Chapter 9: Rage

Naoki glanced around at his entourage where they were sprawled on the floor outside the room. "He. . .he actually pushed us out."

Shikigami sighed. "Yes, he did. Damn that Lion Dog!"

Naoki blinked. "What are you talking about?"

"You didn't actually believe the rot Shiisa said back there, about being an expert on the Amala Terminal?"

"He isn't? Well then, why did he stay back?"

"My guess?" Shikigami snorted. "Well, at first I thought he was just being his usual cowardly self. But then I began to wonder. . ."

Pixie stood up, the paralysis having worn off. "You sensed it too huh, paper boy?"

"Sensed what?" Naoki asked.

"It's something a bruiser like you wouldn't understand," Hua Po answered him. "Humans have a very distinct aura that magic affiliated demons can pick up. No matter what they try, whether they dress in mayonnaise or whatever, we can tell."

Gulp. Does that mean that they can tell that I'm a. ..

"That human back there?" Pixie pointed to the terminal door. "I would have eaten him if I knew that he was there, you know."

"What. . .what do you mean?" Naoki blinked, figuring out what the fairy demon was implying. "Do you mean to say that Hijiri's doesn't have. . ."

"Oh, he has an aura alright," Hua Po replied. "But it's NOT human. Don't think it's demon, either."

"WHAT?" Naoki was stunned. "But if he isn't a. . . well then, what is he?"

"That's probably what Shiisa is trying to find out," Hua Po replied.

"I still favour the 'Shiisa's a coward' idea, myself," Shikigami added.

"I didn't sense anything," Kodama whinged. "I wanna go kill someone now!"

"Oh. . . okay…" Naoki stared. The Kodama had such a childish voice. If you weren't looking in his direction, it was easy to forget that you were talking to a floating lollipop instead of a kindergartener. "I DID say I was going to kill Forneus, didn't I."

"Yup, you did!" Kodama cheered. "Let's go! We want to play!"

The Hua Po agreed. "Let's play Murder the Manta, mister!"

Shikigami shrugged. "I'm sticking with whatever the Jirae duo decide."

"Okay. . ." Naoki nodded. "Thanks. Uh, what about you, Pixie/"

The Pixie snarled. "What IS it with you always asking and thanking people, Pervert?" I haven't met a demon this insane since. . .

Since that time in Rem. Realization dawned on the demon girl's face. This guy is a ?

She had to make sure. Besides. . . "Well, I DO need to get to Yoyogi Park and that stupid fish finger IS blocking the way. .. BAH! Fine, whatever. I'll beat up your stupid fish, but in return you're escorting me to Yoyogi Park. Got it?"

Naoki sighed. "Okay. It's a promise."

"And you'd better keep your hands off me, pervert or I'll make you regret it!"

"Okay, okay," Naoki protested.

"Right, we're all set," Hua Po cheered. "Let's go!"

Naoki held up a hand. "Not yet – there's one more person I have to ask." He knelt down to the Preta, who was chewing on another Preta's amputated leg. "Preta, I'm sorry about . . . about what happened to the others, and I'm sorry to ask this of you, but I need your help."

"He's going to eat him, isn't he," Shikigami whispered to Hua Po.

"Probably," the fairy demon answered.

The Preta looked up at Naoki, smirked. "Meee . . .Want Eat. … . You . . . " He leaped into Naoki's hands. "

"Called it," Shiki whispered.

But the Preta didn't eat him, merely smiled and cheered and pointed. ". . . .FRIEND!"

Naoki patted the Preta on the head. " Alright, let's get going. .. Err, Shinjuku Squad, away!"

"AWAY!" Kodama and Hua Po shouted together.

Pixie frowned. 'You have GOT to be kidding me."

So here they were. A half human half demon, a paper monster, a flying lollipop, two miniature people, a purple people eater, preparing to fight a gigantic manta ray. If not for the dire situation he was in, Naoki might almost have found the sheer bizarreness of it all amusing.

I'm actually doing this. I'm actually preparing to kill something. He didn't know whether the feeling in his stomach was from horror or anticipation.

"What you waiting for, Pervert?" The Pixie asked him as he hesitated outside the door, the Shikigami sitting contentedly on his head. "An open invitation?"

