"It has been arranged."
An announcement wrung out from beyond the heavens.
From the highest peak of Takamagahara to the lowest base, every single Kami within the Heavenly Realm heard it with perfect clarity.
To most, they'd have not the slightest clue what it meant, or what was even going on.
But for those who thought squirreled away at the mountain's base?
The Goddess of Revelry looked up, a strained and uneven smile across her face, "That's just…freaky, isn't it?" She crossed her arms under her chest, "I mean, were they seriously watching us the entire time, just so they could pull this right as we finished up here!?"
Her attitude had passed with the days.
The Goddess of the Sun, on the other hand, looked far calmer, if still a tad uneasy. "Well, I guess I shouldn't be surprised. Still?" Her gaze diverted from the sky, toward her son, "How's it feeling?"
Her son, who currently resembled a sun.
The markings across his collar had grown, rising like fanned flames up his neck and stretching up his face, turning golden just as they met below his eyes.
His normally still obsidian black hair had turned a familiar shade of deep purple, as it waves around wildly in the throes of his aura.
From head to toe, he was covered in a thick layer of what one could easily assume to be liquified molten metal.
Yet, despite the appearance, his mere presence didn't ignite a firestorm around him, even beneath his feet; not a single blade of grass within Heaven burned.
His eyes looked skyward.
A strange sunlike pattern spun in his eyes as he beheld the Heaven above.
"Good." Her son uttered in response at last, a dissonance in his voice, but not quite booming despite the power he's holding onto at the moment, as his eyes search, and search…
"How long do you think you can hold this?" His mother asked in turn, to which the son simply shrugged.
"Long enough." His answer was quiet, his focus clearly elsewhere.
The Goddess of Revelery shot the son with a quizzical look, her eyebrow raising, "Nori, are you okay, because," a smirk slowly slides across her face, so natural as though she was created for such purposes, "if not, we can always give you one last shove for the road~!"
He ignored her, this time.
His pupils abruptly dilated, the patterns within his eyes stilling as he beholds…
Ah.
It has been a long time since another has gazed this far beyond.
The son twitched as his eyes went wide.
But now you see, there is a reason why we hide ourselves away.
The son does not shake, not even an inch. He is perfect still.
For once, whether in fear and fright or lack of? It cannot be told.
Perhaps, he does not need to fear? For he holds a power that puts him within the realm of us.
This makes sense.
Respect is due.
The High Creator nods its head in respect.
The Divine Creator nods its head in respect.
Energy nods his head in respect.
Heaven nods her head in respect.
The son gulps as his hold on his power begins to slip.
We look forward to seeing how it holds up in the coming test.
Not even the Central Master himself could have predicted everything that has happened with your existence.
A new day is upon us all.
Energy rises.
"It is time."
"Wah!?" The Goddess of Revelry falls onto her back in startled fright, "C'mon! Again!?"
The Goddess of the Sun perks up, her gaze looking up before sliding back down to her sun, beholding him standing so perfectly and utterly still, "...Nori?" She starts, concern growing in her voice.
The son takes a labored, short breath.
He forgot to breathe since he began his search.
"I await, atop the Heavenly Realm."
Energy leaves.
The four are three now, but no less distinguished.
The aura around the son flickers as he tries desperately to hold onto that power for a spare moment longer.
We smile.
And shut the door from the beyond-
~ A New Sun ~
I gasp, a deep, heavy heave, my hand flying up to my chest on instinct, grabbing at my robe as I breathed as though I was trying to fill a damn vacuum!
The sun in my chest sputters out, turning from a red giant, bursting with divine power…into something like a white dwarf, barely felt, barely seen, surrounded by cold and an empty void.
I don't need to see my body to know that with the waning of my inner sun, my appearance has returned to normal.
All in all?
I'm planning on never doing that shit again!
I spent, what, a couple of weeks down here? All to use this power, to control it, at will, and I got to see that!?
Well, not really see so much as feel them. At the power I was at, I could finally fucking sense the merry band of voyeurs and track the signal, so to speak, right back to them!
Now my mouth tastes like TV static.
Now my stomach feels full of colors.
I don't know how I know its colors specifically, I just do.
I vaguely got the sense of Ama rushing to my side, and Uzume, my other.
