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After having arrived at the Aquarius Archipelago, the first thing Drake did was save Coral, one of the old friends of his daughters, and also one of the boys he had helped back then on his first visit to the island. The soldiers that had tried to capture him and kill him were still frozen in time, unable to move an inch. This was an advanced, stronger version than his Freezing Time technique that targets specific foes and locks them into frozen time. If they're too weak to resist they could stay like that for years.
Instead of simply slaughtering them outright, Drake had decided to keep them alive, waving his hands as he heard Coral speak while using his Psychic Powers to read their minds, quickly beginning to see disjointed images, amidst darkness. This darkness was making it hard for him to read their minds, some sort of protection placed by a powerful being.
"Huh, so they got a pretty strong protector, can't do that easily…"
Drake was frustrated, maybe if he devoured their souls he could gain some more information about who these soldiers were, but well, he was already learning a lot from Coral alone.
"After the earthquake, a whole land appeared out of nowhere, and then we heard the roars of soldiers and beasts…" Coral muttered. "Out of nowhere, a huge army stepped in the middle of our city, even though we had plenty of soldiers, we were caught off-guard…"
"So they planned this?" Benladann wondered. "That crack was an accident caused by our battle against Chaos, but the way Coral says it… it feels like those soldiers were already preparing themselves for it. What's the meaning of this?"
"Hm, you're right, it feels weird, it was an accident and yet they were prepared to take advantage of it?" Drake wondered, rubbing his beard. "I believe there's something odd about this. Maybe those of this world… I believe this is Zipangu, judging by their attire, right Yuki? Well, maybe these people have some sort of Oracle? A Seer? Someone that can see or predict the future… Oda Nobunaga, that monster conquered a whole world, so it's not that hard to guess he might have employed such forces and prepared for the moment his world would finally connect to ours."
"Actually, from what I remember…" Yuki muttered. "Well, there's plenty of Gods that were allied with Susanoo when he betrayed my… my previous incarnation, Amaterasu I mean. And it's obvious he's working with Oda Nobunaga, who's the vessel of the Demon King of the Sixth Heaven."
"You mean that we're going to fight the whole pantheon of Zipangu?!" Miranda asked, panicking. "Ain't no way this is going to end nice and pretty, is it?"
"They're formidably strong beings…" Yuki sighed. "After all, Amaterasu was also a reincarnated soul of the same caliber as Chaos or Pandemonium that also was summoned back then. Her powerful Unique Skill created Zipangu and all the Gods. As they were created from such a Primordial Power… yes."
"Y-You know about the world where these people are coming from?" Coral was shocked. "Wait, so its another world and not another country or something?!"
"Sort of," Drake nodded. "But that's as much as we know, Coral. Tell us more, what happened afterwards?"
"We fought back with Rose, the Queen, the Princess, the Priestess and Triton… we did our best, we were pretty strong, we've been training this entire time after all!" Coral said. "But even then, although we could go against their soldiers… there was one man we couldn't beat, and he singlehandedly stopped us."
"A single man? Is this the only person leading this army?" Drake asked.
"No… I think there's someone else…" muttered Coral. "But that man… I stole one of his weapons, this! He wears pitch black armor that looks like a black scarab and wields a myriad black spears. His aura… was like nothing I had ever seen in this world; it was neither divine nor demonic… something wicked in between."
"This spear…?" Drake's eyes shone brightly as he held the pitch-black spear. "This is not a normal spear, a Naginata, huh?"
"Indeed…" Suddenly, Belle appeared next to Drake in her small pink fox form, she had a lot of knowledge from her mother and creator, an original inhabitant of Zipangu. "It is a weapon from Zipangu."
"Do you know what this man's name is? and where is he right now?" Drake asked.
"Since he arrived that he took over the castle… H-He's been planning something, he put a bunch of people on concentration camps, and he's forcing them to do painful things, he's experimenting with them, alongside those wicked sorcerers!" Coral said. "Rose and I, and a few orphans and other people we rescued, we've been hiding in the underwater temple, those abandoned ruins where Lady Sapphire lived before we found her, and where Aquarius' Soul and Body was sealed."
"I see, that seems like a safe place to hide, well done, you've done well until now, son," Drake smiled, patting his shoulders. "We should go there and met everyone else to help them out, I bet not everyone is fine, right?"
"T-There's a strange disease people is catching, it makes them grow pale, and they grow black and red tattoos around their bodies… a few have already died," Coral muttered. "I think those people… that's not just a disease; it's like a curse they carry! And its lethal to most people…"
"A curse…?" Drake wondered, glancing at Yuki and Belle, although both girls didn't know about that. "Hmmm, alright, let's go to that temple first."
Coral nodded, jumping into the ocean as Drake's family followed him, although he remained behind, glancing at the castle.
It had been remodeled, resembling a huge Japanese Castle in construction now…
His gaze sharply pierced through all things, as he saw him, his aura.
RUMBLE!
A black flame of immense size and power.
And this wasn't even Oda Nobunaga himself, but one of his Generals…
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