Purifying the Divine Mountain

Arifureta Universe, Tortus, Heiligh Kingdom, Royal Capital. 

While Tatsuo was dealing with Celeka, James returned to the in to let Sumire, Aletia, Shea, Tio, and Myu know about what was to come. Then, after talking for a while, James returned to the room he was staying in. Meanwhile, Sumire and the girls readied themselves for the inevitable meeting with Kouki. 

And just as Sumire expected, Kouki knocked on their door shortly after James let and tried to convince them to abandon Tatsuo and James because they were dangerous. However, he left disappointed as none of the girls would give him the time of day. In fact, he even felt his ability to have children was in danger after a few of the insults he shot in Tatsuo's direction. But he chalked that up as a figment of his imagination before leaving. 

Though, Kouki felt that his return trip was a lot shorter than the trip he took to the girls' room. He had no idea what that was all about, though. 

After that, two things happened before Tatsuo returned from the Labyrinth. 

First, James snuck into Kouki and Ryutaro's room. He then used his [Devil Magic] to put them to sleep. After that, he worked until nearly dawn to tweak Kouki's brain just enough that he would notice all the affection Eri had for him. 

Meanwhile, Sumire left the girls' room for a short while. When she did, she came across Eri while she was venting her emotions, a necessary process for her to keep her facade going. And as soon as Eri noticed that she was not alone, she tried to kill Sumire. 

However, that naturally ended in failure. Instead, it ended up with Sumire using her extraordinary strength to hold Eri a few inches off the ground with her hand wrapped around the younger girl's throat. 

Sumire then explained everything James was doing to keep Kouki from doing something self-destructive. Namely, making him notice the feelings Eri had for him with the use of his magic. Hearing that, Eri widened her eyes in surprise. She was unable to exclaim, however, because Sumire's hand was wrapped rather tightly around her throat. 

After that, Sumire released Eri before telling her that if she didn't reign in these psychotic tendencies, James would reverse his magic and make Kouki hate her with all his being. On top of that, he would appear when she least expected it and kill her so she could not do anything stupid, too. 

However, Eri barely even acknowledged the threat, only nodding with an overwhelmed expression on her face. Though, James did mention that the constant killing intent he had been feeling for a long time disappeared around the same time as this conversation when the group discussed the night's happenings later on. 

With that, Sumire returned to her room while Eri sat there giggling like an idiot for a while. However, after she had enough to for everything to set in, Eri stood up and rushed back to her room. She had plans to make for the next day, after all. 

About half an hour after that, Tatsuo returned from the Labyrinth. Then, he and the girls went to sleep to be prepared for the long trip that would start in the morning. 

And just like they planned, when the morning came, Tatsuo, Sumire, James, Aletia, Shea, Tio, and Myu bid the Hero Party goodbye before they continued on their journey. And Tatsuo, Sumire, and James could not help but smile victoriously when they all noticed Kouki looking at Eri awkwardly while Eri kept sending fervent glances in his direction, signifying that James' spell had some level of effect. 

A few hours later at the Heiligh Royal Capital...

"*Sigh* Maybe he didn't like me as much as I hoped he did." A beautiful girl with long flowing blonde hair and green eyes, Liliana S.B, Heiligh muttered to herself. "He was so kind when he spoke to me. Maybe I was just looking into it too much. *Sigh*" 

*Vroom!* 

Currently, it was just before noon the day after Tatsuo and the others met with the Hero Party. And Liliana had just gotten freshened up for lunch, which she would be having together with her younger brother and the other summoned heroes. Meaning, she was sitting on her bed in her bedroom in the Royal Castle. However, a loud, unfamiliar roaring sound pulled her out of her musings. 

"What is that?" Liliana asked aloud while standing up from her bed. 

A moment later, Liliana had moved next in front of a window that faced the sound she heard. When she did, she saw a squadron of knights, as well as the summoned heroes rushing to the castle's front gate. And on the other side of the gate, she saw two vehicles, one large and one small, stopped just outside the closed castle gate. 

