And I'm back everyone! Hope you all found the last chapter to be to your liking as in this chapter a few more things will be making itself clear to you… which then lead up to yet ANOTHER battle! And it's going to be the best one yet once I get to it.

On an unrelated note, a few things: In just a few more weeks, I'm heading back to school as I may have mentioned before and like I also said, I can't be sure how this'll affect my writing time… but I'll still try and keep a consistent updating 'schedule.' On a second note, I very recently got into watching RWBY and after having watched the first volume and the new 3 episodes of volume 2, I now declare Monty Oum to be a genius of the highest order. That guy knows how to make awesomeness. Seriously, if you don't watch RWBY, I'd recommend giving it a try; you might just like it.

And now onto a somewhat more relevant note: my poll. As I said last chapter, I'd be making a poll and I stuck to my word. It'll remain up until this fic is fully done, so please be sure to check it out and vote.

Now let's get this started!

Chapter 34

"How is she?" Reiko asked her brother as she entered Hanako's room.

"She's alright… just resting still," Naruto answered.

Reiko looked relieved, but not enough to still not get over what had happened last night. Last night, just as he had pretty much promised, her brother had returned home with Hanako at his side. Literally; the humanoid magical weapon had an arm wrapped over Naruto's shoulder, half-walking half-being-dragged into the house. That alone would've been cause enough for concern, but what had rattled the redhead more was the expression her brother had on his face when he had come in, looking as if something was greatly weighing on his mind and shoulders.

That had been last night. Now, she and her brother were watching over Hanako as the magical weapon lied in bed, dead asleep.

"…Say, onii-chan?" Reiko now began, fidgeting a little.

"…Yeah?" Naruto replied slowly, his mind elsewhere. Last night, following Odin's appearance and subsequent leaving along with Ai Space, Hanako's fatigue had finally gotten the best of her and Naruto had been forced to nearly drag her home, doing his best not to let his own exhaustion get to him. And considering how Reiko had reacted to seeing Hanako's state upon their return, he had considered a very good thing that he had used Da Capo to 'rewind' his clothes to an undamaged state, otherwise her concern would've grown immensely at what had happened to him.

But that aside, he knew that Reiko was more than just worried about Hanako; she was worried for him. Having been thinking hard last night – and still thinking – on what Odin had told him before leaving, Naruto was sure that his troubled mind was reflected in his expression. He considered it a bit of a blessing that it had taken his sister this long to finally perhaps ask him about it; he's had more time to try and process things.

"Just what happened last night?" Reiko asked. "What did this to Hanako-chan?... And are you alright?" The redhead, while not exactly the brightest bulb around, could be surprisingly perceptive at times. And she could tell that something was definitely up. She's seen quite a few sides to her brother now… but last night, she's never seen him look so…. Unsettled. So… disturbed. Something major had happened, but she couldn't fathom what. And she now hoped that her brother would be kind enough to grace her with some sort of answer.

Naruto rubbed the back of his head, sighing greatly. "Reiko… I wish – REALLY wish – that I could tell you what's going on…" he began. "But I can't."

"Why?" Reiko looked to her brother now, speaking quietly as to not disturb the sleeping Hanako.

The blond magus, sitting in a chair at Hanako's bedside, now moved back, careful not to drab the chair or his feet across the floor. "Because I just… can't," he answered feebly, now rubbing his forehead with his hand. God, he felt so much like pulling his hair out right now. This whole situation was just a mess. He made a silent yet firm vow to go and see Katsumi by the end of this day to get some answers out of her. He didn't care what he'd have to do to accomplish this, just that he would do so. But first… Hanako and Reiko's questions came first. "There are… there are certain rules that have to be followed-."

"But-!" Reiko nearly shouted, cutting him off. But she stopped herself upon realizing her increase in volume. When she spoke again, it was much quieter. "But what do you mean? What rules? Just what is it that you're talking about?"

Her brother slowly stood and motioned for her to follow him out of Hanako's room, which she did. Once they left, quietly closing the door behind them, they moved closer to the stairs to speak. "Reiko," the elder sibling began. "It's… really not my place to say, I guess. Just know… that it's something that Hanako, Miki, and I have to deal with on our own."

