Broken Angel: Rising Demon

by I LIKE FEAR 1-2

The Age of Man, is over. The Age of Magic, is about to begin. A Demon stands upon the Earth. A beast, named goddess by right of passing. Darkness settles upon the Earth, will this goddess usher in a golden age for humanity? Or will she cast them aside to drown in their own sins? Behold the rise of the demon, and the Kingdom of Albion. (Sequel to Broken Angel)

20. 20: A Demon's Reveal

K here's the next chapter, let's see how the world is reacting to the rise of magic, and just as a heads up this chapter is gonna be friggin huge so enjoy.

Broken Angel: Rising Demon

Chapter 20: A Demon's Reveal

-Riley's Home, London, England. September 4th 1999-

Riley slowly backpedaled as Darren charged at her, kunai knife in hand, he stabbed at her, his moves sloppy, and painfully slow for the demoness. She caught his arm and delivered a swift strike to his chest sending him tumbling back.

A moment after he fell to his back Paxton let loose with a blast of magic, focused as a psionic blast. The energy washed over Riley, causing her clothes to flutter, but she remained unmoved. Her grandchild let out a grunt as he began to bleed from his nose and stumble back and forth. After a few seconds he too collapsed to the ground.

"Your strength is growing with each passing day. Your powers swell." Riley noted as she relaxed and both boys stared up at her, tired and thoroughly beaten for the day.

"No matter how much it swells, moving you seems to be impossible." Paxton muttered as he wiped the blood from his nose and pulled himself to his feet, the overly silent Darren following in turn.

"You aim high if your goal is to see me uprooted. You boys may yet surpass me one day, but before then you must aim for more achievable goals. Success is measured in many victories, not just one. I fought and trained every day to prove I was better than my sister. Than I trained to prove myself better than my father, than my grandfathers. You must work your way towards your goal, and the best way to keep your morale up is by setting achievable tasks along your path. If you wish to reach my level, than you will have to surpass the world. So pick someone, and start from there." Riley replied with a chuckle, earning one from Madara and Izuna, both of whom watched the training match, admiring the growing skill of the youngest additions to the family.

"Your grandmother is correct little ones. If you wish to stand among titans, you have to allow the thrill of success to fill your wings and carry you ever higher. To reach the peak of the mountain you must first ascend it's lowest ledge." Izuna agreed, earning a sigh from both the boys but they nodded in acceptance of the wisdom being offered.

"Shouldn't you be getting ready?" Came the curious voice of Hashirama as he approached the house from his forest.

Riley glanced at him and offered a shrug. Hashirama quickly took note of the way her chakra flowed and quickly deduced that she was a clone.

"Ah." Hashirama said with a nod.

"The real me is busy playing dress-up with my lovely ladies. They can't seem to decide what she should wear for her interview. I fear if a decision is not made soon, she'll be left to decide on her own." Riley's clone responded, earning a chuckle from Hashirama.

"Ah yes, Riley's glorious introduction to the world, in t-shirt and jeans. Quite the statement, I'm sure Artoria would approve." Hashirama noted.

"I think that's the only reason she agreed to this game of dress-up. If not for that, I'm sure the real me would have told them to piss off by now." Again Hashirama chuckled and turned his gaze toward the house.

Within the real Riley stood in a t-shirt and jeans and stared dead-eye into the mirror. She'd been looking at her own reflection for so long that her gaze now seemed to pass right through it and out into the world beyond.

Around her, four of her six mates were currently busying themselves with devising an outfit for Riley to wear. Thankfully Gaia was absent from such annoyances and Kaede offered little and instead sat on the bed with her dog, occasionally watching the scene play out while she read a book.

Riley's interview with the muggle media was tonight, and it seemed like an even more anticipated event then Draco's last. Now that people knew that magicals could take out entire cities, everyone wanted to get a look at one of these so-called 'S-ranked combatants'. And even more so, they wanted to see the woman that supposedly towered above them, as one of the few holding the title of SS-Rank.

A rank she had once held, though she was technically now a Bijuu-level threat, beyond any sort of basic classification. Now Riley was to be paraded before them to answer their questions and address their 'concerns'. A task she would have been more than fine with, if it had been of her own choosing. Unfortunately, Artoria had got her into this, and now Riley was forced to endure it with the grace and respect, required of her station.

Add onto all of the annoyances of this situation, was Riley's mates and their inability to let her choose what she was wearing. She'd been in this room for over two hours as her mates bickered and squabbled over the best outfit idea for Riley's first appearance on live television. If this kept up, it might actually be the first time in her life that Riley told her mates to get stuffed.

Honestly, it was just ridiculous, but they seemed to be enjoying themselves.

Unfortunately, Riley's attempts to farm this off on a clone had failed miserably as the first three attempts all ended in the clone's suicide.

Of course now Daphne had leveled the charge of being a 'drama queen' against her, so Riley now had to stand here and take it, lest she prove her words true, and have to deal with that blow to her pride.

The only drama queen in the family was Naruko, Riley would not be lumped into the category, she simply refused. Honor now demanded that she stand rooted to the spot and stand almost unmoving while her mates decided her fated appearance.

Occasionally they would come up with an outfit and use their magic to transfigure Riley's cloths to match and see how they liked it. So far they hadn't agreed with anything.

Riley was hoping the time of her interview would arrive soon, and they'd be forced to choose, or the choice itself would be stripped from their control. Though a part of Riley secretly suspected that they were now far more interested in playing dress-up with Riley than actually choosing an outfit for her. This had taken far longer than it should have, which is what gave Riley the inkling.

She was half tempted to read their minds and discern the truth but she knew that if she discovered that it was true, then she'd probably be pissed off, and that wasn't the state she wanted to be in, going into this annoying interview.

She simply let out a sigh, as her clothes changed shape once more and her mates gathered around her, taking in her appearance.

Riley stared blankly at her reflection, hoping beyond hope that they'd agree and let her be done with this mess.

"I don't know, something seems off about this one." Katie noted, earning a nod from Daphne.

Riley hung her head in defeat.

A deep chuckling filled her mind, as Kurama began to laugh at her.

"Fucking asshole fox!" Riley grumbled.

"Maybe it's the color?" Fleur suggested.

"Hmm..." Katie wondered in response and used her wand to begin altering the colors of Riley's outfit.

"Ladies… you've got five minutes to pick something or I swear to all the gods, I will leave." Riley muttered sourly.

Her mates shared looks with each other and started giggling.

"Hey Riley, I think they've been tooling with you this whole time." Kurama mused with another chuckle.

"Seven fucking hells..." Riley growled out. She decided she was done at that point, stepping away from the mirror she marched over to her bed and fell face-first onto it. She didn't know what she had done to earn this skin-peeling torture, but she was no longer going to endure it.

"Are you alright Riley?" Kaede inquired, peeking over her book at her.

"No, my mates are jackals. You're the only good one, Kaede." Riley muttered into the bed, her response earned scores of laughter from her mates, who had obviously been purposefully driving Riley crazy for the last few hours.

"Oh come on Riley, we were just having some fun. You do it all the time." Katie replied as the ladies came over and gathered around Riley.

"I'm not even mad that you did it, I'm mad that I've been standing here for hours suspecting that you were doing it, and I could've freed myself from this bullshit, if I'd just said something." Riley responded, now thoroughly upset and annoyed.

Again this earned laughter from her mates, Katie and Luna quickly pulled Riley back onto her feet, while Riley just stared off, dead eyed and depressed.

"Oh do not be like zat Riley. We already chose somezing for you, let us get you changed, and then we can go have dinner, before you leave." Fleur offered, earning a nod from Riley.

A few hours later and Riley headed out, intent on getting this over and done with.

"You zink zey will take it well?" Schrödinger inquired, appearing in Riley's mindscape as she made her way into town.

"Humans are strange creatures. They fear change, yet hold the unknown in wonderment. They'll hold faith in something they have no proof of, yet get offended by facts. In all honesty I expect them to be afraid. I expect them to ask their questions and be repulsed by the answers. The truth is a painful thing, and life is a helluva thing to happen to a person. What I say and do in front of those cameras is going to finally shatter their grasp on what is possible, and what is not." Riley replied earning a playful yet mischievous chuckle from her newly discovered son.

"Well at least have fun. You only get to do zis once." Schrödinger offered with a giggle before his presence vanished.

"You ready for this furball?" Riley inquired to Kurama.

"Time for our fifteen minutes of fame. Enjoy the spotlight while it lasts, from this day forward you're now a player in the game. Today is the day the world looks upon the new goddess of this little dirtball. Make sure it's a day they never forget." Kurama responded, earning a smirk from Riley, as she vanished into Kamui.

-London-

The panel of interviewers would be mostly the same with five people this time, including the biologist Hugh, and the economist Julia. David had been replaced by a man who was a high up member of the British armed forces. A colonel from the army named Chester Hill. This man was one of the few who had been quite vocal about the apparent takeover, occurring by the magical world, and had openly expressed that he believed that the military was perhaps working too closely with the magical world who's motivations and loyalties weren't fully understood as of yet.

Aside from him, one more addition was added and this was a physicist by the name of Francis, who had long history of published works and theories on the world and the universe and the way things were supposed to work.

An economist, a biologist, a military man, and a physicist, on top of the news anchor, Oliver.

This would most certainly be interesting.

Riley herself had been introduced to the lot soon after she arrived. Most people had difficulty looking past her eyes. While Riley kept almost all of her demonic features hidden, and looked normal for the most part, her Rinne Sharingan remained present for everyone to see.

While Riley did her best to avoid seeming temperamental, it did annoy her a bit that people seemed to be walking on eggshells around her. While most people assumed her supposed power was an exaggeration of sorts, that didn't change the fact that they were still nervous around her, and the sight of her eyes and her general aura, made them feel tiny, like insects scrambling at the foot of a giant.

This led to people being uneasy around her, which Riley found annoying. It gave her the impression that everyone thought she was a ticking time bomb, which is the exact reputation all Jinchuriki had, which Riley found to be incredibly disheartening as they didn't even know she was one, and yet they still treated her like that.

At the very least, she hoped that at the end of this interview, they would be to nervous to ever want her back on again. She'd answer their questions maybe give them a bit of a display, but she certainly didn't care to impress them. She was here for Artoria, and their plans, nothing more.

When Riley was led out to sit with the panelists she had to do her best to ignore the looks that the recording crew were giving her as they took note of her eyes, and the intensity given off by them.

Soon the program began, though unlike with Draco, they were quick to introduce her and start their questioning, removing any ambiguity that this was some sort of discussion on recent events, and instead going at it, from the stand point that this was an interview, time for question and answer.

"Allow me to introduce our magical guest tonight, this is lady Riley Uchiwa, Ms Uchiwa, why don't you tell us a bit about yourself?" Oliver began.

