Ch. 85: The Change: The Price of Power

At the very least, it can provide some enhancement to Kagami's main body.

Not perfect, but it's a start. At least it's better than nothing. At the very least, it can provide some enhancement to Kagami's main body.

This gave him confidence in the other deities, assuming that they should be of a similar strength. If Cthaat is the baseline, the others must be at least as useful... right?

[Name: Cyäegha]

[Affiliations: Great Old One]

[Description: The Destroying Eye, one of the entities representing earth. Its form is that of a giant glowing green eye, surrounded by countless tentacles.]

[Abilities: Gaze of the Eye of Destruction]

Great, as if Orochimaru wasn't nightmare fuel enough, Kagami shuddered slightly.

This Old One only provides one ability, but its effect is rather complex.

It allows the user to gaze upon a person and randomly trigger one of the following three effects:

[Eye of Neglect: The target's eyes will be cursed with eternal darkness.]

[Eye of Disdain: The target's soul will be relentlessly lashed by tentacles.]

[Eye of Obliteration: The target's physical body will be crushed into nothingness.]

Three effects in one? Eternal darkness, soul lashing, or physical obliteration.

In short, this deity's power allows a random chance of activating one of these three effects on any person.

Although it sounds wonderful, the target of the gaze is limited to humans; it probably won't work on animals or non-living objects.

Kagami groaned in frustration. What if I face a tailed beast? Ask it politely to transform first? Is it even possible?

Moreover, these three effects come with too much uncertainty.

For example, if the target's eyes are cursed with eternal darkness, what if they replace their eyes?

In this world, an eye transplant only takes three seconds and involves three simple steps:

1. Remove someone else's eyes.

2. Take out your own eyes.

3. Put the other person's eyes into your eye sockets.

So, a blindness effect that is limited to a pair of eyes isn't all that perfect.

Kagami mimicked a ninja's voice, "Oh no, I'm blind! pops out eyes Never mind, all better. Some eternal darkness that is."

As he acted out this ridiculous scenario, complete with exaggerated hand gestures, he caught some movement from the corner of his eye. Spidey, who had been quietly observing from a nearby shelf, slowly turned to face the wall, as if trying to disassociate itself from its eccentric caretaker.

He paused mid-gesture, staring at Spidey. "Hey, what's that about? I thought it was pretty funny!"

Spidey's human-like face on its back seemed to wear an expression of secondhand embarrassment, if such a thing were possible for an avatar of Atlach-Nacha.

The absurdity of the situation suddenly struck Kagami and he burst into laughter. It was a genuine, childish giggle that he hadn't experienced in what felt like ages. As his laughter subsided, a realization hit him.

When was the last time I laughed like this? Shaking his head with a smile, he turned back to his research.

As for the other two effects, he hasn't seen them firsthand and thus can't fully evaluate how powerful they might be.

However, compared to the previous deity of the Old One, Cthaat, this one seems to have more offensive power, especially in terms of aggression toward humans.

Or rather, it's a deity whose attacks are limited to humans.

His expression was conflicted. More offensive power, sure. But these limitations... is it really worth it?

Moving on to the next deity.

[Name: Ithaqua]

[Affiliations: Great Old One]

[Description: The Wind Walker, one of the entities representing wind. Its form is a massive humanoid giant with glowing red eyes.]

[Abilities: Wind-Walker, God of the Furious Storm, Offspring of the Wind]

[Wind-Walker: Can control extreme cold, snow, and lightning storms. God of the Furious Storm: Creates large-scale, violent storms. When the people in the storm show their angriest expressions, the storm will intensify with giant hail, torrential rain, and lightning sweeping across the land.]

[God of the Furious Storm: Creates large-scale, violent storms. When the people in the storm show their angriest expressions, the storm will intensify with giant hail, torrential rain, and lightning sweeping across the land.]

[Offspring of the Wind: Through unions with human women, Ithaqua can produce hybrid offspring known as the Offspring of the Wind. These offspring possess similar abilities to the Wind-Walker and, when angered, transform into the God of the Furious Storm. The more Offspring of the Wind that exist, the stronger the God of the Furious Storm becomes.]

"Wait, what? I have to have kids to power up?" Kagami exclaimed, shocked. I'm seven! I can't be thinking about having kids! And how many would I need? An army?!

These three powers include controlling extreme weather, a large-scale destructive force, and a kin-creating ability.

The first two aren't too concerning, but the third one is frightening to think about it.

However, the primary use of the Offspring of the Wind power isn't to create offspring but rather to enhance the strength of the God of Furious Storms by producing more Offsprings of the Wind.

In other words, this Old One has growth potential.

Generally, growth-oriented deities are not too strong in the early stages. If Kagami chooses this deity, he'll need to keep increasing the number of Offspring of the Wind to enhance his own power.

