Chapter 936: Man Behind the Sword

The bridge formed from lightning continued stretching out before Vergil and Susanoo, crossing an expanse that seemed to have neither beginning nor end.

After the dimensional cut closed behind them, every trace of the previous temple disappeared.

There were no mountains.

No land.

No conventional horizon.

There was only a vast darkness filled with enormous clouds and storms forming in every direction, continuously illuminated by countless bolts of lightning.

Some discharges traveled distances so great that Vergil couldn’t even see where they ended, while others split into thousands of branches before disappearing into the void.

"Where exactly are we?" Vergil asked, walking calmly beside Susanoo.

The bridge reacted to the goddess’s steps, solidifying moments before her feet touched its surface and dissolving back into electricity a few meters behind them.

"The Storm World," Susanoo replied. "A dimension I created through my own divinity. It is completely separate from the Human World and the Oni Gate, although I can enter and leave whenever I wish."

Vergil looked over the vastness surrounding them again.

The more attention he paid, the more he understood what Susanoo meant.

That place didn’t feel like merely a dimension she ruled.

The energy filling the storms carried the same signature he sensed from her.

It was like walking inside a gigantic manifestation of the goddess’s own existence.

Susanoo noticed that he understood.

"I wanted somewhere familiar I could go when neither the Human World nor the Oni Gate was enough. Here, I can rest without priests, gods, or anyone else appearing uninvited. I can also use all of my power without worrying about what exists around me."

A thunderclap powerful enough to seem as though it shook the dimension itself crossed the void.

Vergil watched a distant storm release thousands of bolts at once before looking back at Susanoo.

"A world filled with endless storms isn’t exactly the first place I’d choose to relax."

Susanoo frowned slightly.

"Humans put rain sounds on their phones to sleep."

Vergil fell silent.

"I don’t see much difference," she added. "Right?"

He continued staring at Susanoo for several seconds, searching for some indication that she was joking.

Her expression remained completely serious.

Vergil started laughing.

"All right. You have a point."

"Naturally."

"You didn’t have to ruin it by agreeing that quickly."

Susanoo ignored the comment and continued forward.

After several minutes, a new structure began to emerge between the storms.

At first, Vergil could only distinguish a few illuminated points in the darkness, but soon he realized that something enormous was floating ahead of them.

It was a Japanese castle.

The structure remained suspended in the middle of that storm-filled universe without any ground beneath it.

Several buildings of traditional architecture were connected by corridors, courtyards, and towers, while dark roofs constantly reflected the light produced by the lightning.

There was no island supporting the complex.

The castle simply floated over the void, surrounded by clouds and storms in every direction.

The lightning bridge led directly toward its enormous entrance gate.

Vergil had to admit the sight was magnificent.

The darkness made it impossible to determine the true size of that world.

Enormous clouds seemed to occupy entire regions of space, while electrical discharges traveled across the distance like glowing rivers.

At the center of everything, the castle remained perfectly still, as though it were the only point of stability inside a universe built to never stop moving.

"You really made all of this because you wanted to be alone?"

"I also needed space to train."

"Of course."

Susanoo glanced briefly at him before returning her attention to the castle.

"You keep treating the Path of the Sword as though it were a technique someone could simply place in your hands. Perhaps that is the first problem we need to correct."

Vergil abandoned the humor and began paying closer attention.

"The Path of the Sword is directly connected to the roots of the person who walks it," Susanoo continued. "I’m not talking about your family, your species, or the place where you were born. I’m talking about what remains when you remove titles, powers, and everything others have placed upon you."

She slowly drew her katana from its sheath, though she took no combat stance.

She simply held it beside her body as they continued walking.

"Your sword must come from that same origin."

Vergil observed the blade.

"This world is part of my path," Susanoo continued. "Just like my divinity, my sword, and the storms."

She raised her eyes toward the clouds.

"I have never been a particularly normal person. I’m intense. Unpredictable. My emotions are strong and change quickly. I can remain perfectly calm for hours and, a few seconds later, become furious enough to destroy everything around me."

A massive bolt of lightning crossed the sky at that exact moment.

Vergil looked at it.

Susanoo did too.

"Convenient."

"Did you do that on purpose?"

"No."

Vergil didn’t entirely believe her, but decided not to interrupt.

"I can be calm, violent, quiet, or loud. I can remain still and completely change in the next instant. For a long time, other gods treated that as a flaw, something I needed to control in order to behave the way they expected a deity to behave."

Susanoo slowly rotated the sword in her hand.

"When I began understanding my own path, I stopped trying to correct it."

The blade returned to its sheath.

"Because that is what a storm does."

Vergil remained silent.

"It changes. It grows. It disappears. It can bring nothing more than gentle rain or destroy an entire city. You never know exactly what will happen until it happens."

Susanoo touched her own chest.

"That is who I am. I don’t need to pretend to be something else when I hold a sword. My sword exists as an extension of that."

