Disclaimer: I do NOT own NARUTO or High school DxD.
It's been a long time, has it not, everyone? For you who already know about me, I'm back and sorry to make you wait. For people who didn't know me, welcome. Some of you might know this, couple of months ago I got flamed and trolled by unknown reviewers, and I got very emotional and took my stories down to stop the trolls. Originally I was planning to post all my stories in spacebattle forum, but after spending some times there I gotta say that it's not exactly user-friendly for reading stories. Truebaldy came to me and offered to post my stories using his account, and I am really grateful to him for doing that. After having some discussions with him about the reviews he got, I realized that I still love fanfic and its community. He suggested that I should try -reposting the 1st chapter to see the reactions from the people and if the trolls have die out.
As for users who emailed me asking for permissions, etc., I'm very sorry for not replying to you. I changed the login email to another to prevent seeing anymore troll emails in my main email inbox, and I forgot that I changed the login email until recently when I tried to login to the website. Also, I am still fixing the plot holes and errors in my stories, and it might take a while to finish all of them considering how works are robbing me of my free time and giving me a slow and painful death (especially since I have to fly back and forth from Asia to Europe at least once a month).
So do you want me to finish fixing the errors in the entire story first and re-post all the chapters in one go, or do you want me to finish it chapter by chapter and re-post the chapters one by one?
Also, to the person who is writing another version of my story (you know who you are), keep up the nice work.
xxx
Fate is a cruel concept. Fate causes siblings to kill each other. Fate turns friends into enemies. However, Fate also what caused the meeting between people. Fate gives the chance to forge a brand new relationship. This is the story of a person who discards his happiness for peace and gains a chance to find a new happiness in a new world.
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"Tsukuyomi!" = Normal Talking
"Tsukuyomi!"= Jutsu/Magic/Techniques
"Tsukuyomi!"= Thought
"Tsukuyomi!" =Dragon/Sacred Gear talking
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Chapter 1
A new beginning for the great hero
xxx
"I will always love you."
As the last of those words came out of his mouth with a tinge of comfort, the man could feel the chains that were trapping him in life shattered into million of pieces. Gently staring at his younger brother's expression, he had no doubt that the journey ahead would be a heavy and perilous one for him, yet his heart was filled with hope that the future that his brother would face would be a gentle one, because he knew that person would be able to accomplish what he could not do in his life and return his brother to the light that he had forsaken.
"It's alright," he thought, as his sight grew dimmer by each passing second. "Naruto will definitely save you."
With that passing thought, he smiled, both for his brother and for himself, knowing that his will had been passed on to the next generation.
As the voices of men and women who were once and would always be dear to him called for him to join them, the man closed his eyes and let his soul drifted to the sea of souls within the pure world once again.
xxx
The sound of a roar in the distance reached the man's ears, causing him to stir slightly in annoyance. It sounded a bit strange, however, as there was nothing majestic about this roar. In fact it sounded more like a voice of a delinquent that he used to meet when he was a child singing a song while screaming at the top of his lungs at the same time. However, annoyance soon turned to confusion as a sensation that he should no longer be able to feel ran through his very being. With hesitation, he slowly opened his eyes and obtained his answer.
He was alive.
At the very least, he was conscious.
"Wha…?" Once again, the young man felt prickly sensation all over his body, but it only served to cement his suspicion that he was, for worse or better, alive. He knew he was alive because souls were incapable of feeling pains and all kinds of sensations that physical body would normally have.
"Where am I?" the young man questioned, trying his best to move his stiff neck. "Did someone summon me using the impure world resurrection again?"
He immediately discarded that notion. Those who were summoned using the impure world resurrection were not alive. They were merely souls that were forcibly tied to the physical world using 'dolls' that acted as substitute bodies.
'Dolls' that could not feel pain or any sensation at all.
He did not discard the theory that he, or more accurately his soul, might have been summoned again. For what purpose, though, he had no idea.
"I should've taken precautions…to let my soul be summoned again…" the young man silently berated himself. But the moment he was able to slightly move his neck to take in the sight and try to gain an understanding of his current situation, his body went stiff from surprise and disbelief.
In front of him, there was a multitude of giant object being dyed by panorama of colors that covered the entire space.
