The next day, the lockdown on Nikkō City was lifted by the History Compilation Committee.
However, due to the immense impact caused by the battle between Kaiser and Sun Wukong, Nikkō City was now essentially uninhabitable.
Mount Nikkō, which had transformed into Mount Huaguo, directly collapsed. A large number of buildings in Nikkō City also crumbled. Even Mount Nantai suffered some damage, turning this city full of historic sites into a near-complete ruin, narrowly escaping total destruction.
The official report later released stated that Nikkō City had experienced a major earthquake, necessitating large-scale reconstruction efforts. The scale of reconstruction rivaled that of Sardinia when it had nearly sunk into the sea, making it clear that no tourists would be visiting here for quite some time.
The Tōshōgū Shrine where the Western Heaven Palace was located was also completely destroyed—utterly wiped out. Even the Monkey Deity enshrined within it vanished. As a result, the Kuhoutsuka Family, one of the Four Great Families, suffered a disastrous blow and was likely to see their status plummet, possibly even being squeezed out of the Four Families and becoming a fallen noble house.
Fortunately, when disaster struck Nikkō City, all its citizens had turned into rampaging monkey-like divine servants due to Sun Wukong's arrival. Because of this, they inadvertently avoided much of the catastrophe.
After Sun Wukong was vanquished, the citizens of Nikkō City were also rescued. Some, due to being farther from Mount Nikkō and less affected by Sun Wukong's magical power, returned to normal immediately. Others, having been too close and too deeply influenced by Sun Wukong's magical power, remained in their monkey forms even now.
The History Compilation Committee was already organizing relief efforts, sending numerous magicians, onmyoji, and Hime-Miko to form a de-cursing group dedicated to studying and removing the simian transformations from the citizens, aiming to return them to normal.
At the request of Sayanomiya Kaoru, with Mariya Yuri also pleading by her side, Kaiser went to see these monkey-transformed citizens. Then, using Ame no Murakumo no Tsurugi, he easily removed the simian transformation and restored them.
The ability of Ame no Murakumo no Tsurugi to steal magical power was just right for this task.
As long as the foreign magical power on these monkey-formed citizens was removed, and the curse Sun Wukong had placed on them was taken away, they would naturally return to normal.
"Even if a Paladin-level grand magician came to remove these spells personally, it probably wouldn't be easy, would it?"
"And yet, the King solved it so effortlessly… As expected of you."
Erica and Liliana, who were watching nearby, couldn't stop praising Kaiser's performance.
The two of them had also played significant roles in this incident. Not only had they fought off numerous monkey divine servants and escaped unscathed, but they reportedly also encountered the monkey divine beasts that Kaiser had faced before the Water Curtain Cave, engaging in a rather grueling battle.
Erica and Liliana, whether prodigies or Great Knights, still found it quite difficult to deal with divine beasts.
Though divine beasts varied in strength, they were essentially matched against Paladins. For Great Knights to handle them was no easy task.
However, Liliana had mastery over the Kotodama of David, a battle magic secret art effective against gods. Once unleashed, and especially in a surprise scenario, it could turn the tide and allow her to defeat those monkey divine beasts with low intelligence.
Erica also possessed a combat magic of similar rank, known as the Kotodama of Golgotha.
It was the hymn called the Song of Calamity, chanted by Jesus Christ with his dying breath on the execution ground of Golgotha. It was a kotodama imbued with hatred and despair, enchanted onto weapons. When recited, it would lower the surrounding temperature, disrupt the caster's concentration, cause trivial mistakes, and just hearing it could cause blindness in ordinary people and collapse in the frail. If the caster so willed, they could even curse everyone to death.
Just like David's kotodama, it was a top-tier battle magic capable of harming gods.
Though still insufficient to face actual gods, it was already threatening enough when used against divine beasts.
Thus, when Liliana used the Kotodama of David to defeat one monkey divine beast, Erica likewise used the Kotodama of Golgotha to overcome another.
As for Mariya Yuri, she had remained beside Erica and Liliana the entire time. Though she did not participate in combat, her exceptional Spirit Vision ability had been repeatedly triggered throughout the otherworldly Nikkō City, providing well-timed warnings and instructions that helped Erica and Liliana evade numerous dangers.
This included when the flood Kaiser had summoned was petrified by Sun Wukong's secret stone-formation technique and came crashing down from midair, crushing a vast area centered around Mount Huaguo. If Mariya Yuri hadn't foreseen this through Spirit Vision and issued a warning, those at the mountain's base might not have escaped in time.
