Massacre and Horned Demon Pt: 2

Before the attack

Three figures sit around the round table, the candlelight refusing to touch any of their faces equally. Heavy footsteps follow, metal scraping against the wall as King Kamikaze stomps into the room, his purple eyes glaring. His eyes scan the room, until his gaze locks on to an empty seat on the far side of the table. 

"...Where is she?" He growls.

The silver haired demi-human, Aito, looks up from his pocket watch, before grinning and  answering in a tone that shows no fear.

"A no show, as usual. Honestly, I don't even know why we invite her to these things anymore." He chuckles.

Across from him, with shoulder length brown hair and amber eyes, sits Scarlet Nolander.

"Personally I'm glad she doesn't bother to show up... She's a bit intense for me." Scarlet says, looking down at the table. 

Kamikaze takes his seat at the forefront of the table, sitting himself down with great force. A figure in a black hooded cloak sitting slightly disconnected from the rest turns their head slightly to look at the king.

Aito is the first to raise his hand.

"I believe our first topic of discussion should be the oni village dear Thanatos here located for us, yes? Last batch of Ember Blossoms provided enough Emberis for nearly half the year, and it seems this village is even bigger than the last." He smiles.

Kamikaze looks at the hooded figure, before turning his attention back to Aito.

"So more endurance boosters?" He gruffly asks.

The fox's smile widens.

"Of course, your majesty. If my guesses are right, this supply could keep us stocked up for at least another 8 months."

Kamikaze is silent for a moment, seemingly deciding what to say. The air is tense as his subordinates await his answer. Finally, he lets out a deep, unhinged chuckle.

"Hehehehe... I'll set out now. Better sooner than later." He stands, effectively cutting the meeting short.

"Um, I'm sorry your majesty but shouldn't we prepare a little more? Oni are known to be pretty formidable..." Scarlet interjects.

The king turns to her, his purple eyes staring daggers at her. 

"No need. We know what to expect, last time I slaughtered them all, got a nice army in the process too hehehe... I see no reason this will be any different. It'll be a massacre." Kamikaze sounds like he's barely containing his excitement.

Scarlet looks like she has more to say, but she gives in and lowers her head. The hooded figure remains perfectly still.

"Fox. Return to your dungeon duties, I'll summon you when I return. Nolander, I want you to gather the vermin in the bunker and tell them the king requires them at once,  I'll be waiting. And Thirteen..."

Kamikaze looks at the hooded figure.

"There's a man I need you to remove. A doctor down in the slums that's been reportedly assisting those rebellion scum. Kill him, I don't care how. That'll be all. You're dismissed." He says before finally stomping out of the room, shaking with excitement.

"...These meetings are always so short..." Scarlet says as soon as he is gone.

Aito laughs.

"Well, you know how he is. Practically running out the door at the first mention of violence." He says.

Scarlet sighs, a bead of sweat dripping down her forehead. Aito turns his head to the hooded figure.

"As usual, since the king forgot, I'll praise you in his stead. Great work Thanatos, you truly are an amazing help." Aito smiles, but his smile never reaches his eyes.

The figure doesn't answer.

---

Screams. All I hear are screams as oni frantically run to escape the chaos. Some escape into huts, while others are slashed down by reanimated corpses before they even have a chance to scream for help. 

I look to my right to check Crimson, who is staring at Kamikaze with wide eyes. She's frozen.

"...W-Who...." She tries to say but her voice fails her.

I, myself, also find myself frozen in shock and unable to move. Why is Kamikaze here? What could he possibly want? I've only ever encountered him once he can't be here for me... Which means...

I see the glowing purple eyed soldiers operating machinery that looks like two drills digging into the ground beside the Ember Blossom trees, with chains tightening and wrapping around the trunks, beginning to pull upwards and uprooting them from the ground completely.

Zion's warning!!! They're here for the Ember Blossoms! No, I can't let them! But I don't have my weapons. FUCK!

Out of nowhere a soldier appears beside Crimson and charges his spear to slash her.

"NO!!!" I scream.

She's too shocked to move, he's going to kill her!

