Eira's breaths were deep and slow, she sat on an isolated bench next to a noodle shop. The sun slowly set and the shadows of people walking past became elongated, she couldn't help but be brought back to her very first mission with Ali and Asumi. It felt so far away, yet it felt as if it was yesterday. Since then they had all grown, changed and gotten stronger. Eira closed her eyes, her heartbeat and her mind pounded with fatigue. She hadn't slept at all, this time yesterday she was on the train, she had gotten 2 hours of sleep then and woke up to fight Enmu. After Enmu was defeated, she had a dreadful encounter with Ali and Akaza, she witnessed Rengoku's death, worried for Kaze's life and had to say goodbye to Asumi.
So much had happened in the past 24 hours and it had put a massive strain on her brain, she believed she was handling it fine though. The delicious smell of noodles filled her nose as the last batches were cooked up before they closed for the night. Eira could feel the light slowly retracting as the sun dipped further into the horizon. Half of her regretted taking this mission when she could have rested instead, the other half was desperate for redemption. She couldn't kill Ali, the one demon that she wanted dead more than the rest. No amount of filler demons would fill that void of regret in her chest.
The colours of different auras lingered in her mind, none of them important to her, just any other regular auras. They weren't sweet like Asumi's, calm like Kaze or intriguing like Ali's. "Useless background noise…" Eira whispered to herself, she defined the auras around her in a specific way. She opened her eyes and looked back at the small windows of the shop, the faded colour of the wood contrasted by the glossy wooden tables inside, kids sat and slurped their noodles with big smiles on their faces. Eira suddenly felt a hint of guilt for naming such happy auras as 'useless background noise'. Eira took a deep breath and closed her eyes once again, she fell back into her trance of guilt and remorse, if she had killed Ali, would Rengoku have lived?
"Mountain Gods, I want your help. I want to improve til I can handle Ali as if he is an ant. Please grant me all your strength, speed and power the next time I face the opportunity to kill him." Eira prayed shamelessly for her desires. Her hands clasped together and her eyes tightly shut, her heart burned with passion as she prayed.
"Also, please allow the people close to me to stay safe, my older brother, Kaze, Asumi and my relatives who live far away." Eira took a deep breath as she finished. She had prayed for herself before her prayer for others. She opened her eyes and the darkness had enveloped the village. It was night.
As Eira roamed around the swamp near the village, a lone mountain, dense with trees and far away from the village, shone brightly in the illumination of the moon. Akaza's dojo was lively with noise.
"No… not again…" Ali's voice was full of fear, his back against a door as Akaza held a wooden box, inside the box was the two eyes that read Lower Moon One, Ali was being promoted again.
Akaza cracked his knuckles and grabbed the eyes out of the box. He grinned at Ali as Ali scurried in the corner like a fearful moth. Akaza's muscles tensed as he stretched a little, he was prepared for the havoc about to be unleashed.
"I knew I was right when I picked you as a student. In only a couple months you've gone from a weak demon to the rank of Lower Moon One." Akaza grinned proudly as he slowly stepped forward. Ali flinched at the word demon, after last night's events, he realised just how much different he was seen. Eira had tried to kill him just because he was a 'demon'. Ignoring that, Ali could see right through Akaza's plan.
"Yeah nah, don't try feed me compliments, I'm not doing it," Ali stood firm and stubborn, he put his fists up and stared at Akaza, determined to prevent this painful process. Akaza burst out laughing as he saw Ali put his fists up, such a courageous act to be prepared to fight Upper Moon Three. Akaza's mind was reminded of when he first met Ali, back when they weren't student and teacher, back when Akaza first saw that massive potential in Ali, the hurricane in his eyes.
"I really did pick the right student." Akaza stared back at Ali. Ali's mind was caught off guard, both Sanemi and Akaza rarely gave out genuine acknowledgement, so when they did, it filled Ali's heart with an unfamiliar warm feeling. That was the moment of weakness Akaza took advantage of.
Akaza blasted forward and slammed his fist right into Ali's stomach, Ali leaned forward in pain as he felt the impact of the punch ripple throughout his entire body. Akaza didn't halt for a single second, his fingers stabbed into Ali's eye sockets. Ali felt the gruesome pain flood his eyes as Akaza's fingers dug into his flesh. Ali's leg lifted and kicked against Akaza, Ali ducked low as Akaza dashed towards him again, Ali sprinted straight for the door, the overly dramatic battle was complete with loud booms. Ali's arm tugged at the door and he felt the cold wind blast at him as he launched himself outside, there was no hope of escape. He couldn't even hope to outspeed Akaza, before Ali could even plant a foot on the soil of the mountain, he felt Akaza's vicious grip on his shoulders, his body slammed into the moist ground, and Akaza stood above him.
"Let's make it quick and easy…" Akaza's face was shadowed as the moon was right above the scene as if it was a light to help Akaza with this 'operation'. Some critters were awoken by the screams of agony.
After five minutes, Akaza washed his bloodied hands and looked back at Ali with a content grin.
