My thought after was far more concise.
Could I take him?
My mind filtered through what I knew about primordial gods in general in an instant.
Unfortunately, that's not a lot.
Nyx and Erebus are the only two primordials that I could recall from the light novels, and both could basically be described as simply supped-up versions of your normal god.
Stronger divine aura, stronger powers based upon whatever they're the gods of, the usual.
Nyx also had her virgin killer clothes, but somehow, I doubt I'll have to worry about anything like that popping up against me.
So then, what does that mean for Umashiashiku - hnn, nope.
…Umashiashie - ugh, damn it!
Umashiashiskabab - FUCK.
Yeah, okay, nope, never mind, fuck that. Umashia, it is!
So then, what does that mean for Umashia, here?
I have absolutely no idea.
It's not like the guy is talked about all that much! Nowadays, it's Inari and my mother! When it comes to Shinto, it's them they talk about!
These guys? Sure, they made everything, but even in mythology, that's basically all they do! Hell, they didn't even make Japan; they made people - Izanagi and Izanami - to do that for them!
I didn't even know the names of the guys up top, much less when they were the gods of or even what they do! They just aren't that popular!
But, judging by the build on this guy, I don't think I need to be able to sense his energy to tell he's strong.
Just from looks alone, he's giving me Vasco Strada vibes. The guy is quite possibly a whole head or three taller than me, and looks like he could pick me up with one hand and use me as a sword.
On instinct, I found myself taking a single step back, an arm coming to wrap around my mother and hold her tight as my other tensed.
Ready to draw. Ready to fight.
Umashia gave a rumbling chuckle and held up his hands, placatingly, "Please, peace, young sun." His smile never faltered, not even for a second, "I have not come to fight, nor pass judgment from the upper heavens. Merely converse. That is all."
My head tilted slightly, doubt clear across my face, as I began slowly, "Converse about…what?"
The god's arms dropped back to his sides. "A few things." He replied plainly, yet vaguely.
My eyes narrowed pointedly up at him.
He merely gave me a 'what-can-ya-do?' shrug back.
Well, if there's one thing I can say about this guy with almost utmost certainty, it's that this is either the chillest primordial god in creation, or he's trying far too hard to portray himself as such.
Either way…I probably won't get abruptly punched in the face.
Probably. Unless I start something.
Which I might, if I don't particularly like what he has to say.
"Is this," I huff, pausing to look down at Ama for a second, "supposed to be a private conversation, or no?"
His eyes glance down at her for a moment, and at last, his smile shifts.
It was still a smile, and it was only for a moment, but it became more consoling. Almost pitying.
After a moment of that, it returned to normal, and his eyes met mine once again, "We would rather it be, but it is not required."
We? There, that is again. That's not the first time he's talked like that.
Which is odd, especially because he's referred to himself alone before, on more than one occasion.
Hmm, is this guy speaking for the other big guys upstairs, or am I dealing with some sort of divine hive mind right now?
Please, me, don't let it be a divine hive mind!
Putting that terrifying thought aside, I caress Ama's back and think carefully about where I want to go from here.
If a fight does break out, I know she'd help in a heartbeat. Despite her current stillness, if there's anything that'd get her moving again, it'd be someone close to her being in danger.
Can't say the odds would increase, if at all, with her around, though.
Not that she's deadweight or anything, but there's a difference between a primordial god and a chief god, a gap I can't even fathom she'd have a chance of crossing.
For a second, Vidar, with his artificial World Tree-backed Sacred Gear, flashes through my mind.
…A gap I can't fathom she'd have a chance of crossing, right now.
But that's food for later.
For right now?
My hand moves from her back, up to her head, where I lay it.
"I'll be back in your room in a bit, okay?" I inform her softly.
She doesn't move her head or even say anything, because I don't give her the chance to.
A golden pillar of light flashes from my hand, and said statue of a goddess clinging to me is abruptly gone, vanished into the fading light.
Ah, I'm definitely going to get a mouthful about that later, aren't I?
Oh well.
Umashia nods, looking pleased as he begins again, "Not that we have anything against her, of course. But we know all we need to know about her." He leans forward, toward me, his eyes flickering with a pure white glow, "Yet…we know nothing about you, Akaruhiruotoko Okami."
So that's what they want, huh?