"No!" Reiko nearly hissed. She pumped her fists firmly, almost actually glaring at Naruto. "I-I can't just ignore this! Hanako-chan is my friend! And you're my big brother! I-I can't just…" She was getting incredibly emotional now, tears almost welling up in her eyes. It seemed to her as if it wasn't one thing it was another. First there had been the emotional and physical distance between her brother and the rest of the family and now that they were getting closer, it felt as if there was some sort of mysterious barrier that still kept her brother away from them… as if he was maybe living another life that none of them could be a part of, that none of them could be there for him. And it was eating away at her.

With something akin to surprise, Naruto slowly regarded his nearly crying sister for a moment. And he cracked a solemn smile. "Ha… looks like I've been missing out on a lot for a long time now…" he mutter bitterly. Ever since he decided to give his sister and family a chance, he's found himself feeling so different compared to how he was before. And it wasn't a bad thing either; in fact, it was a very good thing… if he had known having family there for him would make him feel this… secure, then he probably would've considered giving them a chance sooner.

He was startled from his thoughts when his sister suddenly hugged him, pressing tightly against him. "Onii-chan…" she whispered, almost crying into his chest. "I just don't want to lose you. You know that, right? W-We're family. You can tell us anything… we'll be there for you." She wasn't fully aware of anything still, but she was seriously getting the idea that whatever Naruto was caught up in… was deadly.

Naruto could only look down at the top of his sister's head in stunned silence before allowing himself a small smile that was devoid of the worry he had been feeling following the battle last night. "Thanks Reiko," he said, returning the hug. "That… really means a lot to me. It really does."

"Then why?" Reiko now perked up, looking at her brother. "Why must you do… whatever it is you do? Why can't I help you? Or tou-san? Or kaa-san?"

"It's… not exactly something 'outsiders' can interfere with," Naruto responded lamely. "There's only so much even the people actually involved could do… 'outsiders' wouldn't be able to affect it at all."

This answer of his didn't seem to be entirely unexpected by Reiko, but it was an answer that nonetheless angered her, judging by her hold on him growing considerably in strength. "T-That's just not…"

"I know," Naruto said, stopping her from talking. "But… Reiko, just please have faith in me." He now broke the surprisingly long hug. He pushed her back gently, just enough so that the both of them could look one another in the eyes. "I know it's not the most ideal thing to do for you… but please just let me and the others do our thing. Just watch; we'll come back alive and well."

It was a boast and one without much confidence or basis. Having finally encountered Odin in the flesh, Naruto felt that the chances of him, either on his own or fighting alongside Hanako and Miki and maybe even Katsumi, were unbelievably slim. Perhaps less than 1% at best. But he couldn't afford to let himself think that way. No, he had to keep on going. If he really wished to defend his normal life and protect his friends and see justice done for the slain participants, then he can't let himself think negatively.

Reiko looked down at the floor for a moment, her hand gripping the stair's handle tightly. Then she finally looked back at the blond magus, a small smile on her face. "I'll… I'll hold you to that, onii-chan," she then declared. "Just please be careful."

Naruto patted her on the head. "I will." He smiled softly at her.

It took a moment longer, but Naruto was then able to convince his sister to go do whatever she has to, leaving him free to go downstairs… where Miki was waiting for him on the couch.

"Hey…" he said quietly as he approached.

"Morning…" Miki yawned tiredly. She had stayed the night upon seeing the state he and Hanako had been in coming home. He and Reiko had both offered her their rooms, Naruto even saying he'll be the one to sleep on the couch, but she had been very insistent on just staying down here. Now sitting up, she inquired about yesterday. "What happened?"

Naruto took a few minutes to first sit down next to her and wait to see if there was a chance of Reiko hearing him. Upon confirming that his sister had gone back to her room to rest up – she had stayed up all night beside him watching over Hanako – the blond magus then went on to tell Miki everything. How the battle had gone, his saving of Yuko and her subsequent death at the hands of Odin… along with what Odin had told him before taking his leave.

Needless to say, by the time he was done talking, Miki was beyond shocked. "Y-You're kidding me!"

Naruto shook his head. "I wish I was… but I'm not. Odin… he really did say 'kin.'"

Miki fell silent and just stared at her friend in shock. "So what now?"

