A whirl of emotions filled the old man known as Sougo Tokiwa to few and Ohma Zi-O to all as the golden light surrounded him, sitting contently on his throne as he bid farewell to his youthful self.
There was anger, despair, fear, but most of all pride; pride for the man he could have been finally standing tall before him.
Yet, even as his existence faded away, he couldn't help but be satisfied with his own path in life as Ohma Zi-O. Perhaps it wasn't the greatest or most just life, but damn if it wasn't a ride he would go on again. To feel the people tremble beneath his feet, to have all the women he wanted, to have his youth back, all of it sounded so sweet to him. Too bad these were just the frantic thoughts of a dying man. At least the last thing he saw was his own smiling face ready to go into the new world before that golden light fully overtook him and his entire being.
Ceasing to exist was… far more pleasant than he ever expected. It was a dark void where his aches and pains faded away and his entire body felt weightless. He was all alone with naught but his thoughts and memories almost flashing through the inky backdrop. There were the delightful memories of his first conquests and the heartbreaking moments where he was all alone. Over and over his life played before his eyes, every minute, every second, every little instant. Was this really what non-existence was like? Just a loop of his life with no end?
Just as he thought that, a strange song found its way into the void.
It was beautiful and haunting with lyrics of Black Flowers and despair, and he almost felt reborn through it. Sougo could suddenly feel his limbs again, could feel wind whipping past him, and could see a pinprick of light rapidly growing beneath him. Before he could fully comprehend his situation, the former overlord found himself plummeting through the sky to a forest below.
For mere moments, the lush woodland looked quite nice with a castle on the horizon, then his vision became full of branches breaking in his face and body. The fall almost felt comical with the way he bounced from branch to branch on his way down, but the one feared as Ohma Zi-O was far from laughing when he landed. Somehow, he managed to get to his feet perfectly fine, with only a few cuts and bruises, and dust himself off. Then he saw his hands and stopped.
They looked so much tighter and smoother than before, almost like when he was still the teenager he just said goodbye to. A quick pat down coupled with the lack of his old aches and pains was enough for him to know that he was truly back in his prime.
What a blessing that was! In spite of the rough landing, the rider felt the best he had in a long time. The power was palpable in his veins, the energy flowed through him hard enough to make him want to run, and the belt still on his waist felt as snug as ever. His evil laugh reverberated through the trees.
It was time for the return of Ohma Zi-O, wherever he was, time for him to conquer once more, and that castle he saw on his way down seemed like the perfect place to start.
The forest was almost deathly silent as he walked. Animals seemed to be far and few between despite the lush surroundings, like a great tragedy had occurred that hadn't quite healed yet. A thrill went down his spine just thinking about it.
Was it some sort of genocide by a man who could be his rival, someone to test his strength on? Or was this just a world ravaged by death just ready to be taken? At worst, he would simply be all alone to ponder in peace, but that thought was dashed by the distant sound of conversation.
An unpleasant smile spread across Sougo's newly youthful face. What better time to let the denizens of this world meet their new ruler?
His expression grew wider and wider the closer he got to the conversation. The people spoke of home, war, and just about all you would expect a soldier to discuss, but two things stood out to the overlord during his approach. The first was almost reverent and loving talk of a song that had eerily similar lyrics to the ones he heard during his descent, and the other was about some woman they were looking for with a flower in her eye. They made his curiosity run wild, but he didn't have time to dwell on it before he made his way into a clearing occupied by a handful of soldiers in medieval armor, about twenty by his count, gathered in a loose circle while they seemed to rest.
A long silence passed with the soldiers staring at him with open mouths. They had never expected to see anyone else around here, at least, not another male so clean and definitely not so weak looking. The boy looked so foreign amongst the grass with strange clothes and a gaudy gold belt with a strange glass screen, but something in the way he carried himself made them pause. He stood so straight with the cockiest smile and fire in his eyes; a fire that almost made them tremble.
The sight made Sougo boil over with pride. Even with this lanky body, he still commanded the respect he richly deserved. Now he just had to see if these dogs could listen.
Before he could speak, one of the soldiers finally spoke up, "Who are you?"
Bless his heart, he thought he could demand something, "Who am I?" The young man laughed, "I am your king, so bow to me and I might show you mercy."
As he expected, the group broke out in laughter, "You? A king? Don't make me laugh! How do you expect to be king when you're about to be dead?!" With that, all the soldiers readied their weapons.
"Don't mistake my fate for yours."
Before the soldiers could take a step forward, Sougo flicked his hand towards the brash soldier, and a golden blast of energy sailed towards him. All the cockiness disappeared when he turned to a spray of blood and steel that coated his comrades nearest him. They just stood there stupefied for a second before their fear finally kicked their brains into gear.
"Archers! Fire!" One of the men cried with the sound of bows drawing taut following soon after.
Sougo just laughed as the small volley of arrows rained down. As if this pitiful attempt on his life was worth even thinking about, he raised his arms in a half-assed attempt to protect himself, but all of the missiles stopped inches from his body like they hit some unseen forcefield.
"What the hell?" Another soldier cried and reflexively grabbed his spear to take care of it himself. Except, his arm wouldn't move, his legs wouldn't move, only his eyes and mouth could do anything, and a quick look around revealed that it seemed to be the same for everyone, "What the hell did you do?"
"What a king must do when his subjects rebel," The old man in scrawny teen form almost sounded disappointed if not for his sinister expression saying otherwise, "I'm putting you all down like the disobedient dogs you all are."
With a flick of his wrist, the volley of arrows all flipped and flew right back to the archers. Every single one flew home with a wet thunk and gurgle, every one right into their throats, and all they could do was stand there as the blood gushed from their necks and down their lungs. The choking grew greater and greater until one by one each archer finally perished, still held up by the invisible web of time, then there was silence.
