I Was Called A Demon

War was a distant concept to Bianca, as she had not lived through the Greatest War on Orbis, and had only seen the beginning of the brewing conflict here in the Planar Continents, so witnessing the desolation left behind after all the fighting… it gave her pause.

What was one verdant and green, was now reduced to scorched earth, all blazing with the Exarch’s energy. Where once, the Dancer’s Abode stood tall and proud, they were now faced with ruins, the remnants of all the materials that couldn’t be taken with them on their retreat to the Reaper’s Grave. And, amidst it all, bodies, weapons and armour, left to rot, with nobody willing to retrieve them.

It was… quite something. She had no single word to describe it, especially when she remembered that the conflict seemed to stem from some personal disagreements between Long Shiyi and the Exarch. If all this destruction arose from something so small, then she didn’t want to imagine what could happen if the cultivation world as a whole decided to enter into a war of some kind. Would it leave the entire continent ruined and uninhabitable?

She hoped that she wouldn’t ever see such a thing happen.

Still, their goal was on the other side of this battlefield – as they approached from the west, having gone around the Heart Lake rather than risking getting anywhere near the Dawntreader, or Li Wusu in general, their objective was to the north, past the Exarch’s expanded Domain, past Long Shiyi’s remaining forces, and to the set of mountains where the Blazing Skies, Sacred Rivers and Calm Skies Sects resided.

If they were able to simply travel along the shore, things would be easy, and they could avoid the conflict entirely, but the nature of the battle simply didn’t allow it. For one, the water was a source of food for the armies, so controlling the shore was immensely valuable, especially as they neared Long Shiyi’s territory.

As Xue Yaling explained it, the Exarch’s forces had plenty of sources for food, including a large lake further south, but Long Shiyi’s territory was shrinking, and beside the river running by the main camp, they had few other options. So, it was not only important for them to claim that territory, but also for the Exarch’s armies to control it, to ensure that their enemies were unable to make use of it.

Another reason was that the Heart Lake was a means for outside communication, to call in aid, to spread word, or even for the members of one side or another to flee the conflict.

Nobody on the Exarch’s side was likely to depart, especially if they had been branded by the Exarch’s sigil, but on Long Shiyi’s side, there was plenty of need and want to reach out to the outside world and seek aid – and in the case of those who would leave, it would mean an opportunity to flee the conflict as well.

So, while desertion would work in the Exarch’s interests, the potential of gaining allies was less so. There weren’t many vocal supporters of either side, as far as Bianca knew, but if some sect or major force decided to join the war on Long Shiyi’s side… it might be enough to draw out the battle further.

If one sect joined, then more could as well, whether driven by some ‘righteousness’ or internal alliances, and… well, there was one very well known case of the Eastern Continent uniting against a common foe – the Reaper’s Grave, and the inevitable demise of all but one of their number.

“Mistress?”

“Hm? Ah, my dear butt-slut, what is it?”

Huang Su didn’t refuse the label, even starting to blush as she answered, “How should we proceed? The longer we stand here, the greater the chances of being spotted, and getting involved…”

“Right, true… well, you and Xue Yaling are more familiar with things like this. What would seem to be a good route?”

The kitsune – her throat having healed on the way over, fortunately – gestured to the north-east, “It would be best to not head along the shore directly. Ideally, we’d actually pass by both forces around the east, go around the Cold Solace Sect – it’s roughly north of where we met Long Shiyi – and then head west from there.”

“Such a trip would take us directly into the heart of the conflict,” Huang Su shook her head, “If we wished to do that, heading directly east during a break in the battle would be best… but this is currently such a time, as far as I can see. So, we cannot be sure when the next fight will occur…”

“Ugh, complicated crap. Pet, come here and- Huang Su, aren’t you a bit too eager?”

She had intended to address Song Ming, of course, but Huang Su almost took a step forward before she interrupted her. This was troublesome, as Bianca was getting hard from the thought of collaring another slut… but the fact that the Phoenix Sect’s leader was already at this stage, so eagerly bending to her will…

Well, it was incredibly hot and satisfying, and seeing the butt-slut realise what she had done, even as Song Ming and Xue Yaling stared at her, was just adorable. That blush, that nervous glancing around, the way she tucked a bunch of hair behind her ear as she looked down…

“Mistress, do you need me to help with that?” Song Ming asked as she saw Bianca’s dick rising quickly, tenting her outfit.

“Ah, not right now, pet. For now, I just want to feel your ass grinding against me…” as her pet obeyed, she let herself relax and sigh at the sensation, “Hah, that’s better. Your ass has grown so much, pet.”

