Alright, time for the next chapter, hope you all are having a great time and keeping save, pandemic and all that. Hope this helps take your mind off of it for a few minutes at least. Anyway, let's begin.

Broken Angel: Rising Demon

Chapter 21: Vengeance and the Trouble with Nations.

-September 24th 1999-

Two days had passed since the birth of little Lucille. Riley's first-born child, a healthy pink-skinned baby girl. She was born with a head full of dark hair matching Riley's own in color. Her eyes were also a dark blue, reminding her parents of Riley's eyes when she was a child.

The baby was born healthy, and came into the world with a strong little cry.

Riley's family celebrated the arrival of their newest member. While Fleur rested, Riley stayed by her side, their newborn cradled in her arms the entire time.

Throughout the day, friends and well-wishers stopped by to offer their congratulations.

Riley's grandparents looked on with pride as Riley doted on her newborn. Kushina, along with Fleur's parents and sister remained with them the entire time they were at the hospital.

Naruko came to see her new niece, bringing along Hinata and Boruto. Naruko was excited to finally get the chance to prove her merits as an aunt, just as Riley did for Boruto. She intended to be the best damn aunt any child had ever had.

Riley's mates kept close, especially Katie staying with Fleur and Riley as mother and baby were observed to make sure they were both in good health.

Riley didn't bother sleeping at all while they were in the hospital. Whenever Fleur went to bed, Riley would stay awake and stay with her child, often sitting with her cradled in her arms.

It was during those first few days, as Riley stared down at her newborn daughter, seeing the vast powers that lay within her, and yet realizing that all of this power would matter little, if this child didn't live long enough to master it. Despite how strong baby Lucille was, being half-demon half-veela, she was still just a fragile infant, her life easily snuffed out.

Riley resolved at that moment to push herself beyond her current limits. She would keep growing stronger, and keep her precious family safe. Especially this fragile little baby she now held.

Soon Fleur and the newborn were released from St. Mungos and returned home, and there, behind the safety of the magical defenses surrounding Riley's house, she began to plan her next training trip. This one would see her push herself beyond her limits, taking her power to new heights.

-September 26th 1999-

The rise of a true magical nation captured the world's attention. Artoria appeared on TV multiple times, delivering speeches and addresses to her people, really getting a hand on how a modern ruler could interact with their subjects.

Artoria never hesitated to walk amongst her people, and as time went by people recognized her far more often when she was on the streets. While Riley spent quite a bit of time with her newborn, she did offer her presence to aid Artoria in the birth of their new nation.

Thousands would often gather as Artoria walked the streets, or even rode on horseback, along with an entourage. Hashirama, Madara, Tobirama, Izuna, and even Kaguya, were often seen with her, Artoria valuing their wisdom and abilities, and she often kept them close to assist Merlin in advising her.

One of the first changes that was made was Riley teaching the Dementors how to change their shape. Her intention was to allow Legionnaires to operate around the civilian populace without drawing to much attention. This lead to the Dementors taking the form of all black suits, sort of like formal business attire.

These suits still acted the same way as they did in cloak form but they actually offered more protection as instead of just a knee length black cloak, they now formed into jacket and pants, covering most of the body in the Dementor's magically resistant bodies.

Taking the form of business suits also added an air of class to the Legionnaires, making them seem a bit less terrifying, and also allowing them to move about with their defensive cloak in more public places without standing out.

Aside from that, Artoria began the next phase of her plan to restore order to the nation, and that involved going down the checklist of needs the country had, and finding a way to get what they needed.

The first order of business was to speed up food production, ensuring that they had enough to feed themselves was instrumental in a happy populace.

Magical botanists and herbologists to go over what upgrades could be made to the nation's food productions. Magicals never had to worry about food, as their gardens, greenhouses, and what few farms they had, were all designed to use magic to speed up the growth of plants, and often they were tended by teams of House elves and the like.

Riley offered her aid in that regard, asking Hashirama to show her how to use magic to enhance the fertility of the ground soil. Hashirama had done this around Konoha which is what allowed it's farms to produce food so swiftly, and was one reason why food was so dirt cheap there. Hashirama had done this to other locations, even if only accidentally, and it was one of the reasons why the forests of the Land of Fire had some locations where the trees grew incredibly tall and wide.

After Riley had learned how to do this, she simply told Artoria to offer to all the farmers in the country, if anyone wanted Riley to use her magic to enhance the fertility of their fields, she would do so. It wouldn't take her much time, and she could just send clones to do it, so it was no big issue. They would make it a choice to the farmers, knowing full well that as soon as people saw the results, everyone would want it.

After food came other resources, like energy.

That one was simple. Those with fire, or lightning base elements could use their abilities to provide power. Either by using fire abilities to generate heat for certain needs, or by gathering the energy provided by the electrical output of lightning.

This was sure to piss off the power companies but Artoria didn't really care. She approved of capitalism and found merit in what it offered, but she also didn't intend to rely on other nations for their needs.

They would find a way to generate power using magic, without the need to continue to pay other nations for fuel sources.

Such things were possible, so long as the market required it. If England wasn't going to utilize finite resources like fossil fuels, than new inventions would have to be made to support the change.

For now, Riley intended to let her magical and muggle countrymen decide how they wanted to handle it, but if it became necessary she would simply utilize Kotoamatsukami to alter the minds of certain corporate leaders, to ensure that they got on board with the changes.

Aside from food and energy, they would establish a means of using magic to adjust their method of gaining access to valuable resources.

As much as they could make themselves, they would, only once it became infeasible to create such things naturally, would they then turn to establishing trade with other nations.

While Artoria and company worked on hammering out what could be done with magic to aid in the needs of the country, Riley finished her preparation for a decently long training trip. She intended to push through a ten year training spree, over the course of a night, using Kamui. It would be the most intense training trip she had undergone since the end of the war.

She would leave a clone behind to watch over Lucille while her mates slept, she knew they wouldn't be happy if they learned about what she was planning, but ever since Lucille was born, Riley couldn't help but note how fragile the baby was, despite her raw power. When facing an army of demons, Riley would need as much power as she could possibly get.

She wasn't at all thrilled about the idea of spending so much time away from her newborn, but she found solace in the fact that while it would feel like ages for Riley, it would only be a night for the baby, and when Riley returned, she would be stronger.

The only two who were aware of this training trip outside of Riley's familiars was Kurama and the Darkness.

So, just before midnight on the twenty-sixth, Riley created a clone, quietly kissed her mates, held her baby in her arms for several long moments, and then tucked her into her crib.

With one final glance at her mate's Riley departed into Kamui.

-Kamui-

"Alright Riley, ten years of training starts now. Don't need to eat, or sleep, so we've got a lot of time. What's first on the agenda?" Kurama inquired.

"Endurance training." Riley responded, flashing through hand signs and summoning Kurama into Kamui.

"I'm guessing you mean the painful kind of endurance?" Kurama noted with a chuckle.

"The last time I got hurt was during the fight with the Ten-Tails. I haven't felt true pain since then. If I don't remember what it feels like, if I don't familiarize myself with it, it can blind me, pain tolerance is something you build up. The beatings the villagers gave me as a child, helped to make me tough when I grew older. It isn't pretty, but it's a valuable learning tool. I wont fight back, I wont dodge, I wont block. For the next month, we'll spend as much time as possible, putting me through the ringer. I need to feel the raw power of magic, so… let's get started." Riley explained.

Her reasoning was sound to Kurama. If they had to face an Archdevil one day, than there would most certainly be pain. So with that in mind, Kurama drew in a deep breath, and let out a roar of hellish flames.

For the next month, Riley allowed her accomplice to ravage her body, doing everything in his power to bring her physical harm. From impaling, to burning, to explosions, Kurama did as instructed and kept up the painstaking barrage, only halting when Riley actually grew tired from regeneration.

Riley took the month to bask in the pain, familiarizing herself with it, and most importantly, maintaining her focus, through the pain. The whole point wasn't to become numb to pain, if she couldn't feel what was hurting her, than she couldn't stop it. No her focus was on maintaining her will through the pain. While Kurama attacked her, Riley would focus on developing new spells or jutsu. She'd even try and practice them. She did all that she could to remain focused on this task, while Kurama caused her harm.

She would do this quite a few times, over the course of her training trip, all to ensure that she never forgot a fundamental truth, one that had helped her throughout her life.

Pain, was the greatest teacher of all.

Soon the first month came to an end, and so began her next task. Creating a small army of Shadow Clones Riley had them fight her at mind numbing speeds.

Her recent interview where she had brought up her ability to move faster than light, had got her thinking, she didn't practice at those speeds because she'd never encountered a foe that could move that fast, but what if one day she did?

Ever the paranoid one, Riley chose to devote the next month to just her reaction time.

She would take some time to power up her clones, allowing them to match her speed, and then she spent the month dodging their attacks. If they weren't just blitzing her at realistically impossible speeds, they were attacking her with light based spells.