"What would you like to know?" Riley inquired in response.

"Well we've heard a bit about you on this program. A few very interesting tidbits, why don't you tell us a few things about yourself, family, the place you grew up, things like that." Oliver clarified.

"Okay. I was born in the Elemental Nations in the Land of Fire. My exact place of birth was Konohagakure No Sato. The Village Hidden in the Leaves. I have a younger twin sister, and spent the majority of my early life learning magic. When I was eight, I left my home village with a family friend and journeyed throughout Europe for several years. During that time I became a Chuunin rank Ronin of the Land of Fire, and eventually became a Jonin. I spent most of my time exploring, practicing magic, and hunting down criminals in my spare time. When I was eleven I immigrated to England and was accepted into Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. I spent the majority of my time in school, up until our country went to war against Iwagakure and Otogakure. I helped to found the Cysgodol Legion, and I fought in the war. After the war was over I returned and finished up my final year of school, graduating when I was eighteen. Since then I've worked as an adviser to the Cysgodol Legion, aiding Lord-Commander Itachi Uchiha in building up the force, keeping them organized and well-trained. My father was the Fourth Hokage of the Hidden Leaf Village, Minato Namikaze. My mother is Kushina Uzumaki. I am the granddaughter of Madara Uchiwa, and Kaguya Uzumaki, and the great-granddaughter of Hashirama Senju, the Leaf's First Hokage. I am twice married, I live in a modest home here in London, I have more last names than I can bare to listen to every time I'm introduced, and I spend most of my time training, developing new magical abilities, and aiding my friends it whatever pet projects they're currently working on. Enough to start?" Riley listed off some basic facts about her life, giving them all something to latch onto.

"You also participated in this Fourth Great Shinobi War when you were a teenager?" Francis inquired.

"Yeah, more or less. By the time the war began I had already spent several years training in my own personal pocket dimension at an accelerated rate, so I'm a lot older than that, but I've long since stopped counting the years, and I just go by when I was born." Riley answered, earning dumbstruck looks from all those present.

"Your own pocket dimension?" Francis reiterated, leaning forward in his chair and giving her a look of disbelief.

"Yep." Riley answered, activating Kamui, and disappearing from sight. Gasps of shock and dumbfounded amazement filled the studio as the entire panel shot to their feet, staring at where she'd been with utter disbelief.

A few moments later, Riley reappeared in her seat, and gave the physicist a smirk.

"What was that?" Oliver asked as he slowly sat back down.

"I have a unique ability that allows me to enter my own pocket dimension. It's a dimensional space where I control the aspects of it. It's a four dimensional realm, where I can alter, change, accelerate, or even restrict all of it's aspects. As such I generally use it for storage, and to train in, since I can alter the flow of time. A few hours out here in our world could be days, weeks, sometimes even months, within my pocket dimension. It's all controlled by my will, though it's ties to the physical world mean that it generally wants to act like our world, so when I'm not actively changing it, it behaves like the real world, time flows normally, physics act as they would out here. So on and so on." Riley explained, earning a very slow and amazed nod from the physicist while everyone else just stared on in utter bewilderment.

"So how old would you say you are?" Julia inquired.

"Like maybe around two hundred, give or take a decade or two." Riley replied, truthfully not really remembering. With a bit of thought she could probably get it down to the exact month, but she didn't overly care since she didn't age so even measuring her life span in years, was now getting redundant. Sooner or later, it would become centuries, and then millennia. As was the way of immortal beings to whom time itself mattered little.

"Two hundred. I must say you look good for being nearly two hundred years old." Hugh the Biologist stated after a few moments to recover his thoughts.

"Well I cheat. I'm biologically immortal, though magicals do live a lot longer than non-magicals. On average a typical magical will live to be around one-hundred-and-twenty or so. While some of the stronger magicals will live even longer, possibly making it to one-hundred-and-eighty. Our medicines and magical abilities allow us to live a lot longer. I am special due to my bloodline abilities and no longer age, so I can get away with spending eight months a week training in my own pocket dimension, without feeling the effects of it. It's not something everyone can do, but there are some magicals with crazy long life spans." Riley explained to them.

"So you'll live forever is what you're saying?" Oliver questioned before Hugh could.

"No, not forever. There is no forever, eventually something will take me out. Could be in ten years, could be long after the world dies of old age, but it'll happen when it happens. Until then, I'll keep on going." Riley responded, trying not to smirk at the amazed looks she was getting. Whatever plots they were planning, this had momentarily thrown them off track. To learn that not only was Riley powerful, but also basically immortal, was astounding to say the least.

"Well, I wasn't expecting to learn about that today, but I guess I should have been ready for it." Chester noted, earning a chuckle from some of the other panelists whom were in agreement.

"There are many strange and unusual abilities in the world. Being biologically immortal isn't nearly the weirdest thing I've seen." Riley assured them.

"There are weirder things then being immortal and having your own pocket dimension that you can just teleport into on a whim?" Julia inquired.

"Some people have added functioning limbs. Some people have hybridized DNA, mixed with animals. Some people have unique abilities that allow them to rapidly grow bone, or transfer their souls into other bodies, or grow to the size of giants, or even call upon forces beyond our world to aid them in their endeavors. Magic is the primal force of all existence. The reality we follow in this life, only exists because no greater force has come along to rewrite the rules. Magic is that greater force, and can easily turn what is real, into something else entirely. Magic is the force that generated our existence, from the universe we inhabit, to the flesh of our bodies, and at any moment that power can be used to alter these things, if you have the means and the know-how to control it." Riley responded letting out a wistful sigh as she leaned forward in her chair.

"So what rules of reality are bent by magic in today's day and age? What do we as a society believe is true, but it's actually false?" Francis inquired, leaning forward and eyeing her with great curiosity. He had a pen and notepad at the ready, and had already taken down some of what she'd said, along with his thoughts. He intended to share everything he'd learned, suspected, hypothesized, and theorized with his colleagues at the university where he worked, as well as with his students. This reveal of magic was an age of discovery not seen in the world before, and he, like many others, wished to dive headfirst into this endless expanse to see what could be found.

Riley sensed all of this within the man, and enjoyed his boundless curiosity. He was a man of logical pursuit and she enjoyed that. If nothing else, while the others were a bit nervous or unsure with her, this man was definitely someone worth talking to, if for no greater reason than he would carry her words to the minds of his students and fill their heads with all sorts of ideas. An age of learning was what Riley wanted for the world, during the rise of magic. She knew there would be fear, and anger, distrust and uncertainty, but if it were possible for at least some people to put those things aside and embrace this age of wonder, then perhaps there was hope for a better world at the end of the day.

"Well professor, I guess the best place for all of us to start is by accepting that our universe operates under a set of rules." Riley began, earning the full attention of those around her.

This would be something like a two-hour interview so Riley was free to just talk about anything really, so long as the people found it interesting, and discussing magic was a far more comfortable topic than her personal life.

"These rules are what we prescribe as reality. The world works this way, because it's the way of nature. A happens because of B, C because of D, D because of E. Magic exists outside of these constraints. From magic, all things spawned, the universe, life, death, space, time, people, planets, everything came from magic in some capacity. It is the primal force of existence, the force of pure creation and destruction. There are two types of entities that exist in all of creation. There are those that have magic, and those that 'are' magic. Despite being called magicals, and non-magicals, everyone and everything, has magic in it, to some degree. It could be different amounts, it could be different forms, but magic exists in everything and everywhere. There are times when 'clumps' of raw magic coalesce and develop a will of their own. These pure magical beings are what we would call spirits, gods, demons, angels, they are primordial beings that are power given thought, and exist outside of the boundaries of reality." Riley explained, taking great pride in the dead silence of her observers as they hung off her every word.

"These beings, exist in line with magic, are thus unbound to, or unconstrained by, reality. Understanding these things will help you wrap your mind around the situation. We're dealing with a primordial power that either by the will of some creator, or by sheer dumb luck, birthed our universe, and we exist, tied to that great power, and constrained by the natural order established in the creation of our universe. It isn't just the four dimensional plain we inhabit, it's the idea that this universe has rules, either because something made it so, or by accident, but those rules only constrain those that don't have the power to break them. With enough magic, anything is possible. Anything." Riley concluded her opening point, making sure they all had the same starting point before she continued.

"Now to actually answer your earlier question. You believe the speed of light is the fastest anything can move, that is false. There's one ability I know of that can allow a person to move between two locations at astronomical speeds. This movement is instantaneous, allowing someone to go from any one place, to any other place, and this movement occurs instantly as the two points are folded together. Those are some of the ways to work around the Speed of Light limitation, but in their use lies the true secret, as the impulse of magic, meant to activate the folding of space time occurs from both ends simultaneously, meaning that the user is able to affect two vastly different locations at the same moment, regardless of distance. This would indicate to us that magic itself is moving faster than light, as it's traveling from the user, to the location he wants to go, and folding the space together, in the moment of the technique's activation. Also I've on occasion moved faster than the speed of light, during my training. It's kinda trippy." Riley offered as an example.

"You've moved faster than light before?" Oliver inquired while Francis was busily scrawling down notes.

"Only in my training, I haven't come across a foe yet that is fast enough to keep up with such speeds." Riley admitted, taking pleasure in the boast.

While she had been speaking the truth about never moving that fast outside of Kamui, it wasn't just for the reasons stated. It also had a lot to do with not knowing what would happen out in the world, if she started moving faster than light. Such speeds caused strange spacial anomalies around Riley, and if it weren't for her special eyes, she'd easily be temporarily blinded while moving that fast. Riley suspected someone at least needed the Byakugan or Sharingan, to move at such speeds and still be able to see anything at all. Also a problem with moving that fast, is you were no longer just affecting the world, you were breaking the laws of reality which did some strange things to the world around such events.

Normally when a shinobi started moving faster than the speed of sound, they would activate an ancient, and widely known ability that would 'allow them to move through the air, like water'. Or in essence, they would glide through the air, seemingly without affecting it. This ability was often used in combat, and it's what allowed things like the Substitution or Body Flicker Technique to work, without causing a sonic boom.

This technique had been developed a long time ago, and was so common nowadays that most shinobi had no idea what they were actually doing when using it. All they knew was that it made them able to pass through the air without disturbing it at high speeds. This technique was a sort of vibration ability that allowed a person to pass through the air like they were intangible. In essence, this ability allowed a person to pass through the air, without pushing aside air molecules, thus preventing a wind rush or sonic boom.

It was actually extremely sophisticated, but had become so common place of an ability, even such that it was taught to academy students and refined to the point that it was almost done without a thought, that most shinobi didn't even realize they were becoming partially intangible when they used it.

