Chapter 66

I pick up my sword. I look down onto Itu’s corpse. And at this moment I think back of his plans… and I understand just what I have to do.

I slowly exit the study. The candles have finally started to burn out and stay behind, next to the Doctor who had achieved his desire.

I smile a bit. Lady Death is nowhere to be seen. I could hide. I could stay behind with Aki, Hibiki and Miss Haruka. I could live a long life… But I know that I have to do something else.

There is only one person who can do this. That person is me. Thus, I will do it.

I leave the academy and slowly walk towards the burning Tojiume.

I remember the events of when my village burned down. They are engraved into my very mind and I do not think I can ever truly make them disappear… And yet, I smile. For even at those moments, even at the very worst instance I had ever been alive… I enjoyed living in itself. I was glad that I was alive. Being alive is the greatest gift we have been ever given. It is a one time use and I shall treat it as such.

I draw my sword. Next to me are countless corpses: Yokai and humans. Even if their physical forms are greatly different from one another, here and now, lying dead atop the skin of the world… They are truly equal. They are truly the same. One is not more important than another. Death truly is the great equalizer.

Next to me lie each kind of Yokai: The ranks D through S lie there, their bodies lifeless and most of them filled with blood. The humans differ as well: There are children, old people, soldiers, farmers, people without jobs and even Lunari lies there. Each and everyone of them is dead.

As I look up, I see Phanes. He is slowly descending down from the sky. His hair has gotten even longer and the spear in his hand was truly Shuten-Doji.

“Ah. It seems as though you have finally arrived. Will Itu not come? Have you perhaps even slain him?”

I do not answer at first. I stare at the man… no, you cannot call him man anymore. The hearts he harbors are many, though not nearly as many as the ones Shuten Doji had. All of his hearts are red as well so I highly doubt However, I am pretty sure that he will pose a far greater challenge than any battle I had ever had - the fight with Shuten Doji included, that is.

“Itu is dead.” I do not specify on why he died. After all, if Phanes believes me to be strong enough to slay Itu, the one who was said to live forever and was not able to be killed in such a long time… perhaps he would think of me as stronger. Perhaps, if even for a single moment… He would be scared of me and thus show his weakness. That is my hope.

Phanes, however, laughs. He laughs loudly, right at my face.

“Ah, how wonderful! I did fear it, I have to say: I was scared that, perhaps, even after achieving the power of a god I would not fully be able to slay him… Though even this one small piece of fear I had has just been fully wiped away! Aye, yes indeed: Now there is not a single thing which truly does scare me anymore. I shall take your life, 13, and then I shall reign supreme.”

The battle starts. I jump at him. Time itself is dead. I move outside of said time and as I approach him, my blade leaves behind its blood colored trail. My blade approaches his very body and yet, at this very moment-

He moves his arm and hits me with the spear that is Shuten-Doji. I get hit and crash into the ground. Time resumes.

“How interesting. If only someone like Lunari would have been blessed by such powers, perhaps then I could have been stopped. However, if a mere child like you holds these powers, it is fundamentally flawed. You neither understand life, nor do you understand what true strength is like. Thus, you die.”

Shuten-Doji flies right at me and pierces my chest. I can feel my very heart being pierced and as I throw up blood and start coughing, my vision gets blurry.