On the continent of Gehenna, in a village of oni, one woman is being dressed in what appears to be ceremonial robes by a group of women, one of whom greatly resembles her.

"Is all of this really necessary, mother?" The oni being dressed asks, clearly irritated.

"Of course." Her mother is extremely stern in her response, "It is high time you stop with all this fighting nonsense, you are a woman and should act as one."

The village in which this woman resides is not the standard for oni culture: She, and the others in the village, are a variant race of oni, known as shroud oni. For shroud oni, their women are usually significantly weaker than the men, as opposed to regular oni culture in which the women are as strong, if not stronger, than men.

The men are born similar to regular oni, the only difference being they have a single horn instead of 2 while the women more closely resemble elves with horns - though the women do have 2 horns instead of 1.

The primary difference is that all shroud oni have an innate talent for mana circulation, allowing them to utilise body strengthening magic; this allows female shroud oni to outperform regular oni most times, but they still lack compared to male shroud oni.

Unfortunately, oni culture believes that the weak must follow the strong, placing women at the bottom of the totem pole within their society.

The woman being dressed was named Rellania, though she preferred to use Rell as her name. The ceremonial robes she is being dressed in is a wedding dress as she is set to marry the son of the village chief; something decided by her father, one of the village elders.

Rell, of course, hated this and did whatever she could to get out of the arrangement, but no matter what she tried her father would not allow her to get out of the marriage.

Rell was aware that there were 2 reasons the village chief's son wished to marry her. The first was her appearance; she was widely considered to be one of the most beautiful shroud oni in the entire village.

Her pure white hair was like untainted snow laid silently upon a mountain's peak, she had deep red eyes like fresh blood and her horns were exquisite, being a blended mix of both black and red. Her figure conformed to the beauty standards of shroud oni culture as if she were the one to set them and her skin was so pale it seemed moonlight could burn it.

The second reason was that she was born with an exceptional talent:

[Mana Crystallization (4/9)]

[User may freely crystalise ambient mana in the air, this can then be shaped and manipulated at the user's discretion]

This did not sound like much, but it came with perks that went beyond just the confines of the talent.

For starters, it greatly improved her mana circulation abilities, placing her far above most male shroud oni in the village.

It also granted her the ability to use both ranged and melee based attacks with little to no cost as she made use of ambient mana to attack

The final extra ability the talent granted was the durability of the crystals, even the chief, using his prized mythril-alloy sword couldn't shatter the crystal entirely.

The village chief believed that by marrying his son to Rell, it would ensure the birth of an heir with exceptional abilities.

Rell was quite literally the perfect woman in shroud oni society, the only problem laid in her personality:

Rell enjoyed fighting more than anything, as is typical for any oni. But more than that she was exceptional at it, beating out most of the seasoned warriors within the village; to her, marriage was like a jail sentence, the culture she lived in was already not pleased seeing her fighting, but she could even be charged with a crime for disobeying her husband and sneaking out of the house.

When the marriage was announced Rell's parents thought she would settle down, prepare for her future; they hadn't expected her to get worse. Rell didn't want to get married and especially not to the village chief's son considering he had already had 6 wives who had all been beaten to death after making him angry.

"Listen, Rellania." Her mother spoke, becoming slightly more gentle with her tone, "You will be the wife of the village chief, people will wait on you hand and foot inside of a giant home, all you need to do is obey your husband."

Rell only clicked her tongue, she didn't want to be some prissy loser, she wanted to fight. 

She couldn't even leave the village and look for any good fights since she risked being captured by the humans and being enslaved.

"Besides, you need to be careful anyway. Young ladies wandering around have been going missing lately." Rell was surprised to hear her mother seemingly caring for others, "Though it serves them right for not staying inside as their husbands asked them to."

And there it is. Rell thought, knowing her mother heavily conformed to the rules of society.

"... It's just dumb." Rell muttered under her breath, causing everyone to stop what they were doing. Rell's mother looked quite angry.

"We've talked about this young lady." She said, trying to maintain her calm by speaking in a low voice. Normally, Rell would have dropped it, but today was likely to be her last moment of freedom, so why bother holding back?

"These rules are dumb, mother!" She responded, quite loudly, though not yet yelling, "Oni's should follow the strong and I'm stronger than most of the warriors in the village! Why do I have to be a slave to some dumbass!?"

"Be quiet! You are just a woman!" Rell's mother responded, her face going red, "We women are weak and need men to protect us, in response it is our duty to serve them!"

"But I'm! Not! Weak!" Rell said, turning around to face her infuriated mother.

"..."

Her mother stuttered to find an answer for this, knowing Rell was considerably stronger than most. Not only did she have a talent, but it was one with a level 9 potential! Instead she just resorted to her old favourite: A hand slapped harshly across Rell's face.

