A long time ago the world was filled with immortals.

These immortals were not humans nor other members of the mortal races who climbed up towards the heavens through cultivation.

Each were descendents created by the Primordial Gods for their own amusement and to represent them on the wider stage. They were powerful with their own special skills so had no need to work hard to understand the world - it only came natural to them to be powerful. In the modern world they would be referred to as ‘Holy Beasts’, ‘Heavenly Beasts’ & ‘Divine Beasts’ yet many of them have ceased to exist in the world of {The Infinite Mother}.

Back in the past these beasts took advantage of their strength to enslave the weaker mortal races who were born from the flayed flesh, muscle & bone of Atlas. From the giants to hobbits they all were treated as nothing more than toys for the superior races; all except for the mer folk who were lucky to have benevolence in the form of {Gaia - Mother of all Life}. Gaia saw all races as equal due to her having aided in all of their creation which is why it broke her heart to see those born of her brother's design treated so lowly. Part of this was due to the unjust grudges of the other primordial gods yet the race in charge of all - dragons - were related to her more than many of the other gods.

Despite this they shared none of the kindness inherent in Gaia as those above the water were arrogant beasts who enjoyed lording off those weaker than them. It was not as if they were warriors either as they disdained other races challenging them more than anything.

Other than the prideful dragons there were more impressive beasts such as the Radiant Lions who ruled as the king of all the beasts seeking respite from the dragon's tyranny. Through the unification of many different types of beasts the beast king managed to protect a border greater than that of even the dragons if with far more internal strife between their own races. Still, with the power of the radiant lions who were each born with unique abilities connected with the holy light they were named from, they managed to come together against external enemies when it was required.

Meanwhile the birds united under the just rule of the phoenix & their imperial family who placed importance on the rules they put into place. Unlike the dragons they never used these rules to put down even the weak mortal races - making their empire a true bastion for said races.

Among the beasts there were even those who could challenge the strongest of the gods and at one time even aided Atlas in maintaining the balance of the worlds. The name of these beasts were the 4 cardinal beasts - the first of which was the white tiger who was once a powerful general who controlled both ice & snow to overcome even the strongest opponent who turned into a mere mercenary after the imprisonment of Atlas. Next was the black turtle whose shell could never be penetrated with envied talent with manipulating the sea and abilities to divine the nature of the world itself; they aided as an advisor with their wisdom but became reclusive along with their entire race. Many saw the vermillion bird meanwhile as the leader as their just heart was only beaten by their powerful flames and after Atlas’ fall they continued with their duty as they ruled over their fellow phoenix’s as a member of royalty.

Last was the azure dragon who actually ruled as the leader of the four but also ruled over the mortal world itself as they easily controlled storms themselves. However, being a dragon, they were the first to abandon their duty after their master’s fall.They abused their position as well as power to aid the storm dragons in becoming the strongest race.

Yet even with that the dragons didn’t manage to become an absolute existence.

There was another race.

They came into existence at the same time as the primordial gods with nobody except the eldest among them, Gaia & Atlas, possibly knowing their origin. As the most ancient of the races they had no concept of storing qi in their bodies while never attempting to understand anything about the world around them. Still none of the races managed to take advantage of this ‘weak’ race that made even the dragons feel like brats.

This wasn’t because that race was protected by the primordial gods as they too disliked a race existing that they had no knowledge nor power over.

The reason they didn’t subdue this race was because they were oni.

Referred to originally as ‘primordial embryo’, the oni boasted powerful bodies which only got stronger as they became more knowledgeable about ‘themselves’. In other words, their way of getting stronger was to live life. When their strength became mighty enough they would become divine without any need to understand the world; gaining the title of ‘kijin’.

Each kijin were able to overpower the average god with no issues yet as time went on their numbers grew more. Whether due to careful planning or mere desire for war they even constantly went through battles which ended up suppressing other empires with only the phoenix ever able to fight them when they got out of control. Even when the vermillion bird descended the oni still didn’t retreat though.

At the head of all oni was their emperor who was the only person anyone dared mention when discussing the title of ‘strongest warrior; Shuten Douji.

