a yandere is a bit much.

Nah, it's impossible.

"So I died, huh? And Tempest was attacked…." Rimuru muttered.

I nodded. "That is the most likely scenario. I wouldn't see you getting involved in a battle if it didn't involve Tempest in some way."

Rimuru sighed. "I see. And we can't even guard ourselves against this enemy since we don't even know who this enemy is. Well, at the very least, I can try and make sure something like that doesn't happen in this timeline."

I nodded. "Yeah, things already seem to be going differently from that timeline, according to the information Luminous shared."

Rimuru nodded along. "Yeah, we apparently weren't even True Demon Lords. I for sure know I would be a lot weaker without Awakening."

He's likely thinking about his own supercomputer, Raphael, having a supercomputer in your head that can basically plan for anything with enough information is a real lifesaver. Odin is better though.

'Indeed. Raphael possesses inferior processing capabilities since Odin was able to upgrade itself by dismantling and consuming a copied variant of Raphael, Lord of Wisdom.'

I internally rolled my eyes. 'Don't get too proud now.'

"It is good that you two aren't putting too much stock in what happened in these other timelines. Those other versions of us failed. We must simply not fail."

I clapped my hands. "Great pep talk, Luminous."

"Hmph! I am simply not used to having to do such a thing."

"Yeah, yeah, I was just messing with you. Now we need to come up with a plan to unseal Chloe and Hinata."

Luminous nodded. "Once I return to Ruberious I will begin making preparations to begin unsealing the Holy Ark, it is a fairly difficult process due to how much Holy Power is imbued in the Holy Ark, it is capable of burning an Awakened Demon Lord with but a touch. I will need to prepare a ritual and gather certain items that can dilute some of the Holy Power."

Rimuru nodded. "Alright. Then, while you do that, we can take care of some things on our end."

Luminous nodded. "Good. Now that you both are filled in, why don't we talk about who you suspect is behind Hinata's death, Felix? Her death may have been necessary, but that does not mean that I will allow the perpetrator to remain free from punishment. Not to mention that Clown has yet to answer for his crimes."

I nodded. "Alright, one thing though, Yuuki is mine." I said with a neutral smile.

He has quite a lot to pay for, if everything I think is accurate then he is responsible for Falmuth's invasion, he is responsible for this attack on Hinata and maybe even Tempest, and most of all he is responsible for Saeko's death.

Rimuru sighed. "I'd prefer if there was a peaceful resolution, but if he is indeed behind this then I don't think that is possible."

"Very well, as long as I can inflict personal punishment on the Clown, you may deal with his master. Just promise me his death will not be peaceful." Said Luminous, who had a chilling smile on her face.

I shrugged my shoulders. "Haha, it was never going to be a peaceful death, Luminous! But, alright, that's fine with me."

I'm sure Luminous has a variety of ways to torture the Clown, with her Unique Skill: Lust she was capable of torturing others on a Soul deep level. With Asmodeus, she is now capable of far more than that.

I would pity the Clown if I didn't know what he had done.

"Good. Now that we have all that out of the way, I'll share why I believe Yuuki is at least partially responsible for this attack and why I think he is responsible for even Falmuth's invasion."

Rimuru's eyes widened hearing me. "Even the Falmuth invasion?!"

I nodded. "Yup."

Rimuru was interested before, but now he was truly paying attention. 

"First, let me give you some context. Do either of you know what Anti-Skill is?"

Rimuru shook his head. Hmm, perhaps Raphael had not gotten the chance to analyze his physique for some reason.

Luminous looked thoughtful. "I believe I have heard of it, but I do not know what it is capable of."

I nodded. "That's fine. Basically, Anti-Skill is a Spiritual Constitution, it gives you a Physical Body that is capable of negating almost anything. Aura, Magic, Skills, any sort of spiritual or magical force will find itself nullified by this physique."

Luminous and Rimuru were both looking at me with wide eyes. " " What! " "

I nodded with understanding on my face. "Yeah… it's broken as fuck. It can even nullify Ultimate Skills and seal them off for a period of time."

"Th-That's!" Even Luminous was speechless.

I mean, she just got a power up of her own, an Ultimate Skill and then she finds out it can be dealt with fairly easily in the right circumstances? Yeah, I'd be pretty fed up too.

"Though it can only be activated by direct touch, skin to skin contact is necessary, at least normally."