Not long after that, she saw the person she had been thinking about, Tatsuo, climb out of the larger vehicle. With him, there were three more young women, a girl that looked a couple of years younger than her, and a child. Also, she noticed that James was climbing off the smaller of the two vehicles, as well. 

After staring blankly for a few moments at Tatsuo, Liliana regained her senses. She then turned around and hiked her pink dress up a little before she started running. Liliana ran as quickly as her legs would carry her, surprising the servants and knights who were still inside the castle as she passed them. And that caused all of them to follow her in curiosity. 

By the time Liliana arrived at the castle's entrance, she was followed by a large group of people working in the castle. On top of that, Tatsuo and his group had just been allowed to enter the castle's grounds with their vehicles. And not long after that, the vehicles were parked off to the side before Tatsuo and James got out of or off of their vehicles while the ladies walked in through the gates. 

"Sir Tatsuo!" Liliana shouted with glee as she continued to run forward. 

Hearing his name being called, Tatsuo, who was chatting with his classmates, turned his head in the direction from which he heard his name. When he did, he saw the princess of the kingdom sprinting at him at full speed. 

"See, I told you she's been missing you." James said while nudging Tatsuo with his elbow. "Look at this little lady killer. That's the fourth one since you came to Tortus, isn't it?" 

In response, Tatsuo only rolled his eyes before smiling at the princess. 

"Your Highness, it's good to see you again." Tatsuo said while bowing politely. 

Although she wanted to throw herself into Tatsuo's arms to let him know how glad she was to see him, Liliana's training as a royal stopped her from doing so. Instead, she stopped a little closer than what would be considered polite and smiled brightly. 

"It's good to see you, too, Sir Tatsuo." Lilianna replied, not even seeming to be out of breath after running for so long. And that smile had been enough to capture the hearts of all the people of Heiligh. So, all the knights and servants present glared at Tatsuo with the feelings of a parent who refused to let their daughter be stolen away as Liliana continued. "You have no idea how glad I am to see that you are well. I had been terribly worried about your safety after hearing what happened to you in the Orcus Great Labyrinth. But after Dame Aiko reported that you were safe, my fears were assuaged by quite a bit. And now that I can see you safe with my own eyes, I am overjoyed." 

A moment later, and without missing a beat, Liliana turned to Sumire while still smiling, though not quite as brightly. 

"You, too, Dame Sumire." Liliana said, genuine relief in her tone. "I'm glad you're alright, as well." 

"Thank you, Your Highness." Sumire replied with a polite bow of her own. "We made it out of that abyss, somehow. But I probably would not be here if it weren't for Tatsuo-Kun." 

Nodding in acknowledgement, Liliana then pouted while shifting her gaze between Tatsuo and Sumire. And that caused all the people of Heiligh to intensify their glares. 

"How many times have I asked the two of you to just call me by name?" Liliana asked while resting her fists on her hips and pouting like a girl her age instead of the princess of a kingdom. 

Hearing that, both Tatsuo and Sumire smiled before they continued to chat with Liliana and the rest of their class. Then, the entire group headed into the castle to have lunch where they could all talk more comfortably. 

After spending time with the class, Tatsuo, Sumire, James, Aletia, Shea, Tio, and Myu were gathered in Tatsuo's room well after the sun had set and the moon rose in the night sky. However, because of the late hour, Myu had fallen asleep. 

"Hey, we need to do something about that church." James said after making sure Myu was asleep. "I can feel something too powerful for the people of this world, including the Hero Party, to deal with hiding in there." 

"Ah... You must be talking about one of the apostles." Tatsuo replied. "Yeah, they're bad news for this world. They're way overpowered, created by Ehit without emotions to carry out his will and stir things up when his little game gets too boring." 

"Then we need to do something about that apostle." Sumire said in a solemn tone. 

