207: New Start (1)

Chapter 207: New Start (1)

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It was a draw.

She was on the verge of calling him 'daddy', but she managed to turn the table at last by releasing a bit of her power. It was cheating, but she wouldn't admit. At last, she almost forced Neji to call her 'mommy', but he managed to hold in as well.

None of them knew how many times they turned one another around, but they had to accept it was a draw.

Now, Neji was telling her a story. 

“That honestly was a really troublesome time for me. I was strictly told not to engage in any relationship in my middle school by my mother, who also happened to be my boss back then. But ambitious as I was, I managed to seduce the daughter of a rich ‘businessman’, who later on turned out to be an international gangster. Once my ‘girlfriend’ found out that I do jobs where I sell my body and have done so dozens of times before, she cried to her ‘daddy’ who came to hunt me down.” Neji finished his story with a shrug while Lady Luck looked at him impressed, a coffee cup in her hand as she laid on her chest beside him.

She had asked him this- ‘How was life in Prime?’ So he was explaining his not-so-special life to her.

“What after? Did they capture you and then throw you to the sea where you ended up being eaten by a shark?” Lady Luck said jokingly while Neji froze briefly and gave her an awkward smile. “…Wait, am I on spot?”

Neji sighed. “Oh well, not exactly. Y’see, my mom was the one who taught me the basics of seduction and stuff, I learned the later stages myself, but anyway. She knew her game, and she was good at it. Better than me at that time, at least. As it turned out, my ‘girlfriend’ had no mother, having died while giving birth to her, and her father was a loyal cunt, which made it an easy target for my mom. In a matter of a few days, she was into his pants, she had managed to seduce him.” Neji shrugged at Luck’s baffled expression. “Skipping a few days in, we were on a Yacht owned by my mother's… boyfriend – who’s also my soon-to-be father-in-law – and I was just enjoying the night sky after spending some time with my ‘girlfriend’, that spoiled bitch. I was just relaxing, I tell you, my guard, completely down. That's when my mum came running behind me and before I could even react, she pushed me off the railing. I fell to the sea, fell right into a shark’s mouth, and died.”

“….” her face was petrified. "Your mother did… what?"

Neji shrugged. "Anyway, that's my story on how I died. Boring, ain’t it?”

Lady Luck didn’t say anything. Instead, she threw her glass on the floor, where it disappeared in thin air before she spread her arms and hugged Neji’s head, pushing it between her naked breasts.

“It’s fine, darling. There, I will let you call me mommy, okay? Now come on, do it, call me mommy.”

“In your dreams.” Neji scoffed while laughing, pushing her back (to her clear dissatisfaction) he took out a phone from his inventory. His inventory wasn’t destroyed, not even damaged, so all the things inside were still there. Luckily. He played with the phone for a second before pushing it into Luck's face, a video playing on it. “Also, it would be quite contradictory if I suddenly call you mommy after what you said a while ago, no?”

The video played, showing a sweaty feminine back where wet hair rested, along with a pair of hands pulling on the black horns of the woman. [“A-ahh, daddy! No! No! S-stop it please, I can’t go on if you pull my horns like that~! I will faint again if you don’t s-slow down, daddy-“]

The phone suddenly vanished in thin air, Lady Luck smiling sweetly with her eyes closed. “You were saying?”

“Yeah, I have it copied to my other devices when you were busy moaning.”

“…”

“You can’t access my inventory, miss sealed deity.” she probably couldn’t do that even when in full power, but Neji wouldn’t bet on that.

“…” she cleared her throat. “S-speaking of daddy and mommy though, aren’t you going to ask me about your parents? Your 2nd life’s parents.”

…Turns out, she was really good at changing subjects, because Neji’s interest was caught.

–

Seeing his expression change from teasing to serious, she snapped her fingers as the image of a distant cloudy garden materialised in the ceiling of the room.

Two couples, one with white and blue hair, and another with black and brown hair, were sitting with their backs facing the 'camera', chit-chatting amongst themselves. Neji recognised all four of them, even though his father's hair was locked as white unlike usual. They were his parents and parents-in-law.

"You told me to put them in a safe heaven, but honestly most heavens aren't safe. That's why I had to create a new one where nobody except for them exists, oh angels too but they are just there to serve them, can't really be considered people." Lady Luck explained, going to a pause as she watched Neji observing the scene with an expressionless face. His hand reached out for it once, but… the ceiling was out of his reach. "...You okay?"

Neji withdrew his hand back and turned to her with a smile. "I am, and thank you."

Gosh, now she was getting butterflies in her stomach. She might really become attached to him at this rate.

"...No need to thank me." Lady Luck looked away, twirling her hair around her finger. "I just… did what my favourite boytoy asked me to. There's nothing more to that."

