After the events of morning, Shido continued his day normally by returning home and cooking lunches for everyone, followed by going to school as usual. Of course, had had already created a schedule for his entire day. The biggest event for him today was the fact that he was going to go with Ellen on a date. Ratatoskr was going to fix a spot for them, but Reine had advised both of them to wear formal clothes. That aside, last night was an extremely profitable one for him.

         He had received raw materials for further construction of both his base and for creating an assembly line. The body of a dragon was very useful for multiple things. Blood as an alchemical ingredient, scales and skin for forging instruments and weapons, claws for staffs and array setups, etc. And now he had a large number of these. So he was quite happy with the results. Sure , he had to eradicate an entire species to get hold of them , but who cares ? He could just go to another dimension and find more Dragons to hunt.

       Currently, he was making his way towards the ground. The sports teacher had announced a small dodgeball match between the students. On his side was miku and origami . While on the other team was kaguya and Yuzuru, along with tohka. While miku was still keeping slight distance from men , she was still slightly getting used to be around others. As the match was progressing however, Shido received a message from one of the clones that he had managed to infiltrate the prime minister's office. That meant that while technically, Shido could let his clone handle everything, as he wanted to give a little bit of personal attention to the prime minister, he would have to leave the match here halfway.

        However, then came the question of how to leave the match without rousing suspicion in the minds of others. While he was pondering over it , he saw tonomachi on the other side of the field. An idea sprung up in Shido's mind. He then confirmed that Reine wouldn't be anywhere around as she had a lecture in one of the other classes. He then discretely casted a simple mental spell on tonomachi along with a few concealment spells on top of it to prevent detection. Seizing control of his mind , he then ordered him to take aim and strike Shido with the dodgeball in his hand with all his strength.

         A strange feeling arose inside tonomachi as he lost control of himself. Suddenly, for no reason, he began to get enraged at Shido . He aimed at him and struck him with all his might. As soon as the ball hit him, shido was knocked out and fell on the ground unconscious. As tonomachi regained his senses and came to the realisation of his actions, the others , particularly tohka , origami, miku and the yamai sisters rushed towards Shido. They immediately carried him to the nurse's office for treatment. What they didn't know was that Shido had done this deliberately. With him being struck by the ball, he was now pretending to be unconcious and had ordered this body to be like this for atleast a while. He then quickly transferred his soul to the clone body that was in the prime minister's office.

Location : The Prime minister's office

          Mitsuhide sighed as he leaned back on his chair. The last two days had been hectic for him . The terror attacks in both America and Russia had shook the world. Not only that, the tensions had already escalated between them that a war didn't just seem possible, it almost guaranteed. He was being forced by both the nation's to choose a side. America wanted Japan to side with them in order to have a strong ally on the naval front, and so did Russia. And while he had clearly expressed that Japan and the Japanese people wished to remain neutral in this conflict, he himself didn't know for how long he could hold up against the pressure.

        He was startled when suddenly a large red blob dropped out of the air vent right in the middle of the room. Out of the blob emerged two slender long red appendages which pierced through his two bodyguards which stood near the door. Soon , their bodies dissolved into the same blood red liquid and combined with the red blob in the middle. He screamed for help but no one responded from outside. Normally, just one shout from him would have been enough to make dozens of armoured men come inside breaking through the door. However, this time, no one came.

         The blob then began to take a humanoid shape as it finally turned into a young teenager with blue hair. The boy was wearing a simple black jacket with black trousers. The boy had a smile on his face, seemingly not caring about the two people he had just killed. Mitsuhide decided to play it safe by gathering his courage and asking the boy , " W-Who are you ? "

       The boy spoke up in a cheerful tone and said, " Glad you asked ! My name's Shido Itsuka, a student at Raizen High . My hobbies include swordfighting, reading, torture , cooking and shooting ! And about your bodyguards, sorry about that ! Thought that we needed a bit of privacy for the matters we're about to discuss. Oh , and don't expect anyone to come save you since I've already taken control of the command centre and the CCTV room. And I've also placed a barrier outside the room, so it's no use screaming , okay ? "

         Mitsuhide stared incredulously at the boy's words. He was still trying to process Shido's words . However, he understood one thing ; that the boy in front of him, Shido was definitely a cultivator , a Magus to be precise, as he could set up a barrier. The fact that he had so quickly taken out his guards and had managed to seal off all his escape routes , he was both a strong Magus, but he also most likely had multiple people working alongside him. They must have already infiltrated the entirity of the building before he made an appearance.

           The boy then sat on the chair in front of his desk and said , " I think you should seat yourself first before we discuss further matters. So please, have a seat Mr Mitsuhide , it's your own office ! " Cautiously, mitsuhide made his way towards his seat and sat down on it. He didn't take off his eyes off Shido for a single moment. After he had seated himself, Shido spoke up and said, " Another thing that I believe you should know about me is that I'm currently working with Ratatoskr. However, considering that I don't exactly get paid, I think it's better to call it an internship, don't you think ? "

         The name Ratatoskr was enough to send his mind into a frenzy. He knew that it was the organisation that was working against the AST and hampering their efforts to capture and subdue the spirits . They also had apparently some sort of technology or technique that allowed the spirits to conceal their spiritual signature. He had spoken with General Ieyasu just recently about perhaps a new way that would help their efforts. He had even passed along this information to Ryouma, the head of the AST. And now here was this mysterious boy who had stepped into his room and claimed to be a part of that organisation.