"All we can do is just ask Katsumi-san about what he said. And wait for Hanako to fully recover. Until then, we can't really do much of anything against him." Naruto clenched his fists tightly, an expression of resigned anger on his face. "His power… Miki, Odin's power is just too damn great. On our own, we'd never stand a chance. Hell, even fighting alongside one another, we'd still lose. We can't go rushing into things now."

Miki looked down at the floor in resignation. Having not met Odin herself, she couldn't be sure if Naruto's assessment was true. But as he was her best friend – and hopefully more, if only he knew how she really felt about him – she was inclined to take his words to heart. And if he said that Odin was that powerful… "Damn it." She balled her hands into fists, looking ready to beat something in frustration.

Naruto sighed. "I know." He paused. "But for now, let's just try and find Katsumi-san-."

"No need."

Both Naruto and Miki nearly jumped off of the couch in shock. They both turn around to see Katsumi entering through the backdoor. "I'm already here," the older magus announced.

"W-When did you-?" Naruto began.

Katsumi shrugged. "Get here? About a few minutes ago, just hiding in your backyard." She paused, looking unusually serious. "Just thought I'd come by to check on you, see if you were still alive and all. Didn't expect… to hear what you said."

Naruto and Miki both shared a look. While her sudden appearance was a bit of a scare, it wasn't entirely unwelcome. In fact, it was very convenient and saved them some trouble. "In that case," Naruto began. He looked at her, almost glaring at her. "Then you know what it is I want to ask you."

Katsumi paused for a moment, closing the backdoor behind her quietly as to not rouse Reiko's attention, even if said girl was most likely dead asleep now. "Yeah, I know… about Tatsuya."

Naruto continued to stare at her. "Then elaborate for me: what did he mean by… 'kin?'"

Katsumi returned his stare for a moment before finally answering. "His surname… is Namikaze."

At that one sentence, the atmosphere in the room seemed to almost literally change. The temperature seemed to drop, Naruto and Miki gasping as if it suddenly got colder. "W-What?" the latter whispered in shock. "H-How?"

Katsumi now sighed and walked towards them, plopping unceremoniously into a chair directly across from the couch they sat on. "During the Fimbulvinter War, Tatsuya and his wife, Kiyomi, had a child – a boy by the name of Ichiro. But because of the war, they couldn't afford to raise their newborn son, no matter how much they wished otherwise. So, by a miracle, they managed to get their son out of the village just a few days before Rogue Flame razed it to the ground and the son was taken in and raised by others outside the village. From there… well, the Namikaze line continued, with Tatsuya being too swallowed up by his grief over the war, loss of Kiyomi and his village to do anything more other than prepare this ritual."

It was a simple enough answer, that much was certain. And yet, Naruto had one more question to ask. "And so from the very start… you knew that I was Odin's… descendant?"

Katsumi, much to his and Miki's surprise, shook her head. "Not exactly. I had to make sure…"

"Make sure of what?" Naruto replied. "His surname is Namikaze, my surname is Namikaze… it's not exactly a common name."

"I know that," answered Katsumi. "However, keep in mind, Tatsuya's son Ichiro was born and went on to have a family of his own roughly two centuries ago. And over these many years, the Namikaze family grew in size. Considerably. Not enough for it to ever be considered a clan, like the Uchiha or Senju clans had been… but enough for there to be 'off-shoots' of the 'main' bloodline, so to speak. And the Namikaze family were rather nomadic, spreading all across the globe, with your grandparents settling relatively nearby before your father was sent here – here to Konoha – before they died young of natural causes."

Now Naruto and Miki looked a little confused. "So then what are you saying? That you had to make sure… that I was part of the 'main' bloodline? That I was Odin's 'main' descendant?"

"More or less," Katsumi replied. "I've done my best to keep a close eye on the Namikaze family from the moment I discovered Tatsuya and Kiyomi had gotten their son out of the village safely. It had taken me several years before I was able to track Ichiro down, at which point he was already a bright young child… but from there, I did my best to make sure I knew what was up, even as I tried to track down Tatsuya later on. And I found a 'way' to differentiate the 'main' bloodline from the 'off-shoots' or 'branch' families."

"Oh yeah? And what difference or differences would that be?" Naruto further questioned, rather enraptured by what he was learning.

"For one thing, hair and eye color," Katsumi began. "The genes or whatever – I'm no scientist – for blond hair and blue eyes have always been dominant traits among the main bloodline. As I'm sure you've seen with Tatsuya, of course, though his eyes are a different shade of blue than yours and that can be chalked up to other things like marriage with others over the years and all."

