April 18th, 2012, Takamagahara, Dawn.
Mount Takamagahara ascended from the veil of dawn like a hymn carved from light, its slopes bathed in the molten gold of Amaterasu's first breath.
Here, the heavens bloom eternal, a realm where the sky is a cathedral of iridescent clouds, and the air shimmers with the perfume of sacred sakura blossoms that never wilt, their petals glinting like scattered stardust.
Above the emerald plains, floating islands drift in a celestial waltz, each a sovereign jewel suspended by divine will. Some are crowned with pagodas of pearl and jade, their curved roofs kissed by auroras; others burst with forests of crystalline trees, leaves chiming in harmonies only gods comprehend.
Every isle turns its gates toward the heart of the realm, where the Oyashiro, the celestial fortress, anchors the sky.
The Oyashiro rises, a titan of moonstone and sun-forged steel, its spires piercing the firmament like spears of judgment. Bridges woven from rainbows arc between its towers, while rivers of liquid starlight cascade down its walls, pooling into lakes that mirror the infinite sky. Here, in halls lined with tapestries spun from dawn and dusk, the Shinto pantheon convenes, their voices shaping the fate of Japan. Amaterasu's presence suffuses the air, her radiance a silent decree, every beam of light, every whispered breeze, a testament to her eternal vigil.
Beneath the fortress, the islands hummed with divine industry: kitsune messengers dart on tails of flame, tengu smiths hammer thunder into blades, and kappa scholars inscribe history onto scrolls of living water. Yet amid this symphony of power, an unearthly serenity reigns, the calm of a realm untouched by mortal strife, where even time kneels to reverence. This is Takamagahara: not merely a home, but a covenant between heaven and earth, where gods weave destiny from threads of light, and dawn's first kiss is both promise and command.
After three long days of deep meditation, Inari had finally decided to speak with the rest of her pantheon. Precisely, she had to speak with the three noble children of the Creator Izanagi: Amaterasu, Susano'o, and Tsukuyomi.
The goddess of foxes walked towards the castle, her steps silent on the pathways of light, enjoying the soft breeze that carried the scent of eternal blossoms.
"Lady Inari, welcome back to Takamagahara," said a guard wearing the typical armaments of a samurai.
He was one of the blessed souls who had received the honor to serve their gods during their afterlife thanks to a dutiful life on Earth as a devoted Shintoist. Inari nodded her head to the soldier in acknowledgement as she walked past him.
The gates of the castle opened as Inari approached them, revealing a grand, illuminated hallway that led to the throne room of Amaterasu and her two brothers.
"Inari! Long time no see. It isn't often you are seen around Takamagahara. You requested a meeting with Amaterasu, right?" asked a voice belonging to the god of lightning, Raiden, a muscular man with electric blue hair.
"Indeed," answered Inari, not wasting any time in useless chats.
"Oh," Raiden caught the tone of seriousness in Inari's voice.
"I guess this time I have to attend too, huh?"
he asked, shrugging his shoulders, not excited about the prospect of attending a meeting with his fellow gods.
Not that he disliked them; he just hated politics. In this sense, he was similar to his friend and rival: Susano'o.
"It would be desirable," answered the other goddess.
"Ok... well, I'm following you. The sooner we start, the sooner we end," said the god of lightning.
The two gods walked through the great hallway, the many servants, human and non, bowing to them. On the walls of the corridor hung the best paintings made by the finest artists from supernatural Japan.
Golden morning light pierced the windows of the hallway, gilding the edges of Ame-no-Uzume's crimson kimono as she tilted her head, her face a porcelain mask of contemplation beneath its ritual white makeup.
Her lips, painted the same violent scarlet as autumn maples, parted, then closed, the silence broken only by the restless tap of her lacquered nails against a teacup.
Before her, the beagle yokai Jinzataro stood rigid, his floppy ears pinned back beneath a beret splattered with dried vermilion and cobalt.
A palette dangled from his paw like a shield, smeared with pigments that shimmered unnaturally: crushed starstone for the gods' halos, powdered twilight for the shadows between realms.
Between them, the painting breathed, a sprawling canvas where Takamagahara's celestial spires pierced clouds spun from silver leaf, its divine inhabitants rendered in strokes so audacious they bordered on heresy. Amaterasu's radiance blazed in gold-leaf sunbursts; Susano'o's tempest raged in slashes of indigo ink.