Luminous quickly regained control of herself. "I assume you are bringing this up for a reason?"

I nodded. "Yes. Yuuki Kagurazaka has Anti-Skill."

Luminous nodded. "Then the threat of the Free Guild's Guildmaster has gone up significantly. If he can take on an Ultimate Skill wielder, he will be a significant threat."

I nodded along.

"You said normally?" Asked Rimuru. 

Well, he seemed to be taking this revelation fairly well. Though Rimuru was always the type who didn't put too much stock in his own personal power. I'm fairly certain he still believes himself to not be all that strong.

He has four Ultimate Skills he Awakened on his own with Raphael's help. If he isn't strong, then I don't know who is.

In response to Rimuru's question I nodded. "Yes, normally." I summoned the weapon that the Clown was using, the weapon made with the bones of someone with Anti-Skill, the body reflects the Spirit, so Yuuki's bones carried some properties of Anti-Skill.

The weapon itself quickly accepted me as its new master allowing me to reshape it as I wished, I shifted it into a dagger for convenience sake.

I showed off the newly formed dagger. "This, this is a dagger made with the bones of someone with Anti-Skill, allowing it to carry similar properties though weaker, it also isn't capable of sealing off Skills like the Spiritual Constitution variant."

Luminous was looking at the dagger with interest and slight greed in her eyes. I couldn't blame her either, it was one hell of a weapon. That goes to show what kind of resources Yuuki has to pull on, I'm sure getting this forged wasn't easy, even if he already had all the materials ready.

God Grade Equipment was valuable, even to someone of Luminous' standing. She may be capable of creating a God Grade Equipment with Material Creation, the thing is she doesn't have Material Creation.

Theoretically I could arm my entire military with God Grade Equipment, but that would be foolish. For one, I'm sure some would get a big head and think they can overthrow me, which sounds annoying to deal with.

Then there is the fact that the Equipment likely won't accept many as its master, they do have high standards after all.

In the case that the Equipment does not accept someone, the wielder can still use the Equipment. It just won't reach its full potential. They won't be able to bring out the full potential of the God Grade Equipment, likely not even a single percentage of its potential.

It is overall a foolish plan. If I was in urgent need of strong subordinates I'd have Arcueid, Lalatina, or Megumin go get more Daemons.

I twirled the dagger around in my hand. "This is mine now, by the way." 

Luminous glared at me for a moment before huffing. "Fine, you did deal with the Clown, so the spoils of war, as they say, are yours."

I smirked victoriously at her, which only seemed to annoy Luminous further.

"We can test it out if you want." I offered.

Rimuru nodded. "Yes, I'd like to see how this works. I'll use my Ultimate Skill."

Heh, Raphael probably wants to analyze it. Unfortunately, he won't be able to get a detailed analysis unless it is done on his stomach.

Rimuru and I got up from our seats and stood across from each other on a side of the room that had more space.

"No fighting, okay Felix? This is just a test." Rimuru said with a hint of worry in his tone.

I snorted hearing that. "Don't worry, if I wanted to fight, I'd ask Veldora."

Rimuru released a sigh of relief. "Alright, you ready?"

I nodded.

"Uriel!" 

Multiple barriers appeared around Rimuru. Space was severed between each Barrier layer, normally it would be pretty tough to get through. Universal Barrier then, huh?

Heh, I could still Hollow Purple through it though. 

I slowly walked forward with my new dagger in my hand and slowly penetrated the Multilayer Barrier that Rimuru had deployed. 

Normally, this dagger would have some trouble breaking through something powered by an Ultimate Skill, if it wasn't straight up impossible. The Anti-Skill Attribute in it wasn't nearly as strong as Yuuki's own after all.

But thanks to being reinforced by my own power it has been strengthened enough to be capable of combating Ultimate Skills.

I could theoretically cut through even my own Blue or Red, and possibly Hollow Purple if I infused enough of my own power into this dagger.

From the corner of my eye I could see Luminous' eyes widen, likely from watching an Ultimate Skill get so easily dismantled as well as seeing Rimuru's Ultimate Skill for the first time.

She is incredibly knowledgeable, and I wouldn't be surprised if she already had a general understanding of what Uriel specialized in just from seeing Rimuru deploy his Universal Barrier.

"Huh… it really was able to easily break through Universal Barrier." Rimuru observed as he dispelled his Barrier. 

