I Was Called A Demon

Bianca had gotten used to wearing her tight and revealing outfit after using it for quite a while, but she knew that she had to switch to something else if she was to present herself properly. Luckily, she had appreciation for styles beyond the one she’d been sticking with, and thus she didn’t struggle too much to find a different kind of outfit.

She began her design process with the taller boots offered by the footwear store, and worked up from there. A set of dark red robes that covered little, allowing her to use the Weave of the Senses as an underlayer to hide the parts that mattered. Of course, she would’ve wished to be able to manipulate the Weave and let it cover a little more of her body, so that she was free to wear whatever she wanted, but if the artefact was capable of such things, she wasn’t able to figure it out.

Still, that combination alone was enough to change the way she looked significantly. Gone was the city girl from Antania, dressed in shorts and a crop top, and in went the woman from the Planar Continents, dressed for a nice fight.

On an objective level, the robes were hardly the best combat gear, as they barely served the purpose of covering her up, so she went ahead and grabbed a bit of armour. Dark metal bracers, something of the same material that covered up her waist – though it was far too elaborate for her to call it a belt, and she didn’t feel like she should ask for the exact name – and some small plates on her shoulder to keep her robes in place.

Again, it was far from meaningful in a defensive sense, but it was all about presentation. These plates weren’t going to stop any attacker at the second or third realm, not to mention higher, and so she wasn’t too concerned about the practicality of the outfit in that sense. It seemed comfortable enough to wear, without disrupting her limb movement in any way, and when she stepped in front of a mirror – a rather rough one made of something resembling bronze – the feeling it gave her was more than sufficient.

The feeling she got from the moment that the others saw her was… it was challenging to explain, but she had never felt more confident and powerful than in that moment.

All those eyes staring at her in fear and admiration, seeing her as some grand figure that they had to bow to, and she would never forget it. It made it all too easy to step into her role as the Demon Queen, and advance into the crowd, staring down all that stood in place for too long.

“So, will I get my answer? Which one of your thought to lay claim to something my servants have reserved for me?” Bianca asked, radiating her lethal aura without reservation, instantly getting plenty of them to back away and give her enough room to stand next to her companions, with Huang Su following closely behind.

Song Ming shuddered audibly and whimpered with delight at being called a servant, though the others that were surrounding the entrance were fortunately unable to notice it over Bianca’s presence. The fact that she reacted as such with just

“W-We…”

“There’s a shortage of rooms, of course we’re going to try and compete for them!” one of the others finally spoke, and thus she glared at them, instantly causing the man to whimper and back down.

“Fools. Get out of here, and if I see your faces again, I’ll tear you apart – especially the men here,” she put her hand on the pommel of her weapon, and that got even more of them to flee, leaving only a few people standing by.

Those few were in the third and fourth realms – those in the fifth probably already had a place for themselves – and they didn’t seem too intimidated by Bianca’s presence, at least not to a sufficient degree to run off just yet. They also placed their hands on their weaponry, but they didn’t draw them just yet, recalling the instructions from the captain of the ship – no fights that can damage the ship in any way.

In other words, they’d need to be really careful if they did start a brawl, or else they’d be dealt with or thrown out.

“Have you got something to say?”

“… I don’t know who you were out there, but a mere third realm cultivator-”

“Chang Shuang, what is your place here?” Bianca interrupted him and turned to the Sect Master.

“I am your servant, Mistress,” Huang Su played along.

“And your realm?”

“Linked Channels, the sixth realm, Mistress.”

“Right. You were saying…” she turned back to the man that had been threatening her, only to find him running off already.

She wasn’t sure how people hadn’t realised Huang Su’s strength up until now – even Bianca could perceive the obvious aura around her, and whether that was some manifestation of her spiritual intent or a separate trait, the cultivators of the world should’ve been able to notice the same – but bringing it up seemed to finally get people alerted to it.

Thus, the few that had still been standing ran off, leaving Bianca with the others, who waited for just a moment before looking at her in variations of amazement, shock and uncertainty.

“You did a good job scaring that lot off, Mistress. If they were allowed to stand around and contest this place, one of them might’ve snuck in and claimed it first,” Xue Yaling spoke, “Let’s go inside and seal up the entrance, shall we?”

Bianca nodded, reaching out and releasing the Abyssal Shield around their whole group, incidentally blocking the doorway into their cabin.

It wouldn’t stop anyone really intent on breaking in, she was sure about that much, but it would guarantee that she’d be able to perceive an attempt to sneak past them. She wasn’t quite sure why everyone was so intent on preventing even a single straggler from getting into the room first, but if they were going to put in that much effort, then she wasn’t going to question it just yet.

She stepped inside first, and felt something before her, an energy that she grabbed onto almost instinctively. The moment that she did, the whole room felt as though it was within her grasp, and she was able to feel with certainty the spiritual perception of everyone beside her, as though she laid claim to the entire space with the ship’s help. That instantly answered her question on why they kept people out of the room, though there was still a thing that she was curious about.