Taking a bit of a deep breath, she continued. "But the main 'difference' between the main bloodline and the branch ones… are the people's bodies."

"…I'm sorry, what?" Naruto began. "What do you mean?"

"I know how your regenerative ability is much stronger than the average magi's, Naru-chan," Katsumi began. She allowed herself a bit of a wry smile. "You probably thought it was due to your Uzumaki traits being enhanced upon your magus awakening. But it's not. You see, from birth, Tatsuya had always had a 'powerful' body; heightened physical abilities, heightened senses, powerful immune system and a surprising recovery ability that were all presumably enhanced upon him awakening as a magus. And this 'powerful' body of his is a 'dominant' thing in genetics; it passed onto Ichiro and that passed onto to his children and so on and so on." Her smile now morphed into a grin upon seeing Naruto's and Miki's shocked faces. "Why do you think your father's speed and reflexes are so ridiculously over the top, even without that hirashin jutsu of his? Why do you think he was able to take on the kyuubi by himself when any other shinobi that would attempt such a thing would most likely die nigh-instantly? Sure, his cunning mind and inventive use of jutsu helped… but that wouldn't have done him any good if he wasn't at least tough enough to risk getting hit by the biju's attcks."

"W-Wait," Miki now spoke up. "If that's the case, then what you said about Naruto's grandparents just now… didn't you say they died of natural causes? If what you're telling us is true, then shouldn't one of them have had this 'powerful' body…?"

"As tough as either of Minato-san's parents would've been, it's still possible for disease to strike them. It's just a hell of a lot rarer for a Namikaze to catch it, is all." Katsumi could only shrug helplessly at that. "But since you, Naru-chan, and Tatsuya are both magi, your 'powerful' bodies were enhanced. Immensely. Possibly more so than any magi has a right to be… it honestly wouldn't surprise me if not only you've become immune to all disease, but that you've also become immune to poisons and other toxins. Hell, your lifespan is probably longer than even my own and I don't have the 'powerful' body that you Namikazes have."

Naruto could only gape in shock. He had hoped to have his main question answered and now he was going to walk away from this conversation with far more than he had originally imagined. He never, in a million years, would ever have thought of the Namikaze family having anything like this 'bloodline' that Katsumi was describing to him.

"I'm sure you've also somewhat noticed this too, Naru-chan," Katsumi spoke, snapping him out of his thoughts. "You may not have actually known about this, but surely you've noticed that you seem to gain 'results' from all of your taijutsu training at a faster rate than others. Surely you've noticed that you are stronger than your usual young child growing up."

"I-I…" Naruto tried to continue, but couldn't, his mind too overcome with all of this information to form words. Thinking back on his life, things were making quite a bit of sense. He's always been one of the physically strongest kids in class, with his sister comparable to him for presumably the same reason on top of being a jinchuriki, with Ryuichi being just a notch or two below him due to all of his insane training and main focus on speed and technique. Only Miki really outdid him in strength and that was due to her primary focus on ending things with one blow while he had focused on making himself well-rounded from a physical standpoint.

He looked to Miki and found her looking back at him with equally wide eyes. This was as mind-boggling to her as it was to him.

"Satisfied for now?" Katsumi now asked.

"…Yeah," Naruto then replied, rubbing his forehead. He was a bit too taken aback by what he's now learned to think of any other questions that should be asked. "Thanks."

"You're welcome." Katsumi smiled brilliantly, but the smile didn't last. Her expression turned serious again only a second later. "Now that all said… about Tatsuya. Just what exactly happened?"

Both of the younger magi looked to her, confused, but then their unspoken question was answered. "You're hoping to track him down," Miki stated.

Katsumi nodded. "That's right. This is the first time he's made an actual move in Ragnarok. I can't afford to let this go to waste."

"But you overheard everything I told Miki. He just vanished along with… Ai Space…" He muttered that last part slowly as something occurred to him. "…Wait up, all of the participants are dragged into Ai Space when it appears and are returned to the real world when it vanishes. So why did he disappear along with Ai Space? I mean, I know he's the one who made it and all, but that's still…"

At those words, Katsumi blinked. And then her eyes widened. She snapped her fingers as her mind now began to work quickly. This was then followed up by her suddenly palming her own face. Hard. "I'm an absolute moron!" she muttered.

