Shinjimaru sat on the cold stone floor of the square, legs crossed, the nearly empty bottle of liquor in his right hand. He drank in steady gulps, without looking at anyone. He didn't care about the captain or the entire meeting. He just thought, "I'm not a Daoist, I don't practice any bullshit, I don't have an official rank. What am I doing here among these adventurers?" But when Kira's words echoed, "The night assassin is sitting here," the bottle of liquor stopped halfway to his mouth. He slowly raised his head and found the clinical glint of Kira's blue eyes fixed on him. Shinjimaru's heart gave a strong thump and the world seemed to lose its color.
The captain lit another cigarette, the flame illuminating his scarred face for a second.
Immediate murmurs exploded in the semicircle. The captain raised his dry voice:
"Shut up."
Silence returned immediately.
"Kira," ordered the Captain, exhaling smoke. "Go find the murderer. Or rather, the worm who serves food to the beasts."
Kira began to walk. The sound of his boots on the tiles was the only noise in the square that Shinjimaru paid attention to. She walked slowly among the adventurers and mercenaries sitting in a semicircle. Some men cowered, fearing the accusing finger; others already gripped the hilts of their swords and axes, ready to tear apart whoever was pointed at. A few just leaned forward, curious.
Shinjimaru began to sweat cold sweat. His heart pounded in his chest. His eyes darted from side to side, calculating and looking for a gap in the crowd to escape, paths between people's legs, nearby rooftops, dark alleys. There was no clear way out.
As Kira advanced, the captain spoke, his voice calm and loud enough for everyone to hear:
"These deaths only happened in my area. South zone. In the other areas of the village, nothing. Everything was calm. On the very first day, I called Kira. Kira and I suspected that the killer was someone who knew this area well. In the two days before today, we checked all the other areas. Using the same blood that is on this thread, and nothing, no one matched the biological signature... Kira is a sweetheart, you know. Her clan has been doing this work for generations, detecting blood, tracking differences that no one else sees. "
Kira continued to advance. The crowd behind her rose en masse, craning their necks to see where she would stop.
"Only our area was left," continued the Captain. "And bam. The rat is here. I'm disappointed. The devil dog should be smarter. He shouldn't be in my zone, or even in the village. Murderers don't kill their neighbors, right? But to be honest, he's dumb."
Yuki, sitting near Shinjimaru, followed Kira's eyes closely. He saw the exact path of her gaze. He understood before anyone else.
The moment Shinjimaru tried to stagger to his feet to run, Yuki moved. It was a quick dash, a blur of movement that ended with Yuki's right hand clamped around Shinjimaru's neck. He lifted his brother off the ground, Shinjimaru's feet dangling in the air.
"Once again," Yuki growled. "You have dishonored the clan. This time, in the worst possible way."
"Bingo," Kira said, stopping in front of them.
At that moment, all the adventurers drew their weapons. The sound of metal being unsheathed filled the square.
Shinjimaru tried to speak, his voice hoarse from the grip around his neck:
"I can explain... this is wrong..."
Yuki tightened his grip. "Shut up."
He dragged Shinjimaru by the neck to the Captain's feet and threw him to the ground. Two guards grabbed Shinjimaru, twisted his arms behind his back, and tied them with thick hemp rope. A ball of ice-cold water was poured over his head by the captain, mixing with sweat and liquor.
The captain stepped forward and delivered a sharp punch to Shinjimaru's stomach. The air left the dog's lungs with a yelp. The rope tightened around his injured wrist, the cut made by Afro reopened, and blood began to flow from his hands, dripping onto the damp stones of the square.
"Confess," said the Captain, preparing his next blow.
"It wasn't me..." Shinjimaru whimpered, before being hit by another punch, this time to the face, which threw him to the side.
Shinjimaru bent over. The captain just watched, smoking his cigarette in silence. Meanwhile, Kira watched the rooftops intently.
On the other side of the south zone...
