The Fourth Beast

2

The Youkai King

II

"You are not very good at this, are you?"

Amaterasu sighed, it was more complicated than she thought. The person before her had the aura of a savior... and his power? She had never seen any human possess such tremendous power; he was easily a lot stronger than her. As for his personality... it was not bad, but it was not what she expected from someone like him.

"I mean no disrespect, but right now, I am supposed to be heading toward the afterlife, y'know. I am supposed to reunite with my friends, my parents, my brother," His facial features softened, "my wife."

Then he looked at her, and although he was smiling, Amaterasu could see that the smile did not reach his eyes, "You are asking me to throw away all of that and come to your universe. To fight and lead people I do not know or have never met. Although I understand your distress, I have no reason to make such a sacrifice."

Amaterasu wanted to rub her forehead. She knew how ridiculous her plea sounded, but she was out of options. The recent civil war of the devil factions had little effect on other large factions. Unfortunately, she could not say the same about 'The Youkai Faction'. Many of the youkai were either forced or enticed to participate in their war. And many of them did not come back. With the way things were going, the youkai faction would not survive for too long.

Fortunately, the old youkai leader on his deathbed had a 'Divine Revelation'; 'A Hero not of their world' could save them, both 'The Youkai Faction' and 'The Shinto Faction'.

"You are right; I am not good at this." Amaterasu decided to try another approach. There was no reason to play the word game with the person she sought help from. And from the looks of it, it seemed that he was not expecting this kind of reply. Regardless she continued, "I am not going to repeat how bad our situation is. I have already shown you. And you know it is the truth since I cannot lie here. So, I will tell you what we will give you for your sacrifice, as you have put it, and what you can achieve in our universe."

"First," She raised her index finger, "When you reincarnate, I will make sure that you receive the treatment of a king and powerful blessings from us right from the start. I know that you are not the type of person who cares about it, but I... we will ensure that you receive all the support you need, no matter how insignificant it is, from the beginning to the end. As for the so-called end, you can leave our universe whenever you desire. But I want to be clear on this: the gate we have created to come here will be out of power after I return. And as I have shown you, it may take some time to power it up, but it is not impossible as long as the core fragments are not damaged."

He said nothing, so she continued, "Second, I will try my best so that a few of your precious loved ones can be reborn in our universe." That was the first time she saw him getting outright surprised, "But I will tell you this upfront. I may only be able to get two or three people to be reborn in our universe, other than you, of course. And yes, the first point also applies to them."

Amaterasu raised her ring finger, "Last but not least, the opportunities in our universe are endless. This is fully up to you, but if you become strong enough, you can jump through all the universes and come here to meet your friends and families without the help of the gate. But I have no hand in this; it is all on you."

He was quiet. Occasionally, he would scratch his chin. Amaterasu was fine with this since it showed that at least he was thinking about the offer.

Finally, he spoke, "You are quite generous with your offers."

"Considering our circumstances, this is the least I can do." Amaterasu chuckled.