He just kept smiling, making her look away once their eyes met.

In the end, he laughed it off. "I wanna tease you so bad, but I don't want my thanks to seem fake. I am truly grateful, M'lady, and it might sound like a bluff since a 'mortal' is saying it, but I promise to help you regain your power before your confinement ends."

Her confinement was of a long time, at least from a mortal's point of view. It was just mildly annoying for her, but he didn't know that and it was the thoughts that counted anyway. Not like he would actually be able to rewrite a punishment given out by the omniversal Buddha itself. But again, it's the thought that counts.

Haah, he really was a special one in her life. It might take a bit longer than usual for her to get bored of him. She just hoped that the short time wouldn't be cut even shorter because of his carelessness and ill fate…

–

'That's goal number two, then.' Neji nodded to himself while observing Lady Luck play with her hair in thought.

His first goal was to find his lovers as soon as possible and make sure they aren't harmed in any way.

Now, his second goal was to free Lady Luck from her 'home arrest', which was a bit too long for it to be considered so. 500 years, that's how long her punishment was supposed to last. For this goal, he would of course need to be strong enough to make the Abstract Beings bow to his words, which he wasn't sure would be possible in a mere 500-years or not, but a goal is a goal.

He also had a third goal, to kill Primordial, and to do it in a satisfying way unlike what happened with his daughter. But that's a very distant goal, and possibly impossible. So he just kept it at the back of his mind.

"Now, enough of that." Neji said, looking away from the projection in the ceiling. He wanted to watch a bit more, but he figured it's better to not waste any more time since even a second can mean years in some world where his girls might have ended up in. His parents were also his goal, but they fell into a category after the third one, since he wanted to be strong enough to prevent anything like last time from happening. "Instead, shouldn't we hurry? You said you've got a plan for me, right?"

Lady Luck cleared her throat, snapping her fingers to cancel the projection before looking into his eyes. "My plan actually consisted of giving you another course of energy that can replace your lack of mana. You see, the Curse of the Primordial is supposed to stop the flow of all types of energy within a being's body - including life energy, that's how it kills a person instantly. It's so strong that it can affect most of the Abstract Beings even, those who lack a soul or body. However, with the Omniverse's help, you managed to block most of the curse, which included the blockage of Life Energy and other forms of energy, one of them being Chakra, Nen, and Cursed Energy, terms you are familiar with."

Neji nodded.

"Chakra is actually different from Mana. The quickest example would be that exhaustion of Mana doesn't kill you, not in most realities anyway, but exhausting chakra entirely kills you instantly. That's because Chakra is intertwined with life force, which still flows through our body." Lady Luck said, raising a finger. "My plan was to send you to either Naruto, HxH, or JJK worlds, and I even had prepared everything for you, your background etc. But haah, my baby is so amazing that he managed to break the curse by himself before coming to see me. Though it annoys me since it means all my research has gone to waste, I am happy for you. Mana is the most versatile form of energy for mortals and lesser divinities."

That… was touching. She thought really well of him, this woman. He was falling in love with her each growing second, though he was pretty sure she didn't. She just saw him as a fun being that kept her entertained. 

For now.

He would change that about her because that's what he was good at.

"Sorry to pour water into your plans, M'lady. So what now?"

Lady Luck shrugged. "Ehhh, it's not that big of a deal. I am still sending you to Naruto world because that's where one of your girls ended up-" she raised a finger before he could interrupt her. "And before you ask 'who', no I have no idea. I could have checked if not for the fact that I am in this state. For now, I have found another two of your girls, one is in DxD and another in Bleach. Two more are left to find, but I think it will take some time."

He couldn't say he wasn't disappointed that he didn't know who was safe and who wasn't. But… he still was grateful for all the help he was receiving. For the last 15 years, he had to do everything alone (if he didn't count Kurai) but now that he was receiving help from a higher being, it felt… strangely relaxing.

"Thank-"

"Don't thank me yet. Thank me after you make sure all your girls are alive. I wanna meet them too, they seem fun." Lady Luck said, playing with her hair again. At least she didn't look jealous. "Now, I would have liked to send you off immediately, but unfortunately because of the lack of my power you will have to take the Dimensional Elevator."

"That's a thing?"

"Yep, it is real." Lady Luck giggled. "Don't fight with the other passengers, and most importantly, be careful."

"Hey why do you sound like I am leaving right now, I am not even dress-"

*Clink*

Neji heard a sound like the opening of an elevator as he turned around, watching a shiny cosmos-coloured elevator behind him that slowly, very slowly, opened its gates.

"Hey, what the hell?"

