Chapter 437: Shinoka Continent 4

Eva shook away these recollections of her family lore. A part of it had been inherited memories from her merger with Amaterasu and the other part was what she had bothered to learn as the so-called prodigy of the Amaterasu Lineage.

Since the lore used in Boundless was the same as the altered mythology passed down on earth, things would be even simpler. Eva could even tell what was going to happen from here.

As such, she cut Nobunaga off and began talking. "After that happened, did Amaterasu enter a phase of seclusion where she denied the continent light for countless days and nights?"

Nobunaga was stunned. "Y-Yes..."

"And she was barely coaxed out by all the other gods, who then punished Susanoo by stripping him of his beloved beard, toenails, and fingernails, then banished him to the sacred ground?"

Nobunaga was beginning to sweat. "H-How..."

Eva simply rubbed her chin thoughtfully. If this was the current timeline, then they had arrived before Susanoo repented and killed the Legendary Serpent Orochi, gaining the Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi sword.

Orochi kept appearing in a certain province to consume the spirit of an innocent princess for his own pleasure. Susanoo would eventually intoxicate Orochi to weaken the beast, then slay him, marrying Princess Kushinada-hime as result and even rise to become the Patron God of Izumo, the province in question.

Of course, this was just the official version passed down in the tales.

Nevertheless, things had happened not too differently from what got passed down. It should be noted that Lucifer and Amaterasu were not like Draco and Eva who had great knowledge about the Inheritances and whatnot. They had pseudo-full access to their power and could manifest their aspects.

That was how Susanoo, Ishtar, The Four Hors.e.m.e.n, and co had come into existence in the real world. They were basically part of Lucifer and Amaterasu, but also independent beings that roamed the world on their own.

The same went for the other High Humans. For example, Pangu manifested Sun Wukong, the Jade Emperor - Shangti, Chang'e, Houyi, and Caishen. These deities all had their own escapades and adventurers on earth that formed a large part of mythology.

In reality, what actually happened was that Orochi came out to play often and at one time found a nice soul in the Izumo province. As the eight-headed serpent was an evil and heartless bastard, he thought of sub-humans as mere trash by the roadside.

Who cared if he bullied this province and consumed that innocent girl? Did she not know life was boring for a mighty and handsome serpent daddy like him? As such, the vile fellow constantly performed his acts of terrorism in that unfortunate province.

One day, that Susanoo fellow passed by looking all repentant and learned. However, Orochi burst into high-pitched laughter and pointed his claw at Susanoo when he saw the bald fellow without any toe- or fingernails because he had been punished by Amaterasu for being troublesome.

Susanoo, infuriated by this mocking, hatched a vile and despicable plan to get revenge on that c.o.c.ky serpent by acting humble and befriending the fellow over the course of a few months.

In the meantime, he introduced many lesser serpents for his new 'brother' to play with, earning him Orochi's favor and goodwill. Eventually, while they were having a drinking contest, Susanoo spiked Orochi's drink with a special substance, rendering the serpent defenseless.

Gleeful, Susanoo happily shat all over Orochi's body while slapping the serpent with his donger as he tittered evilly. Humiliated, Orochi mustered his willpower to retaliate but was cut open by Susanoo's sword, which broke halfway.

He kicked Orochi in anger for being so thick-skinned that he broke his sword, but found that Orochi's anger had created a new blade inside its body from his remnant lifeforce, which he then took as he considered it only prim and proper for that snake bastard to replace his broken weapon.

Coincidentally, some townspeople who were bringing offerings to prevent Orochi from lashing out, saw Susanoo standing over the dead serpent and thought he had felled the beast to end the evil creature's reign. They cheered and raised him up, all the while Susanoo wore an expression of 'what the shit?' as he allowed himself to be carried away.

They praised him as a kind and heroic god for bringing Orochi down. Susanoo, completely lost, played along and laughed uproariously, claiming that he only did what a deity should do.

Impressed by his valor and glamor, the people promptly appointed him as their Patron God, and the tormented girl, the beautiful Kushinada-hime who could even qualify as an aspect of Amaterasu's Celestial Maiden bloodline, fell in love with Susanoo on the spot.

Being made into a Patron God as well as gaining a super beautiful and devoted wife as a result of achieving some petty revenge, Susanoo was feeling pretty good about himself and happily accepted it all without clearing up the misunderstanding.

Laughing uproariously, he returned to the Palace of Amaterasu to spread the tale. He was well-received by the other Gods once they heard what he did and it didn't take long for him to be changed back into a 'good' god.

Life was up for Susanoo. Heck, even in the modern era, many considered him one of the coolest and most OP of Shinto Gods.

As for Orochi, he went from a God Serpent to that snake that was killed heroically by Susanoo. His spirit could not rest easily for suffering such humiliation, so went to report everything to Lucifer.

Infuriated, Lucifer rushed to Amaterasu's palace to demand an explanation. The Sun Goddess, seeing her man so incensed, panicked and tried to soothe him to no avail.

Orochi was not a dog. He had legit been one of the most powerful God Serpents, and there had only been one Orochi in existence. It would cost Lucifer a great amount of power to revive the fellow, so his anger was understandable.

It was akin to a patchwork family where each parent brought their son from their previous marriage and the woman's son beat up the man's son despite them being step-siblings.

Amaterasu, seeing that nothing was cooling down Lucifer's rage except for Susanoo's dog life, which he had come to claim, she gritted her teeth and decided to go all out. She pulled Lucifer closer and whispered something into his ear with a strong blush.

