‘She’s really awake…Umi’s alive.’ Kiramaru cried.

Umi dropped to the floor and grabbed a handful of dirt, watching it fall from her hand back to the ground. Each grain being examined as if were the first time she had seen it.

“I can feel…I can smell the scents around me.”

“Umi…what’s wrong with-”

Umi dug her nail into her arm and watched as blood poured down her skin.

“I can bleed?” She asked joyfully.

‘That sludge from before; the fact that I can’t hear Ko inside my head anymore…’

“Get out of her you demon!” Kiramaru demanded.

“Tisk tisk, I’m not the demon; you are. You’re the one who killed all those people in cold blood remember. I have to thank you though, those souls were on the verge of turning demonic which means they were ripe with mana~” She licked her lips.

“Ko you, bastard! I’ll…I’ll-” Kiramaru stumbled.

He struggled to keep his balance and tripped over his own feet, falling to the ground in front of Ko.

“All I needed to do was get you to turn demonic, so you wouldn’t have the strength to fight me in this weak state, but don’t worry I will put this body to good use.” She boasted.

“Come back here, Ko!”

“I am neither Ko, nor Umi now. From today I am Kumui, and this is my rebirth.” She stated.

Her eyes were a darker red than Kiramaru but her hair colour was almost identical. It was long, resting on her forehead while the rest of it hung below her shoulders. Gracefully shifting in the slight breeze.

Kiramaru’s vision began to fade as wave of fatigue pressed down on him.

“…Umi.”

-

Kiramaru woke up in a room he was not familiar with, the rickety walls were lined with reeds and withered planks.

He noticed the brown robes he was dressed in seemed similar to the ones the people in Sator wore. They’re made from cheap material and in poor condition but they last long at least.

‘What is this place, am I still in the village?’ He thought.

“You’re awake, thank goodness; I thought you may have been too far gone.” Date said with relief.

“You…you were with them.” Kiramaru paused.

He was still pretty dazed but after putting everything together but after realising who Date was he stood up hastily and grabbed the knife on the counter near him.

“I am not your enemy, I brought you here after you collapsed. I was with Koga and his men but I didn’t agree with what they were doing, I give you my word.”

“Your word…your word? The word of people who killed me and my sister, I can’t trust you.” Kiramaru said as he gripped the knife aimed at Date.

“I am sorry about your sister, really.”

“Tell me where she went?” He shouted.

Kiramaru felt a presence travelling towards them; a sudden jolt hit him like a spark of electricity and drew his attention to the wall beside him.

Two large pincers burst through the wall and grabbed Kiramaru’s arm, pulling him out the house. He was thrown into the air like a ragdoll, unable to resisit.

(Thud)

“They are…they are real. An actual demon.” Kiramaru muttered angrily.

A large insect type creature with six massive pointed legs, four beady red eyes and pincers on each side of its mouth; stood over Kiramaru.

The demon breathed heavily over him and immediately bared its pincers into him again.

“Raaaaaargh!” It cried out.

The demon threw him around, biting into him repeatedly, leaving scratches and cuts on his body. He then broke free by driving the knife into its face.

“I’ve never even been in a fight before, last night wasn’t even me but…it was. Like every desire to hurt those people were driven to the surface and made explosive.” Kiramaru muttered to himself.

“Eat…eat…eat you next!” The demon muttered.

‘He wants to eat me, sounds about right. Ko said their desires are all that they are now. The fact that this thing wants to eat like it has been, means it has been eating something around here.’

“You…taste as…her...”

Kiramaru’s eyes widened, biting down on his lip to contain himself.

“You’re the parasite that did that to her?” He said coldly.

Black embers lifted to the surface from beneath his feet and encompassed him in a mass of solid black flames.

Each spec of flame burnt brighter into a handful of pure fire that bounced around his body in rage.

“Burn.” Kiramaru whispered.

He sprinted forward to the demon and gripped onto its leg, spreading the flames all over its body and burning away its hard outer layer. The green and brown shade of its body boiled into a black crust.

“Greeeeghh!!”

It backed away, swatting at him with its other legs in a desperate attempt to escape.

One of the legs hit Kiramaru back and sent him flying into the house, setting it alight as well.

“Was this how I did it last time?” He said as he grabbed the Date’s spear from the ground.

The handle burned up and was reduced to a handful of ash, leaving Kiramaru with a confused expression.

“Tsk, I used this last time didn’t I? Then again I wasn’t in control of my body at the time, I couldn’t have been able to do what I did.”

The demon began emitting a large purple aura which caused Kiramaru to cover his nose.

‘That stuff smells rotten, is it the damn bugs mana?’ He wondered.

The grass and trees around them began withering away, turning brown and decaying down to the ground. THe life was being sucked straight from every inch of the land around them.

The demon charged at him again with a raging force, taking advantage of Kiramaru’s confused state.

“Shit, I’ll have to just have to take this head on!” He said to himself sternly.

Date jumped in front of Kiramaru, guarding him with his arms spread out. He was terrified to his core at the existence of an actual demon but still stood firmly as a shield to Kiramaru.

The demon bashed him out of the way, sending him crashing into a nearby tree. Although it was somewhat close, the distance he flew was still rather inhuman. The tree to shook on impact of his body slamming against it, which left Date motionless on the floor with a trail of blood racing down his forehead.

The demons charge continued uninterrupted and sunk its pincers into Kiramaru's shoulder, forcing him to the floor.

“Eat! Eat! Eat!!” The demon repeated.

His flames slowly diminished into a pitiful scatter of embers over his body. The fatigue and pain that followed it were taxing on his body and caused him to loose colour, turning pale with each second.

The flow of power that he had before was fading; he was losing mana.

“Get off…demon.” He struggled.

‘It’s a parasite, how do I get rid of it?’ Kiramaru thought carefully.

He thought of his mana that the demon was slowly sucking away, thinking about what it felt. He began picturing it as a flame that centred in his body, creating a vivid mental image of his mana.

“Gyaaagh!”

The demon let him go and backed away again, crying out in pain. It buried its face into the ground and brushed it along the dirt, as if it was trying to wipe something off from its mouth.

Kiramaru stared down at his hands with a widened expression.

‘Did I create that? No it’s possible that was only a coincidence…right?’