Work Text:
“What do we need to buy again? Wind shards, ox bezoars and…?” Yoru lists.
Held in his hands was a long list of useful items, most which were already restocked or untouched, however after his first confrontation with one of the Qadištu, the one with the nails he thinks, he and his group found themselves running low on some wind shards, which, surprisingly enough, most of the enemies in this new Shinjuku are were weak to. Safe to say they ran out, fast.
“I think you mentioned that we’re running low on phys dampeners as well but we can’t exactly buy those.” Tao helpfully adds.
He groans. Another useful item out of stock. And one that he can’t buy either. This is going to be the rest of this area isn’t it?
“Yeah, we’ll need to… I dunno kill a dozen oni until they give us what we want? They have phys dampeners, right? Aogami?” He asks, a hand tapping his list.
Data says that you are correct. Aogami says, helpful as ever. It says so in Oni’s analysis entry.
That’s a toughie. Most demons tend to follow the shitty gacha rule whenever it comes to good item drops. Either you get a life stone or nothing at all—even smaller odds when more precious items are involved like chakra drops, beads, Amrita showers or—god forbid—a damn phys dampener. Those right there? They have a really low chance to drop.
“Confirmed with Aogami, he says it’s legit. But,” he sighs, long-sufferingly, “we’ll have to, ugh, pass on them this time around. We’ll have to make do without.”
He hates having holes in his inventory! Most of those items make up over ninety percent of his battle strategies. Sure, he could maybe lean more heavily into having demons focus on their attack magic but energy conservation is important! Skills like phys-block and mazanma are expensive to cast!
And…
Neko Shogun runs up to him, waving a force gem in his adorable little paw. “My liege, I found a shiny rock!”
…Most of his demons are little babies who barely can cast mid tier magic… they aren’t exactly heavy hitting spell caster material. Yet.
“Thank you, precious. Now go give that to Tao and Yoko, okay?” Yoru says, patting the little guy on the head.
Neko Shogun eagerly run’s off in the girl's direction, still waving the force gem in the air. Yoru stares as the little guy goes then turns his head. At this point all of his demons lost their usefulness two areas ago and it’s time to fuse them away into better demons. He doesn’t want to fuse his little guys away… but with the severe lack of fire power and elemental coverage he’s facing it’s starting to look like he has no other choice…
Might I suggest something here, young man. Aogami interjects.
“Shoot.”
Rather than fuse away a well loved ally, why don’t you upgrade his skill set instead? Aogami suggests. After we left Da’at shinigawa Gustave mentioned he added more essences to his store’s repertoire, some of which having useful mid-tier magics and support skills. Would Neko Shogun and the rest not benefit from this?
…If they weren’t sharing a body right now he'd let Aogami take him right here and now for all of da’at Shinjuku to see. Aogami single handedly saved him from having to fuse his little guys! Ugh, he could jump and cry with joy! But he doesn’t.
He instead replies, “That would solve some of our demons' coverage issues but I’m sensing a catch.”
The only one I can think of are the prices of the essences.
Of course it’s money. What else would it be?
Oh well, they have plenty of macca on them anyway. If anything, getting more cash should help in case they need to go back and buy more essences.
“Yoko, Tao! Me an’ Aogami are going off to get more macca. Stay here by the leyline, ‘kay?”
“Wouldn’t it be safer to go in a group than to go off alone?” Yoko asks, perplexed and clearly questioning his life choices at this moment.
“Nah, it’ll be fine, I have Glasya-Labolas, Karasu Tengu and Idun to back me up.” Those three being his strongest demon allies as of right now, never mind that they are all force/light specialists because, again, he lacks coverage.
“If you're sure.” She doesn’t sound too sure herself.
“I’m positive” He nods, assuringly.
It doesn’t really take him much time to amass a small fortune hunting along the shinjuku ponds. Yellow Mitama demons seem to be out in abundance in this area, which is odd, but he won’t question it right now because profit.
“Karasu, take inventory.” Yoru instructs, sitting comfortably on top of a ruined car, Idun lounging beside him and Glasya-Labolas asleep at their feet.
“On it boss!” The bird-like demon says, whipping out a large duffel bag from nowhere and begins to sort through it. “We got lots of old human junk in here that you like so much and gems. Lots of gems.”
The gems are useless. Apparently, Gustave sees no need in them so he doesn’t have any use in buying them from Yoru. He thinks it’s odd that the man would buy actual trash off of him but won’t buy precious jewels like Alexandrite or Garnet. Maybe it’s because he already has enough jewels and gold? Who’s to say?
Despite that, Yoru holds out hope that these gems will prove useful somewhere in the near future in some way because right now they’re just cluttering up his hammer space and Karasu’s bag.
Hopping off the car, he says, “C’mon, we need to visit cadaver’s hollow. Gustave will love these melted dolls.” Then he brings their walk back to the rest of thier group.
