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"You remember Oblivion?!" Drake asked.
"Not much... I just..." Yuki grabbed her forehead. "I remember seeing him once, when I was summoned... He was there, the first Summon, the first Reincarnator of Yggdrasil, perhaps even the entire Universe."
"Do you know what he was like before becoming a cosmic god or something?" Drake asked.
"He was... gently smiling at me, saying he was very happy to see me," Yuki sighed. "I was summoned before Pandemonium and Chaos. Like them, my power seemed sealed and unusable at first. But Oblivion was present, so they werenāt as mean to me as to the others. The Gods... I can hardly recall them. There was a bearded old man, their king, Odin? Then a muscular, handsome blonde man... holding a giant hammer, Thor? And a trickster, always throwing jokes and laughing... Loki."
"Huh..." Drake rubbed his chin. "To think they were once real... I guess theyāre now forgotten by most. Now Venerables are mostly the ones worshiped as gods... But wait, why were they summoning people?"
"They had... recently discovered a way to use their Primordial Powers to... uh, embed something they called āPrimordial Lawā into whoever was Summoned," Yuki explained. "Thatās why Oblivion, Pandemonium, and Chaos are so strong. Each one of them... they were literal embodiments of a Primordial Law of the Universe."
"And you too?" Drake asked.
"I donāt know... they never told me what I was," Yuki shrugged. "And I donāt recall much about them aside from that... I spent most of my days sleeping, always exhausted for some reason. My dreams grew more and more vivid, as the world I dreamed of became... real... and then, when it finally happened, when Pandemonium and Chaos, after enduring all that torture I couldnāt stop, awakened their powers... well, the first Ragnarƶk began."
"I see... both went berserk and fought everyone else then?" Drake asked.
"The Gods were their first victims, but a few managed to escape, I think..." Yuki said. "Now that I think about it, it was strange... like... there was no way they could have escaped so easily. It was almost as if... someone among the Gods helped them."
"Hm..." Drake nodded. "Well, they had it coming. They should have never done that to them to begin with..."
"I agree... back then, I didnāt see much beyond the fall of the Floating Continent of Asgard. As it crumbled, I panicked and... I escaped, somehow," Yuki explained. "I canāt recall well, ugh... but itās odd. I saw myself falling, and then I was sitting on colorful clouds, surrounded by all sorts of vibrant characters from my fantasies, the gods of Zipangu, my new family, the family I always dreamed of..."
"And... Susanoo was there," Drake sighed.
"Yes... the brother I created, someone dependable, strong, someone I could rely on," Yuki said with a soft laugh. "I... I loved him, and the other Gods too. I really liked Sun Wukong and Buddha, but as the years passed, we grew distant... I fully assumed the role of Divine Empress of Zipangu, and over time, I became colder... The responsibility of caring for such a vast world was... exhausting. I fell into slumber many times, waking millions of years later, panicking after realizing so much had happened, all those little mortals I grew attached to long dead... I slowly lost... I lost my motivation."
"You did?" Drake sighed. "I mean, it makes sense. You needed a vacation, or perhaps another god to take over that role for you..."
"Yeah, but I never let anybody do it," Yuki said. "I... Amaterasu was strict and also... very kind. She didnāt want to burden the other Gods, her creations. She wanted them to live carefree, happy lives, doing as they pleased. Perhaps thatās what led to Susanooās rebellion and the betrayal of other Kami. But even then... it was too cruel. Susanoo was someone I loved and trusted, my brother, the brother I never had... and he... he struck Amaterasu with his cold sword and beheaded her, with the help of Oda Nobunaga, possessed by Hajun, the powerful Demon I sealed long ago due to his destructive nature and power."
"Goddamn..." Drake gritted his teeth, growing angrier the more Yuki recalled her death. "Iām so sorry, Yuki... I... I wish I was there to help you."
"No... itās alright... thatās in the past. Iāve reincarnated here, and Iāve been so happy with you, dummy," Yuki giggled, her personality now so different from Amaterasuās. "And you even gave me this cute, precious baby. She even has Amaterasuās powers for some reason. I guess she inherited them from me... well, Iām technically Amaterasu, but still."
"Even so, Iāll avenge your death, Yuki," Drake said, staring into the vortex below. "The bastard who did that to you is down there. Iām going to kill him and end his tyranny in the process. Oda and Hajun are the same, right?"
"Hajunās body was destroyed by me, his soul sealed. Oda became his perfect vessel," Yuki nodded. "So yes... Oda is himself, with his own powerful soul, techniques, and magic... but thereās also Hajun, perhaps guiding him or maybe dormant, we donāt know. But both are there."
"Good, two birds with one stone then," Drake said. "Next would be that bastard Susanoo. Do you think heāll show up?"
"I donāt know. He wanted Zipangu for himself, while Oda is focused on conquering everything," Yuki said. "I would assume they eventually clashed. Their alliance was fragile and could never have stayed strong for long... I have two theories: either my brother defeated Oda Nobunaga, and the reason heās here is because he fled Zipangu, or... he killed my brother and now wields even greater power, but his greed is endless, so heās expanded to Yggdrasil, trying to conquer this world too."
"Hmmm, both seem plausible," Drake said, rubbing his chin. "Weāll confront him and learn the truth soon enough... But in the worst-case scenario, if theyāre still allies, what do you think could happen?"
"A possibility... I donāt even want to imagine it, but Susanoo..." Yuki sighed. "Ugh, letās not think about hypotheticals, Drake. Thatās enough for now, okay?"
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