Mustering his strength, the young man tried his best to speak even a single word. "Is this…what the afterlife looks like?" That was what the young man thought he had said. He did not realize that voice did not come out of his mouth, but he wouldn't care had he even realized that because of how surreal the scenery before his eyes was.
The young man mentally smacked himself. In the pure world, souls were kept in slumber, while waiting for the day they would be reincarnated back into the living world. At least, if those religious scrolls he had read contained a sliver of truth in them, that was what should have happened to the souls of living beings after their deaths.
His train of thought was distracted the moment he heard that unusual roar again. Unlike before, it sounded much closer to his location. Whatever it was, lying still wouldn't help. At the very least he had to find somewhere to hide, if there were anywhere to hide.
He tried to turn his neck to the other side, but the extreme fatigue that he felt made such a simple task much harder. He tried to move his hands and legs next, but he failed to do it as well.
"…At least they're there," the man could only make a sarcastic remark at his condition before trying once again, this time with his feet.
As he desperately continued to find out which parts of his body were at least functioning, an object that looked like a mountain yet made entirely of glass floated in front of him. Then, he saw it.
Through a panorama akin to that of a kaleidoscope, he saw his own reflection.
His body, if it could be called that, was not there. It was not because he was in someone else's body. No, it was the fact that his body was so translucent that it almost looked as if it had no material substance whatsoever. Like it was made of someone's illusion.
It was almost completely transparent to the point that he could almost see the things behind him.
His confusion and anxiety only stayed for a brief moment as a massive red object made its way above his head.
"What is that?" His answer immediately came in the form of a massive red lizard with a pair of wings, which it used, either intentionally or unintentionally, to blow him away with a flap of its wings.
The man gritted his teeth, preparing for the incoming damage to his body. However, to his surprise, he was not injured in any way, most likely due to the state he was in right now.
Turning back his sight to the red creature, the man began to analyse it, trying to gain as much information as possible. "This thing…. It's easily outmatched most of the tailed beasts in term of size alone."
It was a red creature so big in size that he could not see the entirety of its body.
The creature made a sudden turn, in what the man could only perceive as 'hectic flying', and finally he could see what the creature actually was.
"An…oversized lizard?"
Despite calling it a lizard, the man could see that it looked quite similar to mythical creatures known as ryū, which often appeared in advance shinobi jutsus. In fact, it didn't seem farfetched to him to call it a variation of those creatures.
The lizard's head suddenly snapped to the man's direction as if it was seemingly able to hear his thought.
"…" The man warily stared at the thing on the eyes, but decided that it would be better to test his theory rather than knowing nothing about this thing. "You can hear me, can't you?"
As if to answer the young man's question, the creature roared. This time he would definitely be blown away, so the man thought.
That was what probably would have happened if he was not covered by a bone-like structure which completely shielded him from the force of the creature's roar.
The creature looked surprised for a second, if the widening of its eyes was any indication. However, the young man did not notice this because of a greater concern.
"This is…Susano'o? How did it activate on its own?" the young man questioned. However, the young man's confusion, which grew even larger every second, was cut short as the lizard then focused its eyes upon his.
In that brief moment, he could feel that his mind was being probed. He could sense the memories of events that had happened in his life were being examined thoroughly and, on its part, the creature seemed intrigued by what it was seeing.
The man tried to push the lizard out of his mind, but it merely prompted the lizard to snort at him arrogantly instead.
Knowing that he was unable to push the lizard out of his mind, the man instead let a certain opinion of his to be known.
"…Your breath smells like a combination of rotten egg and meat."
That got it. It looked pissed and, without a doubt, that was the reason it probed into his mind even deeper.
It wasn't like he could smell anything, really. However, he could tell from experience that many creatures as big as this had nasty breath that could knock out those who were unprepared.
Its annoyance, however, soon ended and it was replaced with curiosity once again.
After a while, the sensation had finally ended, which told the man that this lizard, this beast, had pulled itself out of his mind.
"…How much did you see?" asked the man. It was useless to ask what it saw, as it had clearly seen the memories of his life as a shinobi. The question was, how much in detail did it actually see.
The beast's lips curled up ever so slightly.
"Interesting…"
Surprisingly, while the voice sounded calm and powerful, it had a hint of juvenile and delinquency in it that made the man pondered if it was actually still a youngling in its species.