Yoru can practically taste the mountain of macca he’ll make after selling this junk and then he’ll spend it on more magic shards, essences, dampeners—Oh! And drain gems! They could work as excellent substitutes for both health and spirit restoratives! They cost a pretty penny though so he never had the cash to spare on them before! But not anymore, after he makes his way back to leyline fount he’ll be practically rolling in them with how much of them he’s gonna buy.
Idun, bless her heart for putting up with him and his money obsessed way for as long as she has (he should really give her an upgrade and some incense later to say thanks), softly says, “Godling?”
“Hm? Yes?” He says, turning a blissful smile in her direction.
She looks down, her face making an expression of worry which slightly concerns him to a degree. Now fully alert and free from his money haze, he gives her his full attention.
“Is something wrong?” He asks.
“I think we went the wrong way.” She finally says.
…Hwhat?
He blinks dumbly at her. “The wrong way?”
She nods.
He has half a mind to look around to verify this but the already unfamiliar terrain surrounding the group was proof enough. Yoru really did lead the group into the middle of nowhere, didn’t he? That’s unfortunate, but it’s exactly what he gets for letting his head float off into the clouds.
Though he does have a saving grace here, one adorably large proto-fiend with a built in map and GPS living in the back of his head rent free.
“Aogami?”
The duo stand in awkward silence for a moment. Finally, the man responds, Our destination was half a mile in the other direction.
Good fuck.
If we turn around now and start walking we can make it back to camp in at least two and a half hours. He continued, evenly.
“Thanks Aogami. What would I do without you?”
Put that thought out of your mind, young man. I have zero intention of leaving you behind. Aogami responds in that familiar, caring tone of his.
O-oh yeah, he felt that one. The way his deep voice reverberated from his head down to his stomach was borderline lethal. Yoru needs to stop this man before he starts something he can’t finish.
Aogami doesn't know that he’s doing it, Yoru knows that, but he’s doing it anyway and it’s killing him. The thoughts that are starting to fill his head are just downright sinful—it’s a miracle that the vice-like grip he has on those thoughts hasn’t slipped yet. How did he land a guy like Aogami as his partner of all people?
Yoru coughs into his fist, red faced. “O-okay! Everyone, we’re turning around!”
Yoru would’ve liked to have said that the trek back to camp was an easy one but that would’ve been a lie.
Succubi won’t stop trying to attack him and his group. Potentially assault him and his group? He doesn't know. Whatever they want, it isn't good
“Karasu, debuff their defense. Idun, light magic.” He orders, cutting down a stray succubus who wandered to close.
A pungent purple aura surrounds the succubi, courtesy of Karasu Tengu. No soon after, glowing sigils surround the sultry creatures then erupt in bright golden light. Five of the succubi hounding them die immediately while the remaining ones only take moderate damage. Those who managed to slip away from the assault were met with a nasty surprise in griffon dog form, that being they were torn to shreds by Glasya-Labolas.
“Mmmm, I like it when they play hard to get~” cooed one of the offending creatures.
Another comes out of the woodworks, gleefully shouting, “Same! It makes it all the more enjoyable when they finally crack~!”
She giggles at the end as if what she said was the funniest shit on earth but to Yoru it just made his skin crawl.
“Ew…” Electricity sparked around him as he lifted his finger to the sky then as soon as it was up, he brought it down with a particularly nasty bolt of lightning. One that he made sure would hit extra hard.
The succubus shrieked in pain (or moaned in pleasure?) as the electricity fryed her nervous system. The smell of charred flesh filled the air which might have been a sign that he overpowered his spell a tad, but she had absolutely rank vibes so she deserves it. Then she unceremoniously dropped to the ground with a sickening crunch, her body still convulsing from the electricity.
That did the trick because the just after that he dispatched that succubus in such a violent way the others fled with their tails fuck between their legs, though not without leaving him and his companions a few baleful glares during their departure.
“Ugh, what a tease!” One cried, nursing a bruise. “Fine! I hope you lose your fortune to the dogs then!”
“Yeah!”
“Get Dormarth’ed jerk!”
Yoru sighs, thoroughly deflating after the encounter. “Good riddance.”
“Eh, they said something about dogs, right? But that won’t be a problem for us, right boss?” Karasu says, confidence evident in his voice.
“I’m more worried about them trying to sabotage my fortune by wishing ill will on it. Who even does that?” He groused, kicking his feet.
Those succubi did mention something along the lines of “losing your fortune to dogs”, maybe that’s something we need to look out for? Aogami mentally nudges.
“I guess you're right but I don’t see how dogs will make us lose money.” Yoru mumbles, kicking his feet on the ground.
I just wish for you to not err on the wrong side of caution… He says in that soft voice of his so filled with concern for Yoru’s own well-being.
