A Nascent Kaleidoscope. Chapter 566:

I held the branch of the Fae Tree in my hand as I walked towards the supposed 'Governnt' building that the humans here created.

The Branch was actually... well, it was of value to right now because I was working out a new spell, and this filled a spot I wasn't sure how to do so previously. Scáthach uses an Ash Tree's branches to make duplicates – lesser versions, admittedly—of her spear.

For the spell I'm devising, this branch would work perfectly since it has such an absurd vitality to it.

The sa tree that had been supplying its own vitality to ensure the longevity and health of thousands of humans for centuries.

Without doing so, it could have probably lived for several hundred thousand years. Yet its branches were withering from what I could tell. It probably only has a few centuries left of life in it.

It wasn't a simple matter of giving away one point of vitality and letting a human absorb one point of vitality.

To push it out into the form of fruits that contained such pure life energy... it probably had to sacrifice ten or twenty tis the sa amount of its own vitality to create those. And that was more of a conservative estimate because what it was doing was not sothing normal or natural.

If it were possible to easily do what it was doing, the world would be a much different place.

Hell, the closest approximation are literal divine fruits.

Regardless, I have a debt now to repay. I made a promise that I would take them back if they wanted to go, and I was going to uphold it.

Unnulf walked next to as we approached the amphitheater-like building. He didn't ask about the Fae Tree dropping a bunch of fruits or the branch. Honestly, the amount of trust they had in the tree... well, I couldn't even find it in myself to fault them for it at this point.

It truly cared for them like a mother.

There were no guards; frankly, there were no real guards anywhere.

For the first ti since coming to this realm, this was the first ti that I considered a place a sort of 'paradise' by any stretch of the imagination. Did the people want to be here? I would say absolutely not, but at the sa ti, it was extraordinarily peaceful on this little island, and I genuinely questioned if there even was any cri or things of that sort.

There were several dozen people inside as I walked in; a lot of arguing was going on.

It took a few monts for them to notice my presence, but they gradually quieted down, looking at .

"Unnulf, why did you bring the outsider here? We're not done discussing." A man, Greek in origin, had a bit of a belly, and he even wore a toga with noticeable sewed edges as if it were fixed many tis over the years.

"Eh, I just followed; he ca here himself." Unnulf sat down, drinking a bit less aggressively, but he hadn't stopped drinking since I'd given him the barrels of alcohol.

"I'm leaving; we're leaving. We can't waste much ti here; we have our own plans and objectives." I decided to cut right to the chase.

The Greek one furrowed his brow. "We haven't decided what to do with you all yet."

"And you are..."

"Kallipides." He said it with pride.

"Right, Kallipides." I nodded. "Let make sothing clear: we're not beholden to you all. We ca here out of good will, but that's it. As soone who's half-human and identifies with my human half, I sympathize with your situation. Thus, I'm offering you all a chance to leave this realm and return to the human world."

Soone pushed past him, one of the Vikings it looked like based on their attire. "You do have a way out?"

"And you are...?" I repeated it once more.

"Chief Hrodi." He grunted, much less flamboyant and self-gratifying compared to the Greek. "You claim to co from outside with a tale of invasion."

Ah, they didn't quite believe us.

"A group of monsters." A derivative snorts from the back.

"How do we know you're telling the truth?"

"Could be a trap."

"Demons, the lot of them." Soone dressed like a cardinal huffed.

I'm once more impressed by the breath of cultures represented that are sohow getting along.

"I understand." I held my hands up to quiet down their arguing. "Your skepticism is warrant; it's kept you all alive this long. Allow to provide you all with so proof."

They went silent, as if to wait for to provide said proof.

I release my spiritual pressure, pinning all of them to the ground, shaking the entire building and the island.

Even the tree above began to sway noticeably.

"If I wanted to, I could kill you all right now without a problem." I spoke calmly as my spiritual pressure receded.

I admit, I loved having learned this little trick; it's rather handy and imposing.

So of them recovered better than others. So of them were real warriors; others were their equivalent of politicians or leaders without any combat experience or strength to them. Other than what they've passively obtained over the years.

