Disclaimer: I own nothing, this is purely a fanfic for enjoyment.
Cross-over from various games, books, anime, manga, and movies.
The familiar characters you see here belong to their respected authors and owners.
"Speech"
Time*
Chapter 66: A Long Walk
5 minutes later*
"Chikao, why are we running away from school?!" Momoyo shouted right next to my ear, her voice nearly deafening as I carried her over my shoulder and sprinted down the street opposite from the school.
"Because the moment you told me my family came for a visit, I knew they had probably followed you to find me. Normally, I'd assume they'd have tracked me down already... actually, now I think about it. I did kill someone right before you showed up. And they were trying to kill me first, so I returned the favor. Either way, I don't think sticking around to greet my family after years of not contacting them is a great idea." I explained to Momoyo.
I slowed only for a second—long enough to take in my surroundings and feel my stomach drop.
Somehow, despite opening the Traveler's Door to escape, I had ended up back inside the school infirmary. The exact room I had been trying to run away from.
Right, I forgot about the Right Glove of Traveling's negative effect.
"How did we come back here?! You didn't even come through the door or the window!" Momoyo screamed in disbelief, twisting around on my shoulder. "In fact, I'm pretty sure we came from the ceiling! How is that possible?!"
Hm. It seems like there is a slight difference between using the Teleportation Charms and the Right Glove of Traveling.
"That would be one of my things I'd made with a curse to cause me to randomly appear literally anywhere but completely out of my control, and doesn't follow normal logic." I said calmly.
To reassure her or maybe to redirect her panic, I gave her a light pat on the butt.
Momoyo froze instantly atop my shoulder, going rigid like someone had flipped a switch.
"Chikao... you better hope there won't be anyone showing up in the next hours..." Momoyo growled dangerously, sliding out of my grip. A heartbeat later, she repositioned herself so she was sitting on my shoulders, her thighs wrapped over them, her hands gripping my head like she was preparing for battle. Or strangling. Or both.
I sweatdrop, I really haven't realized just how honest Momoyo's body is sometimes, Even a simple tap on her butt was enough to make her, has caused her to become aroused.
I take a step forward, using the Right Glove of Traveling to slip into the Spirit World, intending to head straight to Momoyo's bedroom. Instead, the world twisted, only to find ourselves materialized in an open area by a riverside, across from what was unmistakably an airport.
Not far from us stood a brown-haired teenager surrounded by a group of delinquents, all beaten senseless and sprawled across the ground. One of them weakly croaked something that sounded like his name: Oga, and told him to go die.
Oga responded by snapping the boy's legs like dry twigs, prompting the entire group to freeze in horror.
Ah, I just realized this is the scene of chapter 1 of the manga Beelzebub. The iconic introduction of Tatsumi Oga, the main male protagonist. First-year student at Ishiyama High School.
"Everybody kneel before me." Tatsumi grinned, devilish and smug.
The beaten delinquents immediately scrambled and dropped into perfect dogeza, trembling under his presence.
"I don't know why, but I feel like punching that guy." Momoyo muttered flatly—so flat it actually surprised me. I didn't think she was capable of sounding bored about violence.
"Well, you could go punch the guy if you want. No one is going to stop you." I replied, watching Tatsumi grab another teenager upside down by the legs. He dunked the poor kid into the river like a mop, holding him down by the torso.
"I don't feel like moving where I am right now." Momoyo answered. "So, are we just going to keep watching this mess, or are you going to take me somewhere else, Chikao?"
Her thighs squeezed lightly against my neck, whether intentional or unconscious, I had no clue, but it did make it harder to concentrate.
I didn't say anything and took a step forward, using the Right Glove of Traveling once more, and this time, I ended up in someone's bedroom. A girl's bedroom, judging by the decor—pastel colors, plush toys, makeup trays, and a faint scent of floral perfume. Oddly enough, I felt a vague, uncomfortable sense of deja vu, though I couldn't place why.
The door suddenly swung open.
A teenage girl stepped inside, her face was dazzlingly beautiful, and she had a curvy figure wrapped in nothing but a towel. Straight black hair clung to her shoulders, her skin still glistening with droplets.
Her eyes widened.
"Cousin Chikao?! Is that you?! It's me, Thea!" Thea squealed with genuine excitement. "It's been years since I last saw you! Also, is that the Kawakami Clan's heiress?!"
A quick switch to the Paragon Pathway to use the Recall ability to help me figure out who this 'cousin' of mine could be, then I feel a headache upon discovering that Thea is Dreamspeaker, one of the main protagonists introduced in the Spy Classroom series. Also, a spy specializing in seduction and who could stare into someone's eyes for three seconds uninterrupted, she can see their deepest desire.
Switching back to the previous Pathway. Without saying a word, I dug into my left pocket, retrieved a small gray pellet, and let it fall.
A burst of white smoke flooded the room.
Using the cover of the smokescreen, I activated the Right Glove of Traveling again to reattempt to reach Momoyo's bedroom once more.
I look around, suppressing the urge to sigh loudly as I reach Momoyo's bedroom unsuccessfully.
Somehow, we have appeared on the rooftop of Ishiyama High School, wind whipping at our clothes.
"I think there is a reason why we keep coming back here." as she finally slid off my shoulders. She dropped into a backflip, transitioned smoothly into a handstand, then flipped again to land on her feet with casual perfection. Stretching her arms overhead. "This is the second time your supernatural power dumped us back to school."
"Yeah, I'm beginning to think the same thing." I said slowly as my Spirituality picked up on something valuable around the rooftop, but I have no idea what it could be. "Wait a second, block the door for me. I got to do something."
