21 Exiled

"You want me to what?" Momo was shocked. She actually took a step back.

Oji grinned, walking closer. He used his forefinger to beckon Momo as he did. "Clock me over the head. We will tell your Clan that I was jealous of the attention you were paying Cifer. A beautiful girl like you attracting attention is completely normal after all."

The blood rushed to Momo's face as the implications sank in. "But the plan was to have me defending Cifer? That just makes me a damsel in distress!" Her father was furious and agitated, interposing himself between Momo and Oji.

"You will not touch my daughter!" Clan Leader Aoi roared.

Momo would never forget the response Oji gave him. "Old Man. Step aside before you hurt yourself. If I was actually determined to take her by force she would be mine. But I do not force a woman who is not ready, so it is entirely up to her how far this goes."

By this time the Grand Elders were back from getting from collecting the encoded notes and most of the rest of the clan had gathered. They could only see, but could not hear. Which just made the false impression that Oji had dark intentions toward Momo all the clearer.

They had been talking seriously until Oji turned his gaze toward Momo, who brightly smiled. His young heart was captured by her beauty and the Clan Leader had objected repeatedly. Oji approach her while talking, calling her over in a most insulting way. Momo's face went crimson as she backed away. Then the Clan Leader stepped between them while nearly exploding with anger.

At this point if you were to tell the audience that Oji didn't have vulgar designs it would fall on deaf ears. The audience had breathed a sigh of relief at the Clan Leader's intervention though. Everyone assumed that the Clan Leader could handle the matter even if the lecturer did have a formidable identity.

"How do you plan to force me? You are far too arrogant kid." Clan Leader Aoi challenged.

Oji held up 3 fingers where Momo could see them. "You have three chances. Fail to come around by then and the consequences will be dire." Then Oji pointed to Cifer. "Especially for Cifer."

Momo felt confused. How was this matter dangerous for-

The Technique that killed Akemi and fended off Elder Noaki blasted from Oji's palm and destroyed the night stand beside Cifer's head.

"Are you insane!?" Momo objected instantly, anger and concern immediately apparent. She tried to get past her father.

The Clan Leader laughed. "So you want to threaten the Cifer? That's your leverage? People much stronger than you have vanished without a trace."

"People as strong as you then?" Oji inquires. "I really wonder who is parents are actually. With his Bloodline, they must at least be way past Arterial Circulation. To the point that they have Arterial Circulation servants. Servants who would know that I'm only a threat if you refuse to back down and do what's best for Cifer."

Momo's eyes were as wide as saucers. She recovered quickly and pleaded with her father. "Dad, please just trust us. If what you say is true than Cifer's final guardian can protect me too in the worst case scenario. I'm his best friend!"

Before the Clan Leader could answer, Oji used his Technique to destroy the headrest of the bed. "Time is running out. Will you sentence Cifer to death yourself or let your daughter travel with him to try to save his life?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Most of the older audience shared Clan Leader Aoi's scorn when Oji thought to leverage the Cifer's head against Momo's purity. "Asking Death to meet him!" They laughed.

Cifer's adoptive mother, Azumi, was also in the crowd. She worried and sweated, feeling like no possible outcome was good anymore. She looked around in despair for anyone who would take her side. Anyone who wasn't eager to throw Cifer to the wolves.

There was one person who stood out. A small girl watched as well. Her black hair went down to her waist and her young face was among the few that were tightened. Her eyes didn't match her youth, seeming far too old for her, and unimaginable loss filled them. She was waiting for the Clan Leader's response.

The crowd went dead silent when they saw the fight go out of the Clan Leader with the second attack Oji made. Then they started objecting fiercely when he allowed Momo to run around him and fall at Oji's feet. They watched with mounting rage as the outsider pulled her to her feet and went for a kiss.

Azumi felt relief that Cifer wouldn't die, but now had grown worried for Momo and turned to see the reaction of what felt like the only person in the crowd on her side.

The girl had vanished as if she was never there.