"Daring," Ame-no-Uzume finally declared, the word hanging like a struck bell. Her laughter followed, light and lethal as wind chimes in a storm. "No, arrogant. To trap heaven's essence in mortal pigments… Do you not fear their wrath, little hound?"
Jinzataro's tail twitched, his beady eyes narrowing. "Art is… risk, Lady Uzume. And you did commission it."
She leaned closer, her perfume of sakura blossoms and smoldering incense thickening the air. "Ah, but risk without reward is folly." A fingertip hovered over Susano'o's likeness, where the god's eyes seemed to track them, alive with painted lightning.
"Yet here, in your folly… I see truth. The gods as they are, beautiful, terrible, flawed." Her gaze flicked to him, sharp as a dagger. "You've outdone yourself, Jinzataro. Let the priests rage. This?" She gestured to the canvas, her sleeve billowing like a bloodied wing. "This is divinity stripped bare."
The beagle exhaled, tension melting into a grin that bared too many teeth. "Then… you approve?"
"Approve?" Ame-no-Uzume's smile mirrored his, feral and bright. "Darling, I'll hang it in my bedchamber. Let the Morning Goddess herself blush at her own reflection."
"Lady Inari! Lord Raiden! I beg your pardon, I didn't see you," apologized Jinzataro, bowing.
"There's no need to apologize, painter. I too find this painting amusing," asserted Raiden, making the yokai sigh in relief.
"Ame-no-Uzume, can you follow me too to Amaterasu's throne room? It's better if as many of us as possible hear what I have to say," told Inari.
Ame-no-Uzume made a thumbs up and joined the duo of gods, whistling peacefully. Truly, divinity stripped bare. What was a god if not the reflection of humanity?
They eventually arrived in the throne room where three seats were occupied by the strongest Shinto gods.
In the center, on the golden throne, sat the goddess of the Sun, Amaterasu. A woman with black hair and shining yellow eyes, she wore a large vest of golden fabric held together by buttons made of little emeralds.
Her lips were a bright red, and between them, she held a bamboo kiseru, the classic Japanese pipe, from which she inhaled a little gust of smoke. Her head was adorned with a silver tiara, a round piece of gold encased in its center.
To her right sat Tsukuyomi, god of the Moon, on a silver throne. A young-looking man with shoulder-length black hair, the same color as his sister, and completely white eyes resembling the ground of the Moon.
He wore a light and long kimono made of silk, two bracelets keeping the vest from being a hindrance. He held a small compact mirror made of Moon sand; when he saw Inari entering the room, he closed it, waiting patiently for Amaterasu to officially start the meeting.
On Amaterasu's left sat Susano'o, god of sea and storms, on a platinum throne. Susano'o was the tallest amongst the siblings, with long black hair and a single blue lock.
He was the only one not in elegant or formal robes, as a heavy bronze armor covered his arms and legs. A double-edged sword in its sheath hung from the god's shoulder. As soon as Raiden arrived in the room, he and Susano'o greeted each other with a sign of their hand.
"Inari," greeted Amaterasu, waiting for her and the other gods to sit on the comfortable armchairs disposed in a semicircular shape in front of the three thrones.
Aside from Raiden and Ame-no-Uzume, other gods were already present, like Bishamonten, one of the seven gods of fortune and one of the gods of war.
Beside Bishamonten stood his most treasured servant, Tokugawa Ieyasu, first shogun of the Tokugawa shogunate, ascended to Takamagahara as a demigod together with the other Great Unifiers of Japan: Oda Nobunaga and Toyotomi Hideyoshi.
Tenjin and Takemikazuchi, gods of intelligence and swords, were already present too.
"I thank all of you present here today. What I'm about to say will have great consequences on the situation of Japan. On the 14th of April, I manifested myself inside one of my shrines. It was the one in Kuoh Town, the city we had to give to the devils of the Gremory and Sitri clans," said Inari, darkening the mood as soon as she mentioned the two devil families.
The two most isolationist gods, Bishamonten and Susano'o, who never liked the fact devils had so much power in their home, gritted their teeth.
