Night crept slowly over the ruins of the battlefield, and the scent of ash still lingered in the air. Hot blood was splattered across the scorched rails, and the sound of Rengoku's ragged breathing could barely be heard amidst the silence of death.
Akaza, the demon with glowing eyes, knelt before Rengoku's fallen body, staring at him as an artist would gaze upon his final masterpiece.
"Fiery one... Your loss would be a tragedy for this world. But you could burn forever—if you joined us."
Rengoku opened his eyes with effort, every part of him screaming in defiance."I would rather… die… than become like you."
Akaza smiled—a smile void of pity or sorrow, filled only with pure demonic mockery.
"If you were weak-willed, I wouldn't have chosen you. But you… you are the embodiment of strength. I won't let you die in vain."
Then, without warning, he drove his claws into Rengoku's body, and with a darkness no one could comprehend, he forced something into his heart—a sensation of cold, of rage, of thirst.
A scream burst from Rengoku's chest, unlike any scream ever heard before.It was the final cry of a human… and the first of a demon.
Everything went dark.
He awoke later inside a pitch-black cave, not knowing how much time had passed.The sun had vanished, and night was breathing through the mountains.The first thing he saw was his hand… his skin… it was no longer what he had known.
Then he heard the voice inside him:
"You are not who you were… You are no longer human."
He stood, stunned, his heart pounding with boundless dread.He had to run… from his past, from his killer, from himself.
And so… the escape began.
to be continued.