Titania opens the eyes. She finds herself plunged into deep darkness. She has to make a remarkable effort to raise the arms and look at the hands, as her whole body burns and throbs, as if threatening to explode. Her palms are pale, visible and defined despite the gloom, as if they had a light of their own.
A luminous point, located beyond the fingers, catches her attention. She lowers the hands and stares at the fire. It is a small red flame that does not take long to grow, but instead of destroying, the flames give shape to the opaque scenery of a long room, supported by thick circular wooden pillars, from which hang lamps whose main fuel is the blood of lesser demons. A beautiful woman with long red hair tied in a ponytail is kneeling in the center of the room, her forehead almost touching the floor. Titania becomes mute as she recognizes the woman as her aunt....
Titania wants go to the woman, but is unable to move. She screams at her to turn back, but her mouth has lost the ability to express sounds. The only thing the girl can do is to stand there longing from a distance.
"We must take revenge for our slain comrades, master! We will dye the clouds red!" Valeria exclaims without raising her head. In one hand she clutches the hilt of her curved sword tightly, a silent declaration of her warlike interests.
Master Jo takes his place on a bed of red silks. Even as a mere vision of the past, Titania shudders with respect for him. The master died before the massacre of the clan, and perhaps if he had been present the extinction of the lineage would never have happened.
He is an old man, his wrinkles numbering a thousand as do his years in the world, his sockets so sunken that he seems to lack eyes. His blue beard reaches to the ground, and he has one half painted red to represent that he speaks for both branches of the clan. To the left and right, he has three men and three women lying down respectively. None of them belong to the clan, all have their eyes and limbs contracted by bandages woven with membranes of endocardium, myocardium, and epicardium, and each has his or her entrails connected to the master with a strip of intertwined veins.
Legend has it that Master Jo has (or had) so many hearts inside him, that he had no room left for the rest of his organs, causing him to need sacrifices to replace or substitute for such missing functionalities. Generally, the executioners and judges of the clan should look for youngsters without malice or sin to replace the sacrifices for the master, and thus extend Jo's life. But this is another renegade tradition. In this new era, whose compass is determined by the large villages, the Hundredheart clan had to make profound changes to harmonize with the new times.
"What do you hope to gain from a war with Neburia, Valeria?" The master asks,his mouth does not move, but the six sacrifices speak in unison, each with their own voice, all subservient to Jo.
"Revenge" Valeria allows herself to lift her head from the ground, her gaze shining with resolution.
"Revenge only makes sense in three scenarios... When you have nothing to lose, when you don't mind losing what you have, or when you get enough power to lose nothing. Do you agree with me?"
Valeria lowers her head again. Neburia is a powerful village, possibly they will end up destroying the Hundredheart clan, but the pain prevents her from calming the anger.
"It doesn't need to be the whole clan... I can go alone and let my sword speak for me, with no consequences for the rest of the lineage. It will be enough for me if you give me your blessing before leaving, master"
"I forbid you" the voices are so strident that Valeria shudders. "You have a daughter for whom you care and whom you must look after. Neither in strength nor in spirit do you meet the requirements for revenge"
Daughter? Titania doesn't remember her aunt having daughters. But before she can regain her voice and scream out to the ghosts why they teach her that, the image disappears and the darkness takes over again, burying the girl under layers and layers of pain.
...
Raudo grabs the piece of sword wedged in his head and pulls, opening the flesh even more, extracting the metal little by little as he grits his teeth to endure the burning pain, until finally discarding the bloody blade on the ground. Blood flows uncontrolled from the slit in the helmet, but Raudo keeps his composure, he has survived worse wounds.
The knight heads towards the village, but is stopped by a powerful echo behind him. He turns around and realizes that the sound is coming from Night Slash.
"Are you still refusing death's mercy, stubborn girl? In that case I won't just destroy your body, I'll eradicate your spirit!" declares Raudo with a clenched fist.
The gaze of each figure and relief marked on Raudo's armor is lit in a white glow, which spreads throughout the rest of the warrior's body and envelops it in an aura... Such is the power contained that the fragments of rock around him float and fall apart. This is the technique he used to gain the respect of the Wide-mouthed Dragon. It is the palpable and combined energy of each of his achievements and victories as a knight.
"No shadow or evil one survives the heroic and brilliant blow that springs from the legends! Begone, error of the gods!"
Raudo throws a fist into the air and the energy shoots out in a straight line, opening a wide furrow in the earth, evaporating chunks of soil, and finally striking Titania squarely. Raudo was confident that the blow would turn the girl to dust, and his certainty increases as he sees a dark silhouette writhing within the glow.
The glare ends. Raudo, panting, he lowers his smoking fist. He was about to leave again, until he notices the person standing in the steamy furrow. Little more than strips of cloth remain from the hood, and only half-burnt bandages cover her body. The skin is grayish, her veins are bulging, the fingernails are now claws, and from her now red hair, two horns protrude. Titania slowly raises her face to face Raudo with bright eyes with crimson pupils and black sclera. The girl smiles showing a sharp set of teeth. The heartbeat continues to rumble, now more like a war drum.
"You've already revealed your true appearance... Heart-eating demon!" Raudo points at her with his one hand.
The executioner's mark burns on the girl's lower back, overlapping the solemn man with rectangles on his hands that represents the image of the judge.