        The boy then spoke up again and said,
" From your looks , it seems that you know about us. That's a good thing, a nation's leader should be well informed about its internal affairs. That aside, I'm actually a field agent of Ratatoskr. I'm the one who helps the spirits to conceal their spiritual signature. " Mitsuhide had his wide open with surprise. If what the boy said was true, he was essentially the centre piece of the whole organisation. However, why would he come here and reveal this to him , the prime minister of the nation , the person who could easily relay this information to the AST ?

           Mitsuhide took a deep breath and asked Shido , " Assuming what you say is true , why are you telling me this crucial information ? " The boy then smirked and said, " Hmm, isn't it obvious ? When you have a business deal with someone, you have to give a reason for the other party to trust you , don't you ? " Mitsuhide, asked him with a confused expression, " A Deal ? What do you mean by that ? "

        Shido smiled as he got up from his place. He then touched Mitsuhide's forehead with his finger, while holding a small gem in the other hand. Before mitsuhide could protest , he screamed in pain. After a few moments, Shido moved to the side as mitsuhide had nearly stumbled to the ground while breathing heavily. Shido poured a glass of water and handed it to him which he greedily drank. He screamed towards Shido and said, " What the hell was that ?! "

        Shido smirked as he said, " Memories. My memories from the future I got from the Akaksha. Those are glimpses of the future. A future our planet is heading towards, if we do not do anything ...... " Mitsuhide took a moment to compose himself. He got up from the ground and sat on his seat. He took in and pondered over the information that he had gotten. The visions showed how the polluters, invaded the earth. He had learned of their names too from the information he received. He saw what terrible things that humans did. Most importantly, he saw what the boy in front of him was capable of. How he wiped out entire nations and in the end, killed a goddess. A true Goddess. Perhaps much superior than the weak spirits that they were trying to hunt.... He knew that he had used a transference spell used by Maguses to transfer memories and information between each other. Of course, this was a dangerous technique that if there were complications on any end , the weaker one could have his brains fried . Of course, after witnessing the things that Shido was capable of , he understood that what stood in front of him wasn't a human or even a beast. What he was, was a Primal Force Of Nature itself.....

         He then asked Shido , " How did you return to the past ? Shouldn't the Paramount Dao have stopped you ? Temporal travel is something that goes against the rules of existence itself ?! " Shido replied calmly as he said, " Of course. I'm glad you're well informed despite being a normal human. But to answer your question, the reason I have been successful in returning to present is because I indirectly struck a deal with The Paramount Dao itself through a mediator. So in a way , I'm working for the Paramount Dao. In exchange, I have to prevent humanity from being wiped out . And don't worry about the transference spell. I know that if I had tried using it on you , due to the chaotic nature of my mind, your consciousness and your soul would have been destroyed. That's why, I used the Mnemosyne gem, so that there was no actual connection between our minds, just transfer of information between your mind and the gem. "

        Mitsuhide didn't know what the Mnemosyne gem meant or what it's function was , but he atleast understood the part which meant that unless it was used, he would have been dead. The only reason he had some basic knowledge about spells was because his grandfather was a cultivator too. And while he had a short lifespan due to being a low level cultivator of the Senior Magus realm, he had managed to gather a significant amount of knowledge about the mystics . That aside, one thing was certain that Shido wanted him alive , even if for a short while. Not only that, apparently he wanted to save humanity. From the visions he saw how those polluters descended on the earth in swarms as they blocked out the sun itself. How they tore through their armies like they were wooden dolls . However, with Shido on their side, they would atleast have a chance. What he didn't know was that the Mnemosyne gem was something commonly used in heaven . It allowed one to essentially, copy memories and information from one's mind and either project it in the form of an Illusory Reality , like a hologram , or directly into someone else's mind.

         Mitsuhide then turned to Shido and said, " You say that you are sent here to prevent humanity's destruction. Then why are you working with Ratatoskr ? " Shido replied calmly and said, " As you might have noticed, in the past, it was the goddesses , or rather spirits as you call them who saved the world. However, I don't want victory to come at their sacrifice. As such I have a different plan. And know this , all the spirits are under my protection. Should anything happen to any of them, the consequences Will Not Be Pretty . "

       Mitsuhide shuddered at his words. Gathering courage , he asked , " Then I assume you will be working against the AST ? " Shido smiled and said, " Don't worry about that. I have a plan for dealing with the AST. I'll just have a small , peaceful dinner with Mr. Ryouma soon . And after that, I'm sure he'll give you a formal letter of the AST being dismanded soon. I'm sure of it. After all, I can be very convincing. "

