“Sounds crazy enough that it might work, but how exactly will you convince them? Aside from being the same type of demon they apparently worship, you don’t exactly look like the Lady Shadow Fox in the painting”

“Well, about that…” With a wave of her arm, the mana within the air started to gather in Akjan’s direction.

It looked like countless fireflies gathering on a single spot, and then the mana within the atmosphere was absorbed into Akjan’s flesh.

Then, changes started to appear in Akjan’s body, her pure white hair, tail, and fur, now became coated in color of coal black darkness, her yellowish brown slitted eyes changed, now the whites of the eyes were dark as well.

Her nails elongated and so did her teeth, becoming a little longer and sharper.

Her tails now seemed to elongate, and Shaula could swear that instead of having a single white tail, she now had three long black ones in its place.

The aura she gave off was similar to what a Demon Lord demon would give off; it was definitely a powerful presence.

Overall, if Shaula didn’t know better, she would have thought she was looking at an entirely different demon altogether.

“A transformation? But it looked more like…”

“Absorption, you are correct”

Akjan confirmed her friend’s suspicion.

“But how…”

“I learned of it after observing Ren’s training and I asked Master Korgan to teach it to me as well”

“Don’t tell me…That’s a Demon Lord level skill, yet you managed to learn it in such short span of time…”

“To be fair, I did not completely master it. Master Korgan said if Absorption is used in conjunction with True Demon form, then it can be made stronger, though it is much harder to assume the True Demon form.”

“So this is your True Demon form, huh”

“Incomplete True Demon Form, had the transformation been perfect, there would have been seven tails. Unfortunately, three tailed form is all I can manage for now and I cannot maintain it for too long….”

As soon as she relaxed, Akjan’s features reverted back to her original form.

“…But it sure is a very convincing appearance, is it not?” Akjan was breathing heavily, maintaining the transformation drained her stamina rather fast.

“Very convincing…But why did your hair change color?”

“I generally try to stay within the safe zone by changing the nature of absorbed mana into my darkness affinity, while I could change the absorbed mana into any other form, I am more experienced in handling the darkness element. The absorbed mana is circulated within the body and then it has to be used, even if gradually, if someone as inexperienced as me keeps the absorbed mana within the body for too long, then if I lose my focus, it might be fatal.”

“Then why are you doing this? Can’t we just abandon them and head towards Ren’s location ourselves?!”

“Then we are no better than humans.” Akjan solemnly replied.

“At the very least, the Oni of this village deserve a choice, I will offer them one, and if they refuse, then that is their fate, but if they agree, then I see no reason to leave them to die.”

“I guess you will insist upon it no matter what I say, huh, I wonder who could have planted such strange ideas in your head, my friend”

Shaula sighed, once Akjan had made up her mind, there was nothing that could dissuade her.

“Just a certain weirdo demon” Akjan chuckled a little.

“That sounds well and all, but what part do I play in this? My Demon eyes can only make things invisible, if you are planning on convincing the villagers, then it would be of no use.” Noi asked, not seeing her role in this operation.

“Oh, trust me, you will have a plenty of a part to play in this”

Akjan had a plan that just might work; only luck could tell.

* * *

As the Oni within the village were carrying along with their daily lives, they looked up into the sky.

The sky was growing darker and darker; the clouds that seemed to be light colored now were looking greyer.

Darkness was spreading through the sky and the Oni couldn’t help but notice as the gigantic amorphous mass of Darkness now was changing shape.

As the Darkness condensed together, it took on the shape of a person.

Floating above the sky was a dark haired beauty that seemed to be the offspring of the endless night itself.

Her slitted eyes were bedazzling to behold, the black sclera with yellow iris.

She had crystal horns on her head that were colored black, as did the foxlike ears on top of her head and the three tails that extended from her body.

Every Oni in the village knew just by looking at her who it was.

The Great Being they worshipped has finally answered their prayers.

Lady Shadow Fox has arrived.

All the Oni proceeded to unanimously prostrate themselves before her.

Lady Shadow Fox in the sky now proceeded to float down towards the ground.

Every Oni remained still, still shocked by her appearance.

“YOU MAY RISE”

Slowly the Oni proceeded to stand up.

“Lady Shadow Fox, after so many years, you have come back!”

“It really is her!”

“I can’t believe it!”

Elderly Oni’s eyes filled with tears. So long ago, when he was just a child, he witnessed coming of the Lady Shadow Fox, but it has been almost seventy years since then.

