Confront the Enemy Within
The vast expanse of his subconscious previously lined by flames had begun to shrink until the blaze nearly brushed Mikoto's skin. He sweated so profusely that he thought he was melting, the intensity of the pyre liquifying the bones that kept him defiant against the intruder corrupting his spirit.
"Beautiful, isn't it?"
Mikoto raised his head, cursing the strain in his muscles as he glowered past humid breaths at the villain before his eyes. Outside of his attention, the mighty lion that Tatara had unleashed wept pitiful bleats beneath the pressure of a snake coiled tightly around its constructed frame.
"My powers are returning," Genji confidently dictated. "Your followers believe this is their triumph, but in reality, they are playing right into my hands. Power is returning to this body just quickly enough that the process won't destroy it. Only a few scattered fragments of your might remain. Once I reclaim them, you will be no more."
Despite the suffocating temperatures he endured, Mikoto still managed to crack a smile. "I guess it's true what they say about beauty being in the eye of the beholder." But as defiant as he wanted to be, he still huffed his breathless panting in hopes that deeper breaths might sustain him during his struggle. "From where I'm standing, you get uglier by the minute."
"By the minute indeed," the demon purred. "At this rate, by the time dawn ushers in a new year on your mortal plane, I will have shepherded a new era of demons and enchantment. It's a pity that you can't see the beauty in that. I truly thought that after decades of sedentary life, you would come to appreciate an exciting world where we can thrive as we please."
"Oh yeah?" Mikoto grated. "Well, unlike you, I don't get off on hunting humans for sport."
"How is it any different than humans farming other lesser creatures for sport?"
"How should I know?" With a fatigued cough, Mikoto straightened in an attempt to regain his balance. "I just want to do as I please, without the urge to make every human to pass my next meal."
"Some people have a difficult enough time passing pastries in a shop window without retraining their need to gorge," Genji taunted slyly.
"People aren't pastries," Mikoto snarled. "That's why I'm feelin' in the mood to give protecting them a try."
Hmf. Genji scoffed arrogantly the moment Mikoto's lion sank its teeth into the serpent imprisoning it, causing the snake to unfurl in pain. "Soon, it will no longer matter. You're far too weak to make a difference."
"You thought that about Anna, too, didn't you?" A crooked grin flashed Mikoto's protracted canines. "But she's the one who gave me this chance to face you myself. That must sting."
"I grow tired of your arrogance."
"Too bad, buddy, because until you lay down and die, you're stuck with me."
The facility skeletons lingered structured like something straight out of a horror movie, and Neirah felt like the protagonist. She understood that Shōhei was suffering, and if she provoked Saburōta's envy any further, his childhood friend would wind up caught in the crossfire. So, despite his dissatisfaction, Neirah ran. She was fast. She had to be to escape various dangers and stay alive. She leapt and tumbled, weaving her agile body through the hollowed-out edifices among the smoke. She dove through a broken window, dismissing the scratches that she received from the shattered fragments remaining as she flattened herself against the exterior partition. Her stomach was in knots as her heartbeat raced until she thought it would leave her behind. The gentle and timid man that she'd grown fond of during their time together was no longer waiting patiently in her shadow.
She was the hunted now. The fingers that used to tremble when they reached for her now crushed the scorched beams of the facility that she combed to keep distance between them. Saburōta's abilities had surpassed what he was gifted, and if he were too impatient to coax her out of hiding, his tone would turn sour as he blasted the obstacle without discretion. Something about that terror felt eerily familiar despite the notes of endearment, reminding her that they'd come full circle.
Sometimes I wonder what it would have been like if we had met under different circumstances that day. What if you were the hunter and I was the prey? Would we still be chasing each other's tails, and pretending like the spark drawing us together that night wasn't fate?
Neirah shrieked her frustrated alarm when she felt Saburōta's grip on her hair, jerking her against his sturdy presence. She hadn't heard him invade, entirely overwhelmed by the abilities that their demon overlord had gifted him. She was angry and hurt, yearning for the tenderness to return to his touch. She used to fantasize about a day where he would take the lead, but his dominance at that moment had far exceeded her expectations. She stifled her terror as she resisted his command, whirling to connect their eyes so that he understood that it wasn't fear making her shake.
That didn't seem to be the answer because once she faced him, his expression turned violent, and he knocked her back against the razed wall boards where she'd taken solace a moment prior.
