Glendios
Wow, nearly a week since I uploaded a chapter. huh...
Honestly, this was supposed to be done by like, three to two days ago but then I just kept reading other fics, rewatching some shows, and playing some games. oh well! here's the newest chapter. Though I felt it is a bit of a mess?
I have no other way to say this, but frankly, the memories I had just gotten shoved into my mind by my alter ego? These were baffling, strange, and confusing at the same time.
It was honestly a bit disorienting, especially since I could apparently know and understand just what my Narcissism felt and did. I was literally experiencing what she experienced as well.
I felt as if every part of her reasoning, attitude, and her very being was open to me to look at and inspect, with practically nothing hidden, even as I then reacted to what she did in said memories.
"So you truly don't want to harm Wu-chan, but just to tease her mercilessly, huh..." I was genuinely relieved at that, even as a part of what I saw and heard, what I literally experienced, concerned and irked me.
Surprisingly, it wasn't the part where she was basically making a bazillion clones of the plant beasts I could reproduce and unleashing a so-called hungry and predatory hell on Xie Xiu and Xie Yao, nor was it the fact that she unleashed the aphrodisiac nectars all around to amuse herself and to make the job of killing the Xie clan members easier.
These parts, I found myself surprisingly agreeing with these actions, and even liked her doing them, even when I looked at the memories from my own perspective. If anything, I felt pleased that Jiko Ai murdered and feasted on that son of bitch, Xie Yao; that guy deserved every second of pain he experienced, and the fact that my Narcissism killed him without giving him the dignity of having his final attack hit my body. And I also didn't give a damn about Jiko Ai killing and feasting on the corpses of the Xie clan elders' beasts, since that was honestly fascinating and strangely enough I found it adorable.
No, the most disturbing thing I found was the fact that she activated her aphrodisiac nectar with Wu-chan being so close to her. To say that I wasn't thrilled by that would be an understatement. I was not amused in the slightest, and it's only due to the fact that I could clearly see that my alter ego was being extremely careful not to accidentally rip off the vine that was giving Wu-chan the antidote lest my beloved starts losing her mind.
At least, Jiko Ai's opinion on how she was so extremely selfish that she rejected the idea of either her (and thus me) or Wu-chan dying for the sake of the other.
To live for the sake of each other, to the point of rejecting the mere idea that there could be a situation where one might have to die to save the other. That was one hell of a selfish, extremely narcissistic, and idealistic mindset that it went back to being bold and selfless. Thinking about it, I like that concept, and I fully agree with it.
But, another thing that made me anxious is how Jiko Ai blatantly made it clear that I would have to talk to Wu-chan about me being reincarnated. I... I didn't know what to think of that. Nor was I happy about the fact that I would have to share Mei Wu with my Narcissism, even if said alter ego was literally a part of me. Maybe had I known or noticed Jiko Ai sooner, or if I had more time before this development, I would have been more accepting (after a long, long talk with her), but now, I was far from amused by this.
Even with her being my alter ego, I wasn't very thrilled of sharing my beloved, and I was honestly a bit pissed that Wu-chan agreed to it, even though I can understand why she accepted, no doubt Wu-chan wants to at least try to accept every part of me, even if said part was a sentient split personality.
"I will so have a talk with both my Narcissism and my love about this later..." I told myself, scowling now that I was certain that Jiko Ai wasn't a threat to Wu-chan and I had way less reasons to be afraid for both my and her lives and minds, seeing that my Narcissism was acting rather reasonable.
Still, since I could feel in my very being that the memories and emotions of Jiko Ai were completely authentic and not fake at all, I decided to let her take over for the moment and finish Xie Xiu. I'm still not allowed to leave my soulscape at the moment, and she was clearly focusing on hunting the elder, from the strange emotion of sadistic glee mixed with seriousness that I could feel. Thus, instead of talking to her, and possibly distracting her, I decided to inspect Jiko Ai's area in my, or should I say our shared soulscape. And so, I looked around to see what her area looked like, and it was...
'... Okay, that really fits a hungry predator, alright...' I could only think with deadpan. Why and how is this place filled to the brim with thorny flowers and alraune seedlings?
-----
"Ai'er is currently in her soulscape and is inspecting your newly made area while checking the memories you gave her?" Mei Wu asked the Narcissism who had just told her what happened, even as they were about to reach Xie Xiu who had just started fighting against Jiko Ai's clone.
Mei Wu already felt how Kasumi Ai had suddenly started waking up and trying to take control of her body, and was shut down by the alter ego. The sheer rage and desperation she felt emanating from the consciousness of her lover was truly terrifying, and she was certain that had Jiko Ai not been as attentive, Kasumi Ai would have succeeded in taking control.
