Mura stood as Judge Nidar read out the verdict. Hot tears started to roll down his face, pooling against the mask secured against him.

“I hereby find the defendant, Mura of Gakidō, guilty of treason against the Empire of Yomi.”

Nergal crossed his arms, the corners of his mouth crinkling as if fighting off the urge to laugh. Naraka acted taken aback, showing a brief look of defeat on his face just as he had rehearsed.

“In the light of the Defense’s testimony, however, I believe death would be too harsh a fate for you, son. You have betrayed this country and everyone within it. However, you would better serve as a beacon of inspiration to those who would be so easily swayed. You haven’t caused any injury or conspiracy to harm or kill His Majesty, so the initial charge of high treason has been lessened.”

Kishin’s eyes grew wide as he flashed a killer smile. Mura had actually done it. He had cheated death.

“As such, you shall receive the maximum penalty one convicted of treason can endure. I hereby sentence you to permanent exile from the Empire of Yomi and her lands. I revoke your citizenship, your titles, your merits and ownership to all possessions, favors and services given to you by the Empire and her affiliates. You will be banished to the mortal realm of Nakatsukuni, where you shall live among the humans you have chosen to ally yourself with.”

The words stung Naraka’s heart, despite knowing that it was coming. Even though this was the best possible outcome, it pained him to hear the punishments laid upon his student.

“Lastly, I revoke your power. You shall be forever marked with the Anima Stain: an eternal brand on your condemned soul. Never again will you wield magic, nor will it course through your veins,” Nidar stated before banging his gavel.

Nergal’s expression turned slightly, losing its jubilant aura. He accepted that while death wouldn’t befall Mura today, it would eventually. This just made it all the more easier.

“Don’t think you’ve won, Naraka,” Nergal said with scorn, refusing to look at his opponent.

“I don’t, in fact. I believe we’ve all lost something today, Minister.”

Naraka’s voice was cold, still resentful that matters had come to this.

Mura meanwhile had his mind racing laps. How could he possibly revoke magic? He’d never see his homeland again, nor would he be able to see Naraka again either. Would he even be able to see Lilith? Thoughts of hopelessness and futility muddled his thinking. He didn’t even know what this Anima Stain thing was and from the looks of it, chances were the thing wasn’t removable.

He turned to face Lilith, who looked up at him in shock. She was just as confused and anxious as he was, likely more so. As if reading his thoughts, Naraka placed a hand on Mura’s shoulder.

“I’ve done everything I can for you. Since Lilith was legally defined as ‘property’ of yours, she is considered free from her contract as your Thrall.”

Naraka looked past Mura to lock his eyes onto the yokai.

“You may share his burden if you so wish. Or you may leave. That decision is yours to make, Lilith.”

Lilith’s expression turned to one of fierce determination. She nodded with an audible muffled noise, solidifying her stance on the matter. Mura turned to her and shook his head in protest. So they could talk, Naraka unfastened the masks of the convicted duo and tossed them onto the table.

“You can’t!!” Mura said between intakes of fresh oxygen.

“Hell if I can’t! Anything you’re taking on, I’ll take on too! We’re in this together!”

The judge looked upon the scene, his heart welling with sentiment.

“If the defendant wishes that to be the case, so it shall be. The Thrall known as Lilith will serve alongside in the punishment dealt. You are exiled from Yomi, just the same. However, the Anima Stain will be reserved for the defendant only. As an accomplice, your crimes were not as severe as your master’s.”

Lilith nodded solemnly. She didn’t owe Yomi a thing anyway. As a former human being, she only had one true home as far as she was concerned.

“… Thank you,” Mura softly uttered. He felt a knot clenching within his throat, making his voice crack slightly as he tried to fight the swelling emotion.

“Of course, partner,” she said with a smile.

Judge Nidar hammered his gavel once again, calling for attention.

“With my sentence carried out, I hereby call this trial to a close. The Court thanks the jury for their time today, you’re adjourned.

With a flash of light, Nidar teleported out of the courtroom. With their dismissal announced, everyone stood up from their seats.

“But we didn’t even do anythin’!” Kishin shouted out to the now-absent judge.

Two guards came into the courthouse doors, causing light from the outside hall to spill into the dim room. As they neared Mura and Lilith, Naraka subtly approached his student as he prepared to walk away. With a whisper, he spoke softly into Mura’s ear.