"You bit him." There was an airiness to Saburōta's tone that deceived the intensity of his scowl. His touch was scalding as he raised his thumb to her chin to dismiss the dried blood that flaked away from her dusty face. "After Chitose told me that spot was special to you. You shared it with him."
She knew it would hurt, which was why she did it. She had to get the boys separated before they killed each other, and finally, she was close enough with Saburōta to attempt synchronizing with him in his deliria.
"All I wanted was to keep you to myself, and you betrayed me." Despite his tone uttering casually, there was honied malice in the way he droned the words with retrained fury.
"You can't keep a living person like a pet," she reasoned edgily. "Remember? You told Chitose-san that I wasn't."
But he couldn't remember. He couldn't see anything through the haze of his defeat. "I thought you were perfect, you know. Every time I was with you, it was like a dream. Now this…"
Tears stung Neirah's eyes as she tried to fight the realization that he was finding the confidence to say what he always wanted to, but it wasn't him. It was something ugly and corrupted that moved his body. She wanted to believe him because she understood the signs were there, but she didn't want to hear it from a villain. She wanted it from her Saburōta.
The thumb that dusted away traces of Shōhei's blood from Neirah's jaw lowered, sinking into her racing pulse with every intension of tearing it from beneath her skin. "If I can't have you, nobody can."
"You found me." Neirah felt the quiver in his touch against her throat as she watched indecision cripple his advance. "Does that mean you've figured it out?"
Saburōta's body seemed to stiffen outside of what his void expression comprehended instinctually.
'Find me.' When his touch slackened inattentively, Neirah shifted away from the wall, hope illuminating her desperate sapphire eyes as she pressed herself cautiously against his front to encourage him to back off. 'I'm not going to be able to break his hold on my own.'
She could feel the turmoil inside him even as the life seemed to drain from his expression. It was very similar to the way Yō had acted once she'd broken through his synchronization with her. 'I'm right here,' she begged. In the next instant, her heart started to ache with the exertion of its uncontrolled race, and the sudden pressure caused her to wince in pain. It was a sure sign that she was shouldering some of his burdens. 'Not with Chitose, not with Shōhei. I'm here with you because I chose to be. You fool… Can't you see you're fighting for a heart you've already won?'
Suddenly, life seemed to flood Saburōta's face, causing him to rush out a reassuringly nervous breath. The shaken apprehension softened his intensity as he recoiled as if he were suffering physical rejection of the presence inside of him. The lines of his world blurred for a moment, making him dizzy as he blinked back the shadows tunnelling his vision. "H-hot…" he whimpered. He didn't know where he was, for a moment, and then the painful memories reminded him of the terrible things he'd done.
An optimistic whimper escaped Neirah's lips as she steadied herself, desperate to reach for him despite her caution. "Find me," she repeated out loud. "You're so close-"
The triumph softening Neirah's expression fled when Saburōta dropped his forearm against the wall at her back alongside her temple. His head bowed as he gasped for air, his free set of fingers tugging at his collar to get the temperature of his body to cool. He felt unstable, but a sudden rush of thoughts gushed to the forefront of his disoriented mind, things that he'd felt but kept inside since the moment he admitted that he'd fallen for her. Unfortunately, they came with the baggage of his self-doubt, his uncertainty in her reciprocation. If she loved him, why would she have the scent of Shōhei's blood on her teeth at that pivotal moment when all he wanted to do was kiss her?
Neirah winced when he cracked his palm against the damaged divider again with enough pressure to make the timber crack. Her connection with him began to falter, and when she peered the sight of confusion in his deep crimson irises, she wasn't able to pass along her reassurance through their connection. Her dread welled up inside him, corrupting him further as they shared in their terror. It was a familiar feeling, and when the sudden realization struck her, she hardened her heart with determination. If he wasn't going to give up, then neither was she.
She shoved him away with all of her might. While he was still unsteady, trying to make a break for the doorway that would lead the chase to continue, but not a millisecond after she brushed past him, condemning fingertips were sinking into the joint and tearing her backwards.
At that moment, Neirah closed her eyes, feeling the sharp jolt of pain passed between them when the back of her head collapsed against his collar. They had shared a similar terror before, and she needed those memories to come flooding back, or she wasn't going to be capable of holding their connection steady. She parted her lips to suck in a deep gasp, and when she did, his palm was covering her face.