This time red lights appeared around him, and he could feel great powers surrounding him. The red lights came into one and when it started to envelop him, the man wondered, and slightly worried, what the creature was trying to do.
Slowly, he could feel something entered his body and then it started to overwhelm him. It was similar to the sensation that one would have when one drown in water, where the water would enter the body forcefully. The only difference was that this one didn't feel painful in any way.
He wanted to know what exactly did it do to him; however, his thought was cut short as he slowly drifted to unconsciousness. The man then fell through a hole while still being enveloped by the red light.
Unfortunately, he missed the last thing that the beast said as it saw his body floating away in the distant.
"Show me more interesting stuffs…Uchiha Itachi."
xxx
"Heh~, I have to say…that was quite a fascinating turn of event."
A voice entered the man's ears.
He felt there was someone or something that was toying with him.
First, he was woken up with a roar, and then he lost his consciousness again after that large beast did something to him, and now he was woken up with a voice of someone talking alone.
He could almost see a pattern here, and if someone challenged him to a bet, he would take that something would happen to him again.
"How do you feel meeting one of the greatest manifestations of power? Did you feel awe? Frightened? Jealous? Anxious? Or none of those?"
He had no idea what this person was saying, but he, for certain, was feeling impatience and frustrated at the lack of answers to his situation.
He had to admit, though; this person's voice sounded very unsettling to him.
In all his life the man had encountered various types of personalities. No matter how unexpressive someone was, or how hard they tried to hide their emotions, he had always been able to pinpoint how they felt from their voice, from the ever slightly changes in the person's tone.
But the person who was talking to him right now sounded…wrong.
That was the only way he could describe it.
'It' perhaps was the best way to identify the person…the thing that was speaking to him. It was because he could not determine the gender of this person, which sounded like both a man and a woman, yet he also felt like it would be wrong to associate this person with such human concept.
However, that wasn't the thing that bothered him the most.
It was the number of emotions this thing had when talking.
It was as if there were multiple individuals, each with their own feelings, talking through the same mouth.
It was a mixture of varying degrees of human emotions, yet at the same time it was completely remote from what emotion humans could possibly have.
"Did you know how much of a hassle it was for me to put you there and pull you out after? If I sent you the way you were, the laws of that world would've crushed you again. While it could be interesting to see you fall into the pit of despair for the second time, and the kind of ruin that you would bring this time, it'd be a pain to get another one as a replacement."
Replacement? Laws of that world?
As the man pondered about those words, he could see what appeared to be a greenish white ball of light coming closer to him through his closed eyelids.
"Don't bother thinking. You could never understand what I meant or the significance of me involving myself in the current era where the world is influenced by magic and the supernaturals the way you are now. That's why, do me a favour and take care of this for me, will you? If you think it's too much pain to do it, lets just make this your payment to me for letting you out of that place."
Wondering what nonsense this person was talking about, the man noticed that the ball of light gradually coming closer to him.
"By the way, don't bother trying to remember everything that I've said, since this little thing will end your memory of our fun little chat."
The next moment, he could see what appeared to be hands pushing down the ball of light into his stomach.
At that moment, if he had control over his body, without a doubt, he would have started to trash around and threw up the content of his stomach continuously.
It was as if something foreign was forcefully inserted into him.
The closest comparison would be regarding the effect of replacing an organ within a human with that of animal.
For example, while livers of humans and gorillas had the same function, the similarity ended there. The structures were different, and if a gorilla's liver were to be transplanted upon a human, it would cause a strong rejection from the body, because it was incompatible to begin with.
What happened to the man was similar, except a thousand time worse.
His very being was burning.
His very being was drowning.
His very being was torn apart.
His very being was crushed by an unnatural existence.
And then he would be stitched and moulded back to normal again, and then it happened again.
He was destroyed, and then he was restored.
Destroyed, and then restored again.
Again and again.
It kept repeating without ever slowing down.
Yet he did not break.
His soul did not break or even scarred in the slightest.
The strength of his will prevented him from breaking.
Even when being subjected to this unreasonable torture where death would look like a gift from heaven, his soul kept shining brilliantly.
Even in this moment, where losing one's sanity would be a form of salvation, there was no sign of him letting go of his 'self'.
He withstood it all.
"There, done. How was it? Was it too arduous for…nevermind. You looked no different than before, I might say."