"I-I yield!" One cowardly man cried out, "I will be your soldier, nay your slave, just spare—"
"Silence!" Sougo commanded, "I have no room for cowards," Another golden blast turned the man into a mist of red, "Surely there are brave men among you."
"What do you consider brave? You are simply executing men held captive, so is that what you call brave?" One soldier spat to a rousing cry of agreement, "Or is it the only way you could take us all, you miserable, weak—"
"Boy?" The conqueror finished, sneering at the ignorance at display, "I am far older than you… boy, and I could take you all out with a wave of my hand, like so."
True to his word, when his hand waved, a golden wave of light radiated from it and washed over the crowd. Every man it touched turned to dust and blew away in the wind. All save one; all save the man who had the audacity to talk down to him.
"Wh-Why was I spared," Sadly, that brave countenance was just a last minute bravado. A shame really, he could almost respect the man.
"I need someone to tell me about this new world," Sougo explained as he approached, "It would be a shame to arrive at that castle without knowing the name of who I must make bow down to me."
"I'll tell you everything!" The man pleaded, "Just don't kill me too!"
"Oh, you will," The conqueror chuckled and placed his hand on top of the man's head, "You will tell me every little thing you know."
From the very first image, Sougo could tell that this man's mind was strange.
Even before he pulled memories out of the inky darkness, there was a busy energy about, like a buzzing just on the edge of his mind. When the first memory appeared, it quickly became clear why. Every memory was full of beautiful singing, but something wasn't right with it. It sounded similar to the song he heard as he fell, yet it felt broken and incomplete and pierced into his mind's eye like a knife. Sougo tried to sift through his sharp memories as fast as possible before the feeling of raking nails could tear into him anymore.
He saw the man talking to the soldiers, saw his orders from some faceless woman, heard the words zero and kill, saw him at home with his wife, felt the pleasure, then it was all a muddled mush noise of blurriness.
Before he could dig deeper into the soupy mess, the song became even more intense, the singing becoming almost unbearable. It battered at his mind like it was trying to attach strings to it, to control it. Pain flared through his entire body. Pain then silence.
All of a sudden, the black faded back into the world.
As he blinked away the darkness, the red on his hand finally caught his eye.
It was clenched tight around a goopy mess of blood, bone, and brain oozing around his fingers with blood dripping down onto the corpse of the man with the top part of his head missing, and Sougo couldn't hold back a frustrated sigh.
Not only did he get almost no information, but now his hand was so dirty with nowhere to clean it. He tossed the goopy mess onto the body before wiping his hand off on the man's dirty clothes while he pondered what he had learned.
Somewhere out there was a woman named Zero they were sent to kill, along with someone who had a magic song strong enough to take him over if he wasn't prepared. The anger turned to a palpable excitement once more; never in his life did he expect to meet such a delightful challenge!
Just as he started his trek to the castle once more, the sound of a woman off in the distance grabbed his attention.
"A little detour couldn't hurt," The overlord chuckled to himself before heading in that direction.
Zero put the final screaming soldier in the clearing down with a downwards stab that splattered more blood onto the crimson tapestry decorating her skin and staining her white dress. With a sigh, the white haired woman wiped some of the blood from her mouth and surveyed the macabre scene covering the clearing. Blood painted the ground into an almost beautiful mix of emerald and ruby glittering in the sun, all flowing from deep gashes and ragged stumps. Always the goddamn blood.
"Dumb asses," The young woman spit on the corpse she drew her blade from, "When the hell will they learn to die with grace?"
"You don't have to slaughter them all. I'm sure if you just talked to them or just used the flat—"
"How many times will you go on with that bullshit!" Zero glared at the white dragon slowly - almost timidly - making its way towards her, "If they want to come at me, then they deserve to have their guts strewn about. You would know that if you were a real dragon. At least you could look the part and get some blood on you instead of just cowering behind trees and pissing yourself in fear!"
"I didn't pee cause I was scared; I just really had to go!" Mikhail sniffled, and Zero rolled her eyes at the childishness on display.
"Is that why you stink all the time?"
"All animals stink."
"Not real dragons. They're smart enough to wash themselves instead of stinking up the place. I bet if you rolled in all this blood the disgusting copper smell would be an improvement."
Before the dragon could respond, a crackling from the edge of the clearing snapped their heads around to see one of the strangest sights they had seen.
Before the Intoner and reincarnated dragon was a teenage boy no older than Zero. A weird, almost too skinny looking boy in strange clothing standing proudly at the edge of the clearing with the smugest of grins that didn't quite fit with the youthfulness of his face. Something about the way he held his head high and looked down on Zero made her scowl and level her bloodstained blade at him, but he seemed far more interested in surveying the carnage.
"No wonder there were so many soldiers after one girl," He shook his head in disbelief, honestly impressed at the carnage around him, "Tell me, are they just weak or are you just that strong?"
"Who the hell are you?" The woman growled, much to his visible amusement.
"Thank you for asking. I am Sougo Tokiwa, but many know me as the great Ohma Zi-O!"
For a few moments, Zero just blankly stared at him.
"...Who?"
"...Ah, I apologize for my poor choice of words, it has been quite a while since I have had to remind my soon-to-be-subjects just who I am," Sougo stated, at least having the decency to look sheepish for a second before returning to his previous expression, "What I meant to say was this: I am your new overlord, so, if you bow now and pledge your unyielding servitude to me, I will not have to kill you and waste such a beautiful face."
"Bite my ass, idiot." The young woman almost laughed as she readied her blade, "You can't rule if I kill you!"
"Funny. Those soldiers from before said the same thing right before I wiped them from existence."
That childish brag was so pathetic it sparked a fire in her heart, "Let me guess, you can transform and shoot bats out of your hands."
"So you have heard of me!" The split second of surprise was more than enough to make Sougo laugh out loud, increasing Zero's annoyance at having to deal with such a delusional moron.
"Cut the bullshit you idiot boy. I've torn deceivers apart far more believable."