"Lord Muzan has assigned me another mission. I'll be going." Akaza turned after a slight nod towards Ali. Akaza's knees bent and he launched off the ground, he used treetops as platforms as he quickly covered distance, and shortly he was out of sight. Ali's fingers grazed at his eyelids, how many times had they been ripped to shreds in this past month?
Ali sighed, he decided to venture through the forest for a while instead of going back inside the dojo. The steep path welcomed Ali as he walked down aimlessly, the moon watched over as Ali's thoughts clouded him.
As the trees swayed, so did Ali's memories, first he reminisced about the old times with Eira and Asumi, then of last night's occurrence. He stopped in his tracks.
"Ali… Ali died the day you turned into a demon. You aren't Ali."
Eira's words were still causing a deep pain in Ali's heart. Just because he was a demon Eira didn't see him as a friend?
Ali's mind overflowed with thoughts as his feet continued to carry him through the silent forest.
"I am Ali," Ali's jaw clenched as he pretended to reply to Eira, why couldn't she see that he hadn't changed? He was still the same Ali, just in a different body. Ali's veins pulsed with annoyance, his mind replayed Eira's violent and hate-filled swings.
"Why couldn't she just listen to me?!" Ali whispered under his breath, all his pent-up anger was combusting.
"If it wasn't for that other guy, she would've killed me!" Ali's anger exploded. His blood boiled and his body tensed, his eyes locked on a poor innocent tree. His foot stomped and his body twisted as his fist rocketed into the tree's thick trunk. Ali moved his fist away from the tree, after a few seconds the tree started to birth cracks and fractures due to the impact. It wailed and cried as it leaned backward and the trunk snapped. The ground vibrated as the tree crashed down. Ali exhaled deeply and realised the fault in his anger.
"Well, I guess if it wasn't for that other guy I would've killed her." Ali put a hand to his forehead, he wasn't being much better than Eira if he was being so reckless. His eyes stared at the fallen tree trunk. He kneeled beside the trunk and put his hand on the sturdy wood.
"Sorry." Ali closed his eyes and sighed, he felt the wind brush against his wavy dark hair. He held his hair with the other hand, he hated the wind messing up his hair.
"Wow… Such power, as I'd expect from Lower Moon One." A sudden croaky voice made Ali jump with fright. Ali quickly turned and saw a frail and skinny demon, a big horn protruding from his back as if it were a hook. Thin strands of grey hairs were all the hair he had. Ali's fright transformed into confusion.
"I've seen a Twelve Moon Demon like you. You look very human." The demon's dry red colour of skin, small eyes and big ears became visible as he stepped closer to Ali. The demon slouched a little.
"I'm a human at heart. I'm not a demon." Ali stood up from the trunk. He didn't see any harm in a conversation. He looked into the eyes of the old demon, that's the impression Ali got anyway, old and weak.
To Ali's surprise, the old demon laughed heartily.
"If you have the body of a demon you have the heart of a demon. Just as a human body as a human heart." The demon's wise eyes fondly stared upon Ali.
"I don't eat humans, I don't kill humans. I'm barely a demon." Ali continued his push of insisting he is more human than a demon towards this random demon. The old demon wasn't phased by this statement.
"If you are a demon, you can not be human. Can you? Even if you are barely a demon, you are still a demon." The old demon's cheeks sagged a little as it gave a wide smile. It had no teeth. Ali's jaw clenched in annoyance and he stepped forward and grabbed the old demon's arm.
"What would you know? I used to be so ambitious, I had a future, I had love and a career. Now I'm…" Ali looked at his own body, the dark crescent patterns that the moon shone upon with affection, the light blue skin that was so prominent, and his eyes that read Twelve Moon Ranking.
"Every living being has ambition, no matter the form or past. The sooner you settle your inner turmoil of identity. The sooner you will fully achieve your potential." The old demon's wrinkles seemed to tighten as he widened his eyes. The old demon's dry forehead seemed to crack, in the middle of his forehead another eye opened, different from the dark red pupils of his regular eyes, it was a bright purple. Ali was in shock as he saw the horrific yet intriguing sight. The old demon's arm quickly moved, and its two middle fingers pressed onto Ali's forehead.
Blood Demon Art: Destiny.
A purple light erupted at the old demon's fingers. The old demon's eyes widened. Ali felt a surge of light inside him, he felt everything. The energy that flowed from the tips of his hair to the bottom of his feet. He felt his very soul and its true essence. He felt true consciousness for a split second, his heart beat fast and this sudden awareness filled him with an unbelievable fear.
"You are destined to achie-" The old demon's eyes turned narrow and his mouth opened wide as he suddenly began to lose colour in his skin, his frail and skinny body only grew more tighter and the bones became more and more evident. Ali's pure emotion of fear had activated absorption. The demon soon became nothing but a corpse as Ali stood there still in shock, the aftereffect of full consciousness hadn't worn off. Suddenly, he felt energy pour into him and that's when he realised he had accidentally absorbed the poor demon. He immediately let go of the demon, its grey corpse fell onto the soil, wide-mouthed, its third eye now wrinkled and colourless.
"I am a human at heart," Ali shook his head and consoled himself. He wondered what the demon was going to say before Ali accidentally absorbed him. Ali continued walking.