Through the reminiscence, his body locked again.
'D-don't scream, okay?'
By her shoulder blades, Neirah could feel the tremulous shuddering of his breath at her reverse. She peeked out one eye, and although his fangs were permanently elongated, the overcome look on his face was the same as the night he'd found her in a backstreet fleeing the demons of her past. 'Do it,' she silently prompted. 'Charm me to submit to your will.'
The memories played out in his mind like an old-fashioned sepia-tone film, spinning and flickering with imperfections across his eyes as the room around him morphed. Soon, it was brick at his back, and the cold he was desperate to escape. His body was acting on pure instinct as he struggled to reclaim a sense of self, and with or without Neirah's prompt, he made the condemning connection himself. Even if he hadn't realized it just then, he had paved the way for Neirah to slip inside so that they could battle his demons together.
In the next instant, the floodgates opened, and she felt it all, his pain, his fear, his sense of longing and betrayal. It crashed into her ruthlessly enough to fill her eyes with tears. They were angry, grateful, devoted, and desperate all at once as she shook off his inattentive embrace and whirled in his arms. They shared it all. Those feelings passed back and forth, overwhelming the third party bent on corrupting what both of them knew was unavoidable. The guilt and mistrust didn't vanish, but it was made real, unlike the phantom fiction programmed to turn Saburōta against her.
His presence still wasn't entirely clear, but it was secure as she reached up and wove her fingers through his roots, jerking his head down towards her level. Her forceful grip left her close to his ear, and in a desperate voice filled with helpless longing, she whispered her command. "Find me when you figure it out."
The moment words slipped past her lips against his sensitivity, the sound of her heartbeat raced in its place. His lips were near enough to her neck that he could taste her pulse, causing his heart to flutter as she strained her tendons in a familiar invitation.
Her charm took hold to retaliate, and she felt the confirmation in the temperature of his face against hers. She couldn't see his expression, but she could feel his passion overcoming the corruption altering his thoughts to reshape her suggestion. Their lives together had been confusing from the start, and this was no different. In a way, she found it strangely ironic that the absolute chaos governing their lust for each other since they met would be his salvation. Their connection at that moment reassured him that it was okay to be confused. It was okay not to have all the answers because she didn't either. She didn't mind being lost with him, and there was nothing envious about it.
Even as his humid breath rushed in sputtering fragments past his lips, she held. It was her last resort. Given his power under Genji's influence, he could easily tear her to pieces given their nearness and her vulnerability. But she believed in the beautiful ability of a vampire that changed the entire way she saw love and the world around her. It was an unspoken trust and reliance that made strangers feel like long lost friends or even fall in love.
She knew her tears were dampening his collar, and they weren't there to move him. She simply couldn't restrain them when she lingered on the critical moment where their love would either soar or smoulder. "Please… find me."
Terror overcame Saburōta, and when he raised his palm to cup the back of her head, it shook. It violently trembled until they connected, and he could intertwine his fingers in her roots to keep his force steady as her words rang in his ears. 'Find you…'
"I think it's special to her. I thought that might be something you'd wanna know."
His grip was crushing enough to force her to choke out a worrisome whimper, but he didn't let go. His body was molten, and since some of his senses had returned, it was frightening. His touch was hard to read at first, given his strained brutality. But soon, he shifted meekly, his unsteady legs stretching by her hips as he slumped against the wall. She smelled like sulphur and sweat, which was far from the sweet scent she'd carried the night they met. Still, he didn't turn away from her invitation.
Soundlessly, time stopped for the parting of his jaws and the feeling of his teeth piercing her dusty flesh. At that point, he had two choices. He could slowly retract his incisors and let her blood gently flow onto his tongue as he held her close…
or he could tear her to pieces.
Reisi was relieved the moment that he heard Seri's furious shrieks slip over the side of the island into the water below. He recalled comprehending that part as his powers failed him. He would much rather focus on the safety of his men over the devastation approaching in uncontainable waves. He didn't like the taste of defeat. Failure was something that he thought he'd never had to contend with, but as he stuck his sword into the ground and hit his knees, there was no alternative.
He turned halved plum irises towards the gleaming of the combustion that reflected off his Tenrō and wondered what Saruhiko's alternative was. The boy was secretive, but he was sure that his trip to the scene of the first disaster to bind Genji bore more fruit than he cared to admit. "Perhaps Fushimi-kun was right to doubt my capabilities," he murmured soundly. "What an unfortunate turn of events."