"Too bad I'm telling the truth," The teen casually shrugged with more than a little bit of arrogance, "I can assure you that you would rather not find out the hard way, so why don't you put the sword down and obey my commands?"
"Why don't I just sheathe it inside you?!"
With that war cry, Zero charged at Sougo.
The young looking man just smirked and waited until she got close before his hand caressed the belt on his hip , so it was too late for the woman to do anything but curse as his body was overtaken by a golden light. She could only hope that this light wasn't going to explode the instant her unstoppable charge slammed against it.
Luckily, the golden light dissipated just before her sword made contact; unluckily, it careened off of a golden gauntlet.
Zero was awestruck by the form that now stood before her and took a few steps back in astonishment. It was an alien looking suit of armor that was mostly black with gold accents, a strange, golden bandolier, many strange clock faces scattered about, and a bright red visor shaped almost like words, but the most awe-inspiring thing was the intense power that almost radiated in a golden light around it.
The original Intoner felt her legs shake for the first time in a very long time, felt her throat turn dry, felt fear; fear so palpable it was almost choking her. Then it all passed in a second, almost so fast she could have mistaken it for something else, and her blade came screaming down to that armored figure again.
The forest filled with the sound of metal on metal and guttural roars from the white haired woman. Her blade rained down in a never ending flurry of strikes from every possible angle with every bit of her strength going into every blow, but the armored man effortlessly blocked each strike, his golden gauntlets easily deflecting each sword slash.
...Yet, he never struck back, never did anything but divert her attacks and lead her around in a backstepping circle like some strange dance. How could she be so goddamn powerless after so long?! HOW?!
For his part, Sougo could have laughed at just how easy she was to fend off. Her strength and speed were nothing to his powers, so it almost felt like toying with a mad little child. At least if children were beautiful, buxom ladies instead of petulant brats. If it weren't for her assets jiggling nicely as she fought, even covered in blood it was a nice sight, and a strange feeling in the back of his mind like there was something he needed to wait for, he would have just finished her long ago.
Then he heard it.
The sound started off soft, almost reluctant at first, but it quickly grew into a full, beautiful tone from between Zero's lips, an ethereal pink glow enveloping her very being from head to toe. With it came exactly what Sougo never knew he had longed so much for: a real challenge.
The song seemed to speed up her blows, empower her strength, even sharpen her blade enough to scratch his armor, and it made him smile like a lunatic from beneath his helmet. Never in a million years did he expect to need to actually fight someone that wasn't his younger self at this point.
Perhaps it was a bit too much of a challenge.
The powered-up Intoner came at him with the ferocity of a wild beast with its back forced against the wall. That sheer ferocity slowly but steadily pushed him back, but the demon king managed to block every attack with his gauntlets. That was about all he could do against the glowing onslaught. Yet, even as those cuts caused sparks to fly in front of his eyes and managed to travel further down his arms towards his neck, he couldn't stop a laugh from escaping his lips.
Never before had he met a woman so powerful, so relentless, so… so… beautiful. Sougo almost wanted to let her strike him down, just to see if she had the strength to crack his armor open in her current state, but the youthful looking man knew all too well that he couldn't. Not when this world had so much to give him, and especially not when the alternative was her at his feet.
He supposed it was time to turn things up a notch.
Zero had almost lost herself in the impending slaughter. This foolish boy could barely even block her anymore as her attacks pounded away at his defenses; all she needed was one good stumble to bring it all home. Then it happened.
His gloves scraped along the edge of her blade, but it didn't stop the momentum of her blade from going straight for his neck. The Intoner couldn't hold back a crazed cackle just thinking about the splurt of warm blood from his neck showering her, nor could she stop that jolt of need deep in her core. Maybe, just maybe, his corpse would make a nice toy.
That laugh stopped the instant the tip of her blade simply grazed his neck.
THE HELL?! His neck was right there! How did it not just pierce a blood vessel there and then?! Zero was so furious that she failed to see her opponent's arm jerk forward.
The force of his punch was impossible to ignore. It felt like ten of the strongest punches she had ever felt all hitting her in that same instant, and it filled her stomach with molten lava. Then, blood that tasted just like shit sprayed from her mouth as she flew all the way through the clearing and crashed into a tree. Somehow, her back didn't snap the instant she impacted that unyielding wood, but the armored man was already in front of her before her body had even snapped back straight.
Another punch to her chest cracked every bone in her ribs and spread that lava even more. The pain was so intense that she didn't even feel the tree splintering behind her and crashing to the ground before a hand grabbed her leg and hurled her bloodied form onto the grass.
What little breath was left in her blood filled lungs was taken away in another spray of blood, leaving Zero gurgling for any bit of air she could get. In a way, it was almost a blessing when the armored man once more impossibly appeared before her and distracted her from the burning suffocation with a well placed kick fit for a dozen men of his strength, sending her spinning through the air. For his next strike, the Intoner was assaulted by his foot digging into her caved in stomach and was immediately sent flying through the air once more, then again, and again like she was being dribbled across the sky like a football.
Soon, all of the pain and sensations in her body became a dull burn. No longer could the woman feel the wind in her hair or the cold hard ground as she landed with her pink glow abandoning her wrecked form, nor could she tell that her legs were broken in four places or her guts crushed into a fine paste right below her fragmented chest. The only thing that Zero could focus on was the glint of red tinged metal just past the dark veil over her eyes, spurring her to crawl along hand over hand.
To her credit, not many people could survive being broken and bloodied by the force of ten of Ohma Zi-O's strikes all at once - let alone still being able to crawl and barely speak.
"D-Damn…" Every breath was a strangled gurgle followed by a bloody cough that dribbled down her chin, "D-Damn you… fuck… fucking bastard… I'll… I'll…" Zero's entire body wracked as she coughed up an extra large load of crimson, "Ki-Kill… you… I'll… k-k-k… kill you… if it's… the last…" Sougo couldn't help but feel a bit of pity about the sorry state she was in.