"Oh also," Lady Luck didn't heed to his yelling – while Sisty was smart enough to put some clothes on him – and came to suddenly kiss him. As the kiss ended, Neji's body glowed white and a "§" mark materialised in the air before pushing inside his chest. "Mhmm, now this will keep you connected with me, but don't worry your Luck stat wouldn't be affected. You are an Agent of Luck, though you have no powers – except for letting me sense where you are and also watch and communicate with you freely – since I cast the contract too quickly."

Neji wanted to yell, 'Then why didn't you do it before?!?' but she confiscated his ability to speak by kissing him again, this time a deep one that lasted until the elevator finally opened behind him.

When it did, Lady Luck was dressed again, and she softly pushed him inside the elevator, where he barely managed to not crash on the other passengers. 

"Bye, darling. Come back to mommy soon~" she waved her hand as the elevator closed instantly, unlike its opening time. Which he thought was bullshit.

"Ugh," Neji groaned, standing in the middle of the crowded elevator. He could see about a few dozen people, and the inside of the elevator was huge enough to hold them all in without looking cramped.

"That was Lady Luck right?"

"She said 'mommy'... Does that mean…”

"Yeah, this guy is probably one of the legendary 'lover-boy' that are rumoured to be picked by her once every aeon or something?"

The crowd around him was chit-chatting, eyeing him in awe. And despite what he expected, nobody gave him ridicule for being the 'lover-boy' of a sealed deity. Then he remembered nobody other than the Abstract Beings were to know about her punishment, and they wouldn't notice her absence either since everything will be handled by Fate. This elevator, filled as it might be, didn't hold any single Abstract Beings. Why would they need to use an elevator, after all?

Rather, the passengers were 'Agents'. Just like how he was… and just like the tanned blonde woman that was walking towards him was. The other stepped away from her approach as if scared to even brush shoulders with her.

"Oy, you." The tall woman, around 7"2 if Neji had to guess, stood in front of Neji with her arms crossed. "You're an agent of Luck?"

"I think you heard the others chitter just like I did." Neji answered, not shaken at her blatant try of intimidation.

The woman stared at him silently. "I did, but it seems you are new here. Agents and Lovers are different. Also, Abstracts never make their lover-boys into their agent. Why would they make their lover work under them, after all?" She shrugged. "But I guess a mortal like you needed the benefits that being an agent brought, that'd make sense why she actually broke that unwritten rule."

"..." How should he explain that he gained no such benefits that she spoke of? Then again, why should he explain?

The woman looked down at him for a few more seconds before letting out a soft 'heh'. She snapped her fingers and a black card appeared in her hand that she pushed towards him.

"The name's Famine, Famine Fatale. An Agent of Death. I will be blunt, I don't like Lady Luck, her force is annoying. My job is to kill, but many of the times my targets escape because of a tiny speck of luck. That's why let's watch each other's back in the future, eh? You can help me hunt down some punks, and I can help you destroy some people, worlds, or universes, whatever you wish. Of course, for a price."

If the whispers around him were to be trusted, she was a [World Ender], destroyer of planets and universes. Probably related to her job as an agent of death. Neji accepted the card, though he was sure he wouldn't use it because her last line was ominous.

[Next stop, Neji Hado.]

Suddenly, a voice rang inside the elevator and Neji blinked.

"That's your name? Hmm, it sounds familiar…"

The woman touched her chin in thought as Neji quickly made his way to the slowly opening door. Lady Luck said the news of the death of the new Gamer had spread through most places that were directly connected to the abstract beings, so it wasn't strange if these people recognised his name.

Though this conversation might alert the entity Death about his living, he didn't care. His lady said the others have probably figured out his escape already, but told him not to worry because they wouldn't just send him to Primordial just because of that. They had pride of their own, after all.

"Ah, yes. Hey, ya'r the Gamer, right?!"

The woman yelled from behind, but the door opened just in time for Neji to step out into the rainbow cosmos, feeling the door close immediately.

He couldn't even figure out where he was standing before the rainbow shone brightly, too bright for his eyes to see anymore, as his mind went blank.

….

After waking up, he soon found himself staring at the mirror… It took him a minute ow two to properly look at his new look because his eyes kept seeing through the mirror, like an X-ray vision, however at last he managed to see his… new form.

With his blindfold pulled up to reveal his cosmic blue eyes, he observed his long white hair that flowed like a river on his back. In short, he had the same look as always, same face and same body. Except his hair was longer, and his shoulders were wider and he was a few inches taller 

"..."

However, his changes weren't just physical. He summoned his Status Page, where everything was fine as well, except for two teeny tiny details.

His name.

And… his age.

[Name: Neji Hyuga (Hado)

Age: 22 (16)]

"..."

What, how, and why the fuck?

Is this what she meant when she said she had his ‘background’ prepared?

"Lady… Luck." That idiotic woman.

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