Suddenly, dark black, jagged rocks erupt from the ground, impaling the soldier through the chest like a spire and leaving the soldier bleeding and skewered. A shadow appears from overhead, and Midnight comes crashing down holding a spiked club. He slams it into the impaled soldier's head as he lands, completely crushing it to dust.

Midnight has changed out of his festival kimono. He's now wearing a black sleeveless haori overtop a black gi with a dark blue sash tied around his waist. He wears heavy black cargo trousers reinforced with metal kneepads. He turns his head to me and Crimson.

"Get out of here." He says.

I look around the village and see Midnight is the only one defending it. Is he the only combatant here? 

"No way! You can't do this alone, you'll die! Give me a weapon I'll help!" I yell at him.

Crimson finally breaks out of her trance.

"W-Why are we under attack...? Who is this?" She desperately looks between me and Midnight.

Midnight growls in frustration.

"The king! Now get to safety! NOW!" He screams.

"T-The king...? But why-"

A thin metal spear flies towards us, and Midnight blocks it by creating a wall of black rocks. 

Kamikaze sees us.

He shouldn't be able to recognize me since last time we met I was wearing my helmet, which is probably working in my favour. Crimson's eyes widen once more, before red lightning begins flickering around her. In an instant, Crimson vanishes in a blur of electricity, before returning only around 2 seconds later holding 3 swords. 

She tosses one to me, an iron longsword with black fabric wrapped around the hilt. Midnight sees and grimaces at the thought of us joining the fight. I then notice the two swords Crimson keeps for herself.

Crimson’s own swords are something else entirely—thick, serrated slabs of metal with locked teeth and blackened housings. They’re silent for now, but even at rest they look wrong, like machines pretending to be blades. The teeth are still, packed tight along the edges, waiting. I can’t shake the feeling that the swords aren’t unfinished—just restrained. I see a switch on the handle of each blade.

I finally tear my eyes from the swords and look back at Midnight, who's been continuously beating zombie soldiers over the head with his bat, clearly aiming to destroy the skull.

"Where's Zion?!" I call out.

Midnight scowls and slams a soldier's head into his knee, crushing it.

"Asleep." Is all he says.

...Huh?

"WHAT!?!" I yell in shock.

Midnight ignores me and dashes to the other side of the village, aiming to stop the soldiers from uprooting the trees.

Crimson zips beside me.

"...Whenever Pa returns from one of his big outings, he's pretty worn out. That's why he goes to sleep for a couple weeks... Like a short hibernation..." She says, clearly sounding worried out of her mind.

"You have to be kidding me!" 

Is that why he told me what he did about the Ember Blossoms? Because he knew that if we were attacked he'd be sleeping when it happened? That old man has to have the worst timing I've ever seen! Wake up idiot!

Suddenly, Crimson flicks the switches on her blades, and the serrated edges roar to life like chainsaws. I've never seen anything like it, like she's carrying two portable chainsaws in the shapes of swords. The edges spin and spin.

She bolts forward, leaving a trail of lightning behind her as she slams her body into one of the soldiers, knocking him to the ground and stomping on his skull, crushing it. She bolts towards another and drives both her blades through his torso, the serrated edges tearing through his flesh like tissue paper and spitting blood in every direction.

I feel... inferior to these two in every way. I'm strong, yeah, but oni strength is no fucking joke. I watch as Midnight crushes countless soldiers under his bat while impaling others on black rocks that he conjures from the ground, and Crimson zipping all over the places at supersonic speed tearing them to shreds with her blades.

I notice a group in the distance operating one of the heavy drills. I walk towards them, conjuring blue flames to surround me as I walk.

"...Can't let them have all the fun."

They notice me, and one of them swings at me with a massive battle-axe, which I deflect with my blade and kick him into the drill. A loose piece of his tattered clothing is caught, and it pulls him into the drill, erupting in a geyser of blood. They continue to attack me, and I weave and dodge my way through their swords, spears and arrows. 

I grab one of them by the face and ignite my hand in flames, burning his head to ash as I throw him back down to the ground and decapitate another nearby zombie. Midnight jumps over, and slams his bat in the drill, destroying it in one swing.

