Benzaiten

**Benzaiten** (弁才天, 弁財天) (also known as **Benten**) is a Japanese Buddhist goddess ànd like her husband, she is worshipped in many different regions of East Asia under different aliases. She is the oldest of the Seven Lucky Gods, being almost as old as the Kotoamatsukami themselves. In addition to being the oldest, she is also the founder of the divine septenity, with her Alter Ego - Bishamonten, acting as the leader.

She is the Shinto Goddess of Literature, Music, Harmony, Wealth and Love. She's also the wife of Amenominakanushi and is also a friend of Choronzon, Satan's wife, Satanael, the Governor-Queen of the Grigori and Titania, High Queen of the Fae.

She is the mother of the Kamiyonanayo: Kuninotokotachi, Toyokumono, Suhijini, Uhijini, Tsunugi, Ikugui, Otonoji, Otonobe, Omodaru and Ayaka Shikone, as well as the 'grandmother' of Izanagi and Izanami. As she is Benzaiten and Bishamonten is her, the share the same roles in all stories.

She's a deutragonist in the story *Highschool DxD: Mightverse* and the main heroine of the side-story: *The Flower and the Cosmic Gardener.*

## Overview

Referred to as *Sarasvatî Devî* in Sanskrit (meaning "Goddess Saraswati"), Benzaiten is the goddess of everything that flows: water, time, words, speech, eloquence, music and by extension, knowledge. The original characters used to write her name read "Biancaitian" in Chinese and "Bensaiten" in Japanese (辯才天) and reflect her role as the goddess of eloquence. Because the Sutra of Golden Light promised protection of the state, in Japan she became a protector-deity, at first of the state and then of people. Lastly, she became one of the Seven Gods of Fortune (*fukujin*) when the Sino-Japanese characters used to write her name changed to 弁財天 (Benzaiten), emphasizing her role in bestowing monetary fortune. Sometimes she is called **Benten**, or *Benzaitennyo* (弁才天女), where the final *tennyo* (天女) translates as "goddess".

When Kisshoutennyo is counted among the seven fukujin and fellow fukujin Daikoku is regarded in feminine form, together with Benzaitennyo all three of the Hindu Tridevi are represented in the fukujin.
Benzaiten in Japan (above) is often shown holding a biwa, just as the Hindu goddess Saraswati (from whom she is derived) is often portrayed with a veena in India and Bali (Indonesia).

Her temples are more common on islands and coastal regions of Japan.
In the Rig-Veda (6.61.7) Sarasvati is credited with killing the three-headed Vritra also known as Ahi ("snake"). Vritra is also strongly associated with rivers, as is Sarasvati. This is probably one of the sources of Sarasvati/Benzaiten's close association with snakes and dragons in Japan.

She is enshrined on numerous locations throughout Japan; for example, the Enoshima Island in Sagami Bay, the Chikubu Island in Lake Biwa and the Itsukushima Island in Seto Inland Sea (Japan's Three Great Benzaiten Shrines); and she and a five-headed dragon are the central figures of the Enoshima Engi, a history of the shrines on Enoshima written by the Japanese Buddhist monk Kōkei (皇慶) in AD 1047.

According to Kōkei, Benzaiten is the third daughter of the dragon-king of Munetsuchi (無熱池; literally "lake without heat"), known in Sanskrit as Anavatapta, the lake lying at the center of the world according to an ancient Buddhist cosmological view.

Earlier documents such as those recorded by Buddhist monks link the periodic appearance of comets with the goddess Benzaiten. For example, the comet that appeared in 552 AD, and again in late 593 AD were associated with deity Benzaiten. These records suggest that the exchange of cultural and spiritual ideas from Buddhism and Hinduism in India to Japan, through deities such as Benzaiten, occurred well before the 5th century.

Two qualities of Saraswati that were transposed to the Buddhist version of Benzaiten are music and wisdom. She is sometimes referred to as Myoonten "goddess of wonderful sounds."

## Appearance

Benzaiten is described as one of **Takamagahara's Great Beauties**, alongside **Shishioka Yukine** and **Amaterasu** and is thus very popular amongst the male gods. It is said that even as she was born from the Spirit Chakra Lotus of the first love-making in Japan, Benzaiten shone with purity and paralyzing beauty. A level of charm only later achieved by Aphrodite and Freyja. Baby Benzaiten was so beautiful that the Outer Goddess Star Mother grew envious and cursed with horrible looks.

She spend her childhood and teenage years with a deformed and unappealing look for which she was mocked and bullied and shun away. After risking her own life to save an Indian begger, Benzaiten's positive chakra hearts opened, turning her into a Buddha and breaking the curse.

Buddha Benzaiten bears the appearance of an adult woman, with a slender figure, delectable hips, sexy big bust, and dark blue eyes. Benzaiten's hair is blonde, and goes down to her waist in length. It is kept free and is rather wavy. Her fringe is kept just above her eyes, and she has three sets of bangs; first going down to her upper-jaw, second, upper-neck, third, chest-length.

Benzaiten's attire is a green and peach-colored dress, with the top being a dark green that has gold lining on it, and being sleeveless, as well as revealing a considerable portion of her cleavage, covered through a veil of sorts. She has a ribbon on her neck, which is red in colour, and has detached upper-arm portions of her dress's sleeves and has frilled gloves on her hands.

Currently, Benzaiten prefers to use a much less sexually arousing form, as it makes it easier for her to directly communicate with those attracted to the female body. as a very petite young girl in a pink sweater and a short dark skirt, though sometimes she may appear in a gothic-esque school uniform. Benzaiten says this is her preferred human form since it isn't as 'eye-catching' as her goddess form, which lets her communicate comfortably with males. Amenotokotachi however claims she likes it because her husband can give her easy piggy back rides. On the rare occasions that she becomes jealous of another woman, Benzaiten will take on a much more mature and alluring form.

Benzaiten has the same serene aura as her husband, though Issei notes her presence is much more gentle and warm.

During the second war with the Outer Gods, Benzaiten's true goddess form remains the same. Her attire differs as she wears a green, revealing dress with black lining that runs down to her upper ankle known as the Wind Dress. The dress has a high slit, separating the dress area into two cloths showing off Benzaiten's legs. There is a black line that runs from below Benzaiten's chest to near the bottom of the front cloth. The back cloth is jagged decorated with two light green outlines and x-markings. On her neck is a cloth decorated with a green X button and four green jewels. At the waist is two green buttons which holds two black straps that act as a belt, and a teal colored sash. She wears black heels decorated with a green button, held with black straps that reach her upper ankle.

After the war, her goddess attire reverts to its usual format.

## Personality

Benzaiten is a sweet, honest and sometimes childish young lady who can be simplified in just two words: 'artistic housewife'. She welcomes people openly and is willing to immediately befriend anyone who compliments her sacred flower garden, something which Amenominakanushi reprimands her for. Benzaiten is also a sucker for human romance stories, good music and beautiful plants, especially flowers.

Benzaiten isn't the best judge of character, as contrary to her husband, she tries to assume the best of people first and doesn't take precautions. This makes her gullible and vulnerable to manipulations, which is why her husband is overly-protective of her. This is also her best trait however, as she can't be misguided by bias. Benzaiten is a very kind and mature woman who often plays the maternal role of the CPUs due to not having a sister herself. she is shown to be very caring to others and very wise, but can also be playful at times as well. She is shown to be the most level headed out of the goddesses at most times.

