"What do you mean?" the Kuchisake-onna recoiled, looking into the dead eyes of the woman standing next to her.
"I feel it much better than you. Everything there," the yokai gestured toward the direction they were heading, "is permeated with chaos. Literally soaked in it."
"Maybe the sensei left!" Kaede refused to accept the worst-case scenario, desperately trying to come up with another explanation. "You can't just throw around such accusations."
"I sense many yokai in that direction, including your mentor. Yes, she concealed her hideout, but Minoru was never as good at it as I am. If it weren't for my techniques, we would have been found, too. We must leave. If we die, vital information may be delivered too late."
A hint of compassion crept into the spider woman's voice. Kaede's pain brought up the worst memories she would rather forget forever.
But the young yokai refused to give in.
"How do you know that Minoru betrayed us?!" she exclaimed emotionally, waving her hands. "You said yourself she was the strongest and most experienced among you. Maybe she's been captured? We must first confirm she can't be saved before we abandon her."
Kaede's words did not convince the Kumo, but they clearly made her doubt.
"Your human is a bad influence on you. Chaos captives often can't be saved, but... Fine, we'll go there, though it's pure suicide. You're right; we must find out whose side Minoru is on. Your illusions and my stealth techniques should be enough. But you will follow my orders to the letter. If I say we leave, we leave immediately. No questions. Do you agree?"
"Y-yes," Kaede managed to promise with effort.
"Damn, things used to be simpler," grumbled the Kumo, beginning to cloak herself and the young yokai in numerous layers of concealing web. "I must be getting old."
The preparation took a long twenty minutes. Both yokai checked and rechecked how their concealing techniques worked together and whether there were any weak spots.
It was obvious that death might not be the worst outcome in this situation.
'In the time since my last visit, the mentor has built quite a lot,' Kaede thought in astonishment, looking at the scene that unfolded before her.
The initial, unremarkable pit in the ground was now hidden behind multiple heavy earthen ramparts, swarming with human and non-human figures.
As it turned out, the peasants they had met were not the only group under the influence of the chaos servants.
Now, all these sentient beings were using the wood and stones from the vicinity to build a full-fledged line of defense.
"You're thinking about the wrong things," the quiet whisper of the Kumo reached her ears immediately. "Think about it, if no one has sounded the alarm because of the disappearance of so many peasants, what does that mean?"
"It means someone higher up is covering for them," Kaede whispered worriedly. "The chaos contagion has spread much deeper than we initially thought."
"That's how it works," the elder yokai chuckled sadly as they slowly made their way to the earth ramparts. Judging by the actions of the crazed cultists, they were preparing for a full-scale war, which again was bad news – it meant they no longer considered hiding necessary.
"At first, it seems like you can crush cults like cockroaches. Every blow destroys another one, but suddenly, after the next strike, the floor under your feet collapses. And you realize that in the meantime, chaos has already eaten away not only the floor but walls and ceiling, and very soon, you'll fall into an abyss where you'll deal with anything but small cockroaches."
The women froze when a massive yokai stomped past them.
Once, it belonged to the Hitotsume subtype. These were huge, over three meters tall, one-eyed giants with a massive horn protruding from the middle of their foreheads.
Only now, chaos had given the hapless yokai many more eyes and horns, turning his head into something resembling a hedgehog, with inflamed red eyeballs flickering between the spikes.
And though the giant's body was covered in dirty, torn rags, the gaps revealed that the mutation continued further down his back.
Kaede shuddered in disgust once again, while the spider-woman struggled with her own fears.
Her very nature abhorred the thought of the mutations the not-so-bright Hitotsume had undergone.
After he passed, the pair cautiously moved forward.
And then, Minoru's disciple barely managed to suppress the breakfast begging to come out. The surrounding aroma was difficult to describe.
The only thing that could be said about it was its repulsiveness.
The sources of decay were easy to spot.
Many "workers" gathered around skewed structures made of logs and pulsating greenish flesh.
It felt as if these "boils" were nothing less than the world's own rash, such a strong sense of unease they evoked.
Yokai or people, there was no difference in this place. They clung to the quivering, solidified pus and let the escaping vapors thoroughly soak them.
After inhaling their fill, some workers left, but others immediately returned, taking up the freed "seats." Thus, the terrible conveyor did not stop its monstrous work for a second.
Some of the unfortunate became so attached to these structures that they grew onto them, unable to tear themselves away.
