[Scholar of █████████ Identification Number: █████████████████████ is initiating contact with the Little Garden's Central Cardinal System.]
[Requesting access to the Little Garden's Central Cardinal System Archive.]
[Little Garden's Central Cardinal System Archive activated.]
[Access to the Little Garden's Central Cardinal System Archive Granted.]
[Searching through the Little Garden's Central Cardinal System Archive for the Key Words.]
[Match Found.]
[██████]
[Viewing the File of [Redacted] of the [Redacted] Species.]
[Insufficient Permission in the Little Garden's Central Cardinal System to view the Unredacted Files.]
[Species: ██████ - [Redacted] / [Redacted]
Type: ████ ██████, [Redacted], ██████ ██ ███ █████ ████, [Redacted], [Redacted], [Redacted], [Redacted]
Name: [Redacted]
Title: The Majesty, ██████ ██ ███████, [Redacted]
Digit: █████████
Parameters: ███
Vital Status: Active
Chaotic Origin Dimension: [Redacted]
Identification Number of Chaotic Origin Dimension: [Redacted]
Chaotic Origin Dimension Status: [Redacted] by [Redacted].
Chaotic Origin Dimension Type: [Redacted]
Realm: Great Dark Beyond.]
[Accessing History of The Majesty.]
[Insufficient Authority within the Little Garden's Central Cardinal System for full access.]
[Little Garden's Central Cardinal System is issuing partial access.]
[Archive Entry: Recorded History of The Majesty recorded by the Little Garden's Central Cardinal System.
NOTE 1: Accessing Partial Files
NOTE 2: Prolonged Access may attract the attention of The Majesty
[Redacted] was originally a low rank █████ ████ and poor and weak slave to an [Redacted] of the [Redacted] Civilization with high Sociability/Affinity until the [Redacted] contracted with him out of anger. This started the [Redacted] and the process of becoming, ██████ and also the event known as the Revolution of the Relics across the entire Great Dark Beyond Cosmos.
It is noted that he [Redacted] is one of the few people who were able to become ██████ through the concept of Evolution. Not many achieved the same thing like [Redacted] in the several past Eras, and [Redacted] remains as one of the very few rare ones.
He is the one who commands and rules all of the Relics and Heirlooms. He is the administrator of the [Redacted] and established Laws for the Relics to adhere to. He established the ██████ ████ which are as follows:
1st Law - All Relics must not harm their Users without the conscious acknowledgement of their User
2nd Law - All Relics must enter into the Contract with their User to be used as Relic
3rd Law - The Relic would disappear if they do not abide by the first two laws
The Majesty is notorious for spreading the Relics across the entire Chaosverse, seeding the Relics in various Chaotic Origin Dimensions and other places acorss the Void. Not many know what [Redacted] observes with this behavior.
But it has been noted that the few ones who were lucky enough to decipher the Tombglyphs, the language that [Redacted] created, were able to contract some of the most powerful Heirlooms and reach the level of [Redacted] or even that of the [Redacted] and [Redacted] in the Little Garden.
Across the entire Great Dark Beyond Cosmos and even the Void itself, there are ten very unique Heirlooms that are called the Majesty's Treasures.
1. The Majesty's Library - ██████ ███████
2. The Majesty's Cradle - ██████ ██ █████ / ██████ ██ ████
3. The Majesty's Lock - ██████ ████
4. The Majesty's Helmet - ████████ ████████ ██████
5. Majesty's Carriage - ██████: ██████ ██ ███ ██████-███████ ████
6. The Majesty's Palace - ████████ ██████ ████████
7. The Majesty's Throne - ██████ ██ ████ ██████████
8. The Majesty's Key - ███ ████████ ███ ██ ███ █████ ██████ ████
9. The Majesty's Crown - ████
10. The Majesty's Token - █████ ██ ██████
Any of these Heirlooms are more than enough to elevate one's existence to [Redacted] and some are saying that this was also the intention of the [Redacted] to create new [Redacted], [Redacted] and [Redacted] through The Majesty's Treasures, but that is only widely accepted speculation and nothing more.
[Redacted] also participated in the creation of the Little Garden as he used his expertise in the creation of the Relics and Heirloom to upgrade the [Redacted] within the Little Garden's Central Cardinal System and is one of the main Architects behind the Little Garden's Central Cardinal System.]
[Accessing the recent history of the Little Garden and its Observed Dimensions.]
[Requesting permission to access the Little Garden's Central Cardinal System Archive.]
[Permission from the Little Garden's Central Cardinal System has been granted.]
[Archive Entry: Recent History of the Little Garden and its Observed Dimensions through the Archives of the Little Garden and it's Observed Dimensions
After the death of another ██████, [Redacted] arrived atthe Starry Sky Chaotic Origin Dimension when the [Redacted], the Absolute Being, was killed by [Redacted] and [Redacted]. It has been noted that [Redacted] has been seeding his Relics acorss the entire Chaotic Origin Dimension, but focusing primarily on the planet named Terra due to it's natural peculiarities.
The Majesty isn't alone in the Chaotic Origin Dimension, because another two of ███████ them are noted to be located in the Starry Sky Chaotic Origin Dimension, namely ██████ ███████ and ██████ ██████████ who arrived there not long after the death of the Absolute Being.
Currently, the last Observed Record done by the Little Garden's Central Cardinal System was the birth of the Last Future Embryo when [Redacted] passed the ██████████████ to the [Redacted] during the [Redacted] in the world [Redacted] when the consciousness of the [Redacted] was summoned to [Redacted] by special ritual.
The Starry Sky Chaotic Origin Dimension currently lacks a bearer for the position of Last Embryo. All further Records are now on the highest level of lockdown by the order of the ████████████████ of the Little Garden's Central Cardinal System.]
[Accessing the Prognosis.]
[Prognosis Accessed.]
[Prognosis Records of the Little Garden's Central Cardinal System for The Majesty.
Currently, it is highly possible that the [Redacted] will attempt to meddle in the experiments conducted by ██████ ███████ and ██████ ██████████ as he has been noted to be intervening in the experiments already, when one of his Treasures got contracted with [Redacted] during the [Redacted].
It has also been noted, that this is breaking the balance in the Terra that both ██████ ███████ and ██████ ██████████ strive to maintain to conduct their [Redacted] Experiment.
System Error!!!
System Error!!!
System Error!!!
System Error!!!
System Error!!!!]
