Eternal Saṃsāra: The Wanderer of Worlds

[162] Would You Like To Torture A Dying Man With Me?

Chapter 162: Would You Like To Torture A Dying Man With Me?

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The two Chief Goddesses sat on couches, facing each other, while Sakuyahime and Bishamonten stood behind their great lady. The room was filled with the fragrance of flowers from the garden outside since it was windy now and Aqua could feel the storm aura in the air. 

I sat down on a separate couch, creating a triangle shape within the room, as I faced Amaterasu while ignoring Quetzalcoatl. “I remember you telling me that this body is the vessel of your subordinate, Yatagarasu. Why do you keep using it? The two behind you are perfectly fine, in their own bodies.”

Amaterasu's expression remained soft as she smiled, “It is a matter of dignity and tradition,” she began, her voice gentle yet firm. “As the chief deity of my pantheon, I don’t find it fitting to wander the mortal realm in my true form, unlike certain… other  entities.” She held back from pointing at Quetzalcoatl, but it was obvious. “This vessel of Yatagarasu provides a suitable guise, that’s the only reason.”

Bishamonten, with her arms crossed, nodded in agreement. “Plus Sakuya and I are acting as Lady Amaterasu’s bodyguards, so we need our real bodies.”

That was a good enough answer. I turned to Quetzalcoatl for a short look and looked back at Amaterasu. “Let’s discuss more serious matters, then. What brings you here? I imagine the topic must be grave if two Chief Gods decided to drop on my doorstep.”

“Hmm?” Quetzalcoatl tilted her head with a smile, “I am just here for a short visit, I don’t know what’s going on. Rasu should be the one to speak.”

“Quit calling me that, Dragon.” Amaterasu shot Quetzalcoatl a look. “And do not lie. You’re aware of the situation in Vedas, too.”

“Aha, Vedas!” Quetzalcoatl slapped her hands together, lighting up. “That’s what you are here for? Yes, that I’m aware of. A lot of stuff is going on in the Vedas.”

They're late if they’re here to talk about the foreign Goddess. Rias already told me about it weeks ago. I have to pretend not to know about it, however, otherwise, Rias might face consequences for revealing top-secret information to me.

“To start,” Amaterasu looked at me and said, “I’m sure you know about the Hero Faction, those fools have abducted a Goddess who traversed this world from another, under the order of Indra. The foreign Goddess aside, recently there have been rumors that the Hero Faction might leave the Khaos Brigade, and officially become a part of God Emperor Indra’s group. In which case, I imagine Ophis will not be very happy.”

“As for the Goddess topic,” Quetzalcoatl followed, “I heard, they’re trying to use her as a weapon against Shiva. However, I fail to see how they plan to do that when she’s weak enough to get captured by the Hero Faction. ”

“Perhaps her divinity is a good counter to Shiva?” I expressed my thoughts, making Amaterasu nod in agreement. 

“Perhaps. There are also rumors that her affinity is similar to… that of the God of the Bible, but I don’t believe that rumor.” From her tone, I believed that she didn’t believe it one bit. It made sense. A Goddess, if similar to the God of the Bible, would never fall to the likes of Hero Faction.

A short silence fell as Amaterasu searched for her next words, and finally, she sighed, “That brings us to why I’m here. This doesn’t concern you, so I hadn’t let you know about it till now, but… at this rate, it might. Indra reached out to Shinto and made a small request. We were not going to follow through with it from the get-go, since helping him in anything would mean we were choosing his side against Shiva, but we decided to hear out his request at least.”

“This is getting interesting,” Quetzalcoatl sat more comfortably. As someone not part of Shinto, she too was unaware of this incident.

Amaterasu continued while I waited with a frown, “Indra was naturally curious about the Goddess’ origin and why she was here before he decided to use her as a weapon, and although she couldn’t understand this world’s language at first, they managed to communicate with her in the end and she explained her reason. She said her coming here was not an accident, she came here in search of a person.”

“Oh?”

“She said she’s not sure who he is, but from her senses, he’s supposed to be in Japan. She described him as a man with black hair, purple eyes, and an average height. That is not much to work with, I told Indra, but he told us to do our best to find this person anyway.”  She said, “We Gods are busy in heaven, we seldom keep track of the mortal world and its happenings, that’s why I’m here to ask you for help. You have made a name for yourself, and often interact with mortal superhumans. If you know one such man who fits the appearance, or meet him in the future, please contact us. It may be a bit too much at this time frame since I noticed how busy you are, so pardon me.”

“It’s alright,” I shrugged, it didn’t seem that hard of a job anyway. For a single second I entertained the possibility that it was one of my women from a different life, but no. I should stop my wishful thinking.

“If the person you were looking for is a girl, I’d have put ahead Tsubasa – she’s a black-haired girl with purple eyes and is also kind enough to be a person who a Goddess is looking for, but the gender is reversed here. I’ll let you know if I find a male with such descriptions.”

“Thank you,” Amaterasu said, “That’s one reason why I’m here, but one other is to warn you. Please do not engage with whatever is happening in Vedas, it’s dangerous. I am saying this because you’re friends with the Kuoh Academy’s devils, and the Red Dragon Emperor’s current host is there. He might get pulled into that situation since the White Dragon Emperor is there, and in turn you too.”

“It’s alright, we’re not close enough for that,” I said, “Thank you for the warning.”

