In the demon realm, on top of a teeny floating island, the primordial black, Diablo had just finished screeching like he had just seen a mouse in a kitchen, all while Jaune and Kaijuno just stared at him with expressions that hold no intelligence
"You look like you had just seen a ghost"
Diablo reverted back his composed self, likely wishing to say he could make Kaijuno a ghost
"So . . . You've returned"
"Yep! Back from political hell and returning to literal hell, how has the trip been so far?"
"Fairly uneventful, although Diablo kept encountering this persistent demon punk demon"
Diablo wasn't fazed by Jaune's statement, only shrugging his shoulders in dismissal
"So how much more until we reach the next primordial demon, is it still a good distance?"
"We're actually already here, Violet resides just over there"
Signaled by Diablo towards a floating castle in the viewable surrounded by a mild mist
"Since we finally made it, let's not waste any further an-
"Cool! good night then"
Just as Diablo turned to face the castle, he instantly turned his head to see Kaijuno laying his head on a pillow with a blanket over him
Kaijuno just got here and Diablo was already having his patience being tested. He loomed over the tucked in demon lord with a piercing glare before insisting
"Get up, we're already here. Besides we made a deal that for you to have a chance at getting Violet, remember? So stop drooling and stop being slugging around already"
"I know but I had to spend a whole day pretending to be nice to a bunch of politicians, I'm drained. I just need a good recharge before heading out"
Kaijuno held this nonchalant tone that completely dismissed Diablo's irritated tone
"Yeah Diablo, not need to rush"
"Unlike you Jaune, I don't have the pleasure of my own master's presence, so the faster we get through this, the better"
Before the black and yellow pair can escalate another one of their petty arguments, the woman of the hour had arrived
The primordial purple, Violet. A small petite woman who resembles a young girl had casually floated down before the pair with an expression of boredom and annoyance
"Jeesh, didn't know I was getting this popular, unfortunately it had to be sourced by some the last people I'd want on my front yard"
As if it was natural, as it likely was, Jaune immediately became aggressive and provoked Violet into a brawl
"Huh! You wanna have a go pip squeak! If you want problems that badly, I'll gladly cause them! Maybe I'll start with wrecking that fancy castle of yours back there"
"It wouldn't matter to me if you go off breaking my toys, my servants will gladly repair it afterwards. But if you wish to be humbled then I'll be more the merrier"
Both were now against eachother, tiny bolts of lightning connecting their foreheads
The only thing that prevented the ignition of a fight was the Diablo clearing his throat to get both of their attentions
"I don't believe I came here for any inconveniences. Infact I'm sure you're aware of why I'm here"
"Huh? Wait you mean converting to serve your master? I never said I was interested to begin"
"And I wasn't asking to begin with, but between now and then there was a mild change of plans. Before I do such, I've brought along another who wish to try making you a subordinate"
Diablo had gestured towards Kaijuno was still in the middle of resting, seemingly not bothered by conversation that is happening besides him
"You don't mean this one do you?"
"Unfortunately yes, it is this one?"
"You're serious? I'm not interested in serving someone else, why would I bother with whoever this is?"
"I say for quite a good reason Violet! Afterall he actually defeated me, especially with nuclear magic! Because of that now I serve him"
This did little to convince Violet who only looked unimpressed after hearing Jaune's statement
"It maybe would've been interesting if it was Blanc who got slammed but you? Out of all us besides Raine, you were more prone to be a screw up so I can't say you getting outclassed was anything to be suprised by"
This enraged Jaune who now started to pop veins all over her head and looked like she finally had enough of tolerating but before she could follow through with her wrath, the half pint demon lord decided to emerge from his rest
"Can you keep it down! I'm trying to- oh wait! You're here already!?"
Kaijuno seemed to only now noticed that Violet had arrived after everyone else was already aware
"Of course I am, this is literally my domain. So who might you be? You're apparently someone of mild significance if Jaune is willing speak about something besides explosions"
The lazing demon lord jumped out of his comfort in high spirits
"Hello primordial of purple! I am-"
As Kaijuno was beginning to ramble, Diablo chose to space out to regain his sanity
(I never would've thought that I'd almost regret coming here. Or more so regret how I let things play out. Guy always said that besides me and Raine, Jaune was massively prone to give him migraines long ago
Now having her and my worst dilemma as master and servant, it truly sounds like the recipe for the apocalypse of my patience. Violet might as well be the cherry on top for this irritation sundae
I wouldn't put Violet above stooping to their level if he does succeed in taming her
Although it will most certainly be a different story with Blanc. With a her more graceful character, even I can't take her lightly
If he were to survive this and make it to Blanc, I'll at least hope a good amount dents are made on him
.
.
.
IS HE STILL TALKING!?)
The entire time that Diablo was inner monologging, Kaijuno was yapping about different titles he came up with on the spot before FINALLY concluding with
"Kaijuno Tempest!"
Clapping could be heard in the background by the mix of Jaune's subordinate demons and the captured stray demons Kaijuno harassed and subordinated
All while Violet was seemingly unimpressed with half open eyes to her show disinterest
"So you're finally finished?"
"Yep!"
"Good"
With no hesitation, Violet shot out a magic bullet right at Kaijuno with intentions of obliterating his existence
But in an instant, Kaijuno flicked his arm outward, reflecting the magic bullet
Right after, he made an expression of satisfaction as he thought
"The back hand swipe! Another trope checked off"
Violet mildly raised her eyelids a bit at how Kaijuno seemingly reflected her attack with ease but wasn't fully convinced enough to hold interest
"How'd you like them apples?"