"Good idea!" I call out.

He ignores me yet again and headbutts a zombie, exploding his head with his horns. He jumps to the other side of the village to destroy more of the drills, but they outnumber us so it's near impossible to stop them from taking all the trees. I see soldiers running to the exit of the village carrying heavy Ember Blossoms trees, and despite our best efforts, many get away.

Suddenly, a soldier grabs me from behind and holds me in place, stopping me from moving.

"What the- This guy is fucking strong!"

Another soldier approaches and begins to swing his battle axe at me while I'm locked into place, clearly aiming to take my head off.

"Shit!"

I swing my body and manage to flip the one holding me over my body, causing him to be slashed in half by the second one. I lunge at the remaining one and stab him through the stomach, lifting him upwards and then throwing him behind me.

Crimson hacks and slashes at the zombies, but it seems like they're endless. How many men does Kamikaze have? They manage to surround Crimson and begin pinning her to the ground with sheer numbers. Midnight is still fighting, but I can tell he's wounded by the amount of cuts and slashes across his body.

"Crimson!!!" I scream as I begin running at full speed, and I almost reach her until I feel a piercing pain in my chest.

It takes me a second to realize I've been impaled. I'm pinned to the ground by one of Kamikaze's thin throwing spears, which I can only assume he threw at me as I was distracted by Crimson. I slightly raise my head and see him staring at me from the entrance of the cave, where he's been standing this whole time. He winds up another spear, and releases it. I close my eyes and brace.

*TIK-CHRRRNG*

I hear the sound of the spear making contact with something that isn't me, and embedding somewhere in the ground nearby.

I open my eyes and see Midnight with his club standing in front of me, before rushing straight towards Kamikaze himself. He jumps upwards with the leg strength of a kangaroo, raising the club above his head.

"RAHHHH-"

But Kamikaze answers by brutally slamming his left fist into Midnight's side, sending him crashing into nearby rubble, leaving a cloud of dust and debris.

That's the last thing I see before my vision goes black.

---

I see a woman and a boy. They're sitting together in a house that I can't help but feel seems familiar. They both have blue hair and horns, and the woman is reading the boy a story on a couch.

"...Mom...?"

The boy is laughing like something funny happened in the story, and the woman smiles as she reads, but I can't quite make out the details of their faces, everything is unfocused.

Why can't I see? Why can't I see my mom? What happened to her??? Why don't I remember you?!

"MOM!!!"

---

Blue flames erupt from my body like a tornado, incinerating the soldiers who have been steadily approaching me to finish me off. I stand, the spear still embedded in my chest. 

"Hehe... Hehehe... hehe-AH! AHHH!!! W-What- AHHHHHHHH!!!!!"

Pain. Piercing pain from my forehead like a splitting headache. It feels like I'm being stabbed in the head-

No. Something is emerging from my forehead. I instinctively raise my hands to feel, and can't believe what I'm touching.

Two white horns are sprouting from my forehead, stabbing their way out and splitting through my skull. They've torn through the skin on my head and have almost fully emerged. I've never felt pain like this before, it hurts, it hurts, it fucking hurts!!!

A soldier swings an axe at me. I deflect and stare straight into his dead, purple eyes.

"Fucking DIE!!!!!" 

I swing by sword and slice him in half vertically, then I lunge toward the zombies attacking Crimson and punch straight through the first one's chest.

I feel different. Stronger. Like back when I took that endurance booster but better. 

I grab the second soldier's arm and tear it clean off, beating him over the head with it. Multiple come at me but I ignite the area in blue flames, turning them all to ash. Crimson stands up and stabs the final one through the back, her chainsaw blades whirring.

"W-Wow, you-"

I feel like I can't control myself. I dash at Kamikaze who is watching from the distance. What? Why am I doing this there's no way I can face him right? STOP!

I land a punch on his shoulder without thinking and actually stagger him. Kamikaze grunts and starts swinging his spears in a large area trying to slice me, but it proves difficult with my newfound speed. I dash around him, landing punches across his body which only seems to piss him off.

