Chapter 58: 58 – Courting Death

John leaned back in his chair, setting down his controller.

The television in front of him no longer had Kiri standing in the streets, but there was still someone standing there.

Was it by chance? The man's intuition?

That Seiryuu Alliance Patriarch, Shin, seemed to be looking straight at John with a thoughtful expression.

John stared back with the same expression and then said, "Betty might be right..."

This situation seemed to be more than just a result of the karma John had accumulated since arriving back on Earth.

"Fate? No, 'Destiny?'" John muttered, mulling over how this situation could have occurred.

Although John's actions had sown karma, and although Yue had been casting karmic spells against him, that wasn't enough to cause something like this.

That was what John's intuition was telling him. The events unfolding were things that would have happened even without his meddling.

However, it seemed like his interference had caused things to rapidly escalate.

But the focal point of everything was the man there.

"Shin Seiryuu, is it?" John muttered.

A name meaning the True Azure Dragon. And that man seemed to live up to the title considering his abilities.

Just what kind of ridiculous training did that guy undergo to reach that level?

It wasn't impressive in terms of physique. After all, his abilities were on par with an outer sect disciple that had just started training.

But the fact that he reached such a level on Earth, where there was a complete lack of spiritual energy, mana, or any other convenient power source was almost miraculous.

Bruce Lee had been a legend, but the Patriarch of the Seiryuu Alliance seemed to surpass even that guy.

John sighed and then turned off the television to think.

If this were the Three Realms, John would have immediately set out to take care of the guy. The fact that he could keep up with John's shadow servants, even if on the lowest level, meant that he was enough to completely obliterate the calm and peace John had just started to achieve.

Not only that, but it seemed that he was single-handedly keeping the infamous prestige of the yakuza going. After all, if there was a superhuman person who could arrive anywhere without revealing his presence and then murder in broad daylight, as well as tech-savvy enough to have his men use electronics that could cancel all forms of surveillance, no politician would dare go against him.

And from what John learned by Kiri's reaction to the guy... which was odd considering that the man seemed to possess a spirit of his own, but that was beside the point.

In any case, Shin Seiryuu was a problem. A big one. And also one directly involved with all the people he had met judging from Kai and Sakura's reaction earlier.

John groaned and massaged his temples. "What a crappy situation..."

Going out to kill Shin meant that the dangerous wild card would be out of the picture. But considering that man's presence, an immense power vacuum would be left behind and not only Tokyo, but probably all of Japan would get embroiled up as families and clans vied for power.

At the same time, John couldn't just ignore Shin. Now that events unfolded this way, that man might go around escalating the situation more just to see what happened.

While Shin was heading out at the moment towards Mt. Fuji, presumably to train judging from what John could sense with his powers, John didn't know how long that would last.

Well, he could guess. The man seemed to be similar enough to the ambitious cultivators in the demonic sect back at the Three Realms.

John had the feeling he would be out of the picture for a while to make preparations for his 'tribulation.'

He didn't know how long that would be, but John had a feeling that it would probably be before the end of the month.

Should he turn back time?

No. Alphy and Betty would realize and then they would definitely get involved.

And he didn't want his daughters to get involved with any more bloodshed. Not after they were just starting to act like normal girls.

No. Turning back time was definitely out.

Should he ignore Betty and head out anyway?

...No. That was no good either. She would immediately pick up on it.

This was something that he had to settle on his own in the shadows, while making sure that everything else went smoothly for Project MirAIs.

Direct action was bad. At least, right now.

But Betty was smart. Even if he started moving in the shadows, she would definitely pick up on it.

So he had to keep her busy as well. Distract her by making it seem like everything was normal.

While John was mulling over the situation, shadowy figures reappeared in the dark basement.

To an ordinary person, it would have been terrifying. Darkness moved on its own, slowly shaping a human body.

But John was familiar with it, so it didn't bother him. In fact, he had been expecting it.

Maji cracked his neck and grinned. "Man, Boss. You pulled us out at the best part!" He flipped around the knife he clutched in his right hand and sheathed it at his side, causing his snakeskin jacket to ripple.

Saji glanced at Maji and said, "Better that he did, bro. You were about to make a mess of things."

"Please. I was holding back."

"And you still made a few dozen corpses."

Maji clicked his tongue. "Not my fault those kids are weaklings."

Hearing that, John rubbed the bridge of his nose and sighed. "Really? You couldn't have just disabled them?"

Maji shrugged. "Be more specific next time, Boss."

"Whatever." John shook his hand and said, "What's done is done." He stood up and faced the three shadow servants.

They stared back.

