A Strange Crossover

"He may be small. But he is mine. You were sealed for a reason - because of your uncontrollable power and insatiable desire for control, leaving you with an emptiness that needed containment."

Her wings beat once, and the chamber shook as if answering her.

"You obey my every word. You feed only at my command. You serve at my beck and call, knowing the repercussions of defiance. If you desire Ki, you must prove your worth through trials of strength and loyalty to gain its essence. If you seek love, you must show unwavering devotion and sacrifice for the ones you cherish." She smiled coldly, fangs visible now.

For a moment, not a single one of them moved.

Then Kanade looked away, muttering, "…Tch. Fine."

Tamamo exhaled sharply. "As Her Majesty, Lilith, wishes."

Saja giggled with restrained glee. "So possessive… it's hot."

Minagi just grinned. "I'll wait. But next time, I want a bigger sip."

Hiruko moaned softly. "So unfair… but… okay~"

Kanon folded her arms. "Only because it's you, Lilith."

Lilith finally knelt beside Arata again, brushing a claw lightly against his cheek.

Her voice dropped to a low purr.

"Rest peacefully, Arata. Your inner demons may awaken... but rest assured, they dance to my tune, obedient to my every command."

Sometime later

The soft buzz of the subway lair's arcane lights hummed in the silence, casting elongated shadows across the place.

The distant groan of pipes and the hum of machinery gave the place a heartbeat all its own. Amid this subterranean haven, Arata stirred, his body groaning with exhaustion.

Every muscle ached with a dull burn, the aftershock of pouring his life essence into beings who had not tasted freedom or power in eons. His eyes fluttered open, unfocused at first, until clarity returned—and with it, the realization that he was surrounded.

Lilith sat nearest, her presence as commanding as it was serene. Legs crossed with elegant precision, wings folded behind her like a royal cloak of shadow, she gazed down at him with an expression both amused and assessing. Her fingers brushed gently against his chest, where his heart still pounded weakly.

"You're awake. Good. I didn't allow you to die," she said softly, but there was iron behind her words. Not kindness, but ownership.

The others were close—too close.

Minagi crouched beside him, her red eyes gleaming with mischief, a stone spinning lazily on a fingertip. A wicked smile tugged at her lips, as if she were deciding which part of him looked tastiest.

Kanade was half-melded into the floor beside his head, her slimy, semi-translucent body rippling with warmth. Her cheeks—or what passed for cheeks—were flushed. She looked away when Arata's gaze met hers, muttering something unintelligible as her form quivered like gelatin.

Tamamo no Mae stood with one shoulder pressed to a cracked pillar, arms folded. Her golden eyes were half-lidded, seemingly indifferent, yet her tails twitched restlessly behind her. She wasn't watching Arata—not directly—but every flicker of her gaze traced the tension in the room.

Saja lounged on a steel beam above, coiled like a serpent in repose, her wings half-spread. She hummed an ancient lullaby, one that vibrated against the metal like a siren's call. Her golden eyes glinted as she peered down at Arata. She didn't blink.

"You truly are reckless, you know," Kanon said from the shadows beyond, arms crossed, her bark-armored form blending into the concrete and moss. Her voice was cold and unreadable, but her roots crept quietly toward Arata like instinctive vines reaching for sunlight. "Don't expect me to care next time."

A slick sound signaled Hiruko's approach. She slithered closer, her face partly hidden under her veil of hair, her dozens of unseen tentacles brushing the ground like the whisper of silk. She leaned in close enough for Arata to feel the chill of her unnatural breath.

"But you taste... divine~.," she whispered. Her tongue flicked over her lips like a snake testing the air. "Let us feed again soon."

Arata groaned and rubbed his temples, trying to sit up but immediately regretting it as another wave of fatigue rolled through him.

"Is this the sensation of having allies," he muttered, glancing from Lilith to the six surrounding him, "or am I being stalked in seven different languages?"

Lilith chuckled, low and melodic, the sound wrapping around the others like velvet chains. "It's a combination of both protection and scrutiny, power comes with responsibility nowadays" she said jokingly.

Minagi leaned closer, licking her lips suggested bluntly. "Want to be stalked harder? I promise I'm gentle. Sometimes."

"Tch. Baka," Kanade muttered, puffing out her cheeks and folding her arms—or what passed for arms—in indignation.

Tamamo rolled her eyes. "You could at least pretend you have restraint."

"You could at least pretend you don't care," Saja said lazily from above.

Lilith stood, her wings brushing the ceiling. "Enough. He needs rest. And soon, we move."

The others quieted at once, not from fear—but respect. The kind that came only from blood-drenched history and power that dwarfed their own.

Arata let himself fall back against the stone bedding beneath him. As his eyes drifted shut again, he felt something both terrifying and oddly reassuring.

He was no longer alone.

But whether that meant salvation or damnation remained to be seen.

…..

…..

….

Next Day

Mid Night

Flashback

"Huh? You want to learn how to fuse Ki and curse energy? That is something no one except a few dead sorcerers pulled off. Do you think you are as strong and special as them?"

"It's just a step to grow even stronger right now. I have learned to combine Hamon plus Ki, Hamon and Cursed energy but Ki and curse energy that next level development. And with your help…I can do it."

"You have no regard for your life. Fine. Be ready for hell"

....

