The sun rose, and Ryuji explained the situation.

“So, we’re going to this academy and after that join up with the Sword Saint?" She stared at him for a few moments. "Are you making this all up?”

“What? No, look, I have the locket right here, woman. Right here!”

“Get that thing out of my face, and let’s get moving. We only have a month to get all the way to the bottom of Dengal and the capital.”

“You know you didn’t have to twist my wrist.”

“Oh, I didn’t? I’ll keep that in mind in case it happens again.”

“Somehow, I feel like you’ll conveniently forget.” Ryuji absentmindedly rubbed his hurt wrist. ‘So much for a Kudere, all I’m getting is Ku.’

After some light shopping for camping supplies and paying hefty fees for a quick repair of Ryuji's sword, they headed south. He couldn't afford a caravan this time, thanks to the fact he had an extra person to pay for and that a giant chunk of it was just used on his weapon.

A few days later, as they were walking down the road, Marie spoke up. “So, where are your other party members, Mr. Great Hero?” She emphasized the last part of her sentence, which caused Ryuji's eyes to roll.

“Mister? Do you want a mirror or something? Cause you’re the only member, pal.”

She looked at him with sad eyes before turning her attention back to the road in front of them. “That’s depressing.”

“You’re depressing!”

“Why, thank you.”

Ryuji was heavily starting to believe that Ishtar had been messing with him and that this trip to Cacim was bait to get him with the worst human being ever.

“We’ve only been traveling for three days, and I already wanna die, damn it!”

“Stop holding your head in your hands like that; it makes you seem crazy.”

“That’s good! Maybe the monsters will be frightened by my insanity!”

“I think you would have a hard time frightening a child, much less a monster." Marie turned away from the man she was berating and looked down the hill. "Oh, speaking of them.”

Thirty monsters waited down the path. They each looked like giant boars, but instead of hair, they just had weird toad-like warts. Each one was gigantic and was easily seven feet tall. Their weapon of choice was a good old-fashioned wooden club fashioned out of a fallen tree.

“Great, just great." Ryuji rubbed his head with his hand and looked at his annoying new pal. He figured that maybe if they fought side by side, they might get along better. "Well, wanna go orc hunting?”

“Are we eating them? Because hunting sort of implies that and I don’t kn-“

“You know what I meant, damn it!” Ryuji instantly regretted thinking that there was any possibility of getting along with this woman.

“And now they know we’re here.” Her uncaring tone was starting to grate his ears.

“You did that on purpose. Hey, wait a minute!”

Marie rushed down the hill at top speed, leaving a dust trail in her wake. She held no weapons and wore only green lightweight leather armor. He was eager to see if her unarmed skills were better than Keiths. But not wanting to be outdone, or more like not wanting to be nagged later, Ryuji rushed down as well.

“Seven steps: Third step!”

Ryuji blasted ahead of Marie and readied his sheathed katana. Three vanguard orcs waited for him as he approached. Their swings were telegraphed and practically in slow motion. Ryuji opted to enter a power stance requiring his feet to be flat upon the ground and spread out to evenly spread the gravity.

“Demon Style: Onigiri!”

He released three quick cuts, one after another. Each was aimed at their throats, and each hit their mark. The orcs held on to their deep wounds futilely as they died.

"Watch out, showoff hero!" Marie's warning made Ryuji notice that 13 orcs were lined up on either side of him. “Great Dragon Impact!”

Marie slid into position and punched the air. For a brief moment, what looked like a dragon inhabited the space in which she swung. The 13 orcs to Ryujis left were now just a mist of blood. The ground below them, as well as their weapons, turned to scraps.

Ryuji raised his katana far above his head, ready to strike. He then called upon the advanced version of the most basic skill in swordsmanship.

“Supreme Cut!”

The sword came down like a flash of light, and the other 13 orcs now were in two. Ryuji quickly searched for the last one and saw Marie. The lone orc swung down with its club. With one punch, it turned to chips, and with the next punch, the orc no longer had ownership of its head.

“Nice of them to line up like that. Good work!”

“Yes.” Marie didn't seem to be too impressed by his thumbs up and quickly shrugged off the compliment.

“Uhm, nothing to say to me?” He looked at her with anticipation in his eyes.

“No.”

“I see.” Her quick rejection soured his mood. Ryuji absentmindedly kicked a rock across the path.

“Stop moping and start walking.”

“Yes, ma’am.” He trudged forward, slouching.

They unpacked their gear and made camp for the night. As Ryuji started heating his leftover rations from yesterday, he felt a gaze.

“What is it?” Ryuji was still pretty annoyed from earlier and let Marie be fully aware of it through his tone.

