Chapter 937: The Goddess Behind the Rift

The interior of the Storm World’s castle was considerably quieter than Vergil had expected.

The storms still raged outside, periodically illuminating the corridors through the large openings in the walls, but the thunder reached them in muffled echoes.

Susanoo had led Vergil to a vast open courtyard at the center of the structure, where there was practically nothing except a dark floor marked by countless ancient cuts.

It was clearly a place that had been used for training for a very long time.

Susanoo slowly walked around the courtyard as she continued the conversation they had started on the bridge.

"You still haven’t answered my question."

Vergil remained standing in the center.

"Which one?"

"Who are you when we remove everything you’ve accumulated throughout your life?"

Susanoo turned to face him.

"Perhaps that’s difficult to answer immediately, so we can start with something simpler. What makes you different from everyone else? Not your titles, your species, or your Authorities. I’m asking about Vergil."

He became thoughtful.

Susanoo didn’t pressure him for an answer.

Instead, she approached one edge of the courtyard, where she could observe the storms through the open balcony.

"Discovering that took time even for me. When I was younger, deities like us rarely admitted that mortals had anything to teach."

She rested one hand on the katana at her waist.

"I did exactly the opposite. I descended into the Human World, abandoned my title for long periods, and sought out men and women who had mastered different schools of swordsmanship."

Vergil raised his eyebrows slightly.

"You really trained as a student under humans?"

"Several times."

Susanoo resumed walking.

"Humans are curious creatures. Your lives are extremely short compared to ours, yet you have mastered practically everything you decided to place your hands upon. From assassination to art."

"They transformed efficient ways of killing into schools, traditions, and philosophies passed down through generations. Then they transformed those same techniques into something that can exist without even needing to kill anyone."

She slowly drew the katana from its sheath.

The blade possessed a presence completely different from that of a conventional weapon.

Vergil didn’t feel only divine energy coming from it.

There was something deeply personal mixed into that divinity, as though separating the sword from Susanoo would be as artificial as trying to remove part of her soul.

"This is Totsuka."

Susanoo rotated the katana, allowing the blade to reflect the lightning outside.

"She was forged by gods and humans. Not because we needed mortal help to create a durable blade, but because I wanted what I learned from them to become part of her."

Vergil studied Totsuka carefully.

Susanoo pointed the blade toward the ground.

"If I completely pierce a target with Totsuka, I can immediately seal them. Body, energy, and existence become trapped through the sword’s Authority. The more powerful the target is, the greater the demand placed upon me, naturally, but the principle remains the same."

"An unpleasant weapon to be hit by."

"That is the purpose of a sword."

Vergil let out a small laugh.

"I admit I didn’t expect you to be this humble."

Susanoo narrowed her eyes.

"Humble?"

"Admitting that humans were capable of making a goddess like you abandon her own pride and seek their teachings isn’t exactly something I expected to hear from a deity."

Susanoo stared at him for several seconds before laughing.

It wasn’t the restrained, almost imperceptible laugh Vergil had seen before.

For the first time, she seemed genuinely amused.

"You’re confusing my lack of patience with arrogance."

Susanoo sheathed Totsuka.

"I may seem cold, but the truth is far less interesting. I simply don’t like dealing with uninteresting people."

"That didn’t improve your image very much."

"I wasn’t trying to."

She shrugged.

"But I have no problem admitting when someone knows more than I do. My older sisters have much larger egos."

Vergil smiled.

"Especially Amaterasu."

"Especially Amaterasu."

The speed with which Susanoo agreed made Vergil laugh again.

"Tsukuyomi is different," she continued. "Although she is also older than me, she never had such a strong need to demonstrate superiority. She’s probably the easiest person in my family to live with."

Vergil nodded and brought one hand to Yamato.

"Then I suppose it’s only fair that I show you mine."

He drew the katana.

Yamato appeared before Susanoo in all her elegance, and the Sword Goddess’s reaction was immediate.

Her eyes traveled from the hilt to the tip of the blade, analyzing details an ordinary person wouldn’t even notice.

She didn’t try to touch the weapon, but moved close enough to clearly feel the energy within it.

"Yamato," Vergil said. "Although the sword you’re seeing now isn’t exactly the one that originally existed."

Susanoo raised her eyes.

"She was born from my own existence fused with Excalibur. The Excalibur that took part in that process was created by my wife, Vivianne."

Vergil slowly rotated Yamato in his hand.

"The result was something that can no longer be easily separated from me."

Susanoo nodded as though the explanation only confirmed something she had suspected for months.

"I knew."