"Passable for mediocre at best"
Jaune expressed frustration for Violet's continous downplay of Kaijuno's capabilities, acting as Kaijuno's equivalent for Diablo who too would behave with venom on their tone if it was Rimuru instead
But Kaijuno had to halt Jaune in order to prevent the blonde tomboy from obliterating the surrounding area and making the displeased Violet from outright kicking them out
The demon lord then turned back to Violet
"So I'd take that you're up for a brawl then?"
Violet gave off a tone as seeing this question as something completely ridiculous
"I'm guessing Jaune gave you that expectation? Unlike her, I actually have the dignity to not thrash around everybody that looks at me funny, I simply torture them instead"
Jaune silently flipped Violet the bird as she thought Kaijuno wouldn't see it to which he did via the 360 vision of magic sense but he just pretended to not see it
Kaijuno was stomped on what to do since Violet wasn't willing to duke it out or just not willing to do much at all
It was Yagami who suggested after some pondering
"Suggestion, challenge individual Violet to a competition of torture"
This caught Kaijuno off guard, he wasn't an expert on the art of torture. The closest to him committing to it is flaunting at clayman who spends most of time being bored in a jail cell
But given it was a suggestion from Yagami, Kaijuno decided to go along with it
"Then instead of a fight, let's bet on a competition"
"A competition?"
"Yes! We'll compete in a different way to simply prove which one is better"
"Better at what?"
" . . . Just better"
This did little to persuade the purple primordial
"And I should indulge in this because?"
" . . . Cause Jaune is better"
Hearing from this desperate attempt of provocation from Kaijuno, Violet shifted her expression for the first in this entire interaction from bored to now shooting death glares
"Say that again"
"Jaune wasn't such a wuss when I met her. She didn't make such a fuss and accepted my challenge with no issue. I say she was a much better sport about it than you're being right now. Infact I'd say she might just be one of the best primordials there are with what she should me in our duel
Maybe that could be the same case for you if there wouldn't be any reason you're seemingly trying to avoid my challenge hm?"
Jaune herself held a sense of confusion and conflict. She wasn't displeased with her master seemingly second handedly complimenting her but she had trouble fully getting a grasp on feeling complimented
With how demons socially work, interactions are neutral at best and insulting at worst, it's common for demons to openly look down on another so for someone to be in support of her is difficult to mentally swallow
Jaune decided to just simply brush off any worry of complexity to prevent getting her head wrapped up about it
Diablo meanwhile is mostly not listening but noticed Jaune's conflicting expressions from Kaijuno's praises
This made a small bit of envy develop from the black primordial. Not because Kaijuno is praising Jaune but that of another primordial demon is getting praised by their master
A feeling that Diablo wished to experience right now from his own master, Rimuru. He even contemplated asking his lord to give him compliments when this is all over but he's more on the fence since actually asking his lord for anything is something Diablo would really avoid doing so
All this while Violet's pupils had shrunk, figuring out what Kaijuno was daring to imply about her
"Maybe . . . You're weak-"
Before he was able to finish, Violet immediately appeared right infront of him, falling into his trap of provoking
"There's something you want out of this is there? To dare belittle a primordial"
"Yes, there is something I want out of you"
Kaijuno then pointed at the ground while having morphing his face into an exaggerated smug expression
"For you to bow down and become my servant"
The entire area went silent. That was easily the most daring thing that any of Violet's demons had heard ever before told to her. They were expecting the primordial purple to suddenly erupt in a frenzy at any moment. Instead, their master simply responded with
"Only if you're willing to risk becoming my new guinea pig for the rest of eternity"
Kaijuno showed no signs of flinching nor reconsidering by this gamble, keeping their confident face shown
"I'll take those terms"
With that the challenge is on! The rules were set as such
It would be a best out of three competitions
2 chosen by Violet and 1 chosen by Kaijuno
The first round is the first choice of Violet, a competition of endurance but not between themselves
Both will have a demon unfortunate to be chosen as guinea pigs
They will have to do something despicable to make the their guinea pig scream as loud as possible
The deciding factor is whoever can get a demon to scream the loudest
In their own room at one end of a hall
To the far left room Violet was already making her preparations as this ordeal was nothing new for her
"When comes to stuff like this, I'm practically unbeatable! I can even win this in my sleep"
Violet casually stares onto the small table right besides her, full of odd objects that at first wouldn't look to be anything noteworthy but in the context of this situation, they're looking to be a whole lot more disturbing.
The poor demon that was strapped onto the chair knew this to be so as Violet stared back at shaking so to be victim
"Which would be worse? The top end or the bottom end?"
The following procedure could be described as too graphic and disturbing to be considered appropriate to mention so we'll move on to Kaijuno's room who is still fidgeting on what he should do
"What to do, what to do . . . Maybe really should've thought of something before agreeing to this suggestion
What does one do to make someone else scream?
Hm, punching? Nah too basic
Hm, ice cream? Nah too soft served
Hm, whipping? Nah too kinky
Maybe something that really hurts. Probably like getting hit by an SUV, unfortunately I got none around here
How about stabbing? But would a knife be right?
How about let's get creative with it"
The demon was casually tied to the chair, thinking that they were the lucky one to not be chosen as Violet's victim and expected the newcomer to lesser to the primordial who has a special reputation for causing great pain to demons below her
They only raised a brow when Kaijuno brought out a toothpick
The demon was confused on why they were holding a small piece of wood until Kaijuno started poking them with it. It didn't really pierce the skin as it was just a toothpick
"This doesn't seem to be that successful as I was hoping for"
"Notice, coat the toothpick with your haki to increase the sharpness"
"Oh thanks!"