The moment of searching left Azumi a moment behind things when the emotions of the crowd changed again. She found out why almost instantly. That horrid lecturer was holding his head from where Momo had broken a practice mace over it. "That was the wrong move." Azumi fretted.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

She'd been careful to put all her strength in it, but Momo had been surprised when her mace broke and even more caught off guard by Oji's minimal reaction. She involuntary stepped back while looking at the broken weapon in dismay.

It made her almost too slow when Oji ordered her to cross arm block and slapped his palm into it without bothering to use a Technique. Momo felt her arms break and then the remaining force crashed into her chest and cracked her ribs before the damage to her internal organs made her spit blood.

Thankfully her father removed his barrier before she could ram into it. Momo had never felt pain like this before, and wavered in keeping her consciousness. Even in her strongest condition and using arguably the most solid unarmed block there is she had still take such insane damage from a single serious attack. She turned back over and vomited blood as she slowly got up on her hands and knees.

Behind her she could hear Oji demanding her death as her father tried to appease him. Apparantly after being attacked by Momo like that he was pretending to want nothing more to do with such an "underhanded whore" as she heard herself being called. She shot him a glare for that, but was too weak to do much more. Rather than join the argument she instead crushed a Wavy Blue Pearl to absorb Essence so she could recover some of her vitality. It was a rough kind of first aid, but the fact that she used her Dove Manifestation to turn it into Essence of Mercy was helpful since Mercy had the most powerful healing factor.

By the time she'd absorbed the Essence of the Wavy Blue Pearl Momo felt her body healed enough to rejoin the conversation. An advantage of having such low Cultivation was low needs, and the Wavy Blue Pearl was from the same depth as her Dove Manifestation. Making the second level and worth 5 of the Striped Blue Pearls that could be traded for hundreds of mundane gold and silver. A single Wavy Blue Pearl wasn't worth as much as Cifer's entire house, but it would cover most of the repairs needed to the roof, wall and furniture. The Clan itself had a few thousand, but Momo could only get access to even a few at her level. And that only because she was the daughter of the Clan Leader.

By this point Oji was using his status and an unbelievably overbearing personality to demand her death. Obviously the Clan Leader, Grand Elders, Deyons and Elders were opposed to killing her off, but equally they couldn't afford for Oji to return to the Crimson Sect and bring his Senior Apprentice Brothers back with him. The end result of that would be catastrophic and might even include the complete eradication of the Aoi Kani Clan in the worst case scenario.

But at this point, before the other Clan members could suggest killing Oji off and dumping his body somewhere to blame the death on demonic beasts and highwaymen, the Clan Leader makes the key offer that the plan had hinged on. "Nephew Oji, I don't want to see anything unfortunate happen to you. However, Momo is my only daughter and is very precious to me. If I were willing to give her a severe enough punishment, could you give face to this Uncle of yours and spare her life?"

Momo tried to play the part that she knew was needed. "Father? What are you talking about! You know what he tried to do to me! And worse, what he'd have done to Cifer if we didn't bow to his ridiculous wishes!" She managed to sound angry in spite of her injuries, and the wounds themselves helped paint a picture of a victim.

But Oji had the part of a villain to play. "Sure Uncle. If you exile her from your Clan and strip her of her status, than this Nephew will be content to let the entire matter end here. In fact, I will even mention to my superiors how there is a Clan in Zhou that is most trustworthy and might have a measure of future at higher positions if they ever feel a change in power is needed."

An ugly fate in one hand, and the temptations of the devil in the other. To some Clans the idea of being a powerhouse might be a foreign idea that was vaguely known to be a good thing. But the Aoi Kani Clan had been one previously and still remembered the heights they had been at. Especially the upper level management who also knew how much difference the Crimson Sect's support could make even if they only lent their name alone. It would only cost them one Momo.

With a reward in front and destruction behind, the Grand Elders and other high ranking officials all banded together to pressure the Clan Leader into exiling his daughter. Even though he was the Clan Leader, even though he was the only Skeleton Foundation here, even though he was known to favor Momo in everything, nobody found it odd when he caved under the combined pressure. From that day forward, Momo became an exile and was thrown out of the Clan.