NOVEL NEXT Chapter 33: Woman always one step behind
Ruby was just sitting on the beach overlooking the beautiful waves while a bonfire was lit behind her.
She just had her eyes closed while tilting her face upwards letting the hot sulphurous air from the nearby active volcano enter her lungs. A usually dangerous task was simply referring to the oni who had grown up in the shadow of the greatest oni of all time during the harshest wars. Such an experience is why Ruby was able to overcome the other {Asura Ancestors} despite being the youngest (surviving) of them by a fairly large margin. It meant she was the de facto leader but it also meant she wasn’t as… Attracted by the same things.
Though compared to these old bags the baby matriarch who was young and with little experience was far more impressive - it made Ruby wonder how strong Ebony would be when she truly ascended to a Kijin.
“That brat really inherited the insane genes of the Shuten though I suppose she’s still nothing when compared to Violet-sama~!” <Ruby>
Others of the ‘ancestral batch’ were happily chatting around the fire with a jolly feeling around them as the bunch of them had their own little party. They were roasting fresh meat over the open fire while drinking the best drinks they ‘acquired’ from the same place as they did their meat… Though they had sourced the meat themselves while the ‘meat’ just so happened to have the alcohol with them.
These old girls knew how to party correctly. They already had a good ol’ game of bingo set up by the fire where that cute Chokin-Bako helped the grannies by calling out the numbers.Those ink stamps have never been slammed down with so much power before while yells from between the tables silenced any thoughts that bingo wasn’t the most intense sport. The severed head of a sect master even flew across to burst across the head of an Oni who was bragging about how she only needed 2 more resulting in an all out brawl before the Demon God called out the number.
You’ve never seen an Oni move so fast as what the ancestors did to check their numbers.
As the ancestors of the Hannya era Oni they had seen far more war than the bunch on the frontlines hence why they didn’t mind letting the kids have their fun while they made sure to have their enemies regret these choices. While a {Female Executive} or {Asura Elder} could essentially wipe out a mortal sect by themselves the {Asura Ancestors} could do the same to the beast clans.
Put another way… They were all Kijin who could each only be stopped by a Toppler level threat at least.
The war all the children were getting excited at could be as easy for them to finish as a fart thus they just used it as a chance to finally get out. Unfortunately for those mortals their version of ‘going out’ was going to result in the deaths of their family members who they assumed would be safe at home. One may ask “Was it honourable to attack an enemy's home base thus dragging in innocents?” but to that they would simply reply “If not then why were the humans doing it”!
Then again, unlike with these sects, the Oni’s home was simply that while a sect was an organisation that took in young warriors to refine them. Comparing the situation it was as if a mercenary group raided an entire city to get an underground gambling ring only for that city to respond by sending the military to destroy their home camp - in fact it was exactly like that but on a bigger scale. Of course, the sects being the double-backing, self-righteous pricks they were, Ruby was certain they would complain about it being ‘a war crime’.
“Heh, you know what else can be called a crime… Starting an unprovoked War on an entire race for some cool toys you can’t use bwahahaha!” <Ruby>
With that she took a swig of the bottle of some vintage thousand year spirit wine; nothing too impressive yet it washed down the meat well enough. She couldn’t help recalling that mortals certainly didn’t have good taste in alcohol as the content of this wine may as well have been water for the Oni. At the same time it went well with their meat as cooking alcohol so maybe they just knew how to serve themselves? With that thought she took enough bite of her meat.
Her eyes looked over to the docks which was currently docked with quite an amazing amount of ships. The cultivators that came to attack them mostly had long cloth sails with broad decks that were honestly quite similar to what those in the area watched over by Mother used. Meanwhile the oni ships tended to be sleeker in design with the most obvious difference being their paper sails… Of course, there was another ship called [The Crimson Princess] which came from neither mortal or Oni yet it was far more feared than either of their ships. The ship was larger than any of the others with more cannons than she cared to count while the actual body of the ship was crimson - this being Mothers pirate ship she cared for as much as did her children.
Looking over the docks itself it was made from the usual crimson lumber while lanterns were hung along the structure to help guide those approaching in the dark. There were also quite a few large (oni style) buildings around for those that tended to live here due to the convenience in acquiring or using the materials around the place. In truth this place was more the size of an actual ‘Oni village’ than main {The Oni Village} but as this place didn’t have a name it was just considered part of {The Oni Village} since the Oni weren’t exactly the type to build such silly divisions between themselves. Various things were propped about proving that at one point this place was frequently used for mining, fishing and shipbuilding as one could expect… It was also used for drug trafficking though so was everything else!
