Hold over Myriad of Worlds

When the sun rose, I moved to the Palace and prepared an anti-hangover breakfast. After serving it to the girls, I also sat down, and we started eating.

-"From the brilliance on your face, I can see that you succeeded in what you wished for, Tingyun."

-"Yes, thank you, boss."

-"I'll be sure to utilize your enthusiasm."

-"Are you going to arrange everything with Chaldea today?"

-"Yes, but you'll have to accompany me for some time, Yue."

-"Leave it to me."

-"Oh, right! Guys! March told me that they received some kind of message from other Nameless. It was made with a method to signal an emergency, and they decided to go there."

-"Do you know more details, Elysia?"

-"Yes, the place where that message is from is Penacony. And their invitation is at the same time as ours!"

-"Hmm... It's starting to get interesting."

-"Sigh. We will help them if they are in need, but don't tell them about our plans to be there."

-"Ay, ay!"

Our meal ended, and everybody went to do thier tasks. I followed Ningguang and Nobunaga to Kyoto. We three sat inside the old imperial Palace in the city and waited for others to arrive.

We plan to talk with two groups of people today, Chaldea and Youkai. After the last battle, our strength became unquestioned, and we agreed to draft an official agreement on how we would coexist with Youkai.

While I was having family banter with Ningguang and Nobunaga, everybody else arrived.

-"I'm sorry to interrupt, but can we get this done with?"

-"Tamamo, I know we started on the wrong foot, but can you stop with this animosity?"

-"Bah! Why should I do so? Your tree almost destroyed the reverse side of Kyoto!"

-"But it also ensures that mystery stops disappearing. Thanks to that, Yōkai won't be weakening anymore."

-"Grrr. I hate that you are right, stupid fox!"

-"Another title get."

-"Let's get to the main point."-Ningguang started.-"From now on, the whole of Japan is under the direct control of Hold. No farce can oppose us after we claim the power of the World Tree."

Ninggunag looked at Yōkai representatives.

-"We wish to treat Yōkai as another race equal to humans on our territory. In exchange, we will establish laws to protect both groups. Yōkai will become citizens and will have the same rights as humans. Is this agreeable?"

-"I don't mind that but know that Yōkai are not a united group. Around half of our population lives in mountains and forests, living almost feral lives, not to mention those ghosts and monsters that don't possess enough intelligence to be considered sentient."-spoken purple-haired Oni.

-"Wait a moment, I still don't know your name. Can you introduce yourself finally?"

-"Ah, Yue, I thought you wouldn't ask, just call me Shuten-douji."

-"Shuten it is then. We plan to establish protected zones in certain mountains and forests where Yōkai would be able to live freely. Every reverse side realm will also be given more freedom to allow more chaotic beings to live more freely. But you will be obliged to make sure Yōkai under your jurisdiction doesn't harm others."

-"Do you plan to cut our horns too?!! We are born from evil and chaos! We are not a weak, peaceful race like you!"-Shouted Yellow Oni, sitting next to Shuten.

-"Oh, believe me, we don't plan to shackle you. This is where my second proposition comes in. Nobunaga, do you mind filling them in?"

-"You are Ibaraki-douji, right? I'm Nobunaga, Principle of Domination, responsible for war. I want to invite you to become general and lead Oni into battle. What do you think about that?"

-"War? Whom are we to fight?"-Ibaraki was instantly hooked up.

-"Opponents of Hold. There will be countless more opponents to conquer in the future. Many of them strong."

-"Me and my Hyakki Yagyō are always happy to fight a good fight!"

-"Then welcome aboard."

-"As Ibaraki agreed, I won't oppose joining you."-Shuten followed her friend's decision.-"But allow me not to involve myself in that whole war thing."

-"I want to invite you to Avarice. While you don't care about money, your eloquence and negotiation skills will be most useful here."

-"Hmm... You are Ningguang, right? Please take care of me then."

I looked at the remaining Yōkai present.

-"What about you?"

-"I don't care much. I'll continue to open my Enma-tei and serve any guest that comes through my door."

-"I plan to follow Lord Husband."-Said Kyohime, whose eyes never left my figure this whole time.

-"While I don't mind getting to know you more, please don't call me that."

She didn't respond to my plea. Deciding to leave her to Jingliu for 'education', I moved my attention to two kitsune.

-"Tamamo, I thought of making you ruler and representative of Yōkai. Along with the Human representative chosen by Nobunaga, you will be responsible for governing Japan."

She looked a little surprised by my proposition and started to think.

-"Good. I'll take you on that offer, but you can't prohibit us from building shrines in Amaterasu's honor."

-"Ok. But you are also not to elevate her beyond Hold."

-"I can agree to this compromise."

Now, only one kitsune was left. She sat there and was thinking.

-"Can you tell us your name?"

-"Ah, sorry. I'm Suzuka Gozen."

