Initial Report on the Second Coming of the Great Tomb Appearance and the increased appearance of Tombs around the World.
Report Written By: Julian Miller, 8th Seat of the Knights of the Round Table and Head of the Department of Tombs of the Illuminati Society.
*Simplified version of the report would be delivered to the High-Ranking Members of the Illuminati Society
Report is being sent to the: Knights of the Round Table and Executives of the Illuminati Society.
Exactly one thousand years ago, objects known as 'Tombs' started appearing all over the world. A Tomb could be considered as a 'Dungeon' in the gaming terminology, but mostly without the monsters.
It's a separate dimension where people have to sincerely pass all the assigned tasks and trials in order to obtain Relics. They can be located above the ground, underground, inside a space with water, in the air, or even in another dimension or world. These entrances can vary by Tomb; it can be as simple as a cave or a restroom, or some unexpected ones like a skeleton.
Most commonly, Tombs materialize in a similar fashion as the Heretic Gods and are created from the collective human consciousness, mythos, and legends. Over the past millennia, most of the Tombs that descended were the sole source of powerful Artifacts and Relics that allowed humans to overcome their limits.
At the same time, from time to time, Tombs descended together with Heretic Gods, in the worst case, where Heretic Gods would occupy the area of the Tomb itself. To this day, there are at least seven or eight Tombs that actively house Heretic God, and they are the places where even Campiones are wary to go.
These Tombs usually possess the power to kill or at least severely injure beings at the S-Rank, which corresponds to the Campione, because Tombs could bypass the Divine Properties of Campiones.
Over the course of centuries, the number of Tombs that have started descending all over the world has increased considerably. This increase could be observed primarily in the course of the past twenty years, where the number of Tombs that appeared on Earth has increased exponentially.
Several Magic Associations and Guilds have started exploration of the Tombs and even created special Departments within their structures for the exploration and excavations of the Tombs.
During the past years, the number of Relics that have been excavated is staggering, and over the past twenty to thirty years, usage of Relics has become mainstream among the higher-ranked Mages and Knights.
Even though it has been noticed that most of the Relics are technically speaking not really powerful, and more powerful Relics are born only in the most dangerous Tombs, which usually require the move of someone at the level of Magic Saint.
One of the most notable things is the appearance of Tombs that are giving birth to the Heirlooms. With the Heirlooms, humans could break through their natural limits if the Heirloom itself is of a higher grade.
Our own Society managed to discover one Heirloom that was used by His Majesty the Campione, and the Heirloom named 'Crow' is of unknown quality and rank, though, it is presumed to be of at least A-Rank.
Royal Arsenal and Marquise Voban's subordinates started searching frantically for any Tomb for excavation, as the two factions are right now most obsessed with the Relics and finding powerful Heirlooms.
His Majesty Tsuchimikado Yakou mentioned that the search for the Tombs should be one of the utmost priorities of the Illuminati Society, though... There is one huge problem with this approach.
Due to the laws of governance and mechanisms of working of Tombs, most Tomb descendaned around the places of historic importance. Which means that the entire continent of North America has a very low area of historical significance that would cause the descent of Tomb.
Which is contrary to the continents of Europe, the Middle East, and Asia, which all have the most Tombs. According to calculations of the Department of Tombs, approximately 90% of all Tombs that have been recorded throughout the history of the world have appeared in Europe, the Middle East, and Asia.
To remedy this, I personally propose sending in Agents and Infilitrators that would be tasked to act as Tomb Raiders. These specially trained agents, the Tomb Raiders, would have only one task.
Collecting Relics from foreign countries.
In as high a number as possible.
According to the intelligence reports, this increased activity of Tombs and their higher appearance rate is something that wasn't noticed by most Magic Associations or Guilds across the world.
Thus, I seriously believe that we need to act as soon as possible in this regard to maximize the benefits for the Illuminati Society. The Department of Tombs, originally cultivated the first batch of people to act as the Tomb Raiders, and the results from Raiding the Tombs in Europe and the Middle East have proved to be very satisfactory.
Due to the near-omnipresence of the U.S. Military bases across the world, we are right now, in a very unique position to implement this strategy across the globe, with the exception of several countries, which would be highly problematic to enter as they are backed by Campione or have powerful military capabilities, and infiltration is challenging.
The only exception to this rule is China.
In the topic of China, considering the number of Tombs descending in there and the recent thawing in the relationship between the U.S. Government and the Communist Party of China, I would like to suggest deepening our relationship.
The Republic of China in the near future would start annexation of surrounding countries and much of Asia, which would inevitably lose access to the United States to their Tombs, and with the recent worsening relationship between the USA and Japan, this approach seems to be most appropriate.
Holy Cult of the Five Mountains of the Martial Realm is heavily investing in the excavation of Tombs across the entirety of China and spreading their activities also into the surrounding counties around the People's Republic of China.
Considering the fact that this Association is actively supported and built by the Campione and that they seem to be involved in meddlesome matters, it needs to be taken seriously if the USA and the Illuminati Society want to have access to the Tombs in Asia.
For this purpose, I would like to propose that His Majesty Tsuchimikado Yakou to handle this matter on our behalf.
Summary of the"Initial Report on the Second Coming of the Great Tomb Appearance and the increased appearance of Tombs around the World" written by Julian Miller, 8th Seat of the Knights of the Round Table and Head of the Department of Tombs of the Illuminati Society.
***
When Yakou looked at the Crow, he suddenly felt a very weird connection to the thing...
It was an indescribable feeling that he had some sort of connection with the Relic in front of him. Without thinking, he outstretched his hand toward the Relic, as the Crow reacted almost instantly and let out a screeching sound as it flapped its wings.
In mere moments, the entire Reliquary was illuminated in rather ominous purple light as Crow and Yakou established a connection. In the split of a moment, Yakou felt information streaming into his mind, as he established communication with a Relic named Crow.
"Yatagarasu... Sam-Jok-Oh..."
Inside Yakou's Soul, Crow began merging with him on the most fundamental level.
