Chapter 3

“Duck!”

A girl jumps down from one of the trees around us. Her fluffy hair hangs down to her shoulders. The hair itself is mostly blonde, but it does have some blue accents in some parts. The girl, grinning confidently, wore a blue jacket with some kind of white star on its back. On her waist is a belt which has some kind of lantern attached to it.

I hear her command and instantly duck. Only then do I realize that she is imitating the posture one would have when aiming with a bow. In her hands, however, there is no bow or anything the like. Her hands are simply empty, yet seeming to hold something…

Anyway, just when I duck she seems to ‘shoot’ - again, there is no bow or anything at all in her hands - and the shot seems to directly hit the Ushitora, yet again. The Ushitora gets a small burn-mark on its abdomen, just like it did a moment ago.

My savior lands her landing and stands gracefully in front of me, her jacket swinging a bit after she had gotten all of that momentum. She doesn’t look at me, but is aware of my presence. Well, obviously she is. She gave me a command just the other moment, so there is nothing to really question here.

“Get away if you can’t fight. I’ll handle this.”

When she talks to me, I can clearly hear it; She is shaking. She is just like I was a moment ago; She is terrified and probably sure that she will die. Yet, despite that, she fights. I can recognize myself from just a few moments ago in her… Yet I don’t like it.

When I fought until the very end, when I readied myself for death and fought a beast I’d have no chance of beating, at least I did it for myself. This girl on the other hand? She is doing this for me.

I run anyway. I turn around and begin fleeing. I leave the girl and the wild beast behind, simply gasping for air as my whole body does everything possible to flee.

However, in this very moment, those words echo in my head;

“Would you throw away your life if it meant to save the lives of the civilians? Would you throw away your life if it meant to rebuild the empty temples? To reclaim the promised glory of structures?”

I stop. I turn around. I look at the beast fighting against the girl. Even if the fight started out with a clear advantage for the girl, the beast easily snatched that advantage away from her and now seems to absolutely dominate her in the battle.

I stayed quiet. Because I did not want to die. And to be quite frank, I still don’t want to. Both I and the girl have readied ourselves for death. I fought and she still fights in order precisely because we accepted the possibility of dying. If the choice were as simple as the one Lady Death proposed to me, my answer would be easy:

Either I fight against the Ushitora or the girl does. Even if it sounds harsh, I’d choose my own survival every single time.

However!

This is not such a fixed scenario. It is not something that I can actively decide. Yes, I could flee now and survive. The girl would probably die. Even if she is far more fit in the art of battle than I am, she would still end up dying. This much is truth.

However, this is not the only option!

I grab my sword. Grab it tightly, oh so tightly. Grabbing it this tightly can be proof of one thing; I am scared. And yeah, I am. But it can also mean another; I am determined.

My vision turns black. And no, I don’t mean that I am now blind or cannot see. The world around me - the girl, the yokai, my sword, the trees around us, even the sky itself - are now black. Yet I can clearly see. The different shades. Yes, all of the black around me has different shades. Not every black is black. Not every darkness is equal.

And, in the middle of all those black shades and shapes, I clearly see them;

Inside of both the girl and the beast a red organ is pulsing, clearly visible to my eye as it was clearly different from the rest.

I could clearly see their hearts. My sword feels light. Oh, it feels so light.

It feels as though, at this very moment, Death itself rested in my hands, ready to be used. Ready to strike down each and every living being that is in my way.

It happens without me actively understanding. I take a quick step forward. And another. Again and again, until I stand directly in front of the beast. Neither the beast, nor myself have actively understood this. The beast is just as confused as I am. Yet I remain calm. It feels as though I have lost each and every ounce of control I previously had over my body and work as nothing but a tool.

Have I grown to be a tool for Lady Death? Yet, holding my very own blade - marked by Lady Death's black dust - I feel as though I am using Death itself as my own tool.

My sword comes crashing down. My blade, blacker than everything around me, drowned in the darkest of all darkness, harborer of Death itself, slices through the air and directly hits the beast's red heart I can see.

And in the next moment-

It dies.