My Rotten Goddess [WW4 Training Arc] [Mana/Cali]

...eh? The child still wanted to cling on despite getting impaled to hell n' back? That -- was interesting. Ol' Mana could only let out a hard chortle of a laugh after witnessing that display of tenacity. All the way, both mother and daughter were just ripping into each other as if they had no shortage of blood, organs, limbs or whatever else have you. A good, violent, bloody demon family bonding time. How, how fucking lovely~! You could smell the love in the air through the thick scent of iron from the blood spewing all over the battlefield.

"Yanno, if ya' were this savage in ya' wakin' hours, we'd really have something to bond over~!"

Though, before Mana could finish that thought, she got a hand full of her daughter's fist in her mouth. To which case, she responded by having an eruption of emerald fire burn within the core of her stomach, rise through her throat and exit to outright vaporize and melt away that hand as she started bleeding juicy green blood from her mouth from the impact of the hit; even cracking a few teeth before she managed to use her regeneration to mend the cracks.

However, there was something else odd at play here. Some drips of that blood entered into Mana's digestive track and she was a bit peculiar on how things felt after that point. Things felt more dream-like, surreal and almost derealized as her surroundings felt unreal. Yet, in spite of that feeling, the woman's will allowed her to otherwise resist fully falling under that spell. For she could feel some of the spirits within herself feeling dazed, confused and mushing together like a distorted hivemind; yet she was used to this form of living at this point. Always having to keep the balance within herself from getting too mad and losing her rational mind took a lot of strength, after all.

So, if Cali hadn't been blown away from the mouth blast, there would have been a brief reprieve of time where Mana was dazed enough for her to start striking her chest again, again and again until a mass hole opened up and her beating heart was shown. However, in spite of the pain flowing through her body, Mana did not seem bothered by it due to the effects of Cali's blood on her body. Instead, Mana's voice seemed to shift a bit before she sounded more child-like:

"awwwww, sweetie, ya want to play with me? Das' hella cute! Let me play back!"

In a matter of moments, the ground opened up below them and dozens of chains wrapped themselves around Calypso. These were her weapons known as Unchained Madness and they were meant to try and zap some of the strength away from the child. The initial constriction process could start to crack and put pressure on the exoskeleton; as the forces from this chain were meant to slip through the cracks and then start putting pressure on her physical body and causing more damage. While, at the same time, they were attempting to zap away the strength from her and absorb her energy and power to weaken her from this assault.

Then, while she was busy with that, Ol' Mana would start filling in the hole in her chest and started cackling again:

"Da' hell ya' tryin' to do, get me drunk or sumthin'?"

Calypso didn't release her mother, neither of them had any interest in relenting. The one who had slammed her hand into the woman's mouth slid it out as she felt it melting, knowing that it's purpose had already been served. The exoskeleton kept getting assaulted again and again as she still hung onto the witch, the Calypso in front of her having relentlessly slammed the crystal-like fist into her chest, seeing it break open and reveal the devil's heart.

However, as she was switching gears to attack her harder, she felt something wrap around both her bodies; Chains. Chains that threatened to suck away what she had and tighten around her body.

No.

A single indignation lead to tendrils wrapping around the chains, glowing with purple energy as they sought to infect the chains, rather than taking energy from her, they'd give whatever they were made of to her instead, as suddenly the front-facing Caly reached towards the back one's hand, dark hand touching dark hand as some form of connection was established.

The chains eating at her strength only lead to hunger, and such hunger was met with a reasonable reaction; She was hungry, so she would eat. The Calypso that was hanging from her mother's back began biting down on the woman's neck, taking off flesh and swallowing. Even if the blood burned and boiled, she just forcefully assimilated the morsels she obtained from cannibalizing.

More.

The young one's mouth formed to look more beast-like, teeth appearing outside of her lips as she tore more and more, eating and swallowing if not stopped.

MORE.

As if in some form of finality, the young one's head and upper body suddenly changed and contorted, becoming wrapped in shadows as she changed, horrifyingly. She looked more like a serpent or dragon, having reached down to threaten to bite off her mother's head, however even if she were allowed to envelop her mother's head with her horrifying mouth, she wouldn't fully bite down, merely causing bleeding from her collarbone.