Only when Yakou saw the Type of Relic, he noticed that it was a Heirloom... and it must be a very high-ranking one.
The Heirlooms were a very special kind of Relic because one could merge with the Heirloom.
The Heirlooms typically possess significantly greater powers than other kinds of Relics, providing a substantial boost in power to the user.
In this world, there was one of the ways of breaking through the limits for the Mages and Knights, depending on the Class of the Relic and its power. Because Relic manifested in a pretty similar way to Heretic Gods, their nature was extraordinary.
Especially the Heirlooms.
According to legends, Magic Saints could use Heirlooms to ascend to the realms of A-Rank and obtain power comparable to the Divine Ancestors and Divine Beasts, and those who assimilated the S-Ranked Heirlooms would obtain even power comparable to pseudo Campione.
Obviously, compared to the Campiones, people who used this approach lacked the benefits of Campione. They wouldn't get eternal lifespan and youth, Magic Resistance, Divine Properties for their Magic and Physique, and everything that Campiones obtained.
Yet, the people who merged with the Heirlooms still received a considerable boost in power; they lived longer than an average person by a good degree and gained other minor benefits.
Though what was a significant disadvantage was that, if the Heirloom that Magic Saint used was capped at the basic A-Rank, then the person would be forever constrained to that rank; if at the A+-Rank, then it would be capped there, or it could be capped at B-Rank... or even C-Rank.
It's all about equality.
Then this posed a question: why were there not more people at the A-Rank, or how were they called Magic Lords?
Primarily because Heirlooms were materialized either in Tombs so powerful that they would pose a threat to even Campiones and Heretic Gods sometimes, or the Heirlooms were materialized directly on Heretic Gods.
Meaning, when Campione killed the Heretic God, the Heirloom would be assimilated by the Great Circle of Usurpation.
Heirlooms were very rare, and in history, the number of times they appeared could be counted on one hand.
One of the most notable bearers of the Heirloom of that kind of power was King Arthur with his Heirloom Excalibur. The number of Heirlooms that produced such people could be counted on one hand across the entire human history.
Or the world would have looked much more different.
The merger between Yakou and the Heirloom Relic proceeded rather swiftly as he opened his eyes and tried to feel the changes in his body. The first thing he noticed was that his Soul had grown considerably stronger than before, and his control over Magical Power was much better.
Aside from that, he didn't feel anything else.
[Synchronization with the All-Seeing Eyes of God.]
[Activating the 'System' Ability of the Heirloom Crow.]
[Activating the 'Avatar Manifestation' of the Heirloom Crow.]
[System - Basic Ability of the Heirloom Crow. The System has the following functions:
1st - Analytical Appraisal = Is an Ability that allows the User to analyze objects and glean information, including Relics, Artifacts, or People.
2nd - Status = Allows User to translate the information gathered through the System into a Game-like interface.
3rd - Interference = It can prevent someone from reading the potential future of its User by placing a curtain of complete darkness over it and delete most of someone's recently restored memories, emotions, and experiences.]
[Avatar Manifestation - Allow the Heirloom Crow to create crow-like avatars from the User's Magical Power.]
Yakou looked at the translucent windows that were in a very similar fashion to his innate ability to see information with the All-Seeing Eyes of God, but this time, it was more powerful and more precise.
Though aside from these abilities, there wasn't much that the Heirloom gave him.
'Crow?'
He tried to contact the Relic, but it wasn't answering.
In the end, he stopped trying as it was clear that he had merged with the Heirloom.
However, because he was Campione, he couldn't gain much from merging with the Heirloom, as everything the Heirloom provided, he already had and was better at. Though something was telling him that this Heirloom was of the Growth-Type at least, meaning that it could grow over time by devouring other Relics and Heirlooms.
This was something that he was feeling deeply inside, that maybe this would be the method of breaking through the limitations of being Campione in the future.
However, that would require a significant amount of power and resources to elevate the Crow.
To add a bonus, Crow wasn't communicating with him even a bit, and it went silent directly after the merger had ended.
"What exactly has just happened, Your Majesty?"
Not long after the merger with Crow ended, Yakou noticed that Dairenji Shidou awoke, because like the rest of the people in the Reliquary and its immediate vicinity was knocked out by the sheer power and presence of the Crow.
"That Relic was actually a Heirloom... I merged with it, but I will need more information about it... did you find something related to the Heirloom named Crow or its variations of Three Legged Crows across various myths?"
Yakou asked as Dairenji Shidou was shocked to hear that the Relic was actually a Heirloom, but considering the power of the Relic, it wasn't that much surprising, in fact. Heirlooms were rare, and practically everyone wanted to get their hands on one...
Having Heirloom was a guaranteed ticket to reach the Magic Saint Level or perhaps even the higher, Magic Lord Level, as most of the Heirlooms allowed one to reach the A-Rank, which should be the area of the Magic Lords.
Albeit there were almost none in the modern age.
"We will compile everything straight away and deliver it to you. We have some books and were already working on finding the origin of the Heirloom, but there is too much of it in the books, and there are only so many of us."
Yakou nodded as he needed as much information as possible, because to properly grasp the new power that he had obtained, he needed to figure out the origins of the Crow and establish contact with it.
The fact that the Heirloom was only at the A-Rank was something troubling, because one could see that the Luck Parameter was at the S+++-Rank...
Which was like being blessed by the heavens.
World's favourite person.
"Excellent then..."
Yakou knew that the Department of Lore was one of the smallest ones around within the Illuminati Society.
"If there isn't anything else, I need to leave."
The Head of the Department of Lore bowed to him as Yakou left for his manor in Charlottesville to prepare for the new deployment in Mexico, where he was chosen as the overall overseer of the deployed forces.
Dairenji Shidou, knowing that there were more important things going on, didn't waste Yakou's time, though the man was visibly dejected that he had Heirloom in front of him and wasn't able to merge with it.
Though he knew that it was rather useless.
The Heirloom was on the level of Divine Ancestors; if it didn't approve of him, it would have killed him on the spot.
And chances of not being approved were actually very high.
