Looking down at the Zri clan’s capital from above Suwan gives herself a moment to memorize the city she grew up in. She sighs melancholically, her sight able to see even the building surrounded by a high walled courtyard that she once called home. She can see every alley she traversed when she snuck out, every store she once visited and every market her group had ran through like bulls in a porcelain shop. She lets out a snort when she recognizes the corner where she first bumped into Jin Fu, neither knowing how fateful that meeting would end up being. Her grip on her sword tightens. She’d really hoped she’d get to see the city again on better terms.
'I'm responsible for them now. Mu, Zhi, An, Yating. Can't risk letting them be targeted. Not again.'
She traps the Zri within a wall of flame and lets herself drop, descending into their clan's compound like a meteor. The time to hold back is over. Yet still Suwan hesitates. 'Fu's right,' she snorts. 'Really am a bleeding heart.'
She straightens from her three point landing and sets her blade on fire. The people around her stare at the sudden intruder wide eyed. Surprise and confusion are the last emotions that flit through their heads before Song swings her sword and incinerates them entirely.
A warning must be sent to any who would try to harm those under her protection. That is how she desperately tries to rationalize her actions as she burns her way through the clan, reducing thousands of years of history to nothing. Her mouth feels ashy long before the first speck hit of it rises on the air. A group of guards tries to organize a defense. Her stomach drops when she recognizes one among them. His hair is grayer than she remembers but the Zri guard's likeliness is unmistakable. The one during whose shift she most often slipped out of her walled home. He always seemed to avert his eyes when he was about to spot her. A kind man. One who would not let the deaths of his patriarch or his clan go unpunished. She makes his death quick.
Moving through the compound like a roaring inferno she refrains from entering any of the buildings. She simply sets them aflame from the outside with fire hot enough to melt stone, unwilling to draw things out simply for the sake of preserving her qi. The main hall and treasury are the sole exceptions. The defensive formations surrounding them would take far too much effort to get past without concentrating her qi properly.
She presses her sword against the main hall's barrier, fiery wings slapping away all attacks coming at her from within. Pushing the tip through Suwan channels her qi through it, whips of flame lashing out at the formations keeping the barrier intact. She can see the hope die in the eyes of those hiding within the hall when it shatters like glass.
One woman steps forth and opens her mouth to speak. Her too Suwan recognizes. A haughty young lady that oft lorded her status over the blonde. The mocking look on her face is no longer there, replaced with horror and fear. The way she squares her shoulders leads Song to believe she intends to selflessly offer herself up so the others may live. Her jaw clenches. She damns their patriarch to the twelve hells for forcing her to do this but the choice is out of her hands, to stand back even after being threatened, talked down to, attacked and having her friends taken hostage just to rob her of her heirloom would have all see her as spineless and weak if she did not retaliate in full. For the sake of those she holds dear she cannot allow any to see them as an easy target. So she does not let the woman speak before she simply cuts her down and breathes dragon fire into the hall to reduce it all to dust in an instant. She cannot show mercy but she does not need to be cruel either. A self deprecating snort wrenches its way out of her throat when she realizes just how hard she's trying to justify what she did.
The sudden silence is haunting, naught but the crackling of the surrounding fires resounding throughout the once lively holdings. Thoroughly done with the place Song turns towards the only building that is still standing. The treasury. Unsure whether the contents would remain intact if she destroyed the defensive formations she simply cuts a gash into the barrier and slips through before it closes again, dodging the inbuilt traps while she makes her way to the door.
No use letting anything go to waste after all. Another will come to claim it if she does not. She covers everything with her aura and pulls it into her spatial ring. She is about to leave and demolish the building when she notices an uneven tile. Focusing her spiritual sense through the formations within the walls, floor and ceiling she finds a switch and activates it. The floor slides open to reveal a staircase. She frowns at the strength of the qi she feels wafting down from below. Deciding it would be unwise to ignore it she walks down. A wide open cavern greets her, only a single item present within the entire space. A sword. Wrapped in formation encrusted paper, its hilt sticks out from a large stone at the center of the underground cave.