"Munakata, glad to see you're as pitiful as ever," a snarky voice sneered. "As expected from you blues."
Reisi's attention uncertainly jarred as he squinted through the soot and smoke around him for the origins of the voice to deride him. "Suoh? Is that you?"
Tsk.
Triumph cracked Mikoto's wicked expression as he panted in the wake of his destructive wave. The island around him settled, becoming eerily silent as he boasted his triumph with a small snicker. Then, the laughter accelerated triumphantly without remorse that Munakata Reisi was no more.
Saruhiko had stopped quarrelling with Misaki as the boys watched on in horror to the sight of nothing but tunnelled out earth remaining where the proud Blue King once erected his best defence against calamity. "Captain…" Saruhiko whispered in disbelief. That was the first worry to cross his mind as he looked on in disbelief. Nothing remained where Reisi once stood. It had all been blown away. 'His sword is…' Not even his cremated ashes remained as the powerful blast ripped across the bay and devastated the Kōtō waterfront.
"No blood. No bone. No ash."
Saruhiko whirled his infuriated gaze to where the shadow of his previous king began to grow even more unrecognizable. "Shut up," he hissed vehemently. "What have you done?!"
"No blood! No bone! No ash!" Misaki parroted triumphantly to spite him. "Way to waste 'im, Mikoto-san!"
Back when Misaki and Saruhiko had joined the ranks of the vampires, it wasn't said so boastfully. There was nothing proud about it. It was cryptic and remorseful. It apologized that another life was about to be consumed by the flame in which they owed their lives. "How dare you," he grated. "How dare you disrespect-"
"Gee, Suoh. Just when I thought I couldn't despise your sorry ass any more, you had to go and give in to that nasty son-of-a-bitch Kagutsu, eh?"
Saruhiko whirled to face the space behind the unchallenged demonic force, as delighted as he was confused to see that his king knelt breathlessly behind their adversary. He was safe but still exhausted from his struggle. It became clear that he didn't have much fight in him. "H-how?"
"Oi!? Who the fuck d' you think you are, talkin' to Mikoto-san like that!?" Misaki raged. "I'll fuckin' kill you!"
Gleaming carnivorous canines reflected the light of the flames spawning through various parts of the island as Tomaya snarled his vehement retort behind cracking knuckles. "This is exactly why none of us can get any fucking rest around here," he snapped. "You're all intent on slitting each other's throats while the other sleeps. I've been around since the beginning, and you didn't hear shit outta me until the very end."
"Tetsuko," Saruhiko muttered curiously. "I thought you expressed that life under Kagutsu's reign wasn't a terrible idea."
"Well, you little shits aren't just gonna sit back and let him reign now, are ya? That's the problem! It's one or the other with you chumps! You just can't be happy meetin' in the middle."
Mikoto let a rumbling laugh escape his heaving chest. "Tetsuko Tomaya. A bold statement for someone who's the last of their kind."
"Yeah, no thanks to this asshat," Tomaya growled, gesturing with his thumb towards Reisi's recovering frame. "The blues went and messed it up for me big-time, but once things quieted down, it wasn't so bad. Just like it wasn't too shitty back when this all started. But if all you two are gonna do it kill each other, the whole damn country's gonna turn into a warzone."
"So, you're forced to choose a side or be extinguished by both," Reisi murmured soundly. "I see now. There really is no option for coexistence. The hunt will always corrupt human instinct."
"Dumbass," Tomaya hissed. "Humans are animals too." He raised his forefinger to his temple and drove the touch into the sensitive flesh until his head tilted. "They're wired the same way, powers or no powers. You can brag all you want about your stupid cause, but the truth is, humans survived 'cause they'll always fight back. They'll always step over those beneath them to be the bigger man." A devious snigger filled Tomaya's chest as his luminescent amber eyes pierced the night. "S' a dog-eat-dog world out there, boys. Frankly, I wanna be on the side that gorges."
"So, now that you comprehend that you'll never be top dog, you're crawling back out of your hovel with your tail between your legs." Mikoto's tone was flat with impatience as Genji comprehended the apparent betrayal. "Given you spared your old foe, I suppose it would be arrogant of me to assume that you're back to commemorate my victory?"