In such cases, they helplessly wriggled, trying to break free, but quickly gave up, allowing the squelching flesh to absorb them with a gurgle.
Kaede inadvertently met the gaze of one of these wretches, then quickly turned away as if afraid to get tainted with something forbidden. The pleasure and euphoria she felt in that person were so intense that they almost engulfed her.
Her head buzzed unpleasantly, and quiet whispers appeared at the edge of hearing.
"Be careful," Katsuya's barely audible whisper was full of caution. The Kumo did not miss her young colleague's mistake.
The further they went, the more dangerous the surroundings became.
Chaos held a myriad of temptations and traps, which, to an onlooker, might seem unworthy of notice.
A small flower could carry a strain of plague that sweeps everything away, and an inconspicuous sign on the wall could devour your consciousness, turning your body into an obedient puppet.
Before this venture, the spider-woman gave Kaede a brief safety briefing, but it's impossible to fully prepare for chaos, no matter how hard you try.
What more can be said when even the demons themselves aren't always ready for what their merciless "parent" brings? Among demons, there are quite popular horror stories about so-called "waves of chaos."
In such moments, a giant wave seems to run across the endless and all-encompassing fabric of impermanence, causing demonic planes and sometimes entire worlds to collide with each other.
And if the worlds of order are quite protected from such a natural phenomenon, simply not noticing it, then the demons themselves are incredibly vulnerable to it.
Cases where an archdemon, caught in a "fold" of space, was destroyed along with his entire plane and followers without the right to restoration are not uncommon.
But let's return to the yokai freezing at every rustle. Both girls had delved deep enough into the chaos cultists' camp that if an alarm were raised, they risked not being able to escape.
Fortunately, thanks to Ketsumi's sensitivity, they at least knew where to go.
The source of Minoru's power glowed dimly amidst the surrounding stench, but it was still noticeable enough to eliminate the possibility of error.
And although, as mentioned before, the hideout was heavily rebuilt, a couple of surviving secret passages still let the girls under their vaults.
The stone permeated with evil power closing in from all sides gave a particularly nasty sensation.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.
It seemed that every step they took was already known, and they were just walking into a trap. There was an urge to turn around and run away shamefully, but the yokai clenched their teeth and took another step into the swirling darkness, approaching the source of the lamia's power.
And at some point, their path reached what they were looking for.
"Oh, Kami," Kaede muttered, looking at what the pernicious forces had done to her sensei.
Minoru's former personal room, which also served as a spacious study, was now filled to the top with an abundance of decaying flesh. It gently squirmed, constantly merging and transforming into something new and even more terrible.
Real rotting stalagmites grew from the flesh here and there, stretching up and sometimes even reaching the ceiling.
In such cases, they let out pale roots, anchoring themselves at the very top.
But all attention involuntarily focused on the former mistress of the hideout. Why former?
Because it didn't seem like she was the mistress of even herself anymore.
The clumps of rotting flesh growing everywhere covered her body in a thick layer from tail to head, making her look more like a huge, bloated worm.
The only thing that remained untouched was her head, but chaos interfered even there.
Since her shoulders had become much wider, they each easily accommodated one more head of Minoru, identical to the original.
Only unlike the real one, which looked incredibly exhausted and kept silent, the other two heads constantly spoke of something.
The left head seemed to have a permanent expression of satisfaction and some kind of good-naturedness.
On the other hand, the second head delighted the world with an ugly grimace, frozen between anger and malice.
"Hee-hee-hee, look, dear, how our influence grows. How the blessing of chaos spreads and increases the joy of these wretches who have suffered their whole lives without us. Understand at last, we bring them joy and happiness. What's the point of this mortal, senseless, and cruel life when we're ready to give pure bliss as part of our eternal kingdom!"
"Why are you talking to her?" The second head spat in the face of the first but missed, her spit landing on the opposite wall and starting to corrode it.
Kaede and Ketsumi, standing nearby, barely managed to force themselves to stay in the same places. If the spit had landed a meter to the right, it risked melting their skin!
"Quit going easy on her! Let's invade her brain and reveal to her the sensations of dozens of the most excruciating diseases. I'm sure then she'll sing a different tune!"