"Yes, that's how it is. She really surprised me, that woman..." the Narcissism responded, a bit irritated even as she kept rushing towards Xie Xiu who was only a dozen seconds away from the alraune and the human woman, the Queen Bee following them almost silently.
It wasn't that Jiko Ai was against giving Kasumi Ai her body, just not right now though, when the Narcissism was the more experienced one in using all the skills that an alraune has, at the moment. Not to mention the fact that Mei Wu wasn't certain if her beloved could stop the aphrodisiac nectars just as easily and instinctually Jiko Ai was doing.
"Let's just kill the other elder and be done with it please." Mei Wu almost sighed, shaking her head. "Just throw another electric beam at her Camouflage Chameleon and finish this whole battle. I feel that this fight dragged for way too long for some reason."
"Actually, I agree?" Jiko Ai responded, though she wasn't certain why she was agreeing with Mei Wu, "I feel like we've been fighting with these two for weeks for some reason even though only an hour or so had passed...? Okay, I'll just shoot them then."
With that, Jiko Ai started amassing sunlight once more to finally put an end to the fight, Mei Wu already summoning her beast, the Impurity Eater once more and preparing to unleash the Apoptosis and the Tumor Mandala just in case.
Ahead of them, Xie Xiu was already fighting against the alraune that captured the four disciples (and killed one of them while she threw the other far away), and she wasn't having a good time.
Xie Xiu had to be extra careful when it came to the vines and nectar blasts that the alraune was unleashing against her and her chameleon. Unsurprisingly, the damage she and her beast received severely hampered their abilities.
'Damn it! Just how perceptive are these blasted plant beasts?!' she ranted to herself avoiding another thick branch that would have hit her chameleon in one of its open wounds.
Her first attempt to mercy-kill Xie Zu had ended in failure as the alraune clone willingly threw the woman far away. Had Xie Xiu been faster by even a single second, she would have succeeded in sparing the [Apprentice] from further suffering, but tragically, it seemed that fate wanted to torment her and her clan so badly!
After her attempt to kill Xie Zu, it became clear that the inferior clone of the Gold-ranked alraune, realizing the elder's goal, decided to just be a most irritating enemy instead of attempting to kill Xie Xiu.
No- To be more precise, the silver-ranked clone wanted to kill the Camouflage Chameleon before focusing on the elder. The plant beast clearly desired to feast on Xie Xiu's chameleon before dealing with the elder personally.
Normally, Xie Xiu could have easily escaped, and with the speed of the silver-ranked alraune against the elder's larger speed along with the Camouflage Chameleon that was capable of running rather fast for its level and rank, she would have been able to avoid the alraune's attacks and go to give her disciples the mercy they so deserved.
Unfortunately, the injuries she and her beast sustained, and the energy they spent before, combined with the incessant aphrodisiacs in the air turned what could have been a relatively simple endeavor into a herculean task.
Xie Xiu couldn't even fight properly. Not right now when she was so damn exhausted, and the scent of the lust and pheromones was quickly driving her insane.
'I can't even stop my heart right now to focus properly on the fight without worrying about the aphrodisiac... If I tried to focus on anything more than the alraune in front of me, I would drop dead right then and there. Even stopping my own heart and bodily functions could kill me right away at my current state.' she gritted her teeth, barely managing to move back to avoid a wave of toxic pollen unleashed at her.
Honestly, she was doing far than she could reasonably handle at her current state. A part of her was whispering that she did as much as she could and that she should just stop, but a much stronger part wanted her to die defying the enemy, no matter how futile it was.
That no matter how fragile one is, and how weak and vulnerable they are, it is their determination and desire to die spitting on the enemy's face, no matter how useless in the end, is what makes one a human.
Needless to say, Xie Xiu decided to follow said opinion, even as she sensed that Mei Wu, the Queen Bee and Jiko Ai were so close they would reach the area in mere ten seconds.
Taking a long breath, she and the Camouflage Chameleon decided to gamble it all. "This is our final attempt. Let's do our best to make it count!" with that, she blasted off towards the silver-ranked alraune to at least kill the two disciples still kissing and groping each other under the effects of the alraune, no care about anything in the world even as their elder was fighting for her life not even ten meters away.
'Truly, how terrifying can alraunes be? No wonder why it was highly advised not to enter the den of the alraunes the Tong Tian Tower's sixth floor. Their aphrodisiacs and poisons are truly horrifyingly potent...' Xie Xiu grimaced, looking at the two disciples' sorry states as the two lovers ignored everything that wasn't their own bodies and the ever-consuming lust swallowing their minds.
The chameleon did its best to ignore as flesh separated from the bone and blood leaked from its leg as sharp icicles pierced it, following its master with a loyalty that many rankers would be jealous that their beasts didn't possess, and completely ignoring any attempt to defend as the sheer desire to please Xie Xiu drove it to unleash more power than it should have in its current situation.
"Ah?" The silver-ranked alraune, one of the many inferior clones that Jiko Ai created, was confused and a bit surprised at the sheer speed the Camouflage Chameleon moved, finding itself tackled by the beast, not having any time to be alarmed before Xie Xiu brutally attacked the confused alraune.
"Haaa!" Xie Xiu quickly used her legs to violently break the alraune's neck with a precise and brutal swipe, and to literally separate the head from the shoulders. It was only possible due to how the alraune was so shocked by the attack, and Xie Xiu's attack filled with her desperation.
"Die!" the elder roared as the chameleon used the chance to bite on the alraune's monstrous lower body, now that the silver-ranked alraune was stunned and paralyzed, her head being separated from the remaining parts of her body.
The sound of something being bitten and crunched echoed, the alraune, a clone made by Jiko Ai, finally died.
Xie Xiu nearly fell on the ground, her body feeling so exhausted and spent. The elder barely managed to keep herself conscious, her beast wobbling from the effort used and the mortal injuries it sustained.
'I must not fall right now. If I did so, I would probably be unable to stand up anymore...' she gritted her teeth and walked towards the two disciples who were still having sex, not even noticing the death of the silver-ranked alraune yet.
Even with the alraune's death, the scent of the aphrodisiacs would still linger for a while, and the healing and aphrodisiac nectars would still remain in their bodies for a few minutes at least.
'With this, all what remains for me to do is to kill them.' her legs nearly stumbled as she kept going closer. She certainly knew that wasting even one more second than necessary would result in the Queen Bee and the other two, along with their armies to reach her.
She had long accepted her fate, but she refused to let the two disciples to lose anymore than they already did. At the very least, if the two died now, they would die in bliss as they were right now. In a way, this death was better than dying in agony, so Xie Xiu thought.
With only her desperation allowing her to move, she managed to kill the two disciples, piercing their hearts with her hands, and snapping their necks for a good measure, the two dying without even realizing a thing right before three beams of hyper condensed electricity hit the Camouflage Chameleon's head, killing it, along with piercing Xie Xiu's legs.
"Ghk!" spitting blood, Xie Xiu fell down on her knees as she gasped from the agony of losing the last of her beasts to the alraune. Surprisingly, she was still alive despite the electric shock running through her.
'This is the end of me, huh. It seems like I would see you soon, old geezer.' she found herself thinking even as she fell on the ground, her eyes still open.
'I wonder what Xie Tao would do now with both of us dead...' she thought about the clan master. She knew for certain that he would try to attack the forest a few weeks later, when she and Xie Yao failed to return then. She barely managed to see the corpse of the Camouflage Chameleon being pushed back, before something pierced her heart, and then darkness was all what she knew.
'Ah, a shame that I couldn't spare that other woman a most horrible fate...' with such thoughts, Xie Xiu finally died, her eyes closing, never opening again.
"What her last thoughts were before death, I wonder..."
Mei Wu looked at Jiko Ai who seemed rather... not melancholic, but a bit sad, though mostly curious. "Despite being Ai'er's instincts, you surprisingly care about the enemy's last moments, huh."
The pink-haired woman didn't really expect Jiko Ai to be so curious about an enemy's final moments in life. She certainly wasn't interested in that, frankly.
Mei Wu admitted to herself that while she didn't personally hate Xie Xiu and Xie Yao, she didn't also care about them anymore than one does to an obstacle and a dangerous enemy. In the end, the two elders did their jobs, and died doing their best, something she could appreciate regardless, though she was certain that the only reason she could do so is the fact that Kasumi Ai was still alive.
If Kasumi Ai died instead of staying alive, Mei Wu was certain that she wouldn't even think of the two dead elders as more as trash that should be eradicated, completely ignoring any positive trait they had, or even twisting them to make the two elders look as nasty as her mind could make them seem to be.
It was an odd way of how people think, but that was how it was.
"If they acted so arrogantly, spouting death threats and acting like a bunch of edgelords while threatening to torture and rape us, I wouldn't give a damn. But, from a beast that only wanted to fight for what it believed to be fair and just to another beast, I guess I liked them a bit. A bunch of preys they were, but a proud and commendable ones. For that, they have my respect." the Narcissism answered even as spores materialized to feast on the corpses.
"That's a rather... interesting viewpoint. Though I find it a bit odd that you think that way towards them, seeing that they had, you know, nearly killed Ai'er and you?" Mei Wu admitted, feeling the sheer honestly in Jiko Ai's tone.
"They're better than Xie Li at least?"
Wow, the bar for what Jiko Ai supposedly deems to be a respectable enemy was set so low...
'How amusing. Can you now finish capturing the other woman that is attempting to escape, or should I have my Protector Bees sting her to death?' the Queen Bee asked them dryly, reminding the two that Xie Zu was still alive and trying to run away from the forest.
"Oh..." Jiko Ai spoke, blinking, "I almost forgot about her. I will bring one of my clones to capture her. Wu-chan, can you please tell Ai-chan to keep her alive~? I'd like to enjoy her a bit more before ripping her apart and melting her within my stomach~! Hell, I will use a clone to do the job instead of my and Ai-chan's pure and sweet body~!" she pleaded, her hands clasped together as the alraune almost pouted.
Mei Wu only looked at the alraune, crossing her arms to show how unamused she was. Whether it was because of the subject or the discussion it would create with Kasumi Ai later wasn't clear. It didn't help that she could sense her beloved was paying attention and was equally unamused.
Meanwhile the Queen Bee shook her head, clearly not amused though not really angry either. Just honestly disappointed. Why did these two have to be so damn confusing?
"I'd rather not. Do it yourself." Mei Wu answered in the end, pointing a finger at the Narcissism, "Also, I'm pretty sure Ai'er won't like it anyways. At least I think so? At least maybe not right now... I guess?"
Yeah, no matter the discussion, Mei Wu just couldn't see how her lover would casually torture someone like that... actually, sexually torture one like that. Yeah, big difference. Because Mei Wu won't give a damn if her lover wanted to mutilate some poor asshole and keep healing him just to repeat the process. She just won't like it if it was sexual and was happening in front of her.
Humans, demons, and many other races, if not all of them, with very few exceptions, were like that. Murdering and skinning people alive is a-okay, as long as a person doesn't attempt to force themselves on a fragile maiden, and as long as such things don't happen to them. Yeah, that's a big point too.
Jiko Ai only pouted harder, and Mei Wu could feel as if her lover was raising an eyebrow even inside her soulscape, and probably feeling irked.
"I'll try my best." came the pink-haired woman's unenthusiastic answer, bordering on apathy really.
"Well, I tried." Jiko Ai sighed, feeling a bit disappointed that her Wu-chan didn't promise to do her best, instead of promising to try to do her best. "So, with that out of the way, at the moment, I have a question dear boss."
Jiko Ai turned to focus on the Queen Bee that looked like she wanted this to be over and return to her chamber for the moment, and looked at the giant bee with a rather serious expression, as if it was something so grave and important.
And thus, with a voice so serious it felt as if whatever she was about to say would be more important than a discussion about the political state of the Da Xia Kingdom and the danger of a random Innate just blowing it up for the heck of it, she started speaking, pointing at the still-warm corpses of Xie Xiu and her Camouflage Chameleon.
"Since we made a deal of you taking half of their corpses, we need to decide whether we should slice them diagonally, horizontally or vertically~!"
'I choose you pack them up before I stab you. Damn, the longest morning of my life. Didn't even need to wake up for this...' the Queen Bee could only demand before promptly flying away, not even looking back.
"..."
"..."
"... So, we just capture that lady that is most definitely surrounded by our dear boss' army then go to the hive with the corpses to talk and discuss everything that happened in thse longass few hours?" Jiko Ai asked as the silence seemed to stretch forever from the awkwardness.
'Yeah, do that.' Kasumi Ai mentally spoke to her alter ego, feeling rather dizzy and just baffled by what happened in the last five minutes.
"I don't know what Ai'er had said, but her emotions are clearly screaming 'Hell yes!' so yeah." Mei Wu only retorted. "Also, can you now turn off the aphrodisiac pool now? The scent is still everywhere, even if I'm not affected by it because of these vines..."
"Fine, fine." Jiko Ai only waved her hand dismissively, rendering the aphrodisiac nectar inert. "And thus ends our epic battle against the mean yet honorable elders and their rather useless disciples. Truly, a most heaven-blessed encounter for our favour. You might have even increased your Grimoire's rank or your summoner rank or something. We kinda fought a hard battle, until I decided to pull all the stops, at least."
"Wait what? Oh fuck! I completely forgot about that!" Mei Wu immediately decided to summon her Grimoire to see if something changed, but sadly, Jiko Ai had already started moving to catch the remaining survivor of the Xie clan's annihilation battle, dragging a frantic Mei Wu who lost her concentration due to the sudden movement.
"Jiko Ai!"
"Oh, I love my new life." giggling and ignoring Mei Wu's frantic shriek and the yell of irritation of Kasumi Ai, the Narcissism moved to do what she 'needed' to do.
And thus, the first real battle Mei Wu had with one as strong as an elder had ended, with the emergence of a split persona in her lover's body, watching a horror show of predatory hungry plants eating everything in their path, and most likely a list of long discussions that would most definitely be talked about.
'If Ai'er doesn't explain half the things Jiko Ai made me think about, I will so be irritated!' the pink-haired woman thought. This long day and coming night would probably feel even longer, she can just feel it.
Glendios
Wow, nearly a week since I uploaded a chapter. huh...
Honestly, this was supposed to be done by like, three to two days ago but then I just kept reading other fics, rewatching some shows, and playing some games. oh well! here's the newest chapter. Though I felt it is a bit of a mess?
I have no other way to say this, but frankly, the memories I had just gotten shoved into my mind by my alter ego? These were baffling, strange, and confusing at the same time.
It was honestly a bit disorienting, especially since I could apparently know and understand just what my Narcissism felt and did. I was literally experiencing what she experienced as well.
I felt as if every part of her reasoning, attitude, and her very being was open to me to look at and inspect, with practically nothing hidden, even as I then reacted to what she did in said memories.
"So you truly don't want to harm Wu-chan, but just to tease her mercilessly, huh..." I was genuinely relieved at that, even as a part of what I saw and heard, what I literally experienced, concerned and irked me.
Surprisingly, it wasn't the part where she was basically making a bazillion clones of the plant beasts I could reproduce and unleashing a so-called hungry and predatory hell on Xie Xiu and Xie Yao, nor was it the fact that she unleashed the aphrodisiac nectars all around to amuse herself and to make the job of killing the Xie clan members easier.
These parts, I found myself surprisingly agreeing with these actions, and even liked her doing them, even when I looked at the memories from my own perspective. If anything, I felt pleased that Jiko Ai murdered and feasted on that son of bitch, Xie Yao; that guy deserved every second of pain he experienced, and the fact that my Narcissism killed him without giving him the dignity of having his final attack hit my body. And I also didn't give a damn about Jiko Ai killing and feasting on the corpses of the Xie clan elders' beasts, since that was honestly fascinating and strangely enough I found it adorable.
No, the most disturbing thing I found was the fact that she activated her aphrodisiac nectar with Wu-chan being so close to her. To say that I wasn't thrilled by that would be an understatement. I was not amused in the slightest, and it's only due to the fact that I could clearly see that my alter ego was being extremely careful not to accidentally rip off the vine that was giving Wu-chan the antidote lest my beloved starts losing her mind.
At least, Jiko Ai's opinion on how she was so extremely selfish that she rejected the idea of either her (and thus me) or Wu-chan dying for the sake of the other.
To live for the sake of each other, to the point of rejecting the mere idea that there could be a situation where one might have to die to save the other. That was one hell of a selfish, extremely narcissistic, and idealistic mindset that it went back to being bold and selfless. Thinking about it, I like that concept, and I fully agree with it.
But, another thing that made me anxious is how Jiko Ai blatantly made it clear that I would have to talk to Wu-chan about me being reincarnated. I... I didn't know what to think of that. Nor was I happy about the fact that I would have to share Mei Wu with my Narcissism, even if said alter ego was literally a part of me. Maybe had I known or noticed Jiko Ai sooner, or if I had more time before this development, I would have been more accepting (after a long, long talk with her), but now, I was far from amused by this.
Even with her being my alter ego, I wasn't very thrilled of sharing my beloved, and I was honestly a bit pissed that Wu-chan agreed to it, even though I can understand why she accepted, no doubt Wu-chan wants to at least try to accept every part of me, even if said part was a sentient split personality.
"I will so have a talk with both my Narcissism and my love about this later..." I told myself, scowling now that I was certain that Jiko Ai wasn't a threat to Wu-chan and I had way less reasons to be afraid for both my and her lives and minds, seeing that my Narcissism was acting rather reasonable.
Still, since I could feel in my very being that the memories and emotions of Jiko Ai were completely authentic and not fake at all, I decided to let her take over for the moment and finish Xie Xiu. I'm still not allowed to leave my soulscape at the moment, and she was clearly focusing on hunting the elder, from the strange emotion of sadistic glee mixed with seriousness that I could feel. Thus, instead of talking to her, and possibly distracting her, I decided to inspect Jiko Ai's area in my, or should I say our shared soulscape. And so, I looked around to see what her area looked like, and it was...
'... Okay, that really fits a hungry predator, alright...' I could only think with deadpan. Why and how is this place filled to the brim with thorny flowers and alraune seedlings?
-----
"Ai'er is currently in her soulscape and is inspecting your newly made area while checking the memories you gave her?" Mei Wu asked the Narcissism who had just told her what happened, even as they were about to reach Xie Xiu who had just started fighting against Jiko Ai's clone.
Mei Wu already felt how Kasumi Ai had suddenly started waking up and trying to take control of her body, and was shut down by the alter ego. The sheer rage and desperation she felt emanating from the consciousness of her lover was truly terrifying, and she was certain that had Jiko Ai not been as attentive, Kasumi Ai would have succeeded in taking control.