Afro sat on the floor of the room, illuminated only by the moon, his legs crossed. His long sword rested on him: the tip of the sheath on his left thigh, the blade tilted upward, the hilt resting on his left shoulder. In his right hand, he closed the Afro Book, those symbols frustrated him, and put it in his bag.
Himari slept on the futon nearby, breathing slowly, wrapped in the blanket. The room was silent except for her breathing and the distant sound of crickets outside.
Afro counted mentally, blindfolded.
"One... two... three... four... five."
Shinjimaru had only marked five targets all day. In his mental count, he knew Shinjimaru had been caught. After all, all the adventurers had followed the same path to the main square, and now screams echoed from afar, loud voices, confused, full of anger and surprise.
A hoarse, deep voice spoke inside his head, clear as if it came from someone beside him.
"Something's not right. All the Taoists left the inn a while ago. Let me take over. I'll feed myself."
Afro slowly stood up, but his legs buckled. He fell to his knees with his hands resting on the ground. His body trembled. He was thin, his ribs visible under his skin, his face gaunt, his eyes red from exhaustion. He hadn't slept since the road to the village. The vitality he spent to contain his demonic side left him weak, his skin dry, his muscles powerless. The demon was not satiated, and it sucked the rest out of him.
"You lose weight because you want to contain me. I am a natural human force."
He took a deep breath and replied.
"Remember the day of the oath. When I looked at Himari and said I would make her my executioner."
The demonic voice corrected him. "We were the ones who swore. Not you alone. It was the entire Afro. Now there is human Afro and demon Afro. We only become true Afro when both parts are satisfied."
"The problem is the damage... We don't want people after us. It gets in the way of Himari's training."
The demonic voice laughed softly, unhurriedly.
"Calm down. The last time I did damage, I was fourteen. Now we're seventeen. Things change, but we never regret anything."
He sighed and turned his face to Himari, who was sleeping. She didn't move. He got up again and walked to the window. He looked at the dark street below.
The demonic voice spoke one last time, satisfied.
"Get some sleep."
Afro's body changed in seconds.
Curved horns grew from his forehead, pointing toward the sky. His dreadlocks stretched below his waist, floating as if there were no gravity. Tattoos with ancient inscriptions appeared all over his skin and glowed dark red, pulsing like living veins, changing shape every moment. A mask made of white bones formed on his face, covering his mouth and nose, but leaving his blindfolded eyes free to see. Black, sharp claws grew from his hands. He ripped off his shirt and threw it on the floor. He took off his sandals. His body was now taller, muscles defined under his dark skin, which now glowed.
The Afro Demon took a step back, laughed loudly, his deep voice echoing in the empty room.
"Hahahahaha... I... I... I... hahahaha!"
In a blur of movement, he leaped out the window. He disappeared into the night.
The Demonic Afro ran across the rooftops with supernatural agility, laughing maniacally as the wind cut through his bone mask. "The stronger the Taoist, the more satiated I become," thought the demon with a voracious hunger. "The square is crowded with them... I will eat them all and then devour this entire village! Hahahaha!"
Upon seeing the central courtyard, Afro took a huge leap, propelling himself toward the moon.
Kira, her eyes wide with shock, shouted, "He's coming!" The Captain, who was holding Shinjimaru by the hair, dropped the prisoner like trash and lit another cigarette.
In the air, Afro's blindfold spontaneously combusted, revealing two glowing red dots falling from the sky, leaving traces of crimson light. The impact against the ground was brutal, raising a curtain of dust and stone shards that blinded those present. In the center of the crater, only the red eyes glowed.
When the dust settled, the figure revealed itself. The katana's sheath fell heavily, and what emerged was no ordinary sword: it was a black blade with four overlapping layers, vibrating with crimson energy. Red lightning began to whip from Afro's body to the ground, splitting the tiles.
Suddenly, two spectral silhouettes, two souls, detached themselves from the body of the demonic Afro. They stopped, replicating his combat pose, their very essence multiplied.
The Demonic Afro smiled beneath his bone mask and roared:
"DASH INTO SOULS… TWO INCARNATIONS!"