I Reincarnated As A Stick

Chapter 195: Returning to the Peak

Celestial Plane, Divine Triad Pagoda.

After being advised by the pagoda where the Immortal Verdict Wielders resided to wait for orders, Nix and Shirohana decided to follow its advice, heading back to the Hall of Greater Divinity at their maximum speed. Nonetheless, while they made their way towards the Hall of Greater Divinity, the two of them could not help but let out a sigh inwardly.

“Are you feeling the same feeling as me, Shirohana?” Nix looked at Shirohana, who was beside her and asked this question. In response to this, Shirohana let out a short sigh before answering with, “If it’s the feeling of helplessness, then yes. I feel the same thing.”

“Only a few dozen of us have survived the onslaught from the First Divine Demon War,” Nix let out a chuckle filled with melancholy as she spoke. She then added, “To know the power of a Sin firsthand, who wouldn’t feel helpless in front of it?”

She then focused her vision on Shirohana’s face before saying, “And that���s why I hate the new generation of Lesser and Greater Gods who haven’t been in the war, thinking that Sins are nothing compared to them.”

“Why hate them?” Shirohana replied to Nix’s statement before adding, “They’re just lucky to be born in a time in the Celestial Plane that wasn’t filled with strife. That’s all.”

“If they were born at the time when the First Divine Demon War was at its highest, which one of them wouldn’t feel the same as us?” Shirohana continued, only to let out a sigh a few seconds later. “Then again, I still want to do something before the inevitable comes. Something that would increase my chances of surviving.”

“What do you have in mind?” Nix asked her, slightly curious as to what Shirohana was thinking. Fortunately, Shirohana was not someone who kept everything to herself, eventually telling Nix what she was going to do as she waited for orders.

The response Shirohana got from Nix was that of an expression of complete shock, as well as a shout that went along the lines of, “Are you insane?! You’re going to try and become an Immortal Verdict Wielder?!”

“Well, by becoming an Immortal Verdict Wielder, if the Sin we’re up against is a Deified Sin, then it wouldn’t be impossible for me to fight back,” Shirohana explained her thought process before adding, “On the other hand, if it’s a Primordial Sin, which I hope it isn’t, then I would have a greater chance to escape.”

“You…” Nix muttered in slight disbelief, only to become silent as she felt the conviction that was gradually emanating from Shirohana. Noticing this, she let out a sigh that said something along the lines of ‘I guess it can’t be helped’ before saying, “I guess you’re serious, huh. It’s so like you to do such a thing.”

“Sorry for being a bit selfish, Nix,” Shirohana smiled in a slightly melancholic manner as she talked, to which Nix replied, “Don’t be. Every god is a little bit selfish on the inside.”

After saying that, Nix let out a sigh once more before laughing not long after, putting a slightly confused expression on Shirohana’s face. Just as Shirohana was about to ask why she was laughing, Nix went ahead and said, “Since you’re aiming to become an Immortal Verdict Wielder as well, I guess I should strive further to become an Immortal Verdict Wielder. I won’t lose to you, okay?”

In response to this, Shirohana lightly smiled before chuckling as well.

“Of course. It wouldn’t be like you to lose against me.”

…

After taking about half a day to get back to the Hall of Greater Divinity, Shirohana and Nix soon parted ways, making a promise with one another that they would become Immortal Verdict Wielders before the Second Divine Demon War truly starts.

Whoosh! Whoosh!

A few hours after that, Shirohana had arrived near the proximity of a certain plane owned by a god she knew very well. In actuality, this plane was more akin to a cube rather than a plane, with each side being the epitome of the color white. Indeed, this plane was none other than Kurohana’s plane, the plane of Shirohana’s original body.

Whoosh!

Thanks to Shirohana and Kurohana being the same person, Shirohana did not have any difficulty entering the white cube, landing beside Kurohana, who had her full concentration on the floating orb in front of her, a few minutes later.

Thud.

Hearing a slightly loud noise resonating near her, Kurohana could not help but be ticked off as her head turned around to look at who or what made that sound, only for her anger to dissipate into thin air in an instant after realizing who had made the sound.

“Shirohana, you’re back,” Kurohana said in a cheerful tone, standing up from her chair before going ahead and hugging her. Although Shirohana and Kurohana were two entities, they were ultimately the same person, which meant that the sensation of being hugged was passed onto Kurohana as well.

After hugging her for a while, feeling refreshed after being hugged, Kurohana soon asked Shirohana as a serious expression appeared on her face, “So…what did you find out?”

In response to her question, Shirohana went ahead and knelt, with Kurohana scratching her head at this sight not long after. Eventually, she let out a sigh before muttering, “Do you really want to make me do this? Even though there’s no one around here, it’s kind of embarrassing.”

As she muttered these words, she then placed her right hand on top of Shirohana’s head, her body glowing a faint gold not long after. She then channeled this faint gold light towards her right hand before closing her eyes.

Swoosh!

At the instant she had done that, an influx of information soon came into Kurohana’s mind, with her mind hastily organizing, deciphering, and processing the information not long after. After standing in place for a couple of minutes, she then opened her eyes, heading back to her chair to sit before saying to Shirohana, “Good work. You’ve more or less conveyed what I wanted to say to Nix after finding out that the Sin we’re up against might be a Primordial Sin.”

“I should also thank you for sending me a memory regarding the Primordial Sin,” Kurohana said with a smile as she looked intently at the orb, the image of Aurus and his comrades winning the war in Tempest Cliff. She then looked back at Shirohana and asked, “Speaking of which, are you really sure that we’re up against a Primordial Sin?”

