A blinding light marked the strike from the heavens, Emperor Zao saw the incoming Demons, on all sides he was surrounded. The lightning was a fear provoking tactic, it worked well to keep the majority of the demons present in check. More than a dozen felt otherwise.
The shape of a mouth appeared on a great cloud of vapor, it charged directly at Wu Hai's shield. He laughed and stood with his hands behind his back, they repeatedly came crashing against the barrier.
"{I have no reason to listen to flies.}" Wu Hai pointed to the sky once more. Another great beam of light came down, it snaked across the battlefield and struck the mist demon, scattering it into nothingness. The smell of Ozone captured the Emperor's senses, 'Its dry out there now.. hehe.' Black flames roared and a bash came against his shield. Three demon's each with an ornamental looking face, like a wooden doll, came all at once. One was red, one was blue and the other was yellow.
The fat one threw acid, the red demon burned and the blue demon vanished.
"{Who do you think I am?}" He opened his mouth, a vibrating sonic attack followed his words, the Three demons staggered and Wu Hai took a step forward. The yellow, fat demon, fell over in that instant. "{There can only be a single leader of the Demon Horde, and you are simply not up to the task.}" He took several more steps forward.
The Acid Demon, Korokumatum, crawled backward but he was far too slow, he was pinned under the Emperor's shield. Wu Hai didn't stop, he kept advancing, slowly, in front of the eyes of everyone, Korokumatum was treated like a tube of toothpaste and unstuffed. The Acid burned into the ground, the shield flickered and a palm was pressing down from above. Wu Hai could feel the pressure coming from above but didn't bother to take a look. Instead, he opened his hand in a 'kaboom' gesture.
A dozen bolts of lightning gathered above, sixty to be more accurate. The Blue Demon Haando, saw the incoming bolts and tried to retreat but the Emperor grabbed his foot when it came into contact with the shield barrier.
In that moment, a black flame enveloped the Emperor's shield. A small portal opened so that the Emperor could watch, Haando started to burn and his torso exploded from the Impact of the lightning, a small broken ball rolled to the side. It was Haando's core.
'Seems this is why he was their leader.' Wu Hai turned the shield off, ignoring the other attacks as the took the opportunity to attack. He picked up the core and ground it to dust. "{DARE ATTACK THE EMPEROR? NOT EVEN REINCARNATION WILL HELP AVOID YOUR FATE!}" Five more figures, including the Red Devil launched themselves toward the Emperor.
With his shield down, they at least had more of a chance than their fallen fellows. "{Do not let him Escape.}" The Red Demon, Sowasan, was swelling.
'I've seen this movie.' Chuckling under his breath, the black fire that surrounded him momentarily disappeared. 'Invert' Wu Hai gave the order to his subconscious and White flames burst out of his body.
Many of the demons surrounding the Emperor went blind for a second. When they regained their sight, he was already walking back through the crowd, holding the cores of those who had just attacked him. Emperor Zao arrived at the top of the balcony and wall. Queen Vira's expression was priceless. 'I wish I had a camera.' His smile never stopped, it gave everyone a strange feeling. None of them could tell if he was gloating with his smile or simply enjoyed destroying the enemies in his way, to them, he looked rather gleeful.
He turned to the Demon Queen. Seven Cores circled in his hands, then, they began to float in the air in front of him. Bringing his hands closer together, he focused on the seven balls that floated in between them. The cores began to warp, a white fire circulated around them. A wisp of black fire followed.
Circling several times, each of the cores began to melt into each other. A seven colored core, much larger than the others hovered in front of the Queen. When it had melded into a single cohesion, he applied a flat spell and began to knead the core in his fingers. It was somewhat tacky, sticking to his fingertips. The essence of a demon, their semi-crystallized vessels of the developed soul, he threaded his spiritual sense and laid a formation inside.
As it flattened a few times, the colors began to mix as one. A bottle of Liquefied Elemental Darkness was poured over the modified core. A Black, deeper than pupils in the Demon Queen's eyes poured out and glazed the Core Mass. Wu Hai played with it in his hands and then brought the white fire out again. A Gray and brown pearl-like core, much larger than any he had ever had in his hands was hanging in the air.
"{^@*!^*%&&^$#}" He muttered an incantation, the brown and gray surface on the Core began to crack.
A piece fell away, exposing a face marbled into its surface. As more pieces fell away, more faces could be seen. On its surface, seven demon faces covered its exterior. "{AND TO THE VICTOR GO THE SPOILS!}" The Seven Demon Core, unique and one of a kind, rose above the Emperor and Demon Queen.
