"she's very much alive and kicking" I said as I break the silence
"Impossible we saw her go up in flames " Himori said as she shaked her head slowly eyes widened and tears flowing freely
"Go up in flames? What do you even mean by that?" I asked, my voice sharpening with a desperate edge. "She doesn't have a single drop of magical ability at least, that's what she spent my entire life telling me."
Himori's shoulders trembled, her scholarly composure fracturing into a thousand jagged pieces.
"Sister Kiyomi was pronounced dead after the Great War," she choked out through a veil of tears. "We were all there, Justin… we stood over her broken body. We saw the life leave her eyes.because of those demons"
Sister?what connection did this woman have with kiyomi I know she's a high human but it doesn't make sense why she calls her that
I looked at himori who was trembling and losing her composure,she looked so fragile for a high human seeing her body tremble like that made my chest feel heavy
Without thinking, I reached out and pulled her into a firm embrace. Her head pressed against my bare chest as her body shook with violent, rhythmic sobs. Disbelief and ancient grief poured out of her like a dam finally bursting under the weight of a century.
"The last thing she told me," I whispered into the crook of her neck, my voice barely more than a ghost of a sound, "just before I was exiled to the Demon Realm… was this: 'I left that old life behind because I hate fighting because I hate spilling blood over nothing.and killing creatures that deserved to be treated like our equals"
Himori's knees gave out.
She collapsed toward the dirt, and I followed her down instinctively, kneeling beside her as her cries grew louder raw, agonizing, and unbearable in the vast silence of the library's edge.
Then
A sudden, freezing presence brushed against the back of my neck.
"So," Yuri's voice sliced through the air, flat and razor-sharp, "what exactly did you do to make her wail like a wounded animal?"
The temperature plummeted. Thick, suffocating bloodlust flooded the area.
She's going to kill me.
I moved on pure instinct.
I snatched the black-and-purple blade from Himori's slack grip just as Yuri's frost-coated blade flashed forward. Steel screamed against ice as the weapons collided mere inches from my throat. The sparks were blue and violent.
"I did nothing!" I roared.
"You're already dead, demon."
She leaned into the strike, forcing her blade forward with terrifying, supernatural strength. My arm muscles screamed in protest, veins bulging as the edge crept closer closer until I could feel the rime of frost on my skin.
I leapt backward with a frantic burst of mana just as another lethal horizontal slash whistled through the space I had occupied a millisecond before.
She was fast. Too fast for human eyes.
All I could do was raise my sword and pray the steel held.
The next impact was a physical wall of force. My body was hurled backward like a ragdoll, crashing into a heavy stone marker with a bone-jarring thud. The impact shattered the stone into a thousand dusty shards.
…Wait.
I pushed myself up, coughing out thick dust and pulverized rock.
Books no, these weren't books. Tombstones surrounded us. Broken, ancient, half-buried slabs of granite and marble stretched as far as the eye could see. Twisted, leafless trees clawed at the gray sky like skeletal fingers.
This wasn't a library anymore. This was a forgotten battlefield.
"What the hell is this place?" I hissed, spitting blood.
Yuri stood twenty paces ahead, her blade raised in a high guard, frost spiraling violently around her like a miniature blizzard. She began to walk forward, each heavy boot-step cracking the frozen, hallowed ground beneath her.
She thrust her blade.
The earth split open, a jagged line of ice racing toward my heart.
"STOP IT, YURI!" Himori's scream pierced the gloom.
The blade halted instantly.
The tip of the ice-sword hovered so close to my pupil that I could see my own terrified reflection in the frost. I could feel the cold biting into my tear ducts.
If Himori hadn't screamed… I'd be a frozen corpse right now.
The frost blade dissolved into shimmering, diamond-like particles as Yuri turned her back with a scoff, rushing toward the weeping Himori.
I dropped to one knee, my chest heaving. I coughed a thick glob of blood into my palm, staring at the dark red stain with a mixture of anger and disbelief.
Damn it…
Her strength is on another plane of existence. Two more direct hits and my internal organs would have been pulverized.
I forced myself to stand, my breath coming in ragged, shallow pulls.
