Chapter 81: Arc 5: Chapter 14

The other six escaped – with three moving even more erratically than the others until the effects of whatever skill Yu Juan used wore off – and they were left with one body, a pool of blood growing on the ground, slowly merging with the smaller one left behind when Bianca sliced open the figure’s stomach.

With the clothing destroyed, whatever prevented Bianca from seeing the figure’s face was gone, and so she could clearly see that this was a man with a face as damaged as the rest of his body, unnaturally dark and scarred with glowing lines of, presumably, whatever energy they used in their cultivation. His eyes were wide open, burning with an orange – and not the sort you’d typically see in a flame – light that faded slowly, leaving empty eye sockets in its place.

However, Bianca didn’t focus on such things for long, even though Song Ming was definitely curious and Yu Juan, while unable to behold the situation in full detail, was certainly able to perceive something via her spiritual perception. Instead, she was thinking about her own actions.

She had, mere moment ago, ended up executing a man with little more than a thought. It wasn’t like the other situations, where it was either her Demon Queen self that took over, or where she ended up unleashing more strength than intended. This wasn’t necessary, wasn’t rushed, wasn’t done out of fear or anger… it was just a life that she took out of her own free will. Sure, she could say that it was partially based on instinct, but that excuse couldn’t carry her forever. She was already letting it excuse her thieving habits, but if she let it excuse killing someone…

‘I barely even feel anything at this point… have I gotten so desensitised to fighting and killing in this world already?’ Bianca looked at her hand that gripped the knife, the blade of which was coated in blood that dripped from the edge, ‘And why did I feel the need to kill him? What good is a dead man going to do for us beside just… leaving us with a corpse? What the fuck is wrong with me… and where are the gua- oh. Oh, that was just-’

“Are they gone? That’s fortunate, since I hadn’t been lucky enough to actually spot a guard,” Yu Juan muttered, moving her head towards their general direction, “I hadn’t been able to observe them in detail, but… did you see them using a red and orange energy, seeming to move around obstacles that you cannot see, and with eyes that seem to… burn?”

“That’s… exactly what they were, actually. Are you familiar with them?”

“They… I’d rather not speak of this out here. I’ll try to set up a meeting between us and Yan Taijun, and-”

“Yu Juan!” a cry came from the skies, a mass of ribbons streaming across the sky at an incredible pace, closing the gap from the edge of visibility to their present position in mere seconds, crashing into the ground before them and morphing into Yan Taijun’s form, “Were you attacked?”

“Yes, and it was them.”

“Fuck! Fucking assholes!” Yan Taijun lashed out with a ribbon, cutting a thick gash in the earth before clenching her hands into fists, seemingly tightly enough to draw blood with her long nails, “Is dooming you to constant torture not fucking enough? Those pieces of shit would chase you down and punish you for enduring their torment?”

“Uh… Would you mind sharing what exactly is going on here?” Bianca asked.

“Ah, right, you two aren’t aware, but since you’ve encountered these people directly… Yu Juan, would you be opposed to me sharing the details with them?” Yan Taijun walked up to the dancer and put her hand on Yu Juan’s shoulder, “Up to you.”

“I… I think I trust them. They attacked the ones trying to ambush me before I had a chance to be harmed, so they’re definitely not in league with them.”

“Well, they could’ve planned and staged such a thing, but I doubt it. Xue Yaling’s friends are unlikely to accompany lunatic cultists such as them. Let us withdraw and I shall go over this… Ah, and the guards have finally arrived,” Yan Taijun sighed, “Even without the upcoming war, their numbers aren’t nearly enough…”

“Lady Yan! We arrived as soon as we could… is the situation resolved?” the pair of guards, both in the upper bounds of the second realm judging by their auras, rushed up to them and halted a short distance away, their heavy breathing giving away the haste with which they tried to get here.

“The fight is over, but the culprits are still present. Put out a bounty on… Bianca, if you wouldn’t mind describing them?”

“Ah, six people in robes and hoods like these, their faces in constant shadow, eyes that burn with an orange flame, skin that looks to be burned, with strange glowing lines covering it. I couldn’t who amongst those six was a man or woman, so…”

“That should still be enough… Isn’t that right, guards?” the leader of the Dancers glared at the two.

They immediately bowed their heads and said unison, “Yes, Lady Yan! We’ll alert the others right away!”

“Then go!”

 

“You’re back here? Then I suppose you two have managed to get yourselves into trouble again,” the kitsune sighed when she saw them return to the manor alongside Yan Taijun and Yu Juan, “So, what happened?”

“The Cult of Terror attacked, trying to get to Yu Juan,” Yan Taijun replied promptly, “What gave them the balls to run around in my territory is yet unclear, but if they’ve done it once, chances are those lunatics will do it again. However, thanks to Bianca, we at least have one of their bodies to look into.”

She waved her hand, and the body they’d brought with them flew into the manor, landing atop a table.