Vira looked over at Wu Hai, disapproving looks covered her face for but an instant. She realized that what he was doing was motivation. Holding her hand out, a silence came over the crowd. "{So it has been said, and so it shall be.}" Vira repeated Wu Hai's words from earlier, she really liked the way it sounded, confident, unwavering.
Emperor Zao wrapped the Core in a silver light and began to temper it in front of everyone. "{THE SEVEN DEMON CORE, MY REWARD TO THE HUNTER DEMONS. NOW, FIND ME THAT EGG.}" He opened his arms as far as they could go, his wings spread out and a black pillar of fire rose behind him. "{THE HUNT, IT BEGINS NOW!"}
Many of the Demons stood there with their mouths agape. None of them had ever considered such a thing possible, yet, there it was staring them in the face. A core, made from the cores of seven demons. Their mouths frothed like rabid dogs. The moment that Wu Hai announced that it was to be a prize, more than a hundred shadows could be seen headed toward the nexus gathering point.
'So its in that direction.' He made note of their consistent direction, the Emperor didn't know the layout of the Demon Kingdom. He only knew the way to the Castle, having followed Vira here years before after their initial encounter. Things were different then, he had only just begun to learn of his true potential and power. The Emperor of Today and the Esper Emperor of yesterday were a stark contrast.
Wu Hai grabbed the Queen by the waist, her mood softened when she was no longer distracted by the newly formed core. Her face didn't change in expression but she wrapped her tail around her waist and flew into the air with Emperor Zao.
There was a march, more like a rushing stampede of demons, all headed toward the hell portal at the center of the Nexus.
Shadow Demons fed on the collective soul energies that gathered in the vortex soul streams. To nurture their offspring, if conception ever happened, they would encase the egg in a kaleidoscopic illusion formation. As they were themselves able to hide in the shadows, spending most and sometimes all of their lives as shadows, the search for their nesting area was next to impossible. It was far more feasible to simply catch a pair and try to mate them, rather than locating a hidden pocket of space, invisible.
Shadow Demons were among some of the most common demons, small beings that generally spent their lives feeding on the fear that leaks from the souls of the unsuspecting, like stalkers in the night. Stories told usually state that you can occasionally catch a glimpse of the Shadow Demons from the far corners of your eyes but then they would vanish. Shadow Demons were tricksters when fully grown, lavish actions and no remorse. Consuming whatever fancy's themselves in that instant, gluttons, greedy for the life energies of others.
The Emperor had come into contact with the Demon, the Black spot, years ago. It was welcomed and well fed, nothing like the demons raised in the wild. He could feel something strange about the Egg but the thought of it actually devouring his soul had never really occurred to him as a child, even if Khan Ni had warned him he still would have chanced it. Many turns of fate and fortunate chances had given his demon a chance to be purified, subjugated and refined. Aside from the addition of Demonic Blood to his bloodline, no real abnormalities occurred when he wasn't in a Demon Body.
However, this was not the case anymore. Ever since the return from Earth, Wu Hai had spent his life as an Elemental, short of the time while he and Kuzunoha were conceiving Hana. Erinle could change the Fertility and sexuality of a being with his power but he couldn't make Elementals fertile. They were, in the very essence of things, Forces of nature that gathered instead of reproducing. Only Plant-type Elementals were able to reproduce but it was only a form of cloning themselves. Treants were a lower, lesser version of Plant Elementals, sentient plants that gathered elemental forces or souls eventually formed their own consciousnesses, just like an Elemental.
There were a few hours journey to the Nexus point where the streams intersected the landscape, the Nests were located on the ground in the area near the Black Tide Drip, a lightless area where the streams of dreadful soul energies converged. Coupled with the kaleidoscopic formations and spellwork that hid their offspring, the Shadow Demons themselves were quite vicious and territorial. One Shadow Demon more meant their territory expanded, none of them would allow an intruder.
{The Black Tide Drip was a collection point, created after the Demons of Hell escaped, some call it the well of souls, most just call it the Black Tide Drip. It takes life energies and concentrates it into darkness.}" Vira explained. As the approached the Nexus, the portal could easily be seen. All other energies were drawn inside. "{Lets go}" Vira leapt into the portal.
'Oh?' Curiosities were piqued, Wu Hai flew into the doorway. The arrived inside a black dimensional space, the energies were all wrong and gathered toward a central point nearby.
