The atmosphere of the restaurant, once lively had turned desolate. The people had all fled leaving behind half finished bowls that billowed with steam still sitting on the tables with a few scattered on the floor.
The restaurant was empty except for a select few. There were the shop owners, a middle aged couple behind the counter with the man standing in front of his wife in an attempt to protect her.
Chisuke marvelled at the heartwarming sight, although the question of weather the man had the ability to protect anything from Chisuke was another matter.
Aside from the middle aged couple, another duo stood in the restaurant. Chisuke stared at the doctor through the holes on his mask.
The doctor screamed in agony as he held the stump of his hand. Tears welled in his eyes threatening to spill from the corners and a pained cry escaped his lips.
Faced with the man's voice in anguish Chisuke simply stood still. The cry of the doctor was unpleasant. After all, crying wasn't supposed to be beautiful. It was harsh and dissonant sounding, and more importantly, it was fake.
Chisuke stood with his sword lowered as he waited patiently for the man to finish his performance, however with no end in sight his patience quickly grew thin.
"Are you done?"
"Huh?"
The doctor was at a loss for words. He found it hard to tell what was going on in Chisuke's head behind his mask. The swordsman simply stood undaunted, it was like nothing on the world mattered to him.
"I was hoping to take your head in one swing, but you went ahead and dodged. What a pain."
At this point it was hard to not take note of the doctor's hand. What was supposed to be a bleeding mess of a stump was still clean, the surface of the wound had turned black as if cauterized by fire. The wound even smoulder with a region of burning red slowly making its way up.
The doctor quickly noticed it.
"Curious?"
Instead of quickly seeking put a solution to his burning hand, the doctor looked at Chisuke with vested interest.
The expected answer never came, in its place was a powerful swing of Chisuke's katana.
"I don't quite understand it myself."
The doctor quickly shifted his weight backward and leaped away narrowly escaping death. He would have lost his head if he had been a second slower, but his speed also posed another question.
Chisuke's sword was by no means slow, but the doctor had evaded it with a burst of inhuman speed.
"I see. They told me about your kind."
Landing a shirt distance away, the doctor threw away his glasses his eyes underwent a demonic transformation not long after as he tore his own arm off from the shoulder.
The doctor shed his disguise reverting to his true state with golden cat-like eyes. Razor sharp teeth littered his mouth and his digits ended in claws. His limbs and torsos grew muscular and elongated, with his skin finally turning brown.
The being standing before Chisuke could not be called human. His hand was already visibly regenerating, that fact made it painful clear. People did not regrow lost limbs, the man in front of Chisuke was a shadow of his former self. He was a demon.
"How long has it been since you lost your humanity."
"Who cares about that."
"How long many have you eaten."
The demon looked at Chisuke with uncertainty in his eyes, almost like he was surprised by how far he had strayed from the light.
"It's not like I wanted to eat them. It's just that...it's just..."
The demon trailed off, his voice sounded even smaller with every second that passed.
"Why do you even care anyway! It's not like they were your family. That's right, I killed them, so what?"
Even faced with the demons remarks, Chisuke stood unaffected. He took a step forward.
"And did you feel nothing when you killed them, when you are them?"
He took another step, his voice trailed off coldly.
"I wonder, did they deserve do die?"
"Shut up!"
Before too long, Chisuke was standing before the demon, sword in hand without the least bit of fear.
With one of the demon's hand still in the process of regenerating, he took a swing at Chisuke with the other free one. His claws tore through air as they moved towards Chisuke and then his blade whistled.
There was a flash of light as Chisuke's sword sliced through air before connecting with the demons arm. It's blade moved upward making its way through the gap between the demon's torse and his hand. A moment later, the demon's arm fell on the ground with a thud. It had been separated from his shoulder with a clean cut.
Chisuke took a step forward. Behind his mask the flames of wrath burned brightly almost enough to be seen.
The demon caught a glimpse of crimson behind the mask shrouded by darkness.
"Did they scream? Do you remember their dying words?"
The question sent the demon's mind spiraling into a maze. He remembered it all to well, how he feasted upon human flesh under the cover of the night.
The feeling of a girl in his grasp, tender, delicate. The warmth of their skin and how it faded as their blood drained from their body. The feeling of that blood sticking to his throat as he gnawed on their flesh.
He could remember every last bit of it. How they cried for help, he remembered their screams. The pain behind them, the agony.
Unprofessional as he was, the man had been a doctor once. He had tastes the joy of saving lives, and now he had come to know the sadness that followed taking them.
The demon was brought down to his knees without Chisuke lifting so much as a finger. He was simply floored by the reality of his mistake.
"Do you remember now? The feeling of being human?"
Chisuke swayed his sword to the side.
"Good. Then you can at least die as a human."
Yami no ken moved until it came upon the demon's neck, and even then it didn't stop. The sword continued on its path until it had made its way past the demon's flesh and bones, beheading him.