Demonic Kitsune

Five days passed by. During that time, Clare tried to fuse the “Demonic Energy Manifestation Technique” with the “Unification and Amplification of Holy Mana.” It was incredibly difficult to merge two completely different accumulation and manifestation methods into one.

However, it wasn’t impossible.

Clare was well-versed in the countless types of mana accumulation methods within the Holy Church Library. Despite the Holy Church not being as renowned for magical knowledge as the “Magic Tower”, it had extensive methods for mana, holy mana, aura, and vitality accumulation and manifestation. She also knew the ancient holy texts she found before she died.

In other words, nothing was impossible in this strange world of opportunities. She just needed to be meticulous and take it slowly. In fact, there had already been some tangible results. To some extent, the two accumulation and manifestation methods had fused. However, practical use was the main issue—what seemed to work theoretically might fail in practice.

This became evident as the demonic energy and holy mana repelled each other. Even when separated by a thick barrier, turmoil still occurred, causing Clare to cough up blood occasionally as her heart was squeezed.

Nonetheless, Clare persisted. She took her time and gradually fused them without overdoing it. At night, she also practiced “Mithril Body and Soul Reinforcement” and “Mithril Physique Circulation”.

On the sixth day, she raised her hand, signaling that she felt a warm yet chilling sensation within her heart. The demon instructors, who didn’t expect much from the talentless GIMEL, were a little surprised. It was much faster than expected. However, they didn’t believe her at first since she was a half-breed Nin.

“How can a half-breed Nin manifest demonic energy in six days? Such insolence!” some doubted, irritation on their faces.

“Right, how is that possible?” Even other full-breed little Arrancars muttered. “Just don’t lie to us, disgusting Nin!”

“For real... Damn, why can’t I still manifest demonic energy?” Some showed disappointment in themselves.

With a gesture from the senior instructor, Edgar Le Nigel, the bickering little Arrancars silenced and paid attention. From his platinum robe, he brought out a sheet of well-slicked paper with strange inscriptions. It was a familiar artifact to most of the little Arrancars. They realized what the senior instructor was about to do as he approached Clare. They were anxious to see if what the talentless GIMEL claimed was true.

Even if the senior instructor declared it true, they would have no choice but to accept it. Edgar had another motive for showcasing the result to all the children. Why, though? No one had any hint as to the reasons, so they just awaited the result.

With “The Rendering Talisman” placed in front of her heart, the resounding heartbeat was heard. It wasn’t only her heart that was heard though, the little Arrancars as well. It echoed through the Yulin Platform as tension filled the air. Clare gulped in anticipation, hoping her secret wouldn’t be exposed by this demonic talisman.

Soon, a blinding dark-purplish light engulfed the platform. It was shocking but understandable, making those who doubted her stand with their mouths agape. Others were confused and became more disappointed in themselves. 

The light dimmed. The inscription lit up, indicating that Clare did have demonic energy. Clare sighed with relief, her secret protected from exposure, which would have meant being devoured by a demonic beast. The elites yawned with boredom, knowing her demonic energy was too little to compete with them.

With the result shown to all the little Arrancars, they couldn’t deny reality and had to accept it. However, the senior instructor was quite angry, directing his gaze at the disappointing little Arrancars.

“A half-breed manifested demonic energy in six days. What happened to you full-breeds? Do you need more ass-whooping or a trip to the ‘Gate of Hell’ to get your heads straight?” the senior instructor yelled in dissatisfaction.

“No, sir! We’ll get right to it,” the poor kids determined as they panic-strickenly continued their training.

After Clare revealed she could feel demonic energy, the demon instructors slightly changed her training.

On the seventh day, there were two noticeable changes for her. First, the weight of the iron braces on her arms and legs increased by half. Finally, the holy mana opened its glorious “V” to the demonic energy “D” without repelling it, thanks to her new accumulation methods.

However, they hadn’t become one yet.

Another change was the introduction of heavy bags containing a demonic cat that weighed "30 kg". These were given to the little Arrancars during their morning ascents and descents of the scorching Gate of Hell.

“Don’t let the cat out of the bag, and don’t let it get taken away by others,” the senior instructor declared.

If either the bag or the cat was taken away, there would be no breakfast and fifty ass-whoopings, even if the children succeeded in ascending with a baton. On the other hand, even if one couldn’t ascend with a baton, breakfast would be given if one somehow protected the bag and the demonic cat. Simply put, one had more priority over the other. This led to constant, brutal fights among the little Arrancars to steal the bag, demonic cat, and batons from each other.