"Yes, that's how it is. She really surprised me, that woman..." the Narcissism responded, a bit irritated even as she kept rushing towards Xie Xiu who was only a dozen seconds away from the alraune and the human woman, the Queen Bee following them almost silently.
It wasn't that Jiko Ai was against giving Kasumi Ai her body, just not right now though, when the Narcissism was the more experienced one in using all the skills that an alraune has, at the moment. Not to mention the fact that Mei Wu wasn't certain if her beloved could stop the aphrodisiac nectars just as easily and instinctually Jiko Ai was doing.
"Let's just kill the other elder and be done with it please." Mei Wu almost sighed, shaking her head. "Just throw another electric beam at her Camouflage Chameleon and finish this whole battle. I feel that this fight dragged for way too long for some reason."
"Actually, I agree?" Jiko Ai responded, though she wasn't certain why she was agreeing with Mei Wu, "I feel like we've been fighting with these two for weeks for some reason even though only an hour or so had passed...? Okay, I'll just shoot them then."
With that, Jiko Ai started amassing sunlight once more to finally put an end to the fight, Mei Wu already summoning her beast, the Impurity Eater once more and preparing to unleash the Apoptosis and the Tumor Mandala just in case.
Ahead of them, Xie Xiu was already fighting against the alraune that captured the four disciples (and killed one of them while she threw the other far away), and she wasn't having a good time.
Xie Xiu had to be extra careful when it came to the vines and nectar blasts that the alraune was unleashing against her and her chameleon. Unsurprisingly, the damage she and her beast received severely hampered their abilities.
'Damn it! Just how perceptive are these blasted plant beasts?!' she ranted to herself avoiding another thick branch that would have hit her chameleon in one of its open wounds.
Her first attempt to mercy-kill Xie Zu had ended in failure as the alraune clone willingly threw the woman far away. Had Xie Xiu been faster by even a single second, she would have succeeded in sparing the [Apprentice] from further suffering, but tragically, it seemed that fate wanted to torment her and her clan so badly!
After her attempt to kill Xie Zu, it became clear that the inferior clone of the Gold-ranked alraune, realizing the elder's goal, decided to just be a most irritating enemy instead of attempting to kill Xie Xiu.
No- To be more precise, the silver-ranked clone wanted to kill the Camouflage Chameleon before focusing on the elder. The plant beast clearly desired to feast on Xie Xiu's chameleon before dealing with the elder personally.
Normally, Xie Xiu could have easily escaped, and with the speed of the silver-ranked alraune against the elder's larger speed along with the Camouflage Chameleon that was capable of running rather fast for its level and rank, she would have been able to avoid the alraune's attacks and go to give her disciples the mercy they so deserved.
Unfortunately, the injuries she and her beast sustained, and the energy they spent before, combined with the incessant aphrodisiacs in the air turned what could have been a relatively simple endeavor into a herculean task.
Xie Xiu couldn't even fight properly. Not right now when she was so damn exhausted, and the scent of the lust and pheromones was quickly driving her insane.
'I can't even stop my heart right now to focus properly on the fight without worrying about the aphrodisiac... If I tried to focus on anything more than the alraune in front of me, I would drop dead right then and there. Even stopping my own heart and bodily functions could kill me right away at my current state.' she gritted her teeth, barely managing to move back to avoid a wave of toxic pollen unleashed at her.
Honestly, she was doing far than she could reasonably handle at her current state. A part of her was whispering that she did as much as she could and that she should just stop, but a much stronger part wanted her to die defying the enemy, no matter how futile it was.
That no matter how fragile one is, and how weak and vulnerable they are, it is their determination and desire to die spitting on the enemy's face, no matter how useless in the end, is what makes one a human.
Needless to say, Xie Xiu decided to follow said opinion, even as she sensed that Mei Wu, the Queen Bee and Jiko Ai were so close they would reach the area in mere ten seconds.
Taking a long breath, she and the Camouflage Chameleon decided to gamble it all. "This is our final attempt. Let's do our best to make it count!" with that, she blasted off towards the silver-ranked alraune to at least kill the two disciples still kissing and groping each other under the effects of the alraune, no care about anything in the world even as their elder was fighting for her life not even ten meters away.
'Truly, how terrifying can alraunes be? No wonder why it was highly advised not to enter the den of the alraunes the Tong Tian Tower's sixth floor. Their aphrodisiacs and poisons are truly horrifyingly potent...' Xie Xiu grimaced, looking at the two disciples' sorry states as the two lovers ignored everything that wasn't their own bodies and the ever-consuming lust swallowing their minds.
The chameleon did its best to ignore as flesh separated from the bone and blood leaked from its leg as sharp icicles pierced it, following its master with a loyalty that many rankers would be jealous that their beasts didn't possess, and completely ignoring any attempt to defend as the sheer desire to please Xie Xiu drove it to unleash more power than it should have in its current situation.
