Chapter 363: Liberation
"A God King… a God King indeed, but I wonder how would you compare to the God of the Otsutsuki Clan? An arrogant deity from a foreign realm... Perhaps you are powerful, but you've never truly faced the might of an Otsutsuki God. You can't possibly comprehend your own insignificance." Kaguya's voice was cool but laced with disdain. "Asking me to serve you? Ridiculous. You'd better flee while you can. If the Otsutsuki main family were to locate your homeland, you'd soon regret ever coming here."
Though a prisoner, Kaguya spoke with unyielding pride, and Ye Wen's eyebrow twitched in irritation. Who was the truly arrogant one here? This "exiled princess," not only sentenced to death but also sealed away by her own children, still spoke with such condescension. Did she really think herself equal to the Otsutsuki main family?
Ye Wen took a deep breath; it seemed that some worlds carried an insufferable arrogance within their very fabric. He dropped his courteous tone, and the full force of his divine aura surged forth, a power so potent that, even from thousands of meters beneath the lunar crust, it sent shockwaves to the surface. The energy resonated so fiercely that Hamura's spirit was shaken from his resting place.
"What an overwhelming presence…" Hamura muttered, wary. "Far beyond anything my mother could wield. Mother, I beg you, do not provoke this being he could very well erase this entire world." Suddenly, Hamura, who had resigned himself to a passive role, felt an urgent need to intervene.
Kaguya, too, snapped out of her despair. This power was unlike anything she had known, surpassing even her comprehension of the Otsutsuki main family's strength. She finally dared to speak in a softer tone. "Tell me, then… could it be that you have attained the level of an Otsutsuki God?"
"I have no idea what an 'Otsutsuki God' entails," Ye Wen replied indifferently. "But I can show you the strength of my civilization. Open your mind, and I'll transmit the power structure of my world. Then, you can judge for yourself." By this point, any semblance of pleasantries had vanished.
A deep level telepathic exchange was rare among deities, as it left one open and vulnerable. Yet Ye Wen's proposal was clear Kaguya needed only to accept, and she would gain insight into his world. Despite the risk, she weighed his offer in silence. In any ordinary civilization, no one would betray their world unless absolutely cornered. But the Otsutsuki held no such attachments.
Fleeting memories of betrayal flashed through Kaguya's mind her clan's dismissal, her children's mutiny, the hopelessness before her death. After a long pause, she answered. "Very well. Do as you will."
With Kaguya's agreement, Ye Wen began to transmit the knowledge of his civilization's power hierarchy into her consciousness. In turn, he glimpsed fragments of her thoughts, the bitterness of ancient memories tainted with anger, regret, and a lurking terror. Behind Kaguya's cold exterior lay a heart consumed by madness and resentment.
When the exchange concluded, the silence returned. "So then, Kaguya," Ye Wen finally asked, "will you help me? Join me, and you may live in peace within my Soul Master civilization, preserving your kin as you see fit. Low risk, high reward. I think you'll find it hard to refuse."
Kaguya did not answer immediately, lapsing into silence once more. Yet Ye Wen was not impatient; the odds were already in his favor, and her acceptance was merely a matter of time.
After a long, mournful sigh, Kaguya finally replied. "I accept, Lord God King of the Boundless Sea. I will give you the Otsutsuki knowledge and assistance you seek. But in return, I ask that you leave behind a bloodline for us, a chance to survive."
Ye Wen's lips curled into a satisfied smile. "Then it's a deal. Now, let's get you out of here."
With a mere wave of his hand, the twisted bonds of the Six Paths chakra that held Kaguya dissipated into nothingness. In an instant, they were transported to the lunar surface.
After a thousand years of confinement, Kaguya was momentarily disoriented as her gaze adjusted to the world above. The moonlit expanse was foreign, yet achingly familiar, stirring something deep within her.
"Welcome," Ye Wen's voice echoed beside her, "to the Shinobi World as it exists a thousand years after your exile." She turned her eyes toward him, taking in his strange, human like form without horns or the characteristic white eyes of her kin. And yet, his features were strikingly handsome, his bearing that of one utterly assured of his own power.
For the first time in an eternity, Kaguya felt her face flush. Her eyes lingered, but Ye Wen felt no stirrings of attraction in return. Despite her ethereal beauty, her ghostly complexion and sharp brows were not to his taste. The Otsutsuki look, reminiscent of a bygone Japanese nobility, felt to him more ghostly than graceful.
"Lord God King of the Boundless Sea." Kaguya dipped her head respectfully, wary not to overstep. By now, she fully understood her own limits. Ye Wen was indeed on a level that the Otsutsuki revered as godlike. She, an exiled princess of the branch family, even after consuming the divine chakra fruit, held no illusions about her place.
Ye Wen's polite smile never wavered, yet Kaguya sensed that beneath it lay a vast depth of power far more than she, with all her borrowed strength, could ever hope to control.
Thank you for the support, friends. If you want to read more chapters in advance, go to my Patreon.
Read 20 Chapters In Advance: patreon.com/Cortez10