She looked directly at Vergil.

"That is my Path of the Sword."

The explanation was considerably different from what Vergil had expected.

There was no secret stance.

No complicated philosophy about cutting.

No sequence of movements he could simply learn.

Susanoo was talking about identity.

And that partially explained what Scathach had tried to make him understand.

Susanoo stopped in front of the castle gate.

"Now we reach the problem."

"Me?"

"You."

Vergil crossed his arms.

"I have a lot of problems. Be more specific."

"Who are you?"

The question seemed far too simple.

"Vergil."

"That is your name."

"Demon King."

"A title."

"Aethernox."

"A race."

"Death Knight."

"Another title."

Vergil narrowed his eyes.

Susanoo continued looking at him with absolute calm.

"You possess Yamato. You carry the Authorities of the Sins. You are connected to Death, possess divine, demonic, and draconic characteristics, have two Dragon Empresses living inside you, and probably hide another ten things I still haven’t noticed."

"Not ten."

"I don’t want to know."

Vergil nearly smiled.

Susanoo stepped closer until she stood directly in front of him.

"Remove all of that."

Vergil’s expression became more serious.

"For a moment, forget Lucifer, Sparda, Demon King, Aethernox, Death Knight, husband, father, king, and every other name you have accumulated."

She touched Yamato’s sheath with two fingers.

"When there is nothing left except the man holding the sword..."

Susanoo raised her eyes until they met his.

"Who is Vergil?"

This time, he didn’t answer.

And Susanoo seemed satisfied with the silence.

While Vergil began an existential conversation inside a dimension made entirely of storms, Stella was dealing with something considerably more important.

Dessert.

She sat across from Raphaeline and Ada in a restaurant within the Oni Gate, finishing a small portion of sweets while watching the movement on the street through the window.

After Vergil had left with Susanoo, the three of them had decided there was no reason to remain waiting inside Inari’s temple.

Stella still wanted to explore that dimension a little more before returning to Japan for her date, and Ada had offered to accompany her.

"I still can’t get used to this place," Stella commented, following a four-tailed Kitsune crossing the street with her eyes. "When you said this was a dimension filled with Yokai, I imagined temples, forests, and ancient villages."

Ada pointed her chopsticks toward the window.

"Same. Then I saw a Kitsune using an iPhone and gave up trying to understand."

Raphaeline calmly sipped her tea.

"You two speak as though supernatural beings are obligated to remain trapped in the tenth century."

"That’s not what I mean," Ada replied. "It’s just strange seeing a huge Oni walking out of a convenience store carrying a bag of snacks."

Stella immediately looked through the window.

"Where?"

"He already passed."

"Ah."

Raphaeline shook her head, suppressing a smile.

"The Oni Gate developed alongside Japan. They don’t live completely separated from humans. Information, technology, entertainment, and customs have passed between the worlds for centuries. Some communities are extremely traditional, while others resemble modern cities almost completely."

Stella returned her attention to the street.

That part of the city demonstrated exactly what Raphaeline meant.

Wooden buildings with ancient architecture stood beside modern establishments.

Bright signs written in Japanese hung above storefronts, while tiny shrines were tucked between shops.

Humans would probably have considered the combination impossible.

But the residents walked through the streets as though it were the most ordinary thing in the world.

"I like it here," Stella concluded. "The food is good."

Ada looked at her.

"That’s your criterion?"

"One of the main ones."

"Fair."

Raphaeline took another sip of tea while watching the two of them.

"Just don’t eat too much. Stella still wants to visit that sweets shop when Vergil returns."

Stella immediately protected the small dessert in front of her with one hand.

"This doesn’t count. It’s cultural research."

Ada started laughing.

"You just made that up."

"I did not. Learning about local cuisine is an important part of learning about a culture."

"So ordering three desserts was academic research?"

"Exactly."

Raphaeline let out an amused sigh and decided not to argue.

After several seconds, Stella returned her attention to the window, this time observing the different species moving along the street.

"It’s strange to think all of this stayed hidden from humans for so long."

"That is exactly the point," Raphaeline replied. "The Oni Gate exists so they can live without needing to hide what they are. In the Human World, a Kitsune has to hide her tails, an Oni has to hide his horns, and practically every creature has to pretend to be human. Here, no one needs to do that."

Ada nodded.

"I understand why they don’t want just anyone entering."

"Exactly."

Stella rested her cheek against one hand.

"And Vergil just arrived here, was escorted directly to the Yokai Queen’s home, and then left alone with Susanoo."

Raphaeline fell silent.

Ada did too.

Stella looked at both of them.

"Is that normal?"

"No," Raphaeline replied.

"Not even slightly," Ada added.

Stella thought for several seconds before taking another bite of her dessert.

"Then he’s having a normal day."

Ada immediately laughed, while Raphaeline simply closed her eyes and raised the cup to her lips again.

Unfortunately, there was no argument against that.