"What is the meaning of this?"
Rengoku interrogated him with a gaze devoid of expression.
"H-Hold on… give me a second…" Marcus, on the verge of collapse, gave him a weak wave of his hand while trying to stabilize his lungs. "Let me… let me catch my breath…"
Observing his deplorable state, Rengoku furrowed his brow, "…Where have you come running from?"
"A-Asakusa."
"Asakusa!?"
"Y-Yeah. I've been… running for a day and a night straight…"
Rengoku's eyes widened with astonishment.
Asakusa was in the central-northeastern region, and they were now in the southern end of the country…
He lowered his gaze to Marcus's bare feet, covered in mud and wounds. 'He's crossed more than half the country on foot, without rest… just for this demon?'
"Why?" he asked, point-blank. "This demon has killed too many people. He must die."
"I know." Marcus held his gaze, firm despite the exhaustion. "He definitely has to die. But before that… I need him."
Rengoku knit his brow.
'He needs him? What did that mean?'
For a moment, he thought of the research being done to reverse demonization, but immediately dismissed the idea. If it were for a simple experiment, any demon would have served the purpose.
Why go to the trouble of traveling thousands of miles in pajamas and barefoot just for this demon? What was so special about him to justify such madness?
And while he was trying to process the situation, Slasher's eyes shifted. Although he didn't fully understand the conversation between the two, he knew how to read opportunities.
The guy with the flaming hair wanted to decapitate him, but the man in the robe had appeared out of nowhere to block the blow.
Now, his "savior" had his back turned to him while arguing with the Pillar. Neither of them was paying him the slightest bit of attention.
THIS WAS HIS CHANCE!
Activating his ability in desperation, an intense blue phosphorescence illuminated his body.
'I just need a sec—!'
Swish!
A sharp whistle cut through the air from a distance at terrifying speed. It was so fast that Slasher didn't have time to even blink, and Rengoku barely managed to catch a blurry pink-colored silhouette crossing the space.
Shink!
The sound of steel tearing through flesh and sinking into stone rang out.
Slasher howled in pain as his body was pinned against the wall. A purple-pink-bladed sword had run him through the chest, leaving the tip buried deep in the wall.
'Someone else!?'
Rengoku turned his head toward the direction the weapon had come from, but he didn't find anyone.
Marcus was also stupefied.
The blade had just grazed past his eyes in a familiar flash.
And he recognized the pattern of the blade instantly.
…It was Makomo.
Just a moment ago, in the urgency of saving the demon, he had dropped her sheath and Makomo at the spot where he had launched the [Flower Crossing]
But… how was it possible that she had flown all on her own to impale the demon?
His first reaction was also to think someone had thrown her, but a second later…
'Marcus-kun~'
A familiar voice rang out deep in his mind, leaving him completely frozen.
MAKOMO!
Spinning around abruptly and, in two strides, planting himself right in front of the demon. Slasher, who was writhing in pain, felt his soul slipping out of his body as he saw Marcus bear down on him with that look.
"What… what are you trying to do!?"
Ignoring him, Marcus grabbed the sword's hilt and yanked it out in a single pull.
The abrupt motion tore an even more piercing shriek from Slasher, but Marcus had his eyes locked on the purple-pink blade he was holding in his hands.
An uncontainable smile spread across his face.
"Makomo! It really is you!"
'Marcus-kun… long time no see…'
The voice rang out again, this time with a hint of annoyance. Picking up on it, Marcus tried to calm her down: "What do you mean long time no see? I take you with me even when I go to the bathroom."
'Eeee?! Y-You're disgusting!'
"Hahaha!" Marcus let out a spontaneous laugh. "So, you've been here this whole time?"
'I've always been here… it's just that before, I was asleep… today I felt your distress… and that's why I woke up…'
Looking at Makomo in his hand, Marcus couldn't hold back his smile.
"I'm glad you're back. We'll talk later, first let me take care of a few things."
'Mm~'
With the connection reestablished, he finally raised his eyes toward the demon.
Slasher felt his skin crawl under that gaze.
THIS GUY IS A PSYCHOPATH!
One moment he was laughing to himself, the next he was talking to a sword spouting nonsense, and now he was watching him with a disturbing possessiveness… EXACTLY LIKE A DEGENERATE.
"W-What are you going to do to me!?"
But Marcus was focused on the system notification.
[Target with Blood Demon Art has been detected]
[Blood Demon Art: Divine Speed]
[Core location: The stripes on the surface of the body]
[Extraction method: Devour the flesh and blood of the core]
He reread the core's location over and over before letting out a long sigh of relief.
"Thank god… thank god…" he whispered to himself. "Lucky the core is the stripes and not his feet…"
?
Both Slasher and Rengoku looked at him with the same expression of absolute bewilderment.
Without offering any explanations, Marcus raised both swords.
Using Makomo as if she were a fork, he kept the demon firmly pinned, while with the other he made feints, looking for the precise angle for the cut.
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?"
Slasher practically felt like a steak on a plate.
"Use your ability."
"W-What!?"
"I told you to use it!"
Marcus twisted Makomo abruptly, triggering a pain so sharp that Slasher, out of pure survival instinct, activated his technique.
In that instant, Marcus moved.
Swish!
Rengoku raised an eyebrow.
He could see clearly that this was not a slash to decapitate. Marcus was performing an extraction.
With surgical precision, he sliced through the area of the shoulder where the stripes were concentrated, while Slasher howled in pain with blood gushing out in spurts.
And after a few seconds, a small chunk of flesh, still pulsing, leaped through the air.
Almost immediately, its edges began disintegrating into ash, like paper consumed by fire.
'It's time…'
Stretching out his hand, Marcus snatched the bloody piece of meat and, before the astonished gaze of everyone present, tilted his head back.
He opened his mouth and… gulped down the demonic scrap in a single bite.
!!!!???
Rengoku was left speechless.
He was incapable of processing what he was seeing.
Fuku covered her mouth in horror, "H-He's eating—!"
Before she could finish, her grandmother, Tomi, covered her mouth and dragged her back. "Don't speak, Fuku! This is none of our business!"
But despite her words, her hands were trembling and her gaze reflected the same terror.
The "victim" of that horrific spectacle was left completely dumbfounded.
However, suddenly he felt something vital slipping away from him… something far more fundamental than the blood or the piece of flesh he had just lost.
It was the ability he had depended on to survive!
"NO… NO, NO, NO! IMPOSSIBLE!"
Activating his speed with all his strength, the blue fluorescence lit up what was left of his body, but the lights, the moment they were born… started to fade away… as if something were sucking them in.
And then he saw it…
The same light started to light up the man in the robe.
Blue.
The light was born at his neck and spread downward, branching out to the left and the right.
Even through the clothing, you could clearly make out how the blue lines ran across his shoulders, his arms, his chest, and his legs.
Slasher's eyes opened wide with madness.
IT WAS HIS ABILITY!!
And now… now in that man's body… it was being reborn.
__________
Throw your stones, drop them ALL! 💎
And don't forget to comment, I wanna know if you liked the chapter 👀
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And if PS aren't your thing but you still want more chapters...
P-a-t-r-e-o-n → Athome790