Kira extended her claws. "Come out, you coward! We've been through your little funhouse, but now it's time to face the music!"

Aykono growled, as they circled, back-to-back. "You're gonna pay for all the innocent lives you took, Vasawaki!"

The projected voice hissed in anger. "You dare to say the name of the all powerful?"

Kira grasped her sword tightly. "I'm gonna dare a lot more than that. I've sworn to kill you, Vasawaki. What do you think about that?"

The voice chuckled. "Not if I get you first!"

"Kira do you hear that?"

She nodded. "His voice sounds like several voices together."

"You know what that means."

"He's been possessed by a demon."

"If not more than one."

"No whispering! No whispering when I kill you! It's not polite…"

Kira rolled her eyes. "Give me a break, you overgrown worm. Reveal yourself so I can get to killing you already."

"Fine. I was hoping to prolong your pitiful deaths, but since you're so impatient to die…"

The pitch-black darkness vanished.

Kira held back a gasp.

Vasawaki was suspended in the air, held up by writhing tendrils of demonic power, connected to several demonic spirits floating behind him. His sightless eyes were blood-shot and wide; his mouth open and gasping like a fish's. He raised a hand, muttering words whispered to him by the demons. Lightning flickered out from his palm.

"Move!" Aykono pushed Kira aside, he himself jumping out of the way. The lightning arched outward, striking the very spot they had been standing on only milliseconds before. Several more bolts crashed into the stone floor around them, making them dodge and weave.

Kira clenched her teeth. He's toying with us!

She raised her sword, zigzagging between the lightning. She charged headlong at the floating figure of Vasawaki. Tired of the games, her blood was up and she was ready to kill. She barely heard Aykono's shout. "Kira, no!"

The lightning came at her, but she deflected it with her blade. The demons hissed, moving Vasawaki so he wouldn't be hit by the returning bolt. He jerked around like a ragdoll on a string— looking like the puppet he was.

Kira leapt, unthinking, unfeeling, at Vasawaki, only to be batted aside by the demonic tendrils. She slammed against the stone wall, before dropping to the floor in a heap. She was up in a moment, but Aykono was already headed for the demons, his long dagger raised.

He sliced and stabbed at the demonic tendrils, which wrapped around and stuck to his blade, like smoky, violet cobwebs. He shook his hand in frustration, trying to dislodge the tendrils, but they only entangled themselves around his arm— constricting like a lethal snake. He backed away, but they pulled him in.

Kira was having her own trouble with the demons. Little Creeper-demons scuttled out like miniature crabs, surrounding and engulfing her. They bit and scratched, snapping with their various sharp implements. She swiped at them with her sword, but they were too small to get a wack at. She stamped, but they disappeared beneath her feet, reappearing somewhere else to inflict pain. She yelled out beneath the swarming masses. "Hey! I thought you said you wouldn't prolong our 'deaths'!"

"I lied."

"Figures."

Kira felt her blade vibrate in her hands. She stared it, trying to ignore the biting Creeper-demons. What is it? What do you want me to do?

She felt her arms moved by an unexplainable power. Taking the sword in both hands, she closed her eyes and swung the blade in a wide arch around her.

"Blood Tide!"

Deep red waves from the blade engulfed the Creeper-demons, wiping them out completely. All that was left were a few ashes that lay sizzling on the stone.

Kira held up her sword. "I name you Shinkō Zetsumei. Crimson Death, we have a sorcerer to kill."

Aykono struggled as the demonic tendrils pulled him in towards the demons that were controlling Vasawaki. He heard Kira's yell, and vaguely saw the flashes of red light, but because of his bonds, he hadn't really seen anything.

Besides, he was a bit more preoccupied with the impending doom of death by evil demons.

The tendrils of power had him almost mummified. The last tentacle-like vine was closing around his eyes when he heard Kira yell again. This time she was closer, and a lot stronger. He felt his bonds loosen and fall away— writhing purple wrappings that quivered on the floor before laying still. Aykono shook himself, trying to get rid of the numbing effects of the demonic vines. "What was that?"

She twirled her sword in a dizzying flash. "That was Crimson Death in action for the first time."

"Very impressive."

"Thank you."

"Would you stop that infernal whispering? I've already told you once."

A dark, purple mist filtered through the hissing demons, clustering near the floor, but slowly drifting up and around the room.

Aykono backed away instinctively. "What…?"

Kira recognized it immediately. "Miasma. My father and mother have told me about this. It's a poisonous, demonic gas."

"So, we want to stay away from it, right?"

She looked at him. "Unless you want to die…"

"Right. Got it."

They kept as far away from the gas as possible, but the room was soon filled with it. Kira shook her head. "This isn't good."

Aykono put his face in his shoulder. "Breathe into your arm. You'll inhale less poison that way."

"Way ahead of you."

They crouched near the floor, where the miasma wasn't as thick.

Aykono squinted, trying to keep the poison out of his eyes, but also trying to see through the mist. "I can't see a thing. I think we've lost Vasawaki."

"Just stick close to me. We need to make our way to the demons so we can destroy them. If we do that the miasma will dissipate."