Lucifer - and Orochi's spirit which was hovering behind with an indignant expression - heard what she proposed. Lucifer, the Devil God who controlled all L.u.s.t in the world, wore a red face that showed he was greatly aroused and moved by what Amaterasu had suggested, while Orochi lost his anger as his eyes bulged.

If the spirit could shout, it would likely scream 'Holy shittttttt!' and explode from shock. What he had just heard was the taboo of all taboos, and to picture the benevolent as well as dignified Amaterasu doing such a thing... how could the fellow continue to cause trouble?

In fact, after that incident, Lucifer had always treated Orochi much better than the other God Serpents, not only because he knew a taboo secret but because the fellow's death had allowed Lucifer to experience a whole new world.

When Eva remembered what Amaterasu had suggested and what they had ended up doing, even her face became red. She never knew such a prim and proper Goddess could be such a freak that even the God of S.e.x, Lucifer, would be mindblown.

However, Eva couldn't help but wonder what Draco would do if she suggested the same... and if they tried it, would it feel as good as Amaterasu remembered? Hmm...

Casting her mind away from such lewd thoughts, Eva focused on the stuttering Nobunaga before her, who still could not come to terms with Eva's sharp recollection that had hit the nail on the head so perfectly as if she had been there and seen it all.

Some doubt entered his heart. Was this Eva actually an alternate version of Amaterasu or was it perhaps Amaterasu herself playing a prank? But no, the Supreme Sun Goddess would never stoop so low as to mock her followers like this!

"Let me guess again, after Susanoo was cast out, the previously neutral Storm Empire had become enraged and had joined hands with the Moon Empire to pressure you? Hm, maybe not overtly, because they didn't want to face Amaterasu's wrath directly, but subtly? In the shadows?" Eva mused with a smile.

Now, even the Dragon Guards were shaking. They marveled at the insight and intelligence of Eva.

'Sasuga, Amaterasu-sama!'

Of course, Zaine was utterly non-plussed because she had deduced as much within the first 3 minutes of their conversation, and was already even a few steps ahead. Roma was following along with ease thanks to her Pinnacle Insight, but Hikari wore a big question mark over her head.

Nobunaga simply smiled bitterly and nodded. "Yes, you've pretty much nailed everything on the head. What guidance do you have for us?"

Eva turned to Zaine and nodded. The succubus understood that this was her cue to show why she was considered the brains of their clan and began to speak.

"From what I can tell, you must've been dominating the war with the Moon Empire, perhaps even been on the verge of a decisive victory. This recent addition of the Storm Empire's forces to the Moon Empire has not only erased all the progress you've made, but has even eaten into your own defenses."

"I strongly believe that the Amaterasu of your world has been away from the Empire for a long time unbeknownst to the general populace, fighting her ex-husband Tsukuyomi. That is why neither God has interfered with the battle below, because they are both still battling with each other."

Zaine pointed to the sky and the ground separately. "One in the heavens and one on the earth. In both battles, you were dominating, but as you told us, Amaterasu had been injured or disrupted in some way due to Susanoo's antics, hence she now has the lower hand."

"This reflected in your battle, as you began losing so rapidly that it seemed your previous victories had been a ruse of the enemy. Now, it is you who are on the cusp of defeat, and a final decisive battle is incoming."

Zaine folded her arms in her lap gently. "Did I get anything wrong?"

Nobunaga and the Dragon Guards simply stared at Zaine in horror. If what Eva had done was shocking and impressive, what Zaine had done - to them - was nothing short of sorcery.

Zaine, seeing their reactions, smiled with satisfaction at proving her superior mental acuity. Ever since Draco had praised her mind over her body, she had stopped caring at causing reactions with her physical appearance and preferred achieving the same response with her mental prowess.

Also, for some reason, it felt so much better for her to get recognized in such a manner compared to before. However, Zaine would die before she admitted this to anyone other than Draco.

Seeing her smile, Nobunaga and co understood that it wasn't witchcraft, but rather inhuman deduction and a very high intellect that brought this about. They then remembered that Eva had said about these women being her sister-wives.

Of course, to have such a relationship with Eva, they had to be - at least - outstanding women with no equal. As such, their gaze towards Roma and Hikari became one of curiosity and interest.

But if Nobunaga and his crew thought that Zaine's only strength was her intelligence, they would be shocked by her combat capability, but that was for later. Right now, Eva rose to her feet and said:

"Let's move out."

Nobunaga and the four Dragon Guards all rose to their feet with confused expressions. "Where are we going, Amaterasu-sama?"

Zaine answered in Eva's stead: "To battle of course. Judging by the timeline of events, the Moon Empire and their affiliates should be making a final push for the capital soon."

Right at that moment, a panicked messenger came running in and went on his knees. "Shogun-sama, Goddess-sama, the Moon Empire's advance force has marched into the outskirts of our city! They intend to cut off all trade and supplies, as well as pillage all our farms to set up the later siege!"

Everyone turned to look at Zaine, whose lips twitched.

"Well, it was a lot faster than I expected. I guess the Moon Empire must be drunk on their continuous victories and want to capture everything in one fell swoop while their second-wind is still active."

However, Zaine grinned as she manifested small sparks of lightning between her fingers. "However, their turn has come to an end. It's time for the Sun Empire to rise again from the ashes!"