Days of a Wrathful Demoness

Well… It appeared as if Onyx would find out the answer to the question of “what is below” very shortly.

Though it had to be said that her first reaction wasn’t curiosity but to instead scream at the top of her lungs while waving her arms around. Of course, since this was the abyss, there was no such thing as an atmosphere unless you counted the rich atmosphere of natural energy that was denser than anywhere else across all the realms. As such it didn’t matter what kind of formation she made; it would have no effect whatsoever when it came to her falling speed.

That being the case her third reaction was to instantly begin screaming even longer with an even higher pitch that could probably even crack the glass they made back home. Even if she had a weaker body than her pure-blooded sisters - the hybrid oni really had an impressive set of pipes as it wouldn’t be surprising if every creature across the {Spirit World} & {Demon Realm} could hear her terrified cry. To make matters even worse she quickly felt the level of comforting natural energies rapidly decreasing only to be replaced with the cool undead qi at a level she had only ever seen in those ancient battlegrounds & graves on school trips.

Those undead energies didn’t end there as they grew at about the same rate the natural energy vanished making any comfort she had become instead replaced with dread. To say the experience was torturous was a major understatement as even those unable to feel these natural energies would feel the difference. Someone sensitive to it like her found this experience far worse than those who didn’t understand what was happening.

If it wasn’t for her oni-half being that of the resilient Shuten family it was very likely she would receive damage to her natural energy core.

Then again, if she was a human, it was very likely her meridians would have corroded due to the powerful energy of undeath resulting in her dying before she even hit the ground. That thought did little to reassure her since she was reminded of the fact she would soon hit the ground… Well maybe not soon but she would eventually.

<How deep even is this hole and how much stronger than these energies get!>

No matter how much she shouted within her mind she wouldn’t get a response; even if there was someone to listen to her thoughts they probably wouldn’t be able to hear it over her screaming.

An indescribable pressure slowly began to squeeze on her as she fell ‘closer’ to the {Demon Realm} yet she still only felt faint traces of demonic energy. Since she had some experience with teleporting she at least recognised what this pressure was since everyone who had travelled through domains had felt it; the dimensional barrier. Somehow this knowledge made her calmer since it meant she was at least half way done with her freefall.

Due to having basically no stimulus - other than the shifting clash between the energies of life & death - the passing of time was something hard to actually comprehend. At the very least she had finally stopped screaming so her sore lungs got to take a long breath; not that there was any air to actually breath in. Still she at least got to use this time to be somewhat introspective on her life all this time to summarise what she would do to make things right should she survive this war between Archons…

<I am going to corrupt so many bashful straight girls to the way of yuri!>

Her ancestors had often said that conviction was the fastest way to get stronger in order to survive through all the different events life can throw at you. Almost as if answering her conviction, she felt something within the dimensional barrier wash over her, it was as if something was studying every inch of her body. In particular it seemed focused on her blood vessels & bone marrow making her shudder.

After an unknown period went by she felt as if some membrane finally gave in allowing her to pass through the dimensional barrier resulting in her immediately being greeted by a landscape.

Due to her position she was able to see the magnificent & unique 2nd layer of the demon realm where only the most powerful demons could reside. She wasn’t falling towards their grand castles or endless orchids but instead towards six titanic boney palms that were outstretched a bit beyond the infamous {Necropolis} located by the ribcage. That latter being a large city filled with the undead far stronger than the gods that often oversaw the various {Mortal Realms} with some even being on the level of a demon king!

What she found more interesting were those palms that no one had even made mention of; even her own people (oni) had no knowledge about such an area. Of course, they knew what the gigantic charred skeleton was in addition to what it was doing here, so the appearance of the skeleton alone wasn’t enough to really shock her more than seeing a monument you had heard about but never seen before. Instead what caught her shock was the fact that the six palms weren’t as barren as they should have been…

Endless series of weapons that radiated holy energies that could only come from the weapon used by great heroes of old, littered all over as if it was some grand battleground. Less common though were a series of silver swords that seemed to make some kind of array around the area when combined with the demonic aura that faded up. This ended up explaining why she felt so little demonic energy floating up to the {Spirit World}; it was used up to form this barrier.

Even then the undead energies were perhaps stronger than they were within the {Necropolis} as various undead seemingly scattered around - each with a holy weapon of their own. Despite the clear opposing enemies the undead within didn’t burn up. Though they were motionless so it was more likely that they had already been purified by the weapons they each held, her newly enhanced instincts told her that was false though.

There were seemingly no commonalities between the undead except that they each had a holy weapon as well as their heads bowed towards the only building on the palms.

The best way to describe it was a gigantic rustic hall made from strong oak logs crossed with a pearl-white mausoleum as large stone doors kept the inside hidden away from all. Upon the doors, both large enough to make even the biggest undead seem like an ant, were various scenes of war & battle with the very familiar symbol of Violet. In the centre. There was also no sign of a door knob though considering how one would need to be bigger than a giant but smaller than a titan to use it… Probably would be pointless to invest in one.

<Does lil’ sis know something about this place - she’s the Primordial Demon so she would know even if she didn’t tell us right? Though how come no one else has even discovered this scene in the long life of the {Demon Realm}; surely one curious soul would be able to sneak up onto the palms... That is unless it’s a similar situation to why mortals know little about the demons.>

Seeing the fantastical scene that brought forth countless questions was very distracting for the still falling Onyx yet there was one huge difference from before; the demon realm had an atmosphere so the feeling of air rushing past soon brought her back to reality.

In addition it brought back her screams!