"Now, now, sister," the first head fussed. "The order was to bring her to an understanding of our greatness gradually, not through so... Crude methods. The goal is to avoid leaving any compromising traces in her. You know yourself, the great ones of this world are very suspicious. Everything must go smoothly, like pus flowing over a baby's skin…"
"Katsuya!" Kaede whispered desperately, her eyes wide, looking at the spider woman. "We must save sensei. You hear, she's still fighting. She hasn't given up!"
"I hear," the Kumo replied dryly. "Believe me, I want to help my friend no less than you do. But think about this. Even if, for example, we somehow save her, are you sure she'll be able to move? We won't be able to carry her through the alarmed chaos cultists' camp."
A heavy pause hung in the air.
"You're right, Ketsumi-san," the young yokai finally murmured softly, looking down. "But I'll still try to free her. There's still a chance she can move on her own. And that's enough for me. If you refuse, I accept your decision and will wait until you're far enough away..."
"Shut up already," the spider woman closed her eyes as hard as she could, afraid of what she was about to do. "Why is it always some kind of trouble with you, Minoru?! Either you get us into some cult, or we have to save you from one."
Kaede didn't interfere with the woman's thoughts.
"Alright," the Kumo began giving orders, collecting her thoughts. "On my signal, I attack these creatures, trying to free Minoru from their control. Your job is to bring your mentor to her senses so that she can help free herself. Remember, if she attacks us or doesn't come to her senses, then we leave. Ready?"
"Yes, Katsuya-sama," Kaede nervously mixed up the suffixes, making the spider woman smile a little.
"Well then... Let's go!"
Both mutated heads turned at once exactly in the direction of danger, but were too late to do anything.
Their task was to restrain and brainwash, not combat.
The thinnest threads tightly wrapped and squeezed their necks, causing the demonic creatures to painfully bulge their eyes and stick out long tongues from their mouths. Then, the threads sharply contracted, cutting off and sending in flight the gurgling "offshoots."
The very next second, hundreds of semi-transparent threads stuck into the bulky, meaty body, beginning to cut and tear at the resisting flesh.
"Kaede! Hurry!" Katsuya cursed with effort. "I won't hold out for long!"
The fat "sausage" immediately began to break free, spraying sizzling acid in all directions from the many wounds forming here and there, but the Kumo's web held it firmly for now.
"Understood!" the Kuchisake-onna, running straight along Minoru's body, dodging the growing maws everywhere, jumped right onto the shoulders of the limply frozen ancient yokai.
Minoru's eyes didn't move at all during the attacks, continuing to stare into the void.
"Sensei!" the mental cry of the disciple struck straight into the head of the mentor, lost in the illusions of chaos. "Come to your senses immediately!"
Minoru winced a little and her eyes opened slightly, but that's where the success ended. The ancient yokai refused to return to this world, while the situation clearly ceased to be calm.
Even through thick walls, the increasing roar and howl of hundreds of throats could be heard as their owners rushed here in a single surge.
A wave of several bundles of web - and the main passages collapsed, blocking the approaches of most of the chaos horde.
Considering the creatures' strength, this was a weak solution that would give only a couple of minutes of time.
"Faster!" the spider woman shouted again, barely managing to cut down with her threads two creatures that had rushed out of the darkness.
"Sorry, sensei," Kaede apologized, then, with all her might, slapped her palm on the mentor's cheek, sending in one of the most unpleasant illusion techniques.
Right now, Minoru suddenly felt as if she was crucified, then dipped into lava and liquid nitrogen repeatedly, and for the second that the technique lasted, a lot more time passed in Minoru's head.
"A-a-ah!" the lamia's eyes suddenly flared open, and Kaede barely managed to dodge the strike of claws, each almost thirty centimeters long.
"Sensei, come to your senses!"
"What?" Minoru blinked and lowered the hand she was about to swing again. "What's going on here..."
She abruptly fell silent, and her expression changed. Memories crashed down on her like a tidal wave, but the non-human mind managed to sort through such a vast amount of data in the shortest possible time.
Several emotions flashed one after the other, to be replaced by a single one. In the lamia's gaze, one could easily discern a burning shame for what she had managed to commit.
"Minoru, quit dawdling!" Katsuya roared, causing her former friend to turn to her in shock. Threads of web whistled wildly, slashing the new creatures already crawling from almost all sides. "Get that crap off of you, and let's break out. It's getting too hot here!"
It was clear from Minoru's face that she had a sea of questions, but to her credit, she saved them for later.
The "suit" enveloping her exploded in streams of greenish water, which stripped away the mutated flesh that had clung to her.