"Yup, this dagger is seriously impressive, I'll probably even use it from time to time."

Rimuru nodded. "Do you mind if I test it out on another one of my Barriers? This one is an Art made by the combination of a few things."

I nodded. "Yeah, sure. I'm also interested in seeing this new Barrier of yours."

I've seen Universal Barrier in the past, but I haven't heard of this new Art Rimuru came up with.

Rimuru snapped his fingers. "Absolute Guard!" 

Copycat, only I can snap my fingers to look cool!

A Multilayer Barrier appeared around Rimuru, except this was a tad different from the Universal Barrier from before.

I could tell aspects of Infinity Prison were used in this as well as parts of Universal Barrier and even aspects of Distortion Field.

"Hmm, I can sense part of a Distortion Field in this Barrier of yours Rimuru." Luminous remarked.

I turned to her in surprise. "I'm surprised you know what that is Luminous, it is a fairly difficult Art to use without a Spatial focused Ultimate Skill. It required me to experiment a bit to come up with it."

Luminous rolled her eyes. "You can say I learned Distortion Field thanks to you."

I tilted my head. "Thanks to me?"

Luminous nodded. "Indeed. In another one of the timelines, you created Distortion Field and shared it with Chloe. Chloe kept that knowledge and shared it with Hinata when they went back to the past, and then Hinata shared it with me."

I nodded in understanding. "Huh, who knew. Though do be careful, it is by no means an absolute defense."

Luminous nodded. "Indeed, I have found that out myself, but I thank you for the warning."

I did know Dimension Fault which was able to deal with the so-called weaknesses of Distortion Field, but I think I'll keep that to myself.

I turned back to Rimuru, who had prepared his new Barrier.

'The Art known as Absolute Guard has been analyzed and can be replicated.'

'Nice, good work, Odin.'

I don't see myself needing to use Absolute Guard ever, I have Infinity, Multi-Dimensional Barrier and Dimension Fault which are far better when it comes to defense.

But this defense of Rimuru's is pretty foolproof. I'm sure Raphael is awfully proud of it. 

I once again attempted to pierce through Rimuru's Absolute Guard, except this time, my dagger did not break through the barrier.

"Huh?!" 

'Notice. It has been detected that the Anti-Skill attribute is incapable of negating something which makes use of multiple different Laws. Absolute Guard makes use of multiple differing Laws.'

"Well it seems we just found a potential weakness of Anti-Skill." I voiced out. 

I repeated Odin's words to Luminous and Rimuru.

Rimuru smiled. "If even Anti-Skill can't penetrate through, I think I finally got a really strong defensive ability then!"

I nodded. "It's one hell of a defense. Anti-Skill is busted, but it seems everything has a weakness. I imagine that your Absolute Guard will be effective against many forms of offense. Though do be careful of Spiritron attacks."

Rimuru nodded.

We both took our seats.

"Now that you are finished with your little demonstration, why don't we continue." Luminous prompted.

We both nodded. Rimuru seemed to have guessed where I was going with this conversation. "You said that the dagger was made with the bones of someone with Anti-Skill?"

I nodded.

"And you also said that Yuuki has Anti-Skill?"

"Yup."

Rimuru sighed hearing me. "Then it seems the chances of Yuuki not being involved in this are extremely low. 

"Yup. I imagine there aren't many with Anti-Skill, hell I'm not sure how one even goes about acquiring it."

Rimuru nodded. 

"While that is valuable information it is not nearly enough to know who exactly is behind this attack for sure. It does lead me to suspect this Yuuki, however, but before any course of action I would like to be certain." Said Luminous.

I nodded. "That's true. But we do have two people to interrogate that could possibly help fit in the missing pieces of the puzzle."

Luminous tilted her head. "Two? I thought it was merely the Clown."

I shook my head. "No, I was ambushed earlier by a little girl and her subordinates. In fact, I am fairly certain this entire attack on Tempest was due to this little girl's actions."

Rimuru looked at me oddly. "A little girl?"

"She was in the body of a little girl, at least. In reality, her Soul was far older than her body, so she is likely a reincarnation or a body jacker."

Rimuru nodded in understanding.

"Do you have any idea who this girl is?" Asked Rimuru.

I nodded. "Yes, it's the girl I warned you about during the Tournament."

Rimuru's eyes widened. "The one with Greed?!"

