Second Chance : A Gamer’s Journey

Amaterasu stared blankly at the ornate paper in front of her, her mind far removed from the serene, incense-filled room. The scent of sandalwood, usually a source of grounding and peace, wasn't really bringing peace to her mind at this moment.

Her thoughts were entirely occupied by a single man.

Kenji Takahashi.

That monster couldn't be human.

No, she refused to believe it. Even after meeting him face-to-face, even after sensing the pulse of his soul that marked him as a mortal being, she could no longer accept that label.

What kind of human possessed power that didn't just rival, but seemed to surpass her own? She, who was the very sun itself. She, the radiant, eternal ruler of Takamagahara.

She shook her head, her fingers curling so tightly against the silk of her robes. She wanted to deny the carnage she had witnessed, to dismiss it as some elaborate trick, but the image was seared into her mind. That man had torn through thousands of yokai as if they were nothing more than dry autumn leaves in a gale.

To her, the low-class and mid-class fodder were beneath notice, mere gnats in the grand scheme of things. But she had underestimated the sheer scale of the force Hagoromo Gitsune or her name had spent centuries cultivating in the shadows.

When the attack happened, thousands had emerged from the hidden corners of Kyoto, bolstered by hundreds of High-Class. If hundreds of High-Class yokai and a dozen Ultimate-Class monsters had surrounded Amaterasu herself, even she would have had to draw upon her full divinity and still fight with a measure of caution.

Yet Kenji had cut through them with a terrifying, effortless ease, ripped heads off, and tore through yokai like none mattered at all. It wasn't just the raw power he possessed, it was the chilling execution.

The speed and precision were what truly haunted her mind. From the first drop of blood to the final enemy to drop, not a single enemy had managed to land even a clean blow on him.

By the time he was done, Hagoromo Gitsune had lost every single one of her men, and Kenji had earned a new title among the few terrified yokai who were there and saw what happened 'The Golden-Eyed Butcher.'Because that seemed to be the only thing that most could see as he moved so fast, only those glowing eyes of his gave you a hint of where he had been.

Amaterasu found it hauntingly fitting when he finished and turned to stare into her very soul. She had to fight down a shiver at the cold look.

He wasn't human, and she'd never consider him one.

The doors to her chamber burst open with a violent thwack, making her let out a long, weary sigh. She didn't need to look up to know who it was. Few dared to intrude on her without permission, and among those few, only one would enter like a storm.

Susanoo.

Her brothers were a constant migraine to her.

"Susanoo," she said flatly, not moving her gaze from the ornate paper.

The God of Storms and Seas strode in, his presence as loud and brash as a thunderclap. Between him and Tsukuyomi, she felt her patience tested on a daily basis. Things had been particularly strained in recent years.

Tsukuyomi had been arguing that she was too soft, allowing foreign factions like the Devils and the Grigori to settle in their ancestral lands. He viewed her diplomacy as a sign of decay, failing to understand that a war with the modern Underworld would be a pyrrhic victory that might leave their pantheon vulnerable to the Greek or Norse factions, and that was even if they managed somehow to win against the two monsters.

Over the centuries, the Shinto Pantheon had lost a significant amount of its "weight" due to the decline in human faith. While they still had thousands of minor kami in Takamagahara, they were no longer the untouchable juggernaut they once were.

When the Devils had arrived with "deals" that were just veiled ultimatums and threats, she knew they had little choice in the matter. Facing monsters like Ajuka Beelzebub and Sirzechs Lucifer was a prospect that required more than just foolish pride, it required a level of power they didn't have anymore. They primodials of her pantheon could definitely battle those two, Izanagi and Izanami. But let's not get into the problems of those two at the moment.

Still, she accepted things while keeping a firm hand on things, but not willing to really fight it with the Abrahamic faction.

However, her own stance had hardened after the Nekomata incident in the Underworld. She had nearly gone on a widespread rampage then, ready to risk total war just to prove that the Sun would not be insulted.

That display, plus the full backing of all the other kami, had eventually forced the Devils to compensate them, but the wound in the pantheon remained. Tsukuyomi had used that incident to fuel his narrative that she was unfit to lead, though his own arrogance made him equally disliked by the lesser spirits. So she wasn't all that worried about being overthrown anytime soon.

"What is it, Susanoo?" she asked, finally looking at him.

Her brother didn't offer his usual boisterous greeting. His face was uncharacteristically serious as he sat across from her, clasping his calloused, sword scarred hands together. "I heard about the attack on Kyoto."

Amaterasu's eyes narrowed. Susanoo usually lived for the fight, but he normally only cared for his fights and didn't care for what his other siblings did until it affected him, but there was an edge of genuine curiosity now, and perhaps a hint of something else in his voice that she couldn't quite make out. "Tell me everything," he demanded.

For a second, he wanted to tell him to piss off. Who the hell did he think to demand from her before she saw the look in his eyes as he stared unblinking at her, waiting, she nodded at him.