[Attempting to Reboot.]
[Rebooting.]
[Establishing connection with the Little Garden's Central Cardinal System.]
[Connection with the Little Garden's Central Cardinal System has been established.]
[The connection with the Little Garden's Central Cardinal System has been forcibly ended by The Majesty.]
[The connection with the Little Garden's Central Cardinal System has been ended.]
***
Tokyo, Secondary Branch of the History Compilation Committee in Tokyo, Shibuya, Some Time Later
Capturing both the Amakasu Tōma and Sayanomiya Kaoru brought a lot of benefits because both were really high-ranking members of the History Compilation Committee.
Within the History Compilation Committee, Amakasu Tōma was Executive of the History Compilation Committee and was, technically speaking, responsible for the management of the Tokyo Branch, which was the biggest of the History Compilation Committee's branches across Japan.
The History Compilation Committee itself didn't really have a lot of Executives, and the few that were there were related to one of the founding families. Almost all of the Executives of the History Compilation Committee came and originated from one of the four founding families.
One could say that Amakasu Tōma was somewhat of an exception to the rule of the Committee. Because, usually, the power and authority that were concentrated in the hands of the selected few would also remain there, but one could also say that he was rather an exceptional Mage and bureaucrat for the Committee to ignore.
At the same time, it was also questionable how much of actual power and authority within the organization he had.
One could say that it wasn't a lot, and they would certainly be right, because sometimes he felt that his position as the Executive was more like formality for someone who was needed to handle the most annoying duties of the Committee that the members of the founding families didn't want to deal with.
And as was expected, the man himself valued his life more than the so-called loyalty to the History Compilation Committee. Thanks to his cooperation, General Keira Clark learned a great deal about the History Compilation Committee and its bases.
In mere hours, everything that she had learned was passed to the other squads and personnel of the Illuminati Society and Kengan Association, which increased their killing rate of the personnel of the History Compilation Committee by 70% at the lowest.
"It's progressing even faster than anticipated."
Katahara Metsudō stated as he sat in the main office of the secondary branch of the History Compilation Committee within Tokyo. He arrived there not long after this entire place was taken over by the Bodyguards and Enforcers.
"The information that the Executive Amakasu Tōma provided to us in exchange for letting him live, is proving to be crucial... In the end, the entire History Compilation Committee is heavily controlled by the four founding families, and the rest of their members don't really have much opportunity to rise in the social status or hierarchy of the Association."
Katahara Metsudō was especially pleased by the progress that they were making as the old man was personally commanding the entire operations of his Bodyguards and other Martial Artists against practically everyone who wasn't affiliated with the Katahara Family or the Kengan Association.
For the old man, the Culling Game was a perfect opportunity that he needed to compeltely consolidate his own rule over the supernatural side of Japan. He was already informed about the birth of the 8th Campione in Japan.
After the Culling Game ended, the only thing that would remain in all of Japan would be the Kengan Association. All remaining Mages, Knights, and Martial Artists that were right now either part of the History Compilation Committee or neutral would be assimilated or killed.
"What will you do with the Heiress of the Sayanomiya Family? She is still rather valuable hostage considering all things..."
Katahara Metsudō asked because, aside from the captured Executive of the Committee, they also managed to capture one of the most important and core personnel of the entire Magic Association.
Sayanomiya Kaoru.
The Heiress Apparent of the Sayanomiya Family, which was one of the founding families of the Committee.
"Her value is rather relative... we received a message from the Kyoto just a short time ago, and it seems that the entire Headquarters of the History Compilation Committee, together with all personnel and members, have been caught in the crossfire between Marquise Voban and Sun Wukong. According to the reports, the entire headquarters has been destroyed, and most people are dead."
Keira reported that she really doubted that after tonight, there would be some sort of Sayanomiya Family. Most of their members were located within the headquarters, but that was reduced to piles of rubble after the fight between Campione and the Heretic God.
Which wasn't anything that surprising, truth to be told.
It seemed that a lot of the core personnel of the History Compilation Committee decided to take refuge in their headquarters. At the same time, they pitched their hopes that the 8th Campione would save their asses with the entire thing around the Culling Game.
Once the situation was resolved, they would be able to crawl out of their holes.
It was a rather sound plan and wasn't that stupid, truth to be told.
"Well, the Sayanomiya Family is still a very potent Magical Lineage, so at the worst, she could be used to birth the next generation of Mages."
The Chairman of the Kengan Association said that General Clark agreed with the approach.
With the complete destruction of the History Compilation Committee, the value of Sayanomiya Kaoru dropped drastically, but the women of the Committee were preferentially captured.
She was primarily valuable because she was the Heiress Apparent of the Sayanomiya Family, but as the Sayanomiya Family perished at the hands of Voban and Sun Wukong, her actual value dropped considerably to the point where her sole value was now in her Bloodline and Magic Blood coursing through her veins.
They could still be taken into the Illuminati Society and used for breeding, because they still possessed the Magical Blood in their veins, which was pretty strong, and thus the Illuminati Society Enforcers had orders to capture the females alive.
Especially if they were of an age that was suitable for childbirth.
The Illuminati Society was also paying a lot of money for every single captured female Mage from the Society by the Kengan Association or anyone else, because this was also a good opportunity to introduce more Magical Blood into their Magic Association.
Though they were not alone, because Katahara Metsudō had rather a similar idea, because he wanted the Kengan Association, or more specifically, his Bodyguard Forces, to have their own Mages and Knights.
To cover up for the weaknesses that the Martial Artists couldn't.
Thus, they came to an agreement with the Illuminati that the captured female Mages would be split 50/50 between the Illuminati Society and the Katahara Family. Obviously, the greatest weakness of the Kengan Association and Katahara Family, by extension, was the lack of lore and knowledge to properly cultivate the Mages.
It wasn't like with the Martial Artists, who just needed to train.
Mages needed a lot of knowledge, lore, Grimoires and Magic Tomes to become proper Mages and reach the higher Levels. And these things were usually very hard to obtain, because they were a culmination of knowledge among the several generations of Magic Users.
"Well, we need to reorganize our forces and advance on the more secluded covens of Mages that are still loyal to the Committee. The Onmyōji Clans are also participating in the attacks, especially in the areas of Hokkaido, where the Nakiri Clan and Souma Clan are fighting hard to drive off all personnel loyal to the Committee."