Vasawaki's voice laughed hysterically, overlapped by the demons. "Ring around the rosy, the air is full of posies! Ashes and ashes is all that will be left of you!"

Aykono coughed. The air was getting thicker and thicker with poison. "What… is he talking about?"

Kira scowled. "It's a nursery rhyme. That twisted—."

"What's a nursery rhyme?"

"Never mind." They slowly made their way around the room, using the wall to go in a circular movement, getting closer and closer to the demon-possessed sorcerer.

Kira tried to clear her throat of miasma. "I think… We're almost there, Aykono." She paused, breathing heavily. "Aykono?"

His voice was faint and far behind her. "…Kira… I don't think I'm going to make it… The… the miasma is getting to me…"

She struggled to turn and go to him, but her limbs were quickly being numbed by the poison entering her body. "Hang on!" Her shout was weak and brought on a fit of coughing. "Just… I'll be right there!"

"No, Kira… Remember your vow…You… you've got to leave me. I'll… be fine."

Kira's eyes welled up, but she couldn't tell if it was her or the poison making them do that. "I can still kill Vasawaki… I just have to get you out."

Aykono's voice was even fainter. "Kira…? You remember what… what I said? You know… before?"

She nodded, even though he couldn't see her. "And you remember what I said… right?"

"Right… Just remember what I said… and go kill Vasawaki for me…"

"…Ok." She choked on the miasma and her tears. "I will. I promise!"

All that met her was silence.

"Aykono?" She listened, eyes wide at the all too quiet sound. "Aykono?"

Chuckles reverberated around the room, distorted in her poison-muddled head. "Oh, dear, is the little wolf-boy gone? How sad… How tragic… How…" He paused. "Delicious."

Kira willed her legs to stand. "You rotten—!" She collapsed against the wall.

"It sounds as if you're fading fast too, mutt. Why don't you just give up? You'll never win anyway…"

"I…"

"That's right… Just slip into a quiet world… It's much more peaceful there… You'll soon be with your beloved…"

Her eyelids slipped down heavily. "Maybe…"

"Yes… yes…! Just fall away from everything…"

Just before the darkness enveloped her, she heard Vasawaki and the demons say, "Join the others that have journeyed there… Your vow need not be fulfilled when you're about to join them anyway…"

Kira's eyes flashed open, and a sharp clarity entered her. She heard the words of her friends.

Avenge all the people Vasawaki has made to suffer! Remember your vow!

Remember your vow…

…go kill Vasawaki for me…

And she heard her voice as well.

…I swear I will see Vasawaki dead. He will pay for his crimes if it's the last thing I do…

Well, she thought, gritting her teeth. A promise is a promise!

Kira heaved herself up and set off at a painful run. As the adrenaline built up, she ran faster and faster. Using her instincts, she leapt into the air, sword raised high above her head.

Whoosh.

The blade severed the tendrils connecting the demons to Vasawaki. A screech, like that of metal upon metal, issued from the enraged monsters. Vasawaki plummeted through the air, hitting the floor with a sickening thud. Kira saw the demons swarm through the thick haze, hovering above his body, making rasping, clicking noises as they inspected him from a short distance.

Amazingly, he shuddered, hauling himself up with apparent difficulty. He staggered forward, trying to regain his temporarily displaced balance. Kira stood in a ready stance, waiting and watching like a wolf watching its prey.

Suddenly, Vasawaki lunged at her, teeth bared, and eyes blazing. She moved nimbly to the right. He lunged again, this time scratching her cheek with long, unnaturally sharp nails. The miasma in the air seeped into the wound, making it sting painfully. Kira wiped away the blood that trickled down her cheek.

Kill her, kill her! the demons screeched.

Vasawaki made a movement with his hands that Kira couldn't make out. She didn't have time to wonder about it though. He sucked the miasma into dense balls, igniting them with conjured up fire. He threw the deadly flames at her, one after another. She shielded her face with her arm, grimacing at the searing, scorching burns that were accumulating on her forearm.

Kira ducked, rolling beneath the rapid-fire and knocking Vasawaki to the ground. She stood to finish him.

Her eyes widened and she gasped for air, choking on the poisonous gas. A small dagger stuck in her side, and attached to it was Vasawaki, grinning evilly up at her. She struggled, but managed to pull enough strength together for one final swing.

Thud.

His head fell, rolling away as his body slumped to the floor.

The demons screeched and descended upon Kira. Their horrible jaws full of jagged fangs opened wide as they charged.

Kira pulled the dagger from her side, staunching the flow of blood with one hand, and preparing her sword in the other.

Shinkō Zetsumei shook in anticipation, as if to say, Let's do this.

Kira stood firm and took aim. Just as the demons were about to attack, she let go of her wound, and with both hands on the hilt, she brought Crimson Death crashing down.

"Ketsueki no Tetsu!"

The acid blood burned the demons away.

They shrieked.

Crimson Death sang.

And Kira collapsed.

Before the darkness took her, she thought with a dreamy smile, I guess it really was the last thing I did.