           A chill ran through Mitsuhide's spine after hearing this. He had seen how cruel the boy in front of him could be during torture and now Ryouma was going to experience it. However, there was nothing he could do as he was the best bet in trying to save the world. He asked Shido another question and said , " I see. However, a war of this scale will certainly require a global effort. How will you convince the other countries to work alongside you ? Even if you do manage to make them trust your words , they'll most likely try to capture you and try to use you for their own gains or straight up do as they please . "

         Shido replied calmly and said , " Don't worry about that. I already have prepared for it. You see, these arrogant assholes standing at the top of the world will only respect you if you show them your power and threaten them . And I'm doing just that . I'm sure you must have seen the effects by now. The flight A - 3526 terrorist attack , the oil rig bombings and of course, the Yellowstone eruption , do these ring a
bell ? "

            Hearing this made mitsuhide feel as if the ground beneath his feet slided. Now known as the three blasts that shook the Nation , the first being the terrorist attack on mount Rushmore, now thought to be the worst act of terrorism in history ; which took the lives of more than four hundred people including the passengers and tourists. The second was the bombing of the oil rigs of USA , cited as the second key incident leading to war conditions between America and Russia. Then there was the third one. The eruption at Yellowstone which claimed the lives of over 2000 people in the vicinity and the residents of nearby towns through the toxic gases and a magnitude 7 earthquake.

       While he had seen his feats from the visions, only by learning about these actions did mitsuhide come to the true realisation of what Shido was capable of. Before he could say anything, Shido spoke up again and said, " And if you're worried about them trying to retaliate, don't. I've seized control of all the world's nukes , without the government's themselves knowing. I also have my ' Helpers ' inside the CIA , FBI , AEGIS , NSA , KGB , MI6. Hell, even the maid that serves tea inside the Buckingham palace is allied with me ! And as for the small scale operations, I've seized control of the main Mafia families in Europe, and I believe in a few days, I'll probably take over the Yakuza. Of course, I haven't stopped the businesses like drug trafficking, human slave trade, illegal organ trading and all that just to let money flow . So as you can see, I've actually thought this all pretty well. "

        Mitsuhide felt his entire world view collapsing right in front of him. If the things that the boy in front of him was telling were true ( and considering what he had achieved in the future as well as in the present, it most likely was ) , he was facing someone who had quite literally, more influence and connections that he could ever hope to achieve. Just how big was his team that presided over these operations ? Just how many years had he planned this whole ordeal ? He shuddered at the sheer magnificence of his achievements. With this , he hadn't just proved that he was a strong cultivator , but also a shrewd and cunning criminal mastermind. Mitsuhide was mentally thanking every God that he wasn't the one against him. Unbeknownst to him however was the fact that it had been less than a week since Shido had returned to the present. In a single week, he had seized one of the greatest weapon that humanity had ever dreamt of.

          Mitsuhide calmed himself, or atleast he tried to and said , " I see. Then I assume you'll likely try to coerce the other nations into allying themselves with you ? " Shido replied with a smile and said, " Correct you are. However, I also expect cooperation from you ." Mitsuhide said , " Of course, you have our full support. If you wish, I'll hand over the control of the entire army to you. Perhaps, you could have one of your older subordinates act as a representative and maybe you could be the one who commands him from the shadows . "

       Shido had an enraged expression as he screamed , " Over my dead body ! Like hell I'm going to allow you to mobilize the military ! " Mitsuhide took a few steps back out of fear. After all, angering someone who could toss around entire battleships wasn't exactly a smart decision. Shido took a deep breath and calmed himself. He then said, " Forgive me for my outburst. However, if you send in the military, forget about me , not even the gods of Heaven will be able to save humanity. " Mitsuhide was both puzzled and surprised by this.

          Before he could question it however, Shido spoke up again and said, " You've seen these things. You know how they descend in swarms. These things are like locusts. They devestate planets and civilizations in their path. How they are able to achieve this is due to their special biology. They do not reproduce normally. And while they do have a queen like most hive systems, she isn't the one responsible for creating the new individuals. No what they have is something much more sinister. You see, with the polluters, every individual of the colony is capable of reproduction. However, in order to do that , they require consuming organic matter or Numen energy from souls , or if available, both . Every individual from their colony, be it the small low ranking grunts which you can easily take out with a few well placed shotgun shells , to the imperial rankers , those who directly protect the queen , who are capable of tanking a couple of nuclear warheads. Not only that, they have no gestational period, where they have to wait for the offspring to hatch , no. A low rank grunt upon consuming a single normal human can create another of its kind, which is fully developed in just above half an hour. The newly born grunt has no infant stage too. It can start hunting by recieving commands and information from the queen directly within seven minutes. And while the imperial rankers require more humans souls and organic matter to reproduce, about a few thousand normal humams, just a couple dozen of Senior Maguses or a few warriors in the Foundation Establishment realm will satisfy them . Now do you see why sending an entire human army after them is a bad idea ?! That's the equivalent of inviting them to an All You Can Eat Buffet ! "

        Mitsuhide trembled upon hearing this. He now understood why Shido seemed so angry upon hearing his proposal. Even the low ranking grunts among the polluters were as large as a small car. And simply just hundreds of thousands of those flooding the streets would be catastrophic. And then there was the issue of civilians. While they could evacuate them into the spacequake shelters , the polluters would eventually get to them . They were capable of knocking down entire buildings, so it was inevitable that they would reach the underground shelters.