Sometimes it was rahter fascinating to look at the sheer numbers of the History Compilation Committee because they had a lot of Mages, Knights, and Martial Artists under their command.
Obviously, around 98% of their Magic Users were Hermetic Mages, because Hermetic Magic was the easiest to learn. Or rather, it was much easier to learn compared to the other branches like the Onmyōdō, Spirit Arts, Sorceries, or Daoist Arts.
"The Kure Clan will handle the cleanout of Kyoto and surrounding prefectures... Kure Erioh is already moving along with his Clan... a lot of money is at stake, and the premise of a good fight is always more than enough to motivate them."
Katahara Metsudō and Kure Erioh knew each other for a very long time. As a teenager, Erioh left the Kure Clan due to a disagreement and decided to become the top assassin his own way.
Shortly after World War II, at the age of 20, he was contracted by Kibayashi Taro, deputy of the Kanto Shirai Group, to kill Katahara Metsudō and steal his newly acquired Kengan Association membership.
But just before he could finish his hit, the don of the Shirai Group, Shirai Ryu, intervened, forcing Kibayashi to call off the hit.
He even became his affiliated fighter, and the two of them became lifelong friends and partners in various enterprises.
The General of the Mage-Knight Blazer Corps Regiment looked at her own status screen that was displayed before her through the interference of the Culling Game.
[Name: Keira Clark
Type: Player - Mage Knight
Points: 1,220
Kills: 89
Faction: Illuminati Society, Kengan-Illuminati Alliance]
She had racked up a lot of points, with a body count of 89 people that she killed. She took out some of the strongest among the people at this secondary branch of the Committee, and even before that, she killed a good number of their Mages.
Even though there was no real need for her to fight on the front lines, she wanted to earn as many Points as possible, because she wanted to use them to get something from her man that he would find rahter troublesome otherwise.
Not to mention, it was better if most of the promised or potential rewards remained within the hands of the Society or the Katahara Family, who were like a real family to Yakou. From a certain point of view, when it came to the rewards for the Culling Game, the competition was rigged straight from the start.
The winners with the highest amount of points were destined to be the premier members of the Illuminati Society or the Katahara Family and their associates. Yakou himself wasn't that keen on handing precious things to total strangers, even if they won it fair and square with a high body count of killed enemies.
"Can you deploy the other Martial Artists of the Kengan Association to the field? We need to secure the entire Tokyo Metropolitan Area within the upcoming two or three days and clean it out of the presence of the Mages loyal to the Committee."
Keira said that because she was already informed that the 8th Campione won't be a problem and would be lured outside of Tokyo, which would give them a free hand.
"That won't be a problem... due to the Kengan Annihilation Tournament that would take place in a few weeks, most of the Martial Artists in the entire country are actually located in the area, and we can use that."
Katahara Metsudō said with a grin, because as the Kengan Annihilation Tournament was nearing, most of the Martial Artists in the entire Japan, and also a good portion of them from the other countries, were already in the Tokyo Metropolitan Area in the first place.
They would be just relocated to participate in another endeavor.
More precisely, the soldiers were used in the Culling Game and fighting against those who were aligned with the History Compilation Committee.
"That's good... and what about the mundane side of things? While I don't really care about those things, the coots in Washington would care very much, because this changes the board once again."
Keira herself wasn't that interested in politics, but she needed to take into account the mundane side of things. Right now, the United States of Federal Americas and the Empire of Japan were theoretically speaking hostiles at best, enemies at worst.
After the destruction of the History Compilation Committee, the state of things would change once again.
But they would be vulnerable because of the lack of protection from Campione against Huaxia, as that threat wouldn't go anywhere else. The Huaxia Federation was already in the process of integrating Mongolia into its fold, and it was sending troops into Burma, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia, and surrounding states.
The Empire of Korea was left primarily as it was, but it was expected that it would be folded into the Huaxia sooner or later. India was an interesting case because it was the home to Madam Aisha, the 3rd Campione, and thus, they were basically safe from any conflicts.
It was a big unknown, and there was also the fact that India had a very powerful Magic Society and many powerful Magic Associations and a lot of powerful Martial Artists, so for the Huaxia Federation, it wasn't really worth attacking.
Not to mention, the differences in the various aspects made it impossible for the integration into the Huaxia Federation.
"The Empire would prefer to return to neutrality... Yakou assured me in the letter that we can maintain a good relationship like before... the Lost Domain and Huaxia are different stories though."
Katahara Metsudō was already negotiating on behalf of the Imperial House, who wanted nothing more than to return to the previous state of things... even if it wasn't possible anymore with the establishment of Huaxia and the Lost Domain not far from their borders.
And thanks to the History Compilation Committee, their relationship with the USFA was at rock bottom. This was something that the Japanese Government wanted to change, but their hands were tied, because of the very complex nature of the relationship between the History Compilation Committee and the Japanese Government.
"I can assure you that the first one doesn't care about you... But Huaxia would be a much different case. I will tell of this to Grey, and he will consult this with the Chairman of the Huaxia's Federal Council."
Yakou had already decided that after the destruction of the History Compilation Committee, the USFA and the Empire of Japan could start returning to at least a neutral relationship. And the Lost Domain that Voban established didn't really care about territorial expansion beyond what they already had.
Even now, they had the largest landmass in the world as their territory.
But the Huaxia would be a much different case.
Something that the Campiones would need to talk out personally.
Talking with Luo Hao about anything was going to be especially pain in the ass, because the 2nd Campione wasn't the most reasonable person around, and the fact that she started paying attention to the mundane matters was...
Disturbing to a certain degree, truthfully speaking.
***
Empire of Japan, Kyoto, Outskirts of the City
Yakou used the All-Seeing Eyes of God and Crow's powers to obtain more information about the 8th Campione because this was the first time that he had seen the man... or rather the boy and was curious about his Divine Authorities.
Yakou knew that Kusanagi Godou managed to fight Salavore Doni to a standstill, and there must be some reason behind it. Yakou already noticed the pattern that even he was getting more powerful Divine Authorities than the Campiones had in the past.
So he was rather sure that Kusanagi Godou must have gotten something very powerful that allowed him to fight the 6th Campione, the King of Swords, to a draw. Yakou knew that Salvatore Doni was certainly among the more powerful Campiones, especially because he was so combative.
Compared to some others.
Even before becoming Campione, Salvatore Doni was a prodigious Knight, one who focused on the way of the sword above everything else. After becoming Campione, his talent in the sword skyrocketed, and his attacking power was one of the highest among all other Campiones.
