Chapter 7: Fresh Blood
2241 Words
The village for the most part was rather peaceful. There wasn’t much conflict because most of the residents didn’t want any. It was the kind of village where pretty much everyone knew each other. You could hear the gentle winds blow across the lands. The marketplace was probably the noisiest place in the village with the vendors selling their goods, people all gathered up. But in its own way it was peaceful there too. For the most part…
“Hahahaha, come on can't you go faster than that.”
“Shut up, I'll crush you!”
Mitsuki lunged at Rinnosuke who was running along the top of platforms and structures. Rinnosuke was holding something in his hand which Mitsuki was trying to get.
“Hey, be careful up there!”
“HEY, YOU KIDS GET DOWN FROM THERE!”
Seth runs alongside them making sure they don’t get hurt. Along with a shopkeeper making sure they don’t damage anything
Mitsuki swings at Rinnosuke but he dodges, jumping down off the platform.
“Hahaha this is like hunting.”
“And you're the game!”
Mitsuki lunged towards him with his body reinforced with mana. He throws a punch but rinnosuke dodges and pushes him away.
“Woah, getting a bit serious there aren’t you.”
Mitsuki sprinted at Rinnosuke with enough force to crack the ground. Rinnosuke used mana reinforcement as well. Mitsuki throws a flurry of punches, but Rinnosuke dodges every attack. Mitsuki finally sees an opening.
SMACK
“Gah-”
Mitsuki kicked the object from his hand making it fly through the air.
“Mine!”
Mitsuki sprints towards the object, but suddenly he’s blitzed by Rinnosuke. He grabs the object while Mitsuki falls to the ground
“Hehe, you’re not the only one getting stronger.”
Mitsuki glares at him
“Just you wait.”
Seth walks over to Mitsuki and holds out his hand.
“Are you okay?
“Yeah, don’t worry I’m fine.”
Mitsuki grabs his hand and gets up. He looked down as the feeling of frustration builds up inside him. He knew that he was getting stronger, but it felt like no matter how strong he gets, Rinnosuke is always going to be ahead of him. He didn't want to resent him for that, Rinnosuke is just naturally talented. But he thinks maybe If I try hard enough I can overcome that.
“I have an idea for something we can do today.”
“What is it?”
“Let’s go visit the neighboring village!”
Rinnosuke said enthusiastically, Mitsuki seemed eager, Seth on the other hand looked worried.
“I-I don’t know, isn’t it pretty far from here.”
“Don’t worry about it Seth. It won’t be a problem. I'll look after both of you.”
After pondering for a while Seth finally agrees to go. So they set off without telling anyone. Rinnosuke and Mitsuki get more excited about going the longer they walk, even Seth is starting to feel excited because of them. They’ve never even been that far from their own houses before. So this was a feeling they never experienced before. After walking for what seemed like 30 minutes they reach the entrance of the village. They all run in and start looking around. The activity is high so a lot of people are out right now. Almost everything was new to them. New people, new buildings, new designs, new structures. Everything captured their eyes.
“Woahh, what kind of person is that?”
After Rinnosuke points the person out, Mitsuki analyzes them.
“Wait, Is that… a demon?”
“Really?!”
“I-I think so, I’ve only read about their description in my fathers stories, apparently they're pretty rare. Demons come in all sorts of varieties and that person looks like one”
“Should we talk to him?”
“No way, what if he kills us or something. Some types of demons can be violent.”
Seth jumps in on the conversation.
“Well could he really be that violent if he's living in this village. If he was troublesome they probably would’ve kicked him out you know.”
“I suppose you're right… Oh no he’s looking over here. We have to go.”
The three start walking away in some other direction away from the man without looking back at him. Once they think they’re at a safe distance they stop.
“Do you think we lost him?”
“Yeah I think so.”
“Lost who now?”
The three look towards the unfamiliar voice to see the man they were trying to avoid. They’re faces go pale from fear as they’re left speechless.
“You kids look like you saw a ghoul, I'm not going to hurt you or anything.”
Hearing that the three start to get more relieved
“You’re not from around here are you. The next village over then? What are you kids doing so far out here?”
“Um… Exploring?”
The man sighs
“Do you want me to show you around?”
“Y-yeah we would love that.”
The man leads them around the village showing them many attractions and introducing them to new people. They were fascinated every time they got to talk to new people. The man even took them to an inn and got them food. They kept exploring the village until night began to fall.
“It's getting dark, we should probably go home.”
“I agree, you kids should get home. I hope you kids had fun while you were here.”
“Yeah we did, it was amazing.”
Mitsuki was saddened to have to part ways. More so because it’s likely that they wouldn't be able to come here often. But he thought maybe when they’re older they can visit more, not having to sneak away. But Mitsuki wasn’t the only one feeling sad. All three of them were. After spending almost all day there, they started to take a liking to the man.
“Do you think we can come back sometime?”
“Sure thing. You’re welcome here anytime. Just stay safe. You don’t want your parents worrying about you.”
“Okay we will. Hey, what's your name?”
“Call me Luciel.”
“Nice to meet you Luciel, I'm Rinnosuke and that's Seth and Mitsuki.”
“Likewise. Now you better get going. If you ever need to find me, go to the house over there.”
The three say their farewells and start walking back home.