"YOU WILL NOT DISOBEY ME!" Rell's mother yelled, "IT IS YOUR DUTY TO MARRY AND IT IS WHAT YOU WILL DO!"

Having said that, she stormed out of the room, letting the maids continue what they were doing. The slap didn't hurt, Rell was significantly stronger than her mother, but it still wasn't a pleasurable experience.

Rell was dressed in her clothes after an agonisingly long time and led out into another room where her parents were waiting for her. Rell’s mother was clearly still mad and her father was as dismissive as always, his scowl never faltering as the trio made their way to a carriage waiting outside, in which they rode to the village chief's house in silence.

Bastard's probably still upset I'm not a man. Rell thought to herself as she watched the buildings pass her by, ones she would likely never see again. It's been 19 years, I wish he'd get over it.

The ride to the venue wasn't short, but the tension made it feel like an eternity. When they arrived Rell's father and other male officials greeted one another, while she was rushed off by her mother into the kitchen.

As part of tradition, the wife was to cook her husband's first meal before the wedding started.

This is bullshit... Was Rell's thought process through the entire process, though she did sneakily steal some of the food while doing the bare minimum to prepare the meal.

Eventually, the time came that Rell would be taken to her new husband, then she would perform the rituals needed for a shroud oni wedding to be considered official.

1. Walk to you husband, then bow and offer your food
2. If the man accepts, the ceremony will begin, during which the woman is not permitted to speak (only the husband has to give consent to the marriage).
3. After ceremony, the bride will leave the party to change into a set of dance robes, returning for the last song
4. The bride will do the traditional Yūwaku dance
5. After that is done, the husband and wife will consummate the marriage

(A/N: I have no idea why I made their culture like this. It just kind of started with Rellania being a smaller oni then snowballed into an entire sexist society of oni. It isn't going to be a major plot point but sorry about that anyway, I hope you liked it)

Rell was dreading the entire thing, but as she walked down the aisle as best she could her head felt woozy. 

From behind the veil, her sight became unclear and out of focus. Just as she began to realise what was happening she fell to the ground and her consciousness began slipping, barely holding on by the tiniest thread.

Why... Is no one... Worried?... Rell thought, noticing that no one had even reacted to her falling, not even a single gasp. Wait... Did they... Know?...

Calm footsteps approached her, and she could feel herself being dragged up by her hands.

The veil was ripped off of her face with no delicacy allowing Rell to see a group of me, her father included, holding her up.

"Hmmm. She's still awake." One of the men, one of the elders, said.

"Well, she always was quite defiant." Another said.

Rell's eyes wandered over to her father and the village chief who were looking at her disinterestedly.

"Anything you want to say to your daughter before she's gone, Rallaz?" The chief asked, causing ripples of concern through Rell's mind.

'Before she's gone'?! What the hell are they going to do to me!? She thought.

Her unfocused eyes drifted solely to her father, staring straight at him, seeing if he'd say anything.

"It's a shame you were born a woman." Was all he said before Rell could no longer maintain her consciousness and the world went black.

---

Waking up Rell noticed she seemed to be moving, but more importantly was that she was entirely naked, chained up by her wrists, gagged with a bit and locked inside a cage.

The chains looked sturdy, but Rell knew her strength well enough to know they wouldn't hold and began circulating her mana.

However, the moment she did an awful pain began spreading through her body, starting from her neck. The pain forced Rell to stop and pant for air through the gag, when she recovered she tried to see what had caused that pain when she caught a glimpse in the reflection of the metal chains.

It can't be! Rell began panicking as she saw what it was. Even they wouldn't stoop so low.

Rell began fidgeting, but the moment her arms pulled on the chain slightly the pain began again; but at such an intensity that she was forced to scream out. 

When she finally stopped, feeling her suffering subside, she heard a group of men outside the carriage she was locked inside of, though it was quite muffled.

"Looks like the demon's up." One of them laughed.

"I do love hearing the sounds of screaming pigs." Another responded, eliciting a wave of laughter from those outside.

This was enough to confirm Rel's worst fears: She had been sold to the humans!

The device on her neck was one that any demi-human would know, the 'Collar of Servitude'. A device that enforced loyalty on whomever it was on by administering great amounts of pain through toxin-coated spikes when the wearer disobeyed. It was another of the wretched devices that the humans had invented after the great war, likely using stolen gnome technology.

At this point there was literally nothing Rell could do except escape into her own mind.

She began by wondering how this had happened, from what she remembered of the ceremony it seemed as selling her had been the plan all along, but why go through with the wedding ruse at all then?

... So I couldn't fight back! Rell realised fairly quickly. There was no way I would have been able to fight back in that dress and all the food was likely laced with that same drug for when I inevitably ate something.

After that Rell pondered their motive.