"I'm sorry, what?" Miki looked confused. So did Naruto.

Lowering her hand, Katsumi looked at the two dead in the eyes. "You're right, Naru-chan; even if he is the creator, even he should have to abide by his own rules. So Ai Space should've ejected him, just like it does with us whenever it disappears. But that he didn't appear before you indicates only one other thing. And it would explain why I couldn't find him before let alone even sense him; he's been hiding away in another dimension, separate from not just this world, but also Ai Space."

"Another dimension?" Naruto muttered, sounding incredulous. "Seriously? Just how did you come to that conclusion?"

"We all know that he can create and manipulate space to an extent. He did make Ai Space, after all. So naturally, if he could create Ai Space, then what's to say he can't make other dimensions of a similar nature if he so desired? And the thing about dimensions you two… is that if someone is hiding away in one, their presence or power or whatever term you prefer can't be sensed at all. No matter how powerful they are otherwise." Katsumi shook her head, a bitter smile on her face. "All he'd have to do is just 'alter' Ai Space so that when it ejects him, it ejects him to the other dimension he's made for himself rather than to the real world."

"…You sure about this?" Miki asked. When Katsumi nodded, she continued. "Then how can we gain entry to it?" She didn't want this demented ritual to go on any longer. As powerful as Odin was stated to be by Naruto, this was their chance to try and kill him. If they could just catch him off guard…

However, when Katsumi shook her head, Miki could only look at her in surprise. "I can tell just by looking at you what you're thinking. And it won't work. Tatsuya won't let his guard down that easily. And while I can access his little private dimension with my magical weapon, something to keep in mind is that I'd still need to find a 'focus point' for it."

"Focus… point?" the kenjutsu user could only mutter this in confusion yet again.

"Sometimes when dimensions like this are created, whenever someone leaves or enters it, the 'entrance/exit' spot is usually somewhere specific. You can't simply 'enter' the dimension from anywhere that easily and when you leave it, you won't end up in some random spot either," Katsumi explained. And it was on that note, she began to think yet again. And taking just several seconds to do so, she felt she knew exactly where to go to access Tatsuya's little private spot. "I'll take care of him by myself," she then announced.

It certainly got a reaction out of both teens. "What wait?" Naruto responded. "No! The two of us should also go-!"

Katsumi cut him off, raising her hand to do so. "I understand what you're getting at; he's incredibly powerful after all. But I'm not a slouch either. Having had to deal with the Fimbulvinter War, the magi of my and Tatsuya's generation were particularly powerful, myself included. And…" She paused momentarily. "If we all went to confront him and lost, then that's it. Game over. At least if I go and confront him on my own and fail, there will still be you two left to take him on in whatever way you see fit."

"Katsumi-san…" Naruto muttered, not liking this one bit. But he had to grudgingly admit that she raised a good point. Looks like his 'united front' idea was nothing more than a failed dream. This thought made him damn near growl in frustration.

And as for Miki, the girl looked like she wanted to punch a hole in something. Like Naruto, she was feeling incredibly frustrated over this. "Why can't there be something we can do?" she thought sorrowfully, realizing that at this rate, there was really no choice but to continue the ritual anyway.

"Hey." Katsumi stood up and placed her hands on their shoulders. She grinned cheekily. "Don't act as if I'm going to die or something; that'll just make me cry from the lack of confidence."

"But…" Miki began, but was hushed by Katsumi.

"Don't worry. Whatever happens, you can be sure that I'll go down swinging," the older magus replied to the brunette.

"But whether you win… or lose, just how will we know?" Naruto now asked. "I can't exactly say I'd want to wait for several days or more just to find out."

Looking at the blond magus in silence, Katsumi reached into her kimono and pulled out a random slip of paper. Then to the surprise of Naruto and Miki, she channeled some of her mana into the paper. "If I win, this paper will faintly glow. If lose, the mana within it will cause it to turn into ash. Simple enough, right?" She handed the paper to Naruto. "Just keep an eye on it for now. I'll be heading off in a minute or two to go find Tatsuya anyway. And I have a pretty good idea on where to go so it shouldn't take too long for you guys to find out what happens."

