Welcoming Committee

The moment Juniper felt the ground beneath her feet, she releases her observation haki.

It sweeps across the area and informs the moth of all twenty-two people surrounding her, as well as the many more going about their merry ways a short distance above from where she is currently located.

'A basement? Not surprising if one thinks about the usual types of people that turn to demons for help.' As her vision returns after being blinded from her world transition, Juniper's eyes briefly narrow and her body tenses up.

'Look at that… priests… a whole bunch of them…' Taking in the sight of 22 service men of the church gathered in this dim, torch lit place made out of dark grey stone hidden from the eyes and ears of the common people, the demon moth almost bits down on the [Repulsion Capsule] in her mouth.

"Ah! It worked!"

"It's a demon!"

"What have we done!"

"Please, lord forgive our sin."

But watching the different reactions of the priests surrounding her, and the extra sweep of observation haki, calmed Juniper down and she relaxes again.

'It doesn't seem like this is a practiced act, or a fully agreed one even… They are also weak as fuck. I can rip each of them apart or knock them all out with my haki no problem.' Reassured by her superior strength and the apparent fear and uncertainty on the faces illuminated by the flickering orange light, the moth decides to store the capsule in her inventory before giving in to her curiosity and remain silent, content on letting things develop a bit on their own as there doesn't seem to be any direct threat to her present in the room.

"Silence!" Came the loud voice of a rather young man in intricate robes of white, gold and red colour that mark him as a higher-ranking member of his religion.

Juniper couldn't help but smirk in her mind. 'Always pleasant to see the disparity of people of the same believe~.' She thinks amused as the young man's words calm the fearful mutterings and cries.

With silence restored, the young man turns to the demon moth standing calmly in the center of the infernal pentagram carved into the stone made floor and filled with the fresh blood.

The long shadows cast by her tall form in the fiery light of the burning torches seems a bit darker than it is supposed to be even as she simply stands there, watching silently as he steps right up to the edge of the macabre ritual circle.

Once in front of her, the poor man realized that the slender feminine demon towered over him, and he had to raise his head in order to meet Juniper's eyes.

Amused by this, she flashes a smug grin down at him, revealing her sharp fangs and clacking her mandibles a couple of times while her antennas lazily wave around.

'I can literally rip and tear every single one of you fucks apart with my bare hands, including you~ little man~. Kekeke this is going to be fun~.' She thinks while watching his reaction.

Clearly agitated by her silent taunt and the situation, the man turns around to face his compatriots before speaking to them in a firm tone.

"What we have done today is a means to an end!" He declares while meeting the eyes of all the other clergymen in the large open basement.

"If that monster can use the forces of hell to lay waste to the world! Then we can make use of these infernal creatures to battle their own! Let it be a chance at redemption for these accursed creatures to serve a just cause for once in their pitiful existence!" His voice becomes confident and takes on a zealotic tone as the speech goes on, drawing in everyone that heard it, even he himself.

Well, except for Juniper of course.

'Damn, that was a fine speech right there, could almost hear the holy music in the background. A shame that it is some religious hypocrisy spit right in front of my heretical ass.' Keeping herself from breaking out into laughter at the contradictory shit that this man of God proclaims with a demon summoned by his own hands behind him, Juniper waits for the head priest to turn back around.

"Demon! I offer you the chance to serve under the light and in the grace of the lord for that you might be redeemed for the sins that you committed and led to your punishment in the fiery pits of hell!" The priest says as he turns to address the still grinning moth demon.

Each word is laced with disgust and a sense of superiority, so much in fact that Juniper didn't even need her observation haki to figure out what he is doing.

She could smell rising stench of barely suppressed fear emanating from him.

Feeling her already considerable good mood increase even more, her smug grin stretches even further.

"Don't need it, don't want it, go fuck yourself." She confidently spits into his face while cheering in her mind for having found an opportunity to say these words.

She then enjoys the baffled expressions of the gathered lot as they try to decipher the meaning behind her declaration.

Of course she didn't use the language that the priest did, no, the moth had not a smidgen of a clue as to which one he was using to spout his religious crap at her, but that didn't matter as Juniper used the demon tongue to communicate her opinion.

Granted to her through the inherited memories that she gained by consuming the shell of her demon egg, the demonic moth is able to communicate freely with all creatures in possession of a soul, be it speaking or understanding.

