I trailed behind the three members of the Infinity Council and took in the surroundings. The leaves of the forest were an orangish gold color. It looked surreal and beyond my imagination.
"Nagini, where are you taking place in this memory?" I asked.
"Well at this time of the memory, I had left to seek out the rest of the Infinity Council since Legion was heavy on attack. This was before I went to Siberia with Maruno. Japan was being heavily struck down by European Forces and we had to act fast. Even Judgement struggled against Legion due to the support they had from the Overlords and the Fallen." Nagini answered.
"Where are we even?" I asked.
"We are still in Japan. We are in the Golden Forest of Yahoma. A bit of history in this time period, this was before Apeiron even existed. Before the Tree of Life and Death. Yahoma was different at this time. It was being protected by Judgement and the Infinity Council." Nagini answered.
I nodded and continued to look around until I noticed we had stopped.
"Hisumi. Where do you come from?" Qiao asked.
I looked at them. "I actually come from Yukihori. You can say I was a wandering civilian who somehow found herself in this issue."
"Your power is pretty great. It nearly matches that if a Ruler. Who were you trained by? Was it Master Umeji or was it Master Doomsday?" Qiao looked at me and took his mask off.
"It was neither. I ah...was experimented on basically?" I shrugged. "I was a young girl when I was experimented on so I can't remember the organization name who did it."
"Hm...Human Experiments. That's not unheard of, but quite rare. We could possibly use your power in the future to help us." Misao said.
"Misao, I have a question for you." I said.
"Yes?" She replied.
"How many Shrine Maidens are there? I mean you look like a Shrine Maiden...so I assumed that you were one.." I said.
"There are an entire clan of Shrine Maidens. My home is just in the Sakura District of Japan. When this war happened our numbers were cut down to four remaining maidens." Misao said then looked at the Key of Origin. "We fight to defend our home mostly, but when we find those who are family to us we fight to defend them as well."
I looked at Nagini then looked back at Misao. I looked at Liao Ru. "What about you?"
"I was born long ago. I was alive during Dynasty Ages 3000 years after Zhong Li conquered China and united people as one." Liao Ru said.
"How old are you?" I asked.
"Forever 20 years old, but in real I am 300 years old." Liao Ru said sadly. "I can not age due to the power of the Gem of Flames within me. Gem of Flames gives me the power of Phoenix along with all other fire abilities."
"And you Qiao?" I asked.
"I am much older than Liao Ru. I am 900 years old as of right now. I was alive before the First Ruler was corrupted with power. She was the first woman I had ever met who was beyond beautiful. She was so kind and generous. We were close friends." Qiao closed his eyes and turned around.
"What happened to her..?" I asked.
"She was worshipped. The First Ruler was the first to ever use the Key of Origin to become a Demigod. As the days went by, she grew more greedy, more power hungry, more corrupt to the point she began to abuse the Key of Origin's power to grant herself power beyond the human understanding. Not even the Greek Deities nor the Shinto Deities could stand up to her. It came to the point where the Sovereign of Creation had to create more Rulers to combat her thus the birth of the second, third, and fourth rulers, The Ruler of Humanity, Virtues, and Life. A fifth Ruler was born in the mist of the chaos. This Ruler is known as the Original Overlord because this Ruler was the Ruler of Corruption. From this point on...You can guess what happened." Qiao said.
"You were alive for a long time to see all of this go down. Does the Fallen Overlord have any weaknesses?" I asked.
"Only the Key of Totality, but no one knows where it is currently." Qiao answered.
I got in my thinking pose and thought for a moment. 'I knew she had to have died in my present time, so that means someone had to have found the Key of Totality. Who found it and where could it have been..? Does it have drawbacks for use?' I thought to myself, having multiple questions in my mind.
"Well let's not think on it for too long, let's head to the lab and then we can figure something out from there." Qiao said.
I nodded and walked with them to the lab. Once we finally made it, we walked in the laboratory.
"Dr. Ashikaga, we have the Key of Origin with us. I know this isn't enough to kill the Overlords, but this will have to do for the time being." Misao said.
"Leave it on the counter. I've nearly completed something that will take the world by storm. The Overlords are through." Maruno said.