Tomaya snorted scathingly, wrinkling his freckled nose as his shaggy ginger bangs tickled his brow. "Keep dreamin', shithead. I'm here to tear you to pieces. Then, when I'm done with you, I'ma track down that fuckboy Nei-chan's pining over and rip him up too. Why? 'Cause I'm in a bad fuckin' mood with you idiots shakin' up my world like this."
"Like hell I'm lettin' you lay a hand on Mikoto-san!" Misaki raged. "If you wanna pick a fight, you're gonna have to go through me first!"
Saruhiko's calculating gaze darted between parties heating up amongst each other, and the very moment that Misaki suffered from the distraction, Saruhiko's navy eyes fell on Tenrō. Just as he raised his attention, he met a melancholy look of surrender connecting with him from the eyes of his king. When Reisi closed his eyes and bowed his head in defeat, Saruhiko felt the apology in his knotting stomach.
Misaki flinched mid-stride the moment the shuffling of Saruhiko's feet beckoned his consideration. When he turned his head to find Saruhiko retreating, his rage intensified and confused his target. "Oi! Get back here, Monkey! I wasn't finished with you!"
Saruhiko didn't have time to comprehend the sadness in the way his king let him apprehend his sword as Tomaya clashed with the Red King in his place. He had to use the interference to his advantage and get far away. He was going to have to concentrate now.
Unfortunately, as he turned his head, Misaki's blazing frame illuminated his shadow from where the daunting figure approached airborne from behind. He turned to defend his purpose with the newly apprehended Tenrō, but before he could strike, a bloody Rikio crashed into Misaki's small frame and slammed them both into the dirt. For a time, Saruhiko was disbelieving as he scanned the settling smoke for the fate of the fallen. He honestly thought that Misaki had killed his old chum.
"Fushimi!"
Saruhiko stiffened as Rikio came into view pinning Misaki to the dirt to keep him from giving chase.
"Do what you've gotta do!"
Then, the world went quiet. Misaki struggled with all his might, igniting the pair of red clansmen intertwined on the devastated earth face. The isles lay nearly destroyed. Steel had melted and warped, the timber was charred, and friends had bled to save what meant everything to them. But for some reason, he couldn't find peace knowing that soon, it would come to an end. All at once, he felt miserable as he choked on the irony. After all the words that spilled from his lips filled with discontented venom, he was afraid. He didn't want to die. He desired to turn back time. Unfortunately, the algorithm for sealing Kagutsu Genji wouldn't turn back the clock. It would accelerate it for a single life until nothing but black remained.
So, when his eyes next locked on Misaki's, he let his expression soften into an apologetic smile that Misaki wouldn't be able to comprehend until the demon was from their earth. It was a goodbye without words, and honestly, if Misaki had done anything other than hate him as he turned his back, it wouldn't have felt right. He may have lost his nerve, but Misaki did hate him. He loathed him with every fibre of his being as he struggled to incinerate Rikio so that he could devour his primary target.
It made things easier as Saruhiko sprinted away with Tenrō secured in a trembling white-knuckled grip. 'Wait just as little longer, Misaki,' he mused sadly. 'It'll all be over soon.'
Just as Misaki watched Saruhiko vanish from sight, his ire exploded and caused his power to intensify until Rikio couldn't contain him. Despite Rikio's grasping arms around his waist, Misaki kicked him off and scampered free to give chase. But before he could storm the island in search of his treacherous friend, Reisi hummed to life and threw out his fingers, erecting a barrier in front of the youthful hunter's nose.
He was livid when he crashed into the resistance, pounding it relentlessly with his fists until his power cremated it. Then, before he could get another step ahead, another barrier formed. Partition after partition, Misaki met with resistance until he dropped to his knees, his power dwindling with his tantrum. "Fuck!" he roared.
It had always been that way between them. There was forever some sort of barrier, keeping them from saying what they needed to say or communicating their heartache. Even after dropping his head, Misaki raised his fingers to the crystalline surface and pressed, sparks crackling between his fingertips until they finally fizzled out.
He let his touch slip away from the wall as his tears fell onto the blackened earth beneath his dusty knees. He lingered covered in blood and filth, his heart in shambles as a familiar wave of betrayal washed over his senses. It wasn't a betrayal that caused him anger, though. The agony that it brought only reminded him that, as usual, there were too many walls between them for Misaki to tell his best friend that he missed him. It was something so simple, yet there it was trapped behind barred teeth and far too many barriers. "S-Saru…"
With all vampires free of the trance to guide their brutal course, Genji depleted their stocked powers, draining them of their enhanced capabilities. Tomaya felt this immediately after it happened when Mikoto slammed his blazing fist into Tomaya's jaw hard enough to send him sailing across their battlefield. There was a time when Tomaya would have held his own against Mikoto as a vampire, but he wasn't a vampire anymore. He was a monster.