Of course there was no such ability for when you moved faster than light. At that point, you'd just broken past a fundamental rule of the reality they inhabited, and that did some weird things. There was also the little caveat that if Riley ever forgot to active that ability while moving at speeds that fast, that the wind rush created by her movement would basically destroy all life on the planet. It was something she was conscious of, so she was unlikely to forget, but that was one of those minor slip-ups that might just doom the human race, so she stuck with moving at more realistic speeds, six hundred-thousand miles an hour was one thing, moving at over six-hundred-and-seventy million miles an hour, was another.

"How do you avoid the increase in mass as you approach such speeds?" The physicist inquired, knowing full well that her answer was about to completely change how scientists around the world, viewed such limitations.

"That particular law doesn't apply to my movements. When I'm moving at those speeds, I'm not just running very fast. I'm accelerating myself using magic. The easiest way to understand it, is that I'm an object that doesn't follow those rules. My mass doesn't go up, the faster I move, because I'm using magic to accelerate myself, not just my own strength. Many powerful magicals do the same thing, they can push themselves to mind numbing speeds, without increasing their mass to unfathomable levels. The answer as to why it doesn't happen is because we're using magic. The fuel we burn to move at those speeds, isn't bound to reality's rules. Use magic to accelerate, and your mass doesn't go up. If you built a spaceship, that had the ability to use magic as it's propulsion system, you could accelerate it to and beyond the speed of light, without encountering those barriers, because magic doesn't play by those rules. It doesn't play by any rules. The universe we inhabit tries to enforce rules upon us, but with enough magic, and control, anything is possible." Riley answered, earning a look of astonishment from the those around her as Francis let out a chuckle and quickly jotted down a few more notes in his little booklet.

"What other fundamental laws of the universe, has the magical world, casually spat in the face of?" Oliver inquired curiously.

"Well, I would like to point out that moving faster than light, is nowhere near a common ability. In fact I only know of a handful of people who can actually surpass the speed, and most of them cheat. Only one person I know can probably run faster than light, but I've never seen him do it, and I don't think even he knows that he can." Riley began.

Her mind turning towards the famed green beast, Might Guy. He was incredibly fast, and Riley had faced him in training matches where he pushed himself to the seventh inner gate, and moved at speeds even Riley had difficulty following. While her eyes could perceive his movements, she hadn't trained her body to react to such speeds, which had allowed him to beat her in their taijutsu match. After seeing such speeds at the seventh gate, Riley suspected he could reach or even surpass the speed of light, at the eighth gate, but of course such a use of power would be temporary as opening the eighth gate would kill him. Still Riley hoped to one day see it, knowing full well she could just bring him back to life afterwards, but she definitely wanted to see just how strong the man was at full power.

"But aside from that, we've got things like the ability to manipulate a person's genetic makeup, we've got abilities to travel vast distances in a short time, we can manipulate space-time, we can alter the composition of matter, we can do all sorts of things with magic. As I said before, all that's required is know-how and the right amount of magic to make a thing happen. If you have both you can do anything." Riley explained.

"You can alter a person's genetics? In what way?" Hugh inquired.

"There's such a thing as a blood adoption, which is a magical ritual that would allow you to alter a child's genetics, giving it some your own. For instance if I came upon an orphaned child, parents were dead and he had no other family to speak of, I could regular adopt him, magically adopt him, or even blood adopt him. Regular adoptions work basically the same as they do for you all. A magical adoption is the same except it also involves a minor ritual that will tie the child into the family's magic, making them a recipient of all of it's benefits and allowing their children to carry on with the family magics. A blood adoption takes it a step further, and not only grants the child your family magic, but also alters a portion of the child's genetics, depending on the ritual depends on the amount. It could be just a bit, it could be replacing one of their biological parents. And of course, the child's body would alter to reflect the change in genetics. They would take on the appearance provided by their new parent. I myself am a result of such a process. I technically have two maternal donors. My true biological mother is Kushina Uzumaki, though I was blood adopted by Lily Namikaze nee Evans. So if you were to look at my dna you'd find that I have two mothers, and one father." Riley answered, this time the biologist was the one busily scribbling down notes.

"So it's that easy to just alter a person's dna?" Julia inquired.

"Well it's not easy, it always requires some sort of magical ritual, far more complex then just a wave of the wand. But it's common enough in the world that it happens regularly and without issue." Riley responded.

"And there are other 'rituals' like how you mentioned earlier people having animal dna?" Hugh questioned.

"Yeah. Not as scandalous as someone sleeping with a horse or anything as dark at that. Chimera rituals are rare, dangerous, and not exactly the kind of thing one practices in high society. It can go very wrong, but in some cases it can go very right if you know what you're doing. I know of families that have bonded with certain animal species taking on their traits and allowing them to take some of ours. For instance a clan of specialized dog trainers, bonded their dna with that of dogs, giving them heightened reflexes, senses, and some animalistic traits. They also bonded human dna with their dogs, giving the dog's heightened intelligence, problem solving, and even allowing these dogs to talk like humans can. It was common enough in practice, this special technique, that this family was willing to provide their special ninken to those they trusted for raising. One of my close friends, is a well known dog trainer, and raised a pack of highly skilled hunting dogs, who are all very intelligent and can speak just like you or I can. This process is actually the basis for a lot of special species in the word. Many of them have their origins outside of just the human race." Riley explained to the amazement of those listening.

They all silently pondered the idea of being able to almost casually bond a person's dna with that of an animal, and if you do it right, you could gain enhanced abilities, or senses, beyond that of a normal human.

"Is there any sort of ethical constraint on such a practice? Do you have any sort of laws that prohibit or limit what a person generally does with their magic to stop people from doing things that are 'unnatural'." Chester inquired.

"Ethical constraints are minimum, so long as you aren't experimenting on someone against their will, you can pretty much try anything, and if you get your cooperation in writing and notarized, there's hardly any legal trouble a person can get into for trying something new. Beyond that, there are limits put in place to stop people from practicing taboo forms of magic. Things that are wholly malevolent and cannot be used for any sort of productive means outside of harm." Riley answered, knowing full well this man was going to take every chance he could to challenge her and the magical world.

"Magic is capable of anything, given the will to figure out how. We've truly entered into a new age of discovery. By taking all of the questions that the non-magical world has come up with, and applying an understanding of magic to them, who knows how many answers we'll come up with." Riley offered up after a moment of silence, deciding to continue on before conversations continued into the realm of dark or forbidden magics.

"Would these strange modifications be the reason why your eyes are like that?" Hugh inquired.

"These eyes are a special bloodline ability of my family. The appearance of the eyes, acts like an indicator, telling whether or not the ability is active. When I was younger I had blue eyes, though after some training, I got to the point where I can now keep these eyes active all the time. They've become my normal eyes now." Riley explained/lied. She wasn't about to tell them what her eyes could do, and she'd done her best to keep from revealing any secrets about people or names, to help identify them. Certain things that were common knowledge to anyone who opened the bingo book was one thing, but she wasn't about to go explaining to the world about the various clans, their abilities, and what they could do.

"So let me ask you something? We've all heard about the supposed S-Ranked magical beings that have enough power to destroy entire cities and do unimaginable things, what's your take on that? We've heard that you're considered one of the strongest magicals in the world, is that true?" Oliver asked.

"Am I the strongest? I try to be, but that isn't a question that has any sort of definite answer. I can be confident in my comparison to others, but I'll still continue training and growing stronger. I never intend to get complacent, there are forces in this universe far beyond the scope of what we can imagine, strange and terrifying things that people as a whole couldn't possibly comprehend at this juncture. So I'll continue to grow stronger and always strive to be the best, whether I am or not, is inconsequential to that plan. As for my take on S-ranked individuals, yes they do exist, yes their powers are a thing to be feared, and some of them do have incredible destructive abilities, though many of them are more widely renowned for specific abilities that have garnered them great respect amongst their fellow magicals. As an example, Albus Dumbledore, a great man of significant renown was considered S-Rank. He was the headmaster of our premiere school Hogwarts, and devoted his life to teaching the youth of our nation. His status as S-Rank came from his incredibly long life at well over a hundred years old, as well as his immense knowledge in the field of almost every magical art you can think of. He was a genius and a great man, but he definitely didn't have the ability to wipe out an entire city, just by waving a wand or weaving a few handsigns. People with such powers do exist, but they are the exception, not the norm." Riley explained to them, letting out a sigh as she did.

"But what about these exceptions? What precautions are put in place to make sure they don't cause trouble? What is done to keep them under control?" Oliver pressed, eager to hear her answer on this question.

"That's a dangerous way of thinking, comparing these people to weapons." Riley noted, a dark smirk spreading across her face that caused every member of the panel to shift in surprise and unease.

"I didn't mean to insinuate. But surely such powerful individuals are kept in check through some means? I mean as the saying goes, 'power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely'." Oliver responded in a placating manner.

"Again, a dangerous way of looking at things. S-Ranked individuals are often loners, often anti-social. They carry demons with them, dark and terrible baggage that normal people would be unable to carry on with. Some of the strongest people I know have endured pain like you couldn't believe. They've watched friends die, they've lost family members, they've seen and experienced war on a level you couldn't possibly imagine! These people have seen and lived through hell, and where as most people, like you, would collapse under the pressure, these individuals keep pressing forward. They keep fighting, they keep advancing, they don't give up, despite the horror they've endured. You think a funeral is a bad day? Try watching your best friend get torn to pieces right before your eyes at the age of twelve. Try fighting for your life against full grown adults with years of experience who will kill you, if you're very lucky. And if you aren't if they catch you, they'll torture you, violate you, forcibly convert you to their side, use you for experimentation, or even use you as bait to murder more of your friends, or comrades. Those that achieve the title of S-Rank, have suffered more than any other human, they've endured pain that drives normal people insane. You ask what keeps them balanced, what keeps them from hurting others? The answer is that its because they've seen some awful things, and done awful things, and they'd rather not spend every waking moment engaged in those awful things. People who've reached that level of power are often the last who want to use it, because they've endured the hell that gave them that power, that allowed them to reach those heights. I'd ask that you never make such insinuation about people like that again, especially in my presence. I hold all warriors to great esteem, and only a warrior has any right to judge another. Until you've taken a life in the name of some cause, whether it be survival, patriotism, or duty, you don't get to ask those questions of those that do." Riley responded, growing frustrated at the reporter's insinuation that the strongest of magicals needed to be controlled.

He simply wasn't getting it, none of them were. They saw such warriors as weapons, with powers like that, what else could they see? They were blind, ignorant, and Riley hadn't the patience to entertain such ridiculous notions.

Say what you will of the Elemental Nations, at least there people already knew this. They knew that shinobi who reached the level of A-Rank, S-Rank, and even Kage level, were people who'd endured some truly awful shit.

