"That is a lot to take in," Kaito murmured as he dropped onto the sofa, his mind replaying all the information and what it ant.
He froze when he suddenly felt an extrely dangerous presence in front of him and lifted his gaze.
"What did you do?" he asked, narrowing his eyes at Kaguya.
"I simply used an ability," she replied calmly. "It allows to transform into a form called God of Death. In that state I beco intangible, I can fly, my speed increases fivefold, and I can summon my scythe, which attacks directly at the soul, bypassing almost any defense... Unfortunately, with my current power it only lasts about ten seconds."
She paused briefly before continuing.
"I only activated and deactivated it quickly. Even though it is very useful, this form is easily detectable due to the sinister and dangerous aura it emits. As soon as I use it, everyone nearby feels it imdiately. Normally that is a disadvantage, but in situations like this it works to clear scattered thoughts and sharpen focus, since it triggers the danger instinct in people."
Kaito listened with wide eyes.
"That is... incredible," he admitted, realizing how all his ntal fatigue and scattered ideas had vanished, replaced by sharp concentration after feeling that threat. He could not help but look at Kaguya with admiration. "I never would have thought of using the ability like that."
"Leaving the complints aside, there are still two important things left. You can process everything else afterward."
"More...?" Kaito asked, overwheld.
"Relax. At least one of them is good news. Which do you want to hear first?"
"The good one," Kaito answered with a tired sigh. "I need sothing to ease the weight after all this."
"Fine," Kaguya nodded. "It is about how to fight against the governnt."
"Fight?"
"Of course. You do not think the Shinomiya group knew about this and did nothing, do you?"
Kaito smiled with a bit of embarrassnt. It was not that he had not considered it, but he still had not finished processing all the information, and thinking about the implications was beyond him at that mont.
Ignoring his expression, Kaguya continued.
"There are two thods to fight against soone who resorts to tricks. The first is the one we were using before, being smarter. Most powerful groups, including the Shinomiya, have spies in the governnt. When they discover important plans, they inform us, and we act accordingly, either sabotaging them or countering them with our own."
She sighed with annoyance.
"The problem is that this thod is slow and complicated. There are things that, even knowing in advance, we cannot prevent."
Then she smiled, looking Kaito directly in the eyes.
"As for the second thod... it is you. This is also the reason why I joined you. You may not have noticed yet, but even if the governnt's plan succeeds, it will affect you little or not at all."
Kaito thought for a mont until the answer beca obvious.
"Power...?"
"Exactly," Kaguya nodded. "Even if they manipulate the masses, even if they control thousands, even if the entire world sees the Lords as a threat... what does all of that matter in front of true power? I am not talking about common strength, I am talking about power so overwhelming that it smashes their plans head on, power that cannot be contained, power that shows them that before true might... they are nothing."
Kaito hesitated for an instant.
"Are you sure? I an... would they not just see as soone going against the governnt, like the villain of the story?"
"Of course they will," Kaguya answered without hesitation. "Maybe at first they will say you are the villain, they will try to eliminate you, maybe even the whole world will hate you. But, what does that matter? When they cannot do anything, when even nuclear weapons prove useless against you, what can they do except respect you and take you seriously? Do you think they would dare to challenge soone capable of destroying them without lifting a finger?"
A malicious smile spread across her face. Her cold bearing, accompanied by those words, would make her seem like a true villain in any story. However, Kaito did not notice that at that mont, because he was smiling the sa way as her, while thinking to himself:
"Yes, she is right."
His mind went back to old readings from his past life, perfect examples for this situation.
Magneto: even as the most wanted mutant criminal in a world full of discrimination, no one dared face him directly.
Doctor Doom: despite countless cris, he still ruled his own country and, when he committed one, they simply returned him there with no way to punish him further.
Ainz from Overlord. Griffith from Berserk, after founding Falconia, went from being hunted to becoming the very center of the world almost instantly.
