Chapter 39: Return
The unpleasant smell of rotting flesh permeates the air.
I sit there, on the cracked earth of my own making, staring at the quickly decomposing corpse of the Vermillion Bird. Half of its body had already disappeared, turning into dust. Its feathers are gray and dull, containing not a lick of Divine Energy.
Kagutsuchi had long passed. Or, at least, this fragment of his consciousness did. I'd spent a minute draining what Divine Energy he had left, and the fragment of consciousness disappeared the moment the Vermillion Bird ran out of Divine Energy.
The god had screamed and screeched as I pulled away its strength, and it was…fun. Really fun. Terrifyingly so.
I knew that it shouldn't be fun, that it was me being magically high that was causing my brain to overflow with dopamine, but I couldn't stop myself. I had grinned and joked and laughed as the life faded from the Vermillion Bird's eyes.
Even now, as I sit here, I can feel the throngs of laughter trying to bubble past my lips. I try my best to keep my lips shut, but I can't help the occasional slip here and there.
I quickly shake my head, trying to push away strange, macabre thoughts that keep popping up in my head. It doesn't quite work. The decomposing corpse in front of me isn't helping either.
Naturally, this decomposition is my doing. I needed some way to get rid of the Vermillion Bird's corpse, because my usual method of burning its body won't do anything here. So I settled with a 'Rot' Ofuda, digging it up from the earth below and sticking it onto the Vermillion Bird's head once Kagutsuchi's consciousness had fully disappeared.
Thankfully, the other Divine Beasts don't share its resistance to fire, and so I had a much easier time burning them using a simple 'Fire' Ofuda.
Actually, a lot of things are burning around me. The ruins of houses, the corpses of the people from the five clans, and of the invaders as well. Plumes of smoke rise towards the darkened sky, and ash slowly seeps back into the cracked earth. All to nourish the plants that are slowly growing from the ground.
I won't be leaving this place like this. This area is a little too close to Kyoto for me to leave it in ruins, and so I decided to just overrun the entire place with a forest. Which won't take too much time itself; I'm just waiting for everything else to burn.
The air is uncomfortably warm because of it, but that's a good thing. Anything to try and pull myself out of this haze.
I sit there for several minutes, unmoving, my eyes stuck on the decomposing corpse before me. There's no reason for me to watch the Vermillion Bird so closely, but I just can't help myself. This thing had been my enemy, and now it's dying.
It's a twisted sort of apology, I suppose. The Vermillion Bird itself had done nothing wrong. It was nothing but a vessel to a god. And now it's dead.
Eventually, all but its bones have decomposed, leaving the skeleton of an abnormally large bird sitting before me. It almost looks like it belongs to some ancient dinosaur or something.
I clap my hands together, and a tangle of roots rise from the earth, swallowing the entire skeleton deep into the earth. Not a single bone remains.
And I'm just in time for most of the flames around me to die down. Some carved bricks and stones remain, but it doesn't take much for me to control my roots to drag them beneath, covering them under a few meters of dirt.
After some quick cleaning up, the entire village is gone. Only the cracked earth I stand upon remains; the sole evidence that something very strange had happened here.
Finally, with all the obstacles cleared, I take a deep breath, and I take control of all the plantations hiding beneath the dirt. The world begins trembling again, and suddenly hundreds of trees begin sprouting from the earth. Trunks of wood grow at impossibly fast speeds, growing high and tall as leaves begin sprouting on their branches.
Growing a forest is…surprisingly hard. Not because it actually is, but because my magic-addled brain is doing all it can to convince me to do more. Bigger trees, magical trees, carnivorous plants, and all sorts of wacky things my drunk brain really wants to do.
But I resist. It takes nearly all my might, but I resist.
And eventually, a forest is grown. The trees around me are tall, and the canopy leaves above hide conventional eyes from the darkened skies above. The earth is covered in lush grass and small ferns, giving the perfect space for any fauna to come and make their home here.