She has a cheerful and optimistic personality, but can also be somewhat naive. She can be oblivious to certain things and indecisive when making certain decisions. Benzaiten seems to be very determined and strong-willed in the worst scenarios and doesn't mind any mean comments thrown her way by any of the gods. Despite such situations, she usually responds to all of the Kotoamatsukami with kindness.

Benzaiten loves Amenominakanushi, often to the point of being a clingy and a childish nuisance to him. She also has a slight competitive side to her which she only shows when she and Choronzon are talking about their husbands or when Amenominakanushi is talking to a beautiful or cute lady such as Nyx.

## History

### Origin

Benzaiten bloomed from the first act of love between the primeval yokai that were created by the Kotoamatsukami Takami-Musubi and Kami-Musubi. After the two yokai mated their shared bodily fluids and spiritual connection crystallized into a lotus sprout. Upon blooming, the lotus flower send out a resonance of harmony and love across Creation, giving momentary peace to all of existence for an instant. Inside the lotus was a baby girl that 'shone with the beauty of a thousand flower gardens'. Her aura was so vast and beautiful and harmonic that the universe itself nurtured her with its energy. However, this caught the attention of Star Mother, an Outer Goddess ruling the stars, whose consorts fled from her to go after the baby. Struck with envy, Star Mother used her powers to inflict a curse on the infant that turned it deformed and displeasing to look at. Everything that was once attracted to the lonely infant abandoned her after she lost her ethereal beauty.

For an unknown amount of time, the infant was standing in the now wiltered lotus flower. While the Kotoamatsukami were too busy with their celestial duties, the common first-generation Kami simply ignored her cries out of repulsion and diffidence. The Dragon King of Munetsuchi, when he saw her, was more than happy to take care of the baby. He gave her her original name **Ichikishima-hime**, which would later be changed to **Benzaiten** due to her growing spiritual wealth.

### Flower Gaiden

#### **Act I**

From the moment of her birth, Benzaiten was born with a very sympathetic outlook on the whole world. In contrast to Amenominakanushi who let the negativism of it all get to him, Benzaiten believed she should stay positive precisely to make the world a better place for herself and those around her. This was a lesson that Dragon King of Munetsuchi taught her from a very young age. She also learned that having more power or beauty does not equate to being a better person, but actually helping those in need and healing their scars, be they physical or mental, was something that garnered more love and admiration from the 'subjects' of the heavens.

Coupled with the curse placed on her that prevented her from being either powerful or beautiful, Benzaiten led a very humble and timid way of life. Looked on with either pity, disgust or horror by others, Benzaiten always felt lonely no matter how kind she tried to be to others. Dragon King of Munetsuchi was the only one who made her feel like her life was not a waste of space. But because of this, the Munetsuchi Dragon King was also bad-mouthed by some of the pettier spirits of Takamagahara, making Benzaiten feel bad about staying at his home.

After accidentally meeting the mysterious old friend of her adoptive father during one banquet night, Benzaiten revealed to the stranger that she's always felt like her existence could only burden her and others with negativism rather than spread joy as she wanted to. She was asked if she thinks having absolute power and unrivaled beauty will fix her troubles, to which she instantly replied that she didn't care about such things. The stranger told her that in the world they lived in, shallow beauty, wealth and power was more widely appriciated than genuine kindness.

This conversation aroused a fiery response from Benzaiten, as she refused to believe the world could be so cold. She set on a journey across the vast realms of the gods to find her answers - answers, which she did eventually find. The world was indeed a cruel place and her fantasies of lush colorful fields and smiling workers adorning every inch and cranny of the whole wide multiverse seemed like nothing but childish delusions. But, she also learned that there was joy and love where positivism flourished. Benzaiten came to the conclusion that precisely because the world could be so harsh that she'd dream so hard of such optimistic fantasies. The world was ever-changing and one day even silly fantasies may turn into a reality.

One day she saw an old beggar about to get stoned to death by a rowdy crowd for 'polluting the Shrine of Shakti with his stinking presence'. Benzaiten did not hesitate to rush to the old man's aid, while also begging the crowd to get a hold of themselves and be more sympathetic to their poor fellow. Upon seeing her, the crowd plunged into further distress and attacked both Benzaiten and the old man even more aggresively than before.

Despite being told to run away by the old man and some people in the crowd, Benzaiten protected the beggar so the crowd would only hit her. As she was on the verge of losing consciousness, Benzaiten had a vision, though she did not know if it was just a fever dream, a precognition, retrocognition or something else entirely.

She went through a tunnel of total emptiness, half-filled with an ocean of starry flowers and floating happy faces, and at the very, absolute center of this vast infinite world stood an entity of immeasurable brilliance whose form could not be properly registered by Benzaiten's eye sight. The entity moved the entire world so Benzaiten now stood besides her and then reached out to touch her forehead. It whispered: "With this, your curse is now lifted and your spirit is free".

After the entity's declaration, the entire dream-world exploded into a light a hundred times more brilliant than most angels and divinities in the whole world. This light which left the angry crowd with permanent blindness, compressed around where Benzaiten had stood, eventually returning to her original shape.

But the being that used the name "Benzaiten" was not the same as before. It was an entity of otherworldly spiritual beauty and power that few people could even withstand the overwhelming air of its presence. Like a force representing the very aspects of harmony, Benzaiten healed everything in her surroundings. From the dull and poor state of the buildings to the negative emotions rumbling in the crowd.

She had become a being of such spiritual superiority that no one who ever saw her could truly comprehand what they were looking at. Speculators from those times say that Benzaiten might've achieved what is today known as "Enlightenment".

#### **Act II**

For many years, throughout many eras and many places, meeting all kinds of people in all kinds of kingdoms and worlds, Benzaiten would indulge herself in helping others to the best of her abilities. Due to her abnormal blooming powers, Benzaiten was a healer and a pacifier of an excellent class. 80% of the time she was about to handle any troublesome situation without any casualties, even for the side that was being a threat to others. Many who met her began experiencing far more joy in their lives than they had previously, as if Benzaiten had put them under a powerful spell, but the truth was that the newly reborn Buddha was just that kind and her presence - infinitely calming. And although she brimmed with a divinity on par with the most feared of the godddesses, Benzaiten was far from arrogant or self-centered. All she wished for was to spread joy wherever she went just like she had dreamt of doing in her youth, and now she could.

However, with her kindness and her godly presence catching the eye of the many pantheons and factions of the multiverse, Benzaiten became a topic of debate amongst Council of Godheads. "Who is this Goddess, who wields such immense divinity, to walk as she pleases on our grounds, stealing the love and admiration of our subjects?!" - most of them had yelled. Though some of the more dispassionate Primordial Entities like Dievas and Chakravartin suggested she be destroyed immediately, most of them agreed that she should just be essentially held prisoner in one faction that would be willing to take her as their own. At first, none of the gods dared to raise their hands, either too anxious, indifferent or frustrated to deal with this new powerful Goddess that had appeared. None but one - the Celestial Shogun, Amenominakanushi.

