Crimso's Notes
I don't care for Thanksgiving food. I ate more than usual this year, but still, I don't care for it. Turkey is fine, and so is mashed potatoes, but otherwise… not so much. I tried stuffing this year, since I convinced my mom not to make it with celery (I cannot stand celery! I ate celery once on the airplane to Spain and I then threw up five times. Three on the plane, one in the airport, and another on my pants when I was in the cab. I stopped after that. And it was ALL the celery's fault!). It was fine. Cranberry sauce is… meh, but that's because it's cranberry sauce. I didn't eat the rest. I had ice cream, though. Don't like pie.
Note one: Oh boy… so I said the last two chapters were fast paced, but they really weren't. I believe this one will be. …Maybe not, but I'm warning you in advance.
Note two: I do believe this concludes the story.
Note three: Please remember the notes that were said in the last chapters, like the ones about the characters and the language. These apply to this chapter as well.
Note four: The way the demon system is structured will be different from how things were back then, seeing as they're demons and have a different way of running things.
~~~~X~~~~
Chapter Twenty-Five: Makoto III
Kenji was glad to take Makoto back to the area of the forest where most of the demons dwelled, seeing as she had The Orb of the Demon Kings in her hand and was therefore king. He kept eyeing the orb the whole time, his eyes attracted to the shiny color of the orb. That was to be expected, though. Makoto and Kenji wandered through the forest, Makoto thinking all the while about how she was going to speak about humans to the demons. It would be tough, that was for sure.
Sure, she could use The Orb of the Demon Kings to make them obey, but she didn't want to. That kind of defeated the purpose. Then, they would only understand her ideals because she held the orb. What she could tell them, however, was to listen and consider everything that she was going to say. That was a good way to do things, since they would definitely try to take in consideration the truth about humans. It would be hard for them to accept, as Kaede pointed out, but Makoto was determined not to fail.
Then, we can create a world together, where demons and humans can live together in peace for all eternity…
She smiled at that thought. It would take a while to make the humans listen, but she could certainly try. The Orb of the Demon Kings didn't work on humans, but she could use it to order the demons to try to get them to obey. It would work out perfectly. But before she was to do that, she needed to get the demons on her side and form a plan to get this ideal to work, and she also needed to figure out how she was going to lead things as the Demon King. Every demon in the forest would be looking up to her for advice and orders. She needed to create a system, and she needed to find a way to keep her demons healthy. She had been much too small for someone her age when she arrived at Chiharu's house.
Perhaps she could use some guards that would help her with some things and also prevent anyone from stealing that orb from her. Hachirou apparently dropped the orb, but was that really the truth? He could have had it stolen. She didn't know, and just in case, she thought that the idea of having guards was a good one.
…Two? No. I should have three guards.
But who would those guards be? She wasn't quite sure about that. Whatever the case may be, she just needed to wait before she figured that out. That wasn't the most important thing on her mind right now.
The Orb of the Demon Kings had the ability to control one demon completely. No matter what, they would obey what the orb said. The orb also attracted the attention of many demons and was what made people their demon king. However, this was more voluntary. Sure, they were attracted to it, but they had decided that The Orb of the Demon Kings would be the object that made a demon king. The power it had to control a single demon was complete and utter control, one that they couldn't break out of, even if they wanted to. Well, maybe they could, but it hadn't happened before. They could order them to do anything and they would comply, even if it were out of character. Looking to Kenji, Makoto decided that the insane demon she had met before wasn't similar to him in the slightest, despite them being the same person.
She didn't want to use the orb to control a demon's mind like how the man had been using it. She didn't want to control anyone by binding their soul to the orb and forcing them to comply. She simply wanted to use the fact that demons were attracted to the shiny gold color and have them obey in that way. It worked for all the demons in the world, and not just for one demon. Well, it would still attract demons even if a demon's soul was bound to it, but that was beside the point.
They eventually reached the spot where most demons gathered around, though why they liked that spot was slightly confusing to the girl. It did have a very small pond, but no demon ever did anything with the pond aside from the occasional drink. It really wasn't anything special, either, due to its size. There were now many, many demons hanging about, some of them talking to each other and others just gazing at their reflection in the lake.
Kenji turned to her and nodded, indicating that she should go ahead and do what she came to do.
She nodded and cleared her throat. Clutching the orb tightly, the girl held it up in the air for everyone to see. "Everyone, attention!" she called out, so that everyone in the whole area turned to look at her. At first, they were rather confused as to why someone would want their attention, but as soon as they turned around to look, they caught sight of the shiny, glistening, golden orb that was held in her hand. At once everyone ran up to her and crowded around, their eyes focused on the orb and the girl that was holding onto it.
"Look, she has The Orb of the Demon Kings! She must be the Demon King!" cried a random demon as he stared at the glimmering orb.