"No, it's. . .it's just – " It's just that the Lord God is probably staring at me right this moment and is probably readying a Divine Smite as we speak – "It's just that –"

But he never got a chance to tell her what his problem was, the fact that he was hanging for dear life onto his human self and thus hesitant to commit cold blooded murder, even if said murder was done on a cold blooded animal, because a sudden shout interrupted his train of thought completely. It was Forneus, yelling at someone.

"What do you MEAN you lost the punk in the pants!"

"URrrrrgh.. . he . . . strong. . . . " It was a low growling voice, similar to the tone Pixie had used against the Pretas back in the main hospital building. Is he talking to a Preta?

"I don't care! I ordered you to locate him and terminate him!"

"He. . . strong. . stronger than you. . . "

The next sound was an enormous crash and a pained screech. That was enough to spur Naoki into action and he burst into a room that looked like a bomb had hit it. The waiting room chairs were obliterated, the walls scratched, the lights non functional. More than that, Forneus had turned the place into a world of ice – it was on the walls, on the floor. It was even on the walkway where Naoki had broken the glass earlier.

"Ataaack!" Pixie yelled, throwing electricity before Forneus could even turn to glare at them. Hua Po and Kodama followed her lead, attacking with their powers of fire and force.

How did Naoki know the floor was covered in ice? By slipping on it, the forces of nature sending his feet flying out from under him, sending him sliding across the floor on his back until he finally came to a stop.

Directly under the Manta Ray.

Crap.

But then there came an enormous bolt of lightning from his forehead and Naoki realized that this inglorious entrance was a good thing, as he was still wearing Shikigami as a headband.

"AAAAARGH!" Forneus roared, falling to the ground, pinning Naoki underneath him. Pixie saw her chance, took it, throwing a bolt of lightning at the Ray as it struggled on its front ,its wings flailing. An instant before it hit, however, Forneus managed to barrel roll out of the way, still smoking and grunting in pain. Naoki also rolled out of the way, forgetting about the demonic headband that would have rendered the bolt useless against him.

But when he climbed to his feet he went approximately two steps before falling flat on his face again – he was rendered completely useless by the ice, something that the others weren't troubled by – except for the Preta, which was ice skating around, trying to eat the broken chairs. Naoki simply couldn't move – there was no friction, no way for his feet to hold him steady and balanced. For all of Shiisa's cheering that they couldn't beat Forneus without him, for all of his demonic strength and speed and communication skills, it was all rendered useless by a few centimetres of frozen water.

Fortunately, as Naoki watched, it didn't seem they NEEDED his help, anyway. Pixie and Hua Po worked seamlessly together, flying through the air in twin blurs of red and blue, hurling lightning and fire. Meanwhile, Kodama sent bursts of pure force at the ray with every swipe of his little body. The Ray screamed in agony as its body was burned and shocked and battered.

But then things started to go wrong. The Ray turned, roared incoherently, barrel rolled, blew out a blast of ice that was far colder and larger than what it had ever produced before.

"Woah!" Hua Po yelled, the three flying demons dodging madly, but not enough. All three of them were thrown out of the sky and crashed to the ice, dazed and bleeding. Hua Po flew down and helped the younger Jirae back up, but before they could attend to the Pixie Forneus buffeted them with his wings and sent them sprawling.

"SHIT!" Naoki yelled, leaping to his feet. Almost instantly he was thrown right off them again, this time by the ice skating Preta that crashed into his feet, sending them both falling to the ground.

What the hell was I thinking, trying to defeat a demon? I'm just a kid! I'm no warrior!

He climbed to his feet, tried to steady himself. What am I doing? What am I doing? What am I doing? WHAT AM I DOING? "DAMN IT! I can't balance on this fucking ice at all!" He yelled out his frustrations.

"Naoki, stop it!" the Shikigami around his head shouted, trying to shoot at the flying fish, missing badly as Naoki skidded around. "We're in the middle of a battle!"

"I DON'T CARE! FUCK THIS ICE!" He slammed his fist down, hard enough to pierce the ice and the floor below it.

"Want eat!" the Preta gurgled by his feet, having only just barely dodged Naoki's fist. "Want eat ice!" It breathed in, then blew out a fireball at the floor.

Naoki stared as the ice melted before them. THAT'S IT!

Meanwhile, Pixie was flying through the annexe lobby, closely followed by a very irate fish who wasn't even giving her the time to heal herself, let alone attack.

"This isn't working!" she snarled. "Where IS that Pervert? I ordered him to keep me safe!"