Techniques that moved at the speed of light already.

This also helped her to wind down from her month of endurance training, as she still suffered injuries.

It was during this month of training that Riley really got to push her eyes and her senses. She could actually feel the strain on her eyes, as she kept up with those movements, but as the days progressed she felt her Rinne-Sharingan growing keener and more focused. It amazed her but she had actually found a way to strain the eyes of god, that didn't involve pure raw magic.

Every day for the second month she engaged in these movements to the point where by the end of the month, everything else seemed to much slower than before. It had the funny side affect of Riley speaking, and moving faster than she meant to, Kurama got a kick out of it.

For the third month, Riley focused on increasing her strength. To do so she simply amplified gravity within Kamui.

She started with tripling gravity, which she barely felt, so she immediately increased it by a multitude of ten, bringing the gravity within Kamui up to about thirty times that of Earth. In her youth she had utilized Gravity Seals, to help train her muscles, so the feeling was quite familiar to her.

After a few hours of getting used to it, she raised the affects once more to around fifty times Earth's gravity.

Her intention for this training was to raise her base strength. Due to how she used her strength, raised her base strength would drastically increase her overall strength.

Riley utilized two different methods to amplify her overall strength. The first was the same method that all shinobi used, utilizing magic to amplify one's physical abilities, making them faster, stronger, and the like. These methods usually amplified a person's strength anywhere from three to ten times, on average, depending on the practitioner.

Riley had practiced enough get her method up to about eleven times her base strength, though in truth she hadn't worked on improving this ability since becoming a full demon, since at that moment her strength had amplified from her ascension, and she still had her second method to use as well so she didn't actually need greater strength.

Speaking of it, Riley's second method was the Strength of One Hundred, power she had learned from copying Tsunade. This ability allowed her to take her amplified strength and multiple the force she deliver from a given strike. It didn't technically make her stronger, but it increased the destructive power of her physical abilities.

And the due to the nature of both abilities, their effects stacked on top of each other. So if her strength could be counted as ten, then using her amplification ability, it would be one hundred and ten, multiplying it by eleven times. Then adding in the Strength of One Hundred, and the power behind it would be eleven thousand.

So with that in mind, raising her base strength, increased her overall strength by a serious magnitude.

There was a bit of a snag in the fact that her muscles did respond in the same way that a human's muscles would when put under strain. At it's most basic, a human puts strain on their muscles, muscles repair themselves better than they were before, said human gets stronger.

With Riley, every part of her body, was essentially hand designed. Her body, looked the way it did, because she wanted it to, and when she was injured, she didn't heal like a human would, instead her body actually regenerated, or reformed, to fit the shape it was meant to have, it was for that very reason that demons couldn't be killed by non-magical weapons. In essence, their bodies were completely under their control and such basic attacks as non-magical ones were easily adapted to.

Magical attacks, caused interactions with your opponents magic, pushed it back, tainted it, blocked it from repairing the damage. Magic was the only way to kill demons, and when it came to anything of the 'greater' category or above, you didn't just need magic, you also either had to destroy the demon's soul, or drain it of magic, because they could maintain their form, even without bodies, which lesser beings couldn't do.

Riley, being a full blooded demon, was the same way, her body was exactly how she wanted it, with little more than a thought, she could change it's shape. If she wanted to add things to it, that would take a bit longer since she'd have to create what she was adding, but say she wanted to be taller, she could make herself taller, say she wanted to changer her skin tone, she could alter her skin tone. All of it, was simply down to her preference.

It was one of the reasons her skin was flawless, in that she'd actually have to add flaws to it, if she wanted it to have some sort of flaws. It's why she didn't usually suffer from scars, because whenever she was damaged, her body repaired itself to the specification of her exact form.

This was also the main reasons she couldn't actually get stronger from working out. Even if she managed to tear her muscles, they would repair without improving, Riley had to intentionally improve upon herself.

While it was a detriment that her body didn't do this on it's own, demons were by far the most adaptive creatures in all of existence. The sheer number of forms they could inhabit was simply mind-boggling.

If Riley wanted to increase her base strength, she could simply make her muscles stronger, the issue was determining that strength. Simply making her muscles stronger wouldn't really help her, and would in fact be a detriment because she was already incredibly strong, and had to work very hard trying to be as gentle as possible around people, objects, and pretty much everything on Earth, because if she wasn't careful, she could accidentally leap off the ground so hard she shot into space, and leave behind a crater big enough to fit a building into.

Part of her paranoia surrounded keeping herself in check, so she always made sure she was well aware of her limits. So in improving her strength, she would have to remain keenly aware of just how strong she was, so she could continue to interact with the world, without breaking everything.

Without using magic to make it easier, Riley raised the gravity around her, and then slowly increased her muscle strength until it felt normal, until she didn't really feel it. She would then train a bit determine how much her strength had increased, and then she would do it again. Bit by bit, raising her strength, but never pushing it outside of her own comprehension. Knowing exactly what she was capable of, was how she kept her friends and family safe.

For the month, Riley spent her time raising her strength, and testing her new limits, the following month Riley spent time doing the opposite, practicing delicate interactions, and gentle movements and the like.

For the fifth month, Riley trained with her sword, practicing new moves, honing her style in duels against clones, all in all, just refining her abilities.

For the sixth month she focused on her martial arts abilities, doing the same to them. With her swordplay and her martial arts, she was only partially focused on improving her skills, but the other part of her focus was on refining her abilities in accordance with her newfound strength.

For the next three months she focused entirely on her magical control, honing her ability to manipulate magic and bend it to her will with various intensive exercises, and for the last three months of the first year, she practiced various spells, testing out new ones, developing new abilities, overall just increasing the various way she could use magic.

She then repeated her yearly training regiment.

Starting with endurance and resistance training, then reflexive training, and so on and so on, and she intended to continue with these exercises for the duration of the ten year training trip.

Each day of training, she spent almost on auto-pilot, going through the motions, pushing herself a bit harder, every day. In her mind she continued to picture her friends, her family, her precious newborn, all the people she wanted to protect. If anyone or anything in the world wanted to hurt them, they'd have to go through her, and Riley intended to make that as difficult as possible.

Each day she trained her ass off, going through the emotions, occasionally allowing an image that enraged her, to flash in her mind. Using the nightmarish scene shown to her by Orochimaru during the battle at Tenchi Bridge, Riley was able to keep her mind focused, whenever she began to get homesick.

She thought about her family constantly, especially her newborn baby. Many a time she considered cutting her training short and going back. No one would know about it, except for Kurama and the Darkness, and neither of them would really care, before going on this little trip, Riley had asked Alma to hop into the mind of the clone she left behind, just so she wouldn't be subjected to the ten years away from her own children.

Alma was fine with it, as the clone had been left to watch over baby Lucille and Alma liked her new baby sister.

That meant it was only Kurama, the Darkness, and Riley's familiars within Kamui. All of them being immortal and under the impression that a demon did whatever the hell it wanted, weren't going to judge her for choosing to end her training trip early and go home.

In the end, Riley always chose not to, as much as she wanted to spend every single second with that baby, she knew that getting this training done, would matter far more to Lucille's future, than one hour of her demonic sire hovering over her while she slept. Getting this done and out of the way with now, while she was still young, would mean that Riley wouldn't feel the need to do it again for quite a while.

Getting this long training trip out of the way could allow Riley to go on shorter ones for the foreseeable future. It wouldn't ultimately affect her time away, as most of her current trips to Kamui were measured in minutes on the outside even if they could be up to a month or two long on the inside, it would still make Riley feel better about her ability to keep something as fragile as a newborn safe in a world that was rapidly changing.

Time began to blur, as it often did, Riley's internal clock, often pinging at milestones, usually around every month or so, which was how she kept track of the time.

At around three years into her training trip, Riley began training with her familiars. She took the time to go over their abilities and see where she could improve upon them and adapt them to this changing world.

For Deimos and Midir, her two dragons, enhanced their durability and speed, for Deimos she granted him a poisoned breath attack, as well as the ability to generate shadow copies of himself, almost like making elemental clones, though these would be comprised of pure shadow, shaped like a massive dragon. For Midir she granted him the use of lightning release, in the form of an area of effect attack that would cause lightning to erupt from his wings and body and strike everything around him. She also gave Midir the ability to generate genjutsu to confound or confuse his targets.

For her champion Skorge, she granted him even greater speed, and increased his strength. She also taught him how to channel elements through his chainsaw staff, as well taught him a number of ninjutsu.

For RAAM, she also taught him ninjutsu, and granted him a summoning seal tied to her Kamui dimension that would allow him to summon the Kryll that she kept there. She also gave him the ability to command the Kryll

For the titanic Michael, she gave it the ability to use Earth Style, she also gave it the power to manipulate sound waves. It could now generate deafening noises, or even cancel out the sound it was making, allowing it to move silently, despite it's massive size.