I had fallen to my knees, at some point, I'm not sure when.
Even now, they're voices sound distant, like they're being spoken through a broken microphone.
Thankfully, it's slowly clearing up, but yeah.
Never doing that again.
I'm fairly certain those guys are bumming it right up against the Dimensional Gap. That's the feeling I got from them, anyhow.
Or, if there's anything that conveys tasting TV static and drinking colors, it's probably the Gap.
Not like I'm going to go there intentionally to find out.
Not like I'm ever going to try looking back up there ever again in the first place.
I would sooner bury my cock in Uzume's ass than try that shit again, nope!
"...-nori, Nori! Hey! Hey!? You there!?"
Speaking of. There's at least one of their voices.
I shot her a glare, "Yeah." I practically strangled out, "Though I wish I wasn't."
Uzume huffed and poked my cheek, before humming out, "Could always throw you back in the cave~..."
I shivered at that, "Would really rather not go there again, either."
Uzume shrugs before waving me off with a smirk.
The hell is that look for, though?
Oh yeah, two goddesses are clinging to me, and the other has been oddly silent.
I swivel my head to the other side, only to be met by Ama glaring at me with a steady frown.
I don't even get a chance to open my mouth again before she can state, not ask.
"You saw them, didn't you?"
Uzume perked up at my other side, but I couldn't see exactly how she reacted.
For my part, I just nodded at her.
Her frown deepened.
"You're not going to try doing that ever again. Understand."
Again, I got the sense she wasn't asking.
Thankfully, I wholeheartedly agreed.
With another nod, I managed to get out a, "Wasn't planning on it," without completely choking on it.
A flash of surprise crossed Ama's face for a moment.
I was about to take offense, truth be told. How dare she think I'm that suicidal!
I'm only that suicidal when it comes to fighting an extremely strong foe!
Speaking of once more, one of those is kind of waiting for me, at the top of the Heavenly Realm?
I have a feeling that was meant almost literally, but I guess we're going to have to go up there to actually see.
So, putting behind my offense, I manage to stand back up on my own two feet, with Ama and Uzume moving to help me just a bit.
"Well." I continue, voice getting better by the second, "We shouldn't keep the big guys waiting, should we?" I look between the two.
Uzume crosses her arms and looks away, unease. But Ama? She bites her lip and grips my arm just a bit tighter.
"We…probably shouldn't," she speaks up, "but I don't want you to go just yet." She pouts.
I give her an amused smile before setting my chin atop her head.
"I know, I know…you want me all to yourself, and I've still got to meet the whole family, all that." I chuckle, "Don't worry, alright?"
The sun in my chest beats, white flashing golden.
I know Ama could feel it because at the same time, her power beats back, like a drum echoing, and she flinches.
My smile grows.
"I'll try to keep it quick, alright?"
~ A New Sun ~
Fortunately, Ama didn't try and hold me back any longer.
Doubly so, reaching the peak of the realm was simply just a flash of light away.
There's always a but when it comes to so much fortune, though, isn't there?
That being when we did appear, we appeared under the shade.
Something that normally shouldn't have happened, considering we appeared outside the Palace.
The answer became clear fairly quickly; all we had to do was look up.
"Yeah," Uzume whistled at our side, "they certainly arranged something, that's for sure."
Ama just gaped, but I couldn't help but huff.
They had all that time, I figured they'd make some other dimension for us to duke it out in, but this?
I'd almost call it lazy.
Above the palace was, quite plainly, an arena.
A massive crimson square intricately carved into a flying stadium, gleaming and freshly polished as though made of metal, with edges ornately depicting what I could only guess were scenes of mythology wrapping all the way around.
Or I assume they wrap all the way, I couldn't exactly see the entire thing after all.
"M-My Lady!"
Huh, that's a new voice. Male, but distinctly lighter, and what I could best describe as somewhat nerdy.
My head tilts, looking toward the source, finding a guy with glasses, in an ancient Japanese robe, quickly marching his way over to us.
I've seen him before. In the palace, when Ama had her freakout.
But uh, I don't think I ever got his name?
He's somewhat strong, not as strong as the sword god I've met, but stronger than Uzume, at least from what I feel.
But not by much.
