I would laugh as I would be staring at the people in the courtroom. Even though there were over ten guards in the room all armer with lethal weapons, I could see the fear on their faces.
50 murders. That was what I had been convicted of. It was laughable because that wasn't even half of the actual number. It made me realise how much time they had spent looking for me.
"Mister Miladew, Your so-
"Shut up, I could care less about whatever your god or gods does. I'm atheist, so just fuck off and let us get this over with." I said back at the judge. He was annoying me further and made me almost wish to get excuted already. The death sentence, capital punishment. Something that would end with me, made me almost feel a bit proud of the fact.
"You have been convicted of 50 murders and will now be taken to be executed. Do you have anything in your defence?" The judge would ask this with a smile on his face.
I had killed his wife while he was at work and he must be utterly enjoying this. I would smile back at him and wink as they would begin moving me out of the courthouse. As we passed down the two rows of seats, I felt the hateful stares of the people around me. I had hurt more of them and seeing their faces only brought back those sweet memories of all of their family and friends found dead and weeping.
Almost made me be shocked that I had been caught. When the doors to the outside swung open, the screaming crowds were screaming their curses and one even dared to hurl food at my face. I held my spectacles in my hands as I felt the tomato splatter against my face. The two police offficers escorting me didn't even flinch to protect me. If I escaped this, I would keep memory of their names.
Unkindly pushed into the back of the Armoured Truck, I was staring down at the floor while four police officers had their eyes trained on me. Every movement I did, they would be ready to pull out their weapons and shoot me down. Made me feel a bit of pride for what good work I had done to make full grown law enforcement be scared of a 4'7 ft male.
Stuck feeling the dripping of various fruits on my face, I would stare down at the spectacles, I had worn for the longest time. Wiping the red from my face, I would stare at the doors seeing the empty desert we had entered.
The doors would swing open as I was unceremoniously picked up and tossed out landing roughly on the sand. In most cases, this kind of behaviour would be against some or another law but after my kill count it was warranted.
Pulled to be standing against a wall with several painted targets, I would put on my spectacles and see six men standing a few metres away with rifles trained on me.
"Miladew Blight, Any last words?" One of the higher ups watching would ask as I would think for a second.
"Well, At least I go out with a bang." I said smugly as I would stare at them glare at me. The one who had spoken would raise his hand as they readied their rifles.
In those seconds, I could feel the tension in the air. I would be remembered. As someone to be hated and it made me smile.
As I felt the bullets rip through my body tearing at my flesh and shattering through my bones, I stumbled back feeling the rushing grip of the monster known as death. Its black jaws moving to hold you in its hungry mouth as they would clamp shut signalling your end. I embraced it but still lay dying against the wall.
They had managed to miss all my vital organs, on purpose, I assumed. Looking up at them as I sat in the sand, I watched one more move to aim his pistol at my head.
"Go and suffer you monster." He said as he fired and I felt my body shut down dropping to the ground. The last seconds, I would watch feeling the sting of sand in my eyes. I let death take me as my life bled out.
(-)
I would awake standing in an empty darkness. My body visible despite the lack of any from pf light so I assumed it was just me hallucinating.
Was I dead?
"Hello Miladew." A voice would say as I looked around unable to see where the source of it was.
Who the hell was that?
"You are faced with killing your only friend but would gain all of their riches."
"What?"
"Answer the question."
"I would kill them but not without making sure that any of their prospects will go to me."
"A mage of a high caliber is striken down before you. Killing him will gift you power beyond your imagination at the cost of your spouse's child."
"Kill him without a second thought. Children will always come again."
"Final question. An angel is dying before you due to your mistakes. Killing him will not give any benefit. Would you still do it?"
I took a few more seconds to think of this question.
"Is it obvious that he is an angel? Does he have wings and a halo?"
"Yes."
"Dismember his body parts and sell them off to the church and many other private organisations which may have an interest in it and collect the money." I said as I was rather enjoying whatever was trying ro guilt me with these answers.
