Right now, back in the present, in the dark castle of Tsukigakure where demons working as slaves outside could be seen, behind the doors of the cold looking castle, the king of the demons orders Kowamaru to make him a cup of human blood tea.
Kowamaru heads to the kitchen and was preparing the tea, internally laughing as he looks behind to see if somebody is in his vicinity, and then as he was preparing the tea, he pulls some herbs and kneads it on the drink.
"I can finally do it..."
As he serves it to the king, days later... the old man ends up sick, many demons seem a bit suspicious on Kowamaru, but they didn't tall about it since they never had proof to begin with.
Kowamaru... felt satisfied, he kept taking care of the ruler through the brink of his life, and on his last day of life, the king whispers slowly:
– K-Kowamaru... I-I d-declare you... the k-king...
Those last words were his last, before dying. Kowamaru stood there, with an overwhelmed expression, but deep down... satisfied, internally laughing, although he had to hide that satisfaction and keep on pretending fake emotional reactions.
"He is... d-dead! He is finally... dead, and I won! Now everybody will be my playtoy!! EVERYBODY!!"
Everything went down how he had wanted... all of these months being a slave, taking care of a moisty wrinkly old demon was... worth it, now everything was under his control.
Many were angry... but they were FORCED to obey Kowamaru in the upcoming days, and weeks later they get to accept him.
6 months pass, Chiyo was training with the Goddess of life on her elements, fighting against her, of course, Chiyo herself knew that she was still far off from the powers that Kaori was holding.As they were training, one of the angels fly towards the Goddess and Chiyo, and announces:
– Hello, Hello! Chiyo, Miss Kaori, your highness! Kowamaru has just declared war against the humans!
That simple sentence got Chiyo simply frozen, a sweat rolling down her face, since she still saw Kowamaru as the child she grew up together with... she never could have expected that. The Deity seeing her broken reaction, gently pats Chiyo on the shoulder reassuringly.
– We will get that over with, Chiyo... don't worry about it much, you have grown a long way since then, I feel like you could get over it..
Chiyo was still frozen, no word of reassurement being able to break out of her confusing yet chaotic feeling she was having. A beat passed, and then the angel continues:
–He has stated that the war will begin in just a month... thanks for hearing me out... and then the angel dissipates into thin air.
The Goddess and her apprentice remained in silence.
– I will give you two choices, dear... Kaori states, you either keep staying here, being trained by me... or I will train you this only last month and I let you go to war... this is up to you.
These options that the deity has given her shock Chiyo, because she really didnt knew what to choose, she stood 6 minuted to figure out what to even think, the announcement, and the instant forced choices she had to make were too overwhelming... but then she makes up her mind and reluctantly chooses:
– Let's train... for this last month... I need to help them...
– Are you sure?..
Another beat passes...
–....yes... Chiyo finally chose.
The goddess nods, and then they head back on training. While killing demons with her powers while practicing, she still felt like something heavy that she was carrying deep down... the choice she had made... what if it was wrong? What if something bad was about to happen? But then... she could finally start seeing a glimmer of hope while burning the demons one by one with her magic and then turning them into crystal ashes...
"I will... save you all! Mom... Dad... Yuki... Etsuko... Rika... Orochi... even you, Kowamaru!"
Meanwhile, in the Death Mist Forest of Shainihebun, Horie was standing at the grave of his dead mentor while it was raining outside, placing flowers close to the cross.
A tear rolls down his cheek, closes his eyes and silently suffers.
He feels a hand placing on his shoulder, and as he turns around, he sees Etsuko with a sympathetic expression on her face.
– You must have really cared for him...
– Yeah... I did... he raised me, as harsh or honest as he might have been, the old man cared about me.. Horie admits with his soft tone. I have tried to deny it, so many years of abandonment from my family and then him taking me with him... I felt insecure, thinking he might want to harm me as well... those flowers... those represent my heartfelt apologies towards him... for judging him to soon...
Etsuko's expression softens, she was not able to see any hint of deception coming from his expression nor his tone... an instant transpires, the rain drops trickling through their wet bodies, and Horie finally gets up from his crouching position. Them both stand silent for a moment, and then Etsuko decides to divulge the current situation that was happening...
–Kowamaru has declared war against us, Horie...
– Of course he has, that son of a bitch... he says, with a hardened look in his face and then turning around again to look at Etsuko, let's go training... big things are about to happen soon, also let's make sure Rika is safe, you can bring her to my place...
Etsuko nods:
– Understood.
And then they walk away from the grave that beholds to Horie's dead sensei.
Everyone is preparing for the next upcoming bloody war that it is about to happen.