Demon's Secret

That wasn’t the answer that Saki expected from him. It only gave her more questions. And it didn’t align with what she knew about Seiji. “Why are you bringing that up now? You distance yourself from all of that.”

“I tolerate it, nothing more. It’s been bastardized and a part of me, but that doesn’t give you the right to use it. Never do that again, Saki! Only I use it.” He stepped toward her making his stand.

Still feeling the sting of Seiji’s punch, Saki paused for a moment to stare at him. She found a side of him that he never expected. ‘There’s more going on with him and his power than I gave him credit for. It’s not that he doesn’t know about the power, he’s actively avoiding them. He’s been intentionally fighting with his arm tied because they insult his personal view? I never would have guessed that he cared that much. We all thought he hated everything about the Shinto practices and training his grandfather shoved down his throat. Does this mean he actually wants to be like the man he can’t get along with?’ Saki had trouble stopping all the questions that this raised for her. Though with Seiji before her she wasn’t going to be getting any of those answers.

Worse, there were more troubling matters than dealing with this surprising revelation about Seiji’s personal beliefs. “Fine. I’m sorry, I didn’t know that it meant so much to you. I won’t do it again.”

“Good, remember that.” He backed off quickly with that seemingly resolving his immediate issues.

Saki twitched, hearing the troubling sounds of demons reacting. They had been lucky that the demon was alone, but all of the delays gave them more than enough time to get the rest of the garrison moving on them. “Now that we’re settled these matters, can we leave? We’re already overstayed and have new problems to deal with, like demons able to track our every movement…”

Chapter 414 – Demon’s Secret

Hidden in the bushes Seiji and Nerine thought that they stayed out of sight, but a shift in the foliage made them turn as Saki broke the neck of a small demon that found them. At her feet, three more corpses sought the recently deceased’s company. “Keep moving, we haven’t out run them yet and it’s only made easier for them.”

They jumped out sprinting over the plains deeper into demon territory and even more that could find them. It was only made worse with the night cloaking most of the terrain. They couldn’t make any clear plans for an escape other than keep running.

Seiji looked behind them hearing the sounds of angry demons chasing after them. Way back they gave up letting Nerine run with them. Though she didn’t fully appreciate that Seiji hauled her around, it might have been slightly more desirable for it to be Saki. “Damn, they’re persistent bastards!”

“They’re tracking you. I told you before about that.”

“Yeah, but I thought you meant just the damn demon we killed.”

“No, any demon can track us now. That’s why we need to get out of their range. That’s the only chance we have right now, since we don’t have enough time to try to fix the problem.”

“But we—“ Interrupted, Seiji spotted a disruption in the sky coming quickly towards them. “Above you Saki, there’s two!”

She disappeared with an afterimage left behind of her for the demons to strike in confusion. Dropping in from the air, she landed a deadly kick into the back of one demon while grabbing the tail of the other and swinging them into the earth next to the paralyzed demon. A swift double kill ended both of their lives and she sped up to her friends.

“The way we’re going, that damn war may happen anyway…” a frustrated Seiji replied, unable to do anything. His acceptance to pass off the fighting to Saki for this revealed how much he understood their crisis.

“As long as we don’t boast about being Demon Hunters, there still might be a chance.”

“Think that shit’ll convince any of them?”

“That’s why I said might.”

“Sorry, Saki.”

An eyebrow raised for Saki seeing the back of Seiji running ahead of her. “It’s partly my fault as well. I was being a little self-centered. I guess running solo has been affecting me…” It felt a little weird having such a conversation with Seiji. She jumped ahead of the two to break the moment. “Speed up, we need to lose them.” Then she disappeared, taking advantage of her speed in full.

“Dammit, Saki,” he groaned knowing that he couldn’t keep up with the pace she set. They were nowhere comparable, no one was up against Saki. And she expected him to keep up. He could only try his best.

It took a little bit, but it seemed to work actually. While none of them could actually sense demons in a way that would be convenient, there was also no indication of sounds. But that only gave them so much range, one that Saki felt was certain of being less than the demon’s tracking ability.

But it seemed to be enough for now. No one came for more than ten minutes. Saki loosened up a little feeling better about their odds. “Maybe this cave will make it harder for them to track us.” It was a small hope.

With Nerine resting to gather her strength, Seiji watched the tunnel opening. He remained deep inside given Saki’s insistence on it. “So you going to explain in more detail what the hell’s going on with these demons and their shitty ability to track us?”

“It’s something I learned while being a bounty hunter. The first time I hunted a demon, I made the same mistake, leaving me indebted to them. Those bastards are the reason I ended up becoming a bounty hunter. Though it did have its advantages, I intended to be more independent, something I couldn’t avoid.”