In many places, the scales were missing, exposing bare flesh, but Minoru showed no sign of her pain.
Next second, the lamia bent over, vomiting a stream of brown slush with larvae floating here and there.
Minoru wiped her mouth, looking painfully at the surrounding nightmare.
Freed from the need to restrain the lamia, the spider woman once again used concealing techniques to cover them.
Without saying another word, the trio of yokai dashed toward the secret passages, where the tide of cultists was thinnest.
Is it difficult to escape from chaos creatures?
The answer to this question will be completely different, depending on many conditions.
But given that an ancient water spirit, a strong yokai of illusions, and a spider woman obsessed with stealth were fleeing, it all went much easier than Katsuya feared.
However, some suspicions remained, as the Kumo knew the treacherous nature of chaos too well to turn her back to the saved.
One had to consider that the entire rescue could have been just a sophisticated game of dark forces.
Therefore, as soon as they broke away from the pursuers and vanished among the endless expanses of forests, the company abruptly split up, eyeing each other with suspicious glances.
The heavy gaze of the lamia stopped on the equally serious Ketsumi. Kaede, standing nearby, confusedly shifted her gaze from one to the other.
"Why did you save me?" Minoru asked dryly. Her voice was like the rustling sand of the Sahara itself, so little was in it of emotions.
"Did you want to become a traitor and serve the cause of chaos so much?" the Kumo retorted. "Then it's not too late for you to go back and lick up the filth you vomited."
"You have no right to speak to me of betrayal," Minoru cut off, causing the spider woman to gasp in outrage. "Or wasn't it you who abandoned all of us in a difficult moment? What's it like living knowing that almost all your comrades are dead?"
"You have no idea!" Katsuya snapped, clearly wounded by the lamia's merciless words. "You always talk about what's right and what should be done, but others always pay the price for your 'whims'! Or am I wrong? Or will you say you're not to blame for chaos returning to our world?"
The ancient yokai visibly shrank under the weight of her former friend's words.
Kaede's eyes widened in fear, and Katsuya froze. The words spoken in anger were just thoughtless insults. She didn't expect them to hit the mark so precisely.
"That's why I should have died," Minoru murmured softly. Little remained of the lamia she once was. "It's all because of me. Always."
"Maybe you should have," Katsuya shrugged mercilessly, now looking down on Minoru with a disdainful gaze. "But I didn't want chaos to get ahold of your body. We have enough problems as it is. So if you decide to end it all for good, make sure your corpse doesn't end up in the hands of the rotten ones."
"Katsuya!" Kaede gasped, but the spider woman stood by her words.
An uncomfortable silence hung in the air. Minoru continued to stare at the ground, motionless. This unnatural stillness made her student uneasy. Even though they had managed to save the lamia, some part of her seemingly remained forever in those corridors, permeated with rot and darkness.
"Katsuya-sama, what should we do next?" Kaede asked timidly.
"Just call me as you did before, without these suffixes," the spider woman sighed, vigorously rubbing her face to regain some composure.
After all, the long escape had taken its toll on the yokai's strength.
"As for what's next... First, we need to reach the great spirits and inform them of the new chaos invasion. As the Kami see, it's probably inevitable. Then..."
"Katsuya, wait," the young yokai interrupted, suddenly springing up. "We need to tell Shiro about all this first."
"Kaede..."
"Really! The great spirits live in the mountains, right? We don't have to make a big detour. I'll just warn him so he doesn't lose track of me. What if he decides to visit the sensei's hideout and gets into trouble? Besides, I didn't say it before, but right now, he's working on a technique to destroy chaos..."
"What, excuse me?" the Kumo raised her hand, her eyebrow arching questioningly. "Repeat your last words."
"Well..." Kaede blushed, realizing she had said too much, but then decided to continue, briefly explaining her master's work.
"I see," the spider woman mused thoughtfully. "That is a useful endeavor that might indeed interest the great spirits. If the Serpent can accomplish what he has in mind, he will be of invaluable help to our world. I take back my words. Your human is a cut above most of his kind."
"That means..." Kaede held her breath in hope.
"Yes, first we'll drop by your Shiro. It would be a great loss if an expert of his level were to perish ingloriously in the clutches of chaos."
"Hooray!"
"Now, enough talk. We must hurry." A few seconds passed, and nothing more indicated that anyone had ever been in that clearing.