Momoyo just nodded, then walked over to the stairwell door and leaned against it like a bouncer waiting for someone to make the wrong move.
I did the necessary steps to perform the Luck Enhancement Ritual to enter the Sefirah Castle.
I sweatdrop in seeing one of the crimson stars begin flashing, actually, I see two pulsing.
A quick tap on my laptop's keyboard to lock onto those two, checking who those belong to as my screen splits into two to let me see both at the same time.
On the left screen stood a tall young woman—voluptuous, striking, and impossible to mistake. She had long, dark-blue hair cascading all the way to her waist and golden eyes with slitted pupils that gave her an almost predatory charm. Her outfit was… provocative, to put it mildly. An open white button-down shirt tied beneath her breasts, showcasing the full expanse of her cleavage and her toned midriff. A short blue skirt trimmed with two yellow stripes clung to her hips, with a matching jacket tied around her waist. A collar circled her right thigh like some kind of accessory or claim.
Black strapped heels. Painted nails. Belly-button piercing. Earrings. Bracelets. Necklace. Hair clip. Enough cosmetics and jewelry to rival a runway model—or a very confident delinquent.
My left eyelid twitched.
Seeing Kagamiin Kyoka, daughter of Ryoko, as well as one of the female characters in Dragon Rioting. And now that I think about it, Tachibana Rintaro was also from that same series.
I continue to stare at Kyoka, where she is kneeling before an altar, praying. At first, it seemed normal until my eyes caught the emblem on the portrait she was praying to. There, I see a portrait with a very, extremely familiar symbol. An icy-blue emblem: The central shape resembles an anchor, surrounding it are ornamental, flame-like or wave-like patterns, forming a crest or sigil. This is the Tyrant Pathway's symbol.
I am in disbelief, but I held the urge to perform a Computational Divination as I looked over to the right side of the screen, and I am in even more disbelief upon seeing who it is.
There, inside what looked like a coffin, lay Ciel Phantomhive, staring with empty eyes, and I noticed he didn't bear a Faustian contract seal on his right eye. No seal. No mark of Sebastian's claim.
I narrow my eyes, I tapped the keyboard several times, running quick filters and pulling whatever data I could without provoking backlash.
The corner of my mouth twitched in irritation.
Kyoka dreaming of the Tyrant Pathway's symbol made absolutely no sense. It shouldn't be possible under any normal circumstances. Yet there it was, clear as day, burned into her subconscious and now displayed on my screen.
And the worst part?
I couldn't dig any deeper. Every attempt hit a wall.
Still… based on what I could see—her temperament, her nature, her raw physical intensity—Kyoka would be a disturbingly good fit for the Tyrant Pathway, whether as a Beyonder or a Boon Recipient.
Which was not a comforting realization.
As for the other one…
The true Ciel Phantomhive—the elder twin. The same one who was supposed to be dead in Kuroshitsuji, yet here he was, staring blankly from inside a coffin while undergoing the final steps into becoming a perfect Bizarre Doll.
Unlike with Kyoka, I see no Pathway's symbol anywhere near him. Yet I strongly doubted that meant he had no connection.
Tapping on the table, then entered the required commands on the keyboard, and both crimson stars burst and arrived before me, Kyoka and Ciel. Both are seated in the chairs marked with a glowing symbol of the Pathway they are tied to on the back. Neither could see them, but I can through the Sefirah Castle.
Kyroka, of course, is sitting in the chair with the symbol of the Tyrant Pathway. Yet, it's Ciel that gave me a surprise. Here, I thought he would have a tie to the Death Pathway, but instead, it's the Sun Pathway.
"Greetings to the two of you. I am the Lord of Mysteries. I have brought you two for an experiment." My voice echoed throughout the Sefirah Castle, layered with the authority of countless unseen truths. I channel the power of the Cards of Blasphemy and Sefirah Castle to surge forth, releasing a crushing pressure that pins Kyoka and Ciel in place. Neither could speak. Neither could resist.
I would rather not have another Osaragi incident.
"Here is what is going on. I am going to grant you powers beyond anything a human could ever conceive. Rejoice—because you two shall walk the path of blasphemy." I said as the Card of Tyrant and Sun appear above the two, then I bless them with the chosen Pathway to turn them into a Boon Recipient.
Like the previous times, both of them convulsed, choked, and trembled—pain tearing through their bodies like molten metal forced into fragile vessels. Which is quite something, because Ciel's past wasn't pain-free either. Not when he and his younger brother had to deal with those cultists.
"Ah, I nearly forgot. I should do this to save myself some problems." I mutter to myself as I tap onto my keyboard and inject the bare minimum basic knowledge of what's going on, including the honorific name to use to pray to me and what they have become, along with their abilities, straight into their minds.
Once that's done, I sent them back. I have no time to deal with them for the time being, but I am willing to continue changing people's future away from their canon route as much as possible. After all, I do want to become a mastermind behind the scenes.
"Actually, how many Boon Recipients have I made so far...?" I mutter under my breath as I begin counting.
Mai—my Boon Recipient of the Demoness Pathway. Honestly, in hindsight, the Abyss Pathway would've suited her far better. The personality match, the temperament, the inherent contradictions—all of it lined up perfectly. I'd have to revisit that one… eventually.
Osaragi is the Boon Recipient of the Hanged Man Pathway. I definitely needed to speak with her. Preferably soon. And preferably before she caused me more headaches.
Kyoka and Ciel are the recent ones, which makes it a total of 4 Boon Recipients I have created.
Damn, at this rate, I might have to search for other key members to join this nameless organization I'm developing.
"I wonder if I should recreate the Tarot Club?" I shake my head as I would rather think about something more unique for myself and those part of this organization of mine. "Arcana Life will be the name."