I jump at him attempting to slice around his neck where the armour is thinner.

"GRK-"

I feel a large hand around my throat, holding me in air. I slam my fists into his arm but it's no use.

"That fire... Hehehehe, I remember you! Wow! I didn't think I'd find YOU in a place like this! Today must be my lucky day." He giggles in a deep, unsettling way.

I feel my head start to clear. My judgement was clouded and I got myself into the situation. Goddammit!!!

"You got horns now, huh? That's neat. Too bad it's not enough hehehe."

"W-Why are you... here...?" I grunt, his hand is tightening on my throat and making it hard to speak.

"Well obviously I came for the trees, but who would've guessed you'd be here too? Two birds with one stone! I'll let you in on a little secret since you're about to die anyways, you remember that demi-human girl you had with you? Hehehehe, my assassin located her in the capital and managed to detain her! Poor girl, she was looking for you y'know?" He mocks.

...What?

My eyes widen.

"Oops! Guessing you didn't know. We were mostly keeping her to help track you down giving how you had a hand in Klein's defeat, The Sage insisted you were a top threat to my regime. I won't be needing her once you're dead. Boy, I can't wait to bring her your living corpse!" He starts laughing.

"Y-Y-YOU MOTHERFUCKER!" I scream.

Kamikaze winds up his spear in his other hand, preparing to stab me.

"AAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!"

I ignite my entire body in blue fire, intensifying the heat as much as I can.

"What the- FUCK! You piece of shit-" Kamikaze throws me across the cave to avoid burning his arm off.

I hit the ground hard and land in a pile of rubble. Everything is blurry... My vision feels like it's fading.

All I can see is two soldiers approaching my body, ready to attack. I can't move, everything hurts. I can feel my horns retracting back into my forehead.

A blur of red lightning begins shocking both soldiers. One crashes into the nearby rubble and the other falls and hits the ground beside me, his head inches from mine. A boot slams down on his head, crushing it and coating my face in blood. 

"Are you okay? Oh my god Link please!" 

It's Crimson... 

I can hear Kamikaze calling his troops back.

"We have what we came for, let's go! This village was fun, I wanna come back here so we'll let these ones off." He looks at me and giggles. 

"Next time, I can't promise any of you will be left. Hehehehehe!" 

The soldiers follow behind Kamikaze with the trees, leaving the cave. All that remains is eerie silence.

Crimson helps me to my feet as she looks around the village. Dead bodies. Innocent oni slaughtered. She looks at the empty patches where the Ember Blossom trees once stood. They're all gone except for one at the back of the village which Samara is already picking, using the flowers to nurture the wounded oni's injuries. Oni begin emerging from the huts they were hiding out in.

"W-Why... Did this happen...?" Crimson forces out.

She suddenly collapses to her knees, bursting into tears. The sound of her crying echoes throughout the whole cave and her mother Samara rushes to her side and pulls her into a tight hug.

I don't know what to say. Everything was going great and then he just... I'm speechless...

I reach out my hand to touch Crimson's shoulder before I hear a loud yell.

"YOU!!!" 

I quickly turn around to see Midnight stomping towards me, his face filled with rage.

"Midnight I-"

I'm interrupted by a sudden impact to the left side of my face. It immediately spreads across my whole head. He punched me.

"What is your connection to the king!? Tell me!!!" He screams.

Crimson looks up through her tears and forces out a yell of her own.

"Midnight what are you doing!? This isn't his fault!" She stands up.

He suddenly grabs me by the collar and pulls me up so I'm eye level.

"I saw him say something to you! What was it!?" He yells.

"H-He was taunting me! I-I fought him once before! I was with the rebellion!" I answer.

He tightens his fists.

"You led them to us!!!" 

"No! There's no way! He couldn't have known where I was this was a coincidence I swear!" I yell, desperately defending myself.

"LIAR!!!" He raises his fist to punch me again.

"Midnight, enough!!!" Samara yells at him.

His fist doesn't reach my face and he turns to her.

"This half-blood led that tyrant straight to us!!!" 

