"Delicious nya!" Magari cried out with joy as she munched down the pizzas, "We're adding this to the ryokan menu. Kids!" She yelled towards the elders.
"Can we have some to try mother?" One of them asked, pitifully, extended an arm to grab one.
"Sha!" Magari hissed, crouching over the whole pizza.
Sheesh! Did nobody train food aggression out of her?
I looked at her and then her children, fully grown nekomata in their own right, but they looked so pitiful. She wasn't a good mother, I knew that. It was to be expected from youkai like them, and it wasn't like I hadn't known that from her behaviour before, but it was sad seeing it again, firsthand- my past life flashing before my eyes.
I remembered when my own mother had done something like this. I was just seven and she… It pained me just to think ever since my memories of my past life had returned to me in full, following my Touki awakening, something I had largely ignored. But this… a mirror to my own past life... Tch! I had to do something.
I conjured a big spray bottle of water and spritzed her aggressively.
"Bad kitty! Bad kitty!" She hissed and instinctively jumped back before realizing. She looked at the bottle, then at me as a murderous aura began to slog off of her.
"You got a death wish brat?!" Her claws came out, fur bristling with rage and I snickered.
"What if I do~?" I stuck out a tongue at her, and she looked ready to rip my throat out, but then she looked back at her own children and a trace of guilt and shame flashed across her feline features. She lashed out in frustration and swiping clean through the spray bottle before slowly returning to her food, but not before cutting off a portion for them.
"They can have some."
"Good girl~" I patted her head and was rewarded with a severed arm.
Blood splattered on the ground, fizzling, then burning away and I winced, my stump bursting out with flames as I regenerated the arm back.
"Never do that again." Magari spoke in a stilted accent. A stern warning without her usual nya-s affected onto it.
I snorted.
Yeah, sure. And why don't you learn to behave with your kids.
Hmph!
Truly, it is in seeing others' misfortune that you learn to appreciate your own fortunes.
This life, I had such a kind, loving family. My second life really is a healing life. Literally.
Still, lets make some amends.
"Here. Have a choco-lava cake." I gave her my piece.
She raised an eyebrow, before batting it away.
"Didn't like it nya. Too bland. Bad fats. Nyeh!" She pretend gagged, the guilt of her previous actions loosening her lips again.
Which also reminded me.
"Is it because cats can't taste sweets?" I asked.
"They can't?" Sai asked.
"I thought cats couldn't taste human food?" Dulio said and I raised a curious eyebrow at him. He continued.
"My mother said I shouldn't feed the barn cats my chicken nuggets because they can't taste anything except mice."
Oh, you adorably innocent little munchkin.
"She lied nya, we love chicken nuggets!" Magari replied, and Dulio asked surpised, "Really?"
That's when I realized something.
"Wait, does that mean you think we were eating fried rat cutlets and rat ramen all this time?" I asked, and he flushed with embarrassment.
"I didn't want to complain. It would be ungrateful." He moused out, "And they didn't taste bad so…"
"Hehhahahaha!"
"Nyahaha!"
"Pfft! Hahaha!"
We all had a good laugh at his expense and Dulio looked like he just wanted to be buried alive.
After that, as we finished the meal, I thought back to my meeting with Cleria Belial earlier, and now, without the fog of lust, looked over it again, going through every word, every action with a fine-toothed comb. She was someone at the same level of intellect as the best in the Underworld, someone even Zekram feared, if left alive.
She was right about one thing. I'm not arrogant enough to think that I can outmatch them in scheming. But that is my greatest strength- relentless revision, never underestimating an opponent.
And as I went over the conversation, I indeed found some rather interesting pieces of information I had missed, micro-expressions misanalysed, words distracted within actions… clever girl~
I smiled. I could see it now, after nearly four revisions of the conversation.
People like her… tsk, tsk! They think they're so smart they can pull the wool over all of our eyes. Using my crush to manipulate me, milk more information out of me than I wanted.
Hmph! At least she can't blab about it to anyone. If anything happens, I will just have to deal with it later.
----------x----------
"When you awakened your Touki, you burst out with the vigour of life, all of it, at once, but nyow that you've gone back to normal, you'll have noticed that you can't pull it out back the same, nyo?" Magari circled around me, tails flicking lazily, as she explained to me how to access my Touki and begin training, "These two-" She gestured at Sai and Dulio, who were sitting nearby, covered up to their shoulders in a cladding of steaming white Touki, struggling to inch it up just one more bit.
Dulio was having an arguably better time as he has both arms covered up to his shoulders, and even a small wisp across the back and the collarbone linking the two disparate halves.
"These two are way ahead, but seeing them you can learn how to begin." She purred as she jumped up on Dulio's shoulder, amused as he struggled to keep his concentration and smacked him across the face, "If you're struggling with just this much, how will you keep it on in fight? Will you drop you defence every time a soft breeze blows past nya?" She squished his cheek with her paw, pushing his head to his shoulders as he looked about to burst a vein in anger. I can see the veins popping on his forehead.