She was running low on manna, the fuel for her spells nearly exhausted. Behind her, Kodama was suffering a similar fault, except that HIS magic was used up because he was stupid enough to heal the Hua Po he was hanging around with. The Hua Po herself was stuck in another block of ice, shivering and curled up in pain and thus completely useless.

Useless! The whole lot of them, useless!

Just when she didn't need any more reason to hate the others, they gave her one more reason: by glancing in the direction of the Hua Po as she whimpered in pain, Pixie took her eyes off Forneus. Thus, her guard was wide open to be hit in the chest by the manta ray's enormous tail.

"GAAH!"

The Manta Ray's tail was long and muscular, powerful enough to break the bones of an Oni. Against Pixie's tiny frame and fragile bones, the result was catastrophic. She was thrown, clear across the room, slamming into the wall on the far side with a screech of pain.

She fell to the ground, nearly unconscious, her bones crushed, vomiting up black blood, her vision swimming before her. Damn it . . .I wasn't strong enough . . . I . . . don't want . . .to die. . .here. . .

She was in pain, too much pain to focus carefully, but she could dimly see Forneus charging in for the kill. It hurts… . it hurts . . .

She closed her eyes, heard only a colossal crash, a collision of flesh and bone. Now there was a scream of rage, another crash. A sound of laughter. Another shout of rage. Now a new shout, one of agonising pain.

She opened her eyes.

Naoki Kashima had entered the battle by using the Preta's fireballs to melt the ice. At first, he'd simply walked around, melting as much ice as he could. But then he saw Forneus hit the Pixie, saw her slam into the wall, saw her fall to the ground, clearly critically wounded. He'd broken into a run, sprinting as fast as the Preta could melt the ice, hurtling towards the Pixie as fast as he could, watching in outrage as the Manta Ray got ready to finish off a clearly defenceless opponent.

He'd run in front of the badly injured little fairy, taken Forneus' hit head on. They collided, the hit serious enough to knock Naoki off his feet and to the ground, rolling through the water, the Shikigami still on his head squawking as they skidded across the ice. A second tail whip dazed Naoki enough that he was forced to let go. The markings on his body turned to red, he coughed blood out of his mouth, while the Magatama in his head twitched and protested, spurring him on to kill and destroy.

Forneus laughed at Naoki's petty attempt to help the Pixie. This proved to be a mistake.

It was although the sound of laughter was the final piece of the puzzle Naoki needed. Something inside of him exploded. Something red, bright red, the colour of fury and hatred and rage. Suddenly, everything was clear. The Magatama in his head gave an order. Naoki accepted the order willingly.

The Manta Ray charged in for the kill, ready to hit the Pixie with its fins, planning on torturing it whilst Naoki watched because it thought it would be funny. . Instead, Forneus found itself stopped in its tracks, Naoki grabbing the Ray by it's tail. He pulled the Ray back, back towards him, then gave it an almighty punch that sent it skidding on the ice. It fell to the ground, struggled back up, turned to face Naoki, but before it could do anything Naoki had grabbed it's jaws, one for the upper, one for the lower.

KILL KILL KILL KILL! KILL!

It was a burning flame of rage that blocked out everything in his mind except for his hatred. He roared like an animal, strength pulsing through his arms, and forced the two jaws apart.

"Go," he said to the Shikigami on his head. The paper demon nodded, uncoiled, then lunged into the Ray's mouth whilst Naoki held it open. For a few seconds nothing happened.

Then Forneus gave a horrifying scream as it's insides were ripped apart by the point blank Zio spell.

The demon roared, screamed, struggled. Naoki didn't care. He was consumed by his rage, consumed by a berserker fury that urged him on in his bloodlust. The fury gave him suggestions and he followed them to the letter. The ray thrashed around madly, trying to close its mouth on the paper demon, but Naoki stopped them from happening with a loud yell as he broke both jaws, ripping the demon apart with his bare hands. He continued to punch it over and over again until it finally went silent.

Then he stopped, dropped the dying ray where it stood and turned away from it without a second glance. He ran over to the fallen Pixie, lying on the ground.

Naoki turned to the Kodama. "You. Heal her."

Kodama blinked. "Uh? But. . . she's not even a Jirae. . ." the lollipop's voice trailed off under Naoki's furious glare.

"I don't care. Heal her."

"Do as he says, Kodama," Shikigami spoke. Slowly, the Kodama nodded, turned to the Pixie and cast the spell, even as Pixie glared and protested.

