ABSOLUTE POWER
A Tensura Alternative: The Rise of Yuuki Kagurazaka
Chapter 3: The Devourer of Souls
Damrada entered Yuuki's office with the practiced silence of a master spy, though his expression carried an unusual gravity that immediately caught his superior's attention. The normally composed Head of Cerberus seemed troubled, his weathered features etched with concern.
"Lord Yuuki," Damrada began, closing the door behind him carefully. "I've received disturbing intelligence from our contacts within the Eastern Empire."
Yuuki looked up from the ancient text he'd been studying—a grimoire detailing the properties of spiritual lifeforms—and gestured for Damrada to continue. Since his evolution into a True Saint, he'd noticed that his perception of time had shifted. Moments felt longer, richer with detail, as if the universe itself moved more slowly around him.
"The Empire is in crisis," Damrada said, settling into the chair across from Yuuki's desk. "Emperor Rudra Nam ul Nasca has become... unstable."
"Unstable?" Yuuki's eyes narrowed. "Elaborate."
"Our agents report that the Emperor no longer acts like himself. He gives contradictory orders, displays erratic behavior, and on several occasions has been found staring at nothing, completely unresponsive." Damrada leaned forward. "More concerning is what our inside sources have discovered through divination magic and spiritual analysis."
He paused, as if uncertain how to phrase what came next.
"The current Emperor is an empty shell, Lord Yuuki. There's something possessing the body, but it's not the soul of Rudra Nam ul Nasca. The True Hero's soul is simply... gone."
Yuuki's Enhanced Thought Acceleration kicked in automatically, processing this information through countless permutations. Rudra Nam ul Nasca—legendary Hero, disciple of Veldanava himself, wielder of Ultimate Skills, and undisputed ruler of the world's largest empire for two millennia. If his soul had truly vanished, the implications were staggering.
"When did this change occur?" Yuuki asked carefully.
"Approximately six months ago, according to our intelligence. Whatever is controlling the Emperor's body is maintaining just enough normalcy to prevent widespread panic, but it can't perfectly replicate Rudra's personality or decision-making patterns." Damrada's expression darkened. "The Imperial Court is divided. Some ministers suspect the truth but are too frightened to act. Others believe their Emperor is simply stressed or ill."
"And the succession?"
"In chaos. Rudra never produced an heir—he always claimed he would live forever through reincarnation. Now, with his... condition... various factions are positioning themselves for a potential power vacuum." Damrada pulled out a sheaf of documents. "The Armored Corps, the Court Sorcerers, the Imperial Guard—everyone is making moves. If this continues, the Eastern Empire could descend into civil war."
Yuuki accepted the documents, his mind already racing. This was valuable intelligence, the kind that could be leveraged in countless ways. But something about it felt incomplete, like a puzzle with missing pieces.
"Thank you, Damrada. This is excellent work. Continue monitoring the situation and report any developments immediately."
"Of course, Lord Yuuki." Damrada stood to leave, then hesitated at the door. "There's one more thing. Purely tangential, but... our scouts report that the so-called 'Lightspeed Hero' has been making quite a name for himself in the Western Nations. Masayuki Honjou, a Japanese otherworlder with remarkably good fortune."
The name meant nothing to Yuuki initially, but something in Damrada's tone suggested significance.
"Another summoned hero?" Yuuki asked with feigned disinterest.
"So it appears. He possesses a Unique Skill called Chosen One that brings him unprecedented luck in battle and social situations. He's become quite famous, actually. Some are even calling him the next Legendary Hero."
After Damrada left, Yuuki sat in silence, staring at the closed door.
Rudra's soul missing. A Japanese otherworlder with extraordinary luck appearing around the same time. Chosen One—a skill name that carries weight, significance beyond mere fortune.
His hand moved to the poster on his wall—a collection of wanted notices and hero registrations that Cerberus had accumulated. He pulled one down, studying the image of a young man with dyed blonde hair and an easygoing smile.
Masayuki Honjou. The Lightspeed Hero.
Something clicked in Yuuki's brilliant mind. A hypothesis, wild and audacious, but one that would explain everything.