"They had another one?" Suwan mutters when she lays eyes upon the sword. Anyone who ever read the stories would recognise the richly adorned blade. The First Sword of Song, The Forgotten Blade. Even this close to it, its presence escapes her spiritual sense, the powerful runes carved into the floor, walls and ceilings obscuring it entirely from the outside. Only when she fully steps into the chamber can she feel it. The blazing heat hits her like the morning sun when stepping outside. She squints and holds her hand in front of her face to ward off the bright shine it now radiates.
With difficulty she takes a step forward, pushing through the thick qi like she's wading through water. The closer she gets the more the pressure and heat intensifies until it feels like she's walking atop the surface of the sun. When she finally reaches the center it takes all she has to force her fingers to curl around the sword's hilt. She roars with strain, clenches her muscles and wrenches the sword from the stone, tearing its wrappings in the process. All at once the pressure vanishes. The runes on the floor crack and shatter while the paper talismans burn to naught. Suddenly the darkness thickens and the shadows stretch. An explosion sends the blade flying out of her grasp and into the dark.
Cracking bone and scraping steel resound from the gloom and are joined by hearty laughter. A red foot with sharp nails is first to appear out of the shadow. As the figure moves into the light a tattered loincloth becomes visible followed by toned abs and a generous bosom hidden behind large wooden prayer beads. Large fangs stick out from a grinning mouth not unlike the long scraggly black hair that messily sticks out in all directions from behind her pair of curved horns nearly a foot tall. The demon leisurely stretches her arms above her head while aiming hungry eyes in Suwan’s direction.
“Ah, how long it has been since I've felt the earth beneath my feet. You have my gratitude for freeing me, Thataka the Quencher.”
“Who?”
The demon growls. Her eyebrow raises and she sniffs at the air before guffawing with a hand on her belly. She wipes a tear out of the corner of her eye and takes another step closer.
“The audacity. You smell just like the brat, foolish pest. As thanks for unleashing me upon the world once more I'll give you a chance to fight back instead of killing you outright.”
Suwan stiffens. She knows without a shadow of doubt the demon isn’t joking. A bead of sweat runs down her forehead. Not once has she felt this outmatched before. No, there was just once, she recalls, but there was no killing intent back then. This horned beast radiates blood lust, a red shimmer in the air flowing like water and wafting like mist, the cloying scent of iron invading Song’s nose. She desperately racks her brain for a way out of this situation.
“You’re even hotter when you’re afraid.” Thataka laughs. “Ah, I just love to see the realization set in on idiots who think themselves invulnerable. Show me more, fool girl. Do well enough in our fight and I might make your end painless.”
Song rapidly cycles her Qi through her entire body without any thought for pacing herself and speeds her perception up to the limit so she won’t miss anything. Fire roars off her blade. With a cocky grin Thataka waves her hand and extinguishes it.
“A battle? No, that would be far too easy, I have something more fun in mind.” She pulls the beads over her chest aside and tosses them off her neck. “Amuse me, mortal. Try your hardest, see how far it gets you.”
Before Suwan knows it Thataka is right on top of her and tears her kimono to shreds with a slash. Sharp nails dig beneath her chest wrap and rip it apart with ease. By the time Song can begin to react a clawed hand on her back pulls her towards Thataka who promptly chomps down on her breast. She yelps when she feels the demon’s teeth pierce her flesh and send demonic qi into her body while a coarse tongue runs over her nipple.
When Suwan lashes out with her sword the demon skips back with a grin and licks her lips all over, swallowing every drop of her blood.
“Delicious.”
Unwilling to go down without a fight and having full faith in her technique Song sends what is left of her outfit into her spatial ring. With a pleased laugh Thataka removes her loincloth with a kick and spreads her arms wide in challenge.
