I Was Called A Demon

By the time that everyone had gathered up around the last remaining ambusher, the fighting had long ended and everything had calmed down, meaning that Bianca wasn’t radiating her killing intent as she approached, letting her resemble something closer to an ordinary person.

That being said, her appearance was still a little unusual, and Song Ming and Yu Juan were obviously subservient to her, so the woman hardly hard to struggle to discern that she was their leader.

“So, I’ve already heard plenty from one of your fellow bandits, so I’m expecting you to give me honest answers, and honest answers only,” Bianca began, stepping up to her and resting her sword on the ground, stabbing the point into the dirt, “Why were you planning to ambush us?”

“W-We… we were just paid to do it. We were shown your bounty and we thought that we could handle it, but…” the woman didn’t try to put up a brave front and reported with seeming honesty, “The reports must’ve been false. Our leader would’ve known more, but… I imagine he’s dead.”

“Doesn’t matter. Who ordered the attack, and what was the bounty for?”

“It was some strange man with one arm. He looked rather thin and small, but near him was a larger, stronger-looking man that might’ve been a bodyguard or something…”

“Fine, let’s imagine you don’t know much about that. What about the bounty?”

“It was worth a total of half a planar stone for you and the kitsune-”

“Heavens, that’s quite hefty. Bianca, would you mind it if I handed you over? Even if I only got half of the reward, it would be sufficient for me to advance to the fourth realm if I tried hard enough,” Xue Yaling said quietly, giggling.

Although the woman kneeling on the ground definitely heard them, especially if her hearing was even half as good as Bianca’s, she only adjusted her position a little and otherwise remained quiet.

Once the kitsune finished, the woman quietly resumed, “- and they mentioned that there was also a bounty from the sects in the north, which would be paid alongside the half of a planar stone.”

“Alongside it? Damn, they really offer a lot of value for the two of us,” Bianca couldn’t help but agree, “Regardless, if the lot of you thought that you could claim such a bounty just like that…”

“N-No, we… well… may I speak frankly?”

The woman’s offer was surprising, but Bianca liked it enough that she knelt down as well and – being taller than this woman – looked down on her by just a little, so she cupped the woman’s face with one hand and forced her to look up.

“… You do look quite cute, so sure. Tell me your name first.”

“I… I’m Jia Bo Xun.”

This woman was pale, even without the obvious fear she had towards those interrogating her, and looked like she was far too thin to be anywhere near a fight. Her whole body was thin and looked exceptionally weak, though her chest made her look healthier and despite being only around average in size, it looked rather huge on her dainty body.

She had long, black hair that reminded Bianca of some monster from a horror film she’d glimpsed when she was a kid. It covered up a portion of her face and left her looking far shyer than someone ready to fight them mere moments ago should’ve been.

Bianca also spotted her weapon not far from her, a thin blade – that she wouldn’t ever be able to name, seeing as she actively filtered out most explanations about such things – that appeared to be made of crystal, a dark one that blocked all light that sank deep enough into it. It was by far the most unusual thing about her, since such a thing felt like it would be something impressive, but from her understanding this woman barely put up a fight before Song Ming defeated her and her companions.

‘Speaking of, I can smell all the blood, and it’s… intense,’ she tried to hide her dislike of it by focusing on the woman before her, “Well, Jia Bo Xun… Tell me the truth without holding anything back. I promise, I won’t harm you, certainly not just because of that.”

The woman gulped, “The boss had thought it would be easy, but I could tell from the moment that your, uh…”

Her glance at Song Ming made it more than obvious what she was confused by, and although it would’ve been fun to prolong her confusion that little bit longer, Bianca decided to be direct.

“Girlfriend and pet, you mean?”

“Uh, yes, that… from the moment that I saw her using her physique, and then realised that she wasn’t the leader here... I knew that we were never going to succeed,” the woman said, returning her gaze to Bianca’s eyes, managing to maintain eye contact almost half of the time, which was rather impressive, “I’m sorry that I was involved, I hadn’t planned any of this… I was just part of this group and got in over my head.”

“That you did, cutie. You really shouldn’t have tried to capture us, not to mention kill us… Luckily for you, I think you’re pretty sweet, so… tell me, what do you want to do?”

“Huh? I… You’ve killed the others, haven’t you?”

Jia Bo Xun was clearly apprehensive of the possibility, yet she faced it head on.

“Of course I did. They were trying to kill me, and I’m not so powerful that I could snap my fingers and capture everyone safely,” Bianca shrugged, although she was feeling far less nonchalant on the inside, “Why does it matter to you?”

“… I don’t have anywhere to go. My life the last few years had been working in the Shining Shadow gang-”

“Pfft… I swear, names here can be ridiculous…” Bianca tried – and failed – to supress her laughter, “And a gang, too. What a naughty girl, next you’ll tell me you touched yourself whenever you stole something from innocent, unsuspecting travellers.”