"Kagali," he called out, and the spectral figure materialized instantly.
"You heard?"
"Every word." Kagali's form flickered with curiosity. "What are you thinking?"
"I'm thinking," Yuuki said slowly, his eyes fixed on Masayuki's image, "that reincarnation is rarely as simple as it seems. And I'm thinking that I need to verify something personally."
He stood, Truth materializing in his hand with a thought. Since becoming a True Saint, the god-grade weapon responded to him with perfect synchronicity, as if it had been waiting for a wielder worthy of its power.
"I'm going to observe this 'Lightspeed Hero' myself. Mammon and Sariel together should allow me to analyze his spiritual composition without alerting him." Yuuki's smile turned predatory. "If my hypothesis is correct, this could change everything."
Three days later, in the Kingdom of Ingracia, Yuuki observed Masayuki Honjou from a carefully concealed position.
The young man was everything the reports claimed—charismatic, lucky to an absurd degree, and completely unaware of the monumental significance he carried. Yuuki watched as Masayuki stumbled into solving a merchant dispute simply by being in the right place at the right time, his Chosen One skill manipulating perception to make him appear wise and heroic.
But Yuuki wasn't interested in the surface performance.
He activated both his Ultimate Skills simultaneously. Greed King Mammon extended invisible tendrils of perception, analyzing the threads of desire and fate that surrounded Masayuki. Hope King Sariel layered on top of that, its authority over life and reincarnation allowing Yuuki to peer into the very essence of the young hero's soul.
And what he found made his breath catch.
The soul within Masayuki Honjou was ancient. Not hundreds of years old—thousands. The spiritual signature was unmistakable, a depth and complexity that could only come from an existence that had lived through millennia, died and reborn countless times, accumulating layer upon layer of karmic weight.
More than that, Yuuki could see the fragments. Like pieces of a shattered mirror slowly reassembling, this soul had been broken apart and scattered across time and space. But here, in Masayuki, they had finally come together. This was the complete soul—every fragment, every shard, unified at last.
And nested within that ancient soul, like treasures waiting to be claimed, were two abilities of staggering significance.
Unique Skill: Chosen One
Yuuki recognized it immediately. Not just any hero's skill, but the original—the prototype from which all other hero abilities descended. This was the skill that Veldanava himself had granted to his chosen disciple, the ability that had allowed a mortal to stand alongside gods.
But even that paled in comparison to what else resided within Masayuki's soul.
The Chosen Hero's Egg
Yuuki's analytical mind, augmented by his Ultimate Skills, processed what this meant. Hero's Eggs were rare spiritual constructs that could evolve into Ultimate Skills under the right conditions. But this—this—was THE Chosen Hero's Egg. The singular, unique instance that only one being in all of existence had ever possessed.
Rudra Nam ul Nasca.
The Emperor. The Legend. Veldanava's disciple.
This wasn't just a reincarnation. This was the perfect reincarnation. The final vessel containing every fragment of Rudra's soul, assembled completely for the first time in two thousand years.
And the memories, the personality, the knowledge—all of it was dormant. Sealed away by the mechanics of reincarnation, leaving Masayuki as a blank slate, unaware of the cosmic significance of his existence.
Yuuki withdrew his observation carefully, making sure not to alert Masayuki or trigger any defensive mechanisms within the Chosen One skill. His mind was already racing through the implications, calculating possibilities with his Enhanced Thought Acceleration.
If I possess Rudra's complete soul, stripped of its memories and personality, I could claim to be his reincarnation. By spiritual hierarchy, by the laws of this world itself, I would have legitimate claim to the Eastern Empire. To his legacy. To everything he built across two millennia.
It was ambitious. Audacious. Monstrous.
It was perfect.
But there were complications. Masayuki was beloved, protected by his Chosen One skill's probability manipulation. Simply attacking him would likely result in unforeseen complications. And if word got out about what Yuuki was attempting, every major power in the world would move to stop him or claim Masayuki for themselves.
Velgrynd, Rudra's lover, was still searching for his soul fragments across dimensions. If she discovered that they had all converged in Masayuki, she would protect him with the full might of a True Dragon.
