A man in a torn set of servant's attire huffs and puffs, nearly collapsing in front of a woman sat upon a wooden throne. "My Jarl!"
"Yes." The woman quietly soothes. "Please catch your breath. Take your time."
The man falls to his hands and knees dry heaving on the stone brick floor.
A cloaked woman with glowing orange eyes slips out of a nearby side room, seemingly just to see what all the fuss is about.
"My... High Queen." The man eventually huffs. "I... bring news from the Thalmor Embassy."
"Yes? What is it?" The woman questions, rising from the throne.
"It has been... destroyed..." He pants.
"Destroyed?" The Jarl whispers, a hand coming to her mouth briefly. "That- That's impossible! The Thalmor exclusively enlists only the most skilled mages and inquisitors from the Aldmeri Dominion's academies! How could it possibly have been destroyed?! There's nothing in all of skyrim that could destroy such a place in such a short amount of time!"
"My lady." One of her advisors slowly speak. "It is possible that they could have fallen amidst a concentrated attack by the Stormcloaks."
The mere mention of the men who brutally slaughtered her husband causes her mood to sour, her lips turn downwards.
"But to do so they would have had to mobilize a considerable force." The advisor continues. "Such a force could likely even pose a not so insubstantial threat to solitude itself! How did they manage to move so many soldiers without us noticing?! We need to mobilize the Imperial Army at once and-"
"Twelve..." The servant whispers causing the advisor to fall silent.
"What?" Jarl Elisif mutters. "What did you just say?"
"Twelve people... destroyed the embassy." The man whispers in horror. "Demons. They had skin tones to rival the finest silks. Purple. Green. Blue. Red. And each had horns. Men and women. They wielded massive metal studded wooden clubs that no doubt weighed dozens of pounds, others with curved single-edged swords and spears."
"I watched one take a bolt of lightning to the back with barely more than a hiss of pain. Another threw a spear so hard it passed through a guard and his elven chainmail as if it weren't there and imbedded itself into the stone wall like a shovel into the soil."
"A third crashed through the stone wall as if it were mere paper... these... things... just kept shouting about how the Thalmor had 'Pissed off their boss' and that it was 'nothing personal' and that they would give them all a 'glorious death'."
"Those sound like fairly high ranking Dremora... they would have to be for just twelve to take out the entire embassy. Dremora Lords at the very least." The hooded figure with amber eyes speaks for the first time, the court wizard of the Blue Palace. "That begs the question... what sort of summoner could maintain not just one or two Dremora Lords... but twelve? The amount of magical energy that would take is nothing short of staggering. Even I cannot summon a Dremora Lord."
"Of course," The woman continues. "Conjuration is not my specialty. However if it was... if I held the same skill in Conjuration as I do Destruction I predict that with my magicka I could only maintain four... possibly five at once for a mere handful of minutes. We are dealing with a mage that would be no less impressive than a grandmaster who teaches at of the College of Winterhold. Potentially the Archmage Savos Aren himself would hesitate to summon twelve Dremora Lords at once."
"This, of course begs the question... how did you escape?" The woman pointedly stares. "Dremora are violence incarnate. That entire embassy must be an absolute bloodbath... so how did you make it out alive?"
"They... didn't harm servants... only those who attacked them." The man meekly whimpers.
"P-" the court wizard recoils as if struck. "Pardon?! You are telling me that this conjuration wizard had such fine control over these Dremora that they would allow noncombatants to leave-"
She falls silent for a long moment before stiffly turning towards the Jarl of the city. "My Lady. We may be dealing with a Daedric Prince."
"Ah..." The brown haired woman breathes then concisely summarizes the internal thoughts of everyone in the room.
"Shit."
[Split]
*CLANG* *CLANG* *CLANG*
Say what you will, Momoyo Himemushi is a simple girl.
Well. If someone called her that to her face she'd almost certainly eat their arms and legs.
You don't badmouth a centipede the size of a mountain, after all.
But... you could say that she is easy to please.
Just give her a place to dig, and a head to occasionally bash, and she's happy.
Well, that... used to be the case...
Now she has found herself working for a- relatively attractive- fox boss.
She can dig. She can bash skulls. And most importantly... she can eat.
"FUS RO DAH!"
