THE CURSED GAMER

Chapter 439: Beast of Apocalypse 

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After spending some time together, Neji decided to bring Momo home.

Home for them was the place where the rest of the first harem stayed, they came to accept that term out of desperation back when they were in the Arcane Plane. So home right now was the castle temple in Jerusalem.

They left behind the hell-turned-heaven, the barren lands that were now a garden, and traveled out of this dimension. With his Dimensional Travel Skill, they popped out into the human world.

Neji managed to teleport right above the mountain of Jerusalem. Momo stayed by his side, his left arm around her waist.

"Nice place," she said. "Too heavenly for my taste, though. Can you make it a little dark? Like fiery?"

"Looks like you picked up some peculiar 'taste' in the last millennium," he said with a wave of his hand as the gentle blue sky turned orange, with clouds catching on unending fire. "Good enough?"

"For now," she nudged closer to him. "I was joking, you didn't have to. Thanks."

The "thanks" meant she didn't want him to revert it. So he kept the changes and lowered them from the sky.

They dropped into the front yard, and as they could see from the sky, the girls were gathered there with another Neji. Nobody was inside the mansion, even Tiamat who was busy getting 'educated' earlier was free after she agreed to join his cause. All of them were in the front yard with Neji-1.

All eyes turned to Neji-2 and Momo. The Phoenix raised an eyebrow at the other Neji and then at the one beside her. "You sent a clone to fetch me?"

"Not a clone, it's Omnipresence. I'm God, remember?" Neji quickly cleared his throat as Neji-2 disappeared into nothing less.

"I suppose," Momo narrowed her eyes but then shrugged. She turned to the others in the area. She didn't recognize anyone from there, other than two of them.

Rumi Usagiyama and Ryuko Tatsuma.

While she didn't know Rumi much before their time in the Arcane Plane, she knew Ryukyu. Momo had joined her internship along with Nejire, so they went back. But ultimately, the three of them got closer to the Arcane Plane. It had been a long time since they saw each other.

"Hey," Momo waved at them with a small smile, as the two women walked over to her.

"Momo…" Rumi's expression went soft.

"You seem different." It was odd for the cold Lion King Artoria to say, though now she managed a smile. She didn't mean that in a negative way.

"Yeah, I, uh," Momo tried to stay calm, but her facial expression crumbled once again. "Many things happened, you know? Enough to change some stuff."

The two women were older than her in the past, and perhaps even now if they counted their respective bodies' memories too. Momo was the youngest girl of their little family, someone they pampered. So she felt at ease, relaxing, as she found herself in their arms with her eyes once again brawling out tears.

Neji stood to the side with a smile and decided not to meddle in their hug. The other, newer females found the situation oddly heartwarming. They stared at the girls with a smile, while Quetzalcoatl was smiling at Neji. That woman was odd.

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A few days passed with little action. The World War was halted when the [Admin], God, stepped in to stop humanity from dragging themselves to extinction.

That angered a few Gods since they were leading many countries in this war, but they didn't have the guts to mess with him after what they saw in the stream. Neji had single-handedly stopped the Gods and even let the cowards flee if they hadn't attacked him. So the other Gods and even humans knew he wouldn't attack if they didn't do it first. So, to survive, they didn't stop Neji from stopping the war.

Since Neji promised the Son of Man to not harm humanity, he was extending that promise to keep them safe too.

The War stopped and millions converted since their lives were saved. However, Neji's Inheritance didn't grow much. Since he was so much closer to completion, it felt a little frustrating to grow so slowly. 

He wondered what would allow him to overcome this adversary. Did he have to go claim Michael? Azazel? Or should he fight some major Gods? He was unsure.

Unsure as he was, he decided to seek help from one of his ally factions.

"First of all, we are not 'allies'. We simply share a neutral relationship." Amaterasu, the Goddess Queen of Shinto, told him in a matter-of-fact voice. 

Neji smiled, "How harsh of you, dearest Sun Goddess. Here I thought you'd come running to hug me as to welcome me. But I am glad you sent no Gods from Shinto in that little raid, otherwise I doubt we'd have stayed neutral."

They sat in two couches, in a heavenly space with golden haze and stars around them. Amaterasu sat alone with three Gods standing behind her, while Neji sat with three girls by his side and nobody behind.

Momo, Rumi, and Ryukyu sat beside him and gave him a shake of head. 

"That's why it was a wise decision on my part. A few hot-blooded Gods from Shinto wanted to go there, but I stopped them. I judged it won't end well and I was right." The Sun Goddess replied.

"Mhm," Neji hummed, his eyes scanning over her. "By the way, are you taken?"

"..." She sighed. "I didn't take you for the flirtatious type the last time we met, Mister Admin." Amaterasu said, her eyes narrow. "And you're even with your dear wives. They don't mind?"