Often, when one wasn't approved by such powerful Heirlooms, then, depending on the mood of the Heirloom, they would be either killed or crippled.
***
United States of America, Virginia, Charlottesville, Several Days Later, 27. 10. 2020
Several days have passed since the discussion at the Pentagon and sicne Yakou managed to merge with the Heirloom. Per the agreement, Dairenji Shidou had everything about the Crow be delivered to the Numengard Estate.
There was actually a lot of Lore about the Crow.
Across various myths and legends.
Everything was thought to be connected through the presence of the Three-Legged Crow.
There was already plenty of information about the Three-Legged Crows across various myths and legends.
Especially in Japan, China, and Korea, where they were an essential part of the collective mythos.
Unfortunately, for the time being, there were no useful results from his search; however, at least he managed to expand his knowledge about the myths and legends related to the Three-Legged Crows.
The only thing that was bugging him a bit was that the Crow was somehow related to the Shikigami of the Tsuchimikado Clan, Yatagarasu. After the death of his ancestor in World War II, Yatagarasu disappeared from the face of the world.
Yatagarasu was a rather peculiar Shikigami, and not even its founder, Abe no Semei, was aware of its true origins, or at least, they were never recorded within the archives of the Tsuchimikado Clan.
Fortunately, despite their eagerness, the History Compilation Committee was never able to actually take the ancestral manor of the Tsuchimikado Clan, as that place was protected by wards and barriers laid down by Abe no Semei himself.
And by some heaven's choice, before World War II started, Tsuchimikado Yakou strengthened the wards to a considerable degree as he created a Magic Array that refined the Resentment and Negative Energy from the entire country and used its Magical Power to strengthen existing barriers and wards.
So the only thing that the History Compilation Committee could do was to completely occupy and seal the entire area of the ancestral manor.
The entire area was swarming with the Mages and Knights of the History Compilation Committee, but they were not able to make even a small dent in the barrier protecting the ancestral seat of the Tsuchimikado Clan.
If not for the birth of Kusanagi Godou as the 8th Campione, he would have already long ago gone to Japan to make short work of the History Compilation Committee.
Unfortunately, everything pointed to the fact that the History Compilation Committee managed to manipulate the Campione into being their patron and had a good relationship with them.
According to the date, Yakou became Campione on the 17th of August, and Kusanagi Godou became Campione two weeks later, even though the news was announced by the Witenagemot only in the middle of September.
Fortunately enough, the 8th Campione continued in his usual behavior of denying everything related to the supernatural and attending school. Which made many people contemplate their whole existence because it was...
Weird as fuck.
Well, most of the Campiones were actually weird in one way or another.
3rd Campione Madam Aisha was living a rather ascetic lifestyle in poverty and a simple life without much extravagance or anything. In truth, she rarely appeared in public or anything.
4th Campione Black Prince Alec, Alexander Gascoigne was a notorious thief who was stealing things all over the world, especially Relics, Grimoires, Tomes, and artifacts of all kinds from anyone and anywhere.
5th Campione John Pluto Smith was probably the weirdest one, as the Campione was literally cosplaying as a hero and fighting against petty criminals in the streets of Los Angeles before he disappeared.
6th Campione Salvatore Doni was obsessed with swords to the point where he lived by sword and didn't do much aside from training in his swordsmanship and sparring against other swordsmen all over the world.
Nevertheless, the Copper-Black Cross Knight Order managed to establish some relationship with him, and the current Heiress of the Blandelli Family was accompanying the newest Campione practically everywhere he went.
Well, in that regard, the situation was more problematic, and it seemed that the newest Campione had some really good luck. However, overall, the spies and observers noted that he wasn't training and getting stronger, and he continued to lead an average, mundane life as a high school student.
Yakou didn't really understand the mentality behind this decision, but overall, it was something that he appreciated. Among all Campiones, Kusanagi Godou was someone whom he considered an enemy due to his association with the History Compilation Committee.
During the past days, the entire world was in turmoil...
The announcement of President Grey sent the entire world into a tizzy, as everyone was behaving like a headless chicken. Seeing that the United States was dead set on waging war in Mexico, especially the European states from the EU returned back somewhat dejected, as Grey basically kicked them out of the place.
Now, the forces of the United States were already concentrated primarily in Texas as they would be crossing the border at any given time. General Clark was already there with the Blazer Corps and coordinated the advance together with the rest of the Generals across all branches of the military.
Within the U.S. Military, anyone with a certain rank was aware of the Supernatural, and thus they could coordinate and cooperate on a more professional basis, which was the building block of the entirety of their current operation right now.
Right now, everyone was just waiting for Grey to issue an order for the invasion of the territories of various Warlords. Echelon III was activated and was actually working to the maximum as it was gathering the information about everything related to the topics that the USA needed.
"Master, the convoy bringing Mistress is approaching the Estate."
Yakou, who was currently reading a book related to the history of the Three-Legged Crow, was disturbed from his reading time by Tsuchigumo in his butler uniform as he informed him that Kirari was already nearing the Estate.
He sent for Kirari the moment Grey gave his speech on national television, because it meant that there would be war, and many elements would try to take advantage of the situation.
Which was something that he couldn't let happen, thus he ordered the Society to bring his pregnant lover to the United States, where she would live together with him in the Numengard Estate near Charlottesville.
"Tell the chef to prepare food... something like and fresh, preferably traditional Japanese cuisine and don't let the Head Chef put some experiments on the table this time."
Yakou said as he got acquainted with the Head Chef of the Numengard Estate, Yukihira Jōichirō, who was somewhat experimental, and some of his creations would give people trauma for future generations or whatever.
He hoped to have some more traditional Japanese foods, so everything would be perfect when Kirari arrived. As he thought over the three things that needed to be done, he noticed something most particular that he hadn't noticed till now.
His emotional stability was somewhat off.
Which was something very weird.
'Perhaps a side effect of being a Campione...'
Yakou shook his head, as he felt a feeling that he hadn't felt for a very, very long time.
Happiness.
Of some sort.
He was looking forward to it.
'Since the last time, I thought that I remained mostly in control.'