"{When we escaped hell, we hid our exit well. This soul well allows the drawing of energies, producing the soul streams outside, without them, we couldn't have a foothold on this world.}" Vira revealed several secrets during their arrival, it confused the Emperor.
'Why is she sharing this information with me?' Wu Hai's mind had been wandering while he advanced.
Queen Vira walked casually and pointed out the formations. Wu Hai was tempted to gather information but had his own objectives, in the lightless area he could easily be attacked or lost. Hana's soul was at risk, each moment, though unavoidable, was compounding her condition. He had placed her into a stasis formation but it only slowed the symptoms or arrested poisons, the damage to her soul and meridians, as well as her personality would be ongoing. He couldn't waste time and regained his focus.
A compass, the green compass of Erinle came into his palm. 'Which way?' The needle spun to the left and Wu Hai turned along with it. "{Vira, this way.}"
"{How can you be certain.}" Vira asked, although normally she had been inquisitive to gather information, she was actually just casually asking. She felt his hand grab at her wrist to pull her along.
"These matters don't concern you, just follow my energy." Emperor Zao was losing his patience and wasn't willing to leak information, especially when it came to Mystical Artifacts. When he realized that he had used the common language to speak, he repeated himself. "{Don't worry about it and don't be complacent, there is a lot of negative soul energy here, there is no doubt that the Black Spot Shadow Demons hide their young to protect them.. but it's not from hunting parties like this, its probably from a predator.}"
"{Yes, the Soulsyner eats the Shadow Demons. They only have interest for shadow demons.}" Queen Vira answered him quickly like nothing was the matter.
Wu Hai clicked his tongue, "{I am have bonded with a shadow demon and we've come to gather an egg. When its discovered..}" There was a terrible sound, like a dead rat falling from a great height. A tiny splatter, chewing noises and thud happened all relatively fast.
Zao Wu Hai flipped his energies around, burning the white fire inside the Black Tide Drip even hotter, bright light like the sun burst out.
It gave off an offensive aura, Queen Vira was forced to step back a few meters.
A being, somewhat shaped like a train of shadows, Quietly rammed into Emperor Zao, it pushed him far along the blackened landscape and further into the Drip's lightless area. Skidding across the ground, a flicker of light could be seen from the corner of his eye. He was grateful that his shield was enough. 'Exactly how big are these things?' His mind went round a few times and he stopped.
Wu Hai anchored himself into the ground and powered up his aura. He brought out another barrier and closed his eyes, peering around with his senses. There were dozens of Demons surrounding him, all feeling with their hands, searching for the nests blindly. "{SOULSNYER, GET OUT OF THE DRIP}" It was the only warning he was going to give. Several of the demons were too bust throwing out long ranged attacks, cutting down those around them to care.
Through his spiritual sense he could see the outlines of the demons, more than a hundred were approaching despite his outcry. 'There's no avoiding it.' He knew there was no saving them from their actions so quickly after assuming a position as Leader, they would only listen to the Queen for the time being. Wu Hai stopped caring about the lives of the demons who carelessly led themselves to slaughter after his warnings, though, he did pity them a little in the recesses of his heart.
The Soulsyner was making another pass, a black energy was charging all around it. He could feel it coming closer. Wu Hai threw a lightrod near the place he had seen the light flicker, it nailed itself to the ground and the brunt force of the Soulsyner rammed his shield again. It pushed the Emperor into a depression, a small foxhole wound on the battlefield. The miasma and cloud of darkness flowed overhead and the Soulsyner passed over him once.
It rose into the space above and searched. There was an aura coming from all beings, even shadow demons. The hole would not hide Wu Hai for long.
'What a convenient spot.' Wu Hai didn't have to worry about the other Demons, even Vira would be somewhat safe. He opened his eyes and threw out four bottles, they were filled with light elemental essence. The Soulsyner was making another pass, it rose into the air and was preparing to drive itself into the hole directly from above. There wasn't enough time to draw the formation himself, he used the formation device from Xuan Kim Li and a pillar of light rose from the hole, filling the space directly above him like a bright white cannon.
As it passed through the Soulsyner, a loud popping sound could be heard, like firecrackers. It bubbled and burst, tens of thousands of popping noises followed as its remains roiled and exploded. A black Muck splattered across the battlefield. The Demons present saw the black fluid and dove toward it like an aphrodisiac or vital nourishment.