As this change became fully implemented, the little Arrancars naturally learned how to use their bodies properly through several skirmishes, fights, and near-death experiences, in addition to the morning training.

Clare clicked her tongue as her tails fluttered in stress when she saw the other little Arrancars brawling. She couldn’t believe they were using simple capture-the-baton, protect-the-cat, and protect-the-bag training like this.

It was an indirect method of teaching desperation and putting one’s life on the line. But Clare still called it child abuse of the highest order. Such cute kids needed to be in the library, reading, not preparing for war. Sighing, Clare continued her descent as usual. She never had the cat, the heavy bag, or the baton taken from her. She protected them, even if it meant knocking down other little Arrancars mercilessly. 

She didn’t care about it much; rather, she upheld her principles and code, never bowing or sparing anyone if it meant achieving her goals.

Clare descended the blazing hot tunnel. Unlike before, she had no spiked balls connected to her braces to use as weapons. She couldn't smash through obstacles now. Boulders of different sizes, rocks, and shrapnel fell as the Gate of Hell shook. Her heart pounded. Her feet pressed against the ground. Her tails and ears stood on end. She moved nimbly between them.

Dodging every obstacle that could send one into the underworld, death loomed over her as her adolescent body couldn’t move precisely as she desired. Bruises formed, her bones cracked, and her muscles quivered to the unexpected movement. But she endured the pain and kept evading, blood spat out from her mouth.

The extreme heat soon caught her throat as other critical conditions peaked. Her legs trembled, her throat became parched, and rapid suffocation made her entire body shudder. Chills crept up her spine. Other little Arrancars attacked her, but that didn’t stop her. She knocked them down before moving on.

It wouldn’t be bad to show some of her skills if it meant shaking off these annoying brats. Clare became aware that the female demonic instructors had started to observe her more in secret, but they did that for all promising individuals, so she knew it wasn’t a bad thing.

Especially since she had shown incredible speed in demonic energy manifestation, their gazes had become keener. As Clare steadily strengthened her position, SOATH, who had been stubborn and plotting vengeance, didn’t dare to attack her. Instead, she just clicked her tongue and ignored her.

When Clare first felt demonic energy, she knew she had to start distinguishing herself. It wasn’t a question anymore. The "once speeding wagon had suddenly encountered a bump on the road ahead." The wagon had two options: become strong enough not to be affected by the bumps, or be the weak one overturned by the bumps.

And so, all the thin and shallow creeks of days converged into a big flow—months, then another year at the Institute of the Arrancar flowed like the river

— — — — — 

A year is neither a long nor a short period of time. However, given the children’s ages, it was evident that a year was far from enough. It was no surprise that the appearance of the children at the institute had altered dramatically in the past year with all the training they had endured.

After barely a year, the males’ muscles, jawlines, and masculine features began to develop. They even grew more attractive with longer hair and slightly larger horns. On the other hand, the females took on a very feminine, lovely, and graceful aspect, with even longer hair and more delicate and tender skin than before. However, the changes weren’t limited to their physiques and horns.

The little Arrancars’ gazes became sharper, and their minds began to display qualitative and reasonable changes. The daily fight over food was becoming increasingly heated. Now that some were close to pre-teen, teen, pre-adult, and adult stages, females had access to bathrooms in their individual rooms since they frequently took more baths than males. Speaking of baths, Clare, who missed her day-to-day bathing routine, bathed in the early morning and late evening.

Don’t get it wrong; the little Arrancars weren’t neglected by the institute nor were they filthy. After all, the Institute administration indulges in the principle, “Cleanliness leads to godliness.” A soft piece of cloth and a wooden bucket of water were sent to them to clean their bodies every evening. But now, it is different; sanitation clean-up days in the dorms take place once a month.

Of course, what was noticeably different this year was that not a single child ventured to provoke GIMEL. For the past year, the children had been well aware that GIMEL had been unbeaten in combat. 

Some individuals gained confidence after numerous consecutive triumphs, thinking she was fatigued, but they were cruelly smashed by Clare’s hands before they had even taken five steps near her.

What happened three months ago was also crucial in their determination to shun all contact with Clare.

When Clare received her last morning meal in the Dining Hall after not missing a single meal for over a year, some of the little Arrancars, resentful of this, banded together in a huge group and attempted to confront her. For the first time, the other kids watching pondered whether GIMEL had finally met her match. 