"Amazing. I will give you a proposal, Mister Miladew. You will be given a second chance to be reborn into a new world where magic exists and you can live your life the way you wish to."
"What's the catch?" I asked knowing that whatever this being was offering was never free. I was also hallucinating so why bother with what might happen.
"At least you aren't stupid. You will be faced with the greatest trial. To bring forth the downfall of this realm and rule over them with an iron fi-
"How about no? I'm not one to be all queeny over people. Find someone else."
"What? You dare to refuse me? Do you understand the repercussions of your actions? I can make you suffer and be reborn into the most hated of beings and you dare to refuse me?"
"Look here, I am Miladew Blight and you seem to know what I've done. I'm atheist as hell and could give less than two damns about whatever your heavenly gift is, if you even are a god or whatever. So either don't give me that stupid need to rule and I will do so."
"Mortals can be so annoying. Goodbye you idiotic beast food."
The moment the voice stopped speaking I was standing in an field.
"What the-
The smell of decay made me want to shrivel up and die. The smell of dead people surrounded me like an never ending blanket. I got to my feet and looked around. Mass graves covered this blood soaked area as hills of the dead stood sending their horrifying stench in my direction. It made me want to gag.
"Miss. Please help me." A weak voice said as I turned to see a samurai buried under the mass of bodies as he held out his hand. His eyes were filled with fear.
Then the realisation dawned on me. I looked down and saw the rags that I was in and loss of anything between my legs. I grit my teeth as I glared to the sky.
I wanted to kill that bastard for changing me into an oni. The man was still begging for my help. I wanted to kill him and grab his clothes but even I knew that would be ridiculous. I knew nothing of these lands and I could always kill him later. As I got closer the man seemed to start glaring at me.
"You monster! I should kill you where you stand!" He shouted as he would try to grab at me as I stood facing him. It seemed that Oni weren't liked at all. I would rip the sleeve of what remained of the kimono I seemed to be dressed in. I looked over my thin frame and close to none physical strength. Getting this man out would be a waste of time.
"So you wish to die?" I asked as I sat just barely out of his reach as he glared with pure hatred at me. It wa something I had gotten ised to seeing but watching as even as the life faded from his eyes. At the moment, I doubted I could kill him even if I died but he would die if I left him here. I would use him until I was strong enough.
I would let my hands wrap around his arm as I began pulling with the man looking suprised before he would now be helping to push hinself out of the corpse pile.
After what seemed like hours, I had finally managed to pull him out as he would be standing at 6 ft towering over me. I blinked a bit worried I had just made a mistake saving this fool.
"Why did you save me?" He would say as he would be glaring down at me.
"So that we can work together. I am unfamiliar with these lands and you were the only one left that I could find." I said as I noticed how soft my voice sounds. I was going to choke that little bastard if I ever found him.
"You are an Oni. Why would I ever work with you?" He said not even seeming to be thankful that I saved his life. At wasted effort it seemed. I took note of how sharp my nails where and kept watch of him.
"Because I cpuld have easily killed you. Either you help me or I could just still kill you here. You're in no state to fight." I said taking note of the arrows imbedded in his armour.
He seemed to be thinking it over as I took in his features more. He was obviously oriental but what seemed to be odd was the fact his eyes were anything but so, they were the deepest shade of red that I had ever seen.
"You're not a human are you?" I said as He would glare at me taking a step forward. He would move to grab hold of the katan at his waist and quickly slice in my direction. I was stuck staring before the feeling of pain rang out all over my body.
"You fucker! What the hell?!" I shouted as I gripped where he had cut feeling the horns now reduced to stumps. I was rooling around ok the ground in pain as I tried to soldier through the pain but it wracked my body with such ferocity that I was sure it would kill me. I felt hands on the horns as a bandana was wrapped around my head.
"You can't walk around with horns that large. You'll be killed on the spot." He said as he would help me to my feet. He had stopped glaring at me as he walked over to a demon mask he put on hiding the lower half of his face.
"Let us get away from here before the Grave Robbers arrive." He said in his deep and intimidating voice.