Naruto and Miki didn't answer. They just stared at the paper in complete, grim silence. It wasn't until Katsumi then took this as a sign for her to leave that they finally spoke up. "Katsumi-san," Miki spoke softly. "Please… for not just our sake, but for your own too… win."

"Yeah." Naruto nodded firmly. "We're both tired of seeing this ritual play out as he wants it to."

Turning to them for a second, Katsumi smiled at them and gave them a two fingered salute. And then an instant later, she was gone.

Upstairs, Reiko could only toss and turn in her bed. She hadn't gone to sleep at all, no matter how tired she was. And in a very odd way, this may have been a blessing in disguise; she had overheard her brother's and Miki's conversation with Katsumi. Not all of it though – the floor boards were too thick for her to hear everything – but enough to understand that whatever Naruto and Miki were caught up in had reached a climax based on what the mysterious woman had said about tracking down someone named Tatsuya.

"Just what is going on?" she thought, careful to not make too much noise, lest her brother get suspicious and come up here. She honestly hadn't meant to listen in like this, but once she had realized what the conversation was about, it had simply been impossible for her to tune it out.

But just what to do now? Should she inform her parents whenever they got home from their all-nighters at work? Should she just keep this to herself and not get involved? Should she mention this to her brother or Miki or Hanako whenever the latter awoke? These questions plagued her greatly now.

But one thing was certain: whatever choice she ultimately made, she just hoped that it was the right one.

In the room at the end of the hallway, Hanako began to stir. She was still very much unconscious from the strain placed upon her from the battle with Yuko. However, the humanoid magical weapon was still at least 'aware' enough to feel Naruto's current emotional state via their connection as magus and magical weapon. And it left her, in turn, worried. Subconsciously picking up the information Naruto had learned from Katsumi, Hanako could only marginally move about in her restless sleep.

"Master…" she managed to whisper even in her current state.

She could only pray, even if only subconsciously, that Katsumi would be successful in her now current endeavor.

And speaking of Katsumi, she had just about arrived to her destination. Rather than having traveled the distance on foot, she had utilized her magical weapon very briefly to just do the job for her. It's not like it'd take up that much of her mana.

"And so I've returned…" she muttered.

Currently, she stood in a barren land that was devoid of all life. There was no plant life or even a single patch of grass anywhere in the vicinity. That was because the area she now walked was where Tatsuya's village had once stood. But when it had been destroyed by Rogue Flame, the mad magus' ability had devastated the land so completely that once the village was less than ash, it was impossible for anything to be grown here, whether by human hand or by nature itself.

Thinking back on this, Katsumi felt a wave of disgust well within her, hating the Rogue Flame greatly. But she shook her head, clearing her mind of old and bitter memories. This wasn't the time to be recalling old times.

"Here it is…" She soon came to a stop ten minutes later. As the entire was, once again, nothing more than barren land, to anyone else, it'd seem as if Katsumi was stopping here for now reason. But they'd be wrong; there was very much a reason why she stood here.

Back when the village had still been around and thrived, the place she now stood would've been the very center of Tatsuya's and Kiyomi's home. And given Tatsuya's goal in Ragnarok…

"You're there. Aren't you, Tatsuya?" Katsumi slowly raised her left hand and – for the briefest of instances at any rate – called forth her magical weapon. "Show me the way."

Suddenly, a 'hole' appeared directly above the magus and it sucked her in with the force of a black hole. Only when she came out the other side of it, she wasn't dead or anything or the sort.

Instead, she could only gape as yet again old memories threatened to flash across her mind. "No way…"

She now stood in an impossibly vast space. Aside from the glass-like 'ground' she stood upon, there was nothing else. The entire 'background' and 'sky' looked like a solar system, dark yet bright, star-like objects off in the far and unreachable distance.

This place was most definitely not Ai Space.

"You remember this place, I see," a voice called out.

Katsumi turned around immediately and in turn to see Tatsuya walking towards her. Although she had expected as much, it still marginally surprised her to see him to physically be in his mid-20s just as he had all those many years ago. He hadn't aged a single day since she last saw him.

"Valhalla," Katsumi said to him. It was the name of a vast and empty space way back in the days of the Fimbulvinter War where she, Tatsuya, and their allies would go to train. It was their training grounds, in other words. But it had been destroyed along with the original Ai Space by Rogue Flame all those years ago. To see it again and larger than ever was a shock.