"Is it really The Orb of the Demon Kings?" asked a demon.
"It has to be! The color… the power… it's definitely The Orb of the Demon Kings!" cried another demon.
"But Hachirou-sama lost it!" another demon yelled out.
"And she found it!"
Makoto grinned as she noticed everyone crowding around her. There were more and more demons coming from other areas of the forest, having heard the commotion coming from far away mostly due to the fact that everyone was being very loud. That was to be expected, though. The Orb of the Demon Kings had been lost for years and years. It was unlikely that such a young girl would one day show up with it in her hands.
"Everyone, my name is Makoto!" she cried out as she held the orb high in the air. "I am indeed your new demon king! Even though I am small, I wish that everyone would listen to me! If you are aware of this orb's power, please sit down!"
Instantly, everyone around her sat down on the ground and looked up at her expectantly. Makoto was shocked by how obedient they were, but she quickly got over that. It was The Orb of the Demon Kings after all, and it did control Kenji to the point where he was completely insane, and it did make Hachirou lose power the moment he dropped it.
"Thank you. As your new demon king, I wish that a few of you would comply to my next order. And that is to round up all the demons in this whole forest! There could be a few exceptions, but make sure most are here! Check to see if your friends are here and if your family is here. If not, go get them!" she yelled out to the whole crowd.
As soon as she said that, a few demons began to look around, and when they couldn't find their friends, they got up and began to look around the crowd of demons. Makoto stood there as she watched some demons run off deeper into the forest to try to fetch any demon that could have missed her yelling and the demons' rather loud chattering. She sighed as she clutched The Orb of the Demon Kings a little tighter, amazed by how powerful it was. Everyone was listening to her!
Suddenly, a familiar voice broke through the crowd, and Makoto spotted a familiar demon pushing his way through the crowd. He was shouting her name loudly as he got closer, and when Makoto met his eyes, hers grew wide.
"Kai!" she cried out as she ran towards him. "It's been so long!"
As she got close to the blue-haired demon, she began to inspect him. He had grown quite a bit since she had last seen him and he looked more mature overall. However, he was still shorter than Makoto, which was something funny for a male his age. He should be at least somewhat taller than her. At that moment, it became clear to her that the demons didn't get enough to eat. They weren't getting the food they needed to grow. Looking around, she realized she was taller than a lot of the demons here, and if not taller, she was as tall as them. There was a small amount of demons that were taller, but that was only a small amount.
I need to find them food.
"Makoto, I was so worried about you when you disappeared! I came back to find your mother dead, and then when I went to your cave to check on you, you weren't there!" he cried out, his eyes filled with worry. "I came back every single day to see if you had come back, but you never did come back. And now, here you are, with The Orb of the Demon kings…! The same orb that man used to kill your mother! …You're the Demon King now, Makoto!"
Makoto smiled at her friend. He hadn't changed all that much, now had he? Well, that was only judging by what he had just said. He really was a worrier, and it looked as if it were no different now. However, there were certainly other things that could have changed about him.
"I know. I'll explain everything as soon as more demons are gathered. All right, Kai?" she spoke to him.
He nodded; small tears in his eyes beginning to form out of happiness that came with finding his best friend once again, who he was sure had been killed.
Another demon stepped forward, and this time it was Kaede, the demon who had killed Chiharu. "I'm surprised. You actually found The Orb of the Demon Kings. …Well, I hope that you can succeed with your ideals. It may be hard to convince people, as I said before, but I will consider accepting…"
"Thank you, Kaede," she responded.
A while later, the amount of demons began to grow, and Kenji suggested that they should get started. He spotted almost all of the demons he knew, and many others he had seen before, and that was enough for him to know that most of the demons were now here.
She nodded at him.
"Hello everyone!" she cried out, straining how loud her voice could go. There were so many demons she needed to speak out to, and it was doubtful that all of them could hear her. "I am your new Demon King, Makoto! I have come with proof! Look here!" She raised her arm up and allowed The Orb of the Demon Kings to glisten and catch the attention of every demon around her. When she gazed at their line of sight, she found out that they were all looking at the orb rather than her. Not that it really mattered. As long as they were listening to her, it would be okay. "Now that I have the attention of all of you, I want to discuss a rather serious topic. And that would be humans."
There was some chattering amongst the demons, but most of them were focused on the orb.
"I order you all to listen and take in consideration what I am about to say. The things I am going to say will be shocking and hard for you to accept, but I still wish for your full cooperation." She took a deep breath as she thought over what she was to say to them. Would they believe her? "I want you to know that a while ago, I encountered the man who had The Orb of the Demon Kings, the one who was killing off all of us by controlling a demon and using it to drive him into insanity. He killed my mother." She could feel a few tears in her eyes at the memory, but she tried to shake them off. "After that, I found myself in the human world, and a human took me in. She raised me, and she had been up until a very short time ago. It happened today."