He closed the book he was reading with a heavy sigh, as he could count on one hand how many times he had managed to lose control over himself and do something that was totally irrational or something that went outside of his usual behavioral pattern.
While there were some minor things when he was younger, since then, he has started extensively practicing mental Magic. Primarily because he found that making emotion-based decisions was detrimental to his future, he preferred to use logic instead of emotions.
Yet...
Shortly after he became Campione, there was an incident.
Several days after he became Campione, a delegation arrived in Washington from Tokyo, and it was from the History Compilation Committee, as they wanted to make amends in some way, at least.
They even sent one of the Elders of the Committee, the Patriarch of the Renjou Family, Renjou Ken, as the head delegate to bring the gifts to the newest Campione, among other things.
Yet, when Yakou met with the people from the History Compilation Committee, he felt something that shattered all the mental barriers in his mind, and everything he had learned his entire life was forgotten.
Huginn and Munnin were both starting their Master's with worry in their Raven-like eyes, as they flapped their wings and tried to do comical scenes that they saw on television because they sensed that their Master was sad.
Yakou, who was sitting on his sofa, looked at the two ravens that were playing a scene from TV. When one raven tried to kick another in the balls, only to realize that they didn't have balls, which was entertaining in its own way.
And after realizing that their scene couldn't be played due to racial limitations, they started squabbling with each other about something, which wasn't anything new.
Interestingly enough, two ravens spent a lot of time arguing with one another for some reason and were like a pair of bickering children.
***
Flashback
21. 8. 2025, Headquarters of the Illuminati Society, Washington D.C., United States of America
The Illuminati Society rarely received guests, and even rare were the guests that came from the more prestigious and established Magic Associations from Europe or Asia.
Most of them looked at their American counterparts rather too much, either due to their younger age, lack of heritage, or the fact that they were too much ingrained with the mundane government of theirs.
One could say that they were one.
The proud Mages hated being too deeply ingrained with the non-Magicals, but the Illuminati Society basically built this country, and they were running it in all possible aspects. For that reason, they were also accepting non-Mages as members of their Association, which was something that no other Magic Association would ever do.
No matter how useful the non-Mages may or may not be, doing this was something that no Magic Association would accept or tolerate.
"Please, accept the heartfelt congratulations for the accession of His Majesty to the status of Campione."
Renjou Ken was the epitome of the most boring-looking middle-aged Japanese man that one could ever imagine. Even the way that he was speaking was so polite that one wanted to puke, and his overall appearance was the most forgettable that one could imagine.
It was no wonder that the History Compilation Committee sent him.
He was practically the best possible candidate for such a delicate task like this one. Though the man himself was Grand Knight in all means, from what Yakou could see, as he listened to him talking about pointless things that were of no interest to him.
"The History Compilation Committee would like to offer our most sincere apologies for what happened in the past between the four Families of the Committee and the Tsuchimikado Clan and the unfortunate events that followed... and we are willing to offer our most significant compensation for the offenses committed in the past, including complete subordination of the Committee to Your Grace."
Renjou Ken started speaking something, as Yakou's facade, which was appearing stoic as a statue, started cracking slowly. That was something that only one person in the entire room noticed, Eve Rockefeller, who was smart enough to take several steps back.
The notion that was soon enough mimicked by General Keira Clark, who noticed that the Rockefeller Heiress looked rather distressed. She immediately noticed something, as she then followed Eve's eyes and noticed that their resident Campione wasn't looking that well...
And before Keira decided what to do, in a split second, an enormous wave of Magic Power exploded from Yakou's body as Gungnir materialized in his right hand. This wasn't just the casual release of pressure or anything...
This was the full-fledged might of Campione that was released out without constraints and care.
Yakou, who listened to the words of the Patriarch of the Renjou Family, was unresponsive as it was pretty hard to tell what he was thinking because his expression was as expressive as rock... until...
It wasn't.
"Unfortunate events?"
Yakou's facade broke as he roared at the Patriarch of the Renjou Family, as his Magic Power exploded in full and knocked everyone down. Be it the Knights of the Round Table or the members of the delegation, they were shot down like a drunkard after one strong punch.
"Offense? You dare to speak of offense!!!"
Fortunately, nevertheless, he managed to control his rampant Magic Power that was all over the place, because if not, then it would have reduced the entire place into rubble.
Though, for the people that were present in the room, the situation didn't get much better, as they were still feeling the oppressive might of the Campione's Magic Power that was rather too extreme.
"It was a betrayal! At the most vulnerable time of our nation! We sacrificed our very own lives and blood for the Empire! While you pathetic excuses of the Japanese were hiding in the homeland!!"
Yakou roared at the Patriarch of the Renjou, as what he spoke was indeed the truth accepted generally by everyone. During World War II, the Empire of Japan allied with the Third Reich and was technically only one of the undefeated powers of the Axis.
Primarily because of the Tsuchimikado Clan, with its branches, which was doing everything in its power to help the Empire of Japan win the war. When the British Mages and American Mages attacked their position, they fought for every single inch of the ground.
The Grand Elder of the Tsuchimikado Clan, Yakou's great-grandfather, Tsuchimikado Arima, sacrificed his life to bring down the bombers with the Atomic Bombs and use them against the Americans.
The Tsuchimikado Clan even lost the protection of the Divine Beast of their Clan during World War II, and that was the start of their power's sharp decline. Everything in the name of the Empire of Japan and for the glory of their nation.
Four Principal Onmyōji Clans had their own Divine Beasts as protectors. Azure Dragon for the Tsuchimikado Clan, White Tiger for the Nakiri Clan, Vermillion Bird for the Dairenji Clan and Black Tortoise for the Souma Clan.
Several people grimaced because of the disaster with the attempt to bomb Japan, and the entire situation there was the only stain on the advancement of the USA during World War II, and it was their only defeat.
"And what did we get in return? What the fuck did we get in return for shedding blood for your pathetic excuses of Imperials?"
When it seemed the Campione had calmed down, Yakou gtripped the Divine Spear that he held as he stepped in front of the Patriarch of the Renjou Family, who was shaking from sheer fear, while the people behind him were in even worse condition.