"Noriaki," I respond on instinct, my spine tingling with discomfort all the while.
The primordial god blinks, his head tilting in what looks like genuine confusion, "...Pardon?"
"Noriaki," I grunt again, whilst starting to walk around him: all the while, his eyes never left me, his head following me as I moved in an almost robotic-like manner, "that's my name," I pushed on, resisting the urge to give even the slightest inclination that I'm unnerved, "Noriaki Kusanagi. You can call me Kusanagi-san, Lord Kusanagi, Noriaki, or just Nori, or anything really, as long as it comes from that. I don't particularly care."
By the time I had walked around him and into the throne room proper, he had completely turned around.
He hummed and nodded his head, "Noted…Noriaki Kusanagi."
I almost bristled at that. Almost.
Instead, I waved him to follow before heading deeper into the throne room.
I know I didn't technically need it, but having a cushion to sit down on rather than standing in a doorway would make any conversation far comfortable and easier to bear.
Thankfully, despite my not being here for long, I already had an inkling of an idea as to where I could find some!
Behind the Throne.
Yeah, I know my mother. I know Uzume. I can almost hear the 'just toss 'em behind the throne, we'll deal with them later' command she'd order whoever's job it is to pick them up.
Or just Uzume tossed them back there. Either works.
Surprisingly enough, as I stepped onto the raised platform holding the Takamagahara's version, or rather, it'd perhaps be more accurate to call it the original, Chrysanthemum Throne, I didn't feel any special power or something emanating.
Nope, just a throne. A big chair. A pretty big fancy chair.
It was nice, bright scarlet red, embroidered with gold like any proper throne should, and was wide enough that small people - like my mother - could probably lie across it head to feet and use it as a makeshift bed.
Pitch black curtains and sliding doors are in place along the edge of the raised dais, though at present they were all left open.
I didn't snoop any more than I had to, only long enough to find the fancy sitting cushions piled behind the throne, and snatch a pair up before darting out of there.
I promptly tossed them to the ground before the dais and took a seat without any fanfare.
Without mentioning it at all, Umashia did the same across from me, settling onto the cushion on his knees.
"Alright then, Umashia," I waved to him, "what'd you, or I guess the Kotoamatsukami, want to know about me specifically?"
"Much." He gave the simplest reply, "But, let's start with what's of the most vital importance." He pointed toward me, lackadaisically, his hand upside down, "What do you plan on doing, Noriaki Kusanagi?"
…Out of everything that he could have asked, that's what it is? Seriously?
I bite the inside of my cheek, suppressing showing my annoyance, before carefully replying, "I'm pretty sure you don't mean to ask what I'm going to do normally. As in, go back home, screw my girls, train, all that jazz…" I pause, but not even seeing him flinch from my words, I continue, "So, what? You guys think I've got some big project I'm working on that's going to shake up the Shinto? The other pantheons?"
Umashia tilts his head, "Do you?" He asks, clearly.
"Not at the moment, no." I deny, "Right now? I'm just kind of going with the flow of time. Seeing where it takes me next. No plans."
No preparations for what could come next.
Well, not like I need to prepare anything specific for the ExE. Thirty years, I can handle it, all that.
Surprisingly, Umashia nods his head, "I see. It is as we expected, then."
Wha?
"You have been very reactive to events happening around you as of late." He continues without prompting, "This is what we have observed. Hearing that you have no plans, that you 'go with the flow' as it were, lines up. Excellent, for us." All of a sudden, his smile turns almost sad, "Although I must admonish the waste of youthful energy."
Am I lowkey being told by a primordial god to go touch grass?
What in the fuck is my life right now?
I didn't know how exactly to respond to that, so I ended up just sort of staring at the guy, mouth halfway open like I was trying to form a reply and stopped in the middle of it.
Umashia waved me off with an amused smile, "Worry not. This is not a judgment, merely an observation. Now, as for the next article of conversation…" He continued, unabated, asking, "You are Arahitogami, are you not?"
I blinked, bewildered, "I, yes?" I answered, not unsure of myself, but to that entire question.
"Fascinating." Was his response, a genuine wonder creeping into his tone as he spoke, "I'm not sure if you're aware, Noriaki Kusanagi, but there haven't been many like you within the history of us. In fact, there's only been one other." He inclined his head toward me, waiting for an answer to the obvious unasked question.