"Unfortunately, that's easier said than done." Tatsuo replied. "Sure, killing her would be easy enough for me, Sumire-San, and James. But she's not the only one that guy has." 

"Then what should we do?" Shea asked in a concerned tone. "If things don't go in a way that entertains that so-called god, then he'll send them to make trouble all over the world, right?" 

"That's right.' Tatsuo replied. "But I really don't know what to do about it." 

"You said there was only one of them in the church right now, right?" Tio asked, her tone much more serious than usual while the perversion she usually displayed was nowhere to be seen. 

"From what I can tell, that's right." James replied with a nod. 

"Well, I'm not particularly skilled in the type of magic needed for this, but..." Tio continued. 

"[Space Lock]." Aletia said, finishing Tio's sentence. 

"Exactly." Tio said with a nod, picking up from where she was interrupted. "If we had a way to lock the space on the continent... Or even the whole world, we could make it so that no one can come in or go out from the outside. Until we're ready to deal with them, that is." 

"Hmm... That's not a bad idea." Tatsuo replied while rubbing his chin. 

"Yeah, but there's a huge problem with that." James pointed out. "The Tortus continent has a lot of ground to cover. On top of that, powering a spell like that would take a stupid amount of mana." 

"Indeed." Tio replied with a nod. "That would be an issue." 

"Well, I think I can take care of the power supply." Tatsuo replied while pulling the Divinity Crystal out of his [Inventory]. 

"Is that... A Divinity Crystal?" Tio asked with her eyes wide open in surprise. "Indeed, that would do it. But to think you have something so rare." 

"We found it in the True Orcus Great Labyrinth." Sumire said. "You've even drank a vial of the Ambrosia it produces, Tio-San." 

With that, Tio thought back to the potion she drank after her spar with Tatsuo when they first met. She then began to blush fiercely when she remembered the delicious pain Tatsuo inflicted on her during the spar. 

"Oh my, I think I need to change my panties." Tio whispered, though there was no one weak enough to miss it. "Please excuse me, I'll return to my room to change. I shall return shortly." 

Then, without giving anyone a chance to reply, Tio stood up and rushed out of the room. However, she took a lot longer to return than it should have taken for her to go to her room, change her panties, and come back. On top of that, the slight glow and look of satisfaction on her face let everyone know what she was doing for the last hour. 

Meanwhile, the others continued to discuss their plan to protect this world while they were gone after the mission was completed. And the plan they agreed on was that Tatsuo would create magic circles that needed to be placed all over the world. And James would use his extreme speed to take the magic circles Tatsuo created to where they needed to be. Then, once all the circles were in place, they would use the Divinity Crystal to power the [Space Lock Formation]. 

After that, they would destroy the Holy church's Grand Cathedral and kill all the priests, the pope, and the apostle. After that, they would help Liliana take over the kingdom, since none of them thought that the king would take the truth well, especially after all the times he deferred to Ishtar for important decisions since they were summoned. 

They would deal with Ehit at a later date, they had been away from home for over six months, after all. And all three of them were ready to go home. However, they did intend to clear the Labyrinth at the Divine Mountain after destroying the church, though. 

And for the next two days, they put their plans into motion. Meaning, other than for meals, Tatsuo spent all his time creating [Space Lock Magic Circles] on Azantium plates with his [Alchemy]. While Tatsuo did that, James rushed all around the world to map it. However, he was surprised to see that there was only one continent on Tortus with the rest of the planet being a giant ocean. 

A day later, Tatsuo was able to finish all the magic circles while James had mapped the entire planet. After that, Tatsuo, Aletia, and Tio, those most experienced with magic and space, calculated the best positions for the magic circles to be placed. Then, once the calculations were complete, James left with all the magic circles and put them where they needed to be. 

"Alright, that's all of them." James said as he appeared in Tatsuo's room with his wings still extended. "The only place left to put one is at the top of the Divine Mountain, right in the center of the church." 

"Well then, I guess that means we've got some work to do." Tatsuo said with a smile. 

