NOVEL WEB Chapter 24: Jashin gets checked.
Jashin flew across the destroyed cliffside from the force of the blow, crashing into a distant hill and turning it into rubble. I immediately charged after him, taking to the air in an instant.
THIEF
It was the first word I spoke to him, he responded by throwing some sort of blood orb at me that exploded. It burned, it was the first time that I felt pain in my godly body.
It didn't damage me, it burned away my divinity with his own, a battle of attrition then.
DP:22634 -> 22119
"Whelp, you think you can beat me?! ME?!" He screamed out as we collided, exchanging blows that could shatter skyscrapers in a rain of light and blood.
"I am the First Murderer! The Lord of Slaughter! You think a newborn like you is worthy of-"
I headbutted him, cutting off whatever stupid speech he was about to give. He was strong, I will admit that, but he should have been stronger, if he was as old as he proclaimed to be, he should be handling me like a grown adult handles a particularly spirited puppy.
That's what happened when you encouraged your faithful to murder anything that moved.
But I didn't want to make this a slugfest, too wasteful, and I wasn't certain I had enough power to win, so I am going to lay a trap.
I materialized a meteorite as far in the sky as I could, infused with as much divinity as I could, hiding it from sight within the starry sky. Jashin didn't let me stand still, though, and manifested an appropriately sized scythe of blood and attacked.
DP:22134 -> 19414
I allowed him to stab me through the heart with it, which hurt like a bitch, but it also allowed me to hold on to him.
I looked up, causing Jashin to follow my line of sight, tightening my grip as he tried to dodge away.
He struggled against my grip desperately, but it was too late.
Just before the meteorite hit, I quickly returned to my divine realm, deliberately leaving a way for him to follow, he tried to go back to his realm, but that was still full of my divinity, so I used it to block him off.
He could have cleared my divinity out of his realm in a few seconds, it was his realm after all, but he didn't have the time.
He had no choice, either he got hit by the meteorite or he followed me.
We both materialized in my realm of stars, Jashin looked around in panic before screaming in anger at me, guess he knew that he was fucked now.
DP:19134 -> 18262
FOOLISH, SHORT-SIGHTED
PERISH KNOWING YOU ARE UNMOURNED AND UNLOVED
I declared, manifesting chains around him.
Jashin thrashed against the bindings wildly, tearing some apart. But I just kept making more and more until he couldn't move anymore.
DP:18262 -> 12943
Then I manifested a star around him, strong enough to erase him, he burned away slowly, each layer of skin melting into the next.
He desperately tried to escape, but I didn't let him, any attempt to return to the mortal world was blocked, any attempt to go back to his realm was denied, any broken chain was replaced by two more.
DP:12943 -> 4212
Until eventually, after minutes of screaming, there was nothing left.
Jashin was dead. Suck it fucker, who's a newborn now?
His divinity melted away into nothingness, my own increasing just slightly from his stolen blessings.
Now, then, to clean up countless years of sacrificed souls.
I used my divinity still left inside his realm to let all the trapped souls pass on.
Countless lost souls washed through me, more than I thought possible, even if Jashin wasn't that active, there was always at least one insane follower, but this went beyond that...
I let thousands upon thousands of souls pass through the Pure Lands, guiding them to their rest.
Some of the first that I saw were familiar to me, the three Initiates that were killed by Hidan, their souls only a little bit weaker than they should be.
I fixed them as much as possible before sending them to join the others in the Pure Lands. They deserved a peaceful rest for being my worshipers.
Honestly, how hard is it to not be an awful god?
***
Kakuzu tiredly rowed towards the Land of Fire.
After Hidan rushed into the cave screaming about Jashin's will or something, he had quickly made himself scarce. There was no way he was getting involved in whatever mess his partner started.
So he decided to go after the Jinchūriki by himself, since Hidan was bound to cause a ruckus, might as well use that as a distraction to capture the Jinchūriki.
The fight was a mess, Kakuzu was arrogant, and though he thought he could just handle the situation, the damn slug managed to destroy two of his hearts. He got a lucky break when the giant star person dropped from the sky, that distracted the Jinchūriki for long enough that he was able to use a combination of Lightning and Water Release to trap him inside an electrified whirlpool.
That evened the fight, but it quickly turned into a stalemate, he expected Jinchūriki to be strong and fast, not... this...
It was like fighting a mochi monster from hell, it kept stretching and shooting acid at him.
Just as he was about to run away, a giant meteor crashed down from the sky, destroying his Water and Lightning hearts in the process.
When he emerged from his hole in the ground on the edge of the crater, he found the Jinchūriki unconscious, apparently having been hit by the meteor as well. Well, that was fortunate for him...
So here he was now, rowing with a sack full of Jinchūriki, and all his hearts but Earth gone.
He touched his ring and channelled Chakra into in, waiting for Pain's response. Hopefully, he would send someone to reinforce him, a single Jōnin could potentially overwhelm him in his current state.
Honestly, fuck Wave.
***
Kakashi frowned under his mask, they had arrived in Wave yesterday, but things quickly became confusing. It seemed that there was a battle between the Order of The Watcher and some unknown assailants, which ended in a small earthquake.
His meeting with the High Priestess was delayed due to said chaos, and when he met her... Well...
"I'm not sure what you are talking about." He denied instantly. "I came here to talk about diplomacy, not whatever you accuse me of."
The woman raised an eyebrow. "Then leave, Wave has no interest in playing dishonest games, we know you were the one spying on us, Zabuza fought you himself."
There was only so much he could do to deny it, if he tried too hard, then he would be caught lying again.
"Zabuza is a notorious criminal wanted in many countries," Kakashi said carefully. He should have guessed this meeting would go sideways. "It was my duty at the time to investigate him."
"Do you make a habit of hunting criminals in foreign nations without giving them a warning?" The High Priestess asked sceptically.
"Wave did not have a government at the time." He argued back. "How was I supposed to inform anyone?"
"While I admit that the whole of wave was not under the control of the Order at the time, the area where you fought Zabuza was inside the territory of the Capital City." She countered easily. "Which was already under our control and authority."
She really was playing hard ball, wasn't she?
"Hatake Kakashi," She started with a sigh. "Konoha was caught spying on Wave, we are willing to forgive that if you admit your wrongdoings, but we will not deal with your village if you keep lying to us."
Damn it, he really wasn't cut out for diplomacy.
"I cannot apologize for doing my job, but I am sorry if the results were less than favorable." He tried to be as diplomatic as possible, though his tone still came off as stiff.
The High Priestess was about to reply when the door to the meeting room slammed open, and a woman wearing simple clothes ran in, looking satisfied.
"Haruka, I finished Interrogating the Hunter-Nins! They were hunting the Jinchūriki-" She cut herself off upon seeing Kakashi. "...Oh! I didn't know you had guests!"
Kakashi stared at her for a long moment, his mind processing what she said.
"I'll come back later then!" The woman declared happily before skipping away.
The High Priestess sighed loudly, and rubbed the bridge of her nose.
"Sorry about that, Hikari is enthusiastic about her job," Haruka explained. "She gets excited easily."
"That's fine..." Kakashi muttered, was that purposely done? To show Konoha that they could repel a team of Hunter-Nin strong enough to fight a Jinchūriki? And also that they had a Jinchūriki in the country?
Was it a lie? To make Wave seem stronger than they are? Was it a genuine mistake? Why did the High Priestess have to be such a good actor?
The whole looking underneath the underneath was much more annoying when he had to make sure the other party was friendly.
His headache was getting worse already.
Honestly, fuck Wave.