Afternoon sunlight faded gently through the apartment windows as time slipped by unnoticed. Maki Zen'in and Kurahashi Kyoko had spent hours immersed in their lessons, absorbing the low-tier spells Akiyama Ren had been teaching.
Their progress left Ren genuinely impressed.
"These two..." he thought, watching them practice their incantations with surprising finesse, "Their talent's no less than Erica or Liliana from Campione."
The comparison brought a smirk to his lips. In that world, those two had stood as paragons of magical combat—noble knights in both skill and stature. If Maki and Kyoko had been born there, they would've easily rivaled them.
Akiyama Ren's mind drifted. "Maybe I should return to the Campione World one day. Subjugating the entire Southern European Magic Association shouldn't be too hard, right?" He chuckled quietly. "I am a Godslayer, after all."
In his imagination, he could already see Erica and Liliana kneeling before him, pledging their swords and loyalty—his twin knight-guardians.
But there was no need to rush.
The Campione World was still a dangerous plane. Its deities, especially the Goddess of Fate, were no joke. Until he could match them in divine authority, it was better to wait.
The clock struck six.
Having focused entirely on teaching spells and guiding the girls, Ren hadn't made dinner. So, he made a quick decision.
He'd take the two girls and his three Shikigami—Hotarugusa, Kyonshi Imouto, and Kyonshi Ani—to eat out.
Not far from their apartment, they found a bustling seafood buffet.
Big mistake—for the restaurant owner.
Maki Zen'in and Akiyama Ren's monstrous appetites turned the buffet into a battlefield. Plates stacked up like fortresses, and the restaurant manager looked on in horror as his profits vanished into the mouths of two ravenous powerhouses.
By the time they finished, the sky was deep violet. Nine o'clock had come and gone.
Maki wiped her mouth, grinned at Kyoko and Ren, and waved them goodbye. "Same time tomorrow?"
"Count on it," Ren replied with a nod.
With that, Maki returned to Jujutsu High for the night.
Back at the apartment, the group settled in. Kurahashi Kyoko dragged Hotaru Gusa and Kyonshi Imouto into her room for a girls' sleepover. That finally freed up the master bedroom for Akiyama Ren to enjoy a proper rest.
Or so he thought.
Midnight arrived. Sleep evaded him.
Ren got up, wandered to the kitchen, and poured himself a glass of water. As he leaned against the counter, he sighed and muttered, "This place is getting cramped… I should really look into buying a bigger house tomorrow."
His gaze wandered toward the shimmering portal in the corner of the room—the Star Gate.
"I remember… I had three coordinates loaded into it: the Campione Plane, the Type-Moon World, and the Mushoku Tensei realm. I've only visited one so far. Maybe it's time to explore another…"
Just as he reached to activate the Star Gate and head toward the Type-Moon World, a sharp ding echoed in his mind.
[Ding! New cosmic plane successfully explored!]
Akiyama Ren blinked. "Huh?! No way—already?"
Apparently, the Star Gate had continued passively scanning for new coordinates since his last session, and by some cosmic coincidence, it had just finished identifying a fourth world.
He quickly inquired, "System, is this new world one I'm familiar with?"
[Ding! Based on the Host's memory archive, the newly unlocked world is: Noragami Realm.]
"Noragami…" Ren's eyes widened, his interest piqued. "That's the world where Gods turn wandering spirits into weapons, right?"
His mind began racing. In that world, every deity had the ability to purify a soul and forge it into a sacred tool—a Shinki. A weapon born from the spirit of a fallen human.
He grinned.
"I am a God myself. If I can learn that technique… and return to this spirit-infested world..."
He didn't need to finish the thought. The implication was clear:
Unlimited divine weapons. A personal armory of spectral blades.
Without hesitation, Ren changed the Star Gate's destination from the Type-Moon World to the Noragami Realm.
The portal pulsed, humming with newly attuned energy.
"Let's see what kind of gods dwell there," Ren muttered, and stepped inside—
—into the unknown.
Noragami World
A ripple tore through the quiet skies above an uninhabited mountain range just outside of Tokyo.
