NOVEL NEXT Chapter 31: Family from a time before demons…
Despite her attempt to hug the life out of the Oni man’s she merely passed through his body.
Luckily she was able to quickly catch herself with her hands causing her to do a somersault instead of face planting into the grass. Mid-somersault she switched to only using one hand, twisting it so by the time she landed on her feet she was facing the more human looking man with a determined look on her face. She also wasn’t one to quit over such a setback nor did she care to understand why she failed - she was absolute!
The way she landed with her hands on the ground and her butt raised in the air made her perfectly positioned to leap from the ground to tackle the other man. Though quite expectedly she just passed through him as well; last minute she lifted her arms to instead guard her face as she rolled across the floor. The only thing she heard from behind was the soft sigh of the ‘human’ and the oni man's undisguised chortle.
“You know we have some fresh meat here baby, you don’t need to eat the dirt dohoho~!” <Oni>
“On a serious note I’m afraid you may not be able to interact with us more than this - we no longer exist in this manner afterall...” <Paladin>
Violet wasn’t amused though as she slowly lifted herself back onto her butt, tucking in her knees and wrapped her arms around herself while lowering her head into them. She just rocked herself gently while thinking about the words of the two men. Food would be nice but right now she wanted to just be able to reach out and touch them now that they were finally in front of her again.
“Why…” <Violet>
“Hm?” <Oni>
“Why aren’t you with me anymore…” <Violet>
Despite the sadness oozing out of Violet the purple haired Oni didn’t seem to mind it, just taking a skewered rabbit to take a bite out of it while taking a swig of his drink. Blood dripping down his mouth here just let out a powerful laugh as if he was the king of the world. At some point maybe he would claim to just be that yet despite no longer doing so his next words were content.
“Because I was too weak so I lost.” <Oni>
It was simple but to the powerful Oni from the past it was an infruitable truth so why act like it wasn’t?
The other man didn’t seem to disagree much as he just looked over the fire while softly sipping his wine.
He did speak up initially as he knew Violet needed a while to calm herself down. A series of complex emotions she didn’t understand and had no way to understand passed through her as she simply rocked herself back and forth. She felt so much that she was starting to get angry at it causing her teeth to begin to grind her teeth. The man wanted to support her as he once did but he knew he couldn’t…
Thinking about it there was only one thing he could do; explain his thoughts.
“It’s not as if I’m no longer around… As long as judgement exists I will exist in some form else our martial siblings would have long killed me before you were born.” <Paladin>
“He’s not the same as you…” <Violet>
The man just let out a long sigh.
“He represents the part of me who has been forced to bear the weight of many worlds; though I don’t think he’s the only ‘me’. One way or another I’ll live on as an immutable law of the universe just like you. Though I suppose unlike you my form changes a bit more *chuckle*.” <Paladin>
Of course, Violet wasn’t so easily coddled but she did at least stand up to make her way back up to the bonfire. Sitting down on the log beside the Oni man while reaching out to grab her own cooked rabbit from beside the fire. She still had puffed up cheeks but now she was eating off the stick.
The three of them just continued eating with a weird aura surrounding them. It certainly wasn’t bad as a soft smile appeared on all three of their faces as they just looked at either the fire or the empty sky above. They didn’t need much more than that to improve Violet’s mood.
She turned to the Oni man for more answers of why they were here after she fell asleep.
“What? I’m the one who helped bring you in this world, you think I have any idea what the fuck is happening here! My first, second and third solutions are violence bohohoho~!” <Oni>
“Then what’s your fourth solution, Doji?” <Paladin>
While Violet couldn’t argue with those facts the human male couldn’t help but lean forward with curiosity towards the other man.
“Violence while wasted!” <Oni>
“Ah… Should’ve guessed as much… Being oni and all…” <Paladin>
“Oi, don’t get all judgemental on me you primordial disappointment!” <Oni>
“Isn’t being judgemental my whole thing?” <Paladin>
While the two adults were arguing with each other Violet just patiently was eating her skewered bunny. Taking big bites of the still somewhat raw meat yet she didn’t seem to care much since Oni were obvious carnivores. If Violet was taken down by a bit of raw meat a certain scaleless dragon & egotistical megalomaniac cat who would question their previously unquestionable might.
Imagining Mother & Cheshire’s faces upon realising she fell ill from a bit of raw rabbit made Violet inexplicably giggle.
This stopped the two men who were joking around with each other while the paladin began to explain the situation as he understood it. Of course, he didn’t make Violet stop eating as she looked happy like that. Though he was sure what he was going to say would upset her.
