With the same unnerving grin plastered on her face, the girl sprouted black, bat-like demonic wings from her back as she hugged herself and shrunk into a ball . . .
Dark purple chakra began to gather around the Id's body and then . . . it was unleashed.
Spreading her wings and throwing her arms and legs out, the girl shouted with glee and anticipation . . .
"Get . . . BLASTED!"
An omnidirectional burst of dark purple chakra expanded with unreactable speed.
Every blue fireball flying towards Id was snuffed out by the force and then, without slowing down or even losing the slightest bit of power, it impacted the Two Tails.
Matatabi's enormous form was sent flying like a ragdoll.
It would have been a rather comical sight if it was not happening to a massive living chakra superweapon.
Still, while humiliating, the impact had not caused the Tailed Beast Body that much damage so, relying on her cat reflexes and agility, she righted her position and landed steadily on the Blood Sea which had returned to its previous semi-solid state.
"You really are like a kitty, always landing on your feet-paws-whatever." Id casually commented.
The girl then cutely raised her index finger to her mouth and tilted her horned head.
"Is your personality cat-like too? I actually like cats, especially the cold ones that always seem to ignore but casually snuggle up against you and knock over things for attention. They remind me of Ego!" Id blurted, the line from her brain to her mouth seemed to be permanently on.
Ego however, the cold, serious and untalkative Maiko, seemed not to appreciate the comments of her counterpart regarding herself.
Shoko and Matabi also seemed to be dumbfounded.
'Despite her power, she's just an inexperienced little brat with far too loose a mouth. Ego, is that the cold girl from before? Drag out the fight and she'll spill all kinds of intel.' The thought popped up in Shoka's mind before she could repress it.
"Hey! That's not a nice thing to think about someone. Besides . . . You're gonna die here, even your soul won't be spared so whatever information my loose lips let slip, it will not go anywhere." Id's unsettling grin turned noticeably more malicious.
She certainly was not happy with the criticism and, despite Shiki only needing the two of them to just pin down the Jinchuriki for a while, after trapping and tangling with her for a bit, Id was sure of her ability to cleanly dispose of the enemy.
The girl was already daydreaming about what reward her beloved Shiki-nii would give her for doing an even better job than he asked for.
'Cat Flame Roaring Fire'
An enormous fireball spat from Matatabi's mouth was the only answer Id received.
The girl shrugged and snapped her fingers.
In response, the Blood Sea surged upwards from beneath the advancing fireball, snuffing it out with no difficulty whatsoever.
But that was all according to plan, because with that move, Shoka and Matatabi gained the opening they needed.
'Tailed Beast Bomb'
A dense dark purple sphere lit up red and was fired at Id who still looked utterly unbothered.
Shiki had explained to her all of a Tailed Beast's tricks, so their signature move and its many variations were something the girl was aware of.
In the ball remained dark purple, it was a focused attack using a heavy, superdense mass.
If it glowed red, it would explode.
Although it might not have been the way exactly in the original series, Shiki had confirmed the workings of this powerful move within his current reality.
Id raised her arms high into the heavens and, in response to her movements, a new tree, just like the massive, pillar-like ones in this strange world's background, rose from the Blood Sea and reached beyond the clouds in an instant.
The truly shocking thing however, was what came next.
With a deafening blast, the Tailed Beast Bomb smashed into the gray black tree trunk, detonating with blindly white hot light that seared the eyes.
Shoka and Matatabi, still in their transformed state, did not let down their guard, after all, they were still in that strange world, it simply could not be over.
And right they were.
As the light faded and steam from the evaporated Blood Sea cleared, what came into view defied the Jinchuriki and Tailed Beast pair's understanding.
The tree . . .
The one that just took a full powered Tailed Beast Bomb . . .
. . . Was slightly charred . . .
That's it, that's all the ultimate attack of a Tailed Beast did.
Skipping along on the surface of the Blood Sea, a jubilant Id came out from behind the colossal tree.
"Feeling the despair set in yet?" She "innocently" asked, grin now so twisted it scarcely looked human.
"What are you . . .' Shoka's confused, disbelieving voice came from Matatabi's body.
"Who knows." Id shrugged.
In fact, she was being truthful.
While she and Ego were aware of their current status as occupiers of the same body, they had no clue whether they were two halves of the same whole or two sides of the same coin.
They did not know which was the original Maiko or if perhaps neither of them was and that girl was gone.
Perhaps one of them, or both of them, were just parasitic forces created by the fusion of the Omnikuma and Kurama Bloodline Traits and occupying the hollowed out body of the original Onikuma Maiko.
They simply did not know, but at the same time, neither of them really cared.
What truly mattered to both of them, was how Shiki felt about it.
If he wanted them to be something, like Ego being the Maiko with Id being the attached malevolent force, as originally thought, both of them would be exactly that.
If he wanted them to be equal, two halves of the original Maiko separated into independent beings, then that would be their reality.
And if he did not really care either way, which was the case, then neither did they.
He cared about them, regardless of what or who they were, and that was enough for the two girls who now went by Ego and Id privately and Maiko as their public combined self.
Back to the present however . . .
"How about surrendering?" Id suddenly suggested.
Before a response could come, the girl elaborated on her proposal.
"You know you stand no chance against me here so . . . Why not save yourself the suffering and just accept your death?" She brightly suggested.
Shoka and Matatabi could only stare speechlessly.
The jinchuriki had originally thought her young opponent was trying to get her to let her guard down or even trying to conserve chakra by getting her to give up instead of defeating her but in reality . . .
"Oh! You think I'm looking down on you!" Id exclaimed with realization upon reading Shoka's thoughts.
"Hard not to when you're so far below me you know. Can't even see you if I don't look down."
". . ."
There were no words to be spoken.
No words to describe the degree of humiliation.
As a Jinchuriki, she had been feared and hated, her presence aroused disgust and terror because of her accursed status but, there was one thing she could always take pride in . . .
Power.
She was powerful. No one could take that from her.
Shoka might not have been the strongest in the World, not even in her village but no one there would ever call her weak, not even those stronger than her.
Yet now . . .
To this little girl before her.
The degree to which she looked down upon Shoka, it would be selling it massively short if one said Id considered the Jinchuriki weak . . .
+++++
Hey, Author here!
To promote the novel I will be releasing BONUS CHAPTERS on SUNDAYS based on the previous week's power stone count.
100 Power Stones = 1 Bonus Chapter
500 Power Stones = 2 Bonus Chapters
1000 Power Stones = 3 Bonus Chapters
Every earned BONUS CHAPTER on Webnovel will also be posted on Scribble.
Just a reminder that you can read up to a FULL MONTH ahead of this site on pa-treon.
I'm trying to become a full time Author now and I'm not going to be starting any new novels just so I can make sure this one is properly completed.
Find those sweet advanced chapters on pa-treon.com/lusoba without the -