"Yup."

"Sorry about that. Once the attack started, I ordered Souei to focus more on rescuing civilians."

I waved Rimuru off. "It's fine. If Souei stuck around, I probably wouldn't have been able to have any fun."

Even Luminous seemed quite surprised. "Another Sin Series Skill has turned up? What an odd series of events."

"Indeed. The Unique Skill: Greed basically specializes in mind control by using the victim's greed against them. Using Greed, she was also able to sacrifice the lifespan of her subordinates to give them a fairly substantial boost in power."

"Hmm. Was this boost in power able to cause you trouble, Felix?" Asked Rimuru, sounding concerned.

"Haha, no way. The boost was significant, but you need far more than just that to cause me a challenge. Both you and Luminous would be capable of mopping the floor with them."

Luminous looked proud at my recognition, while Rimuru simply nodded.

"Anyways, back to the girl. She holds a vast amount of political power back in the Western Nations, to the point where I think it is unwise to kill her here in Tempest, even knowing what she did."

Rimuru looked thoughtful for a moment before his eyes widened. "Is that the person you warned me about a while back? The person that would likely cause me trouble down the line due to not agreeing with Tempest's goals?"

"She is related to that person."

"I do believe I know whom you are speaking of." Luminous added.

Hmm, that isn't that odd, Ruberious does have a fairly close relationship with the Western Nations, so it isn't surprising that Luminous knows about Granbell Rosso.

"You are speaking of Granbell Rosso, my former Luminary of the Sun." Finished Luminous.

Now that I did not know.

"Granbell was one of your Luminaries?"

Luminous nodded. "He was in the past. In fact, he was the leader of the Luminaries. In the ancient past, Granbell and I clashed many times, as Demon Lords and Heroes often do."

"This Granbell is a Hero?!" Rimuru groaned.

Luminous nodded. "He was known as a Hero, he possessed the qualification to become a True Hero and he possessed a Hero's Egg, and while to my knowledge he has yet to hatch it, though he may have merely hidden his Awakening. He is still a formidable foe."

Rimuru's eyes widened. "Seriously?! I might have a Hero as my enemy?!"

I could understand Rimuru's panic. Heroes are the counterparts to Demon Lords for a reason, they can be quite troublesome.

The saying that Heroes and Demon Lords are bound by causality does have some truth to it.

"Is he a Saint then?"

Luminous shook her head. "Yes, however as far as I know he is an Incomplete Saint, it is due to that reason that he has grown weaker over time, age has affected his power, even my Love Energy cannot halt aging completely, merely delay it."

Rimuru sighed in relief.

Incomplete Saints while are incredibly powerful, but they are not true Saints, they can still age, if at a much slower rate.

Granbell has been at his game for over a thousand years now, it seems the age is getting to him.

However one thing I did notice was that Luminous was using terms like "as far as I know" and "to my knowledge", that gives off the vibe that she is not 100% certain, Granbell may be a Complete Saint and a True Hero, Luminous just doesn't believe he is but she can't say anything for certain.

"You aren't 100% certain are you?" I questioned.

Luminous' lips twitched but she nodded. "You are correct Felix, if Granbell has hid so much from me, then I may not know what else he has hidden, even if it pains me to admit it."

I nodded. "I see, thanks for being honest."

Luminous nodded. "In the end, do not underestimate Granbell. He is a master of Holy Magic and while he is merely an Incomplete Saint, his status as a potential True Hero can make up for that. He is a man that was capable of matching me in the past through sheer skill alone. While he has grown weaker due to age and likely will not rebel against me openly, he is still a threat should he decide to be your enemy." Luminous explained.

"Why didn't you just take him out when he had rebelled then?" I asked for posterity's sake.

"That man had been one of my closest subordinates for centuries, he knew every single one of my hidden passages and had likely established one or two hidden passages of his own that I do not know of. Not to mention his many safehouses throughout the Western Nations as well as his masterful control over his own power, he can hide his Aura and make it practically impossible to locate him."

I nodded along. "I see. So he is a planner huh? He prepared for the moment he would betray you and made sure he could stay hidden long enough to come up with a plan." 

"Indeed, it seems so. One of my subordinates had erased the body he was puppeting with Disintegration, but that was but a minor inconvenience for him."

I nodded. "Well, I'm sure he'll show up eventually. You've gotten stronger than you were in the past so perhaps you can take Granbell out next time you see him."