"Tell me, Tetsuko," he taunted. "How does it feel to be at the bottom of the food chain?"
After spitting out a mouthful of blood, Tomaya picked himself up during the opportunity he was gifted while Genji proceeded to gloat. "Heh, joke's on you, asshole," he scorned petulantly through a mischievous smirk. "I'm a bit of a masochist."
Mikoto cracked his onyx knuckles, sending sparks into the night from the molten abrasions between his joints. "Is that so?"
Tomaya lowered his guard, and his sharp teeth coloured carmine with the blood Genji had caused him to choke on. "But it gets better," he whispered vehemently. "I'm also a distraction."
With Genji's disturbance deep inside Mikoto's subconscious, a mighty lion sank its teeth into the serpent that hissed on a non-existent plane of mental stability. Hearing the words that Tomaya spoke through the ears that he still retained minimal access too, Mikoto's grin twisted with triumph. It seemed that someone on the outside had a plan, and that plan was seemingly moments from coming to fruition. If he had to guess, the tricky Blue King was probably to blame, but he couldn't be bitter.
The flames were upon him now, and all around. The blistering of his skin as they consumed him might have disturbed a lesser man, but he wasn't going to give up. Somewhere in Shizume, a little girl and a hopeless dreamer waited for him. An irritable bartender was going to need his help rebuilding a bar. A lecherous drunkard was going to need his guidance, or a petulant intellect was going to beat his friend senseless. It could be on this very island that a mousy tsundere fought for the heart of a dangerous woman, and a selfless caregiver might be begging a forgotten stray to come home. If he couldn't defeat the enemy before him and stop the fires from raging, they were going to burn up an overzealous hunter before a reasonable connoisseur could restrain his fury.
To a good king, nothing meant more than the lives of his subjects, and maybe Mikoto had never wanted to be regarded as such in the first place. But he was. In his ears, he heard the hopes and tears of every abandoned heart he'd saved with the touch of his hand. They trusted him like a long-lost friend, despite his corruption. That was the power of the connections they'd shared upon meeting and ever since.
He took an unsteady step through the flames, and when his shoe landed, a bright cerise burst illuminated the impact, scattering the murky flames consuming their battlefield. Honestly, if he got close enough to knock his opponent in the jaw just once, he'd be satisfied.
Hmn? Genji faltered, his thin eyes scowling at the sight of Mikoto, forcing himself forward even as their surroundings blazed with the flames that the demon sustained himself on. "How curious," he droned. "I've reclaimed my powers. You should be ash."
Mikoto fell forward with another weighty step as he clenched the arm that continued to blister from his palm to his elbow. "I guess that's the difference between your flame and my flame," he mocked friskily. He couldn't help delighting in the tension wringing the demon's body tight, and for just a moment, he raised burning yellow-ochre eyes to absorb the force of his enemy's malcontent. "Mine doesn't leave any."
Uhp!
When Genji unfolded his arms to snap at his opponent, he was stricken in the back of his head by a tiny shoe that bounced off before fluttering delicately on its way. "What-!?"
"King! Can you hear me?!" Tatara's voice was a beacon of light, guiding his way through the all-consuming fires that raged in his heart. "Everyone is free of Kagutsu's control! He's only focussing on you now, so we were able to slip in while he was distracted!"
Crowning her king like a guardian angel, Anna locked her fiercely determined garnet eyes on their enemy as her brilliant wings flapped with a mighty beat. The air pressure of her devotion caused Genji to shield his eyes as his flames wound up pushed back, and when they began to fade, Mikoto lowered his gaze towards his palm, where the blisters had started to regenerate. Soon, his hand was normal again.
"Just in time," he whispered proudly.
"This is Mikoto's flame," Anna repeated strictly. "It will not lose to you."
"You brat!"
When Genji's stance threatened an attack, Mikoto's body became unhinged, and he launched forward, palming the demon's face beneath his force until he'd driven his skull onto the manifested ground beneath. His grin was confident as Anna's wings continued to whisk the flames up in her whirlwind.