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John narrowed his eyes and said, "You three... you're not just my creation, are you? There's a spirit in each of you that I didn't put in."

Maji cackled. "Well, found us out already, huh Boss?"

"Mm." Saji nodded, placing his hands in his coat pockets. "As expected of our current Boss."

Maji grinned and tilted his head as he looked at John. "Well? You curious, Boss?"

John shook his head. "It doesn't matter. All I need to know is if you'll obey me. If not..." John's eyes flashed green.

Maji held up his hands. "Easy there, Boss! We'll follow ya."

Saji nodded. "Like what my bro said. Besides, Boss brought us back for a reason, right?"

"Well I didn't intend to bring you all back to life, but this works out. Means less supervision for me."

Since they all had wills of their own, John didn't need to micromanage.

But more specifically, it meant that Beta wouldn't pick up on it since he wasn't actively controlling them.

Kiri nodded and said, "Then... Orders, Boss?"

John placed a hand on his chin to think and then said, "Keep the Seiryuu in check and start cleaning up the place. I'm sure you guys think it's as much of a mess as I do, right?"

Solemn faces were his response.

"Thought so." John sighed and said, "If you can, start prepping for the power struggle that will come after Shin dies. And I probably don't need to remind you, but you're all dead men. I don't mind if you check up on lingering regrets, but don't make anything worse. Other than that... you're free to go."

"...Huh." Maji stared at John for a bit, contemplative.

"What?"

"Heh." Maji shook his head. "Nothing, Boss." He turned around and started walking off into the darkness. "Come on, Saji."

"Got it, bro." Saji went after Maji, and then the two vanished.

That left Kiri and John.

John stared at him and frowned. "You're not going?"

Kiri hesitated and then said, "That woman. Is she alright?"

"Hm? You mean Ayako?" John nodded and said, "She'll be fine. Why? You worried?"

Kiri looked like he wanted to say something, but then he shook his head and walked off, vanishing into the shadows too.

"...Weird." John muttered and then shook his head. "What was I doing again...? Oh, right."

He had been interrupted while figuring out what to do with the giant FUBAR situation.

John sat back on his chair and leaned back to think, staring at the ceiling. "Distract Betty, deal with the power vacuum, take care of that guy... and then I can finally relax."

He was sure of it. Considering all that had happened to him, the pendulum was bound to swing the other way soon.

John just needed to get through it first.

He pulled out his phone and checked the time. Midnight. Sunday now that the clock rolled over.

November 10th.

That Shin guy would at least be gone for a week. And if he wasn't, John had to arrange it so that he would be so that he had time to prepare.

That would make it November 17th. The minimum amount of time he had. More would be better, but he had to be sure everything was settled before then.

Conveniently, it was the same amount of time Betty told him to stay secluded. 

All-in-all, it worked out. He had some ideas about how to handle the situation... but that came later.

What else... Right. John still had to handle the situation with Rin's education. And then there was the issue with his wife and Omega who, knowing his luck, would definitely show up on Christmas Eve considering the romantic overtones of the holiday in Japan.

Which meant he needed to plan that wedding and honeymoon trip still.

But it would be meaningless if this yakuza situation was still up in the air. Yue might hold back if it was on-going when she arrived, but his youngest daughter would definitely just go all out and forcibly settle the situation with her fists.

And then there would have been no point in returning to Earth since it would have devolved into a situation where he'd have to either reveal his powers to everyone or forcibly rewrite reality... which he could have done on his own by just creating a planet back in the Three Realms and making it similar to Earth.

John sighed. "I hate my life sometimes."

Was he the character in a webnovel or something? That had to be it. His life had been nothing but a series of contrived coincidences since he got back to Earth- No, since he picked up that jade talisman back in China all those years ago.

Well, he couldn't complain too much since it wasn't like he got tossed to the Three Realms without anything at all, but still.

"Oi." John stared at the ceiling and said, "Author or whatever higher power's out there screwing with me. Cut me a break or I'll-"

John suddenly cut off his words, his mind catching up with his mouth.

If there was a being that was able to direct events like that just to screw with John... and if John threatened that being....

Wouldn't that mean that his life would just get that much worse?

John quickly sat up and said, "I-I take it back. Just... give me a break, alright? Come on, I've been through enough... Please?"

Silence.

"...Yeah, it's not happening, huh?" John sighed and then shook his hands. "Well, in that case, I gotta make sure to be extra careful about my plans. Can't tempt fate or whatever powers that may be into ruining them this time. Let's see. First off..."

John stood up and swept out his hand, filling the entire basement floor with his powers and sealing it off from observation.

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