Suwan answers it without further ado. Her lips latch unto red flesh and plant hot kisses all over the back of her neck before nibbling her ear and pulling with her teeth, sending her qi in to wreak havoc on the demon’s insides all the while. The moment she lets go and attempts to move down Thataka moves her hand over her shoulder and lifts Suwan up by the throat before pulling her over her head and slamming the blonde head first towards the floor. Before she lands the demon tightly grips her ankle and pulls her back up so her crotch is at head height. She wrenches Suwan's legs open into a split in front of her face and invades her nethers with a long pointy tongue. It twists like a snake within, ravaging every corner of her insides until she finds all her most pleasurable spots.
Not one to take it all laying down Suwan grabs her rear and closes her lips around the demon’s clit, she focuses an extreme amount of qi into her tongue and rapidly flicks it all over the red bud before pinching it between her teeth. Thataka’s knees buckle and her grip loosens for a fraction of a second. Unwilling to waste the moment Suwan stabs her sword into the beast's stomach with all her might and the majority of her qi. She twists sideways to free her legs and kicks off her torso. With a somersault she lands on her feet. Two muscular arms close around her from behind and wrench her sword from her grasp the instant she does.
“That wasn’t very nice of you, little girl.” Thataka whispers into her ear while tossing her weapon away.
“The name’s Song Suwan. Remember it when I send you back to the Twelve Hells.”
“Bahahaha. A Song! But of course.” She tightly grabs the blonde’s jaw with one hand while trapping her arms between them with the other. “You’re the little brat’s descendant aren’t ya? Ahahaha to think you’d be the one to free me, how poetic.”
Suwan tries to spit out a reply but is stopped by Thataka’s firm grip around her jaw. Unable to move she can do naught but struggle and delay. She can feel the demon’s blood pour over her arms from the deep wound in her gut, even with her strength she shouldn’t be able to ignore such an injury for long.
Thataka roughly gropes her chest before moving lower. She runs her nails all the way down the blonde's chest and abs until she reaches Song’s flower leaving five thin red lines behind. Wrenching her head to the side she stuffs her tongue deep into the blonde’s throat at the same time as she pinches her clit. Suwan bites down hard. Even as blood pools in her mouth the tongue does not seize its violations. Before long her mind grows cloudy and her struggles lose their energy. Her qi comes more stagnant and her sight begins to blur. Determined to make the demon regret taking her lightly she dislocates one shoulder to raise her arm further and then plunges her hand down into the red skinned fiend’s wound before violently channeling all her remaining qi into it and attempting to blow her up from the inside.
The detonation sends her careening through the cavern until she hits the wall hard enough to crack it. She lands limply on the floor and takes several breaths before pushing herself up with her intact hand, the other little more than a lump of charcoal attached to her wrist. Her heart drops when she sees the beast standing just a few meters away looking entirely unbothered by the gaping hole in her front deep enough to show her spine and wide enough to show both the top of her pelvis and the bottom of her ribs. Thataka already has the large prayer beads back in her hands and is about to bend over to pick up her loincloth when she sees the blonde is still breathing. She raises the beads to her chest and begins to chant melodiously.
“One with mind and one with soul. One with world and one is whole. Flesh be knit and bone be right. Lest this day be your last fight. Weave the whole and weave the all. So this one may never fall.”
Even before the chant fully finishes the effect is clear. Her lower ribs crack as they are set and merge back together. Organs are shaped from nothing and guts pull themselves back into her body while muscles knit together and skin regenerates until there is not even a hint left that she was ever injured. She stretches languidly and crouches down in front of Suwan.
“That,” She purrs hoarsely. “Was an excellent warm up, for that I think I'll let you live.”
She laughs uproariously as she saunters away, only stopping to pick up the blade in which she was sealed and the loincloth she hurriedly forces her legs into along the way. Suwan’s heart beats faster than ever before. She rights herself against the wall with great difficulty, trying and failing to get her qi to move. Her efforts only cause her to collapse into a heap and cough until she’s heaving for air. A vengeful fire burns in her eyes as she forces herself to stand once more and limps away. She’ll purge the demonic qi from her veins and when she does, there will be a reckoning.
Well that was a bit of a twist. Personally I would investigate why such heavy seals were placed on something before removing them. I mean my guess was they were merely to stop the sword from being a beacon to some undesirable being of great power, but even then you should at least check to be sure.