Now with monster king haki covering it, the toothpick was looking less casual as it was before
Right as expected, the toothpick was now stabbing right through the demon effectively
After a streak of painful groans, the demon was looking like swiss cheese, this result wasn't very satisfying as the screeches down the hall were noticeably more audible
"Hmmm, so it's not gonna be that easy huh? Although I guess piercing via toothpick wouldn't be the most disgusting form of pain"
Returning to his stumped position, Kaijuno wondered how step it up. Maybe giving them a wedgie? Possibly sticking a wet finger in their ear? Or even . . .
Spoiling a recently released movie
Maybe that last part was too much, but still! Instead of the above, Kaijuno decided to resort to another option
Taking note of the exposed wounds covering the demon, Kaijuno took out a lemon and promptly sliced it in half
With two halves in hand, Kaijuno let out
"When life gives you lemons, you poisen the water with citric acid"
And mercilessly rubbed and squeezed the exposed halves of the lemon all of the demon from head to toe, even flooding the eye sockets with the lemons juices
The agony of this really did a number on this demon, high volume screams were made in response to this horror as the fruity acid blended with the nerves
All yelled and done, the demon was now shivering, rethinking their position in this ordeal
"Ok this helped but it still sounds like Violet is holding the edge over me. Crap, I don't think I have what takes to be that effective of a torture when dealing with a primordial of all people"
I felt like I was stuck between a rock and a hard place for my pack of expertise
"Hmmm, Yagami I got nothing here, can you help me please"
"Notice, apply Unique Skill RadioShack's sub-skill Headphones on the targeted demon"
On the other end of the hall, the purple primordial browsing through her toys nonchalantly like she already won
"This demon's scream are starting to run dry, but I doubt it matters at this point. I knew that fool held nothing when it -"
But suddenly, she was interupted by a loud intense scream that can be sourced by the other end of the hall
Violet couldn't voice her confusion as the audio volume was overwhelming the entire hall and even leaked outside to the other areas
Seeing that the current scream would get in the way of any further progress along with her growing frustration, Violet halted her torturing and walked to Kaijuno's torture room to see what he was doing only to see the chosen demon shriveled up like a raisin and was completely unresponsive leaving a speculation on whether it not if it's still alive
All while Kaijuno eerily turned his face towards the bewildered Violet
"What the hell did you do?"
" . . . Trade secret"
Kaijuno didn't really know what caused this outcome as it was Yagami's selection
"Yagami what did you put this guy through?"
"Answer, I forcibly had the demon only listen to a compilation of ear bleeding sound and music avaliable in your playlist including nail scratching on a chalkboard, fork scratching on a plate, and various songs provided from your playlist"
"What do you mean? My song choices are top notch, second to none"
"Negative, your taste in music is divisive at best"
Besides Violet and Kaijuno, a crowd was beginning to form upon hearing the sudden burst of volume
Though they remained silent when they saw the dehydrated demon, only Diablo and Jaune seemed to not care
Kaijuno, feeling insulted about the quality of his preferences had decided to attempt at proving Yagami wrong
"Actually how about trying out what I did Violet, surely a primordial can handle it no problem right?"
Violet furrowed her brow, seemingly offended that Kaijuno could imply she couldn't do so with his sarcastic tone
"Like anything from a newbie could ever hope to impress me, do your worst"
Upon being called newbie, Kaijuno felt a sense of grudge towards the unimpressed Violet and decided to commit something spiteful in retaliation
"Hey Yagami, can you make sure it's even worse for Violet? I want it to really hurt"
"Affirmative"
With his right hand raised, Kaijuno stared at Violet before stating
"Eclipse Arts Technique: Bleeding Hearing"
Upon snapping his fingers the room remained silent. And yet the expression of Violet had instantly shifted, it took a moment, but the rest of the demons notice the change the primordial purple, who was previously showing an atmosphere of confidence, now having her pupils shrunken nearly microscopically
as her face tensed up seemingly in silent pain. As what kaijuno had performed was not only hard to comprehend, but horrific enough to inflict pain on a primordial demon, no less the purple primordial.
Violet remained still while most of the demons simply serve by, that's not risk enraging the purple primordial, the first to approach her was the primordial yellow Jaune. She shook Violet's shoulder to get a response out of her only for violet to remain silent None of the lesser demons dared to vocally panic and simply remain silent in their concerns for what happened. A primordial being fazed and openly inflicted is something completely unheard of in the demon realm, and yet that paradox of situation was happening right in front of them.
With Violet seemingly unresponsive Diablo stepped into the middle of the room, an announce. So due to the previous scream and uncertain condition of the presented demon on the chair kaijuno was declared the winner of the first round.
All of the viewing demons shifted their expressions, to one of complete astonishment, while the other two primordials didn't express any concern whatsoever about violet as for Kaijuno, he was also surprised from this outcome
"Wait it actually did that much. I was only hoping to sprint to Sting a little. But honestly, this outcome, it's really more satisfying than I expected to be. Plus the other demons are shaking in their boots from what I just did right now. Seems like it was great thinking on my end"
" Notice it was amplifying the intensity of the sun waves from my efforts. You only instructed me to do so."
" Yeah, like I said, it was great thinking on my end."
Yagami clicked their tongue at Kaijuno's lack of gratitude as it was their support that brought them victory for the first round.
But nonetheless, after Violet regained her senses and was it available to respond once more. They decided to move on to the next round which was kaijuno's choice.