There was a hint of amusement mixed with interest and respect in that voice. However, the man could no longer register every little detail of what it said, as he was barely able to cling to his own consciousness.
"Well, then. Off you go. I've set a destination for you. Don't worry; you shouldn't have any problems if it's with that man. After all, he is an inheritor of your will of fire."
He could feel his mind starting to become hazy, and then, as he had predicted before, he lost his consciousness again.
...
…
…
…
…
…
…
…
…
"…Maybe I should've said third life instead? Oh well, doesn't matter. I wonder what that one's doing right now?"
xxx
The sound of water flowing, the tingling yet soft sensation of grass, and the smell of a well-managed soil greeted his worn out body.
It felt nice.
How long had it been since he experienced all of this without the smell of blood tainting it?
To the more pressing matter, however, how did he arrive here?
All he could remember was being in that place, wherever it was, and facing that huge winged-lizard before he lost his consciousness.
"Was it all…a dream?"
He blinked after he heard his own voice.
He was able to talk again.
But, oddly enough, his voice sounded a lot younger than it was supposed to be. He shoved that curiosity to the back of his head for he needed to know if his mouth was the only thing that worked properly.
"…My hands…I can move them…and my feet…no problem, either."
Slowly, he opened his eyes, but he instantly closed it again as the light of the sun shone directly into his vision. Turning his face to the side this time, he opened his eyes again and, while it took a bit of time for his eyes to adjust to the light, he could finally see everything, including the place where he was laying.
"Am I in someone's garden?" His eyes took in the scenery in front of him, and he was impressed by what he saw.
There was a finely designed fountain made from white marble, several beds of flowers with many kinds of flower that he had never seen before, and there was a white pavilion in the distance which was large enough to fit at least a dozen people.
He turned his face to the other side, and he raised his eyebrows immediately.
It looked like the garden he was in was inside some sort of a castle. A beautifully designed castle too, he might add.
While it was built with the same white stone as the pavilion, it was decorated with various mineral stones which he wasn't familiar with. However, one thing for sure, whoever decorated this castle had a thing for crimson colored stones.
His ears twitched as he heard someone's footsteps. He tried to stand up and ran, but failed as his body was too exhausted to even do something as simple as that.
As the footsteps were slowly coming closer, he switched to a more tactical retreat.
He closed his eyes…and pretended to be dead.
"Oh? Now this is interesting…"
He could hear a man's voice from above him. For some reason, he just knew that associating himself with the owner of this voice would only spell troubles for him. Not to mention, he could sense from the man's jovial voice that he most likely was a bit of a loose cannon. In other words, he felt he had to prepare himself to deal with a potentially moronic enemy.
"I was sure that the security in this place is top notch, with detection barrier and so on activated. Moreover, my dear queen was the one who made this barrier. It should not be possible for anyone to enter this place without her knowing it," the man boasted. He simply remained still while absorbing what he heard.
The man seemed like he was waiting for a response, but when he didn't get any, his face drew closer to him.
"Hey, are you asleep?"
No response.
"Wake up~, I have candy with me~."
He had no interest in sweets other than dango.
"I have deluxe figurines of Goku and Vegeta~! You're jealous, right?"
He didn't even have a clue what the hell the man was talking about.
"What about this?! The pictures of Ria-tan that I've captured with my special custom camera that could take pictures in any kind of situation! Ah~, Ria-tan, you're so cute~, smoooooooo~ch~!"
For some reason, he really wanted to throw the man into a garbage bin.
After that, the man continued trying to wake him up, but he simply ignored him.
And then…
"Please, please wake up! I don't want to be accused of murdering some unknown brat in my own house! Please!"
The man begged him while bowing deeply into the ground.
…
…
…..
He sweatdropped.
"…If it comes to this…I have no choice but to destroy the evidence. Farewell, unknown young man whom I just met less than 15 minutes ago, may you have a better life in the next world."
"And what exactly were you planning to do to this unknown young man?"
He sensed that the situation had gotten out of control, and thus he finally spoke.
He opened his eyes, and slowly directed his gaze upward, and he finally saw the surprised face of the fool who was holding a shovel in his hand.
"…."
"…"
"What's that in your hand?"
"O-Ah! This? Well…it was such a nice weather to tend to my beloved flowers, and I was just about to plant some compost for them~. You mind joining me?" the man said with a really bright smile.