The two Calys seemed to wish to merge back together, however they had quite a lot of mother between them. She wanted to do something utterly stupid and horrific; take her mother into her body and eat her away to be with her, inside of her. Some nonsensical instincts were taking place in such a gluttonous position, the Calypso in front of her smiling crookedly as child-like words escaped from her mouth,

"I l o v e y o u M a m a, let's be together f o r e v e r."

Before all of this little blood, guts n' madness could get pumping in the air even more; it seemed the Seal of Eris had other plans for Cali. Rather than letting itself get attached, the seal outright cut those appendages away from Cali so that she may not be connected to them. Then, with an impulse of will, the power within the seal sought to regenerate those lost appendages. Since there would be a large cluster of energy being channeled into her legs so that he speed could briefly be doubled if her intent was to merge with her double.

Zooming back to Mana, The Queen didn't even seem to care much as the child tried siphoning more of her blood through gnawing on her neck. Instead, The Queen started to cackle n' laugh as if she were high, delirious or on drugs. So, she soon shifted her head back toward the clown, placed her hand on its head and simply said this:

"Ya' want my blood so bloody? HAVE IT!"

Then, in a matter of moments, the woman had the gaping hole in her neck be used as a launch point in order to have a burst of emerald energy on par with a cero be release. This was done in such a way that it would yield a great probability of blowing the child straight into the heavens themselves. With the amount of force behind it, there is no doubt she'd be feeling the burns, strain, and pressure and further wearing down the fellow demon.

Granted, at this point, Mana took on some damage, but it wasn't the blows that she took that was taking her out of the fight. Rather, there was a form of sleepiness beginning to flow across her body as if she were ready to lay down, get a blanket, have a drink n' nap. It's why normally she'd have a more complex attack, but given the sluggishness of her mind, Ol' Queenie certainly felt the blood's effects on her. Still, it wasn't enough to get her to stop. Even if she was gonna fight sloppy, it's not exactly easy to tame a wild beast like The Mad Ruler.

So, in a burst of power, The Queen finally started using her death energy in order to begin producing familiars from her shadows. As all behind Cali would miniature snakes, bats n' rats begin to gnaw, eat and bite away at her; attempting to inject Mana's DE Force into her and start decaying through the exoskeleton, her durability and overall health as inhaling the miniature explosions these creatures have could spell certain pain and hell for the child. And, at the same time, all of the wounds, cuts and openings in Mana's mouth/nose/ears would start to bleed out this essence and a thick smog covered a city block.

What was this smog for? Decay. It was breaking down and making the molecules of all those that existed within it down. So the earth begins to melt, oxygen was eradicated, light darkened and it was if they were in a pitch-black void of death itself. So as Mana started to feel her consciousness try to slumber, her raw instinct activated n' her body would react as needed to protect itself. The question is: what was Cali going to do? Was she going to re-group and figure out a plan? Keep engaged with The Queen? Or suffer and perish? There were a few routes to take, but time would tell how this development would pan out.

Take her in, take her, DEVOUR. Together...

So many different yet complimentary desires circled in her little head as she slowly became one once more, her progress momentarily slowed as her mother shot her point blank with such an attack, piercing a gaping hole in one of the Calys, but that wasn't enough to stop her advancement, the two continuing to merge.

However the unexpected happened, a massive weight of death started to take her body. Both Calypsos twitched violently as they visibly began to break apart, her body being injected with the decaying force. Light slowly returned to both Calypso's eyes as they suddenly released, and plummeted to the ground. Despite the energy reverberating in her flesh, it was enough to wake the little one up, the halves merging back together as she fell.

And upon hitting the ground with a sickening splash, merging back together as she fell, did she realize her limit was reached, and god. God did it sound painful. Her existence was suddenly wrapped with pain and suffering, the little one screaming, a scream so loud and painful that it even transformed into that energy-laced shriek, eyes painfully opening, bleeding, twitching and screaming with her. Her body convulsed and kicked and flailed on the dirt, her mind folding in on itself from the pain, and her energy going haywire as a result.

Earth shattering shrieks kept coming from the little one, tendrils lashing about violently and sharply, the terrain constantly changing and warping, from a spot of grass, to water, to sand, to even flesh-like, as she cried in suffering, eyes wide and staring into the sky.