“I believe we’re just figments of our past selves that were generated for a short period of time from your primordial god soul ‘Absolute’. Likely this is as close as you could get to reincarnating us with your problems… As for the reasons for us appearing now of all time it would be you are secretly feeling anxious.” <Paladin>
Violet blinked for a second before tilting her head to the side. Why would she feel such things since she could just punch through any problems nor could anyone actually kill. They may be able to defeat her through certain means if they were a bunch of Topplers attacking her yet she would just reincarnate once more as the {True Demon} she is.
The human didn’t seem to think so as he held a bitter smile on his face.
“You are secretly worried Violet… The last time you watched your parent and older sibling go to war they didn’t come - well I came back but I slowly deteriorated mentally before finally passing away during the second war. A death you didn’t get to witness due to being in a separate realm butchering the gods for the death of your father.” <Paladin>
The confusion on Violet’s face turned to a frown.
“You didn’t get to fight much in the first world war as back then the Oni were slightly different than they are today. The men were in charge of ‘foreign affairs’ while the women stayed back at their home to fuel the war engine that was the {Shuten Doji’s Demon Parade} - as the daughter you were no different. Well, they were better than humans as they just believed the strongest should protect the young hence the role of a woman was formed in Oni society… That was until the parade finally came to an end.
After that it was the era of the Asura where you led the most powerful of the women to bring down the absolute end of the primordial gods.” <Paladin>
“Shut up…” <Violet>
The world they were in began to shake as the grass began to turn crimson while the first between them turned purple. Violet’s face was far from pleased as her hands formed into fists causing the stick holding the rabbit carcass to snap and fall to the floor. Before she could resort to force though something passed through her head confusing her once more only to turn to the side at the Oni who was looking at his hand.
“Huh, should’ve remembered that would happen.” <Oni>
Tilting her head at him a smug smile soon appeared on the mans face.
“Silly girl, you’ve forgotten something important!” <Oni>
Violet just tilted her head the other way now as she really wasn’t getting what he was saying.
“You aren’t weak unlike me Violet! If you can’t solve something it’s because you're not strong enough so just get even stronger than you were a second ago! Don’t worry about the details since you have that older sister bird of yours to solve the complicated stuff or you can just get that freakish mutant fox to swing his sword a few times. If he can’t fix some politicians, what's the point in being a hero!” <Oni>
“That isn’t how my herp-” <Paladin>
“Nobody cares about your opinion, you creepy half-half bastard!” <Oni>
Violet couldn’t help but smile as the two began to argue once more. Unfortunately the world around them began to fade away to white causing her to look around unwillingly. It was clear to both of the men she didn’t want this to be over but she had no control over this.
“Welp, seems like that’s that!” <Oni>
“D-daddy!” <Violet>
The oni didn’t even seem worried at all as he just stood up from where he sat and began to walk out into the white void with a smile on his face. Seeing this Violet’s eyes widened as she reached after him yet he just raised his hand to wave her away without so much as hesitating.
“You don’t need me anymore baby, have fun and break some skulls dohohoho~!” <Oni>
And like that he was gone causing Violet’s open hand to slowly close as tears formed in her eyes.
“He may not be beside your side but he will always be with you; you are his daughter Violet. So I’m sure he’s happy enough as it is. Time must go on but you are absolute so as long as you remember who we once were we too shall be absolute.” <Paladin>
Violet’s head darted back to the human who sat across from her only to see him standing up while casually lifting that giant 9 foot blade out from the ground. It appeared as if it wasn’t even heavy for the 6-foot man as he just casually put it on his shield while wrapping the white gauze around the grip on his wrist with his other hand. A smile was on his face as he paid attention to his own movements more than the even more unwilling Violet.
“W-what about you…” <Violet>
She expected another goodbye like what had happened with her father but instead her brother just chuckled at her expression.
“All things may change in the sands of time but that doesn’t mean I’ll be gone forever. I always come back Violet just in another form… Maybe I’ll even appear in more than one form at a time? Can’t let Munzumira have all the fun zahahaha~!” <Paladin>
With that the world faded to white…
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When Violet opened her eyes all she was was the fat lumps of her mother while the softness of her older sister helped cage her head. She didn’t want to wake the snoring pair so she just remained as their hugging pillow… Closing her eyes she took in their soft warmth and a gentle smile formed on her face once more.
When was the last time she had felt so many emotions in such a short span of time?
She didn’t know.