"…Should I take that as your way of saying that you were about to bury me…alive?"
In a speed that not even he could follow, the man went back to bow his head. "I'm very sorry! I honestly thought you were dead!"
Sighing, he felt that this conversation was even more tiring than most of his battle.
"I'm not angry, really. So, please lift your face, your tears are spraying all over my face…"
"Huh, okay. So, that means case closed~," the man said, instantly standing straight with a big smile and without any sense of remorse for what he was about to do.
"That was fast."
Even he had to admit, he had never seen anyone as fast as this man was in term of complete change of reactions.
Sighing again, while trying to throw out any built-up migraine, he finally got a good look at the man's face.
He had a young look, but not young enough to be called a teenager. He was a young adult, at least in his early to mid-twenties. He had an expression which could be said to be very friendly, with radiating, yet somehow moronic, smile decorating his face.
He had no doubt that this man had a very lazy attitude in life.
However, those were not the most striking things about the man.
The one thing that truly kept his eyes glued upon the man was his long crimson-colored hair. It reminded him slightly of a certain leader that he used to work with.
"Please forgive my earlier rudeness. I was simply trying to ascertain that you were not…an enemy."
"Enemy? Me?" The man began to laugh, causing him to raise his brow.
"Is there something strange with what I've said?"
"Oh, it's nothing. It's just, if a boy like you is still worried about facing enemies, it seems like we still have a long way to go to achieve our dreams."
Did he mishear that?
"I don't think I'm young enough to be called a boy."
"Wise man in a child's body? Is that what you're saying? Why are you trying to act like an adult?" the man shakily said, clearly holding back his laughter. He then took out a small rectangular object that fit in his palm, and aimed its small hole towards the supposed boy. A bright light flashed for an instant, and then he brought the object closer to the boy's face.
"See? You look cute, don't worry. In fact, you're quite a bishounen."
He was looking at his own picture. Except, in the picture, he looked like his seven years old self.
"…"
He could not say anything. Silently he looked down to his body and, just like in the picture, he had the body of a child.
"...A..h…"
It was a surreal thing, and it was only because he had seen much more bizarre things that his mind didn't go into panic in the slightest.
Naturally, his mind frantically searched for the cause of his de-aging, and the strangest thing that happened to him lately was…
"Was it that red lizard? How did it alter my age?" Various theories and speculations ran inside the boy's head, but a clap from the man stopped his train of thought.
"Now, now, it's not good for a child of your age to be lying around in a cold soil like this. You might catch a cold," the red-haired man casually said while offering a hand.
The boy picked the man's hand and the man then pulled him up. He noted how light the boy was.
"Thank you…"
Blinking, the man's face beamed immediately. "It wasn't a problem at all," the man said, as he was finally able to look at the boy's face clearly. As he took in more detail of the boy's face, his gaze slowly becoming more intense, and his face started to inch closer to the boy's face.
"Is there something on my face?" the boy suspiciously asked.
Blinking again, the man pulled his face away, and his smile returned. "Sorry about that, you just look a bit similar to someone that I knew."
"Your friend?"
"Something like that. He's no longer with us, though."
"…Please forgive me for asking."
"No, no, it's alright. It was a long time ago."
"If it's not a problem, may I know where I am?" asked the boy with a very calm and mature voice. He needed information and it would not do if he could not obtain any knowledge due to this turn of event.
"My, aren't you a mature one? You're in my castle, of course!" said the man seemingly proud of his palace and expecting a reaction that every child had when they knew they were in HIS palace.
However, the boy in front of him remained unfazed and instead asked, "…Who are you again?"
The red-haired man could not help but to fall to the ground, face first, because the boy did not know who he was.
However, due to misfortune or some form of higher entity, which was responsible for manipulating fate, there was a sharp stone on the ground which directly hit what most healthy men would call "My Son".
The boy could not help but to sweatdrop at the display of utter ridiculousness in front of him.
"How could someone be this unlucky?" thought the boy. However, he could not help feeling that there was someone out there who experienced much more misfortunes on a far higher scale on a daily basis.
He looked at the man who was still rolling around in pain while screaming "My Son" several times, before deciding to help him.
"Can you stand? Here, grab my hand," He did not bother to ask whether the man was okay or not, because he was definitely NOT okay.