I'm not done though. I take another breath, and this time, I begin pulling all the Divine Energy contained in the forest around me. They flow out from the trees and grass and ferns, flowing through the network of roots beneath and back into my body. The forest begins losing some of its unnatural vibrancy.
As I do, I ponder.
I haven't really given it a thought, but my body really is strange. I'm awfully compatible with energies a normal human really shouldn't be with. Primal Energy, Ki, and now Divine Energy. Powers that should normally have remained separate are now working under my domain, contained in this ever evolving body of mine.
And I do mean evolving. Just an hour ago, my body had never met Divine Energy. But now, every cell of my body contains some amount of Divine Energy, storing and manipulating it to further enhance my bodily functions.
Conveniently, my deliberate choice to let myself get injured meant most of my cells had been destroyed, and was later given a chance to be remade differently.
What…does that make me then? I'm certainly not a human anymore, but I'm no god either. What am I? What kind of being can adapt this quickly?
I use my eyes, but nothing comes. And that's perhaps the strangest thing of all. No information, but no stabs of pain either. It's as if there is no information to pull; as if I'm something…new.
It's unsettling, but a little exciting as well, if I'm being honest.
Before long, all the Divine Energy is returned back to me. The forest has definitely lost some of its magical color, but if nothing else, it looks like a normal forest now. It's dark, quiet, and covered in green.
And with that, I begin walking home. I trek through the recently grown forest, waddling past trees and walking on fresh grass. I don't rush; I'm more liable to slam my head into a tree with the headache that's building in my brain.
Eventually, I make it to edge of the 'Isolation' barrier. I walk right through, and I sigh in relief as the sky clears. It's late afternoon by this point, and I have around an hour before evening comes. The barest tint of orange can be seen at the horizon.
I look back at the invisible barrier behind me. I debate over what to do for a moment, before I decide to ultimately leave it to fall on its own. There's no reason to let the world know that something happened just yet.
I continue walking, hiking up the gentle hills and towards a teleportation array, carefully hidden behind a number of rocks. I crouch down, and begin brushing the crushed chalk away. This was the array Akeno used to go back to Kyoto, and I can't leave it here.
It doesn't take long for me to finish. The teleportation array has completely disappeared, and the grass that was torn up to give space has been regrown.
I walk up to one of the rocks, and I lift it up to find a canvas bag. I pick it up, and I smile at the assortment of items inside. A 'Recall' Ofuda, a couple bottles of water, a wrapped sandwich, and a pair of clothes.
That last one is especially important, considering I'm basically naked by this point.
I wear the clothes, and I delight in the familiar feeling of fabric. It's good to finally wear something. Being so exposed in the wilderness isn't a feeling I want to have again.
Sitting down on one of the rocks, I begin eating. I hadn't realized it, but I'm hungry. I'm really glad Akeno managed to convince me to bring a sandwich here. That, and having something in my gut will probably help with the high I'm still feeling.
I chow down on the sandwich, and soon it's gone. I drink, and the two bottles are emptied in seconds.
And I still feel hungry. And thirsty. And tired.
I smile wryly. Considering just what I've done minutes ago, being famished and exhausted is the lightest outcome.
I turn to the forest a distance away, and I stare for a good minute. I made that, I realize. I'd grown an entire forest in minutes. I wonder just how my past self would've reacted if I told him that?
…He would probably believe it, actually. The Eyes of God allows me to see if something's true or not, after all.
I shake the thought away. Time shenanigans can be shelved for a rainy day.
I pull out the 'Recall' Ofuda from the canvas bag, and I take a breath as I stick it onto my chest. The characters begin to glow, and soon a circle of light forms around me as the paper burns away. A feeling of weightlessness takes me, and I close my eyes as I vanish.
When I open my eyes, I'm back in Kyoto, standing in the one open garden I like to frequent. And there, standing before me is Akeno, smiling gently as she sees me appear suddenly.
She steps forward, and I find myself wrapped in a hug. "Welcome back." She whispers into my chest.
I smile and hug back. "Glad to be back."
And just like that, I'm home.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone