I Was Called A Demon

The storm clouds were still in the skies when the survivors of Rong Village arrived, Jia Bo Xun leading them. Behind her, Liang Jun walked by Chen Yiren’s side, holding her hand to support her, while Yang Moshi walked behind them, and Su Gong was at the very back, her arms crossed, and her brows furrowed as she looked around in constant suspicion.

From afar, the mountain had been imposing, but only when they got near enough could they truly perceive the sheer, immense height of the walls that surrounded it, not to mention the mountain itself.

“These are the grounds of my sect, formerly the domain of the reapers. Please stay close,” the disciple said, gesturing towards the high walls, “I’ll ask for permission to enter, and I would rather not surprise Master with one of you sneaking in.”

“Understood, senior. We’ll stay close… Su Gong, please,” Liang Jun looked back with pleading eyes, and the younger woman relented after a few moments.

“… Fine, fine. It’s… too late to escape anyway.”

“Don’t be so suspicious of them, please. The disciple of the Demoness Sect saved us, so we owe them a certain debt regardless,” she argued, “Please, let us take this chance.”

“I’ve already said that it’s fine… I’m just worried about you idiots…” the younger woman puffed her cheeks and looked away, but still closed the gap between them.

As a result, their small group followed closely behind Jia Bo Xun as they happened upon what almost looked like a small village not far from the gates. Numerous shacks and small buildings, as well as tents, littered the area, and rough cobblestone roads led between them. Large numbers of people – more women than men – gathered around various structures, some helping with construction while others stood by stalls and entrances to other structures and offered all kinds of wares and services.

Some glanced in their direction as they passed by, waving to Jia Bo Xun, though most disregarded them, content to go along with their day in peace.

“Are these… all members of the Demoness Sect?” Yang Moshi asked with a hushed tone.

“No, they are members of the Dancer’s Abode. We’ve given them shelter within our territory,” Jia Bo Xun replied, “They are also not permitted inside the Reaper’s Grave unless they’re women, so you need not fear them.”

“… I see,” the woman almost seemed disappointed, but the disciple paid no attention to it, while her fellow survivors took note of it but didn’t bring it up.

They continued on for a little while, but Liang Jun suddenly stopped and frowned.

“Wait, I seem to recall that the Dancer’s Abode was in the east, weeks of travel away. Why would they be here?”

The one to reply was a stranger on the street, a woman carrying a basket of fruits in the other direction, “Ah, have you not heard? War’s broken out.”

“W-War?”

“Between Long Shiyi and the Exarch, and we… we would’ve been caught in between if we hadn’t all left. You should’ve seen how quickly everything had moved then, after years of such just being… stuck in place,” the woman’s gaze blurred, as though she was peering back into the past, seeing the moment the order for evacuation came, “Ah, if only we’d been so active before, perhaps we wouldn’t have needed to flee like that.”

“War… I see,” Liang Jun frowned, her eyes downcast, “We also got caught up in the chaos. Our village…”

“No need to explain, I can guess… our leader trusts the Demoness Sect, so I’d say you should too. Yan Taijun has yet to lead us astray so far.”

Liang Jun just nodded, running off without another word to catch up to the others. They kept on walking in silence until they reached their destination – a massive set of gates blocking off the entrance to the sect grounds, the Reaper’s Grave itself.

The Demoness Sect’s disciple took a step up and pressed her hand on the gates. For a moment, there was silence, but then a terrifying presence suddenly washed over them.

“Master, I happened upon some women that had lost their home. May I bring them inside?”

Her tone sounded calm and familiar, but the others couldn’t stand so calmly. It was akin to a mountain suddenly pressing down on them, a potent aura of malice and fury threatening to extinguish them in an instant.

They had doubted the strength of a newly founded, unknown sect like this, but the presence that was enveloping them couldn’t be seen as anything but a worthy leader in terms of sheer might, at least.

“Yes, Master. I shall bring them to you,” Jia Bo Xun bowed, then placed both hands on the pitch-black gates, pushing on them with all her might.

It took a moment, but they suddenly shifted, and then opened with surprising ease, the vast gates opening just enough for them to walk through one at a time. Through the gap, a potent aura spilled out, similar to the one they had just been crushed by, except this was slightly milder, less potent. It was still plenty to unnerve them, easily exceeding the baleful auras of any of the Exarch’s forces.

“Come along, now, and don’t stray too far. While we are within her sight, you won’t be able to do us any harm regardless, but still…” Jia Bo Xun stepped inside, only turning her head and waving them in before proceeding.

The inside was quite different from the outside. Seeing the mountain from closer up, it seemed even more enormous, and the paths and structures within were clearly old, far older than the ramshackle shacks of the relocated Dancer’s Abode. Most were in ruins, dilapidated and lacking any semblance of maintenance, but there was the occasional building that still stood tall, and even seemed to be in use.

Most importantly, there was a path up the mountain, through the various districts of the Reaper’s Grave, and it was barely possible for them to see the top, but there were faint traces of movement up there.

“Don’t lag behind, we’ll be going straight to the top and it’s… quite a walk,” Jia Bo Xun called out, prompting their group to finally step inside the Reaper’s Grave, into the oppressive aura that felt as though it would swallow them whole.

“This place… is… so high up…” Yang Moshi was barely able to keep standing by the time they reached the peak, hours of walking later.

Sweat coated her skin, flowing down in rivers, dripping from her head as her hair was matted to her face. She was a mess, her second realm doing nothing to offset the exertion involved in travelling such a distance, at a faster pace than she might’ve liked, after spending all her life in a small village, with few places to reach and no particular points of interest to travel to.

Rong Village was a place where they were able to get all of their necessities through fishing, farming and the various talents of the villagers – the furthest she had ever seen another go was their hunter, who would trek out for half a day to find the prime hunting spots.

She was no hunter, no farmer, and definitely no warrior, so most of her experiences were in the village itself. Rather than being able to travel far, her skills were primarily in hiding herself amidst the many homes and structures of the village, to do… things that interested her more. Things involving matters the older villages rarely discussed openly, and then some.

Still, such things aside, she had still reached the top, and so had the others. Chen Yiren was in a similar state to her, lacking a cultivation to bolster her physical state, whereas Liang Jun and Su Gong were both more fit, only getting somewhat sweaty.

“I remember the first time we had to climb the mountain… you’ll get used to it, don’t you worry,” Jia Bo Xun was completely unaffected, on the other hand, looking as though she had just taken a leisurely stroll.

If anything, she looked less exhausted than when they had first met her, and her condition had improved significantly as well. The wounds on her face and chest had mostly healed up, though it looked like they were going to remain as scars – one going diagonally across her right eye, and then a series of marks going down her chest. They were rather prominent even from afar – they had stalled more than once on their trip up, and the woman had turned to urge them on several times – and were the kind of thing that would require advanced pills or medicine to treat completely.

Nonetheless, they were there, at the structure they saw at the very peak, a home for the leader of this Demoness Sect.

Yang Moshi gulped, the pressure up here being even more intense, and the opening into the structure feeling oddly… intimidating. It was dark, so she couldn’t see much on the inside, and could only follow Jia Bo Xun and the others into the darkness.

A wide open chamber, pillars on either side and faint silhouettes standing by them, as well as a throne of some kind at the end – this was her first impression of the place, her eyes slowly adjusting to the darkness. Before she could, though, flaming feathers suddenly erupted all around them, their faint ember-like glow illuminating the chamber.

On one side, a kitsune, a woman with draconic features and a Dancer in a blindfold. Jia Bo Xun took a spot on the other side, besides a woman with a scythe on her back and a taller, older woman who seemed to be wielding all of the feathers.

At the far end of the chamber, by the throne, stood a younger lady with a collar around her neck, though the throne itself was empty in the moment, giving Yang Moshi time to examine this strange collection of people. Two were in the fourth realm, one was even higher than that, and the rest were in the third – for what seemed to be the only people in the whole of the Reaper’s Grave, they didn’t strike her as matching the typical level of power expected from a sect.

In her mind, they were typically filled to the brim with experts in the Linked Channels and Oblivion Halo realms, especially if one looked at the core members, the elders and guardians.

However, there was a presence that approached, which she couldn’t disregard no matter what. Her feeble spiritual perception felt the power of the fourth realm, and yet the killing intent seemed to be so potent that it felt as though it could just swallow her whole. Her whole body was permeated by it, her every instinct screaming at her to flee… or bow down in absolute subservience.

The source of it emerged before too long, garbed in an ornate robe that revealed quite a bit, and an underlayer that looked special from the first moment she spotted it. Something about the dark, translucent material felt too perfect, as though it was sculpted to perfection just for her.

As she stared, she quickly realised her interest lay in more than the clothes – the stranger’s chest was huge, and her ass wasn’t any less eye-catching, either. Then there was that slight bulge at her groin, covered but not completely hidden by her robes… a dick? Then again, the dragon-blooded woman on the left seemed to have one too, the bulge being far more prominent with her tighter pants.

‘This… this is what I’d dreamed about, when I first started being interest in…’ she dared not think the proper words, lest she start blushing and draw attention to herself – not to mention the possibility of one of the women before her perceiving her thoughts, somehow, ‘A woman that also had a man’s… thing. I… I like this place.’

Despite her best efforts, she found herself rubbing her thighs together, her eyes practically locking to the woman’s hips, watching her ass bounce as she approached the throne, turning and sitting down on it while seeming to glare at them.

The aura was definitely originating from her, resembling some voracious beast that founds its prey, a potent and overwhelming pressure that was more than enough to sweep aside the exhaustion of the climb.

When she spoke, Yang Moshi’s instincts screamed at her to kneel, bow or do anything she could to showcase her submission, even though the way she spoke was… oddly normal. Mundane, even.

“Welcome to my sect. The four of you survived a massacre by the Exarch’s forces, yes?”

And yet, the pressure was real. The glare, the undisguised fury in her eyes – even if not addressed at them – was most certainly real.

Out of the four of them, Liang Jun was the only one that could speak up in reply, “Y-Yes, Sect Master.”

“My Master goes by Sect Mistress. Use the proper title,” Jia Bo Xun said, seeming to join in the Sect Mistress’ glare for a moment, though she relaxed seconds after.

“S-Sect Mistress,” Liang Jun lowered her head, “We… as far as I know, we’re the only survivors.”

“… Then tell me, do you wish to avenge all that you’ve lost? To-”

“You’re probably no better than them, you creep…” Su Gong whispered under her breath, but the Sect Mistress heard it very, very clearly.

In reply, the Sect Mistress’ aura… actually relaxed, if only ever so slightly.

“No, I am not. I have seen myself the ways in which avaricious, power-hungry men can ruin lives, and have had to endure their deeds in the past. The reason this sect was founded was very simple – to unite against them, to not be bound to their whims!” she stood up sharply, raising her fist into the air as crimson gathered around her hand, “To allow us to take a stand and live our lives as we see fit, without them being a constant threat! Would you not have wished for the same when they came to attack you, to pillage your lands and kill all you had known?”

Su Gong looked away, but her eyes were clearly glistening, tears threatening to spill forth as she thought back to the scenes she had been forced to witness.

“Tell me, would you not have wished for the power to force them back, to protect your peace?”

“I… fuck, don’t try to lure me in like this! You’re just saying what you think I want to hear, aren’t you?”

“I’m saying what I want to hear. I’m saying what I had wished to hear back when I was first driven to kill, surrounded by those I had considered friends, all because of a man’s lies. When I had to defend myself, time and time again, against the greed of men who thought that they deserved something I had – even my very own girlfriend.”

She looked to the blonde woman that stood by her throne, who tugged at the collar on her neck with a vivid blush, her green-red eyes looking down at the ground.

The Sect Mistress paused, then asked, “What is your name?”

“I… Su Gong.”

“Tell me, what were you forced to suffer through back there?”

“H-How-”

“I recognise the anger, the frustration, the distrust – just look at me, I’ve still got plenty of it.”

Indeed, if that aura of hers was even vaguely related to those feelings, then she had anger in droves. Still, Yang Moshi was starting to tune out of the conversation, as her attention lingered on the Sect Mistress’ girlfriend, the beautiful woman who had a scar on her left arm, one that glowed with strange energy.

She was all the evidence needed that the Sect Mistress was into women, which meant that she had a chance of getting together with her… perhaps experiencing what her cock could do, letting someone other than herself explore her asshole, maybe…

“Those bastards broke into our home when I was with… with my husband. They forced us apart, then tortured him while they forced me to watch, slowly peeling skin and digging out organs, even slicing off limbs…” tears began to drip from her eyes, her speech growing louder with each word, “All the while they were laughing and groping me, forcing me to put my hands on their bodies as though we were both some toys for them to use! They didn’t feel regret, or remorse, or hesitate for even a moment!”

“And if could’ve had the strength to fight back, would you?”

“Yes! I would have broken their necks and tore out their filthy fucking hearts!” Su Gong screamed, squeezing one hand into a fist so tightly that she drew blood, which slowly dripped down to the floor, “I would have shown them what monsters like that deserved!”

Even Yang Moshi, not to mention the other two, were drawn to look at their fellow survivor. Ever since the raid on Rong Village, she hadn’t showed her emotional side like this, and now it all poured out before them… while she didn’t feel quite as passionate about this matter, Yang Moshi also wished to be able to hold her life in her own hands, to not be pushed about at the whims of others. Having to flee from Rong Village, seeing almost all she had ever known slaughtered and destroyed…

The Sect Mistress reached out a hand, “If you join the Demoness Sect, your wishes can come true. You can be free of their whims, their desires, and their bloodlust. You will be able to protect those you love, and you will never need to experience something like that again. What do you say?”