“Hot ash and- Did they suffer any serious burns? That sounds-…” Yikes, that was kind of a scary thought.
“Sounds like she had only one thought in her head, and that was to be sure she remained in your approval. In any way, even at the expense of her own children. You would think she would have worshiped them, being a part of you and all. Or at least treated them with more dignity and respect.”
“EXACTLY. I do not believe she realized their true potential nor was she aware of their powers. In her eyes they were simply a means to an end. She had told them that Aku was the Father and Ruler of all, but they did not know I was their true father.”
Casper raised her brows high at that. “Whoa…so she like…drank it or…stuck it…in her body some how. That’s super wild! And seven at once?! Holy crap, that’s just as insane! I can barely imagine how that would feel!” She clutched her stomach with a shudder.
“Dude…that must have been- Oh wait! So, you have seven girls, I’ve not seen them though, do they live with you or their mother?”
“I do not trust their mother,” Aku grunted in disapproval. “Her intent was to break my daughters of their spirits and transform them into near-mindless assassins. I have taken full custody of them.”
“Really!” Casper looked impressed. “…You’re a good Dad, Aku.” She sat down on the floor beside his throne, crossing her legs. “That’s really refreshing to hear. So, why was their mom so coo coo then?”
“That is a question I cannot begin to answer. I know nothing of her personal life beyond her leadership of the cult and her training methods. Her methods were especially strict, even cruel. She performed rituals upon my daughters using hot ash and tar. When I first received them into my home, I soaked and scrubbed them to remove it from their skin.”
Casper raised her brows high at that. “Whoa…so she like…drank it or…stuck it…in her body some how. That’s super wild! And seven at once?! Holy crap, that’s just as insane! I can barely imagine how that would feel!” She clutched her stomach with a shudder.
“Dude…that must have been- Oh wait! So, you have seven girls, I’ve not seen them though, do they live with you or their mother?”
“I do not trust their mother,” Aku grunted in disapproval. “Her intent was to break my daughters of their spirits and transform them into near-mindless assassins. I have taken full custody of them.”
Casper took in every word with rapt attention. “But, how did she come to be? I mean, if you had no idea you could create life?” she asked softly.
“How did that piece of you become?” It was a little strange to think that a piece got away somehow.
“You don’t have to answer, I’m just curious.”
The demon’s gaze drifted away from her. This part was a little embarrassing for Aku to explain if only because it hinted at his own blind ignorance.
“I once paid a visit to an all-female cult whose sole function is to worship Aku,” he began. “Upon discovering them I made a one-time donation to reward them for their dedication and bestowed upon them a small bit of my essence. I am not entirely sure how she did it… but the High Priestess used it to become pregnant and gave birth to 7 of my daughters.
Plunging his hand into the thick black slime that covered most of her, Aku would suddenly be bombarded with echoes of Black Hat’s voice, commanding the poor girl to stay submissive and accepting her fate as the host.
“You are weak and vulnerable at best, pathetic excuse even for a human being, you are the absolute worst without me,” was one.
“Give in give in give in give in-”
“I WILL MAKE YOU SUFFER FOR THE REST OF YOUR INSIGNIFICANT LIFE. Fancy fighting against me? This is what you’re getting.”
“You’re a burden to everyone you meet, isn’t it easier to just disappear into the darkest depths so you couldn’t bother anyone~?”
There were a thousand voices, all Black Hat’s, attacking her mentally, destroying her spirit. It was crushing her thoughts and was getting louder and stronger each second, it was a miracle that she was even still standing despite this exhausting battle.
The voices garbled as Aku disrupts their flow of thoughts, but a laughter erupted from it’s abyss. It sounded like as if he was everywhere from every corner of her mind.
“You FOOL! You cannot come to care for anyone but yourself, you are a being of pure hatred and darkness, you cannot afford to LOVE,” the voice spat with a mocking tone, dripped with malice. “You’ve always been a poor excuse for a villain, I should just kill you here and now and put and end to your miserable EXISTENCE!”
Azura’s body dropped to the ground like a puppet, as the tendrils detached itself halfway from the webby hat, letting her partially free. She rose up to face Aku, vacant eyes still staring at him.
“But not without having a little heart to heart with your precious daughter first~”
A sword manifests in the girl’s hand, and the Hat made her gave a lanky bow at her forced opponent.
So this was what his daughter had to listen to every second of every day? Aku was enraged before but now he was infuriated.
“SHUT UP!”
he screamed at the hat’s voice. While it might have been right about him—he was certainly brimming with hatred and rage right now—it was dead wrong about Azura.
His attention snapped back to his daughter who now wielded a sword against her will. Despite all the hatred he felt for Black Hat, Aku was quickly beginning to realize that hatred would not help him accomplish anything here. All it would do was destabilize his connection to Azura and get him booted from her mind.
“Azura…” he spoke, willing calm back into his voice. Despite the weapon leveled at him, Aku made no effort to arm or shield himself from an attack.
“I know that he is loud and I know you are exhausted. When this is all over, I will take you back to your new bed and you can rest there for as long as you desire. And I will be there watching over you. But first, you must kick him aside and take back what is yours. Tell him he is NOT your master. The only master you have is you.”
“Nah, I’ve accepted the dog is dead in some way. Sad as I am about it, no, I wanted to ask about your daughters. Like, how did you discover they were yours? Did it make you feel something when you learned you were a father?”
Aku straightened a bit, blinking at the unexpected question. How had he felt upon discovering he had daughters? He’d felt many things, many things all at once. The Shogun pondered the question for a moment longer before he answered.
“Yes… It was a startling revelation, one like no other,” he recounted with clarity. “At the time I had no reason to believe that I, a being of great destruction and darkness, could create such life. Until I discovered Ashi wandering alone as a young child in the forest. Or perhaps I should say that she discovered me. Our meeting was purely by happenstance.
As for how I realized she was my own, the answer is by scent. I could smell the Aku within her, flowing through her veins. At that moment you might say I was struck. She was a piece of Aku taken a life of its own. I knew then I could not lose nor part from her. I felt I could allow no harm to come to her.”
“Finally, someone who appreciates TRUE EVIL. The Pit of Hate is indeed one of my finest creations. It is a place where the most righteous of men scream in a chorus of unending torment! Thank you, human she-lizard.”
The Shogun of Sorrow 