Y'all, I've been reading this Webtoon comic for three days now, it's called Wished You We're Dead. Definitely worth the time, and it is heart... uhm... wrenching? Anyways, it's great✨ Definitely a great story!!!
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Lady Bone Demon narrowed her eyes at the red python, her form getting weaker the longer she's exposed without a host. She was waiting for a reaction out of the golden furred simian that the creature suddenly swallowed whole, she expected him to burst out of her throat, punch his way out of her gut, but none of those occurred within the reptile. "... Very impressive, I commend you for doing such a precarious act, and with an immortal sage at that." She slithers forward, releasing a cloud of red mist and transforms into a huodou. The dog figure releases fire off of her mouth, engulfing her in flames and blocking the demon's vision of her.
The skeleton fans off the flames, preparing a ball of blue energy for the strike against the shapeshifter, but once the smog clears up, the woman is nowhere to be found. Lady Bone Demon looks around, preparing herself for another fight.
"Looking for me?"
She looks down, seeing a tiny human holding tiny dual blades in her hands.
"Or me?"
"What about me?"
"Over here!"
"Just look at yourself."
Her gaze jumps to and fro from the multiple women that popped out from her concealed vision, almost filling up the area with multiple voices of one similar woman. "Duplication..." she uttered. It was Monkey King's powers, one that would've greatly benefited her in eradicating the entire universe.
Mini versions of Xiu jumped towards the skeleton, digging their own blades into its ectoplasmic skin. They all chipped away at it until only the core was left untouched, surprising the demon of the sudden turn of the tables against her. She used the spider souls once more, hovering into a much more higher distance than before. For her, it seemed as if the dual blades were quick and successful to devour Sun Wukong for the mortal to be able to use his cultivated powers at ease. The artifact is more powerful than she originally assumed it would be, but it's fitting to say the least, a weapon to give her enough power to reconstruct the world after using the Samadhi Fire.
The display below her distracted her enough to not notice the looming presence behind her—a giant mogwai— caging her with its sharp claws. She zoomed away just in time and dodged two and three attempts of encaging her, then releases attacks of her own as well, raising pillars upon pillars of icebergs. This rendered her incapable of another chase, but that didn't stop her there, an attack that looks similar to the simian's— sort of like a heat ray— bursts out of her mouth and followed after the Lady Bone Demon as she moved about.
MK had long since defeated the soul of the Spider Queen, but chose to hide himself to get a good perspective of what is going on. He never knew Xiu had this much power in her, and they're almost similar to pretty much everything he knew, so why had she been holding back? The sight before him sent shivers down his spine, it's not even nearly as aesthetic looking as Macaque's smoke monster. He watched as the mini Xiu's started dissipating as soon as the former Spider Queen henchmen's souls were defeated, looking at his staff, then at Xiu. He had to do something somehow.
"Fool, you'd only limit your time in this world," she says to the mogwai. "I hope you hadn't forgotten your limit at the expense of greater power."
The creature doesn't reply, and instead, releases a cloud of red smoke around her. Another trick, perhaps? But it was unexpected when the woman herself lunges at her. Lady Bone Demon conjured ten layers of shield, only for it to slowly get sucked into the tips of her two fuming weapons for the taking.
Three layers left.
Two layers.
Lady Bone Demon finally shows her exasperation and produces skeletal arms to hold the mortal's arms just as she broke the last shield. Unlike when being in physical contact with the weapon, holding her down by flesh didn't result in the similar outcome, bringing a half-lidded smile on her face, "Enough games." The demon flew in front of her and took her chin roughly, "I was asking quite nicely when I said I wanted the blades, but my patience wore thin." She reached for one blade, and took it by the hilt, prying it away from the woman's fingers. "Quite an insight I've got since you started attacking, little miss cursed. I pity you for having to live your life while remembering your pasts, the pain of having to realize that everyone you've ever knew had long since died, everything you once knew changes, the world and its laws changing as well until you knew absolutely nothing but the fact that you have a task at hand that you were never able to fulfill. And by the time you reunite with the weapon, it just happens over and over again."
Xiu flinches as her icy hand gently hovers over her other one which still held one blade.
"All that misery will end, as well as all others that weighed heavily on the hearts and minds of many living creatures," she takes a hold of the hilt, "A new world is long overdue, I shall see to it that you would experience the life you've always wanted. One that include... the Great Sage, perhaps?"
She glares at her and chuckles, "Nah. I'd prefer this kind of adventure with him over anything. Where's the fun if we can't have a little chase with what we want?" Xiu poofs into a mini version of her and strikes the blade into the demon's stomach, immediately engulfing herself in a surge of power. Lady Bone Demon shrieks, preparing to blast her off of her, but a pair of arms locked hers behind, the Monkey King tightens his grip on her wrists.
"Finish her off, Xiu!"
"Definitely what I'm doing right now~" she hums with a heated glare against the ivory white fabric that once separated her skin from her.
'This is not supposed to happen!' the demon fought back once more, releasing a quarter more of her power to use the souls of all that she took from, reaching more than a hundred that now surrounds them with their lifeless eyes.
The simian grits his teeth, preparing to extract clones of himself if necessary. "Here comes Monkey Kid!" the boy jumps up towards them and tosses in a bunch of his hair up, creating his own clones to deal with them.
"MK!" the woman releases a breath of relief.
"Don't worry, I'll handle them!" he winks at the two and began attacking amongst his duplicates. Monkey King smiles at his disciple, pride filling him for the second time this day. Not only is he capable to trusting others to the point of giving them hope, he's also a reliable young man, especially now that he got the staff back. Xiu felt cold, but not the type of cold she experiences when her soul is being devoured by the dual blades. It's nipping at her skin, but light enough to prevent a frostbite.
The Lady Bone Demon had had enough of them all. She lowered herself to the ground, still in between the two. The arm that held Chimangjing's blade was pointed down, right above the core of her mech where the Samadhi Fire is located. "If the dragon girl won't give me the Samadhi Fire willingly, then I will rip it from her!"
The blades glowed bright red and releases a fume, obeying the will of its new holder. Monkey King's fur stood on all ends, he immediately loosens his hold on her and grabs Xiu and pushes MK along with him, jumping off the platform before the fire explodes in front of their faces.
The woman transforms to her normal size, "Wait— the blade!"
"There's no time!" he holds her closer, blocking a debris with his back.
Everyone got to a good distance from the humongous mechanism, but the real problem has just begun. Xiu felt a painful tug, her hand clutching the prison blade that's trembling from the enormous power, she can only guess what that meant, but the circumstances calls for the word she finds difficult to admit. Failure.
The mech extends its arms, holding two flaming blades on the upper pair. Another two comes out from its sides, holding down one gigantified Chimangjing blade and sticks it deep into the ground. The area around them slowly loses its vibrancy, creating a dull surface as the weapon began sucking the life force of the land.
The woman couldn't hold back the tear that slips from her eye, guilt from thinking she'd have a chance of succeeding, and frustration from the result of that foolishness. Lady Bone Demon was right, she's not suitable to be thinking she could be one of the heroes. Her will to fight will never be as justified as theirs, she was merely tagging along to their stepping stones as they make their way to their goal.
"You went here to save him, did you not?"
She blinks, hearing Chimangjing's voice from within her.
"I think that's good enough. So, wanna try something new?"
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