Ever since his coincidental meeting with Benzaiten, Amenominakanushi had felt a strong attraction to the young girl, as if some cosmic force was pulling him towards her. It was almost instinctive, but he had a subconscious desire to become one with the young unfortunate creature. But he easily suppressed those urges and instead chose to observe her progress. Intrigued by how she was actually capable of solving her problems with love and kindness, he had felt the extreme need to get acquainted with such an exceptional being. He saw what the Council of Godheads were offering as the perfect oppurtinity to do this under the guise of carrying out a 'divine judgement'.

Waking up inside an unfamiliar shrine, Benzaiten felt anxiety run over her as she had never before seen the deity depicted on the shrine walls. That was the place where she first met the god who had agreed to take care of her, the Supreme Ruler of Japan and her future husband - Amenominakanushi. As he had taken a different form from the last time they had met, Benzaiten could not recognize him and therefore Amenominakanushi acted as if this was their first meeting. He explained to her where she was, what the Council of Godheads was and what their 'divine judgement' regarding her were, though he still omitted information about himself and his unnatural attraction to her. He simply called himself the 'Prime Servant of the Gods'.

Startled and a bit overwhelmed by this new knowledge, Benzaiten teared up from distress, unable to believe that the very great gods she had heard so much about would want to punish her for wanting to help others. Amenominakanushi asked her if she now hates those gods to which Benzaiten replied that she does not, but is simply saddened, because she had once again failed to disprove the words of a 'certain stranger'.

Strucky by guilt for causing her this much distress, Amenominakanushi decided to postpone his initial mission for a while in favor of spending some quality time with Benzaiten. He showed her the glistening golden reed fields of Ashihara, the mystifying dark shimmers of Yomi's entrance and the lush radiance of the cloudy fields of Takamagahara. Even though she knew this was technically her homeland where she grew, she had never seen most of these locations, due to living a sheltered life with her adoptive father.

Amenominakanushi and Benzaiten admire all the sceneries for days on end, sometimes staring at a single sight for many hours. Half of the sightseeing was spent in somewhat awkward silence, as both were still too unfamiliar with one another to speak on familiar terms. Benzaiten looked particularly uncomofortable, which Ameno quickly took notice of. When asked about what troubled her, Benzaiten refused to answer, so when Ameno asked again, this time a bit more assertively, Benzaiten, in a scared and timid voice told him that she felt a constant tension coming from him, but was too intimidated by him to ask him about it.

Surprising himself, Ameno immediately admitted to her that he had trouble expressing his emotions and having fun or taking casual strolls were not something he did often, if at all. This caused all the anxiety in Benzaiten to be washed away by her instinct to help others. She told him to relax and not worry about anything. "The point of sightseeing is to relieve your mind from any worries! It's important to let yourself rest, both physically AND mentally!" - she said to him.

This would continue for a while: they would go enjoy the most beautiful views of the Kotoamatsukami's realms, Benzaiten would get intimidated by him or Ameno would get scolded by her for not having fun. After roughly two weeks of nothing but sightseeing, exploring, bantering and bonding, Ameno asked Benzaiten if she was still against becoming a goddess of Shinto, Benzaiten said that she no longer felt scared of the position, as it would mean she would at least be able to take care of the beautiful realms of Shinto and their amazing people.

#### **Act III**

Having spend approximately one month together, at this point, both Benzaiten and Ameno had fallen deeply in love with the other, though neither was sure if their feelings would be reciprocated by the object of their affection. Thus, they danced around each other for several days and nights, becoming closer with each raising and setting of the stars, yet still keeping some distance. This dynamic quickly grew frustrating as it got them nowhere and left them with a feeling of being caged by their own emotions. One day, as if corresponding to some being's harmonic calculations, the two decided they would confess their love for the other, no matter what happens.

However, when the two accidentally strolled into the Altar of Peace, Ameno was reminded of Musubi and he faltered. He became frightened by the prospect of letting his love for **Benzaiten** rule over his mind and believed that by inviting **Benzaiten** into his life permanently will either result in her dying or Takamagahara being destroyed. Because of his unstable state, he got into a harsh argument with **Benzaiten**. Ameno tried his best to push her away and crush any adoration she had for him, but even through his well-crafted cruel words, **Benzaiten** could sense that they did not resonate from his heart. And now, for the first time in many ages, Ameno found himself cornered by a meek goddess who could neither wield a sword nor use any offensive abilities. With no othe options on his mind, Ameno told her it was best for both of them to remain as seperate entities, with no deeper relation to each other besides ruling over the same pantheon. He teleported away to the High Heavenly Palace.

Benzaiten was crestfallen for the rest of the day and unknowningly strode into a mystic forest, a part of Ashihara that few of the primeval Shinto entities dared to venture in. In that moment, her sharp senses picked up a song which seemed to increase in volume the further she went into the woods. Benzaiten was quick to realize that an entire part of the forest was resonating with a bewitching song of the wilderness.

Benzaiten remembered her adoptive father telling her a story about a mystical forest that appears in each and every domain, which exists on several planes and universes simultaniously and hosts the greatest pure spirits of nature. A sort of childish excitement was awakened in Benzaiten, bringing her out of her stupor. She sang and danced to the tunes of those spirits while getting closer to them. The mystical forest warmly welcomed the new invading song, which was just as harmonic, if not even more than that of the forest spirits themselves. Benzaiten indulged herself so deeply that her song and dance resonated with the entire forest, which glowed with a radiance to match the stars on the night sky.

All of a sudden, the Harmony Goddess found herself as the center of attention of a moderately large crowd of forest spirits, each brighter and grander than any forest spirit she had ever encountered before. Nearer to her, on the lower rows of 'seats' sat a council of even greater and more ancient forest spirits which oozed wisdom and arrogance. And the nearest to her, on a glass-like lake, were three particular entities. The one at the very center of the strange place was Titania the Queen of the Fae. The one on her left was the wife of the Ancient Arbitor Satan and on her right - El, the Supreme Queen of the Caanite pantheon.

As it was explained to her: Benzaiten had found herself in was a sacred ground - a collective of smaller worlds that are painted over the surface of the stony platform beneath them was actually the wall that seperated reality from this transcendant realm of the highest forest spirits. Currently, the Supreme Caanite Goddes, the Fae Queen and the Dwelling Princess were undergoing their annual meeting. So when she effortlessly manifested on her own inside this realm while singing, this left the High Council of Life and the two other attendees speechless, since they were only very few beings who could do that in the multiverse.

El recognized Benzaiten from the last Council of Godheads meeting and she commanded peace into the room. Titania and Choronzon were also more curious about the intruding goddess than unnerved or hostile, like the council of the forest spirits around them. Benzaiten awkwardly explained to them how she got here, which had the three ladies comically excited to learn about more details of her story. Thus, Benzaiten retraced and retraced until she told them about the beginning of her journey, when that one stranger had told her so dryly that the world was cruel and hopeless, which has served as her motivation ever since - to prove that cold-hearted man wrong and create a more beautiful and merciful world.

El, sporting a deeply amused smile, had more or less gathered a good hunch of the actuality of Benzaiten's situation. She explained to her that the stranger she met all those years ago and the stranger she has recently fallen for were the same person; and that both were manifestations of Amenominakanushi, the Central Master and Supreme Being of Shinto. Benzaiten, Titania and Choronzon were shocked to learn that the literal First Kami had been pinning after Benzaiten for so long.

