NOVEL NEXT Chapter 64: Darkness
It wasn’t only the demon’s who were on the move.
“What to do, what to do…” <Onyx>
Wandering through the forest was the familiar figure of Onyx who was tapping her shoulder with her ringed stave. A gentle ringing was formed thanks to the onyx rings raking across the larger ring they were hooked upon. Her shoulder slumped as she let a long sigh exit from her lips which resulted in her veil swaying thanks to the air.
Things were going well in the counter attack on the cultivators however that was a major problem for Onyx as well as other {Female Executives}. With that being the case they were slowly reducing the forces they pushed forward with giving the mortals a false impression they were running out of steam. A smart move which lets the mortals think they’re not wasting their time thus will continue to put in resources actually only weakening themselves.
This plan had only one major flaw however…
<So bored and little Violet is so far away that I can’t even cuddle~!>
It became really boring for those who weren’t the kids on the front line - happily beating mortals left and right - until the last battle. They of course couldn’t keep retreating back endlessly nevertheless that the goal of the oni thus had a plan in place for whatever {The Orthodox Alliance} ended up doing. Each planned by Onyx’s very own brilliant little sister~!
Violet’s foremost hypothesis was the mortal alliance would realise they weren’t getting anything out of pointlessly after getting knocked back far enough, abandoning the war. They would likely profess their great achievements in fighting back against the menace and would likely continue with their propaganda for the next few centuries. This was the most boring possibility for both sides yet thankfully was also the most unlikely since it would involve the alliance giving up on any real benefits.
Without having seen the strength hidden behind the front line they would be unlikely to abandon the chance of obtaining two realm ranked treasures. In fact this was only professed as a possibility if sect leader Zhengyi died, it would also require someone less nearsighted being in charge, even then they would need to continue the smear campaign. Though it was questionable how effective it would be so it was best to just leave them alone.
Violet would still complete her own plan with her demons yet the oni would find themselves at the end of their fun.
The second possibility Violet informed them of was them setting up a perimeter around the forest while declaring it something similar to the {Eternal Frontier}. They would essentially be hoping to starve them out of people or literal - taking advantage of their own numbers to launch constant expeditions into the forest. As long as they focused on defence to prevent the oni from escaping it wouldn’t matter if these expeditions failed since it would just be ‘resources’ they didn’t mind throwing away.
In the case of that the {Asura Ancestors} would wreak havoc in their territories to teach them a lesson they wouldn’t forget about the numbers and power of oni. On top of that {Female Executives} of the Yakuza like her would charge forth like the battle hungry women they were - they even had a few 20+ foot male oni’s to have fun. Those of that kind of height range are essentially also Kijin though without the smarts that come from being a female!
<There were arguments about who gets to breed those giants yet it instead ended with mom & granny Wine competing between themselves on who can gather more ‘material’. Honestly, I don't know how my fellow women could stand the rancidness of ‘manhood’, men are icky with no thoughts other than thrusting in whatever they find… Mom won of course though In was shocked how big they ended up being.>
Last possibility was the most popular, most people had placed their [Spirit Stones] on the foolish mortals going with this, as well as the most bloody. This was simply {The Orthodox Alliance} deciding they had weakened the oni enough; going with an all out attack with all the forces they could reasonably throw at them. Unsurprisingly the counter plan was to do the exact same thing to them except the {Asura Ancestors} striking their sects.
The plan wasn’t to kill all those in the sects as they would let the youngest members off while wiping out any of the reasonably strong cultivators they found. However, with the oni not really being able to tell the strength of mortal cultivators apart this would just result in killing whoever hit them hard enough that it actually tickled. It wasn’t as if mere mortals could defeat an oni god after all - even if they all united together they wouldn’t be able to defeat ancestor Ruby!
Doing it that way would apparently make it impossible for the leaders to retain their ‘history’ while loyalty would be hard to gain. Something about not being able to protect themselves let alone new cultivators making it so they wouldn’t be able to gain new mortals, especially when the sects who didn’t join in with the final attack would be perfectly fine.
<Violet called it ‘selective breeding’ and is apparently a concept she’s tried a few variations on her demons in her realm. It’s certainly an interesting topic that we can probably use in the future for other things… Well those oni like Alabaster who is smart can use. I’m not going to pretend like I want the responsibility to do something that troublesome when I can be luring pretty girls into the ways of yuri instead~!>
After thinking that she let out a long sigh.
“They stopped bringing girls and most of the times they got orgied with me for not being a fan of sloppy seconds or being anywhere near a penis… *sigh*” <Onyx>
After saying that Onyx abruptly sensed something overflowing with spiritual energy making her jump away while looking in that direction; that spiritual energy wasn’t natural. Comparing the energy Onyx used in her spells as being ‘light’, this energy was like someone coalesced all the shadows in the world to make some being from the distilled darkness from that. More terrifying still was that abyssal energy was only growing.
It was then she saw it…
Slowly rising from the shadow of a fern was a young girl with hair that looked like someone had stolen the essence of space itself - rather it was exactly like the star filled sky. Her eyes were exactly the same as they came out from the shadow and when she rose out enough for her head to be fully out Onyx saw something even strange. The girl frowned.