For the older ones, of any on this island, I don't think there are any below a 'Mid-Class' in status.

"I can speak on behalf of all your gods." I segued into the next topic. "If you're willing, the gods you worship will be waiting in so part for your return. Asgard will welco the warriors out of ti. Olympus will accept those who have stayed loyal. Takamagahara will gladly accept brave warriors from the past. And Heaven will accept all its believers back with open arms."

It's actually kind of funny that I—soone who is still technically mortal—have that kind of connection.

And truthfully, I think their 'faith' is one of the few things that's kept them going through these years.

"Blasphemy!" the cardinal-looking figure breathed out.

I flicked my hand, and the True Longinus slamd into the ground in front of the Cardinal. The Holy Power was radiant as it pulsed out, calm and welcoming to them.

"I said this before; maybe it wasn't quite understood. The world is a much different place than your tis. Heaven and Hell recently agreed to peace. The Youkai—my people that have co here—participated in the peace eting, and we have agreents with Heaven."

The Cardinal was silent, gulping as he stared at the Spear along with the ones who seed to be of the sa faith or derivations thereof.

"Ragnarök recently occurred." I continued as no one else was speaking.

"Ragnarök?" A faint whisper among the Vikings and Nords.

"I participated." I revealed. "In order to overturn the destruction of Asgard, I sat upon the throne and was montarily the King of Asgard. They're currently rebuilding and will happily accept honorable warriors among them as comrades. And... I'm also Blood Brothers with Odin."

"Can you prove your words?"

"I can only offer my pride as proof that I wouldn't lie about such a thing. If you want to call a liar, I will draw my blade, and we can fight as warriors." I said pointedly.

Sotis, it was much easier to deal with these sorts. One's blade arm spoke louder than words in a lot of cases.

The pride of a great warrior was usually enough to back up tall tales, even if they sounded ridiculous.

No one stepped forward to call a liar.

However, there were a few whispers between them—the whispering of godly nas.

"The result of Ragnarök is that there are new gods among the gods of Asgard. One of them is currently within this realm. You can pray to Jinn—the Goddess of Magic, Knowledge, and Hostead." I found myself smiling.

"You are Japanese?" An older gentleman wearing regal-looking Japanese attire from an older period asked with a very polite tone. "I am Kiyabu Taro. But an old man without an ancestral ho any longer. Can you speak for the Kami we pray to? Will I be able to et my ancestors and beg forgiveness for not being able to rebuild our clan? They may not know, but you ask of us to trust Youkai."

"I was born Shimoda Takao. My mother was Japanese, and I lived and grew up in Japan until I beca an adult. The Leader of the Youkai is Yasaka, A Kyuubi-no-Kitsune, and Miko for Amaterasu-no-Okami. I have a certain... relationship with Susano-no-Mikoto. And if you're willing to believe , I'm currently... courting Izanami-no-Mikoto. I can guarantee your acceptance by Takamagahara."

Taro went quiet, clearly contemplating what I just said.

"What about us?" The Greek Kallipidies asked softly; his earlier bravado was diminished. My display of power clearly has an effect on him.

"I've t Hades on a few occasions, and I can reach out to the Gods of Olympus. I have no reason to believe they'd reject you all." Of course, they might try to fra it as a favor towards us in doing so.

However, there is no faction in the world that would reject humans that worship them with the strength they show.

It's easy for to be dismissive of their strength earlier, but generally, they're already far beyond the 'average' strength of the supernatural world.

Considering that the average military person in the Underworld for Devils is low class, anyone above that is considered an asset big or small. It's doubly so impressive for humans because they have such low 'starting points'.

The humans here were silent.

It was probably hard for them to accept the casualness in which I just spoke about the gods they worship.

The unreachable thrones for their belief, yet for , it's usually a rather mundane experience. I've had dinner with Hades and his wife. Izzy, there's not much that needs to be said there. Odin, I've literally kicked him off a building before.

Still, while they were speechless, they weren't normal humans any longer. Perhaps they've never t their objects of worship, but they've lived in this realm for years.

