The Abyss of Insanity

Having finally settled all urgent matters, Shiki could finally dedicate himself towards his own matters that didn't involve going out and recruiting or killing other people.

A nice and calm seclusion, filled with research and training, it would certainly be a welcome change of pace after the recent string of missions.

First on Shiki's menu, was an in depth study of the Stars he had created and refined. How their energy could be best utilized, for what purposes could it be used, the best way for trained shinobi to benefit from its powers.

Of course, the very first thing to do, was determine the best possible way for Shiki to use the power of the Stars himself. The answer he arrived to was, quite expectedly, fuinjutsu.

In other words, just like he had done for other things like the Stones of Gelel, or Gift of the Sages, Shiki was planning on creating a specialized seal in order to safely fuse a Star and its power unto himself.

After designing the seal, a truly simple matter for a fuinjutsu grandmaster of his league, all that was left was to refine a star worthy of himself. After all, a mere Star on the caliber of the one kept in Hoshigakure wouldn't be able to provide any significant boost in power to Shiki.

It actually took a few days of continuously producing Star material with the production facilities of the Desert Fortress, and constant refining of that material to make a Refined Star so powerful that, should he fuse with it, would provide him a power boost greater than even a tailed beast.

The Refined Star was made of the purest Star Essence which not only contained an immense amount of Star Energy, it was also free of its harmful radiation.

Despite this extreme degree of refinement which shaved away the grand majority of its mass a volume, the resulting object was still the size of a small house and so dense it could create a noticeable gravitational anomaly.

After Shiki performed the sealing ritual and fused the Refined Star with himself, he immediately felt a surge of limitless power coursing through him and, since all the Mysterious Peacock Method Jutsu had not only been acquired and studied but even observed with the sharingan when Natsuhi performed them, Shiki was already able to use them.

His execution was still very far in terms of refinement and skill when compared to a great master like Natsuhi but he would get there with enough training. It would also be a great excuse to spend some more time with the milf.

As for other applications for the Star Energy, Shiki found the Stones of Gelel more viable alternatives in almost every case. But he still designed a few specialized automatons that benefited from the unique properties of said energy.

Beyond that, he also had a few future plans that would greatly benefit from this energy but those would be left for the far future, well after the Kaguya problem is dealt with.

Shiki also took the time to create a Refined Star that was smaller in size so the Natsuhi who had a much weaker constitution that him, even with the enhancement procedures. Should he give her a Star as powerful as his, its raw power would most likely just violently explode her body.

And with this, Shiki now took some time to train his new tricks and, in his free time, he would take time to chat up the beauties in his life, keeping his ladies happy and satisfied with his attention and charming the ones that were not yet fully his while growing closer to them.

Eventually though, Shiki needed to return to seclusion once again for his next big project. The transmutation of his soul for the purpose of obtaining the Rinnegan.

On the matter of this legendary doujutsu, Shiki's soul was already slowly changing to give birth to it. As he already had obtained the essence from both of Hagoromo's descendants after all.

Even so, with the use of his Soul Transmutation Jutsu, not only could Shiki expedite this process, he could also fully harmonize it with his other visual prowess to maximize its power and suitability to himself.

In the accelerated time of Yomi, Shiki took a whole three weeks to finally complete his metamorphosis. Three weeks of soul tearing pain, three weeks of utter, despair inducing suffering but, in Shiki's eyes, the glint of insanity could be seen.

Despite the last three weeks being, beyond a shadow of doubt, the worst suffering he had endured in his two lives, with even all suffering he had previously endured being nothing when compared to it, the boy's perverted mind was in a state of insanity tainted euphoria.

The rush of power flowing through him brought him to the utter peak of ecstasy.

'Power . . . Power is really a fine thing! What wealth, what authority, what carnal pleasure? Power truly is the finest of drugs in all of creation . . .' Shiki insanely thought.

The repeated assaults on his soul by his own hand had taken their toll. Even though he could properly function in most scenarios of his day to day life, in moments such as this one, the immeasurable madness and insanity within Shiki could be glimpsed.

Shiki's Rinnegan had awakened, its color was blood red, a dark blackish crimson much deeper and darker than Kaguya's Rinne-Sharingan it not only had the concentric circles that all iterations of the Rinnegan possessed, it also bore a total of twelve tomoe in sets of three per circle.

But that was not all, both the rings and circle were not black but shined with redish bright white light and, beneath all of that, the faint pattern of Shiki's lotus shaped Mangekyo Sharingan could still be seen, solidifying the idea that this, was an utterly unique doujutsu, far beyond a mere Rinnegan.

The power within the eyes that Shiki now bore, was beyond any doubt, truly godlike. Such power was the might of all creation once born by the Sage of the Six Paths himself. Alas, with Shiki's current level, he could only slightly tap into such power.

He would need a great amount of time before he could fully understand just what were the true abilities of his new doujutsu and, perhaps then, he would bestow a fitting name to these new eyes of his.

Slowly but surely, Shiki was walking a path to the tru peak of power. Maybe one day, he would travel across the stars and end the Otsutsuki completely, plundering all their power.

That was just an ambition for the far future though, he still had many things to take advantage of in this small world. So many resources to exploit, so many feats to achieve.

Among those, the most significant ones would be the Six Paths Sage Mode, no doubt one of the most overpowered techniques in the original series and the power of the Tenseigan, found in the Moon sitting upon the skies of the world.

Besides these two however, there were still more things for him to do, more abilities to gain, more powers to acquire, more jutsu to master . . .

Not to mention that even after Shiki obtains all there is to obtain, he could still rely of his genius and that of his subordinates to further improve upon his gains and even develop new jutsu and craft new treasures beyond anything shown in the original series.

After a good few days of rest and contemplation, Shiki had finally returned to his normal self from his insanity. He left Yomi and decided he would take a long break and simply enjoy the finer things in life.

Experience simpler pleasures and try to elevate his state of mind to calm his mental issues so as to prevent them from influencing his daily life too much.

'My last stunt truly brought me to the edge of breaking, I hide it well, but those who truly know me will still notice . . .' Shiki mused.

'To hold myself from falling into my mental abyss completely, taking a rest and leaving work to my capable subordinates for a while is not only a good idea, but perhaps even a necessity at this stage . . .' He thought to himself with solemnity.

'Thus, for some time, at the very least a month, I shall dedicate myself to recreational activities and not interfere with the workings of Mugetsu in the slightest. It also ought to be a good test to see just how capable my subordinates truly are . . .' Shiki decided.

'Hmm . . . The more I think about it, the more I like the idea . . . A nice, long and well deserved vacation. I'll of course need to properly warn my people and make a few preparations but after that, it'll be just enjoying life until I grow tired of it . . .'

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P.a.t.r.e.o.n is officially up!

The link is: https://www.p.a.t.r.e.o.n.com/lusoba without the extra dots of course.

You'll get to read up to FOUR week ahead, a full month, but I'll still post here.

There's also my other novel Archon of DanMachi, do check it out!

I would greatly appreciate any support since this is going to be my breadwinner.