Sure the masses would sing and cheer for their heroes, not knowing the true depth of despair most of them had fallen to in order to pull themselves up to that level. A person had to have a crazy level of drive to make it to A-Rank, and to get to S-Rank, a person had to go even further then that. Almost to the point of self-destructive madness. Riley was strong because she trained every single day. She was born gifted, this was true, but her true power came from the fact that most of her life was spent doing nothing but honing her skills. There were demons that Riley carried with her, terrible things she'd done, and while she had no regrets about those things, it didn't make them less terrible. That person wasn't who she wanted around those she loved most. She didn't want the killer, the monster, the demon, or the warrior, to be who her beloved friends, family, and mates, had to deal with all the time, she just wanted to be Riley. Friendly, playful, snarky, energetic Riley. But that was hard, it was hard to do, because it wasn't who she really was. That was only a part of her, only a fragment of the whole. Riley embraced who she was, but that didn't mean she liked having that person around those she still considered innocent.

These people didn't get that, they didn't understand what having true power meant. Their soldiers were the only ones who came even close to getting it. It upset her, and it touched at a nerve because they didn't even know about Jinchuriki yet. If this was how they reacted to S-Ranked magicals, then they were in for a helluva surprise when they learned about the demons that could destroy entire continents, and the humans who acted as jail cells for them.

"I apologize if I offended you, it wasn't my intent to make an opinion for or against such things, I just assumed given their abilities your people would have placed some restrictions in place to try and keep things from getting out of hand." Oliver offered, in an attempt to placate her. It was almost like there was electricity in the air, Riley's souring mood had seemingly caused the room to darken a bit, like the lights had been dimmed slightly.

"The armies of other warriors are what deals with people who go too far. People like me, stop people like that. And others would try and stop me, if I went off the deep end." Riley stated, sighing as she did.

"From what your friend said, you are supposedly one of the strongest magicals around. How would someone go about stopping you if you did go crazy? Is there anyone who could?" Chester inquired curiously.

"Someone would find a way. One day. I can't name him or her. I doubt I know them. There's someone out there carrying a blade, or a bullet with my name on it, as the analogy goes. The trick to survival is avoiding this person for as long as you can. Avoiding conflict is a good way to avoid this person. So logic would dictate that I should choose not to pick a fight with the entire world. Someone would stop me. That's all that matters in the end, that's what lets the paranoid people of the world sleep at night. For every great magical warrior, for every threat, they have all met their end at the hands of someone better, or someone who just had the right gifts to help them succeed. Magic has a way of making the seemingly impossible, possible. So I wouldn't worry myself about it. Your chances of dying don't go up now that you know the truth unless you choose to make it so. These people have always existed, and they always will. Unlike nukes, or chemical weapons, S-Ranked magicals have been around for thousands of years. 'We' have proven that we can exist without destroying the world. 'You' as in non-magicals just got out of a decades long standoff where you held nukes to each others heads. Thousands of years of human expansion and survival, compared to the last sixty years, I'd argue that we're not the ones who are the danger here." Riley answered, earning a shifting unease from those across from her. The only one who didn't shift was Chester. His eyes remained locked onto her, analyzing her, reading her every movement and facial expression.

"She's absolutely correct in that regard. The task of surviving the atomic age, is something that humans have yet to succeed in. We can only hope that saner minds will always prevail and we avoid a global catastrophe." Francis noted, nodding in agreement with her point.

The others couldn't find fault in her logic there. The Cold War had only recently ended less than a decade ago, and to many it seemed like the fear of nuclear annihilation was still an extremely prevalent worry.

Riley could sense their unease at being called out like that. No one could argue that it was the non-magicals that had spent the last few decades terrified of nuclear annihilation, meanwhile magical individuals with as much power as a nuke, had been around since before the rise of the Roman Empire or Alexander the Great.

"That is a good point, but again I would like to emphasize something here. Isn't it true that you almost single handedly wiped out an army of nearly four thousand shinobi while you were only fifteen years old?" Chester asked, causing everyone to stare blankly at him for a moment before turning looks towards her. The stories that she hunted down criminals at eleven was one thing, but killing four thousand people by yourself? That was on a whole other level of insanity.

"I assume you're referring to Iwagakure's attack on Hogwarts. I detected the attack, and improvised a solution that the enemy never saw coming. They tried to sneak up on us, by passing through a large man-made maze, I filled the maze with explosives, and blew it to hell, killing their army. I also killed the Tsuchikage a few moments later. Technically that was the opening move of the Fourth Shinobi War, but because of what I did, the conflict actually stalled for a few years before it began in earnest." Riley responded, not at all troubled, or even weary about explaining herself.

"And you killed four thousand people?" Julia reiterated.

"That was roughly the size of the enemy force, yes." Riley replied.

"What about during the war, where you personally led a detachment of the Cysgodol Legion, our army wiped out thirty thousand men in a single night, without suffering any casualties? Or what about the attack on the Wind Capital where you killed another Tsuchikage and reportedly wiped out the entire invading army, again nearly single handedly? People in the ICW claim that you're personally responsible for the deaths of tens of thousands of people in the war, people you killed with your own hands, that's more than some recent conflicts." Chester noted, doing his best to insinuate, without outright saying it, that there was a lot of blood on her hands.

"That's the whole point of someone like me. You don't earn the SS-Rank, by just being a pretty face. My father, the Fourth Hokage, was given the monikor of the Yellow Flash, because that was the last thing anyone saw of the bastard before they died. He was the first shinobi in history to ever be given a flee-on-sight order, for everyone not of Kage rank. He earned that level of fear by killing one thousand enemy combatants in the blink of an eye. Wiped out an entire battalion of enemy shinobi, and he was just barely into his twenties when he did it. His actions ended the Third Shinobi World War. SS-Rank, holds a very significant meaning and it isn't a rank given out lightly." Riley responded, shaking her head and letting out a dark chuckle.

"You said that someone would stop you if you ever went bad, I ask again, who could possibly manage it, when you've done things like this?" Chester pressed again, pinning her with a hard look.

"I try to be the best, like I said. But I'm not so arrogant to believe that no one could ever stop me. It was a way of comforting you, by saying that someone would rise up to the challenge. In truth I welcome the attempt, I was raised on fighting, and truthfully I love it! I would fight all day if I could. Most of my two hundred years of life has been spent in a closed off space doing nothing but training and fighting, and refining my abilities. I told you that so you could sleep better at night, but honestly, I don't put much stock into someone reaching my level, I always prepare for when it happens, but I'm also not going to deny the fact that I am one of the best and wont be beaten so easily. You're saving grace is that I have people in this country that I care for, it's because of them that I will lay down my life for Britain, simply to make their lives safer, I'll fight for this country that has become my home. So long as I have them, I have a reason to be good and not become a monster. But believing in the power of love, doesn't make paranoid people feel any better, so let's just stick with the possibility of someone stopping me, and agree it makes us both feel better." Riley responded, her tone rather dark, as the man's insinuations began to annoy her.

"Is it true that before you took down the army at that attacked Hogwarts, you captured and tortured and enemy combatant for information?" Chester asked.

"Yep. He tried to kidnap me, I trapped him in an illusion and used some rather creative means of inflicting pain to gather information on who he was, what he wanted, why he was here, who was with him, so on, and so on. I then used that information to save an entire school of people from an invading army, so I think it was worth a few moments of mental anguish for the poor bastard." Riley hummed in reply, letting out a chuckle as she recalled having this same argument with Madam Bones.

"Do you realize that torture has been outlawed in the United Kingdom for over two hundred years?" Chester asked, again trying to paint her in a negative light and again earning a chuckle from her.

"Magical Britain isn't bound by the same laws as you are, and the ICW only frowns on the use of torture or interrogation, it isn't illegal. I've had this argument before with other self-righteous types who thought they knew better. I've ended enough human life to know that it's a numbers game. Kill one, save a thousand, that's how it works. Getting information out of that man as quickly as I did, allowed me to save an entire school of children and international guests. I find it insulting to our own citizens that you would spend even a single moment arguing for the man who would have kidnapped, or murdered, anyone who got in his way. I have a very clear understanding of my moral position, do you?" Riley asked in reply. Her gaze cool and her voice carrying a dark edge to it that unnerve those around her.

"Some may call your actions monstrous..." Chester began but Riley cut him off.

"And some may call yours hypocritical. The only difference between us, Colonel, is that you hide behind an air of civility. You and the rest of the non-magical world put all of these rules and laws in place for when you go to war. The magical world has tried to emulate you in some respects, trying to outlaw certain ways you can kill a man. You try to make war more civil and less horrible, and all you end up doing in encouraging it. If war is no longer horrible, what's stopping people from doing it all the time? You don't think I don't know every terrible thing 'you've' ever done? You don't think I don't know every single dirty little secret our military has? You don't think I've spent countless hours planning on how I'd deal with you if you decided to get in my way? I'm a warrior, I fight. Be thankful I fight for you, because that could change at a moments notice. Press me again… please..." Riley finished her counter by speaking directly into the man's head. His eyes went wide, and his jaw fell open as the last part of her monologue carried out within his own mind, yet it was clearly her voice.

"Yo-you make a fair point, let me ask you this than, what's a Jinchuriki?" Chester asked tentatively. He wasn't giving up just yet, but he was obviously shaken by what had happened.

"It means 'the power of a human sacrifice'. Jinchuriki are human vessels that contain powerful magical forces. The most famous of Jinchuriki contain the Bijuu, the Tailed Beasts." Riley answered, her gaze filling with a dark aura as she stared at the military man.

"What are these Tailed Beasts?" Oliver inquired, carrying on the line of questioning, as Chester began to pale.

"Ten fragments of the corrupted Tree of Life. The entity that brought magic into our world. Short summary, a long time ago, a being arrived on our planet, it took the form of a massive tree. This entity was the Shinju, some religions call it the Tree of Life, or the Tree of Creation. It was a real thing, and it is what filled our planet with magic. At some point it's will became corrupted, and the tree turned into a demon, known only as the Ten-Tails. Three thousand years ago, this demon did battle with two great men. Hagoromo and Hamura Ootsutsuki. They fought it, they beat it, and Hagoromo sealed it's power into his body, becoming a Jinchuriki, and arguably the most famous. Some even say he was the first in our world, but who can say for certain. Fast forward some time and Hagoromo grows old and is about to die of old age. He fears the return of the Ten-Tails, so he splits it's power into ten fragments, these fragments are the Tailed Beasts. Ten demons, bound by his will to protect the world from any sort of external threat. In a manner of speaking these demons are guardians of our world, as they are bound by the Sage's will. They come in the form of various beasts, and number in tails, starting from the Zero-Tails and going all the way up to the Nine-Tails. In recent years, the process of creating Jinchuriki has become a lot easier, so most of the Elemental Nations have contained the Tailed Beasts inside of human vessels, these vessels are called Jinchuriki. The Akatsuki, an organization of S-Ranked criminals, attempted to use the Fourth Great Shinobi War, as a cover to capture nine of the ten tailed beasts, in order to reunify their power and recreate the Ten-Tails. They were partially successful and brought the beast back, I along with a few others, defeated it, and sealed it away. It was responsible for the events seen in eastern Asia a few years back, as well as the chaotic storms that plagued the world on the very day." Riley explained to them, and the viewing audience, leaving a few parts out, like Kaguya's involvement for example.