"I see that old wolf out there is giving you a run for your money," Mikoto seethed intolerantly. Despite his triumphant grin, there was malice in his voice as he tightened his hold on Genji's face with a crushing grip. Reisi was talented, but he was still only human. "You can't manage us both at once. And just when you thought you'd won."
"Eric, Yō, Saburōta and Misaki are all free," Anna announced delicately from high above them. "You have failed to break our spirits."
"Awashima-kun too," Tatara announced spiritedly. "He doesn't have control of anyone anymore, King, so you can let loose!"
A rumbling chuckle filled Mikoto's chest as he pressured Genji deeper into the floor, his fingers igniting in a calm glow. "Do you hear that, Kagutsu?" he jeered. "It's almost a shame that all I really have to do is hold you down like this until your time's up."
Genji seemed alarmed by the announcement before he was stiffing with realization. "The blue clansman." If Misaki was free, that meant that no one was hunting him anymore.
Heh… Mikoto's grip intensified as Genji began to struggle, and without looking, Mikoto could hear the distressed sounds of a cobra suffering a descaling by a lion's claws. "I figured as much," he proclaimed. "Those blues are pretty crafty. Made it a real pain in the ass to keep out of their bad books."
"Listen to me, Suoh!" Genji rushed in alarm. "If I am destroyed, everyone touched by our flame will be incinerated in an instant!"
For a single moment, Mikoto's grip faltered, worry overcoming his heart. Then, his relief came on the musical voice of a dove.
"He's lying." With flames dispersed, Anna landed delicately behind her king, soundless steps drawing her slowly nearer. "Your flames are not the same."
"Miserable child!" Genji hissed, glaring his one visible eye from between Mikoto's fingers. "You will die, as well."
"I will not," she stated firmly.
"Anna is colour-blind," Mikoto casually explained. "But she can see red."
After holding a tiny red marble before her left eye, Anna peered at the men by her feet. "Mikoto's red is beautiful and warm. It is meant to protect." She lowered the marble, her gaze hard with confidence in her assessment. "Yours is ugly and filled with hate. It is the colour of blood and suffering."
"The colour of power," Genji hissed.
"Power isn't worth anything if you don't have a reason to use it," Tatara kindly interjected from by Anna's seemingly slumbering side. "King's powers exist to protect, but all yours does is destroy."
"Is that not a purpose in itself?!"
Despite the aggravated tone to communicate with Tatara through his connection with Anna, a tender smile warmed his face. "You destroy because you don't know what else to do. It's as mindless as a cup that holds too much liquid. When it overflows, it spills out and ruins the table beneath." He slowly opened his eyes and stared at Anna's peaceful figure. "Or a better analogy, your cup is over a photograph. I bet you had friends once, and a family. But when your power spilled over, the colours bled until only red remained. I think that's sad."
"I don't need your pity!"
When Genji's power's surged with untameable ferocity, it forced Mikoto to release him, his arms coming around Anna to carry her away to the sound of her soft oof.
"I will be a part of this world again!" Genji raged, his inferno resurrecting the snake to slumber in their shared conscience. As the flames encroached on their trio again, his figured morphed into a vision of his true demonic identity, a sight similar to what Tomaya saw as he resisted the intensity of Genji's flames outside. "Once I devour you and take complete control, I will destroy every trace of Habari's disciples, claiming this world as my own!"
"Sounds interesting," Mikoto hummed spiritedly. "Anna."
Hai. With no further command, Anna took flight, her beautiful wings of cherry flame preparing to defend against Genji's firestorm.
"Be careful, you two!" Tatara added worrisomely. "It's getting harder for me to suppress him, so be on your guard!"
"No problem," Mikoto murmured positively. "All we gotta do is buy a little time, right?"
Time. To an eternal being, it held very little meaning, but in the same breath, there never seemed to be enough. Even as Saruhiko lost himself to the damaged infrastructure of the unstable landmass beneath his feet, he couldn't help but ponder the meaning of life itself. What was life if you couldn't laugh and smile? Was it worth anything if every day was miserable? In the end, memories of a peaceful era weren't enough. They only tormented him further. So, as he stood on the top of a dusty structure absorbing the bursts of flame around local skirmishes, he decided the only value left for his lifeforce was to give it all away in hopes those lives who still held meaning could thrive.