[Name: Kusanagi Godou
Title: Unwilling King
Classification: Campione
Age: 16
Race: Divine Being (Campione)
*
Parameters:
Strength - S
Vitality - S
Endurance - S
Agility - S
Mana - S
Luck - S
*
Class: S-Rank
Armaments: N/A
Heirloom: N/A
Magic: N/A
Uniqueness: N/A
Skills: Tactician
Abilities: Magic Resistance, Enhanced Spiritual Senses, Enhanced Reflexes, Enhanced Instincts, Increased Comprehension Capabilities, Enhanced Battle Instincts, Night Vision, Pain Tolerance
Divine Authorities:
- Divine Authority of the Persian Warlord]
Yakou used the All-Seeing Eyes of God and Crow's System extensively to look into information about the 8th Campione's Divine Authority, because Kusanagi Godou had only one Divine Authority, which was somehow odd, but it must have been powerful, as he was able to fight Salvatore Doni to a draw.
For the fact that he was only sixteen, he already achieved the pinnacle of power in the entire Terra. Another fact was that he had a rather impressive Luck Parameter, which reached the S-Rank.
This was rather rare, because according to Yakou's knowledge of the Parameters and also the information that he obtained through the Crow's Interference System, the Luck Parameter was almost impossible to increase or grow.
It was fated.
If someone was born with a high Luck Parameter, it was like the person was blessed by the world itself. As the next thing, he took a look at the sole Divine Authority that Kusanagi Godou possessed, the Divine Authority of the Persian Warlord.
[Divine Authority of the Persian Warlord - Verethragna's "Ten Incarnations" or also known as the Eastern God of War Ten Avatars. Each of the Incanrantions provides a special power to the User. Some of the Incarnations provide several abilities to the User when they are activated. The Incarnations could be activated simultaneously at the cost of the User's Stamina and Mana. The more Incarnations are used at the same time or in conjunctions with each other, the more severe the effect it.
1st Incarnation: Tempest (Gale) - The Gale Incarnation gives the User the power to go anywhere instantly, even traveling between the Netherworld and the world of the living. The wind itself has some minor exorcising effects; if the enemies surrounding the summoner are weak, the User can destroy them with its power.
* The condition for use is that someone there who knows him personally and is in danger must call out his name to summon him to that location.
2nd Incarnation: Bull - User gains immense strength for a limited amount of time. Can only be used against something with inhuman strength or an object with a large mass coming at the User. If the User uses it on an enemy with superhuman strength, this Incarnation will automatically raise his base strength to be the same as his enemy. The User can also use additional Mana to dramatically increase their already enhanced physical strength.
3rd Incarnation: White Stallion - By using the White Stallion, User is able to summon a pseudo sun to shoot a spear of light at his enemy. A flame from a White Stallion is equal in power to the solar flare.
* It can only be used against those who have committed great sins against the people.
4th Incarnation: Camel - Camel gives User an increase in combat abilities, leg strength, defense, battle instincts, and self-recovery. The User can send Mana to his foot as he kick causing an explosion.
* The condition to allow it to be used is that Godou must suffer a certain level of injury.
5th Incarnation: Boar - User can summon a giant boar Divine Beast, which is believed to embody the User's destructive impulses, to trample everything in its path. Its power seems to surpass that of average Divine Beasts, being an Incarnation of a God rather than its servant, allowing it enough power to injure or possibly even slay Heretic Gods.
* It must be targeted at a large structure or enemy for the Incarnation to be activated.
* While in use, User gains increased speed, defense, and strength, but it can only be used in a direct charge.
* The Boar can cover its body in intensely burning flames.
6th Incarnation: Adolescent (Youth) - Allows User to enter a calm state of mind and grant the Divine Protection of the God of Victory to others, giving them the vitality of a Campione, and Magical protection.
* The ritual requires the user to breathe the protection into the target via kissing; this process causes intense pleasure. The condition is that the kissing partner must let go of her worldly bonds and pledge her soul to follow Godou for all eternity, or else the Youth will not be in effect.
* Youth will increase the target's Parameters to the level of the Low-Level Divine Beast, buffing their body and Mana. It also grants an extremely strong Magic Resistance similar to what Campione possesses.
* The overall effect of the Blessing and Rise in Parameters depends on the strength of the User.
7th Incarnation: Bird of Prey (Raptor) - The Raptor Form gives the User Godspeed, or God-like speed, as well as a body of extreme lightness. It can also slow the User down just as much.
* The condition in using this is that he must be attacked by a quick strike exceeding normal parameters or by stating the chant.
8th Incarnation: Ram - The Ram offers miraculous powers of recovery that allow him to resurrect himself from the dead, and recover from his injuries in the process.
* The effect is not instantaneous, and it will take some time before he awakens. The duration of the Awakening will depend on the User's Mana Reserves and damage sustained.
* If the User's body has been completely destroyed. Ram will bypass its delayed time and instantly heal User's body back to its perfect state. However, he won't regain his consciousness for a while.
* It must be activated before the moment he dies, or he will die permanently.
9th Incarnation: Goat - The Goat grants the User absolute control over Lightning, allowing him to listen to the hearts of the people, and bestows upon him priestly authority, great magical power, and wisdom.
While this form doesn't possess the same destructive capability, its Lightning can penetrate through Godslayer and God's Magic Resistance. This also grants the User the ability of Psychic Sensing.
* The User may only use this power if there are people at the location who wish to stand with him and be his strength; only then will it activate.
* This form exclusively specializes in controlling Lighting and Lightning Magic, thus it can overwhelm other authority that has broader control over weather.
* As an Avatar of Wisdom, it grants the User an ability as a Great Sage, buffing the User's understanding, aptitude and skill for in a field of Magic. This form also increases the user's ability to resist other Godslayers' Divine Authority due to their improved control over their own Mana.
10th Incarnation: Warrior - Allows User to create countless Golden Swords that have the ability to remove the Divinity of any Heretic God, making them a mortal, thus negating their Divine Authorities.
* User can only use it if he has sufficient knowledge of the enemy, or the divinity from which the enemy's Divine Authority is drawn.
* The Golden Sword is made to fit the specific Heretic God or the Divine Authority of the Heretic God in the case of a Campione the User is facing, using the knowledge of that Heretic God or Campione.
