Chapter Text
The Mother was to support. The Mother was to nurture.
The Mother was to observe.
That was the role Rui saw in the Mother. The one who cared for the Children while the Father obtained the wares to continue their family afloat.
Even if in this case, their “wares” were the bloody corpses of the Demon Slayers who had dared to come into their “home”. Offerings to the Progenitor of all Demons, Rui had called it upon his return from his Meeting with the Higher Ranks.
But the whole family held their doubts, and compared to the Queen, Rui was not capable of reading their minds.
Small blessings, as far as the “mother” was concerned. It meant she had at least one final privacy.
So, she allowed herself to curse internally as her “sight” allowed her to observe Rui just taking over her precious dolls all too casually.
“I knew all of these abilities were originally his, but that he’s using them even better than me…!”
It was frustrating, especially as the “Mother” prided herself in her excellent usage of what had effectively become her Blood Demon Art. That seemed to be the only thing her “Family” saw good in her.
Her Arts in Battle. The Manipulation of the Skeletons.
Under the Role of the Mother however, the one who is supposed to be her “Husband”... even those who are supposed to be her “Children”...
No respect whatsoever. Only politeness. She wondered what the hell was going on through their Heads for them to mock her when they were all in the same situation as her. Playing House, Prisoners of a Lower Moon.
She’d never imagined this would be what she would become when she’d become a Demon back all those years ago. But here she was…
With…
With nothing. With something empty and missing in all of this.
With nothing to do as Rui had effectively taken over what was her forte, the “Mother” thought perhaps, she should try to figure out this gaping hole she felt again.
Only for a member of her “Family” to block that option.
“Mother.”
And she feels herself freeze as she hears her footsteps. Quiet and small. Unperturbed as the “Daughter” approaches her with an even expression.
The “Mother” put on her most even face and turned over to look at her.
“Is something wrong my dear?”
Never did using that word for any of them feel right, but it was that or survival, and survival had to always come on top.
“Is Rui dealing with the stragglers?”
The answer to that was easy.
“He’s split them up.”
In fact, now that she had paid attention to her secondary vision, she realized that Rui had diverted those two Demon Slayers to her general direction.
Why hadn’t he dealt with them already? Rui had only grown more Powerful as of late, so why hadn’t he dispatched them?
Or… or was this a test of worth?
No, that couldn’t be it. She hadn’t… she hadn’t even failed anything-! Unless-! Did his wrestling of her control count as that?
Damnit!
The “Mother” hastily turned her back on her “Daughter”, whose expression was nothing short of opportunistic, as she’d put some of the pieces together.
“Are they coming your way?” The “Daughter” had a tone that was nothing short of sweet, yet hiding the undertone of venom laced with sarcasm.
“What of it?” Snapping at her without even looking, the “Mother” resumed control over some of her other Dolls until Rui left her control of the other ones again.
Only to freeze at the “Daughters” words.
“I want to deal with them.”
That reaction was momentary, as the “Mother” resumed her actions while denying her.
“No. You won’t. They’re my prey.”
She failed to notice the pleased smile on the “Daughters” face. Because she had gone into this expecting a possible denial. But this wasn’t all of her cards.
“Then I’ll just have to tell Rui that you haven’t been fair with me. He told us all we had to cooperate today, but you’re not being a team player, are you?”
“Liar!” The “Mother” snarled at her, “Didn’t you get to liquify all those Demon Slayers on the Northern Side thanks to me?!”
“Oh, but if I just say you had them all killed already… it’s not going to make things look good for you, is it?”
Why that little-!
“So let me have it, and we both win. I get to look good, and you get to look good too.”
Right, and that amounted to taking all of the credit while she was at it, making her look like an even bigger fool!
But if she didn’t comply, it meant Rui would be told. And if Rui was told…
Then either he’d punish her, or the “Husband” would.
Much of her indignation died down after that.
“Fine.” The “Mother” resumed her manipulation, “South-East. You’ll find them straight ahead.”
“Thank you Mother.” The “Daughter” thanked her before going ahead, and for a moment, the “Mother” said nothing.
Then, and only when she had made sure she wasn’t within earshot anymore, did she spit out a curse.
“Like Brother, like Sister…”
How she hated her! Out of everyone, she schemed the most to make sure she was never on Rui’s bad side. And she often succeeded because of it, thriving for the most part.
And this was just one of those instances. She could already imagine it, Rui praising her for having done well as an Elder Sister while admonishing her, the “Mother” for needing her own “Child” to do the work.