He stops, once his eyes lay upon me as well, "M-My Lord!?" He stutters and chokes out.
…Is he going to be okay?
Ama finally realized he was there just as he was catching his breath, giving the poor nerd a nod, "Omoikane. I'll…explain on the way?" She slowly decides, somehow already becoming tired.
Ah. Name to face. He's the Wisdom God, right?
Checks out.
Omoikane coughs, adjusting his glasses before they fall off, and straightens himself back up, "The court awaits an explanation then, my lady!"
Ama lets out a low whine, before stomping her foot, almost like an agitated rabbit, "Ngh! No, I'm not explaining this to everybody right now! Just, Nori?" She turns to me.
"Hmm?" I hum, my gaze shifting to her.
"Go." She finally says, almost pleading, "They're waiting."
"...M-My Lady, such a thing-" Omoikane begins to explain, only for Ama to silence him with a raise of her hand without even looking at him.
Her face twitches, even as she continues to look at me, "This should be all the explanation everybody needs."
I actually think this is going to prompt several more lines of questioning, but hey, chief gods plus mother's orders!
Before I head up, though.
I take a moment, stepping forward and kissing her right on the forehead.
Ama yelps.
I chuckle before uttering, "Thank you."
I don't wait to see her reaction before turning and grabbing Uzume by the wrist.
"E-Eh!? Hey-WEH!?"
I smack a kiss against her forehead, too, because she did help.
You have to reward good behavior when it happens. That's how I heard you're supposed to train pets, anyhow.
I smirk before uttering, "You as well."
Without further ado, I turn, light flickering around me.
My destination? Up.
As quickly as it flashes around me, that light fades, my feet hitting the 'ground' beneath me now with a metallic tang.
It didn't take long for my surroundings to register, that being the true lack of them.
A flat, polished space with nothing more to it. My best comparison would be a tournament arena pulled straight from Dragon Ball, or any sort of ring in general, just supersized.
Although such a ring wouldn't mean much without my opponent, would it?
"You came swiftly." There, in what likely constitutes the center of the ring, sat Umashia on his knees.
If he were anyone else, I'd wince for his poor knees. It feels like metal, and sitting on that, on your knees, without a cushion?
I can't even feel true pain, and that's giving me phantom sensations just thinking about it.
"Well," I muse, holding up my hand, "I wasn't going to keep you waiting for much longer."
Light flashes from my hand, the nimbus stilling, coalescing into a shape within my grasp.
I clench my hand, and the light disperses, replaced by my sword.
It's so much more convenient to be able to summon it whenever I want rather than having to carry it everywhere!
Umashia nodded his head, "And we appreciate the swiftness," he responded, with what sounded like true gratitude, as he rose onto his feet without even a twitch of pain, "yet, you come here not at your full power."
My free hand comes up behind my head, scratching it, "Well, yeah?" I admit, "I just got done training, after all."
Granted, it was more mental and spiritual stuff over the physical, a whole lot of dealing with shenanigans in my head.
Umashia shook his head as he approached, "That won't be."
"Uh, okay, so then-" I was cut off, as Umashia reached down his hand.
All he did was poke me on the forehead.
My aura exploded.
In an instant, all I saw was gold, as every single energy source I had within me was brought to full power in an instant.
My sun? It beat furiously in my chest, ready and rearing to go in an instant.
I heaved a breath, momentarily stunned, trying to contain the energy suddenly boiling under my skin.
"What in the!?" I ground out, rather dumbly.
Umashia simply chuckled as he stepped away from me.
"It is about time you learned who I am exactly, isn't it?" He mused, still as good-naturedly as always, yet there was an undertone of anticipation under it all.
Despite how far away he walked, despite how soft and gentle he sounded, his voice carried with an almost eerie ease, "Reed Shoot Prince Elderly Kami."
My surging energy stabilizes, just as pressure begins building in the arena around us.
"That is Umashiashikabihikoji. That is me. I am the fourth kami to exist. I am the first male kami to exist. That is all my essence, my purpose, my power."
…Wait, so he's like, the Kami version of the First Man!?
He stopped walking, although he wasn't done, "Therefore, my power is power. Energy. Drive."
The air had begun to steam.
I don't know how best to describe it otherwise.