Saki started to get to the point as she stretched out her hand to target the demon blood on Seiji. “There’s something unique about a demon’s blood. I don’t know what it is and I’m not fully inclined to believe the Association at their word. But whether it's the smell or power, they can track that. And I guess since all demons have the same blood, somehow, they can all detect it. Even washing it off won’t remove the effects. Even if you can’t see it, it’s still working, hidden.”

Holding up his hand that had the blood on it, Seiji stared with wrinkles appearing in his brow as he got the bigger picture. “But there’s a way to remove this shit, correctly, right?”

“Yes, but only the Association knows how to do it. It’s why bounty hunters don’t fight demons. If you get blood on you, the Association will exile you from the city unless they purify you.”

“There some catch?”

“They charge high prices for it, in essence making it unprofitable fighting demons unless you’re highly skilled. They aren’t exactly my biggest fans.”

A grimace came over his lips as he realized what that meant. “So they didn’t tell you shit on how to purify demon’s blood.”

“No, it’s a closely held secret that they use to help hold their power. As if they needed more reasons.”

Then he looked over at Nerine, remembering her talents. “But we’ve got Nerine. She can do it!”

Saki nodded to Seiji. “That’s my hope. But we don’t know what it is. So I don’t know if that’s going to be enough.”

Both turned to the resting Nerine for hopeful confidence. She ended up being their only chance for escaping the demon’s cleanly and getting back on the trail of Yumi’s rumors. “Saki’s right. I don’t know much, but if I analyze it, I might be able to know. Knowing how it works is going to be the most important, the rest my power can manage.”

There was little more that Saki could do other than provide guard over the cave while Nerine worked. Unlike Seiji, she didn’t have anything the demon’s could track. So she could stand outside the cave looking for any change in their security. Still, cover was important, there was a lot that she still didn’t know about the demons. She couldn’t take any chances of being spotted. ‘This hasn’t turned out as well as I hoped… Still demons and an ancient Japan, what exactly are these personalities of Yumi’s playing at? This isn’t for no reason and it seems like there would be better ways if they wanted to break her spirit or mind.’

After being dropped into the new virtual world, she didn’t end up with much time to remain thinking about matters. She focused more on survival and finding her friends. It felt like the first time she actually had a break from all of that. Thinking about the bigger problems at hand had to be sidelined.

Though after seeing more of the world and complexity it had to offer, she began to have doubts about her original theory. ‘When I first arrived I wrote most of this off as some program that Phoibe had stored away. Given the setting it made more sense that it came from Yuki, not Yumi. But I know that’s not true. The longer I’m here the more convinced I am that Yumi is definitely the source of all of this in whatever strange way that makes any sense. And worse, I know she’s not going to have any answers for us when we find her. She’s likely just as confused by all of this.

‘But what is the goal of her personalities? They help her, but they also take her over as well. Something about all of this doesn’t fit. I know we’re missing pieces, but this feels like a lot more than one bit of information. There is something more complicated. I just wish I knew how this world fit into it, then we’d know how to escape at least.’ Her view probably sat close to the conclusion Yuki arrived at as well, in her mind anyway. Yuki was smart enough to figure pieces out. And she felt there was a goal in this world and he likely had the same feeling. ‘I just hope that Yuki knows more about what’s going on. We’re going to need everyone to solve the riddle of its purpose.’

Unfortunately, Saki didn’t have any more time to think about what was happening. She had picked up a distant patrol on the move. ‘They haven’t given up. Figures, they know they just have to get in range to detect Seiji… I can’t let them get any closer…’ A few pebbles rolled away from Saki’s cover as she disappeared.

Seiji detected the familiar movement of Saki approaching the cave. He tilted his head over while Nerine continued her work. “Trouble?”

“Not anymore. Any luck?”

“She’s been silent as hell since she started.”

With good timing, Nerine’s head raised from its hung position over the metal mess of a machine she created to do the job. “This is rather complex,” she spoke suddenly.

“But can you do it?”

Nerine stood up letting the machine fade away into the ground. “I can try, but the problem we face is that I don’t have a demon’s body to analyze as well. Then I might be certain what it is that they are tracking in the blood.”

“I would have brought back one if I had known.”

“I was hoping that it would be more obvious and straightforward, but it’s not. I found several possibilities.”

“Then just do them all and we should be good.”

“That’s my plan, I just fear there is something I might have overlooked.”

Saki leaned back against the edge of the cave looking out cautiously. “How long do you need?”

“It’s already done.”

“Then we only need to test it?”

Standing with confidence, Seiji felt ready to charge out once more. “Then let’s start looking for Yumi once more! She’s probably dealing with the same shitty issue and being hunted by demons wherever she goes. She needs help!”