Well the jokes on her!
“Don’t even dare imagine I’ll let you do as you please, Daughter…!” The Demon had no intention of letting this happen without some struggle.
“We’ll see who gets the last laugh!”
No, she was going to make sure she was victorious this time. It didn’t matter what she needed to do.
She would stand on top.
She swears.
“There’s one coming from the left!” Murata warned Ozaki as he saw her run by a tree, and it was only thanks to that yell that the Wind Breather ducked in time to evade a sword slash from the controlled corpse of a Demon Slayer that had been waiting behind a tree, thankfully only losing a few strands of her hair as a result.
“Thanks!” Ozaki quickly yelled out, and as she recovered from her duck, she swung her sword above the head of the corpse while using what Murata just recognized as Wind Breathing’s Sixth Form, and while Murata saw that the corpse didn’t fall to the ground, its arms did drop as if the weight of the world was suddenly put on them, which made him relax a little.
However, Murata soon felt the worry rocket right back to where it previously was as he saw the puppet Slayers from before chasing after them still and closing in on his friend thanks to her dealing with the surprise attack. But before he could stop running so he could turn back and help her, Ozaki placed her feet on the chest and face on the corpse and jumped off of it, letting her land behind Murata before she began running at a similar pace to him, while the puppets got delayed for a second.
“You know, with how recent this all is, I keep forgetting how easily you adapt to this now.” Murata said with a weak smile, getting a light, though humourless chuckle from Ozaki.
“Hey, don’t cut yourself short.” Ozaki said as the pair of Slayers continued running, keeping an ear out for the sound of footsteps from the controlled bodies of their former allies, only to hear them…
Stop?
“Hey, Ozaki… they all just fell to the ground.” Murata said, slowing down from his run while looking over his shoulder until he stopped, which caused his comrade to do the same. And he was right. Every single one of the corpses of their comrades had now fallen to the ground, and when narrowing their eyes to look more closely, both Slayers could tell that the threads were still there.
“So… what does this mean? Did Kie kill that Demon kid or something?” The water breather of the pair asked, cautiously approaching the unmoving bodies.
“Possibly, but… I’m not sure. Maybe she’s just keeping him distracted enough to lose his grip on them? I can’t imagine fighting and controlling something you can’t see would be easy.” Ozaki suggested, not noticing something as Murata approached a corpse...
But thankfully, the male Slayer did. Which allowed Murata to jump back just in time, narrowly dodging the stab attempt of numerous dead Slayers, and miraculously coming out of that without a scratch.
“Murata!” Yelling out to her friend, Ozaki ran forward to help him and quickly blocked a swing from the side that would have sliced into Murata’s stomach, and using her current position, took in a deep breath before striking back.
“Wind Breathing - Third Form: Clear Storm Wind Tree!” Ozaki thought to herself, overpowering the corpse that she was clashing against and unleashing a whirlwind of slashes that cut the threads of a few of the corpses, causing some of them to fall face-first into the ground.
“Water Breathing - Third Form: Flowing Dance!” The remaining ones didn’t get a chance to attack, as Murata recovered and was able to swing and bend his blade in a winding motion along with his body, and in motions that could be mistaken for a dance at a glance, was able to slice through the threads controlling the remaining dead Slayers.
“Quick, let's run before some of the spiders turn them into puppets again!” Murata yelled, getting Ozaki to nod before they both sprinted from the pile of bodies that were already shuffling about with their snapping bodies to get back up. A Noise that would have made one feel sick, had it not been because of Shibuya and how fresh that Nightmare remained in their minds.
Still, the snapping sounds did give Murata a thought that heavily disturbed him.
“How many of those snaps are from the corpses of our comrades?” The Kanoe ranked Slayer thought, his mind flashing to the many comrades that were deeply scarred by claiming a human’s life, whether they be an innocent or Corp Member.
No! Now was not the time to think of that! He needed to focus on surviving at the moment, so come on Murata! Think of something that can help you and Ozaki get out of this situation!
“Murata, got any ideas on how to stop this!?” Ozaki yelled out to the Water Breather, spinning around and deflecting an overhead strike from a corpse that attempted to slice her in half after jumping from a tree. Thankfully, she didn’t get hurt, or lose much ground as she continued to run.
“I… I don’t-!” Murata tried to tell her, but he found himself interrupted constantly to give a full sentence without interruption. Not helped that for all they should have had more Stamina to handle this, Shibuya haunted them in more than just the mind.