"And these demons are sealed in people? And demons themselves are real?" Oliver inquired, sharing a glance with one of his producers off screen who motioned for him to keep going.

"Yes and yes. Demons are metaphysical beings composed of pure magic, essentially magic given will, just like gods, and spirits, and angels." Riley replied.

"How powerful are these things?" Julia questioned.

"The Tailed Beasts had their power separated by certain levels, with the Zero and One-Tails having the least amount of raw power, and the Nine-Tails having the most. The order of power goes something like, one, one, two, six, twenty-four, one-hundred-and-twenty, so on, and so on, until you get to the Nine-Tails. That was how the Sage split their power up. The less power the greater the control, the more power the less control it has. The two with the least power, still have more magic in them than any human that has ever lived by a massive margin. Not even the strongest of humanity has come close to the level of raw power in a Tailed Beast." Riley answered, earning dumbfounded looks from all of them.

"The ICW, the International Confederation of Wizards, kind of your version of the UN, they keep these Tailed Beasts under observation, don't they?" Chester inquired, finding his voice again. Riley nodded, and kept herself from appearing upset again. Most likely this man had used him military connections to dig up information his higher-ups had already learned or had known for a while.

"Jinchuriki of the Tailed Beasts are classified as Weapons of Mass Destruction by the ICW. Their location must be reported anywhere outside of the Elemental Nations, and any country in possession of them, must report that as well." Riley answered with a sigh, earning very curious looks from those questioning her. The idea that S-Ranked magicals were just allowed to wander free, and yet these Jinchuriki were the ones under observation, the power difference must be unlike anything they could imagine if that were the case.

"Does the ICW know where these things are, right now?" Julia asked.

"Yes. The Zero-Tails roams freely, often appearing during times of conflict and has no Jinchuriki. The One-Tails is contained within the Kazekage of Sunagakure, the military power of our ally, in the Land of Wind in the Elemental Nations. The Two-Tails is contained within a Kumo kunuoichi in the Land of Lightning, another of our allies. The Three-Tails is wandering the waters around the Land of Water. The Four-Tails is in the Mountains of the Land of Earth. The Five-Tails is living in the forests of the Land of Fire. The Six-Tails is living somewhere in the Land of Water. The Seven-Tails is contained within a ward of the Cysgodol Legion, here in Britain. The Eight-Tails is held within a Kumo shinobi, just like the Two-Tails. And I am the vessel for the Nine and Ten Tails." Riley answered, listing them all off. Due to how closely the ICW kept an eye on the Bijuu, all of this information was easily accessible, so Riley didn't feel bothered sharing it. Best to get it out now and offer an explanation for it, than have them discover it on their own and run wild with speculation.

"You contain two of these demons inside of you?" Oliver asked, as the others started to shift nervously.

"Yep, the Nine-Tailed Fox was partly sealed into my body when I was born and was fully sealed after the rest of it was stolen from it's host by a terrorist here in Britain. We recaptured it, and sealed that piece of it in me, unifying both halves. The Ten-Tails couldn't be defeated by normal means, not without risking damage to the whole planet. Just by existing it caused all of those chaotic storms, and the energy it released that you all bore witness to in eastern Asia, was enough power to turn this entire planet into space dust. So fighting it was out. I had to seal it away, and because I had the Rinnegan, I had a body strong enough to withstand the sealing process and contain it." Riley told them.

"What's it like?" Francis inquired curiously after recovering from the idea that there were entities in the world that could just blow it away if they wanted to.

"What's it like? Like what's it like having a Tailed Beast living inside of you?" Riley asked in response, earning a nod from the man, she continued, "Well I've had the Nine-Tails sealed in me since the day I was born, but he only woke up and started interacting with me when I was twelve. When the Fox is in a mood, he can be a truly terrifying creature, and I've experienced his power first hand, but mostly he's just a big lazy furry bastard. Sleeps most of the time, only really chimes in when something catches his interest. You know how you can hear your own little voice inside your head, when you're thinking? Well he can talk to me like that. Whenever he's not sleeping which is most of the time, he either offers me some interesting insight, and given he's three thousand years old, he's quite wise, but most of the time, he's actually just being a fox. Or at least, he acts a lot like how you'd expect a fox to act. Mischievous, dastardly, a bit of a jerk at times, but he's not so bad, I've grown use to his antics, and he an I work well together. The Ten-Tails on the other hand… well it has far less of a personality. It's pretty much all nature, all will, all the time. Doesn't do much thinking or anything like that, so I don't really have much to worry about in regards to that one." Riley answered, earning an indignant snort from Kurama which made her chuckle.

"So… despite being a demon, he's just… okay?" Oliver inquired, slightly confused.

"He's a demon made by a human. If he were a regular demon, he'd be a lot, lot worse. But because he was made by a human, and his personality was shaped by the will of a human, he's actually rather pleasant company when you get past his grouchy exterior. The Tailed Beasts don't like humans. We're basically ants to them, and on multiple occasions these ants kick in the doors to their homes and try to use them as weapons for whatever wars we're waging at the time, so often times the Tailed Beasts like to steer clear of civilization and just relax somewhere away from us. They're not at all evil, but they are malevolent, and will respond with incredible aggression if you even so much as annoy them. So… not necessarily 'okay' but they are far better than truer demons. We're very lucky in that regard. Certain Jinchuriki like myself have gotten to the point where we've developed a working relationship with our Tailed Beast. And they'll offer us power in battle if we need it. It's actually thanks to the Nine-Tails that we even stood a chance against the revived Ten-Tails." Riley responded to the question.

"Has this demon ever tried to control you? I understand such a thing is possible, and is one of the reason the ICW demands to know the location of all the Jinchuriki." Chester inquired.

"Nope. He's never made the attempt." Riley responded, leaving it at that.

"Has anyone ever tried to kill one of these things?" Hugh asked, his question sparking great interest from Chester.

"People have tried, people have succeeded. More often they fail, but it has happened before. The problem is that Tailed Beasts are higher magical beings, they are made of pure magic. Their bodies are comprised of it. It's like how a normal person's body is made of atoms… a Tailed Beast's body isn't. If you took a chunk of flesh from a Bijuu, and examined it under a microscope, you wouldn't see cells, and the like, because they don't have cells. If you examined their blood, you would find that their blood isn't comprised of red blood cells and plasma. Hell one of the Tailed Beasts, the Two-Tails, is made of blue and black fire. It's shaped like a cat, but it's pretty much sentient fire. Beings that have that much power can exist without a physical body. Even if you kill the vessel that the power inhabits, it'll just make a new one. People have successfully killed the Bijuu in the past, and anywhere from a few weeks to a few months later, it just reforms it's body, good as new. Bodies help these things interact with the world around them, like using a puppet to move things, but they don't require it. Demons, gods, angels, all creatures that are comprised of pure magic, can and often do exist primarily in ethereal form. It just takes more concentration and focus to interact with something when you don't have a physical body." Riley answered the question smirking at the dumbfounded looks she received.

"That is absolutely astounding. And the magical world has studied these phenomenons?" Francis questioned her.

"There are a lot of studies on the strange and unusual. The interactions of ghosts, and phantoms, the existence of the soul, and it's properties in regards to life and magic, the existence of angels and demons, and their war with one another, the existence of heaven and hell, and what these places truly represent. There is a bit of truth in all legends. I never believed in hell, until I looked upon the shores of the river Archeron. I've spoken with the Grim Reaper on occasion, I've had dealings with individuals from other universes, and other worlds. Our dinky little blue ball in space, is nothing compared to whats out there." Riley answered leaning back in her chair as she did.

"You've truly done all of that? The Grim Reaper, others worlds, all of it?" Oliver inquired.

"Indeed I have. In case you were wondering I can say without a shadow of doubt that there are other living things out in the universe. Where they are and what they're doing, I have no clue, but they do exist." Riley replied chuckling to herself, as she could only feel that information settle in throughout the millions watching this program.

"Alright, we've reached about the halfway point and we wanted to try something different, we've got some people at home, who've called in with their own questions and we'd like to run those by you." Oliver explained, earning a nod from Riley.

"Alright, our first question comes from Emily Adams from right here in London, she asks 'With the current state of affairs in the world today, do you see the reveal of magic and magical society as a smooth transition or do you see anything that may lead you to believe that there will be problems?'" Oliver began with the first question.

"Well as it is for any two cultures I see there being a great deal of uncertainty in how these two cultures come to coexist with one another. It's all about cooperation and communication, and I believe if we can work together than this transition could be beneficial to all involved." Riley answered.

"Alright, next question comes from Harris Walker of Birmingham, he asks 'With information about the extreme practices coming out in the magical worlds and the Elemental Nations, do you believe they will begin to change the way they do things in regards to how they treat their children for example?'" Oliver asked again, Riley let out a dry chuckle at that and shook her head.

"You were soldier at a very young age weren't you? You have a sort of unique perspective in this area." Oliver noted, remembered what Draco had said in regards to how young Riley had been when she first started fighting.

"A century ago in the Elemental Nations, clans fought endlessly against one another. There was almost constant warfare, and kids as young as five were being trained to fight adults, and more often than not, being killed by them in return. My Great-Grandfather and Grandfather, Hashirama Senju and Madara Uchiwa, were the leaders of two of the most powerful clans in the Elemental Nations at the time. They fought with each other tireless, and both men lost multiple siblings to the others clan. Eventually the two came together and decided to end the conflict, deciding that if they joined forces and brought all of their allies together, than no other single clan could hope to stand against them. This unification into a singular force, a single city-state, or village, quickly became adopted by the warring clans throughout the Elemental Nations, to the point now where almost every shinobi clan is allied or part of a shinobi village. Yes, they do engage in large scale conflicts now that they've unified their powers, but the establishment of the Shinobi villages has also ushered in decades of peace, whereas before, wars were constant and unending. A hundred years ago, the life expectancy of a shinobi was thirty years. Nowadays, that is closer to fifty now." Riley explained to them all, and the viewers at home.