Of course, there were also opposite cases, powerful beings who were never taken seriously. Professor X, capable of annihilating or controlling all of humanity, but ignored due to his conciliatory nature. Dumbledore, the strongest wizard, but underestimated by the Ministry of Magic because of his attitude. And if we talk about attitude, who better than Shinji Ikari, pilot of the most powerful weapon of humanity, yet without a voice in the fate of the world and always looked down upon by almost everyone.
Kaito understood it clearly, he did not seek to be a dictator imposing on everyone, but if that was the only way to earn respect and protect what was his... then there was no other choice.
Suddenly, he spoke again.
"And the bad news?"
Kaguya answered.
"It is not bad news in itself, but perhaps a problem. Barely hours after stats were unlocked in the real world, there were already people causing chaos. Within days there were thods to control them, a managent plan, even special items created to fight them. And on top of that, this total control plan was ready to be executed right after the Lords were able to use abilities in the real world.
All of this is impossible. From the speed with which they acted to the appearance of convenient items... everything suggests that the governnt not only knew about Gaia beforehand, but that there is a hidden supernatural side in the real world."
"A hidden... supernatural side?" Kaito murmured. It did not seem far-fetched to him. After all, from his perspective, that world was a mix of different ani. And even though until now he had only seen normal slice of life, there was always the possibility of an exception. In fact, in exactly that type of ordinary story it was common for a ghost to suddenly appear in class or for a magical item to show up in an episode, and no one gave it much importance outside of that chapter.
"But tell ," Kaito pressed, "as a mber of one of the four great families... do you not know anything about that?"
Kaguya shook her head gently.
"The fact that it is so hidden that even the four great families know nothing of its existence is what makes it truly dangerous. Of course, there is the possibility that they simply did not tell ... I am only the daughter of a concubine, after all. But I doubt it. Even if they did not reveal it to , I would have at least heard rumors or whispers about sothing like that."
Kaito nodded silently.
After more than an hour of conversation, he finally sat back to digest all the new information he had received.
---
The four great families of Japan, known simply as the Four Greats, owned the most powerful corporations in the country and controlled much of its economy. Their influence was so imnse that even the Pri Minister himself had to answer to them.
Shijo. Ichikami. Makihara. Shinomiya.
Among them, the Shinomiya family stood as the most powerful, divided between the main branch and multiple secondary ones.
The current head of the main branch, Gan'an Shinomiya, had four children, three sons and, the youngest, a daughter. Her na was Kaguya Shinomiya.
Outside the family she was known as the Shinomiya Princess, but within it she was nothing more than the daughter of a concubine. In the eyes of her brothers, her father, and most of the main branch, she was little more than a political tool, destined to be married off one day to reinforce alliances with another of the Four Greats. Her real status was far below what it appeared to be.
The only one who did not share that vision was herself. Unfortunately, it hardly mattered how hard she worked or how much she excelled, in her father's eyes, nothing would change. And she knew it. Even escaping from the family seed like an impossible dream. Little by little, she resigned herself. Her grandfather, the only one who never treated her differently from the legitimate children, and her personal maid, Hayasaka Ai, were the only ones who tried to stop that silent surrender.
Everything changed when millions of people were transported to a new world. There, the goal was not only to survive or fight, but to develop. To take a piece of land and turn it into sothing valuable. Sothing Kaguya had been trained for since childhood and in which she excelled.
With her skills, her territory grew and prospered, standing out among many others until it entered the global ranking. And for the first ti, Kaguya saw a real hope. If she managed to build a domain strong enough to rival the Shinomiya's, what could they possibly force her to do? It was not as if they had the Hyuga's Caged Bird Seal,1 right?
The problem was that her brothers were also advancing, so even better than her. But far from intimidating her, that only fueled her competitive spirit. In this world, they had no advantage for being "legitimate children."