       Mitsuhide asked Shido with an unsure expression, " Then may I ask how exactly are you going to fight them ? " Shido calmly replied by saying , " Well , first of all , I'm going to be on the frontlines . Secondly, I'm trying to put together a small elite team of cultivators. This will help minimise the risk as they can just self immolate themselves in cases they are going to be consumed. And if they're lucky, maybe they'll even take out a couple of those bastards. "

         Mitsuhide replied by saying , " I see. Then may I ask how many cultivators do you have working in your team ? " Shido had a puzzled look on his face as he said ,
" Team ? What do you mean ? " Mitsuhide was confused by this. He said , " Your team ! The one by whose help you managed to infiltrate my office ! The members you just mentioned that are acting as spies all over the world ! "

           Shido then had a smile on his face as if he had arrived at a conclusion. He got up from the seat and stepped beside. He then let a small drop of blood fall to the floor from his finger. He then extended his other hand and suddenly something appeared in it. A single strand of hair that mitsuhide was barely able to make out. Shido then turned to him and said, " Let me show you a small trick. Do you remember your maid aiko accidentally spilling coffee over your shirt this morning ? "

          Mitsuhide was surprised by this. However, considering Shido's network, it wasn't impossible that his maid aiko was a spy that was working under him . And while she had been working under him for a long time, she was a normal human. Multiple spells exist that allowed a Magus to control and manipulate someone. As such, he merely nodded. Shido then smirked and said, " Well you see, while you handed her the stained shirt , it also had something else on it. That was of course, this . Yes, that's right. This hair actually belongs to you. "

         Before mitsuhide could inquire him further, blood emerged out of Shido's hand which engulfed the hair. It disappeared in a few moments and along with it the hair did too. However, beside Shido , the drop which had fallen on the ground began to increase in volume. It had started to resemble the same red blob which had taken out his guards. It soon began to take on a humanoid shape after which it turned into something that he had never expected. Standing in front of him was an exact copy of himself, wearing the same clothes as him . It had even mimicked his standing posture which leaned more on his left side due to injury on his other leg.

      Mitsuhide stuttered as he said ,
" H-How ?! " Shido smiled as he said,
" Cursed bloodline son ! It allows me to create clones that can transform into anyone once I've taken in their DNA ! Of course, these things are less clones and more like puppets, which I can control myself. However, I can give them preprogrammed commands which they can follow ranging from simple ones like ' Kill anyone you see ' to complex ones like ' On hearing this phrase , respond in this manner with this facial expression and body cues. ' . With that they can make you feel like you're speaking with a person, rather than a hollow soulless puppet. Of course, like the simple voice assistant in your mobile phone, it's only falsified intelligence while in fact , what you see is pre scripted responses. "

         Mitsuhide asked in a shaky tone ,
" T-Then the infiltrators all over the world ? " Shido replied with a smile and said, " Yup , that's just me. I control them through a hive mind system. Whatever information they receive , they can quickly relay it to the command central , that is the soul , that being me. Of course, I do tend to put them on autopilot of sort with prescripted responses whenever I'm doing something important like , a fight with someone, cooking food , torturing someone, and most importantly, when I'm on a date. Also, if the individual is someone important, what I can do is basically dissolve their physical body, but leave their soul intact. Then I place the soul inside the new clone body which I can freely control. Not only that, I control their soul through necromancy so that they are essentially my servants as they are forced to follow my every command. Most of the time , I give them pretty simple commands like ' Resume with your daily work , but report everything to me . Don't let anyone else know about your current company, even indirectly through things like body language or expressions. And most importantly, always follow my orders. In this way , I maintain a world wide hive mind system everyday ! "

      Mitsuhide, asked him in disbelief , " How can your mind handle all this ?! " Shido answered with a frown on his face as he said, " Oi, don't compare me with a human. I'm a member of the Cursed Bloodline. And a True Ancestor on top of that. Our kind was that which stood at the peak of all living organisms as the Ultimate Lifeforms. My mental capacity far exceeds that of lower beings like humans or elves. It even surpasses the power of your best supercomputers. Sure , it doesn't surpass the computational capacity of the supercomputer ,' Chetna ' created by the greatest inventor of Heaven , Vishwakarma . But it's still better than anything human's can ever dream of ! "

       Mitsuhide pondered over his words. It certainly made sense that he wouldn't want to be classified as a human. After all, seeing his fights from the visions , it was clear that he wasn't human . Mitsuhide inquired Shido once again and said , " Then what do you wish from us ? " Shido replied by saying, " Firstly, leave the spirits alone. They're my family and trust me, if you hurt them , you're making an enemy out of me. And bad things tend to happen to the idiots who do that. "

         Mitsuhide gulped nervously and said,
" O-Of course. Once the AST is disbanded, I assure you that no one affiliated with the government will try to go after your family. " Shido smiled and said, " That's good to know. Of course, if someone does try that , I'll have to take action. After all, it's been a long time since Mount Fuji's seen an eruption right ? Let's just hope I don't get a reason to make it happen . "