“Great,” Amaterasu stood up, “In that case, we shall take our leave.”

“Already?” I asked and she giggled.

“We’re busy, sorry,” then, with a snap of her finger, she teleported out of the house with her two attendees. The light of teleportation vanished with them, leaving me and Quetzalcoatl behind.

“She didn’t even say goodbyes to me,” Quetzalcoatl said with a frown and turned to me, “Why’re you friends with such rude people, Aqua boy?”

I could see that Amaterasu had a less than-favorable impression of Quetzalcoatl. And I could see why. Quetzalcoatl was one dangerous Goddess, and yet was camping in Japan instead of staying in her own area. 

I'm not sure how the politics worked here, but Quetzalcoatl managed to get in here due to the Satans, and not the Shinto. So it made sense why Amaterasu wouldn't be happy with it.

“Is my little Goddess’ ego hurt?” I let out a chuckle and walked over to her, watching her blink before she grinned.

“It sure is…” she reached out a hand and pulled me by the collar, causing my body to fall over hers. “Wouldn't my cute little student help me soothe it?”

Oh, I wasn't expecting her to play along this far. My left hand squeezed her waist, my left knee pressed between her legs, and my right hand went under her ear.

“I can try…” I said as I leaned down, and she parted her lips with a smirk at that. Our lips were about to meet when a cough cut the romantic scent in the air.

“Aqua. Quku.”

I heard our names being called and sighed with closed eyes. I stepped back and saw Ai standing at the doorstep. I was so busy and focused on Quetzalcoatl that I missed her presence.

She stood with crossed arms as she shot me a look, and then at Quetzalcoatl. “He is too young for you, what are you doing?”

My mother and Quetzalcoatl have grown close over tea talks since the dragon often visited our place. Thankfully, for once, Ai blamed the woman instead of me. Good.

I decided to quickly leave the room before I'd catch her attention.

– Ding Dong! 

….And that's when the doorbell rang. Is it just me or has it been ringing too many times recently?

Leaving the two women and walking over to open the door, I let my surprise paint my face, although I had sensed her presence already.

“Aqu-tan!” Serafall, once again, jumped into my arms and I returned the hug.

This time, she hadn't come with Sona, no, she was with Rias and Akeno instead.

“Uh, hey…” I said slowly, and she pulled her face back to scowl at me. “Would you look at this, you don't sound very happy to see me. Well hah, of course you don't! You forgot about our promise!”

“Oh.”

Right, right, right, the promise... There was a thing like that.

“You look surprised!” Serafall stomped on her little feet and glared at me playfully. And here I was excited as I did my best to clean up my schedule. You're heartless!”

“Em, I've been busy…” It wasn't a lie, my cultivation has kept me busy.

“Oh, what's going on here,” Quetzalcoatl ran out of the room and stopped at the door as she found it packed. Ai followed behind her with a scowl and blinked in surprise when she saw her kouhai at the door.

“Sera? What are you doing at the door, come inside.” Ai said and I grew nervous. She had just reprimanded Quetzalcoatl for trying to get with me, and now Serafall was here for the same reason.

“Ah, Senpai! Tell your nephew to treat his promises better, he promised to take me on vacation and now he has forgotten!”

“Ah.”

“Oh, where?”

My mom and Quetzalcoatl had drastically different reactions to that. Before Ai could even reply, the playful goddess clapped her hands, “If you guys haven't decided on a place yet, how about you come over to the Aztec heaven?! I'll leave Japan for a bit for summer vacation too.”

Ai closed her mouth that she had opened a moment earlier, while I wondered about Quetzalcoatl's offer in surprise. That wasn't a bad place to go to at all.

I might even learn more about the stuff in the Vedas by just being in the heaven of some other pantheon.

When Serafall moved away, Rias jumped into my arms, as if to make it even that some other girl didn't score over her, while Akeno rubbed her arm in uncomfortable silence a bit away from us.

****

I, apparently, needed permission from my mother to visit Ilhuicatl-Teoiztac, the 9th Heaven of the Aztec Pantheon, the residence of Quetzalcoatl. Serafall agreed to the invitation, and I agreed to it as well after barely convincing Ai. 

She looked mad even though she agreed, and although I invited her to tag along, she rejected me with a scowl and returned to her room.

“Well, in that case! I’ll see you next morning,” said Quetzalcoatl and waved at me from the door before wings popped up from her back and she flew off.

So that’s final. “I should leave too now and prepare,” Serafall said, pulling Rias and Akeno with her as she charged up a teleportation circle under her feet.

“Wait,” I said and she paused. I looked at Akeno, “Are you free today? If you are… we can go meet Kokabiel together.” It had been long enough of his isolation torture, it was time to move into more violent parts.

Akeno paused and looked at her King, while Serafall raised an eye trying to guess what was going on. Rias frowned, looked at me, and hesitated. She opened her mouth a bit later but only bit her lip.

“It’s alright,” I told Rias and she looked up at me. “She’ll be safe.”

Rias sighed, “Fine. Don’t go… too far.”

Serafall looked between us for a moment and then snapped her fingers, teleporting herself and Rias away, leaving behind Akeno. As the light of teleportation vanished, I smiled at Akeno for a long moment before turning around.

“Come with me,” It’s been a while since I tortured someone, and longer when I did it with a like-minded girl. I’m a little excited about it.

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