While the various “warriors” looked like they desired to remove her cute head from her little shoulder; the reaction of Shuten Doji was far different from that of his parade of retainers.

Against expectations; his shit-eating (if slovenly) grin only grew wider as he clearly studied the tiny kitten that dared speak so rudely to him. Those violet eyes, filled with his infamous purple flames of destruction which could destroy everything while torturing the souls of those caught within, narrowed in clear amusement at the usual situation presented to him. His fangs gleamed as he turned his eyes to Alice.

Any intentions she had vanished as it was clear that he had found a new toy he looked forward to playing with for the unforeseeable future, Soon turning towards the gigantic armoured lion with a raised brow before finally settling on the clearly displeased Athena. The latter standing obediently behind Cheshire like an vassal secretary who was ready to instantly move upon command from their master.

Since that’s exactly what she was.

“Quite the curious group we have here…”

His words were almost hauntingly smooth, carrying with it a quality akin to a warm cup of sake, luring everyone into a drunken trance as it caresses their ears. Not that Cheshire’s squad cared. Although it caused the oni to go into a stupor which made them forget any fear or anger they held.

All except his two daughters.

The prideful swords-girl merely snorted while looking at everyone of them with a level of destain that the cat had only seen from the big bad blue boss himself. Even then Cheshire felt that this little blonde haired oni may have outclassed the dragon. Although the receiver of the harshest glare was the little black cat herself; the oni gave a look of pure disgust toward the kitten.

Meanwhile her sister seemed quite different. She didn’t keep her green eyes,bringing a terrifying weight that was only matched by unleashing the infinite itself on the world, open for long. That brief period was enough to see a level of respect in their actions to stand up toward her own brutish father.

Although the man didn’t bother to look toward his “perfect oni” daughter yet did give a nod toward his far more prideful progeny. Obviously quite happy with how she was treating the “weakling” who dared to try and take charge like only the strong should do. A sight that made the infamous grin on the “weaklings” only grow more in its already unnerving size.

“Seeing the mighty Black Cat Mafia, who has been challenging my yakuza, got me quite curious as to why you are all following such a weakling. Did the death of Gaia really make her baby girl stupid? It’s the right of the strong to rule and everyone else has no choice but to follow along.”

“It’s called respect - something your lot could lear-.”

Surprisingly Mother raised a hand to interrupt Athena who had various veins popping out of her usually very graceful face. The True Goddess just stepped forward so she was ahead of the group. Cheshire was also curious what her student planned to do so merely motioned that she had the floor which she promptly took with natural belonging.

“Ohohoho, Doji, can I call you that?”

“N-”

“That’s very good~ you seem to have realised who I took my title from, however you are a little slow so don’t seem to understand that appearances are deceiving, that is okay though!”

Tilting her head with a kind smile that made it easy to not find her closed eyes unsettling - the aura she radiated was one of an understanding mother rather than the petulant brat she often was. This appearance obviously riled up the two daughters. The prideful one seemed challenged while the wrathful gave a menacing growl that showed anger… It wasn’t exactly hard to blame her either.

Their previous introduction to one another was not on good terms.

Shuten Doji himself was quite bewildered as no one had approached him so arrogantly before; he was the strongest person alive who had been fighting before genesis even came to exist. His patient appearance was only for as long as his amusement held and it was clear he did not enjoy being directly insulted by a short titan goddess. Yet he was also left confused at where her unfounded confidence was coming for which allowed him to remain calm enough for now.

“So what am I misunderstanding~?”

“Well, first of all, your prior statements are dumb as there is only one thing that is perfect in this world filled with such turmoil among the objectively & subjectively inferior.”

“Who may that be; you’re father who merely watches as the world falls to pieces, mother whom I watched die or maybe… The pathetic uncle snake who speaks of balance while giving the tools of control for the masses to take advantage of~?”

He expected that to rile her up, nevertheless-

“Ohohohohohohohohoh~!”

She laughed.

“Hm?”

“Ara~ ara~ I knew you were stupid but, oh myself, I didn’t expect you to be so obviously dumb and for the love of all that makes me… They are definitely not perfect. I merely respect them as they have each helped create the one True God thus perfection incarnate~!”

Furrowing his brow; anger actually vanished from him as he looked at the girl in front of him with a look that expressed that he truly believed she had gone mad.

“I am.”

“You are what…?”

“Perfection, my dear oni, I am perfection ohohoho~!”

“Oh~ so does that mean you understand more than me about this world, hatchling~?”

She just retained the position of her head while lifting her hands up as if to convey a shrug.

“More than your simple mind could ever comprehend…”

Slightly opening one single eye alone - not even enough to fully make out her full iris - was enough to release such a tremendous amount of energy that the ground itself quaked. Every single oni (who didn’t share the blood of Shuten) appeared as if they were trying to see what the inside of their skull looked like as they collapsed to the ground like puppets without strings. The blonde haired Shuten even found herself struggling to stand which caused Mother to move one of her hands to chuckle in her hand.

