Chapter 935: When Storms Recognize Each Other

The transition between Inari’s temple and Susanoo’s private domain was far less delicate than Vergil had expected.

When he stepped through the passage opened by the goddess, he emerged before a long stone staircase running along the side of a dark mountain. At the top, partially hidden by the clouds, stood a massive Japanese temple surrounded by a storm that seemed to have no end anywhere on the horizon.

Black clouds covered the entire sky.

Lightning tore through the air every few seconds, and thunder made the mountain itself tremble.

Even so, not a single drop of rain touched the sanctuary grounds.

The storm remained around it like a living wall, close enough to make the place intimidating but perfectly controlled.

Susanoo walked several steps ahead as though the environment were completely normal.

Vergil watched a bolt of lightning strike a distant mountain and raised an eyebrow.

"This place isn’t exactly welcoming."

"It isn’t supposed to be." Susanoo didn’t even look back as she continued climbing. "If it were, other gods would keep bothering me."

Vergil matched her pace.

"You built your home in the middle of an eternal storm so no one would visit you?"

"It worked."

"Fair."

Susanoo finally glanced sideways at him.

"This place exists so I can relax alone and train. Not to receive visitors. I have other temples scattered throughout the Oni Gate for official matters, priests, and worshippers. No one enters here without my permission."

Vergil let his eyes wander over the surroundings again.

The more attention he paid, the more he realized that the storm wasn’t merely an aesthetic manifestation of Susanoo’s Authority.

The energy within those clouds was absurd.

But organized.

Billions of tiny discharges formed, disappeared, and connected above them without ever striking the temple.

"You need to socialize more."

Susanoo stopped for half a second.

Then continued walking.

"I am sociable."

Vergil looked at her.

"You just admitted you built a storm to keep people from visiting."

"Gods."

"Still counts."

Susanoo let out an irritated sigh.

"I voluntarily descended from my divine throne just to learn swordsmanship from humans. I spent decades living among human warriors, masters, and schools because I wanted to understand the techniques they developed. I don’t have that kind of pride."

That caught Vergil’s attention.

"You learned swordsmanship from humans?"

"Naturally. Being a goddess doesn’t mean knowing everything."

Susanoo subtly touched the hilt of the sword at her waist.

"Humans have short lives. Perhaps because of that, they can devote an absurd intensity to extremely specific things. Some spent their entire existence perfecting a single slash. It would be arrogant to ignore what they created simply because they were born mortal."

Vergil slowly nodded.

That was a philosophy he could respect.

Susanoo continued before he could respond.

"My problem is other gods. They annoy me deeply. Especially my older sister."

"Amaterasu?"

"Her."

Vergil thought for a few seconds about everything he knew from Japanese mythology and let out a small laugh.

"Considering human mythology portrays Amaterasu as the Sun Goddess, the chances of her being a massive pain in the ass are pretty high."

Susanoo slowly turned her face toward him.

Vergil waited for some kind of reprimand for insulting one of Japan’s greatest deities.

Instead, she nodded.

"They are."

Vergil laughed.

"She’s the oldest, so her ego is much larger than it should be," Susanoo continued. "She isn’t a bad person. She just believes that because she’s the older sister, she needs to interfere in everything we do. She always has an opinion, always knows what would supposedly be better, and always finds some way to turn concern into an order."

"I know a few people like that."

"Everyone does."

Susanoo paused briefly.

"Tsukuyomi is different. She’s sweet and gentle. She prefers to observe before speaking and rarely interferes in other people’s affairs unless asked."

Vergil spent a moment imagining the three great Japanese deities gathered in the same room.

"So one sister is controlling, the other is calm, and you built a storm so you could be alone."

"A perfectly balanced distribution."

"If you say so."

The two continued walking until they reached a long side passage circling the temple.

From there, Vergil could see far beyond the mountain, though nearly everything ended against a wall of storm clouds.

That region seemed isolated even from the rest of the Oni Gate.

A question naturally came to mind.

"Where are your sisters now?"

"In their domains."

"I figured that much."

Susanoo ignored the comment.

"Amaterasu lives in a palace built on the Sun. Tsukuyomi has a lunar palace."

Vergil stopped for a moment.

"On the Sun?"

"Yes."

"Literally?"

Susanoo finally showed a small smile.

"You seem surprised for someone carrying two Dragon Empresses inside his own soul."

"I’m not surprised. I just wanted to confirm."

They reached the highest point of the temple shortly afterward.

There were no other buildings there.

