Mitsuko laid on her bed staring at her phone waiting for Akari to text her. However she hasn't initiated the conversation as she would normally do even if she's really busy which concerned Mitsuko so she decides to text her to check especially after todays fiasco they found themselves in.

'Hey u ok?'

'Yh y?'

'Nothing you just seem to be quiet tonight its all.'

'O don't worry bout it, just this book rprt is killing me. Sorry don't have that much time as I wud normally do.'

'O ok, I thought it may have been about what happened today before class with Sara and them.' Akari didn't respond for long, Mitsuko curses herself internally as she should've known better than to bring them up again. But to her surprise Akari responded back pretty quickly.

'Nah its nothing to do with them today, as I said its just this book report don't worry I'm fine really :).' It didn't prevent Mitsuko from worrying about her especially with how much she got verbally lashed by them in front of the whole school but she has no choice but to trust her. If she says she was fine, she was and that was that. She sighs and stretched her hands on the bed to her side reflecting on today's events. About Sara's choice of words to her and how she herself didn't really do anything. She never had to do anything as stand up to anyone, normally they would just leave her alone. It frightened her.

As she thinks about this she notices her hands getting more...moist. She clenches them slightly and feels...liquid. She looks on her hands and notices that there is blood on them that's fresh. She didn't know what as going on but as she was attempting to dry them by wiping them on her bed sheets it was no good, the sheets were stained however it was not coming off. She didn't know what was going on she stood up and ran to her bathroom.

She quickly turned on the tap and attempts to wash the blood from her hands however as she sees it enter the drain she looks at her hands and sees it still on the palms of her hands. She frantically washes them under the tap even harder, even though it was going down the drain it still stained her hands. She didn't understand why this was. She looked up at her cabinets mirror and was shocked to see not her own reflection but Akari with her eyes closed and smiling brightly. She took a step back.

'Trying to wash away your sins eh?' Akari giggled at her which confused Mitsuko.

'Well sorry but its no use!' She yells still with her eyes closed. Suddenly the door slams shut next to her and the walls around her start to ooze thick blood from the ceiling dripping down. She looks around horrified by the sight. She tugs on the door as hard as she can however it stayed shut.

'You cannot wash away the blood on your hands, you cannot wash away the sins you committed to me!' Akari's voice grew darker and monsterous with blood dripping from her eyelids while still being closed.

'Why? Why didn't you help me!? I thought we were more than friends, I thought we would be together forever! What kind of monster are you to watch my destruction and do nothing!?' Akari opens her eyes to reveal nothing but a black void which frightened Mitsuko as her hand came out of the mirror and attempts to reach towards her, Mitsuko couldn't move due to being paralysed by the fear as it was about to reach her she woke up.

She sat up very quickly hyper ventilating and tries to calm herself down as she quickly looks at her hands and sees that they are blood free. After looking around and realising where she was and took a giant breath of relief as she promptly fell backwards on the bed, still breathing heavily. That was one of her most intense nightmares yet and it took her a while to get to grips with it and her surroundings. She attempted to go back to sleep however her body rejected such attempts no matter how much she tried. She sighs as she begrudgingly sat back up the bed and rubs her eyes to be open. Since she wasn't going to go back to sleep she may aswell get out to get some fresh air. At times like this she does miss slapping on a console and playing some video games to help her escape from her troubles of the real world. Now though she no longer has that luxury.

She off her bed, dons her armour and equips her weapons and walks out the room. She couldn't imagine herself leaving her room without her equipment now even if it is to get some fresh air. As she exits the room she's hit with a cool breeze brushing past her face and entering the room. She looks up at the vast sky to see it littered with bright stars and darkness. She sighs as she realises its nowhere near morning yet.