…Well, he can’t say no to any of that. Not when his other half is being so sincere in his concern for him. He’d feel like a dick to not heed his warnings after that.
Again red faced, he sputters out, “l-I’ll take your words to heart. Now everyone, let's move out.” He swears, he’s like putty in Aogami’s hands. Luckily for him the man doesn’t have half a mind to take advantage of that. Though sometimes he wishes he did. “Everyone, status?”
“Big sis is tired out from spammin’ light magic at those flyin hookers and Glasya-Labolas is chewing on the charred one over there.” Karasu supplied, pointing at their resident griffon-dog eating the burnt remains of the succubus.
So everyone is tired? Well… now would be a good time to rest up, they aren’t that far away from the camp. It should be safe.
Should be. Should have been. He made an error.
Right as he began to settle everyone down, one of the succubus came back again with a female dog-like demon wearing a collar. Yoru don’t think much of it at first, simply dining to charge up another bolt of lightning at fling it at them, but to his shock the dog-like demon expertly doges it and howls.
More dog-like demons began to appear after the howl in larger and larger numbers before finally stopping at a whopping 15 dog-like demons.
“Pretty lady, is this the guy who jumped you and your girls?” One of the canine girls said.
“Mmhm, that’s the brute who so rudely attacked me and my girls!” The succubus said, crocodile tears rolling down her cheeks. “We didn’t even do anything to deserve this kind of treatment and now a few of my sisters are dead! Boohoo boohooho. Won’t you please avenge our suffering, dear Dormarth?”
Karasu leaned over at him and conspiratorially whispered, “Is she “boohooing”?”
“Sounds like it," he whispered back.
The succubus noticed their whispering because for a moment she stop’s boohooing to scowl at them. But just as quick as a scowl appeared it vanishes without a trace, once again replaced with the faux tears. “See! I bet their talking about it right now!” She begins fake crying even louder.
Dormarth frantically begins to crowd her, each of them inquiring about her current state and how to make her feel better. From an outsider's perspective it looks pretty weird watching a small horde of demons of a different race flounder for the wellbeing of another demon, but, seeing as it’s a succubus they're floundering for, he can assume that they’ve all been charmed to some odd degree.
The succubus sniffs. “Do you really want to know what will make me feel better?”
“Of course! We came to help!” One of the Dormarth barked. The rest of the canine demons all shout various agreements.
An evil glint shines in her eyes, one easily missed by the horde of Dormarth but easily picked up by Yoru and his companions. Suddenly, he fears for the safety of his wallet but surely there isn’t any way for these demons to reach their slimy hands into his hammerspace and steal from him right? Right??
She smiles, wiping tears away from her eyes and points a manicured finger at him. “In that case then… I want you… to run me his pockets for all he’s worth! I want this fool to be dead and penniless, dammit! Mama needs a new pair of shoes to fill the void her sisters left!”
They nod at the vile succubus and begin growling at him and his group.
“Shit! Is this what they meant by us “losing our fortune to the dogs”—?!” He barely had time to finish his sentence as a beam of golden energy sailed past his head just clipping his cheek in the process. It didn’t hurt much but the sinking feeling of his proverbial pockets getting lighter filled him with dread. “H u h?”
Young man, I advise you to avoid those blasts of energy. They seem to fall under the almighty category and have a draining effect on our macca preserves. Aogami says gently, as if sensing Yoru’s impending freak out at the realization that there’s a skill out there that can drain his fucking bank account.
Words however fail him, he can’t respond. All he could get out was a single, “H U H ?”
It's silly, really. Aogami warns him of a skill that could potentially bankrupt him in one sitting and instead of being proactive and actively trying to avoid that fate his brain shuts down and he sits there. Y’know, like a dumbass.
It’s not until golden beams of light, the vicious claws of angry canine women, the downright evil laughter of the succubus fill the air that the cries of his demon allies register to him.
“My apples! They're vanishing!”
“Hey! We just got this junk! Take the gems instead!”
“HeY! GolD is ATTatchEd to Me! yOu can’T HaVE it!”
“Shit! Shit! Shit!”
But it’s too late, he can feel his hard earned macca slipping away. One thousand, then ten, a hundred… and…
Somewhere, across the netherworld a pair of girls lounging by a layline fount surrounded by adorable lower level demons hear a piercing shriek of “NOOOOO!” followed by flying demons flocking away from the source of the voice. They can’t tell who the voice belongs to but it sounds familiar. Oh well.
“When do you think they’re coming back, Yoko chan?” Tao innocently asked, playing with the toe beans of a cait sith and leaning into Yoko side.
“Sometime soon I suppose. He may not act it but Yoru’s a big boy, he can handle himself.” Yoko replied, patting her back while booping the nose of a yulunger.
Tao leaned into her touch, sighing. “Yeah, I guess you're right.”