"Why couldn't I talk to him?"
He said it with such sincerity that Rengoku coughed up blood.
Literally. A good red spurt shot out of the corner of his mouth and stained his uniform.
Although, to be fair, the blood wasn't because of the line. It was because, at the exact second he'd turned to look back at Marcus, Akaza had planted a kick square in the middle of his abdomen.
But it didn't even cross Rengoku's mind to blame Marcus for that. The opposite. If anything, it made him want to protect him even more.
"Listen to me!" he panted, recovering his stance between coughs. "Right now he's furious, completely out of his mind, he's not going to hear a single word you say to him! The only sensible thing is for you to leave right now!"
As he spoke, he swung the sword in a wide arc to force Akaza to fall back, and took the chance to glance at the horizon over the tops of the trees.
"Dawn is coming soon. I'll hold him and make him die burned under the sun."
Marcus looked at Akaza, who had been left stunned for a moment. As if he had also heard that.
"Rengoku." Marcus felt a little helpless. "If the sun does come up, don't you think he's going to take off running? If he escapes and goes back to Muzan, this is going to keep being a problem for us in the future."
Rengoku lunged with his sword, a determined look in his eyes.
"DON'T WORRY! I'm not going to let all your effort go to waste!! Even if I have to die, I'll hold him back with everything I have until dawn!"
"YOU RUN FIRST!"
Marcus: "…"
Akaza: "…"
For a second, the badly wounded human and the demon felt united by a common emotion.
Rengoku was underestimating them.
Then Akaza, offended to the very depths of his pride, began to give off an unmistakable intent to kill.
Seeing it clearly, Marcus hurried to step in. "Rengoku, quit being so stubborn! If I'm telling you we can talk to him, it's because we can!"
"That's just an illusion of yours!"
"…"
Marcus held his breath.
'Patience… Patience… Breathe…'
"Even if you don't believe me," he said now through clenched teeth, "I swear to you I can make him stop."
"I don't believe you!"
"Let's bet on it!"
"I don't bet!"
"Oh, for the love of God…" Marcus scratched his head in frustration.
'It's so hard to talk to people like this!'
"Tsk."
'Fine. If you can't be reasoned with, then we don't reason. Period.'
He stopped paying attention to Rengoku and focused on Akaza.
"HAKUJI!!"
"KOYUKI IS CALLING YOU!!"
!
Hearing those names, something inside Akaza shuddered. His fists, which were ready to strike, froze completely.
…Hakuji?
She's calling… me?
Koyuki… who's Koyuki?
Why…?
Why is it that when I hear that name…
…it hurts so much?
Why does it hurt like this?
WHAT UNBEARABLE PAIN!
And then, just like a dam breaks, the memories of the past that Muzan had erased began to seep through all at once.
….
"What's going on?"
Seeing Akaza completely petrified on the spot, Rengoku stood there with his sword raised.
It took him a couple of seconds to remember Marcus, and when he turned his head to look at him, he did so with an expression of absolute disbelief.
Marcus smiled at him sheepishly.
"Don't ask why, the result is what matters, right?"
That line was enough to instantly defuse the dozen questions that were forming in Rengoku's head.
They all got stuck sideways in his throat, with nowhere to go, choking him up a little on the inside.
However, what Marcus was saying was true.
This wasn't the time to be asking for explanations, it was the time to seize the opportunity. And, above all, it was the time to think about the real problem.
"He still doesn't have a head… How are we supposed to kill him like this?"
"Who said he doesn't have a head?" Marcus pointed at the buds of flesh that were regenerating at high speed on Akaza's neck. "Can't you see? He's growing a new brain."
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Throw your stones, drop them ALL! 💎
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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