When it came to Loki she increased the range of emotions his songs could produce in a person, instead of just making them feel dread, his songs could now invoke other emotions like sadness, depression, rage, and even paranoia. She also enhanced him basic combat abilities, giving him the ability to fight more like a devil could.

For Amygdala Riley gave it the ability to multiply itself, through generating copied familiars. These Lesser Amygdala, would only possess a tenth of the power of the original, but had the added ability to extending Amygdala's area of effect ability, that allowed it to warp reality. It took time to generate theses copies, usually Amygdala had to spend a few hours focusing to create these servants, but it could spread them out over a larger area and use it's control over them to warp a large space, essentially creating a pocket dimension within reality, and of course more Amygdala clones created a greater warping effect.

For the White Rabbit, she decided to turn it into an assassin. Since it still looked like a fluffy rabbit, even if it was caught in the act of devouring the flesh from a person's bones, who would believe it? Most magicals would think you were insane, the muggles would have been left far more dumbfounded.

When it came to the beastly Fenrir, Riley decided amped it's offensive abilities, giving it access to multiple secondary elements, like Ice Release, Blaze Release, Dust Release, Wood Release, Magnet Release, Lave Release, and Dark Release.

For the G, and the Nemesis Tyrants, she would have to wait to upgrade them as she hadn't brought them into Kamui, with her, they were both still being studied down in rapture, though she did intend to upgrade them when she got the chance.

And finally for the Gravemind, she gave it a remote telepathic ability, allowing it reach it's mind out to any individual that was within Riley's sensory range. This was a focused ability, so it didn't happen to everyone all at once, but using Riley's sensory abilities, the Gravemind could now reach out from her mind, and slowly crawl into the mind of someone else and begin downloading their memories.

She also intended to develop an ability to allow the Gravemind to intercept radio signals and listen to the information being passed through the air. After her training trip was over, she was gonna spend some time working on that one, giving the Gravemind the ability to hear messages being sent through the airways, and eventually, message sent via satellite communication, would allow her communications network to become an information hub for all of the world's data.

As another project, Riley also intended to find a way to give the Gravemind access to the Internet. The internet was really taking off, and a lot of information was finding it's way onto it, Riley wanted to give her second brain access to that info, right now the simplest idea was to find a quiet space and have a clone, that the Gravemind controlled, just scroll through web pages, but that wasn't overly efficient as she was constrained by an internet connection. She'd definitely have to work on that one too. Giving the Gravemind access to the muggle communication networks, and the internet, would cause it's intelligence to skyrocket, and that increase in intelligence would benefit her in the future, considering those that were tied to it, could ask it any question, and at that point, it was almost a guarantee that it would know that answer.

At about five years into her training trip, Riley began experimenting with all sorts of new abilities. She began going over the abilities that her and her children possessed, and worked on ways to incorporate some of their moves into her fighting style and adapting some of the moves she had learned from absorbing others. Even if they'd never be her main abilities, redundancy had always been Riley's forte. Even if you had two abilities that basically did the same thing, you never know when one may work and other wont.

The way magic responded, made even similar abilities vastly different from one another. For example the Fireball Jutsu, and fire elemental magic. The Fireball Jutsu did thermal damage, but it also did a bit of kinetic damage. The fireball didn't have weight or mass to it, yet it still delivered a punch, along with the fire. Fire elemental magic didn't have that same kinetic aspect to it. It was pure heat.

Both techniques could be used to create something visually the same, and yet both had their minor differences, that could cause a major difference on the battlefield. It was all about how magic was used to create these abilities, do it one way, and you get one result, do it another and you get another result.

So going over how her children fought she began to develop several new techniques from them. For instance, combing the Hidden Mist Jutsu, with Ice Release, created Ice Release: Freezing Mist Jutsu. An ability that created a dense fog of freezing mists that would chill an area rapidly to the point where it would begin freezing a person's body in a few moments.

She intended to share this new technique with Haku and Elsa when she returned. As she would every other ability she though they could use to enhance their powers.

Going off of some of her Water Style and Ice Release using family members, Riley developed a few more Ice Release techniques. One being an Ice Release: Rasengan, to compliment the Ice Release: Rasenshuriken that had originally been used as a combo technique between her and Elsa. She also created Ice Release: Howling Strike, a jutsu that would involve freezing over water that had paper bombs within it, and form piercing weapons out of the ice. It would then be lodged in an opponents body, and would detonate inside of them.

Using her understanding of Dead Bone Pulse, she developed Ice Release: Sea of Agony. A technique that mimicked Dance of the Seedling Fern, though it used Ice spears instead of bone. Another technique she developed was Ice Release: Sword. A simple jutsu that would allow the user to form water into a hardened sword of ice, for close range combat. The blade itself would be razor sharp and blindingly cold to the touch. She hoped that at least some of these techniques would be useful to Haku and Elsa, both of whom specialized in the use of Ice magic.

Another type of ninjutsu she invested time into was Dust Release. The sheer power behind it was incredible, the ability to annihilate anything confined within a three dimensional object, the only downsides were that it took a few moments to generate the object, and it required an incredible amount of magic and control. Luckily Riley had the latter in abundance, and using her tails she could easily generate an attack with Dust Release while fighting an opponent.

Riley had yet to encounter anything that could survive an attack by Dust Release. She'd used it on diamonds, on her own bones, on reinforced barriers, not even magical constructs could survive if they were hit by Dust Release. Being a combination of three different elements, and a Kekkei Tōta, meant that it's power was far greater than most other abilities in magic. The only things that came close were techniques like the Truth-Seeking Balls. Which were a combination of all five base elements, plus Yin, and Yang Release.

So with that in mind, Riley put her mind to developing a new way to utilize such a powerful technique.

Riley's first Dust release technique, was Dust Release: Reformation of the Forgotten Earth. This Technique involved using Dust Release and a Shadow Clone, as a form of suicide technique, where the clone would grab hold on a target and using her free appendages, whether it be her tails or her hands, she would create a dome of Dust Release around her and the target and annihilate both of them.

Another technique she made was Dust Release: Fading Hope of the Fallen. This technique involved Riley shaping a three-dimensional object made of Dust Release and placing it inside of a clone's body. The clone would then keep the object compressed in it's smaller form and attack it's enemy, the end result being that when the clone was destroyed, the Dust Release object would then expand and activate, trapping the aggressor within the object and destroying them.

The latter was born as a sort of evolution of the former.

Beyond the Dust Release, Riley began developing ways of utilizing the Truth-Seeking Balls, in conjunction with certain ninjutsu, and practicing using them to unleash a particular form of magic through them, almost like extensions of her body.

At around seven years into her training, Riley found herself learning to summon lesser demons to serve her. She learned from the Darkness how to call forth very minor entities, that could act as servants, protectors, or assistants in battle. She learned how to call upon the Darklings, summoning them forth from the recesses of the Darkness's mind.

They were loyal servants, though seeing them in action and learning what they could do, convinced Riley to begin working on creating her own army of servants, that could assist with similar tasks.

With her training trip closing in on it's final legs, Riley found her excitement growing, she was very eager to get back to her mates, and her newborn, after spending so much time away from them. Thankfully, her training trip had born fruit, and she felt stronger than she was before. She felt more in control over her powers, she felt more secure in the knowledge that she could defend her loved ones from any threat that came about, all in all, it seemed that this training trip was worth it.

It was around eight years into the training trip, where Riley found herself sitting on a rock meditating, floating high in the sky above her were a number of large spheres of earth, constructed using Chibaku Tensei.

Her Zanpakutō lay across her lap, as she meditated, her mind reflecting on her abilities, and what she could do in the remainder of her time here to further improve herself.

"You spend quite a lot of time worrying about your ability to protect the ones you love, despite all of the power you possess."A familiar voice stated, causing Riley's eyes to snap open.

Floating before her was Ralael. The spirit of her Zanpakutō. Riley stared up at the spirit for several long moments, taking noted that her giant spheres of earth were no longer hovering in the sky, indicating that they were speaking in Riley's mind.

"Come to teach another lesson?" Riley inquired, rising to her feet.

"Indeed. I have a lesson to teach today. This training trip of yours, has led to a lot of reflecting on your loved ones and your ability to protect them from any threat. Allow me to show you the true extent of your affections for them. It's time to embrace the infinite expanse of the multiverse." Ralael responded, and Riley felt power course out form her sword, wrapping around her, clouding her sight and senses.

-?-

It took a few moments, but she suddenly found herself standing atop a cliff overlooking a darkened battlefield.

In the midst of this great battlefield was an army of shinobi engaged in battle against the monstrous Ten-Tails. Riley watched as they fought against the beast being led by a glowing golden figure. Activating her Byakugan, she was able to get a closer look and could tell that this figure was her twin Naruko.