Shuten Douji was a man who lived on the finest women, finest wine and finest food without care for the state of the world itself. This wasn’t because he was a despotic leader but simply because that was what it meant to be an oni and no one was a greater oni. With this there was surprise that he sired no children.

It was within this chaotic primordial era in which a certain human woman named after her indigo hair ended up gaining the attention of the young Vermillion Bird prince. Despite her race she was a graceful woman who was kind and understanding, making the prince Zhu become addicted to her warmth. With the just nature of their clan there was no discrimination as long as both understood the duties of a true descendent required strength in some form.

With that they actually managed to conceive a child together despite the unlikelihood of such a pairing bearing such fruit. Seeing that this child could survive such odds there was a jubilant air even if they ended up being a human that never awoke their powerful bloodline; the prince also had high hopes that this descendent would become a true survivor. One able to last until the end to mediate justice to the darkest reaches of the world.

If they were born unable to possess great physical strength they could make up for it with other talents whether that meant learning from ancestors or creating a new art.

Such jubilance didn’t last for long.

The arrogant azure dragon was displeased that a human was given such a chance as it could lead to those slaves gaining hope which could lead to resistance. In turn those silly slaves would be obviously killed yet that would mean less manpower for the dragons leading to issues forming in maintaining their easy lives. Such an issue, even as small as it would be, couldn’t possibly be allowed due to mere mortals. Hence they acted.

Taking advantage of his own power and place, the azure dragon suppressed the phoenix’s together with the royal family of the radiant lions. During this time they kidnapped Indigo while she was in transit to help with some relief; caused by a dreadful natural disaster caused by the power of storms azure dragon possessed. Through whispered words they managed to even do this without having to hurt anyone else in the procession allowing them to avoid the incident through acting together with the radiant lions.

From there they reduced the dignified Indigo to a mere sex slave which they used freely for their own amusement as well as anyone who wished to use her. They didn’t even leave her in some high class establishment but just some average degenerate sex shop that simply sold human women without care. As such the princess who held such high hopes was born without any idea of the joys of life where any sign of weakness would result in the adults around her sadistic tendencies being pointed towards her.

With that being the case she had no desire to show anything on her face.

Still her mother would always talk about ‘her father’ who would ‘come to rescue them’ making the princess look at her slowly dying mother with mixed feelings. While she had no idea about who her father was it was true he never came - as such she saw her mother as a fool yet was a filial child that simply wanted the best for the one who birthed her. As such she just quietly lived her life while watching her mother slowly lose her mind from a mixture of disease and stress.

She ended up not being the only child though as a younger brother ended up being born when another human pushed himself onto her mother who protected her. Knowing the result in the boy's birth gave her conflicted feelings; as time went on she did learn how to become a better older sister for the boy yet it was a difficult and long process. Only made harder by the strangeness of the boy who seemed to know far more than a boy younger than her, who had seen less than she, should have. What only made the relationship worse was the fact he always seemed to be ‘understanding of why’ she hated him.

While the siblings couldn’t overcome their differences, time moved forward and the princess herself became a commodity for sale. It was during an average day where two radiant lions happened to pass by while she was being sold yet found herself looking towards the girl in the pair, who you would never be able to tell she was a noble lion, who was dwarfed by the golden haired boy next to her. She was tiny at 5 feet with a malnourished body that seemed barely able to support her in her constant struggle to stay alive. Even the girl's ear had a bite of it while her tail seemed to have been cut in half - various scars all over her body while a bandage was wrapped around her hollowed out eye sockets.

Despite her state, which appeared worse than any slaves’ she’s seen, the girl had a huge smile permanently plastered on her face.

She asked the princess why she hadn’t given up while also not seeking any power to better her situation by herself. Even saying that the princess believed her mother was silly for waiting to be saved from her situation yet the princess was also waiting to be saved. The smiling cat proceeded to retell her past while pointing out everyone responsible for her current predicament yet the princess just ignored her provocation while only giving a glance to the ‘martial arts’ the sickly kitten gave her.

Some time after the younger brother came a man who made her supposed father seem weak as she always thought him to be.

Shuten Douji.