A weight slams down on the centipede woman, her long blue hair whips behind her as if caught in a powerful gale, her body tenses as she weathers the storm and as it ends a grin full of razor sharp teeth fill her mouth. She zips forwards, large spindly legs sprouting from her back and carrying her across the cave floor with a loud skitter.
They tense as she can hear a creature in the dark swoop down.
"YOL-"
She leaps, legs lashing out and striking the side of the creature's head, her legs briefly coil around its body as she manages to get herself onto the back of the flying beast and raise her pickaxe high above her head.
*CLANG*
Another scale is sheared away with a swipe of her weapon, she instantly lowers herself as the dragon seems to try and knock her off by flying close to a stalactite, her grin is viscious as she gazes at the reddened, bloody and raw back of the dragon just between its shoulder blades. The result of three of her strikes.
At first...
When she saw this thing...
She was disappointed.
A wyvern instead of a dragon.
She ate a few of those when she once traveled the world centuries in the past... back when the age of legends... wasn't merely just legends.
A wyvern isn't necessarily a dragon.
They taste fine, but it doesn't really have that fulfilling... 'weight' to it like a real dragon did.
However. Her disappointment was instantly washed away as this beast turned and looked at her... then promptly shot her through nearly thirty feet of stone with what is basically an overpowered sneeze.
This wyvern's got HANDS!
She loves when her meals fight back!
She crouches, face coming into contact with the draconic creature's injury.
She takes a bite just as the dragon bashes its spine into the ceiling of the cave, knocking Momoyo off with a rumble of tumbling rock and stone.
As she falls through the air her hands come to her cheeks, her eye almost glow, tears drip down her cheeks from the first real meal she's had in hundreds of years. A moan leaves her lips "Shoooo SHOOOO TASTYYYYYY!"
She can feel sheer power bloom in her chest, as she strikes the cave floor she holds her arms close to her chest and squirms in bliss. This is by far the tastiest dragon she's ever eaten... and she's taken a bite out of Yamata no Orochi before!
But that's a story for another time...
Now if only she could get into the pants of her boss. There's not many male youkai in Gensokyo that can draw her attention with their strength... but him? He's a little step beyond the others.
Still an ant... but more of a soldier ant instead of just a worker.
He's attractive, he's stronger than most, and he took her to a place where she can eat to her heart's content.
It's enough.
She's a simple girl, after all~
[Split]
"Sakkuuunyaaa!" A Petite blue haired girl stumbles through the hallway, nearly tripping over a table with a vase. In her hand is an open bottle, crimson liquid sloshing through it. Her words are slightly slurred. The girl is VERY clearly drunk.
A white haired maid appears behind her. "Yes, my lady?"
"Gooo find that fox... I-" *Hick* "I MUSHT REWARD HIM FOR... nnngh... wine..." Two bat-like wings on her back droop.
"Nhhh Sakunyaa? Whhyyyy aren't you wearing-"
The maid blurs slightly, seemingly teleporting an inch to the right of where she was originally standing, now she is wearing cat ears.
To be honest... Sakuya Izayoi doesn't know if she should thank that fox or damn him.
On one hand, her lady has turned into a bit of a drunk brat that forces her to wear cat ears and a tail.
On the other?
She's more clingy and has asked the white haired maid to 'tend to her needs' several times now.
She...
Probably owes the fox a favor... after all, she now knows what her lady's lips taste like...
Both of them.
[Split]
A red haired woman's breath comes out in sharp horrified gasps as she rushes through the underbrush, she is flanked by three men who are running the same way, their faces pale, one clutches their arms... or what's left of their arm as everything below the elbow is missing, motes of glowing red light sparkling off the injury.
Above their heads are names with numbers beside them... usernames and levels... and above that are large glowing diamonds, the three men all have orange diamonds, while the woman's is green.
Rosalia: Level 34
Roku: Level 31
Tob: Level 32
Rista: Level 30
A sudden tendril of sand coils around the leg of the wounded man and trips him, he can only let out a shriek of terror as he is yanked backwards out of view.
The others don't stop for even a second even as the distant screaming suddenly silences.
The group of three slide to a halt, their terror palpable as they nearly run into someone, a short figure in a dark red cloak that covers her features. The name and level above her head is blurred, an effect of the cloak they wear.