Silence came from the audience, which was an indication that she should continue.
"…During that time, I gained an understanding of humans. I learned that humans are no different from demons, and that they aren't the evil beings we describe them as being! The reason why they attack is because we attack, and the reason why we attack is because they attack. There's no point to the fighting that's going on!" She could hear demons begin to chatter louder than before, and she was sure that some of them doubted her. "…Please take in what I am saying. Do not reject what I am saying right away. This is coming from your Demon King, Makoto. I have the orb." She sighed. "Anyways, with this information, I hope to create a world where all this pointless fighting is ceased! I want to create a world where we can live peacefully with the humans!"
There was more chatter, and Makoto could hear some demons debating over whether or not it was true, some of them refusing to accept even what their demon king said.
"That's crazy! A human killed my mother!" shouted a demon from the crowd. "There's no way that a creature who killed my mother could be good!"
"Yeah! I agree!" another one shouted.
"Humans are evil beings! They are not like us!"
Makoto sighed as she rubbed her temples. It appeared that no one seemed to agree with her. She watched as the arguing continued on with a few of them considering the idea, but most of them downright rejecting the idea.
"Stop!" cried Kai from the amount of demons. He ran up in front of Makoto, making his presence known. "I believe her! I believe what Makoto has to say! Just think about it for a little bit. Why do you think that humans kill demons? Is it just because they're evil? No one can be that evil. No one can kill without a reason. So that's why I'm going to believe what Makoto has to say. Why do we kill humans, after all? We kill because we don't want to be killed, and sometimes for food. It's never without a reason!"
"Kai," whispered Makoto, a smile on her face.
Kaede stepped up. "She told me this before, and I think I believe what she has to say. Just like this young man said, there must be a reason to why these humans wish to kill us. Makoto has been living with humans for a while now. Of course she would understand them."
More chatter followed after Kai and Kaede spoke, though Makoto was having a hard time trying to figure out what they were saying.
"I also agree!" Kenji spoke. "It makes sense!"
Suddenly, a random demon from the crowd stood up. "I agree with her too! I agreed with her the moment that she spoke about it, but I didn't want to admit it and go against the others. Who is with me?" he asked, looking about the others.
"Me too!" another demon piped up. "I'll go along with her!"
"I'm with our Demon King! She is our Demon King, after all!" another one yelled out.
After that, more and more demons began to admit that they agreed to the idea but were afraid that everyone would think that they were crazy for admitting to it. There were a few that didn't actually agree, but they would adjust eventually, Makoto figured. A smile grew on her face as she realized she was a step closer to achieving her ideals. This was only the beginning of her reign and triumph. Soon enough, she would be living in a world with humans, one where there was no fighting between the two species.
"Great! Now that we've had our ideal set, we must make orders! First of all, I want to assign myself three guards that will look over me and prevent anyone from snatching The Orb of the Demon Kings, or if anyone tries to kill me, just in case. I can fight for myself, but it would be nice if I could have some demons looking over me." She looked about the crowd of demons, scratching her head as she did so. "Hm… I wonder… who should I pick to be the guards?"
Before she could say anything, a voice spoke up. "Makoto, I will!" It was Kai. He had a determined look in his eyes, one that she didn't expect to see from him. "When you disappeared, I took it upon myself to train. I learned how to be strong, and I'm quite good at punching and kicking or any other kind of moves. I want to protect you after that incident, Makoto!"
Makoto grinned at him. Just that look in his eyes told her that he was serious about the whole thing. She didn't know how strong she had grown, but he had certainly gotten better. All she needed to see to confirm that was him standing right there before her, a look in his eyes that could only be described as one that was filled with power. He certainly looked like he was up for the task.
"All right then, that's one! Kai will be my first guard. Now let's see…" she looked around the demons, pondering. She knew several of them from before, but she wasn't confident on their fighting skills. However, she did know one that was a very, very good fighter. "How about you, Kaede? You were really good when you were fighting Chiharu, and it looks like you would be a good guard as well."
Kaede looked shocked for a little, but that died down. "Me?" She looked about. "Well, I suppose I cannot refuse the orders of the great Makoto. I'll be glad to be your second guard."
That was two. She needed one more. Who else could fight? She looked towards Kenji. She had seen him fight when the orb controlled him, and he was very strong, though the fact that he was being controlled may have contributed to that. Well, that doesn't make sense. He was just being mind-controlled. His strength didn't change, but his sanity sure did take a dip. "Kenji, you will be my third guard," she informed him, not even bothering to ask him if such was okay. She was the king now, after all. He had to obey her, just like how Kaede couldn't refuse when she requested her to be one of her guards.
Kenji dipped his head in respect. "Of course! Anything for the one who saved me from that horrid man!"