-"What do you want to do, Suzuka?"

-"I want to live among humans. Preferably travel to other words."

-"Then how about joining Astral Express crew? They would welcome you in open arms."

-"Astral Express? Hmm... Let me think about it."

In the end, Shuten joined Avarice, Ibaraki joined Domination, Suzuka joined Hope, and both Tamamo and Kyiohime joined Duty. Beni-enma refused to join and left.

Having finished the talk with Yōkai, now came time for Chaldea. This time, I left the whole talk to Ningguang.

-"Roman, you are representative of Chaldea, right?"

-"Yes. I'm a decision-maker."

-"Great. Before we start, I want us to be on the same page about Chaldea integrating into Hold. Is that correct?"

-"We fully intend to join your ranks."

Ningguang nodded and continued.

-"We will divide your organization into three parts. First, will join Progress and continue research. Second, will join Hope and explore new worlds. Third, will join Duty and become either Campions of Hold or take up other official positions. Any questions?"

-"What will happen to our technology?"-Asked da Vinci.

-"We will join the CHALDEAS into the Divination Department that will soon become part of the Ministry of Justice."-I explained.

-"I see. What will be our job after that?"

-"We plan to create technology seeking other worlds similar to what you are doing with parallel worlds here."

Da Vinci nodded and started thinking about something.

-"Any more questions?"

-"Not right now. I want to know more about Hold before we start talking about details."

Ningguang explained how Hold operates and the changes that will soon take place.

-"Party made by someone about to become emperor? Neat!"-Musashi was the first to react.-"I already traveled some timelines here, so count me in. Exploring other words is something I wished to do."

-"That Nobunaga is marring... The emperor, nonetheless... I'm dreaming..."

-"Kenshin, don't worry. My bed will always have a place for you."

-"..."

Deciding to ignore those two friends, I continued listening to the talk between Ningguang and Roman. They clashed about some nitty-bitty aspects of the contracts, but overall, it went well.

-"Then Chaldea from now is officially part of Hold. Both Roman and da Vinci will join Progress, taking with them research personnel. Meanwhile, Chaldea's Masters will join Hope."

-"Yes, or the first task will be to locate those lost during the betrayal of Lev Lainur and bring them back."-Confirmed Roman.

-"Welcome aboard."-Ningguang shook hands with Roman.

-"Then time for you guys. Anyone wants to leave?"-Nobunaga was the one who started talking to past Heroic Spirits.

-"As I stated before, I want to join you guys to travel to other worlds."

-"I'm also interested in travel."-Said a samurai named Sakamoto Ryouma.

-"I would rather find a quiet place to build a dojo."

-"Sasaki don't be such bore."

-"Sory Musashi, I'm more interested in sake and polishing my technique."

-"We have some people who occasionally train others, Jingliu, for example."-I spoke to Sasaki Kojirou.

-"Hmm... that swordswoman with ice stord. I'll have to compare my techniques with her."

-"What about the rest of you?"

-"I want to join Duty."-Okita Souji raised her hand while speaking.-"All that I'm good at is fighting, so please take care of me."

-"I'll follow sister Okita."-Timidly said Saika Magoichi.

-"I want to follow that woman who fought me during our battles."-Spoke emotionlessly Katou Danzou.

-"Then you'll follow me to Domination. Yelan will be happy to have someone capable under her."

-"I was once Prince of Lanling and led countless soldiers to battle. I believe that my experience can be of assistance to you, Lady Nobunaga."

-"Yes, we are in need of generals, so you are more than welcome."

-"Only three of you haven't come to any decision, Tomoe, Minamoto, and Jeanne. What are you thinking about?"

-"Lord, I want to follow you, but I'm afraid that my Oni nature brings you trouble."-Spoken softly white-haired woman-"I already failed my previous Lord, leaving regret I can not erase. Am I really worthy of another life?"

-"I won't tell you to forget your past. Make it your motivation to move forward."-I looked at Tomoe.-"Don't live as your past self."

-"I'll try, my Lord."-She didn't look convinced by my words.

I decided to introduce her to Sakura and Rin. The sisters would happily adopt that lost woman into their circle. I focused on Minamoto, who decided to speak up.

-"Litle Tomoe, he is not wrong. Past love is painful, but would you rather remember or forget it?"

-"..."

-"See, you already have an answer. If you need someone to speak to, you can come to me."-She showed her motherly smile.-"Yue, I want to join Duty and help all those lost children."

-"I'm sure they will be happy to have someone like you."

She smiled at my answer. Now, only Jeanne was left.

-"Is something wrong, Jeanne?"

-"No. I'm just lost."

-"Then how about you join Duty and become Herald of Hold?"

-"Herald?"

-"Yes, I know that you are conflicted about your faith, but do you think your path is wrong?"

-"No."