"Ah?" The silver-ranked alraune, one of the many inferior clones that Jiko Ai created, was confused and a bit surprised at the sheer speed the Camouflage Chameleon moved, finding itself tackled by the beast, not having any time to be alarmed before Xie Xiu brutally attacked the confused alraune.
"Haaa!" Xie Xiu quickly used her legs to violently break the alraune's neck with a precise and brutal swipe, and to literally separate the head from the shoulders. It was only possible due to how the alraune was so shocked by the attack, and Xie Xiu's attack filled with her desperation.
"Die!" the elder roared as the chameleon used the chance to bite on the alraune's monstrous lower body, now that the silver-ranked alraune was stunned and paralyzed, her head being separated from the remaining parts of her body.
The sound of something being bitten and crunched echoed, the alraune, a clone made by Jiko Ai, finally died.
Xie Xiu nearly fell on the ground, her body feeling so exhausted and spent. The elder barely managed to keep herself conscious, her beast wobbling from the effort used and the mortal injuries it sustained.
'I must not fall right now. If I did so, I would probably be unable to stand up anymore...' she gritted her teeth and walked towards the two disciples who were still having sex, not even noticing the death of the silver-ranked alraune yet.
Even with the alraune's death, the scent of the aphrodisiacs would still linger for a while, and the healing and aphrodisiac nectars would still remain in their bodies for a few minutes at least.
'With this, all what remains for me to do is to kill them.' her legs nearly stumbled as she kept going closer. She certainly knew that wasting even one more second than necessary would result in the Queen Bee and the other two, along with their armies to reach her.
She had long accepted her fate, but she refused to let the two disciples to lose anymore than they already did. At the very least, if the two died now, they would die in bliss as they were right now. In a way, this death was better than dying in agony, so Xie Xiu thought.
With only her desperation allowing her to move, she managed to kill the two disciples, piercing their hearts with her hands, and snapping their necks for a good measure, the two dying without even realizing a thing right before three beams of hyper condensed electricity hit the Camouflage Chameleon's head, killing it, along with piercing Xie Xiu's legs.
"Ghk!" spitting blood, Xie Xiu fell down on her knees as she gasped from the agony of losing the last of her beasts to the alraune. Surprisingly, she was still alive despite the electric shock running through her.
'This is the end of me, huh. It seems like I would see you soon, old geezer.' she found herself thinking even as she fell on the ground, her eyes still open.
'I wonder what Xie Tao would do now with both of us dead...' she thought about the clan master. She knew for certain that he would try to attack the forest a few weeks later, when she and Xie Yao failed to return then. She barely managed to see the corpse of the Camouflage Chameleon being pushed back, before something pierced her heart, and then darkness was all what she knew.
'Ah, a shame that I couldn't spare that other woman a most horrible fate...' with such thoughts, Xie Xiu finally died, her eyes closing, never opening again.
"What her last thoughts were before death, I wonder..."
Mei Wu looked at Jiko Ai who seemed rather... not melancholic, but a bit sad, though mostly curious. "Despite being Ai'er's instincts, you surprisingly care about the enemy's last moments, huh."
The pink-haired woman didn't really expect Jiko Ai to be so curious about an enemy's final moments in life. She certainly wasn't interested in that, frankly.
Mei Wu admitted to herself that while she didn't personally hate Xie Xiu and Xie Yao, she didn't also care about them anymore than one does to an obstacle and a dangerous enemy. In the end, the two elders did their jobs, and died doing their best, something she could appreciate regardless, though she was certain that the only reason she could do so is the fact that Kasumi Ai was still alive.
If Kasumi Ai died instead of staying alive, Mei Wu was certain that she wouldn't even think of the two dead elders as more as trash that should be eradicated, completely ignoring any positive trait they had, or even twisting them to make the two elders look as nasty as her mind could make them seem to be.
It was an odd way of how people think, but that was how it was.
"If they acted so arrogantly, spouting death threats and acting like a bunch of edgelords while threatening to torture and rape us, I wouldn't give a damn. But, from a beast that only wanted to fight for what it believed to be fair and just to another beast, I guess I liked them a bit. A bunch of preys they were, but a proud and commendable ones. For that, they have my respect." the Narcissism answered even as spores materialized to feast on the corpses.
"That's a rather... interesting viewpoint. Though I find it a bit odd that you think that way towards them, seeing that they had, you know, nearly killed Ai'er and you?" Mei Wu admitted, feeling the sheer honestly in Jiko Ai's tone.
"They're better than Xie Li at least?"
Wow, the bar for what Jiko Ai supposedly deems to be a respectable enemy was set so low...
'How amusing. Can you now finish capturing the other woman that is attempting to escape, or should I have my Protector Bees sting her to death?' the Queen Bee asked them dryly, reminding the two that Xie Zu was still alive and trying to run away from the forest.