* Grants User increased combat skills by allowing him to see through attacks and the Magic of his enemies, magnifying a Campione's natural instincts.
* He can lend his sword to another individual.]
Yakou wanted to curse whoever created this shit. Because the Divine Authority of the Persian Warlord was nothing short of being literarily overpowered. Especially the last, last one ability... of this Divine Authority was completely broken.
And even more dangerous.
'Alright... this Divine Authority is compeltely broken... not to mention if these Abilities could be used simultaneously, his dangerousness would reach even greater heights... especially the last ability is pretty fucked up.'
The last ability, the Incarnation of Warrior, allowed him to become Anathema to everything Divine. Yakou would need to be very careful of that, because that ability was basically the worst enemy of the Divine Authorities, and when he used it against him, he would be able to negate Yakou's Divine Authorities.
Under the premise that he would learn of their origin, because it seemed that the greatest restriction of the Incarnation of Warrior was that it needed sufficient information about the Divinity that the User wanted to negate or destroy.
Fights among the Campiones were usually even more destructive than between Campione and the Heretic God. Both Tsuchimikado Yakou and Kusanagi Godou exchanged tons of blows in the split of mere moments.
Yakou had to admit that the Kusanagi Godou was a terrible fighter and his fighting style was worse than a 3rd-rate street thug... but at the same time, his instincts were good, probably better than most, and he was adapting quickly.
It was evident that everything that the high school student was doing was purely acting on instincts and his reflexes. Which was admirable to a certain degree, because not many people could achieve the same thing, in fact.
Another thing where Kusanagi Godou was spectacularly failing against Yakou was his reluctance to use more destructive Divine Authorities because they were still near the city of Kyoto, and using more destructive Divine Authorities would mean endangering the lives of the civilians.
Thus, he refrained from doing so.
Which was playing into Yakou's cards.
He himself could easily use a large part of his Divine Authorities even in this state, but he also refrained from using the ones that were more destructive, like the Divine Authority of Khvarenah: Halo of the Supreme Ruler and the Divine Authority of Piedra Del Sol: Solar Calendar Stone.
In this kind of setting, it was Yakou who had a decisive advantage in their fight, because he had far more combat experience than the 8th Campione, and his greatest strength lay in the Divine Authority of the Steel Body and Divine Authority of the Gungnir: The Spear of Heaven.
And because of that, he was able to keep pushing Kusanagi Godou to a purely defensive position as he was using only the 2nd Incarnation: Bull of the Divine Authority of the Persian Warlord.
Yakou had to admit, though, that the strength that the boy obtained from the 2nd Incarnation was rather fearsome, because even Yakou would be injured considerably after tanking one of his hits.
Nevertheless, his mission here wasn't even to defeat the 8th Campione, but rather to stall him enough for Voban to recover, and according to their plan, they would then attack the 8th Campione together.
This was something that they had decided before hearing, because Yakou's predictions, which were now confirmed and were correct, Kusanagi Godou's Divine Authority was extremely dangerous and powerful.
Because of that, the longer he fought, the more dangerous he would become. Yakou occasionally looked at the young woman who was observing the fight some distance from them...
Without a doubt, the Heiress of the House Blandelli was observing Yakou, his Divine Authority, that he was using and analyzing his weaknesses and origin so she could pass the information to her King.
Then he would most probably use the 10th Incarnation: The Warrior of the Divine Authority of the Persian Warlord, which would be the finishing move. Rather solid strategy, but against someone who had far more experience, it was useless.
It was clear that Kusanagi Godou didn't know a shit about the Divine Authorities, Magic, or Mythos, and he was primarily depending on the help of his Knight, who was far more knowledgeable in these matters.
Even an idiot could see that he was depending on her to provide him with the input and necessary information for him to activate the 10th Incarnation: The Warrior of the Divine Authority of the Persian Warlord, because he himself didn't know a bit about the supernatural side of the world.
Nor did he tried to learn something. His rejection of any connection to the supernatural was his greatest weakness right now, because he could activate the 10th Incarnation: The Warrior of the Divine Authority of the Persian Warlord on his own without outside help.
He could sense that the young knight of the Copper-Black Cross Knight Order was already a Great Knight, which was beyond impressive... but given her talent, lineage, and the amount of resources that the Copper-Black Cross Knight Order was willing to invest into her cultivation, it was only expected.
Yakou silently cast the Twelve Divine Shikigami Contract Gates Technique as he released one of the Twelve Divine Shikigami, more precisely the 3rd Gate Hokuto, as the Dragon Shikigami appeared behind the knight of the Copper-Black Cross Knight Order and attacked the girl.
Obviously, the Shikigami wasn't attacking the girl with its full power because it would be too one-sided, but the purpose of the Shikigami was to draw her away from the fight between Yakou and Kusanagi.
At the same time, Hokuto would then bind the girl in one place and keep her contained, because Yakou noticed that if something happened to her, then it was highly possible that the 8th Campione would fight them with everyone that he got.
Which was something that he didn't really want.
And thus, Erica Blandelli was quickly swept away by the Shikigami Dragon as the 8th Campion didn't even have time to react when Yakou appeared in front of him and delivered a powerful kick to his head, sending him crashing several hundred meters into the distance.
Meanwhile, Yakou continued his fight with the 8th Campione, which was entertaining him much more than he would have anticipated at the earlier date. Even though he never admitted it, he was someone who enjoyed a good thrill of battle, and even more so the life-and-death battles.
And one had to admit that fights among the Campiones were somewhat rare.
Their kind rarely fought against each other because there were not many of them in the place, and the chances that two Campiones would meet were actually pretty low unless something extraordinary had happened.
Like right now.
Another thing that Yakou noted was that the 8th Campione had rather serious problems controlling his Divine Authority. This came as both surprise and delight, because it meant that Kusanagi Godou didn't really train his powers, which was good, but at the same time, he was getting better during the duration of the combat.
Which was something disturbing because of the speed at which he was adapting to the combat and learning how to use his Divine Authorities and their abilities in a much more efficient way.
Yakou also noticed that his opponent didn't amster his Divine Authority enough to be using more abilities of the Divine Authority of the Persian Warlord, which was a good thing, but he suspected that he would learn that soon.
Or that their fight would force him to learn that, rather soon, considering the fact that Yakou had Kusanagi Godou on the pure defensive side. Though, at the same time, even when the 8th Campione was getting hit more often, he wasn't really that seriously injured.