"He says he didn't! And if he says he didn't then I believe him." She says.

The crowd of oni gathered around us nod in agreement. Midnight looks around, then suddenly storms off into his hut.

Samara returns to holding Crimson and I can't help but stare at the ground. Was this my fault?

"...Zion told me bad people might want to take the Ember Blossoms." I say hesitantly.

Samara looks up at me.

"I see... He must've known something might happen while he was asleep." She says.

"About that sleep, why does he do it...?" I ask.

She sighs.

"Well, my father has a very powerful arcana, Golden Thunder. In order to maintain his strength, he needs to rest after long outings or he'll find himself rapidly losing strength. It's like a hibernation." She responds.

"I see..." I say to her.

If only he could've stayed awake for a few more hours...

The oni begin returning to their huts, deciding to call it for the night. Everyone definitely needs rest after what just happened. I still can't believe it...

I return to my hut, well my mom's old hut, and I set up my bed on the couch and shut my eyes for some much needed sleep.

---

I can't sleep. Not after what just happened. It's impossible.

I decide some fresh air will clear my head a bit and help me sleep better, so I throw on some clothes Samara left for me and head outside for some air.

The village is quiet, the silence only interrupted by crickets. I look off the balcony at the ruined festival grounds. Some villagers had buried the bodies on the far corner of the village shortly after the attack and they plan to hold a memorial for the fallen tomorrow morning. 

I begin walking throughout the village, stretching my legs and thinking things over. He said he has Emerald... Was he lying? I don't know. I'm scared. If something happened to her because she was looking for me while I was missing...

I spot a figure sitting on a ledge near the cave entrance. He holds a spiked club and is staring silently through the entrance,

"Midnight..." I say.

He slowly turns his head to me.

"Half-blood... Couldn't sleep?" He asks, the rage in his voice from earlier now replaced with something else.

Sorrow.

"Nope... I take it you couldn't either? Guarding the village?" I ask.

He nods quietly.

"Someone has to." He answers.

Suddenly, he pats the spot on the ledge beside him.

"Take a seat." He says to me.

I hesitantly hop up beside him and sit down.

We both stare into the dark entrance leading to the outside world. The place 'he' came from.

Midnight breaks the silence.

"Um... I wanted to apologize. For earlier. I lashed out and it wasn't right." He says.

I look at him, slightly shocked.

"No, it's okay. I get it. I mean after what just happened..."

"I was overwhelmed. I was overwhelmed, and I was angry, and I was looking for someone to blame and I chose you." He shakes his head.

"Hey, don't worry about it." I say to him.

Midnight pauses and looks up at the moon shining through the hole at the top of the cave, the moonlight illuminating his face.

"You know, when we were kids I quite liked you. I would even say we were friends. Of course I was never as close to you as Crimson was but we got along. When you suddenly stopped coming it was hard on everyone, especially her. She was so confused. I was a bit older so I knew that there must've been some reason... Your mother's passing was the village's guess. It took us a bit to find out for sure..." He pauses, then continues.

"At first I was angry that you made no effort to contact us again, but I doubt it was your fault. What I'm trying to say is..."

He looks at me.

"You may be a half-blood, but you are an oni." He says.

I stare back at him, at a loss for words.

"I... thank you, Midnight. That means a lot to me... I promise you I'll do everything I can to be worthy." I say to him.

He nods.

"Could you do me a favour tomorrow at the memorial...?" He suddenly asks me.

"Sure, what is it?" I respond.

He looks down.

"Tell Crimson, and Samara, and the others, that I'll be back with the trees." He says to me.

"...What? What are you saying?" I ask.

"I can't just let that bastard get away with what he did to our village... I'm gonna go to the capital myself and get the flowers back. They can't be in the hands of that kind of person. And while I'm at it, I'm going to kill that mad tyrant too." He says with conviction.

"Midnight... I can't let you do that alone. That guy, he's like a monster. There's no way you can go alone, you'll die." I say to him.

He shakes his head at me.

"I'm not bringing you into this. You weren't even here until two days ago there's no way I'll let you risk your life for the village when you don't even remember us." He says.