Wow! I am impressed. How much of a Sgt. Hartman has she been to these two for the ever-cool Dulio has gained anger issues?
I fear for my mental safety at this rate. With my significantly shorter fuse compare to the living saint over there, I might just neuter the bitch by the end of this training!
But I understand her point. It should be ingrained into instinct, muscle memory by the time they get through here.
I observed the way they were shaping their Touki.
It was like a raiment, a knitted cloth cascading up their arm, the fibres of their Touki wriggling like mealworms as they wove together, one painstakingly slow stitch at a time.
You didn't just burst out with Touki. It manifested as a garment. A covering, flowing with the breath of your life.
I understand now.
I pulled up my Touki again, but this time, instead of exploding with it, I tugged at it gently, but firmly, rolling it out into a sort of spirit yarn, and began to knit it over my palm, forming little patches, cross-stitched and-
Smack!
The weave unfolded as I felt a familiar paw smack me in the face.
"Wrong nya!" Magari scolded, "Don't separate it from your body. It is part of you. Do you wear your skin an inch from you? No? Then why are you weaving pretty little patterns in the air nya?" With each word she pushed my head further to the side, smack after smack.
"But they are-" I argued only to receive another smack.
"This is why you should wait for me to explain, ge-" Smack! "ni-" Smack! "us!"
And another Smack! For good measure.
"Having fun, are we?" I side eyed her with murderous intent and saw her smug little face flush with a smirk.
"Training isn't supposed to be fun nya." She said, with a mischievous grin, "Not for you boyas, at least! Nyahahaha!"
I am so neutering her once we're done.
"Then what am I supposed to do, oh great and wise kitty cat?"
"Weave it into your flesh and blood. Strengthening begins with your body. The outside is just an extension of what is inside." She explained, genuinely now, "Course it through your blood, feel it seep into your flesh, and then like that hair-raising feeling, sweat it out through your pores, till every part of your body begins to breathe. Your Touki is the breath of your life. Let your whole body breathe in it." She smacked me again, just for fun, "Then you can begin with the outside, but more like braiding your hair, not knitting new clothes."
I nodded, digesting what she had told me.
I was going through it the same way I went about doing a demonic power enhancement. It started outside, much like a spell and pressed inwards, like tight leather pants- god-oW! That woman has me fucked up.
Is this what it feels like to be in love? The thought of them interrupting your every waking moment?
Fuck!
I hate falling in love.
I forced myself to return to thoughts of training.
Now where was I? Right.
Demonic power enhancement was much like a spell. It worked on the same principles as our wings. I have wings therefore I can fly.
Similarly, demonic power enhancement preserves and enhances the image of the body. I have legs therefore I can run. How fast? However fast I can imagine them carrying me!
I have arms therefore I can punch. How hard? However hard I can imagine punching. Of course, it's not infinite, but it does scale with my demonic power.
It's the same reason we can go supersonic and not get liquefied by the inertia. The spell preserves the image of our body, of who we are, but only so long as we can hold onto it.
As always, demonic power is the power of imagination. It may not be infinite and the greater the effect, the higher the consumption, but it was very versatile and useful.
Touki on the other hand was the exact opposite. It had one, simple, streamlined purpose. Struggle for your life bitch! Survive, no matter the cost.
Need to escape from a hunter, run faster! Need to crack the hard shell of prey? Hit harder! Push your body to its limits and then beyond!
It started within the body and then extruded outwards. It didn't have anything to do with imagination. Either you struggle to do something and succeed or you fail and die.
It was the brutality of nature and the cycle of life. The law of the jungle.
I understood finally.
Retreating inwards, I let pulled on my Touki, but this time, instead of pulling it out, I guided it along the channels of my blood, through my heart, circling across my entire body, with each cycle, seeping more and more into flesh. Strengthening every aspect to it's limits, till I felt like a dog on zoomies, every fibre of my being thrumming with excitement, a desire for action, like a rush of adrenaline coursing through me, ready to burst.
Move! Run! Fly!
Every instinct in my body screamed at me, but I controlled it, slowly letting out a long breath that flew like a great serpent, coiling in the air, like something straight out of a xianxia novel.
I opened my eyes to see it and revelled in the glorious feeling.
It was amazing to watch and felt even better to experience. It was the raw, unfiltered joie de vivre, the joy of living, like every nerve was firing off with pure ecstasy! That was what I felt, in every corner of my existence. I felt truly alive!
Until, of course-
Smack!
"Now what?!" I snapped.
"Just stopping you from soiling your pants with your jizz, chicken boya~" She teased, before patting my shoulder, "Good job nya! You got it in one."
I looked down at myself and saw it, Touki coursing through me, just beneath my shimmering skin like millions of tiny worms.