Luminous nodded. "He has escaped my eyes for far too long, he has yet to pay for his insolence."

"I'll leave that to you then."

"Ah, I do have another question." Rimuru interjected.

Luminous looked curiously at him. "Yes?"

"I'm curious, what are Granbell's goals in the first place? You said he had vast political power but what has he done with it? Because I haven't heard of this guy at all."

Luminous closed her eyes for a few seconds before answering. "His goal was to bring peace to the Human world in the past. I remember hearing tales of him defeating various Majin and the like in his goal to defend Humanity, in fact that is the reason our clashes initially began."

"Huh! So maybe he isn't that bad of a guy?" Speculated Rimuru.

Luminous ignored his words and continued. "Eventually he learned that I had no hostile intentions to Humanity and agreed to cooperate with me. We created an alliance and so the Western Nations prospered. Various countries sprouted, some small while others grew to become superpowers. Granbell manipulated all of these from the shadows and eventually created the Western States Council and has ruled it ever since its founding."

"He rules the Western States Council?! I didn't even know that was possible?!" Rimuru exclaimed.

This time I answered. "It is ruled by 5 Humans called the 5 Great Elders, each of them is bestowed with vast political power and Granbell is at their head. Using his position and influence he is practically the ruler of the entire Western Nations, at least his political power is unmatched."

"I… I don't really know what to think about that." Rimuru sighed.

That is understandable. This Granbell is a legendary figure based on what we heard, he is probably one of the sole reasons that the Western Nations have enjoyed relative peace for the last thousand years.

"In the end he is our enemy Rimuru, don't let his tales of grandeur blind you."

Rimuru sighed. "I know, I just wish we could have gotten along, our goals are compatible, but I don't agree with his way of going about things."

I rolled my eyes. "Granbell's way is the most realistic and easiest way to go about creating peace. You are the odd one here, wanting to create peace by allowing everyone to understand each other. You sound like Naruto."

"H-Hey! I'm not like Naruto!"

"Whatever you say buddy."

"Who is this Naruto?" Asked Luminous. 

"Ah, I can share the story with you later, but basically he is a super idealistic guy who wants to create peace through understanding."

Luminous nodded. "Very well I will hear about this Naruto after we have sorted this mess out."

Heh, I'll have a fun time enlightening Luminous!

"Though one thing I do wish to share on the topic of Granbell is that he and Yuuki Kagurazaka had made contact in the past."

My eyes widened at that. " "Seriously?!" " Both Rimuru and I exclaimed.

Luminous nodded.

"Well that's even more proof of Yuuki's involvement."

Luminous nodded. "Indeed, it seems the evidence is pointing towards this Yuuki being responsible."

"Ah, I never mentioned who my attacker was, did I? Well it was Mariabell Rosso."

"Mariabell Rosso? I do recall vague mentions of her, Granbell did seem to value her quite a bit." Said Luminous.

"That makes sense, her ability is fairly useful and impossible for 99% of Humanity to resist. He could gain far more control over the Western Nations with her."

Luminous and Rimuru both nodded.

"Now while we can all agree that Yuuki is likely responsible, I'm sure we can confirm that by asking dear Mariabell ourselves, wouldn't you all agree? After we confirm everything we can come up with a plan to deal with Yuuki once and for all."

Luminous and Rimuru nodded.

"Sounds good to me, but how will we get her to answer? I doubt she will just give in and answer our questions." Asked Rimuru.

"Just leave that bit to me."

There is an ability I've been wanting to test out for some time now.

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I have a discord server, come hang out if you want! https://discord.gg/VxR5Gn72Fp I also have a channel in Shiro's Gaming Omniverse.

Links: patreon.com/theogbasilisk

Author's Note:

Hello everyone, we are finally finished with our little in the past chapters. Hopefully you guys enjoyed it, I did have a fun time writing it.

We get to hear Felix's POV about Chloe's time shenanigans and what he feels about all that.

Now we hear Felix's reasoning for suspecting Yuuki and some more world building on Luminous' end.

Also Anti-Skill is busted.

As for those of you who are curious when the next world jump will be, it will likely be after the western nations arc and all that is taken care of, I don't like leaving plot points to just sit there so I'm going to finish all of the ones coming up before the jump.

Anyways, I'll see you guys next time, peace.