Some could already imagine a future where GIMEL, after having her ass handed to her, would become their plaything like she had always been previously, and had to get her ‘Nin’ ass whooped and ascend and descend the Gate of Hell every late evening. 

Some even smiled creepily, looking with perverted eyes, hoping to touch her fluffy tails and ears.

However, the outcome not only snapped them all out of their fantasies but also startled the beautiful female instructors of different skin hues, mostly two-horned demons in pink aprons, who were distributing breakfast to those seated and other instructors nearby, who were viewing Clare from the shadows.

Clare, already stressed and tense from all survival endeavors in the “Gate of Hell,” sensed their intentions as the collaborating demon brats approached. Her tails swelled and became alert. She totally crushed and viciously thrashed all five of them with her plate and chopsticks.

Since then, the other little Arrancars have made a concerted effort to avoid even making eye contact with Clare. Even SOATH—who was waiting for an opportunity to exploit and exact her vengeance—avoided Clare’s sight.

‘Pft… Muhahaha!’ Clare burst into laughter inwardly as her tails wriggled with pride at the children, who were clearly attempting to avert her gaze. Even though she couldn’t adjust to this change in treatment, it reminded her of how the same thing happened at Holy Academy. Albeit more brutal, she was sentenced to four days of room arrest.

Aside from this, Clare had gone through a lot of changes in the last year. To begin with, the effect of “Mithril Body and Soul Reinforcement” began to develop her body in earnest as “Mithril Physique Circulation” accumulated, circulated, and regulated holy mana throughout her body. The results were clearly obvious. Her bone and muscle density, as well as her cognitive senses and instincts, had all grown significantly.

She had also gotten taller. Even SOATH—who was nearly three heads taller than her just a year ago—was now only a head taller than Clare. In addition, her hips were becoming thinner than her shoulders, and her chest seemed to be growing as well, just a bit.

Clare hated to admit it, but she never wanted her chest to be like it was in her past life. Having back pain was agonizing beyond reasoning. Anyway, she seemed more beautiful when her hair grew past her shoulders. Her skin became paler and smoother. Her tails also got more busty and fluffy. Caressing them was more comforting and relaxing than ever. Her ears also grew. Overall, it was difficult to believe that Clare’s current body belonged to the old GIMEL.

‘It’s not fully completed, but if I can fuse it even more, I can exert more pressure than I currently can by several folds and reduce more backlash caused by both energy unification.’

At least that’s what Clare contemplated as her mind wavered to a certain development she had been working on. Both her internal and external frames had been hardened by both the “Mithril Body and Soul Reinforcement.” This newly completed accumulation technique that she had kept developing for the past year was tested multiple times, and fortunately, the result was successful, evident in her recent development.

Clare had named this technique after much deliberation.

Superiorization of True Deviation: העלאה של סטייה אמיתית: Unified Demonification and Amplicatication of Holiness.

It was created by combining the “Unification and Amplification of Holy Mana” with “Demonic Energy Manifestation.”

Even Clare was stunned by the power of this technique. It rapidly accumulated both demonic energy and holy power for her, far exceeding her expectations.

* * * 

“You are all going to start training with weapons today!” Edgar Le Nigel, the Senior Instructor, announced proudly. His slightly darker robes with petal embellishments added to his imposing presence. Exactly a year ago, GIMEL first demonstrated an aptitude for baton-type weapons.

As a result, on the first day of the Gate of Hell, they ascended and descended while being beaten with batons and spiked balls. Even SOATH was beaten to a bloody pulp. While carrying a heavy bag with a Cat, GIMEL rendered many little Arrancars useless, sending them to the infirmary for immediate treatment.

Over the past year, the surviving children had grown stronger. The number of deaths had substantially decreased, and they had gotten used to the brutal training.

As a result, the children who had progressed this far were reasonably confident in their capabilities. The weight of the iron braces supplied to them had grown to “60kg”.

Of course, it was no longer possible to descend and ascend the Gate of Hell without using Demonic energy. Clare was no exception to this, even with her “newly strengthened body” from regular practice of Mithril Body and Soul Reinforcement. This also allowed her to practice circulating her new accumulation technique. Clare didn’t stop at just distributing her new technique and Holy mana.

She began to penetrate the congested veins and muscles that were strained within her body, cleansing them of impurities on a microscopic level. It would be difficult for the other children to acquire the fundamentals of whichever weapon they chose on top of their already demanding training schedule.