Vergil looked at her.

"Since when?"

"Since I saw that sword during the Celestial Tournament."

Susanoo brought two fingers close to the blade without touching it.

"I didn’t know how she had come into existence, but I immediately recognized a spiritual sword. Totsuka possesses the same fundamental nature. She was also born from my soul and my power, although the process was different."

Vergil looked at Yamato for a few moments.

"She is precious to me."

The words came without hesitation.

"Yamato has been with me through practically everything. She has been broken, rebuilt, transformed, and remained by my side regardless of what happened."

A small smile appeared on his face.

"I’ve reached the point where I love her as if she were my own wife."

Inside the inner world, Yamato fell completely silent.

Vergil could perfectly feel that she had heard him.

Susanoo, on the other hand, didn’t find the declaration strange.

She simply drew Totsuka again and slowly moved the blade before her body.

"I understand that feeling."

Vergil turned his attention back toward her.

"If I had to put it into words, I would say Totsuka is also a wife to me."

Susanoo looked at her own blade with an expression far softer than the one she normally wore.

"Although I don’t love women in that way, she is probably the closest thing to that kind of love I can offer anyone."

"She was born from me, grew with me, and knows parts of my existence that no person will ever know."

Vergil nodded.

Perhaps she was the first person who had understood his relationship with Yamato without requiring any additional explanation.

Then his expression changed.

It was minimal.

His eyes moved a few millimeters to the left.

The hand holding Yamato rotated.

Susanoo noticed the movement too late to ask anything.

Vergil slashed.

Yamato cut through empty space with enough speed to produce a black line before him.

Space-time split along the path of the blade, forming a rift that advanced directly toward an apparently empty region of the courtyard.

A hand emerged from inside the rupture.

Two fingers touched Yamato’s side.

The sword stopped.

Vergil narrowed his eyes.

A woman calmly stepped through the dimensional rift while keeping the blade away from her body with a single hand.

Long silver-white hair fell far beyond her waist, moving as though it were under a different gravity from the rest of the environment.

Her clothes were predominantly white, fitted closely to her body and open in several places, accompanied by long fabrics that floated around her.

Behind her figure, large black rings hovered in the air like silent orbits, while her pale eyes held an almost sleepy serenity.

She tilted her head slightly.

"You shouldn’t attack someone you don’t know."

Vergil didn’t force Yamato against her fingers.

He merely held the sword still while studying the newcomer.

Susanoo, however, looked far more surprised than he did.

"Tsukuyomi..."

The Moon Goddess released Yamato.

Vergil pulled the blade back several centimeters but didn’t sheath it.

"What are you doing here?" Susanoo asked.

Tsukuyomi turned her eyes toward her sister.

"Visiting."

"You don’t visit my domain without warning me."

"I warned you now."

"That isn’t warning."

Vergil had to hide a smile.

Susanoo ignored his expression, but another question was already occupying her mind.

She had known her sister’s divine presence since before much of humanity had even possessed organized civilizations.

Even so, she hadn’t noticed Tsukuyomi hiding beyond that dimensional layer.

Vergil had.

And he had attacked her position directly.

Susanoo glanced discreetly toward him.

How?

Tsukuyomi seemed to understand exactly what her sister was thinking and smiled.

"I was only waiting for the right moment to appear."

"Hiding."

"Observing."

"That’s still hiding."

Tsukuyomi ignored the accusation.

Her eyes returned to Vergil, and the serenity in her expression gave way to much more obvious curiosity.

She brought her hands together in front of her body and tilted her head slightly while examining him.

"It’s just that this child has so much potential..."

Vergil raised an eyebrow at the word child.

Tsukuyomi smiled even more.

"...that I got a little excited to meet him."

Susanoo closed her eyes.

"Don’t start."

"I haven’t even done anything."

"I know you."

Vergil finally sheathed Yamato.

"So you’re Tsukuyomi."

The Moon Goddess nodded politely.

"And you are Vergil Lucifer."

She brought one finger to her lips, looking him up and down without making any attempt to hide her curiosity.

"The Demon King who stole Odin’s bridge, took his son’s hammer, carried away the Valkyries, and now came to my sister because Scathach beat him up."

Vergil fell silent.

Susanoo turned her face to the side.

Her shoulders moved slightly.

Vergil narrowed his eyes.

"Are you laughing?"

"No."

"You are."

"I’m not."

Tsukuyomi covered her mouth, but she also began laughing.

Vergil looked at the two sisters and let out a tired sigh.

"I’m starting to prefer the arrogant sister who lives on the Sun."