NOVEL NEXT Chapter 128: Victory
| Warriors - Imagine Dragons | Cinematic Remix
By now the crimson flames were so rich that the figure of Vivi had all but vanished - leaving only a shadow that was getting smaller as time went on. There was almost something morbidly beautiful as the most powerful demon found herself being destroyed by her own power. One that many of the survivors within the city found hard to look away from.
The only sound was the occasionally unearthly groan from the fire; even the fire itself was eerily silent as violet began to flicker from within before consuming the centre.
Now the body of the demo god empress had truly disappeared from the world as the roof tops filled with various races of demons. All silent as, for once, no conflict existed between them. All just watching the fire with an unsettling level of focus to the few cultivation masters that managed to view the scene.
One of those being a “spy” from the Orthodox Attack Force. Their presence alone wasn’t exactly surprising since it was well known that there was a powerful oni roaming around the streets of the capital even before Vivi arrived with Orchid. Plus (just like her older sister in this life) the little demoness was never one to hide so it made perfect sense that they only found more reason to send people.
They never expected this.
No one could have expected such a frightening scene to happen in front of them - the spy in question tightly clutched the communication jade in his hand. Sweat ran down his own body, something he hadn’t experienced since reaching the realm of Spirit Elder, as he needed to regulate his power just to keep his jitters from accidentally crushing the jade. He was a highly important figure and had seen a lot as he had risen to the seat for the head of the infiltration division of the union of the orthodox sects.
His life had been a long one filled with constant conflicts that he was sent to; if there was a continent he hadn’t been to it was due to it not being created by the Infinite Mother yet. This also wasn’t the first time he had fought with demons. There were always some fools that didn’t care what price they had to pay and thus ended up unleashing some powerful demon on the world.
In fact, the number of demons he had silenced with his own hidden blade had not been small at all, there were few in the union that had seen more disasters to be. He wouldn’t say he had met every demon since there was a likelihood that some were more territorial so rarely came to the mortal realm but he had experienced just about as much as one could expect. Nothing really surprised him anymore.
Yet, as he slowly raised his cold jade to his head to cool down his face, he was only sure of one thing at this point in time.
| Division master? What’s happening in the empire; we don’t know what happened but a few days oni over here all became feral monsters that no longer are bothering to capture prisoners! The sects are all hounding the union leader as those monsters are purposefully coaxing us into trying to rescue our disciples only to gut them like pigs in front of us! |
He didn’t recognise the voice… But that didn’t really surprise him at this point. In a war like that one, with monsters like the oni, it wasn’t surprising if the previous owner of that jade had permanently bit the bucket thus giving someone else the “promotion” to division chief.
“Listen closely… Give up. We can’t fight against them; I don’t know what the hell we’re fighting and I know that that whole “demonic invasion” connection was just slander… Yet we fucked up. We fucked up badly with no possible way to repent. Whatever is happening isn’t just us bullying some random race for their treasures like in the past… It’s the fate of everything, not just this realm but all realms, and we have unleashed it… We’ve unleashed-”
*ring*
It was quaint as well as almost impossible to make out if not for the silence yet the melodic sound of a bell was all that filled the mind of the spirit elder realm cultivator who hid by a window. A sound so beautiful and enrapturing that it was unimaginable to think of anything else. Although it was a single ring it somehow seemed more beautiful than the most complex melodies that he had heard.
One must note that many sects followed the dao of music with some of the best of the best having sizable contributions to the orthodox faction. He was not an inexperienced hick. Spy or not he was still a highly reputable member of the union so had the chance to taste all of life's wonder.
For a brief moment in time… He forgot where he was.
It was only when he perceived the sound of liquid rolling down his jade did he reopen his eyes; returning him back to the world that he felt so far away from just mere moments ago. Confusion filled his eyes as he pulled the jade away due to his eyes being unusually dry as well as blurry despite his cultivation. His once spotless jade was completely covered in crimson to the point it almost reminded him of the beautiful camilia he once saw at the end of the harsh battle against a group of beastmen savages.
But just like then, when he was just a boy wandering around places he had no right to be, he soon was able to understand what that flower truly was.
“Blood…?”
That was the last thing he said before all the blood in his body erupted from his pores - leaving him completely desiccated - but not leaving so much as a drop on his clothes. Instead his blood essence flew out just like that of all those weaklings who dared to spy. Just another corpse to the unmarked grave.
| Blood? Division commander?! What do you mean?! Division commander! |
Yet nobody answered.