In any case, it wasn’t much of a problem for Clare because she already knew what weapon she wanted to use and wished to become skilled with. The other children, on the other hand, were ecstatic about finally learning about the type of weaponry they intended to utilize because it was a sure sign of eventually becoming “Demonic Pawns”.

The Senior Instructor gestured with his chin to other instructors standing on the grand stage. They nodded and did as they were instructed. They moved in front of the excited little Arrancars, brought in the well-arranged racks of different types of shiny weapons to the Yulin Platform, and returned to their initial positions.

“These are the weapons that are the staples of the whole Salamander Continent presently,” the Senior Instructor spoke up, his words filled with demonic energy.

On the racks were heavy single-edged swords, light double-edged swords, green bows and arrows, steel rapiers, light-sabers, katanas, broadswords, greatswords, jians, gladii, spears, triple-headed spears, thin lances, battle axes, war hammers, longbows, halberds, shields, daggers, maces, chains, and a black scythe. 

These were the most basic weapons on the Salamander Continent.

“You’ll choose one of these weapons and learn its corresponding skills. If each of you has a weapon you desire, go and stand in front and point at it.”

The Senior Instructor’s words caused the children to hesitate. Each of them was clearly agonizing over which weapon would be best for them. Among them, Several children moved quickly. The first was SETH, and the second was Clare.

SETH, or rather Noir, took a step forward and pointed at a “broadsword”. Clare raced over and pointed at the black scythe.

Soon after, SOATH was the next to move. She stepped forward and pointed at a “war hammer” with an uneasy expression, glancing sideways at Clare and Noir.

In other words, SETH, SOATH, and GIMEL, the most powerful children on this platform, had chosen their weapons. Only after this did the other children start moving cautiously.

“Think carefully. You’ll have this weapon with you for the rest of your life.”

The instructor’s warnings were repeated when the children paused and moved again to reconsider. Katanas, shortswords, longswords, broadswords, shields, spears, green bows and arrows, daggers, and steel rapiers were chosen by the majority of the children. These were the most traditional and widely used weapons throughout the Salamander Continent.

They provided balance, strength, the center of gravity, flexibility, versatility, mobility, and a wide spectrum in combat, and defense and didn't require complicated mastery. Of course, hard work, talent, and perseverance also contributed to mastering them.

Following that, some children chose semiconductor magical chains, spiked ball chains, battle axes, spears, and triple-headed spears. Greatswords, jians, gladii, heavy single-edged swords, light double-edged swords, longbows, halberds, maces, and thin lances were the second highest in popularity. The oddly strange, eerily-looking black scythe was chosen only by Clare.

There was a certain amount of reverence for the scythe due to its complex mastery compared to other weapons. Even the little Arrancars who hadn’t heard much about the scythe or the respect “Demonic Knights” that wielded scythes received knew from a glance that using a scythe was no easy feat. Only the “Grim Reaper”, “Death is a Girl”, or “King Yama” used those.

“Choosing a new weapon sure is great, but their point of view had nothing to do with me…”

After the Senior Instructor's long speech on how he didn’t care about the children's preferences but rather the outcomes of their choices, the other instructors looked over what each child chose and advised them if a different weapon would be more suitable. The children were then given three handouts each on their individual weapons, leaving them with quite a bit to learn the basics of their respective weapons.

One of the handouts given to Clare detailed the main technique suitable for the black scythe—.

Chaotic Windfiery of Hellscythe.

Seeing the title of one of the handouts, Clare recalled her last life when she first learned her sword skills in this world. These brought back memories, and she felt really excited.

Letting out a deep breath as the cool breeze fluttered everything in its path, Clare shifted her attention to the other two handouts.

The Power of Shockwaves and The Power of Three Absolute Explosion Techniques.

Clare couldn’t shake off the feeling that the last handout awkwardly implied “Explosion is but an Art.” Regardless, both handouts seemed sufficient.

With the knowledge of all basic, intermediate, advanced, and legendary techniques ingrained into Clare’s very soul from her previous life, she was sure that with practice, these techniques could be useful to her.

After setting up the foundation of her body and mind with “Mithril Body and Soul Reinforcement” and “Mithril Physique Circulation”, she developed an incredibly high-level dual accumulation technique, and now—

—she finally had a new weapon: the black scythe that brimmed with Death, for those who crossed or stopped her path to absolute vengeance.