"Hey wait! You can't expect me to walk around with stuff like this on!" I shouted at him as he would stare down at me with that glare that could freeze hell over. He would walk over to a pile of corpses which seemed at least a day old and grabbed one of a young woman who just barely fitted my small frame. She didn't even seem to be a year out of been a child. My mimd tried to feel sorry for her before it realised I had done worse. Men, women, children. It didn't matter, I had killed one of everything.
As he would pull off the blood stained kimono and do a small prayer for her, he got up and handed it over to me. I looked them over. The red had managed to creep its way up the sleeves but other than that it seemed to have a perfect fit for me. Ripping off the sleeves and tossing them aside, I would slip off the torn rags. He was looking away facing what seemed to be a rising sun on a pale grey sky.
Putting on the kimono, I would poke at him as he would look me over and began to walk away.
"So you never told me your name, demon." He said as he would keep watching never caring to stop while i followed behind him, the sound of my bare footsteps on the ground.
"Miladew, and yours?" I would ask as he sudeenly stopped he got into a fighting stance hand on his blade.
I could still see the arrows embedded into his back but he seemed to not care. I felt the silence began to reign in the field of corpses. A single man came rushing in with a katana.
The air seemed to grow cold as samurai took a few steps and was upon the man slicing clean through his chest as the smell of burning flesh began coming in my direction.
"Hideyoshi." He said as he would move again as four more men in white garb would appear standing to face him.
"Hand over the Oni." They would say as I felt their eyes land on me. My knowledge of Oni was limited but maybe I could summon the power they were known for. He wpuld obviously hand me over after I had damn near threatened him.
"No. She is under my protection." He said as he would hold his katana ready to strike them down.
"Then so be it. You shall fall like your brethren, Kyojin." They would say in unison as I would watch him let out a breath before moving with shocking speed and easily slicing through the head of one of the men before turning bring his elbow down onto the head of another and glare at the two that remained. They would pull out daggers as they went swinging. He would go down as they easily missed him. He spun as their navels would be cut open, the blood staining the white fabric.
He would look them all over to make sure that they were dead.
"Demon, let's get going." He said as he would begin walking leaving the men to join the mamy others which had died. I gulped. He was injured and had killed 5 men like it was an easy task. Just how different was this world?
Following behind him, we soon came upon a stream. He would get down as he would slowly begin taking his armour off. I would sit and watch as he soon stood in nothing but a blood stained shirt and silk pants. They didn't leave much to the imagination as his muscular physique was visible through the fabric. He would take off his shirt and enter the cold water.
"Aren't you going to wash off the blood on you, Demon?" He would ask as he began to wash the blood out of his injuries and take out all of the arrows that had gotten stuck in his armour.
I took the time to see my reflection in the water. Pale skin painted by the blood that was covering my body making the clothes hug against my petite body. Iris only filled with the pitch black darkness to match with the soul inside only separated by the pure white of the eye. It made me wonder why this had to befall me. I'd kill that bastard for rebirthing me like this.
Taking off the clothes, I would enter the cold water as it would be gentely going on its path. Standing there, I felt calm. I didn't know for what reason but the sounds of nature soothed me.
Washing off the dirt and blood on my body, it soon became a apparent how much care Hideyoshi showed towards me. He had already finished and was busy working to remove as much of the battlefield's remnants. He would wave his hand over the damage that had been done as they would slowly be resewn and repaired with only a few marks to show that any damage had actually been done. I would return to bathing as I heard him hum a song.
I couldn't let myself be dissuaded. He was as deadly as he seemed to trusting him would only guarantee me losing my edge. His footsteps would echo as he moved about.
As I finished bathing, I would see the blood gone from my kimono and the sleeves remade anew. Staring at Hideyoshi I smiled. Maybe he was worthy of not being killed after all. Maybe until he stopped being useful.
Shaking myself dry and putting it on, I sighed as I walked over to him as he stood in his armour ready.
"Let us be off, Demon." He said as he would begin to head off. I just followed beside.
What adventure awaited me? I didn't know. But, it was definitely going to be fun.