An unrecorded monster, a Youkai.
While staring at a monster in front of her, dead in the eye, Zesshi wished to recall among the thousands of ancient books she had read a record that remotely resembled the creature that giggled in front of her, a woman whose appearance periodically changed, becoming hideous.
Osiris was gone but she couldn't care any less.
Survival was the priority.
*WHOOSH*
A massive spear of darkness poked out of the ground and pierced Haku's heart, with her hair released, Zesshi saw a chance to make some distance.
She disappeared and appeared high in the skies... and right at that instant she felt two massive arms hug her from behind.
!!!
"Where are you going, sweetie?~"
Zesshi gasped in terror once those long, elongated and cold arms wrapped around her like a vice. She didn't even see when the monster moved. She struggled to get free, kicked and punched but those arms wouldn't let go.
*WHOOSH!*
Her scythe flickered and levitated on its own, rushing to aid and sliced forth.
"Let me go!".
The scythe sliced the monster's head, a clean cut that stopped Hasshaku-sama's giggles. Showers of darkness sipped out of that cavity like black ink that stained Hasshaku-sama's now white dress as well as Zesshi's face.
The girl thought this was an opportunity, but even while headless, one of those elongated arms gripped Zesshi's legs tightly, so much so she felt it was going to be torn off as her bones cracked.
The half elf considered her physical strength to be a force to reckon with, but compared to this monster's... she was no different from an infant.
"AAAH!" The girl screamed in pain and panic as the black ink continued to flow like the corruption itself, until it stopped. When she looked up, her neck had already reformed like nothing had ever happened and that vicious and terrifying visage didn't look so happy.
"I only want to play... must I tear your legs off?".
"..."
The girl went quiet with a gaze full of hatred as she analysed what her next move was going to be. Piercing her heart didn't work, beheading her didn't work.
"Did you think slicing my head off would be enough to kill me?~".
"W-What are you!?".
Hasshaku-sama giggled and ignored the question as it would be meaningless to answer 'Trying to find ways to kill me, she's so cute~ I wonder, should I adopt this little one? Yasaka is planning to offer Kunou-chan to master; she has been intentionally keeping her away from him to stop a parenthood bond from forming between them, that sly fox thinks I don't know what she is doing behind the scenes? I should have something to offer as well, otherwise we won't be equal anymore, and if Kunou-chan catches my master's eye, Yasaka and Amaterasu will have more influence over him... *sigh* If only I had someone else on my side...'
She thought about a certain powerful ice butterfly yokai but this thought alone made her sigh in disappointment again.
'As a Yōkai Anna-chan is not the scheming type, but this Zesshi girl... she's not weak at all'
While mumbling in her mind, it didn't escape Haku's senses that Zesshi was in the middle of placing three curses in her body.
'Paralysis, poison and darkness...?' Haku thought as the three curses took effect, shining on her body. As a result of the curses, her body stopped altogether, her skin started to turn green and her vision darkened.
Seeing that her curses seemed to have had some effect, Zesshi released herself from the monster's grasp and her cocky attitude returned albeit with a bit of warning.
"Haku, right? You should know my curses are not simple spells, I am a weapon created to slay gods, much less a monster such as yourself" She wielded her scythe with a cold glare, "However, don't think for a moment I am going to underestimate you".
"..." Haku tilted her head and looked at the girl, wondering where she got all that audacity from.
"Such an impolite child... don't call me 'Haku', you should be calling me mommy instead~"
!!!
"E-Eh? Excuse you?" Fear morphed into confusion.
*WHOOSH!*
"I have decided".
A torrent of darkness engulfed Hasshaku-sama's whole body, the curses shattered like glass and in front of Zesshi's eyes, the monster transformed once more into a beautiful woman.
"Do you know, Zesshi-chan? Now that you know my master is the one behind everything, I can't let you go even if you behave popopo~ why don't you become my step-daughter instead?"
The beautiful woman, not the monster, stretched her arm forward this time, opening her palm and expressing her offering.
"I-It wasn't Ains Ooal Gown from the start" Zesshi prepared her scythe, seemingly ready to ignore the offer while considering what other countermeasures could work.
Slicing the head didn't work... piercing the heart didn't work... curses didn't work.
"My master is the Sun God of the Sun Church, the most benevolent of this world and any world. Do you think he would be evil enough to commit such manslaughter? popopo~".
A vicious glint shone in the woman's eyes, as if to say that at any moment she could transform into that monster again. Nevertheless, Haku didn't retract her hand.
"You are a child who has gone through a lot of pain, haven't you?".
Zesshi frowned, "What do you even know?!"
"Oh, I know~ I have seen thousands like you... those dark eyes and those bags under them tell me tales. You are a crafted weapon, a half elf serving a country that detests, slaves and tortures your kind," Haku said, she had been in this world long enough to know the dynamics.
"Don't let these long ears fool you, Haku; I couldn't be any farther from a filthy elf" Disgust portrayed in those eyes, "I am what I am, and what I am can't change... but something else also won't change, my hatred for the elves, I will massacre them all~".
She swung her scythe a couple times and prepared a spell, that's when she heard a slight zoom and some breeze flash by.
"U-Ugh..."
Zesshi looked down and saw both her legs missing as torrents of crimson blood fell down the skies and onto the ground.
"I told you to call me mommy~".
"AAAAAHHHHH–!!! UHMMM"
A terrific hand covered her mouth before she could let out another scream. She came face to face with the psychotic monster once more.
"By the end of the night you will be calling me mommy, sweetheart. How painful it is however... that depends on you~".