A conspiracy?
A scam?
Trying to fool him?
Using this to preserve the Otsutsuki stronghold?
In an instant, countless suspicions flashed through Natsume's mind.
Without a doubt, this was very likely a scam!
A lie Xushiki had concocted to deceive him into stopping the black hole and thereby save the Main Family Continent.
Otherwise, if he had a way to send him into the [Royal City], why had he waited until now to mention it?
Did he really think Natsume was that easy to fool?
"Sophon, what do you think?"
"I can't see through that old man..."
"Aren't you the same age as him?"
"How could that possibly be the same?!!"
"..."
Meanwhile, Xushiki naturally saw Natsume's wariness and suspicion.
Or rather, without something genuine, even if it were truly a lie, there was no way anyone would believe it.
Very quickly, Xushiki revealed his sincerity.
He reached out and clenched his hand.
A stream of dark golden light shot out at high speed from deep within the continent below.
It swiftly landed in his hand.
Natsume immediately saw the golden light's true form: an exceedingly ancient yet exquisitely ornate bronze mirror.
Naturally, Natsume did not recognize it, but Sophon—with her astonishing reserve of knowledge—identified it at once.
Divine artifact: [Makotsu Mirror]!
Or rather: [Yata Mirror].
Of course, this was not the incorporeal spirit artifact from the Ninja World, but a genuine divine artifact!
"[Yata Mirror]?"
Sophon explained, "One of the divine artifacts once wielded by the Otsutsuki Progenitor True God. According to records, it was lost in the earliest Divine War."
Who would have thought
that it had always been in Xushiki's possession?
Over all these years, Xushiki had never used it even once?
Or perhaps
this divine artifact had been stored within the Progenitor God's body all along,