“I was just wondering why a swordsman carried around a worthless dagger, is all.”

Marie eyed the blade. During the periods of rest in their travels, Ryuji would just absentmindedly stare at Elizabeth's knife. He also liked to do the same thing with Rhea's pendant, but that was more just to make sure he still had it.

Ryuji lifted the crappy gift, inspecting it. “It is pretty worthless, isn’t it? It can’t even cut a piece of wood. Complete trash.” Ryuji's harsh critique didn't match the jovial tone in which he said it.

“So why do you have it?”

“It’s a gift from some friends. A birthday gift, actually.” Ryuji recalled his terrible birthday that happened a few weeks ago.

“Do your friends hate you?”

Marie looked up from her rations and froze. Ryuji had a look of profound sadness as he searched for the answer.

“They thought I was a pretty alright guy, I think. At least, I hope they did.” Ryuji put the dagger back in its sheath.

Marie raised her eyebrow. “Thought?”

Ryuji looked back down at his food. Without looking back up, he stated the simple fact like he was talking about the weather. “They’re dead.”

Marie said nothing else for the remainder of the night and wouldn't so much as glance at Ryuji.

///////////////////////////////////////////////

The next day they continued down the road. He found himself at a loss for words. Every conversation he had with this person just ended before it could even begin and any attempt at relation was shot down. He kept his eye trained on the tree line waiting for the next monster to jump out at him.

"Hey, Hero, eyes forward."

Before he could make a snarky comment, he saw what she was talking about. Rushing directly at them was a frantic middle-aged man. His shoes were ripped to shreds, and the bottom of his pants looked like they were scorched. Ryuji couldn't help but notice that he also smelt like smoke. He had a feeling he knew what was going on.

“We need help! Demons are attacking! Are you adventurers or rankers or anything; we'll take anything!”

“Don't worry, I'll go help! You get somewhere safe!”

He started into a sprint without consulting his new partner and headed up the road as fast as he could. At the side of the road were villagers. Some were crying, others praying, a few had the appearance of being calm, while others screamed their misgivings to the sky. Ryuji found himself speeding up to the point that when the charred village gate was in his sight, he was out of breath.

Endless billowing black smoke strangled the sky and blotted out the sun. He could hear cries and wails that would surely enter his nightmares. His heart was beating out of his chest, but he still put his next foot forward until he felt a strong arm hold him in place.

“Think about this, Hero. If we help, we might get injured, and if that happens, we’ll never make it to that academy on time. I say we just go around and forget about it.”

Even when faced with a town of innocent people being burned alive, Marie remained flat as she reasoned out why they should just forget they ever saw anything.

Ryuji turned around, steaming at the complete lack of empathy from his companion. “Forget about it?! Like hell, I will! I can't just pretend like I never saw this!"

Marie let go of Ryuji but still didn't seem convinced. “Suit yourself. I’m not helping.”

Maybe it was the heat or the intense nerves getting to his brain, or it could have been the irritation building up from the past few days, but for whatever reason, Ryuji was now an inch away from Marie's face. “What the hell is wrong with you?”

Marie remained unflinching and unperturbed. “I agreed to be your party member, nothing more. If you want to accept a job, then I’ll gladly contribute, but this isn’t a job, it’s just a waste of time.”

“Fine. Watch and learn what a hero’s all about!”

Ryuji turned around and moved through the gate while Marie followed, all the while putting distance between them. As he walked through the decimated smolders of the village, Ryuji was met with horrendous sight after sight. Ryuji saw dead bodies of men, women, children. Each one made him want to vomit. He didn't want to count how many he had passed, but the number had to have been higher than fifty.

"It's just like what happened to my village." Ryuji stopped in his tracks as he thought about what he just said. 'My village? I've never seen anything like this... right?'

Memories that weren't his own popped into his mind in fragments. He remembered a fire. He remembered demons, and he remembered his friend hiding him. His breathing quickened as his chest tightened.

"That... boy... damn!"

His hands shook with fervor as he gripped his sheathe. Even still, he moved forward to help. His two shaky feet brought him to the village's center, which had been turned into an execution stand. The arsonists were there massacring those who weren't caught in the blaze. Their twisted shadowy figure made Ryuji sick to his stomach. He witnessed the three lower white-masked demons rip throats while their red masked leader watched. His blood boiled, but nothing good would come from acting out of anger.

"Those bastards." Ryuji hid in the shadows of a burning building and drew his sword. "Go back to hell." He put it over his bent arm with the blunt end resting on it and aimed it like you would a gun. “Void Style: Deaf Shot!”

