The Spider's Web (Rui Ayaki x Reader/OC)

Ch 11: Loyalty

"Help me... Please..." a woman broke into a small cry, unable to be heard by anyone. Her twisted ankle laid limp on the wet and grimy ground, soon swelling up badly. She clawed against the ground, towards her unconscious friend. "Hey, hey..." she tried to crawl, but couldn't move.

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"Hey, why has Shinobu been giving us so many missions lately? I'm beat," I sighed, throwing and catching a rock I got on the side of the road incessantly.

"Mmf..." Rui's voice was muffled by a bamboo muzzle, secured tightly with a red strip of silk that Naho gave him.

"Haha! You can take that off y'know? I mean, there's no one here," I suggested, helping him remove the gag.

"Where're we going anyway? It's getting kind of dark," I wondered.

"If I remember correctly... Its the village of Qingce, notorious for disappearances these days," he elaborated, quickly turning to point at the gates protecting the village.

"Halt! Where's your pass?" A guard pointed a spear at Rui's head, threatening to attack him.

"Right here, old guy," I dangled a piece of wood in front of his face. It had the words "Sigil of Permission" engraved neatly on it, gifted by Shinobu's so called 'acquaintance' that she only described as 'obnoxiously loud and passionate'.

The guard gave us the side-eye, as if he didn't want us to enter.

We walked into the village, an ominous fog swirling around us. Rui seemingly sniffed the air, immediately becoming alert.

"This way," he whispered, his vibrant red eyes darted carefully from side to side, cautious.

He headed to the back of the village, me following suit. He climbed up one of the huts, looking around, and spotted a hole in the back gate of the village. We squeezed through the narrow gap, leading us to a new area, which was... a swamp?

"Haha, look I'm Shrek," I covered myself in long vines and waddled around the area like an ogre in its natural habitat.

"Oh my god..." Rui sighed.

"Ew, its all swampy in here," I treaded through the damp soil and mud, trying not to get my haori caught on the tall and skinny trees.

"Well, maybe that's because we are in a swamp," he continued treading through the dense but humid forest. "Something doesn't smell right... It smells..." he trailed off.

"Stinky?" I guessed.

"No, it smells like blood," he deadpanned.

"Oh, sorry,"

As we continued on, the thickening smell of blood caught our attention. The mist around us got redder too. We heard a faint whimper in the distance, looked at each other, and nodded. As we ran closer to the source, we saw a raven-haired woman next to a scarlet-haired male.

"Stay back!" she snarled, attempting to stand up, but her twisted ankle gave in on her.

"Calm down, miss. We're here to help. Now just let me inspect him-" Just as I was about to approach the male, Rui gripped my forearm tightly.

"Don't move," he demanded.

"What? I was just-"

"I said, don't move," he put out his arm, commanding his spiderlings to approach the two. Instantly, one spiderling incinerated, alerting the rest. They scrambled around the offender, prepared for attack. The woman gasped.

"Tomohi? What's wrong?" she extended her arm, trying to grab him.

"Tsk, just my luck. What's a demon doing out here with a human, huh?" He smiled at his friend, before extending his arm towards her too, successfully scalding the life out of her arm. The woman screamed.