The moon over the cursed island hung like a cracked pearl—sickly, pale, and far too close. Trees bled sap like tears, their bark covered in glyphs from dead tongues. The air was thick, vibrating with something far older than Ki or Cursed Energy. Even the wind carried a chilling whisper, not rustling through leaves, but eerily passing through bone. It whispered, not through leaves—but through bone.

In the center of a circular clearing, where the ground bore deep scars from unknown forces, Arata stood shirtless, his muscles tense and glistening with sweat, his dark hair plastered to his forehead. Sweat soaked his back, and blood matted his hands. Ki shimmered around him in rough, chaotic bursts—clashing violently with the darker, colder presence of his cursed energy. They refused to harmonize, like two beasts battling for dominance inside his core.

Every breath he drew seared his lungs like inhaling glass shards, a war against both his exhaustion and the suffocating energy that surrounded him.

He was nearing the edge.

"Again," Lilith commanded, her voice cold and absolute.

She stood at the edge of the arena—more goddess than demon, wrapped in regal malice. Her wings were folded, but her presence radiated with terrifying calm. The six Primordial Servants' eyes held a mix of boredom, amusement, and bloodlust, their expressions shifting like shadows in a dark dance.

"He can barely stand," Kanade mumbled, half-melded with the dirt beside a melted obsidian rock. Her slime form twitched with agitation, arms crossed—if they could be called arms in this shape.

"So what?" Minagi hissed from a nearby stone, her long twirling between her fingers. "He hasn't broken yet. That means he can go further."

"Pushing him like this is reckless," Kanade snapped, cheeks puffed as she glared at Minagi.

"Then let him die," said Tamamo no Mae, leaning against a cracked altar covered in foxfire glyphs. Her nine tails flicked behind her like blades. "That's how we learned, isn't it?"

"Hmph. His suffering is inefficient," Kanon muttered, roots snaking lazily from her bare feet into the ground. "But perhaps... necessary."

Arata's body trembled violently, his knees giving way under the relentless torrent of cursed energy that surged through him like a malevolent flood, searing agony shooting up his limbs. He pounded his fist into the earth, forcing himself to rise.

"I… can still move," he rasped, voice hoarse and half broken.

"Still pretending to be strong?" Saja murmured from above, coiled lazily across a withered tree limb. "Or are you becoming it?"

Hiruko's tentacles slithered closer from the shadows. "He's cracking. His soul stings. But the scent is... intoxicating~."

The words of others fell on deaf ears as Arata's focus narrowed to a flickering vortex within his chest. His powers had condensed into a swirling vortex within his chest, a tumultuous maelstrom of conflicting energies threatening to consume him from the inside out. Two cores of energy out of four spiraled there—one blinding white, the other void-black. They didn't blend. They fought. His body resembled a battleground, where conflicting energies waged a relentless war, each vying to overpower and devour him from within.

He focused, clutching onto Lilith's earlier words.

"It's about contradiction. Life and death, will and decay. Make them dance together—or die."

Arata's fingers curled. "Show me," he growled. "The fusion technique."

Lilith's eyes narrowed, a gleam of interest flickering across her flawless features.

"So be it." She stepped forward, spreading her hands. Between her palms, a shimmering whirlpool of energy emerged—Ki and cursed energy spiraling in perfect balance.

The air cracked around it. Trees recoiled. Insects fell dead mid-air.

"This is called the Energy Equalizer," she said. "To control the fusion. Continue to pour your power into it and keep it at equilibrium as long as you can."

She released the energy orb with a push, sending it toward Arata like a collapsing star.

He caught it with both hands—and screamed.

His bones rattled like thunder, veins pulsated with a fierce rhythm, and his muscles convulsed against the unrelenting pressure. Yet, he held on with unyielding determination.

Instead, he stepped forward. Following the instruction with focus, commitment and concentration at best he could.

Pain blinded him, but he forced the two opposing forces to move in rhythm, just for a second more he felt the energy—then two.

Sweat poured down his face.

Blood leaked from his nose.

The orb transformed into a spiral in his palms began to stabilize, flickering with threads of silver and red.

From the sidelines, even Minagi's expression shifted.

"He's... doing it?"

A thunderous energy pulse erupted from Arata's body, unleashing a dome of fused energy that surged outward, engulfing the training field in its searing embrace. The trees shrieked. All minor cursed spirits hiding underground evaporated into smoke. Even Saja lost her balance mid-branch.

When the light dimmed, Arata stood at the center—his body steaming, eyes glowing dimly.

His body swayed like a reed in the wind, teetering on the brink of collapse after the monumental feat he had just achieved.

Lilith caught him before he hit the ground. Her expression was unreadable.

"You lived," she whispered. "My boi."

He coughed once, barely conscious. "Did... more than that... I felt them... dancing." I responded ignoring her possessive talks.

Lilith smiled.

A heavy silence descended upon the onlookers, a rare moment of awe and respect for the feat Arata had accomplished amidst the swirling energies and Lilith gaze.

Even Tamamo's smirk softened into something resembling respect. Kanade, pale-faced, pretended to study the ground.

Hiruko simply licked her lips again, tail twitching.

Under the eerie glow of the blood moon, amidst the unwavering gaze of deities and demons, Arata transcended mortal limitations through sheer sacrifice and indomitable will—defying the very fabric of destiny as he ascended toward something greater.