When she finally collided with the ground she wasn’t met with a loud ‘bang’ but instead a fleshly *SPLAT~!* as black blood exploded out.

It took her a minute to get over the shock of the entire event yet when she did she looked around only to see various scattered bodies. The amount of different limbs of beasts, mortals and everything in between was truly uncountable - these limbs sometimes attached to a torso utilising either metallic or crimson threads creating a horrific scene. Before she could question it she saw the small build of the old lady fall in front of her.

“Che~hehe~hihihi~ it would appear you do indeed have the required bloodlines to enter this place just like a thought; say hello to {Valhalla} where {The Strongest} slumbers!” <Old Lady>

She spoke as if she didn’t just push Onyx off {Cliff Hanger} while slowly walking forth utilising that cane of hers. There were so many questions swirling around the oni’s mind that she couldn’t even formulate any kind of response; something the lady didn’t care about. Still her next words were certainly helpful if greatly unexpected.

“Now focus on yourself, specifically your core, and recognise the energies of undeath all around us in order to comprehend what I’m about to tell you. Let that natural energy within you slowly retreat to allow that of death to intertwine; be careful about it and focus on my voice. For you see these two energies are similar to that of light & darkness.” <Old Lady>

<Although this sounds dangerous I can sense great power within her words so I should at the very least hear her out… But I certainly won’t stand on any ledges!>

Although there was certainly hesitation - she still listened to the old lady - following her instructions and closing her eyes in order to follow along.

“For you see, nature and death may be considered opposites yet they have a far deeper relationship than simple enemies, they are almost the same. While they may fight with one another when at odds together they produce a far greater impact than should they be alone which can be said to be akin to how the best explosion comes from the coldest objects. Do not resist the power of death but let it slowly intertwine. It will take awhile but keep increasing it until you can feel the balance between the two sliding which means you are simply not yet ready to reach a perfect 50/50 split.” <Old Lady>

Sure enough Onyx felt her power greatly increasing. Although previously she would have likely died, the new power obtained from being in the {Abyss} in addition to her bloodline awakening made her able to accept this ancient energy. The old lady merely nodded her head seeing that the oni had gone into a state of meditation due to her focus; turning her attention away from the vixen to slowly walk towards that building in the distance.

*clatter**clatter**clatter*

As if they had received a call to arms - all those heroic warriors of era’s & worlds long past began to raise while drawing their weapons. They paid no mind to Onyx as they were too busy cautiously raising their weapons to the senior who, in response to the frightening scene, merely chuckled in amusement. Before those powerful holy weapon wielding undead could act, the elders' surprisingly powerful voice echoed throughout the ancient battleground.

“I demand trial through the method of one-on-one [Black Cat: Mauls The throat]!” <Old Lady>

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

“As expected of the one true {Martial Saint}...” <Ancient Warrior>

“And as expected of a hero of old; you truly are stronger than those descendents who claim to be the strongest within this realm nyahaha~!” <Old Lady>

A skeleton within golden paladin armour collapsed to the ground in defeat of the old ladies' prowess leaving her the last one standing. Despite her complimentary words she showed no signs of weakness despite having won against millions of undefeated warriors - at the very least she seemed chipper about the whole experience. In contrast Onyx could only look on in awe at the fantastical display of abilities from the seemingly weak little granny.

Seeing that the tiny lady began to walk towards the two marble doors, both slowly swinging open as if welcoming her in due to her victory, Onyx quickly followed behind.

Even with her newly found strength she had only managed to develop a 90/10 split between her natural energy & death energy. Still that was a great booster to her power making her believe she would no longer need to worry about her older sisters. With this new power she could probably even beat Black with a hand behind her back due to how much of a boaster it was and this wasn’t the only thing she got taught!

“Why did you teach me how to do all this?!” <Onyx>

“Well that’s simple… I do not wish for my knowledge to be forgotten should I fail; although I do have my own descendents I won’t force them to walk down the same path. My eldest daughter is a great martial artist so I plan to leave that to her though - I believe I’ll leave my little slime will be a good fit to take care of the family home. All my knowledge can go to that nerdy girl, heh, I bet she’ll be more excited than sad at my passing with that. Though all my stuff about medicine will go to my second baby girl who’s a bit of a weird one but is actually a hybrid oni like you if a big older in age…

I would like to give something to my only son yet that goof ball wouldn’t really want anything I have while refusing to accept my knowledge of the spiritual arts. As such, in order to pass down my skills, I need someone who won’t be affected even if I should die yet has enough talent to pick up the basics before I go…

Just think of it as appeasing a tired old granny nyahaha~!” <Old Lady>

A jolly laugh filled the fittingly gravely quiet palms letting Onyx fully focus on the lady and despite the apparent joy she couldn’t help hear the sadness behind that laugh. She had no idea about the story of this older woman but she at least knew one thing… That old lady who helped her so much was fearlessly walking towards her own death yet she found herself unable to do anything more than look at her suddenly far smaller, lonely, back.

Approaching the hall revealed there was a white haired girl sat upon one of two magnificent if simple thrones at the end of the room with an epic depiction of a far scarier {True Wrath} upon the back of a ten tailed fox. In the monster's hands were a large crows-beak in one & a hand axe in the other. Within the seemingly sleeping (surprisingly muscular) girl's right hand was the crows beak which helped support her as she rested; strangely the axe was missing which was something the old lady picked up on.

“Now that is unusual… I’m not sure if I can carry that pole arm with my scrawny muscles but who could have stolen her axe…” <Old Lady>

Onyx was also surprised but for a completely different reason.

“... Violet?!” <Onyx>

As if answering that call, the barbarian-like girl’s brow twitched.