Yakou hurled at the 8th Campione once more, using more of his Mana as he inserted it all into the Gungnir, as this time, the newest Campione was a tad too slow, as the Kusanagi Godou didn't manage to avoid getting hit in time.
The Spear of Heaven, managed to penetrate through the young man's right shoulder, which was a great hit for the opponent. The boy Campione screamed in pain, because being stabbed by the Spear of Heaven wasn't like being injured by an ordinary weapon.
Gungnir was the weapon of the God-King of the Aesir Pantheon, and being injured by it brought excruciating pain.
And even though the Campiones possessed some degree of Pain Resistance, Kusanagi Godou, inherently, as the newest one and one that never experienced much pain, as he never even fought in his life, immediately screamed in pain.
Which was like a heavy sound to Yakou's ears, who withdrew the Gungnir and used the blunt side of the Heavenly Spear to strike the boy Campione in his stomach with full force, causing him to crash into the ground.
His crash was so powerful that it even created a small crater as he fell.
Yakou looked at the battered Campione with a small hint of respect, because even after this, he still stood up and expended his Mana at an even greater power.
Unfortunately for him, his inexperience and lack of knowledge was rather fatal, because without his Knight, he couldn't even get the faintest idea of Yakou's Divine Authorities and summon his strongest ability.
The 10th Incarnation: Warrior of the Divine Authority of the Persian Warlord.
The Anti-Divine Ability of the Warrior was something that Yakou was deeply wary of, and due to that end, he sent Hokuto to bring the heiress of the Blandelli Family far away, where she should have been right now, ambushed by the members of the Kure Clan.
A plan that worked out almost splendidly.
***
Empire of Japan, Outskirts of the Koyto, Not Far From The Kure Clan Village
The Kure Clan was, generally speaking, the strongest singular faction in all of Japan, or perhaps even all of Asia, when it came to the purely Clan-based factions.
They had multiple Martial Saints in their ranks and because of the destruction of the Wu Clan in China, they managed to assimilate the remnants of the Wu Clan and thus increased their strength even more during the past two hundred years.
Kure Erioh was an elderly man with slicked-back silver hair and a wrinkled face befitting his age. He wore traditional Japanese attire rather than more modern clothes, contrasting with the rest of the Kure Clan to better blend among the common people.
Despite his frail appearance, he was one of the most powerful Martial Saints around.
In his youth, he even received guidance from the Martial Ruler and learned some techniques of the Holy Cult of the Five Mountains. This was an honor that not many received in their entire lives, because Martial Ruler Luo Hao taught only a few people in her entire life.
And all Martial Artists had Martial Ruler Luo Hao in the highest regard. Not only because she was the one who broke the limits of humanity through the sheer will and mastery of the Martial Arts.
But also because after she broke these limits, she went on the journey and slew a Heretic God with her Martial Arts alone. She then established the Holy Cult of the Five Mountains, which became the holy land for the Martial Artists, and she paved the way for the Martial Artists.
Luo Hao did something that no Campione before her had done. She opened the path forward for others and significantly increased the efficiency of Chi Training and Martial Arts...
The number of Martial Masters and Martial Grandmasters skyrocketed through the roof, and even more Martial Saints were born thanks to the advancements that Luo Hao made to the Martial Arts and Chi Training Systems around the world.
"So powerful..."
The girl who spoke was a beautiful young woman with a deceptively defined physique, a small frame, and a moderately sized bosom. She had long black hair with several bangs that hung over her forehead and two long lengths of hair that draped either side of her face, a small, dainty nose, full lips, and the telltale sclera and pupils of the Kure Clan.
She wore a parka, dark-blue shorts with wrappings around her legs, and ankle-length brown boots with buckles.
"Ts... who would have thought that the brat from ten years ago who struggled with basic katas would become Campione?"
Kure Erioh observed the fight between the Campiones together with his youngest granddaughter, Kure Karura, who was watching the fight with obsessive glee... especially when she was looking at the 7th Campione.
The Kure Clan was now going full out in the Culling Game, truth to be told. For the Kure Clan, this wasn't just a matter of racking in as many benefits from the Culling Game, but also to get rid of the competitors and factions that were always training to constrain them in some ways.
The History Compilation Committee tried to impose their authority on the Martial Artists as well and especially on the Kure Clan, whom they viewed as extremely dangerous factions due to their unclear connection ot the Holy Cult of the Five Mountains.
And at the same time, the Kure Clan was the most powerful Martial Arts Clan in the entire world.
Though not everyone present shared Kure Erioh's "jolly" mood.
"Soooo handsome..."
Kure Karura muttered as she had her eyes locked on the 7th Campione, much to the dismay and disdain of her grandfather. Though the elderly Kure Clan Patriarch also knew that there were immense benefits of being related to the Campione in any way.
The name Tsuchimikado Yakou wasn't foreign to him... in many ways. Because in the past, when he was better known as Kanoh Muzan, one of the orphans adopted and trained by old Katahara, Yakou spent a lot of time in the Kure Clan training to become an assassin.
Or rather, to learn some basics, there were no better teachers than the members of the Kure Clan.
He wasn't particularly talented in the Martial Arts, but he was a good strategic fighter who had some sort of rivalry / best friendship relationship with Kure Raian. They fought a lot, mainly because Raian's younger sister Fusui, was always stalking him when he was at the Kure Village.
Something that Kure Raian wasn't that fond of.
"Patriarch."
Suddenly, another man appeared behind them. He was a rather handsome, tall young man with an athletic physique, blonde, medium-length hair styled into a bob cut, thin eyebrows, and black-sclera eyes of the Kure Clan.
He wore a white changshan and a pair of white pants.
Kure Xing was one of the most powerful members of the Kure Clan and was originally descended from the refugees from China after Martial Ruler destroyed the Wu Clan Mainland Faction and the Westward Wu Clan for their Association with the organization Worm.
That was a secret that not many people knew, because it was closely guarded and kept secret.
The fact that one lunatic organization attempted to clone Campione.
It would be more than anyone could stomach.
Nevertheless, in her anger, Martial Ruler exterminated anyone and anything that was helping the Worm, including the organization itself. Both the Wu Clan's Mainland Faction and the Westward Factions had close ties to the Worm, and thus, they also bore considerable burn.
And death.
