A day had passed. Sona allowed her lips to bloom as the phenex lord handed a piece of paper that contained the support of Phenex Clan toward her school creation. Rias had given her the signature paper of the gremory lord yesterday. And with the paper of encouragement from the four maou and her own clan, she now had four important papers that would guarantee the standing of her school. However, unless she got the support of Bael Clan, there'd be many obstacles to overcome.
"Thank you, Lord Phenex. I'm glad that despite everything, you're a person that can be respected."
"It will reflect badly on my clan if I go back on my words. But still, what you're going to build is something against the noble society. It matters not that the four maou support you. As you are already aware, Zekram Bael holds more influence than all the maou combined. I suggest that you build the school in his land, otherwise your school will not attract anyone but low class devil and probably the extra ones."
Sona nodded her head. She had thought of building the school in Sitri's territory, but Lord Phenex's words managed to change her mind without a second thought. If she could have her school built on their territory, the noble clans wouldn't ignore it. However, getting the permission would require a great effort, a very great effort. Nevertheless, Sona would see it that her goal realized. One day…hopefully there would be no discrimination in her race.
"I will do that. Once again I thank you, Lord Phenex. Now then, please excuse me. I have to return to my home."
Seeing the owner of the mansion nodding his head, Sona left the room.
There was Raiser Phenex leaning on the wall right before the room, his arms folded across his chest with eyes glaring angrily. No doubt that he waited for her. But Sona paid it no mind. She walked away, leaving the heir of Phenex Clan without a word.
"You…you manipulated me into accepting your challenge!" accused Riser quite angrily. "You hide the fact that you have Lord Ajuka's student among your peerage."
Sona's footstep came to a halt. "It is not that I manipulated you," replied Sona calmly. "You're just too arrogant to bother asking, let alone investigating. Besides," Sona shifted her head and gazed coldly at the phenex, "If I want, i can beat you and your peerage by myself."
That said, Sona disappeared with teleportation magic circle, leaving the very agitated Riser Phenex alone.
—Inner Kyoto—
Kurama rested his cheek on his right palm as a well-known deity stepped into his throne room. He didn't bother to stand from his seat. Nor did he bother to show respect. He was the supreme king; a day he bowed his head would never come. It didn't matter that the deity standing before him was the Amaterasu herself. Even if the Destroyer God Shiva took Amaterasu's place would not change a thing. The only one he would bow his head to was the old man Hagoromo.
"…So you are the strongest youkai that has taken Yasaka's leadership, Kurama the Nine Tails." Amaterasu didn't wait for any response. "It is an agreement between us that Kyoto Youkai worship Shinto Deities and Shinto Deities protect Youkai. This agreement has begun even before Yasaka took the mantle of leadership. I understand that according to Kyoto Youkai's culture, the strongest Nine Tails shall be put as the facto leader. However, the agreement between us can't be changed just because there's a change in leadership."
"It is true, the agreement can't be changed just because I will it," Kurama decided to humor the Shinto Pantheon's chief by agreeing to her statement. After all, it was true. Despite how full of himself Kurama was, he respected an agreement—as long as it was a mutual one.
"Then—"
"However," continued Kurama, cutting the sun goddess' words without any sympathy, "I find that the Shinto Pantheon failed to fulfill the agreement. You're supposed to protect youkai that has affiliation with Inner Kyoto. Yet, I heard a few youkai were killed by other faction—mostly devil and fallen angel—in the very land of yours. Not to mention about the extinction of Nekushou Race…."
Amaterasu frowned. "Shinto Pantheon is no Hindu Pantheon," she stressed. "We're not capable of solving everything with power alone. You have to understand that if we punish the fallen angel, they will treat it as a declaration of war. Facing Grigori is certainly not a problem. We can destroy them anytime. However, Fallen Angel is a part of Biblical Faction. Angel and Devil, despite having problem with Fallen Angel, they'd not stand still seeing Grigori get destroyed. Shinto Pantheon can't win against the whole Biblical Faction, not to mention that two of them are listed in top ten strongest beings."
Kurama raised an eyebrow. Not toward the sun goddess' whole reason, but at the mention of top ten strongest beings.
Living inside Naruto in underworld for a few years, Kurama knew about the so called top ten strongest beings. Excluding Ophis and Great Red, whom Kurama assumed as the equivalent of Juubi, Shiva the Destroyer stood at the very top. All mythologies put him at the pinnacle of strength. But, number two and the rest were not the same—each mythology had different name in the top ten under Shiva.
After all, they couldn't decide how strong someone really was unless they fought each other. They based it on their fights which were recorded in history and their legend. Shiva stood at the pinnacle of strength because in all these years, no one could really challenge him. His legend alone was enough to enthrone him as the strongest being excluding Infinite Dragon God and True Dragon.
For new devil faction, it was like this: Shiva - Visnu - Brahma - Indra - Lugh – Typhon – Fenrir – Sirzech – Ajuka – Hades. Naruto was supposed to replace Hades, but they didn't put his name for the obvious reason.
