Kiyoshi's POV
The magical girl brought very important and interesting news. Who would have thought that I would become a target for three biblical factions! I even feel a little proud for this. Hahaha!
Jokes aside, the situation is not very pleasant. It's as if a bright target was painted on me, which is very annoying. As soon as I escape the current trap, the hunt for me will continue, but according to an unknown scenario. Not only my subordinates may end up in the crossfire. The bastards will probably target my family. If I were in their place, that's what I would do. Therefore, I will have to solve everything according to the opponents' plan, because each side has a grudge against me.
I am too dangerous an element for demons. My power is their mortal enemy, so they will never leave me alone. Azazel will not forgive me for killing Vali, and my adventures against Kokabiel's mongrels only strengthened this attitude in the other fallen angels.
With angels, it's more interesting. After the death of the biblical God, control of his system passed into the hands of Michael. Not being the creator, the seraphim could not normally control the divine system. Because of which the miracles granted to believers became insignificant, and faith in God weakened. When everything continued to go to hell, Michael decided to get rid of the harmful elements that spoiled the already weakened system. For example, exorcists who learned the secret of the Lord's death are expelled from the Church. I, in whom demonic blood flows, but using holy power, thanks to the Hymn of Incineration, must be a big anomaly in the divine system, so the seraphim wished to get rid of the problem.
Although I think that he was simply offended by Shinto, and everything else is just an excuse. Lady Amaterasu made the Church pay a lot of money to get their holy relic back. That explains the angel's bad mood at the meeting. Hehehe!
As soon as I told my superiors the information I had received, those two went crazy. I had to calm the enraged women down so they wouldn't do anything stupid. It's understandable — in the past, when the Church's teachings were spreading all over the world, the biblical factions waged real wars for faith and territory. Japan also suffered a similar fate, which they were unable to win. Shinto had to conclude a peace treaty, transferring part of their lands to others to rule. The hatred of biblical mythology did not disappear, but only increased after the incident with the Naberius house. The current plan of the alliance leaders was the last straw for Amaterasu and Yasaka.
In order not to get into trouble, I changed the topic to something more important now — our actions. Here, these furies showed me why they are the leaders of their factions. The wisdom accumulated over centuries and a cruel pragmatic approach fueled by hatred helped create the perfect countermeasure against the biblical bastards, as Amaterasu called them.
There are fifteen days left until the appointed date in the invitation. These two weeks will be very busy for us, because there is a lot to do: conduct a full reconnaissance throughout Japan, identify all assets that do not belong to the Shinto faction and find out their source, prepare fighters and discreetly move them to the territories of the devils and the property of the fallen, contact the government of the country and pull the strings for the decisions we need, and many other tasks.
The team monitoring the tomb with the soul of the evil dragon was called home. Following my orders, they returned by plane, spotting themselves in as many places as possible. This way, no one can blame us for the release of the sealed lizard, which will happen in a few days. And I also teleported all free people for an intensive search to Russia.
Three days passed, during which I contacted every evening to find out the result, but there was none. It's good that the Slavic pantheon died out due to the loss of followers, and no one can interfere with my plans.
While I had a free minute, I teleported to Iraq. The place of my appearance was the entrance to the caves. The magical alarm was not broken, so after my guys left, no one was here. Excellent. Moving deeper, I activated the magical array installed during my first visit here.
A barrier formed around the mountain where Azi's tomb was located. For several months, the group charged it with their magical energy every day. Hopefully, this would be enough to delay the gods for at least five minutes. Having confirmed the stability of the barrier, I moved towards my goal.
The room with the altar was completely covered in runes. The ritual was ready to begin. All that was left was to give a magical signal and one of the strongest evil dragons would be freed from his prison.
— Let's begin, — all the writing in the room lit up, confirming the words.
With each passing moment, the mountain where the tomb was located vibrated more and more, until it turned into a full-fledged earthquake. Half a minute after the start, I felt Divine auras near the border of the barrier. Powerful attacks rained down on the barrier separating them from the awakening evil.
A few minutes later, the seal could not withstand it and broke. The room was filled with darkness and joyful laughter.
— Finally, I'm free! — the dragon exclaimed, taking on human form.
— I'm happy for you, and now it's time for us to get out of here, otherwise we'll have to meet your captors, — I drew attention to myself while preparing the teleportation circle.
— I agree, — he stood next to me. — It's too early to meet them. I need to restore my strength.
It feels like the defense will hold for about another minute. That's just enough. My lips formed a crazy smile as I pulled a bomb and several boxes of TNT out of my subspace. The fireworks should destroy traces of magic — I'm covering up all traces. Having set the timer for thirty seconds, we disappeared from the cave.
We appeared near the sea coast. There are no human settlements for thousands of kilometers around, which will allow us to talk calmly.
— Thank you for freeing me, — said the young man in a tailcoat. — However, you showed up earlier than you mentioned earlier. Is there a problem? — he asked with an interested look.
— You could say that, — I replied with a wry smile. — I may have to use your help soon.
— Ho-ho! Who have you crossed that might require the power of an evil dragon? — the man asked with interest.
— Demons, Fallen Angels, and perhaps regular angels.
— Ha-ha-ha! — the dragon burst into laughter. — You're a funny guy, Kiyoshi! I, Azi-Dahaka, the Dragon of a Thousand Spells, am ready to fulfill my part of the contract and fight your enemies!
— Very well. I will contact you in ten days and tell you for sure whether your help will be needed, Azi. And now I will bid you farewell. Good luck!
— And to you, boy, — the dragon said before I disappeared.
With the release of Aži Dahāk, all the parts of the plan that I personally needed were completed. Now all that remains is to wait, monitoring the progress of preparations for large-scale actions throughout Japan.
There are five days left until the start of the games of the young generation of demons. And now, finally, my preparations have shown results. One of the search parties has yielded results. They came across a village in the wilderness, where there is a legend about a fiery bird. According to the elders, if people can notice this bird, then misfortune awaits them. The last time this happened was more than twenty years ago.
Youkai practicing senjutsu were able to find an unusual natural anomaly on a mountain ten kilometers from this village. According to the report, in that place, Ley Lines come to the surface as a huge source of fiery aura.
This is exactly what I was looking for all the time. Having warned about the emerging affairs, I moved to the specified coordinates.
***
Once he arrived, the half-demon immediately sensed a powerful natural energy emanating from the mountain ahead. Without thinking twice, he set off to find the source of all this energy. It took the blond about forty minutes to find a passage among the rocks.
Using senjutsu, Kiyoshi hid his presence and slowly began to move deeper into the mountain. With each step, the surrounding temperature gradually increased. When Zankoku had gone a hundred meters deeper, he was able to reach his goal.
The tunnel led the half-demon to a wide cave with a radius of about 60—70 meters. Due to the exit to the surface of the Ley Line, there were crystals of concentrated mana on the walls of the cave, illuminating the surroundings in orange tones. In the center, a fiery bird sat motionless on a pile of stones. The air around its figure was distorted due to the enormous heat emanating from its body.
Taking a closer look, the young man was able to conclude that his target was sleeping. As soon as he left the tunnel and took a few steps, the exit behind him was blocked by a wall of fire. The heat of the flames began to melt the stones.
— Who disturbed me? A human? — a male voice echoed from the stone walls. — It doesn't matter. Turn to ashes.
Without thinking twice, the phoenix decided the fate of the intruder. A pillar of fire instantly formed around Kiyoshi, hiding his figure in the bright flames. The blond was amazed by the power of this attack. If a high-class demon from outside the Phenex clan had been in his place, he would have been burned if he failed to leave the fire in the first seconds.
— How inhospitable, — the phoenix watched in surprise as the man emerged from its fire completely unharmed. — You can't treat your relative like that.
— "Relative" you say? And immunity to my flames... — the owner of the cave muttered, carefully studying the creature in front of him. — I see. You are the descendant of that fool who got together with the demonic spawn. However, — he focused his senses on Zankoku, — there is very little of his bloodline in you. I barely sense it. Are you a half—breed?
— You could say that, — Kiyoshi did not like the way this bird called him, but he could not do anything about it. — I am a relative of the demonic clan Phenex, who, according to legend, descended from the mystical bird phoenix. And judging by your words, it is true.
At the statement of the half—demon, the phoenix snorted and let out a chuckle.
— You could say that, — the phoenix answered cheerfully. — So why did you come to this place? I do not think my "relative" found me to say hello.
— True. I have been searching for references to the mythical fire bird all over the world for a long time, until I was lucky enough to stumble upon you.
— You are truly lucky, that's for sure, — he commented on Zankoku's words with slight sadness. — The last time I met one of us was about five thousand years ago. Since then, there have been no more immortal birds on Earth except me.
— What happened? — the half-demon asked, frowning. — And how old are you then?
— As I said before: the phoenix is an immortal bird. We are the embodiment of life and rebirth. We are not given to die of old age, but it is still possible to kill us. Difficult, but possible, — the phoenix's words were full of pride when he spoke of his kind. — Only these qualities make phoenixes too arrogant and haughty creatures. When one of us fell in love with a creature of another species and created offspring with her, most of us were unhappy, — seeing the confusion on the guy's face, the phoenix decided to explain, — Imagine that a man made love to a monkey and they had a child. This is approximately how this situation looked to us.
— How is that possible? You are two-meter birds.
— Ha-ha! Silly chick, we can take humanoid form, but we do it very rarely. It is more comfortable for us to be in our natural form.
— So, the phoenixes left this world because of this incident? — Kiyoshi asked, discarding the name he was given. — It sounds stupid.
— Partly, that is exactly it, — the fire bird agreed, — Initially, some of us just wanted to get rid of the "mistakes" made by a member of our family. Only your ancestor learned about this plan. He sacrificed himself, allowing himself to be absorbed by his newborn son and wife, thereby passing on the qualities of the phoenixes to them. But because he divided his soul into two parts, his family could not inherit the main feature — immortality. Only a high regeneration rate, due to their own energy.
— Amazing, — the blond sincerely admired. The half-demon has respect for the progenitor of the Phenex clan. To sacrifice himself to protect his family. Not everyone is capable of such a feat, but Kiyoshi would gladly repeat this feat if there was no other choice. — So, his sacrifice helped save the family from reprisal.
— Yes. Respecting the choice of our brother, we did not touch those who contained parts of his soul. However, this situation did not change the negative attitude towards such mixtures. Plus, the biblical one began to create his artifacts, killing and imprisoning the souls of strong creatures in them. This whole situation gave impetus to the pack to leave this world through a spatial rift.
— Then why did you stay here? — Zankoku does not understand his motive.
— It's simple — I do not want this, — the phoenix said with a grin. — I am one of the oldest members of my family. Having lived for more than a dozen millennia and visited many worlds, I no longer have the desire to start all over again. In each new world, you need to find a place for your flock and protect it from attacks from other creatures. Sometimes I had to leave the world in a hurry because of the power of its inhabitants, sacrificing myself to protect the young, — Zankoku listened attentively to the confession of the mythical bird. — I have already lost the desire and the will to live. The last few millennia were spent mostly in hibernation. Sometimes waking up and stretching my wings around my territory. Therefore, I do not mind giving you my power if you can prove that you are worthy. Isn't that why you came here?
— Yes, — the blond nodded slowly. — Let me ask you one last question: why did you tell me all this?
— Boredom, — the phoenix answered simply. — I do not remember when I talked lately. Probably, it was a farewell to my brothers a long time ago. And besides, I do not treat the descendants of this eccentric badly. For me, you are still one of us, but less majestic. Ha-ha!
— I see. Thank you for your answer, — the young man bowed slightly. — Then let's begin. I need to become stronger as soon as possible.