Chapter 287: The Plan

"But hear me out what about if I go in myself" said Kat

Xiang went to argue but Kat held up a hand to silence him. This… didn't actually work, and Xiang just continued speaking anyway "No. I might have summoned you for this but I will not let you take all the glory!" hissed Xiang. 

*Well at least he's smart enough not to shout. Sadly, he thinks there is glory in revenge for some reason. Hopefully I can at least get him to let me scout the area? I can use the fact that I can fly to take that option. Plus, if I can convince him to wait, I can use my night vision.*

"Xiang, at the very least allow me to fly over the compound and try and survey the area. Surely you can wait for that correct?" asked Kat

Xiang's eyes narrowed "Wait you can fly?" 

Kat flapped her wings very intentionally but didn't quite take off with them. "So? I thought they were just a decoration or something like your tail" said Xiang.

Suddenly, Kat felt a massive ball of red-hot rage explode from somewhere in her chest. Her aura activated and collided with it, slamming into the feeling and wrapping it up in a ball of calm, keeping it in place. Kat grit her teeth and let her perception slow. 

*What the hell was that?* Kat could feel the anger and indignation radiating from her chest. It felt much too extreme for her it to be her own anger… and yet it was certainly familiar. *Why am I so angry? And why can I even hold it off? I don't think I could do that before?*

*It has to be the fact he insulted my tail and maybe my wings as well? But why? Sure I do feel like I should be mad at that, and I can almost feel some indignation, but most of my anger is being trapped in that ball of feelings around my chest. Hmmm…*

*It seems to be mixed in with demonic energy as well, so it isn't just anger. Is it an appearance thing? System are succubi really vain perhaps?* 

User Kat is somewhat correct. All demons have something that will trigger an instinctive 'attack' response. It is exceptionally hard to supress, and varies from demon to demon. It is normally an inherited trait. It is considered the one of the gravest sins to specifically try to target this trigger as a fellow demon. 

*So… what? Why is this a thing then? And why can I hold it off?*

The more powerful the demon the more powerful the response. However, older demons also have a better ability to suppress this instinct because of their more refined mindsets. It is one of the few negative effects that demonic energy aggravates in demons.

*What do you mean?* Asked Kat as she locked down that feeling of rage and tried to crush it with aura. She wasn't having much luck. Now that she knew it was unnatural, she wanted it gone.

It has been tested and shown that the response is both more apparent, and more controllable in demons with more demonic energy. It is considered a trait of a demon and not a trait of demonic energy. 

*Can I get rid of it somehow?*

No. There have been no known cases of demons removing it. The best is transferring the feeling to a separate trigger, but it is exceptionally rare. This is because the trigger is related to the demon's own thoughts. It simply takes something that aggravates that demon the most and amplifies it.

*Wait… so because I like my tail so much, and I find it to be the thing I am most happy to have gained from becoming a demon… if someone insults it I get a bunch of unreasonable anger?

…

System?*

Saying it is unreasonable is not entirely accurate. The anger is well placed, and only appears when the User takes real offence. If Accomplice Lily had said the same words it would not trigger this response. Additionally, if anger infused demonic energy is used, the effects of that energy is normally amplified

*Ok fine.* Kat tried again to crush the feeling of anger, but found it stubbornly resisting. *Ok, well why can't I get rid of it?*

Because it is User Kat's anger. It is not a foreign influence. Some of it must be experienced. 

*Fine.* Kat checked her reserves of energy and found that despite the internal conversation she wasn't actually that drained. Letting her perception speed up and a bit of anger leak out, Kat wished she was surprised when the energy went straight to her tail.

Kat quickly moved it to hid it behind her back, but she could feel her flames burning around the edges of the limb and it was ready to strike out at Xiang. The burst of anger that came along with it made it very tempting to allow the strike to happen, but Kat pushed it down, with willpower as well as her aura and found herself calming quickly.

Once the flames died out, Kat flicked her tail to the side, and slashed a deep cut in one of the nearby trees using the remnants of the energy still in her tail. Xiang actually had the good graces to pale at that like Kat wanted. "Nothing of mine is for show" said Kat

Xiang huffed and turned away, still pale but he couldn't seem to resist saying "Bet your nails aren't. A warrior should keep them out of the way" under his breath. 

Of course, this was still well within Kat's hearing range. The fact that Xiang hadn't figured this out yet was actually somewhat disappointing. Kat found that she wasn't even angry in the slightest though, and found a surprising amount of comfort in that. *I wonder if the reaction was so strong because it's the first time someone has insulted my tail. Hmm, maybe I should find a way to test it. I'll bring it up with Callisto.*

*Now… let's just pretend we didn't hear him. No use giving away the fact I'll be keeping an eye on the fool as I scout the place.* "Now, is it acceptable for me to fly over their base and trying to see where everything is?" asked Kat

Xiang clicked his tongue but nodded "Fine" 

Kat nodded "Great. Now, we should wait till nightfall-" 

Xiang's hand flew up into Kat's face, "No" said Xiang. "I'll allow you to scout, but waiting for nightfall is too much" 

Kat frowned "Well, it will take me a while to scout regardless, so we probably won't attack until near or after dark anyway. Is it really an issue to wait a bit longer?" asked Kat

Xiang growled "Yes it is. I've waited long enough for this. You should be grateful I am willing to wait any longer"

Kat nodded, but internally she was cursing. *Dammit. Now I've made him mad. I wouldn't normally care about that, but I want him to listen to me when I suggest we just destroy some things instead of going in guns blazing… I'll have to bring it up now though because otherwise he won't listen when I get back.* 

"Right… well one more thing before I go," Xiang looked remarkably unimpressed she wasn't heading of instantly "Have you given some real thought to not killing them all?" Xiang grit his teeth but Kat continued "No, look hear me out. We can steal stuff for your village, get in, get out, no chance of getting caught, and no chance they will take revenge on your village" 

Xiang visibly tried to pull his anger back into himself, as if he was insulted at the mere idea that Kat was right, or that perhaps not just killing could be a good idea. Sadly, it wasn't enough. "I'll think about it" said Xiang.

Kat pursed her lips. *He isn't though.* Kat looked at Xiang's face, shifting from anger to surety, with the slightest hint of a smug smile when Kat tucked her wings in and bent her legs as she prepared to leave. *Dammit. I'll have to see what I can do later.* Kat kicked off the ground, using only a bit of enhanced strength. When she reached the top of her jump, she flared her wings to stop herself from losing height and started flapping.

*Hmm, how high is high enough. I should make sure that a normal human wouldn't be able to tell I wasn't a bird… but these won't be normal humans.* Kat kept climbing, her eyesight more than good enough to still see the ground as she climbed. *Maybe that can be my goal. Wait till I can only just see the compound and then use my energy to survey it all.* 

Kat kept her wings beating at a steady pace as the ground fell away. The air started to get colder, but not in a way that was really noticeable to Kat herself. The air was thinning, but her experience with simply not breathing underwater meant this was nothing as well. Kat climbed until she hit the first layer of clouds… and realised a problem.

*Shit. I can still see fine, but what I can't do is use my totally real x-ray vision to see through clouds. Shit, hmmm, maybe I can find an angle where it isn't so bad?* Kat grimaced at the unforeseen obstacle. *The issue is, I can hardly hear Xiang now, even with the boost to hearing… I just hope he doesn't do something stupid.*