"So you believe the Elemental Nations are beginning to slowly come out of this age of war and are becoming less prone to violence?" Oliver questioned.

"I didn't say they were less prone to violence, I only said that conflicts aren't as common now. Back in the old days you fought for pride, or honor, or a single insult to your clan. When family was all you had, that's what you fought for. In today's day and age, the leaders of the various Hidden Villages are all allied with their host nation, and serve them. They have to think about their host nation, and their own people, they can't just go to war for pride any longer, they can't just start a conflict with their rivals because nowadays, entire nations are watching. When it was just families and everyone was doing it, conflicts were a dime a dozen and not one really knew what everyone else was doing. Today, everyone knows everyone's business, and that keeps people in line, it stops the fighting because everyone is watching you." Riley responded.

"But you believe it's getting better?" Oliver asked.

"Yes. It is getting better. Bit by bit. Like all things, there will be hiccups along the way, but these things take time, nothing happens overnight. When it comes to a society changing it's views, that takes time and commitment to change. Eventually these things start to fade. Maybe in a generation, maybe two or three, but eventually things start to change." Riley answered his question, seeming thoughtful for a moment as she reflected on the current state of the world and where this all would one day head.

"What about yourself, you were brought up as a child soldier, trained to fight and even kill at a very young age." Oliver questioned her.

"It's a dangerous world out there. More than just enemy forces lay in wait beyond the safety of your homes. Families teach their young how to defend themselves. I myself began training at a very young age of my own volition. I needed to protect myself from threats, and so I trained and trained and trained, and then I proved my skills to the state, and earned the rank of a shinobi. In the village I came from, you went into the academy at around eight years old and remained there for at least four years, though some would stay for a lot longer, depending on their abilities, or lack thereof. Upon completion of all primary course material, you are put through two sets of tests. The first is to see if you have the utmost of basic skills to even continue as a shinobi, if you pass you move onto the second test. These tests are administered by elite shinobi, and they usually test for certain skills, that the elite shinobi deems as necessary to become a full-blown shinobi. If these students are successful, they are usually given over to the same elite shinobi that tested them and taken on as a squad. Usually three per squad, with the elite shinobi to guard and train them. These little shinobi are called Genin, or more specifically rookie Genin. If you want I can explain the ranking system of the shinobi so you can better understand how they operate?" Riley offered in response, knowing that having an actual explanation would placate at least a few people so she wouldn't have to hear so many people crying about the suffering of children.

"I think we all would appreciate that." Oliver replied, earning a nod of agreement from his fellow panelists.

"Alright, first rank you need to know is that of the academy student..." Riley began, taking her time to explain the shinobi ranking system and the various aspects of it, like how one receives a promotion, what responsibilities their rank entailed and the like.

"Beyond the rank of Jonin is the Anbu, the elite black-ops of the village. Not much is known about these men and women, only that they are the most loyal servants of the leader of the village, and carry out some of the most extreme missions. The Anbu exist separately from the main shinobi force and can be plucked from any rank, if they show the necessary skills. The Anbu obey the Kage and the Kage alone. The Kage, is the lord of a shinobi village. They are the most powerful shinobi in their villages, and held to the highest regard. My great-grandfather Hashirama was the first Hokage of the Hidden Leaf. His younger brother the second. My father was the fourth, so I come from a long like of Kage. My fiance is the Kazekage of Sunagakure, and I fought and killed two of the Tsuchikages from Iwa. One before the war began, and the second during the attack on the Wind Capital. The Kage are the strongest of shinobi and are held to a high standard." Riley finished her explanation on the various shinobi ranks, hoping now that they knew how the system operated, they would begin to ease up on their accusations, at least until she left.

"Didn't I hear you mention you were married twice? At nineteen? And you have a fiance?" Oliver noted, after a few quiet moments.

"Yes, due to my unique bloodlines, and being only one of a handful of my kind left in the world, I've been asked to help repopulate my clan. So the state allows me to engage in polygamy. I have two wives, and am engaged to three more, in political alliances that will secure our alliance with Sunagakure and Kumogakure. As I mentioned I'm marrying the leader of the Hidden Sand Village, Sunagakure, and I'm also most likely going to marry the Two-Tails Jinchuriki of Kumo, securing out alliance with both of those villages and their host nations. I'm also engaged to Queen Artoria Pendragon." Riley explained earning looks of surprise from all those around her.

Many of them shared some glances with each other, and Riley could clearly tell the host was frantically trying to communicate telepathically with his producers because this was turning into media gold.

"I'm guessing because you're marrying women, that you can use magic to assist in procreation with them?" Hugh inquired.

"Absolutely. Sex magics have been around for thousands of years, and can allow for safe same-sex reproduction. Me being a woman and marrying women, makes logical sense to most of the higher ups who want to see my bloodline propagated here in England. I actually have one on the way, hoping to see the birth here in the next few weeks." Riley noted.

"Wow! And no complications?" Hugh continued his inquiry, being a biologist and someone who studied human anatomy, this was definitely something that interested him, though the physicist was equally as curious while everyone else was simply dumbfounded and trying to wrap their heads around this particular bit of info, that while truly a small revelation had major consequences for the world. If two people of the same sex could reproduce with magic, then what were the limits on biology anymore?

"None that we can tell. Everything seems to be going smoothly, so we're hopeful to see her deliver sometime soon." Riley answered, enjoying the moment of pleasant conversation, without the need to defend herself or magicals in general.

"You mentioned that you're engaged to Queen Artoria Pendragon. The magical Queen, that we've been hearing about. If the two of you are engaged, that would mean you'd be… what? The royal consort? I'm not exactly sure how that's organized. Has the magical world had such a precedent before?" Oliver inquired after gathering his thoughts and finding a way to push forward.

"Not to my knowledge, at least not here. And just so you're aware, we only elected Artoria after the death of the royal family. You see, magical Britain still knelt to the rule of the royal house of Britain. Unfortunately due to Millennium, we felt the sting of that loss as much as the rest of the nation. Seeing as this is a time of great chaos, we knew we'd need a strong leader to guide all of us through this mess, so we chose to instate Artoria, as the only person with the skill, the heritage, and wisdom to see this through, and help unite our peoples." Riley answered part of his question, using this opportunity to move the conversation towards something more important. It also helped her to not have to answer that first question as she actually didn't know. Artoria had yet to tell her what Riley's role as the Queen's wife would be. Would she be some sort of queen as well? Would she be Queen Consort, just Consort, Princess? Riley didn't know, and Artoria hadn't told her yet. Truthfully there was no real precedent for it, to Riley's knowledge, at least among humans, so it really would boil down to what Artoria decided. Riley hoped it was one of the lesser two, the fewer responsibilities she had, the happier she would be, though she doubted Artoria would be so merciful.

"So it is the intention of Magical Britain to assume leadership of the country? May I ask, and I'm not being antagonistic with this, I'm just curious, why do you believe we need a magical ruler, and why this woman? What qualifies her?" Oliver inquired, genuinely interested in what Riley had to say.

"Well… the world is changing. Magic and the magical world has been unveiled and every nation with a magical half to it, is going to see some major restructuring in the future. We face these same hardships but on a much higher level. Parliament has all but been destroyed. The Prime Minister is dead, the royal family is gone. The head of our nation was severed from it's body by Millennium, and now we have to get control of the situation, and quickly. We elected a Queen of our own, because we needed to be unified, and now we can only hope to try and unify with the rest of the nation. We may be a magical government, but we are still an English one, and the people need guidance, they need safety, they need direction and hope. That's why we've been working so closely with the military, to try and keep things safe and secure for the people. And as for Artoria… she is the Once and Future king." Riley explained to them all, leaning forward in her seat as she did.

"What do you mean by that? 'Once and Future King'? She's a woman, a queen, so how is she a king?" Julia asked.

"It's in the name. Where have you heard the name Pendragon before?" Riley asked in response.

Silence filled the room as the panelists shared glances with one another, coming to the same realization.

"Are you saying that Queen Artoria is descended from King Arthur?" Oliver asked.

"No… I'm saying she is King Arthur. Born to Uther Pendragon, born as a girl, raised as a knight, her gender kept hidden from all those around her. She spent the entirety of her youth, learning to be a knight, learning what it meant to lead, being groomed to one day assume her father's throne. She drew the sword Caliburn from the Stone, proving her right to be King, and for the entirety of her reign, she kept her gender a secret, only a handful ever knew. Her wife, a few of her closest companions, the mage Merlin. Artoria Pendragon is King Arthur. She was brought here by the Grim Reaper, brought to our lands during a time of strife, brought forward in time from the moment of her fall, on the fields of Camlann. Her legends says that King Arthur is the Once and Future King of the Britons. We believe it was her destiny to be here when we needed her the most. If today was anything like all those years ago, she would have assumed the mantle of a king. Being that we are far more progressive in our beliefs then people of that age, she has no reason to hide her gender any longer." Riley replied, earning dumbfounded amazement from everyone in the studio, and seemingly everyone in England, if Riley's senses were accurate.

"How do you know for certain? How do you know that she really is who she says she is?" Chester asked, before Oliver could.

"Well she carries the mighty Excalibur, and when she was proclaimed Queen, the sword in the stone reappeared for her to claim, so now she holds Caliburn the Sword of Choosing, and Excalibur, the Sword of Promised Victory. She's sworn oaths on her magic, and life that her words were true, and just so you know, such oaths are binding, if you swear on your life and magic, and then make a statement proclaiming it as truth, then magic will harm you if you lie. If you knowingly lie, it'll kill you, it you simply believe something that is actually false, it'll only hurt you, or possibly strip you of your magical abilities. She was neither hurt nor killed, so her identity is confirmed, she is King Arthur Pendragon. Also since we elected her Queen, the Magus of Flowers has found his way back to her side. Merlin himself. You may have noticed the flowery white haired ponce traveling with her in some of the recent footage of her." Riley answered, inwardly chuckling at her jab towards the playful mage.

Again she received more looks of dumbfounded amazement, as people took in her words.

"She is the best person for the job in my opinion. She ruled over our people once before and united the country when chaos reigned. I believe she has it in her to do it again. To unite us all, magicals and non-magicals alike. I believe in her, and I hope others come to see what I see in her." Riley continued to say after a few moments of pause.

"Do you believe that it's in the best interest of our people to accept a magical leader taking over? In your opinion, do you believe that's best?" Oliver asked her.