-"Then move forward, don't be hanged up on false god, live as you think is right. Isn't that enough?"

She blinked her eyes twice and then took a deep breath.

-"You are right. Then please take care of me."

-"Then I'm happy to welcome you in Hold."

I decided to return to Hold after the talks. The last thing that happened was Nobunaga dragging Kenshin to Domination as general, to which she agreed.

As the date of our vacation was approaching, I decided to start working on cleansing the rest of the Abundance from the Alliance. I have taken the, now expanded by Kiyohime, Tomoe, and Jeanne, Guards with me to ships of Hexafleet.

I was welcomed with great fanfare as news of Yaoshi's death spread some time ago. Getting to work, We started eliminating every last trace of Abundance, returning to Hold only for rest and breakfast.

Kiyohime started behaving gently after Jingliu 'instructed' her, while Tomoe directly became Sakura's and Rin's sister after their meeting. Jeanne was the one with the biggest change though, as after hearing about my origin and actions, she appeared to become one of my leading believers.

We worked together for over a month until the last ship was free from abominations of Abundance. During this time, Ningguang and Nobunaga negotiated with Alliance, and they officially joined the Hold, becoming Hexafleet of Hold.

Each ship will become the headquarters of one of Hold's Knighthoods. Loufu for Cloud Knights, Zhuming for Ember Knights, Xuling for Lapis Knights, Xianzhou for Thunder Knights, and Yaoqing for Ichor Knights, who were created for Yōkai. The last ship, named Yuque, is focused on assisting the first five, currently without knight order in control.

After ending the cleansing, I learned tailoring from Hephaestus and worked on a special project until the day of vacation arrived. The day before that, Astrall Express planned to leave for Penacony. I decided to give them a special communicator to contact me in case of emergency.

As I already knew Aha was involved there, I decided to play it safe. I gathered with the girls on the morning of our departure and gave them special amulets that contained part of my power for self-defense.

-"So what can we expect there?"

-"Penacony is a place where you can live the dream. Literally."

-"Dream?"

-"It would be a shame to ruin the surprise. Just know that no matter what happens, you are in no danger with me."

Girls looked at me with suspicion in their gaze. I shrugged my shoulders at that. We ate our breakfast and moved to my ship, which already is ready for warp jump to Penacony.

Teleporting just outside the entrance to the space station. Finding a place to leave the ship, we entered the Reverie Hotel. We queued before the reception and waited.

-"I expected Penacony to be some kind of planet and not a space station."

-"I'm the same as Astraea. Such a grand hotel, Vill-V would love this style."-Elysia agreed with Astraea

-"Even if this was a planet, its specialty would make it impossible to see much of it."

-"You keep hinting at this specialty. Can't you simply tell what it is?"-Asked Nobunaga.

-"Oh, would you look at that? It's our turn. I'll quickly give our invitations."

Under the narrowed eyes of Nobunaga, I started talking to a receptionist. The invitation I got didn't disclose my identity, and thanks to that, we didn't cause a commotion when entering. Moving to the right floor, we talked before looking for our rooms.

-"In your rooms, you'll find instructions on what to do next. After all is done, we will meet in front of the entrance to the hotel."

-"That far? Well, we will listen to you."

-"Then let's meet on the other side."

Everybody moved to the room they were assigned. Inside each was a giant sea shell, along with instructions on how to use it. It was a tool to enter the dreamscape Penacony was famous for.

I didn't need to use it, though. By simply mobilizing the path of Remembrance, I have much greater control over this place than even its master. Moving into the space where multiple powerful auras could be felt, I arrived in a room where familiar beings were present.

-"Aha, Mythus, Fuli, and Xipe. Long time no see, not with you, Aha." 

~"Haha. Yue, don't be so mean. You accepted my invitation, so don't be tsundere."

~"It indeed was a long time, Yue. I saw what happened to Yaoshi."

-"Xipe, I know that you denounce the Voracity, but..."

~"No, don't worry about that. While indeed I don't like THEM, I know why you did that. You being still you is more important than my aversion."

-"Thank you."-I smiled at my old friend.

~"Just to let you know, Qilpoth was quite angry. THEY won't do much but send someone to 'supervise' you."

~"THEY are so stiff, it was not a big deal."

~"Mythus is right. THEY are a golem after all, HAHA."

-"Aha, please stop. Why did you gather here?"

~"While Xipe and I are here because of memoria, we also want to spectate what Mythus and Aha planned."

-"Spectate, huh? You haven't changed a bit, Fuli."

~"None of us did. We are Aeons, after all. You, on the other hand, finally found what you were looking for."

-"Yes."

~"Then I'm even more interested in what you will show me here."

~"Yue, as an audience, we won't help you, but we won't involve those girls either. So don't worry and show us your best performance!"

-"I'll do and be as I always am. But thanks for your word, Aha."

With these parting words, I descended into Golden Hour.