“Hm… When morning comes around we’ll begin sailing their mortal boats back to their homes then we’ll launch an attack. Probably need the help of old-man Leviathan to push them out to sea since this place is so clustered… Urgh I just want to return to doting on Violet-sama yet I already volunteered us to take out those nasty mortals!” <Ruby>
What she said was exactly right.
The Oni had all gone back to the village for {The Pre-War Preparation Ritual} which led to many ships being docked. However, the mortals themselves assumed the Oni just retreated normally so took over the place with no thought to possible retreat. They literally just left their ships wherever it would fit then made their way to the beach of ‘port village’ leading to the sea in front of Ruby being quite cluttered with now ownerless low-quality (compared to their own) ships.
While thinking about all this the very old-man she just mentioned walked up from behind her causing her to look towards his intimidating figure.
“You're blocking the light from the fire - go back to the bingo!” <Ruby>
“Certainly have gained a tongue since you’ve grown up - I’m not interested in playing such games with those women however.” <Leviathan>
Ruby just snorted while her hand slowly rubbed the curved ‘sword’ that was the same eastern style as all the other Oni & Water Dragon blades yet the size made it stand out. Not because it was big but for the very opposite reason. Despite her huge strength she had a tiny blade that one would expect a child to train with - in fact as it’s age indicated it was just that. The very first and only sword she ever used.
It wasn’t exactly particularly special even if it was a quality sword. In fact that blade didn’t even start as an artefact - though the materials used to make it were very good. Despite that it had lasted her for longer than any sect had. The age itself did make it a treasure due to the nature of the word while years of being filled with fighting intent while bathing in blood also did cause it to become a VERY impressive [Cursed Weapon] that was able to be empowered by the usual ‘negative feels & bloodshed’ stuff.
“I’m surprised that thing has lasted so long, that is the one Doji gave you isn’t it?” <Leviathan>
“Mhm… It’s always been with me ever since I took my first life. If I remember correctly it was an arrogant gryphon that didn’t take me seriously so I managed to break its neck using it’s own speed against itself. For that reason the old lord gifted me a sword…” <Ruby>
The old Oni couldn’t help but close her eyes while falling backwards with a sandy *thump* while remembering simpler times when the world was far different. There were no such creatures as ‘demons’ or ‘spirits’ while gods freely walked the earth with no care. Mortals were met with tribulations for simply not listening to the orders of their ‘masters’ while the Oni had just welcomed their Violet coloured Ojou-sama.
“He enjoyed gifting swords to the young for a rather silly reason in hindsight. You see the first thing he did was give his daughter a sword while he tried to think up a name for her - during that time she ended up wandering only to run into a pompous dragon. Remembering he was one who apparently abused her older sister she just cut him down in the middle of the street then when his guards attempted to kill her she parried them with such finesse that nobody would imagine it was her first time holding a sword. Even if she was a Primordial God… She was far more gifted than any other.
Shuten Doji wanted to call her Violence incarnate but got told that was probably a bad idea so he settled for VIolet since it kind of sounded like that plus matched the hair he thought was beautiful on her. Little did he know that ended up becoming the way Oni named all their children in the future. It did lead to him gifting swords in hopes that another would be able to learn all about their talents…” <Leviathan>
“Do you think I made him proud?” <Ruby>
“Perhaps, you are one of the top swordswomen even if you’re nowhere near my daughter. I do wonder if anything would be different if she knew about you…” <Leviathan>
“She has a mother, father, brother and quite a few sisters at this point… I’m more than happy with how things ended up.” <Ruby>
“However I don’t recall a little sister in that list.” <Leviathan>
Ruby just shook her head while reaching out for the now sandy bottle before swigging some more.
“Doesn’t need to be one either - she prefers to be doted on than doting bwahahaha~!” <Ruby>
Leviathan let out a long sigh while shaking his head not understanding the Oni in front of him yet at the same time he didn’t need to. With that choice the {Asura Ancestors} and {Demon Gods} awaited the coming of dawn. Ruby patiently waited for the beautiful moment in which the sun came over the horizon to cause the calm water in front of her to glimmer like a floor covered in endless gems. The old dragon just sad beside her while she polished the blade she held so dear to her.