The short figure is ALSO the one who has been hunting the group for sport... already more than five people have been slain. A hunting party from the player killing guild, Titan's Hand.
The trio abruptly split up, the two men running to the left while the woman runs to the right. The cloaked figure seemingly allowing them to run.
The red haired woman flinches as she can hear the screams of her two companions and runs faster. If she can just get out of this forest... she... could find others nearby! They- they'll help her! Then she can-
Rosalia's foot catches on a small lump of sand. She tumbles forwards, losing her footing and falling in a heap at the base of a tree.
Sand! Actual sand! Its- it's ridiculous!
This is the middle of the forest! There should be no sand!
There's no mages in this game! How the fuck are they controlling sand?!
The red haired woman shakes, back against the tree as she gazes fearfully up at that figure in red.
"Y-You bastard! You- you're the blade of despair, aren't you!?! I-I'm a green player! You- you'll become an orange player if you kill me! You CAN'T kill me!"
The figure tilts their head, staring down at her.
A voice echoes out from under the cloak as they seem to quietly shake their head in disappointment. "Rosalia... Rosalia... Rosalia."
"W-Wait- that voice-" Rosalia hisses.
The cloaked figure pulls down their hood revealing a young brown haired girl with her hair tied up in pigtails, two slitted glowing red eyes stare down at the shaking red haired woman. There's a splatter of glowing crimson on her face that is slowly fading into mere motes of light.
Silica: Level 55
"Y-YOU?! You- you're that idol bitch with the fan club! What the hell?!" Rosalia snarls. "You're a waste of space! You should be on higher floors trying to SAVE everyone instead of wasting your time on lower floors all the time! You're nothing but a failure!"
"Hooooh?" A small smile appears on the brown haired girl's lips. "A failure? That's quite rich coming from you, Rosalia. You see, I've been tracking you for a looooong time..."
She cutely tilts her head, tapping her cheek. "When was it- OH! Right... floor twenty... when you lured Safari-Stan and his party out into the forest and had your friends kill them! I discovered that roughly four weeks ago! You really knew how to run Rosalia! You made me work for this! You should be proud! The only people who were harder to track than you were a guy who barricaded himself in a dungeon's secret room after he heard I was on his trail and an actual REAL WORLD hitman!"
"You think you're some fucking SAINT?! Tough shit! Killing me won't bring ANYONE back! You're wasting your time you airheaded little brat!" The woman screams. "Those people never would have amounted to anything anyways! I just put an end to their suffering!"
"A saint? No... you must have me confused with someone else, Miss Rosalia! I'm a demon! And if was never about reviving them, it was all about making sure you can't do it again. This is my job. The task given to me by my beloved!" Her eyes practically shine as she clasp her hands together, gazing off into the distance for a moment with reddened face and a wide smile. "You see... the clearers are focusing all of their efforts on beating the game so everyone can go home! But... people like you... decide to hang back and become... problems... to keep the ranker's momentum going. I must do my duty and take out the trash! A.k.a. you!"
"Besiiiides Mr Argo says people don't die when they're killed! You'll be fine!" The brown haired girl waves off. "Ooh! Ooh! Do you want to see something COOL before I kill you?!"
Rosalia suddenly rolls and scrambles across the dirt. "SOMEBODY HELP! SHE'S TRYING TO KILL ME-"
She cuts off with a wheeze as Silica steps forwards and knocks the air from her lungs with a kick to the back. The brunette keeps her weight on the older woman, leaning over with her dagger. "Look at this Rosie~"
The knife made of orange metal seems to drip slightly. "This... is Darkness Blade... a floating unique skill... one of the ten original and most powerful unique skills. You see, there are two ways to get a unqiue skill in this game... the first? Mr Argo spoke about it frequently. Whoever maxes out their skill first... has that skill upgraded into a 'unique' variant... from leatherworking to one-handed swords... from polearms to armor mastery. I am actually going to qualify for one of those by default because of the 'Blood Demon Art' skill!"
Rosalia's breath comes out in a low hiss as Silica puts a little more strength into pinning her down. "The second option is much more interesting though. The ten floating unique skills... who... after a time find their owners from across the servers... they are unbound to any skill and each have their own unique requirements. The dual-wielding skill is granted to the person with the greatest reaction time, Kaishingeki is granted to the first person to score ten thousand true critical hits, Holy sword is granted to the player who has held the number one position in the Duel Arena the longest and this here? Darkness Blade?"
