The bitter smell of antiseptic impregnates the air. Undertones of the artificial fragrance contained in soaps and cleaners fill the white room where an exhausted and wrecked body lies on a stainless bed.
Muscles that have been strained day after day for years cannot muster the necessary amount of strength needed to stand up. Strained Dantians, filled with pure Qi, wait for a command, eager for the opening of the next gate they know is in reach.
A pitiable sight, in all honesty.
Why did the youkai think that putting me in the same room as that wretched thing was a good idea?
Oh right, I was describing myself. I almost forgot about my loss.
I lost.
It's a shame that I won't get my private concert. Sure, Kuroka swore to whatever outer god that is somehow responsible for my rise – those were her exact words – that she wouldn't do that even if I won, but she can be a softie when the mood is right. I could have convinced her.
On the bright side of things, other than feeling done with life and having a scar on my chest that shouldn't be too hard to heal, I am perfectly fine. I may even keep the scar; beautiful fairies dig scars.
I should have followed the holy book's advice and stayed at home with my girls rather than challenge a Son of Heaven in the middle of the tournament where I couldn't cheat to my heart's content. Mom is going to give me so much shit for attempting to fight an arguably stronger opponent after failing to poison him.
Anyways, I better start looking for gifts for Ravel and Junior Brother as I promised, and then take Valerie to an elegant party or something like that; the girl will love the idea of putting those dancing lessons she has been taking with the nuns into practice.
It has been a while since I have seen Sona, something that I need to rectify sooner rather than later.
Oh, and Revive told me that Ruval is currently a bit angry at me for getting him in problems with the Ars Goetia. His promotion to Ultimate Class has been delayed for at least a decade once again.
So many things and so little time. I probably should write a bucket list.
My vision is oddly blurred. Why am I crying right now?
...I wanted to win.
I was trained by powerful experts; I had the talent; I fought as well as I could. I did everything right and still lost.
Fuck the Heavenly Dao.
Anyone who dares to say that defeat is an inevitable part of the path to immortality can go fuck themselves. Losing sucks ass, and I haven't learned shit from it.
Fuck MCs.
Fuck the holy book for not saying anything useful.
Fuck me.
Fuck everything!
...
Does everyone feel like this after giving their all and still losing? If this is supposed to be a natural thing to feel, it is not a wonder that there are so many cultivators trying to defy the natural order of the universe. The laws of the universe suck ass.
I should also buy gifts for Junior Sister, the French shaman, and the masochist monkey before leaving Kyoto. They were good sports about losing against me in a humiliating fashion.
"Hey, birb bro, are you awake?!"
"Don't be so loud, stupid monkey, he might be asleep."
"You are the one who is being noisy. And shouldn't you be at the ceremony with your mom? Kids these days really get horny at such a young age."
"Shut up, it is my job to check on the participants after their fights."
"...Why do I get the feeling he is receiving preferential treatment?"
Just when I was about to do something nice for the people I keep planning on bullying in the future.
A long and exasperated sigh escapes from my mouth as Kunou and Bikou keep someone knocking on the door as if they were trying to demolish it with a hammer while arguing outside the infirmary, ruining any chance of getting some rest.
With a healthy amount of resignation, I cast my face on fire, making sure to leave no trace of my tears. I seems that I will have to leave the well deserved self-pity for later.
"Come in." Since dwelling in my own misery is no longer a viable option, I may as well just deal with my visitors.
Kunou quickly enters the room, displaying the proper amount of arrogance the Holy Mistress of the Kitsune Sect should have, followed by Bikou, who is digging his ear with his little finger to the annoyance of Junior Sister.
"You got your ass kicked, eh?"
"Show some tact, you troglodyte, he did great." Kunou glares at him and punches his bandaged arm, causing the monkey to yelp in pain.
"That wasn't even an insult; I also got wrecked in our fight. And I am not saying he didn't put up a good fight, but facts are facts." Bikou defends himself. "Though, you catching the freaking True Longinus with your ribcage to punch the guy while unconscious is almost as awesome as that time when I kicked my ancestor in the dick during a sparring session."
I nod in approval at his achievement. Regardless of how annoying this monkey can be, landing such an effective blow on the legendary Sage Equal to the Heavens is something worthy of praise.
Even Kunou agrees with that, before she gapes like a carp outside the water.
"That was the Longinus?!"
Wait, wasn't she aware of that? I thought that was obvious.
Maybe it is finally time for me to teach Junior Sister everything that she needs to know about MCs and why she should avoid them like the plague they are.
.~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~.
Yasaka's POV:
This will be the death of her. Either that or it will leave her bald. It is hard to decide which option is worse for a nine-tailed kitsune.
The only good thing that came out of the First International Senjutsu Tournament is its acronym. This event was supposed to make the youkai look good in front of all those new factions who arrived in Japan after the Crom Cruach fiasco in Europa. But, somehow, three of the four favorites to win were a French werewolf who barely understands Japanese, a devil that believes that cultivation is real, and a human who happens to be the current user of the most universally hated divine weapon.
To make things even worse, the human won the tournament by using the True Longinus' Balance Breaker twice on a young devil who somehow survived without any major issues. It is a miracle that Hell isn't currently demanding for blood after what happened to their youngest Super Devil. All Yasaka got was a very strange phone call from one of the Satan, Serrafall Leviathan, congratulating her for the show and a nice fruit basket for her efforts.