Once the others stepped in, she knew by instinct that she could shut the area entirely, which she did right away, shutting off the room from most observers, though she still turned to Huang Su with obvious intent.

The Sect Master nodded and released her own energy, enveloping the entirety of the cabin with a dark shield that blocked off the rest of the stray strands of spiritual perception that Bianca was able to notice. Thus, she took a quick look around and let her tension go, breathing a sigh of relief as she dropped her shoulders and relaxed.

“Phew, alright. What was up with the room, and why did you lot decide to simply stand around instead of claiming it?”

“It’s a bit troublesome to pass along the ownership, so we figured it would be best to stand around. You took longer than expected, though,” the kitsune responded, pouting a little, “There were fewer cabins available than usual, so that lot were very eager to claim it to have a nice rest in an actual bed.”

“And this place looks like quite the large cabin…” Bianca said, looking around the place with eyes and spiritual perception together, using both to really take it all in.

It seemed to be up against the side of the ship, as the curve of the back wall reflected it and housed a dozen beds within small alcoves in the hull, meaning that each of them had a little place to sleep in a sort of bunk-bed arrangement.

Then, to the side, there looked to be a second chamber that housed some kind of dining room, with a table and enough chairs for all of them to sit around casually. That room was even carpeted for some reason, bringing it to a fancier state than Bianca’s own college dorm. There was no electricity, of course, so the convenience in some respects was lower, but it was still awfully fancy.

‘And we don’t have to pay at all? Yeah, something about this feels strange…’ Bianca frowned and looked around.

She couldn’t see anything that might be watching, and yet she had the strange feeling that someone or something was. The most obvious culprit would be Li Wusu, since she controlled the ship and likely had the ability to look past whatever the rooms did to restrict spiritual perception, but even then, she should’ve been able to sense it thanks to the Weave. And yet, there was nothing at all, and that was almost more concerning.

“We may still be watched. Don’t say anything vital while we’re in here,” she ended up saying, almost resuming her Demon Queen act, before remembering that she’d already exposed herself, “I’m not sure if any of you can feel it, but there’s something weird here.”

“Considering that Li Wusu’s archetype has always raised questions, I wouldn’t be shocked if she had a unique ability to hide her spiritual perception, or something of the sort,” Xue Yaling shrugged.

“I am unable to perceive anything specific, but… it is best to trust instinct regardless of one’s realm. Thank you for informing us, Mistress,” with a quick bow, Huang Su thanked her, and kept her disguise up.

The others also didn’t relax as much as they may have wanted to, Bianca herself most of all. If she showcased her true self in full, then Li Wusu, or whoever had the capability to spy on them, could get a lot of incriminating information for the future. That would be rather dangerous if she was successful in setting up her sect, since she’d essentially be giving out plenty of blackmail material…

On the other hand, she just realised that even if there was evidence of her behaving strangely here, in the future, if she was to be strong enough, then she wouldn’t need to worry about any of this. She’d just be able to prove herself with her might, and anyone that still doubted her would have no choice but to back down.

It was a good idea, at least in concept, so she wasn’t going to pretend to be the Demon Queen all along, but she was still wary of spilling too many details too easily. For one, she would definitely not mention her otherworldly origin to anyone – even thinking about it felt risky, though that was almost certainly just some old fashioned paranoia – and she’d not go into detail on certain past events that might encourage the ship captain to cash in on her bounty.

‘I wonder where the bounty is at now… if they’ve managed to track my identity at all, it’s probably gone up, but I suppose the changes to my body might’ve made it rather difficult,’ Bianca thought idly as she wandered over to a random bed in the wall, “I’ll take this one, the rest of you can choose as you see fit. We should see where the ship will go, then decide if we’re paying, right?”

“Correct,” Huang Su confirmed right away, “If we’re heading in the wrong direction, we’ll pay, but otherwise we’re very likely to be headed where we need to be. Of course, it would be best if we didn’t confirm our direction of travel out loud, just in case.”

“Why… ah, right. Though, I’ve got to say, I’m a little confused. Li Wusu doesn’t seem like the type to be interested in money, so I’m not sure the fee is something she’s really after…”

“Even if she doesn’t personally care for the money, her crew undoubtedly would,” Han Rushu chimed in, having already jumped into a bed while Bianca wasn’t looking, “She can’t keep floating around here without getting resources, and it’s much easier to get them with coin and planar shards than by asking nicely.”

“Master, in my experience, even if someone isn’t especially interested in the money itself, it still opens up many pathways,” Jia Bo Xun confirmed, standing a little awkwardly in a corner, then proceeded when the others didn’t stop her, “The reason we took on the mission that… you met me on, was that we could all benefit from the reward if we were successful. None of us had done it purely to have more coins to play around with.”

“Makes sense, though… still, I’m not sure about her. I’d say it’s best to be cautious with Li Wusu in whatever way possible,” Bianca shrugged and stated, the others nodding along.