The rest had helped, make no mistake of it. But Murata understood at some level that the exhaustion hadn’t left him in the least. Only delayed it with the traveling time.
“We need to hide!” He blurted out then.
“Hide?!” Ozaki snapped at him in the heat of the moment.
“We can’t think of anything under this stress!” And he snapped back in turn.
That hadn’t stopped them from running or even fighting back the Corpses of their Comrades, but in the moment, they both made mistakes that would have cost them.
Looking away from one side, putting their attention on the other. No matter how short it was, opportunities could arise from this.
And the one who controlled the Corpses had no plans on hesitating on using this.
When they heard the shuffle of something fast leaping out of the Leafs, Murata and Ozaki had acted quickly enough to see another Corpse, but eerily closer in speed to the previous ones, moving to attack them. And with their delay, this could have been it for them.
Perhaps Murata would have been able to dodge. Perhaps Ozaki would have been able to swing her Nichirin Blade quickly enough and defend him. But they were so delayed that something would have been lost that night.
In the end, however, none of that happened. Because then, both Humans saw something else happen.
And for it?
Their eyes widened in disbelief as a finger sprung into action.
The situation was bad.
Up until now, to Kie at least, things could have been even worse than they were now. Sure, literally everyone else who’d made it out of Shibuya in fighting shape and mentally sound was possibly just dead, but Kie had been optimistic that maybe, just maybe, they had a fighting chance still.
She’d fought Lower Moon One. Not exactly winning the fight, sure, but she’d gotten out of it alive. And that’s what had mattered at the time, considering the warping of reality that Demon had pulled on her.
But as the clash against the Demon started, as her Nichirin Blade clashed against threads, she was reminded of one universal fact.
Never underestimate your opponent. Even more so when that foe was a Demon, whose age could have ranged from being literally 8 years old to even centuries old while looking like an old man or a kid.
And this Kid, if he even was one, had harshly reminded her of the fact when that single thread had chipped her Nichirin Blade even further and also pushed her off the lock.
In itself, one could perhaps see this as not too bad. And Kie would have at first agreed.
Only, the Demon Boy was far from done. Because all five of his Fingers had threads, and without wasting a single second, with his single visible eye boring into her, all the threads came at her on two sides with the cross-motion he did with his arm.
She jumped back the first swing that cut into the dirt with no difficulty and then flipped over the next one that had come, narrowly avoiding the damage that could have been dealt from that assault.
And were it everything, Kie could have had an opportunity to follow up that flip to attack the Demon. But the boy ultimately controlled Five threads on each finger, and those threads didn’t follow the rules of the object in question.
Lifting his pinky finger, one of the threads that had been dug into the dirt shot up into an arc, acting like a whip that was coming at her with a speed that Kie would have previously been unable to follow.
But since her Battle against the Lower Moon, Kie found the movements coming easier for her as she twisted her body around to face the Thread.
“Water Breathing - First Form: Water Surface Slash!”
And then promptly blocked the attack by countering it, succeeding in the process, but being reminded of the main issue she was going to face.
Her Blade was chipped yet again.
“At this rate, I’m going to lose my one means of Defense!”
She needed to be swift about it. She knew that swiftness was key here. But as her eyes briefly landed on the Demon Boy, she knew it would be easier said than done.
Not helped that the mere moment her feet touched the ground, the Boy had lifted one of his arms and had spread his fingers to widen the range of the threads.
“Those things are sharper and more durable than my Blade. And I can’t tell if there’s more to them or not!”
She had learned by now that while Blood Demon Arts followed Rules, what Rules they followed entirely depended on the Demon in question.
The Swamp Demon had been the first sign because she knew for a fact no one should be able to Breathe Oxygen in Liquid! Yet she did. And she’d seen plenty of Demons in Shibuya who’d had Blood Demon Arts that followed similar ideas.
Some Rules were followed, but others were ignored.
So what did this one do?
She didn’t need to wait for long, because Kie’s next actions had the Boy display it. Something that would however require her to do something else first.
“I’m sorry Tanjiro.”
First, she threw the Box off to the side, not wanting to risk Tanjiro any further. Demon he may be, she’d rather not see her little brother be sliced in pieces.
She was almost sure the Demon in question raised his only visible eyebrow at her action, but she didn’t pay to much attention as she followed up that by charging ahead. Not to attack, Kie knew that would be a stupid move, but instead to allow her evasion to take place.
