On the Other Side

During the past month that Kizou went missing, the Demon Kingdom seemed to be continuing on as if nothing ever happened. 

The Demon Kingdom never knew what went on behind the scenes, so it was normal for them not to be aware that there were deaths. The Demon Castle kept everything a secret, because they wanted the citizens to feel like everything was safe. The deaths of both Geet and Ty were mourned within the Castle walls, and their families weren’t even given the opportunity to see their bodies. The state of their bodies were so charred and burnt that Luna’s account of seeing them was used as an identifier for who they were. Geet’s head was nowhere to be found while Ty’s body had a gaping hole. Two warriors were sent off and shown appreciation for their hard work in supporting the Kingdom.

The King and Queen continued to live on with their lives and supported Cryo as much as possible. They coddled him and played with him whenever the opportunity presented itself. With the hindrance out of the way, they were focused on showing the world who the real Prince was.

“My son, you will be the future of this Kingdom,” the King said as he held Cryo in his arms. Cryo was laughing and smiling as the King played with him.

“He takes after you, there’s no doubt about that,” the Queen said with a laugh. The King smiled and kissed the Queen on her lips.

The Hell’s Group continued to go on different quests and complete their duties behind the shadow. With Number 1 still being gone, Number 2 continued to take his role as the commander of the group. On the outskirts of the Kingdom, Number 2 and Number 3 were training in an empty canyon.

“When is he going to come back?!” Freo asked angrily as he panted from his training. 

He wore his white coat and had his armband with the number 2 on. He had his mask on which showed a frown with blood dripping down his mouth.

“Are you talking about Number 1?” Aria answered as she was also panting from the training.

She wore her white coat that showed off her cleavage, and she had her armband with the number 3 on it. She had her mask on which showed a smile.

They both lunged at each other with their swords out, and threw strikes. Freo was more powerful with the sword, but Aria was more graceful. Every strike that Freo made showed his bloodlust while Aria dodged every attack as if she could already sense where it was coming from.

“Of course I’m talking about Number 1,” Freo said angrily. Aria and Freo clashed swords and were now face to face.

“You always talk about Number 1 so much with so much passion,” Aria said depressingly as they still stayed face to face. “You’re never this invested in me.”

“And why does that matter?” Freo said as he backed away from Aria. “Being the strongest is what it’s all about.”

“So, you’re saying that you don’t care about me?” Aria asked while she looked at herself in the reflection of her sword.

“Until you’re able to defeat me, there really is no purpose of seeing you any different than a sparring partner,” Freo answered as he put his sword back in his sheath. “Number 1 was ruthless and conquered everyone in his path. I have to defeat him.”

“He’s gone!” Aria yelled towards Freo as she started becoming annoyed at where his attention lied. “You’re commander now, and I’m pretty much vice commander!”

“Do I look like some leftover to you?!” Freo asked angrily as his horn popped out. 

Instantly, an insane amount of energy could be seen coming out of Freo. A black aura developed around him that frightened Aria.

“No, I’m sorry,” Aria replied as she put her head down.

“I’m going to beat him and rightfully take his spot,” Freo said. “I’m heading back.”

As Freo headed on back, Aria dropped to her knees. While they kept the facade up in the Castle of being stronger than the rest, Freo still eyed only one person. Number 1.

Number 4 continued to train the barracks back within the castle. Even though he was retired, he still wore the armband, because he wanted his respect. Even though Mya was the current number 4, he was still considered to be at par with her strength. He continued to teach the younger generation on how to fully utilize the potential of their horns.

Number 5 and 6 stayed closer to each other after the incident with the Deviants. They never exposed the details regarding what happened in the battle, but the only thing that they told the King was that the job was done. They didn’t want to look like failures who ran away from someone stronger, so the truth was never told.

They both sat in a room as they didn’t have a mission for the day. Number 5 wore her white robe and had an armband with the number 5 on it. She wore her mask that showed someone laughing. Number 6 wore his white robe and had an armband with the number 6 on it. He wore his mask that showed someone angry.

“What do you think happened to the Deviants?” Naota asked Luna.

“They probably ran away,” Luna replied quickly as if she was trying to avoid the conversation.

“Didn’t they mention that someone within our Kingdom has the same mindset as them?” Naota asked confusingly. “A demon wanting to be friends with a human?”