Clearly, even if they didn’t suspect her ability to look in despite the double barrier around the room, they had no reason to trust the ship captain to a significant degree. At best, she was just someone that would take them to their destination in a reasonable time, and it could only go down from there.

“Aside from that, you’ve picked up quite the outfit, Mistress,” Song Ming said, coming up and nuzzling up to her, “You look like a true Sect Mistress now, you’d just need a crown of some kind.”

“Let’s not go that far,” Bianca said, although the smile crept onto her face regardless of her desires.

It would suit her quite well if she ended up getting her throne, although she wouldn’t want something big and unwieldy. Something closer to a tiara or diadem, something that could sit on her head and look nice without getting in the way, would suit her best, at least as far as she was concerned. Perhaps some kind of hair decoration might be best, something to go on the side of her head and accentuate her face a little, but she was uncertain as to what specifically to go for.

‘Maybe I’ll pace around and look around again, see if something suitable is being sold…’ Bianca considered it for a moment before focusing on something more important, which was patting Song Ming on the head, “You’re a good girl, thank you for protecting this room for me. Depending on how the days go, I may be able to reward you a little.”

“M-Mistress!” Song Ming nearly moaned, clearly enjoying the experience a little too much, though Bianca appreciated that about her.

Out of all the people she’d been with, Song Ming was by far the most loving and devoted pet she’d ever had, and she could never get bored of giving her the love that she deserved.

“I’m a little curious, how much control do you have over the barriers in this room?” the blacksmith suddenly asked, opening up her eyes as she turned her head just a little to look at Bianca.

“How much… well, I can try to do this,” she responded by closing her eyes and letting the Demonic Tyrant work through her and manifest something around the blacksmith’s head, ‘I have no idea if this will work, but if it does…’

Evidently, Han Rushu noticed something amiss without needing to say a word, as her eyes widened and she began waving her hands in a hurried attempt to ask Bianca to remove the barrier.

After a few seconds, Bianca did exactly that, allowing her to hear the sigh of relief as the blacksmith fell back into the bed.

“Damn, don’t do that… suddenly having all the sound disappear around me was not pleasant.”

“You’ll live, but more importantly, it seems like I can control everything to a great degree. I should be able to separate the beds and that dining room beside us if anyone needs peace and quiet,” Bianca said, then paused for a short moment as she considered the opportunity, “I’m guessing everyone would want to relax and rest for now, right?”

“Of course,” Han Rushu muttered.

“The opportunity to cultivate and rest my legs would be very helpful, yeah,” Xue Yaling nodded, “We’ve all neglected that aspect as of late, and this ship has plentiful planar energy, even just from the wasted energy used for sailing and all of these rooms.”

“True enough… Han Rushu, I’ve got a few ideas for items you could craft. Would you mind talking with me in private?” Bianca asked, with the blacksmith looking over at her with suspicion.

Still, after a while, she ended up shrugging and getting up, albeit extremely reluctantly. She looked as though she would’ve rather slept through the day than speak at all, but she nonetheless stumbled over to Bianca.

“We’ll use the dining room. Hu- Chang Shuang, if you could help everyone else settle in however they wish, that’d be great,” Bianca chose to be careful and used the fake name, though it didn’t faze the others given that they’re already heard it being used by Li Wusu.

Since they were being cautious with that woman’s abilities, not revealing such important details seemed prudent.

While the others went about doing whatever they wished, Bianca and Han Rushu retreated into the dining room, with the former shutting the door behind them and creating a barrier to instantly block out all sound. She looked around for a moment and confirmed the presence of some kind of window on the far side of the room, which meant that airing it out would be reasonable if that became necessary, which…

“So, what are you going to do this time? I’d prefer if we kept it brief.”

Bianca chuckled, “Even if we were to do that again? I’ve been thinking about it for a while, you know, but if you’re that disinterested-”

“Wait, really? You’re not kidding?” the blacksmith exclaimed, then quickly calmed herself, “I mean, uh, I knew that you would-”

“Just one rule if we do this – you don’t tell anyone, you don’t try to expose it in whatever way, and you don’t push for more of this. I’ll come to you when we have the time and when I’m up for it… which might take a while seeing as we’ve got Chang Shuang with us.”

“That’s three rules, you slut… But I do understand you, and that’s fair enough… Ugh, just to be serious for a moment, do you know how much of a shift this has been? I went from getting pussy daily, and now I’m having to go around and do… whatever we’re doing.”

“And looking at me having fun with my pets, I imagine.”

“Don’t remind me, unless you want to get fucked rough and hard. I’ll ruin that ass of yours to the point that even your body won’t be able to recover,” Han Rushu threatened, but Bianca only imagined it for a moment before biting her lip seductively.

“Aw, would you? So kind.”

“… You really have wanted this, haven’t you? Then let’s not play around, clothes off!”

“Yes, babe,” Bianca couldn’t stop herself from being this flirty, and judging by the hard rod that was straining the dragon-blooded blacksmith’s pants, it was a good decision.