Izanagi And Izanami

After a short nap, Aerion opened his eyes and marched onwards. The gate opened with a single touch of his palm and he was teleported to a rather strange place. A place of nature, very much unlike the Divine Palace itself.

A circular path made of stone laid ahead of him, leading to the top of a hill. A torii gate stood in front of the path. Aerion hadn't seen anything quite like it in his life before so this new location certainly piqued his interest.

One he passed the gate, he felt a drastic change in his surroundings yet everything looked the same. Aerion proceeded onwards, walking the path. Eventually, he reached the top of the hill where a man of average height sat facing a beautiful tree. The wind blew and some of the cherry blossoms followed it.

His hair was dark and long, although not quite as long as the average male profound practitioner. A divine naginata laid on the ground, beside the man but it was raised when he became aware of Aerion's presence.

"So you have come." He stood up in a slow yet graceful manner, the naginata in his right side.

Aerion frowned. "Who are you?"

"I am... Izanagi."

He turned to face Aerion.

"The power that you have borrowed... I will be returning it." He twisted his naginata and Aerion's six tomoes vanished instantly.

'He... just took my Sharingan abilities and it was effortless for him.'

"His powers over creation are far greater than the average Creation God." Rotias chuckled. "Oh my, it looks like we're in danger of failing here."

Izanagi charged Aerion, acting swiftly and giving no warning.

BOOM.

Aerion crashed onto the ground with such force that an entire crater formed. He had blocked most of the attack by guarding himself but emerged with a couple of wounds nonetheless. Izanagi flew to him...

'Not so fast, Izanagi...'

Aerion formed the Star Flame on both of his heavy swords with great speed.

'Soul Shattering Slash.'

Izanagi stepped to the side, dodging both slashes and exploded towards Aerion. His first attack was blocked by Aerion but Izanagi started to increase his pace. Golden lightning formed on his naginata as his strikes became swifter, stronger and heavier.

Aerion eventually found himself overwhelmed as his heavy swords simply couldn't keep up with Izanagi's barrage of slashes. His lightning immunity was also completely helpless against the golden lightning.

BOOM, BOOM, BOOM.

Izanagi struck like a relentless storm of lightning.

'This can't continue.'

Shinra Tensei.

Izanagi was sent back and Aerion followed the attack by opening Dragon God.

ROAAAAR.

A heaven-shaking roar shook the entire plane as a Crimson-Silver Dragon emerged. The Dragon struck Izanagi with its scaled tail, sending the god further into the sky.

'Heavens... strike this fool in my name.'

BOOM.

Several rounds of white lightning exploded in response, striking Izanagi while the titanic Crimson-Silver Dragon formed the Star Flame.

'World Illuminator Star Lotus.'

Thirty-six star fireballs floated in the air, around Izanagi. These fireballs slowly bloomed... transforming into the most beautiful yet terrifying fire lotuses in existence. The lotuses originally only had one layer but, as time passed, more and more layers began to add up, totalling to nine layers. By the time the lotuses had nine layers, they were massive. The entire sky was covered in star flames... one by one, the lotuses joined their fiery auras in the centre.

A pillar of star flames pierced the sky as a black phoenix emerged. Much like the flames, the phoenix was dark yet beautiful. Its silver eyes could bring light to a plane of eternal darkness and the black flames around it could bring darkness to a plane of eternal light. The phoenix spread its wings and let out a long cry.

'Try dodging this.'

The lotuses joined.... one by one... forming a single lotus that was a million kilometres wide.

"Such beauty is hard to come by," Rotias stated. "Fire and darkness both leading to destruction... how could our combined powers be inferior to a mere Creation God?"

The giant lotus blossomed quietly, burning the trapped Izanagi.

Even Aerion was dazed by the beauty of his own attack. The Star Flame could use the World Ode of the Phoenix and Golden Crow's Record of the Burning World as one of the two elements used to create it was the Crimson Ghost Flame. Of course, it would far surpass the strength of the original flames as they were in the True God Realm while the Star Flame stood proudly at the very peak of the Ancestral God Realm.

Izanagi emerged from the flames as a man who was approaching the Doors of Death. His entire body was scorched by the flame and it looked like he would not even be able to move a muscle. His long black hair and impressive beard were no more, falling victim to the flames.