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< Few Minutes Earlier>
As much as Vibrant wanted to retaliate… She couldn’t. It wasn’t due to her being unwilling or scared of the power that these three archdemons held but rather in a quite literal sense. All her attention was towards getting herself in a state where she could simply move yet that didn’t change the fact she was slumped on the ground with no way to act against those who had robbed everything from her.
Although Chokin-Bako obviously didn’t exist at the time (while the hamster was a mere pet meant to keep Vivi quiet as she was given a sword & Violent an army to lead) she didn’t care. She would wipe out every demon for daring to steal the path of the sword from her. It was just a matter of time.
If anything she was disappointed she wouldn’t get a chance to kill that bitch of a sister.
Though at the same time she was preparing for the backlash likely to happen when one of them finally bites the bullet. She always expected that Vivi would be the first one to die but was willing to admit she was surprised it took this long. A smirk formed on her face as she looked into the fire.
“Looks like her stupidity finally caught up to her; the ant should not envy the elephant!” <Vibrant>
Recovering enough to at least recover her lungs to the point where she wouldn’t spit up her own blood any time she opened her mouth. Still her rage unsurprisingly clouded her judgement as she had never felt such anger in her life. There was not a chance she could hold her tongue considering how much she loved the sound of her own voice.
Her mocking words didn’t affect the archdemons yet it wasn’t the same for the rest who only managed to hold back their wrath due to the bonfire in front of them.
Obviously Vibrant was intelligent enough to notice how strange that was - those three were the most loyal out of all demons yet they didn’t react to her insulting her? Even oni held respect for dead warriors so she couldn’t imagine them letting such slander go unabated. It was only then that she was able to finally notice how out of place Leviathan carrying such a box really was.
“What… Is in that box?” <Vibrant>
The aged dragon didn’t answer as he kept his gaze on the same place as always, the same place all the demons stared at, but an unsuspecting smile graced his face. This smile sinisterly spread to the other powerful demons then to those who were watching from the rooftops. Within the hanging from the walls of the dark alleys there were even various insect & insectoid demons who had their own attempt at a smile.
Even the demonic beasts that filled the streets appeared to grin.
“She wants to know what's in the box~.” <Chokin-Bako>
“Squeak~!” <Necrohamster>
“Hmpf.” <Leviathan>
“Maybe we should show her~?” <Chokin-Bako>
“Squeak squeak~!” <Necrohamster>
“Hmm… I suppose there is little reason to hide it.” <Leviathan>
“That’s the spirit; plus oni-chan would be greatly amused to see her reaction~!” <Chokin-Bako>
“Why care about the dead?” <Vibrant>
“Cute you think that~!” <Chokin-Bako>
The spider licked her plump red lips as she stared finalled turned her gaze away from the fire only to wiggle her fingers about in front of her. A shocking scene of plunging her hand into her heart soon played out as she pulled a key from her chest despite coughing up blood. Even more bewildering was that the other archdemons replicated her answer - even Leviathan took a hand from the box to plunge his hand into his head - all of them pulling out keys that were painted with their blood.
“Good thing we didn’t give it to big Lizzy…” <Chokin-Bako>
Coughing up some blood.
“S-squeak…” <Necrohamster>
“It was probably all according to her plan.” <Leviathan>
“Whose plan; stop playing games with me!” <Vibrant>
It didn’t take a genius to figure out they were playing the pronoun game just to keep her in the dark for their own sadistic amusement. They were demons after all. Still they paid no attention to her complaints as they continued to joke around as if they didn’t have massive holes in their chests.
<A shame considering how beautiful that pig lover’s chest is… No, even if I don’t have my swords, I have my vengeance to keep me away from debauchery now!>
Fortunately they were too excited to keep the torture going on for too long; each putting their own key into the box… Or in the case of Necrohamster (who was too smol) handed his key to the seductive spider queen for her to put it in. Afterwards she stepped away as they clearly weren’t the ones who owned the goods as it soon opened as if presenting the contents toward the fire.
Vibrant closed her eyes to spread her divine sense only to be enveloped in a cold sweat.
In the centre were two vials, one filled with crimson mist and the other a thick golden fluid, with initials written upon them. One with a “NI” and the other “DT”. Those were shocking but what really caught her by surprise was… The bells. Little bells attached to ribbons that seemed rather ordinary at a first glance.
