"I like men like I like chickens, alive and dead, I like them all." - Lin Si, 3, to mom in the yard
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4 hours of heavy galloping, she sent her qi into its body to make it last longer, but the gelding was so spent, it ended up stumbling by the time she drew near the demonic city, hidden in a volcano-like crater rising up before her. Li Junlong had put his dwelling just downstream to it, in Qing'an as a warning.
She got off, leaving the chestnut with a farmer who dared to live nearby under indentured servitude of the demonic city, telling him to care for it well, and handing him some silver. Then, she sprinted up the volcano. The volcano was a dead one, no longer active. But she had heard no tales of it ever erupting. Sometimes she wondered if the Jin river, which was born at its base from an underground spring, could really be produced by a creator of magma.
The top of its ridges was a tall wall, and inside, instead of the usual greenery of a long-dead volcano, she knew would be the steady block-like buildings, several stories with sharp spires, typical of the demonic cult.
She placed the mask over her face, having tied her breasts tight to her chest before leaving, her outfit had natural shoulder caps, and she walked with broad strides. The mask was crafted messily, with scraps of cloth, layered on each other, sewn into a wooden frame. It was uncomfortable to most, but she paid it no mind.
As her form came into view of the demonic cult, men called out from the wall, one even jumping down to greet her.
The man with long, silk-like hair bowed in front of her. "Tattered demon," -the demonic cult had always called her as one of their own- "What brings you here? Word has been sent of your arrival to greet you more properly." He looked to be of a captain's rank, easily gaining access to the demon lord's chambers. "Do you wish to join us at last?"
She didn't speak, but strode past him, completely ignoring him, she reached the wall, then, her legs bent slightly, qi flew through her body. She shifted out her blade, shoveling a small bit of dirt and casting a wave of dust several meters into the air, then, to everyone's surprise, she leapt upwards. He instantly recognized it. The tattered demon's signature move: "Dust step!" The captain called out, panicking. "Emergecy! Light the flairs! The tattered ghost is invading!"
They would never trade for the lihuo flower, if she met with them she would only get trapped in the midst of their forces. She had no need for pretenses or lies anymore. She just needed to save him. To save that smile, to quell the rage, threatening to burst out from inside her. Rage at the Xu clan, rage at her own family for being fence sitters, rage at herself for not speaking a word earlier, rage at not the man who poisoned Xiao Li, but herself for failing to notice it. No, she leapt onto the wall, looking over the hidden city, shaking her head, she wouldn't succumb to it. Crowds of enemies revealed themselves, entering out from the tall, spired buildings, on the infamous Obsidian road, crafted long ago from the time when the demons had arisen for a second time, the lord of the demons, one of the ancients, using her martial arts to control the miasma, crafting a magnificent road leading all the way to the palace she was to build atop her mighty obsidian throne, on which she had arrogantly sat and declared war on the entire World.
No. She would be a little angry.
How dare they. How dare they all. He was just a little innocent sick boy, how dare they do this to him??? Why did everybody have to be so greedy in this world? This includes you Junlong! You could've gotten this flower long ago, all you had to do was sacrifice something you weren't willing to.
Foolishness. Obstinance. Debauchery. Pride. Greed. The list goes on. Why did mankind have to feel such things? These useless things? Anger? Yes. Tonight. Tonight she would be angry. Only tonight.
But as her dust coated sandals stepped onto the black, glass-like road, a man stepped out from the crowds of demons to stand before her. Cloaked in black with red lining, a red aura burned off of him, his rich black hair, thick with curls spread over his shoulders.
"It seems the White Hare is out." She commented. Although most knew him as second strongest, truly, he was the strongest of the demonic cult, one of the ancients, already in the middle realm of grandmaster. However, he normally kept a low profile, and hadn't gotten involved in most of the demonic attacks due to extenuating circumstances.
The demon lord grinned at her. He was missing one front tooth, on the top, to the side of the buckteeth. He didn't bother to replace it. "And what causes his esteemed lordship, the tattered demon, to invade my palace?"
Her face didn't change behind the mask, her blade also didn't move, she just spoke. "I am here for the lihuo flower, that last remaining one in your possession. Hand it over, and no one will die."
He laughed, cackling so hard, everyone in the vicinity could hear it. "You, you want to grab our greatest treasure? And what makes you think I'll hand it over?"
She simply lifted her sheathed blade, pointing it at him. "Hand the lihuo flower over, or you and your tower will crumble to the ground tonight, your streets," she swept her blade across the obsidian ground, "Will run red with blood."
Demons began to howl excitedly a little from her provocation, even more leaving the shade of their homes and caves built in the crater, she was completely surrounded, each moment, more appeared, each moment, the crowd around her became tighter. But she didn't show a hint of fear. Her posture, solemn and upright.