The shriek of pain was enough to even snap the motherly instincts out of Mana as her dazed spell broke when she realized just what was happening and how far this training was going. Whenever the Queen started dishing out the DE Force, it was apparent that it was one of her stronger powers n' for good reason. As her consciousness fixed itself on Cali, it was apparent the child couldn't handle the cold touch of death's grip. So, to this end, she set aside her concern of a sneak attack and broke the ability.

In a matter of moments did the DE Force soon dissolve from the space all around them and it seemed as if all was back to normal. All that remained was the bloodied Demon Queen in her smoldering hole in the ground. So, not worrying much about her own health, the Asthavon moved at speeds which were almost akin to teleportation. Since, within the blink of an eye, Mana emerged above Cali.

Without wasting much time, The Queen slit open her right wrist with a gem green dagger as emerald blood started to gush out of her body. Quickly, she moved to place this gaping hole filled with her vital fluids into Cali's mouth. Given that her blood was capable of mending, healing and empowering those who drink it; it was her go-to method to heal those around her if at all possible. Of course, if one got too drunk on it, they could find themselves losing their mind, becoming enslaved to her whims and otherwise finding increased droplets of madness flowing through their being.

However, despite the risks, in the state she was in, Cali needed it. So, Ol' Mana would look after her daughter as she then slammed her left hand on the ground; forming a circle compromised of her magic around them. In doing so, she was injecting more of her energy into the body of Cali to otherwise wash away the DE Force that was pumping in her to stabilize the child and otherwise keep her from killing over.

So, for now, all Mana had to say was this:

"Alright. I think we can call it a day for now. Ya' are gonna need some rest or sumthin', kiddo. I'll look afta' ya' n' make sure ya don't keel over."

Calypso's agony was rather intense, as she had just gotten the pain of all of her mother's attacks lumped into one process since she fell asleep. Though she was unable to control her body, her mind was still plenty intact, in fact it felt like she was standing above her screaming, flailing body, watching herself agonize and agonize.

This was the path she chose. This pain was chosen to be partaken in. These were the things that some level of her consciousness understood, and accepted. This was fine. She would suffer, she would break, but in the end, she knew she would be alive and better.

Caly's shrieks were silenced as her mother forced a bloodied wrist into her mouth, much like a starved infant being given a warm bottle of milk, the young demon drank the blood that was offered to her, not thinking about anything else. Her tendrils initially whipped against her mother, but were soon made to simmer down, calming and resting on the torn earth. Calypso's body felt heavy, and numb, though she didn't fall asleep immediately. She stared up at her mother, soon weakly touching her arm, drinking her fluids, and breathing softly.

Her eyes rolled up into her head slowly, as exhaustion took her in, but one little thing was done before she completely fell under sleep's embrace. A little voice would speak in her mother's mind, her own voice, just for a brief moment before she finally fell into a deep sleep.

"I love you."

Ol' Mana knew what was best for her daughter as far as she was concerned. It's why the demoness was assured that Cali would make through this second breaking of herself. The Asthavon's were built to deal with the chaotic blows that this world could dish up. And Calypso was no different when it came to the belief The Queen had for her family. Therefore, it was no wonder that she started to calm, relax and roll into a slumber as she sucked down her essence to cling to dear life.

Though, there was something curious which escaped her lips. With a questionable eyebrow raise, Mana heard the words "I love you" utter from the child and was somewhat taken aback by that statement. It briefly caused her to have a small little emerald flush to emerge across her cheeks as she gave a shit-eating grin and chuckle afterward.

"What, ya' tryin' to butter me up, kiddo? Of course, I love ya' as well: ya have my flesh n' shit in me."

None the less, it was hard for Ol' Mana to accept sincere love from someone apart from Ashlei at this point. With all the blood she's drawn, all the lives she has destroyed, the nations ruined; The Empress felt beyond such a thing. In spite of that, motherly instincts were rather hard to obliterate even for a creature as foul as The Demoness. Had this been any rando off the street? Perhaps she wouldn't have thought twice since she knows she has hordes of slaves, followers, worshipers n' the whole nine yards to suck her metaphorical dick (ok, literal as well at times). Though, since she knows this child is hers, it hit a certain spot that made her feel some pang of warmth as she held the child in her arms once more.