His sword recoiled backward as if it had just fired a casing. No noise was made, but the white demon standing to the left suddenly had a gash in its mask before it promptly shattered. His body of shadows, now missing its link to this world, evaporated into thin air.

“Check the area!”

The red mask gave orders, and the two lesser demons went in search of the assassin. Ryuji moved to the crumbling rooftops while following behind one of the demons. Ryuji aimed and fired again. The second monster fell away like mist. From behind, the other demon attacked Ryuji using its comrade's death as a diversion.

"Reverse draw!"

A flash of steel was the last thing it saw before heading back to a dimension of fire. Its broken mask clanked against the roof before slipping down. Ryuji followed suit and hopped off the roof.

Marie stood watching silently from the shadows. Her expression hadn't changed at all from when they first arrived. "Slightly impressive, but can he take out an Incubus?"

Ryuji knew that in a dragged-out battle, he would lose against a higher-level demon. He needed to his it first and hit it fast. As long as its mask broke before he did, then whats of the village could be saved.

"End-Line Final Verse!"

He dug his foot into the earth, so he could have a good take-off. He flew towards the red demon at full speed, and before the Incubus noticed, he sliced at the mask with all his might. He felt his joints creak and tear as the metal chipped through the ceramic. His sword slipped through, and with it, the rest of his body flew past the shadowy bastard.

“There you are.”

The demon turned towards Ryuji. A crack ran through the side of his mask, but it was nowhere near enough to smash it. With his arms outstretched, flames blew towards Ryuji.

“Cut!”

The attack was severed, but the demon was no longer there. Ryuji looked above where he saw a shadowy palm point towards him.

“Otaspora!”

A fireball the size of a minivan descended onto Ryuji.

“Seven Steps: Fourth Step.”

Ryuji moved at the speed of lightning into the air, narrowly dodging the fire. His muscles strained and ripped. The steps allowed explosive movement, but the faster he moved, the more stress his body was put under.

With his sword drawn, he unleashed the current. "Supreme Cut!”

A higher version than before moved through the air and assailed his opponent. Ryuji's arms felt a tremendous strain while he fell back. His feet touched the ground once again, and he inspected his work. The incubus had a new scar on his mask that went straight down the middle. Half of it fell away, but the persistent demon remained.

“Inferno.”

A grounded Ryuji couldn’t dodge the wall of fire descending on him. All he could do was use the same move to try and mitigate his damage.

“Supreme Cut!”

His arms felt sluggish, and he could hear his bones creaking. The blazing wall was split down the middle, and each half hit the ground. The wild flames expanded when they touched the ground in every direction.

'PAIN! PAIN! PAIN!'

Ryuji was left scarred with second-degree burns. The smell of his own flesh burning caused more memories to bubble to the surface.

Then in a flash, he remembered it all.

"NO!"

Ryuji held his burnt head in fear of what he was recollecting, but it didn't help because he already-

'He remembered, He remembered, He remembered, He remembered, He remembered, He remembered.'

"Not my fauuult. Not my fault. NOT MY FAULT!"

Ryuji rocked back and forth while the demon became intrigued by his sudden change in demeanor.

'He remembered, He remembered, He remembered, He remembered, He remembered, He remembered.'

"That never happened. It wasn't me. Couldn't have been me! WASN'T ME!"

He remembered what happened to his childhood friend, who had protected him. He remembered what they did to her. What he heard. What he saw.

"Hahaha... HAAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!"

Marie watched on as her employer lost all of his sanity. She needed to lend him a hand before he was turned dust. But no matter how much she wanted to go, the terror made her feet stay rooted to the ground. She had the power to help. The ability and training necessary to help, but she was frozen. Fear was instilled in her heart the second they reached the village. She might have acted unfazed, but this was the first time she had ever seen a dead body. In her head, her truest thoughts rang out, and hearing them brought her disgust.

'I don't want to end up like them!'

Ryuji continued laughing while the demon continued to watch him intently.

"............"

Then abruptly, Ryuji's laughter ceased. For some reason, he felt calm at that moment. Like he was adrift at sea during a storm. Maybe calm was a bad way for him to describe it more like he had let go. He no longer cared for the consequences; he just wanted an outlet for these emotions boiling right below the surface. If there was a word for this feeling Ryuji was sure it would be-

'Insane.'

He lunged at the demon. A hand of fire and shadow halted his blade. Ryuji roundhouse kicked his mask despite knowing that it would do nothing. His reward for such an action was a shattered foot, although he didn’t really seem to mind.

“Otaspora!”

“Thunderclap and flash!”

He flew into the air, narrowly dodging the fire, and descended as if he was living lightning. A chip fell out of the mask.

“Autumn rains!”