She knew what those bells were, truly they weren’t special, and what was truly scary was what those bells represented to those who recognised what they were previously used for.
“N-no that can’t be the case!” <Vibrant>
No one cared for her words as the fire finally debarted to reveal a sapless corpse that was barely above being a skeleton at this point. What was strange was… That it clearly didn’t belong to Vivi. Not only was it taller than the young girl but had an impressive crown of horns similar to that of an oni’s yet reached far above it’s head while also being far thicker than the average oni.
On top of clearly being far more plentiful.
In addition the red darkened to the same degree despite the massively increased size resulting in them being pitch black before they even reached over her scalp. Rings of silver adorned those horns every couple of centimetre - giving them a surprisingly regal appearance that set them apart from any oni, devil or demon. Truly a crown worthy of belonging to a monarch.
Strangely the cadaver still had hair; even if that hair was white & ragged.
Not that it was possible to focus on any of that as, all of a sudden, its eyes certainly flew open to glare at the world around them. Piercing violet eyes studied the place as its eyes soon turned towards the trio of archdemon who still had their self-inflicted wounds excreting blood. That figure's crusted lips soon twisted up in a cruel grin that revealed a surprisingly pristine set of fangs that seemed like a more beautifully brutal variant of… Vampiric fangs.
“I-I won’t let you!” <Vibrant>
Despite her body’s resistance - the sword saint refused to let that figure fully awaken - suddenly her swords came back to life despite the damage they had taken. Flying towards the creepy carcass with the express desire to puncture through her like she were a pincushion. A scene that never happened.
Exploding into a swarm of petals that appeared to get blown away by the wind only to have that corpse reform hanging off the neck of the dragon. Plunging her fangs past his high defence as blood flowed into her mouth causing her body to slowly fill up to the point where a full body tattoo similar to those from the supposed Vivi in Cheshire’s memories became clear on her flesh.
Not caring as the old man grunted as the sword punctured slightly into his back even if unable to completely make it’s way through.
Even her hair began to become more crimson yet she wasn’t done as, just when the swords were about to reach her, she once again exploded into violet petals to travel to the joy filled Chokin-Bako. Raising the demon god’s chin as she obediently stuck her tongue out only for the newcomer to ravenously devour that tongue as their now plumper lips pressed against those of the pig-lover. Her crimson Qipao quickly getting wet as one hand moved through the skirt to mercilessly plunge into the unknown territory.
It was clear that the archdemon wanted to moan but her tongue was cruelly held in place as the blood loving demoness had her fangs use it like a capri sun. When the swords were about to reach her again she didn’t run; this time she tightened the hand that once held Chokin-Bako’s chin into a fist. Using the back of her knuckle to mercilessly punch away the flying swords to the shock of the sword saint.
“Impossible!” <Vibrant>
She didn’t care as her flesh slowly filled in to reveal what appeared to be a cross between old and new when it came to the demon empress. No longer was she a child unable to express herself but the true successor to ebony, looking just like her mother if a bit “plumper” in her behind, as well as the master of curses and origin of all that is demonic. And also a proud woman who takes anything that she likes.
The Asian demoness was actually taller than “Vivi” but that didn’t matter since the spider legs went weak at the slightest caress. Those crimson eyes watered as black flowed down her face. Eyes rolling back as the bottom hand moved faster as well as deeper with each second that passed.
That was until the crimson haired demoness retched her hand from the arachnid queen’s needy snatch to cause a massive splatter on the floor. Stepping back with blood on her lips - letting her “date” collapse to the floor in her own juices - as a smile showed the demonic woman’s opinion of the matter. The new demoness just licked the blood as she turned her gaze towards Vibrant.
What she was about to say was cut off as the world voice spoke
<| {Vivi Indigo - The Origin of Sin} has Awoken |>
A frown glanced at the girl's face as she reeled her fist back only to punch the message that floated in front of her eyes; cracks forming on the name as her intent infused fistmade contact. An angry growl came from her lips yet it seemed far less like a beast and more like a refined woman. Making her almost pitiable to those unaware that she was the true monster.
“I am no longer Vivi, the weakling between Vibrant & Violent, I am the one who wins no matter what outcome happens… I am {Victory - Divine Demon of the Primordial Blood).” <Victory>