She had activated some sort of Tailed Beast Mode, similar to Riley's, and was using the Nine Tails' chakra. From what Riley could tell it almost looked like she had only half of Kurama's power, the Yin half, and she was using it to lead her allies against the Ten-Tails, aided by the Eight Tails Jinchuriki Killer Bee, in his Tailed Beast Transformation.

Doing a quick search around, Riley found a reanimated Hashirama and Madara, engaged in a dual not far from the main battlefield. Both titans were going all out, unleashing some of their strongest attacks against one another.

Furthering her gaze she located another duel occurring. This one was between Narumi Namikaze and Minato Namikaze.

With the way the two were going at it, it was obvious they were trying to kill one another. For the briefest moment, Riley wondered if she was somehow in the same 'what-if' timeline she had encountered before, but she soon squashed that thought as she felt the raw hatred her alternate self felt towards Minato.

This was definitely not the same timeline as the one she had been too before.

"A single drop in the pond is enough to alter the course of fate. Where one was loved, this one walked a much more familiar path, but what changed I wonder? Who is she, to you?" Ralael inquired, it's voice speaking in Riley's mind.

Riley was silent for a moment as she focused on the fight, after several moments she sat down and focused her senses on the duel between Minato and Narumi.

Doing this, she was able to hear what they were saying as she watched the fight play out.

"You need to stop this Narumi! You're angry at me, and I understand, but you can't just lash out at the entire world. There are innocent people who are in danger because of this. You have to stop!" Minato tried to reason with her as the two traded blows. This Narumi was almost a mirror image of her counterpart that Riley had encountered during her last trip into a what-if. The only major different was that this Narumi seemed a bit younger, and she sported several scars on her face, indicating a long history of battle.

Her Rinnegan blazed with rage as she lashed out at Minato, unleashed a Shinra Tensei that send him skidding away from her.

"You think a few simple words will be enough to forgive everything you put me through? I suffered alone, while you and your family basked in the glow of my sacrifices. You allowed yourself to forget that it was my body that held the dark half of the fox, that I was the one who killed Voldemort! You left a child alone to suffer, you left me to be beaten, starved, harassed, and tortured at the hands of your precious villagers, and you think I'll give a damn about innocent people!? I was innocent once, and no one gave a shit about me, so I think I'll return the favor." Narumi snarled in response, lashing out at him with a fire style technique.

"I know what I did was wrong! I'm sorry, Narumi! If you have to take it out on someone, take it out on me, but don't let the world suffer for my wrong-doings. Be the better person." Minato tried to urge her, vanishing in a burst of speed, and appearing behind her, placing his kunai to her neck, only to receive a gut-busting elbow to the stomach that left him off balance enough for Narumi to slip away.

"Always the fucking hero! Always the good guy! Always the man who puts his life on the life for the poor, helpless little fuckers who can't protect themselves! You know I never really understood what true selfishness was, until I came to understand you. You think so highly of yourself, that you believe your sacrifice will make the world a better place. You think that your existence is so great, that by putting it on the line, it'll somehow undo all the wrongs in the world. You have no idea what it's like to live in despair. You have no idea what it's like to be nothing. Before you die, I'll show you just how much you matter." Narumi hissed as they continued their battle.

Riley continued to watch their battle, letting out a low sigh as she did.

"This version of me, seems to have endured the same treatment that I did. The question is what changed between us for her to find herself here. Well… might as well ask." Riley thought to herself, rising to her feet, and hopping from the cliff.

In a rush of speed she found herself between Minato and Narumi, stopping their fight with her sudden appearance.

"What the hell?" Narumi growled out in surprise.

"Who… Narumi?" Minato questioned as he caught sight of her face.

"Name's Riley. Sorry to see that some things don't change." Riley responded, unleashed a blast of pure magic that send Minato flying away from the two of them as she turned her attention to Narumi.

Her alternate self quickly fell into a battle stance, ready to fight, confusion still clouded her eyes as she glared at Riley, but she wasn't willing to lower her guard, even in the face of this strange occurrence.

"Who the hell are you?" Narumi demanded.

"I'm you from another time, I'm curious as to what's going on. Are you just here to get some good old fashioned revenge, or are you more interested in Madara's Project Tsuki No Me?" Riley inquired curiously.

"I'm not in the mood to chat. So how's about you fuck off for the moment, and let me finish my work." Narumi snapped.

"Hmm… so this is what you'd be like if you were more of a cunt. Fascinating." Kurama mused.

"I don't think that is what Ralael wanted me to take away from this." Riley thought.

Her counterpart quickly rushed at her, only for Riley to leap back from her attack, avoiding it and leveling a hard look at her alternate self.

"You know if this plan succeeds, everyone, everywhere, loses their free will?" Riley noted.

"I don't care about everyone else. Who are you to say that any of them matter at all?" Narumi snarled, reaching her hand out and using Banshō Ten'in, to pull Riley towards her.

Riley countered the move by driving her tails into the ground and launching a black chakra receiver right at Narumi, who let out a curse as she dodged the projectile.

"You don't care about anyone? What about uncle Remus? Kakashi? Shisui? Itachi? What about your friends, or your mates?" Riley demanded, as she settled on the ground.

Narumi glared at her, her eyes darkening in response to Riley's question. Her reaction earned a curious look from Riley, as she took in her counterpart's rage.

"They abandoned you too?" Riley guessed, earning a scream of frustration and anger from Narumi.

"They betrayed me! Said I was dark, that I was evil! They blamed me for everything bad that happened to them! Why couldn't you do this! Why couldn't you do that! Why couldn't you have saved them! Everyone always blames me!" Narumi roared with rage, her body igniting with golden chakra as she activated her own Tailed Beast Mode.

Riley stared back at her, taking note that she held the other half of Kurama's chakra. It seemed that in this reality, instead of splitting the fox into power, body, and soul, it was instead split directly in half.

In a burst of incredible speed, Narumi rushed forward, attempting to blitz Riley. Her increased speed may have been able to push Riley before her training, but after undergoing her recent reflex training, Riley was easily able to keep up with her parallel self.

Riley side stepped a punch, and countered with one of her own, surprising Narumi with her reaction time.

The two traded blows for a few more moments as Riley pondered the situation.

"Seems like things never worked out for her. Shit just kept rolling downhill." Kurama mused.

"Yeah, seems like it. She seems almost possessed by this idea of revenge. I'm curious, was it really just fate that people continued to treat her like garbage, or was there something more?" Riley wondered, countering an incoming Rasengan, with one of her own, the resulting explosion sending both of the flying away from one another.

"Hmm… well she isn't a full demon, but she is a half-blood, so the who Voldemort thing happened. And if she was able to bond our magics together, like you and I did, that means that she worked out a reasonable relationship with me, despite being so angry." Kurama noted.

"Wanna ask yourself what's going on?" Riley inquired.

"Sure." Kurama responded before reaching out to his alternate self within Narumi.

The two Tailed Beasts appeared before one another, Narumi's Kurama sitting in a meditative state, attempting to focus his energy for their fusion technique.

"Hey… sorry to intrude like this, but I was wondering about a few things. Got a moment?" Kurama inquired to himself.

"This is surreal. What are you even doing here?" Narumi's Kurama asked in response.

"Riley's magic sword brought her here to learn something. Given what it's last lesson was about, I'm guessing this has something to do with an understanding about herself, so if you want to get rid of us, why don't you tell me a bit about your Narumi. I'm sure you can tell that despite her formidable strength, Narumi isn't nearly as powerful as Riley is." Kurama answered, earning a focused look from her alternate self.

For several long moments the two stared at each other, before finally Narumi's Kurama let out a sigh, and began to explain Narumi's life story to Riley's Kurama.

Meanwhile, on the outside, Riley continued to duel with herself until an ear-shattering roar stopped the two.

Both turned their gazes towards the Ten-Tails which was now focusing it's attention onto Riley.

"It must sense the power I absorbed from it. It doesn't seem to be under the control of that Archdevil though." Riley noted as the Ten-Tails began to rush towards her, letting out a roar of rage as it ignored the army of shinobi and focused it's attention onto her.

Riley let out a growl at that and quickly sped through hand signs. It took only a moment for her finish, and when she did she slammed her hands together and called out "Wood Style: Greater Wood Dragon Jutsu!"

From the earth behind her, a massive wooden construct erupted from the earth. Like a typical Wood Dragon Jutsu, this technique was scaled up to a much higher level, creating a massive construct that took the form of a Chinese Dragon.

The massive entity rose high into the air before arching and encircling the Ten-Tails, retraining it and pulling it to the ground, halting it's advancing.

The Ten-Tails let out a roar of rage and struggled against it's restraints while Riley, focused her energy into hardening the Wood Dragon to keep it from breaking.

Right as she finished, she caught a kick to the side of the head that sent her flying a hundred yards.