"It's over, Izanagi." Aerion looked down on Izanagi in his Dragon God transformation. "Now, return my Sharingan."

"To have pushed me this far..." Izanagi laughed. "You are no ordinary god, Aerion Targaryen."

"But... the deity you faced was Izanagi..." A brilliant white light surrounded him as he transformed into someone even greater. "Now, behold my greatest self and fall into an abyss of fear. You will feel helpless once more... for the deity you face is Izanagi-no-Okami!"

Izanagi-no-Okami appeared above him. The naginata in his hand had a strange shape with a circle in the middle. It was also longer and brighter, comprising of white and golden colours. However, Aerion found something even more shocking.

Izanagi had transcended the Creation God Realm.

His hair was longer than before and took after Aerion's colour of silver. He had a set of horns on his head along with two golden eyes. They resembled a golden Rinnegan but had nine tomoe, unlike Aerion's six. Upon observing his strength, Aerion received 'Ancestral God Realm'.

"I am the deity who rules over reality and creation. My divine strength is boundless... as you will soon discover. How long will your limited power last against my own, I wonder?"

Aerion grit his teeth. 'How in Seven Hells should I go about defeating this man?'

He spun his naginata and shattered Aerion's dragon scales instantly, reducing him to a Dragon Emperor with ease.

"Not for long, it seems." Izanagi-no-Okami looked disappointed before appearing next to him. Aerion tried to block his strike with the Heaven Punishing Ancestral Sword but Izanagi-no-Okami's naginata's blow could not be evaded so easily.

As the two weapons clashed against each other, Aerion still received the wounds despite not even being touched by the naginata.

'How...'

Aerion lost his vision and slowly began to fall unconscious due to his severe wounds but he remained standing.

"My reality will not be avoided."

'Is that so...'

Aerion fell onto the ground and focused his efforts on growing a few silver scales while Izanagi-no-Okami observed his fallen body.

"I will end your suffering swiftly..."

As his naginata slowly descended onto Aerion's heart, Aerion forced left his arm through the blade. It was extremely painful but he focused on extending his silver scales and using the Preta Path.

Izanagi-no-Okami was caught off-guard by the sudden act. Aerion just drove his entire left hand into the blade, after all...

Aerion grasped the blade with his pierced hand and started to absorb it... along with Izanagi-no-Okami's power.

Izanagi-no-Okami withdrew his naginata and sliced off Aerion's left arm. However, Aerion had already regained his Sharingan.

'Izanagi.'

His arm returned to him.

'So I need to absorb Izanagi's divine power...'

"Tch, I'll just return it once more-"

BOOM.

The realm's sky tore open as a figure descended beside Aerion.

"Izanami... what are you doing here?"

"That roar was hard to miss." Izanami turned to Izanagi-no-Okami. "It looks like you're having some trouble."

"It's nothing much..." Aerion chuckled. "In truth, I was on my way to victory."

"Ever so prideful."

'Now face my Izanagi-no-Okami.'

Aerion's eyes drastically grew in strength as he hoped that it would be enough to counter Izanagi-no-Okami's reality-warping abilities.

Izanagi-no-Okami tried to 'return' his Sharingan but he could not.

"I will have to physically draw them out, it seems."

"Izanami..."

"Yes, I know."

Izanami used her ultimate genjutsu while Aerion's Izanagi-no-Okami enhanced its strength. Both eyes combined and exponentially increased each other's effectiveness. The result was Izanagi-no-Okami standing still, unable to move.

Aerion stood up and grabbed his head with the Heaven Absorbing Silver Claw.

'My vengeance.'

"There is another Izanami..." Izanami stated.

"Another Izanami?"

"Yes, and she was not too far behind me."

"..."

Izanagi-no-Okami eyes regained their glow as he grabbed Aerion's hand and shoved it away. He swung his naginata, sending Izanami away to another dimension.

He had broken through the illusion in very little time.

"How dare you steal some of my power..."

Izanagi-no-Okami's authority over reality could no longer drastically affect Aerion. In that regard, they were equals but Aerion's power was temporary.