       Mitsuhide maintained his silence as Shido chuckled at his small joke. Shido spoke up again and said, " Second, I want non - interference from your behalf. No rushing like idiots whenever you please. Third , you'll follow my orders. You'll act as a front for the general populace, but I'll be pulling the strings from behind. Of course, I'll compensate you fairly for it ? "

              Mitsuhide asked in surprise ,
" Compensate ?......" Shido raised a brow and said, " Of course I'm going to compensate you for everything you're going to do. I did say that I'm here to strike a deal. Wait. Don't tell me that you thought that I was just going to boss you around without giving anything in return ?" Seeing Mitsuhide's surprised face and his silence, Shido got his answer . He facepalmed and said while rubbing his temples , " Look, I'm going to give you something in return for your troubles. I'm a monster, not an asshole. "

          He then extended his hand and there appeared a paper parchment of some sort in his hand. He handed it to Mitsuhide and said, " The list contains the names and other details of hundred and twenty nine individuals currently living in Japan who are actually spies from various countries. With their names, I'm sure that you can mobilize a response against them right ? " Mitsuhide had his eyes wide open with surprise as he asked , " How did you manage to obtain these ?! "

         Shido shrugged and said, " Oh that's easy. I monitored all outgoing radio waves out of Japan of every citizen, used my clones and turned them into inconspicuous things like mosquitoes and houseflies and used them to conduct surveillance on every person, then created a short list of suspicious individuals, then cross-checked and confirmed it by killing and absorbing the memories of the people working closely with them and confirming that they were indeed spies. Sure there were some eighty four innocent people, but hey who cares. I atleast got the leads on more than hundred spies. Besides, who gives a damn about humans ? "

           Mitsuhide had a look of horror as he understood the situation. While he had earlier believed that perhaps the boy in front of him actually wanted to save humanity regardless of his past actions, he now understood that wasn't the case. Whatever his reasons were , he had no real conviction for saving humanity. His actions were perhaps just on his whim. It was no different from the child that saves a drowning ant with a leaf yet doesn't hesitate to destroy the anthill with his football. He was the same.

        Shido then spoke again and said while handing him a pendrive and another list ,
" The second thing I have here is a list of the most trustworthy scientists of the nation. They aren't the best, however they are definitely those who have the least likelihood of betraying the nation. Of course, I've implanted a part of my blood which I can use to kill them anytime in the off chance that they do indeed betray us , so there's no worries in that part. Of course, the reason for this is because of this pendrive. It contains blueprints and schematics for various useful things like warships, crafts , propulsion technology, superior and efficient solar cells that nearly rival the energy output of fossil fuels. Of course, while I do possess superior technology than this , humanity isn't ready for it. It would be no different than handing a nuclear bomb in the hands of a kid. And I'm not about to do something as idiotic as that. "

           Mitsuhide took them yet inquired in an unsure tone, " While I'm certainly greatful for these , I'm still unsure of one thing. Even if the scientists don't betray us and leak the schematics, when we actually mass produce these , the assembly line will eventually be involved. And during that time, it will pass through the hands of multiple people. At that time, the spies or anyone else can obtain the data about the physical parts of the machinery and perhaps they can even reverse engineer the machines . And while certainly, we can try to patent these, they are too useful and profitable for any country. I'm sure that they'll atleast try to replicate and use the technology in secret if not openly once they get their hands on it ! "

        Hearing this, instead of being angry as Mitsuhide expected, Shido let out a hearty laugh. It took a few seconds for him to calm down and stop , leaving a bewildered Mitsuhide beside staring at him. He spoke up with a smile and said, " Sorry about that. But you see, even if you hand them over every part of the machines in the blueprints, they aren't going to figure jack shit. These things consist of concepts you humans don't even have proper idea that exist yet. As such, I had to sit down and write more than four thousand and forty five pages worth of handwritten notes besides the schematics so that you humans could make sense of it. Handwritten notes only available in that specific pendrive. Without those , it will be no different from a monkey staring at a script of Macbeth. No matter how hard it tries , it's not going to understand anything."

          He next placed another thing in Mitsuhide's hand. It was a small golden ring. However even Mitsuhide could tell this was no ordinary ring due to the runic inscriptions on it. It was of course, a spatial ring. It allowed one to store objects in a small pocket dimension. And they were extremely rare as the only way to get a hold of them was either getting hold of them through inheritance, stealing them from someone else, or finding some ancient ruin where you had an infinitesimally small chance of getting one. This was because the knowledge of spatial law required to construct them was lost through the ages and today no one knew how to make one. If Shido was handing it to him , it most certainly contained something small , yet something extremely precious considering that it was stored in a spatial ring.

       Mitsuhide held the ring with trembling hands. Shido at first was confused by this behaviour, but later understood it. While a spatial ring was rare on earth , it was quite literally dirt cheap in Heaven. Small size spatial rings were used by everyone to carry everything ranging from personal weapons to groceries. Of course, the large scale one like the one which was in his hand was a fairly expensive one and only a few elites could purchase it. Of course, it hardly mattered to him, considering that he had a high level of mastery over the Law of Space , so creating one of these was just a work of a few minutes for him. Besides, he had a ton of these which he used to store the spirit stones that he had got from the winnings from Nyarlothep.