“W-Wha- I- No!” she turned red, “I would never, I- ah…you’re just teasing me, aren’t you…”

“Mhm, of course I am, it’s hard not to when I get adorable responses,” she amazed even herself with just how put together she had been in her reply, to the point that she had to wonder if she hadn’t given over control to the Demon Queen at some point, “More to the point, though, you’ve yet to answer me properly. What will you do now?”

“… Can I… go with you?”

Everyone else was clearly tempted to laugh, but Bianca was taking more and more of a liking to this girl. She was rather pretty, she seemed reasonably composed, and that sword of hers looked curious, and most importantly, she knew that the woman couldn’t possibly hurt her no matter what.

Therefore, there was no real harm to bringing her around.

Of course, there was a part of her that had more sinister thoughts, driven by her drive to comprehend the nature of her energy and Demonic Tyrant in full. Most people that she had affected via her energy were affected via sexual means – and Yu Juan was a rather unique case, so she couldn’t really count – so having a random test subject would be perfect.

She also wondered if she could use this impressionable woman to have someone to try and teach her technique and skills to. It was presumed that it would be impossible due to them originating from her Demonic Tyrant, but there were plenty of strange things in the world, so she was sure that she could discover something stranger if she so wished.

It was an interesting thing to consider regardless, and if she agreed to follow them, then Bianca would definitely find a use for someone like her.

“It’s not impossible. I’d need you to do two things, and then it would be fine.”

Saying that, she stood back up and reached out with her right hand, offering it to the lass before her.

“If you accept my hand, I will mark you with my energy. It will ensure that if you try to turn against us, I will be able to find you and punish you. Otherwise, it won’t do anything at all,” she claimed, giving a quick look to Huang Su to show her that she knew what she was doing, “You did try to kill us, so you should understand why I want to do this.”

“Y-Yeah, I… alright, I’ll do it,” the woman gulped and raised her own hand, taking up Bianca’s handshake.

In that moment, Bianca let the Demonic Tyrant handle the specifics and just forced her energy towards her, aiming to infuse however much she could without taking in the woman’s own, and without seriously harming her.

After all, she was a realm higher than Jia Bo Xun, so if her energy was forced in without any restraint, it would definitely overwhelm her.

Her darkness surged and flooded into the woman’s body, and while it caused visible discomfort, it also settled into her and dyed her with Bianca’s colours, the intensity rising and rising until the first hint of a tear appeared within Jia Bo Xun’s eye, her teeth clenched as she tried to remain quiet.

Bianca knew that if she kept going any longer, she’d injure her in some way, and thus she stopped the flow of energy and stopped channelling her energy into the woman’s hand, instead using the moment before releasing her to force her back up to her feet, as shaky as her legs were after that energy infusion. To her credit, Jia Bo Xun managed to remain standing and nearly looked unscathed, although the tear that slid down her cheek proved otherwise.

“T-Thank you… should I be calling you the same way they do?”

“Hm? Oh, the Mistress part? Heh, up to you, cutie,” Bianca tapped the tip of her nose playfully, “That’s not the second thing I needed you to do, though. Instead, I want you to stop hiding yourself with all that hair.”

She pulled out a spare length of string and, with her other hand, gathered up most of the girl’s black hair, quickly giving her a ponytail that exposed more of her face and body alike.

With more of her features on display, it was even more obvious that she was rather thin, but it also allowed Bianca to recognise more of her beauty and appreciate her in a different light. It wasn’t a big shock how much of a difference a simple change of hairstyle could change, though it would never stop her from admiring it.

‘If she had been a model back on Orbis, I’m sure she would’ve gotten plenty of fans, but here, looking so thin just feels… strange,’ she thought, looking into her eyes, ‘Black eyes, no immediate hint of crimson or anything like that…’

“S-So… can I stay?”

“Mhm, I will now be able to get my revenge if you ever turn against us. Just be a good girl and don’t do that, okay?” Bianca asked, very deliberately placing her hand on the hilt of her sword.

“Of course, of course!” the girl nearly threw herself to the floor to bow to her, but her exhaustion prevented her from doing so – not to mention Huang Su quietly releasing some of her energy in its shadowed form and keeping Jia Bo Xun standing – and so she just lowered her head instead.

As such, Bianca turned her attention to the others, saying, “Go through the bodies and loot whatever you can. If you have space for them, you should probably grab the weapons too, having some spares would be ideal. And, uh, I’ll speak with you separately, there’s a few things we need to clarify after today.”

Huang Su understood, and the moment that Bianca got close enough, she released her darkness and shrouded them from view.