Benzaiten began crying, as she became overwhelmed by intense conflicting emotions. She was saddened, confused, shocked, anxious, excited, scared yet also curious. The three other women comforted her about it. They assured her that there was absolutely no way Ameno did not feel the same way she felt for him and that he was likely trying to push her away out of fear of becoming 'weak' and putting her and others at risk, due to his position as the Supreme Ruler of Shinto. El also told her that it wasn't even a simple matter of them wanting to be together, but that they likely *needed* *each other* to be complete.

Deeply touched by those words, Benzaiten got up, in higher spirits than ever and promised her three newfound friends that she'll do everything in her power to help Ameno and also win over his heart fully.

#### **Act IV**

Amenominakanushi was the Central Lord of the Divine Heavens, and although he had earned himself a position close to God Himself in the newfound realms of the Primordial Entities, he mostly kept to his own realms for the moment. This much, the Young Goddess of Harmony knew from the stories of the great Kotoamatsukami which her adoptive father passed down to her and her surrogate siblings.

She was still at disbelief, unsure of what actions to take exactly. The very fact that a being of such grand splendor and incomprehensible nature would be smitten with her had her mind buzzing. But now he was rejecting her, apparently for her own good. She could not understand his reasons, and a whole lot of things about him she could barely grasp. What she knew for certain was that he was a being who understood her fully, wished to support her and shower her with affection. She wanted to spend an eternity of leisurely walks and sightseeing with him, even if it meant sacrificing some of her own freedom. It felt like a love, predetermined by destiny itself.

One thing troubled Benzaiten, however. She could not, for the love of everyone, figure out how to reach Ameno's heart. There was a wall of coldness that surrounded his heart which even her warm embrace could not fully melt. This fact disheartened her from her earlier zest. She contemplated two whole days and nights, reaching no clear answer to her questions. On the third day, she looked like someone who had just run an entire marathon, but she was actually just mentally exhausted. She cursed herself for not studying more with the Munetsuchi Scholars. Feeling ill-tired, but unable to sleep from the anxiety, Benzaiten created a musical instrument and began playing a soft tune, eventually putting her mind at rest.

That night, as she fell asleep while playing her music, a miracle happened, again. In the deep land of the dreams, Benzaiten's music resonated with the palace of abstract constructs, pushing her to an even higher plane, until she reached the edge of the realm known as "The Dreaming", where she saw a little girl with twin tails and amber eyes. The little girl was waddling through the vast ocean of abstract space carelessly. Benzaiten felt a strange sense of familiariaty wash over her as she watched the girl from distance.

Benzaiten called out to her several times, but the girl did not answer. The Goddess of Harmony then felt a surge pass through her head before calling out the girl by her name - 'Decline'. This time, the girl registered her voice, turning to face her. The entire realm shifted and Benzaiten found herself right next to the girl, who was looking at her with a bit of a disturbing expression. The girl probed about Benzaiten's identity and methods of arriving in the Dreaming, to which Benzaiten was incapable of replying cohesively due to the girl's overwhelming presence so close to her.

To regain her composure, she began applying a special kind of massage on her head to rearrange her fuzzy senses. Curious by the display, Decline told Benzaiten to do the same thing to her head. Benzaiten trepidly obliged. As she rubbed the extraordinary girl's head gently, Benzaiten began chit-chatting with her. The two got on pretty well, especially with Decline loosened up from Benzaiten's unfathomably good massage, which in term lessened the tension Benzaiten felt. They both opened up about who they were and what they were doing prior to their encounter, though Benzaiten was unable to grasp most of the things Decline was telling her - a combination of an underdeveloped vocabulary and concepts which, at the time at least, were vastly out of Benzaiten's comprehansive capabilities.

Decline thanked Benzaiten for the massage, as it 'shoo-ed the fog away'. Decline then asked Benzaiten if she knew any interesting games to play, to which Benzaiten happily responded that she could make a few suggestions. They indulged in several rounds of 'Sense the Kitsune', 'Witty Dirtbag' and 'Happy Man', all of which Benzaiten won. Decline admitted that she had a lot of fun and even referred to Benzaiten as a '-nee-san' (big sister). Decline told Benzaiten that she would grant her a wish of any kind as repayment and though Benzaiten refused the offer at first, she caved in to the acute insistance of the extraordinary girl.

Benzaiten did not ask for a specific wish, but simply requested some help in her main goal at the moment, which was to be by Amenominakanushi's side forever. Benzaiten revealed all the details regarding their situation to Decline. The girl, although not mentally-mature enough to understand the concepts of true love or self-ostracisation, understood what her 'Big Sister' needed. Decline manifested a brilliant purple flower in her hand, which seemed to hold nigh-immeasurable light within itself. The little girl stuck it on Benzaiten's bang, proceeding with a short explaination: "Big Sis, she can do it...if she believes more in herself. Don't think. Just act. Fortune and Harmony are with you. Mother will help you. Mother likes you."

Before Benzaiten could ask Decline to elaborate further, the Dreaming rumbled. With a casual groan Decline waved her goodbye to Benzaiten and told her she would like to play with her again sometime soon.

#### **Act V**

After waking up, Benzaiten knew what she had to do. She began setting up preparations to approach Amenominakanushi. She met and converged with many powerful spirits on her way, who promised to assist and guide her in her time of need. She meditated, gathering her strength.

Eventually she reached the Heavenly Bridge to Takamagahara and her charm compelled Amenotokutachi to let her through. Finally, she was face to face with the deity she fell for. She told him she now understood why he tried to push her away and isolate himself, but Amenominakanushi continued to deny her. He orders her to leave his chambers immediately and if she does not, she will be considered an outlaw and an opposition to the Kotoamatsukami.

Benzaiten refused to do so, asking if he was really willing to fall so much just to keep her away from him. Her words struck a nerve in Amenominakanushi and he fired a weak blast directly at her, giving her minor injuries. He told her: "There, I just inflicted pain upon you! Are you really willing to love someone who hurts you?!". But once again, Benzaiten refused to run away from him again and countered with: "No, but I will try to reach out to someone who's hurting me out of genuine love!". Benzaiten continued to yell at him, reminding him of the days they spend together and how happy they were. She then pointed out how unhappy they were when they were separated.

Amenominakanushi finally broke his composure and started ranting about how them being together and being happy will just result in an unimaginable tragedy that he wouldn't be able to handle. Due to the curse placed on him by Musubi, all of Amenominakanushi's loved ones are destined to either betray him or die by his side. Benzaiten told him he's being paranoid and that a being as great as him should not let himself be controlled by a mere curse by his sister who was driven mad by outside forces. She assured him that whatever trouble they face, if they did so together, they will overcome it.

Amenominakanushi in a last ditch attempt to convince Benzaiten to stay away from him began attacking her. Though he held back, he struck with murderous intent. He told Benzaiten: "But what happens if someone as powerful as me attacks you?! What if *I* attack you?! Are you going overcome that with your love?!". He struck her a lot, sending her flying across Takamagahara. But shockingly, she was able to hold her own. The spirits that had promised to help her were protecting her and her own Buddha powers were giving her enough strength to put up a decent fight. They kept 'dancing' for a long time, with Benzaiten eventually adapting enough to go toe-to-toe with Amenominakanushi since the latter refused to fight seriously.