"Kill me?" The overlord sighed and started walking towards her crawling form, "You will die long before you reach that sword," Yet the dying woman kept inching forward with a steely gaze locked on the weapon just feet away, although it might as well have been moons away.
"Fuck… you…" Zero growled and tried to swipe a barely functioning hand at the man's legs where it was crushed into the dirt by the heel of his black boot.
Finally, the dragon that had been cowering from the veritable slaughter roared to life, "DON'T TOUCH HER!"
The white mass rushed at him like a truck ending in giant sharp claws that could rend Sougo in twain. At least, if they could even hit him. Between the blind charge and the powers of the Demon King of Time, the attack missed him by feet and brought a poor tree down instead in one clean sweep. To Mikhail's credit, he was able to turn about on his feet faster than the armored man would have thought and almost caught him off guard, almost.
This time, Ohma Zi-O stood steadfast against the oncoming rush, easily fending off each of the crazed slashes that tore the ground asunder, but even he couldn't stop from being pushed back by the sheer power and rage behind them. Yet, without the speed and technique of someone like the original Intoner, that bestial strength was nothing more than an annoyance; an obstacle in his way from claiming the already defeated woman his for the taking, and not even worth the effort of putting down himself.
In a most impressive display of skill, the overlord fended off the roaring white dragon with one hand while his other grabbed a little red disk that materialized from his armor, slipping it into a slot on his wrist. The foolish dragon didn't even try to stop him from activating the Ridewatch.
"Ryuki!"
Mikhail was so lost in rage that he barely noticed his prey disappearing to a safe distance and just kept clawing up the dirt in a spray of blood and grass. His rage wouldn't stop until that bastard was torn apart until nothing was left, until even his blood was spread across in a crimson mud, until the tears that burned in his eyes washed that away.
As the young dragon raised its head and let loose a howl of anguish, a long red object hurtling right at him caught his blurry eyes, but it was too late to stop it. His cry cut off into a yelp as the full might of Dragreder's metallic body carried him across the clearing and out of Sougo's hair.
After a moment to ensure the dragon was well distracted by the Mirror Monster, Sougo made his way back to the broken body that still tried her damndest to crawl to her weapon.
"I have to say, that dragon of yours surprised me. Who knew such a coward held such strength?"
"I-If you… hurt him… I-I will… tear… tear you… apart from limb… to fucking limb… if it's the last… the last… damned thing I do!" Despite being on death's door, the fire in her pink eye burned bright enough for one hundred bombs. No doubt that fire would stay lit long after everything else in her was long gone, but the old man had no plans to test that theory out.
"Don't worry, I don't plan on either of you dying on this day. In fact, I have very big plans for you. All you have to do is tell me everything I need to know and kneel before me the instant you are healed and pledge your undying loyalty to me."
"N-Never…" The worst fit of gurgling yet and coughing wracked her body and sent a fountain of blood past her lips.
"You really don't have a say in the matter," The overlord's tone became grim as he crouched beside Zero and roughly raised her head by her snow white hair, staring right in her bright and glaring eye, "No matter how long it takes, I will keep beating you and reviving you until you give in or are nothing but a broken shell. Either way, you shall be laying at my feet."
The headstrong and spiteful woman couldn't keep her eye from going wide or from feeling a strange bump from her heart when she heard those words. Anyone else she would have just spat her blood all over their face in a last act of defiance, but something in the strange man's voice rang true in a way they never could. Those feelings stayed for only a moment before she wiped them away.
"He-Heal me… and I will… k-kill you… and… I will never… never... tell you… a damn thing!" Her last words ended as barely more than a gurgle filled whisper; the last words she would ever say before she drowned in that coppery sea. At least she kept what was left of her dignity to the dying end.
Yet, the man wouldn't even let the encroaching darkness be the blessing it should have, ruining that peaceful quiet with his far away voice.
"I don't need you to say anything," Some strange instinct drove his hand to gently stroke the woman's hair as she started to fade out of consciousness, "Just sit back, relax, and I will make you as good as new in a moment," A quick glance in her eye told him he probably didn't have even that long, so Sougo used a quick burst of power to send her body back in time by a few minutes to when she first started to bleed out.
"Wh-What?" Zero gasped at her sudden recovery, but that gasp turned to a shrill scream when she felt the pain of a spike piercing her mind's eye.
Sougo's first moments in her mind were a wall of pain that wracked his body, making him feel every second of her choking blood and breaking against his blows. Then, he stumbled past that gelatinous mass of memory to fall to the grass. The grass? He clenched his now unarmored fingers against the ground and felt the dewey blades rub between his fingers.
Something was terribly, terribly wrong.
Looking around, he was on an overgrown path surrounded by a wall of thorny vines that loomed to the sky itself with a single vine running down the middle. Images of Zero, nay, Zero's past played out like those drive-in movies along the path that he could touch and move to see from every angle, all fixated to the single vine running like a cable far in the distance. The overlord had never seen anything quite like it since his powers normally only allowed him to see each act playing out on a dark screen from his victim's perspective in a never ending stream of flashing images.
If anything, this place distrubed the normally unflappable man. He felt so insignificant and inferior within these unnatural halls, a feeling not at all helped by the low drone of that very first song he heard and the never ending stench of blood. Yet, he pressed on through the memories, taking time to feel out each one like he had already planned.
The Intoner's past felt much like watching an unraveled rug slowly come back together. There was pain and blood in every memory, but, with every step, some of the smell faded, some of the pain receded. Her face became less screwed in that defiant anger, sometimes even cracking a smile that never quite felt genuine.
Despite the slew of memories, it wasn't until what looked like large gates made from the vines loomed over the horizon and came steadily closer that Sougo learned anything really important about the woman.
