"So...where exactly is this 'master'?"

"I'm not sure myself. All I have is what father told me."

We are making our way through the silent forest. The trees are letting through faint sun beams as the burning star is slowly fading behind the horizon.

We need to find the place as soon as possible, being in the forest overnight is simply too dangerous. Not to mention, the two of us aren't in any condition to fight if something happened to attack us...both physically and mentally.

Aaaaa, my legs hurt, my stomach is empty. I want to eat...

I trip on a rock and end up falling over.

"Yuuna! Are you alright?"

It hurts. I think I landed on a sharp rock with my shoulder.

I feel like giving up. I just want to stay down and go to sleep. And then...

My eyelids are about to shut when Hidiku starts shaking me.

"Hey! Don't you dare give up! We are continuing until we find this 'master' of yours, unless you want to get eaten by a demon!"

"You know...that doesn't sound half bad."

Hidiku sighs. He doesn't like the answer he is given and pulls me up by the collar at the back of my neck.

"As if I would let that happen. Now hop on, we are continuing."

He has a calm and relaxed voice as he's letting me piggyback him. It's like all the stress has left him.

"You are much lighter than I thought. Have you been eating enough?"

"Mmm"

That is all that exits my lips. I'm deprived of strength to the point where a single word feels like too much effort.

Speaking of effort, is this alright? He isn't in a much better state than I am. Is it alright for him to carry me?

My eyelids start getting really heavy and my head leans towards Hidiku's back.

I guess.....It should be.....fine.

[Hidiku's Perspective]

I wonder if this makes her feel any better.

"Yuuna, how are you feeling?"

I wait for a second or two but there's no reply.

"Yuuna?"

I turn my head slightly, she's sound asleep.

A faint smile appears on my face.

It's not surprising after all that has happened today. It was a tragic and unforgivable event, I feel like I'm lucky that I'm still able to smile, I guess I have Yuuna to thank for that.

If I ended up without her....if I ended up alone, I would have most-likely given up a long time ago.

As we have buried my sister, I swore to myself that I will exterminate any demon that crosses my path, until the very last one....but first, we need to find this master because right now we are powerless.

"Hi-di-ku. You need to hurry.....danger is approaching~"

"Yuuna?"

I stop and once again turn my head so I can see Yuuna with a single eye.

No...she's still asleep. But I could've sworn the voice came from my back and it sounded just like Yuuna's but...it felt sinister.

As I'm standing still, confusion is filling my mind. I can't get my eyes off Yuuna.

Just what was that? It spoke of danger, what danger?

Crack

I rotate my body towards the sound that came from my behind.

The obvious sound anyone is familiar with echoes through the nearby surroundings. Something is here with us.

The sun is down and we are surrounded by darkness, my field of view is limited but that does not matter as whatever was following us now reveals itself to me. An arm extends through the darkness into the moon's light and grabs a tree standing next to it. Soon, it fully reveals itself.

A demon. Not any taller than myself. A single horn coming from its forehead, the right half to be specific. Rigid limbs with the face of a burnt corpse.

And this smell! I haven't noticed earlier since I was too focused on the situation, but demons really have a foul stench. The last time I smelled something this horrible was some years back when I was attacked together with my friends by a demon. But at that time, Himari was there to protect us, now there's no one.

Should I run? No, it will have no problem catching up to me with Yuuna on my back. In that case, I will have to face it myself...

But to my surprise, another two demons emerged from the darkness. Now there's three demons!

My chances were already slim with just a single one, but three? There's no way I can pull that off, especially with my injuries.

My options have narrowed down to a single one. Run!

I turn my back to the three demons and start running. I can't let myself be caught, I won't let you die here Yuuna!

But it doesn't seem like they will let me off that easily as one of them is already above me. I throw myself to the side, straight to the ground, taking Yuuna with me. She rolls out of my reach, then, a demon crawls on top of her.

Her eye lids are twitching, she's about to wake up.

I'm sorry for letting you go! I'm sorry for making that thing be the first image you see right after waking up, but you need to...

"Wake up, Yuuna!"

[Yuuna's Perspective]

Hidiku? Why is he yelling? Let me sleep for a bit longer...

And what is this bad smell? It stinks almost like a....

My eyes open wide with the speed of lightning and lead me to a horrendous face of a demon sitting above me.

My heart rate increases, my breathing becomes shaky. We are staring at each other, from eye to eye.

"Hold on Yuuna, I'll be right there!"

Hidiku gets up behind the demon and pulls out his sword but as he assumes his striking position, another demon leaps at him and pins him to the ground.

The beast above me opens its jaw and descends closer and closer to my face but I start pushing its head back while desperately looking around for something that could potentially help us.

A third one?!

There's a third demon and it's walking towards me!

Think Yuuna, think!

I descend my eyes from the approaching demon after spotting an object on the ground reflecting the moonlight. That object is my sword.

I begin to push the demon away with just a single hand and reach out to my weapon with the other. I'm struggling but it is close enough, reaching it is possible!

The demon pinning Hidiku attempts to bite him but gets a blade shoved between its jaws, Hidiku is doing his best to survive, I can't let him die!

Reach!

My fingertips start sliding on the sword's surface but I'm slowly moving it towards me. Soon it gets within my full reach and that's when I grab the sword by its blade and hit the demon on its temple, cutting my hand in the process. The otherworldly monster is stunned but after just a few short seconds it snaps back. I spin the sword in the air and this time grip it by the handle.

Gush

The blade runs through the demon's neck as it spurts out streams of blood.

"Yuuna, no! Your wounds are exposed! You will get poisoned if the demon's blood enters them!"