"Nah, there's no work to do." James said with a smile. "Just let me handle it." 

"If you say so." Tatsuo replied. 

Not long later, Sumire, Aletia, Shea, and Tio joined Tatsuo in his room, leaving Myu to sleep in Sumire's room. Then, Tatsuo [Blinked] everyone to the platform the summoned heroes rode from the top of the mountain to the Royal Castle. 

"It feels like it's been such a long time since we were up here." Sumire murmured while looking around. 

"Yeah, and if we weren't here to destroy it, I wouldn't even want to come back.' James replied. "Anyway, let's go. I wanna get closer to the center. Otherwise, I could accidentally cause an avalanche." 

"What are you going to do?" Shea asked in a curious tone. 

"Show you the most beautiful slaughter in all the worlds." James said, proud of the beauty of his bloodline ability. "Hell, the most innocent angel in my world asks me to show off a version of this technique every time I see her. So, that should tell you something about how nice it looks." 

That statement made Shea's ears stand up while she looked at Jaems with anticipation. However, she was not the only one who was interested in seeing James technique, especially after he bragged aboutit so much, as Sumire, Aletia, and Tio were curious to know, as well. 

Tatsuo, on the other hand, already had an idea about what James would do. He had inscribed a magic circle on one of the Katanas James had been using in this world that allowed him to imitate his bloodline ability, after all. 

Like that, the group walked through the church compound while under Tatsuo's [Stealth]. They then arrived in an open area. James then nodded in satisfaction at the place he found. 

"Alright, I suggest you all take some distance." James said to the rest of the group. "This is gonna cause a lot of damage to the ground. After that, under no circumstances should you move. I don't wanna shred you to ribbons by accident." 

A little concerned by James' warning, the group eventually distanced themselves from him. Then, when they were about three hundred forty feet away, James signaled that they had gone far enough. On top of that, James was no longer concealed by Tatsuo's [Stealth]. Meaning, his presence was noticed. And only a few seconds after his presence was noticed, he was confronted by the one who noticed it. 

"One of the summoned heroes, the one who speaks ill of our god, why are you here?' A beautiful woman with long silver hair and blue eyes, wearing a sleeveless white dress, plates of metal that protect the sides of her waist, a winged helmet, gauntlets and greaves, asked monotonously while her face was expressionless. She also had a pair of large, feathered, silver wings growing from her back that kept her afloat in the air. 

"Oh, I was just taking a walk." James replied while smiling cheekily. "You know, trying to clear my head. I found out some shit about your god, after all. So, I thought destroying his church might help me settle down. By the way, what's your name, gorgeous?" 

Though her expression did not change, James would have sworn that he saw a flicker of annoyance in her eyes. And that made him smile even wider. 

"Though you won't be able to use it for long, as you will be dead soon." The silver-haired woman said in that same monotonous tone. "You may call me, Noint." 

"*sigh* You know, I could have let you live if you hadn't said that." James replied in what sounded like a regretful tone. "But I don't take too kindly to threats, you see. Especially death threats." 

As he spoke, James flared his demonic power. As he did, the air all over the top of the Divine Mountain began to shake, causing some of the stronger priests, as well as the pope, Ishtar, to awaken. 

*Zoom!* 

A moment later, James' demonic power began to overflow from his body, giving him a dusk-pink outline, before it shot up into the sky as a pillar of dusk-pink light. 

"Just how strong is he?" Sumire asked in an amazed tone. 

"Well, he said he was on par with people like Indra and Shiva in his world." Tatsuo replied while watching James with laser-like focus. "So, probably strong enough to destroy a large planet if he really put his mind to it, I guess." 

"Incredible." Tio muttered while watching the spectacle. 

Meanwhile, Aletia, who did not speak much, and Shea, who was completely shaken by the display of power, remained silent. A moment later, they heard James' voice from inside the pillar. 

"[Scatter, Senbonzakura: Mugen no Ha]." James chanted calmly. 