"Grr. . . Get. . . get your . . . f-filthy hands of me. . . you. . . you Jirae. . . "

"Oh, shut up!" Hua Po smirked at her. "Just lie still and be healed, you weakling!"

Silently, Naoki looked about at his companions. Off all of them, the Pixie had received by far the worst of it – Forneus had seen her ability to cast lightning and had moved to nullify the biggest threat. Aside from that, the injuries were actually pretty minor, nothing that couldn't be fixed with a few Dia spells.

Except for himself, of course. He was covered in injuries, scrapes and cuts and open wounds, blood flowing from the injuries. Black blood, not red. Black. Just like a demon.

A sudden noise was heard – the sound of bones crunching. Naoki turned, spotted the Preta taking bites out of Forneus' corpse. The Ray was clearly dead now. Mere food. There was no point stopping the Preta from eating.

But somebody did – Hua Po, grabbing the Preta by an ear and pulling it back from the corpse. "Hey, slow down! Don't you know anything?"

"Want eat!" the Preta replied, trying to wiggle free from her grasp.

"Yes, I can see that. But hold on for a second." She pointed to Naoki. "To the victor, the spoils!"

. . .

Wait.

"H-huh?" Naoki blinked. A horrible thought had just flashed into his mind, but it was so stupid that it couldn't be real.

"Am I the only one who knows demonic traditions? Tradition calls that the person who dealt the finishing blow gets first dibs on the spoils of victory. Therefore: all the Magatsuhi is yours!"

"Wha-" His horrible thought was real. They wanted him to –

"Hurry up, Naoki! I can't hold this Preta any longer!"

Naoki waved his hand. "Release him, then. I couldn't have beaten Forneus without his help, without all of you."

Hua Po released the Preta – but not to obey him. It was sheer stunned disbelief. A disbelief so huge that every demon in the room looked up and stared at Naoki in shock.

Hua Po turned to Shikigami with wide eyes. ". . . Shiki. Did you just hear what he said? I think my ears are blocked."

Shikigami shook his head. "I heard him. Talk to me, Naoki Kashima. Who are you?"

"Who. . . who?" Naoki asked. "What do you mean by that?"

Pixie coughed, cleared her throat. "So I'm not the only one. Tell me guys – has anyone of you seen someone like him before?"

There were long pauses. . . shakes of the head.

Pixie smirked. "I have."

Naoki stared. "What! But when we first met, you said –"

"I KNOW what I said, Pervert, and I was telling the truth, that I'd never seen a demon like you before. But I can smell your scent, and it's a scent that I've already smelled, though it hasn't been for eons."

Naoki found himself surrounded by inquisitive demons sniffing at him.

Kodama shrugged. "I don't know. . . he just smells like an ordinary demon to me."

"Of course he does," Pixie smirked. "He smells like a demon because he IS a demon, at least on the outside. But inside. . . "

Naoki took a step back, suddenly terrified.

Oh shit. Oh shit. She's figured it out.

"Well?" Kodama asked the Pixie.

"This guy," Pixie said, pointing to Naoki, ". . . is a Devil Child. Half Demon. . . and half human."

I'm dead. It's all over.

"WHAT!" the other demons screeched. "HE"S HUMAN?"

They were surrounding him now, backing him into a corner – Kodama, Hua Po and Pixie. Shikigami seemed to be merely staring at him in disbelief, while Preta was eating the corpse of the large fish behind them, taking no notice of the deceit.

"That's right," Pixie replied. "I had my suspicions from the first time I saw this guy . .. I mean, what sort of demon cares about their "friends" and won't eat Magatsuhi? The answer: a HUMAN one!"

"You .. . " Kodama stared at Naoki with pleading. . . err, squiggles. "Is it really true, Mr Naoki?"

"I- uh – I. . . " His voice caught in his throat. He couldn't speak, couldn't think of what to say. He wracked his brain for ideas.

I have to think fast, think of something, or they'll going to kill me right now!

No, wait . . .I'm stronger than they are. I can fight my way out of this.

But they're my friends! I can't hurt my friends!

But that Pixie just said demons don't HAVE friends. Look at them – they're about ready to murder me.

No, no! I can't do this!

Why? You just slaughtered tens of these demons! What's a few more?

This is different!

No it's not. It's exactly the same!