A beam of pale blue light shimmered in the air as the Star Gate materialized between two rocky cliffs. From within its spiraling core stepped Akiyama Ren, his coat fluttering in the sudden breeze.
As the portal vanished behind him, Ren's divine senses were instantly flooded.
A silent pulse echoed across the land—this world's rules, its cosmic structure, whispering truths into his soul. Invisible threads of law wound their way into his divine body, syncing his essence with the system of the Noragami Realm.
He shut his eyes, focusing.
Information streamed into his mind: a blueprint of how gods functioned here, how souls became sacred weapons—Shinki—and how divine power was drawn from human faith.
When he opened his eyes again, a smirk curved his lips. "So that's how it works..."
Despite being a god not born of prayer or belief, his body—enhanced by the fusion with the world's rule framework—had become compatible with this world's divine system. He could now forge soul-weapons, absorb faith, and even cultivate his own followers if he chose.
A gust swept through the mountain.
"Let's test this out," he muttered. With a leap, he took to the air, wind curling beneath his boots as he rose skyward.
Ren activated his mystic ability—Witch's Eye.
The sky darkened momentarily as an enormous, ethereal eye bloomed above Tokyo, its pupil gleaming with crimson light. The magical iris scanned the sprawling metropolis below, its gaze stretching through buildings, trees, and even shadows.
"Found one," Ren said, eyes locking onto a distant signal.
With a shimmer of energy, he teleported.
The scenery changed in an instant. Concrete gave way to rusted iron.
He now stood in a forgotten park in Kanagawa Prefecture, just south of Tokyo. The place had long since been abandoned—merry-go-rounds corroded, seesaws covered in dust and moss, spiderwebs dancing in the light of a nearby streetlamp.
There, beside a twisted jungle gym, floated the soul of a woman—middle-aged, translucent, and alone.
Ren approached her silently.
From what the rules had taught him, not every spirit could become a Shinki. Especially not those who had taken their own lives. Divine artifacts were born only from souls who once clung to life—who had fought to survive.
This woman… was perfect.
RRen raised his hand and began channeling his divine energy. A golden aura flared to life around him, and shimmering kanji symbols formed at his fingertips. His voice echoed with sacred weight as he began the ritual:
"You have no place to return to… and no place to go.
I grant you a name, a form, a purpose.
By my command, take shape once more, and stand beside me as my blade."
The divine aura intensified, swirling around the woman's soul. Her lifeless eyes suddenly sparked with clarity.
"I am Akiyama Ren. Enter my hand as my servant.
Obey your name, and awaken your power.
Let your divine name be—Sakura."
With a final gesture, he drew the kanji for sakura—cherry blossom—in the air. It burst into radiant light and fused into the spirit's chest.
In an instant, the woman's form warped into light. Her soul condensed, reshaped, and formed into a long, elegant blade that flew into Ren's outstretched hand.
He gripped it with reverence.
The weapon shimmered—longer than a standard katana, yet more refined like a Nodachi. Its guard was shaped like a blooming cherry blossom, and the blade's surface gleamed with a ghostly pink hue.
(Picture Ichigo's Zangetsu's first form)
It pulsed with divine resonance.
Ren nodded in satisfaction. "Beautiful. And deadly."
With a thought, the weapon reverted back into human form.
The middle-aged woman stood before him, dressed in a plain white kimono, her aura serene yet powerful. She knelt.
"Master," she said softly, her voice laced with respect.
Ren smiled. "From this moment on, your name will be Akiyama Sakura. You bear my name now."
"Thank you, Master, for bestowing it," she bowed deeply.
"Relax a little. We're allies, not strangers. Just be yourself around me," he replied, studying her features.
Recognition dawned.
This woman—this soul—was once known as Mayu, the former Shinki of the down-on-his-luck god Yato in the original Noragami timeline. She had grown tired of Yato's erratic ways and dissolved her contract, eventually becoming the Shinki of the revered heaven god Sugawara no Michizane.
Now? She was his.
Ren couldn't help but chuckle. "Well… looks like I just poached one of heaven's prized blades."