"T-t-t-t-thank-yo-u," said the man, still shaking from the pain.
"As I said earlier, who are you?" the boy repeated his question, but this time in a far more relaxed voice.
"How come you don't know ME?! I am the one known as the crimson Maou, the leader of the four Maous and one of the rulers of the Underworld and the current Lucifer! The one and only Sirzechs Lucifer, formerly known as Sirzechs Gremory!" shouted the man with a very passionate voice.
The boy however only tilted his head to the side and said...
"I have no idea what you're talking about."
The man, now known as Sirzechs became crestfallen. This was the first time someone did not recognize him, and the fact that many beings out there knew about him, or at least recognize his name, spoke about the boy's lack of knowledge.
Sirzechs, however, quickly regained his laid-back attitude, and asked the boy the questions that were bugging his mind.
"By the way, why are you here, or rather how did you arrive here?"
"No idea," replied the boy immediately. "I have no knowledge of Maou, Underworld and even the name Lucifer or Gremory," the boy admitted with a shrug. "As for how I arrived here, my only guess is it has something to do with the massive red lizard that I met."
"A massive red lizard?" the man asked. The boy simply nodded. "Tell me, is this lizard lives in a place where there's nothing in there except for colors? "
The boy look surprised for a moment but quickly replace it with his calm persona and then he gives the man a nod.
"Great red." muttered Sirzech.
"Great Red?" asked the boy who is now curious.
"Ah, well…Great Red is the most powerful dragon in existence," Sirzechs explained. The boy tilted his head again, causing Sirzechs to sweatdropped. "Please don't tell me that you don't even know what a dragon is."
"Does it matter whether I know about this 'dragon' or not?" the boy curiously asked.
Sirzechs's head dropped. "Now this is s surprise. I thought dragons are really famous with children these days thanks to anime and manga."
"Could you explain to me what dragons are?" asked the boy, while thinking about the amount of power that the red lizard, now known as Great Red, emitted.
Its power was comparable to that of nine-tails, and if it proven itself to be a hostile entity, then some kind of measure would be needed to deal with it.
Although, he was more worried about why it turned him into a child.
Suddenly, he felt very weak and a wave of dizziness spread in his head.
He reached his limit.
He was trying not to show that he was extremely weak now, but his body reached its limit.
"Well, a dragon is…." Sirzechs was unable to finish his explanation, because the boy had suddenly collapsed. In a rush of panic, he went to the boy's side and saw that the boy looked really pale.
A red circle appeared on the man's palm, and there was a small image of a woman.
"Grayfia! Come here quick! It's emergency!" The urgency in his voice and mind, however, was cut when a noise from a certain boy's stomach made itself known.
GRUMBLE
And the rest, was silent
GRUMBLE
Or should be, if not for the fact that a noise from the boy's stomach grew louder every seconds.
Twitching, the boy was ashamed of himself. "I think…I over(GRUMBLE)ted myself," said the boy with a voice that was barely above a whisper.
"Pfft….Ahahahaha!" Sirzechs couldn't contain his laughter anymore.
Really, after the display of unnatural calmness and maturity for someone of his age, to collapse because of hunger was just too anti-climactic.
"Huhuhu…. Still a CHILD after all~," said Sirzech, still chuckling. The boy did not know why, but he could feel his pride as a man hurting so much at the moment.
"Fine, let's go get you a food shall we?" Sirzechs carried the boy on his back, but then he paused.
"He's too light…" Sirzechs mused. He knew the boy was light when he helped him stood up earlier, but he didn't expect him to be this light. Even his younger sister was heavier than this boy, though only by a small margin.
As he walked towards the dining hall, while making sure that the boy felt as comfortable as possible on his back, Sirzechs realized that he had not asked for the boy's name.
"By the way, what's your name? It's only polite to tell your name to your elder, especially one who will feed you," Sirzech said with a smile.
The boy pondered about it for a bit, but then he gave up because Sirzechs would not stop bothering him.
With a thin smile, he gave the crimson Maou his name.
"It's…Itachi"
"My name is…Uchiha…Itachi…"
xxx
end of chapter 1
xxx
"…This presence…"
"I see…so a new one has finally appeared."
"It was worth it, after all…waiting this long…"
"Now, let's destroy the world shall we? What do you think, me?"