By diving right through the gap between the Threads.
She saw how as her Body had gone halfway through, the Demon had acted to close the gap and have her bisected, but it was just a second too slow in his reaction.
When the threads snapped shut, Kie had successfully dived right through and landed with her knees touching the dirt and head always staring right at the Demon boy.
It’s why she sees the danger of the threads.
“They…!”
As her eyes widened, Kie ended up not reacting swiftly enough this time around. And then, her face had five cuts that were a meter’s worth of distance each.
She wasn’t sure if she was in pain or not from this, but it was undeniable that Kie felt uncomfortable as everything around her head felt dislocated.
Her eyes, however, even though they were sliced, narrowed while they bled.
“...so this is what this Demon has.”
The movement… it was too swift for something that should have followed the laws of Gravity. Or, a term that would be used later on by the more experienced, Inertia.
These threads should be facing with an opposing force when in movement, and yet, the Boy had been able to swiftly follow up her evasion -with a movement of his arm she'd seen from her angle- as if nothing was opposing his movement.
“This is bad. It means that even if he is slower than me, he’ll be able to ignore something I can’t.”
This Demon could always attack her at maximum speed. No delays whatsoever.
“But I am faster than him still… I’ll need to be careful, but now that I know, I can’t be caught by surprise.”
With that in mind, Kie stood up as her wounds finally closed up. An action that only caused the Demon to stare at her as she moved.
In answer, all Ten Threads converged in her direction, but Kie was ready to act. Jumping over the first wave, she utilized the Ninth Form to land as swiftly as she could over to the other side, then she flipped over a thread that had been redirected mid-swing without an issue, only confirming that the Threads of this Boy was completely ignoring Inertia.
A Tree was cut in the process as Kie rushed her approach, moving to avoid all the Threads as best she could. And for the faintest moment, as she ducked under the final wave of threads from the thumbs, she believed she was about to finish this.
So, she took in a deeper Breath and initiated a Water Breathing Form-
And then she was pinned down on the Dirt.
When her chin hit the ground and Blood trailed down her Mouth, did Kie realized she’d made a mistake in her assumptions.
Because the Demon Slayer found herself with all Ten Threads stabbed right into her Body. Two of them having pierced her lungs and another her Heart. Four a hand and leg each. One for her neck. The remaining two were free to be used.
The Demon had restrained her.
“You made one costly mistake, Kamado.” The Boy finally spoke since the Battle started, his eyes remaining the exact same as he looked down on her.
“I imagine you assumed like many others that my Threads were just that. Threads. A Material that can only be used to swing around. But they are far more than that.”
As he said that, the two remaining threads twisted around Kie’s neck to lift her up, making both Demons be at eye-level while also displaying far more obviously something else. If what he'd done just before hadn't told something.
“My threads are made directly from my Flesh. An extension of myself. That by default makes them more versatile than any piece of fiber.”
The main reason why Kie had been caught off guard and pinned down to begin with was because she hadn't expected the threads would be able to twist around as if they were a living thing, like a snake, and strike her from behind. And as she'd just seen before, the threads had twisted around her neck in a way that shouldn't have been possible if they were just fibers.
And now, Rui displayed yet again the point even as Rui kept his hands raised, the threads that had pierced her extended further, making her bleed more before wrapping around to make sure she was contained.
“And now, I have you caught.”
Of course, Kie didn’t feel pain the same way. Rui was well aware of it, so he was not surprised that Kie tried to struggle. To free herself.
But with how things were placed, she was only deepening her wounds. Worse, her lungs being pierced meant she was on the verge of having them rupture.
“What exactly did you hope to achieve when you went to fight me?” He questioned her, deciding he wanted to converse for a moment with the Chosen Demon, “I hope you weren’t hoping to buy time to have me fall under the Sun. Mount Natagumo is my base, I would never fall to that here in my territory.”
And if she had hoped she could buy time for reinforcement, then Rui found the need to demolish that hope.
“And if you’re imagining help from those two coming, then you can despair already. They’re not coming.”
After all, he could see. His Vision went beyond his own sight.
So he saw. Saw and saw where exactly Murata and Ozaki were.
And he saw who they’d fallen on.
“How did you survive here!?” Murata whisper-yelled at the new ally they had found in this hell of a mountain, hiding under a ledge that hid them completely from view at the moment, an idea that was supported by the sounds of shuffling footsteps of corpses above them, yet none showing up.