She smiled. That was three, and that meant that that issue had been settled. Kenji, Kaede, and Kai would be her guards from now on. Now that the subject of the guards was over, she needed to think about more important matters. She needed to find some way to get the demons food, especially since there were so many that were too small and skinny for their age. Looking to Kai, she cringed. That boy shouldn't be smaller than she was. She was the same height as him when she had last seen him, after all. However, that wasn't the issue. Where would she get food? Demons ate humans. A single human could do for several demons, due to the size of them. But the point here was to make humans and demons live together, but how was that possible when demons needed to kill humans to survive?
The fact that demons were scared of humans and therefore killed them was not only the issue here. If demons needed humans to grow and prosper, some of them needed to die.
She recalled what she had thought before she had stolen The Orb of the Demon Kings from the man. She had said to herself that a few sacrifices needed to be made, and this was the case here, too. More than a few demons needed to die for ideals. They weren't perfect, but there was no solution otherwise. The humans would understand… right? "I'm going to assign a hunting squad! Every day, I want you to bring back at least two humans dead, which will be fed to me and my guards, as well as several other demons. However, before you go human hunting, I wish for the hunters to try to find as many animals as they can and kill them first. If there are enough animals, then do not kill any humans. I know I said we are working towards a world for both humans and demons, but sacrifices needed to be made. So who here is a good hunter?"
"I am!" a demon with fiery red hair and crooked white horns cried out as she stepped forward. "I've killed many humans before, and I got really close to murdering that human who was killing off all the demons! I'll be able to hunt for sure!"
Glancing at her, Makoto realized she was one of the demons that was taller than her, and she looked overall more healthy and well fed. That was enough for her to know that this demon was not lying when she said that she was a good hunter. "Good, you will be in charge of the hunting. Your name?"
"Asuka," the demon responded. "And I would like to suggest my friend over here. His name is Naoki. He helps me with the hunt."
The demon beside her, Naoki, nodded. "I can take down humans just as well."
He too was tall, much taller than Makoto herself and quite a bit above Asuka's height. He also looked to be at a normal health and well fed, so Makoto decided to let him in. "All right then. Asuka, Naoki, you two will be the heads of the hunting. Please recruit other demons to help you, and be careful that no one dies. It may not be able to be helped, but I want to avoid as much death as possible."
"Of course. Do you want us to begin?" asked Asuka.
"Yes. Go off and find the others, then begin the hunt at once!" she ordered her.
Asuka nodded and then turned to Naoki. "Let's go, Naoki!"
"Yes!"
The two demons scurried off into the crowd to try to find other demons that may be willing, or perhaps convince a few to join. They would need a large amount of demons in order to fight off a bunch of humans. Makoto gulped at the idea of having to kill the humans, and how it would affect her ideal. But whatever the case was, the demons needed to have food and be strong, and there was no way she could do that without someone getting hurt. Besides, when she explained everything to the humans, they would understand.
Wouldn't they?
~~~~X~~~~
Since Makoto had come into power, things had been better for the demons. Makoto was now sitting on a large rock, the same one that she had climbed on when she was with Kai. A patch of light shone on her, reflecting her status as king. In front of her were Kai, Kaede, and Kenji, who spent almost all their day guarding the king. Even though it was a boring job, none of them minded it in the slightest. They were highly respected for being so close to the one that ruled all of the demons, after all.
Near the rock stood a large amount of demons who were chowing down on food. Makoto had set up a system for eating. They would kill a bunch of humans, and then after a while, they would all come together and eat. Now was one of those times where the demons got to eat all the human meat that they wished for. The guards, along with Asuka and Naoki had already eaten. Asuka and Naoki were out with a bunch of other demons to get a few more humans to add to the pile, so they were among the few demons who weren't eating.
The demons were only allowed a limited amount of meat. There wasn't enough to feed everyone, even with the small amount they got, so Makoto had set up a rule for the amount of meat each demon could take. Even though it was small, it was enough to cause a few demons to grow and gain the nutrients they needed quite badly.
Makoto, however, would only eat the animal meat. There was just something strange about eating humans now. She found herself unable to eat one, even if a dead one was put right in front of her face. Deep down inside, she knew that it was going against her ideal. But she had to convince herself that it was needed so that she didn't cancel the idea of feeding demons all together.
Sacrifices must be made. Sacrifices must be made…
She would repeat that in her head for days on end whenever she saw a human getting eaten. Even after convincing herself, there was still this tiny amount of doubt in her mind…
Demons now respected humans. They understood them, but that didn't mean that humans understood demons. They were still working on that. Makoto planned to go and visit the human world in a few days and announce her ideals, but right now, she was focusing on structure. Sure, she had been king for a good deal of time, but that wasn't what mattered.