'I have to end him quickly.'

Aerion used Izanagi-no-Okami's strength along with most of Rotias' reserves to open the seventh gate.

'Divine Awakening.'

Izanagi-no-Okami was forced to close his eyes under the shining light of Aerion's Divine Awakening. When he emerged, his hair was crimson once more.

"Your strength is not quite as boundless as you wanted me to believe." Aerion returned the Heaven Smiting Sword to the Sky Poison Pearl and raised the Heaven Punishing Ancestral Sword with both of his hands.

Izanagi-no-Okami spun his naginata and they teleported to a different dimension. It was a world of oceans and nothing else.

'So this is the place he chose?'

"I find your sudden bursts in strength intriguing... very well, I will entertain you with a fair duel."

He raised his naginata and slashed downwards, sending a storm of lightning towards Aerion.

Aerion infused the Heaven Punishing Ancestral Sword with his silver scales and absorbed the attack completely.

"Hmph."

Izanagi-no-Okami's figure exploded towards Aerion and clashed against his naginata against his heavy sword.

BOOM.

The waves below rose to absurd heights from the shockwave.

BANG, BANG, BANG.

They met each other blow for blow, although Izanagi-no-Okami showed some superiority, Aerion matched him well. The tide of the battle started to turn in his favour, ever so slowly as Izanagi-no-Okami's power was being drained and seemed to be fading on its own.

'He can't be Izanagi-no-Okami for an extended period...' Aerion realised. 'So our situations are quite similar.'

Izanagi-no-Okami backed away.

"Izanami... assist me."

Just as his reality desired, Izanami did appear before him. However, there were two Izanami's. They joined their respective husbands' sides.

Izanagi-no-Okami looked away and did not speak, Izanami-no-Mikoto understood what he needed, despite the lack of communication. Her beautiful figure transformed into something truly ugly. A rotting corpse... this image was stuck in Aerion's mind and he was drawn into a paralysed state. The effect on his eyes was drastic. Izanami was less affected by the transformation. Well, that's more of an understatement. She merely found it shocking.

"What did you..."

Izanami-no-Mikoto returned to her original form and Izanagi-no-Okami turned around.

"So much for the fair duel..." Rotias sighed.

Izanagi-no-Okami wasted no time, stabbing his naginata against Aerion who was completely defenceless. However...

His blade was stopped by a black shield made of profound energy.

Izanami had formed her Susanoo, who grew into the perfect state after a single moment.

"A futile effort." Izanagi-no-Okami raised his naginata and began to slash the Perfect Susanoo.

"Snap out of it or we're both going to die..." Izanami slapped Aerion.

As his dark eyes focused upon Izanami, the terror slowly vanished and was replaced by unbridled rage.

"How dare you... put that image in my head!" Aerion roared as Izanami's Perfect Susanoo was enhanced by his explosive silver profound energy. It grew another set of wings and flew into the sky.

"Let's end this in a single strike... I'd rather not see that thing again."

"Hmph, I found it quite disturbing as well." Izanami combined her divine power with Aerion's. They placed everything into this single attack which formed in between the hands of their Perfect Susanoo. Not only was the attack gathering their profound energy, but it was also drawing power from Heaven and the Underworld.

Izanagi-no-Okami and Izanami-no-Mikoto did not sit idly.

"My dear, it is time to reveal your true form," Izanagi-no-Okami stated. "Or we will fall here."

"As you wish."

Izanagi-no-Mikoto nodded and transcended past the Creation God Realm. Her hair was also white, much like Izanagi-no-Okami's, but her eyes were blood red. From their cooperation, the figures of many deities appeared behind them, lending the couple their strength.

Izanagi-no-Okami's naginata was surrounded by the most lethal type of lightning. The black lightning around it expanded gradually in preparation for Aerion's and Izanami's attack.

'Fire, Darkness, Heaven, Underworld, Dragon, Blood, Destruction, Death... the combined Divine power of three Ancestral Gods.'

'Heaven Destroying Infernal Void of Endless Destruction and Death!'

Izanagi-no-Okami confronted the domain of darkness and fire directly with his heavenly spear as Izanami-no-Okami watched from a distance.

BOOOOOOM.