One can only imagine how fucked devil politics must be for them to not raise a fuss about almost losing a fearsomely talented mutant devil capable of not instantly dying after being stabbed by the most infamous holy weapon.
The award ceremony itself isn't as bad as it could be. She simply must stand there, smile, deliberately ignore the fact that Indra of all gods is drinking some pineapple juice while waiting for the ceremony to end, give the human the prize money, and kick him out of her city in the most polite manner imaginable. Simple as that.
Did she mention that the human who almost caused conflict between factions by attempting to kill the third son of a devil noble house in front of an audience happens to be under Indra's protection? Because that is the main reason why nobody is trying to attack the current user of the True Longinus before he can fully mature and kill an important deity like most of that damn weapon's previous users did.
The bastard deserved losing an eye like that. And the Hindu Pantheon can't blame her for that since she, as the Leader of the West Youkai Faction and the person in charge of the tournament, did offer the human the best treatment available in Kyoto. It just happens the burn marks left by that colorless flame simply refused to be healed no matter what they tried, be it Senjutsu or Phoenix Tears.
Thank the gods that her body is curvy enough to distract the audience from the fact that she doesn't bother to give a speech after this very tense ceremony; they are too focused on her tits to notice it.
Overall, this was much easier than calling the Phenex Clan, her new business partners who are known to be ruthless when it comes to business and very protective of their children, and explain to them that she shouldn't be held responsible for the fight that ended up with their youngest son being stabbed by the True Longinus twice and that they should put the all blame on Indra instead. It took two long hours of negotiations with the infuriatingly competent head of the Phenex Clan, for them to reach an overall satisfactory deal involving their children without looking weak.
She really needs some vacations. Maybe she could spend a week in Canada with Kunou; visiting those beautiful lakes sounds like a delightful way to relax and forget about her new worries. Alas, there is still one last thing that needs to be done.
The sight of her daughter and Bikou attentively listening to the blond devil's explanations about the different types of MCs and the best strategies to deal with each one isn't in the top ten of things that she was expecting to see upon opening the infirmary's door. Maybe it is in the top fifteen, but that is probably the alcohol she drank after spending two hours with an account book and a phone speaking.
"Mom." Kunou stops taking notes. "I thought that you were at the award ceremony."
"I was, but it's time for some damage control."
After politely greeting current Monkey King, she focuses her attention on Riser Phenex while making sure to give the devil a nice look at her generous cleavage. There wouldn't be a point in having these breasts if she couldn't make use of them to make people more agreeable to what she has to say.
"I must say, I am deeply impressed by my apprentice's performance during the First International Senjutsu Tournament. Reaching the finals isn't a small deal."
"This Young Master appreciates the compliment, but it is only proper for this 'apprentice' to ask the motive behind this sudden development." He raises an eyebrow inquisitively.
It is a shame that he isn't currently suffering from a concussion; his accepting without asking any questions would have been a nice surprise given the circumstances.
"We will be telling everyone that you have been my apprentice since your last visit to Kyoto two years ago. This will let my people save some face after how bad this whole event went."
The youkai will have a much easier time coming to terms with losing to Yasaka's apprentice than to a random devil. They are already claiming that the human only won because of the True Longinus, even thought he had used the weapon as a regular spear until the finals.
"I am both flattered, but I doubt that many would believe that a Sect Master like yourself would have accepted to teach an outsider like me."
"Why would I refuse to teach my son-in-law?" She playfully smirks.
She has noticed that the Phenex has paid more attention to Konou's tails than to her famously ample bosom every time they met. The devil is clearly interested in her daughter... from a certain point of view. That, combined with fact he appears to be the second coming of the Sirzech Lucifer, led her to come up with this idea.
"Do I also get a consolation prize?" Bikou chimes in, earning a glare from both her and Kunou. "It doesn't need to be an engagement."
"Shut up, monkey, this is why you aren't popular." Her daughter scolds him a bit harsher than necessary.
"I will let you know that, as the Monkey King, I do have a giant harem waiting for me at my palace." Never mind, she was as harsh as she needed to be.
Wisely ignoring the Chinese youkai, Kunou stares at her with her adorably serious expression.
"Mother, while I respect both your decision and Senior Brother Riser, are you sure this is the course of action that will benefit the West Youkai Faction the most?"
It is hard to find the right words to describe how proud she is of Kunou putting her duty to the youkai before her crush on the devil.
"It is not like I have any other candidate to be your husband in mind." She puts a hand on her shoulder in a comforting manner. "This is not set in stone, if at any moment you wish to break off the engagement, you have my blessing to do so. You have years to decide what you want to do."
While it doesn't seem likely that the boy would mistreat her daughter given what she has heard and seen from him till now, as her mother, she wouldn't dismiss the possibility entirely.
"I suppose that I am willing to offer him the chance to prove himself worthy of me."
She almost cooed at the sight of her daughter unconsciously wagging her tails. Squeezing her cheeks is so tempting, but that would ruin the graceful and dignified demeanor that her girl is trying so hard to pull off.
"Do they realize that nobody asked for your opinion or..." Bikou loudly mutters to the devil.
Kunou tilts her head in genuine confusion.
"Why would we bother with that? It is clear to me that Senior Brother feels honored for being given the opportunity to court me."
Maybe she has spoiled her daughter a little too much.
Oh well, she had already discussed all details with the boy's parents beforehand, so it isn't like his opinion matters in the slightest.