Suddenly, Asuka and Naoki returned, a few demons behind them. A few of the demons that came with them were dragging behind the dead bodies of three demons, each of them wearing a solemn look on their face.
It startled Makoto, to say the least. This was the first time that they had arrived with any dead demons.
"Asuka? Naoki? What happened?" she asked the two of them.
"The humans are getting hostile with the number of killings increased. They managed to take down these three," Naoki explained as he pointed to the three corpses. The other demons were busy hiding them by throwing leaves and dirt on them. "I got this close to having my head cut straight off by some madman."
Asuka sighed. "He really was. That man got close to slashing my arm clean off, too." She held it up in the air so that Makoto could see. There was a clean wound going through her shoulder, but it had begun to heal. "We got one human, but we had to scramble out of there without the body. It would be too risky."
Makoto sighed. It appeared that things were beginning to get a little shaky with the humans around. They were beginning to grow resistant to their attacks and their need for food. Did they understand that the demons needed it for food, and they weren't killing just to be violent? Perhaps she should go over there and give them a good talk. She had been planning on doing that a few days from now, but with the new situation at hand, she had to reconsider things. If she explained to the humans her ideals and why she was ordering all the demons to kill the humans, then they would be able to understand her. Besides, it was a step forward in the world where humans and demons could live together.
She pictured it in her mind. They would share the houses and the forest, and they would be able to chat together without thinking about killing each other. There would be no more pointless murders, and everyone would understand everyone. It would be a perfect world for both humans and demons.
"I'll talk to them," she decided. "I'll come with you on your next hunt. Kai, if you would come with Asuka and Naoki on their next hunt with me tomorrow, I would be grateful. In the mean time, Kaede and Kenji will have the orders to look over the place and make sure all the demons are getting along. I think that things will work out nicely."
Asuka blinked at her. "Where will we hunt, though? We need to find a space where we can attract all the humans."
"The Furude Shrine. It's that great shrine in the middle of the village that everyone goes to. If we sneak there, we can stand up there and I'll announce things to them. If it's possible, you can try to catch a human or two, but not during my announcement. It will be after my announcement," she told them both, her mind set on this idea. "This is now the official plan."
"I insist that I come along with you," Kaede spoke as she looked at her master. Over time, Kaede had grown to become completely acceptant of Makoto as her leader. She was someone she understood quite well, and they had grown very close as guard and king. "It is fine if you don't wish me to, but allow me to at least suggest this…"
"No, it's fine, Kaede. Stay back with Kenji. I trust Kai. That aside, I have Asuka and Naoki just in case things go wrong," she told her, causing Kaede to dip her head and drop the idea of helping her king.
Things were now set in stone. She would come over to talk to the humans tomorrow, and then she could explain how things were, and why they shouldn't be hostile towards them. It was a perfect plan. Her ideal would be achieved in no time, and then they could live in peace forever after. There wouldn't be another pointless death, nor would there be another pointless battle.
Yes, things were growing closer towards what she wished for.
~~~~X~~~~
The next day, things went exactly as Makoto planned in the beginning. She was now behind the Furude Shrine, and she had begun to walk around the area so that she was positioned in front of everyone else. Asuka, Naoki, Kai, and all the other demon hunters were at her side, murmuring to each other about how they thought everything was going to go. She wanted to announce her presence as soon as she got there, and hopefully attract the attention of every demon in Onigafuchi.
She flashed back to the scene where she had stood in front of every demon and explained her ideals to them, and how accepting they had been about them after some conversing. Hopefully it would be the same with humans. She wasn't sure how they would react, but after explaining things to them, it should make sense to them. She grasped onto The Orb of the Demon Kings. She didn't need it, of course, but the part about Hachirou dropping the orb and then no one wanting to listen to him began to scare her. Would the demons turn on her if it was dropped? She didn't know, and she didn't want to find out.
Poking her head out, she saw that many people were gathered in front of the Furude Shrine. She grinned to herself. Things would be easy like this.
"Asuka, Naoki, Kai. Stand beside me as I make the announcement. The rest of you, stand behind me."
They all nodded, and Makoto took that as a sign to begin.
She jumped in front of the Furude Shrine, and when people didn't notice her, she bellowed out to the world. "Every human, I demand your attention!" she screamed out.
Everyone turned to her, shock filling people's eye as they noticed that there was a group of demons before them. A few of them looked horrified, and some of them angry at the sight of demons before them. Had they come to attack?
"Do not attack! Allow me to speak before you attack! I promise you that I mean no harm to any of you! Gather up the rest of the villagers before I speak to you about anything. I see a great deal of you are here, but that is not enough." She looked from human to human, some of them too shocked to move. There were a few men she recognized as being the men that tried to kill her when she first set foot into the village who looked about ready to attack despite what she had ordered.