In ti, Kaguya discovered a greater obstacle, the governnt. Their goal was clear, to control all the Lords of the planet. She, who had finally glimpsed a way to escape her family's chains, was she going to let herself be chained again? Never. That is why she, along with many mbers of the great families, did everything possible to obstruct the governnt's plans.
Weeks passed in these skirmishes, and in the end she realized they were pointless. They might work in the short term, but in the long run they would achieve nothing. So she decided to stop wasting energy on that and pour all her strength into growing stronger and stronger.
Her chance appeared when one of her subordinates reported an open gate to the spirit world. After investigating, she discovered that there were no hierarchies or structures there, only spirits and fairies living in peace.
For a mont, envy flashed in her eyes. She wondered what it would be like to live so freely. But she imdiately pushed that thought aside. Dreaming was useless, if she wanted freedom, she would have to win it with her own hands.
Confident, she entered that world several tis in secret. But when she finally decided to conquer it, she t unexpected resistance. She could have escaped, but sothing stopped her.
"We should see if she is the kind of person the king is looking for," she heard a small azure fairy whisper.
In that instant, a plan ford in her mind. If she defeated or subjugated the king, that entire territory would fall under her rule. It was an unchangeable rule in Gaia, and it applied even to domains that were not owned by Lords. Although she could not normally defeat soone stronger than the fairies who had already bested her, she believed that with a surprise attack and her full power, she could succeed. And if she failed, she could always escape.
It was a gamble with much to gain and little to lose.
She could only curse her earlier thoughts when everything collapsed, she discovered that the spirit king was, in fact, a Lord. And not just a Lord, but one powerful enough to easily defeat both her and Hayasaka.
To make matters worse, that man even declared he wanted to take advantage of them. Kaguya could only flee, swearing revenge… for about three minutes.
When she asked how he had found her, the man smiled, a gentle gesture that nevertheless sent chills down her spine.
"I just followed the sll of fear."
Normally, Kaguya would have mocked such words, even tried to uncover the truth. But in that mont, to her there was no doubt, it was an absolute fact, and there was no way to escape.
Luckily, and in so way she still does not fully understand, it turned out to be a kind of misunderstanding on her part. He was not seeking to take advantage of them. On the contrary, he recognized her identity and, even more, her intelligence. He said he wanted her by his side not as an ornant, not for her beauty, nor for her identity, but for her abilities. Kaguya was extrely happy when soone of his level acknowledged her, but she managed to contain her emotions so they would not show on her face, surely only Hayasaka would have been able to notice.
As if that was not enough, that man turned out to be the most powerful Lord in the world. With him, her strategy of using force against intelligence beca much simpler. All this made following him not seem like a defeat at all, but rather a benefit. And in fact, it was.
However, she soon discovered that not everything good is perfect. Barely a day had passed before she found a terrible flaw in her new leader. Sothing that could ruin all her future plans. With no other choice, she decided to take matters into her own hands.
[From: Path of the Sword.
Miss Shinigami, I have heard about your situation, your Ranking disappeared, since you are still alive and appearing both in the trade and chat tabs it can only an that soone defeated and subordinated you.
With your ability, there are very few in the entire server who could achieve such a feat, not only that but according to so witnesses your subterritory is intact, which suggests that the fight was extrely easy for your opponent.
Although it may sound bold of , I will assu that your new leader is Lord Lucifer, and of course I will also assu that you are not happy with your current situation, so I have a proposal for you.
If you wish to cooperate with US1, simply reply to this ssage]
"This will be useful," said Kaguya, a cold smile drawn on her face.
______________________________________
15 chapters in advance on Patreon.
p-atreon/IAM26
(just delete the hyphen)
80 power stones = 1 extra chapter (cumulative)
The Caged Bird Seal is a Naruto seal that forces the secondary branches of the Hyuga clan to obey all orders from the main branch without any right or way to refuse.
Here, when it says "US," it refers to the word itself, since it is in uppercase to specify that it is a group, not the abbreviation for the United States.
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