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The World Outside Is Calling

Joshua hummed idly, noting things down on the notebook he'd laid on his lap. A desk felt like it'd be more cumbersome than anything, after all, although that might just be his impression. Not like it really mattered and he preferred to be able to get around what little space he had without much issue.

He did wonder why the Youkai's dungeon was so small though.

Considering magic was a thing and they had their own kind in the shape of Youjutsu, Joshua would have imagined they would alter space in some way to have more room or something, if they didn't want to make a bigger place. Maybe there was some other kind of restriction that stopped that from happening? 'I could research Youjutsu… No,' he told himself, interrupting his own train of thought with a frown.

He really needed to get a hold of himself and stop coming up with new projects all the time. He had his hands full just with the projects he could work on while inside that very dungeon, nevermind everything else he was trying to juggle. He really didn't need to add more to the pile.

'Anyway,' he thought, glancing up to look at Cao Cao. The man's blue eyes glared right back at his, but Joshua didn't much care for that. 'Very interesting,' he mused, taking another look at all the information coming at him in regards to True Longinus.

So far, from what he'd learned, all the Longinus Sacred Gears were very different from one another. Which made sense, someone might even say every single Sacred Gear was different… and they'd be sort of right, but also sort of wrong. There was always some parts that looked the same. Like football teams could be called the "same" despite having completely different members between each other, with different strategies and coaches, all Sacred Gears were the same thing at their core despite having drastically different characteristics between each other.

However, following that metaphor, every Longinus was a team for a completely different sport altogether. Which made every single one he got his hands on to research fascinating. He could see why Azazel was obsessed with the things.

"You done staring?" Cao Cao hissed and Joshua tilted his head, continuing to keep his eyes on him. "I'll get out of here eventually. And when I do, you'll be the first to go. You and those Youkai you are so fond of."

"Hm, I'm sure," Joshua replied, outwardly keeping his calm. Inwardly, he decided that his next target would be something more painful for the bastard. Maybe he could try to check the Sacred Gear connection with his soul next. That was bound to be as interesting as the connection between Ophis' power and the devils and Kokabiel in the other cells nearby.

"God's will resides in True Longinus," Cao Cao continued, which was something that Joshua had read once or twice through his research through his now admittedly massive library. It helped that Gabriel was very open to sharing information like that. He was fairly sure that she wanted him to do something about True Longinus.

Which was interesting, considering he expected Heaven would want nothing more than to destroy the thing for what it represented.

Then again, God's will.

Maybe he was missing something, Joshua supposed.

"And nobody can go against God's will," Cao Cao finished, to which he chuckled. First of all, God was dead, which meant that someone had been able to go against him. Second of all, considering what he knew of the power rankings of the world, he could think of a bunch of people that could have stood against God when he was still around. Third of all…

"We'll see about that," Joshua said, almost rolling his eyes as the Egyptians all but cheered through the link. They certainly liked when he stood his ground and became a little more… He wasn't sure boastful was the word, but it worked well enough. It was about posturing, about showing off to the world who their champion was and how good he was.

"Your hubris will be your downfall."

"I don't think so," Joshua replied, shaking his head and chuckling at Cao Cao. "I'm not you, after all," he added with a lazy half-smile. With that said, he decided to cut things off and go away. He had data to go over and new spells to prepare for his next visit to the dungeon.

Especially if he wanted to make the bastard suffer.

Some people were really just out there trying to test his patience, it seemed. How hard was it to just leave him the fuck alone to live his life? But nooo, they had to try and attack his loved ones in some way, be it directly or ruining the world.

Maybe it was just a bad day for him or maybe Cao Cao had somehow brought up his worst emotions. However, Joshua felt especially angry then and there. Not something new for him those days, admittedly. He felt the emotion bubble up any time he saw the effects that last attack had on Kunou. The same happened whenever he worked on defenses to avoid that happening again.

Because it was incredibly frustrating to not be able to do anything other than defend.

However, he couldn't go on the offensive while the people closest to him were vulnerable. The best defense might be a good offense, but not for Joshua. He was a defense kind of guy first and foremost. It was just a shame that the best offense wasn't a good defense, at least in this case. Because Khaos would still be out there being pieces of shit even if he turtled up inside his spell arrays.

'Soon though,' he thought to himself, taking a deep breath in as he stepped outside the dungeon. 'Soon, I'll be able to start making moves again.'

[}-o-{]

Soft music could be heard around the room as Joshua, once more, found himself going over notes and writing down things.

This time though, he was at home, in the kitchen and sitting at the island in the middle of it. It made for a completely different atmosphere, that was for sure. Especially with Kunou sitting beside him and working on her own spells with her tongue poking out of her mouth as she focused rather intently on what she was doing. Which showed in how good she was getting with Illusion Magic. The music they were listening to was made entirely by her through magic and it was pretty good.