Kai growled, about ready to step in front of his best friend. He was loyal to her, and he would obey her no matter what, with or without The Orb of the Demon Kings. The moment he saw people staring at her as if they wanted to kill her was the moment a large flame of anger ignited in his heart. How dare they look at her like that?
But they did not attack. They were interested in what this demon had to say, even if they thought it couldn't be any good.
After a while, more and more villagers came, reminding Makoto of the time where she declared herself as the Demon King. She clutched the orb a little tighter at the thought. Would this be similar, too? Would they need some convincing before they accepted it? Most likely. Actually, that was almost certain, but she would convince them after a little bit of talking, like how the demons didn't want to accept it at first.
When enough villagers were there, she began. "Dear villagers who just came, I wish to inform you that I have no intention of killing any of you or causing harm. All I want you to do for now is to listen to what I have to say, and then you can make your judgments. All I want you to know is that I want you to consider everything I say, and I do not want you to reject it right away. I have what I want to do set in mind right now, and I promise you that it is not evil and that you will understand with a little thinking," she announced to all of them.
The villagers were curious. What did a demon want to do to them? They weren't sure, but that would be answered soon.
"Allow me to introduce myself. I am the Demon King, Makoto. I rule over every single demon in all of Onigafuchi, and I am currently searching for the completion of an idea I came up with a while ago." She paused for a brief moment to catch the reactions of everyone. Several people were still angry at the demon for being there, and quite a few of them looked horrified. "When my mother died, I spent some time here under the care of a human who will remain unnamed. She taught me many things about you guys, and that's why I know you all very well. I know what humans think like. That's why I've set up a plan, one that you will all listen to now."
"When I was here, I realized something. You humans are not different from us demons in anything other than species. We think like you, we act like you, and we even have similar ideas. What I found out is that you are under the impression that we are evil creatures who are killing you all for no reason. I would like to let you know that us demons felt the same way about you. We were scared of you. We attacked because we didn't want to die at the hands of the monsterous creature that was called human. You will for the same reason. We also kill because all we wish for is food, so you must understand that. Do you see what I am trying to say? We are not at all different. We just don't understand each other." Makoto eyed the crowd, hoping that they understood what she was talking about.
"And that's why I want to fix things. I want to create a world where humans and demons can live in peace. I want to put a stop to this pointless war and these attacks. There's no reason for us to hate each other when all the problem is is that we misunderstand each other." She breathed a few times after talking so much. Would they understand her? "Please think about what I said and do not reject this right away. It makes sense. Also, do not get mad at us for killing you humans. We are simply trying to feed ourselves. We can't go hungry! You get it, right? Do you understand it? Accept the fact that we need a few humans to be fed to us and move on. It's fine if it's just a few."
There was silence from the crowd for a little while. No one dared to say a thing.
Makoto breathed as she looked from the humans to the demons at her side. What were they thinking?
Suddenly, a human walked up to the Furude Shrine. He was carrying a sword, seeing as he was one of the humans who had been guarding the forest to make sure no demons got close. Makoto blinked at him as he ascended, then stopping in front of her.
"A world with humans and demons, hm?" he repeated.
"Yes. That is the idea. We are not different from you. I spoke to all my demons and they agreed with me. All I need now is your cooperation," she told the man.
He glanced to the orb in her hand. "Is that The Orb of the Demon Kings? Takashi had it before. It can bind itself to the soul of a single demon and allows the holder to control it. You took it?" he asked.
Makoto nodded at him. "This is the orb that makes me king. I promise you that I did not use it to manipulate anyone. They all agreed to it on their own," she spoke to him.
The man closed his eyes for a moment, looking like he was in deep thought. After a moment, he opened them, then looking at the demon with a determined expression on his face. "All right then. I've considered it, and I have made up my mind."
Makoto's eyes grew wide; hope filling her as she realized she may be a step closer to getting her ideal. "Have you?"
"Yes. Allow me to tell you what it is," the man spoke. The next thing Makoto knew, the man had raised that sword way up in the air and held it above her head, and before she could even react, the sword was brought down.
But the sword did not slash through her.
"…Naoki!" she cried out, noticing that the demon had stepped in front of her and taken the blow for her. Within a matter of seconds, the demon had fallen to the floor with a hollow thud, his body then tumbling down the steps. She blinked in surprise and horror as she looked at the body, and then slowly up at the man.
"No. The answer is no. I know you demons well enough. This is all a trick!" he yelled out as he positioned the sword once again. He attempted to slash through Makoto again, though this time she managed to jump out of the way. The demons behind her growled at the man, one of them moving to pounce on him. The man threw the demon to the side and slashed his stomach open with a sword, causing him to fall to the ground. He wasn't dead, but that didn't mean that he could move.
Makoto blinked in surprise at him. "What? Did you even consider what I told you?" she asked him.