Getting a mixed impression from the previous round the viewing demons figured that kaijuno would come up with an even worse competition, that'll put the two through hellish conditions. While technically true, it would look more tame in comparison to the first round. Instead of torturing another chosen victim, they instead chose a competition to torture each other. But what would that be exactly? It would be a game, a game of uno
Using the paper available in kaijuno's spatial stomach, Yagami constructed a large deck of uno cards consisting of various colors and numbers. Not only would the players consist of Kaijuno and Violet, but also the primordial pair of yellow and black will be dragged into this game to as its more fun to play a game of four players instead of only two
The order of turns would go as follow Violet, Jaune, Kaijuno, then Diablo. The decks were sorted and the four players received 7 cards, the first card to be dropped down was a yellow 5. It's the first turn would go to Violet who had to take 2 cards from the stack before receiving a yellow 6 to place down
Jaune placed a yellow 1 and then Kaijuno placed a blue one. Diablo took a card from the stack and placed it down a blue 4
Violet wasn't sure why kajuno decided to make this their second competition and thought that he was toying with her
" I don't know why you chose this as our second round, i feel as though I can do this in my sleep and win easily"
Kaijuno, what's in wasn't phased by this nonchalant attitude and simply responded with a devious grin on his face.
" Ohh, you'll see."
20 minutes later
Violet was down to her last 3 cards and her third last card of choice was a + 2 yellow card. Jaune didn't have any plus twos or self. But Jaune ended up placing a + 2 blue, but then kaijuno placed down a + 2 red Violet's stared at Diablo worrying, whether or not he also plays the + 2 and does. I see feared Diablo had a plus + 2 green. Unfortunately, Violet didn't have any any more plus twos. So she ends up taking eight more cards into her deck
With a distraught look on her face. She tried to get down to 2 cards, only to end up with a total of ten all while the rest of the players had less than five
1 hour and 30 minutes later.
It was Jaune's turn, a green 8 was the current card on top of the pile. She turned toward Violet with a smirk
"Looks like it's your turn again, green reverse!"
Violet didn't seem so bother by this, instead they pulled their own ace
"Funny I could say the same about you, blue reverse!"
The direction of cards changed back to Jaune but she did not falter either
"Yellow reverse!"
"Red reverse!"
"Reverse!
Reverse!
Reverse!"
It was ultimately Violet's turn which she had to take three cards from the stack before placing down a blue 2
7 hours later
Everyone was feeling intensely impatient with how long this game dragging on. Many times, the pile was organized and sorted due to the continuous cards being put down and drawn
Now it was Diablo's turn and the current card to match was a red 5. The issue for Diablo was that he neither had a red card nor a 5, so he needed to draw from the stack
Blue 8
Yellow 4
Green 2
None of these were what Diablo needed, so he draws some more
Green 1
Green 2
Blue 6
Yellow 8
The other players began to chuckle at Diablo's poor luck, much to the growing frustration of the black primordial
Blue 4
Green 3
Yellow 2
Blue 1
Blue 6
The 3 players then burst out in laughter at how many cards Diablo kept pulling to end up not getting a 5 nor a red.
Kaijuno let out a banter
"Damn! How terrible is your luck? You might even get to 20 cards before you can get a red 5"
Diablo grabbed his next card and then turned towards Kaijuno with a malicious grin
"Fortunately, it doesn't seem like I'll need one anymore"
"What?"
Diablo placed down a +4 card
Kaijuno held a distraught look on his face upon the instant karma. At least he only gotten a third of what Diablo ended up getting
15 hours later
Everyone was getting antsy, keeping their deck of cards close to themselves. By this point they wanted to end the game but they didn't want anyone but them to win either. The three primordials long since understood why Kaijuno decided on this game. It was an addiction that keeps pulling you in for eternity
Right now Kaijuno had only had a green 6 and a red 7 and the current top of the pile was a yellow 4 which didn't any of Kaijuno's cards. He was betting on Jaune to put down a card that matched with his
Fortune was on his side as Jaune placed down a red 2. Filled with excitement, Kaijuno swiftly put down his red 7.
"Uno"
Kaijuno looked up in confusion at the three primordials that held tired expressions
"What?"
"You didn't say uno first. You gotta take 2 cards from the stack"
Kaijuno took a few seconds to process what just happened until realizing he screwed up
" . . . FFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUU-"
18 hours later
Pupils shrunken and shaking, expressions that look like they're close to killing eachother. The most intense was Jaune as she's the only player with a single card
Violet was trying to figure what which card Jaune could have left
Taking a gamble, Violet placed down a yellow 9
Jaune took a noticeable pause before slamming down a yellow 2, making the rest of the cards immediately fly away. Jaune began yelling and running around like a maniac while Kaijuno and Violet seemed worn out as hell. Diablo wasn't as relieved as he brought up an error with having 4 players play in a competition between only 2 people
" So who won this round?"
"Jaune?"
"I meant what does Jaune's victory mean for the result of the second round?"
The other three players were frozen still upon the realization. 18 hours in and they only now just took into consideration of what would happen if neither Kaijuno nor Violet won a round of uno
It was safe to say, everyone held pained expressions while being close to crying, although Diablo tried to remain stoic despite also feeling miserable
24 hours later
By now, a lot of the surrounding demons gotten bored and decided to play their own rounds of uno that only went on for 20 to 30 minutes. All of them were silently wondering why the main competition was taking hours to finish
Speaking of which, with faces so crusty and stiff, bantering non existent, the four are still in the middle of their hell game
It was agreed that Jaune's victory would be Kaijuno's victory and Diablo's victory would be Violet's victory. But Violet initially claimed that set up was unfair as Jaune had just won so they begrudgingly chose to do a second round with those conditions in mind
Violet currently is the only player with a single card. It was currently a blue 4, Jaune didn't have any 4's that were in a different color so she placed down a blue 2. Kaijuno was shaking his deck, looking through his cards.