A white airy flame was manifesting throughout the air. The pressure made manifest.
All coming from him.
And for the first time, I could sense it.
It wasn't divine power, not exactly, no, it was lifeforce. Raw, insurmountable, lifeforce.
I don't have a comparison point for this. It felt damn near limitless.
"This place," Umashia continued, his voice growing heavier and deeper, "this arena, was constructed out of Hihi'irokane. It has been imbued with the power of the others; it will hold. Only an attack that could destroy a country would hope to damage it." He turned around, facing me once again.
His eyes were gone, left as an empty white glowing void, flickering with flames like the air around us.
"The barrier is also in place." He added, and with a glance around, I saw that too.
A translucent red sheen, shaped like another square, rises around the arena on all sides.
"So." Umashia raised his arms out to either side, wide, "Hold nothing back!"
The pressure around me turned into a physical weight.
Before I even knew it, my knee had slammed into the ground below, sending a buzz straight up my thigh and spine.
All around me, the very air appeared to vibrate and burn, life force igniting into a mere fraction of fighting spirit.
Umashia's fighting spirit.
Ever so slowly, despite the buzz beginning to spread across my body, down my shoulder and back, I began smiling.
The Power of a Primordial God.
How…exhilarating.
The sun in my chest beat like a second heart, a second heart about to go through a heart attack.
With every single beat, a sound like a drum bounced around my body, throughout my veins, rattling my bones and echoing throughout my mind.
I can't go max power all the way, not yet. It takes time to heat a house or pick up speed in a car.
But as it turns out, that power was always within me. I had just been using the sun like a pair of juice of jumper cables the entire time.
Treating me as another side, rather than just me, something that needed to be coaxed out.
I was always here. I am who I am. Heh.
The sun pulsed and swelled. Liquid magma ignited throughout my veins, and I felt fire crawl up my neck.
The weight, lessened.
See, the problem is, though, just like any star, any reactor, any power plant, the fuel has to come from somewhere.
Before it was the sun.
Now it's all me.
I raised my head, as the sun in my chest swelled further, its color shifting from yellow to an orangish red.
I no longer so white, only gold, as my aura rippled out into the air around me.
I rose into my full height, pushing past the weight, trying to bring my shoulders down.
As my aura bellowed out around me, I caught a whiff of my slightly lighter black hair as it passed over my eyes.
Umashia grinned, lowering his arm.
He didn't take a stance, but I could tell he was ready regardless.
Let's do this.
I breathe, my sword in my hand glowing as red-hot as the day I reforged it.
I step, and I'm upon him.
A simple opener.
Dance.
Flames of red and gold ignite across the edge of my blade as it streaks down in an arc.
Umashia barely moves, only raising a single arm. The thick corded muscles lacing his forearm tense as the entire thing glows with a white flame.
Concentrated fighting spirit.
My blade slams down on his arm like a hammer upon an anvil.
The entire arena rings at the strike, but neither my sword nor his arm suffers any damage.
My eyes spin, and I feel the next move right before it materializes.
His other arm lashed out in a furious uppercut, right for where my chin was.
Fake Rainbow.
The afterimage he strikes doesn't just fade; it explodes, as a pure white tornado cranes out from his fist and smashes into the barrier above.
I don't waste time creating several dozen afterimages to try and confuse his senses. He can watch me from another realm; he'll perceive me here easily.
I appear at his back, sword already craned back, fire igniting around it as though in a mirror to his own attack.
Sunflower Thrust.
The tip of my blade slams straight into his lower back, right where his spine would be.
Fire screams out around me as it spins and churns like a drill before blasting me back.
I'm sent skidding across the ground, far back across the arena, nearly slamming into the barrier myself.
As I look forward, I see Umashia just standing there, completely unharmed, not even a nick in his robe where my blade could have pierced.
He looks back, smiles, and turns to face me.
My grip on my blade tightens, my aura flaring as I do the spiritual equivalent of shoving more coal in the engine.
Or this case, dropping water onto a sun.
Dozens to hundreds to thousands and more gallons of water.
Umashia reels his hand back, his palm open, a cyclone of raw lifeforce swirled into his palm in an instant.
It was only thanks to my eyes that I caught the spark of blue in the first place.