"Eh, ya' earned it. Ya' can sleep with me if ya' want, kiddo..."

With that green flush still on her face, Ol' Mana pulled Cali closer, rolled them both on the ground and took a soft sigh from her pale lips before closing her eyes and beginning to put them both in a state of healing. As all around the two would a dazzling ray of lime green particles of light dance and fill them with new life, energy, and physical healing as they slumber. Given how much maddening energy there was to siphon from this realm, the two should be able to come back even stronger than before when they wake.

But training was the furthest thing that came from Mana's mind as she started to fall into her slumber. Instead, feeling the warmth of her daughter, the care of someone who loves her and the sense of actually spending quality time investing her daughter made her feel -- gushy. It felt wrong in her black void of a heart, yet here it was all the less. It was a maddening conflicting thought considering how callous she had become throughout the years. In fact, one part of herself saw this as a weakness, yet this maddening emotion called love was also welcome since such sentiments were the epitome of insanity. To care for another, give to them n' share your resources when they could be better spent building yourself up? Ohohoho, it was insane, yet here Mana was all the same.

So, for now, she'd just drift off to sleep n' accept whatever the hell this was for the time being.

"...goodnight, darling."

Despite being mangled to all hell and back by this very woman, Calypso found some form of contentment in being cuddled by her, feeling her mother's warmth and hearing her voice, even as she fell into rest. Regardless of her state of mind, in the past, in the now, and in the possible ever, some part of the demon loved her mother, no matter how uncertain or scared she felt. Her current state of mind only allowed for her to freely feel and act upon her truest of feelings, though now the little one was fast asleep, nestled against her mother, as they both rested and recovered from the hard battle.

"Hey."

At some level of consciousness, Calypso felt something prodding her head, prompting her to open her eyes, but a hand quickly rested on her chest,

"Oy. Don't get up. Your physical and mental body are practically one in the same, and both are pretty jacked the fuck up. Look and speak, but don't move."

Calypso quietly followed directions, looking over at the source of the voice, being what looked to be a mid-aged teenager with snake-like features, a dark dress with far too many ribbons, and dark curly hair filled with... Snakes? Her red piercing eyes stared down at the girl lying on the ground, but it wasn't the ground, rather a soft bed of flowers.

"Absolutely cannot believe you managed to survive all of that, much less provoke those kind of feelings in that batty witch.. Gods, you are an absolute heart melter," A hand with long, dark, properly kept fingernails ran through the young demon's hair, as she only stared at her quietly. Pseudologoi could only narrow her eyes.

"..You want to hug me but know you can't ignore what I said, is that it?"

"Uhuh."

"Ugh." The woman covered her face, a tired laugh coming from her rosy lips, as she patted her on the head, "Believe me, such things would be far more appreciated if you could remember everything, speaking of..."

She looked around, the world around them having made a remarkable amount of recovery. Her Conceptual World itself was deeply shaped by the energies morphing her soul, the chaos she took into her being, yet she was still her sweet little self, at some reasonable capacity at least. Energies of all sorts of colors fluttered around, a colorful night sky with a moon with a mere sliver of light left, as the energies twisted and danced throughout the air, green twisting the objects around them, red causing them to grow just a little more, specks of orange straightening out whatever else was falling apart, and purple bringing forth new objects all together, bit by bit.

"..How much do you feel you remember? How do you feel?"

"Ummm... I remember you... I remember... Mama a bit more, Mama was kind of scary, but... I still love her. I remember Algos, I remember a.. A lot of other people.. uhmm.."

"Okay, okay, pause. You don't need to list out your entire fragmented life's story," Pseudologoi sighed, and looked up to the moon, "..Perhaps.. There's just one more push needed for you to be yourself again."

"Push?"

"It's nothing. Don't.. Hey, what're you doing? I said don't get up-"

Caly had suddenly sat up, her gaze pointed towards a void within this space of recollecting mind, and she had gotten right onto her feet and started speedily walking, as if called to it.

"...And there she goes, again..." She swore, if she were mortal, this one would be giving her ulcers.