"Why must a God have limits on how many wives he can have?" Neji shrugged.

"It's somewhat amusing," Momo replied, representing all three of them. "And we are simply used to it, I suppose. His sister is the one who really got annoyed by his flirting. I'd prefer him all for myself, but oh well, I am already compromising so why not a little more? But really, I don't mind since the bond we share is much deeper than the mere attraction he may feel toward the 'appearance' of other women. Such as you."

"I see," Amaterasu looked at Momo. "On that note, it seems to be true that the Biblical God and the Demon Phoenix are in love. Odd days we are having to see."

"It must be odd, yes, if I think about it," Rumi yawned and said. "Anyways, can we finish here already, Neji? It's been a while but the talk is going nowhere."

"Let them talk in peace, Rumi." Ryukyu insisted.

"Seriously, Goddess, we are not here with any animosity in mind. We love Japan, all of us are Japanese." Neji leaned forward a little and said. "If we had bad intentions… I don't think the entirety of Shinto could stop us."

"What?! You dare, you-" Yatagarasu, the Crow God, yelled from behind Amaterasu but she raised a hand and sighed.

"I don't believe that. Some Gods are stronger than even I in our pantheon. But yes, we will indeed suffer great losses even if we win. However, that does not mean we would give you anything if you ask for something outrageous. So state what you really want from us."

"It's just simple information, geez," Neji shook his head at her. Then he fell silent and his expression went serious. "Suppose you died. But humanity doesn't know that. So they keep praying to Amaterasu. A few years later a new Amaterasu is born, but that being doesn't have most of the old one's powers. But over time the being regains the powers. However she doesn't regain those powers by sitting around, she needs to do a lot of things to regain it. At one point, the synchronization of power slows down, in that case, what must she do?"

"You could have just used yourself as the example," Amaterasu stared at him dryly with her golden eyes. 

She opened her mouth to explain, to answer his question. The Gods behind her leaned to her ears quickly to ask her if it was wise to advise him, but Amaterasu waved them off. 

She looked at Neji and continued, "If you are having trouble regaining your old powers, it must be because you are so different from the original God. He was not a Dragon, for one. He was not a flirt, for another. So I guess the changes slow down the inheritance. It's not that you won't regain it, but it will be slow. If you want to fasten it, I suppose you have to do something that the previous God tried but couldn't do. You have to succeed him like that."

"Hmm," Neji stroked his chin. He looked at Momo and back at Amaterasu. "Given he was an Omnipotent god, there must have been few things he tried and couldn't do. But I do have an idea. Do you two have any?"

""Kill Trihexa,"" the Sun Goddess and the Sun Bird said at the same time. The two ladies locked eyes before looking at Neji. 

Amaterasu explained, "The Biblical God tried to kill that Beast of Apocalypse with all his heart, and failed. In the end, he resorted to sealing the beast instead. All this time we thought he paid a large sum of his power to seal that beast and was unseen from the public eyes because he was resting but now we know that he died doing that. Even the strongest destruction God, Shiva, can't defeat Trihexa. It is a conceptual being destined to destroy the world, it's not supposed to be killed. But if you can kill it… well, there you have it. It will complete your inheritance."

She added, "But I don't suggest you do it. Do you have your memories now? You must remember how badly you lost. Even if you're stronger now, it's not a good thing. The world will be destroyed if you clash the beast on equal footing."

"I see," Neji grumbled, while the girls beside him scowled.

"Yes," Amaterasu nodded, closing her eyes and raising a sleeve to cover her mouth elegantly. "So just take it slow. Let the inheritance complete itself. There is no rush. It's not like Trihexa is here anyway-"

A deafening roar of anguish and doom interrupted Amaterasu. All of them looked around, but the sound came from nowhere but everywhere at the same time. This was a pocket dimension, there shouldn't be a distance far enough for the roar to come from, but it did. It came from the end of the world, the edge of the planet.

The harrowing roar of an apocalyptic beast reverberated through the very core of existence. Everything shook, thousands of humans fell on their faces and died with blood coming from their ears and eyes, and the Shinto Gods trembled on their knees. The roar tore through the fabric of reality, a sound so profound that it shook the very foundations of the world, a primal scream that echoed with the finality of the end times.

"Hah," Neji let out his willpower to cover the area, to protect it from the scream. He looked at Amaterasu with a shrug. "Speak of the devil, someone poked Trihexa out of its slumber. Guess I'll try your solution, and I'll try not to destroy the world."

He said, and with a snap of his finger, vanished with his girls. The four of them swam through space and rushed to where the roar came from. It was the strongest beast in this reality, equalling Great Red, who was stronger than the Tier 65 Ophis who Neji was keeping inside his Gate.

However, if it was the only fast solution, he was going to try exactly that.

The Apocalypse Beast must meet its end.

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