My sword swung out on raw instinct, intercepting the deep blue aura blast before it could blow straight through my chest.
The moment my sword's edge made contact with the aura blow, the entire thing unraveled.
That cyclone burst free from the aura sphere, slamming me against and pinning me to the barrier at my back for barely a second.
But that's all it took.
A wave of pure force slammed into me as Umashia punched straight and forward, keeping my back pressed against the barrier, my arms forced back and pinned as my entire body buzzed.
Another punch, another wave of white, another dash of buzzing lacing my form.
And then another, and another, and another.
It was like getting hit over and over again by a beam of light that had mass.
The sun in my chest swelled once more.
Fire erupts from my form, red slowly giving more and more way to gold.
Another wave hits, slamming my flames back against me.
I breathe deep, taking them all back in.
As another wave comes, I breathe out in a roar.
Force and fire meet halfway, and the two explode, igniting nearly half of the arena in a firestorm.
That wave never reaches me.
My legs hit the ground right as I regain control of my arms, and I move, this step blinking through the firestorm with enough force to carve a hole straight through the center of it.
No fancy tricks, no sneaky angles.
I'm upon him.
Umashia lowers his arm to meet me, another cyclone gathering in his palm.
Rather than my sword, my other arm reels back in response.
A cyclone of fire swirls into my palm, gathering into a sphere of flames that condense and pull inward.
Light flashes and burns around the super condensed sphere as it turns black, and all of a sudden, it's as though I'm holding a solar eclipse in the palm of my hand.
His blue aura sphere rises as my solar eclipse falls.
As soon as the spheres impact each other, the entire arena shudders. White and red pushing against each other, force and heat, contesting as our spheres unravel in each other's hands.
Flames explode out from under the soles of my feet as I hold and push back.
For a second, the entire arena becomes a firestorm as a result of our clash.
Until I see Umashia take a very deep breath, aura building around his throat…
The next time he opens his mouth, it's not another breath, it's a roar.
Ripples upon ripples of white radiate from his entire body, crashing over my fire like tidal waves and blowing them out.
At the same time, he forced me back up into the air, my body spinning.
I right myself as my ears ring and buzz. Sound returns immediately as they heal, but it's my eyes that catch him again as he appears.
Right above me, arms raised, hands overlapping and clenched.
With a single seal with one hand, smoke explodes between me and him, sending me, and several dozen other me's, flying in various directions.
The me stuck where I was, though? He looks around, rapidly, before realizing where exactly he was.
"Oh…you DICK!" He cries.
Before getting sledgehammered back into nonexistence and smoke.
Sorry. Your sacrifice will be worth it.
Flames ignite beneath my feet once more, yet as my aura shines brighter and brighter, I do not race toward battle.
My once black hair flutters across my sight, now a deep purple.
Finally.
All my clones do the same, launching themselves at Umashia from various directions.
Umashia turns, his arm raised and fist clenched, twisting and swinging it around midair.
A whirlwind emanates, and all my clones are slammed into it.
All of whom promptly explode. Violently.
The whirlwind he created becomes a vortex of my holy spirit fire in an instant.
With another, the flames at my feet burst once again, flinging me straight into the inferno.
I see him falling, the flames licking across his glowing form, and he seems unbothered.
I will change that.
More fire. More flames. More power.
Gold etches across my blade as it ignites this time.
He turns right as I lash down upon him again, his forearm blocking. Gold strikes white, the ring shuddering in the inferno around us.
With a grunt, he flings me back.
I make a single sign, both hands still clasped on my blade.
A clone poofs into existence behind me, his feet already lashing out.
As one, flames erupt from both our feet, and I'm sent flying right back into the fray.
The sheer force of the power pushing from my feet poofs the clone almost immediately after it's summoned, but it's more than enough.
I come spiraling back in, already arching into another slash.
Sun-
My sword comes down like a beam of sunlight, slamming into a metal wall that is his arm once again.
I'm flung back.
Another clone, and a big explosion of jets of flames, and I'm back upon him.
-Halo-
The gold in my blade spreads like an infection across it, another slash for his neck blocked by his wrist.
He sends me away with a wave of his arm.
-Dragon-
I come back even faster.
Fire and metal slam against force and flesh, the inferno around us growing larger.
