Chapter - 34
Wood creaked under Koneko's heels, bending low before springing back to propel the nekomata through the air like a rocket. A wry grin split her lips, and the white-haired girl exulted in the clean, crisp air of the forest.
The Gremory territory may be as vast as Honshu in the human world, but almost a full quarter of it was devoted to Azmarin alone. The industrial megacity was the backbone of the clan's wealth, providing factories to bring the technological designs of the Astaroth clan to life. No other single clan in Gehenna had the production capacity or the abnormally skilled magicians that would be needed to end the Gremory's market dominance in magical technology.
Luxury air cruisers, single-day manors, self-proliferating blowing bubbles, conjuration cannons – any product that could be manufactured was a product Lord Gremory had his hands in. It didn't matter if they were children's toys or military hardware; if there was a profit to be made, the clan made it.
In a manufacturing city metro the size of Croatia, it was difficult to escape the constant smell of urbanization. Enormous spells to clear the skies of smog and pollution were group-cast every day in Azmarin, but blue skies couldn't hide the stench. Which was why Koneko hated visiting it, and why she imagined Zeoticus and his descendants lived on the very opposite edge of the clan's territory.
Skyscrapers and the fearful respect of commoners couldn't compete with the beauty of nature. Rias' estate was so far from civilization that chakra of the world was quiet, without the blemish of hatred and violence that had ultimately driven Kuroka mad.
Nestled in the calm bosom of nature, Koneko felt like all the worries of her life were sliding away. There was no murderous older sister that could waltz back into her life. No great political conspiracies that could end in blood. No getting caught in the stifling silence that had been building since last night's ball between Sasuke and Rias. There was only the wind in the ivory strands of her hair and the pull of sinew launching her from branch to branch.
Koneko's 'patrols' were essential for her to ground herself, and the nekomata was so lost in the feeling of pure freedom that she almost missed the pale webbing thrown up in front of her.
Almost.
Diving between the crisscrossing sticky strands, Koneko hit the ground in a roll, coming to her feet fists ready. "Who's there?" Koneko demanded sharply, amber eyes scanning the afternoon underbrush. The white threads did not form a true spider's web, instead stretching from trunk to trunk seemingly randomly.
Beyond the faint sound of the wind rustling the leaves, there was no sound. Silence hung unbroken by birdsong or the buzzing of insects, and with a flash of snow white sorcery Koneko summoned the shining gauntlets Sirzechs-sama had commissioned for her on her last birthday.
Talons tipped the silvery gloves, polished metal gleaming bright and deadly. The cold iron was demon wrought, stronger than steel, fatal to the fae and resilient to all other kinds of magic. With the deadly covering over her already deadly fists, Koneko slowly stepped forward.
Nothing. Winding cautiously around the trees, peering into the canopy, suspiciously sniffing the air for hidden enemies yielded nothing. Something was there, otherwise the creatures of the forest wouldn't be so silent.
Koneko clenched her jaw. There was nothing for it.
Senjutsu was hazardous to the skilled, and outright lethal for the unpracticed. Koneko hated it with the burning passion of the pits of Tartarus, but that hadn't made it any less a part of her. Not using it didn't make the instinctive senjutsu of her species vanish. Everywhere she went, the nekomata was at least peripherally aware of the general feel of chakra in the area. Sensing anything more specific required… a little bit more.
Painstakingly opening herself to the world, Koneko grit her teeth and let the chakra trickle in. Too much would drive her madder than Kuroka, and whatever else Koneko could say about her once beloved sister, Kuroka had been mentally stronger. Stronger than Shirone.
There. Thick rolling black chakra clashed with the world.
Slamming the gates shut on her miniscule use of senjutsu, Koneko leapt to the left and backhanded her fist through the gnarled trunk of an oak. Wood splintered with a mighty crack, giving way to the weight of the tree.
Koneko circled back, gaze harsh and alert as lumber hit soil with an echoing crash. Chirps filled the air as previously silent birds fled for their lives, but the young devil only had ears for the faint clacking of chitin.
Emerging out of the fall of leaves and branch was a great swollen body. Pale skin mingled with pale bone, forming a bleached carapace of interlocking joints and ivory flesh. And it was bone, or else something that looked like a grinning skull with eight blood red eyes and sharp mandibles.
Thinning her lips, Koneko eyed the giant spider's curling legs warily. No devil native to Sheol appeared so. Was it an ōgumo? Shapeshifter? Some manner of constructed conjuration? There was some intelligence in its myriad gaze. "What manner of creature are you?" she demanded frostily. "Speak!"
The coarse white pincers of the spider's mouth shifted, head tilting with consideration. Then it spat an arc of boiling purple venom that Koneko deftly dodged. Splashing into the bark of a birch, the toxic ichor hissed and spat, melting away the wood in seconds beneath Koneko's wide eyed stare.
Whatever manner of creature it was, the spider was not friendly.
"I hope you've made peace with death." Crouching low, Koneko sprang. The nekomata's form blurred into a pale streak as she circled, carefully noting the frantic way the spider's crimson eyes attempted to track her.
Chitin legs trembled as the creature lumbered its bulk about in an effort to keep facing the Rook. Spitting out its' acid projectile again and again, the enormous spider milked its venom sacs trying to vaporize the tiny demoness.
Large, and maybe even dangerous if she was fool enough to stand still and let the thing douse her in its secretions, Koneko decided. But as a foe it was too slow for her, and besides the novice Yuuto, Koneko was the slowest devil in Rias' entire household. Whatever sort of beast or servant the spider was, it likely posed no real threat to any half-trained devil.
Koneko cracked her knuckles and moved in. Lazily ducking a last squirt of venom, the nekomata drove her metal claws directly into the creature's eyes. Liquid burst as the soft orbs gave way instantly, Koneko's talons driving deeper into the spider and sending it into a frenzied chattering death throe.
One last shove shredded the brain, and the corpse-white spider collapsed like a puppet with its strings cut. Sneering at the colorless ooze seeping from its' wounds in death, Koneko yanked her hand back and shook the clinging slime from her gauntlet.
"What manner of creature are you?" she pondered again more softly, backing away from the dead beast's fangs and decapitating the thing for good measure. Maybe there was some strength in that bite, but it would be too weak to stand up to anything more than a peasant.
Still, Rias would want to see it. Either her mistress would know what species the foreign arachnid was, or Rias would pass the discovery along to Sirzechs and the clan.
Grasping onto the severed head of the spider, Koneko grimaced with faint disgust before summoning a teleportation circle in a spark of white light.
Estado de energía semanal
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Poder 
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Poder