"That's a beautiful song, Kunou," Jeanne praised, serving herself a cup of coffee and then another that she passed to Joshua. It wasn't his thing, being a tea guy, but he could put up with the bitter drink to share with family. He'd done that for his parents too, when he'd started making an effort to connect with them.

'Feels like a lifetime ago even though it's been… what, three years?' he wondered to himself, mentally going over the time and yeah, that sounded about right. Sometimes time flew and sometimes it seemed like it didn't even move. 'Almost two years since…'

"Really?" his daughter asked, looking up from where she'd been working to look at her aunt.

"Really," Jeanne confirmed with a wide smile.

"Can I have the circle? Having this playing while working is nice," Joshua commented, making the already beaming Kunou do so even more brightly. "It's really good, by the way, in case it wasn't clear." To that, the girl giggled to herself, kicking her feet and wiggling happily on top of her tall stool. Eventually though, she did pass him not one but three circles. "Are you working on even more of these?" he asked, looking at the flier sized circle drawings and activated one that was different from the one that had played before.

This one was a little more… subdued than the cheerful melody of the previous one, but it had its own beauty.

"Cheshire loves this one, apparently," he commented as his feline familiar jumped on the table by his coffee and notebook. "Margalo liked the previous one better though, no offense," he added, the bird chirping her confirmation of his words.

"Hmm, now that I think about it, I'll try to make two more for Nagini and Morag," his daughter said, a resolute frown on her face as she turned a few pages in her own notebook and started writing something. He felt very proud of her, even if he also felt a little guilty. That was definitely his influence with his unending stream of new projects.

Maybe he should help her curb that if it got too out of hand though.

Better only one of them suffer through that than both.

"She's too far gone now," Jeanne commented dryly, shaking her head. "You've corrupted her," she accused him. For emphasis, she took a deep breath in and then let it out in a long sigh.

"She's having fun," he replied with, waving her off. "Speaking of fun though. You don't have homework to do, right?" he added as he turned towards his daughter… who immediately froze. "Kuuunoouu-"

"Five more minutes?" she asked with an uneasy smile and he raised an eyebrow at her. "Daaad!" she pleaded.

"Don't "daaad" me. You know your mother won't be happy even if I do let you slack off. So, just do your homework and you can work on illusions later," he told her, giving her an unimpressed look. Sure, he did feel like caving, but that would get neither of them far.

Well, no, he could probably convince Yasaka to let them get off scot-free, but he didn't want to. He reserved that for more important things, like spoiling her when she was feeling under the weather. Or maybe just having some extra fun going outside. If she was going to stay inside tinkering like usual, then she needed to get her homework done first.

'I almost sound like a responsible parent, don't I?' Joshua thought, a little amused. 'Who'd have thunk?'

"You're such a dad," Jeanne commented, almost voicing his own thoughts word for word. "It's very sweet… but also hilarious," she added, her amusement clear for everyone to see through her grin. "Especially when you scold her about things you do."

"I don't have homework," he pointed out, only bothering to answer and not just rolling his eyes because Kunou had heard and was very much paying attention. "What are you looking at?" he asked his daughter with a raised eyebrow once more. She looked back at her notebook, but he could almost see her eyes darting towards them… and she wasn't writing anymore either, so that was more telling.

"Still though, you do push everything aside when a new idea pops up in that head of yours," Jeanne pointed out, tapping his forehead emphatically and making his eye twitch. "Or, at the very least, you get lost in thought for half an hour."

"It's never been that long," he grumbled, purposely ignoring the fact that… Well, he'd been kind of close once or twice. "And besides, I'm trying to work on that," he added, glaring at her.

"I'll believe it when I see it," his sister said, giggling before bringing her cup of coffee to her lips.

"Someone's in a good mood," he pointed out dryly with a just as dry look.

"She has a date later," Kunou offered as explanation, getting a betrayed look from Jeanne that she responded to with her best innocent look… that nobody that knew her believed for a single second. "What?"

"You'll have a boyfriend one day, young lady, and my vengeance will be swift and thorough," Jeanne grumbled.

"No, thanks. The family is enough," his daughter replied with a happy expression.

"Good answer," Joshua praised, patting her head and drawing a pleased hum from the girl. He resolutely ignored the look Jeanne was sending his way. Kunou would stay away from boys for quite a while, if he had any say in the matter… And he did, since he controlled the defenses of basically everywhere she went.

[}-o-{]

He took a deep breath in and stretched his arms over his head.

He felt absolutely exhausted, not because he'd done much physical work, but because he was working on Project Life. Every day, he felt that little more pressure to get on with that. Why? Because fucking Annihilation Maker. The Longinus Sacred Gear was really worrying him and it didn't matter how many contingency plans he'd come up with, he wouldn't be able to relax until he had a sure-fire way to stop that particular threat.