'Oh for fucks sake.' She mentally curses to herself. She'd much rather it be dawn not still late at night, at least if it was dawn she wouldn't have had to struggle to stay awake for the entire day. She walks out and goes on the top of the wall where it is mostly abandoned apart from a stray soldier who hails her as she goes past her, she barely mustered up the energy to respond as she was still groggy. She stopped and leaned on the wall between the embrasures and looked out beyond the walls. The large bright moon in the sky illuminated parts of the land. It was quite the sight to behold, combined with the ambience of the night made the night seem...peaceful. She always felt more comfortable in the darkness than in the light, she didn't really know why. As she was beginning to let herself become more relaxed and immersed herself in her surroundings she shut her eyes. She became so relaxed that she didn't hear a set of footsteps approaching her from behind. All of a sudden she felt someone or something grab her sides, she was so startled she let out a small yelp out of shock and turned around quickly to strike but stops immediately as she saw it was LingQi giggling away at her reaction. Still that didn't help her heart calm down any faster or her breathing.

'Again with that, could you just not do that again? And before you say it, I know that time it was your intention.' Mitsuko responds trying to suppress the laughter of the situation she found herself in however even if she wasn't she was still trying to get her breath.

'Sorry. It was a rare sight letting your guard down, I couldn't help myself. Besides maybe you should be more aware of your surroundings.' She responds as she joined Mitsuko leaning on the wall next to her.

'So what are you doing up at this hour?' She glances at Mitsuko and notices that she's not quite a 100% by her body language which was more slouched than usual. She suspected it was because of a lack of sleep but she didn't want to say anything.

'Well...I just thought that some fresh air would do me some good. It has been a while since I came out during this time aswell.' Mitsuko attempted to make her think that this was a choice by her not a necessity. She wasn't sure if it was working but she didn't want to admit of her sleep troubles, it didn't really seem right to bother other people with them, especially when she believes she may deserve them.

'It has been a while, has the serpent grew too important to speak to even her friends?' LingQi replied feigning sadness in her voice which Mitsuko also fell for but she saw the slight smirk that was she was beginning to form and decided to play along.

'Yeah pretty much. But the serpent can also be generous, hence why she has come before you now so you may bask in her presence.' She joked in a pretentious tone, giving her a genuine smirk of her own.

'Well someone thinks mighty high of themselves. I think the serpent needs to learn a lesson in humility.'

'Please my lady you insult me, i'm the most humble person present in this castle.' They both laughed at their antics. It helped Mitsuko relax and the memory of the nightmare starts to fade from the forefront of her mind. At the end they started to calm down and learned on the walls yet again where LingQi turns towards her.

'So how are your forces then? Getting used to your new role?'

'Yeah but back when I first got given the role though I didn't know what to do. I was glad that Pang Tong is around otherwise I'd still be swamped in paperwork.' Mitsuko chuckles, remembering how helpful Pang tong has actually been to her even though she tried to not bother him he insisted to help which she was grateful for.

LingQi sees the smile forming on her lips and didn't know what to think about it. Of course she was happy that Mitsuko was getting the support she needed and deserved however when it came to Pang Tong she still wasn't sure about him. His words that were uttered to her still have a place inside her mind especially their last conversation they had. She never saw him so serious but she still wasn't entirely convinced by the words he speaks. She still didn't understand what he means by them however they started to cause doubt about herself, about the path she is walking. She shakes her head vigorously, now was not the time to dwell on that.

'I see. Nevertheless I think its best if you be wary of him slightly.' She admits which confused Mitsuko.

'Why? He seems friendly and he's helping me out a lot with this being an officer thing. Did you two have a fight or something?' She questioned wondering where this doubt of him come from hoping that the two of them are getting along and not at each others neck when she's not looking.

'No no of course not. I just think that with his unorthodox nature it may be best to have some caution especially as he seemingly ready to join you where a man of his talents would serve someone else of a higher station.' LingQi admits however as she uttered those words she immediately regretted them. She didn't mean to project her own concerns to her especially at this time.

'Ahh please ignore what I just said-'

'I get it.'

'What?'

'I get why you don't really trust him. I mean it doesn't really make that much sense that he'd readily want to serve me a nobody after all. He can also be a bit weird and everything. But after his help with everything its hard to believe he'll backstab me you know. 'Even though that's probably what I deserve.' Wouldn't make sense for him to build me up to destroy me right? I don't think i'd be in this position without him...or you for that matter. Maybe you should spend some time with him, get to know him a bit better you know?' LingQi didn't know how to respond to that.