In the next instant, the ground with in three hundred twenty-eight feet of James began glowing in the same dusk-pink glow. At the same time, the glow around James dissipated, revealing his changed appearance. 

Now, as he stood there, James' skin took on a metallic sheen. On top of that, a pair of horns grew from his forehead before curving back along his skull, stopping at the base of his neck. 

["*Sigh* I remember when you needed me to use this technique."] Ddraig said in a nostalgic tone. [Man, time really flies."] 

'What are you talking about, Ddraig?' James asked internally. 'It was only a little more than a year since I first used this technique in Heaven while fighting Crom.' 

["I know."] Ddraig replied. ["But you needed the [Tyrant Dragon Domination drive] back then. Now, you can do it without any [Boosts] at all. I don't know if I'm proud of your growth or sad that I'm no longer needed."] 

Unfortunately, the heart to heart between the boy and his dragon was interrupted. 

"You shall die for your insolence." Noint said with no change in her expression. 

In response, James only shook his head while thinking: 'If she had just stayed still she could have lived for a bit longer.' 

Meanwhile, Noint, as soon as she finished speaking, a pair of large greatswords appeared in her hands. Then, she spread her wings and rushed towards James, intending to cut him in half. However, James only shook his head once again. He then flicked his right index finger in Noint's direction. 

With James finger flick, a cherry blossom petal-shaped blade shot up from the glowing portion of the ground at high speed. Then, before Noint could react, it pierced through the center of her forehead, ignoring the defense of her helmet, before shooting out of the back of her head. 

As a result, Noint, with the light in her eyes snuffed out, fell from the sky. However, instead of crashing into the ground, she sank into the glowing, dusk-pink ground. As she did, the smell of blood quickly spread around the area as her body had been finely minced by all the cherry blossom petal-shaped blades that made up the ground at the moment. 

"*Sigh* I always hate killing beautiful women." James muttered as he raised his right hand. "But the only good enemy is a dead enemy. Unless they become my familiar like Crom, that is." 

With James movement, the ground he was standing in rose up as an uncountable number of cherry blossom petal-shaped blades. Then, James gestured towards all the structures on the top of the mountain. As he did, the enormous cloud of petal blades flew around, shredding everything they passed, leaving large piles of dust with pieces of minced humans mixed in. 

Meanwhile, Sumire, Aletia, Shea, and Tio watched James' display with their eyes and mouths wide open in surprise while thinking: 'He wasn't just bragging, it really is beautiful.'. Tatsuo, on the other hand, although he was surprised by the scale of James' technique, was smiling like a fool. And that was thanks to the [Notification] he just received. 

{[Notifications] 

New [Skill] Learned: [Senbonzakura – B-]} 

'I don't' know how this happened, I thought I couldn't learn devil abilities because of the racial difference.' Tatsuo thought to himself while watching James reduce everything on top of the Divine Mountain to dust. 'But I'm not complaining. I'll just have to do more research on [The End] when I have time.' 

Not long after he started, James had completely destroyed the Holy Church's Grand Cathedral. Then, he returned the petal blades to where they came from. After that, Tatsuo installed the last [Space Locking Magic Circle] at the center of the mountain's peak. Then, he inserted the Divinity Crystal to act as a power source. 

*Buzz~~~~~~~~~~!* 

A moment later, the magic circle emitted a large amount of mana that shot off in search of the rest of the [Space Locking Magic Circles]. Then, when they were all connected, a midnight purple pillar of mana shot out from each magic circle before it spread over the entire planet, locking out anyone who wanted to entered the world from another dimension. And once it was stable, the mana covering the world became transparent, hiding itself from the eyes of any onlookers.

After that, the group of six made their way into the Divine Mountain's Labyrinth. However, after what just happened, they did not have to face any trials, as it was clear they were not, nor would they ever be, on Ehit's side. So, they were all bestowed the [Age of Gods Magic: Spirit Magic] with little effort before they decided to head back to their rooms in the Heiligh Royal Castle.