[Hajime POV]
My battle with the gashadokuro finally ended, and I was tired.
Not physically, but mentally.
While I expended a lot of energy to injure the skeleton yokai, Sage Mode let me recover several times faster.
The entire battle was more like a siege than a boss fight.
The gashadokuro wasn't able to injure me, but killing it proved tedious more than anything.
Luckily, I had Benedict; otherwise, I might've been there for much longer. The holy energy of the Excalibur Blessing, combined with Sage Mode, sped up the fight by at least several hours.
I probably could've won even without Benedict or senjutsu, but it would've taken much longer, and the gashadokuro would've caused much more damage.
That I was burning it from the inside out helped since it was facing a constant, lingering pain that distracted it from its malice-fueled rampage.
It took hours to bring it down, mostly because gashadokuro are so tough.
Hopping down from the ribcage, I immediately stored the bones in my inventory.
Though I didn't have any idea what to use it for yet, I wasn't going to let anyone take the spoils.
Gashadokuro reaching supreme-class was already extremely rare; only a few have ever existed throughout history, all appearing during major crises such as wartime or natural disasters.
Most of the time, gashadokuro are purified through elaborate rituals meant to calm the angry spirits, usually held under the guise of a festival for those unaware of the supernatural.
The fact that the Masshirona clan never purified it suggests they didn't have time to prepare anything at the time, but I'm confused as to why they didn't prepare anything after they sealed it. Maybe they didn't want to risk it surviving, but regardless, the corpse is mine.
With how much material there is, I could easily save the bones until I have someone capable of turning them into powerful equipment.
At the very least, the bones could be turned into armor capable of protecting against ultimate-class attacks.
The best part of the fight, though, was how much progress I'd made with assimilating Doflamingo, pushing it up to 63%. Though not yet two-thirds of the way done, it was still
After putting Benedict away, I swung over to the Masshirona clan shrine with strings.
I already left the culprits behind, but there was always a chance they might try to escape.
Yutaka and Hanako were also missing from the whole incident, though I sensed they were somewhere inside the shrine when dealing with those villains, along with a few others.
Creating shadow clones to assist the people inside, I grabbed the four main offenders and brought them into the woods to claim any bounties they had.
Once that was done, I incinerated the corpses before heading to Itose to check on Monet.
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[Monet POV]
Everything had finally calmed down.
The culprits behind the attack had almost all been defeated, with only a few barely holding on in their fights, though the constant reinforcements against them were going to change that soon enough.
All the fires that had been started were pretty much extinguished, though a few dying embers remained.
Using my devil fruit to put out those fires was taxing on my body. I won't die or anything, but that much exposure to heat makes me feel like I'm going to pass out from heatstroke, even with my body naturally cooling itself down.
Luckily, now that everything has calmed down, I've been able to make a small domain of snow to recover in.
Seeing that giant skeleton monster was horrifying.
I've seen Pika turn into a stone giant and Doflamingo when he's mad, but somehow neither was as terrifying as what I saw today.
I remember the book saying the gashadokuro was born of the dead's anger, but they really undersold just how angry they were.
Just how much rage was inside such a creature to the point where even I was scared. Was that creature on the same level as Kaido?
It was a sore subject for Doflamingo, but when he first started his deals with Kaido, he was intimidated by the emperor's conqueror's haki.
I wasn't present during the deal, but Baby 5 was, and from what she said, it felt as if a mountain were pressing down on you. Like whatever move she made would lead to her death unless she submitted.
If not for Doflamingo agreeing to the SMILE deal, she was sure she would've died without knowing what happened.
While I don't have a frame of reference, I can only imagine that terrifying feeling coming from the skeleton was what she was talking about.
It felt that, if it wanted to, I would die without knowing how it happened.
I always knew back in my world just how dangerous the strongest individuals could be. A fight between two emperors could annihilate an island, and for those with destructive powers like Whitebeard or the Admirals, an island was the bare minimum that would be destroyed.
The fight between Aokiji and Akainu literally reshaped Punk Hazard, permanently altering the weather and splitting the island in two, opening up the central lake to the ocean.
As I rested, I could vaguely sense a strong individual coming to town from where the gashadokuro was. No doubt it was Hajime.
Even knowing his powers, I still found it unbelievable how a child had gotten so strong, and all of it was because of luck.
Sure, he put effort into assimilating his powers, but to get a sacred gear, which then gave him his powers completely randomly, can only be described as lucky.
People could easily spend years training themselves without seeing any progress, or they could eat a completely useless devil fruit. I know that the strength of devil fruits depends on the user, like how a tailor with Doflamingo's string fruit wouldn't reach the same heights he did with it, but there are still weak fruits.
Like that human fruit the Straw Hat doctor had would have been completely useless if anyone other than an animal ate it, and even then, most animals wouldn't have been able to make something of themselves like that.
Hajime soon showed up, exhaustion covering his face.