The Eastern Empire's factions would war over him once they realized his identity.
Even Rimuru might intervene, despite their new enmity, simply because Masayuki was another Japanese otherworlder.
I need to act fast. Tonight. Before anyone else realizes what's walking around in that young man's soul.
Yuuki returned to his office and immediately began preparations. This wasn't a operation he could delegate to Cerberus agents. This required personal involvement, absolute secrecy, and flawless execution.
He spread out maps of Ingracia, identifying Masayuki's current location—a modest inn in the merchant quarter. The young hero's companions would be with him, but Yuuki's Ultimate Skills made stealth trivial. Mammon could manipulate desires to make people overlook him, and Sariel's authority over life allowed him to suppress his presence to the point of near-invisibility to spiritual detection.
"You're really going to do this," Kagali said, manifesting beside him. It wasn't a question.
"Yes."
"You're going to kill a Japanese otherworlder. Someone from your original world. Someone who, by all accounts, is genuinely good-hearted and heroic."
Yuuki paused in his preparations, considering the weight of what he was about to do. In his original world, on Earth, such an act would have been unthinkable. But Earth was gone, replaced by this world of magic and monsters where power determined everything.
"I'm not going to kill him," Yuuki said finally. "I'm going to consume his soul, yes. But the person that is Masayuki Honjou—that personality, those memories, that identity—they're already separate from Rudra's essence. In a way, I'll be freeing him from a burden he never asked for."
"That's a rationalization and you know it."
"Perhaps." Yuuki's expression hardened. "But I stopped caring about moral philosophy the day my parents died. This world respects only one thing: absolute power. And Rudra's complete soul, combined with Chosen One and the Chosen Hero's Egg, will give me the foundation to claim that power."
He checked his equipment one final time. Truth hung at his side, Mammon and Sariel pulsed within his soul, and his Creator skill stood ready to be deployed.
"Creator," Yuuki whispered, feeling the Unique Skill respond. "Tonight, you'll help me create something unprecedented. A skill specifically designed to devour souls completely. I'll call it... Soul Consumption."
Kagali was silent for a long moment. "You've changed so much since acquiring Mammon. Since betraying Rimuru. It's like you've shed every last pretense of humanity."
"I've shed every weakness," Yuuki corrected. "Humanity, in this world, is a liability. Only power matters. Only results count. And by tomorrow morning, I'll have taken another step toward absolute dominion."
He donned a black cloak that would help conceal him in the darkness and activated Instant Motion, vanishing from his office in a shimmer of distorted space.
Midnight in Ingracia.
Masayuki Honjou slept peacefully in his room at the inn, completely unaware that death—no, something worse than death—stalked toward him.
Yuuki materialized in the hallway outside Masayuki's room, his presence suppressed to absolute zero. Mammon's influence ensured that anyone who might have noticed him simply... didn't. Their desires were subtly redirected, their attention focused elsewhere, creating a bubble of perfect invisibility.
He approached the door. No guards—Masayuki's Chosen One skill apparently convinced everyone that he was too lucky to need protection. The irony wasn't lost on Yuuki.
The lock yielded to a simple application of spatial manipulation, and Yuuki slipped inside.
The room was modest, befitting a hero who genuinely didn't care for luxury. Masayuki lay sprawled on the bed, snoring softly, his Chosen One skill probably ensuring he got the perfect amount of restful sleep.
Yuuki stood over him, Truth materializing silently in his hand. For a brief moment, he felt something that might have been guilt. This young man had done nothing wrong. Had harmed no one. Was, by all accounts, a genuinely good person trying to do his best in a strange new world.
Then Yuuki remembered Rimuru's face when he'd realized the betrayal. Remembered the cold determination he'd felt watching Granbell fall. Remembered every single sacrifice he'd made on his path to power.
Sentiment was weakness.
"I'm sorry," Yuuki whispered, though he wasn't sure if he meant it. "But your existence has become inconvenient to my plans."
He activated both Ultimate Skills simultaneously.