What was there to fear? Her greatest fear was losing that young man in bed, and it would happen no matter what, unless she got the lihuo flower. She took a step forward. A demonic disciple leapt towards her, red aura emanate from him, his broad blade easily twice her height, she simply lifted up her blade, let it cave itself into her wooden sheath, and thrusting her hand forward, left the sheath there, to draw the blade, her step was hindered as her blade flitted up to meet his throat, gayly, sliding around the large blade, passing lightly over his jugular and he tumbled downward, blood pumping out faster than he could catch. Her steps didn't stop as the man, more than twice her height toppled to the ground behind her, dead. Undaunted in the slightest. Three more leapt at her, each, their weapons coated in flames, her blade rose up to meet them, without even a glance to either side to examine the three energies that appeared, her blade seemed to move, so quickly and enigmatically, the movement couldn't be tracked, waves of invisible power swept out, the air barely bending with it, as the men, one by one, fell to the ground, the fire from their weapons rippling across the ground around her as they fell from their hands, her clothing brushed over the flames as she continued to stride forward. Untouchable.
"It seems, we can't hold back this time." The demon lord was no longer smiling, and drew two giant great swords from his back, one black, the other red. "It seems, I'll need to get rather serious tonight."
He had heard of him. The tattered demon. Feared by even the ancients, an existence that threatened all existence. An existence that removed any thoughts one had for immortality. The lover of waste and bane of immortality. These nicknames were common in the south. Yet never before had he thought he would be this strong. Currently battling with 7 of his strongest captains, she somehow held her own. A couple blades made it past her defense, but they only left surface wounds as she fought, unflinching, posture as upright and untroubled as before. Meanwhile, her feet had not stopped as they forced their way farther down the obsidian road.
She, herself, felt blood fill her nostrils, her feet sloshed on wet ground with each step, thick wetness, blood, soaking into her sandals and over her feet. Her rags that she wore began to fill and then drip with blood from each of their worn patches and edges. She stopped trying to figure out if it was hers or theirs. She just kept moving forward. Unstoppable.
Keep moving forward, don't stop, if you stop, he'll die. You must reach the tower. The tower, the bottom of the tower held the treasure of the demonic city, and in it was the lihuo flower, however, she had heard it went 9 floors down, each floor harder to breach than the last.
Faces, red aura, blood splatting, all intertwined in one, her blade never hesitated, never stopped, slicing through the fury around her as if they were not steel or flesh, but merely the same as the wind and light sprinkling rain that coated the air.
Finally, her blade in her left hand was suddenly caught, slamming to a dead halt from something inseverable, she gazed into the vibrant, red-leaking eyes, a man, far broader and taller than her, whipped his dual broad blades forward wielding them so lightly, it was hard to imagine they weighed as much a her. The other demons backed off, to protect themselves, only a couple sent shots of arrows, bullets, darts, shurikens or dirks.
Otherwise, the battle had devolved to just him and her, no one able to approach, as two great powers rose up against one another. It was said that Li Junlong had beat off this great demon with ease. But the story was far more complicated. The truth was, before he joined the war to face off with the demon lord, the Black Jaguar had appeared, as the blood sister of White Hare, she fought both grandmaster demons, injuring them both in exchange for her own life, the White Hare had such terrible injuries, he had fled south to avoid other enemies from the north, hence how the demon lord took power to complete the invasion, it was then that Jingsheng had appeared to drive them away. No one knew how powerful White Hare and the demon lord really were, even with a couple injuries on the demon lord, the fight between him and Li Junlong had been close, and he had still escaped from Jingsheng's grasp in the end. But Lin Si couldn't be bothered to care.
She didn't care if she couldn't beat him, at this point, she just had to get through him. She fought, no regard for her own life. Blade to blade, steel to steel, their teeth glinting back at the crescent moon. And although clouds gathering it the dark night, the lighting that struck down around from the heavens, lit up the grand battle for all to see. Each strike of light, their positions were vastly different, from her on top, to flying beneath his feet, to swinging her blade at his side, to him responding with a brilliant twirl of his blades, dancing to a blood-lusting melody that only they two could hear as they cut straight toward her neck. Her body barely maneuvered out of the way, the cut still landing true, as blood flowed over her collar, she gave it no heed, using the momentum of the dodge, to draw nearer to him, her blade flew upwards, white as sleet, it cut like a razor, his left hand was forced to drop the black blade. The right hand rose to defend, but she pressed the offense, there was no backing down in this fight. A fight to the death, a fight to end any further fights, a fight faithful to what the blade was crafted for, a fight, like a glorious serenade to a killer repertoire.
Her retreat was blocked by several demons, her front blocked by just one. She had no fear in her eyes of death or failure, they were inconsequential to her. The only thing in her eyes was a straight path. A path that the road before her led her toward.
The thunder overhead let out a mighty roar, as she raced forward, her blade mercilessly cutting forward as it forced him aside, his right arm still limp, as a cut to his knee appeared so deep he fell down on the other.
"After him!" He cried, larger water drops fell on the bloody street, as the sprinkle began to relent to a greater rainfall. "Kill him no matter the cost!" His blurry eyes could barely make out the image. The image of one man, blood, figures of his soldiers falling to pieces around him, everything close, getting swallowed in death's embrace, with every clever strike of that blade. From where he walked, the black street began to change in color, true to his words, the obsidian road now ran with red blood, each step forward, the redder the street became, rushing past him, mixing with rainfall, demons falling before the demon lord's eyes. It was…horrifying.