"Whoa!" Ibaraki and Wukong leapt out of the way evading the Fire Blight as it shot flames out of its mouth, it was a very large version of the creature but this one was blue and purple.
"Explain?!"
"This one is called a brood mother! It's eaten a lot more people than any other and thus it's much stronger and a lot more dangerous, if you see anything come out of its butt destroy it!"
"This is the grossest mission I've ever taken and I hate you for this!" The Brood Mother attacked and spewed blue flames at the duo. Ibaraki waved her arm in front of herself creating a barrier that she then jumped off of to create distance, she fired her arrows which bounced off the creature's body.222Please respect copyright.PENANAGrw6tPtOb7
"Right exoskeleton." She landed on a tree and infused some of her spirit with her arrows firing at the creature and chipping it's armor. The Brood Mother roared and began to rush the tree.
"Wooo!" Wukong slid underneath the Brood Mother and knocked it off its feet by sweeping its joints with his staff.222Please respect copyright.PENANAFEDuOJfVJX
"Whoa!" Wukong slid his staff underneath him and extended it, propelling himself upwards and avoiding a piercing foot from a Fire Blight. Its mouth burst open and went to catch Wukong but Ibaraki shot an arrow through its mouth causing it to screech and die. Wukong landed in a small pit with a swarm of Fire Blights which began to rush and attack him, he dodged, fought, and slayed the various Blights that rushed him. In the middle of the battle he snapped his staff in half, holding the two sections they would bend and extend into Tonfas with spikes on the front. Wukong grinned as more Blights rushed at him from various angles and he effortlessly used his Tonfas to fight them off, Ibaraki kept The Brood Mother distracted but she noticed glints of metal in the various blights, just then Wukong called out.
"Ibaraki! Watch this!" He swayed his head left and right creating clones from his hair that jumped around and attacked the various Blights, then he dropped down on one knee and stood up doing a pose.222Please respect copyright.PENANAP2XFiezrpl
"Kaboom!" He clicked his Tonfas with confusion, he then rapidly clicked them as The Blights rushed him before-
KABOOM!
Various large balls of fire erupted behind Wukong.222Please respect copyright.PENANAev6MM2Ozj8
"Whoops." Wukong leapt up, summoning more clones and swarming The Brood Mother attacking from all angles, The Brood Mother spit flames at the clones trying to destroy them. Ibaraki took this time to assess the creature, all bugs have been killed in similar ways in the wild, aiming for the joints. She took out her bow, ignited her hair, heated up the tips of her arrows, took aim, and fired.
SKREEE!
"Nice!" Wukong cheered when Ibaraki shot off one of its legs. He ran past and stuck blades into the various joints in the beast's body and then blew it up, jumping back and regrouping as they assessed The Brood Mother. Waiting. Watching. Its body crashed down and it began to flail around, igniting its body and spewing spores out which singed the ground in magma.
"Alright let's fi-oh no!" Ibaraki grabbed Wukong by the tail and threw him aside. The Brood Mother erupted into a full burst of flames, it screeched and erupted firing various fireballs all around, leaving them to watch it.222Please respect copyright.PENANARujyoUBIhe
"I know my fire and those are pretty damn hot...I guess we have to wait it out."
"We can't do that, it'll call more."
"No need to worry about that, we're in the thick of it, remember. All we've gotta do is just handle it here and now."
"Easy to say, never seen so many in a colony before. Must be mating season."
THWACK!
"Ow! Hey! Why'd you hit me?!"
"Because you have a knack for last second information." Ibaraki kept her eyes on The Brood Mother and shot at any Blights coming to its aid.222Please respect copyright.PENANAutoteJewr8
"So. What's the story huh?"
"Hm?"
"I mean like how you came to be a Fiend."
"Oh that's nothing too crazy. I was wandering around just trying to figure out my next mark, ran into a guy wandering with a pouch full of goodies so I politely asked him-"
"You tried to rob him?!"
"I TRIED to ask him to hand the stuff over, he refused, so I THEN tried to rob him. Which resulted in him kicking my ass and well yeah. Now I'm a fiend, I'm chilled out, less of a thief and working to take care of folks now."
"So someone kicked your ass and made you realize you weren't the biggest beast out there huh?"
"Basically yeah."
"Did you ever figure out the man's name?"
"Yeah his name was Ax-"
SSSSSSSSS. SHINKBOOM!!!
A crimson cross slammed into the back of The Brood Mother and erupted into a pillar of pure red energy causing an explosion that completely eviscerated The Brood Mother. Ibaraki summoned a net and fell against it with Wukong. Looking up they saw the visage of a person in the mist, a crunch was heard as he stomped The Brood Mother's head destroying it. In the mist Ibaraki began to panic, she grabbed Wukong and dipped down into a nearby hole, she was in a panic. She knew that person.