As they were recklessly rolling in the leftovers from the Soulsyner, Wu Hai kept wondering why they were doing so. He, himself, was now swimming in a pool of the stuff. Wu Hai pulled an empty ring from his satchel and filled it with the fluid. It gave off soul energy but it was concentrated with negativity from its long term exposure to the radiations of Hell. He gathered as much as possible on his way to the lightrod. The formations for the Black Spot Shadow Demon's nests were invisible by design, even his spiritual sense wouldn't be able to see them in the black fog. However, the light coming from the rod made the kaleidoscope shimmer. Wu Hai was grateful for the converted demonic blood, it had quite literally made him immune to the light elemental essence's effect on Demons.
Wu Hai approached the formation location and threw out thirty more lightrods into the air, the circled a few meters wide and then slammed into the ground. It didn't help to cut the fog but mark the edge of the formation.
A flash of black filled the corner of his vision and a strange shrill could be heard, then, a chittering. Several large puddles of black were inching toward the Emperor, 'Black Spot Demons..' He reverted the spot surrounding his core back to normal, the radiance of the Rainbow Spot, an evolved version of themselves caught the Black Spot Demons off guard, they stopped and shuddered in place.
There seemed to be a chittering and exchange between the Shadow Demons, vibrations and posturing could be seen and felt as he stood there. "{In the name of the Demon Emperor, get out of the way.}" Wu Hai spoke to the Black Spot Demons. He wasn't sure that they would understand, his own bonded demon never spoke to him, he only received non-verbal communication and vague feelings. 'Maybe its translating for me?' The spot made a few more chittering noises and then fell silent.
A Crystal box appeared in the Emperor's hands, it was something he had prepared long ago. The time he spent carrying the first egg had annoyed him greatly. The crystal box was covered in runic inscriptions and wrapped in formation paper. It was large enough to hold the egg and would allow It to enter storage containers.
Right away, as it was pulled into the space and opened, the black gases surrounding the Demons in the Black Tide Drip watched the Black Tide Drip itself begin to pulled into the box like a high powered vacuum. It was only visible once the energies that had been accumulating for decades had fully passed by each of the demons, revealing the space of the Black Drip under a slight haze. All of it converged into the crystal box, a dark cloud could be seen. A small circle with a vortex above it was pulling in all the loose energy from the area, confining it into the small dimensional box.
Wu Hai closed it and put it away, then, he studied the formations on the ground. The dust and slight fog that was reclaiming the space had revealed at least seven nests of varying age. The one in front of Wu Hai was the most visible.
There was no avoiding it further, he couldn't ignore the time constraints.
Wu Hai scanned the formation as best he could, the device registered a partial copy. Satisfied, the Emperor began to remove formation flags as indicated on the device. Several hearts and cores were stripped from the formation and then the formation started to unravel, three large pieces of void glass were revealed and he immediately but them into storage.
Good things wasted made little sense to Emperor Zao. "Finally." Looking inside the nest, two eggs rested next to each other.
It seemed a waste to leave the second egg unprotected, the formation was broken and couldn't be rebuilt. He didn't have the formation blueprints and he had taken the Void glass. 'I guess its two then.' He began to reach for the second egg and a beam of energy shattered the one in his hands.
It was the Queen's advisor, his large figure stood with his arm outstretched and energy pooling around him. "{I will never bow to an outsider! Death to the Emperor.. Death to..}"
The Advisors words were cut off.
His vision went dark again and he soon took a look at his own ass, his head had fallen back over his wings and the final thing to enter his vision before it all turned to nothingness, was his own, fat, ass.
Vira was standing next to the headless body as it swayed. "{SCUM}" Vira kicked at the body and it exploded. She grabbed his head and stored it away. "{ANYONE ELSE BELIEVE THAT I'VE CHOSEN WRONGLY?}"
Emperor Zao was still staring at the black mess in his hands, his anger boiled. There was no where to vent his anger, Vira had executed the offender without a second thought. Feeling robbed, Wu Hai flicked his fingers and was seething with rage. He picked up the other egg gently, then materialized the crystal box to set it inside. "If anything happens to this egg, I will slaughter the Demon Race today." He didn't bother translating it, his attitude and tone spoke volumes.
Vira felt the cold and hate filled aura that was consuming the Emperor, she wanted to smile but she had even snapped in that moment earlier, killing her own subordinate. The irony hadn't been lost on her, just a day before, she had been fully ready to fight to the death with the man in front of her.
"{VIRA}" Wu Hai's voice rang out and she came to his side. A spellcircle appeared in his hands and he made a small gesture with his fingertip.