"How were things here?" Hajime asked.
"Fine. None of the mages was strong enough to threaten me. Though I am tired from putting out the fires, I'll be okay in a bit."
"Good. I've already taken the gashadokuro's corpse and claimed the bounties of the men who started it all. If you're done here, then we can leave."
"Hold on, I would've thought you'd want to stay and celebrate your victory, maybe claim some kind of reward for saving everyone."
"Honestly, I probably would have under other circumstances, but it's best if we leave as soon as we can.
Though I don't believe anyone knows what we did just yet, I'm sure at least a few people sensed something had happened here. Amaterasu definitely felt something happen in her shrine and will investigate sooner or later.
People will be investigating this place soon, and I'd rather not be here when people find out a child is capable of killing a supreme-class being known for its defensive abilities.
Just having Telos Karma is like eating a Logia devil fruit. Any faction looking for strength will try to recruit me, and those who dislike rejection might try killing me or giving me a bounty. If we stay here, Itose will become a powder keg that could explode at any moment."
"So you want to protect this town? How noble, Hajime-sama."
"It's not about protecting them, but me. Remember that Hero Faction I told you about? They recruit only humans, and though I'm half yokai, since I don't exhibit any yokai traits, I'd probably be a candidate for recruitment.
Those guys are bad news. Not only are they connected to the main antagonist of this world, but they might have three Longinus at the moment, and I don't know if I can fight them. If they have all three, then they have an endless army, an unbreakable shield, and an unstoppable spear. I could maybe fight one and win, but all three? Not now.
The Khaos Brigade they're a part of will almost certainly hear of me, given enough time, and I don't think you want to see their leaders any time soon. The gashadokuro was in supreme-class, but the Khaos Brigade has leaders capable of defeating it within seconds. They are not people we can afford to deal with."
"Alright then, I should be fine to head back to base. I can rest once we're there."
I stood up and walked with Hajime, taking an unusual path that avoided anyone from seeing us go.
Seeing the concern on Hajime's face when he mentioned the Khaos Brigade tells me just how terrifying they must be. Though he avoided talking about the future, saying it was unreliable for choosing what to do, he did bring up the threats he knew existed.
He was always vague when talking about them, mostly because he was still too weak and inexperienced to know how strong they were compared to one another, but it painted a bleak picture. Especially when he brought up something called ExE gods, capable of making the strongest being in the world look like an ant, and who would arrive within our lifetimes.
Knowing all that, I can only train in hopes that I won't drag Hajime down when the moment comes to deal with them.
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[Amaterasu POV]
It had been hours since I had gotten that strange fruit from one of my old shrines.
I had left several of my shrines to collect offerings automatically, paying attention only to the major shrines. Usually, I received things like money, flowers, incense, and even some home-cooked meals. Fruit wasn't uncommon, but I was surprised to see someone offer such a strange fruit.
I wasn't even sure it was a fruit until I had my chef check it out. I thought it was just a weird-looking urchin, but it turned out to be more like a super-spiky durian minus the smell.
When I asked for it to be prepared, even they didn't know what to do with it at first.
After they delivered it to me, I was surprised to find that the spikes on the outside were edible and didn't taste too bad.
But the inside?
Delicious!
It was so sweet and juicy!
While I was enjoying the urchin fruit, I felt something happen at the shrine where I got it.
Sensing a large amount of damage to the shrine put me on alert, since damage like that rarely happens anymore.
Standing up, I prepared to teleport myself down to see what was going on when my assistant came into the room with a stack of paperwork.
"Lady Amaterasu, where were you going? You have a lot of work to do, you know."
"Something is destroying one of my shrines. I need to go investigate now!"
"Nice try, but you used that excuse last week to get out of that meeting with the five principal gods."
"Oh come on, Fuku! Those meetings are always so boring! Besides, I'm serious this time!"
"Like how you were serious that you needed to check on the sun when that Greek delegation came to visit?"
"They're all pervs, and you know it!" I pouted at his constant insistence that I work.
"While I won't argue about the Greeks' sexual proclivities, I also am aware of your proclivity to skip work. If you finish the work you have now, I don't think anyone will mind if you go check up on your shrines for a bit."
"Damn it, fine!"
Diving headfirst into my work, I finally emerged from my office hours later.
"Damn Fuku, can't believe he actually watched me work, so I didn't sneak off," I grumbled.
Finally teleporting down to the shrine, I expanded my senses to assess the damage done to the shrine, and the more I saw, the more confused I was.
The shrine was practically falling apart, with everyone inside injured to some degree. Further away, I sensed the nearby forest was bathed in multiple positive energies, including holy energy that definitely came from the Church, though I don't know what specifically.
The nearby town was in ruins, several people were being guarded, and somehow, several parts of the town were covered in snow, the magic feeling like a devil's.
"What the heck happened here!?"
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Author's Note:
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!
Thanks for reading; I'll see you next time!