Moonlit Blood: part 2

“You need no other light in my presence?” It had a voice seducing as a devil.

Akihiko and Yuusuke stood still in a silence only interrupted by the god’s inhaling sound. “Aah, to be alive again. My dear counsellor, you could not have chosen a worse fate for me than that seal. But I am back, charged with so much more hatred than I know where to put. Now, I shall seek my promised gift.”

The two mortals were sent into the ground with a single blow from the darkness surrounding them. Its bare feet marched to inspect them both, made two rounds and stopped near the teacher. “Let me see your face, let me feel your skin… Now stand up, I do not wish to kill you like one would a feeble insect.” Awako’s fingers snapped and the room—which then turned out to be a whole realm that stretched beyond eyesight—was alight.

The teacher stood up and stepped back.

“Very well,” said the god, “Join me in this dance, make it worth my millennia of wait.”

The two began the exchange of strikes—no magic, only fist fighting. To Awako, that was the first act of a long play it intended to enjoy to the last second.

“Yes! This is the ultimate celestial intimacy I desired for Oh so long.” It delivered a kick to the teacher’s leg, but he retaliated with a punch to the body.

“Speak to me, mortal, do you not feel aroused as I am? Do you not wish the universe were all ours to exchange blows, pain… blood?” It fabricated a blade as it spoke, which led Akihiko to cast a spell and summon a sword of his own.

The steel rang as their weapons met, a sharp end to the other. The teacher moved cautiously, keeping an eye on Awako’s movements, stepping back and forth—analysing and trying to learn both how to play with this man-killing sharp toy and how his opponent played with it. Speaking of which, Awako attacked like the beast it was. Its golden eyes looked pain-hungry, blood-thirsty, as if the bloody red was all the colours it needed to see in the world.

“Look at you, look how desperately you protect every limb of your weak mortal body… I could never get my fill of this.” Awako’s sword finally landed on Akihiko’s hand. Shallow, but enough to leave a blood stain on the bright white steel. The god’s red tongue passed through the sword, its eyes blank of ecstasy. Once it had one taste, it immediately knew it needed more. And so wilder and faster grew the attacks.

Knowing that his chances were slim in a swordfight, Akihiko decided to take the dance to its next act. He cast a powerful beam of light into the sky shattering the roof like it were glass. The impact replaced the light of the room with flickering moonlight that seemed to reflect off the shards of whatever broke and was sent flying into the air.

The nature of the light took colours away from the scenery, the pale skin of Awako was all there is to be seen in the darkness of the night.

It looked at the teacher with a soft smile and eyes full of all sorts of feelings: sadness, hatred, happiness… “You will use my voice now,” it said.

Awako’s feet slowly left the ground as the god ascended casting its shadow on its opponent. Behind it, the moon looked a fair deal bigger, greater. Reflecting around the edges of the god’s body, the moonlight rendered the rest of its face obscure and intimidating to the eye. The god lifted its arm and rays of light rained on the teacher; smoke filled the platform as it descended back.

It flicked its hand ordering wind to carry the smoke away. However, before it could fully see its surroundings, Akihiko’s arms wrapped around it from the back. They were bloody, as Awako had expected, the last attack could effortlessly put a hundred holes in the body of an undefended person.

It looked at the terrain to notice more of the teacher’s blood, “You’re hurt.”

“I am,” he said, taking a heavy breath after every word.

“You could have defended yourself,” Awako continued, sadness, almost grief, clearly dominating its tone. “Now you’ll die.”

Akihiko embraced Awako harder—even so, there was no strength to his arms. The smoke fully vanished, and Awako smiled to see Yuusuke intact.

“If you don’t move now, the boy will kill you.” Said the teacher.

“Just keep your arms around me, mortal. I like this feeling.”

The boy had one of the two swords from earlier in his hand as he ran towards the two. He closed his eyes and pushed the blade through Awako’s body, wounding it. He did not push the blade too deep as at the other end of it was Akihiko still.

Awako laughed, not loudly, but not weakly. Just one quiet sophisticated laugh or irony. “Push the blade all the way through, human.” It spoke. “Your master is already dead.”

The two of them fell on the ground. Awako stared at the moon as its blood flowed down the blade, mixing with Akihiko’s, and surrounding them with a red bond that belongs to the two of them equally.

“Run now, child. And live on.”

Yuusuke silently brushed his tears away and left. He looked back at the burning shrine and knew that there would be no remains from this night other than his memories.

Lost and covered in blood that—thanks to his teacher—was not his, he escaped the path which immediately disappeared as he stepped outside it. Upon his arrival, things did not look pretty there either. The two guards were dead, Chizuru was crying and next to her lay a wounded Tsukiyomi. Thankfully, they all lived.

Seishiro noticed Yuusuke had arrived and grabbed him by the collar, “Where’s sensei?”

“I’m sorry,” he answered, eyes on the ground.

“He died; I stabbed him.”

Seishiro let Yuusuke loose and stepped back in disbelief. No, he knew that was going to happen, he was just too stubborn to face it, too hopeful to accept it, too loving to expect it.

Himawari started crying quietly. “No way…”

With tears on her face, Inori approached Seishiro who sat paralyzed. “Stand up.” She gave him a small shake with her foot, “Get up, I said.”

Conveniently, there was a moment of pure silence before she decided to speak.

“Stop it, all of you. You don’t get it, you’re very dumb and stupid. We’re normal now, no magic, no guards, no seals. Shouta isn’t in danger.”

She stood before Seishiro, “Get up now. I’m tired of how you keep running away from everything, from sensei, from me.” Her tone hardened, “This is the price of normalcy and we’ve paid it, now we get to walk out of here, like normal people. Sensei is dead, you don’t have to play cool anymore, you don’t have to act strong to impress him anymore.”

She approached him, kneeling to match his eye level. Hesitation unmistakable in her eyes. She wanted to tell him to show her his weakness instead, to try to impress her instead. Her arms wrapped around him, “A hug is all you get now.”