"You will take us out of this realm?"

I looked at the one who spoke, a younger man—though that might not be a case considering. "Imdiately, no. We're currently an advance party looking for the path to cross this ocean and to acquire ships. If you're willing to wait, within a month, I'd say at a maximum."

"I heard stories about our ho." He said quietly.

Ah, he was one of the ones born here, it seems.

"I intend to gather our people and leave rather soon." I said, crossing my arms. "You need to make a decision quickly. However, we have set up base on a nearby island. I can't say I know the directions from here, but it should be easy for you all to find if you know these parts."

"I'll go with them." Unnulf spoke amid their silence. "We got a little bit of ti; they're doing their fighting; I can check things out and see if it's true." He said, taking a swig of his drink.

"Unnulf is trustworthy." One of them muttered.

"Aye, Unnulf could have been Chief. His words will bring no doubt." The Viking chief nodded, and they seed to co to a silent agreent. "Thank you, brother."

"It's my duty." Unnulf said shalessly.

Shalessly, because I knew him for hours at this point, and I knew for a fact he volunteered because he knew we had more drinks.

I didn't reject it because it didn't interfere with our goals in the slightest.

If it set their minds at ease, so be it.

I pat Unnulf on the shoulder. "I'm heading back to the ship; be there within the next quarter hour."

He probably had so quick words that needed to be exchanged privately, and I left them to it as I left the building.

"Nurarihyon." I said quietly.

"I'm here." The Youkai leader entered my perception at my side.

One of the few beings that, despite my strength, could go undetected by . "Ready to head out?"

"Not much for us here to keep us preoccupied." He grunted. "Give one of those fruits."

I shrugged, handing one over out of my ring. "I'm surprised you didn't steal one... or a few."

He happily accepted it, munching down on it with vigor, licking his lips of the juices. The wrinkles on his face decreased noticeably. He still looked old, but there was a newfound energy to him, his back a little bit straighter. "Oh boy, that's a rush. My Touki nearly burst out for a mont." He stretched his back for a mont. "I feel twenty years younger." He let out a breath, glancing at . "I considered it, stealing a few. Probably was going to do so, but I snuck in on that little eting you had with the tree. Lost my motivation after that."

I felt my eye twitch after hearing that he snuck in on a ntal eting with the Fae Tree.

I wanted to say plenty of things to that, but I decided it was better for my sanity to just ignore it for now.

@***@

"Watch the star there." Unnulf pointed up towards the sky. "It moves; we use it to track the ti of day."

"Fascinating." I replied, looking at the star in question. "And the one next to it is the point of reference."

"Aye, that one never moves." Unnulf nodded.

The ship of ours hit the waves quickly. We made a short trip back to the island to drop off our acquired boats, then we imdiately set sail again.

"Human brat." Nurarihyon appeared next to us, startling Unnulf. "Got a question. How co you all haven't left yourselves? Surely you could have found a passage out of here. If so many of you accidentally stumbled into this place, there has to be equally as many exits."

"Ah…" Unnulf scratched his beard. "Elder, you speak the truth. However, this realm is not forgiving for humans. We live on these waters because they are the safest. But equally so, there are no known exits within them. Every group of ours that ventured out from these waters, they returned with heavy losses or not at all." He said quietly.

"Have you left this ocean before?"

"Aye, I was among a group that tried to push out, to raid so of those cursed things's hos for revenge." He shook his head with a hint of lancholy. "Eventually, we lost all desire for revenge and only wanted to survive."

Thankfully, Unnulf knew the location of the 'exit' to the other side. The exit that put us right into the main territory of the Winter Court.

A few hours of sailing, and the temperature started to drop, so I could feel we were getting close.

"Tell about the exit." I asked. "What kind of defense should we expect?" It was a good idea to either scout it now or secure the exit properly.

"They have no people guarding it, but sothing much worse. We call it the ice mirror valley." Unnulf said taking a drink. "Large glaciers of ice, crystal clear that you can see your reflection."

"Dare I ask what's wrong with it?"