“Man that was amazing wasn’t it.”
“Yeah it was, the food was so good too. I’ve never had anything like it.”
“I can’t wait to go back. Luciel was so cool too.”
“Y-yeah, he was. I hope we weren't too much trouble.”
“Don’t worry Seth, I think he liked us.”
As they’re walking home Rinnosuke stops and starts to look around.
“What's wrong?”
He gestures for them to stay quiet. He closes his eyes and focuses. After a bit, he walked towards them and whispers.
“When I run you run too… fast okay, as fast as you can.”
All three of them activated mana reinforcement. They didn’t know what was going on but they trusted Rinnosuke. They poured every ounce of strength into their legs. Then they all sprinted as fast as they could. A man comes from the bushes chasing after them. Mitsuki looks back, seeing the man chasing him makes his heart race.
“He- he’s faster than us.”
Rinnosuke looks behind him and starts getting worried.
“Listen. You two just keep running. I'll stall him. “
“What… but we can probably take him if it's all three-”
“No… We don’t know how strong he is. Go ask for help from the villagers.”
“Wait-”
Rinnosuke slows down intentionally to allow their pursuer to get closer. He waits for the right time. Then right as he's about to grab him.
SMASH
He kicked him hard in his face, with enough force to make him fall down. But the man quickly gets back up.
“KEEP GOING!”
Rinnosuke doesn’t waste any time and rushes in for another hit. While Seth and Mitsuki keep running. It didn’t take long for Rinnosuke to be out of sight.
“W-we have to make it back fast. He’s going to be okay, right.”
“Yeah Rinnosuke’s the strongest. Nothing will happen to him. Noth-”
Everything fades to black as he falls to the ground. His eyes open. He can see red out of his left eye. He hears a ringing, a ringing that won't go away. What happened.... He can’t feel anything.... As he started to regain his senses, he realized the red that he was seeing was his own blood. He looked around and saw Seth defending his body. He could only see his back but he could tell Seth was furious. He was bleeding, cuts were all over his body.
Another… attacker?
The man had a knife in his hand. He was bleeding as well. With a deep injury on his stomach. Mitsuki gets up causing Seth to look back in relief… That's when he let his guard down. In the blink of an eye. The man lunged at them. Faster than Seth could react… but Mitsuki saw it clearly. His eyes… they looked different than before… colder… sharper… Not only that, it's as if he knew exactly what to do. Not his mind, but his body. He pulled Seth's shirt moving him from out the way, and the s***h intended for Seth missed. Mitsuki moved quickly, and before the man knew it.
“AGHHH!”
He let out a scream as his wrist was dislocated. The knife fell and Mitsuki caught it before it hit the ground. Without any hesitation he stabbed the man in his stomach. He fell to the ground but was still moving. He was about to leave to go back for Rinnosuke but then he heard a voice speak out to him.
You know what you must do.
His vision started to get dark. He saw a shadowy figure wrap around his body, he looked down at his hand with the knife to see that the figure’s hand was holding onto his, it was attempting to move him. As if it were guiding him, no controlling him. His body started to move, but not to his own accord. He thinks this is what he wants but that thing is poisoning his mind. He got on top of him and raised the knife into the air. The shadow behind him smiling as he drives it into his chest then he stabs him again… and again… and again… and again and again and again and again and again. He doesn’t even notice that the man died after the 5th time. He can hear a faint voice but he can’t make it out.
“M—---ki”
The voice grows louder and louder. until…
“MITSUKI”
He’s snapped out of that state from Seth screaming his name and holding back the knife from stabbing the man again. Seth only let go of his hand after he dropped the knife. Mitsuki looked down at his hands covered in blood. This sight… it looked so familiar to him. All of a sudden he sees flashes from his past life… his hands covered in blood, painting a similar scene to the one he's in now.
Why
Suddenly he's pulled by Seth.
“We have to go back for Rinnosuke!”
He’s right they didn't have time, Rinnosuke could be dead. They both sprinted back to the spot they last saw him. They look around but can only see blood. Then they hear a sound.
SMASH
They follow the sound and as they get closer they hear it more clearly. The same sound over and over
SMASH
SMASH
SMASH
SMASH
SMASH
When they finally reach the source, they see Rinnosuke, his body is bruised and bloody. A mixture of his blood and the man's blood. That noise they were hearing… was the sound of Rinnosuke repeatedly punching down on that man's already broken skull. When he sees them he limps towards them and hugs them immediately.
“You’re okay.”
He looks at them and notices their injuries.
“I’m sorry, if I noticed there was another one I wouldn’t have stopped. I- I'm sorry I failed you two.”
“It’s okay. We’re all okay, we survived.”
“I was scared… I was so scared that I would lose you two. He wouldn’t stay down. So I had to make sure he would never get back up. I’m sorry I couldn’t get to you in time.”
“It's okay. Rinnosuke.”
“Y-you don't have to apologize Rinnosuke. Lets just go h-home.
“Yeah, let's go.”
Rinnosuke was injured badly so they had to help carry him back to the village. All that time on the way home Mituski was thinking of those memories. Why do he have those memories? Did he kill someone in the past? Why would he? He couldn’t get those thoughts out of his head. But one thing that relieved him was that they were all safe
- Writer