And how do you get the Offspring of the Wind? By having offspring with women.

This deity seems designed to exhaust someone to death.

Originally, Ithaqua indeed used the creation of the Offspring of the Wind to break through the limits placed on him and enhance his abilities. His physical qualities are surely far superior to him, who is merely a human.

Even if Kagami had exceptional physical endurance, it's impossible for him to find enough human women to bear his offspring!

Ithaqua is an Old One, and can likely use force if necessary, while Kagami suspects that the process of producing Offspring of the Wind with humans might not even be as simple as he imagines.

But for him, there are too many limitations.

One night of action, and then the next day there are children? It's not that fast, is it?

Of course not!

And besides, he still has a long way to go before he's old enough to do the deed. Great power, but at what cost? My childhood, apparently.

So, Ithaqua is completely unsuitable for him right now.

The final deity.

[Name: Cthugha]

[Affiliations: Great Old One]

[Description: The Living Flame, one of the entities representing fire. Its form is a massive, ever-shifting form of living flames.]

[Abilities: Cthugha's Fire Creation, Cthugha's Flame Spirits]

[Cthugha's Fire Creation: Can summon and control flame spirits. Anything that comes into contact with these spirits will ignite. The higher the rank, the more flame spirits can be summoned and controlled.]

[Cthugha's Flame Spirits: Can summon and control Cthugha's flame spirits, which absorb energy from intelligent beings and ignite their bodies. Once the beings are completely consumed, their knowledge and memories are transferred to the summoner. The higher the rank, the more flame spirits can be summoned and controlled.]

"Absorb energy, ignite bodies, and transfer knowledge? It's like a lethal library card," Kagami murmured. Burning people for their memories... how interesting.

Then he frowned, considering the ethical implications. That's dark, even for ninjas. Why should I care about my enemies? Yeah, why should I...

Both powers have offensive and growth attributes, and the flame spirits of Cthugha can even acquire the knowledge and memories of those they burn.

Compared to the other three deities, at least Cthugha's power is easier to hide.

From an outsider's perspective, the effects caused by flame spirits just look like simple combustion, similar to fire style ninjutsu.

He mimicked potential explanations, "Oh, this? Just some advanced fire style ninjutsu. Nothing to see here, move along."

The other three deities' powers, once revealed to outsiders, would be hard to explain.

So, in terms of usage limitations, this deity has the fewest, almost none.

Although his current chakra nature is earth, it's perfectly reasonable for ninjas to acquire other elements through training. Especially in Konoha, fire is incredibly common.

At this point, Kagami realized that the four deities unlocked this time each represent a specific elemental domain:

The God of Black Water—Cthaat, representing water.

The Destroying Eye—Cyäegha, representing earth.

The Wind Walker—Ithaqua, representing wind.

The Living Flame—Cthugha, representing fire.

Water, earth, wind, fire... Each element powerful, each dangerous. But which one suits me best?

Kagami weighed the pros and cons of each deity. After careful consideration, he made his decision.

He sighed, knowing what was to come. "This is going to hurt like hell... I need to choose."

He activated his multi-cored vision. Colors flooded his sight, his body tensing as if trying to contain an explosion within. Through gritted teeth, he whispered, "Cthugha... the Living Flame. You're the one."

As the words left his lips, every cell in his body screamed as if ignited from within. His skin reddened, steam rising from his body like a kettle about to explode.

Is this... death?

The world faded to black.

In the darkness, Kagami found himself in a vast dreamscape. A colossal web stretched into infinity, and at its center sat Atlach-Nacha.

The spider's voice echoed in his mind. "Well done, little one. You've taken your first true step into our world."

Kagami struggled to form words. "What... what do you mean?"

"But remember," Atlach-Nacha continued, "what you wield is but a fraction of Cthugha's true power. An imitation that may draw his eye... or the gaze of others."

"Others?" he asked. "What do you mean? Who else is out there?"

The spider's eyes gleamed. "We've lingered too long. He approaches. Remember, young one: power always comes at a price."

Before Kagami could respond, he felt himself being torn apart, ripped from the dreamscape.

---

He jerked awake, muscles screaming. It felt like he'd trained non-stop for days. His hands frantically searched his body for injuries that weren't there.

In the corner of his sanctuary, Spidey crouched over a twitching cave cricket, mandibles working furiously.

Was it real? Or just a fever dream born of pain?

He shook his head. Real or not, I can't back down now. I'm still too weak to change anything... but not for long.

Focus... imagine the heat, the light, the life of flame...

The spirits are fire-based entities, sentient flames. Essentially, they are just masses of fire.

If controlled well, they can be used like a Fire Release jutsu from ninja techniques.

Additionally, the Flame Spirits of Cthugha can absorb the knowledge and memories of those it burns, which is undoubtedly a useful ability for him.