There was nothing worse in the world than an enraged Campione.
Campiones were strongly influenced by their emotions, and they were influenced by them to extremes. Fortunately, by some miracle, Campiones rarely lost control over their emotions, because when that happened.
Only doom and death followed.
If Campione went berserk, they would destroy entire countries and could decimate entire continents. If the Campione had some really powerful and highly destructive Divine Authority with Area of Effect abilities, then they would destroy whole continents if they were left unchecked.
The only people that could go against them that way were other Campiones or Heretic Gods...
Fortunately, such cases were exceptionally rare.
Till now.
"Y-Your Majesty..."
The man didn't get to finish his sentence as Yakou kicked the diplomat to his stomach, sending the man crashing against the wall without mercy. Everything happened so fast that the people in the room barely had any time to react to what was happening, as several people had a very bad premonition of the things that were to come.
"Betrayal."
As soon as he said that, he swung his spear and severed the head of one man who was already pleading for his life.
Patriarch Renjou Ken, who realized what was happening, was paler than a ghost because the worst alternative had happened. The rest of the Knights of the Round Table tacitly retreated because it seemed that the situation was getting increasingly ugly, as it was possible that Campione was losing control.
They knew that if the situation escalated even further, then everyone would perish without any discrimination.
"Death."
This time, a woman's head rolled on the ground as Yakou killed another person, as blood spluttered on the floor, and a human head rolled on the floor with an expression of disbelief and fear.
"You killed us all! After everything that we sacrificed! For the Empire! For the Emperor! For the people! And the result, Renjou? What was the result of our duty and honor? Death!"
Yakou's Magical Power was surging once more, as all Wards and Barriers around the entire Headquarters of the Illuminati Society were activated to the maximum as they trained to contain it in one place.
"Pl-e..."
The enraged Campione appeared in front of the last person from the delegation, who was a rather young-looking, beautiful woman who didn't even get to say a word, before Gungnir was stabbed in her heart, with disbelief written over her face.
"You didn't even participate in the War! You worms were just hiding in Tokyo and playing being important with your worthless existences that never did anything for our nation, while my blood, my relatives, were doing everything to win! And afterwards, you commit atrocities because you want to have power..."
Seeing that she was still not dead, Yakou waved the Gungnir as he threw her dying body like a piece of garbage as it crashed into the walls.
Of the people in the room, Eve Rockefeller looked at Keira, who was looking equally distressed, before she said.
"Order them to activate all barriers and wards we have in this place... he is losing his reason, and he would soon go totally berserk. If it came to the worst, then we can at least have some time to escape from the D.C. with some luck on our side, but even that seems to be rather abysmal right now."
Hearing Eve's words made Keira speechless, because it seemed that the situation was far worse than anyone had imagined.
"How?... the last time something like this happened was almost a thousand years ago..."
Indeed, the cases of Campiones looking for their reason were exceedingly rare despite everything. One of the most notable cases was the destruction of Pompeii, which was the work of Campione, who went berserk due to something and destroyed the entire city.
Along with a whole bunch of surrounding areas, it killed hundreds of thousands of people.
Yet...
"If you bury your trauma and suppress your emotions for as much as possible... the outcome won't be nice... especially in the case of Campione, my dear General. You noticed it too, didn't you? He is a walking ticking bomb that would explode. Decades of constant usage of Occlumency and Mind Arts to achieve complete emotionless rationality have left a lot to be exploited in situations like these."
Eve knew very well what was happening to Yakou right now, and overall... if some miracle didn't happen, all of them were pretty much fucked up right now. And most likely, the entire D.C. would be turned into rubble and ash in the span of one or two hours.
Meanwhile, the Campione Tsuchimikado Yakou stood over the quivering Renjou Ken, lifting the man with one hand and looking him straight in the eyes. Right now, Yakou looked like a totally different person.
Gone was the calm and tranquil aura around him.
"Beware the seeds you sow and the crops you reap. Do not curse God for the punishment you inflict upon yourself."
As Yakou finished that sentence, he released the Gungnir and, with his full force of Campione, tore out Renjou Ken's head together with his spine out in a huge, gory, and bloody mess.
Soon after, he was just wordlessly staring at the ceiling, and unbeknownst to him, he was crying as tears were streaming down his face. Something that even he didn't really realize as he just stood there in silence without saying a word.
Aside from him, only Eve Rockefeller remained in the room, as the blonde, short-haired woman treaded carefully and tried to approach him. She was wearing a Relic that allowed her to ignore the Magical Pressure that Yakou was releasing.
This gave her the opportunity to actually approach him.
Yakou only stared at the ceiling and felt...
Chaos.
Nothingness.
He felt...
Somehow empty.
Flashes of images were going through his head at tremendous speed as he was feeling overhelming anger. Most of them were images of his mother when he was little... she took care of him alone as his father perished in a dangerous contract. His mother died not long after, when he was eight or nine.
Since then, he has survived on the streets.
He felt the sorrow that had been weighing on him for many years.
And despair.
Loneliness.
Resentment...
And the burning need for revenge.
As he was standing there, he only felt that somebody was hugging him from behind... though saying somebody was rather weird, because he knew that it was Eve. Of course, nothing like this would escape his senses, because he was still very much perceptive of everything that was happening around him.
For several moments, the two of them were standing in the empty room that was littered with corpses and smelling of blood. Over the course of several moments, Yakou started calming down considerably, as the Magical Power of his was dissipating at a real speed.
For some odd reason, her presence was somehow comforting in some way as he calmed down until the pressure that he was subconsciously releasing disappeared entirely. It seemed that nothing would be destroyed and nobody would die...
Aside from the delegates of the History Compilation Committee.
Several moments later, when Yakou regained some degree of clarity, he looked around the room that was partly destroyed and partly covered in blood, as he sighed deeply. He knew that he had lost control, which was something that had never happened in his whole life, and he also noticed that his metal protections were all broken.
He could remember the situation rather vaguely at that.
Which wasn't a good sight.