After two days and nights of fighting, Benzaiten suddenly stood still and spread her arms. With tears glistening in her eyes, she told Amenominakanushi that if his true desire is to keep her away from tragedy then he should just kill her then and there. The gods would not permit her to walk freely and the only one who cared about her was him. So if he rejected her, then her existence would be miserable.

With a solemn nod, Amenominakanushi agreed to that and prepared to deliver a finishing blow. However, he did not move. Even after an hour passed, he did not move. Suddenly he collapsed on his knees and began sobbing. He admitted that he could not do it and felt horrible for acting cruel towards Benzaiten. In his attempt to protect her, he had hurt her and caused her misery. And despite how much he tried to crush his feelings for her, he could not bring himself to strike her down.

He threw the Yamato at Benzaiten's feet and asked her to cut him down. He told her that he would rather die before she did and that perhaps with his death, Musubi's curse will be lifted. But Benzaiten once again refused his wish. She embraced him in a warm hug and assured him that even if she was fated to tragically die in his hands, she wouldn't be scared, because she would have lived a wholesome life with the man she loved, who loved her back.

Accepting those words, Amenominakanushi hugged her back and cried in her bosom. After calming down, he asked her if there was any way he could redeem himself for what he put her through. Benzaiten then cheekily answered that a kiss and a tour through his chambers would suffice, finished by a night of passion.

## Powers and Abilities

Benzaiten wasn't that strong from the beginning and she is even referred to as 'a trivial goddess' by some. At first, she wasn't even able to properly use her godly magic and was almost as defenseless as a lesser yokai. However, from the many eons she has spent with her husband, she was able to learn new skills and tremendously increase her power level. She has extraordinary pacification abilities which are found commendable even by Asherah.

### Natural Powers

**Immense Strength**: Benzaiten is relatively weak as a goddess compared to the rest of her family, but she is capable of preforming impressive feats such as breaking concrete walls with ease and manhandling mid-ranked demons with no effort. After unlocking some of her true power, Benzaiten could cause several wraiths to explode with a mere palm strike. She was able to stand her ground against Doumu on her own for longer than any of the other girls who engaged in battle with her.

**Immense Speed**: Due to her usually preferring to avoid fighting, Benzaiten focused on her speed far more than her strength. Thus she is easily able to keep up and dodge attacks from much more powerful beings than her. Her extraordinary speed were found commendable even by the God Hermes and Mercury. She was able to evade Ayaka Shikone's attacks and even lose her in a chase effortlessly. She is said to be the most agile of the Kotoamatsukami due to her speed-specialized training.

**Immense Durability:** As a goddess, Benzaiten can survive a lot of things. She has be said to be comparable to Amenotokotachi herself, who can shrug off attacks from any being below Chief Deity-class. After realizing some of her true potential after fighting Guanyin, Benzaiten can completely shrug off attacks from multiple gods and demigod warriors and was barely damaged by Fuxi, a serpentine goddess with strength above Evil Dragon-Class. According to Doumu, Benzaiten's grown a lot tougher since last time she and her fought, stating that she might need to destroy half of the 12 Multiversal Gates just to knock her unconscious. She could handle a combined attack from Idh-Yaa and Tru'nembra and keep fighting.

**Immense Divine Power**: Benzaiten is often described as a mysterious and odd entity by many, baffling the Greek Protogenoi the most by how vast her true divine power is. Eris has compared her to an invisible sinkhole: "harmless at first sight, but close to bottomless in truth". When she came to be, her aura could resonate with the entire Cosmos and nature, like a perfect ambient sound. Most of the supernatural world could feel her presence, though most had believed a sudden feeling of joy had simply washed over them, when in truth that was caused by Benzaiten's near-limitless harmonic echoes. Dragon King of Munetsuchi mentioned how even when she was young and helpless, her divine power was already stages above the level of a regular Chief God-Class Being. When she obtained Buddha hood and later honed some of her powers with Amenominakanushi's help, her divine power raised exponentially to the point where Kami-Musubi grew almost fearful of her. According to Nyx, even when her divine power is completely dormant, Benzaiten could still rival any of her daughters, with Amenominakanushi adding with a statement that his wife had a large untapped potential.

**Nigh-Omnipotence**: Benzaiten is far more powerful than Elder Seraphim (except Mastema and Metatron), Deity and Evil Dragons. She is described as an absolute goddess unaware of her own power by those aware of her existence. She is confirmed to be more powerful than Amaterasu and Kagutsuchi. Benzaiten is only equated by Kami-Musubi and Takami-Musubi, and surpassed by Amenotokotachi. If she is able to fully realize her true potential on her own, no one except the Primordials can stand a chance against her or overcome her.

**Supreme God Physiology**: Benzaiten is a Supreme Deity, a god/goddess who unquestionably upholds sovereignty between its pantheon, so it is associated with higher divine abilities and considered far more powerful by reason of being controllers of the universe. Supreme Deities are commonly seen in mythology, and were important among ancient and current civilizations for its impact. Supreme Deities are characterized as the leader of its respective pantheon, ruling them. They're also not absolutely perfect as a Monotheistic God is said to be, considering there are stories detailing their misadventures.

**Heavenly King Presence**: Benzaiten has a presence that's unique to those whom the Devas referred to as **Four Heavenly Kings**. Her presence which was said to be tens of times more divine than the likes of Amatsukami and Olympians, is only dwarfed by the strongest of divinities in the multiverse. In addition to fear and respect, the Four Heavenly Kings aroused lust, admiration and devotion. That is the effect that Benzaiten has wherever she appears.

* **Angel Creation**: As the student of El, Benzaiten is one of the only Pagan Gods who can create/empower Angels and angelic beings. She has said that if she had noticed Asia Argento's circumstances earlier, Benzaiten would've turned her into a full-fledged angel without hesitation.

**Touki**: Benzaiten has one of the highest *ki* in the world with its potential being fully realized while Bishamonten is in control. Nevertheless, even in dormant state, her ki is overwhelming and massive enough to actually cause temporary paralysis to an army of minor gods. By combining her nigh-endless Touki, Youjutsu and Senjutsu she can even hold her own against that are much more powerful than her.

**Senjutsu**: Benzaiten, having lived with Amenominakanushi for eons, learned how to utilize Senjutsu to its utmost effeciency. Her skills with using Sage Arts far surpasses that of any of her descendants and she is capable of preforming several high-tier techniques with no effort at all.

**Youjutsu**: Benzaiten is also a master of Youjutsu, as well, and is more than capable of using Level 900 000 and above Youjutsu Attacks with ease. Benzaiten has also learned how to use her Youjutsu mastery in tandem with Eternal Flow, allowing her to navigate her opponent's Youjutsu against them. When Xinyan tried attacking her with several illusiory Youjutsu techniques at the same time, Benzaiten was able to reverse the effect on her and have her fall under her own illusions. Kami-Musubi has called her the "Youjutsu Counter" due to the fact that she can bend the basic rules of Youjutsu.

**Prosperity Embodiment**: Benzaiten acts as the physical representation or personification of prosperity, as such, she has limitless control over all forms of prosperity on all levels over lands (making them fertile), people etc.

**Power of the Primeval Buddha (Imperfect)**: In Chapter XXX, it is revealed that **Benzaiten** is a Buddha who achieved her Buddha status way before Gautama Buddha, as he had yet to be born. However, because Benzaiten left no text books and did not pass down her knowledge, the religion of Buddhism did not start from her, but from Gautama Buddha. She possesses all the attributes and abilities of the Buddha.