"Fuck this version of me really is a cunt." Riley muttered as she shook her head a few times, quickly reorienting after the kick from her alternate self.

She focused her gaze onto the glowing golden form of Narumi who stalked towards her, eyes alight with fury.

"I think you're pissing her off." Kurama noted with a chuckle.

"Well she's doing the same to me. I honestly don't give a damn about this battle, I'd leave if I could but unfortunately I don't think I'm going anywhere until I figure out what Ralael wants me to learn from this." Riley thought back.

"Any ideas as of yet?" Kurama inquired.

"She's obviously more pissed off than I am which is saying a lot because she's only a half-demon. Aside from that, it seems like she never got over what happened to her as a child. It's almost like instead of just dropping the Leaf like a bad habit, she obsessed over it." Riley noted as she cracked her neck and prepared to receive the incoming assault from her alternate self.

"Yeah. That's what I got from talking to her Kurama. It sounds like your childhoods were basically the same, but she dealt with it more poorly than you did. And I think I might know the cause. You remember when ANBU Root attacked you after you and Remus left the village?" Kurama asked.

"Yeah, I remember." Riley thought back as Narumi rushed at her, again trying to blitz past her defenses with her speed.

Riley instantly countered her attack, catching the fist aimed for her face and delivering a kick of her own that sent Narumi tumbling head over heels backwards, and away from Riley.

"Well it doesn't sound like Remus made it through that attack. In fact it doesn't sound like any backup ever came. The ANBU Root managed to kill Remus and momentarily capture you, only for you to reawaken your Rinnegan and use Shinra Tensei to butcher them all in a fit of rage. It also didn't hurt that you had half of my power at the time, instead of just my body and soul." Kurama explained what he had learned from his alternate self.

"Damn… I guess that explains her fury. She lost Shisui, and got mixed up in the Uchiha massacre, went through all the trouble of leaving with one of the only people that mattered to her, only for him to be killed later that same day. She has plenty of reason to hate them, but I'm still curious as to what Ralael wants me to see. It sounds like this version of me, simply had it worse." Riley thought to herself, as Narumi leaped into the air and unleashed a fireball jutsu at her.

The fireball swelled larger and larger, increasing in size until it was nearly a hundred feet across.

"I remember when I was this strong. Feels almost like a lifetime ago." Riley thought to herself as she raised a hand and absorbed the attack utilizing the Preta Path. As she absorbed the incoming fireball she took note of how easy this all was. Despite her counterparts speed and strength, this fight felt almost trivial. Riley's powers had most definitely grown since absorbing the Ten-Tails, and the last seven years of non-stop training had helped to hone her incredible power, once more bringing it closer to what it was before the final battle of the Fourth Shinobi War.

"She still ended up at Hogwarts, but must much more reclusive and introverted than you ever were. Being on her own for almost four years, without Remus there to look after her, led her to being much worse off. She didn't trust anyone, she didn't try to make friends or allies, from the sounds of it, she became like a carbon copy of a younger Madara. Angry, resentful, though she lacked something that he possessed back then." Kurama noted, as Narumi charged up a Bijuu Dama, and prepared to unleash it onto Riley.

"She didn't have any hope for a better future." Riley guessed, as Narumi fired the attack at her.

Riley held up her hand, ready to absorb the attack again, only for a half dozen Narumi clones to appear around her, each armed with a Black Chakra Receiver.

Riley loose with Shinra Tensei, sending all of the clones flying backwards while her tails arced through the air and shoved the incoming Bijuu Dama away from her, sending it careening through the air, to explode far off in the distance.

"Ralael wants me to learn something, to understand something by seeing this what-if. Last time I got a look at what it would be like if my life had been better, but that wasn't the whole point of the lesson. Ralael's true lesson was that even though her life may have had some better qualities than mine, her life wasn't the one that I wanted. That heroic Narumi had a great life, but it wasn't meant for me. Ralael's lesson from that was that my life made me who I am, and if my parents had loved me, I wouldn't be the same person anymore." Riley thought to herself

"That's right. So… what is it that you need to learn from this one?" Kurama asked in reply.

"I think I might know… but I need to hear something for myself." Riley responded, as she shot forward, letting loose a bit, as she far less concerned with this world, since it wasn't her own.

Moving at much greater speed than she normally would outside of Kamui, Riley reappeared behind Narumi, her movements taking her counterpart by surprise.

It was obvious that Narumi could track her movements with the Rinnegan's sensory ability, but she lacked the enhanced perception of the Rinne-Sharingan. Using her impressive speed, granted to her by her Tailed Beast Mode, Narumi was able to spin around in time to block Riley's punch, catching it in her hand.

She used her forearm to block the follow-up strike and the two proceeded to trade blows at hypersonic speeds, the air was soon filled with ear-shattering cracks as they repeatedly broke the sound barrier with their movements, neither one of them caring about quieting themselves, or avoiding air resistance.

From the sidelines, Minato Namikaze watched the battle unfold, dumbfounded by what was happening. Not far off, Madara Uchiha and Hashirama Senju had both stopped their battle to take note of the massively powerful presence that was now dueling Narumi.

Both of them focused their attention onto the battle, and on the Ten-Tails which was currently struggling against the massive wood dragon that was pinning it to the ground.

"I'm curious, did you ever try to make friends or were you content to just live alone?" Riley inquired, her words drawing surprise from Narumi, followed quickly by fury.

"You think you know me? You don't know anything!" Narumi hissed out, as the two continued to trade blow after blow.

"I do know you. I walked a similar path once, but at some point we made different choices in life. I know you had it hard, but I'm curious about when you decided to wallow in your own sadness?" Riley asked, earning even more rage from her counterpart.

"You say that like it's no big deal! Like the suffering I endured didn't matter! You have no idea what I lost! You have no idea how I feel!" Narumi roared at her, gathering up energy in her hand for a close range Bijuu Dama.

"She doesn't seem to have much care for her own self-preservation." Kurama noted, as Narumi drove the sphere at Riley, only for Riley to activate her Intangibility and allow the attack to phase right through her.

Riley leaped away from Narumi, watching her with calculating eyes.

"You lost people you loved. I understand that. You spent your whole life wallowing in anger, and rage. Did you ever try to be happy? Did you ever try to fill that hole in your heart?" Riley asked, as she began to understand what truly separated the two of them.

Narumi glared at her, rage and hatred burning within her eyes.

"You didn't. After Remus died, after you were left alone, you chose to close off your heart. You chose vengeance over life." Riley realized, reflecting on her own life, and how it might've been different had she chosen this same path.

This Narumi had chosen to be angry, after everything she suffered. Where Riley had cast aside the village and her old family, instead focusing on filling her heart with new attachments. This Narumi had chosen to despise her family, and the village. She had chosen to hate them, and actively sought to destroy them.

Riley had only turned to vengeance when her loved ones had been threatened. She all three of her attacks on Konoha had ultimately come about due to other people. She attacked Danzo to avenge Shisui, she recused Naruko from her suffering, and she retaliated after the Leaf government attacked her friends and lovers.

She had always hated them, there was no doubt about that. She hated the village, she hated her parents, and at times she even hated her twin. But after she had left, she was content to show them all up. She was more than happy to forget that the Hidden Leaf village even existed, and she was content with outshining her parents, her godmother, and even her twin. By proving she was stronger than all of them, Riley had gotten her revenge.

Narumi was different. She had chosen a much more bloody path, after her losses. And now she was here, working with Madara to initiate the Eye of the Moon Plan.

Narumi had chosen to allow darkness to rule her life and because of that, people naturally held her at a distance. As sad as it may be, people are generally put-off by those that brood, and shy away from social interaction. When you give off the aura of someone who is pissed off and ready to snap at any moment, people tend to treat you as such.

It wasn't Narumi's fault, not entirely. But that was how the world worked. It took a special kind of strength to approach someone so angry and so aggressive. It took a lot to look past there flaws and find the source of their pain. Unfortunately, without someone who understood her past, Narumi was forced to endure the pain of growing up alone, with nothing more than a demon, and a dead man to keep her company.

In a way, despite their lives having some differences, what really separated the two of them was their willingness to try again. Riley left her childhood behind and sought to build a better life for herself, meanwhile Narumi had chosen to allow vengeance to decide who she was.

Riley leaped back, putting distance between her and Narumi as she took in this understanding.

"You're who I would have been, had I chosen revenge, over my own happiness. We suffered any yet, circumstances led you to making a different choice for how to live your life. I think I understand now." Riley noted, her words making little sense to the enraged half-demon, who quickly spat out a curse and charged at her, only for Riley to disappear in a burst of incredible speed and reappear right behind Narumi who's eyes widened in disbelief.

"And I think I understand the true revelation here. You haven't pushed me once. Strong as you may be, I'm a lot stronger. I'm stronger because I have things in my life worth living for. I have a reason to exist, beyond the death of others. Despite my own anger, despite my rage, despite my suffering, I chose to live, despite it all. And I'm stronger for it." Riley noted with understanding.

