Curse of the Abyss

It turns out, all around we were not outside as I thought, the place we were was simply a huge mausoleum, one of the sections of this gargantuan castle.

The Castle of the Von Fargas Family, one of the long-lasting monarchs still remaining in this world of Mailares.

"Why is she called a Demon Empress? Where is her empire?" I asked Lisha, a little awkward due to my nudity, but there were no clothes available for me here.

"This is her empire" She said, extending her hands across widely at the castle that had tall ceilings and gothic design.

"But it can no longer be called such. An Empire needs inhabitants, and even though we have some… they're not precisely citizens. Master is an Empress in name and power, holder of a great territory, but with no followers aside from us, it matters not, we are everything she needs." Lisha added with confidence that I couldn't overrule, things like monarchs, kings and armies were beyond me except when I played age of empires, as long as she was okay with her Empire, what else could I say?

The castle was magnificent, magnificently eerie… dark decorations yet there wasn't a single speck of dust anywhere, it was eerie indeed but not in a bad state, for me, it was a cosy new home. So long as master and Lisha were there I didn't mind living inside a barrel.

"One of our family customs is that the first one a newcomer 'tastes' will be her first teacher, in your case, 'his'… you're the first and last male we will have in this family… and I'll be your first teacher. In my case, my teacher was sister Limu but I had it difficult because… she doesn't talk."

"… is she really a slime, aren't they supposed to be weak?" My mind couldn't even begin to comprehend… she was a creature made entirely of water, so gargantuan that she could be an entire sea on her own, my question then was, 'is water her forte or weakness? would she dissolve in water?'

"Sister Limu is an enormous mass of liquid that can change her composition, pressure and even toxicity, she's also extremely strong but doesn't like to fight… just now she was water, but she could also be a sea of lava without issue~"

!!!

'My goodness' as an avid RPG player… how could I not understand the implications of what she said?

Just imagining this big sister transforming into a sea of lava and invading a city… that girl was a force of nature…

"But even then… it is never as devastating as her original form, it is some sort of viscous liquid that disintegrates things that she eats… now that I think about it, Sister Limu is quite terrifying right?" She contorted in apparent fear.

'Don't say that while you're a hundred metres ten-tailed fox!'

We soon reached the castle's main door amidst our speaking, I got to know that sister Meru is gigantic octopus, quite grumpy, she likes sleeping and staining things with her ink, then there is sister Elena who is the one summoned before me, she's a 'self-entitled' maid of master. Lisha said that they haven't witnessed her true strength but she hasn't broken a sweat either through several centuries together

I dared to ask and why not? Lisha said she's been with master for more than nine thousand years, the majority of them spent sleeping.

So they were a bunch of hot grannies… I better not say that out loud.

My gaze set on the environment, a dense forest with tall trees, the skies were gloomy and cloudy. In the distance, I could see what appeared to be something black covering the entire world.

"In any case… what we're going to do first is just go around and play tag~" Sister Lisha extended her limbs and tails to their maximum capacity, preparing to run.

I walked up to her and fixed her kimono, one of her breasts was showing, "Sister you can't be walking around like this." It sounded so hypocritical considering I'm naked… but I didn't have any choice, she however had this mysterious kimono that she created with her fur.

The golden kitsune blushed and allowed her kimono to be fixed.

"Tag? as if... pursuing each other?" When was the last time I played this game? Oh right, never... I had no friends. Hopefully, me chasing Barbara across her penthouse for another round, counts.

"Yes, I'll let you go first in whatever direction you want and I'll try to catch up with you, whatever you see around that gets you curious, I'll explain to you what it is… we have come to realise that this is the best method to explain everything~"

Two of her tails were laced around her waist and the other seven were free of constraint, she was expecting me to run.

"Before we start, what is that sister?" I asked her pointing to the skies, that black miasma-like barrier.

"The miasma? That's the limit of master's curse, her Poison Abyss. The [Abyss] is innate to all demons but master's is denser and concentrated, moreover... several barriers have been placed around the perimeter of the ghostly lands, with the passage of thousands of years, this black miasma formed at the edges."

"Curse…" I immediately related it with Curse of Blood, could they be the same type of thing?

"The Curse of Abyss or [Power Overdrive] as she calls it is an accursed thing besieging her life ever since her mother passed it down to her… in order to keep it that size, master has to sleep… it doesn't affect us because we're tied to master, but in all other species in this world… it erases their mana and devours their vitality little by little. As I said abyss is innate to all demons, but the Power Overdrive turns hers into something rather malicious, from normal Abyss to Poisonous Abyss."