He wasn't sure if Violet really needed a blue or that was just to trick them into changing the color to what she actually had. The number on the card to take into consideration as well. Even if the color changed, there was still a chance that Diablo placed down a card that has the same number as Violet's.
Kaijuno couldn't directly do anything to increase Violet's cards, all he could do is bet on Diablo putting down a card that would make Violet draw more cards
Kaijuno cautiously placed down a red 2, hoping the color change was enough to stop Violet. It was now down to Diablo, the other three stared closely at him with their dried out eyes while he didn't show any expression of care
A few seconds passed, second felt longer than they were due to the high tension
Casually, Diablo placed a blue 4
Now the focus was on Violet. Her hands were shaking violently. Then suddenly, she dropped her card down on the stack before collapsing on her back
It was a blue 1
Then the remaining players collapsed to from the exhaustion, none of them could have felt anything not even the victorious Violet
Also to add, Diablo had a +4, he just predicted that Violet had a blue card and wanted to end this game already
After a few days of recovery from that nightmare of a competition, the two moved on to their third a final round which is also the tie breaker
The final contest and second choice of Violet is a eating contest but with a twist. Instead of simply eating normal food like hotdogs, the two of them will be eating slop crafted by the participants to be fed to the other.
This was to show who can create the worst poisen. If one were to be unable to continue eating the other's horrific creation or by the unlikely chance that someone were to finish their food first would be the deciding factor
Kaijuno would have to eat a dish that could be described every known and unknown disease served on a silver platter. It was a mix of purple and black and gave off a stench of a landfill made of ten year old garbage
Feeding this disgusting grub is one of the ways Violet tortures her victim of choice.
Food from the material world wouldn't really have much to any effect on spiritual beings like demons but something that uses matter provided from a spiritual base world can have effect, especially if that food was made by a primordial
As for Violet, she was served a large bowl of chicken noodle soup
For the thoughts of Kaijuno in regards to this predicament
"Holy hell! What is this!? I thought what Violet meant by an eating contest was something like a stack of hotdogs or donuts but this stuff is horrific
I thought for sure after getting Lavandra to make at least mediocre dishes that my days of eating killer meals was over but here I am now
I guess I shouldn't be too suprised knowing Violet had a specialty of poisen"
In Violet's case, she looked puzzled at the sight of a dish that has shown nothing that could repulse her. Nothing that looks weird, no funny smells to comment on, it seemed to be just a regular bowl of chicken noodle soup, it was suspiciously simple. Due to what happened from the previous rounds, Violet refrained from thinking it really was what it looked to be
Both sat down with tension, spoon in hand, shaking in fear of contact of their slop
All while surrounded by an audience of hundreds of demons, most of whom interested and anticipated for the primordial purple to bother competing against a challenger of unknown origins with the only other two primordials getting front row seats to view
All set and ready, both spoons were raised, figurative sweat dripped down
Then on the count of 3
1
2
3
Immediately both scooped a portion of their meals but neither has yet to devour it. Breathing intensely at the sickening idea of what their taste buds could experience but not a moment later, they forced themselves to chow down, exciting the audience
Immediately and intensely, Violet experience something horrific that she has never been through in previously. In her entire life that is as long as existence itself, never once has she felt such otherworldly pain.
It wasn't just her taste buds that were going through a world of horrors, running through her was a an unimaginable pain that was beyond intense.
Any lesser demons would be knocked out by the taste at best or would instantly die at worst
Even Violet can't casually brush it off herself but instead of losing consciousness from pain, she tensed up her entire body instinctively tensed up to endure it as much as she could try to, keeping herself frozen to focus on endurance. During her pause, many veins began to become visible despite the anatomy of spiritual beings not including any, it was completely reactionary
It was very noticeable for all to see, it was as if Violet was screaming in every way except vocally. The crowd of demons were openly shocked at how Violet's extreme struggle with the exception of Jaune and Diablo who simply wondered what was in the soup that made Violet so uncomfortable
While Violet's pain was subsiding, Kaijuno was chowing down on his meal to the grand suprise of everyone. This meal wasn't just 1 star trash that would only make people gag. This was a creation made in specialty to bring forth a torturous experience to anyone who had consumed it, even gods couldn't eat it without immediately regretting it
And yet the expected outcome was reversed, the greatest expert of poisen in all of existence was experiencing a rollercoaster of strain and tension while the opponent who doesn't have much of a background is mostly unfazed, only flinching when small chunks of his meal spill on his lips
But why was Kaijuno eating so casually as if his meal wasn't supposed to make him wish he was dead? Was he actually super tough that toxins created by a legendary primordial wasn't enough to even tickle him? Did Kaijuno suddenly became the strongest character in the entire universe?
Hell no, the little bastard was cheating. Well technically not as what he is doing isn't going against any established rules but it was still quite underhanded
Learning from his time in the western council meeting, Kaijuno could conjure his predation from any part of his body, he wasn't limited to his hands. It could be from the hard to reach spots on his back to even his pinky toe.