The only tricky part is that the number of Flame Spirits that can be controlled increases with rank. Deities that grow with the user aren't overly powerful at first.

Still, its growth conditions are simpler than those of Ithaqua's Offspring of the Wind, which require producing offspring to grow stronger—who knows how long that would take!

Kagami extended a hand, and a ball of flame appeared in the palm.

The Flame Spirit, about the size of a human head, floated in his hand. It didn't explode, nor did it radiate heat, resembling a mass of intelligent red gas.

"It's not just fire... it's alive!" he muttered.

However, when brought near some wood chips on the ground, the edges of the wood immediately turned black from the high temperature.

It seems that only Kagami can't feel the heat of the Flame Spirit.

He extended the right hand again, summoning another ball of flame—another spirit appeared.

He attempted to summon more, but found himself unable to. "Only three? There has to be a way to increase that..."

He could throw the Flame Spirit like a throwable object or, by sheer will, direct it to fly to its target.

If thrown by hand, its speed increased significantly.

Moreover, even when thrown onto non-flammable stone, the stone ignited!

This reminded him of the description of Cthugha's Fire Creation: anything that touches the Flame Spirit will be set on fire.

The flames from the spirit are not regular fire but something beyond ordinary flames.

The Flame Spirit is Cthugha's overflowing energy with some self-awareness. Essentially, its fire is the same as Cthugha's own.

This isn't the usual combustion requiring oxygen, but rather, it burns an unknown substance.

This material, like most substances making up the Old Ones, is extraordinary.

The extraordinary material that constitutes Old Ones has a unique property: its structure can be damaged, but the material itself cannot be destroyed.

Thus, Cthugha's Flames, or the Flame Spirit, will never go out. They are unaffected by temperature, gas, or water.

The only way to rid oneself of these flames is to remove the extraordinary material causing the combustion.

Isn't this just like Amaterasu?

Amaterasu ignites anything the user sees with black flames that never go out until the object is completely burned.

Likewise, the Flame Spirit's fire won't extinguish unless the extraordinary material is removed.

While similar in effect, Kagami's Flame Spirit has some limitations.

The flames will burn indefinitely only when directly attached to something, much like Amaterasu. However, fires started by the heat from the Flame Spirit are just normal flames.

For example, if he attaches a Flame Spirit to a rock, the rock will burn indefinitely. But the wood ignited by the rock's heat would burn with regular fire, which can be extinguished with water.

If he recalls the Flame Spirit from the rock, the rock's fire would cease as well.

Moreover, the number of spirits Kagami can control is limited—there's no infinite control.

In his consciousness, a hive-like sphere exists with two normal Flame Spirits and one blue flame flickering with crimson lightning.

These must represent the Flame Spirits Kagami can currently control: two regular Flame Spirits and one Cthugha's Flame Spirit.

Hm... a maximum of three Amaterasu-like eternal flames at once.

Furthermore, while Amaterasu can ignite anything the user sees, the Flame Spirit must touch an object to ignite it.

If Kagami's aim is as poor as with a Great Fireball Jutsu, constantly missing human-sized targets, this ability would be a disaster.

Thankfully, Flame Spirits are sentient gas entities and can track targets like will-o'-the-wisps. Although not extremely fast, they can turn corners and avoid obstacles.

With this power, he feels confident in challenging Orochimaru's White Snake.

Standing before the entrance to Orochimaru's lab, he took a deep breath. You can do this. You have the power of another Old One now, right?

As he opened the large iron door, he only saw darkness, but he could smell the stench of snakes filling the room.

Holding a Flame Spirit in the left hand, its light illuminated the room, revealing two large liquid tanks at the center.

Through the murky green liquid, Kagami saw a giant snakehead.

Sensing the presence, the White Snake slithered from behind the tanks, flicking its tongue as it crawled toward him.

It was just as disgusting as imagined—a mass of smaller white snakes made up its body, the snake heads wriggling like maggots crawling over its surface.

It's even worse than I remembered... Remembered?

Disgusted by the sight, he immediately sent a Flame Spirit flying toward the snake's head.

But the Flame Spirit moved too slowly—slower than a ninja's thrown weapon—and the White Snake dodged easily.

Kagami had no choice but to summon another Flame Spirit and throw it by hand toward the snake's body.

Even though this method was faster, it was still a bit slower than a thrown weapon. The White Snake created a hollow gap in its body, causing the Flame Spirit to miss once again.

As Kagami ran out of weapons, the White Snake slowly advanced.

No... I can't lose here. Not after everything!

Although the Flame Spirits had some intelligence, they seemed no match for the White Snake's cunning.

However, as the White Snake slithered forward, the missed Flame Spirits circled back, striking the snake's head, which resembled Orochimaru's face.