“A-Am I getting fat?”

“No, dear, you’re becoming even sexier – for me, and me alone.”

“Mistress!”

“Ahem… I don’t want to interrupt, but we are still on the edge of a battlefield. Also, didn’t you already fuck her on the way over, how is that cock still there?”

“I wasn’t satisfied, so it remains. But… ah, whatever. Huang Su, can you see all the way to the Exarch’s camp?”

The lovely butt-slut shook her head, though her gaze seemed fixed around Song Ming’s hips, likely wishing that she could see past them… though she didn’t seem to mind that sight either.

“Well… hah, we’re going to have to move with little information, then. Wouldn’t heading along the shore just be best?”

“We have covered this, Sect Mistress… uh, is that…”

As Xue Yaling looked to the south, Bianca did as well, and saw the faint approach of… something.

“Uh-oh. Fuck. That… that wouldn’t be their army, would it?”

Huang Su took a single glance and instantly turned more serious, “I’m afraid it is, Mistress.”

“Shit. Which way are they going?”

“Straight towards Long Shiyi’s main camp, by the looks of it, roughly to the north-east.”

“Then we’re going north and hoping to avoid them. Run!”

Her thinking was rather simple – heading east would mean meeting the encroaching forces on the route of their march. Heading north-east would mean arriving at the same location as them, and therefore inevitably meeting up with them as well. Only by going along the shore did they have the chance to miss the main army, and they could figure out the rest as they went. Potentially, they’d even be able to slip past all the conflict and just head to the Dragon’s Fangs, though the chances of that were minimal.

Regardless, all that was left at this point was to run, run and run some more, using what movement skills they could.

The only trouble was that they were limited by their slowest member, and currently that was Song Ming, who hadn’t been able to break through to the Active Core realm before they departed. Furthermore, she hadn’t had much time to master her movement skill, so she was effectively controlling their pace.

At the very least, a small group like theirs was still able to move faster than an army, even with whatever group movement skills they were using. They were also conserving their energy, whereas Bianca and the other were purely seeking to get away from the crowd as quickly as possible.

Bianca was able to be near the front of their group, with Huang Su naturally leading ahead, though it was impossible for her to speed up to her maximum speed since Song Ming was struggling to keep up with them even at their current pace. If she was free to dash about using her fourth realm movement skill, she could easily double her speed – though at the same time, she wouldn’t be able to keep it up for long.

It drained quite a bit of energy to teleport around like that, whereas using her movement skill to just accelerate herself was way more efficient for a long-distance sprint, like their current one.

“My lord!”

“I am aware. Hm… Ignore them. Our priority is Long Shiyi.”

“Understood, my lord.”

“… what the fuck? Is that a sixth realm cultivator just running towards us?” Long Shiyi let out an exasperated sigh, “This whole conflict… hah, whatever. Their aim seems to be elsewhere, focus on the Exarch’s forces! Given that it is approaching directly, it must be confident in breaking our defences! If I must, I’ll burn the last remnant of my lifeforce to ensure that it doesn’t walk away unharmed!”

Bianca and the others naturally didn’t know what the two sides had decided, and so they didn’t know that they could just run off to the side and be left alone by the majority of both sides. More importantly, while the main encroaching army was ignoring them, there were more of the Exarch’s forces scattered about, patrolling the coast, and one such group soon spotted them as well, and with no orders from beyond, naturally sought to chase them down.

“Mistress-”

“Yes, I see it! Hah, fuck… let’s turn further east, try to avoid them as well!”

Their heading had been directly north, but to avoid the chasing crowd, they were forced to turn a little, and then more when the third realm cultivators chasing them down sped up, intent on not letting them past.

In truth, they likely only encouraged such a pursuit, as their change of course meant that they were heading towards Long Shiyi’s camp. Given the conflict, perhaps the only ones that would want to go there would be the dragon’s own forces, and so it would be in their best interest to discourage anyone from joining in the defence of the camp…

Bianca couldn’t exactly call out to them and say that she didn’t want to be anywhere near the conflict… after all, only an idiot wouldn’t have just gone on the Heart Lake and sailed around to beyond Long Shiyi’s territory, perhaps at the Dragon’s Fangs directly…

‘If only we hadn’t gotten tangled up with Li Wusu, we might’ve been able to skip quite a part of the journey… though heading west and north would’ve let us skip around all this shit as well,’ she thought, ‘Though, aren’t the Necromancers residing somewhere to the north of our Reaper’s Grave? Yeah, probably best not to get anywhere near them.’