Only an enormous stone platform exposed to the storm.

Several ancient pillars surrounded its edges, some marked by deep scars that looked as though they had been carved by swords.

Susanoo walked to the center.

"Hold on."

Vergil raised an eyebrow.

"To what?"

Susanoo didn’t answer.

Her hand closed around the hilt of her sword.

The instant the blade left its sheath, the entire storm reacted.

Billions of electrical discharges seemed to converge upon the weapon.

White, violet, and blue lightning wrapped around the blade, yet not a single spark escaped the goddess’s control.

Vergil felt the space around them become unstable and immediately realized that this was not merely electricity.

Susanoo rotated her body and performed a single slash.

The world opened.

There was no explosion.

Space simply separated before the blade, revealing an enormous rupture beyond the reality surrounding the temple.

On the other side existed a completely different dimension, consumed by a vast darkness cut apart by countless storms.

A bridge made entirely of lightning formed beneath Susanoo’s feet.

It stretched across the void until it reached the dimensional opening.

Vergil looked at Yamato.

Then at the cut.

Then at Susanoo.

The goddess calmly sheathed her sword.

"You’re not the only one who can cut through space-time."

Vergil spent several seconds studying the rupture before he started laughing.

"I like you."

"Don’t draw conclusions before the training."

"I wasn’t talking about the training."

Susanoo ignored that and began walking across the lightning bridge.

Vergil followed her.

With every step, electrical discharges ran through the structure beneath them without causing any harm.

Yamato remained silent at his waist, but Vergil could perfectly feel the sword’s attention focused on Susanoo.

For the first time since the beating he had received from Scathach, he was beginning to feel genuinely excited to discover what came next.

...

Far beyond Earth, the Sun burned.

Solar storms larger than entire planets continuously erupted across its surface.

Gigantic arcs of plasma rose hundreds of thousands of kilometers before collapsing again, while waves of radiation and particles were hurled into the void.

In the middle of that inferno existed something that could never be detected by human instruments.

A palace.

The structure floated above the solar surface, completely untouched by temperatures and forces that would destroy nearly any conventional form of matter.

Massive golden pillars supported roofs of Japanese architecture, while vast gardens grew upon platforms that should have been incinerated instantly.

Around them, solar storms altered their paths as though they recognized the authority of the existence residing there.

On the palace’s largest balcony, Amaterasu sat in the lotus position.

Before her was Earth.

Not as a simple distant blue point, but as an enlarged image formed by sunlight itself.

Continents, oceans, and clouds could be seen clearly, while countless spiritual lines connected the planet to different dimensions.

Amaterasu’s eyes remained closed until a small disturbance passed through one of those connections.

She felt it immediately.

"My little sister cut the world again."

Her voice was calm, though filled with familiar resignation.

A second voice came from behind her.

"Susanoo-sama found a storm as great as herself."

Amaterasu didn’t turn around.

"Who?"

There was a brief pause.

"Lucifer-sama."

Amaterasu’s eyes remained closed, but her attention left Earth for a moment.

"Lucifer?"

"His name is Vergil Lucifer. He is currently one of the most discussed names among Earth’s supernatural communities," the voice continued calmly. "He recently entered into direct conflict with Odin-sama and Thor-sama. During the incident, Lucifer-sama took Asgard’s Bifr?st and gained the loyalty of the Valkyries who previously served Odin."

Amaterasu opened her eyes.

Red.

The light within them resembled two miniature supernovas, intense enough to make the shadows throughout the palace disappear for an instant.

"That man."

"Has Amaterasu-sama heard of him?"

"It’s difficult not to."

She returned her gaze to Earth and remained silent for several seconds.

Then sighed.

"Susanoo is a troublesome sister."

The presence behind her didn’t respond.

Amaterasu brought one hand to the side of her face.

"Why does she always have to get involved with storms like this?"

A small black cat jumped onto the balcony.

It was the source of the voice.

The animal calmly walked along the golden edge before sitting beside Amaterasu.

Its eyes reflected the surface of the Sun for a few moments before turning toward the image of Earth.

"Perhaps because storms recognize one another."

Amaterasu glanced sideways at the cat.

"That was unnecessarily poetic."

"I’ve lived among deities for far too long."

Amaterasu returned her attention to Earth.

The black cat raised its ears.

For several seconds, it remained completely still, as though listening to something extremely distant.

Then its tail began moving slowly from side to side.

"Amaterasu-sama."

"What is it?"

The small feline continued staring toward Earth.

"A storm is about to arrive."