Into the darkness the little one ran, naked feet pattering on a water-like surface in the inky blackness, until she approached.. A rather large door, the only one in that space for what seemed to be miles. It was familiar, the girl's hand reaching towards the knob, as if compelled to come right in.

And enter she did, into a place of uncertainty and unexpectedness..

All that awaited Cali upon opening that door was a burst of emerald fire which could melt the essence of spirits, minds and souls alike if she were not so tethered to her mother's blood at this point. The screams of men, women and children alike echoed at the hall of enslaved souls within her being roared with a maddening howl of eternal torment. Deeper into this inferno lay debris from all the realms which were destroyed by her touch, as the raddling of chains of echoed in the heavens as this entire dream was burning away at her mind.

Yet, at the center of this maddening hell lay The Demon Queen. In spite of all this strain, stress, madness and chaos within herself; the aura of white and crimson energy swirled around her as her eyes opened to lock gaze with her daughter entering forth into her domain. Now standing up on her own two feet, the woman made her way through the fire; creating waves of pure white illumination around them until a path had been made to gaze upon Cali.

"Ya curiosity got the better of ya', huh? Brought ya' all the way to the demons in mah' pretty lil' head? Well, I s'pose it can't be helped...."

Still chipper as ever, Ol' Mana patted the head of Cali before uttering these words out to her:

"...if you came to visit me, then it's apparent enough to me that we are ready to enter into training that soul of yours."

With dozens of white flaming souls spiraling around Cali at this point, The Queen remained unphased as she closed her own eyes and let out an exhale of breath:

"Look, if ya' are gonna last in this world of ours, it ain't enough to have just raw power and strong mind. Ya' need to have total control of ya show, know who ya are n' be so assured of what ya' live for in this fucked life of ours that not even the gods themselves can erase the core of what you are n' ya won't shatter n' break like ash in the wind."

Then, without warning, Mana shoved her hand straight into the chest of Cali: yet there would be no pain. There was no need for it as it was merely a gesture of a much larger sentiment:

"Tell me: what the hell makes you what you are, my daughter? Why do you ya' persist through this hell? For mah' love? For the admiration of others? Greed? Attention? What the hell does ya' spirit stand for?"

Calypso flinched as the bright glow of emerald fire suddenly occurred, in sharp contrast to the previous hallway of darkness she pattered through. She slowly slipped into the dream, her eyes focusing to the sheer.. Chaos, within her mother's mind. She didn't appear scared, or shocked, or stressed out by the horrifying sights and sounds, more just like her curiosity was well satiated, in which it indeed was. It was like watching some bizarre movie, and since she felt no harm coming to her, it wasn't even close to being something to freak out about.

She soon met gazes with her mother, the woman wrapped in bright energy herself, watching as she came over to her, despite everything seeming to wish to yank her into the abyss. She nodded when her mother mentioned her curiosity, very much accepting the headpat and looking a bit puzzled when she said it would be a good time to move onto the next part of her training.

"Oh.. In here?" She blinked innocently, looking around and then shrugging, "Okay."

She looked at the white flames that floated around her with intrigue, some silly instincts wishing for her to reach out and touch, but she knew there were more important things to be focused on, looking up to and listening to her mother as she spoke of having a good knowing of her identity to survive in this world. Out of all the things they did so far, this made the most sense to her as her dark hair flowed in the movements of this mental space as if affected by wind.

Though, Caly did flinch when her mother struck her chest, eyes tightly shut, but slowly opened as she realized there was no pain following the strike. Her reaction was more or less expecting such attacks and figuring a way to react accordingly, but there was no reason to worry with a hand in her chest, this time at least.

"..Why do I persist?"

Her head tilted down slightly, eyes darting to and fro as she thought, and thought, and thought. Thought of a true purpose, something she wanted, what she wished to be. And how to put those thoughts into words.. What little memories that were important to her mind that resurfaced were brought to light, and thus..

".. To help others, to bring them out from the darkness and into an embrace of clarity and freedom from what desires to take away what they want to be."

Her voice didn't sound child-like as it previously did, some switch flipped to have her speak from her heart, a sort of maturity to her tone, "Bringing others to realize the best version of themselves, brings me joy, and that is why I put myself up to... All of this. To have the power to truly do it."