“Ohohoho~ it seems like your little group is a wee bit ‘eepy~?”

Any amusement promptly vanished from his smile as he once again found himself both insulted then shamed by the uselessness of his own race. Turning his glance towards the scattered bodies of the terrifyingly tall oni before flicking his finger out. In response purple flames adorned with the majestic gold worthy of a king exploded out to engulf each and every one of them.

The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

Seeing this made the blonde haired oni, with a slight sweat from resisting the density of the power weighing down on her body, click her tongue as she looked around. Turning to her father with clear displeasure at his actions. Yet her words showed that did not care about their lives anymore than he did.

“Who will carry us back if you kill them all.”

“Ah~ sorry Vibrant~!”

Meanwhile the veins on the violet haired girl could not have grown any bigger; her skin becoming chalky white as her already muscular frame began to bulge more. The sound of her own people crying out in pain over the careless attack of the man meant to lead them was nearly enough to make her lose control. She began to stand up but something promptly stopped her.

“You remind me of a certain feathered uncle… An uncle I don’t like very much.”

Her hand coming up from her mouth to instead rest on her hat - moving it to cast a shadow over her face which also brought attention to a very attention grabbing azure feather. This feather did take the arrogant oni by surprise even if he had some ideas of what happened on that mountain. What he didn’t expect was for a pair of magenta seas to open up below the shadow of her tricorn hat.

“I alone get to decide whether those in my presence are allowed to die.”

Each eye seemed bottomless with the pressure slowly growing as he looked into them. It was as if all the pressure of an ocean was pressed on their back, forcing them to sink deeper, with the hope of escaping slowly becoming an even greater impossibility. With the weight also can the water that managed to snuff out even the potent flames of destruction.

Everyone was shocked at this scene with Photon even letting some of the tension release from his battered body as there was no need to worry if they had that monster on their side. Athena also had similar thoughts as she clenched her teeth to avoid succumbing to the weight. Although it was Cheshire who raised a brow that had the most complex reaction.

They weren’t particularly filled with much power yet it came as a shock to Doji that his flames were put out by who was essentially just a welp that should still be understanding herself.

Narrowing his eyes as he began to stan-

*bring*

It was the delicate sound of little bells ringing that caused a disruption; all eyes turned towards the source where they saw a small little white haired girl tugging on the kami-adorned haori. Mother herself turned in curiosity to the weak little girl that she didn’t even bother paying attention to due to how weak she felt under her all seeing gaze. Meanwhile Doji sat down while clicking his tongue at the show.

“So the weak one has came…”

What presented itself to those remaining conscious was a little girl seemingly unaffected by all the chaos that surrounded her. She, herself, was clearly anaemic with long white hair that seemed dry as if she had not seen water in weeks if not years. Her body was malnourished with her limbs being scrawny.

Although those piercing violet eyes made her identity clear to both Cheshire & Mother… Even if she seemed far sicker than when she was violently mauling the True God’s face.

“What have you done to that girl…”

“Her power has shrivelled up to be even weaker than when I last saw her.”

The strange energy in her body seemed to have greatly faded from what it once was - a fact that clearly took away the only advantage she had over her siblings. What remained now was a girl who obviously lacked care despite the high quality dress as well as beautiful bells she wore around her limbs. The man responsible just fell back into his chair with an uncaring shrug.

“I didn’t do anything; little Vivi merely doesn’t seem to regenerate that energy she was born with which means she is closer to death with each use. Despite that she still trains. I have no idea why she even continued to live on in such a pitiful state.”

Cheshires thoughts quickly went to how she could preserve the life of such a child but then she begun to sense something that made her shiver.

“You… What do you hold most precious?”

Her voice, despite her health being on clear decline, was just as beautiful as the bells that warned her uncaring father of when she was approaching.

How could Alice possibly refute the question of a dying girl?

“My identity makes it so that I cannot pick favourites~.”

“Ah… So your identity is that important to you?”

Crouching down so that she was on the same level as her once enemy - happily placing a head on the far shorter girl's head - as she offered a kind smile.

“I suppose you can say that; what about you?”

“Me… Me… Me… Is there anything else to you?”

For a second the world stood still as everyone tried to understand if there was another meaning to the poor girl's words that they may have misunderstood. It was only Cheshire who had a different reaction as she looked towards that girl with nothing short of pure caution. Since she had found the answer to a question she was curious about before.

“Well I suppose it doesn’t matter… My desire is to take everything you hold dear for myself~.”

An eerie smile, that showed each and every one of her teeth, played out on the little girl's face as she looked god herself in the eyes without so much as a shiver.