         He then said, " To dispel your confusion, no this spatial ring doesn't contain any precious treasure or artifact. What it does have however is roughly eleven metric tons worth of pure 24 karat gold. More than the amount of gold in fort Knox . And the gold is molded into untraceable gold bars , so no worries on that part. "

          Mitsuhide was shocked. Sure , it wasn't as precious as what he had expected, but eleven metric tons of gold was no small amount. Not only that, the spatial ring required to contain this amount of gold would be large too. So technically, for humans on earth , the ring in which the gold was stored was more expensive than the gold itself. And Shido had just handed it to him for free. With an incredulous look, he asked Shido , " How did you get your hands on so much gold ?! "

        Shido scratched his head sheepishly and said, " Oh you see , after killing Gaia , the entire planet was completely destroyed. There was no atmosphere, the ground had turned into something similar to obsidian, and the oceans had dried up. It wasn't that different from Mars. So since I had nothing to do, I mined the entire planet dry. Every mineral, precious metal , gemstone, I collected all of it. This is just a small part of it. I mined somewhere around 1.6 quadrillion tonnes of gold and nearly six times that of pure platinum. Of course, gold is more attractive than platinum, don't you think ? "

       Mitsuhide was baffled on hearing this. The boy in front of him had more gold than the entire world's reserves put together. As such, the amount of gold he had given to him was just pocket change from his view. Before he could say anything, Shido stepped back. His clone beside Shido then split into two parts which then turned into the two guards who had died just a few minutes ago.

         Shido spoke up and said, " My clones will be around you . They'll keep you safe and protect you from assassinations too. I have to get going now , I have some important work to do. " Soon , Shido took out a small walking stick. As he tapped the stick on the ground, a portal opened in front of him. Mitsuhide asked him hurriedly , " What exactly is this important work ? " He could only shiver in fear and anticipation as the terrifying things that the mind of the boy in front of him could come up with. Perhaps toppling Governments, destroying some more nations or inciting wars ? Only God knows what cursed things went in that mind of his.

       His ideas were dashed however when Shido replied while stepping through the portal , " Oh you see, I have a date with my girlfriend today ! Don't want to be late for it. I'll contact you soon ! " As Shido stepped through the portal and disappeared, it dissipated into small particles, leaving behind a bewildered Mitsuhide.

              ---------------X--------------

Location : Itsuka residence
Time : Evening

          Shido was adjusting the tie around his neck. He wanted everything to be perfect for the date. Ellen had asked him to wear something formal since she was taking him out to some restaurant. While he did tell her that just a normal restaurant would be fine too , she insisted on it being something special. She even said that she was accumulating funds from her salary too and she didn't mind spending some of it. Still , he would have preferred if he was the one doing the spending, not Ellen.

         ( This is what Shido is wearing )

           Soon his communicator rang , signalling him to get ready. In a few moments, he was inside Fraxinus as he was teleported there. In front of him stood Ellen, wearing a blue ball gown. And while he wasn't the type to get seduced easily ( after all, he had resisted the charms of a succubus and hunted them too ) , but even he had to admit, Ellen looked seductive right now.

        He greeted Ellen and snapped her out of her seemingly strange trance. Ellen herself was mesmerized by Shido's appearance as she hadn't seen him before in formal clothes. Shido asked her curiously, " I must say, you really do look beautiful today. " Ellen blushed slightly and thanked him. She then said, " I myself don't know. Kotori said that it'll be a surprise for me too since she'll personally pick the spot. We're even going to be teleported right there , so I have no
idea . "

       Shido sighed at his sister's antics. He then got ready for further teleportation. Signalling the operator on the other end with a thumbs up, he soon found himself and Ellen now teleported inside a large waiting room. As both of them were confused by their surroundings, a man wearing a suit appeared in front of them . He addressed them in a polite tone and said, " Ah, we were waiting for you. You're just on time. Please follow me , Mr and Mrs Itsuka. "

       Both Ellen and Shido were embarrassed on being addressed as a couple. However, before any of them could protest , the person lead them hurriedly into a large hall. The hall was a beautiful place with chandeliers decorating it and a single table with two seats in the centre. The man took out a small folded paper and handed it to Ellen. He said, " I was instructed to hand this to you. "

Ellen opened the paper and began to read it hurriedly. Shido too began to read it from the corner of his eyes. The letter read ,

" Dear Ellen,

    I recently found out from kotori that you and Shido are going on a date together. As such, I decided that I should at least make it special. I've booked the entire hotel for you today, so you don't have to worry about any disturbances. Also, the owner is a good friend of mine, so he knows a few things about our business and such. Also , in case Shido wants to indulge himself, he can splurge a bit on the alcohol.

PS. I've also booked a hotel room for you to spend the night, just in case you want to take things to the next step. I don't mind becoming an uncle soon .

