Reli jumped up in surprise, it had not expected that another Demon would find it in this cave. Looking around hectically, Reli searched for a way to flee, but there was only one entrance. Its gaze fell upon the coffin and rushed towards it. Slipping inside, moved around to get a little comfortable it heard the voice again.

“I will come and get youuuuuu! That will be sooooo much fuuuun!” said the voice as it got louder with each word.

Reli grabbed the lid of the coffin and closed it off. The darkness around Reli felt oddly at home, comforting, yet hearing the slow steps of whoever got into the hall was terrifying.

“Uuuuh look at that! The last time I looked into these caves there was no such hall. What did you do? Tell me”

Reli's heart pounced so hard and loud, it felt like it would jump out of its chest. Cold sweat ran down its temple as each step of the voice sounded closer and closer. It had no idea who was outside or if it could take it on with its new form, but without having tested out its new skills, Reli did not want to put its life on the line like that. Silently It prayed that the voice would lose interest in the empty hall. That it would turn around, thinking it got was wrong and nothing was there. The steps began to sound really close, as if it walked just around the coffin, looking around. Reli closed its eyes, the pressure was unbearable.

“Seems like I was wrooong. Nothing in here. Absolutely noooothing,” the voice said crystal clear, making it obvious it was right next to the coffin, “except for thiiiiis!”

With a powerful push, the lid of the coffin slid off and fell onto the floor. The black gem it was made of, shattered loudly into uncountable pieces. The sudden influx of light made Reli open its eyes and it saw what had found it.

A red fiery skinned, one-horned grimace of a face with four large, yellowish tusks looked down on Reli. Its smile sinisterly twisted upwards towards its ears. Its fiery hair bound to a bun, it leaned its naked muscular and husky torso over the coffin, seeing Reli cowered in it.

Just as Reli questioned what kind of Demon it was, the blue window flashed up to give the answer.

Oni:

A subspecies of Devil that traded its magical abilities for immense strength and constitution.

Mostly red-skinned and haired. It uses its claws and tusks to rip its enemies apart with pure strength.

Some Oni use weapons, but most of them see this as a sign of weakness.

“Fouuund youuuuu!” the Oni exclaimed as it spotted Reli “You are sooooo cuuuuuute!”

The Oni grabbed Reli by its clothes lifting it out easily. Reli tried to struggle, but the overwhelming strength was too much. Giving up on the futile try to escape the clutches of the Oni, Reli saw that it was twice as big as itself was. It was clear the Oni was a male with his muscular body revealed as he was only wearing a thick black cord with some loose hanging fabric in the same color on its hip. He was a menacing sight, completely opposite of his playful way of talking, especially seeing how he held a huge spiked club in his other hand.

Reli got the feeling this Oni was a predator on the hunt for his prey. Not for survival, but for fun. It felt that it had made a mistake to stay inside too long. It should have run far away after getting the essence. Everything could have waited for after it was not there anymore.

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“Suuuuch a beautiful girl! And these marvelous golden eyes! I want to make you mine! No, you are mine now! I will treat you well! Dress you nice and protect you! Goddess, you are soooooo adorable!” the Oni exclaimed with a voice full of joy. “We will liiiive together, wooooork together, beeeee together! I aaaaalways wanted such a cuuuuute friend to share eeeeverything! Nothing against Minomino and the others, but they do not compare to your cuteness!”

The words came as a shock to Reli, This was the last thing it had expected would happen. Getting its head ripped off by his huge hands or its throat sliced open with his tusks or clobbered to death with the club the Oni held. All were more likely than the display in front of Reli's eyes. Instead of being killed, it got gently put down on the floor. The black eyes of the Oni sparkled full of happiness as he looked Reli up and down.

“Uhm…. T-t-thank you?” Reli answered unsure of what was to come.

“Such a cute voice! Who are you? What are you? What are you doing here? Where do you come from? Why are you dressed in these lousy clothes?” the Oni flooded Reli with questions.

“Re-Re-Reli”

“Rerereli? What a cute name for such a cute girl,” the Oni interrupted, “my name is Cho! Nice to meet you Rerereli!”

“No… Reli, just Reli,” Reli corrected the Cho.

“Oh? Ah! Sorry, did I scare you so much that you stuttered? You don’t need to be scared! I won’t do anything bad to such a cute thing like you! I proooooomise on the mighty Demon King,” Cho stated as he put down his club, “See? Nothing to fear.”

“O...Okay. Cho, uhm, what do you mean with becoming yours?” Reli wanted to know.

“Become my underling! You managed to uncover this. You are probably strong or at least clever, but what's more important is you are soooo cute! I want to have all cute things and you are cute,” Cho asked sincerely, “You don’t have to do anything if you don’t want to! Just stay cute and sweet and by my side, that’s all I want. I want to know eeeeeeverything about you. Will you? Please, pleeeease become mine!”

“Before I decide, can you tell me about yourself?” Reli asked in the hope of finding a clue to how to escape.

“Sure! I am an Ooooni. My name is Choooo. I am 372 years oooold, so I am pretty young. I am one of the four Heavenly Guards of our beloved Demon Kiiiing. I like cute thiiings like youuuu. Is that enough for you? Want to tell me a little bit about yourself? You seem to be a female Poisondragon with your purple hair and skin,” Cho explained.

Reli felt dread surge inside of it. It did not know what a Heavenly Guard was, but it sounded important and strong. It seemed as if there was no means to escape. At least the Oni was favorable to it even if he was allied to the Demon King, and not as cruel and brutal as the Minotaur it had seen before. It also realized that Cho could not see that Reli was a Shadowdragon and mistook her for something else. Knowing what the window had told it, Reli decided to not correct him on this.

“I can’t decide this so quickly, but I would come with you, would that be okay?” Reli asked unsure if that was the right decision.

In an instant, Cho grabbed Reli, lifted it up and spun it around. Reli could see how happy Cho was as the grin became wider and wider on his face. This happiness was so intoxicating and innocent that even Reli started to grin.

“She comes with me! She comes with me!” his face grinning from happiness as he spun themselves faster and faster.

“Uhm Cho, why do think I am female?” Reli asked.

Cho stopped abruptly with a puzzled look on his face. This was a question he had not expected to hear.

“Was I wrong? I mean, look at you, this cute and all. I could have sworn you are a girl,” Cho began to apologize, “I am sorry, I did not mean to offend you! If your status says you're male then you are male!”

“No, no! That’s not what I meant, I just don’t know my -” Reli began as the status window opened up and showed a new column ‘Gender – Female’, “oh… it was not there just a moment ago… you are right, I am female.”

“Seems like you are pretty young if you don’t even know your own gender. If that’s the case, call me ‘big brother’! I will protect you with my life!” Cho said as he slammed his hand twice onto his hairy chest causing loud thuds. “I will teach you what you need to know to survive!”

“Okay, I look forward to it,” Reli answered as she noticed the grin on Cho's face slowly vanishing with each word she spoke, “Big...Brother.”