It was hard to do that when his words cling on to the walls in her mind and that made her question his motives...however she sees that he's helped Mitsuko in various ways, she also sees that Mitsuko trusts him deeply. If Mitsuko trusts him...should she herself at least try to trust him and not view him with so much suspicion? Mitsuko could see LingQi looking troubled by this and panicked.

'I mean erm that is if you want to, I don't want you to think I'm forcing you or anything. What you guys do and how you feel is up to you I don't want you to make you feel uncomfortable or anything. And I'm also thankful for you looking out for me aswell. ' LingQi laughs slightly at her attempt.

'It is ok I understand your meaning.' She smiles softly at her which makes Mitsuko breath a sigh of relief. Just being around her makes Mitsuko feel more relaxed even if they talk about something like this...well more relaxed than she was previously. The two of them engaged in small talk for a while, engaging in general state of affairs and responsibilities and so forth. After they stood in silence watching the night sky as the stars slowly pass over their heads. It was calming for both of them and they both enjoyed it. A yawn emanated from Mitsuko though which broke the silence.

'My my I thought the serpent was a creature of darkness not easily succumbed to sleep.' LingQi teased her as she giggled again. She would not normally do this at all but with Mitsuko acting like this to her...kind of feels right she couldn't explain why.

'The serpent is not tired it is merely...a need to regain its strength.'

'Of course, well I shall leave you to it then.' LingQi bows and walks away, Mitsuko glances at her for a moment and smiles to her before she starts the journey to her room.

'Argh!' A polearm with a rectangular end covered in sharp metallic spikes on its side and front pierces a mystic scouts abdomen as he lays on the ground helpless as he yelled one last cry of help. The rest of his party looked upon with horror as the wielder of the weapon removes it from his body and looks upon them with bloodthirsty and demonic slit shaped golden eyes.

'Its no use we lost him...I knew he shouldn't have gone there alone.' One said gripping his sword tightly and closes his eyes, not wanting to see what his friend has become.

'How did we not notice it before!?'

'That doesn't matter now. What matters is that we lost him and we have this creature in our wake that needs to be eliminated.' The more senior mystic reminded them.

'No...there has to be a way for him to revert back to his normal self we haven't lost him yet!' the most inexperienced mystic walks over to the...creature.

'What are you doing stop!'

'Remember who you are, don't let the corruption win. Don't let her win this battle.' He drops his weapon as he gets closer to the creature who seem inquisitive of him. He lowers his elongated reptilian head as he gets closer.

'Yes that's it, remember! It's me.' He smiled one of relief as it seems to remember who he was however the creature with his massive strength swiped the weapon at his jaw promptly removing it. The gurgled sounds of his screams was interrupted as he stabbed him, hovering him high in the air before slamming into the ground on his neck. The creature seemed to laugh and snarls, showing his razor sharp teeth when he turns back to the two remaining mystics who had their weapons drawn.

One of them charged bravely forward hoping to avenge his companions with his sword. The creature grabs it with his scaly hand and clasps tightly at it. The mystic tries to break free but it was futile. The creature smiles as he raises his weapon high. He drops it down on him landing in between his left shoulder and his neck promptly dropping him to left knee. The creature does this again and again, each time more blood spilt from his wounds and more of his flesh was being cut like a butcher cutting meat with his cleaver. He looked up to the final survivor who began to flee. He waited for a few seconds before making his move. He sprints forward with such agility and strength he caught up to him in no time. His movements were more akin to a reptilian beast than a human. He jumps up high and throws polearm at him piercing him in the middle of his chest stopping him in his tracks.

The mystic struggled to get up as the demon walked towards him. As he was crawling away the creature put his foot on his head and uses his big claw to pierce the head ever so slightly to hear his screams. There was no one else around to hear them. He removes the claw and the weapon and turns the mystic's body over so the head is facing the sky. He grabs the head with both of his scaly hands. The last thing he saw was two rows of razor sharp teeth going for him before he started screaming and saw only darkness.

After his meal he drops his food and looks up to the bright moon as he lurches forward slightly taking steps in puddles of blood.

'Mitsuko...' he whispered to himself before snarling, grabbing his weapon and letting out a huge roar.