In the span of just a few memories, the overlord's face became one of solemn contemplation. Zero's goals, her origins, her motivations, they were all so stained in despair that he couldn't help but wonder just how this world came to be so ruined. By the time he had reached the gate, Sougo knew his path was set in stone for this new world.
The large gates opened just enough to let his wiry frame slip past with a couple of cuts to his body. The sudden pain and blood spurred him past, but he was floored by the sight inside.
Past the gates was a large circular field covered in pink orchids that all radiated malice in equal measure to their beauty. They all pulled at his mind, just urging him to stop and pluck one, to keep it on hand at all times, to become one, to—
The master of time itself wasn't about to fall for something like that in a million years. With an offended sneer, he ruthlessly ground one of the pathetic flowers beneath his heels as he looked up to the real sight to behold in this place, the real mastermind behind it all.
Far up on the wall lurked a giant version of the orchids, almost identical to the one in Zero's eye in the real world, but even that failed to be more than a footnote to the human held up just feet in front of it by those thorny vines.
Zero looked dead in the flower's embrace. Her face was serene and tilted to the side with a pallor only found in the embrace of the reaper. Below her face, the cold, snowy skin and matching dress were marred by streams of old blood running down from where the vines dug into her arms, stomach, and legs, and bumps under her skin writhed like hundreds of tiny worms. Then, her eyes popped open to reveal faded pink orbs as her head straightened and a smile stretched across her face like pulling their face with fingers.
"Hello, Sougo," The puppet said in a whispery version of Zero's usually sardonic tone of voice, opening her mouth just enough to show the plants in her mouth working the jaw, "We have been waiting for you."
"Who are you?" The man demanded, somehow managing to keep his cool in the face of the grotesque display.
"Many call us… the Watchers… others call us… angels… gods… daemons… you may call us queen ."
"No," Sougo almost growled at this self-important audacity directed his way for once, "I will bow to no one."
"We never said bow…" A long hissing filled the field that took the overlord a moment to decipher as laughter, "We want the same thing… we want to conquer… we want to kill… we want the strongest… we want the man known as Ohma Zi-O… our champion… our executioner… all the power we have can be yours… join us… join us and revel in the destruction of man… join us and fulfill your true purpose."
The man known as Ohma Zi-O laughed right in the flower's face, giving his answer as he tried - and mostly failed - to calm himself down, "I will never bow to you. I will never help you destroy humanity. I will bring this world under my thumb, but will be at the very top, and if you try to stop me," A golden flash surrounded the thin man and died down to reveal him in his armor, " I will destroy you like all else who have tried the same!"
"Foolish man!" The whisper turned to a nightmarish shriek that threatened to tear apart his eardrums, "We will not be denied! There is no stopping us! We will come! We will destroy you and everything you love! Every world! Every timeline! Everything!"
The vines writhed around his feet and more that ended in sharpened points broke from the walls to point at him.
"No," The Demon King's voice was as steady as ever, "There is one way to stop you. Zero knows it, I know it, and, most importantly, you know it, and I will bring you down to grind you into dust beneath my heel."
"You fool! There is no escape! You are in our domain! Perish like the false king you are!"
With a final screech, the vines all shot towards him like spears ready to pierce him from all directions.
Ohma Zi-O didn't budge a single muscle as death itself shot towards him. He didn't need to. Every single one of the spines burned up before they got within feet of him like he was surrounded by an impenetrable aura of invisible fire.
"You have no power over me, foolish Watchers," He spread his legs to brace himself before pooling all of his power into black and gold flames around his body, "There is only one God, and his name is Sougo Tokiwa! The kindest and most beloved Demon King! Nay! The king above all else! Ruler of Time and Space itself!"
With a single shout of defiance, the king willed himself out of the Watchers' domain.
Zero laid in the grass with her head held up for a few agonizing seconds. Every second that spike in her mind's eye drove deeper and deeper until her head was nothing more than a mass of white hot fire, and she could feel the flower in her eye wriggle and writhe. There was no stopping her choked scream as the pain became unbearable and wracked her entire body.
Then it was all over in the blink of an eye. The pain fell back down to the familiar slow burn throughout her body, so she fell limp into the arm of the man holding her up. Somehow, Sougo seemed to be panting harder than her, his body's posture underneath the gold and black armor displaying worry that Zero could almost feel.
"Heh… guess you saw… something too much… for the… great… fucking… Ohma Zi-O… you dumb… dumb ass…" After the invasion of her mind, the original Intoner could barely muster up the strength to insult him properly.
"Of course, but I also learned something of interest; something that can free you from your curse," The cocky son of a bitch spoke in that long winding way he seemed overly fond of using. Fitting for your typical would-be-king she supposed.
"What the hell… do you mean?"
"This," Before Zero knew what was happening, a gauntleted hand burning with a bright gold light wrapped around the flower in her eye.
Almost against her will, her limbs all flailed towards the man with more strength than she thought she had. They wailed on him, pulled on his arm, even tried to scratch through his armor, but he was far too intent on making her cry out in the worst pain imaginable to care. Those metal fingers dug around the bottom of the orchid and just kept digging; they pushed past her eye socket in a blast of intense fire, even scraping it and making blood pour down the side of her face, and as deep as he could fit his fingers inside. The sharp digits felt like absolute agony stirring about so deep that she almost felt like they were scraping her brain, but, when he clenched hard against the stem of the flower and pulled, Zero came to the realization that she didn't know what true pain was until now.
Nothing in her life could compare to the flower being pulled from her eye. It felt like the overlord was tugging away at her very nervous system and dragging it out inch by agonizing inch.
A sound echoed through the clearing just past her pounding ears, a sound so shrill and bestial it took her a moment to realize it came from her own throat almost tearing itself apart.
She screamed for Mikhail but got far away excuses about being locked in battle.
She screamed for her sisters but got only silence.
She screamed for the man to stop but only got the sharp command for silence.
Then she screamed just to scream until her vocal cords became so bloody and torn they no longer worked. By then, the flower was only halfway out.