“They might’ve just been trying to get into our heads,” Luna answered. “We should just forget about them.  It's been a month already.”

“I’ve been trying to!” Naota exclaimed. “Their strength was just on another level, but even they seemed like lackeys of their groups.”

“That just means you gotta train harder!” Luna answered angrily. Her calm demeanor was finally broken as their encounter seemed to play a toll on her as well.

“Sorry, I won’t bring it up,” Naota replied as he noticed that Luna seemed uncomfortable.

“No, it’s fine,” Luna answered. “I’ll remember their faces, because I’m going to kill them next time.”

“And now we don’t have that annoyance in the way either,” Naota said.

“Glad that they were willing to take someone worthless,” Luna said with a chuckle. “I guess we can thank him for sacrificing his life to save us.”

“I guess you’re right,” Naota said as he started laughing out loud. Luna joined in, and they both continued to laugh at the demise of Kizou.

The death of Kizou passed by the Demon Castle quickly. Kizou was never appreciated in the Castle, so no one really cared about what happened to him. His old room already turned into a storage room for the maids to get their equipment out of. In addition, there was no body that was found during the search. However, this was mostly due to how only one person was in the search party for Kizou.

“Where are you, Kizou?!” Mya yelled out. She looked everywhere throughout the forest.

“How can you make a promise that you’re not going to keep?!” She cried out in hopes of getting him to notice.

The woods that the fighting took place at were burnt to the ground. The remaining trees were black, and there weren't any signs of leaves. Branches were on the floor that were also burnt to a crisp.

There’s no way he would’ve gotten burnt to death, Mya thought to herself.

Mya wore her armband, and it showed the number 4. Mya had her white robe on as well as her mask. Her mask had etch marks to create someone who was crying. She continued on with her search and started sprinting through the forest to find even one sign of someone being there.

As she stood over the final battle that Kizou had, the droplets that fell showed that it wasn’t only the mask crying. Suddenly, the faint sounds of footsteps could be heard.

“Kizou, is that you!?” Mya yelled out as she started rushing towards the sound.

As she came to where she heard the sound, a boy stood there. He was tall and had blonde short hair. He wore a black cape and had a white armband on. He had a white shirt underneath and wore black pants. He turned around and saw Mya looking at him.

Wait, a white armband? Mya thought to herself. There’s never been a white armband from the humans who’ve infiltrated.

“I was actually just about to leave,” the boy said calmly.

“You’re a human, aren’t you?” Mya asked him. “Did you happen to see a demon around here?”

“No, I didn’t,” the boy continued to answer calmly as if he wasn’t afraid.

“Well, you’re coming with me, either way,” Mya said. “I promise that we won’t hurt you if you listen to me.”

“Are you being serious right now?” the boy asked. “I only came to stop by to check this place out, because an alert came to the Syndicate.”

“What’s the Syndicate?” Mya asked. This boy clearly wasn’t an ordinary boy.

“It doesn’t matter to you,” the boy replied. “All I’m going to say is that the order is a month old, so I need to complete this quickly.”

Wait! Kizou disappeared a month ago?! Mya thought to herself as she pieced the information together.

“On second thought, I might have to hurt you to get the information I need,” Mya said as she released her horn. A strong amount of pressure developed around her as she could feel herself getting stronger.

The boy stood there and let out an extremely long sigh that even caught Mya surprised. His blank expression showed that he had no interest at all. Mya crouched down while taking her sword out and prepared herself to launch one fast attack towards the boy. He continued standing there and looking at Mya.

“Hushed Spirit!” Mya yelled as a burst of wind launched her towards the boy in an instant. She had her sword pointed straight at him as she wanted to use all of her energy to capture him.

The sound of flesh tore, and a body fell to the ground.

“I said I needed to complete this quickly,” the boy said as he flicked his sword to wipe off the blood. He crept down and grabbed Mya by the hair and lifted her face up.

Mya looked at him and wanted to say something, but only the gushing of blood came out of her mouth. She blinked slowly as her vision started blurring. She could only hear bits and pieces of what the boy was saying.

“... can’t believe that …”

She looked at him again and started blinking even slower.

“... never listen but …”

Suddenly, she felt a huge amount of pressure that she was stabbed in. She wanted to let out a yell, but the words couldn’t come out of her mouth. She took one last blink to see the boy. Her vision finally turned back.