"I believe that it's for the best that our people be led by someone who understands our strengths, and our powers. Just like you wouldn't ask a school teacher to work in a nuclear missile silo, you wouldn't ask a non-magical being to dictate how a society with access to this kind of power, should act. You've asked a lot of questions here tonight, and asking questions is a good thing, and I believe that there is much to gain from our two societies joining together and cooperating. But with that being said, we turn to Artoria because she's led magicals and non-magicals before. She knows how to lead our people as a whole, were it not for her, we wouldn't be talking here today. We wouldn't be having these conversations, as equals sitting across from one another. Most magicals have no desire to interact with the non-magical world, we do things our own way because magic gives us the ability to circumvent all sorts of things you consider natural or right or morally correct. Were it not for Millennium's attack, we would have been content to remain separate from the non-magical world." Riley explained to them.

"But you do believe that we should have a magical ruler?" Chester asked, attempting to pin her with a look.

"I'm biased, though as a point of fact, Artoria has access to magic, but she isn't a witch or a sorceress or even a shinobi. By her own admission she's a knight. I don't necessarily believe we need a magical ruler, but we do need a ruler who understands magic and magical people. Non-magicals outnumber us vastly, but magicals are far more dangerous individually than anyone else." Riley answered, Chester looked like he was about to continue the line of questioning but Oliver cut him off.

"It's an interesting stance to take, and I'm sure many people at home are interested to see how the country grows and changes from these recent disasters and revelations. We could probably continue discussing this topic for hours on end, but before we dive further into that, we'd like to get a few more questions from our viewers." Oliver began, gaining a nod from Riley, urging him to continue.

"Ellie Smith from Dover says, 'Thanks to you all for helping to protect our city, I was living in Dover during the attack and could see the explosions from my home. Never knew the real truth about what occurred, but I'm happy to hear we have people who are willing to step up and keep us safe. My question is, how do I go about getting into contact with someone in the magical world in response to the possibility that my child may be magical? During prior interviews, it was explained that sometimes magical children just appear in families, and I've noticed my child doing some strange things, moving from across the room, making things float, and even unlocking locked doors. Just as a side note, she is three years old.'"

"Well normally due to the dangers of our possible reveal, an individual from the Ministry of Magic would stop by your house and let you know what's going on. Sometimes children do slip through the cracks, as there are only so many people to handle these investigations. If you think you're child may be magical in nature you can speak to one of the aurors, or the legionaries out and about and inform them of the nature of the situation. Given the minor dangers involved with untrained magical children, someone will be sent out to give you a full explanation of what's going on and how to best keep your child from getting into too much trouble. Otherwise you can also visit one of the access points to Diagon Alley, here in London, the entrances have been marked, and are public information at the moment, stationed at the entrances are information booths and watchers who are ready and willing to answer any and all inquiries, just tell them your situation and they'll contact the Ministry and have a representative sent out." Riley explained to them.

"So the Ministry is able to track uses of magic around the country?" Oliver inquired.

"Yes, there are special spells in place that monitor magic being used all around the world by various magical governments. Our magical government employs a wide standing network that detects the use of magic, if this magic is being used outside of an area of magic, then aurors are sent to investigate the cause, or at least they were, to ensure someone isn't violating the Statute of Secrecy. Also wands that are crafted for our young are given a special tracing spell which will also alert them ministry if the child in question is using their wand outside of school or a place of magic. When they pass their OWL exams the trace is removed. Usually it takes about four to six months after a child begins using magic for the ministry to swing by and have a sit down with the parents. At the age of eleven a magical child will be invited to join one of the magical schools in the area." Riley responded to them.

"I see. That's very interesting. So magicals can detect what people are doing in their homes?" Chester inquired, giving her a curious look. Riley very nearly let out a sigh at that, as she knew he was going to try and make that into something worse than it was.

"No not really. This network is more like the surface of a lake. You use magic and it's like bubbles rising to the surface disturbing the surface of the lake. They're not actually able to see what's going on beneath the surface, only detect the use of magic, and if it's in a place that isn't designated as a magical location or residence, then they send someone to investigate." Riley clarified.

Chester stared at her for a moment, nodding as she explained. Riley kept relaxed as the viewer questions continued. She answered what she could but tried not to reveal any personal information about other people.

Eventually they reached a question where Riley was asked to display a bit of magic. So she complied and showed off a few basic spells. She took a sheet of paper and transfigured it into a bird, and then lit the bird on fire and had it soar around the room, before she against transfigured it into a giant fat toad that plopped down on the table and began croaking. She then had the frog begin a dance, which earned laughter from those in the room.

Riley kept her patience as she dealt with the waxing and the waning of the tension in the room. While some of them were truly interested in learning all they could about the magical world, it was obvious that Chester and Oliver had agendas. The former was taking every opportunity to try and pin her with difficult questions, that may paint the magical world in a negative light, while Oliver was fishing for a lot of information.

Riley kept her cool, despite her temper, and answered what she could in a way she thought wouldn't invite too much conflict.

It was honestly the longest two hours of her life, and she was going to make it clear to Artoria when she was finished, that this wasn't happening again.

Luckily, it seems like any attempts to locate or air some of Riley's dirty laundry had met with failure, and eventually, the interview ended and Riley was freed.

She met up with Artoria shortly afterwards, who'd been watching the entire thing on television.

"You did well." Artoria noted.

"Be happy, because it's never happening again." Riley muttered in response, taking Artoria into her arms.

"Thank you for handling this. You did do a good job, though with what they have now, they'll begin pushing deeper. It wasn't said but it wont take long before someone notes that magical Britain has three Tailed Beasts, and is in an alliance with three more. Magically speaking, we have the most power." Artoria noted.

"Yep. It's gonna get wild. I hope you're ready for it." Riley responded, kissing at her lover's forehead after she finished speaking.

Artoria let out a quiet sigh as she turned thoughtful. Things would start happening faster now. People had a vague idea of the power they were dealing with, and would soon start to form sides. It wouldn't be long now before a line would be drawn in the sand and the real arguments would start.

"Come on, let's go spend some time alone, I think you owe me after the hell I just went through." Riley commanded, taking Artoria's hand.

"I do believe you should be rewarded for enduring such hardships. So I will accept your proposal and see you properly rewarded." Artoria replied, earning a laugh from Riley.

"Nice, sex it is then!" Riley cheered.

"What?" Artoria responded, her face turning red, as Riley let out a laugh.

"I'm just fucking with you, let's relax." Riley teased kissing the side of her lover's head as she led her forward. Artoria stared straight ahead the whole time, her face as red as a tomato.

-Ministry of Magic, England. September 5th 1999-

Riley stood alongside Itachi, Artoria, Merlin, and Lucius before a representative from the Sky Ninja.

Artoria was quietly reading over a document that these shinobi had brought here on behalf of their leader. She then passed the document to Itachi, who read it over as well and shared a look with Riley.

"What's it say?" Riley inquired.

"They wish to join us. The Legion in specific. The Sky Ninja are offered to officially unify with the Cysgodol Legion, and join their military power with ours." Itachi replied, passing Lucius the message for him to read.

"Why?" Riley inquired curiously.

"With the reveal of the magical world, things will begin to change. Non-magicals will begin to enter the Elemental Nations and carry out their own investigations, and the world will seek to limit us and what we can do. We wish to unify with our goddess, joining our forces to hers in preparation for the trials to come. The Sky Ninja will officially join the Cysgodol Legion under Lord Uchiha's command, and we will swear fealty to Queen Artoria." The Messenger explained.

Artoria was silent for a moment before she shared a glance with Merlin who offered her a smile and a nod.

"Give us a moment to discuss." Artoria commanded, stepping aside with her advisers to discuss this recent event.

"A whole Shinobi village willing to disband and officially become part of another, such a thing is unheard of." Itachi noted.

"True, but this Shinobi village is different from others. Remember they also function almost as a religious community. Their mindset is a bit different from other shinobi." Riley replied.

"Perhaps we should way the pros and cons?" Merlin suggested, sensing that Artoria and the others had dealt with the sky ninja before.

"According to their message, they are willing to fully integrate into the Legion, all they are asking for in return is citizenship in Britain and a command role for their commander. So they want their leader to work directly with Itachi perhaps as a sub-commander of sorts. Now what do they bring to the table? Ten thousand shinobi. Advanced military weapons, the only shinobi air force, and the largest and most advanced shinobi fleet. After the recent damage done to one of Britain's fighter carriers, we're lacking a bit at sea. Also… as the Americans have proven, in the age of modern warfare, those who rule the sky, rule the battlefield." Riley noted to Artoria, Itachi voicing his agreement to that sentiment.

If the Legion wanted to surpass all other militaries in the known world, they would need to expand into the realm of piloting. Due to a shinobi's reflexes and durability, theoretically they could become unimaginably skilled pilots, able to withstand greater g-forces and speeds then non-magical pilots. With their recent cooperation with the British armed forces, the Legion had an opportunity to begin learning how to pilot aircraft, like planes and helicopters, the addition of the Legion who already had experience in the air, with their special gliders, would be invaluable as a way to expand their technologies and abilities, not to mention adding the Sky ninja to their ranks would triple their numbers.

"And what are the downsides?" Merlin inquired.

"Not many if I'm being honest. These people are a bit fanatical, but not overly dangerous to non-believers. We worked well with them during the war, and the center point to their religion is Riley. They believe her to be a goddess, or at least an avatar of their goddess." Artoria replied.

"When the two of you marry, they will hold you to a similar esteem my Queen. Accepting this alliance will sure-up your military power, and expand it in new directions. The greater your power, the more hesitant the rest of the world will be to stand against you." Merlin offered, as Artoria contemplated what she should do. After a few moments she shared a look with Itachi.

"Ready to take on a few new subordinates?" Artoria inquired.

"I'll manage. This alliance will greatly benefit us. I have no doubt they are doing this because of Riley, but ultimately, we still receive the greater reward from their service. Lord Merlin is right, when you are married, they will hold you to a similar esteem as they do Riley, that kind of loyalty is difficult to garner. It would be wise to seize upon it now, and use this opportunity to further solidify our position. Not to mention uniting with the Sky Ninja, removes a piece from the board. Reducing the number of players. Again, a benefit to us." Itachi answered.

Artoria agreed with the wisdom being offered to her and voiced her agreement. She quickly returned to the messenger and commanded that he carry an offer back to his commander and ask that he come to England and meet with Artoria personally to work out the details of this unification.

-Riley's Home-

Later that night, Riley was sitting in her living room with her mates watching the television when Katie arrived home from work.

"What are you guys up to?" Katie inquired as she hung up her coat.

"Just watching the entire world fall into rampant speculation." Riley responded as she eyed the television with a rueful smirk.

"Already we've got people asking if it's legal for one country to have three of the Bijuu. We've got people worried about how England is going to be allied with the only two other nations with access to Jinchuriki. Someone in the United States is going around telling people that Bijuu can take out entire countries, not just cities." Daphne added.

"Shit..." Katie muttered with a shake of her head.