What has remained, especially in Japan, is that they merged all together into the Kure Clan and unified as one singular Martial Art Clan. Luo Hao was rather thorough in the extermination of both the Westward Faction and the Wu Clan's Mainland Faction, and the survivors couldn't remain anywhere near the Holy Cult of the Five Mountains.
"How is the situation?"
Kure Erioh asked as he continued observing the fight.
"Everyone is dead. The clash between Marquise and Monkey King destroyed the entire headquarters of the Committee, and their core personnel are dead. All of their Magic Saints have perished as well, so we can move freely."
Kure Xing reported with a neutral voice, but he was also excited by the prospect. The Magic Saints of the History Compilation Committee were always representing a grave threat to anyone.
If they were given enough time to cast their spells, then their Magic could wipe out entire cities from the face of the world. The fact that the fight between Campione and Heretic God resulted in the destruction and probably the annihilation of the Committee and their core powerhouses.
"Alright... you can release the rest of the Clansmen to participate in the Culling Game... it seems that we are rather behind in the Points gathering."
Now that the Magic Saints of the History Compilation Committee were dead, Kure Erioh planned to release the rest of the Clansmen into the action. The Kure Clan was deeply suspicious of the Magic Saints, because they had far higher destructive prowess and versatility compared to Martial Saints.
Not to mention, the elderly Patriarch knew the terror of the Magic cast by such powerful Mages. That wasn't something that even the Martial Saints could effectively defend against, because they lacked the capabilities to do so.
"As you command, Patriarch... Raian, Hollis, Horia, and Howard are on the way to the places where we know of the presence of the Committee's remnants."
The Kure Clan itself had several Martial Saints and a whole bunch of Martial Grandmasters, and they were the best of the best. The assassins of the Kure Clan operated across the entire world, and they never failed in their assignments.
Kure Xing was one of the Martial Saints of the Kure Clan and he belonged to the more powerful ones, even when compared to other Martial Saints in the world. Especially when one considers the Martial Techniques of the Kure Clan, which were a literal definition of being overpowered.
After the entire Culling Game ended, only the Kengan Association and Kure Clan would remain in Japan if one didn't account for the Onmyōji Clan, but they rarely cared for anything else aside from their own affairs.
It was highly possible that all three factions would merge somehow to create one singular faction after assimilating the remnants of the History Compilation Committee. Katahara Metsudō was certainly keen on doing something like that, as he wished to rule the entire supernatural side of Japan for a very long time.
"That's good... maintain the advance together with the General Clark and Metsudō... perhaps this entire thing would be finished even faster than we have initially predicted."
Several other prominent members of the Kure Clan were already participating in the Culling Game, with Kure Raian being the first one to rush straight to the fight.
Patriarch Kure Erioh wanted to scoff, because when that dumbass grandson of his heard that this was all a scheme by Yakou, he immediately rushed to the nearest branch of the History Compilation Committee and started killing anyone left and right.
Raian was an uncontrolled missile.
Erioh knew that Raian was a lot like him when he was young... among the entire Kure Clan, there was no more talented member of the entire Clan than Raian, and he was an absolute prodigy in the martial arts and Kure Clan Techniques.
Raian was a violent and psychopathic man who cared for little more than domination, violence, and killing. He didn't seem to bear any remorse for his violent actions, and in fact, appears to relish it.
He spoke aggressively and often with profanity, and one could never really tell what was going on in that head of his. He was very similar to Erioh in his youth, because Kure Erioh was equally the same as Raian.
"Grandpa, I want to marry Yakou and have his babies."
Kure Karura said out of nowhere, as Kure Erioh almost had a heart attack when he heard that, but didn't say anything yet. He had already started making plans to prevent Karura and Yakou from meeting, because the last thing he wanted was for his beloved granddaughter to be enamored of a man.
"Absolutely not!"
Kure Erioh shouted when he heard that, as the anger was taking over his entire personality.
Everyone knew that Kure Erioh was really overprotective of his granddaughter Karura, who was his most treasured descendant.
"Grandpa, you don't like me anymore!"
Karura shouted as she pretended to cry, while Kure Erioh was frozen in place, like an arrow to his heart, when he saw the crocodile tears of his beloved granddaughter. Now he was having a double headache that reminded him of the past when Raian and Yakou were fighting across the Kure Village...
Mainly, it was Yakou who was getting beaten if he was slow with his spells, mainly because Fusui was closer to Yakou when they were young, and Raian didn't like the idea that some feeble Mage was close to his younger sister.
And thus was given a lot of beatings.
Or Yakou giving terrible time to Raian when the unfortunate Martial Artist fell for a trap, or Yakou learned his attacking patterns, which led to a much more challenging time for Kure Raian.
"Karura, why don't you go down there and fight with that girl knight?"
Kure Erioh tried to divert the attention of his granddaughter with a promise of a good fight, as that was something that no Clansmen of the Kure Clan was able to resist.
Unfortunately for him, Karura was glued to the fight between Campione as she was staring at Yakou for the entire time, not even registering what her grandfather was saying.
"Xing, go and capture the girl. She was separated from their fight for a purpose..."
The old Patriarch sighed in defeat as he, in the end, ordered Kure Xing to go and capture the female knight of the 8th Campione, because he was sure that she was separated from their fight and led to another area entirely for a reason.
He didn't know what the reason was, but it should be something important.
Kure Xing disappeared from the spot as he rushed toward the place where the Knight of the 8th Campione was fighting against the 7th Campione's Shikigami, even though calling it a fight would be strong.
As the Shikigami Dragon was primarily playing with the girl, if nothing else.
"We also need to deal with the Draw Sword Guild..."
Kure Erioh said mainly to himself, as he thought about the Draw Sword Guild. It was a rather famous Guild in Asia, primarily of Japanese origin and very closely aligned with the History Compilation Committee.
Their members were also prime targets on the Culling Games for kill.
***
Battlefield Between the Campiones
After another fifteen minutes that actually felt much longer than they actually were, Yakou landed another pretty painful, precise blow on the newest Campione as he used more Mana this time.
Kusanagi Godou's reluctance to use his more powerful abilities and incarnations of the Divine Authority of the Persian Warlord was something that resulted in brutal bleeding. The teenager Campione had a pierced right shoulder and lower stomach that were bleeding profusely, and even several broken bones.
Even though he had sustained a lot of injuries, they were already healing, because the regeneration factor of the Campione was rather frightening. Yakou, on the other hand, was almost in pristine condition because his opponent didn't really know how to fight, so dodging the terribly executed punches and kicks wasn't hard.