              
                                              Your well-wisher,
                                                  Issac

         Attached at the end of the letter was a small smily face, which did nothing more than aggravate Ellen as she crushed the paper in her hands. She gritted her teeth and said, " Ike .... I'll get you for this ! " Shido chuckled nervously and said , " Now now, he went through the trouble of doing so much for us, we should appreciate it. Don't worry about the minor things, okay ? How about we seat ourselves first ? "

        While Shido gave a nervous smile towards Ellen, he was internally thankful towards Issac. He would definitely repay his favour. Maybe he could tomorrow kill a few of his business rivals ? Yeah , that seemed fair. An airplane crash or a car crash , anything would work just fine. Still , that could be left for tomorrow. Now he had to focus on the more important issue at hand , that being his date.

         The waiter bowed curtly towards him and asked, " What should I get for you sir ? " While Shido looked towards Ellen for the answer, she gestured him that he should make the choice. A part of her trusted him and as such wanted to leave the choice to him while another part wanted to see how he would surprise her. Shido pondered over it for a moment and then said , " Hmm.... Then please bring a Traditional Nicoise for the salad , a lobster bisque, and a Boeuf Bourguignon for the lady and a Cognac Shrimp With Beurre Blanc sauce for me. That will be all , thank you. "

         The waiter took note of it and bowed and made his way out of the room. Shido had purposefully ordered Boeuf Bourguignon for Ellen because she held a slight distaste for seafood, particularly shrimps. Not to the point where she disliked it , but she would always prefer another meat or even a vegetarian option instead of it. Ellen herself was slightly surprised by the fact that Shido had managed to notice this. She curiously asked him, " Since when did you know I dislike shrimps ? "

          Shido smirked and said , " Of course I know about your likes and dislikes. Are you forgetting who's the cook of the house ? You may be a Supreme Magus and all that outside the house, but to me, you're just my cute Ellen. " Ellen blushed at his words and said, " Don't say such things in public, idiot ! " She was grateful that the room was left completely empty for them , and for once she was thankful to Ike for doing so. If other people had actually watched her like this today , she would have quite literally jumped through the glass window and taken off with her realizer.

          Shido on the other hand merely chuckled at her behaviour. He really found it cute how despite acting and putting up a brave front in face of difficulties, Ellen was at her heart just a woman who desired and enjoyed the normal things in life. She had no interest in battles. In the past , once after having a bit too many drinks , she had told him that she was quite content spending the rest of her life as a teacher, working all day and returning home tired in the evening. Then her husband ( Shido ) would greet her and bring her her favourite dessert, strawberry shortcake everyday and would lay out the dinner while she would enjoy her dessert. Looking back at it , he internally cursed himself for failing to make her dream a reality. However, even now he knew that he still couldn't fulfil her dream. After all, sooner or later, she and the others too would come to hate him and desert him. After all, after knowing about his actions , how could any sane person not ? Still , at the very least, he would ensure their survival. At any cost . Even if it came at the cost of them hating him.

         His thoughts were disturbed when he heard the sound of the wheels of a trolley. Their food had arrived. Atleast the salad and the soup had arrived while the main course would join it soon. Shido himself was impressed with the quick service of their restaurant. Of course, it was perhaps to be expected as they were the only customers there. The waiter once again, like clockwork left them with a courteous bow after serving their food.

         As Shido ate his food in a silent manner , Ellen couldn't take her eyes off him . While she had seen him just earlier having good in an elegant manner , she was still just as surprised as the first time she had seen him like this. His moments were sharp and precise, like a rich entrepreneur for whom such delicacies were a regular meal which was hardly worth paying attention to. For some strange reason, Shido had managed to make eating food feel like an art form , atleast in her eyes.

        Her thoughts were interrupted when she saw Shido extending his spoon towards her , as if she were a child to be fed. He was gesturing her to have it. While hesitant at first, she quitely consumed the still warm soup , which was delicious, though as not as his food. Shido smiled contently on seeing this. However, a sudden realisation struck Ellen. The spoon had been in Shido's mouth before. Even now , he was eating with that spoon. That meant that she just shared an indirect kiss with him.....

      She internally panicked . No , no , no ! This wasn't how it was supposed to be ! Her first kiss , the first loss of her life , with HER Shido was not in a romantic mood like she had imagined, bit rather over a soup ! A fucking soup ! Of course, before she could say anything more , Shido looked at her expectantly and said, " Aren't you going to feed me ? " She paused momentarily and blinked. After understanding what he meant, she took a deep breath and calmed herself. She didn't want to embarrass herself in front of him. Besides, it was only an indirect kiss, so her dream wasn't completely ruined.

        She embarrassedly stretched her hand which held the spoon. Shido quitely drank the soup on the spoon. However, he quickly spoke up and said , " Such a shame that it was a soup. Had it been something else , I could have atleast gotten an excuse to ask you to feed me with your hands. " Ellen blushed and said, " Since when did you become so perverted ?! " Shido scoffed and said, " What's wrong with wishing to be fed by your hands ? "

      Ellen gritted her teeth and said, " Keep this stupid behaviour of yours up and I'll definitely stab you . " Shido smirked and said, " Eh , doesn't matter. After all , that was basically our second encounter, wasn't it ? Tohka being kidnapped by the AST and you stabbing me from behind ? " Ellen facepalmed on hearing this while Shido merely chuckled. And she couldn't even retort against it because it was completely true. Sure , she was under effects of mind control at that time, but she still had tried to kill him. She had apologized to Shido multiple times, but he always said that he didn't mind it. He once even said that he had gotten pretty used to it, considering that at one point, each of the girls had tried to kill him under various circumstances. Even now thinking about it, she internally shuddered. Seriously, how could someone so kind and forgiving even to his would be murderers even exist ?

