Chapter 37 "Tenshu"
Chapter 37
Tenshu
PLANET SUTRIN
It’s been one year since the Dark Team left Ketsu and Katja on Earth. Since then, they have been travelling to several planets to seek out the remaining aliens who dare to harm the universe.
One day a powerful presence suddenly appears right outside the Shadow spaceship, the one that was given by the President of Planet Rosa, Rosalie.
The Dark Team quickly assembles by getting dressed up in proper fighting outfits and finding some of their weapons to be armed with. When Ash opens the entrance ramp for them, they realize that it’s not the enemy.
“Hi!”
Knapp sighs in annoyance as he puts away his sword into his scabbard. “Tenshu.”
Tenshu is waving his hand happily. He is the Head Priest who is in charge of all priests and priestesses on Planet Heaven. The job of the priests and priestesses is to simply overlook and record the history of every galaxy and every planet that they are assigned to from the beginning of the universe.
“False alarm!” Gules calls.
Logy, Clear, and Johnny all grumble as they walk back into the spaceship so they can finish either their nap, training, or maintenance.
“I’m surprised that Kawaii is not here,” Tenshu says cheerfully. He makes a few steps in the snowy ground, leaving behind footprints. “But either way, I’m glad to have finally met you, Universe Warrior! Hikyou-sama told me so much about you.”
“What does he want?”
The annoying smile on Tenshu still has not gone away. He ignores Knapp’s question as he says, “First of all, I want to introduce one of our dear priestesses to you.”
A petite woman with straight black hair cut at the bottom of her jaw steps out of the portal, which disappears into nothingness. She is dressed in a long white dress with light purple sash wrapped around her small waist.
“This is Priestess Septima. She overlooks the Septima Galaxy,” Tenshu continues.
Gules and Jade glance at each other, thinking the exact same thing- So why are they here?
“Hello,” Priestess Septima says in a snobby tone with her fist on one of her hips. “Be grateful that you’re in the presence of the Head Priest.”
“Get to the point,” Knapp says impatiently.
Priestess Septima rolls her light purple eyes only to get a hidden glare from Tenshu, even though he looks like he is still smiling. She scoffs. “So, for the last several months, Planet Hell has been getting weaker for some reason. So, I came over a few times, but nothing looked strange at all. The core looked intact as usual.”
“So, what’s the problem?” Gules asks curiously. “You can just fix the planet, right?”
“If we knew what the issue was, we could’ve done it sooner. I know this is an unusual request.” Tenshu says with a permanent smile on his face. “Like Priestess Septima said, Hell is getting weaker. If Priestess Septima couldn’t find anything that seemed to be out of the place, then we suspect that someone is hiding something from us.”
“We need you to sneak into the planet without Death King’s knowledge,” Priestess Septima adds.
Jade raises an eyebrow. “Why?”
“Yeah, why?” Knapp asks.
“We believe that there may be an enemy that not even Death King is aware of,” Tenshu says, his smile finally gone from his face. “Death King banned us from visiting Hell recently because we kept interrupting and stopping their operations of evil cleansing for the last few months.”
“Yeah, that’s why we need you to find out who is harming the planet,” Priestess Septima says.
“No,” Knapp answers simply. “That’s your problem. Last time we helped, half of our team was killed.
“I see,” Tenshu says softly. He bows his head as he continues, “We apologize for bothering you.”
~*~
Knapp cannot help but think back about the conversation with Tenshu and Priestess Septima. He taps his forefinger on his chair’s arm, in deep thoughts. He asks, “Ash, can you please check the data on Hell?”
“Planet Hell is the sixth planet from the star in the Septima Galaxy. It is one of the hottest planets in the universe. It is a rocky planet with--”
“How about the core of Hell?” Knapp interrupts the computer. He is waiting as Ash is pulling up new data in her system.
“No known data found.”
“Damn,” the Universe Warrior mumbles.
“You could have asked me instead of the computer, you know.” Kawaii begins to materialize out of the air. He is sitting on the control panel with a frown on his face. “I see that Tenshu and Priestess Septima stopped by.”
“Right. They asked for our help with Planet Hell. They seem to be concerned with Hell getting weaker. Do you know if it’s just natural or if it’s an enemy harming it on purpose?”
Kawaii jumps off the computer panel and says honestly, “I’m actually not sure. But I can say for sure that something or someone is sucking the life out of the core, but it’s just random- it has been on and off. The core is weak one day and then it’s back to strong and normal the next day.”
“So that’s why Death King was pissed off. What would we do if it were actually one of his people…?”
Kawaii half-grins. “Who else do you think can help as the best way?”
“Logy.”
~*~
“So, that’s why they’re here.” Logy pulls down his furry and thick hood right. He has been outside all day for training in the snow for a couple of hours.
“Once again we’re doing their dirty work,” Clear mumbles as she is hitting the keys fast and looking at the computer monitor at the same time. Her blonde hair is a little longer at her chest level but is tied in the braids.
“They’re really helpless without the Gods." Jade shakes his head.
“You know, I was this close to declining their request because obviously that’s not our problem… Unlike Earth, the death of a random planet doesn’t affect the universe. But Kawaii said something very interesting…” Knapp repeats his conversation with Kawaii from not too long ago.
“Someone may be stealing life from the core? What does it mean?” Gules asks curiously.
“They could have been getting more powerful… Probably enough to take down the Death King…” The Universe Warrior answers. “And destroy the planet at the same time.”
“Crazy.” Johnny rubs his tired eyes. “If Hell is gone… what will happen to all souls with evilness?”
“They will go to Heaven and get cleansing before getting reincarnated as usual.” Kawaii appears in the middle of the room. “But Double God and the Priests just don’t want extra work.”
“Of course.” Clear rolls her blue eyes. “What a lazy bunch.”
Knapp half-smirks at the team members. “It’s been a while since we’ve had a good fight, right?”
“So do you know what we should ask that will benefit us?” Jade asks, only to get a wide grin from Knapp.
~*~
“Sounds like you made the decision,” Tenshu says as he steps into the crew’s quarters along with Priestess Septima. As soon as he spots the child version of the Fifth Universe, he bows his head quickly. “It’s nice to see you again, Kawaii.”
“Tenshu.” Knapp glances at the Head Priest. “Before we decide to accept your request, there’s just one condition that we need to agree on first…”
“What is it?” Priestess Septima asks curiously.
Knapp calmly withdraws his sword from the scabbard with a very dark look on his face. “I want Shishi’s soul. Sealed in my sword where he belongs.”
The Head Priest returns his charming smile.