For this case, he had a small ball of predation in his mouth that absorbs his hellish dish for him instead of having digesting it naturally. Pieces of his dish still touched his lips which was painful to say the least but this way was far more easier than eating it raw
It wasn't to only underhanded tactic he resorted to. The reason why Violet was having such a hard time with such a basic meal was Kaijuno's influence through his access of master chef from food chain. While Murphy's Law provides probability manipulation that is effective at making things as worst as possible, Master chef's probability manipulation is more based on the user's intention. If it could be used to make something horrific taste nice then it can also make some nice taste horrific which is the case here
Violet finally recovered from her first bite while Kaijuno already had half of his plate empty. Now with knowing exactly how bad it is, Violet slowly scooped up another portion of chicken noodle soup, raising her shivering hand
Taking a lot of willpower, she ate and swallowed the portion. The same pain repeated and the tension was put to the extreme once more. This time her eyes began to water, coming close to dropping a tear. In a nanosecond, Violet forcibly sucked in the water back into her eye for if it was any longer, she would have succumbed to the pain
Although by the time she was getting ready for another bite, Kaijuno finished his last. His own plate was completely empty while Violet only managed taste her meal twice. All that hell only her to end up losing in the end
Violet forcibly turned her head towards Kaijuno and looked at him with a painful expression. Kaijuno only side eyed her with a smug look, seemingly proud of his victory and apathetic for what he put her through
Understanding what this loss means to her, she lets herself go and passes out right then and there
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In a spacious bedroom within the palace, Violet had awakened in her oversized bed. Still feeling under the weather, Violet looked around the room with half open eyes. There she noticed by the door was one of her highest ranking arch demon servant standing right next to a relaxed Jaune sitting on a chair half asleep until she noticed Violet regained consciousness
The two stared at eachother briefly until Violet spoke in disbelief
"So did I truly . . ."
Jaune only nodded silently in confirmation. Violet slowly turned away
"So that's it . . . I'm suddenly someone else's servant now . . . me, a primordial"
"Well isn't submitting to the one you lost against completely expected and normal for us demons? You of all people should know as such"
"That's expected for any demon that ISN'T us! PRIMORDIALS! We're the ones who are the absolute mountain top of all demons! Demon Lords from the past and now don't hold a candle to our full might. Even the endless gods across the many multiverses and dimensions won't dare to cross us.
At least Raine and Mizeri were subjugated by Guy, a fellow primordial so there was some leeway. But this? A new demon lord that I never heard of showed up at my doorstep and not only bested me in my own field but also made me submit to them afterall of these eons of standing on top? How am I supposed to take this?"
Violet was becoming more openly conflicted about her current situation. A good part of her expected win only for that reality to come crumbling down and this different one settling in
Jaune mildly raised her brow, guessing her humiliation against ripped off any cover of pride but it was still surprising to her that Violet was willingly freaking out in front of someone, let alone her of all people
The atmosphere was becoming uncomfortable for Jaune. Demons are not prone to be emotional, let alone emotionally supportive towards one another. Jaune was usually more accustomed to belittling Violet in her times of failure but this wasn't her victory against and she only seen Violet reaction in agitation instead of her current confusion and depression
Jaune who wishes to clear this stuffy atmosphere of awkwardness, tried to pull something that she only started process recently
"You're hair is more purple than other demon!"
Violet somewhat snapped out of her initial conflict and casually looked at Jaune with a confused expression
the servant wasn't sure what was going through Jaune's head but refrained from changing their current poker face expression
Even Jaune was twitching at how unsure she was about this. Her trying doesn't mean she was an expert at it
"What?"
"You're hair is the most purple there is!"
"Where are you going with this?"
"Uh . . . well you're feeling less depressed now right?"
" . . . somewhat, now I'm confused at what you're even saying"
"It's a compliment!"
"You're complimenting me? Now that's easily the biggest jest I've heard"
"Well if you want something truthful, you're easily the biggest turd I had the misfortune of ever encountering"
"Now that sounds more like you"
"But also whether we like it or not, we're more or less partners under the same master. It's not exactly gonna be fun for me to constantly see you be down in dumps more often than I already did so"
Violet now had expression of multiple whiplashes as Jaune was the absolute person she expected to say stuff like this
"Seriously, where did all of this come from?"
"I suppose this is Kaijuno-Sama's influence. I guess I never knew what's the point of a compliment until I was on the recieving end of it"
Violet paused for a moment to relax, seemingly dropping the tension she had
"If only you sounded this mature long ago"
"Now that's rich coming someone who looks like a kid"
"Rich from someone who's working for a kid"
"Well that makes the two of us"
"Just the two of us huh?"
"That's not exactly gonna be the case, eventually"
"What do you mean?"
"When Kaijuno-Sama comes back, he'll be going after Blanc to recruit her too"
This actually shocked Violet that Kaijuno was ambitious enough to go after the white primordial herself. Blanc rightfully has a reputation of not to be messed with especially amongst the primordials. Even the smug Diablo can't afford to take her lightly.
Among all seven primordial demons, Blanc is one of the most prideful, second only to Guy
"Wait! Come back? Did they go somewhere?"
"Yeah, apparently Kaijuno-Sama had something to take of so they're not in the demon realm at the moment. Diablo is already on his towards Blanc's territory so they'll likely meet up there"
There was an awkward pause until Jaune decided to ask
"You wanna go catch up with Diablo and meet with Kaijuno-Sama?"
Violet fidgeted before nodding
"You know what, sure. Given that he's gotten both us, I'd say he might actually have a chance against Blanc"
"And imagine when Blanc does lose?"
"It's going to be a field day for us!"