Crap, I haven't realized. But it's too late now, there's more than enough blood to end my life three times over...

It takes only seconds for severe pain to strike my body. I start twisting it as I grind my teeth simultaneously. I try to conquer the pain, yet I don't realize that it's about to get even stronger.

At that point, the agony makes me scream, but it doesn't take long for the pain to completely fade.

"Yuuna!"

Hidiku knocks the demon off him and jolts towards me. Fortunately, he manages to finish the job I wasn't able to finish and severs its head. He then drops to his knees and holds me in his arms.

Spots of blood begin to take shape all over my body. My limbs feel numb. My head feels light. Are.....my eyes bleeding?

I cough up a small amount of blood.

The poison is working fast...I can already feel...my consciousness fading.

"Yuuna, can you hear me? Hey! Yuuna! stay with me!"

Tears start spilling down his cheeks.

My.....my hearing is disrupted and my vision is becoming blurry.

I try to desperately lift my trembling arm with the last of my strength, I want to reach Hidiku and comfort him but my emotions won't let me. Tears start streaming down my eyes as a river that then mixes with the blood my eye sockets are filled with.

"H-Hidiku...I don't want to die..."

My voice is shaky, full of desperation and the consuming fear.

He grabs my ascended hand and holds it tight, but my sense of touch faded together with the rest.....I can't feel his warmth anymore.

[Hidiku's Perspective]

"Don't give up, you can pull through! We will get someone to help you, just hang on!"

I look from left to right. I want to run with her and hopefully find someone that would help us, but before I get the chance to stand up, Yuuna's eyes are nearly shut, they lost colour. Her temperature is declining.

"Yuuna?.....Yuuna! Come on, wake up! You can't die, not like this! Please....don't leave me too."

As I hold her in my arms, I press my ear to her chest. There's no heartbeat.

I shake her body over and over again as I'm hoping she's just napping to regain strength but deep down I know...that's not the case.

Soon I give up and rest my head on hers. The tears drop on her cheeks from mine

"How could this happen? As if Himari wasn't enough. Why must you go and die too? Why must you be so unfair? Why? Why?"

Why? Did it come to this? Both of them haven't even become adults yet. They had their whole lives before them. If only I were strong enough. If only the rest weren't taken away. If only demons weren't real. We could have been living our lives peacefully. There would be no need to fight. But instead, these monsters mercilessly slaughter our kind, trample over our lives. If only..... if only they could all just perish with the snap of a finger!

And with that, anger begins to flow through me but before I get the chance to make a move, one of the two last standing demons is already above me. It strikes with its hand directly to the ground but it misses me.

I tossed myself together with Yuuna to the side. She's now laying on the ground. I close her eyes properly and stand up to face the demon with my sabre sword tightly gripped.

The demon dashes towards me.

"You will pay!!"

As it extends its arm, I lower myself below it and from my current position I slice it off together with the shoulder, though the demon passes me, so I look back to keep track of it but there's another face directly in mine, with the devil's grin.

"Bastard!"

I'm fast enough to block its punch but the force of it pushes me further back nevertheless.

Crap! Keep track of it!

I look around but they are both gone, it's as if they disappeared into thin air. Then two shadows appear before me.

Above!

Both demons drop on me, but I manage to dodge only one of them. The other lands a kick on my stomach.

So strong! I'm positive my ribs just cracked!

The kick is powerful enough to send me flying a few good meters where I then hit a tree and leave a small crater in it.

I can't...move....

Both of them are slowly approaching me.

Move Hidiku...you have to move...move and survive, then find the master. Don't let Yuuna...die in vain!

One of the demons pick me up by my hair while the other one that is missing a limb stands behind him.

I want to swing my arm at it, but it won't move!

It grabs my head with its other hand and starts squeezing it.

This is it. It's over already. I haven't achieved.....a single thing.

Himari, Yuuna....I will be joining you soon.

I calmly close my eyes. I will be able to see them again....maybe this isn't so bad after all.

"Don't give up!"

What was that? A voice? Himari? Am I hallucinating? Or is it a flashback?

It doesn't matter! I can't give up here! If I do, there's no way she would forgive me, neither would Yuuna! They would beat me hard enough to kill me a second time!

Move Hidiku! Move!

Somehow, with a stroke of luck, I manage put enough strength into my arm and slice of the beast's hand.

I have released myself from its clutches.

Good, now run! I have to buy some time, even if it's just a little!

That's what I'm hoping for at least, but there's two of them, there's no way the second demon would let me go.

It catches up within an instant and grabs me by one of my arms, then tosses me further.

I end up eating dirt.

Soon enough, I'm slowly ascending as my arms are about to collapse. The demon once again stands above me. It loads its arm, then strikes it towards me with high speed. I try to block it with my blade, but it snaps in half and leaves me in surprise.

It's too fast, I can't dodge it. Is this really the end? There must be a way!

The beast's arm is so close to piercing me when suddenly, it gets cut in half as an object zooms by.

"Huh?!"

What just happened?

I look at the demon but it's looking at its sliced arm with the same amount of confusion. So I direct my gaze to the direction the object flew to and I spot something stuck in one of the many trees.

It's a katana. Wait, isn't that....

Bash

Next thing I know, a sound comes from the demon's direction. It's as if something punched it really hard but when I return to my previous view, I see something I would have never expected.

The demon is being kneed by someone! Her straight hair waves in the air with the colours of black and white, her eyes are crimson red and out of the sinister grin on her expression peek out two tiny, vampire-like fangs. But that face...

....is Yuuna's.