The Intoner's once black half of her sight was now a bright, blood red, and her other unfocused eye was full of the sight of long, green, thorny strands stuck together by a thick mess of blood that dripped in huge globs to the ground. The bastard was removing her very life, her very essence, tearing her tether to the world away, killing… killing her… making her bleed out… making her swoon.
No matter how hard the woman tried to stay awake to fight the mad man off, the dark pull of unconsciousness was too strong. It struck her as funny that her last moments would be of pain and the flower, just like all the rest.
To her surprise, the long, dreamless darkness was broken by the bright light of the sun trying to pierce its way into her aching eyes.
With a few curses, Zero cracked open an eye to find clear skies over her, so, one quick head raise later, she was locking eyes with the overly cocky teenager across the clearing.
Her eyes… Zero's hand shot to her face to find that she could still see it with one eye closed and couldn't feel the flower. Her hand… her left hand was now flesh and blood once more.
Joy that the beaten down woman hadn't felt flooded her heart for the first time in… who really knew how long, but it was overtaken by a low dread in the pit of her stomach. How could one man do all this?
"How are you feeling?" Sougo asked with an honesty that took her by surprise yet filled her with unbridled rage.
"How am I?!" She cried and jumped to her feet, her hand reaching for her sword that wasn't there anymore, "Where's my goddamn sword?!"
"So you can try to cut me down?" The youthful overlord chuckled and grabbed the freshly cleaned blade from behind him, almost seeming to taunt her with it, "Is that really how you talk to the man who gave you a new lease on life?"
"What the hell are you talking about?" A hint of fear tinged her voice with the growing feeling that something wasn't right. The world felt quieter, more vibrant, more… real, and she could actually feel the grass beneath her feet and the breeze through her hair without that strange barrier. A flare of pain shot through her head and brought her to her knees as she cradled it. No… it wasn't the world that had changed, it was… it was…
"What did you do?!" The Intoner cried with all the pain of a puppy losing its mother, like a woman who found himself lost all alone in the world. Suddenly, the crushing weight of her new state was bearing down on her shoulders, crushing her, making it impossible to breathe—
"It's okay, Zero," The calm words filled the sudden void in her being, and a strong yet comforting hand on her back lifted the weight away. When the world came back, the man stood above her, almost glowing withe sun to his back, glowing like a god, "You're okay now."
"Okay?!" The woman scoffed and shoved his hand to the side. To think that she was almost weak enough to fall for his tricks at this point in her life, "You took away the power I need to stop this damned world from being destroyed! ! You bastard! How am I supposed to kill my sisters now?!"
"Why do you need to kill them, knowing that I can do for them what I have done for you?" His haughty voice was about to earn him a good stab in the gut the instant she got her sword.
"Because…" Realization dawned on her. Why did she need to, now that the Flower had no hold over her anymore? "Because…" Zero's voice lost some of its edge, almost sounding vulnerable for a moment, "How else am I supposed to die in any meaningful way?"
"Die?" Sougo scoffed, "Who said you had to die? The flower is gone from you; it has no more power over your fate. I have the power to save this world Zero, to cleanse it of the blood and the death that has permeated its entire lifetime, and I have the power to save your sisters as well," His tone dropped lower, more reverent, "Pledge yourself to me, Zero, and I can do all this and more. Be mine, then you can revel in the happiness I create and grant you."
" You?!" The Intoner burst out laughing, not giving a single damn if this was insulting to the most powerful man she's ever met, "You really think you can heal this broken world just because you can pull a weed out of my eye? You're a delusional bastard."
Yet, there was a sense of excitement growing in her stomach. Some stupid part of her - the part that still yearns and dreams for a happier, peaceful life - found itself clinging to his golden promises and actually putting faith in him, but the intelligent part of her - the part that was forged by her experiences in this unjust world - knew better than to think this boy could do a goddamn thing. Even so, a strange sense of hope began to grow in her soul, an alien feeling that chilled her to her very bone.
"Of course," The overlord clenched his raised fist tight with an almost evil grin, one that gave a grave sincerity to his words, "My power knows no bounds Intoner! There is no one who can stop me! You have my word that if you pledge yourself to me, then I will destroy that flower until it's cosmic dust in the vast expanse of time, and I will save your sisters."
That hope shattered in an instant.
"You speak of impossibilities! Goddamnit! Do you really think you can do any of that?!"
Sougo crouched down and held her face in his hands so she could see the very real fire of his ambition in his eyes, "I can do anything I so well please, Zero. You just need to have faith in me. You just need to follow me, stand by my side, and be mine," His face crept ever closer, his lips almost touching hers, "I can take care of you far better than anyone has in your life."
Emotions whirled around in her mind in an ever-clashing barrage of hope and hopelessness, happiness and sadness, but, most of all, relief. One by one, each battle was won; hope filled her heart, a strange warmth met it, and that relief was the most satisfying thing she had ever felt.
"It's a shame then, that you're not worth a single ounce of my devotion," Zero huffed and shoved him away, "I will never pledge myself to a man who can't take me, and I doubt your scrawny, pathetic body could satisfy me."
The overlord chuckled, "I think it could do more than satisfy you."
"Then lay down," Zero growled with a sudden hunger matching the sudden ache inside, "Maybe if you can make me cum I'll consider giving your pathetic cock a look."
"And what if I make you cum twice, or three times?" He asked while laying down with a cocksure grin on his face she was more than happy to grind away, "Do I get your ass too?"
The Intoner was too busy stripping down to pay him any mind. A strange fluttering in her stomach at the thought that he was about to see her naked body, but she kept her hands steadily removing each layer piece by piece. The cloak fell first, landing with more grace than the white dress after. For a moment, she let his greedy eyes take in her large, pale mounds with light pink nubs standing stiff in the breeze and her taut stomach that was just a little toned from her constant battling before slipping her fingers into the waist of her black hotpants and wiggling them down the tight curve of her ass and creamy thighs to reveal her smooth and already dripping slit.
