Chapter 1116: Chapter 653: Failed Trash Talk
On the wild barren fields, a samurai in tattered armor tossed several heads of the restless dead he carried at his waist before the grave and filled a skull with strong wine for the offering.
"Mothers, little sister, I have avenged you. You’ve waited long enough in the underworld, I will soon join you."
The warrior witch drank and wept bitterly.
Though the great revenge was fulfilled, she committed the crime of slaughtering the nobility, leaving her no place in Japan. But that’s fine; joining the family below doesn’t sound so bad, after all, there’s nothing in this world she’s attached to anymore.
Thinking this, the samurai drew the broken sword from her waist and aimed it at her abdomen.
Just as she gritted her teeth, resolved to disembowel herself, a flash of cold light struck, and her broken sword was sent flying far away.
Alert, the samurai thought it was the nobility’s pursuing squad, but as she turned her head, she saw all-consuming demonic energy.
"If you don’t know how to continue living, why not let me use your life?"
In the lead of the imposing gang of demons, a great demon wearing a slightly comical clown mask sheathed his sword and extended his hand, issuing the invitation.
The samurai looked at this odd clown as if looking at a lunatic, but seeing him pour wine and pay his respects to the lone grave, her gaze softened slightly.
"I’ve offended important figures; if you want me, you’ll be in big trouble."
She said so.
"Trouble is the last thing I’m afraid of. No matter what trouble you have, it can’t be bigger than mine."
The clown pressed his hands together in prayer before the grave, then turned and departed.
"Your life’s already worth nothing; what’s there to fear? If you want to come, follow along."
Leaving that sentence, the parade of Hyakki continued onward.
The samurai contemplated by the grave, finally picking up the broken sword and following.
.......
In the dark ancient well, a lone wolf girl covered in wounds silently licked her injuries, clutching a broken bow.
"Damn it, damn it....."
The girl muffled her voice, howling in frustration.
Through the years, she suffered immensely, thinking she finally gained strength, yet why was it still insufficient in the end?
She was still too weak, too weak to achieve anything.
She thought she could finally take revenge; instead, she hadn’t even seen her enemy’s face before being chased to such a sorry state by those damned lackeys.
The wounds on her body brought piercing pain, but compared to the inner agony, this physical suffering was insignificant.
In despair and reluctance, the girl knelt down and wept uncontrollably, squeezing her fists so hard the sharp claws pierced her palms as if feeling nothing.
Yet...
"Lady in the well, do you crave power?"
A face with a clown mask peeked from the top of the dry well, calling out.
"Then what is the price of power?"
Initially wary, the lone wolf girl instinctively wanted to flee, but a glance from the other froze her in place.
Realizing the gap between them, she fell silent for a moment before hoarsely asking.
"The price? The price is that you can no longer rage ineffectually like this."
The lone wolf girl was momentarily stunned by this, but before she could react, a gentle force had already pulled her up.
"Welcome to the Witch’s Home."
.........
The parade of demons swept through all of Heian-kyo. A group initially of six swiftly grew to over a hundred, displaying the imposing momentum of a true Night Parade of Hyakki, with their towering demonic energy visible from afar.
Dorothy originally wanted to use the power of Calm as Still Water to conceal the Night Parade of Hyakki’s tracks, but as the journey continued, her thoughts gradually shifted.
Indeed, it truly resembled it. Clearly still within the Witch World and with no external invasion, yet why did the scene mirror that of the Witch’s Night so closely?
During the Witch’s Night, the angels invaded, an external force, mercilessly wild; that was understandable. But the witches on Japan are of the same roots, so why did it become like this?
"Hehe, because the only lesson humanity learns from history is that they learn nothing from it."
Above the Homebody Witch, Hat Senior Sister opened the Eyes of the Stars, looked disinterestedly at the parade of Hyakki, and yawned.
"Rosie, human nature is that despicable; when there’s an external enemy it’s alright, but where there’s none, they themselves become the enemy. Internal conflict is the eternal theme of human nature; they are incurable."
The Fourth King, a long-time witness of history driven insane by the curse of its knowledge, sneered; to her, this was hardly surprising anymore.
Indeed, fifty years later, when she goes mad, she’ll unleash a great massacre.
This world is filthy, in need of a brand new cleansing.
Upon hearing Senior Sister’s words, Dorothy nodded.
However, she then took a deep breath, making some kind of resolve.
"Actually, it’s not just a problem of human nature, but essentially about the conflict between classes."
She said this.
"In the primitive slave era, the conflict between slaves and slave owners was the main class contradiction. In the feudal empire period, the conflict between landlords and peasants was the main class contradiction."
"Though powerful, the Witch World still harbors tension between lords and ordinary witches, a reflection of the landlord-peasant conflict. As long as class contradictions exist, internal strife is only a matter of time."