"What the hell are you?" Narumi growled, glancing over her shoulder at Riley.

"A what-if for you. Nothing more. Go on, and bring about your apocalypse. I hope in doing so it brings you some measure of comfort." Riley answered before vanishing in another burst of speed.

She quickly reappeared on the cliff she had arrived at and glanced back down at the battle, releasing her grip on the Ten-Tails and dispersing her wood dragon.

She found Narumi staring up at her location, confusion filling her eyes as she met Riley's gaze, even at this distance.

"You understand now?" Ralael inquired.

"I do. She is who I would have been, had I sworn revenge on the Hidden Leaf and focused my life on destroying them." Riley answered.

"She is a reflection of the violence in your heart. But where as you control it, she is consumed by it. She is no more spiteful than you, and yet, here you stand, towering over her. You control your anger, and rage, you decide your own fate." Ralael responded as magic bubbled out from Riley's sword, encasing her and bringing her back into her mindscape.

-Riley's Head, Kamui-

Riley found herself standing before the spirit of her sword, the two facing one another.

"The first time you showed me a life where my parents loved me. And I learned that even if they had loved me, I wouldn't have been as happy as I am now. This time you've showed me who I could have been, had I decided to let my anger rule me, rather than choosing to live my own life." Riley stated, eyeing the entity with curiosity.

"Indeed. Has this granted you any clarity as to my true name, or my power?" Ralael inquired.

"I'm obviously going to other times, when you show me these what-ifs. I'm visiting other realms, meaning you have some power over time travel. Yet that isn't your only power, as my Shikai state is more directed towards energy transfer, this lesson hasn't shown me much, to be honest." Riley admitted in response.

"Do not concern yourself. This is only the second lesson of nine. You're smart, but the road ahead is still concealed, I would be very surprised if you understood what I was this early. Though perhaps a greater clue lies in your Shikai state." The angel stated.

Riley was silent for a moment before raising her sword and running her gaze along it.

Recalling the last time this had happened, how Ralael had commanded that she envision the heroic Narumi in her mind, this time, Riley envisioned the vengeful Narumi.

-Kamui-

Riley opened her eyes, and stared out across the expanse of her pocket dimension. Rising to her feet she held her sword before her.

"Bare witness to this wicked world, Unleash Chaos, Ralael!" Riley intoned, causing the blade to erupt into light and begin to reform.

To Riley's surprise, instead of shaping into it's gunblade form, her Zanpakutō took on an entirely new form.

This form was that of a one-handed warhammer. It had a shaft of long dark metal, and the hammer itself was forged of blackened iron that seemed almost burned. The striking side of the hammer looked almost like a large meat tenderizer, with protrusions to that would drive into a target, while being struck with it.

Opposite the striking size was a large mechanism, similar in shape to the firing hammer on a revolver.

Pulling back the hammer revealed that it set into a small round space that fed into the striking side of the hammer.

This space almost looked like it could be loaded with some sort of ammunition. (Shorter One-Handed Boom Hammer, Bloodborne.)

"Um… your Shikai state is different." Kurama noted.

"Because I envisioned the Narumi we just met, rather than the one we met during our first trip." Riley responded as she examined the weapon.

"So your Shikai state changes, depending on the version of you, you're thinking about when you activate it. Meaning there's nine forms in total, if each lesson correlates to a different version of you." Kurama surmised, earning a nod of agreement from Riley.

"Which would also mean that the elemental basic for my Zanpakutō isn't something as simple as a basic element, or even energy manipulation. The question is, how can it change it's form and properties, while maintaining one aspect to represent as it's power?" Riley noted aloud as she traced her fingers along the warhammer.

"That is the question. Knowing that answer will help you to learning my name. Now, allow me to show you how this version of your weapon functions." Ralael stated within Riley's mind.

Riley allowed her speculation to end, and turned her focus inward, ready to take in everything the spirit had to show her. Two lessons down, seven to go. She still had plenty of time to figure out the secrets behind her Zanpakutō, and what it truly represented.

Over the next few days Riley began to learn how this new form of her Zanpakutō functioned. Where the gunblade form channeled magic at it's purest form, as raw energy, the warhammer form, was used as an instrument of pure raw destruction.

Aside from functioning as a normal warhammer, it also had the ability to deliver an incredible magical punch that left even Riley dumbfounded at it's potential. In the loading chamber Riley could place any form of magic within it. Then she could prime the firing hammer and whatever she hit next would receive a magical blast, the coincided with whatever magic she had placed in the loading chamber.

If she placed fire magic into it, then a massive blast of fire would erupt as soon as she slammed it into a target. If she placed water magic into it, a deluge of water would erupt like a geyser. Air, an air blast, earth, a rock blast, lightning, an electrical surge, but the base base elements weren't the only types of magic that could be stored within it.

Whatever magic she put into the loading chamber, was altered into a percussive blast of energy with the properties of whatever magic she put into it.

Meaning if she loaded a Reducto into the loading chamber, than the following strike would be augmented with a blasting curse.

It's use was relatively simple, just cast a spell into the loading chamber, prime the firing hammer and than thwack something and boom, magical explosion.

It was a weapon of immense power, as the stronger the spell, the more powerful the explosion, and Riley took great pleasure in practicing with different types of spells to get different affects.

Even to the point of placing the Killing Curse, into the loading chamber and envisioning herself literally knocking the soul out of a person's body.

She spent many months within Kamui practicing with this new version of her Zanpakutō, and also came to learn that there was a reasonable time limit between the use of different states. For instance if she wanted to use the gunblade form, and then switch to the warhammer form, she would first need to revert the sword back to it's sealed state and give it time to reset it's awakening. It took about ten minutes for the reset to happen meaning that when Riley activated the weapon's form, she had to basically be certain that she was picking the one she wanted, otherwise she might now get a chance to switch it again before the fight was over.

With the second of nine lessons learned, Riley added her Zanpakutō's new form to her retinue of training, while also taking time to reflect on her first two lessons, as well as speculating on future ones.

She was beginning to suspect that her sword's spirit intended for her to compare all of these other versions of her, to herself, and reflect on how their choices and or circumstances had led them down certain paths that Riley could have walked, had she encountered similar situations.

It may have been to early to tell, but she suspected she was on the right track with it's motivation, at least in part.

For the remaining three years of Riley's training trip she continued her routine, enhancing her abilities and honing her powers even further. Slowly but surely, Riley felt her control and skill increase, and she was slowly becoming more assured that her control would soon reflect what it once was before absorbing the Ten-Tails and ascending to the ninth tail.

As the final days of her training rolled around, Riley found herself reflecting on her life and the choices that he led her to this position. There were so many times she could have done things differently, she could have embraced her demonic nature, she could have become the villain outright and even brought the world under her control if she wanted too. Instead she chose to live a more compact life, focusing on those she loved, and those that made her life so enjoyable.

Eventually the final day of her training came about and Riley spent it doing nothing but priming her focus and ensuring that she had control over her increased strength. She spent the entire day plucking flowers, caressing leaves, doing basic drawings with a brush, and performing other precise and gentle movements, to ensure that when she returned to her newborn, she wouldn't have to worry about hurting the child accidentally.

With her confidence assured Riley exited her pocket dimension, returning to her beloved family.

-Riley's Home, London, England.-

Riley spent the entire night cradling her baby in her arms. The moment she returned to her home she relieved her clone, and picked up the slumbering newborn. She then found comfortable spot in the corner of her bedroom to sit and hold the baby.

In the back of her mind, she noted that despite all this time away, she didn't feel the need to mate with her lovers, the birth of little Lucille had settled those urges at least for the moment. With that in mind, Riley was able to enjoy the quiet calm of her slumbering mates, and the quiet breathing of her beloved newborn.

-September 27th 1999-

The following morning, Fleur was gently shaken awake by Katie. Fleur blinked the sleep out of her eyes and glanced at Katie who motioned for her to stay quiet and glanced over to a far corner of the room.

Fleur slowly sat up and followed Katie's gaze, finding it drawn to an adorable sight.

She found Riley sitting in a chair on the opposite side of the bedroom. Held against her chest was baby Lucille. Riley was quietly humming to the infant, a gentle tune that was only slightly off key. Riley had never been overly good at music, and she couldn't sing at all, she had only recently started developing an ear for it when she started to learn to play instruments like the violin. She seemed to be humming some sort of lullaby, though Fleur didn't recognize it.

The sight of her wife gently cradling their baby, humming a song to her while she slept, melted Fleur's heart and she couldn't help but smile.

Riley finished her humming and glanced up at them, smirking at the sight of three of her mates staring at her, as Kaede had also woken up due to the movement and had seen Riley's care-giving.