"Don't know." He took another drink. "The only survivor died before being only to explain. Only said that death awaits us there. Every party that went to investigate never ca back."

I would have to see it for myself.

But there's surely a limit to what they can 'copy'.

"Sothing we should be concerned about?" Nurarihyon looked at .

"I'm honestly not too concerned." I shook my head. We could handle what ca our way.

Before I could say sothing else, I felt a small tinge of cold as I looked up and saw snow falling from the sky.

Less than a minute, and it picked up heavily, making frown.

"We've been discovered." I said, voicing my thoughts as I let a falling snowflake land on my finger.

It was made of pure magical energy.

Every single one of the falling bits of snow was made of magical energy. I questioned the purpose of it until I realized it was drowning out my senses.

Clever.

Sothing I hadn't considered before, but it made sense. If you blasted your magical energy in front of soone, it was nearly impossible for them to sense a point of magical energy sowhere else.

This accomplished the sa thing in that a snowstorm spawning on top of us was basically drowning out my perception.

I could disrupt it, but the amount of magical energy... it would simply reform in monts.

There was no point in using a dragon shout every breath for hours on end.

"I see sothing ahead!" A shout ca from above.

The little Youkai with the single eye that could see even further than was pointing forward.

I summoned my sword and swung it forward, cleaving through the storm in front of us for just a mont so I could see clearly.

Right, when he said Glaciers, he wasn't lying. They were massive and nurous. Each one like a skyscraper. But beyond those, I could see the climbing pillar of light from the lighthouse, it seems.

Rather quickly, the snowstorm covered up my sight as it beca difficult to see a few dozen feet in front of us.

Still, it was sowhat peaceful, as nothing happened. It only took a few minutes for the ship to float up to them.

There was no 'going around' these glaciers, it seed, either; they surrounded the lighthouse protectively.

As the ship slowly advanced forward, it nearly brushed up against the side of a glacier, and I stepped towards the edge to get a good look.

I put my hand on the side, the crystal-clear ice, my reflection doing the sa, as you would expect from a reflection.

However, as soon as I put my hand on it, my eyes widened in realization. "Uh oh."

"What?" Nurarihyon was quick to snap his head to .

"These glaciers are made of crystallized magical energy." Different from Dust, but functionally the sa.

And they're massive and nurous...

I couldn't notice until we got this close because of the snowstorm.

"Brat!" Nurarihyon raised his voice.

I looked over, and the reflections of the crew were different.

They pushed against their side of the 'glass' so to speak, and like ice sculptures given form, they materialized and took shape, landing onto the ship, looking at their counterparts.

Even one of Nurarihyon popped out, and its aura was no less than the old man's.

The glaciers' positions were intentionally arranged in a grand ritual, and the glaciers themselves were made of magical energy.

There were no guards here because this place was one big trap.

I looked back at the reflection of myself, and it was looking back at , crossing its arms.

The snowstorm distorted and dispersed abruptly, with an intense wind whipping around.

Just as quickly, the vast majority of the glaciers disappeared.

…as if they were consud.

My reflection stepped out.

I could feel the sheer amount of magical energy it contained. And it was rather easy to put two and two together to know where the crystallized magical energy from a mont ago went.

Glaciers of crystallized magical energy arranged in a grand ritual to fuel a doppelganger creation.

I caught one last snow flak and ca to the realization that it wasn't only used to obscure my perception but also used to investigate us thoroughly.

I heard a faint but cold laugh across the chilling winds.

Well, it was far from the first ti I've fought a mirrored version of myself.

The fake looked around, at , then down at his arm as a very familiar Red Gauntlet appeared on it.

[Alright, now it's personal]. Ddraig chid in. He's just bluffing regardless. [I don't feel any Dragon presence from that thing, so it's a fake through and through.]

I cracked my neck. "Alright, let's see what half-assed copying you've got."

My copy smiled smugly and spoke in the sa voice as myself, holding the Gauntlet up. "I who am about to awaken..."

...suddenly, I don't think he's bluffing.

@***@

A/N

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