The fire begins taking shape, images of something forming within the heat.
I'm knocked away, again and again.
Yet I keep coming back.
-Head-
There is no time to think, there is no time to plan, to fight back.
There is only us, the fire, and my blade.
My clones send me flying back, fire my tail like a comet, each time I'm sent away.
Each entrance is a new angle, each swing coming from a different position, aiming for a different limb now.
It's all one-
-Dance.
Into.
Solar Heat Haze.
My next strike comes to a halt right before it can actually reach him.
My sword passes down through the air right in front of him.
He raises his forearm, but nothing meets his flesh.
For the first time since I've met him, his brow creases in confusion.
The fire roars in greeting.
Umashia abruptly faces up, his fist rising skyward, to meet the massive dragon head made of pure golden flame.
A white wave of force crashes into its maw.
It eats it, not even slowed a single bit as it crashed right on top of the Primordial God.
The inferno around us turns inwards, condensing, drawing in all upon him, as though itself was one supermassive flaming blade.
The resulting explosion wasn't one of flames or heat; it was one of pure golden light, a pillar shooting straight up into the barrier at our heads.
I stand up straight, my back perfectly straight, as light purple hair wafts into my eyesight.
The sun in my chest beats with the fury of a red giant, sparking with gold and light unchallenged.
I am whole. I am one. But not for long.
The light finally clears, and I behold the Primordial God, kneeling, in a small pool of molten metal straight from the arena.
His body smoking, his robe at last singed and glowing at the hems, parts of his body glow an angry pink.
"...Haha. Hahahaha!" He laughs, boisterously, as he rises back onto his feet, the pink in his skin fades with white rushing over it, "There he is!" he holds out his hands, "The new sun!"
My blade burned gold, light, and fire, igniting into being around it at the same time.
Umashia grinned, his foot thundering against the arena as he finally took a stance.
Both of his hands, gathered at his side.
This time, when the vortex of white came, and blue sparked, it didn't just end there.
The white continued, gathering more and more power, until it was subsumed by a gathering of pure blue light, gathering and bursting between his palms.
The molten metal churning beneath his feet blew out around him as the lifeforce burst, rays of light and sparks of blue flying this way and that.
I smiled, the resemblance to a certain technique comes to mind. Almost uncannily so.
Then again, I suppose such a technique, and who it is used by, would be a good indicator of peak masculine power, no?
I hold my sword out to the side. The golden fire doesn't explode out in a rage; rather, I focus it.
The light and fire seemingly die down until the blade itself seems to become one with my aura, wrapped in a bellowing haze of heat.
I barely register him thrusting his hands out, himself roaring as a blinding beam of pure blue power rockets from his palms.
Not because I can't see him. I can.
My focus is elsewhere.
I swing out my sword, as though drawing a horizontal line across a page with a pen.
Where my sword goes, a line of my divine power draws across the world, painting a ray of still golden radiance against a backdrop of blue.
But like every good sunset sky?
The blue vanishes with the setting of the golden light.
"Divine Sword. " I intone for the first and only time here.
His beam of blue power unravels into nothing, not even wind. Umashia stands there, his hands still outstretched as it happens, his mouth slightly agape.
A golden line etches across his torso.
A golden line etches out behind him, across either side of the barrier.
The golden line before me vanishes in a haze of heat.
I breathe out, at long last.
Rays of light burst out from the line across his chest and barrier, before it all promptly erupts.
In one second, there was light, and the next, a flash of flames before it all abruptly ceased.
A straight section across the barrier was simply gone.
The straight section of Umashia's torso was simply gone, only held together by a burning white force.
Umashia looked down, slowly, as though he hadn't realized fully what had happened.
Then it clicked, and he slowly looked back up at me.
"...Well done." He said, genuinely.
Before promptly falling over onto his side, clutching his torso.
I feel a familiar set of pressures wash over the field, and I look up to greet them, but not all the way up.
Umashia vanishes, his presence joining theirs.
They offer a bow.
Which I return, wordlessly.
They leave as quickly as they come, not out of fear or anything; it's just how they are.
As the barrier begins to fall apart around me, releasing me, I can't help but smile.
And really wish there was a sun or something in the sky to look at. Isn't it a bit too bland up here?