      The dinner after that continued in relative peace. While both of them had small talks with each other, it mostly consisted of Shido staring at Ellen, unknown even to her. After the meal was done, Shido and Ellen made their way out of the restaurant. After coming out, Shido had an idea. He contacted the Fraxinus and was surprised when kannazuki answered instead of kotori. Kannazuki said , " Commander has gone for an important meeting with the higher ups. She's not here right now, but how can I help you ? " Shido replied and said , " If I send you a location, can you transport us there ? "

          Kannazuki was slightly caught off guard by this , but understood what was going in Shido's head after seeing the location. He smirked and said, " Of course. Be ready, I'll be teleporting you in a few moments. " Shido quickly held Ellen's hand tightly. Caught off guard by this display of affection, she couldn't question Shido where they were going to go. However, in a single flash , they were teleported to an unknown place.

         Ellen opened her eyes and felt a cool breeze hit her skin. The air had a distinct taste of saltiness to it. Observing her surroundings, she finally realized where she was . Shido smiled and said, " Yup , that's right . We're on Arubi island. The place where we first met. So , were you surprised ? " Ellen furiously nodded her head in affirmation.  Shido asked her with a gentle smile on his face and said , " Can we have a walk along the beach ? " Saying this, he extended his hand towards her. Slightly hesitantly , Ellen grabbed his hand and started walking beside him. While she was certainly happy with her current conditions, she was still slightly confused why Shido had brought her here .

         Shido suddenly stopped and seemingly looked around, as if searching for something. After coming across a thicket , a smile appeared on his face as he said, " Look Ellen ! This is the place where I first saw you with your realizer ! Man , I still remember you threatening me that if I didn't come with you , you'd probably break my legs or something like that ! " Ellen blushed furiously and screamed , " You brought me here for showing me this ?! "

         Shido seemingly not bothered by her words , walked a bit further away and stood proudly over a spot and pointed towards the ground and said, " And this was the place where a sinkhole suddenly opened and you fell inside ! Man , this really brings back so many memories ! " Ellen facepalmed and said, " It's only been one year since the incident ! And there's no need to remind me these things ! "

       Hearing this, the expression on Shido's face changed ever so slightly. While he was still smiling, the cheerful smile of his seemed to now have a hint of sadness to it. He spoke in a pensive tone , gazing at the horizon and said, " A single year , huh ? Even if that's true, for me it seemed as if it had been ages . So much has changed from the past. A while ago, if you had told me that I would be having dates with you, Reine, tohka and the others , I would have probably laughed at you. At times I really do feel that I'm not deserving of all of you , you know ? " Ellen was shocked on hearing this. However, before she could say anything, Shido turned to her with a genuine smile on his face and said, " But even then , I'm happy with this. I really enjoyed my day today. Sometimes it feels like everything around me is so amazing, that it's almost as if I'm dreaming. However, if this indeed a dream, I genuinely don't want to ever get up....."

       Saying this, he walked towards Ellen and pulled her close to him in a hug. As she let out a surprised yelp , he bent his head slightly and kissed her. Ellen was completely caught off guard by this. Her heartbeat was accelerating like never before. Her brain was completely scrambled. It was difficult for her to form coherent sentences even in her mind. And while the kiss wasn't something that she would describe as ' sensual ' or anything like that, it genuinely did evoke a warm fuzzy feeling in her heart.

          After Shido had seperated from her , he pulled her towards him and embraced her in a tight hug. It was good that her face was buried in his chest , otherwise Shido would have noticed that her face was redder than a tomato. As he gently ruffled her hair, Shido said in a solemn tone, " I love you Ellen. I really do. And no matter what happens, I won't let anything happen to you. I promise. I promise. " While still slightly confused, Ellen was genuinely happy at his confession. While he had already shown signs that she was just as important to him as the other girls, this was the first time he had said that he loved her. Whatever dreams she had in her mind about the eventual confession of Shido to her , for her , this moment surpassed every one of those ideas that she had imagined.

           The two lovers held each other in their arms under the moonlight, not caring about the world around them , cherishing every moment of this instance.....

And with this , the chapter's done ! I'm extremely sorry about the delay , I had an important exam , so I became free on the fourteenth only. Also , fun fact, I wanted to include one more part into this chapter, which was Shido once again going to another world as part of his nightly activities. However, considering that the chapter is currently already at nine thousand words, it would have easily reached the fifteen or maybe sixteen thousand words mark had I done so. So for the next chapter, it will be another trip to a new world. And spoiler, Shido is going to get a New Weapon next time. That said, once again, feel free to ask any questions if you have.

Word count : 8973 words