"Ibaraki? What's wrong??"
"Sun. Listen to me, we are not to engage him. That's not our ally, no regular demon, he's far worse." Wukong tilted his head and leaned out examining the person alongside Ibaraki. Looking at The Man they'd see him dusting off his top and shaking his head. As the dust settled the figure became more pronounced.
"The Realm Outside The Void, It's Been Far Far Too Long Since I've Last Been Here." Asmodeus groaned and began to stretch his muscles and examine the area.222Please respect copyright.PENANAi0aLvFPAAA
"What's This? I Could've Sworn There Were Life Signatures Around Here Moments Ago." A Fire Blight screeched leaping out and slashing Asmodeus's jacket, his gaze focused on the tear then the Blight.
"Sun No!" Wukong leapt out and kicked the blight aside, firing two shards into it and detonating it. Ibaraki ran out and constructed a solidified purple mask to hide her face.
"Hm? What’s with- uuuuuuh these Blights am I right?” Wukong played off Ibaraki’s mask looking at her and then towards Asmodeus.222Please respect copyright.PENANAVTiUeeEawh
“You okay?”
“Absolutely It’ll Heal. What Of You? I Hope I Didn’t Stress You Out… Wouldn’t Want Any Wrinkles On That Handsome Face Of Yours~” Asmodeus flirted with Sun who proudly looked at Ibaraki. She didn’t say a thing and Asmodeus looked around.222Please respect copyright.PENANAahGj1TUfPN
“I Wonder Where I Am Now… This Isn’t Where I Was Last.”
“Where ya came from bro? I could give ya some directions if ya need em.” Sun offered as he got closer to Asmodeus examining him.
“Directions Hmmm? A Strapping Man Helping Me Out This Must Be A Dream. Well Last I Checked I Was In Ōkoku Was It?”
“Oooooh then you’ve made a journey to the west, it's pretty far from here man, if ya keep going that way you can head back but I wouldn’t recommend it. Some pretty bad demons are that way.” Asmodeus examined the direction Wukong pointed him in and gave a smile.
“I See What You Mean But I’ll Have To Make The Trek Regardless… I Have Family That Way. Thank You Very Much.” Asmodeus took a deep breath and began to walk away waving goodbye to the two without much incident. Leaving Wukong and Ibaraki to hurry back to the village.
“Ibaraki slow down!”
“No why! We’ve gotta- UWAH!” Ibaraki shrieked and swung behind her, just barely missing Sun. He would grab a branch and stop her holding her off the branch with his tail before pulling her up into the trees and gently setting her down.
“Look. I don’t know who that guy is but I know one thing. My intuition is good and he is definitely going west. We have no one stationed that way, especially not Xenthos or Utsukushī. So lets just relax alright, we make a hammock up here, camp out and head back in the morning. We’ll tell our findings then.”
“Sun, we need to go now.” Ibaraki was very serious but Sun refused.
“Look. It’s late, okay? You’ve gotta relax. I know you’re really scared of that guy for whatever reason but you’ve gotta be a bit patient about this. If we die out here no one will ever know what we need to say. Remember we’re surrounded by Miasma and the waves from the moonlight reflect Miasma pockets more which make the demons stronger, you’re clearly not well accustomed to how things work around here and I’m not gonna let a lovely lady in my care get killed.” Sun would place a hand on Ibaraki’s shoulder as he talked her down. She was breathing heavily but slowly started to calm down.222Please respect copyright.PENANA0UXm6hRBVZ
“Okay?”
“Ok-Okay alright Sun… Plus I’d feel really bad if I just left ya here to go tell everyone.”
“And I’d be very worried if ya did. Now you stay up here and watch me.” Sun began to swing around through the trees snatching branches, twigs, vines and as many leaves as possible. He gave Ibaraki the occasional laugh when a branch or two would fall down and smack an imp on the head causing them to look up in confusion and then angrily fight each other. Sung kept swinging around and began to tie branches together and with Ibaraki’s magic she constructed some pretty sturdy branches and soon two hammocks were made spaced out with hers being higher than his own.
“Explain.”
“What? It's just so you’ve got a better vantage point, you can see more, and in case anything climbs it’ll nab me before you and well since you’re so experienced you’ll wake up and then blam pow pshew pshew-” Sun continued rambling on and Ibaraki giggled patting him on the head. She climbed up to her hammock and laid down on it.
“Goodnight Sun.”
“Rest up well Ibaraki.” Sun laid down on his hammock and then felt something hit his face. He jumped for a second only to notice it was a blanket. He looked up and smiled at her before covering himself up and falling asleep for the night.
ns 172.70.179.107da2