"I'm aware, yeah. The guy you all sent down to unite Japan, right?" I answer surely, recalling Inari's words from months ago.
Umashia nodded, satisfied, "Correct. Jimmu. Though through the Omikami, he was far more removed from her than you are now."
Right, he was born from her grandson.
Hmm. My mother has grandkids. I have brothers and sisters. I'm an uncle.
Technically. Through my mother's very convoluted side of the family.
Huh. That's not a revelation I thought I'd make today.
Still, though, this is nice and all…
"I know all of this," I wave him off in turn, "where are you going with this, exactly?"
Somehow, someway, the god's smile grew wider.
"Originally, an existence like yours was considered impossible." He went on explaining, "It takes a peculiar type of human to breed with a god, or any divine being. This especially applies to kami."
Unless you're Greek, in which case, if you have a booty at all, you better watch out.
Holy me, I wish I could say that out loud right now.
"Purity is of the utmost value." Umashia continues, unaware of my frankly impure thoughts, "In a physical and spiritual sense. Such things were rare back then, and they still are now. Jimmu…was a miracle. You may as well be an impossibility."
I don't like the way he said that.
"As such, if not even the Central Master could predict the potential and power Jimmu could hold, then what hope could we have to know you?" Umashia finishes with a tilt of his head.
Ah.
Honestly, I was half expecting him to ask for a brawl right at the end there.
I'm kind of glad he didn't, but, at the same time…
Do I want to box a primordial god?
If said god couldn't kill me, then why yes. Yes, I would.
…Man, I might really be a bit hopeless, aren't I?
"Well," I start, shrugging my shoulders a bit, "there is one way of figuring that out."
Umashia raised an eyebrow, "Truly? Is it so simple?"
"Yes, actually." I confirm, a bit of a smile creeping onto my face, "That's assuming we have a place we can fight in that one tear at the seam from our power being shown."
Umashia blinked, and at long last, his nigh ever-present gentle and soft facial expression cracked at long last.
Shocking a primordial god in one sentence wasn't on my bingo card of things I expected to happen so soon after arriving here.
What's more? Even that didn't last long.
Being the overachiever I am apparently, he didn't just go back to his face from before.
No. Umashia grinned. Grinned so wide it easily looked like it'd hurt. It was stretchy and unnatural, as though the guy wearing it didn't know how to properly do the expression.
"Such a field," he began anew, an undertone of trepidation and borderline excitement underneath every word, "can be arranged."
I blinked, taken aback, but before I could open my mouth again to speak…
He was gone.
Not a whisper of light, a flicker of anything, a trace of life. Nothing. Zero.
It was like I was talking to a ghost.
He didn't even leave an impression on the cushion he was sitting on, despite the guy being way too large for it!
I sat there for a moment before looking back and forth, around the now-empty throne room, sans myself.
"Uh. Okay." I uttered, yet despite the whisper, it felt like it echoed. "Good talk then."
I can't say I'm looking forward to the next one, though.
~ A New Sun ~
You know, for being so small, I'm actually pretty shocked at how well Ama can shake someone a head or two over her.
"WHY. WOULD. YOU. DO. THAT!?" She shouts in pure and utter exasperation, each word punctuated by a rapid shake of my body.
Yeah, she's got me by the collar with both her hands.
Huh. So this is how it feels?
At least I'm not making a stupid face or something, and there's no point in trying to speak like this anyway, any words I try will just be jumbled by the movement, or cut off by her regardless.
Besides us, Uzume, still very much underdressed for this, is looking between us, her hand occasionally coming out, but it's quickly pulled back each time in indecision.
She looks like she wants to say something, but can't even begin to decide what that something should be.
Ah, well. I think I've let Ama have her fun, anyhow.
My hands come up, grasping her wrists amidst another jolt, stopping me midway through it.
I send her the blankest of stares, before at last answering, "Because it was the best way to answer him…them? Something like that."
"That's! Hnnn!" Ama groaned, like she just caught the greatest migraine in the world, "No, no! Just because they don't know how powerful you are, doesn't mean you should fight them to show them! You don't do that! Nobody just does that! You'll die!"
"Nah, I'd win," I reply, definitely and totally serious.
