Chapter 168: The Battle’s Aftermath, A Dying Spiritual Realm

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Ryujin Kazama had been slain alongside his monstrous creature, a Divine Spirit Beast born from an ancient egg. That egg had once been the very core of this Spiritual Realm. It had been mutated into a grotesque abomination after Ryujin fed it countless mutated people who had been injected with the low-quality and extremely dangerous version of the Yokai Serums.

His Living Castle, a giant Yokai in its own right, had also been slain and now lay in complete ruins. It was unable to move any longer. Its shattered core was quickly retrieved by Riven, along with the fleshy remains and the spirit core of the abomination that Ryujin had become once he fully fused with the creature.

Aside from those major corpses, there were very few survivors left. A handful of Yakuza and scattered Yokai had managed to run away into the surrounding woods and were currently hiding, desperately praying not to be caught. Riven, feeling lightly tired after such a massive battle the likes of which he had never experienced before, quickly sent Noir to take care of the remaining threats.

"Noir, go catch anybody you think is truly evil. Leave the Yokai alone for now. They can still become Believers."

"Woof!"

Noir nodded once and blurred away through the shadows. He raced across mountains and forests in mere seconds using Shadow Travel, efficiently catching the panicked Yakuza who had already started attacking one another out of pure desperation.

At the same time, Riven gathered everyone else and walked into the remaining side of the castle that had not been a living Yokai. That section remained mostly untouched by the destruction. There he carefully placed Label on a soft bed so she could rest properly, then sat down around a large table with the ninjas.

A few servants who had been held captive inside the castle and had been hiding from Ryujin throughout the entire battle finally emerged. They thanked Riven and everyone else repeatedly, prostrating themselves on the floor while tears of relief streamed down their faces.

"Thank you so much! Thank you!"

"We are finally free, right? R-Right?"

Riven sighed softly. "Of course. I will bring you to my Dungeon first, then get you safely outside. Do any of you still have families waiting for you? I guess this is going to take some time... I hope the Giants can help me handle the logistics."

Amidst the grateful servants, some happily offered food and drink. Riven carefully checked everything for poison before accepting the meal with genuine appreciation. He sat down to a grand feast to celebrate the hard-won victory with the ninjas, drinking sake and enjoying delicious Japanese cuisine such as fresh sushi, steaming ramen, and many other dishes.

As he filled his belly with normal food for once, Riven suddenly noticed the skies darkening for no apparent reason. At the same time the ground beneath them began to tremble slowly.

RUMBLE!

A huge earthquake eventually broke their peaceful feast. Riven immediately ran outside and leaped up onto the highest remaining rooftop to get a better view of the skies. He had been planning to finish eating and then return home, but it seemed the realm had other plans.

"What’s going on?!" Hinata asked in alarm.

"The Spiritual Realm..." Goki muttered while looking around. "Is it changing?"

"It’s... slowly dying," Ren noticed first, narrowing his eyes as he observed the cracks spreading across the distant mountains. "Master, was the monster you defeated... a spirit beast of some sort?"

"I think it was," Riven answered thoughtfully. "Ryujin mentioned something about it being the child of a divine spirit beast."

"Then the egg where it originally hatched...!" Kagehisa gasped in sudden realization. "Don’t tell me we killed the Spirit Realm’s Core!"

"Core?" Riven raised an eyebrow. "Wait...!"

Kagehisa nodded grimly. "Yeah, every Spiritual Realm has a core, and these cores usually take the form of mythological beings. This one was likely a White Fox of some kind, but it was still just an egg when Ryujin found it... I’d assume he fed it all kinds of weird and corrupted materials, and it eventually turned into that monster that looked like something straight out of The Thing movie."

"Fuck..." Riven muttered as he watched the mountains begin to develop deep cracks while rivers of lava started pouring out everywhere. "How can we create or assign a new core then?"

"No idea..." Kagehisa sighed. "I guess we should just run away while we still can. We’re done here, right?"

"Yeah!" Goki nodded quickly. "It’s a pity to leave the place like this, but what else can we do?"

Ren agreed. "Master Riven, let’s escape to your hideout before the entire realm collapses."

Riven remained silent for a long moment as he listened to everyone’s urgent words. He looked up at the darkening sky and then down at the trembling ground.

"I’ve defeated the spirit beast and everything else... so shouldn’t this realm now belong to me?" he wondered aloud.

Yet the Codex had not manifested at all. It seemed there was still some hidden condition he needed to fulfill first.

"The Spirit Core!"

He quickly opened his inventory bracelet and took out a large crystal. It was obviously shattered into six separate pieces, but as he held them all together in his palm the fragments began to resonate with one another.

"Ohhh! That’s the Core of the White Fox!" Kagehisa exclaimed. "You managed to recover it!"

"Label destroyed it during the fight," Riven explained. "But the pieces are still here... It seems the Genesis Cells couldn’t fully assimilate this particular magic crystal, probably because it’s not organic matter."

"They’re slowly resonating and pulsing with spiritual energy..." Hinata observed carefully.

"Hm..." Ren nodded. "But the original beast is long dead... What can possibly be done with these fragments now?"

As Riven felt the fluctuating energy entering his body yet still had no clear idea how to "revive" the spirit, Hinata approached him with a determined expression.

"Master Riven, I believe there could be a way to solve this," she said with a kind and hopeful smile. "If I use my Summoning Spiritual Arts to bind the fragmented spirit back together into a familiar... maybe it is still possible to restore it."

"You really believe so?" Riven asked. "Well, I’ll leave it in your hands then."

Riven had originally been planning to simply eat the crystals and forcefully take over the entire Spiritual Realm by exerting his Pride Authority somehow. However, if Hinata could find an easier and cleaner solution, he was more than happy to trust her judgment.

"Yes!" Hinata nodded firmly.

The girl worked quickly. She formed a complex Spirit Formation on the floor right where the original egg’s nest had been located, using the leftover blood as sacrificial material. With the help of the other three ninjas and Riven himself, the ritual circle was completed in record time.

RUMBLE!

As the ground continued to tremble more violently, she carefully placed the spirit core fragments in the center of the formation and began spreading her spiritual energy outward, resonating with the pieces at the same time.

The fragments slowly began to combine and spin together, gradually forming a beautiful green bead that started to radiate a faint but steadily growing spiritual force.

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