"On the lighter side, we've also got people pinning all sort of vigilante justice onto magicals. It's especially prevalent in the United States, in places like Metropolis, they've got someone the media called the Blur. Someone who's moving faster than camera's can follow, rescuing people from crimes and accidents. In Central City, they've got someone similar. The media thinks these are both Shinobi. Hell there's speculation going on that even Batman is a magical." Riley stated, chuckling as she did.

"Who the hell is Batman?" Katie asked.

"A guy in Gotham city, dresses like a giant bat and beats the fuck out of criminals. Man after my own heart, I swear." Riley responded, chuckling to herself at the mental image. Katie let out a laugh at that, as she also imagined some guy in a bat costume stalking the shadows and beating the snot out of criminals.

"Some of it's pretty funny, but there is an edge of concern as well. This wild speculation is going to lead people to being afraid." Daphne noted, sobering up the attitudes of those around her.

Katie soon joined them, in watching the world's reaction to Riley's interview.

They sat watching well into the night as various new organizations began digging up info on her, on Jinchuriki, on shinobi. It was a chaotic scramble for any information that people could get their hands on.

-September 6th 1999-

By the early morning of the following day, people were openly sharing what information they had. Someone had gone and leaked a photo to the muggle media taken from the destruction of Konoha, where Riley beat the Angel of Carnage. The image that shocked the world, the sight of the massive floating sphere of earth, that had once been one of the most powerful Shinobi villages in the world.

Not long after that photo was released, word began to spread about the legend of the Sage of Six Paths, and how he had supposedly created the moon when he beat the Ten-Tails. Now people were really losing their minds. The moon had quite possibly been made as a cage to hold in a demon of unimaginable power, and hilariously, people were now questioning whether the Americans knew this or not, when they had traveled to the moon decades ago. They were also wondering what, if anything, the moon landing could have done to possibly stir up trouble with the Ten-Tails.

Riley and company found the rampant speculation to be hilarious, while at the same time, their laughter had a nervous edge to it. People were afraid, and it was obvious. Nations all around the UK were asking for information on the Jinchuriki, what were their capabilities, what range did they have, ect, ect. Interestingly enough, because the UK didn't have a muggle government at the moment, most of those questions were going to the military, and the military was quickly falling into line behind the Round Table, and Artoria.

Revelations that Artoira was actually the legendary King Arthur was met with awe from the average populace. Artoria did little alter her style, and often appeared as a knight, wearing her armor and blue battle dress. She appeared as a knight of old, and her appearance led many to begin to believe that Riley was telling the truth. Especially when magical governments outside of Britain who would have a reason to refute such a claim, could only sigh and agree that according to magical oaths and the goblins, she was King Arthur.

While Riley's interview drudged up a lot of the darker things she'd done, her revelation about Artoria being King Arthur, had won them a great deal of support from the people. The average citizens were enthralled by the idea that this living legend had returned to save them from the chaos Millennium had invoked.

Things were beginning to get very interesting.

-September 8th 1999-

Someone had let slip that Riley could resurrect the dead.

Of all the things that were coming out about the magical world, bringing dead people back to life had to be the most mind blowing.

Now people all over the world were arguing about it. Was it morally right to bring the dead back to life? Was it fair that she had the power when others didn't? Why should only her friends not have to fear death? What was being dead like? Why did she have this power? Why hadn't she mentioned it? Was she trying to hide it?

People were busy spewing forth rampant speculation on the matter, meanwhile Riley was quickly developing an almost cult-like appeal to the people of Britain. The fear was starting to evaporate, as people came to understand that if they followed Artoira, then they got the strongest magical being in the world to protect their country. People were throwing around all sorts of crazy numbers when it came to her kill count during the war. Some people were saying that she had killed over a million people during the war with her bare hands. Riley found the speculation amusing, as did many of her family members.

For the most part, while the world lost it's collective mind, Artoria was busy securing power in the UK. People were now turning out in droves to see King Arthur reborn, and it wasn't just Artoria's legend that drove them, it was Artoria herself. With the average people now seeking her out, Artoria was able to flex her almost otherworldly charisma, enthralling people with her valor, honor, and overall commanding aura. She simply gave off a vibe of power that people responded to, and it was beginning to amass quite the following.

Riley had to stick close to her beloved mate to make sure she was actually sleeping, at task she quickly recruited Merlin to, in order to aid her in the endeavor. Artoria was just strong-willed enough to argue the point with one of them, but when both of them ganged up on her, she was willing to concede defeat and take some time to rest.

Both of them knew it would be better in the long-term if Artoria was in the best mood possible.

-September 10th 1999-

Artoria had finally met with the commander of the Sky Ninja. Keichi Sarazawa had changed little since the war. A man of above average height, and strong build, with dark eyes and no hair on his head or face, he had an intense way about him. Though they had fought together during the war, and thus greeted each other as comrades.

Artoria and he, along with both of their advisers, including Hashirama, Madara, Tobirama, Izuna, Itachi, Riley, Merlin and Lucius were all present as Artoria and Keichi discussed the Sky Ninja integrating with the UK and joining the Legion.

They discussed in-depth the Sky Ninja's reasons for wanting to join together, not just in an alliance but fully join the Legion, such a sacrifice of identity was almost unheard of since the Hidden Villages were founded.

They discussed at length, how the Sky Ninja could see that the world was changing, and that banding together was their best chance to prosper. The Legion was in the midst of revolutionizing the way Shinobi waged war, introducing firearms into their repertoire of skills, developing new ninjutsu based on these weapons, as well as developing new weapons entirely, the Legion was on the cutting edge of this revolution. The Sky Ninja knew they only had two choices, compete, or join. Given their whole mission surrounded preparation for the Coming Day of Wrath, enhancing their combat abilities however they could was almost a mandate for them.

Discussion continued all day and into the night, about how such a thing would occur, and eventually the pact was sealed. Keichi and his Sky ninja would join the Legion under Itachi's command, with Keichi taking the role as leader of their magical air force. He'd be given a position on the Round Table and would report directly to Itachi and Artoria. The Sky Ninja would be made citizens of magical Britain, and would be allowed to immigrate there whenever they wished. The Legion would establish a military outpost in the Land of Sky, which the Sky Ninja owned, a small island in the north eastern part of the continent.

This unification was unprecedented, and Riley took grate pleasure in dropping off the info to Gaia and Yugito, letting them know what was happening.

-September 12th 1999-

News was soon out to the country that the Sky Ninja had officially joined the Legion. Now people were busy asking all sorts of questions about them, which took some of the heat off of Artoria's movements as she continued to travel the country, dealing with various problems, such as disgruntled public servants, and military officers.

The magicals were quickly gaining a strong following in Britain, even as various magical representatives from other nations began appearing on their own muggle counterparts' news networks to begin discussions about magic and the like.

All in all, things were progressing well.

Though out of everything, the most important detail was that Fleur was about ready to deliver. It would be only a few more weeks until Hashirama would be comfortable with the child's development, and would be ready to advise that they induce labor, if it hadn't already happened yet.

Riley and Fleur were absolutely ecstatic, and Riley spent every waking moment with her new wife, whenever she wasn't busy working. The excitement for the newborn was mirrored by many of Riley's family members, who were eager to see the child come into the world.

-September 18th 1999-

Word had reached Artoria through Riley's spies in Loki and Schrödinger that the UN was starting to get nervous. It was almost a guarantee now with the support they had been getting from the people, that England would come under new leadership and become an absolute monarchy again.

The UN and many of it's member nations were nervous about the prospect of an absolute monarchy, having control over three of the Bijuu, as well as England's nuclear arsenal. It was definitely getting tense on the international field, but Artoria ignored them and pressed forward, all but ensuring that the country would unite under her rule.

Words had begun to spread that things were stirring in the heartland of the US as well. A man in red and blue, capable of flying, was now openly combating crime in Metropolis. Many people pointed out that this man was most likely the Blur that had been secretly aiding the city for a year or so now. He was a just and law-abiding man, taking on the role of a hero, catching criminals and turning them over to the cops, rescuing people when they were in danger, a real life superhero.

The local papers in Metropolis had started calling him Superman, as he had already displayed the ability to fly, move as supersonic speeds, and he had superhuman strength.

Riley took one looks at the boy in blue, and knew for certain that he wasn't a shinobi. She was curious about him though, as he showed impressive strength and speed, and he didn't seem to be trying that hard. She'd have to make a trip out to Metropolis one of these days and see the man for herself, and get a read on him, see if he really was as heroic as his actions painted him out to be.

-September 20th 1999-

Everything was coming together, the people cheered Artoria's names in the street, the military was fully under her control, just short of an official declaration, the country was now under her control.

Artoria spent many long hours with her advisers discussing how them would move forward, and eventually it was Riley who offered up the suggestion that with this great change, perhaps it was time for a rebirth of sorts.

With the rise of this new magical nation, perhaps it was for the best that it be a true magical nation, with it's own identity and name.

Riley suggested that with her ascension, Albion should rise to prominence again. A kingdom united between magicals and non-magicals.

Everyone seemed to like the idea, the Kingdom of Albion rising to unite Britannia once more.

Artoria approved, as did Merlin. Soon it would be time for an official declaration, all that was needed was to set it up.

-St. Mungos, England. September 22nd 1999-

Riley listen to the radio as Artoria addressed the crowd. She couldn't help but smile as her plans came to fruition and their magical nation was born.

Artoria heralded the dawn of a new age, an age of unity between all the peoples of Britannia, unified under the banner of Albion. They would be one people, strong, and diverse, and would be capable of anything they set their mind to.

People cheered as a new nation was born. Riley let out a soft chuckle, she had a clone there with Artoria for appearances sake, and would have been there herself, had Fleur's water not broken, less than an hour before Riley was scheduled to meet with Artoria for the declaration.

She had sent word to her future wife, letting her know that she wouldn't be there, and what had happened, and was now at St Mungos, ready to help bring her child into the world.

Katie stepped out of Fleur's room and called out to Riley.

"Yep?" Riley inquired.

"They're ready to begin, she's fully dilated and her contractions are coming quickly." Katie explained, earning a smile and a nod from Riley.

"Well then, let's go and see our beautiful little girl into the world." Riley responded, entering the room with Katie.

While Riley went to Fleur side and started to help her with her contractions, within her mind, Kurama was busy musing to himself.

It's almost like an act of providence. Your first child, born on the day the first magical nation is created. That almost seems like destiny to me." Kurama thought out loud, letting out a low chuckle as he closed his eyes and allowed himself to feel the birth of Riley's first child.

This would be the start of something amazing. The age of Man had ended, the Age of Magic was now in full swing. It was time now for the Kingdom of Albion to rise.

-To Be Continued-

Alright there's the chapter for you, it's absolutely huge, I know hope you guys like it.