'It looks like when Renjou started speaking about making amends and calling the slaughter of my Clan an unfortunate event... something must have broken within my psyché. I initially thought that this was something that I had already been over with.'
This was the first time that he actually lost control out of himself.
Controlling himself was something that he took great pride in.
Though Yakou also knew the reason behind this...
It seems that becoming a Campione already started influencing him on a much deeper level than he had anticipated.
He didn't really expect that he would be too susceptible to the emotional rollercoaster of the Campiones, as he was very confident in his mental disciplines and protections that he had over his mind.
And the fact that he spent fifteen years perfecting the arts of Occlumency and other Mind Arts that allowed him to have a perfect, stable emotional state, and he focused on using logic on everything.
This, in turn, allowed him to function unburdened by the emotional mess of everything around him and his personal circumstances, which he concluded was something that he didn't want to deal with.
Retrospectively thinking right now, when he slowly realized that becoming Campione broke through this, it was something that wasn't the best choice. He should have addressed his problems much sooner, but on the other hand, he never thought that he would experience a situation where his Occlumency would collapse.
The emotional effects of being Campione were messy.
"It seems that I made a mess."
He said in a low voice as he looked at the bunch of corpses in the room.
"That's not a priority right now... You should go and rest."
Eve said with a rather odd, gentle voice, like a mother trying to coax the young child to go to bed early. Yakou just absentmindedly nodded as he decided to let Eve to handle.
"You know you... that was a pretty risky move, in my state I could have easily killed you."
He said as he knew exactly what she was doing right now.
"I know. It was a calculated risk. Having Campione going berserk due to a mental breakdown that was triggered by his trauma is the last thing that we need here."
She gave him an honest answer as he nodded because he knew that he was going berserk.
Years of emotional suppression weren't doing him any good, as it seems. While he was confident in keeping himself in check for some time, he realized that this wasn't the permanent solution anymore.
This could become a rather dangerous thing, if he became triggered by something during the fight, and it could easily lead to his death. This was also one of the main reasons why he picked up the Mind Arts so early and mastered them to a very high level of mastery.
Having a state of mind during battle... which equaled the absolute calm and reason was something that served him well. He was also aware that he wasn't experiencing the best time around when he first picked this approach.
And it somehow stuck.
For more than fifteen years.
"You are like a snake charmer... but instead of snakes, you can charm humans... or Campione."
Yakou made a mental note as he answered that he needed to properly check his mental state and see the changes in his psyché. Things like this couldn't happen in the future, because it was too dangerous.
This time, it was more attributed to the fact that he managed to retain some clarity, and he was lucky that Eve managed to calm him down. The ideal scenario would be to go to therapy, but he considered that notion stupid, as he wouldn't be going around and divulging his secrets to random people.
Not to mention, it was considerably humiliating for the Campione to go to therapy.
So he would need to do something that he probably should have started doing a long time ago... learning how to actually control his emotions aside from suppressing them and avoiding some kind of mental breakdown.
Though searching for some feasible solution would also be an option when he considered the fact that the Mind Arts are no longer a reliable partner, and other solutions were not really that possible either way.
Flashback End
***
Present Time,United States of America, Virginia, Charlottesville, Numengard Estate
It was a really unfortunate moment... he had to admit.
Yakou actually regretted losing control at that time and killing the delegation of the History Compilation Committee. Not because of their lives, he actually felt a great sense of pleasure and satisfaction as he killed all of them, but from the fact that he basically reaffirmed his stance on them.
This made the future seem against the Committee much more complicated and challenging.
At least he ordered someone to deliver the severed head with the spine attached of Renjou Ken back to the History Compilation Committee. The rest of the corpses of the delegation members were not even given a proper funeral, as on Yakou's orders, they were given to animals to be eaten.
Nevertheless, over the past few weeks since that event, Yakou had been spending some time during the day stopping the Occlumency and Mind Arts that were serving as his mental protections and adjusting them.
Mainly, the release of the part about emotional suppressors that were an essential part of the Occlumency. Right now, two months after he became Campione, these Spells were no longer working at Yakou at all.
As unfortunate as it was.
At least... he was making some kind of progress.
It wasn't easy to start, but over time, he noticed that since becoming Campione, he was going through extreme emotional states. Sometimes it was sadness, sometimes it was happiness or anger...
It really varied.
And judging the strength of the emotions he was experiencing most of the time, it was no wonder that the Mind Arts were totally useless on this kind of thing. Unfortunately, it would take some time to completely remedy the neglect of more than one and a half decades, but still...
Any kind of progress was better than nothing.
Right now, Yakou noticed that he could still maintain the Occlumency when he pushed the Mind Arts to the extreme, but he was doing it only during the fight. He wasn't really confident that he could stand still if he encountered something that could trigger him, and he was in the fight.
However, during a normal day, or something along those lines, he was not using it, and sometimes he had a hard time containing it.
The basis of Occlumency wasn't just in the fact that it protected the User's mind from foreign mind attacks and other things, but it also acted as a partial emotional suppressor if one mastered Occlumency to the highest degree.
Which Yakou certainly did.
And for the past fifteen years, he was using the Occulemcy and other similar Mind Arts to their maximum for the whole fifteen years. Since the start of the day, till the time I went to sleep, and even during sleep.
Not having it activated was certainly a weird feeling, truth to be told.
He turned it down a bit only during the time that he had intercourse with Kirari, which was to satisfy his urges, and it was extremely challenging to have it activated during sex. Maybe he should have noticed the warning signs and how his entire personality changed during the intercourse, which was a clear sign of suppressed personality.
"Master Yakou, the convoy carrying the mistress."
Tsuchigumo said as Yakou stood up from his seat, leaving behind the quarreling Huginn and Munnin in the library. He went to the foyer of the Numengard Estate as he waited for the Kirari to arrive, but for appearance's sake, he went in front of the Estate and waited in front of the doors.
It was near the end of October, and it was already relatively cold outside.
Soon enough, the convoy of luxurious black cars arrived from a distance. All of them were escorted by the Enforcers of the Department of the Sealing Designation Enforcers of the Illuminati Society, who were the strongest Knights and Mages of the entire Association.