“Okay, look, I know I shouldn’t be doing stuff like this, but I had the sudden thought that we need to better understand the different ways through which my energy can affect people,” Bianca dropped any and all pretence of being the most important person in the group, “Perhaps seeing how it changes based on whether I transmit it sexually or… non-sexually, I guess, might help.”

“… Yes, that is possible, but please, don’t do this again unless it is absolutely necessary at any given moment. With me here, you could’ve been safe even if you explicitly instructed her to try to kill you.”

The Sect Master was correct, of course, and knowing it made her rather ashamed of her actions. However, she couldn’t take this deed back, and she knew that ultimately, if she spent too long fussing over it, she’d just make things worse for herself. The best approach was to move on and just make the best of the situation.

Thus, she agreed to her request and moved along.

 

Xue Yaling was playing close attention to anything and everything relating to Huang Su, trying to discern the truth of her nature, but it was difficult for her to confirm anything with just what the Sect Master showed. It wasn’t a big shock given the disparity in their ages and amounts of experience, so after the latest chat between Bianca and the Sect Master, she figured she could approach this differently.

Mainly, by testing whether she was more motivated by her own desires, or by pleasing her supposed Mistress.

As a result, she found Huang Su when she stood aside from the others – there was no need for the Sect Master to help with looting bodies, so she simply watched – and approached her.

“You know, she’s likely to keep doing this stuff.”

“Hm?”

“She gets pent up very, very easily, and not just in a sexual sense… though trust me, that’s true as well. Anyway, if you want her to avoid spreading her corruption to others, you might want to give her a different outlet.”

“What exactly are you implying?” the Sect Master asked, not apprehensive but rather curious.

“Just that you could help me provide Bianca with some ways to sate herself that don’t require her to apply her corruption. For instance, she had this idea… well, could you do that barrier of yours? Mine couldn’t match up to yours,” the kitsune adopted a friendly tone, unlike her previous attempts to interrogate her.

Huang Su clearly suspected that she was up to something, but ended up doing so anyway, shrouding them in her energy.

“For instance, Bianca has a few interesting kinks in that pretty little head of hers. She is very fond of the idea of someone drinking her cum, for instance-”

As the Sect Master gave her a displeased look, Xue Yaling raised her hands and pre-empted any complaints.

“This isn’t just me messing around. Bianca’s cock is the main reason she has applied her corruption to so many people, since she likes using it so much, and any kind of contact with others when she has an orgasm ends up affecting the person,’ the kitsune explained, “And she often ends up with a cock for one reason or another, and she doesn’t like simply masturbating to get rid of the issue like most of us would. If you ask me, she’s a bit too used to help-”

“I’m humouring you for the moment, but please get to the point. I’m not interested in hearing you out for the rest of the evening.”

“… Fair enough, I did get a little too talkative… How would you like to assist me in making a shrinking bottle of sorts? It only needs to hold one kind of substance and keep it… fresh, and I think you know exactly what I mean.”

“You believe that such a bottle would assist Mistress? How, exactly?”

“Because she’d be turned on enough while thinking of Song Ming drinking from it on a regular basis that she’d be able to go without help. It’s really straightforward, in truth, I’m surprised you needed me to explain.”

As unhappy as the Sect Master looked with her constant comments, it looked like she was considering it.

“… I’ll need to see exact specifications for what you need, but with my skills, something that simple won’t take too long. Unfortunately, I do believe you in this regard, so… why couldn’t we just discuss this in front of Mistress?”

‘She’s still going with that, and she’s agreeing to something that should sound like nonsense to a typical person… though perhaps she is simply more aware of Bianca’s state and way of thinking than I initially thought. This won’t confirm much of anything, but it will get Bianca her bottle, so that’s a win for one of us…’

The Sect Master was still staring at her from behind her veil-like shroud, the disguise she’d put on for the sake of hiding herself from the new addition to their group, and it was getting rather intimidating even if she knew that Huang Su wouldn’t hurt her out of nowhere.

“Well, I wouldn’t want to tarnish her reputation in front of our new addition, of course, not to mention the fact that the subject might be ever so slightly shameful to discuss in public,” she came up with an excuse on the spot, “Anyway, when should we start with the project?”

“I have some spare materials, so… it should be fine to begin today. There’s no reason to keep Mistress Bianca waiting, after all.”

‘She is way too good at keeping up the act, if it is one… Fuck, of all the things to happen back there, for the Sect Master of a sect to just randomly join us…’ the kitsune kept her expression in check and nodded, “Yes, no reason. I shouldn’t take up too much of your precious time, so I’ll go help the others.”

The Sect Master didn’t reply, simply lowering the barrier in silence, but as Xue Yaling walked away, she suspected that Huang Su was giving everything a lot more thought than she let on.