“I swear, I shall never allow death claim you,” he said with a warm smile. “Farewell, my friend.”

The words took a moment to catch up to Mura’s brain in the shock of everything happening so quickly.

“Wait! Naraka!”

Mura reached out to his teacher, but Naraka had to continue walking. He couldn’t risk showing such outward emotion in front of the others. But Naraka wasn’t sad, however. Far from it, in fact.

It was because he knew they would meet again. It was a promise he would make sure to keep.

❇ ❇ ❇

Expulsion Unit, DIS Maximum Security Institution — Later that afternoon. Mura had been escorted back to DIS after the trial had ended. The ride was sobering and quiet, giving the demon time to reflect on what had just happened. After the truck had reached the supermax prison once again, he could tell based on the turns the vehicle was making that they were headed toward a different location.

With the truck coming to a stop, the back doors had opened and Mura was removed with assistance. Lilith followed shortly behind as the two were led toward a small concrete building located far from the actual prison itself. Mura dragged his feet slightly as he walked, prompting a guard to shove him forward.

—Naraka saved my life… Lilith’s too. Just like that though… I’ll never see him again? I’ll never see any of these people again.

He thought back to all of the people he had met on his journey. People whose faces would now only been reserved in memories. Zozo, Old Hob the blacksmith. Even the quirky banker Mammon.

Then he recalled the others. His enemies. Mara, the emperor who had been surrounded in mystery. Nergal, Behemoth and Suzu too. People he wasn’t even sure what side they were on, like Kishin and Lamia came to mind as well.

Sure he was glad he’d never see them again, but they still helped shape him into the person he was now. Mura looked up into the sky, taking a last look at the black sun he’d never lay eyes on again. A light smile grew on his face as he blinked and turned his attention back to the building he was approaching.

After walking into the small building, he was escorted with Lilith and two guards onto a large freight elevator inside.

The guard swiped down on a black touchpad inside the elevator, leading to a number lighting up on the display above. The doors closed shut and the suspended metal box shifted its weight, causing them to descend underground.

They sunk lower and lower into the depths; stretching on for what seemed like minutes. Mura had that uncomfortable feeling in his stomach that often accompanies elevator rides, but he couldn’t tell if it was simply gravity or the gravity of the situation he was about to face.

A single ding sounded their arrival, leading to the doors parting. What Mura saw was a single chamber, large in its size with glowing lights above. In the center was a colossal machine which he recognized almost immediately. It was the exact type of device he had been beamed onto after returning to Yomi. A receiver for teleportation between realms.

The guards led Mura and Lilith over to the left of the chamber, where they saw a metallic door. He could see that several armed officers were stationed in the room already, one already in front of the door they were walking to.

As they walked closer, the door slid open automatically. Mura entered the room with his friend behind him. Inside the room was a drastically different atmosphere. While the primary chamber containing the receiver had a majestic and surreal feeling to it, this room embodied an uneasy dread. It was considerably darker and smaller, with two blue lights on the walls mirroring each other.

To the rightmost corner of the room was a black chair containing several belted straps. It was primarily made of some bizarre polymer that reflected the light. Embedded into the back and arms of the chair were what must have been the thinnest cushions Mura had ever seen, likely there to provide the bare minimum of comfort. Across from the chair were tables and cabinets that looked like they were taken from a doctor’s office.

What caught Mura’s eye next were two small grey cubes with locks on the front. They appeared to be chests, designed to protect something incredibly important.

A guard motioned for Mura and Lilith to stop. He didn’t say anything at first, then turned to his men.

“Take the yokai out of the room for now. She shouldn’t see this,” he spoke, his voice grizzled and mechanical from the helmet he was wearing.

The other officers nodded and proceeded to escort Lilith out of the room.

“Wait, what’s going on?! Mura!” Lilith cried out as the men had to resort to forcibly pull her out before shutting the door and locking it.

The guard that had commanded them turned to Mura. It was clearly a guard different from the ones that had taken him to the courthouse earlier in the day, with this one appearing more sympathetic.

“For what it’s worth, sir… Your courage with that human was inspirational. Just have faith in knowing that you aren’t alone.”

With that one sentence, the guard walked out of the room. Mura was left completely baffled, but also touched. He smiled wordlessly as the man left him alone in the room.

