Chapter 26: All according to keikaku

Cornering an enemy is a complicated matter.

There is a reason people say a cornered beast is more dangerous but Violet didn’t particularly care about increased danger. It was more amusing to see the self-righteous lose all hope. The pleasure of seeing their eyes become lifeless when they lose any resistance is like the finest spice for the demoness.

This is why she went the route she had when planning this attack; it would be easy to just crush them by dropping two trees on them. But where was the fun in that? Instead she would rather start this war by spreading the fear that should be felt when one hears the term {Asura Yakuza} or more specifically {Female Executive}.

First they would find a decently powerful sect then devastated them.

Violet didn’t want to go top of the top as that would likely incline many of the sects below or of the same rank to drop out. Because of this, between a top-tier medium to a low-tier large sect would be the ideal target for the small strikeforce. Luckily for them such a sect had foolishly taken up a point meaning they didn’t even have to particularly go out of their way to sneak about. Although that sect did have some fortifications which would be inconvenient for most… It only made it easier to fulfil what she wanted.

After finding their target came the first phase where they would need to hit with a solid first blow in order to stun them; this was easily achieved by just riding a tree into their base. The tree she chose actually managed to clear out half their camp while also acting as an impassable barrier. This was a great result but it seemed Alabaster also enjoyed the ride since she closed her eyes proceeding to hug the tree. It also appeared she was so excited she ended up biting her lip a bit too hard leading to her being a bit slow to react for the next part. But, that was fine… Violet was more than enough.

The second phase was a followup on the first by taking advantage of their stuned selves. To put it simply they would just hit them hard to reinforce the idea that the fools wouldn’t stand a chance in a straight up confrontation like the cultivators wanted. Her new [True Demon Arts] did wonders in this regard but then came the more troubling third phase…

She would need to give them a way to escape.

Currently they were very clearly trapped in with her thanks to the walls which was actually perfect for setting the scene of the sect members being a cornered beast. Unfortunately in order to truly crush their spirit  this was pointless. They still had the thoughts of resistance due to being trapped in with her while if it was less heavily fortified like other camps it would be far more likely they would just retreat as the third phase wanted her to let them do. Luckily the elder attempted to attack her with some sort of artefact which she managed to make use of to destroy the wall opposite of herself; like foolish mortals chasing after immortality that they are, they immediately ran away to ‘escape’.

Even better than that small success was the fact Violet finally figured out what her new weapon did; it’s ability was simple but very effective! It allowed her to cover her weakness against the more ‘magically inclined’ opponents. A simple flick of her wirst and BAM the dumb spell is destroyed. With this she could likely show them turtles a thing or two about the strength of an Oni!

Of course, phase four was to make them fully aware that they are encircled by the forces they managed to recruit earlier with Qin’s help. These would be led by Slate’s mommy Quartz who Violet only just met. She seemed fun enough (her own mommy seemed to like her) plus she was the most experienced and highest ranked individual after herself. It only made sense to leave the task of leaving the final ambush to such an individual over her Ashue & Slate.

Phase four’s purpose was mostly for her own amusement… To crush their spirit. See, if you suddenly attack them they will think they had no hope to begin with so ironically will be more willing to accept it. If you dangle the opportunity to live only to snatch it away, though, it becomes far more interesting.

To put it simply, they will cease to function as warriors.

They will no longer be able to put up much of a fight due to having their willpower crushed after their spirits were raised. Some Oni may be disappointed in the lack of a fight but in her mind it was simply a way to quickly get amusement out of the weaklings. Wise & strong opponents would realise the trap or continue fighting despite it. Watching the silly cultivators running towards the exit – even doing something as foolish as running into their own traps (something not even she expected) was certainly amusing.

Somewhat shocking was the moment where the old man seemed to realise something was off about them. He was about to spoil their plans as some of the fools may actually pay attention to them (though they seemed to panic to all listen) yet this worry was unfounded. Just as she took note of him and was about to attack, alabaster finally recovered from her joy only to proceed in ending the man. Her petrification was rather slow though so it seemed she was interested in him but she was also somewhat interested.

These biggoted types don’t usually tend to be the ones who put the most thought into their enemies abilities. In fact it seemed he even realised who she may have been from the context clues and his knowledge of {Asura Yakuza} prevented him from gaining any hope. This mixture of wisdom of figuring out who they were, thus having no hope nor desire to scurry about like a weakling showed something Violet respected.

Strength.

Unsurprisingly what Violet despised were the complacent weak. She hated those who were complacently weak while proud of something as inconsequential like ‘family bonds’. Those who use their family or background to stand above others is something she despised more than any Toppler she’d met. Borrowed strength is as pointless as world peace; it simply leads to a hollow foundation that would break eventually.

That isn’t to say she only cared about physical power like many assumed. Contrary to that she had great respect for people who put their all into their craft whether that is as an artefact manufacturer or musician. Seeking to master something you loved was as strong as any other pursuit one could strive for hence why all the best craftsmen came from her {Demon Realm}!

Demons knew how to respect strength because she drilled it into their very hearts hence why there are many stories of demons helping create cursed relics or poems. They had likely agreed to far more of such requests across the multiverse than they ever had some foolish noble childs desire to rape some princess. Of course, demons believed in the strength of one’s words as well. Hence why Violet had long ago used the {Primordial God Seed of Deals – Dealmaker ‘Tyrant’ Ankh}’s dao essence in her realm.

This man didn’t beg or lose himself in the face of impending doom. Rather taking it respectfully with a gentle smile made Violet recall the samurai of old – though to say they were wiped out was a complete lie. They died above sea level but she knew for a fact that the beautiful scenes of the past were present under the waters. Nevertheless she respected this ‘strength of character’ the man had portrayed and it appeared Alabaster agreed as she let the man preserve his kins life.

Violet didn’t particularly care as this acted as a good way to fulfil the whole ‘spread the fear’ thing she was going for with this. She ignored their actions  to slowly walk towards the ‘exit’ she had created for the weaklings. Shockingly a qi filled sword art came sailing towards her face after she jumped over the gap. It was easily taken care of though as she just slammed her kanabo into the qi attack, causing it to burst apart. while the physical sword obviously followed suit thanks to the powerful currents following behind the weapon.

“[True Demon Mercilessly Retaliates].”<Violet>

With a smile on her face her demonic energy fills her limbs as she is sent forward with an open palm to strike the brave man’s chest… But what she sees behind the attack she countered disappointed her greatly. Knowing that the middle-aged man was strong she expected more yet all she saw was a panicked fear filled face looking back on her causing her to sneer. Her palm slammed against his chest causing his inners to become slush as her palm easily passed through his ribcage before crushing the squishy parts located inside. The pained look on his face as panic and unwillingness overwhelmed anything else made up for him getting her hopes up for a fight.

Pulling the bloody palm away from the weakling – in addition to throwing her kanabo back on her right shoulder – Violet proceeded to calmly gaze around the ‘battlefield’. Seeing the hopeless gazes of the cultivators as they clutched to each other, fell to the floor in denial, screamed in madness or even breaking out in anger at their leading figures. On top of this there were obviously the yakuza who formed a wide circle around the sect cultivators; though every second that circle quickly tightened around like a nose around their enemies necks. Lifting her nose up to the air Violet took a large sniff to accept the wonderful scent of fear filling her senses as a cute little smile appeared on her face.

Though for obvious reasons none of those around her could take in her beauty.