Mammon's tendrils lashed out, wrapping around Masayuki's soul with crushing force. The young hero's eyes snapped open, confusion and fear flooding his expression, but Sariel was already working—its authority over life and the reincarnation cycle allowing Yuuki to sever the connection between Masayuki's consciousness and his ability to resist.
"Wha—" Masayuki tried to speak, tried to activate Chosen One's defensive abilities, but Yuuki was too fast, too powerful, too absolutely merciless.
"Steal," Yuuki intoned, and Mammon's power surged.
The sensation was indescribable. Rudra's complete soul, two thousand years of accumulated karma and power, began to flow out of Masayuki and into Yuuki. The Chosen One skill tried to resist, tried to manipulate probability to save its host, but Mammon's greed was absolute—it could claim anything it desired, and Yuuki's desire for this power exceeded any defensive mechanism.
Masayuki's mouth opened in a soundless scream as his very essence was ripped away. The Chosen Hero's Egg came next, that singular spiritual construct that represented the pinnacle of heroic potential. Then the Unique Skill itself, that legendary ability granted by Veldanava.
All of it poured into Yuuki like water into a bottomless well.
But Yuuki wasn't done. He couldn't simply absorb Rudra's soul as it was—the memories, the personality, the ancient consciousness would overwhelm him, potentially taking over his body entirely. He needed the power without the risk.
That's where Hope King Sariel's true authority came into play.
"Sariel," Yuuki commanded, his voice resonating with Ultimate Skill authority. "Strip this soul of all memories, experiences, and awareness. Reduce it to its purest essence. Erase every trace of personality, every fragment of identity, until only the fundamental spiritual energy remains."
The Ultimate Skill responded, its power over the cycle of life and reincarnation allowing it to do what should have been impossible. Yuuki watched—or rather, felt—as two millennia of experiences were systematically deleted. Rudra's love for Velgrynd, erased. His friendship with Veldanava, gone. His conquests, his failures, his triumphs, his sorrows—all of it stripped away like layers being peeled from an onion.
What remained was something terrible in its purity: a soul of immense power, completely blank, devoid of any identity or consciousness. Just raw spiritual energy of the highest possible quality, refined across countless reincarnations, now utterly empty.
A perfect vessel for consumption.
Masayuki's body collapsed on the bed, still breathing but completely soulless. Without his soul, the body would continue living for a short time on pure biological momentum, but it was functionally dead. An empty shell.
Yuuki felt no remorse. Only satisfaction.
"Creator," he said, activating his Unique Skill. "Skill Creation: Soul Consumption."
The new skill manifested instantly, born from Yuuki's genius understanding of spiritual mechanics and empowered by Creator's ability to forge new abilities from pure will and information particles.
Unique Skill: Soul Consumption allowed him to devour souls completely, absorbing not just their power but their very essence into his being. It was similar to Beelzebub's soul-eating capabilities, but more refined, more controlled, designed specifically for total assimilation.
Yuuki activated it immediately.
The purified soul of Rudra Nam ul Nasca flowed into him, and Yuuki gasped as power beyond anything he'd previously experienced flooded his spiritual form. This wasn't like acquiring Mammon or Sariel—this was fundamentally altering the nature of his existence.
By devouring Rudra's complete soul, even stripped of memories, Yuuki was essentially declaring himself the spiritual heir to the legendary Emperor. The laws of this world recognized souls, understood spiritual hierarchy. And those laws would now recognize Yuuki Kagurazaka as possessing the essence of Rudra Nam ul Nasca.
He could claim the Eastern Empire. Could declare himself the reincarnation. And the world itself would be unable to refute it.
But the changes didn't stop there.
Yuuki felt Creator stirring, resonating with the massive influx of spiritual power. The Unique Skill had always been powerful, allowing him to create new skills and abilities at will. But now, infused with the essence of the Chosen Hero, empowered by the consumption of a soul refined across two thousand years...
It began to evolve.
UNIQUE SKILL: CREATOR → ULTIMATE SKILL: CREATION LORD AHURA MAZDA
The transformation was explosive. Yuuki's entire being was engulfed in golden light as Creator transcended its limitations and became something truly divine. He could feel new authorities, new capabilities flooding into his consciousness.