"Regeneration," I muttered through clenched teeth.
A crimson magic circle flared beneath my feet, laced with threads of pulsing black light. A fresh surge of pain lanced through me as my ribs began to knit back together and the bruises faded but I felt the heavy, draining tax on my mana reserves.
"That was… way too close," I whispered bitterly.
I took a shaky step toward her, a slow-burning anger finally boiling over the fear.
"Are you insane?! You don't just attack someone like that without a word!"
"Shut up, demon."
Her voice alone was enough to pin me in place.
My body locked up no magic, no physical force just pure, primal, instinctive terror. I looked down, half-expecting chains, but nothing was restraining me.
It was her gaze.
Those eyes weren't human. They were the bottomless, predatory eyes of a natural-born killer.
Fear. Real, paralyzing fear , swallowed my body whole
I've never been afraid of the concept of dying… but right now, looking at her, I felt the smallness of my own existence.
I swallowed hard and tightened my grip on the hilt of my katana, forcing my body into a defensive battle stance despite the trembling in my knees.
Himori stood abruptly, wiping her eyes, and ran toward me.
"Justin! Are you okay?" she asked, her voice high with desperation. "I'm so sorry for Yuri she's just"
She bowed deeply, her long braid swinging forward.
I didn't move an inch. My eyes stayed locked onto Yuri's cold silhouette. The bloodlust rolling off her in waves was almost thick enough to taste.
"Justin, please," Himori pleaded, looking between us. "Put the blade down."
Slowly, agonizingly, I lowered the sword.
"I'm really, truly sorry," Himori repeated, her voice trembling. "She didn't mean to… she just… lost herself to the instinct."
I stared at them both, my expression becoming a cold, empty mask.
So this is what happens when you let your guard down and trust natural born demon killers.
You overstep an invisible line and they try to take your head off.
"I'm fine," I said. My voice was calm. Too calm. It sounded hollow, even to me.
"Yuri," Himori said, grabbing her sister's sleeve and dragging her forward, "apologize. Now."
"Why should I?" Yuri snapped, a cruel, mocking smile tugging at the corners of her lips. "He's just a stupid demon. He deserved to be put in his place."
Shock swolled me replacing the fear.
am just a stupid demon
So that's all I am to her. After everything.
Just a demon. A monster.
Nothing more.
"Don't worry about it," I said quietly, sheathing my blade with a definitive click. "No apology needed. I understand the situation now."
I turned my back on them and began walking away into the graveyard of books.
"Justin, wait you still need to tell me more about Kiyomi!" Himori called out awkwardly, her voice echoing off the tombstones.
"Why don't you ask her yourself?" I replied coldly, glancing over my shoulder with a look of pure ice. "She's still in the Human Realm. Living the quiet life she wanted."
I had foolishly thought that if I made her my ally… if I earned a shred of Yuri's respect… that we could be something more than enemies forced together.
I was a fool.
From now on, I focus on the mission. The Witch of Chaos that's the only target that matters.
"How much longer until we reach the next High Human?" I asked, my voice devoid of emotion, not bothering to turn around.
"About a week and a half," Himori replied softly. "And I"
"Thanks for the assist," I cut her off, picking up my pace until I was a shadow moving through the ruins.