“Those… looks familiar. Cult of Terror, you said?”

“It’s a strange group that seems to appear all over the Heartlands, and their worst deed is to emblaze their world, their… visions of a doomed and dying realm into the eyes of those they target, resulting in their blindness and eventual… unfortunate fate of turning into a lunatic like that one.”

As she spoke, Bianca glanced at Yu Juan, then spent a rather long while staring until the pieces finally clicked together in her mind and her eyes widened.

“No… Is that what happened to Yu Juan?”

“Yep… The blindfold is meant to supress the visions, and it has been doing its job for a while, but apparently it isn’t sufficient to ward off the interest of the Cult of Terror… those fucking bastards…” Yan Taijun sighed, “It’s a good thing you killed one of them, since it might help me figure out more about their cultivation technique and possibly their origin… Why are you still staring at Yu Juan like that? Is something wrong?”

“No no, it’s just… I’m curious, sorry-”

“Don’t be, it’s fine,” Yu Juan said, touching the side of her blindfold, “I know that my situation is… unusual. To be involved with a group like that, survive, and yet still carry around their mark the whole time… Anything specific you’d like to ask about it?”

“Well… your eyes, are they like… well are they aflame as well?”

“Yes, sort of. Problem is, whenever anyone looks into them, it pulls them into the same vision that I’m trapped in, so it’s… it can be difficult to determine exactly what they look like,” Yu Juan responded.

“I see… Would it be fine if I looked? Not sure if it’s a private thing for you…”

She thought about it for a moment, then shrugged, “If it’s something that you want. However, any more than a glance and I’m afraid that you could be affected by the visions as well, and then you’d lose your vision as well…”

Bianca glanced to Yan Taijun, since she’d be the most experienced with dealing with something like this based on her understanding of the topic. If she believed that it was okay, then she’d take the risk and experience whatever vision was embedded within Yu Juan’s eyes, or whatever remained of them. It was hard not to wonder about what it was like, what Yu Juan was experiencing, and what it would be like to share in it.

“Well, it would be risky, but if it’s just a moment, and if it’s just once, you should be able to endure it. Potentially, if your technique is of the right kind, it might resonate or oppose the visions in such a way that secures you from most of the risk,” the reply was rather confusing, a fact that she noticed instantly, forcing her to elaborate, “It’s difficult to explain without going into detail, but some archetypes and techniques innately oppose or resonate with one another, allowing them to be more effective against or in aid of one another.”

“Like…”

“Like when the Wood archetype is used to empower Flame, though that is considered to be more of a pure elemental relationship than that of archetypes. However, archetypes are also able to replicate such relationships, like Light being especially effective against Dark, with Shadow being able to negate Light.”

“… I think I get it, but I haven’t got the faintest clue as to whether my archetype is… let’s just try. Might as well.”

Yan Taijun sighed, but a single glance at Xue Yaling confirmed that there wasn’t any point to her attempting to explain further – Bianca didn’t see the kitsune’s expression, but she imagined that it was one of someone that was extremely used to her uselessness in this sort of matter.

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“Alright, but to make sure none of you end up being caught in the process, remember to be looking away. Don’t even send in your spiritual perception,” the leader of the Dancers insisted, “Bianca and Yu Juan can sit opposite one another. When the two of you are ready, you can simply lift the blindfold for a moment, and you’ll experience what Yu Juan has to endure every single day. After that, you ought to be able to understand exactly why those Cult of Terror assholes are a plague upon our lands, and why they ought to be destroyed as soon as possible!”

Frankly, Bianca would’ve been happy with just such an insistence if she wished only to know the danger of this faction, but all it did was make her more curious about the terror that they managed to inspire. What kind of thing hid within Yu Juan’s eyes that could intimidate all these people to such an extent?

Thus, they all got into position, and Bianca kept her eyes wide, ready to see whatever was about to greet her. Yu Juan slowly raised her hand, bringing it to her blindfold, then took hold of the bottom and cautiously raised it up, taking her sweet time to lift it just enough for one of her eyes to become visible.

And the very second that Bianca was able to spot the orange flames that occupied her eye socket, it all vanished. The world around her turned into a terrible expanse filled with blood and desolation, a ruined sky and countless shadows within her peripheral vision. Each one moved and twisted into forms familiar yet different, and all of them turned towards her, glaring at her from afar. At least, she was pretty sure they were glaring, because she couldn’t even make out what she was seeing, never mind seeing where they were looking.

It was purely a feeling, and a rather ominous one at that. If she stuck around too long, she would almost certainly be in danger, and so she couldn’t stand still any longer.

She looked around, trying to find some hint of Yu Juan. After all, the girl was supposed to be in here somewhere, given that it was her particular vision, so she tried to look for any hint of her, and after looking in every direction several times, she had only a single sign to follow – the small river of blood heading away from the puddle she ended up in.