"You look a lot prettier than I expected, surprisingly pink," Sougo remarked when her pussy was right above him.
"Shut up," Zero sighed and crouched down until her drooling lips were pressing into his, "Better try your hardest, or I'll crush your head."
"Is that—"
His open mouth gave her the perfect opportunity to shut him up with a mouthful of her pussy.
To his credit, Sougo seemed more than happy to get started, and his tongue immediately started to lick between her folds in earnest, almost like a dog. It was just how she liked it, too much how she liked it. Never before had the experienced woman felt a man go this hard against her and suck down every bit of her juices like it was the only thing keeping him alive. There was no preparing for just how intense his tongue was going to or how hard she was going to moan.
Damn him! How long had it been since someone had actually made her buck her hips? Yet there she was bucking and grinding against him, covering his lips with her thick nectar, and groaning. Even his warm breath against her clit felt a little too good as his nose pressed against her crotch. His mouth almost seemed made for her.
"You're good," Zero panted and forced her hips to grind a little rougher against his face, rough enough to make any normal man wriggle and squirm, "But you can't make me cum like that."
Not only did the bastard refuse to squirm, he actually took her by surprise. All of a sudden, he grabbed her hips and pulled her down more until she was crushing his head, all to worm his tongue as deep as it could go.
Never before had the original Intoner actually felt someone shove their tongue inside, so she was woefully unprepared for how good it felt. She couldn't stop her low moans from turning to high pitched cries or her hips from losing control and working that tongue even more inside. The way it wriggled and found its way to hit every amazing spot in her body was almost too much. Zero tried to regain control, tried to move his arms and hold him down while she ground her hips mercilessly against him, but her body had lost control to the white hot pleasure she has never felt before.
It didn't take much longer for one of the best orgasms she had ever felt to blast through her. Her legs spasmed around his head with the force of the beast tearing through her, and her hands grasped his hair to pull him as deep as he could go against her gushing lips.
"Drink it all…" The Intoner moaned out like the former brothel whore she was, "Drink it… it's all your pathetic… pathetic body… is good for!"
Sougo gulped down all the girlcum he could, but so much came out that it dribbled down the sides of his mouth. As he swallowed, his tongue kept working inside of her, keeping her in that sweet heat as long as possible until she thought she would lose her mind. How was he this good?
Finally, her mind came back after minutes of ecstasy, and her legs slowed to a quiver, "That… that wasn't good enough…" Zero panted, trying her best to save face, "You better do it again… and RIGHT this time."
Instead of working his jaw like a good dog and sending her back into bliss, the cocky teenager grabbed her by her ass and somehow managed to flip her on her back with his tongue still deep inside.
"What do you—"
Her angry cry was drowned out by a high pitched moan when the man dug his face deep in her crotch and went to town with all his heart. Did he really think he could just pin her down like this?! Zero wrapped her legs tight against his head hard enough to mash his face and nose against her sloppy cunt until he couldn't breathe past her sweet smell.
"If you think you can just… ngghh!... do… ohhh!... do that… then… then… fuck!... you have another thing… another thing… oh!... oh!..." No matter how hard she tried, the white haired woman couldn't quite keep the edge to her voice, couldn't stop herself from moaning for more of his amazing tongue.
He was so latched to her pussy he was almost like leech sucking down her juices, and it just felt too damn good. Her hands tore at the grass around her while her legs quivered around his head. Her hips ground into his mouth with wild abandon with her back arching to grind just a little deeper.
"Ohhhhhhhhhh!" Zero cried out as her sensitive body once more started to spasm, and her hands rose to her breasts with the unrelenting need to squeeze and tweak those bouncing mounds, "Right there!... ngh!... Keep… keep going… ah!... right there!... Fuck!... You bastard!... You're making me… making me… Ahhhhhhhh!"
Sougo didn't need any more warnings to prepare for the next blast of sticky sweet femcum pouring down his throat. With all of the need of a man dying of thirst, he practically sucked those juices right out of her, making the woman moan higher and higher.
Her second orgasm was so much better than the first. Zero was still so sensitive that every little lick and flick made the ecstasy flare in her mind, not that it was there to begin with. The pleasure took such a tight grip against her that she almost didn't want to let go or let the now squirming man out from between her legs. His struggling as he tried to get a breath from where his nose was crushed and scrabbling at her legs to free himself felt so nice that the Intoner almost wanted to hold him there until he stopped, but she didn't want to waste him yet. When was she ever going to find someone to make her feel this good again?
Her legs finally let go of the overlord, so he pulled away with a gasp and wiped away a little of the girlcum coating his mouth and chin. It was amazing just how sexy the woman looked with her white hair all splayed out and quivering on the ground with her thighs slick with her own cum and a face screwed into an expression of unimaginable pleasure. In a way, she almost looked like a dog with her tongue lolling out and almost howling.
Sadly, it was over a little too soon, "Damn… bastard…" Zero groaned and managed to get to her knees, "Fine, you can use your mouth, so get over here so I can take care of that little cock of yours and be done with this farce."
The teen was in no hurry making his way over to the woman, so that scowl was back in full force by the time he got to her.
"Making me wait for this tiny—" Her grumbling was cut short by the monstrous rod that sprung from his pants and smacked her hard enough in the face to make her hiss in pain. The sight of the soon-to-be king's inhuman sceptre sent another wave of mixed feelings through her, tearing her between the giddiness of seeing a cock large enough to actually pleasure her and despair of knowing that there was no way she wasn't going to break to his will taking that… that… thing.
No! She had to stay strong and make him break first; make him break until he was her Disciple so she could kill her sisters like she planned.