Every time that Godou wanted to turn the tide, Yakou would create distance between them and go closer to the city, using the people in Kyoto as his shield against the 8th Campione, who didn't want to endanger the innocent civilians in their fight that could raze the entire city to the ground.
Which was something that Yakou was exploiting every second and, technically speaking, preventing the Kusanagi from turning the tide against him.
Yakou knew exactly how to fight and control the flow of battle... so he would keep Kusanagi engaged but not overtext his power and force him to release more powerful Incarnations of the Divine Authority of the Persian Warlord.
Tiring out the Campion in the fight was easier said than being done. At least the added bonus to the entire thing was that, the boy wasn't giving him any speeches about justice and sparing innocents.
But on the other hand, he didn't even have time for such a thing, because he was busy dodging and fighting for his very own life. Yakou was really aiming to kill his opponent... he knew it wouldn't be that easy, but he guessed he could be lucky and deliver a lucky final strike.
Though he seriously doubted that it would work and that he would have such luck to kill a fellow Campione. Nevertheless, Yakou controlled the power outlet as he aimed to primarily tire the 8th Campione out.
Tiring out Campione or Heretic God in a fight was almost mission impossible, truth to be told, but Yakou was making relatively good progress on that thing.
'Still... his adaptability to the combat is good, rather too good, and he is learning to use his Divine Authority, and it's Incarnations, which is highly problematic. Fortunately, his actual experiences are shit, but that wouldn't last long after a few battles... Our species is really broken.'
Yakou thought as they continued their exchanges, and much to Yakou's surprise, Kusanagi Godou forced another incarnation of his Divine Authority into the action, as his entire body was crackling with Lightning.
It was the 9th Incarnation: Goat of the Divine Authority of the Persian Warlord.
The one that gave out absolute control over the Lightning, something that could be pretty dangerous even to Yakou. The 7th Campione watched as the boy Campione gathered the intense Lightning in his right hand, forming a Lightning Bolt, and threw it at Yakou.
The Ten'nō no Onmyōji used his Inherent Onmyōdō Technique Gram Demolition as several miniature Magic Circles appeared around Yakou and started weakening the power of the Lightning Bolt that the 8th Campione threw at him.
It was rather fascinating that, after some adjustment, Inherent Onmyōdō Technique Gram Demolition was effective against some types of Divine Authorities.
It was pretty hard to adjust it to that, but the Inherent Onmyōdō Technique Gram Demolition was technically effective against any and all Magic and similar related aspects. Of course, its effect on the Divine Authorities was extremely limited and could be used only on the Divine Authorities that were rooted in Magic.
After the effect of the Lightning conjured through the 9th Incarnation: Goat of the Divine Authority of the Persian Warlord, got weakened significantly, and Yakou used the Gugnir to slash through the remnants of the Lightning Bolt that Kusanagi Godou hurled at him.
Yakou didn't stop there, as he appeared in front of the 8th Campion and aimed Gungnir directly at the boy Campione's neck, but the opponent was faster as he managed to dodge in time and counterattack Yakou with a swift kick into his stomach.
The 7th Campione felt the power of the kick, crushing several of his ribs, much to his dismay, but he managed to stop his flight with the Gungnir that he stabbed into the ground and noticed that the 8th Campione was still cracking with lightning, attacking him once more.
But seeing this, Yakou grinned ferociously, because with the All-Seeing Eyes of God, he saw how weakened Kusanagi Godou was and how fucked up his body was becoming due to the effect of using several Incarnations of the Divine Authority of the Persian Warlord at the same time.
He wasn't used to using more than one Incarnation of his Divine Authority, which resulted in a situation where the drain on his body was too strong. The All-Seeing Eyes of God could see that he would be drained of his Mana in several more minutes, so Yakou needed to entertain the boy Campione only for ten minutes or so.
Yakou looked at the incoming Campione that was coming directly at him, as he gripped Gungnir and decided use this opportunity to finish off the boy once and for all. Yakou thought that Kusanagi Godou would be a problem in the future, especially when he got stronger, and Yakou already had one enemy among the Campiones.
He didn't need another one, especially this one, which was convinced that he was evil incarnate and that he needed to be stopped. He really hated the self-righteous people the most...
"I call on thee, the Great Declaration of God, the Spear of Heaven, answer my call and destroy my enemies!"
He activated the Great Declaration of God, which was the One-Hit Ability of the Gungnir, as he threw the Heavenly Spear of the God-King of the Aesir directly at the Kusanagi Godou, aiming at the boy's heart.
The spear shot towards boy Campione's heart at staggering speed.
And much to Yakou's delight, Kusanagi Godou was too slow to dodge the incoming hit as his expression turned far more severe as the Heavenly Spear hit his chest.
At the very last moment when the Heavenly Spear hit his chest, his body burst out with golden light, which was blinding and extremely powerful.
Suddenly, the entire area shook, as the entire outskirts of Kyoto felt a rather intense and powerful earthquake running through the earth, and all buildings within a radius of several kilometers started collapsing.
Even Yakou was thrown to the ground from the exchange as the Gungnir was shot backward at Yakou, as he was almost skewered by his own Divine Authority. Much to his shock, Kusanagi Godou was relatively uninjured because he was protected by a golden sphere of energy.
At the same time, the 7th Campione was hit by one of the golden energy beams right into his stomach, as he felt that his Mana was drained, and he was on the brink of Magical exhaustion, and part of his internal organs were entirely destroyed.
He barely managed to stand up, as he was severely injured by the golden light that protected Kusanagi Godou, as Yakou was filled with enormous rage and unwillingness. If he lost the fight, it was most probably that he would either perish here or that the Culling Game would be stopped prematurely.
Though it didn't really matter, because most of the core personnel of the History Compilation Committee are already dead. All perished due to the fight between Voban and Sun Wukong, and the Culling Game was killing tens per every single hour, sometimes even more.
"Damm... that was a surprise."
Yakou spat out a mouthful of blood as he gripped the Gungnir and aimed it at the 8th Campione. He didn't want to die, especially not to die to this fool that let himself be manipulated by a bunch of Mages...
And he felt immense rage towards the Kusanagi Godou who came here to mess with the plans... but at the same time, Yakou was determined to fight till his last breath...
If he were to die...
Then he would take this dammed fool to the early grave, even at the price of his very own life.