"Of course I did. For a few seconds. I know that this is just your way of finding a way to massacre all of our kind." He positioned the sword at his side, the hilt dripping with blood. "Allow me to introduce myself. I am the head of this village, Kimiyoshi Koichi. Just like you are the Demon King, I am the one who looks over and rules the humans. I think I speak of all of my kind when I say that I am not going to accept you."
The humans all nodded.
"As if we would listen to her!" screamed a human
"Those damn demons ate my father!" another one yelled out.
"Yeah, just go ahead and kill her before she gets to anyone else!" cried a random human.
Makoto felt fear grow within her. They weren't even listening to what she had to say! This Koichi guy… he said he had only thought about it for a few seconds before deciding that he wouldn't comply. That wasn't enough to accept something this big! Of course he turned it down!
Koichi slashed, and the blade managed to injure her quite a bit. She cried out in pain as she stumbled backwards onto one of the demons behind her. She quickly regained her composure, though. She would not let this ideal fail! She had to make sure people understood her!
"Did you listen? I told you that we don't kill because we want to! We have to eat! Don't you understand that a few humans have to be sacrificed? That's a small price to pay for a perfect world like the one I dream of!" she protested.
"If you think that we're fine with a few people dying, then you should really rethink things. Do you really understand humans?" asked Koichi as he took a step forward, holding the sword in his hand.
Makoto's eyes grew wide with that statement. Did she understand humans? Of course she did! But now that she thought about it, would humans mind if they killed a few humans? Yes, yes they would. They were so protective of their people, so if one person died, the murderer would become the enemy of everyone.
"I…" she hesitated. Without thinking, she grasped onto The Orb of the Demon Kings. If she used that orb to force a demon to guard her, then their success rate would be much higher, wouldn't it. "…Asuka, protect me! Kill that man no matter what it takes!" she cried out as she held the orb high. It began to glow as it connected and bonded with Asuka's soul, whose eyes soon turned into a golden color.
Asuka, now under the complete control of the orb, ran up and began to maul Koichi with her claws. She slashed his face, his stomach, everywhere she could think of. However, this didn't last very long. Koichi grabbed his sword with the strength he had and rammed it into Asuka's side. When he did, Makoto caught sight of black blood beginning to cover the hilt of the sword.
Black blood? How…!
The Orb of the Demon Kings must have been the reason why Asuka's blood was black. The golden eyes weren't the only thing that the orb changed the color of!
"How gross. Demons like you have black blood, huh? That's fitting for vile creatures like you. I suppose that other one and you are the only exceptions." He turned to the audience. "All of you, attack the demons! Kill them all!"
Makoto hesitated. "Asuka, kill them all!" she ordered her without thinking. Her mind was a mess right now. Her ideal was being crushed right before her very eyes, and everything was becoming a mess. Her demons were going to die right in front of her along with her dreams of a demon and human world.
Asuka ran forward, and much to Makoto's dismay, really did try to kill them all. She jumped behind Koichi and ran towards the innocent humans in the crowd and began to massacre them one by one. She stabbed one in the heart with her arm, and then she proceeded to claw the eyes out of another human. Moving with great speed, she slashed almost every human she could get near here and there, causing them to fall to the floor in pain. While some wounds weren't fatal, they were still enough to render them helpless.
"Really, Makoto? You say you are for protecting us, and then you order a demon to massacre us? Liar," hissed Koichi as he raised his sword, aiming to slash at the Demon King.
Kai tackled into his side, screaming as he kicked and punched the man. "Don't you dare touch Makoto! I am her number one guard, and I have been ordered to protect her! I will stand by her side until death!" he screamed. "DON'T TOUCH MY BEST FRIEND!"
"Kai!" screamed Makoto.
One of the guards appeared with the sword and slashed Asuka's back open. AS Makoto realized it was hopeless and that her orders had caused pain, she detached Asuka's soul from the sword right as she was about to die. She didn't mean it when she said to kill them all! The Orb of the Demon King was really powerful. Asuka did just what she had told it to!
"Kai, don't fight! Get back and alert Kaede and Kenji, and get them to fight! As for the rest of you demons, fight with your life! Attack any human that attacks you!" she screamed out desperately to them. None of them had really moved, as they didn't want to attack the humans, seeing as they knew Makoto didn't want to cause harm to the humans. She bound the orb to the soul of one of the demons, hoping it would help him. That same demon then ran off and began to attack the humans, though again was put to a brutal end with black blood splattering everywhere. She switched from demon to demon, though it ended up with black blood covering the floor each time.