Who knew he would get the chance to see her once again within his lifetime?

“Lady Shadow Fox, please tell us, why have you graced us with your presence?” the village chief, an Oni with a full head of black hair, apparently in his forties, asked.

“THIS LAND IS DYING. THE TIME OF PROSPERITY WITHIN THIS LAND HAS COME TO AN END.”

Her voice echoed with the wind, and the might of her words struck their hearts like a razor sharp blades.

“THE TIME HAS COME FOR THE ONI TO FIND A NEW PATH, TO THAT END, YOU MUST LEAVE THIS PLACE”

“But our village has been here for all of our lives. If we abandon it, where will we go? We spent all our lives here, we know not of anywhere else!”

“YOU MUST CROSS THE LAKE UPON YOUR BOATS…”

“But human village is there! They attack us several times a year! And there is a monster within the lake! Not to mention the entire body of water is Holy Water…”

“ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE LAKE, YOU SHALL FIND A MAN, A CROW DEMON, HE IS THE MAN WHO WILL BECOME THE DEMON KING. FOLLOW HIM, AND HE SHALL LEAD YOU TO PROSPERITY. REMAIN, AND YOU SHALL PERISH. IT IS YOUR CHOICE”

“But what about the Lake Serpent?!”

“CROSS THE RIVER UPON YOUR BOATS, WORRY NOT ABOUT THE SERPENT, I SHALL MAKE SURE IT HARMS NOT A SINGLE ONE OF YOU”

As soon as they heard that, the Oni started to discuss among themselves.

It took a few minutes, but soon they came to a unanimous decision.

“Lady Shadow Fox, we accept your offer, though we have guests within this village, I know not if they will agree to come with us”

“I see nothing wrong with that” Aijasyl replied.

“Neither do I”

“Same here”

Their guests, Tengu clan members, seemed strangely ok with following Lady Shadow Fox’s directions.

What Oni didn’t know that Tengu clan members were in on the whole plan.

“It seems the decision is unanimous. Lady Shadow Fox, we shall follow your wisdom, so thank you, for coming to us in our time of need!”

Every one of the Oni were in tears, the one they worshipped as their deity has come to save them. Many of them who have lost faith were now beginning to see the light.

Now the Lady Shadow Fox proceeded to float up into the sky, and with the wave of her arm, the darkness within the sky was dispersing, the clouds became clearer, and now, like a shining beacon of hope, she was showing them the bright path towards their future.

As she floated further and further away, they saw her figure vanish within the endless the sky.

Like the darkness from which she came, she disappeared with the shine of light.

* * *

“I can’t believe it worked”

Shaula muttered.

She was currently carrying Akjan in the air.

Using darkness magic, Akjan made it seem like Lady Shadow Fox disappeared by creating a portal to another location.

Akjan, exhausted after playing the charade, had relaxed a little, but knowing that she still needed to maintain the appearance of Lady Shadow Fox, still remained in her True Demon form.

Now they watched as their plan was beginning to succeed.

After hearing the Lady Shadow Fox’s proclamation, the Oni within the village proceeded to take their valued possessions and now were getting on their boats, with Tengu clan members among them.

With Noi’s assistance, Shaula was rendered invisible, so with her help, they were able to simulate flight, allowing the Lady Shadow to ascend, descend, and take flight into the sky.

“Now it is a matter of making sure they get to the other side safely, but I can’t sense any monsters nearby” Akjan focused her senses upon the lake.

“According to the village chief, the Water Serpent around here was the biggest threat; the other monsters are not as dangerous, so if the Serpent emerges, we need to take care of it.”

“Yeah, but we also need to make sure humans don’t attack them the moment they see Oni on boats…” Akjan was not so sure how to do that. But either way, it had to be done.

Using her darkness magic, she teleported both herself and Shaula closer to the human territory.

But then, they saw a rather unexpected sight.

The human village of Pishak Priests was burning.

Everything within the village was being slowly swallowed by the flames. And from within the flames they could hear the sound of strangely calming music.

Sitting on top of an only building that was not destroyed, they could see a single figure, playing upon the shamisen, was a humanoid with brown hair. As they looked closer, their eyes opened wide as they recognized exactly who it was.

“REN!” both ended up crying out from surprise.

While they knew he was here, they did not expect to find him that fast or under these circumstances.