"Does someone need a massage?" Kuroka asked, apparently slowly but surely returning to her more playful attitude from the beginning. Being appreciative of the help she'd given him so far and considering she was still fairly tame compared to how she'd once been, Joshua had let her do so. He did often hope that she wouldn't get back to how she'd been before he'd… persuaded her off her practices.

He'd rather not have to deal with her… again.

"Pass," he answered dryly and glancing towards Raynare, who was fighting Nagini and Morag… A spar that once would have been pretty one-sided, but was now fairly even. Longinus could make that much of a difference really.

Sure, she wasn't going all out, but neither were his familiars.

"You're so mean~" Kuroka said with her voice contrasting her words quite a bit, to which he turned to give her a flat look.

"Shouldn't you be meditating or something?"

"Different from someone, I do know when to take a break," the nekoshou answered, which… was fair, but it was also an entirely unnecessary remark. "Also, Shirone will be at your cafe in a bit and we'll spend some time together," she added, to which he nodded.

She was a lot more free now that he actually trusted her… although she was still kind of limited to staying inside his warded areas. Not entirely because of a lack of trust in her though, but also because her presence was still more or less "hidden" for a definition of hidden. It was a bit of an open secret where she was and the general situation with her, but it was still better to keep it that way.

The devil nobles would get annoying real quick if it came out properly.

"Have fun," he told her, his expression falling a little before he brought up a hand to massage his tired eyelids. "Can you check on everyone while you are there. It's been a bit since I went."

"I wonder why," she commented sarcastically, which was also a fair but completely unnecessary remark. "Take care of yourself, Joshua."

"I know, I know," he replied, waving her away and moving to take a seat close by. He had half a mind to summon his notebooks once more to get back to work, but even he realized that it was probably a terrible idea to do that. Much as he'd like to work at all hours so that his defenses could be ready, there was only so much he could do on that front.

It was just not being a good day for him, he supposed.

His worries were eating at him more than usual.

However, something would happen to catch his attention and distract him. What was it? A call from Kunou, which was… not as unusual as one would think. The little one liked to call at the oddest times when she was away. Sometimes when he was in class, sometimes when she was in class, sometimes at night when she was supposed to be sleeping, but she'd usually find a moment to ring him with the communication spell he'd gifted her.

"Yeah?" Joshua greeted, a weary smile on his face as he leaned back and prepared himself to hear about how boring her class was.

"Dad?" she greeted back and he instantly sat straight once more, eyes wide awake. She sounded off. "Class finished early and I'm with mom now," she told him, to which he tilted his head. That sounded like a good thing for her, so what was up with the mood? "Can you come?"

"Isn't your mother having meetings?" he asked, blinking. He was pretty sure that was happening. At least, from what he'd been told, Yasaka had some political meetings to get to. Nothing too important even, but necessary for her position to partake in all the same.

"Yes, but…" Kunou answered, trailing off at the end as if struggling to find the right words… or the courage. "She looks sad though. No, not sad. Lonely."

Welp, that changed everything.

"Kunou, is there a meeting going on right now?" he asked, glancing to the side where Cheshire was already moving towards him. Cracking his neck, he started walking himself.

"Not yet, but there's one in a bit," Kunou answered, hope blooming in her voice. No pressure, he supposed. "I don't know with who though."

"See if you can find out, alright?" he asked her, taking a deep breath in. "I'm on my way. Just gotta do some things real quick. For better effect, you know?"

"Gotta make a good entrance, right?" Kunou replied, already sounding happier, which was all that Joshua wanted. Well, that and achieving the same effect with Yasaka, apparently. He didn't know if something had happened or not, but he could find out about that later.

"You know it," Joshua answered with, grinning.

For the moment, he had other things to worry about, like making sure that he wouldn't screw up by being reckless and rushing things. That's why he wasn't just teleporting straight to Yasaka's place. Like a good magician, he needed to have all the information, all the plans and all the preparations before getting into any kind of situation.

"Ok, I asked Fuyuko," Kunou told him after a bit, to which he nodded, even if she couldn't see him. "She's meeting…"

[}-o-{]

"Thanks, Fuyuko," he said, his expression emotionless as he walked forward. It was a face that he'd had to practice, not quite bored, not quite lazy. According to his advisors – which meant Yasaka, Serafall and Ravel – it gave him an air of being unmovable, not quite scary, but imposing.

He'd taken their word for it.

He didn't remember ever having to use that expression until that moment, but there was a first for everything, he supposed. And at that very moment, he very much needed to do a good job if he didn't want to mess things up. He'd checked with the people that he could reach in such quick notice and yes, he could do it, but he'd need to be careful.