“Honestly, it was pure luck.” A female Slayer who had introduced herself as Kanzaki answered, looking around and not looking at the Water Breather. “The Demons here even killed the Kasugai Crows sent with us, so not many got a warning before stepping onto this mountain. One from the first group lived just long enough to warn me before it died from blood loss a moment later, so I took to sneaking around.”
“But is it a good idea to talk so openly?” Ozaki whispered, looking uncomfortable at how Kanzaki wasn’t trying to keep her voice down.
“Don’t worry. When you get a chance to observe, it becomes clear that the controlled corpses can’t hear anything. So you can clap right next to one of its ears, and so long as none see you, you’re still safe.” Kanzaki explained, still not really looking at the pair of Slayers as she kept an eye out for anything that might see them.
“Alright then. So just… talking loudly is only beneficial to us?” Murata asked, now talking normally while relaxing a bit.
“Oh, not completely. There are still other Demons here besides the one you ran into, but the chances of one of them coming here are extremely small, if not outright abysmal.” Kanzaki answered almost casually, making both Murata and Ozaki pale at those words.
“sh*t. So Kie might be in more trouble than we thought if more came to help that Demon boy.” The Wind Breather of the little group stated with worry, which made Murata look at her with a grim look. And as a result, if Kanzaki did anything that showed a reaction, she didn’t show it. But while she didn't react, she most definitely questioned.
“Kamado is here?” Their new comrade said, now actually looking over her shoulder to stare at Ozaki.
“Yeah. We were part of the same group that was sent here after Shibuya. Are you a friend of hers?” The Wind Breather answered, before asking curiously. Although that question felt wrong to ask Kanzaki, for reasons that Murata didn't understand.
Probably just paranoia from those corpses hunting them down, bringing up his still-fresh mental scars from Shibuya.
“No. We just met up in Asakusa briefly before going our own ways. Still, I’m surprised we are in the same location again after just over a week.” The younger-looking girl explained with a shrug, getting Ozaki and Murata to nod in acceptance at that.
“Well, moving past that, we need to think of how to get around these controlled corpses. Anyone got any ideas?” Murata spoke up, which got the attention of both his current companions. Including Kanzaki, who seemed to be comfortable in the idea that nothing will spot them for a bit, and so fully turned to them.
“Well, I can’t think of anything on how we can stop this. Especially since all that is needed for the Demon to get us is just for a few spiders to get some of those threads on us without being noticed.” Kanzaki says before reminding them of that annoying fact, which didn’t help with the morale at the moment.
“And even worse, we got lost from running. So I don’t even know which direction Kie and that Demon are at, and that’s assuming they haven’t moved or Kie is dead right now. We've seen those puppets were being controlled easily.” Ozaki brought up, getting Murata to groan at their bad position. At any moment, at any time, those threads could still be...
Wait a minute.
“That’s it!” Murata yelled out, surprising the two girls as they jumped back from him, a single pair of dotted eyes staring at him in astonishment at his sudden outburst.
Wait, why did Kanzaki’s eyes even turn into-? No, focus Murata!
“This is all because of a Blood Demon Art, but me and Ozaki both saw that the Demon behind this could only control those corpses when the threads were attached! But once we severed them, even if the puppets got back up soon after, they fell to the ground!” The Water Breather points out, which seemed to confuse Kanzaki while Ozaki thought it over.
“While that is helpful, how is it going to get us any closer to the Demon?” Kanzaki questioned, getting Murata to smile.
“Because those threads were still attached to the Demon through his fingers. I barely noticed, I’ll admit, but that means if he needs to control them, then the threads puppeteering the corpses must lead back to him. And once we do, we might just have the chance to decapitate him and stop the Demon from controlling our comrades’ bodies.” The male Slayer of the small group explained, which seemed to slightly impress Kanzaki with his thinking while Ozaki nodded her head.
“It’s definitely the best we have at the moment. But there is no doubt that it won’t be easy, since that Demon is somehow able to see what we are doing. There is no way he can’t see what he’s making the corpses do with how none of them ran into a tree when that small hoard chased us away.” The Wind Breather pointed out and quickly began to frown.
“He’s most likely doing so through those spiders if I’m guessing right, and spotting those things until they are on you is really damn hard, if not impossible in this forest during the night.”
Right... for a moment, Murata entirely forgot about that detail in his excitement to stop these puppets for good.