All of Creation: The ability to comprehend and grasp all non-concealed phenomena in the world. Nothing could remain hidden from him unless specifically shielded by Ultimate Skill-level concealment. Every secret, every hidden truth, every mystery of the physical world—all of it was now accessible.
Skill Creation: The primary function that allowed him to create new skills freely, now enhanced to the point where he could forge even Ultimate Skill-equivalent abilities given sufficient time and energy. By manipulating Information Particles and raw magicules, he could manifest any ability he could conceive.
Object and Matter Creation: The power to instantaneously create physical objects, including God Class armaments and weapons. No longer limited to simple tools or basic materials—he could forge artifacts on par with Truth itself.
Life Creation: The ability to recreate biological beings. Not summoning or reanimation, but true creation from nothing. He could forge life itself if he so desired.
Anti-Skill Integration: His original intrinsic ability, now seamlessly woven into Ahura Mazda. Any skill or magic that touched him would be nullified, making him effectively immune to all but the most powerful Ultimate Skills.
Skill Modification & Duplication: The power to disassemble his own skills into pure energy, fuse them with others, or create perfect copies. His mastery over skills had reached its apex.
When the light faded, Yuuki stood transformed. Physically, he looked the same—still trapped in the youthful appearance of his summoning curse. But spiritually, he had become something unprecedented.
A True Saint wielding three Ultimate Skills: Greed King Mammon, Hope King Sariel, and Creation Lord Ahura Mazda.
In his hand, Chosen One manifested as a crystallized skill—no longer Unique rank, but transformed by his consumption into something he could wield independently of its original host. The Chosen Hero's Egg resonated within his soul, waiting for the right moment to hatch into something even greater.
And most importantly, he possessed the spiritual signature of Rudra Nam ul Nasca. To any divination, any analysis, any investigation—he would read as the Emperor's legitimate heir. The world itself would recognize his claim.
"Magnificent," Yuuki breathed, examining his new power with something approaching awe. "Absolutely magnificent."
He looked down at Masayuki's soulless body. There was no satisfaction in the young man's death, no pleasure in the act itself. It had simply been necessary. A stepping stone on the path to absolute power.
"Ahura Mazda: Matter Creation."
The bed and Masayuki's body dissolved into component particles, then reformed into innocuous objects—a vase, some books, random furnishings. To anyone investigating, it would appear that Masayuki had simply vanished. No blood, no violence, no evidence.
Yuuki planted false memories in the minds of the inn's staff using Mammon's desire manipulation—vague recollections of Masayuki leaving early in the morning for a urgent heroic mission. By the time anyone realized he was truly missing, Yuuki would be long gone.
Back in his office in Ingracia, Yuuki sat in darkness, examining the three Ultimate Skills that now resided within his soul. They formed a perfect trinity:
Mammon - Greed, desire, the power to claim and possess anything.
Sariel - Hope, life, authority over the cycle of reincarnation itself.
Ahura Mazda - Creation, understanding, the ability to forge reality itself according to his will.
Together, they made him something that shouldn't exist. A human who had transcended mortality, a Saint who wielded godlike power, a genius who could now reshape the world according to his vision.
"Kagali," he called, and the spectral figure appeared with obvious trepidation.
"It's done, then."
"Yes." Yuuki stood, walking to his window to gaze out over Ingracia. "Masayuki Honjou is gone. Only the shell remains, and even that has been erased. As far as the world is concerned, the Lightspeed Hero has simply vanished."
"And his companions?"
"Will search for him, mourn him, eventually move on. Such is the nature of loss." Yuuki's reflection in the window glass showed no emotion, only cold calculation. "I'm leaving Ingracia for a while. A... retreat, let's call it. I need time to fully integrate these new abilities, to understand the depths of Ahura Mazda's power."
"What about Cerberus?"
"You'll manage operations in my absence. Damrada and the others can handle day-to-day activities." Yuuki turned from the window. "But before I leave, I need you to dispatch cleanup teams. Anyone who might have seen Masayuki recently, anyone who could connect his disappearance to my movements—eliminate them. Not obviously, but thoroughly. I can't have loose ends."