* **Imperfect Enlightenment**: Benzaiten has reached enlightenment, allowing her full comprehension of any situation. She was able to understand the meaning of everything by communicating with or understanding the mind of God, Universal Consciousness or similar source, profound spiritual understanding and/or a fundamentally changed consciousness whereby everything is perceived as a unity. However, after falling in love with Amenominakanushi and giving into her own powerful emotions, Benzaiten no longer possessed the complete enlightenment that Gautama Buddha now possesses. It is because her enlightenment is always imperfect that Benzaiten is incapable of truly reaching her full potential.
* **Imperfect Calm State**: Benzaiten was always calm, serene and relaxed regardless of the situation(s) or what happens to herself or to others around herself. However, after falling in love with Amenominakanushi and hereby letting all her emotions run rampant, Benzaiten's mood can change quite easily depending on the situation. Usually, in tranquil times, Benzaiten will be perfectly tranquil, too. But if that harmony is disturbed, Benzaiten might become distressed, as well, therefore her own "Calm State" is imperfect.
* **Buddhism Intuition**: Benzaiten possess an innate knowledge and understanding of Buddhism, a religion and a philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha (Pāli/Sanskrit "the awakened one").

**Flow Manipulation**: Benzaiten can psychically manipulate the power and direction of flow, including the flow of any fluid (water and other liquids), gas (including breathable air), energy (such as heat, electricity and sometimes kinetic energy and light). Some higher level Benzaiten can even manipulate the flow of time.

* **Eternal Flow**: Benzaiten has the ability to harness the power of the **Eternal Flow**, which is an alternative name for an ability that only Buddha and Bodhisattva can access. She can have an absolute control over everything that flows, be it speech, water, imagination, feelings and even music. This means she can utilize the primeval harmonic energies of love, joy and peace through doing trivial things such as singing, playing music and other things.
	+ **Cosmic Lullaby**: Benzaiten can preform majestic musical plays that can put beings into deep slumber. The limits of this are unknown since Benzaiten has sometimes been able to lull away Outer Gods and Primordials with her plays.
	+ **Alter Ego Creation**: Benzaiten can create one or more alter egos and switch between them. She can create/develop abilities, skills, habits, thought processes, personalities and other parameters based around her created alter egos. One such alter ego of hers is Bishamonten.
	+ **Omnitone**: Benzaiten has the ability to speak, sing, whisper, yell, hum, etc. in any pitch or tone. She can speak in an extremely low pitch or a very high pitch.
	+ **Positive Emotion Manipulation**: The mere presence of her goddess form can spread joy, harmony and love in the minds of those around her, which then serve to empower her and encase her in a protective aura.
	+ **Emotional Manifestation**: Benzaiten can reach into a person's mind and create pixies from that person's emotions. These pixies will either serve as a stress-reliever for their progenitor or as bodyguards to Benzaiten.
		- **Madness Inducement**: As they embody emotions these Pixies can literally drive a person to insanity by overflowing them with joy, love, lust, hatred, sadness and others.
	+ **Paradox Manipulation**: She is able to surpass and ignore the laws of reality, logic, common sense, etc, making them able to cause anything to happen or not happen.
* **Liquid Manipulation**: She can create, shape and manipulate anything that is liquid, the only state of matter with a definite volume but no fixed shape. A liquid is made up of tiny vibrating particles of matter, such as atoms and molecules, held together by intermolecular bonds.
	+ **Liquid Attacks**: She can release/use liquids to attacks of various shapes and/or intensities, either projected, used as a part of melee attacks, etc.
	+ **Liquid Constructs**: She can turn liquid into tools, objects, weapons and other items, create semi-living constructs and/or create structures/buildings of varying permanence. She who have mastered this ability can use it for almost any situation, creating anything they need. Exact properties of the construct depends on what liquid is being used.
	+ **Liquid Current Defiance**: She can defy/ignore water/liquid currents and turbulence, allowing them to move through the water/liquids without liquid currents and turbulence affecting their movement.
	+ **Liquid Solidification**: She can solidify or give solid-like properties to liquids with the level of solidity going from loose jelly to metal-like hardness or beyond.
	+ **Liquid Transformation**: She can transform any/all liquids, whether organic or inorganic, into any other fluid/liquid and change a liquids inherent properties such as turning water into acid or even make something like soda poisonous. Any liquids transformed by this power would have all the properties of the liquid they become.
* **Water Manipulation**: Benzaiten can create, shape, and manipulate water, inorganic compound with liquid, gas (steam, water vapor), and solid (ice) states, including changing them from one state to others. More Skilled and powerful She can use water-related weather such as blizzards and rainstorms.
	+ **Water Attacks**: She can release/use water to attacks of various shapes and/or intensities, either projected, used as a part of melee attacks, etc.
	+ **Water Detection**: She can sense the presence of water and possibly gain detailed information about the water they are sensing, including the amount/size of water they are sensing and whether it is hidden.
	+ **Tidal Wave Generation**: She can call forth huge water waves to crash down at their targets, washing everything away in a powerful torrent. Note that various fluid elements can be used to generate the tidal wave, including lava, sand, and blood.

**Light Manipulation:** Benzaiten can create, shape and manipulate visible light, commonly referred to as light, is electromagnetic radiation that is visible to the human eye, and is responsible for the sense of sight.

**Master Magician**: Benzaiten created an entire island in the past. She is a master water manipulator, as she rejuvenated a huge dried out reed field in less than a second in front of Issei.

* **Elemental Magic**: Benzaiten can utilize different elements as a form of magic. She can use different spells to formulate their elemental quantities and energies for many uses. She was once able to create and drop thousands of small islands to knock out an armada of Imugi sent by Doumu to attack Shinto Pantheon. She is also capable of cancelling out elemental powers of heavenly/hellish lords and kings with ease using her elemental magic. After realizing 2/3 of her true potential, Benzaiten is capable of using Elemental Magic on Takami-Musubi's level with ease.

* **Kabbalah Magic**: The main Magic System of Jewish Mysticism. This is the first Magic System created by Raziel for humans to wield, with immense power over the manipulation of reality and the elements. This is the most powerful amongst the three main Magic Systems wielded by the three Abrahamic Factions, as well as the hardest and most complex in nature. This type of magic was taught to her by El.

**Artistic Creation**: Benzaiten can create any sort of being, object (including weapons, tools, buildings, vehicles, etc.), power, etc. by using art. She can create other and or different superpowers in anyway she feels or just thinks it.

**Book Imprisonment**: Benzaiten is able to create pocket dimensions within books and other literary texts to imprison targets.

**Animation**: Benzaiten can give life to inanimate objects/substances, animating them to act/move on their own accord out of her control; however, they do seem to work in tandem to their animator.

**Artistic Genius** (芸術の天才 Geijutsu no tensai): Benzaiten is the 'Artistic Genius'. She is the one who can pick up the value of art, games and creativity and extend them to a cosmological level, making her an unpredictable minx that can win in any situation through perfect creativity and imagination.