"It is granted to the player who has the most player-kills." Silica's smile becomes sharp, a slight maddened glint in her eye. "It kind of becomes yours by default when you exclusively hunt your competition! As for what it does? Well, I suppose I can tell you Rosie... as a reward for surviving so long~ you see... It ignores those pesky things such as 'Damage Reduction' and 'Armor' and lets me just cause true damage to something! Not to mention the sword skills it grants!"
"Anywaaaays I've talked your ear off. Time to die! Maybe for taking down your guild Argo will give me a head pat! Oooh I so badly want another head pat from Mr. Argo~" The demon whines as Rosalia can only silently cry, her life flashing before her eyes.
*SWISH-SPRRT*
A head flies through the air before shattering like glass.
"Haaah..." The brown haired girl places her hands on her hips gazing down at the location Rosalia's body slowly fades from."
A screen pops up in front of her the words "ITEM GET!" On the top and listing the red-haired woman's entire inventory.
Silica is kind of lucky she's so high-leveled and a race that gives her a passive plus thirty to strength and vitality. After having the inventory of ten players dumped into her own she's started getting very encumbered.
With Rosalia's loot, that takes her movement speed down to fifty percent.
The girl quietly sorts through her inventory, a frown on her lips. "These items are... kind of bad..."
But what did she expect when hunting a group twenty levels below her?
The Cor each of them had was kind of nice, though.
She quietly summons a notebook and looks to the glowing green wisp of light that has appeared thanks to that weird pocket watch Argo gave her so long ago. "Welp! Let's get to it! The sooner I finish this, the sooner I start walking back to town! Rose...alia... time of death? Afternoon. Cause of death? Beheaded by Player Silica."
*Ping!*
"Fate Solved!"
Despite killing a green player, the diamond above Silica's head hasn't changed even the faintest hue.
The notebook closes with a thud that echoes through the forest as she turns and walks back the way she came. She still has nine fates to solve, after all!
[Split]
A purple haired girl lets out a long sigh as she sits on a rusted car.
"That's an awfully sad sigh, Nep Nep..." A pinkette with a massive syringe notes as they walk over.
"Oh... Hi Compy..." Neptune pouts.
"What's wrong, Nep Nep. I don't like you being sad... you're supposed to be the happy-go-lucky one."
The purple haired girl looks bashful for a brief moment before shaking her head, the quiet-ness is highly unusual for her. "It's just... we went through an entire chapter, got betrayed by some totally trustworthy guys. Fought a giant killachine robot. Then revealed to the players that I am- obviously- purple heart. I mean, they'd obviously figure that out with the prologue... But... the fox merchant hasn't come back yet, Compy! I thought his appearance was like- a once per chapter thing that derails the storyline in fun an interesting ways! Like a new game plus event! But he hasn't showed up in AGES!"
"Oh Nep Nep..." Compa sighs. "I can't believe you're having boy trouble."
"I knoooow! People ship me and the other CPUs all the time! But... that fox dude is just so... new! He took us to another game world, remember! Just think of all the fun stuff me and him could get up to!" The CPU whines. "And nothing against the gals, we've gotta have fan service and all, but... I kind of want the fox."
"Wait... Compy do you think if the girls find out about him they- they'd compete with me?! No! They- They can't!" She hops up from where she sat, looking panicked. "But- I need to meet him again! He said that I came in half-way through the story and- and that's just it! I'm just a side character to him! Not a real love interest! How are we going to download that really hot R-18 mod and have him put his data into my VMU if I can't see him again!"
"Nep Nep... you're kind of scaring me." Compa deadpans as the purple haired goddess paces back and forth.
She doesn't even acknowledge that statement. "He's married... but... hrm... a tube fox. It's less he's married and more they're two halves of one whole. He's loyal and kind... but he's also a harem protagonist in this bad harem probably fanfiction of a story... it'd have to be, right? I sincerely doubt that our rights have been sold to a hentai studio for an OVA. We're not THAT desperate."
"..."
"Could be a fan animation though... some of those are surprisingly well animated."
She lets out a sudden gasp. "COMPY! I've got it!"