"I've got a busy day so I wanted to spend some time with her. Why don't you take some time to get ready, eat breakfast and the like, before we have to trade off." Riley offered to Fleur earning a nod from her as she crawled across the bed, and moved across the room to offer her wife and child a gentle kiss.

She couldn't helped the pleasant sigh that left her lips as she kissed Riley.

Ever since becoming a demon, Riley had been able to transfer her emotions through touch, and so her kisses often felt quite pleasant to her mates, this morning though, Fleur could feel an interesting cascade of emotions, that made couldn't help but make her smile.

Riley was so calm, and peaceful right now. Her focus was almost entirely on baby Lucille, and from what Fleur could feel through the kiss, Riley was very happy right now.

Giving her wife and daughter a smile, Fleur quickly joined Katie in the bathroom, eager to get ready for the day. Having just given birth a few days prior, Fleur was off of work for a few weeks so it wouldn't take her that long to get ready for the day.

Riley meanwhile returned to humming to Lucille while her mates began to awaken and prepare for their days. Eventually Fleur returned and Riley felt comfortable in placing the baby back in her crib and heading out to meet up with Artoria for the day's work.

- September 30th 1999-

No one really noticed any changes in Riley, how she seemed to be intentionally acting far more gentle around object than usual, or if they did, it wasn't brought up. She was able to keep her long training trip a secret and was easily able to move on from it without having to receive a scolding from her mates.

Over the following days, Riley continued to work on making sure she was gentle around objects, so that she didn't accidentally break anything. This process was made easier by focusing on less physical activities such as aiding Artoria and Daphne in building a new country.

Riley spent a lot of time visiting Sunagakure and Kumogakure, reaffirming both village's alliances with them and the new nation of Albion.

While both were naturally surprised to hear about the changes, they were both committed to maintaining the alliance they had constructed, though they were rather nervous with the prospect of soon having to endure the muggle world entering into the Elemental Nations.

While Albion kept quiet about it's location, someone would no doubt leak the location of the access point and where the hidden continent was located. With all the craziness going on, Yugito was scheduled to be transferred back to Albion early, which Riley had no complaints about.

She looked forward to spending more time with the woman, and potentially building a deeper relationship with her.

Elsewhere in the world, individuals like Superman were really starting to make names for themselves as the so called 'Man of Steel' began to offer his aid outside of what was apparently his home in Metropolis.

Already he was earning quite the hero status as he stopped a passenger plane from falling out of the sky due to a bird strike, as well as rescuing people from an oil rig that caught fire in the Gulf of Mexico.

He seemed like an alright person, appearing the Daily Planet's news station for a brief interview after rescuing people from a burning building in Metropolis. When asked by the reporter about his affiliation with the magical world, the man simply smiled, and replied that he admired the magicals in Britain for stepping out of the shadows to help people when they needed it, and that he was just following in their example. He offered that while he wasn't one of them, he did believe that it would be for the betterment of all people, if everyone simply worked together.

Of course when asked what he was if not a magical, he simply smiled, and then darted off, vanishing into the sky.

At almost the same time, a man in Central City, people were now calling the Flash, due to his incredible speed, was also doing what he could to help people in need. When asked if he was a magical, he simply laughed and said maybe, he didn't really know for certain where his powers came from, only that he had them. He offered little else to the reporters who questioned him, instead offering them a PSA on helping each other and being good.

Hell their were even videos capturing Riley's old pal John, using his green ring of power to help people out. It seemed like the reveal of magic was drawing all sorts of people out of the wood works, and it was enough to momentarily distract the populace while Albion began to grow in power.

-October 5th, 1999-

An uprising of radicals within the countryside rose up decrying the new regime as heretical and satanic. It was a sudden outburst of violence from a group of extremists, who took a dozen people hostage during a sort of town hall meeting.

The event quickly caused a media firestorm, as did the response that was given when Artoria asked the Legion to handle it quickly.

As the radicals prepared to hunker down within the town hall armed with shotguns and sub-machine guns, they were quickly overtaken and killed by Legionnaires who cut a hole in the roof and snuck inside. With a Hyuuga on hand to inform them on where the enemies were, it was a quick and easy action to drop from the ceiling rafters right onto the radicals, and slit their throats.

All in all, it took the legionaries about twenty minutes in total to plan, coordinate, and then execute the operation. It was over before anyone even realized what had happened.

None of the radicals survived, and all of the hostages had been rescued, people quickly declared it a tremendous win for the new magical government, proving it's ability to handle internal threats.

Not long afterwards, word finally reached the populace that during the Fourth Great Shinobi War, an army of devils was summoned to fight with the Akatsuki, during the final days of the war.

This demonic invasion had been stopped thanks to their victory, though it had caused massive destruction, including the collapse of the Land of Fire's government due to the attack there.

This new information about invasions from external threats really set people on edge, and it stirred up quite a bit of discussion as more information leaked on just how much power the new Albion government had due to the number of Bijuu they had access to.

It was the fifth of October when a statement was release from the Pope himself, warning of the dangers of magic, and of what it could do. Despite the miracles that could be accomplished, far more harm then good, came from magic, and people should be naturally worried.

This warning drew a lot of outcry, especially from the Church of England, who believed his words to be a direct attack on their new government. A feeling that was mirrored by Artoria, who knew of the Vatican's attempts to capture Riley, and of their presence in London during Millennium's attack.

It was an area of concern, one that wasn't going to allow for peaceful coexistence between either group until the tensions were resolved.

Unfortunately, it was a fight for later, and Artoria was forced to focus on more direct concerns.

-October 10th 1999-

There was beginning to be a noticeable shift in the attitudes on people around the world. As more information about dark magic began to emerge, people began to grow more fearful. Learning that magicals could invade a person's mind, mind control them, raise the dead as zombies, cause massive amounts of destruction, and even break the laws of reality, really set people on edge, and the more they learned, the more fearful people became of their own magical communities.

Reports were showing up in the news from all over the world, that people were gathering in protest of certain magical governments, and magical societies, there was even word that in certain places, magicals were starting to be ostracized for their abilities.

The awe was wearing off and was being replaced by fear and mistrust.

It was less of a problem in some places, like in the US, but in others, it was becoming a problem.

Even within Albion's borders, people were starting to question things, and make unfounded accusations. Artoria was on the news almost daily performing rallies and making addresses to help unify the people, and at least on that front, things seemed to be working in their favor.

Artoria's charismatic, and chivalrous aura, helped to settle people's fears and further unite the country.

Beyond their borders though, people were openly worried about all of the power that Artoria now wielded. Not only was Albion now a magical nuclear power, but it had three of the Bijuu, and it's new ruler was a fifteen hundred year old knight, who no doubt fought in countless wars, and this knight intended to marry a former child soldier who had reportedly killed tens of thousands during the Fourth Shinobi War.

-October 12th 1999-

Riley spent most of her time either helping Artoria and Daphne, or with her family. In truth she hadn't slept in weeks, spending every hour either helping with the growing situation in the world, or with Lucille and her family.

Luckily she had her family around to take care of the newborn and offer the baby all of the love and affection that Riley wanted to give but couldn't be around to do so.

Still, Riley spent almost every night, while Artoria and Daphne slept, cradling the baby in her arms, humming to her and making sure the newborn felt safe and happy.

Yugito had been transferred back which Riley was happy about, and she spent a lot of time with Artoria now, her role as an ambassador really taking precedent now as things became rather tense on the world stage.

-October 15th 1999-

Whispers were spreading that the UN was in discussion about what to do in regards to Albion. The more people thought about it, the more terrified they were of one woman having access to so much power, and in the dead center of the western world.

Not only that, but Albion had been rather distant in regards to it's ties to it's non-magical allies. As the country reformed, the alliances it had once possessed were no in question, and Albion wasn't exactly rushing to reaffirm them. Though to be fair, neither were the other nations.

The collapse of what had been a rather successful constitutional monarchy, presiding over a parliamentary system, and into an absolute monarchy had many people very concerned, since all of this power now placed into what was essentially a warlord.

Protests had begun to erupt in places where Albion had embassies. People were protesting the existence of this magical government and even protesting the right for Albion to be in these countries at all.

In response to these protests, Artoria gave orders of Legionnaires to be dispatched to each embassy, and prepare for a rapid exodus in case things got violent. Setting up magical means, such as portkeys, they had methods in place to allow the staff within these buildings to flee.

Of course the sudden appearance of the black suited legionaries, earned even further outcry as people had learned through various leaks and information conferences that these black-suited individuals were members of Albion's magical armed forces.

-October 20th 1999-

A detailed description of what the Nine Tails had done to the Hidden Leaf village had been leaked to the general public, somewhere in the United States.

A description of how it nearly destroyed one of the most powerful villages of shinobi in the world, was now on almost every television in the country, and was quickly spreading to other nations as well.