I'm attractive and powerful, sure, but why only me? She thought, looking around and seeing that she was completely alone in the carriage and with her sensory abilities she could tell that this was the only carriage.

Rell's best guess was that her talent specifically was needed, but this was merely a theory and so spent most of her time fantasising about what she would do if given the chance to claim her freedom, not that she believed she ever would.

Rell's fantasies were cut short as her senses picked up something approaching at a rapid speed, much faster than anything should be able to. After first noticing this,Rell realised that not only was the thing coming from above, it was also burning up the air around it.

How fast is it moving? She thought, looking up as best she could - not that she could see outside.

Rell then realised that the thing was dangerously close to the carriage she was riding in. Her final 2 surprises came immediately after one another:

1. The object falling was a person.
2. That same person survived falling at such speeds that the ground exploded around her.

Rell listened closely as she heard the person pull themselves out of the dirt and began talking to the humans. From the way they spoke it was clear they were a demi-human and she further believed they were a woman from the sound of her voice.

Fighting ensued outside the carriage and it sounded as though the woman was winning.

"It's a dangerous one, pull out the holy light!" Rell heard someone say, causing the theories in her mind to change rapidly. Not just anyone could get access to a holy light, regular slavers surely wouldn't have access to one.

It was clear to her that someone important wanted her specifically.

I suppose this is the moment of truth. Rell thought, the holy light made demi-humans weaker, allowing humans to overwhelm races that would normally beat them in a moment.

Of course stronger demi-humans last longer than weaker ones, but even they struggle under the human's despicable weapon.

But, to Rell's glee, what she heard was not the unilateral defeat of the woman who had fallen from the sky, but rather he clear victory:

"What the hell are you!" She heard someone scream, before a distinct cutting sound, followed by a soft thud. Everything is silent for a while and Rell waits for a change, finally the woman speaks up, though heavily muffled, Rell manages to hear:

"Well! Let's go see what cargo they have!"

She becomes excited as she waits for this mystery person to open the carriage, hoping that there may be a possibility of freedom. Sure she would never be able to remove the collar, but with its owner dead it will merely default back to its 2 primary functions: Don't try to remove me, Don't use your powers without permission from a human.

She would be weaker, but at least she would be free.

The sound of footprints and whistling made their way to the back of the carriage before they swung open, revealing a rather... Pleasant, sight. A rather beautiful woman from a race Rell didn't recognise, not that she was well versed in the races.

Her hair was long and white and she had the long ears of an elf, but grey skin like an undead; furthermore her teeth were sharp like many of the carnivorous beastfolk along with pointed claws at the ends of her fingers that became clear as she climbed into the carriage. If Rell were to guess, the woman before her was likely an underdweller of some kind.

But her most striking feature were the radiant purple eyes that stared straight back at Rell, causing her to be entirely mesmerised as her saviour approached. They were in complete silence as Rell stared deeply into her eyes and the woman crouched in front of the cage; smiling widely and showing off her razor sharp teeth. Rell was only broken out of her stupor when the woman spoke.

"Hoho! A smokin' hot slave-babe, looks like I'm sticking with the classic otherworld tropes!" She said, her voice having no indication she felt strange having killed all those people outside.

'Smokin' Hot!' Rell thought as she blushed slightly, before shaking away those feelings. What the hell was that?! Has she got some kind of charm ability?

"You want out of there hot-stuff?" The woman asked, Rell nodded almost immediately and as if it had never existed the cage, the chains and the gag all disappeared, "Hoh! That collar thing is a bit more confusing than I thought..."

Her face became slightly more serious, as she stared straight at the collar.

"Thank you for saving me, miss. They were likely to send me off to be a slave in a human city." Rell said, standing back up - the woman followed.

"A human city? Isn't this Gehenna?" She asked, Rell was confused at the question, but answered as she thought would be best.

"Yes, this is Gehenna." 

"Then why would there be human cities, isn't this the continent for non-humans?" 

"The humans began taking over this continent a couple decades ago now." Rell explained, not understanding how this woman wouldn't have known that.

"Damn, that's not good." She muttered under her breath, "It's not fair they got a head start on this. Well, anyway, stand still while I deal with that collar thing."

Rell was confused as to what she meant, but her eyes widened as she felt the restrictive feeling around her neck disappear. Her hands shot up and felt around her neck, before her eyes widened and she stared at the beaming face of the beautiful woman.

"Wh-Who are you?" She stammered, this person had just done something impossible without even touching her.

"Me? Name's Nox." She said confidently, "And I'm the king of ruin, the one who will unite all 7 factions to destroy the human empire and its heroes!"

Rell's mouth opened in shock at Nox's lofty goals, but somehow Rell didn't feel like these were empty words.

"Actually, talking about that. Wanna team up? You seem pretty strong and you're an absolute beauty."

Rell's mouth widened even further.