"Nep nep... I feel like asking will give me a headache." The pink-haired nurse sighs.
"I-" Neptune begins as the nurse merely mutters an 'oh, you're telling me anyways'.
"I JUST NEED TO SEDUCE HIS WIFE!" The goddess booms. "Genius!"
A small child who was walking through the rubble of the factory the Killachine was unleashed on points up at the purple haired girl. "Mommy, what does seduce mean?"
A bland looking woman nudges the child away. "Come on Tommy, don't make eye contact with the weird girl."
[Split]
A man with black hair sits within a large Japanese pagoda-style building, crickets chirp in the distance, the faint sound of rushing water from bubbling streams reach his ears.
He has large purple splotches across his skin, his eyes pale, grey and empty, the sickness has already claimed his vision.
At his side a woman with white hair and purple eyes sits... his wife.
The man is Kagaya Ubuyashik, the current Oyakata of the Demon Slayer Corps... its leader.
And his past year has been... odd.
He is no stranger to those below him dying.
It pain his greatly... to have so many great men and women slain in their mission to safeguard humanity from the likes of Demons. It wanes on him, knowing each and every death is in... some part because of him... because they follow his dream to rid humanity of the creatures who slaughter in the night.
It hurts... to see so many people looking up to him for guidance... in reverance and respect... yet he is too weak to even pick up a sword.
He tried once when he was younger, back when he wasn't as badly afflicted by his family's illness, and yet... he grew out of breath from a brisk jog. Not to mention the stress total concentration breathing puts on the body.
But... for the first time in hundreds of years... something has gone in favor of the demon slayer corps... and said thing... had nothing to do with the corps itself.
Of the Demon Slayer corps, their strongest members are the Hashira. Each a master of the assorted breathing styles that was taught to them so long ago. Nobody knew where breathing styles came from... until recently, that is...
Now, it isn't uncommon for Hashira to be replaced. Unlike demons humans are far more fragile, even with the ability to push their bodies far beyond normal human limitations... a severed hand, a cut ligament, a cracked spine, even the loss of fingers can utterly ruin someone's fighting style...
But more often than not the Hashira simply die in the heat of battle.
Conversely demons... do not have that issue. They can regrow entire limbs it mere moments, do not fear blood loss and only have one sole weakness... the neck...
Of the demons who follow the Demon King, his 'Moons' are by far the worst.
His moons are divided into two equal parts... the upper moons, the strongest he has to offer, and the lower moons.
It is quite normal for a member of the Lower Moons to die out and be replaced by another demon...
But the upper moons?
The last time an upper moon was slain by human hands was two hundred and fifty years ago... he had someone check the corps' records.
Two hundred and fifty years... and in such a battle three of the four Hashira died shortly after the battle.
All of that... merely to slay the weakest of the upper moons, the upper moon rank sixth.
Now... another Upper Moon has been slain after so long... and not only that... the second ranked one.
Arguably the third strongest demon in this world has been killed... and it wasn't a Hashira who did it.
He has heard tale of a man with animal features wielding a blade that can kill demons as if they were still human. That saved the life of one of his own while striking down the ice manipulating demon with just two strikes.
He has heard further tale of this... being... saving the life of a girl who had recently turned into a demon and... turned the girl human once more. Which is when he made a discovery... the blade kills them like they were humans... because it turns them back into humans.
Such a weapon...
They need it.
For the first time since the demon slayer corps was created over a thousand years ago.
For the first time... there is a path to victory. A way to slay Muzan Kibutsuji.
The only issue is that there has been no way to contact this creature.
The man's thoughts briefly pause, the quiet signs of life that echo out in the darkness have fallen eerily silent.
He hears a quiet thud echo out on the tatami mat flooring, like a small animal leapt up onto it.
He turns in the dirrection of the sound as it pads closer... then stops.
"Oh... hello." He greets. "I don't believe I have ever caught your name... however I owe a great deal to you for what you have done."
"It is a pleasure to meet you... Kagaya Ubuyashiki... your reputation precedes you." A masculine voice echoes out and despite being blind, the man gets the faintest expression of the fox's grin growing wide.
[Split]
Here! Have a double upload! it's my birthday today so I thought I'd give a little gift to all of you because I had too many chapters in my queue. and certainly not because of the day or anything~