I looked at the woman in the lab coat. She finished and pressed a button then turned around to face us. I noticed her attire. She short black hair with purple eyes. She wore a brown sweater with her lab coat over it, black skirt and dark colored stockings with heels on her feet. She had a pretty large bust, D cups most likely. She was a total milf and she was a genius, a double score.
"What did you make?" Qiao asked.
"I made a replica of the Divine Energy the Rulers have. I'll call it Sacred Energy and with this we can finally combat those damned Overlords! Sadly it isn't truly complete. The serem is incredibly unstable and I would need more Divine Energy to stabilize it. Luckily our ally the Ruler of Frost in Siberia can help us." Maruno said.
"You won't need to do that. I can help with your experiment." I said.
"Eh? And you are?" Maruno asked.
Misao and Liao Ru looked at me. They begun to get suspicious of me after Dr. Ashikaga asked that question.
"Oh, you know me. I study in the lab, helping around with your experiments. I'm Hisumi." I said looking at her in a pleading way.
She crossed her arms and closed her eyes then sighed. "My apologies, I guess my memory hasn't been the best recently."
The suspicions had slowly disappeared, but now I had to be on alert and careful with my words.
"How will you help me?" Maruno asked.
"I can provide you with Divine Energy." I answered.
All four of them looked at me and blinked.
"You can? Are you a Ruler?" Maruno asked.
"You can say that I am a human with a Ruler's Power due to experiments done on me, but I can definitely provide you with the energy you need." I said then cloaked myself in my Divine Energy.
The four were in awe, especially Maruno. She looked at me as if she found a new breakthrough. I gave her a sample of my energy and she examined it in her computer. The computer beeped and she looked surprised.
"Wait...you have the powers of both the Ruler of Raijin and the Overlord of Thunder..?" Maruno looked back at me.
"What did they do to you? How did they give you their power?" Misao asked.
Things have begun to get complicated. On one hand, I could say I was experimented on by Legion since they are the villains in this sense, but I could also say someone used the Key of Origin upon me.
"I can't remember what they did or how they did it. I'm sorry." I responded.
"Well it doesn't matter what they did. These readings are off the charts! With energy like this I can complete the first supply for us. Judgement and the Infinity Council will win this neverending war now." Maruno said then began to get to work nearly immediately.
"I'm gonna go head out, I still need to find my...brother. I'll see you all later." I said then hurried off.
They waved at me then focused back on Dr. Ashikaga.
Another portal opened and I ran to the portal, entering inside then exiting into another part of the forest.
"I need to really be careful now. I was almost found out, but now that I have this information, I can ask my Liao Ru and Misao about these things." I said.
"Well...canonically only Misao would know since Liao Ru had died in the Mishiyo Tower, but both of them should know about Qiao Zhi and about me. I think it's time to get you back in your own realm. We have a lot of information to dissect." Nagini said. "Plus I'm getting a little sleepy and hungry. This does take a lot of energy to maintain."
I nodded then Nagini opened a portal back to the actual present. I walked inside of the portal and exited back into the World Mark Laboratory.
"I'm gonna find Misao to ask her about the Key of Origin and Totality and pick her brain about the other events." I said.
"You do that. I'm gonna take a little nap and recover my energy." Nagini said, walking to the sofa.
I nodded then hurried to the battlefield. I noticed Misao and Liao Ru were battling. I saw them both in a new light now I knew they were connected to the Old World and knew something about the Rulers. I watched the battle and smiled. Liao Ru came out on top, but I wasn't surprised that much.
"Alright, we are done for the day! Our results shall be in tomorrow so make sure to be here." Satomi said then clapped her hands together.
"Misao! Liao!" I waved towards them.
They looked at me and walked towards me. Liao Ru ruffled my hair and I smiled.
"Can I ask you both something, like can I pick your brain?" I asked.
"Sure, what's on your mind?" Liao Ru asked.
"The Old World, The Punishing Flames, Qiao Zhi, Dr. Ashikaga, Legion, the Infinity Council. All of it is on my mind. Can I ask you a few questions about it?" I asked.
Misao and Liao Ru looked at each other then back at me.
Misao shrugged and smiled. "Sure, but let's go to my house first then we can talk about it."
I nodded then the three of us walked over to Misao's home. I was excited to ask them about what I just learned and experienced in the Infinity Realm.