The Captured

“Ugh.” Hiiro groaned as he came to in a world of gray. That's not to say it was entirely gray, simply that the color dominated the space. Steel bars rose from the ground on his right side, they were a statement of what place he was in.

“A prison?”

Gray bricks made up the wall behind and to the left side of him. The walls outside the cell were much the same. The walls adjacent to him however, well made of the same brick, were different. The reason that the cell couldn't be called completely gray was on that wall, covered in a dark green moss. The silver haired girl with ears far longer than he had ever seen was sat there.

The girl seemed unharmed, other than her clothes being a little weathered. As far as Hiiro could tell she was unconscious. Much like him, her hands were bound by shackles attached to the wall.

“Hey!” Hiiro called out.

“Hmm.” Manako rustled.

After a few moments, Manako seemed to realize that she was sleeping and opened her eyes. She appeared to look around for a moment, taking in her surroundings. Once realization took hold–

“AH!” she screamed.

“Hey, calm down! It's gonna be okay.” Hiiro Says, doing his best to calm her down.

“No, No, No, Nononononono!” Manako curled up, bringing her hands to her head. She shakes he head left to right, like a metronome.

“Hey, listen-” Hiiro tried to reach forward.

“AHHHH” Manako curled back

Hiiro finds himself in a situation he had never been in. However many people he had helped, he hadn't seen this. To a person that was afraid of him, he didn't know how to react.

It was then he caught sight of it—Manako's gaze. Despite being terrified of him, her eyes showed not fear, but extreme anger, hatred. Her body was afraid, but she was angry.

He had been looked at like that before.

There was a girl, who could only be described as gloomy. She had sat in the back of class in middle school, constantly reading books, never really interacting with anyone. Hiiro had decided that he would save her, just as he had tried with many others. However, that had only ended with death glares. The girl would only tell him to leave her alone and return to reading. For almost a month, Hiiro tried and failed to get the guy to interact and make friends, but that all stopped when the two separated after transferring to high school. I heard that she went missing…

That being Says, it's not as if Hiiro now knew how to deal with it, simply that he had experience.

“I thought I was dead.” Hiiro says.

“Huh..?”

“When I arrived here, I found myself in a white room, the only other thing was an old guy. I thought I’d ended up in heaven, Hahaha.” Hiiro chuckled wryly, then continues- “I immediately began to freak out and ran around, I actually ended up pantsing the old guy, who ended up being the Pope…”

“Pft-” Manako hadn’t changed her defensive position, nor had her glare subsided.

“It was pretty awkward after that, haha. The Pope wouldn't even look me in the eyes, everyone would laugh every time I passed them. Wasn't a very welcome homecoming, hahaha”

“…” While one couldn't say that she was improving, she had stopped her screaming.

Bang

Suddenly, the sound of a door opening spread throughout the chamber. The door must've been around the corner, as Hiiro couldn’t see who had entered.

After a few moments of anticipation and anxiety the foreign entity appears around the corner.

“Good morning, Mr Hero,” Absalon says as he rounded the corner.

“Bastard.” Hiiro replied. “where are we?” Hiiro asked.

“Why, slow down hero, we've got plenty of time to talk.” Absalon Says as he moved toward the back wall and leaned against it.

Manako had gone silent. She had moved as far back as she could into the corner of the cell.

Absalon, seemingly ignoring Manako, looked toward Hiiro.

“So, Hero, no… Demon. Let's have a chat.”

“Why should I talk to you?”

“Well because if you don’t, I have nothing to distract me from putting our plan into motion. Trust me when I say that would be very bad for you and that girl over there.”

Manako flinched at being acknowledged.Absalon didn't seem to care and returned to looking at Hiiro.

“Fine.”

“Wonderful. I'll make it worth your while and answer a question of yours for everyone of mine you answer.”

“Why would you do that?”

“Quite simple, there's not much difference if I do or don't.”

Hiiro groaned back, simply exhausted. He couldn't trust anything this man says. He’d have to buy as much time as he could and hope he’d think of something.

“Well, first I'd like to know why the church is allowing a demon to go on living in this world.” Absalon looked down at Hiiro with eyes marked with disgust. I've never been looked at like that before.

“I don’t know. Ask them, I didn’t ask to be brought here.” Hiiro explains. “What’s the big deal, why are all of you so rac-”

“I think you misunderstand something.” Absalon stepped forward, his agitation evident in his voice. “Demons are not part of this world. Heh! Ironically, it was a demon who introduced the concept of “Invasive species”, that's what demons are. They don't have a place in this world, they simply tear it apart. Racism isn't even in the same discussion, you're simply parasites that must be removed..”

“But, that's not-”

“But it is the truth. Accept it.”

“What have I… Have we ever done?!”

“Plenty, as an example…Demihumans.”

Manako shuttered, feeling both their gazes fall on her.

“What about them?!”

“The word came from demons, segregating all non-human races as ‘Part human’, on top of that, many demons sought out certain demi-humans, just ask the elf.”

“Wha?”

“My, are you stupid. I'm saying that all demihumans have been segmented off into their own groups because of demons. Because demons were adamant that Demi-humans werent the same as humans, the idea spread, leading to those with half human blood were ostracized. That's “Racism”, and the demons actions in that regard led to the century war.

Hiiro went quiet, unsure what to say. Have demons really had that effect on the world?

“Then why?! Why do you summon us?!”

“Did the church not tell you? Very few demons are ever summoned purposefully.” Absalon chuckled to himself then continued: “Those fools used technology from the ancient civilization to summon you. Most demons are forced upon us.”

Hiiro looked toward the stone ground.

“Demon Hunter…”

“Is that what you want to ask? Demon hunters are just as they sound, people who hunt demons. There are several groups of them, In fact, our very own Walter was one at one point in time. He was a part of the church's spears, the Tadorata. The man with you earlier is known very well too, often considered the strongest hunter out there, spoken of in the same sentence as the Soheim adventurer’s, Captain of the Zeus, the Amethyst Hero. Heh, Sir. Walter was once compared to the principal of Saionia and the other supreme magus .”

“The church...” Has demon hunters?

“Now that I've explained that, I have another question for you.” Absalon Says, ignoring Hiiro’s silence. “The church, why have they all of a sudden shifted their forces east.”

Hiiro wasn't sure how to answer, he didn't know after all. The church was more of a sponsor than actually something he was a part of. Still, the realization of them having hunters was shocking to him.

“I… don't know…” Hiiro replied.

“I see…” Absalon didn't move, simply stood leaning against the far wall. “I had a feeling that would be the case.”

“Huh?”

“Were you expecting me to interrogate you? There'd be no point. Soon enough, you'll be under our control, and you can tell us then.”

“Then why even ask me?” Hiiro wasn't sure what he meant by control, but the girl in the corner certainly would work as blackmail against him.

“I simply like to talk with those I kill.” Absalon Says. “Well, I owe you one answer now.”

“... Where are we?”

“This place is a set of ruins in the Noland forest. The ruins specifically are called the ruins of Uniphon.” Absalon claimed.

“Why are we in ruins?”

“I wonder.”

“Hey!-”

Bang

Once again, the sound of a door slamming open pierced Hiiro's ears. Aggressive footsteps could be heard heading in their direction, after half the time it had taken Absalon to reach them, a man with red scales came into view.