Her mind ran about roughly as quickly as she did, though rather than going anywhere in particular, she just considered countless possibilities about the future, immediate and not. If they were forced to near the camp even further, how would they manage it? There was no chance that Huang Su could take on the remains of Long Shiyi’s armies, nor would it be good for them to get stuck amidst the conflict that would inevitably ensue, but they also had no real other options for escaping.

What did interrupt her was noticing Song Ming struggling to keep up. Her stamina for sexual matters was impressive, sometimes rivalling Bianca’s own – when she wasn’t chocking on cock, anyway – but when it came to sprinting and crossing long distances, her cute pet wasn’t quite on par with the others.

She stumbled, and Bianca couldn’t possibly let her fall behind, so she stopped and turned, catching up to her darling.

“Mistress, sorry, I-”

“Just let me handle it, pet!” she lifted her up with ease, using both arms to hold her in a bridal carry, “I haven’t really done this while holding someone else, so sorry in advance!”

Without explaining further, she used her fourth realm movement skill to its limit, warping across a vast distance in an instant, suddenly appearing at Huang Su’s side within the blink of an eye. She slowed a bit, careful not to topple over, but quickly regained her prior speed, even with Song Ming in her arms.

Her strength was sufficient to carry her without issue, and her sturdy body ensured that she wouldn’t be getting exhausted any time soon, so her biggest trouble was adjusting to the new centre of balance.

“Mistress, do you need any help?” Huang Su glanced over, looking worried.

“No, I’m fine! More importantly, any better ideas?”

“I can see a number of other patrolling groups to the north-west, and further east, past the route the army is using!” Huang Su replied swiftly.

Xue Yaling joined in to their mid-sprint exchange, “At this rate, the only route they won’t be obstructing will be straight into Long Shiyi’s camp! We’re fucked, Sect Mistress!”

“… No, we’re not. Speed up, right into the camp!”

The kitsune looked at her like she was insane, and even in her corrupted, brainwashed state, Huang Su seemed unsure about the strategy, but Bianca was relatively confident in this approach. Taking any other route would mean a clash with the Exarch’s forces, and clashing with them could alert the army – if they didn’t already know about them.

Alerting them could mean a confrontation, one that they would never win, especially not if the Exarch itself decided to take them on. It was at the peak of the sixth realm, after all, whereas Huang Su’s fighting power wasn’t that high even for her lower stage.

Meanwhile, Long Shiyi couldn’t spare the time to be fighting them, so chances were that they could infiltrate the camp without much effort. If they did, it would be a matter of running away or pretending to help until they had the chance to do so – in either case, she saw a far greater possibility of success in this approach than any other.

Perhaps time would prove her wrong, but in a moment like this, with their lives on the line, it was vital to make a decision, even if it would be completely wrong.

And so, the sprint continued, even as everything seemed to be closing in around them. The camp got closer, but so did the pursuing patrols, so did the army in the distance. It felt as though the world was converging upon a single point, an inevitable conflict, a battle that would decide the fate of the world… though, naturally, things weren’t quite that extreme.

Whether the Exarch won or lost, the sects of the Eastern Continent remained strong, and could defeat it if it chose to turn against them. The Western Continent existed also, and whatever powers remained there could put a stop to any powerful faction in the Eastern Continent if they were roused into doing so.

Probably.

Anyway, the biggest problem with her plan was ensuring that they would gain access to Long Shiyi’s camp without being trapped outside. They were walled off by various fortifications, both mundane and planar, and any gates that could be used to get inside were firmly shut, so they could hardly just sprint inside before they were spotted… again, assuming that both sides of the conflict weren’t already more than aware of their presence.

And then, by some miracle, Bianca spotted it – a small opening, one they could enter without issue, if in single file. It was odd to see such a thing, but amidst such a chase, she hardly had the time to ponder it, and just ran ahead of Huang Su, leading her and the kitsune forth.

It was just a small gap between the logs making up part of the wall – they had a metallic sheen to them, suggesting they were more than simple wood, perhaps even the silver-leaf metallic wood that had been getting cut in preparation for this conflict. Regardless, it was conspicuous, and the moment she dashed through, Song Ming barely fitting in, they were surrounded, countless warriors pointing weapons at them, and at Huang Su and Xue Yaling as they joined in.

And yet, a moment later, they all turned, and as a few sealed the gap in the wall behind them, the rest ran to any spots they could to prepare for battle.