I closed my fist slowly and felt the air crackle satisfyingly as the wind popped with my power.
Fuck yeah- I looked up and saw the moon in the sky. Only then did I notice that it was dark out.
"How long-"
"All day. It's past midnight." She replied, gesturing me to get up, pointing at Sai and Dulio waiting for me on a nearby stump, "Come eat."
I nodded and pushed myself off the ground when suddenly- pop!
My concentration broke for the briefest of moments as I wondered what was for dinner and my strength gave away.
"Riser!" Sairaorg jumped to my rescue but Magari stopped him.
"Relax."
I collapsed into a heap of limp, useless meat.
"Oh." I realized.
"Nyahahahah!" Magari laughed, rolling around on the ground, "I was wondering when it was going to happen, nya."
"What's happening to me?" I asked as Sai picked me up and lay me against the tree stump, with Dulio moving the dinner set away to give my head some place to rest.
My body refused to answer my commands and I felt sore and wrung out all over. Even my regeneration wasn't answering as if nothing was wrong, but it obviously was!
I felt stretched, like butter over too much toast. Like watered down grape soda.
"Ya been edging it all day, boya! It's just Touki overexertion." She explained.
"Why isn't my regeneration doing anything then? I can feel it, I have all the demonic power I need, but it's just sitting there."
"Does your regeneration prevent you from getting sleepy? Peeing? Pooping? Choking on your own spit like the retard you are?" She wiped the drool from my mouth, "It's a natural part of your body's process of living, nya." She explained, looking me over, before remarking in surprise, "How do you still have your Touki?"
"What?" I asked, checking within me, and what do you know. Full reserve of Touki.
Surprising indeed. If I was suffering from Touki overexertion, one would assume I would have run out of Touki, or at least have less than…full.
"Munya~ I have never seen this before. Someone suffering from Touki overexertion but still being stuffed full of Touki." Magari poked me in places, casting some sort of Senjutsu technique.
"Maybe it has to do with my regeneration." I guessed, "It does bring me back to life, literally, from death."
She ignored me for a moment before finishing whatever analysis she was doing.
"That seems right." She nodded, her eyes beaming with excitement, "The same regeneration that was stopping you from awakening Touki is now giving you an unending reserve of it. You will never run out of Touki as long as your regeneration is working."
"That's so unfair!" Sai cried.
"And you call me a cheater? Mega cheater!" Dulio complained too.
"Infinite Touki? Hell yeah baby!" I cheered, making tongues at the other two, before, of course-
Smack!
"It's not infinite, nya!" She rolled her paw on my face as I lay prone, paralyzed, "The moment you run out of demonic power to fuel your regeneration, your Touki will stop being infinite."
Well, I suppose she's not wrong. A Touki defense isn't unbreakable- even I could dislocate Magari's leg in our last spar with my demonic power enhancement, breaking through her Touki armament, which was no doubt far stronger than mine. Of course, she was going easy on me, but still.
All someone would need to do is pummel me into the ground, forcing me to regenerate continuously till I run out of demonic power, and then, no more infinite Touki.
Though that raises a question.
"Will I recover Touki once I stop regenerating?"
She looked at me as if I was an idiot.
"Of course you will nya. At the same rate as everyone else."
"Don't get cocky nyow." Magari added, "You may have near infinite Touki, but your Touki capacity is still less than half of Sai boya here."
"So small tap on an infinite ocean? Can I increase it, through training?"
"Yes, but it will require training the same way we trained the past three months, except all the time."
"I'm not hearing a no~"
"I'm not spending all my life pounding you to paste chicken boya! Find someone else!"
"Eh, I'll find someone. Dulio and Sairaorg here will get to that level someday. I will just use them. I just wonder how long I will have to wait for them to catch up." I shook my head as dramatically as I could, "After all...."
I smiled smugly, and turned to Sairaorg and Dulio.
"-even when I'm out of demonic power, I'm better than you peasants~ Mwahahahaha!"
Dulio cracked his knuckles.
"Smug bastard. Wanna get your teeth kicked in?"
Sai joined in, tightening his shoe laces.
"Let me help."
"Put his teeth against the stump, it'll be easier." Magari commented from the side.
"Now, now guys, we can talk this out…wait, waitwait-"
.......
So yes, this is not the chapter where he meets his parents and recruits Lavinia. I know. It will come next to next chapter.
Till then, tell me what you thought of this chapter.
Was the last or the last two chapters bad? Not as good?
Any suggestions on how to improve them?
Also, thanks to King Gluttony, Spearow0 and the_one_and_the_oni for their ideas. I'm using them next chapter. I now know how I wanna play next chapter and fix the past chapters' iffyness. See ya next chapter.
Also don't forget to donate your powerstone y'all!
Let's get to 600 this time!
300 powerstones - 1 extra chapter
600 powerstones - 2nd extra chapter
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Thanks for reading!
Bye~