When the convoy of cars stopped, several Enforcers stepped out of the cars and opened doors for Mistress of Campione, who was sitting in the car. Yakou, who was standing in front of the doors, with Tsuchigumo standing right behind him, suddenly felt some kind of anticipation inside of him.
When Kirari stepped out of the car, he was suddenly overwhelmed by...
Happiness?
Relief?
A combination of the two of them.
Now, a certain kind of realization hit him, that he had previously been rather ignoring?
Or whatever.
'Whelp... I feel like a shit right now...'
Yakou thought as Kirari fully stepped out of the car. The woman in question was already in her 5th or 4th month, hard to tell by the size of her stomach, but Yakou was certainly relieved that she was alright.
During the past days, since Grey's speech that set the entire world to fuck, he was pretty much worried that someone from the History Compilation Committee would try to do something.
Especially the Renjou Family, as he killed their Patriarch in a pretty brutal manner two months ago when he felt...
Unbeknownst to Yakou, but all for the good of all, his hand was shaking a bit from the nervousness because this was the first time in the fifteen years that he was actually experiencing such a strong and intense emotion of happiness.
Perhaps.
He even forgot how it felt.
For most of the part.
Without a second word, he stepped forward and went to Kirari as he gently hugged the pregnant girl who was carrying his child. Without saying a word, he just enjoyed the feeling... he would be lying if he said that he didn't have any feelings toward her.
Surprisingly, or not, he was surprised when Kirari actually hugged him back, which was something he hadn't expected to happen so quickly. Yakou knew that Kirari had problems establishing meaningful connections with people as she was... psychotic.
Yet... somehow they had something together?
He didn't really believe in that bullshit talk that you have to have sexual intercourse with someone on a repeated basis without any kind of feelings included. Yakou certainly had feelings for Kirari, even though he didn't really know what they were, but he could say that he liked her.
Sex with her was amazing, like really... she wasn't fearing any experimentation, and she was a total sadist and cuckqueen... that was probably the reason why he caught the images of two girls that she brought with her.
One of them he recognized as Miroslava Honebami, as he had seen her a few times in the past, because she was Kirari's attendant/bodyguard. She was from the Honebami Branch of the Clan, so that was their work, and he often worked with that branch of the Momobami Clan.
The second girl with purplish hair and a medical eyepatch over her eye was someone whom he didn't recognize, but she looked pretty weird even at first glance. She had that crazy look around her, like she was really mad or insane and belonged in a mental asylum.
He didn't need to be a genius, why Kirari brought her here.
She must have been her toy.
"Are we going to stay standing in the cold, or are we going inside?"
Kirari said quietly as they were embracing, while Yakou nodded and looked at Tsuchigumo, who showed Kirari's attendants their own rooms, where they would be staying. Yakou, meanwhile, accompanied Kirari to the foyer, where she set down her clothes, and they proceeded to the drawing room.
Yakou helped her down the two stairs as they reached the drawing room and sat down on the sofa, and Yakou waited until the servants brought some refreshments for them. He already ordered his chef personally to prepare the best possible dishes and food for lunch and snacks for his pregnant lover.
"You have a nice mansion."
Kirari commented as she looked around from the sofa.
"Well, it was one of their best... and as you know, the Society is beyond rich, so money is just really a number to them."
Yakou answered, but he actually really liked this place very much, to the point where it became his primary residence.
"So... how are you feeling? Are you alright? Eating properly? And how is the child?"
After a minute of pretty awkward silence, as neither of them knew what to say, Yakou asked, while Kirari raised her eyebrows, hearing so many questions. Not to mention, the most bugging thing was that she sensed...
Concern in his voice?
This was pretty rare.
Kirari prided herself on knowing Yakou very well... she knew that he was apathetic, detached, and certainly too logical for most humans actually to like. This was something that she called "outside personality" and now...
It was becoming outside of what she was used to, Yakou, and what she awaited.
Now that she thought over it, even the fact that he actually hugged her was pretty unusual.
She had to admit that she was rather shocked when it happened.
"You don't need to worry... I am perfectly alright, eating a lot... probably more than usual, and both I and the child are healthy as they should be. Though, lately I have been feeling much stronger and better?"
Hearing her answer and question at the same time, relieved Yakou as he then used the All-Seeing Eyes of God that was now strengthened with the Heirloom Crow that he fused with as he looked at Kirari.
She let him do what he wanted, as she looked at his mesmerizing, shining eyes with Magic Circles in front of them. It wasn't the first time that she had seen him using his eyes, but every single time, it was fascinating and mesmerizing.
[Name: Momobami Kirari
Title: N/A
Classification: Awakening Mage
Age: 17
Race: Human (Mage)
*
Parameters:
Strength - F+
Vitality - F++
Endurance - F+
Agility - F+
Magical Energy - E+
Luck - B++
*
Class: E-Rank
Affiliation: Tsuchimikado Clan, Momobami Clan
Magic: N/A
Uniqueness: Blessing of the Divine
Skills: Gambling
Abilities: Magic Awakening]
Now that he was somewhat surprised... she had become Mage.
Which was pretty shocking in itself.
Well, not the fact that she became a Mage outright, because there were cases of non-Mages becoming Mages, but the fact that her Magic Power was already at the E+-Rank and would still be growing.
She became a Mage because she was pregnant with his child, and the child, despite being conceived during the time he was mortal, due to the intervention of Pandora, the child received part of the Divine Blessings, or what he called the Campione Descendant Perks.
Nevertheless, the fact that she was bearing a child of Campione made her a Mage, and he was rather curious what her potential would be.
Because she was benefiting a lot from it.
Additionally, she had Luck at the B++-Rank, which was...
Something almost unheard of for an ordinary no-Maj.
"It's nothing bad... but it seems that you have become a Mage as a result of the pregnancy, my dear."
Yakou said to his pregnant lover, who was certainly surprised by hearing this. For Kirari, becoming a Mage was something that was nearly impossible, and yet, she succeeded because she was pregnant.