Before the demon could react, Ryuji followed the flow of his own momentum and led his blade with an upward arc. Yet another chip was put into the mask.

“Sunrise!”

As fire billowed around him, Ryuji jumped up to avoid being burnt. The demon followed him, and with an outstretched hand, the fire threatened to melt his legs. With absurd athleticism, he flipped sideways in the air and cut through the mask along the horizon. The sorry excuse for a mask barely clung to the demon's face.

“Fire impact!”

A hand punctured Ryuji's gut, and a torrent of hell flames burned his insides. Ryuji felt pure heat and pain. But he did not care. With power surging from his approaching death, his last strike carried the full capability of his blessing.

A single stab, that was all it was. There was no fancy skill behind it, just raw and unadulterated power.

The demon faded out of existence, and with its departure, Ryuji slightly reclaimed his senses.

“Help! Help!”

Before Ryuji could faint, he heard an old man cry for help. Turning around, he saw a 50-year-old man with severe third-degree burns writhing on the ground.

'Save.'

There was no room for higher thought in the exhausted and pain-racked Ryuji. So he slowly approached the man. But before he could make it, he was tackled to the ground and held in a submission hold by Marie.

“You can’t!”

Marie's voice, full of indignation, bore down on the pinned Ryuji. He looked to the victim, he was almost there, just a little further, and he could heal him.

“L-let me go!”

“Listen to me, you’re going to die if you don’t heal yourself! Leave that old man and help yourself.”

“GET OFF ME!”

Ryuji attempted to get up, but his face was promptly smashed into the ground. Marie reached her boiling point and began tightening her vice-like grip on his arm.

“If you think a dying old man you don’t know is worth more than your own life, then you’re fucked in the head!”

“I said… get off.”

Face in the dirt, Ryuji couldn’t move. All his energy went into that last stab. The internal damage made it hard to breathe and even harder to move. Still, he had that one singular thought.

'Save.'

Marie's let up on her pressure all at once and allowed Ryuji to get up. Her monotone voice made his blood run cold. The person in front of them had stopped breathing.

“He’s dead now. So, will you heal yourself?”

....................................................

“Sacred High Heal.”

//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

They continued moving forward on the road. Ryuji had refused to speak to Marie for the last two days, and Marie had similarily refused to apologize. During this stint, Marie noticed changes in Ryuji's demeanor and behavior. For example, during the night, she could soft cries and muffled words coming from his bag.

She had also taken notice that Ryuji now wanted to clean his blade by local creeks and streams. He always asked to be alone during these times, and Marie didn’t really want to spend more time than necessary in his presence, so she didn’t mind.

On one such occasion, Marie had been waiting an awfully long time for Ryuji to get back. So she headed into the forest and towards the creek to retrieve the idiot. She didn’t know why, but she was sneaking through the brush to not make any sound.

Her head peaked through the leaves and twigs to see Ryuji sitting on a rock. His lower lip was quivering, and his eyes looked panicked. She could tell that he was hyperventilating with his quick shallow breaths. But the most disturbing thing to her was how his hands were clenched.

"Calm down..."

In between slowing breaths, Ryuji tried to soothe himself. Red dripped into the stream from his white bare-knuckled grip.

His breathing calmed down with each drop. And after a minute, he let go of himself and looked to the sky. He sighed deeply and washed his hands in the creek.

Marie didn't fail to notice the other deep marks on his palms from what she could only assume were previous times he had to calm down. She went back to the camp and waited.

“I’m sorry that took so long. We can go now.” Ryuji returned and went to grab his bag when he saw Marie with a face like she wanted to ask a question. “What’s wrong, Queen?”

“Queen?”

“Well, you keep calling me a hero or whatever. I figured you needed a nickname too. Not to mention you boss me around like your one anyway. So I'd say it's a perfect fit.”

“Hmph. You know we’re almost out of money, right?”

“Yeah, yeah. We’ll stop in the next town and take a quest.”

"Don't make it sound like this isn't your fault."

"Well, I'm sorry the stuff on me got burned, okay? If it makes you feel any better, thanks to the ever-increasing terrible events in my life, I'm down to two outfits that don't have holes in them!"

"You're right; that did make me feel better."

With a roll of his eyes, Ryuji went to pick up his cleaning kit. Marie laughed dryly and packed up her own pleasantries, and then stopped.

“Are you alright?”

He packed up the cooking supplies with no delay. Now it was his turn to answer flatly as he put the bag on his back so they could leave.

“No. You?”

"... No."

A somber nod was all she got in response as they started down the road toward Maldsdeen. Her eyes couldn't help but stare at the gashes on his palms. Whenever she did a pit would form in her stomach, and she didn't know why.