"What did those devils dare to do for you to intervene, Inari? Did they desecrate your shrine!? Is this another one of their tricks to steal land from us and our believers!? I forgave the Glasya-Labolas one time last month; it won't happen again!" shouted Susano'o, touching the side of his sword, ready to jump into action, but thanks to Amaterasu, he calmed himself.
"Let Inari speak, brother. We'll decide later," she said, cooling the heated spirit of the Sea God.
"No, this time devils didn't do anything. The Gremory and the Sitri respected the accords. I'm here to talk to you about Izanami. It was her who attacked my shrine," said Inari, making the gods start to talk with each other, the topic of the Mother Goddess of Shintoism creating quite the turmoil between them.
"Our followers are fighting a group of rebels who call themselves followers of Izanami," whispered Tenjin to himself in deep thought.
"Izanami is sealed in Yomi; it's impossible she was in a city ruled by devils," told Takemikazuchi, who had heard Tenjin as he was sitting beside him.
"What if she freed herself?" asked Bishamonten, already considering various scenarios.
"If Izanami leaves Yomi, Amaterasu would feel the balance between Takamagahara and Yomi shift in the latter's favor," pointed out Raiden.
"Order, please," asked Tsukuyomi, drawing everyone's attention.
"Brother's right. Inari, go on," Amaterasu let the goddess finish her tale.
"I immediately felt an unusual amount of kegare in one of my shrines. When I noticed it was the Kuoh Town's one, I decided to leave it be. Then, when one of my blessed foxes was attacked, I immediately manifested there. However, instead of finding devils desecrating my altar, I found her. Izanami. She was... strong, too strong. She was completely different from the Izanami we knew, but it was obvious she was her. The same crazy eyes devoid of any sign of logic, but instead of being full of pain, they were full of hatred. When she saw me, her face grimaced into a mask of pure hate along with... sadistic joy. I was attacked by her; one single purple lightning was enough to... knock me unconscious."
Silence followed Inari's words. The gods looked at each other, then their gaze stopped on Susano'o.
The entire throne room shook under the pressure of his aura, fed by his anger. "I told you we should have killed Mother long ago, Amaterasu! When our father was alive, we could let her be. She now somehow managed to free herself!? Is she the one behind the uprising of those rebels!? Of course she is!" shouted Susano'o, standing up from his throne, ready to invade Yomi himself.
"Susano'o! We must think about this carefu—" tried to say Amaterasu before being stopped by her brother again.
"No, Amaterasu! You know I respect your choices as the chief goddess of our pantheon, but this is too much. There is nothing to discuss here; we strike Mother before it's too late!" replied Susano'o, not listening to any objections.
"Brother, no one is saying we won't do anything. Now sit and let's decide how we proceed. Together," said Tsukuyomi diplomatically.
Susano'o looked at his brother and snorted before sitting down.
"Ok. Inari, if you are here, it means Mother's assault didn't cause you severe damage. Is there anything else?" asked Susano'o in a surprisingly calm demeanor.
"I was healed. Yes, healed. You heard me right. With me there was a human boy, a teenager, 17 years of age. I appeared in answer to his actions, as he was the one who protected the blessed fox of mine. He didn't seem scared at all by Izanami, while the devils and the two yokais present there were utterly petrified. That boy not only managed to resist Izanami's kegare, but he also healed me. It was like the effects of the beads of Amrita."
"My lords and ladies, could this boy be another prodigious human like me, Nobunaga, and Toyotomi?" asked Tokugawa Ieyasu after raising his hand in respect.
"Are you sure he was human?" asked Bishamonten.
Inari nodded her head; she had spent three days trying to find another answer, but she couldn't think of anything. That boy was human.
"However..." began Inari, putting everyone on hold. "Izanami seemed to know him; she called the boy 'Universe.' She herself defined him as human, so there's no doubt about it."
"Universe? What does it mean?" pondered Tenjin thoughtfully while stroking his thick brown beard.
"Are we ignoring the fact that this 'Universe' healed Inari? Entire pantheons would go to war for having something like this," pointed out Takemikazuchi.
"A Sacred Gear made by the Christian God?" theorized Raiden, but that possibility was immediately denied.
"The only Sacred Gear able to do something like that could be Sephiroth Graal, and if Inari didn't recognize it, it's useless to even think about it," explained Tsukuyomi.