It didn’t feel like a regular frown, on the contrary it was just as unnatural as her energy, as the corners of her mouth dipped further than she thought possible. Surprisingly the girl wore a more western style dress at the moment which was just a simple dark blue leotard with a skirt that tightly clutched her ‘streamlined’ body. With no shows her true height of 5 feet came apparent.
“Well hello there lit-” <Girl of Shadows>
“Nope!” <Onyx>
Having read plenty of horror literature in order to spook her fellow girls into hugging beside a campfire she knew all the tropes. Due to this extensive research she was sure as hell there was one thing she needed to do in a situation like this; don’t let the creepy girl lead. That in mind she lept forth with all her physical might to deliver a powerful downward stave to the girl's head which resulted… In nothing.
As if she never connected she found her stave fly through the girl to crash into the ground below at which point shadowy tendrils exploded out to claim it for themselves. Seeing the mass of whirming tentacles she did the only reasonable act of jumping back while reaching into her dress to pull out some talisman. Tearing the paper apart caused green fire to fly out from them to try to consume the girl.
Yet this time the flames seemed to move slower and slower the closer they got towards her till eventually they appeared to not be moving when they were within a few metres.
Somehow the frown of the girl grew as she gazed at the fire as she reached out a hand to have a slimy swarm of shadowy tendrils of varying sizes place the stave inside it. Onyx herself didn’t know how to react so just stared - unable to rationalise what was happening in front of her - never had she seen something as strange as this. As if knowing exactly the situation in Onyx’s head the girl’s lips parted to reveal feline fangs that were upside down.
“Now that was a rude way to greet me yet I suppose an oni’s brute force will never be able to hurt me… Curious about how your move failed? Well it’s simply because space and time is a relative issue which can easily change depending on which angle you view it from - and for me I view it from every angle.” <Girl of Shadows>
Her voice was no less imperfect than Violet’s own bell like melody yet unlike with Violet something simply felt wrong. A dreary feeling as if talking to something that shouldn’t be while her mere presence seemed to be clawing at Onyx’s mind. To show that it wasn’t a mere feeling blood dribbled down from her nostrils & tear ducts - Onyx didn’t even both wipe away as she kept her eyes on the girl regardless.
It was then when something seemed to click as Onyx lifted her fists as if to fight with the girl once again except with no plans to do that despite how un-oni it may be.
“You… You are the one shinto sensei warned about, the usurper of the [Spirit World]. The mortal who ran from mortality at the cost of the world, a ravenous being that is the progenitor of all chimea and a sickening existence that takes advantage of dead children. You are {The One who Seized Fate - Girl of Shadows - Munzumira the Little Black Cat} aren’t you?” <Onyx>
“You aren’t as dumb as the rest of your family at least… How unfortunate for you.” <Munzumira>
After saying that she merely tapped space with the onyx stave which resulted in a space itself began swirling in a distorted manner - this distortion gradually grew. In a matter of seconds that green flame was completely swallowed into a little black ‘marble’ that was at the core of that distortion that began to pull apart the earth below. Despite the mass of destruction there was only a erie silence as that ‘marble’ expanded…
That was until more tentacles abruptly exploded out from below it to wrap around the distortion in space before pulling it down. From the shadows directly below a gigantic maw opened within the same inky darkness as the tentacles - dragging the black hole in before devouring it like a snack that it ground up in unsettlingly white teeth. As quickly as it all happened the beastly visage retreated back into the abyss to be forever unquenched.
There was no sign of her usual carefreeness as Onyx didn’t even bother ogling Munzumura who was very much up her alley; looking like an adorable life-like doll. Then again maybe that was exactly what the problem was - she was far too much like a mere doll rather than an actual living girl who Onyx flirted with. She only enjoyed using toys during the act not to recreate it.
With an eerie silence they just looked at eachother.
Soon Onyx exploded out with energy as she tried to create a portal to get back to camp where she knew Mother was yet…
“Who was it you said usurped the {Spirit World} again?” <Munzumira>
From the portal she herself made exploded out tentacles that began to coil around the oni from behind making her eyes widen. She tried to open her mouth to scream yet a thick slimy tentacle instantly forced itself into her mouth - pushing her jaw to the limit - while continuing to worm further down inside her. Her useless kicking prevented as more tendrils coiled around her thighs making her present herself.
Even the bouncing of her breasts was stopped by a well placed figure of 8 that made her feel like they were going to pop. From under her skirt those naughty black tentacles poked and prodded before breaching her poor little holes with as many of their comrades as her oni biology allowed for. Those writhing limbs exploding into her womb while others stretch out every inch of her streamlined digestive tract with the one in her mouth joining them in that.
“Just to be careful I need a hostage to punish her yet Mother gets enjoyment from watching those Kijin so you are the next best bet… May as well have a little fun with you while I’m at it - think of it like a learning experience of what happens in the deepest depths of the [Spirit World]. Perhaps I’ll even let you leave with a complimentary gift.” <Munzumira>
Darkness.