So, it posed no problem for her to understand what is being said around her or for others to understand what she is telling them.

But as it speaks directly to the soul, it feels very unnatural to most, like a cold breeze across your skin while completely covered in clothes.

Hearing Juniper's voice, a shudder runs down the spines of the people as they are stunned by her words.

It took the leader of this group a few seconds to get a hold of himself again, and when he did, the smell of fear wafting off him had intensified dramatically.

Despite the rising uncertainty clawing at his mind, the Priest almost desperately tried to get the situation back under control.

"Do not mock me demon!" He shouts and points an accusing finger at her after having recovered from his first experience of the demon tongue and Juniper's rude answer to his, oh so generous offer, before spreading his arms wide and half turning to look at the others in the room to gather himself.

"I am the bishop of Banat! The lord's hand that shall cleans the world off all sins! You are nothing more than a tool I shall wield to fulfill the lords work and strike down that foul vampire and his demon hordes haunting our lands." Fanning his own anger in order to overcome the rising fear, the priest's features start to reflect that anger at the blatant mockery coming from the strange demon he and his fellow believers had summoned.

But that didn't last long.

Having had a great time with this charade, Juniper decides to get on with it.

In his anger, the bishop had become careless and made a great mistake, his foot stood on the outer most line of the pentagram and one of his arms boldly reached into it.

A foolish mistake no qualified summoner would ever commit, after all, the ritual circle not only served as a medium to call forth creatures from other worlds, but it also has the function of protecting the summoners from whatever they call upon.

Reaching out with one of her clawed hands, she grabs the wrist of his outstretched arm and pulls him towards herself where she unceremoniously grabs the guy's face while digging her claws just deep enough to draw blood and forcing him to look up into her eyes.

Caught in her iron grip, the poor man had no chance to resist as Juniper's strength which, enhanced by the perfect T-Virus, matched even that of some war demons.

Letting some of her conquers haki bleed out into the room, a crushing weight suddenly pushed down everyone inside and the already dim light seems to weaken even more.

Because of how weak theses human priests were in comparison to the demon moth, they were instantly forced onto their knees with their breaths cut short as the darkness inside the basement seems to grow, ready to swallow them all up at a moment's notice.

The only still standing figures are Juniper and the bishop who is held up by her whilst his knees are shaking like wet noodles.

Staring into his eyes with her own inhuman ones, Juniper begins to speak.

"This certainly was an entertaining performance you pulled off there, but it is not how you are supposed to go about asking something from the likes of me." As she says this, her already unsettling wide grin grows even larger, splitting her face while the two green orbs surrounded by darkness that were her eyes begin to glow creepily.

"It seems there is a misunderstanding of your current situation and relation with the big man up above. From what I understand by having listened to all the crap you spouted just now. I can safely assume a couple of things." Releasing the head of the bishop, she lets him collapse onto the ground.

"Firstly, there is a threat to your kin rampaging across the land. Secondly, you have failed in stopping this threat. And thirdly, your oh so precious lord kept quiet and did nothing, despite being the omnipotent being that he is with legions of pigeons under his command, each one dwarfing even the strongest of you lowly vermin huddling up in his shadow." Letting her words ring through the underground chamber, Juniper continues with a mocking tone.

"If God really cared about any of this, he would have sent his ACTUAL servants to do the job. Even the weakest flying rat in his ranks can probably clean this mess up within a few days. Why would he ever turn to some shriveling little wimp of a worm like you or your group of brain-dead maggots that can't even think for themselves to fulfill his plans?" By now a pin drop silence had stretched across the entire gathering of people in the basement.

Seeing this scene and perceiving the tumultuous emotions within each and every one of the present people, Juniper barely contained a crackling laughter before slowly crouching down until she was face to face with the bishop sitting on the ground in front of her.

"So~, how about we try this again?" She almost purrs as her demonic grin shrank down to an almost emphatic smile. "But this time the right way~."

Tracing a clawed finger down along the cheek of the frozen-up bishop, she leaves a fresh cut from which blood slowly trickled down his neck.

Juniper straightens back up, all four arms crossed and wings flaring out behind her in a dramatic fashion as the glow in her eyes intensifies while moving over the small crowd, making eye contact with everyone in the room before coming to a halt on the bishop.

"Beg~."