Of course that story was immediately followed by the Angel of Carnage and how it had destroyed Konoha only to be beaten and sealed by Riley. But then someone let it slip that the Angel had escaped during the war and had been resealed into Riley's body, meaning she had two demons and a murderous angel living inside of her.

Now everyone was losing their minds, with some even openly questioning why this information hadn't been revealed to them, and what should be done about it, after all the angel had openly killed people in nations all over the world, surely it should have to pay for the people it had slaughtered.

Others began to wonder if Riley could use it's power as well, meaning she had the strength of the two strongest demons, and an angel at her disposal.

Violence began to erupt at some of the embassies in various countries across the world. The buildings themselves were emptied of all possessions, basically everything that resided within the buildings was stored away in scrolls and the staff were transported to safety via portkey. The buildings were then placed under Notice-me-not charms, earning dumbfoundment from protesters who had to watch the embassies just vanish, and the guards were quick to follow.

Word of how strong the Nine Tails was, was enough of a worry to draw a response from the UN.

A declaration was made, asking Artoria to come before the UN and answer questions before a formal inquiry.

Their request was summarily denied, as Artoria had much more pressing matters than to stand around a placate foreigners for hours on end.

The denial was met by concern, and fake outrage from neighboring nations. The discomfort being shared amongst Albion's neighbors was soon to reach a boiling point.

-October 30th 1999-

The UN had sent another declaration, this time with the backing of a US-led Fleet of warships. The US had dispatched a fleet of ships to carry out maneuvers in international waters, but their location was relatively close to the Albion mainland.

It was quite obvious to all involved that this was an intentional attempt to strong arm the newly formed magical nation.

The UN had sent demands for the location and names of the two Jinchuriki in Britain, and for a manner to be established to ensure that these two were not being used for nefarious purposes.

At this point they were basically demanding that Riley and Fu have agents follow them around and constantly report on their activities to the UN security council.

They also demanded that Riley and Fu offer a full debriefing of their Tailed Beasts' abilities to a UN inspection team. These actions were met approval from various muggle governments in Europe, who felt threatened by the newfound power in the hands of the very young and unproven magical nation.

Artoria was very formal with her reply, telling them in no uncertain terms that any attempts to threaten the safety of Albion's borders would be met with aggression and to prove a point, she ordered Riley to use her abilities to disable a handful of satellites that did not belong in position over the newly born nation.

Riley was more than happy to fly up into space and toss a few satellites into the great unknown, just to illustrate that they knew that they were being watched and that was fine, but if people wanted to play hard ball, they would play hard ball too.

Artoria also commanded that the military respond in kind to the US fleet, paralleling their movements and acting as a barrier between them and the Albion mainland.

Things became even more tense when the ICW released an official statement condemning the UN's actions and warning them that continued aggression would only lead to further conflict and that now was absolutely not the time to be picking fights with Albion.

This open condemnation, earned outcry from the muggle populaces who were fearful of the presence of such powerful demons, and not knowing exactly what they were capable of was starting to reignite similar fears as those that occurred during the height of the Cold War.

Of course with that being said, a very interesting statement was released by the Russian government, also condemning the actions of the UN and the US, claiming it to be an act of bullying, and strong arming, that would in no way lead to a peaceful coexistence. Russia even went so far as to be the first muggle government to openly welcome it's own magical populace onto the governmental stage, describing in detail how new departments were being created so that both halves of government could be unified.

-November 5th 1999-

An official statement had once more come from the UN, this time with a threat to embargo the newly founded nation if it didn't reply. The moment this threat was delivered, Artoria gave a speech to her people, revealing the threat to their nation, earning outrage from her people and uniting them in righteous fury for what was about to come next.

-Riley's Home, London, Albion-

Riley hovered over baby Lucille staring down at the infant, on either side of her was Paxton and Darren, both staring down at their newborn aunt as she slept.

"You boys take care of your auntie while I'm away, alright." Riley instructed, earning a nod from both boys.

Riley turned and headed away from them, Daphne waiting for her not far off.

"You ready for this?" Daphne inquired.

"Yep. Time for some fun." Riley responded with a confident smirk.

Daphne nodded at that and offered Riley her hand. The two quickly Apparated to the Hellsing Manor where Artoria waited to deliver her official command to Riley. If the US and the UN wanted to make threats, they would see just what happens when you prod a sleeping dragon.

-Atlantic Ocean, before dawn, November 6th 1999-

Riley hovered in the air overlooking the US fleet. Over two dozen ships, filled with thousands of sailors, all going about their duties.

Riley could sense the tension within the fleet. Not far away, a smaller Albion fleet mirrored this one's movements, staying between them and the mainland several hundred kilometers away.

After a moment she let out a chuckle. In a burst of speed she shot forward, flying down to the ships. Without being seen she moved from each one, placing a Hiraishin Seal, on each vessel.

In only a few moments her task was complete, she then flew off, heading straight for the US.

-Lake Superior, United States-

Riley hovered in the air for a moment before letting out a laugh and tossing several Hirashin kunai into the waters below. With a final chuckle she teleported the fleet to these waters, allowing them to appear in the water so as not to capsize any of them.

Fear, paranoia and uncertainty flooded out from the fleet as the sailors quickly realized that they were not where they should be.

Riley hovered in the air and had a good laugh as they quickly scrambled into battle stations believing that they were under attack.

"I don't think that's very responsible." Riley heard a voice from next to her.

She glanced over her shoulder and found a familiar sight hovering in the air not far from her.

Floating there, with his arms crossed was the person the people were calling Superman.

"Hey, they started it." Riley replied, letting out another chuckle as he raised an eyebrow at her.

Riley took a moment to examine the man, taking note of his appearance and his internal magical system. He had claimed not to be a magical which was only partially true if her eyes and senses were anything to go by. He had certain abilities, even if he could use magic like a normal magical could. She also noted that his magical system was completely alien to her.

He lacked magical coils, and his internal magical network was unlike anything she'd ever seen in a human.

Either this man had a very special bloodline, or he wasn't human.

"You know, I always thought aliens would look different." Riley noted, earning surprise from the man.

"My eyes can see the energy within a person's body. Everyone has magic, even if they can't use it. You're magical system isn't like a humans, but you're not a pure magical being either. Your magic is also entirely foreign to me. So either you're a species of magical creature I've never encountered or even heard of, or you're an alien." Riley explained, earning a thoughtful look from the man, before he nodded.

"I heard all of the commotion, and with all the tension going on I'd feared the worst. But you didn't hurt them." Superman noted, glancing down at the fleet, that was buzzing with activity, even if they weren't hurt.

"They're just people doing their jobs, some dingbats much higher than them are calling the shots. I'm not gonna hurt these guys just because their bosses want to try and bully me. I'm a warrior, I fight and I kill in war, and in battle. This is neither. This is just a response to their attempts to threaten us." Riley responded.

"I hope it doesn't come to that. War I mean. I'd hate to see what that would do to the world." Superman admitted.

"I'm not so eager for it myself. Hopefully this nonviolent show of strength will persuade them to stop with the chest thumping." Riley responded.

"So what happens now?" Superman inquired.

"I go home. Maybe in few days I'll take them back to the ocean, that is if their government asks nicely." Riley responded with a smile.

"I think I can handle getting them back." Superman offered.

"Hey if you think you're up to it, go ahead pal. Strange folk like you and I have to work hard to earn people's acceptance. I only care about my friends and family so it doesn't really matter to me if the rest of the world fears me, but if you wanna play hero, go ahead." Riley responded with a shrug.

"It's not about playing hero. I believe those of us with power have a responsibility to use it to help others who can't help themselves." Superman stated.

"I see. Well don't let me stop you hero. Like I said, I'm not in this to hurt them, this is just a political squabble at the moment, and we're all just flexing our muscles. Feel free to carry them back to the ocean if you think you're up to it. Oh… and keep up the good work, I've seen you on the TV, good stuff." Riley said with a chuckle, before quickly shooting off, back towards her home.

Superman stared after her, visible surprise showing on his face as he took in her speed and the near silence she moved with. After a few moments he allowed himself a sigh of relief and turned down towards the US fleet. This was definitely gonna be one for the papers.

As Riley headed back, she allowed herself a moment of internal musing. That man had to be an alien, his surprise at her noting it, definitely confirmed it. That would make him the first alien she had encountered outside of the Darkness, which while technically from an alternate earth, still appeared in this timeline, before the Earth was even around, so it was also technically an alien.

She'd definitely have to keep an eye on this Superman. Just from what she could see by looking at him, and how his body almost seemed to drink in the energy from the sun, he could be quite the formidable foe in the future. Definitely something to keep an eye on in days to come.

-To be continued-

Alright, here you go, hope you all enjoy, let me know if you have any questions, got another sword trial out of the way, any guesses to her swords true power? I'm all ears for opinions. Anyway, hope you enjoyed the timeline of events, we'll be speeding through some upcoming time to get to more important events in future chapters, so get ready for the long haul.