* **Photographic Deduction**: Benzaiten has amazing deductive and information processing ability of anything they know, which allows them to figure out connections in whatever they are investigating and process them extraordinarily fast. If see someone moving their hands to draw something, Benzaiten can.
* **Artistic Intuition**: Benzaiten possesses great knowledge and skill in the art, such as painting a picture without any education.
* **Painting Intuition**: Benzaiten is a master painter, able to paint any visual art of great artistic and aesthetics values regardless of the theme, subjects or style of her painting.
* **Animation Intuition**: Benzaiten has innate knowledge and understand how to produce animations from everything from the directing, editing, sound designing, voice acting, marketing, budget managing, writing, story boarding, scripting, and to the special effects. She also is well versed in art and study how things move to better animate. She also knows working on animation is a team effort to produce a clean product. She is knowledgeable of the history of animation.
* **Literary Intuition**: Benzaiten possesses great knowledge and skill in literature as she can write poetry or prose of artistic or intellectual value regardless of genre, recite and understand variously different forms of a genre, and appreciate or pertain to a specific form of the literary subject(s).
* **Poetry Intuition**: Benzaiten possesses great knowledge and skill in poetry, the form of literature that uses aesthetic and rhythmic qualities of language.

**Music Embodiment**: Benzaiten becomes a physical manifestation or personification of music. As a result, she has limitless control over it.

* **Musical Regeneration**: Benzaiten can use music to regenerate her body, with the amount of music used defining the speed of healing.
* **Sound Empowerment**: Benzaiten can become stronger, faster and more durable when she comes in contact with any type of sound or the concept itself, possibly unlocking abilities related to the affinity and enhancing the existing powers. She is also able to bestow boosts of power while carrying out a well-timed tune.
* **Musical Attacks**: Benzaiten can release/use music to attacks of various shapes and/or intensities, either projected, used as a part of melee attacks, etc.
* **Holy Music Manipulation**: Benzaiten can create, shape and manipulate holy music that are highly effective against the supernatural, such as demons and/or angels. She would be able to do all kinds of holy things with her music, which in question, can range from trapping and/or immobilizing to outright banishing or killing supernatural threats. Furthermore, divine music may have other properties and abilities, such as healing, resurrection, angels and/or spirits of the deceased from Heaven to the material plane.
* **Music Spell Casting**: Benzaiten can use musical instruments to cast spells and manipulate reality in a small area. She can summon objects and creatures from the sky, enhance or debuff the abilities of others in the area, and empower herself. The instrument can also kill or heal targets around the area. Also effects the weather and time of day around the world.
* **Life Music Manipulation**: Benzaiten can create, shape and manipulate creative/life music that is capable of creating/giving/granting life. This allows her to not only create and give life with her chords, but even grant it sapience/sentience and possibly even free will/soul of its own.
* **Conceptual Music**: Benzaiten can alter reality through the usage of musical mediums such as tunes, rhythms, songs, etc. and be able to cause a variety of effects with this utilization.

**Hypnotic Song**: Benzaiten is capable of emitting astonishingly beautiful and enchanting singing voice that is capable of summoning/luring anyone who hears it to come towards her.

* **Musical Instrument Manipulation**: Benzaiten can create, summon, manipulate and use any/all of musical instruments with perfect skill and use as weapons.
* **Sonoportation**: Benzaiten can move via sound, either merging with or transforming into sound waves and reappearing elsewhere, effectively teleporting.
* **Esoteric Music Manipulation**: Benzaiten can manipulate the esoteric side of music with special properties and a mystical nature to it. With mastery, Benzaiten can use the esoteric chords for a variety of magical effects.
* **Ultimate Sonic**: Benzaiten can produce sounds capable of affecting anything, including things that would normally absorb, nullify or be protected by sounds/sound waves. She can generate sound inside of a complete vacuum and don't require a medium to travel through or they can travel through metaphysical or supernatural mediums such as the fabric of reality.
* **Sonokinetic Combat**: Benzaiten is able to infuse sound with physical attacks, using sound waves to influence and disorient opponents and strengthen attacks.

**Sound Absorption**: Benzaiten can absorb sound waves, while removing it from the source, into her body and use it in various ways, gaining some form of advantage, either by enhancing herself, gaining the drained power, using it as power source etc., either temporarily or permanently.

**Madness-Inducement Immunity**: Benzaiten was once able to glimpse into the true form of Azathoth, Chaos and even God with her mind being unfazed by it. She was also able to comfortably speak to Asherah while the latter was in her true form. Psychological magic in general also does not seem to affect her.

**Love Manipulation**: Benzaiten's abilities allows her to bestow a power boost to the person whom she loves most by telling the recipient how much she loves them. The amount of power her loved one receives increases with the intensity of her love. Benzaiten can only activate her abilities once per day and the power boost will only last for a limited time.

**Essence Bond**: Due to spending many years close to her husband, Benzaiten's essence is eternally linked to His. She can immediately sense when Ameno is in danger. She will also keep healing no matter how grave her injuries as long as the concepts of 'Love', 'Music' and 'Harmony' exist in the multiverse.

**S Charisma**: In a similar fashion to her husband, Benzaiten has a high level of natural charm that allows her to unconsciously attract people and supernatural beings towards her, regardless if they themselves are aware of this effect or not. As a high-level Buddha and the true leader of the Seven Lucky Gods, Benzaiten is able to thread between the thin line of composure, relaxation and enthusiasm almost flawlessly. Her kind and sweet nature also prevents most beings from wanting to inflict harm on her out of malice or spite.

**Genius-Level Intellect**: Despite being gullible, Benzaiten is a very literate and mature person even though it may not seem like it at first. She can get a good gauge of someone's nature just by looking at them. She's also a skilled manipulator herself at times, given how she would use subtle feminine charms to drive her husband's attention from everyone else, mainly other women.

* **Master Tactician**: Benzaiten can actually be dangerously smart and deceptive when no one else is there to make strategies for her. Due to being seen as a simple-minded bimbo by everyone, except Amenominakanushi, she surpassed most of their expections by outwitting them in their own games with creativity and imagination. She can be as tactical as Kami-Musubi, but simply refuses to, because she wishes to be honest with herself and those around her and scheming and setting up traps simply goes against her nature.

* **Flawless Artistry**: Benzaiten possesses incredibly enhanced skill in artistry, meaning her creative skills are ideal to everything in their creative impulse/creativity by the conscious or subconscious response to create amazing art work directly from her imagination by any means such as drawing, painting, sculpture, music, film, etc.

**Master Cook**: Benzaiten's secretly one of the greatest chefs in the whole supernatural world. That is because she likes to see cooking as just another form of art and allows herself to be creative.

**Flight**: Benzaiten has shown the ability to stay afloat in mid-air.

## Equipment

**The Divine Bubble Blower**: A simple pink bubble blower. She uses its bubbles as either scouts, trap bombs or hatching eggs for her Emotion Pixies. She also uses it to blow bubbles at people who annoy her which can be quite terrifying to others as these bubbles are faster than homing missiles.

**Lotus Sutra**: After fighting Guanyin, Benzaiten unlocks the Buddhistic ability to summon astral flowers that completely purge darkness and evil and no being associated with these concepts is fully immune to this ability, not even Amara or Ayin. Benzaiten's Lotus Sutra are twice as powerful as Guanyin's but she has less control over them and has only been shown sprouting them in a short wide AOE burst. Guanyin says that with this ability, Benzaiten does not even need to put effort in defeating or pacifying most demonic creatures - she can simple purge them out of existence with ease.