Which was why he was already getting started before getting there and going over what he knew and what he'd do. He wasn't used to dealing with this kind of information and means, but it didn't take a whole lot from him to shift things into a spell-based view. That simplified things a little for him, at least.

"Don't mention it, Joshua-sama," the yuki-onna told him with a warm smile that contrasted her nature quite a bit. "If you'll excuse me, I'll announce your arrival," she added as they reached their destination and bowed to him. He'd have told her off, but his mind had already locked in with the protocols, even if he didn't like them.

So, instead, he just nodded and saw her open the door and step in.

A moment later, she walked out, bowing to him again and leaving. Joshua, for his part, took a deep breath in and walked into the room with Yasaka and Kunou, who were the first that got his attention. Yasaka was difficult to read, either by mundane senses or even supernatural ones. Kunou was much easier to read, even if she was back to her unfeeling princess persona, which he hated.

"Yasaka," he greeted with a nod.

"Joshua," she replied, and he could almost hear the annoyance through her voice, even though it probably wasn't there at all. "I thought you would be busy," she added, which was all that he needed to confirm that she was indeed annoyed. After all, she was ignoring some rules of the setting then and there.

"I was, but I was told the Korean Pantheon would be visiting you and I wanted to meet them," he said, smiling a small, barely there smile to keep his "political" expression on. God was it not for him to do that kind of stuff, but needs must. "Joshua Davis, Pharaoh of the Egyptian Pantheon," he introduced himself, bowing to the three people across the table from Yasaka.

All three of them looked the same, with the same faces, the same light robes, the same pale complexion, the same black hair and eyes that made Joshua feel like he was staring into the infinite darkness of space. All three of them bowed back at him with the same measure of respect he'd offered them, which was quite a bit more than he expected. And then, they spoke.

"Jeseok," all three of them said at the same time. The stereo effectively made them more unnerving than they already were, in Joshua's opinion. "Leaders of the Yogwe Faction."

Good thing he'd done some research on other factions, otherwise he'd never have guessed that meant they were the Korean version of Yasaka. Although, an argument could be made that they were a little above her, if one counted all three of them. Arguments could be made that if the three of them stood against Yasaka and Nurarihyon, they were pretty much even. Unlike those two though, the triplets had the integrity of their faction under their combined command. However, Korea's Pantheon was divided in areas. It was just that the Jeseok were a step above the area leaders and below the godly side of the Pantheon.

Which was a little odd, considering they were actually proper gods themselves.

"A pleasure, truly," Joshua replied, political smile still in place as he walked to a side of the table. A statement that he wasn't there with Yasaka, but on his own. Otherwise, interrupting the meeting wouldn't be taken all that well. Hell, it wouldn't be as it was, but he had a way to smooth things over. "I hope I'm not interrupting anything important?"

He definitely was.

Even during meetings that were done for courtesy, leaders never spoke of "nothing". The pieces on the board were always moving and the leaders were no exception. There was always something going on with their lives. This made Joshua kind of grateful that the Egyptians didn't really push him to live like that, or he might not be nearly as fine with his position.

He dutifully ignored their appreciation, sent through the link.

"Not at all," the trio of deities replied, still in sync and Joshua was getting the impression that that would just be a thing. "Was there a reason you decided to join us other than introducing yourself?" they asked then, their voices giving away nothing. That was added to the eerie presence they had, which wasn't at all helped by the fact that the way they spoke got more and more creepy the more they… well, spoke.

"As a matter of fact, yes," Joshua said, his smile widening the smallest bit. He'd already equipped the Great Column Title, which gave him a presence worthy of the position he held in his Pantheon, of a faction leader. However, he added on top of that some deity channeling with Horus, who was kind enough to help him out.

Not that what he was doing wasn't helping them too, anyway.

"I thought I'd reach out a little and since you seem to have close relations with the Youkai, much as I do, I thought I could start with your faction," Joshua explained calmly, very pleased to see an almost imperceptible glint of interest shining in their expressions. He wondered if he would have noticed without the boost from Horus. "My Pantheon and I would like to offer a gift, of course, as a token of appreciation."

"We are listening," the Jeseok replied and Joshua's smile widened.

Yasaka wasn't happy, but hopefully she'd be…

… After she was done chewing him out for meddling.

[} Chapter End {]

Hey guys! How's it going?

I know I repeat myself a lot, but man, I don't know where that came from.

Anyway, Joshua's a busy man these days… or most days, really, but it's either getting to him or he's gotten even busier as of late. Either or, might even be both, quite honestly. And get to see a bit of that. Maybe he'll be done before it can get truly bad, or maybe things will reach a breaking points…

Honestly couldn't tell you.

And for a similar reason, I'm not gonna talk about that last part, because, as I said, no idea where that came from.