It went past a few hills, so she figured it would be a good place to look for someone.

Rushing out using her Tormentor’s Strides, she crossed a few hills and spent enough time sprinting to start doubting herself, since the shadows at the outside of her vision were growing visibly agitated. Every moment wasted could mean that she wouldn’t find her, and so she couldn’t stop herself from wondering.

Perhaps she should just turn back or go another way, or maybe she managed to overlook Yu Juan in that blood pool, somehow. It could be that she was misunderstanding the whole vision thing and that she ought to have done something very different to escape, or do anything for Yu Juan.

However, she didn’t have enough time to fully think it through, as she spotted a frail, thin figure before her, laying on one of the dusty hills, her feet covered in blood from the nearby pool. She looked very similar to Yu Juan, so it was almost certainly her, except she looked to be on the brink of starvation, had only rags for clothes, and her eyes weren’t covered, letting Bianca see their natural colour.

A nice, soft blue, like the shade of the sky, dulled by this figure’s starvation but still incredibly wonderful to behold.

“Yu Juan!” Bianca yelled as she ran up to her, letting herself crash into the dust hill to slow down more efficiently, “Are you okay? Do you know what to do to get out of here, or…”

Yu Juan’s form in this vision slowly raised her head and gaze, her parched lips parting, “Who…”

“Bianca, I’m Bianca… Do you even know what’s going on outside of this place?” she asked, and the confused expression on her face suggested the answer, “Come here, hold my hand, maybe together we’ll… I don’t know, solve it somehow.”

“B-Bianca…” she batted her eyelashes, but made no move to get up, nor to even grasp her hand, “Bianca…”

“Don’t just-” she froze when she realised that the shadows at the edges of her vision were beginning to move in, closing in on them, “Oh fuck, they’re… Well, this is a mental landscape, so we should be fine even if they surround us, but… From the way you’re looking, you’ve suffered too much in here… What the fuck do I do…”

Needless to say, Bianca wasn’t especially excited about devoured by monsters, or whatever would happen to her, but she didn’t want to see Yu Juan’s already damaged mind – assuming that’s what her figure represented – being ravaged any further.

Thus, while she tried to think of something reasonable, she leaned in and grabbed her, embracing her and pulling her in close. She felt some kind of sparking when they touched, as though static electricity decided to be annoying again, but the feeling soon escalated. There was something spreading between them, or, more precisely, something flowing from her into Yu Juan’s form.

The moment that she felt it, it started growing stronger and stronger, until she could see it herself – a violet shade that spilled from her body and into Yu Juan’s, slowly shading her body with that same colour.

It also made her body resemble more of a spirit than a human, turning somewhat transparent, with an outline where her appearance was most faint. However, her body also seemed to be becoming more healthy and satiated, the excess thinness vanishing practically right in front of Bianca’s eyes. It was as though she was revitalised from just their brief contact, which… well, maybe it made sense in this world, maybe it didn’t. Bianca wasn’t about to even attempt to guess.

What mattered most was that the fact that some recognition appeared within Yu Juan’s eyes as the shadows closed in.

“Bianca… thank you-”

The whole world around her turned white, and the very next thing she saw was the same room she’d been in before, with Yu Juan sitting in front of her, the blindfold having just come down to cover her eyes once more.

“W-What… Bianca, what did you… what did you do?”

“Hm? I, uh-”

“I feel… like I’m a little further from the abyss I felt from the visions that before… How did you…”

Yan Taijun also seemed amazed, and it took her quite a while to finally muster a response, “Bianca, I don’t know how you did it, but… it seems that your archetype indeed has a way to oppose the vision… Fuck, you don’t know how glad I am that you came to this city…”

“W-Why, is this… is this unusual?”

“Yes! It’s the first time anyone has managed to do anything against that mental domain… Usually, even if they fight the monsters that it spawns, they’ll just make the vision worse with each one they slay…” Yan Taijun almost fell to the couch as she spoke, breathing an incredible sigh of relief, “But you didn’t do that, and even helped Yu Juan, if only a little… Heavens, I am so glad…”

“I… Bianca, did you do anything specific?” Yu Juan asked.

“Uh… Well, I came in, I felt that I was surrounded by something, so I tried to find you-”

“You weren’t attacked right away? You were in there longer than Taijun usually is, but you didn’t get attacked?”

“No, and then, when I got past some hills, I found you-”

“Me? Y-You did?”

“Yeah, you looked weak and starved, so I went to hold you close, maybe bring you away or something-”

“How did you find me in there? I thought…”

“Let her finish, Yu Juan. So, what then?”

“Then, some kind of energy flowed from me into her – into you, I guess, I’m still not sure if the two of you are separate – and you recovered a little, thanking me before I returned here.”

“…” Yu Juan simply stared at her with her mouth agape.

“Uh… What archetype did you say you cultivated?”

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