“But this is a risk we’ll need to take regardless. If we stay hidden here, then either a puppet, a Demon on this mountain or the spiders will find us.” Kanzaki said while turning away from them and looking around to see if anything was approaching once again.
And really… she was right. Their options did boil down to a big gamble that can so easily fail them, remain here like sitting ducks until they are found and attacked, or one of them becomes a puppet and kills the other 2 against their will.
So as Kanzaki said, they had to risk Murata’s idea for any shot at victory. Whether any of them liked it or not.
“Good point. Then I guess we’ll need to move quickly.” Ozaki said, now moving forward to look upwards while Murata turned left, looking in that direction when-
“H-!”
He gasped as his eyes spotted something that should have been noticed much, much sooner. Something so big, they should have heard something. Anything.
Because standing against one of the trees right next to them, at its front, was a Human face with the body of a Spider. One that grinned at them.
“Got you!”
And then, just as Kanzaki and Ozaki finally noticed the hidden presence because of the voice, the thing with a Human face spat.
Not saliva. That would have been the much kinder thing to see happen, but instead a Purple substance. One that was shot out at speeds at which something liquid should not be able to follow.
But that was exactly what happened.
At a speed one could compare to a Bullet with the way it was heading for its target, the Purple substance shot right past Murata, burning off the strands of hair that unluckily had to follow the laws of Gravity even as the Demon Slayer had hunched his body just in time, and landing on its unlucky target.
Ozaki’s left arm.
The Wind Breather had twisted around only in time to see the thing coming, but Ozaki never would get the chance to do anything as the Purple substance touched her arms Humerus Bone.
Shooting straight past it as it melted through the Muscles and Bones before eventually hitting the dirt behind Ozaki, melting the ground before the substance burned out.
An insignificant thing, because to Murata, all that mattered was Ozaki and the Blood-curdling scream she gave out in horror and pain she had never felt before, she stared at the stump where her left arm had been.
What hadn’t been melted off on contact had fallen on the dirt with a thud, and her elbow wasn’t a pretty sight either. She wasn’t bleeding, but only because the stump had literally been melted and cauterized shut.
And the perpetrator for all this cackled from the Tree he was standing against.
“Hehehehe! That turned out better than I thought!” The spider body Demon declared with sadism radiating from his very being, his eyes remaining on Ozaki and Murata.
“You… what did you do to Ozaki!?” Murata yelled at the Demon, who tilted his head as if confused.
“Oh? I don’t think I understand. I mean, the results are clear, even during nights like this.” The Demon said, but the smirk on its face made things clear.
It knew what Murata meant and wanted him to say the details.
“You know what I mean. That purple liquid had to have done more than burn since you’re a Demon.” The Water Breather answered with a growl, getting the spider body Demon to cackle once again.
“Hehehehe! I see now! Well, the process is definitely hidden by the remains of that girl’s sleeve, so I may as well explain.” The Demon said, taking a moment to glance at Ozaki and saw her tightly clutching at her stump. But his eyes were more on the bits of purple liquid that were either on Ozaki’s face or slowly burning through her clothes to get to her skin.
“That was my little poison. You sadly haven’t seen them since we are away from my usual area, but I have a few spider slaves. And thanks to the amount of poison she has been exposed to, I’d say that girl only has 5 minutes before she joins the ranks of my slaves.” The Demon explained, before once more cackling at the look of horror on Ozaki and Murata’s faces. And as he did so, he took out a watch from… somewhere and pointed at a specific spot of it.
“At this point, the girl will begin to grow a spider leg to replace her arm. Only a little later, she will feel her remaining hand and both of her feet tingle. At this point, she will feel dizzy and nauseous. And finally, at this final minute, her body will feel intense pain as her body shrinks and loses consciousness. And once she wakes up… well, I already explained that.” The Demon explained as he took time to point at each point of the clock very specifically and clearly, making Ozaki and Murata pale much more drastically as dread quickly built up, especially in the former.
“But, why keep the fun to myself when I’m not the only one this time. What do you say, sis? Want to take the boy while I play with the girl?” And oh, how did their hearts drop at those words, because as soon as the Demon was done talking, another one walked out from behind a tree and moved to stand in front of her apparent ‘brother’.
And when considering they hadn’t even dealt with the issue that was called their Comrades Corpses being used against them, there was only one appropriate feeling for this situation.
“Don’t poison my prey, and I may be willing to accept that offer.”
They felt nothing short of doomed.