"It's. . . true?" Hua Po whispered, startling Naoki out of his inner battle enough to see fire appearing in both her hands and her eyes. "You . . .YOU TRICKED US!"

"I – I'm sorry, I didn't mean it . . .I've only just . .. " He had to make a break for it, try to run through them, but there was no way out.

The Pixie chortled at the scene. "Aww, what's the matter? Your brand new minion isn't what you thought he was?""

The words were unspoken amongst all the demons. . .the TRUE demons, but they were all thinking the same thing. This was a Devil Child, a being born from human and demonic parents. There were many of them around, with the special ability to see and understand demons. For the most part, they looked exactly like any other ordinary human.

When their powers fully awoke however, they became much more dangerous than a mere human or demon alone. Some of them became strong enough to slaughter multitudes of demons single-handedly. Others, like the Devil Child she had met so many years ago, could do something even more insidious: bind hordes of demons to their will, forcing them to obey their every command, slaves to their whim.

In the demonic world, Devil Children were feared and hated even more so than summoners, those who could summon a demon into their plane of existence. At least then there was the possibility that one could break free of the bindings that chained them. Not so for a Devil Child. They would be trapped. FOREVER.

Pixie glared at the false demon. Just how long had it been since she last saw a Devil Child? Ah yes. Pixie remembered now. It was in a land called Rem, many millennia ago, when she had battled against a boy with blue hair on Lucifer's personal orders, to force him to go to the land of demons instead of Valhalla. She'd lost against the boy's stupid personal familiar, but she'd completed her mission.

Now, once again, a Devil Child was before her – definitely looking more devilish than your average Child, with his blue and black markings and the distinctive thrumming of his Magatama., but still obviously a Human, that creature that demons either feared, hated or preyed upon. Sure, Jack liked looking at humans from a distance, but to actually. . . INTERACT with one?

THE HORROR!

So. the question was now:

"Alright guys, got any ideas about what to do with this guy?" Pixie asked them.

"Let him go," Shikigami replied. OF COURSE Shiki would say that, he was a Shikigami after all. They spent more time with humans than almost any other infernal being, so their view on life was naturally skewed and thus could be completely ignored.

Luckily, Kodama and Hua Po had lots of useful ideas.

"Electrocute him!"

"Eat him!"

"Throw him to a heap of Lilims and Liliths and Succubi!"

"Electrocute him, throw him to a bunch of LIliths and Lilims and Succubi and THEN eat him!"

"I propose hanging him on a tree!"

"Want eat!" That one was from the Preta, of course.

"Ooh, I like the hanging idea, ," Pixie told Hua Po, who had suggested it. "Just one problem: There aren't any more trees."

"Awww," the Hua Po moaned. "Alright then, how about we torch him? Burn him at the stake, like the good old days?"

Naoki paled. "Uh, I like Shiki's idea, myself."

"Who cares what you think, HUMAN?" Kodama glared.

Naoki paled more. "Alright, just. .. Listen, I'm really sorry, and I didn't mean to trick you, but . . . I've only just become a demon and I –"

" DON'T GIVE US THAT CRAP!" Pixie roared at him – well, as loud as a tiny flying girl could roar. It was still enough to send Naoki flat on his butt, cowering. "You think I was born yesterday? Well, I wasn't! You've been a demon all you're life and you deliberately misled us! So stop whining and prepare to die!"

Stop.

At first Naoki thought the voice was merely in his head, a subconscious protest at the thought of being burned at the stake like a heretic. But then as he looked around he saw the others staring at each other in stunned disbelief, looking around wildly.

"Did. . .did you just –" Kodama asked the older Jirae.

Hua Po snarled angrily. "Yes, I heard it. HEY! Who goes there!"

Naoki saw his chance, continued to protest. "Listen to me, I'm telling the truth! I- I'm sorry that I lied to you, but it's. . . it's been a bad day. My whole world just ended and I honestly just got transformed into a . . .well, a demon, and -"

"You honestly expect us to believe that?" Pixie growled at him.

He's telling the truth.

"Oh for – Stop doing that, it's giving me a headache!" she yelled into the air. "Right, that does it – where are you, you mother fucker?"

Right here.

The voice was behind them. They whirled around, all six of them, even the Preta. Pixie continued to shout as he turned. "Who the hell do you think you are protesting about, you –"

Then her voice stopped, froze in mid sentence. "Ah . . . " Unholy Satan, it's -

Naoki stared, frowned, growled, fury surging through him. "You . . ."

