The night came without warning.
No omen in the sky. No tremor in the earth.
Only a sudden, suffocating stillness that swallowed the wind around the small Yoshimura home.
Inside, a soft lantern burned low. Aeri sat beside Akuro's bed, brushing her fingers through his hair as he slept, his chest in slow, peaceful rhythm akuro mumbled in his sleep "no yukari I'm not cleaning shinju's stinky boots" Outside the window, cicadas sang—ignorant, uncaring.
Nichiya froze mid-step. Her ears twitched.
"… lady Aeri," she whispered, as she woke aeri up . "Do you feel that?"
Aeri startled as she frowned. "Feel what"
The lantern flickered. Once. Twice.
Then everything started to feel cold The tranquility of Akuro's life was shattered one moonless night covered by fogs. A dark figure, cloaked in darkness and radiating malice, a palpable malevolence, appeared at their home
They didn't fear nor ran away like normal people sensing such a presence. The air thickened, heavy enough to press against the lungs.
Nichiya's eyes widened in horror.
"No… no, no, no—this close to a village?"
It was a devil, a creature of pure destruction. Fear, cold and deadly as it comes, seized akuro, but a stronger, protective instinct ticked on aeri's head. Aeri said "akuro run!", As his gentle mother, without a second thought, shielded akuro, her slender body a defiant barrier against the encroaching darkness. But the devil's power was too great, an overwhelming tide of darkness.
Akuro, even at his young age, stood tall, his small fists clenched, he Only heard stories from his mom and nichiya and figured it was a myth, although he had an unyielding resolve in his eyes as he tried to protect his mother. The devil, cackled while extending a clawed limb, and in a sickening swift motion, impaled Akuro, Aeri's desperate, guttural cries echoed as she screamed " Akuro!!" a sound that would haunt akuro's dreams for years of his life, as Nichiya, appearing in a flash of elven magic, intervened, her spells temporarily fending off the fiend.
As Nichiya fled with the gravely wounded son of her beloved friend, clutching him close, Aeri, with a final, heartbreaking smile directed at her son, made the
"Run, Nichiya! Protect him!"
Before Nichiya could protest, Aeri lunged.
She didn't scream. She didn't hesitate. With a strength born purely from desperation, she threw herself at the devil, wrapping her arms around its neck as she climbed onto its back. Her fingers dug in, squeezing with everything she had, nails tearing, muscles burning.
She choked it.
Or tried to.
The devil did not react.
It did not stagger.
It did not struggle.
It did not even turn its head.
It simply stood there allowing it.
Aeri strained, her face red, her breath ragged, her body trembling as she poured every remaining ounce of life into the futile attempt. For a brief, cruel moment, hope flickered in Akuro's chest.
Then the devil moved Slowly Almost lazily Its clawed arm drove backward and through her torso The sound was wet. Aeri's body went rigid as blood erupted from her mouth and chest, splashing across the floor nichiya in tears as she was still running with akuro, aeri's grip loosened instantly, her arms falling limp as the devil calmly reached up, peeled her off its back, and let her slide down its arm like discarded cloth She collapsed to her knees. Still alive. Still conscious.
Her eyes searched wildly—until they found Akuro. Aeri slowly stood up her legs barely balanced
"…Make this world a better place to live in… and have a wonderful life my dear akuro," she whispered, blood spilling with every word. "I believe in you. Make me proud, my son. I lo—"
with her last words uttered and nearly finished, it ruthlessly beheaded her, the life draining from her eyes with the sound of her head hitting the ground, with a hollow thud, even as flames consumed their home, reducing the sanctuary of akuro's happiness to ashes and despair, to Such a young boy to reach a awful fate of witnessing his beloved mother to death, but what can he do? From her last words "make this word a better place" he was just a young little boy with no power of his own.