In response, Shirohana stood up and sat on the armrest of the chair Kurohana was sitting on before replying, “Well…Nix examined the Demon’s Mark I got from those two Lesser Gods. Knowing Nix very well, there’s a likely chance that we may truly be up against a Primordial Sin this time around.”

“You actually obtained a Demon’s Mark?” Kurohana muttered in disbelief, rummaging through the information she had just received from Shirohana, only to find out that that was the case. “Only Unified Sins and above can create those things, right?”

“Yeah.” Shirohana nodded in response before saying, “I checked the Demon’s Mark with the power you gave me, and it radiated power at the Deified Sin level. I guess our power wasn’t enough to check the true level of the Sin on the Demon’s Mark.”

Hearing those words coming from her divine clone, Kurohana could not help but wonder to herself, ‘Have I gotten that rusty?’

With this in mind, Kurohana told Shirohana that she was going to take control over her body for a while, to which Shirohana unhesitatingly acceded. And just like that, Kurohana was now controlling a greater part of her power, getting a better feel of her full power as she lightly stretched her body.

After making sure that every part of her body was ready to start moving strenuously, she then went ahead and raised her left arm as a giant magic circle manifested on the tip of her left hand a few seconds later. Next, she threw this magic circle with her full strength as multiple balls of white energy appeared around her body, making their way towards the thrown magic circle at the fastest speed possible.

Whoosh! Whoosh!

These balls of white energy arranged themselves in a flower formation around the magic circle while the magic circle siphoned the energy from the balls, creating a whirlpool of various colors as the aura of multiple living beings gradually emanated from the circle. Ones���tens…hundreds…thousands…eventually, the aura of tens of thousands of living beings started to emanate from the circle, prompting Kurohana to dash towards the center of the magic circle, absorbing this aura for herself before channeling it towards her right fist.

“[Myriad Lives: Galaxy Shattering Beam].”

Bang!

As she muttered the name of the move, she then punched out with her right fist at full force, manifesting a beam of energy that was equivalent to the life of tens of thousands of people. Every year they spent living, every ounce of energy inside their body, every second of effort they exerted to increase their strength, all of this was congregated into this beam, piercing through the walls of the white cube without any effort.

After the beam had dissipated, Kurohana enhanced her sense of sight to its limit as she looked at what the beam had destroyed, letting out a low sigh as she found out that she had only destroyed 3 galaxies with this move of hers, unlike her peak of 10 galaxies back then.

“I guess I’ve gotten rusty,” Kurohana muttered as she transferred her control back to her original body while Shirohana had taken control of her own body simultaneously. She sat on the chair while looking at the orb in front of her, pondering over what she was going to do so she could achieve her goal of becoming an Immortal Verdict Wielder before the Second Divine Demon War starts.

Fortunately, it did not take long for her to think up of a plan that would allow her to do just that, looking at Kurohana with a slightly serious expression as she said, “Shirohana, split yourself into two….but give the second body of yours only around 20% of your power.”

“As you wish,” Shirohana said in response to Kurohana’s commands, closing her eyes as she chanted an incantation that was incomprehensible to any other being than gods, her body gaining a line that cut her body in half lengthwise.

Whoosh!

Soon, the line in the middle of her body had turned corporeal, cutting Shirohana into two halves before gradually transforming into two clones that had the same appearance as Kurohana.

Looking at the new clone that had been made, Kurohana said to her, “So I don’t have to be confused when I contact you, since my name is Kurohana, and the clone beside you is Shirohana, you shall be called Haihana. Do you have any complaints about that?”

The new clone that had been formed, who was named Haihana by Kurohana, shook her head before replying, “I have no complaints, original body. What orders do you have for me to accomplish?”

“Although I’d rather be called Kurohana, I’ll let it slide for now,” Kurohana replied to Haihana’s question before adding, “Anyways, you shall accomplish the third step of this plan of mine to become an Immortal Verdict Wielder before the Second Divine Demon War starts.”

“Your task is to wander through the worlds of mortals and live like them. Try to get a feeling of what it is to be a mortal. Also, try to learn as many skills from the mortals as possible. Martial arts, magic spells, esoteric skills, all of it will be helpful in the long run,” Kurohana added, to which Haihana replied with, “As you wish, Kurohana.”

Swoosh!

Without hesitation, Haihana went ahead and flew out of the white cube, proceeding to follow Kurohana’s orders to a T as she started to make her way towards a planet filled with mortals.

After looking at the fleeting silhouette of Haihana for a short while, she then shifted her focus to Shirohana as she said, “Since you have the most power out of all of us three bodies, you shall do the second step, which is to try and learn more about the Greater Law of Reincarnation, as well as obtain greater control of it. Of course, I’ll learn the Greater Law of Reincarnation as well from time to time, allowing us to exchange opinions that would slightly speed up the process. But mostly, you’ll be the one doing that.”

“As you wish, Kurohana.” In response to her words, Shirohana respectfully bowed before making her way towards a corner of the white cube, sitting down in a cross-legged position as she closed her eyes, attuning to the energy of the laws in the universe.

After looking at the movement of the law around Shirohana’s body for a while, Kurohana eventually shifted her focus back to the floating orb in front of her, letting out a light smile as she muttered to herself, “Of course, I should do the most important step of this plan of mine, the first step. I’m going to make sure that nothing else happens to Aurus, allowing him to continue on the path of destiny I’ve set for him, and possibly even speed it up.”

“Hm?” At this moment, the image on the orb was that of Aurus upgrading his system to the next level, eliciting a light chuckle from Kurohana as she shifted the image on the orb to that of the entity who found out what she was doing. Noticing that the entity that found out what she was doing had given up on meddling with Aurus, Kurohana could not help but lightly chuckle once again as she said, “Well then.”

“It seems that luck is on my side.”