This performance left even Erica—who was seeing Mariya Yuri's capabilities for the first time—half surprised, half contemplative as she observed her for a long while. Later, she said to Kaiser:
"To have recruited such a capable close aide, Your Majesty's eye for talent surpasses even Lord Salvatore's."
Clearly, Mariya Yuri's abilities had earned Erica's recognition.
But when another close aide that Kaiser had taken in from this country appeared, Erica was no longer so agreeable.
There was no helping it.
These two didn't seem to get along.
...
Within the Shichio Shrine grounds.
When Kaiser and his group returned here by stretch limousine from Nikkō City, it was already after the city's lockdown had been lifted.
The four of them got out of the car together, with one additional companion joining them this time.
"Once again, thank you for your assistance."
Dressed in men's attire, Sayanomiya Kaoru had accompanied Kaiser this time, seeing him back and offering her gratitude before departure.
Her thanks weren't just for Kaiser resolving the issue with the Heretic God Sun Wukong, but also for returning the simian citizens back to normal.
"It was a small effort, no need to thank me over and over." Kaiser glanced at Sayanomiya Kaoru and said, "If anyone should be thanking me, it's those old geezers in the Netherworld, right?"
"Those old men wouldn't dare meet you." Sayanomiya Kaoru smiled wryly. "It's not like we didn't report this incident to them, but who knows what they saw—each of them now seems extremely reluctant to meet you."
These words gave Kaiser reason to believe that those elders hiding in the Netherworld might have seen, by some means, his performance in Nikkō City.
His battle with Sun Wukong was one thing, but if they had also witnessed his fight with Lancelot, then of course they wouldn't dare face Kaiser.
No joke—those elders had been on guard against the hidden Last King all this time, only to have him quietly eliminated by Kaiser, and even the Divine Blade ended up in Kaiser's hands. Isn't that terrifying?
And the Heretic God Athena, the Trinity Queen, ruler of the underworld and the earth, the supreme Mother Earth Goddess—was also easily subdued by Kaiser. If those elders had seen that, they would have been terrified enough to doubt reality.
If they still dared to meet Kaiser after that, that would be truly strange.
Especially Susanoo—he now wanted absolutely no further dealings with Kaiser.
Who knew—if he appeared in front of him again, what if it wasn't his sword that got taken next time, but himself?
There was nothing more terrifying to the gods than this!
And so, those elders of the Netherworld had now started pretending to be deaf and mute. Some had even gone into deeper hiding, unlikely to return anytime soon.
Unless they could unravel the many still-incomprehensible mysteries surrounding Kaiser, and uncover the true nature of his bizarre ability to control various divine tools, they definitely wouldn't dare return.
Of the two people who had appeared alongside Susanoo back then, the mage was the first to silently vanish, followed shortly by the disappearance of the old master. Only the princess with the glazed-glass eyes remained unaffected, allowing the History Compilation Committee and other official forces to maintain some contact with the Netherworld's sages.
In any case, Kaiser had vented a massive grudge this time. From now on, those folks surely wouldn't dare provoke him again.
"Well then, I'll be taking my leave."
Sayanomiya Kaoru bowed to Kaiser, then turned to Erica and Liliana.
"Miss Erica, Miss Liliana—please enjoy your stay in this country."
She said this with a smiling face.
"I'll observe this country with a critical eye."
Erica replied with the elegant and confident smile of a noblewoman.
"I will."
Liliana, less performative than Erica, responded curtly and rather coolly.
Sayanomiya Kaoru returned to the car and was driven off by Touma Amakasu.
Erica and Liliana both watched the limousine depart, then began chatting.
"To think someone like that is also a Hime-Miko… the East is truly fascinating."
Erica commented with a smile.
"She may not compare to Mariya Yuri, but Sayanomiya Kaoru is still quite an exceptional Miko."
Liliana remarked thoughtfully while watching the departing car.
"Don't be fooled by how Kaoru—Sayanomiya—acts. She was also top of the class when serving as a Hime-Miko."
Mariya Yuri tried to defend her crossdressing friend's dignity.
"All right, let's head back. I'm getting a bit hungry."
Kaiser yawned lazily and headed toward the shrine office.
The three girls immediately followed, returning together to the office.
However, when they entered and opened the living room door, they saw a figure had arrived ahead of them, already sitting there drinking tea.
"Ena!"
Seeing the person, Mariya Yuri was the first to cry out in surprise.
"Your Majesty, Yuri—you've finally returned!"
Sitting with an especially dignified posture, Seishuin Ena turned her head and greeted them with a smile.
After several days, Seishuin Ena had finally returned.
Beside her, a sword bag containing a snow-white spiritual blade lay quietly, silently asserting its presence.