With a growl, Zero shoved Sougo to the ground and wasted no time straddling him and poising that cock that was almost thicker than her arm right beneath her dripping lips. Her wetness was a blessing when she tried to slam her hips down and take it in all at once, but it wasn't quite enough. All the lube in the world wouldn't have kept her from stopping halfway down the shaft when it pierced her womb, wouldn't have kept her crying out in the raw way only an animal in heat could, nor would it have kept her from forcing herself down anyways by grinding her hips to wiggle it in.
Never in her life did Zero expect to take something this large, something that did more than just fill her up, something that completed her and molded her to its shape. There wasn't any room for her walls to clench with how stretched she was or for the river of juices that was pushed from her slit and flowed down his cock. It even stretched her stomach out enough to almost see every little detail on his veiny length through the distended bulge. By the time her drenched hips rested against the groaning man's waist, the Intoner felt like she was being split in half.
"You're the tightest… ngh… I have ever felt!" Sougo gave her ass a slap that made her jolt and wiggle his cock inside, making them both cry out in pleasure, "And this ass…" His hands grabbed both of her tight globes and gave them hearty squeezes, "I can't wait… to pound this!"
"Don't get cocky… you rat bastard… cause you won't have… ngh… a cock to… pound me with… after this," Zero gave a few experimental bounces to try and make him beg but just cried out in lust when his cock stirred her up inside with the slightest movement, "All I need is… to… mouth… fuck!"
The woman couldn't sit still anymore; she just had to have every inch of this cock railing her brains out if it was the last thing she did! Without any working her way up to taking it all in, her hips rose to the tip and slammed it back down in an instant. Getting stretched in that one instant felt way too good, so good that she couldn't stop. Zero slammed her hips down over and over and over without pausing or slowing, fucking him like she was trying to break his cock. Their moans mingled together in a magical harmony against the all too intense pleasure.
"Break… you bastard…" She huffed with a little bit of worry, "Just break!"
Somehow, her hips managed to move just a little harder and faster to fill the clearing with even more of the sloshing wet slapping. Yet, no matter how hard she went, the man's pent up cock never wavered. It was impossible that any man could take her most intense riding, just had to be, but there she was slowing down as her legs quivered once more with a building orgasm and lost their strength.
"Are you getting close?" Sougo's voice was somehow calm and collected despite the situation, and it pissed the woman off as much as it made that pleasure flare.
"Shut up!... Shut up!..." Her hands battered against his chest with as little strength as her legs had, all of it taken by the dam about to burst, "You bastard… you can't… Ahhhh!... can't cum… before… me… Ahhhhhh!... Fuck!... Fuck… you!... I'm… ngh!... No!... I'm cumming!"
Zero's legs finally gave out, and she sank back to the hilt as her walls shuddered around that cock. There was no way that she could be cumming on his cock before him, no way! Why did it feel so good?! Her face once more took that lust filled expression, and her thoughts once more blanked out.
In that moment, all she wanted was to be a whore again and be filled with so much sperm, so much of her king's sperm.
Her heart soared when she was once more flipped to her back and two sweet words were whispered in her ear.
"Your turn," Sougo growled before giving her just what she craved.
For the first time, Zero embraced the pleasure wracking her body.
It was all she could feel, so warm, so safe, so satisfying, all under the comforting blanket of her king's powerful body, making her his. On instinct, her legs wrapped around that too skinny yet deceptively powerful waist once more and clung tight with every powerful slam. Sougo fucked her with more strength and speed then she had ever felt, and she knew that her pussy would never accept anyone else again.
The two were locked together for a full hour in that animalistic rut. It was almost a wonder the inhuman cock didn't just tear out of Zero's stomach with just how far it stretched her stomach, but the sight of his cock stretching her beyond belief turned the overlord on even more. Never before had he met a woman able to take him so well, and now he knew he had five more waiting for him.
With all the anticipation and pent up lust he had never been able to work out before, he fucked that hardened warrior hard enough to drag her through the grass little by little until they were backed against a tree and her weak arms helplessly held against it.
The sight of that white haired woman with her face in a ecstatic stupor holding onto the tree for dear life was all he could take. With a mighty roar worthy of his title, Sougo filled her up one last time before blasting the seed she desired so much right into her womb that somehow stretched enough to fill a little more before the rest flowed out in spurts against his hips. His body shuddered with the force of draining balls and didn't stop until they were emptied and a pool of his seed formed around her ass and his knees.
When the orgasm passed, so too did the demon king's strength for the first time in so long. So, with a satisfied smile, he gave the passed out Intoner a deep kiss before pulling his massive cock out with a loud squelch, rolling over, and passing out without the smile leaving his lips.
Sougo woke to the dawn of a new day burning in the sky and Zero's still naked ass bent over just a few feet away as she picked up her sword.
With a curse, he scrambled to his feet, but, instead of the woman turning around swinging, she turned to him with a sleepy look and stumbled over to his current spot.
"Good morning, bastard," The Intoner groaned, stretching her body in an attempt to get rid of any aches in her muscles, "You left me too goddamn sore to walk right."
"I'm sorry," He responded without a hint of remorse, "I can't stay gentle when you cling to me that tight."
"Fuck you!" Zero snarled, but it was missing some of the old malice, "All you have is a big cock, so don't get ahead of yourself!"
"I have so much more to offer, Zero," Sougo decided it was finally time to get to the point, "What's your answer."
For a moment, the woman just glared at him with contempt in her eyes, long enough for him to expect her to try and cut him down, but she slowly took a knee in front of him with her head bowed.
"Fine!" Zero spat, clearly detesting herself for how honest the words coming out of her mouth are, "I'll pledge myself to you and your cause! I will be yours forever, to do what you will with, whatever! But the moment you fail in any capacity, I will strike you down!"
"I wouldn't have it any other way," The man feared as Ohma Zi-O let out a mighty laugh.
No one in this world could stand in the way of his goals. No one was going to stop him from conquering this land.
For he was Sougo Tokiwa, and nothing could stand in his way.