Kagali looked disturbed. "You're talking about killing potentially dozens of innocent people."
"I'm talking about ensuring my plans aren't compromised by witnesses." Yuuki's voice carried absolute certainty. "Innocent is a relative term, Kagali. Everyone has sins, everyone has desires that compromise their innocence. I'm simply... expediting their inevitable ends."
The logic was twisted, monstrous, but delivered with such calm rationality that it somehow made a horrific kind of sense.
"One more thing," Yuuki added, pulling out a sealed document. "After you've completed the cleanup, disseminate this information through our networks in the Eastern Empire. Anonymous, untraceable, but credible."
Kagali took the document and read it, their spectral form flickering with shock. "You're... you're claiming to be Rudra's reincarnation? Already?"
"Not claiming. Revealing." Yuuki's smile was sharp. "I possess his complete soul, stripped of memory but carrying his full spiritual signature. By every law of this world, every principle of spiritual hierarchy, I am his reincarnation now. The Empire is in chaos, leaderless, ripe for a unifying figure. Why wait?"
"Velgrynd will know it's a lie."
"Will she?" Yuuki's eyes gleamed. "She's been searching for Rudra's soul fragments across dimensions for two thousand years. She knows they were scattered, incomplete. When she senses a complete soul bearing Rudra's signature, what will she think? That he's finally been reborn? That all the fragments have converged at last?"
He walked closer to Kagali, his presence somehow more imposing despite his diminutive physical stature. "I've planned this perfectly. The timing, the execution, the aftermath—all of it calculated to the smallest detail. By the time anyone realizes what's actually happened, I'll have consolidated too much power to challenge."
"You've become a monster," Kagali whispered.
"No," Yuuki corrected gently. "I've become what this world demands. A force of absolute will, unconstrained by morality or sentiment. And I'm going to use that to reshape everything."
He returned to his desk, already planning his next moves. The Eastern Empire would need to be approached carefully. He couldn't simply march up and declare himself Emperor—that would invite immediate scrutiny. But he could maneuver, manipulate, use Mammon to influence key figures and Ahura Mazda to create evidence of his legitimacy.
Within a year, maybe less, he would sit on the throne of the world's greatest empire.
And from that position of supreme authority, he could begin the real work: reshaping this world into the perfect society he'd envisioned since his parents' death. A world where power was distributed according to merit, where suffering was eliminated through absolute control, where chaos and randomness were replaced by order and purpose.
His vision. His world. His absolute dominion.
"Begin the cleanup operations tonight," Yuuki ordered Kagali. "I leave for my retreat at dawn. By the time I return, I want every trace of evidence eliminated and the rumors about Rudra's reincarnation spreading through the Empire like wildfire."
Kagali hesitated, then nodded slowly. "As you command, Lord Yuuki."
After they left, Yuuki allowed himself a moment of honest reflection. He'd just committed an act of such profound evil that even he recognized its monstrosity. He'd stolen a young man's soul, erased his existence, and claimed his spiritual heritage for personal gain.
And he felt... nothing.
No guilt. No remorse. No hesitation about what he'd done.
Just cold satisfaction at a plan executed perfectly.
"Rimuru Tempest," Yuuki whispered to the darkness. "You showed me that power trumps everything in this world. Thank you for that lesson. Because now, with three Ultimate Skills and the spiritual authority of a legendary Emperor, I've taken another step toward surpassing you."
He clenched his fist, feeling the power of Ahura Mazda flow through him. "Soon, I'll claim the Eastern Empire. Then I'll gather more power, more skills, more authority. And when we meet again..."
His smile widened into something terrible.
"You'll realize you created a monster far worse than anything Clayman could have ever been."
Outside, the moon hung low and red over Ingracia, as if the heavens themselves mourned the terrible deed that had been committed this night.
But Yuuki Kagurazaka didn't look at the sky.
He was too busy planning his next move, calculating his next acquisition, preparing for the next step in his inexorable march toward absolute power.
The Age of Heroes was ending.
The Age of Yuuki was beginning.
And the world would never be the same.
END OF CHAPTER 3
To be continued...