"Oh..." Jiko Ai spoke, blinking, "I almost forgot about her. I will bring one of my clones to capture her. Wu-chan, can you please tell Ai-chan to keep her alive~? I'd like to enjoy her a bit more before ripping her apart and melting her within my stomach~! Hell, I will use a clone to do the job instead of my and Ai-chan's pure and sweet body~!" she pleaded, her hands clasped together as the alraune almost pouted.
Mei Wu only looked at the alraune, crossing her arms to show how unamused she was. Whether it was because of the subject or the discussion it would create with Kasumi Ai later wasn't clear. It didn't help that she could sense her beloved was paying attention and was equally unamused.
Meanwhile the Queen Bee shook her head, clearly not amused though not really angry either. Just honestly disappointed. Why did these two have to be so damn confusing?
"I'd rather not. Do it yourself." Mei Wu answered in the end, pointing a finger at the Narcissism, "Also, I'm pretty sure Ai'er won't like it anyways. At least I think so? At least maybe not right now... I guess?"
Yeah, no matter the discussion, Mei Wu just couldn't see how her lover would casually torture someone like that... actually, sexually torture one like that. Yeah, big difference. Because Mei Wu won't give a damn if her lover wanted to mutilate some poor asshole and keep healing him just to repeat the process. She just won't like it if it was sexual and was happening in front of her.
Humans, demons, and many other races, if not all of them, with very few exceptions, were like that. Murdering and skinning people alive is a-okay, as long as a person doesn't attempt to force themselves on a fragile maiden, and as long as such things don't happen to them. Yeah, that's a big point too.
Jiko Ai only pouted harder, and Mei Wu could feel as if her lover was raising an eyebrow even inside her soulscape, and probably feeling irked.
"I'll try my best." came the pink-haired woman's unenthusiastic answer, bordering on apathy really.
"Well, I tried." Jiko Ai sighed, feeling a bit disappointed that her Wu-chan didn't promise to do her best, instead of promising to try to do her best. "So, with that out of the way, at the moment, I have a question dear boss."
Jiko Ai turned to focus on the Queen Bee that looked like she wanted this to be over and return to her chamber for the moment, and looked at the giant bee with a rather serious expression, as if it was something so grave and important.
And thus, with a voice so serious it felt as if whatever she was about to say would be more important than a discussion about the political state of the Da Xia Kingdom and the danger of a random Innate just blowing it up for the heck of it, she started speaking, pointing at the still-warm corpses of Xie Xiu and her Camouflage Chameleon.
"Since we made a deal of you taking half of their corpses, we need to decide whether we should slice them diagonally, horizontally or vertically~!"
'I choose you pack them up before I stab you. Damn, the longest morning of my life. Didn't even need to wake up for this...' the Queen Bee could only demand before promptly flying away, not even looking back.
"..."
"..."
"... So, we just capture that lady that is most definitely surrounded by our dear boss' army then go to the hive with the corpses to talk and discuss everything that happened in thse longass few hours?" Jiko Ai asked as the silence seemed to stretch forever from the awkwardness.
'Yeah, do that.' Kasumi Ai mentally spoke to her alter ego, feeling rather dizzy and just baffled by what happened in the last five minutes.
"I don't know what Ai'er had said, but her emotions are clearly screaming 'Hell yes!' so yeah." Mei Wu only retorted. "Also, can you now turn off the aphrodisiac pool now? The scent is still everywhere, even if I'm not affected by it because of these vines..."
"Fine, fine." Jiko Ai only waved her hand dismissively, rendering the aphrodisiac nectar inert. "And thus ends our epic battle against the mean yet honorable elders and their rather useless disciples. Truly, a most heaven-blessed encounter for our favour. You might have even increased your Grimoire's rank or your summoner rank or something. We kinda fought a hard battle, until I decided to pull all the stops, at least."
"Wait what? Oh fuck! I completely forgot about that!" Mei Wu immediately decided to summon her Grimoire to see if something changed, but sadly, Jiko Ai had already started moving to catch the remaining survivor of the Xie clan's annihilation battle, dragging a frantic Mei Wu who lost her concentration due to the sudden movement.
"Jiko Ai!"
"Oh, I love my new life." giggling and ignoring Mei Wu's frantic shriek and the yell of irritation of Kasumi Ai, the Narcissism moved to do what she 'needed' to do.
And thus, the first real battle Mei Wu had with one as strong as an elder had ended, with the emergence of a split persona in her lover's body, watching a horror show of predatory hungry plants eating everything in their path, and most likely a list of long discussions that would most definitely be talked about.
'If Ai'er doesn't explain half the things Jiko Ai made me think about, I will so be irritated!' the pink-haired woman thought. This long day and coming night would probably feel even longer, she can just feel it.