"I defeated Klein."

"What?"

I nod.

"Me and my friend. Her name is Emerald. Kamikaze told me something... He said he has her captive right now. There's no way I can just sit here and do nothing while my ally is with him. She could die any day. So whether you're going alone, or with me I'm going to rescue her. I think our best bet for both our sakes is to go together." I explain.

Midnight sighs.

"I'm leaving at sunset. Before the memorial. If you aren't there I'm leaving without you, got that?" He gives in.

"Got it."

"Now go get some sleep. You need it."

I stand up but then hesitate. 

"Actually... how about I take over for you? I'll guard the village. You need sleep too. I'll go get you in a couple hours and we can swap." I propose.

He's about to shake his head in disagreement but stops, genuinely considering the offer. Suddenly, he stands up.

"Fine. But get me in an hour. That's all the sleep I need." He says before turning away and walking toward his hut.

I sit back down and begin my night duties.

---

At the same time in the distance, sits Crimson, who couldn't sleep either, on a tree branch up high. She watches Midnight return to his hut and Link take over his duties for him. 

"The capital..." She  whispers to herself.

---

It's morning. I can see the sun rising from out my window. Midnight will be leaving soon so I need to get going. I throw on a black hoodie and pants. I wish I had my old hear but it'll do. I grab the sword Crimson tossed me last night during the attack and I set out to the entrance. Everyone is still sleeping. I spot Midnight standing by the entrance.

"One more minute and I was going to walk out." He says to me gruffly.

"Sorry, sorry, I came as fast as I could." I rub the back of my neck.

He nods, and turns to walk out the entrance.

"So the capital huh? I heard you go there sometimes for supply runs, I've actually never been." I say.

"This isn't a vacation, we have a goal and we need to stick to i-" He stops as we exit the cave.

"Hm? What's u-" No way.

Sitting on a rock outside of the cave is none other than Crimson. She's wearing a black and red hoodie and black cargo pants with a red belt, with a red baseball cap with holes for her horns. She's waiting on the rock with a duffle bag and her chainsaw blades on her back.

"Finally I thought I missed you guys!" She smiles when she sees us.

"No way in hell." Midnight immediately grabs her by the arm and begins pulling her back into the cave.

"Hey! What do you think you're doing!? I'm coming! You can't stop me!" She objects.

"No." Is all Midnight says.

"C'mon! Link! Please?" She looks at me, holding her ground and resisting Midnight's pull.

I remember back to our conversation we had about her desire to see the outside world... But is this really the time? It'll be dangerous.. I don't think we can-

"Midnight... She held her own in the attack last night... And her speed... Maybe she can be of help?" I spit out.

Why did I say that? Do I want to show her the outside world that bad? Or do I just think it would be more fun with her tagging along?

Midnight pauses.

"There's no way I'm going to be stuck babysitting BOTH of you." 

"Midnight c'mon Link said it's okay!" Crimson's face lights up at my answer.

Midnight sighs loudly.

"Goddammit! Just come on! Let's go!"

Midnight gives in, seemingly not wanting to argue any longer.

"Yay! Oh my God this is going to be amazing! I won't hold you back I swear!" Crimson runs to walk beside me, practically hopping with excitement.

And so, the three of us set out to the capital of Kesmia.

To Kamikaze.

CHARACTER PROFILES

NAME: Crimson

RACE: Oni

AGE: 19

HAIR COLOUR: Blood red

EYE COLOUR: Red

ARCANA: Bloody Lightning-

Allows user to create red lightning from her body and move at supersonic speed

WEAPON OF CHOICE: Dual chainsaw blades

ATTIRE: Changes her outfit regularly but dresses in a variety of street wear. Considers herself a fashionista

---

NAME: Midnight

RACE: Oni

AGE: 22

HAIR COLOUR: Black

EYE COLOUR: Grey

ARCANA: Black Earth-

Allows user to create black jagged rocks from the ground as walls, spires, and boulders

WEAPON OF CHOICE: A spiked club made of onite

ATTIRE: A black haori, black cargo pants, a blue sash around his waist and black wraps around his forearms