She recounted the meeting, from the mana stone negotiations to the sudden, chaotic invasion. When she mentioned the stones and explained what they were, Susanoo's eyes widened.

Even a brute like him understood that mana stones were something far more precious than anything seen in recent history. But when she described the carnage Kenji had unleashed, the God of Storms just sat there listening without moving an inch.

He stayed there for a long time, humming a tune as he leaned back. Then, without his usual word of mockery or a boast of how he could have handled it better, he stood up to leave.

"That's it?" Amaterasu asked, her irritation bubbling over. "You barge in, demand, and just walk away?" If he weren't her brother, she'd have turned him to ash right now.

Susanoo stopped at the threshold, his back to her. "Where is the human now?"

Amaterasu paused, recalling the final moments of the conflict. After defeating Hagoromo, Kenji had stood amidst the corpses with a strange, distant look on his face.

He had done something to the kitsune, making her scream as she dropped down before she vanished. He'd then turned to Yasaka and her, stated he had "somewhere to be," and literally tore a hole with his sword before stepping through.

"I don't know," she admitted. "He left. He seemed... occupied with something else if I had to guess." he did seem that way when he returned to their meeting.

Susanoo frowned, nodded once, and walked out. Amaterasu narrowed her eyes. Her brother was clearly up to something, and now she wanted to find out just what it was.

The Underworld – A Desolate Reach

Kenji grumbled as he marched forward, his boots crunching against the dry, silver-grey earth of the Underworld. The sky was a shade of violet, and the air tasted of sulfur. 'urg'.

"This place is way too damn big," he muttered, kicking a loose stone into a nearby crater.

At least he had made it. After the Kyoto mess, he was pissed at the attackers and had found that they were even connected to the Khaos Brigade, which made him even more pissed until he remembered something. He had gone straight home and started calling out for the one being whom he should have called for since the beginning.

Ophis.

He had spent seven straight hours calling her name in his living room, feeling like a complete lunatic. Finally, the Infinite Dragon God had appeared, looking as bored and indifferent as ever.

A bribe consisting of a premium box of donuts and several containers of chocolate cookies later, she had tilted her head, opened a void, and tossed him into the Underworld.

The problem was "here" was in the absolute middle of a wasteland. He had tried flying at first, but after ten minutes, he realized the scale of the Underworld was nonsensical, it was functionally larger than the surface of the Earth. Flying blindly was a waste if he didn't know where he was going.

Three hours into his trek and thinking, Kenji stopped. He sat down on a rock, the silence of the wasteland ringing in his ears. He stared at the violet horizon for a long, quiet minute.

Then, he dropped his head into his hands.

"I am a complete and utter idiot," he whispered to the empty air.

He stayed like that for another minute before finally erupting in a shout of pure self-loathing. "NO, SERIOUSLY—WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME?!"

His voice echoed for miles across the plains. He felt the heat of embarrassment crawling up his neck. The moment he realized his daughters were in danger, his brain had clearly short-circuited. He had spent seven hours calling a Dragon God and bribing her with pastries when he had a much faster, much more obvious solution.

"I have devil servants," he groaned into his palms, his voice muffled. "Servants who are from the Underworld. Who grew up in these territories. Who probably have an idea where the Gremory territory was."

He could have summoned one of them in his own backyard and been in the underworld in an instant, and been guided through the underworld. Instead, he was hiking through a literal hellscape. "Gods above and below, just kill me now," he muttered, pushing himself to his feet.

He took a deep breath, forcing himself to settle. He couldn't help Ayaka and Aoi if he was acting like a headless chicken.

"Come to me," he whispered, using his bond towards his servant to call one to him.

magic flared, and a figure emerged. The devil looked young, perhaps in his early twenties, with striking, messy blue hair and piercing green eyes. Among Kenji's servants, Roman's appearance was unique, and he seemed to possess unwavering, almost zealous loyalty to Kenji, the man who had given him a new purpose.

"My lord!" Roman said instantly, dropping to one knee before the dust had even settled. His eyes scanned the desolate landscape before fixing on Kenji with intense focus.

"Roman. I am in need of your assistance," Kenji said, his voice regaining its usual authoritative steel.

The devil looked up, a bright, eager smile forming on his face. He didn't ask why they had ended up in the middle of the wasteland in the underworld, and he didn't care. "Whatever you may need of me, I am ready to serve. My life is yours."

"I need a guide," Kenji told him, gesturing to the expanse. "I need to find the Gremory territory."

Roman's eyes lit up, and he puffed out his chest with visible pride. "Then you have nothing to fear, my lord! I know the Gremory borders. I shall guide you to the very doorstep of their estate."

Kenji nodded, a glint returning to his golden eyes. The worry was still there, but it was being rapidly overtaken by a father's righteous indignation.

'Girls, I'm coming,' he thought, his aura flaring just enough to make the earth beneath him crack. 'And you're both grounded until the end of the century.'

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