I could sense Himori eyes looking towards my way but I did nothing but just walk forward keeping my calm dispute the terror I felt deep down in my guts
A moment of silence swollen us as himori trusted to desperatly create contact with me all I did was wave her off and moved along the way East
Am nothing then just a mere demon to them and it might stay like that now am reconsidering if I could let them be my allies ,no they won't fight against their will and as Yuri mentioned a few days ago she wished I would die so she won't have to do the deal anymore,she believes that in the next few days am going to die and they will return back to normal
My thoughts are Interrupted as himori slides my arm between her chest and looks up to me as I violently remove my arm ,her expression changes to grim and regret
"Justin?"she says as she looks at me
"What do you want " I reply my voice cold and grim
"Am really sorry for what Yuri did" she says as her steps slowing down her eyes fixed on the floor
"I said leave it out no need to apologize" I said with a loud sigh scratching my head and I stop
Her eyes lit up with hope as she hurried towards me and looked at me in my eyes
"Are you sure" she says her tone light of hope
"Himori I would suggest you stop trying to make contact with him he doesn't want to speak,so be it let him go to hell" Yuri's voice cut out from the side cold and dark
My expression turned grim as I looked at her closely"what's your issue with demons" I asked
"You demons too everything from me" she said her voice cold
"Sometimes be specific" I responded teeth clenched
"I hate all the demon" she added with a small dark grin
"And here I was foolish to believe that I and I could be comrades one day" I responded with a chuckle
I saw her grim face turns cold,her eyes fixed on me her staring right into my soul as I could feel it turn cold from her gaze
" Never think that I and you could be equals demon" as she walked closer I could feel her breath near my body
"Like I said before I was foolish" I said moving away and walking forward
"Don't you dare turn you back in me I'll kill you" she said out loud those words froze my body into place "then there will be one less demon" she added with a grin
"Wow how interesting " I said as I slow clap then stopped and looked at her over my shoulder my blood boiling anger raging into my body "do you think I want to be a demon" I asked my voice low and deep my chest tight
"You were born a demon so yes you want to be a demon " she said with a know it all grin
"I just want to live a normal life" I turned around and screamed at her "now I have to risk my life just to gain power and try to survive,so don't say stuff you not familiar with" I added as the rage poured out of me
"You two stop it" himori screamed as we both turned and looked at her
" And don't you dare call me a stupid demon" I said as I broke the gaze put my hands into my pockets and moved forward
Himori watched behind me as I walked away my figure becoming smaller and smaller her mouth hang open as she tried to let out words but they barely left her throat
"We stop here " I said as I watched himori and Yuri look at me in question
" Well I ok" himori replied bewildered
Yuri sat down totally unbotherded while Himori sad down and looked at me who sat opposite of them
I held my hand out as a magic cycle appear beneath the floor and a fire lit up the room and sat down
Hmm this silence is overwhelming now I've to look at them and see what's next I let out a sigh as I laid on my back and looked up, this is going to be a long way I need to see what's next I put my hands behind my head and started humming a sad tone that made my chest feel tight ,longing to kiyomi and her hugs that would put me out of my misery
"Umm Justin " Himori's voice breaks the silence between my sad song and a heavy heart
"What do you want" I reply cold and my voice grim
I really don't like the tension between us"she replied as she looked down
"Well you came out straight with it and you two caused the tension"
"Well there's no need to be sore about it let's talk all this out" Himori said desperatly
"What's there to talk about am just a stupid demon remember?"I sigh pushing my body upwards
"Yuri said that and I truely apologize for that" I watch her stand up and sits next to me she holds my hand
My cheeks flushed red as I try to hide it and look the other way "well you are not a stupid demon ,you were much more polite despite your try to be cold act " she let out a light chuckle
"Well am not acting cold am just being myself " I replied coldly
"Well I can tell there's warmth in you" she added
"Well you starting to piss me off" I said as I removed my hand violently from her grip standing up putting my hands in my pockets
Well shes alot to handle now I we need to move and why is she so persistent I can sense the thick tension between us but it's better I keep my mouth to myself after all am just a good for nothing demon
I let out a light laugh to my thoughts from a normal human no acting like a human to being a prince off all demons the plates really Fliped quickly
I walked on forward without looking back and I could feel the longing of Himori trying to speak to Me her eyes always locked unto mine when I looked back but I break away with a cold stare
Two weeks passed in a heavy, suffocating silence.
The weight of it was visible on Himori. I could feel her tension every time she looked at me, her eyes longing to ask more questions, wanting to know about the woman she once mourned and I held answers to that but I'll keep my mouth shut she wants to talk about big sister and not about the "stupid demon" standing in front of her.
Yuri, however, seemed perfectly content in the void of conversation. The quiet didn't bother her at all.
But it crushed me.
Her words echoed endlessly in the hollow spaces of my mind, louder than the wind in the twisted trees.
He's just a stupid demon.
…Just a demon, huh.