"What a monster."
Clad in her extremely revealing clothes and her usual purple Kimono, Shuten Douji gulped down in nervousness as she watched the horrific sight in front of her.
What should have been a large mountain range had been completely erased, and what replaced it was a giant pillar that seemed to reach the heavens.
While looking up, Shuten couldn't help but grumble inwardly,
If she had to be honest, she did not want to face that man. But, she had no other choice.
In this world, schemes were only useful when the disparity in strength between the two parties wasn't too large.
Even though she had many plans in her head, and managed to rally Kiku to her cause, Shuten knew deep down that nothing was settled.
All that because of one man—Sun Wukong.
An individual that broke all common sense and was publicly recognized as the strongest King-ranked individual. In fact, there were many rumors about him having reached the limit and being ready to cast aside his mortal shell.
Most people dismissed that information as mere rumors without any substance. The birth of a demi-god wasn't something that easy.
For the few who knew about the path to take, they could only shudder at the thought.
The path was one of no return. A king could stop his progress even if he had the qualifications to ascend. But, once he began the ascension, he had to cast away his body and fuse its remnant with his avatar in order to create a divine body.
If he succeeded, then he would be one step on the other side and all he would need to complete the process was to connect with a territory.
If he failed… There would be no then. Since it would mean a thorough destruction of body and soul, completely erasing his existence.
For this reason, even though some Kings did have the qualifications, few were willing to take the risk.
After all, King-ranked individuals already stood at the peak of the mortal world. Why would they court death?
But Shuten did not doubt one instant that those allegations were true.
From what she knew of Sun Wukong, he was a training maniac whose only goal was to reach greater heights.
"Wukong! Could you get down, please!?"
Her voice echoed a little before the large pillar began to shrink at a visible rate. In the place where the pillar stood previously was a pitfall so deep that, even with her sharp vision, she could not see the end.
The pillar contracted until it became as small as a needle that inserted itself, much like an earring, into the ear of Sun Wukong who landed beside the huge crater.
"Oh? If it isn’t the exhibitionist grandma, why are you here?"
Raising an eyebrow, Wukong looked at her up and down before letting out a light laugh.
'Infuriating as always.'
“Monkey King, a pleasure to meet you. You are as handsome as always.”
The nickname of handsome monkey was no joke, even Shuten had to admit that he was quite attractive physically. When paired with his power and influence, there was nothing to nitpick about him...aside from his personality that is.
“*Tut* Don’t play this game in front of me, Grandma. Spit it out, how are you trying to scam me this time?”
“...I don’t understand what you are talking about.”
When Sun Wukong was far younger, Shuten was the one who found him and raised him until he became able to take care of himself.
This was also one of the reasons why Shuten could drink as much Monkey Wine as she wished, even though it was one of the most rare wines in the market.
‘Who would have thought that the random kid I took pity on would become such a powerhouse?’
Fate was really a wondrous thing.
“You don’t? Heh heh, so could you please give me back my gourd?”
The gourd on Shuten’s hip was a treasure that was said to be able to swallow a sea. This was one of the few treasures Wukong had found while traveling, but she had taken it from him and used it as her wine gourd.
“Never!”
She put her hand protectively around the gourd. This gourd was like her lifeline. She could drink as much wine as she wanted and she could even put them in different zones in the interior of the gourd. Taking it away from her would be like taking her lifeline.
Sun Wukong simply shrugged and began to clean his ear with his pinky finger,
“*Sigh* Seriously though, why are you here?”
“Do I need a reason to visit you?”
“Of course you don’t, the door of Mount Huaguo [1] will always be open for you. But, we both know that you wouldn’t interrupt my training without a good reason.”
The smile on Shuten’s face slowly vanished and silence settled between the two of them. In the end, she sighed and asked,
“Did you receive the information about the attack on Lustburg?”
“The Wings of Freedom, was it?”
“That’s right.”
Even though the Wings of Freedom were terrorists, she personally agreed with their ideals. This was why be it her or Kiku, they had worked for close to two hundred years to make the Wratharis Kingdom into the Wratharis Republic.
Even though this was still far from her ideal, she had managed to bring a system where all voices could be heard and all tribes could stand at a more or less equal level.
She hated the system created by the goddesses. Even more so after what happened more than ten years ago.
The previous king had been a kind, benevolent, and most importantly, a skilled ruler.
Under his leadership, the kingdom that had always been plagued by internal and external wars began to settle down greatly and showed signs of growth and prosperity.
But, just because his brother suddenly got a blessing out of nowhere and mutated, the good king was dethroned and replaced by a tyrant that was putting Wratharis in jeopardy.
A despotic, arrogant, and stupid tyrant.
“You know, I love Wratharis. It is the country that sheltered my clan when we had nowhere to go. I shed blood and tears for this country hoping to bring it to the highest level. For me, Wratharis is my own baby, the crystallization of all my dreams and hopes. But now, some bastard pup is about to bring it to hell.”
The last part of her words was spoken with so much hate and vehemence that even Wukong flinched a little.
Oni were said to be cursed by love.
They gave their love easily, but never took it back. If you managed to obtain the loyalty of an Oni, then nearly nothing could make you lose it. At the same time, once an Oni became obsessed with something, nothing could stop them, not even the knowledge of certain death.
Taking a hold of her emotions, Shuten released another sigh before continuing,
“Since you know the situation in Lusturg, you should know how strong it is currently. If we go to war with them, even if the witches do not act, Wratharis will take irreversible damage and might get annexed by the elves or the demons.”
“I see. So you began pulling an alliance and are trying to sabotage Tiangou.”
Shuten nodded, prideful he might be, but Wukong was not an idiot. She had taught him all she knew about politics while raising him.
"You won't say anything like it's cowardly or anything?"
"Why should I? You are weak. The weak should use the way of the weak. There’s nothing shameful about using smart to beat brawns, it’s is what you taught me."
“You are right.”
A proud smile formed on Shuten’s face. As if she was watching her kid saying something great.
Shuten was a pragmatic woman. She believed in using the best solution possible for a given problem by using all ways possible. No matter how embarrassing it was, it would not matter as long as success was reached.
‘Justice always wins because history is written by the victor.’
This was the rule by which she always lived.
“Since you know my goal, let me ask you...Will you be an obstacle?”
She asked with a calm expression.
“You know what I want very well. I do not care about Wratharis, nor this war. I don't even care about my position as Lord. All of those are burdens. But, in order to repay my debt to you, I killed the Tiger Lord and took his position as one of the Four great lords. Wasn’t all this for a day like this one?”
A charming smile bloomed on Shuten’s face.
“Thank you.”
“Don’t be. Once this war ends, I will resign from my position and explore the Astral Realm. All I wish now is to fight the Saint of Sword and affirm my way to pave the path toward ascension.”
Saying so, Wukong turned around and lightly jumped. Then, with a cloud forming below him, he shot off in the sky, his destination unknown.
Now alone, Shuten could feel all the tension leave her shoulders. She had the support of Kiku and Wukong.
All she needed now was the answer of Lusturg.
“Soon, my dream will come true.”
[1]: Flower and fruits mountain
(AN: The title of handsome monkey king was his title when he was still fighting in the mortal world and had formed brotherhood with the Bull King, the Great sage who pacifies heaven and 5 other demons. Later he chose the name Heaven Equal when he began fighting against the army of heaven. He got another badass nickname, the Victorious Fighting Buddha after his journey to the West. Perhaps I might have a story with Sun Wukong as the mc or someone with the power of Sun Wukong. I will see. Anyway, I hope you liked Shuten. She is an interesting character.)