"NORI," Ama exclaimed, dangerously quiet.
"What?" I continued, before admitting, "Sure, I probably won't win…maybe. Though I hope I do. The point is, I doubt they'd try to kill me or something. I suggested it, and he agreed. It's not like I challenged him to a duel to the death or something."
Finally, yet slowly, Ama let me go, weakly stepping back as I let go of her wrists in turn.
"See, it's more, just…" She groaned again, this time more pained, "It's more complicated than that." She grasped her head, "It's not what they'll do during it that I'm worried about too much, it's the after."
"What are they gonna do after? Render, 'judgement' or whatever?" I rub my chin, "The guy kept bringing that up, that he wasn't there to do so."
Ama shivered at that.
At last, Uzume entered the conversation.
"Should they will it," she began, "anything can be made possible, or impossible. That's what their judgment is."
Well. That's not cryptic as hell.
"I'm going to need more specifics here, Uzume." I sigh.
Uzume actually pouts at that, "Anything under the purview," she continues once again, this time slightly more sassy, "is theirs to control. Our power, the divine power we all have? It originates from them. They have the ultimate authority over us all."
Okay, I really don't like the way that sounds.
My eyes narrow at that, and a frown stretches across my face, "They can order me around all they want, that doesn't-"
Uzume put a hand on my shoulder, stopping me, "I know what you're going to say. It does. Their judgment isn't something you can ignore. It's a binding within your being, your power, itself." She puts a hand to her chest, "Ama can order me away all she wants, but there isn't anything stopping me from coming back. If they do it? I can't. Physically. Spiritually. However. It's absolute."
What the fuck.
"T-They don't," Ama chimed in, voice soft, "use it very often. And it requires most of the Kotoamatsukami to enforce, so it's not like one of them can just do it."
"But there's no resisting it." Uzume shrugs, more than a little nonchalant. "I was one of the lucky ones, ya know? Due to being a bit of both Earthly and Heavenly Kami, when the realms were divided by their judgment, I got to be able to go between both."
By their…?
My head immediately turned toward Ama, who instantly wilted under my gaze.
"Hey now!" Uzume called, patting me on the back, "I dunno what you're thinking, but while they order it from her…Ama definitely fumbled the bag there."
Ama's gaze snapped toward Uzume in sheer and utter betrayal as she cried out, "Excuse me!?"
Uzume, slowly, stepped behind me, before continuing unabated, "Well, it's true! How many times did you have to send Heavenly Kami down to quell," she paused, dramatically clearing her throat, "unreeest~?"
Despite Uzume's way of saying that, Ama flinches like she just got slapped.
Meanwhile, all the while, I watch on, expression blank.
Internally? Susan would be awed by the storm brewing.
I just learned I have a hook in my soul to a bunch of primordials who could literally agree, 'hey, you can't go have sex with cat girls anymore,' and I'd have to obey.
Apparently, without resistance. Apparently, it's absolute. Nothing can be done.
I call bullshit.
I'm going to punch them. I'm going to cut them into ribbons if they even try to utter the words 'you may not!'
I refuse to be chained! In any way! Fuck that!
Ama goes to open her mouth again-
I step forward, more in the center, between the two goddesses. Both my arms raised, and both hands darting out, landing on either goddess's shoulders.
"Now now," I begin, tone clipped, seething underneath, "you're both very pretty-"
"Aww~! I know!" Uzume chimes in with a sexy little smirk.
"R~Really?" Ama chimes in, uncertain, but blushing.
"But." I push through them both, "I have something important to do now. So, we can talk about who fucked up what and how bad later. If it matters. At all. Because the past is in the past and I don't care about it right now." I grit my teeth, "I care more about a bunch of pricks above the clouds deciding what I can and can't do. So." I roll my shoulders and take a breath, my hands sliding off both goddesses' shoulders.
Generally speaking, in this world, hax-related abilities have a very simple counter.
Hell, it's a counter that works on most sorts of abilities that don't just damage you.
That counter? Power. Simply be stronger than whoever is trying to trap, ensnare, or order you around.
I'm thinking I might need a few new, stronger punching bags.
"Your strongest Kami. I don't care who they are - besides you, mother." I look at her, pointedly, before concluding, "Bring them all to me."