* **Echo of the First Female Buddha**: The first being who had achieved nirvana before even the invention of the Buddhistic pantheon was also the one who carried Nirvana's melody with the greatest efficiency. Hers is the song that reaches the end of the world and recalls the beginning of it. To deny the echo of her ethereal song is to deny one's own existence. The concept of self reflects on that very tonation. Perhaps letting it ring out in their head in peace will be more beneficial. This ability has been able to completely erase Primordial Gods through mysterious means that are unknown to everyone. The beings who try to deafen the sounds just magically disappear. Ironically, the song itself causes no ill effects. It just forces out their true nature and the state of their soul. The act of defeaning it is akin to an act of self-destruction.

**Uchide no kozuchi** (打ち出の小槌 "Tap-Appear Mallet"): The **Uchide no Kozuchi** is a mystery wand, mostly used by Benzaiten to help her create uncommon shapes and forms for her art projects; such as a biscuit man ballerina, a tofu bodyworker figure. The Magic Mace basically grants any wish the wielder makes, but only as long as it doesn't throw reality out of order. To give an innate example of how the wand functions: Benzaiten said:'I wish Nyx wore a pink floral dress' and it happened, but when Nyx took the wand and wished '**Benzaiten** to as a child', nothing happened.

**Heavenly Sutra Flute (天経フルート *Tenkyo Furuto*):** The **Heavenly Sutra Flute** (Flute of Harmony in the dub) is a divine flute that was made from the wood of the very first tree that grew in Takamagahara. It was a gift from her husband. During combat, this is her weapon of choices, which she uses in tandem with her immense musical talent to pacify her attackers.

* **Harmonic Resonance**: The slight undertones and overtones of her music dance in perfect duality, inviting the balance of the cosmos onto its vibrations and thus creating a peaceful melody that puts others to rest.

**Enoshima Island**: The **Enoshima Island** is the sacred island created and owned by Benzaiten, where she would often spend her free time in peace and joy. Besides serving as her 'villa', Enoshima also functions like a pocket world and a maze which is under the absolute control of Amenominakanushi and Benzaiten. Even some of the weaker Primordial Entities can get lost and eventually forget who they were if they're not careful.

**Seku-chan Fry Pan**: A fry pan with the logo of her favorite Vtuber 'Seku-chan', which she often hits the Kotoamatsukami with, especially her husband. It is a completely normal frying pan, yet it seems to be capable of incapacitating a Kotoamatsukami in one hit.

## Quotes

* *"You dare hurt me...? YOU WILL PAY!"* - Chaos Benzaiten to Tartarus.
* *"\*Giggle\*... You saw me, and now you're trying to flee...? Do you really think you can flee from ME?!"* - Chaos Benzaiten to Amenominakanushi.
* *"Being with you warms my heart, like a hot cup of tea. And just as I love tea, I love you. I want this moment in time to last forever, but perhaps that makes me sound selfish...?"* - Benzaiten to Amenominakanushi.
* *"In this school there's lots of people from many different origins. There's new bonds being formed all the time, and there's endless new stories to be told. I totally will not get tired of it, it really reminds me of when I was at Ashihara!" -* Benzaiten about being a teacher in Kuoh Academy.

## Gallery

### Benzaiten

BenzaitenBenzaiten kissing a clone of herself to distract Raijin​Benny in sexual bondagesBenny as a bunny girlBenny wielding Primordial Jade SpearBenny comforting Meredith OrdintonBenny kisses genderbent Ameno to break Nyx's spellBenny and Ebisu training during summer*Nyx comforts **Benzaiten** after the incident**Benny tries out VR for the first time**Benny is tackled by Ameno**Benny makes cake for Ameno**Benny with baby Kuninotokotachi**Benny with night dress**Benny encounters Hyoudou Issei and Ameno on the stairs*
### Ai Hikari

*Different costumes of Ai**Ai in chains**Bunny Girl Ai**Ai explain Post-impressionism Art to Kuoh Students**Ai trying out a classic guitar**Ai doing an art project of herself**Little Angel Ai*Benzaiten holding the Dragon King of Munetsuchi's skull*Benny with her husband in the swimming pool**Benzaiten being pinned by Ameno**Benzaiten being teased by Ameno**Benzaiten is embarrassed by Ameno's compliment**Benzaiten sees a painting of Musubi**Benzaiten sees that Ameno is injurie**Benzaiten senses Ameno's frustration**Benny protects an injuried Ameno from Nyx**Benny receiving a rough love-bite from her husband**Ameno and Benny first meeting**Ameno and Benny first conversation**Benny and Ameno floating under the night sky**Benny and Ameno first kiss**Benny starts falling in love with Ameno**Ameno warns Benny of the life ahead**Benny confessing her feelings for Ameno**Benny and Ameno marriage*

## Trivia

* Benzaiten's normal appearance is based on Yui Komori from *Diabolik Lovers*. Her Goddess Form is based on Vert from **Hyperdimensional Neptunia**.

* Benzaiten actually plays a biwa in her myths, but because the author wanted to give her a more tranquil and romantic theme, he gave her a flute.
* Benzaiten's height varies, but she is often the shortest female in the room, which suits one of Amenominakanushi's prefrences well.
* In an omeka, it is revealed that Destiny is scared of Benzaiten and doesn't let her touch his book. Destiny has two buttons in his office, one tagged 'CODE: SUBJECT F' and the other 'CODE: FANFIC PANIC'.
* Her motto is: "Love" does not mean "Be kind to everything".
* Benzaiten's ability 'Cosmic Lullaby' is based on the Servitors of the Outer Gods in Lovecraft Mythos that play their flutes to lull Azathoth to sleep. She even shares their title.
* Benzaiten prefers her human alias over her divine name.
* She occasionally jams to **Rap God** from Eminem.
* Benzaiten is considered to be one of the characters with the most rivals (Doumu, Eris, Malkuth, Idh-Yaa, Kassogtha, Tru'nembra, Guanyin, Despair and Ycnágnnisssz) which is the second most out of all female characters.
	+ Despair, Kassogtha and Ycnágnnisssz are only 'literature rivals'. Since Benzaiten is now capable of creating fanfiction-worlds, those three consider her a challenger.
* Benzaiten's role is similar to Historia Reiss or Chika Fujiwara.
* Her motif is Zero Eclipse.
* In a Q&A section:
	+ She was **154** cm tall when first meeting Amenominakanushi.
	+ Benzaiten despises alcohol.
* Benzaiten's life until meeting with Amenominakanushi is the very definition of a true Buddha's path. Born with privilages and then having them taken away, subjugated to the world's cruelty, yet overcoming it and rising up as a superior entity.
* When asked about why she isn't a more powerful Buddha than Gautama Buddha if she was truly the first one of the Art, Benzaiten didn't want to answer, since the topic was very sensitive for her.
	+ It is actually for the same reason as with Guanyin's hesitation to actually go through with her flirtations. Falling in love and giving yourself to emotions weakens the strength of a Buddha. Since Benzaiten's love for Amenominakanushi is immeasurable, her strength as a Buddha is far lower than it should be.
* Benzaiten is the Number Ten writer on a supernatural fanfiction site called GodFic.
	+ Benzaiten has written quite a few 'Satan x Ameno' and 'Nyx x Malkuth' fanfictions.