"That's correct," Tatsuya said. "With my abilities, it was child's play to restore it to function. Now then, old friend… just why are you here?"

At having Tatsuya get directly to the point, Katsumi glared at him. "Isn't it obvious? Having now found you and knowing that talking really isn't going to work… I'm here to put an end to Ragnarok."

Tatsuya now ceased walking, stopping just a little more than ten feet away from Katsumi, his arms hanging loosely at his side. But his feet were firmly planted, making for a strong stance. Noticing this, Katsumi could tell that her words were far from unexpected. "I see." He said nothing more for the moment, just closing his eyes and nodding his head in acknowledgement of her words.

"I just have one question before we start," Katsumi now began. "Just how did you go about choosing the participants for Ragnarok?" She asked this question with purpose. If by some means she was going to fail in killing her friend, perhaps there would be a way to 'sever' whatever it was that bound the participants to Ragnarok. If she could do that, then Tatsuya's ritual would fail as Naruto and Miki would be free.

Tatsuya opened his eyes once more and eyed her sternly. Nonetheless, he apparently deemed it fit to answer her. "The OOParts that each and every magi involved in Ragnarok found and merged with to unlock their latent abilities… they were all OOParts that I had personally studied during my time at Voluspa. Once I awoke as a magi, I spent years carefully studying each and every region before finally leaving an OOPart somewhere for someone to stumble across and merge with. As I had previously made a slight 'connection' with each of them, it was easy for me to then drag the people who had merged with the OOParts into Ragnarok."

Katsumi nodded her, understanding what he was saying. "And what of me? Of your descendant?"

At that, emotions seemingly made themselves known in Tatsuya's eyes, but it all happened so fast that Katsumi was left unable to determine just how Tatsuya felt upon hearing that question. "You seem to forget that the OOPart you merged with was one that had also been under my observation prior to your merging with it…. But even then, I hadn't expected you to be dragged into my ritual. Especially since at the time of your merge, I hadn't awakened as a magus and thus couldn't 'connect' to your OOPart. As for Naruto… he was an unexpected anomaly in all of this; an irregular. His merging and awakening had not been unexpected… but his being forced into Ragnarok had been unplanned."

"Then why not let him go free? He's an irregular as you said; nothing to do with this!" Katsumi said.

"I can't…" Tatsuya tensed up a bit. "For this ritual to be successful, I will need all the mana I can get. And my kin has quite a large amount of it even by our lofty standards."

"Tatsuya…" Katsumi now growled, shifting into a fighting stance. "Does reviving Kiyomi mean so much to you that you'd really follow through on all of this?! You know she wouldn't want any of this!"

"I know that, Katsumi. Far better than you do. But even if Kiyomi, once revived, would come to hate me… at least I can rest easy knowing she is truly alive and some mockery like those edo tenseis the shinobi utilized," Tatsuya said, his stance remaining unchanged even as Katsumi readied to fight.

Katsumi grimaced, looking down to the ground for a moment before glaring back up at her former friend. "Then I have to stop you, Tatsuya… no, Odin! For my sake, for Naruto's and Miki's sakes… and even for Kiyomi's."

Odin nodded. "So this is it, huh?... Very well then." Slowly, he spread his legs further apart and raised his arms up to his chest, extending them. Now he too appeared ready to actually fight. "As this is not Ai Space, the 'rules' will not apply save for one. So do take care to watch not your magical weapon, but yourself, Katsumi."

Why he would bother to tell her this when such knowledge could put him at a disadvantage, Katsumi couldn't fathom. But what she did know was that she was going to make him regret telling her such valuable knowledge.

"Time to end this, Odin!"

And so the battle between two former friends had begun.

Hope this chapter was enough to pique your interest as to how the battle will go. I can assure you it will be quite the fight as both combatants are considerably above the 'power levels' previously demonstrated by everyone else. For comparison, imagine the magi of Katsumi's and Odin's generation being to current magi (save for a few exceptions) as that of the shinobi of Hashirama's and Madara's generation being to that of current shinobi – complete and utter stone-cold badasses.

So with that said, there really isn't much more for me to say other than be sure to check out my poll if you're interested and also to leave a review if it'd please you.

Until next time, everyone. Take care.