"Tell me your pantheon version of top ten," muttered Kurama after a minute of silence.
"Shiva – Primordial Goddess Tiamat – Visnu – Brahma – Amun Ra – Indra – Thor – Fenrir – Sirzech – Ajuka." Amaterasu listed the name, and then she started thinking, before continuing. "Hades and Typhon probably can be listed in top ten, but we believe Sirzech Lucifer and Ajuka Beelzebub deserve the spots more than those two."
Kurama noted that there're clear differences in their list compared to the devil's version. The most notorious one was Primordial Goddess Tiamat taking over Visnu position. There was Amun Ra droving Indra to the sixth place. Fenrir was noted to be as strong as the Heavenly Dragons, meaning that Sirzech and Ajuka were still not at the level of Ddraig and Albion. However, it was just based on assumption.
In term of power, Kurama believe that Heavenly Dragons were around the same level as Gyuuki—the Eight Tails. He could handle all of his siblings at once—of course it was him at full strength. But at the moment, probably four or five bijuu at once was his limit. Meaning, his strength, compared to the top ten strongest being, stood slightly below Indra (the God of War who could handle both Heavenly Dragons at once).
"Then, how strong are you compared to Fenrir?" Kurama believed he could beat both Sirzech and Ajuka at once, thus he didn't bother asking about them. "Is it possible for you to subdue it?"
Kurama had heard about Izanagi and Izanami. They should be stronger than Amaterasu herself or her siblings. Izanami was ruling the land of Yomi. Izanagi? There's no information about that particular god. He was confident that defeating Amaterasu and her siblings was not hard to do, but what about Izanagi? How truly strong was he?
Amaterasu frowned. "I do not come to discuss about strength. Are you trying to lull me into answering such question? How imbecile. Let us return back to the topic we just left. Are you trying to break the agreement we have made a long time ago?"
Kurama chuckled. He was clearly amused at Amaterasu's reaction. It was nice expression. The black-haired beautiful woman cladded in black-white kimono did really have nice expression.
"It is not I who broke the agreement," replied Kurama after a while, his face was dead serious. "It is you who did it. As the new leader of the youkai, I have decided that the agreement is no longer a thing. Why would my people worship deities who let them die at the hand of the enemy in their very land? Aren't you supposed to protect them? You shinto pantheon are truly a disappointment."
"You…! How dare you!"
"Watch your tone, Woman!" Kurama growled, but did not wait for any response. "Both Kyoto Youkai and Kanto Youkai will not bow their heads to you anymore. I, the Supreme King of Youkai Kingdom, hereby declare that we're no longer a part of your pantheon. And I have no intention of changing my mind. However, we're open to having good relationship with Shinto Pantheon."
"…I see." Amaterasu bore unreadable face. "So be it." Amaterasu turned around and said while glaring murderously: "Your existence is the problem. To return peace to our beloved land, our beloved territory, we will end your existence. I'll give you three days to change your mind. Should you ignore my mercy, do prepare to face the wrath of Shinto Pantheon."
Kurama laughed his ass off.
—Sitri Mansion, Underworld—
When Sona appeared inside her family mansion, Naruto was petting Serafall's head softly as the maou sat comfortably on his lap with eyes closed.
It was not a rare occurrence to be honest. Like she used to say, Naruto was Serafall tamer. But still, saying that she was not jealous was a big lie. Sona wanted to take Serafall's position too; she knew that it was nice to be in Serafall's place. Alas, Sona couldn't voice it out; she could only stare silently at those two—and quickly averting her eyes when people started to notice.
Of course her effort was in vain. Except for Naruto and Serafall who were oblivious to Sona's gaze, the rest of her peerages were not. Even Saji did notice it. However, none of them said anything. If the woman on Naruto's lap was not the maou, probably Saji would have said something. But with Serafall Leviathan at the blond's lap? They couldn't say anything.
And naturally, Sona was oblivious to the fact that her peerages noticed her gaze.
"Ahem." Faking a cough to gain attention, Sona told them all that they would return to human world in an hour. They're student council after all. Setting the role for the students to follow was within their job-list.
—((o))—
#Merlin from Nasuverse will not be able to use clairvoyance if he was in this world. In this story, I exclusively give clairvoyance to beings that become the object of worship. There have to be something that God have and the others do not. In spite of having title Dragon God of Infinity, Ophis has no actual divinity. Just like Trihexa and Great Red, she can't use clairvoyance.
And no, there's no different in time's flow between DxD and EN. I think I have shown it in the chapter featuring Sasuke and his shenanigans.
#Forget about my previous list of top ten. Here my final version of Top Fifteens base on raw strength alone, excluding Great Red, Ophis, Trihexa:
Shiva – Primordial Goddess Tiamat – Amun Ra – Visnu – Izanagi – Brahma – Indra – Kurama – Lugh – Typhon – Crom Cruach – Thor – Fenrir – Sirzech/Base Naruto/Ajuka – Hades
Note that my final version is not necessarily characters' version. As already shown, each pantheon has its own version.