In a split second, she was being overwhelmed by a mixture of happiness, shock, and arousal as she leaned over and kissed Yakou passionately.
Soon enough, the two of them started making out on the sofa, as the servants brought them some traditional Japanese snacks while totally ignoring what was happening between the Master of the estate and his mistress.
"Well, that was something..."
When they separated, Kirari breathed heavily as she gave Yakou one more kiss on the neck as she leaned over his body. Yakou noticed that she was pretty much eager, but right now, it wasn't either time or place for the pleasures of the flesh.
Even though he was becoming a bit more aroused from the makeout.
"If we are talking about differences... You are also somehow a bit different..."
Kirari noted that it seemed she wasn't the sole one who seemed to be pretty different, because well... she was a very observant woman.
The two of them hadn't seen each other for around two months, and she noticed that Yakou seemed to be different.
More expressive, more like a human?
"Probably... since I became Campione, all of my Mind Arts are being broken, and you would have to learn how to deal with emotional Campione..."
Yakou said with half a laugh as he actually enjoyed the feeling of the newfound freedom, and he was seeing the world in a different way sicne he stopped using Occlumency and Mind Arts, as it was becoming increasingly useless.
While he could use it during the combat for a short span of time, it usually required a lot of Magic Power, because he was technically speaking fighting his own fundamental nature and could do it only with the sheer will and Magic Power.
"We will see how it will go with this... so are we going to eat? I am becoming a bit hungry."
Kirari said as she eyed the snacks that were on the coffee table in front of them, and she started eating one after another. She obviously enjoyed the classical Japanese snacks that were prepared for her, and evidently, the chef who prepared them knew what he was doing.
Or else, it would have ended in catastrophe.
"I have ordered some traditional Japanese dishes. I know that you like them, and we will also have fresh Bluefin Tuna, Wild King Salmon, and Fugu. For the beef, we have some Wagyu, both Kobe and Matsusaka, among other things..."
The ingredients used in the estate were top-notch, and they were having fresh shipments every day. In this case, money was the last thing that Yakou or anyone cared about; it was only the best of the best and the highest standards.
"Splendid... I am already hungry. After we eat, I have a few surprises for you."
Kirari said as she clapped her hands, and in the last sentence, she whispered into his ear.
"Does it have something to do with the two women that you brought with you?"
He asked as she gave him that kind of look.
"Yes... You have already met Miroslava and the other one with an eyepatch, if it's Midari... I trained her to be a perfect sex slave, even though she is a bit insane."
As she said that, he looked at her with a certain degree of interest. If there was one thing that Yakou and Kirari had in common, it was that both of them were sadistic. Kirari was a nutcase from birth; he was the one from circumstances, as he usually channeled his negative emotions into his sadistic tendencies.
She liked his "Second Dark", which he called Yakou's much darker and sadistic personality that was usually showcased during the time they were playing. Yakou realized it after several weeks that he had something akin to a dissociative identity personality.
Or at least something akin to those lines was diagnosed to him... by himself.
He used the Divine Authority: Mímir's Well to learn everything about Psychology, Psychiatry, and everything related to those fields. As it was mainly the mundane knowledge, Yakou was able to assimilate the knowledge very easily and very fast.
Due to the years of emotional suppression that started in his childhood to deal with his trauma, all of his negative emotions, like anger, resentment, sadness, and others, were channeled into a secondary personality.
While he didn't hear the voices in his head or anything, in certain conditions, when he stopped using the Occlumency in the past, his usual personality typically took a drastic turn...
Something that Kirari enjoyed very, very much...
"You know... I rather like this more expressive you... I cannot wait, before you can break Miroslava. She is a lot like you... Both of you often behave like robots."
Kirari said as she ate the snacks that were prepared by Yukihira Jōichirō, the Head Chef of the Numengard Estate. Hearing what she said made Yakou grimace a bit, but he didn't really say anything about it, as, in a certain sense, she was right.
He knew very well that the differences between him and the robot could be counted on one hand. At least he learned how to perfectly maintain the emotionless facade when dealing with other people so they would leave him alone, which he considered as an added bonus.
"And you want to hear her scream?"
Yakou asked as Kirari nodded... obviously, he wasn't going to ask about such trivial things as Miroslava's willingness for the act itself, because he knew that it was meaningless. Kirari wanted her to be present, and she was the Clan Head of the Momobami Clan.
In many areas, the Momobami Clan was extremely inhumane and depraved.
"But of course... it would be entertaining and just the thought makes me horney... maybe we could bet on who will cum first or if she will faint..."
He just patted her head as they continued eating snacks and waited for the proper lunch, because he knew that Kirari would try to involve gambling in everything.
Sex included.
In fact, it was one of her most favourite areas.
"Do you know that I am really glad that you are here."
He said out of nowhere, as Kirari stopped munching on something that seemed to be mochi, while she looked intensely at him.
Straight in his eyes.
"You are really acting unusually..."
She muttered as Yakou brought her closer to him.
"Even robots have feelings, you know... though I want to ask you something very important that I feel that we need to discuss."
She instantly became more serious as she listened patiently, while Yakou turned more stoic as he had already prepared a speech in his mind. Well, if there was one thing that was rather good about his mental state, it was that he didn't really find any topic embarrassing or something like that.
He spoke what he wanted to tell and when he wanted.
"You are pregnant with my child, and we both feel mutual attraction to each other. I like it a lot... I'm not sure if what I feel for you is love, but I really like you and would like to have a formal romantic relationship with you, if you're interested. If not, then we can continue to have sex and raise the child together, mutual feelings not included."
Yakou said that he wanted, even though he felt nervous despite the calm face that he was putting on, and after he finished speaking, he really contemplated his choices.
Kirari sat there, frozen in place, as she grinned from ear to ear very slowly. Inside, she was overjoyed, her inner yandare jumping with joy and happiness.
She leaned over as she snuggled closer to Yakou and planted a gentle kiss on his lips as they started kissing slowly and sensually.
"Nothing would make me happier."
Kirari said when they separated.
'1st Step Completed.'