The primordial pair let out an audible chuckle at the possibility of Blanc's suffering only to then stare at eachother with deadpan expressions
"I still hate you though"
"Me too"
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Far west within the Rosso residency, Mariabelle is holding on firm expression of displeasure while Granbelle is massaging his head in frustration due to the events of the council
"It's safe to say our scheme ended back firing to say the least"
Granbelle only groaned audibly upon hearing this remark from Mariabelle, barely feeling to bother processing what just happened
"A disaster, an utter disaster. It's one thing that what we set up ended failing but the demon lord turned it around in his favor. Not only have they gotten Farmenas in their favor but Ingraccia too"
Granbelle finally stopped covering his face with his hands and spoke
" it pains me to admit it but the writing is on the wall. Its clear that this new demon lord is a significant threat to the Rosso's. They must be dealt with immediately"
Upon hearing this Mariabelle started walking towards the door with a hint of resolve
"Where are you going?"
"I'll be dealing with the demon lord personally"
" . . . Are you truly sure? Given how confident we were about the meeting, this demon lord is not so easily fooled"
"Fortunately for us, intelligence is not a factor to worry too much. Even if they are a bit more crafty, it doesn't necessarily mean they're out of our reach. Yuuki is a smart cookie as well but even he has fallen to my control. Whether it's the likes of Carrion, Frey, or even the former Clayman, I believe I could do the same. And since this is a fresh and ripe demon lord, the power of my Greed will surely overwhelm them."
"Speaking of who, would Yuuki still be stable enough by the time you confront the demon lord?"
" Yes, unlike the others that we used for combat, otherworldwers seem to be more durable to use more than the bare minimum of my greed that I resorted to preserve the nobles.
Unfortunately the extra pawns I have as back ups aren't holding up too well. I suppose having that extended time in that Labyrinth put an extra strain on their mentality
Pawns are pawns but if there was any misfortune would be losing someone sourced from the east. Those people are rare to get my hands on and are usually more higher quality compared to what we can pick off of the street
But since most of them are hanging on a thread, I suppose I'll use up what remains against the demon lord. I'll swear on my name Mariabelle the Greed that I shall put an end to this demon lord"
With that declaration, Mariabelle walked out of the room, leaving Granbelle to his own thoughts
"Maybe I should check up on Razul. Maybe that signal issue he's been having finally resolved itself"
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Within the townhall, Rimuru is going through last minute presentations for the upcoming expedition. Kaijuno insisted on joining despite it being in the middle of his expedition in the demon realm. At least with the meeting it was mandatory so he had to take a pause but this time he was going out of his way to be a part of it
Unlike other times where Rimuru was more stern, they were lenient as they were quick to assume that Kaijuno's motive was to collect more fancy utensils and furniture that he had Napoleon's group gather previously.
When they asked milim about if this were the case but she just shrugged and didn't really seem to care. Since they're Milim's bestie, any risk that occurs this time would be minimal at worst
As Rimuru wasn't busy frying his head with paperwork, they had a bit more breathing room to process and reflect
"Raphael, would you say things are tense between me and Kaijuno right now?"
"Affirmative, there is notice of strain between your interactions with individual Kaijuno"
Rimuru only sighed, likely already knowing the answer but wanted Raphael's confirmation
"Figured, I been wondering if I have been too harsh with him recently. I just have still been hung up on what happened with the harvest festival. Thinking about back on it, a lot of us were going through a lot and Kaijuno ended up being the one to go all out
Since then, I felt he changed. He was still a bit of an oddball but he was more modest, albeit some sass on the side. Unlike back then when they wanted run away from danger, now they run towards danger.
Not sure what exactly changed him, whether it was what led up to evolving into a demon lord or the actual evolution itself or even both. Either way, they've became more chaotic. It's not even like I'm not used to chaos but the intensity of this wasn't something I was used
Maybe that's why they wanted to take a trip to demon realm, to put some distance between us"
Rimuru was now fidgeting instead of packing from their feeling of confliction
Raphael made a remark in an attempt to solve their master's current problem
" Suggestion, the upcoming expedition can used as a bonding experience to mend your strain relationships with individual Kaijuno"
Hearing this, some of Rimuru's confliction was loosened and even started growing optimism
"You know what? Yeah, Yeah! It has been a hot minute since we really hang out. Maybe that's what was needed to help clear the air
Besides a few of the expected bumps in the road, it should be a good time overall. Who knows, maybe Kaijuno might start to lose some steam and all of this could be put past us"
Rimuru continued getting his equipment sorted for the upcoming trip, starting to look forward to it
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A fair amount of years ago, Astopho the halfling worked in the lumbering buisness in a nation southwest of the continent.
He was surprisingly good with the handling of an axe, cutting down large trees with a few swing of a basic cutting axe. He didn't mind the heavy labor despite his small stature, it even helped him develop great upper body strength
It was looking to remain like this for the rest of his labor days, unfortunately the lumber company that he worked for had filed for bankruptcy and layed off all of the employees including himself. Now lacking a salary, Astopho needed a new source of income fast in order to help pay the rent for the apartment he was living at. You'd think he would have an emergency saving in case for a problem such as this but the truth is that he is god awful at stopping himself from spending his money on anything flashy.
Needing an immediate solution, Astopho decided to head over to the local adventurers guild to apply for a job. He was thinking of being a direct staff member of the guild but ended deciding to become an adeventurer instead. It was easier apply and succeed getting the job in comparison, plus mainly having lumber jack in your resume wouldn't help much in the interview
Ready with leather gear and a high quality axe from his spending ventures, Astopho set out to pay his rent.
A handful of months has passed, Astopho began making a name for himself locally. Thanks to his already well built upper body strength, he was able to cut through monsters more swiftly compared to other adventurers, he even risen up the ranks at above average speeds. Unfortunately it wasn't fast enough as he eventually had to sell almost all of his belongings and still end up getting evicted
He pulled enough coins to purchase a tent decided to become a wandering adventure instead of remaining local. Traveling, he did so to various places but mainly stick to small towns that had surrounding wilderness to camp in.