Two figures were standing there, having appeared out of freaking nowhere. One was a small blond boy with piercing eyes, the other was an old woman dressed in black. Naoki recognised them instantly as the Old Hag and the Young Bastard.

"My . .. . my. . . ." Pixie gasped, suddenly unable to speak. "Master!"

The boy looked at her.

As one, Pixie and Hua Po dropped out of the sky and went down on one knee before the boy, their heads bowed in subservience. Even the Preta and Kodama were on their knees in the same position. The only ones that weren't were Shikigami and Naoki himself, the first because he really didn't have the appropriate limbs, the second because. . .

. . . because the moment he had seen the Young Bastard Naoki had bared his teeth, snarled, then broken into a full out sprint straight for him. Before anybody could do anything, Naoki swung his right fist through the air and connected with the child's lower jaw with the hardest punch he had ever thrown in his life.

The punch was so hard it knocked the blond boy clean off his feet, sent him flying into the air, sent him spinning, doing cartwheels and summersaults through the air before he was finally stopped by the Annexe wall. He slumped to the ground, motionless and unconscious.

The demons STARED, the same thought going through all their minds. They simply couldn't believe what had just happened. They knew, even if Naoki did not, just what he had just done, the sheer AUDACITY of what he had just done. It was just completely unbelievable.

He – He just - he just punched – What – OH MY SATAN DID WE JUST SEE THAT!

Naoki rubbed his fist, trying to get the feeling back into it. Damn kid, he felt like punching concrete!

The boy twitched, stirred, then opened his eyes to see a variety of eyes looking down at him. The demons which had been kneeling in subservience only seconds before were now up on their feet, anxious to ensure their master was okay. He waved them off, reached up to touch his own face, felt blood. He was bleeding from a split lip, and slightly from his mouth. He struggled to his feet, glanced over to Naoki who stood where he'd punched him, still glaring, still angry.

He smiled, broadly.

The five demons held their breath, scarcely believing what they were seeing. Only the old woman seemed completely unperturbed.

"We are pleased to meet you again," she told Naoki. "It's reassuring to see that you didn't do anything to embarrass my –"

"Forget that!" Naoki yelled, still angry. "This is all your fucking fault!"

"Oh?" The woman asked.

"What do you mean, OH?" Naoki roared. "Change me back this instant!"

What does he mean, change back? Pixie wondered. From the looks on the other demons, they were clearly thinking the same thing.

The old hag shook her head. "We cannot do that."

"YES YOU CAN!" Naoki roared, his fury running red and hot, just like the markings on his body. "Ms. Takao's already told me everything. You're the ones who did this to me, you're the ones who turned me into a freak, YOU'RE the ones who FUCKED UP the entire world, YOU'RE the cause of everything that has happened this day and I'm FUCKING sick of it!" He waved his arms around like a windmill, looking for all the world like a scared child having a temper tantrum.

The blond bastard looked up at his old hag caretaker, still grinning. The old hag looked down at him with a look that clearly indicated exasperation.

"If Yuko has told you everything, than she has surely told you the reason we gave you the Marogoreh Magatama, Naoki Kashima."

THEY gave him the – they turned him into – HE'S THE FRIGGING – Pixie couldn't help it – she fell out of the sky in stunned disbelief, was left lying on her back staring up at the ceiling. NO FREAKING WAY.

Kodama, Shikigami and Hua Po were sharing the same idea. This guy. . . he's not just a Devil Child – he's the . . .

"Yes she did! I know who you are, who your master is! Tell him that I'm not going to do his dirty work!"

The lady in black nodded. "We will do that. But first, let us tell you how proud we are that you have survived the Hospital. I am very pleased that you didn't embarrass my young master by dying from something so trivial as Forneus."

"T-t-trivial!" Naoki shrieked. "That RAY nearly killed my friends! He – " Naoki's voice trailed off, realizing he had forgotten completely about Chiaki and Isamu.

In answer, the boy pointed outside. Naoki stared at the boy, then went sprinting outside without a

second glance.

Pixie and the other demons remained behind – even the Preta. They crowded around the boy. "Master, are you okay?"

He nodded.

"Is he. . . is he really. . ." She couldn't finish the question, it was too unbelievable to be true.

After ALL this time, could he really be the one?

The lady in black nodded, then spoke. "He is even better than we imagined."