Shortly after, the door slid open again. A tall man walked through the doors, someone who wasn’t initially there with the other guards. It was Nergal.

“Well, well, Mura. It appears as though we can’t keep apart for very long, can we?

“Why are you here?! You can’t kill me—“

Nergal raised his hand, sending out a blast of telekinetic energy that lifted Mura off the ground effortlessly. With his other hand, he cast a spell wordlessly. The prisoner’s clothing that Mura had been wearing dissolved into nothingness, leaving him entirely naked and exposed.

Without a word spoken, Nergal waved his hand; slamming Mura down into the black strapped chair. He was completely in control as Mura couldn’t move a muscle to defend himself.

Nergal lowered his fingers until the index was sticking out toward Mura. He waved it, causing the straps on the chair to magically begin coiling around the helpless demon. They strapped Mura down, binding his arms, legs, chest and head. After locking him in place, Nergal lowered his arm and walked toward Mura; his boots clacking against the linoleum floor.

“Fret not, I’m simply here on business,” Nergal said, his voice dry and emotionless. “I’ve taken the responsibility of branding you and your slave with the Anima Stain. After I’m finished with you, she’ll be next.”

Mura felt the cold air on his skin and his fear grow inside him. Goose bumps rose up over his arms and legs, not from the temperature but Nergal’s presence.

Nergal turned to the metal cube on the countertop, flicking the lock with his finger to open it. His frame blocked Mura’s view from whatever was inside.

“If…. you hurt… her…” Mura snarled in anger.

In response, Nergal slipped both hands into his overcoat pockets. With a blinding flash of pure speed, Nergal turned and delivered the heel of his boot into Mura’s temple.

His head was flung to the left in what felt like whiplash after a head-on car collision. Mura’s ears rung as his vision clouded momentarily. He couldn’t even feel the pain in his skull nor the blood running down his cheek due to the temporary numbness from shock.

Nergal lowered his foot back to the ground, his face unchanged from what it was previously.

“Behave yourself, boy. Your life was spared… but you’d be surprised what you can survive without.”

Mura gasped and managed to reclaim the air that had been shaken from his lungs.

“When I was a criminal, just like you, I worked as an enforcer,” Nergal said calmly, turning his attention back towards the counter. “One method of torture I particularly enjoyed was severing the arms and legs, then healing them quickly. You’d see grown men, much stronger than you, break down and cry like children after realizing they were nothing more than a limbless doll.”

Mura’s stomach turned at the words Nergal spoke, fighting the revulsion rising up in his throat.

“Other times I’d just slice them into thin strips starting from the feet. Healing them afterwards, of course. Wouldn’t want them to bleed out. By the time one decided to talk, he was nearly a pile of sashimi…”

Nergal turned to Mura with an antiseptic wipe in his hand. Closing the gap between them, he approached the naked demon and proceeded to wipe down Mura’s smooth chest with the wet cloth.

The pungent sting of alcohol filled Mura’s nostrils as the wipe coated his left pectoral with the cold fluid. Nergal looked down at Mura, the creases from age and stress on his face now more apparent up close.

“When you approached me that night, wishing to kill Behemoth in a dual for his crimes… You had my respect. Truth be told, it reminded me of myself in a way when I did the same all those millennia ago.”

Nergal suddenly used his other hand to pull Mura’s head back by his long hair, forcing the men to lock eyes.

“But once I heard you sided with a human, the lowest of all beings… It made me sick. I wanted nothing more than to end you, but Mara… His Majesty, advised against it.”

The Minister’s eyes flashed briefly, showing Mura a glimpse of golden eyes with horizontal pupils; as if they belonged to a goat rather than a man. Nergal let go of Mura, letting his head fall limp before Mura raised his head back slightly to glare at him.

—This man is insane… He’s nothing more than a maniac with a badge.

Nergal turned once again to retrieve what was lying dormant in the metallic cube. He lifted out a small device, turning to face Mura with it in hand. It was a glowing, pulsating spike covered in arcane runes and glyphs.

“What you see before you is the end of any power you once held and will ever hold again. Allow me to grant onto you the frailty of your precious humanity.”

With that, Nergal promptly took the glowing pale spike in hand and with a quick thrust, drove it through Mura’s beating heart.