In one of his rare times of being in a guild within a city, he noticed a poorly written pamphlet on the quest board
"Looking for adventurers that can hit hard without using fireballs
NO HIPPIES"
An odd pamphlet for sure but Astopho decided to go for it in hopes to go for higher paying quest
Upon meeting the source of pamphlet, it was ironically less odd than what the pamphlet led on
A human thief, an elf mage, and a dwarf archer, mostly standard for a party but it wasn't a formation that includes heavy hitting. They blinked and gave an awkward look at the halfling as they were likely expecting someone more intimidating
But after lifting a pile of furniture, they changed their tune quickly, especially after seeing his arm muscle under his sleeve.
From then on, Astopho became the muscle of the Hoods of Robins, being the one to lead front guard and take on tougher monsters like Knight Spiders. He grew close to the other members of the party like the constant arm wrestling with Darvo, the common healing assist from Murt, and the usual banter of muscle verses magic with Minyel
He also held respect for the party's leader, Daniel as while the contest of physical strength is in Astopho's favor all of the sparring between them ended in Daniel's victory. Astopho may be more effective against think skin beast, Daniel's expertise in martial arts overwhelmed him. He wasn't familiar with this style of fighting and Daniel refrained from saying where he was trained but this along with his swiftness explained why Daniel was the highest ranking member of the party
The rest of the party also came to an agreement that Astopho would not be trusted with their finances as he still suck at saving even after all of this time
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In the far north of the Great forest of Jura, a lone elf was wandering, bruised and scratched. This lone elf, Minyel was formerly a resident of one of the many elf villages
They have no one else wandering alongside him for everyone he is familiar with is most likely already dead
The recurring war between the Gozu tribe and the Mezu tribe was always destructive and chaotic, bring harm to other species and especially drove out any nearby elves from their villages which was the case for this lone elf
Walking for who knows how long, the lone elf eventually collapsed onto a root of a large tree. Forced to rest on the root, they observed their surrounding area which consisted of tall trees as far as the eye could see with seemingly no other presence nearby
But taking a few more moments to observe a specific tree in front of him, the elf noticed a humanoid figure behind a tree. The details weren't noticeable until the figure took a step away from the tree, the first thing to notice was the military uniform worn by the figure but the elf doesn't recognize what nation's military was the source of the uniform design.
Another detail was the dried up blood on their face and the stab wound within their stomach area
The figure, likely a male human held a firm but exhausted expression which made it difficult to tell what their intentions could be
After a short moment of staring between the two, the human reached for his hips and pulled out a dagger and without hesitation, threw it in the direction of the elf. The elf was too exhausted to try dodge could only brace themselves for the impact of the blade but the dagger never reached them. Instead it landed on the throat of a beast that was behind the elf who only now noticed the monster.
The beast struggled but eventually collapsed dead on the grass, soon followed by the collapse of the human.
The elf was the only one that remained conscious and processed what has happened. Observing the fallen human, the elf made a decision to help him in return for the sudden favor
A few days and night went by until the human woke up in a small cave with his wound patched up by healing herbs that would be used to make potions
The elf was by the entrance, cutting up vegetables and fruits until they noticed the human was awake. It was mostly a neutral atmosphere albeit with some open relief from the elf for the human's survival
The human admitted to only slaying the beast as he knew he would be next as well as hoping the elf would know some sort of healing magic which didn't faze the elf much as either way it was an eye for an eye.
The human introduced himself as Daniel while the elf introduced himself as Minyel
The next morning, the pair decided to temporarily travel together until they at least reached a fortified city to safely disband as the great forest of jura is full of dangerous monsters that neither would be strong enough fight against alone. The two set out on a journey of survival through the massive forest, mostly avoiding the larger monsters and hunting small creatures for a meat supply
The pair made themselves a duo of magic and physical attacks with Minyel throwing fireballs at the target for Daniel to aim for a lethal blow with his dagger
Eventually the two made it to a city within Ingraccia. Inside the city at the end point of their journey, Minyel asked Daniel what will he do now. Daniel only stared back at Minyel and Minyel only stared back, they both realized they didn't have the foresight to think of what to do afterwards but didn't want to openly admit it
They both refrained from saying so as to not look like they have a walnut for a brain but an idea popped from Daniel when he saw a group of people walking by with weapons and armor. He asked Minyel if he wanted to become an adventurer
Minyel awkwardly nodded yes. The decided stay paired up now as an official adventurer party cause afterall, neither exactly had a confident resume to use in nation that neither were familiar with
And so the two began their new life as adventurers across the western nations. They thought of potential names, one being Food of Vultures for the frequent times they almost became meals for monsters but that name was shot down. Daniel changed from his stone cold melancholy nature to a more laid back man over time while Minyel grew from his sheepish demeanor to something more . . . Trigger happy so to say
As a magic caster, Minyel has an arsenal of different spells like icicle lance or magic shield BUT his personal favorite spell was FIRE BALL. When it was just him and Daniel, it was manageable as Daniel is fast enough to dodge out of the way but when the number of party members grew, it became more of an issue. With more members to get caught in the crossfire, the party agreed that Minyel has to limit his use of fire ball, especially after an incident where he repeatedly used it in a wizard war against a warlock that kept using eldritch blast, resulting in failing the quest due to nothing being salvaged from the aftermath of the destruction. So the Minyel Fireball Limiter has been established, much to the elf's despair
But he would still try to find opportunities to cast fireball, to the party's horror
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