"So? Are we losing time talking about a kid? He clearly isn't our enemy; first, we deal with Izanami. Then you can do whatever you want," proclaimed Susano'o, losing his temper again as he slammed his foot on the ground. He shared a look with his sister; her eyes said more than every word. He grunted in annoyance but didn't leave his seat.
"It's reasonable enough for me. I agree with Susano'o," said Raiden, wanting to put an end to this story as much as Susano'o and as soon as possible.
"Wait, are we really risking giving such a valuable card to the devils? He isn't our enemy, for now. You know how those creatures are ready to do everything for power," said Bishamonten.
The god of war and warriors would rather let Izanami be for a while than give outside enemies like the devils another advantage. Bishamonten's reasoning made Susano'o snort.
"Yeah..." he whispered, now unsure of what to do.
"Inari, have you found anything else about 'Universe'?" asked Amaterasu.
"Nothing out of the ordinary. His name is Makoto Yuki. He turns 18 years old in November, and he transferred to the devil city of Kuoh Town this month, moving from Iwatodai. I didn't find anything regarding the supernatural, neither with him nor his parents or any other relative. Nothing that could lead to his powers nor his proficiency with the sword."
This is what troubled Inari the most. The first thing she did after Makoto healed her was search for who he was; she just found the backstory of a regular teenager.
The only thing that could draw suspicion was the fact that the boy was an orphan, but he wasn't the only orphan in Japan, and his parents were just normal people.
"I've made up my mind. I'll tell you what we are going to do," said Amaterasu after being silent for a couple of minutes. The Japanese goddess of the Sun knew what to do; it wasn't a matter of if, but when Izanami would have decided to retaliate against Japan as a whole.
They knew it since Izanagi's death; he was the only one able to maintain a true and firm balance between Takamagahara and Yomi. Now their primary objective was to prevent Izanami from reaching the human world; as long as she was sealed inside Yomi, no matter her strength, she wouldn't be able to harm anyone. To do that, they needed to hunt and destroy her believers.
And to do that, they needed the help of their followers, both humans and yokais. Yasaka had told her she wanted to restart the project of making the yokai factions of Japan a grand federation under Sojobo, her father's most trusted servant.
Amaterasu had never taken a position on that, considering it a waste of time due to the risk of division in the already weakened Shinto pantheon. This time, however, the situation was different.
"We are going to tell our followers, especially the yokais, to hunt down Izanami's followers. If Mother shows up, we're just going to let her be for now; we wait until it's sure no one in the entirety of Japan supports her. Meanwhile, we'll deal with this boy, Makoto Yuki. I agree with Bishamonten; the devils taking advantage of our current situation is the last thing we want. They now know about Izanami. I think it's just a matter of time until Leviathan shows up demanding explanations; a war is the last thing we want, so we must be fast. The ability of healing a god isn't something we can give up on," asserted Amaterasu, earning the approval of every god.
"Finally! I'll immediately get to work," said Susano'o, jumping from his seat.
"Where are you going?" asked his sister, dubious.
"Ah? I'm paying a visit to Toku; I'll explain to him what we're going to do, and then maybe I'm going hunting too," said Susano'o excitedly, with a smile on his face and his hand on the sheath of his sword, heading towards the exit of Takamagahara's castle.
"If you excuse me, dear sister, my peers, I'm taking my leave too," politely greeted Tsukuyomi before he left too by magic, using his innate power to vanish in moonlight.
———
A/N (written erratically on a bus):
Sorry for the delay! I was hit by a metaphorical lightning called inspiration and started to write another work and before I realized it I was already behind with this one.
Now, regarding "The Blue Messiah's Burden."
After the end of this arc we are going to delve properly in DxD's canon, Riser first and Kokabiel second. What to say about this? Until now both Makoto and Nyarlathotep have been in a sort of cold war, this will change, and it will change drastically.
Nyarlathotep's plan will become clearer and Makoto will stop playing around.
While a direct confrontation between Makoto and Nyarlathotep will NEVER happen until the very end, Makoto will respect the promise that he made to Izanami. He will hunt down every single Shadow until nothing remains of Nyarlathotep.
Of course like every respectful Persona media slice-of-life, light-hearted moments and obviously Social Links will remain even if the Embodiment of Death, the Goddess of Lies and the God of Control are about to destroy everything you care about (Hi to Nyx, Izanami and Yaldabaoth).
Thanks for reading.