Realizing it was hopeless, she then ran towards Koichi, breaking through her crowd of demons, and punched him right in the gut with brutal strength, causing him to fall backwards down the stairs. She ran towards his fallen body and began to kick it as hard as she could. It was far from being professional, but she didn't even know what she was doing at this point. She just wanted this man to die for ruining her dreams! She needed to live on without this man so that she could continue onwards, hopefully with only minor wounds done to her dream of a prefect world.
Kai pushed his way through the crowd, punching and kicking everyone in his path. He fended off the humans with the swords masterfully. It reminded Makoto of how much he really had changed over time. Before, he had just been a little boy who was scared of everything. Now, he had truly become a man.
Makoto jumped into the crowd and allowed the demons to take the man lying on the floor. Her punches and kicks weren't enough. With a swift movement, she clawed the eyes out of a man wielding a sword who had come to attack. She quickly snatched up the sword and began to swipe at anyone who got close to her. Now that she had a sword, she could do greater damage. She cut into the bodies of all the men who tried to swipe at her, causing them to fall to the ground.
Seeing more men coming as backup, Makoto ran towards them with her sword, slashing it threateningly at anyone who dared to come close to her. Some innocent humans had been hurt by the slashes, and they were now falling to the floor. She looked behind her, where her demons were struggling with Koichi. Those demons had never been very good at hunting in the first place, so against the village leader, it was almost impossible for them to win, even in a group. But for now, Makoto had to put her trust in them. She needed to get out if she wanted to survive!
She ran into the trees, her sword in one hand and the orb in another. She had to live on and see this dream to its end! The images of all the people she had just killed flashed in her mind, but she shook them out. …Sacrifices had to be made… right? Right?
She stopped when a swam of demons came running through the trees, heading towards the crowd of humans. Kaede and Kenji were in the lead, the two of them looking ready to kill. She whipped around and watched as they ran towards the humans and began to massacre them, forgetting about the rule of not killing humans unless food was needed. They had almost completely forgotten about the ideal. She watched as Kaede slashed a guard down to the ground with quick strength, reminding Makoto of the time where she killed Chiharu. That had been so, so long ago…
She remembered the events that had lead up to this dream. There was her mother's death, and then there were the days she spent at Chiharu's house. She remembered how Chiharu had spoken about how humans wish not to be eaten, and she remembered what Chiharu had said about humans attacking only because they didn't want to be killed. There was then Chiharu's death at the hands of Kaede, and then her chasing away the man with The Orb of the Demon Kings and freeing Kenji from its hold. And then, there was her claim as king, and how none of them had believed her at first…
Then there was now, where that dream would all come crashing down to an end.
She didn't want it to die. She had wished for it so much. She had planned it all out, and she was now just going to watch it shrivel into nothing. But there was still a hope if she was still alive, wasn't there? Her eyes remained wide, her breath labored and heavy as fear that became madness filled her. It couldn't all end like this! Not with how hard she worked for it!
Suddenly, she saw Kenji and Kaede being knocked over by a figure, though not killed. The figure was covered in blood and wounds, and was now limping towards her with a sword stained with a mixture of black and red blood. It was none other than Kimiyoshi Koichi, the man who had destroyed her dream in a matter of seconds. It was just that one rejection that had set everything off.
"A world where humans and demons could live together, huh? Not likely. Look behind you. What do you see? Your demons have massacred a great number of my humans. You are the one who is leading them with that orb. I shall put an end to this silly war now." He held the sword high in his hand as he walked towards her, placing the hilt right in front of her stomach. Makoto was too stunned to move. "Get ready to die, Makoto. I shall become the legend of Onigafuchi."
Makoto shrieked as she jumped out of the way, though it was completely useless. That sword had still cut through her stomach, and a great deal of blood was now leaking out of her stomach. She fell backwards onto her back as she felt the amount of blood in her body decrease, and the amount staining the grass below her increase. She struggled to stand up. A wound like this wouldn't kill her, but it would certainly ground her. Dizziness filled her as she collapsed back on the ground, shaking. She had to get up! She had to live on so that she could see her dream become a reality!
Koichi held his sword above her head. If he cut that open, it was sure to kill her. "Any last words, demon?" he asked her.
"Yes," choked Makoto. "I want you to know that this is not the end. Destruction will come to your village in the future. I can just see it."
"And how will it do that, Makoto?" asked Koichi.
"It will happen like this…"
The next few moments were a blur for everyone. Makoto had said something to Koichi, though no one aside from the two of them quite picked up what she had said. Kaede, Kai, and Kenji had burst through the trees when she had finished her words, and the first thing they saw was Koichi's sword cutting down on her, earning a shriek from the Demon King.
"MAKOTO!" screamed Kai as he ran towards her, kneeling down beside her. "Don't die! You can't die!" he screamed out. "I want to see this dream, too! We took down all the guards, so it's okay! I mean, a quarter of the demons are dead, but that aside…! We can continue on. Just don't die!"
Makoto coughed. "…I'm sorry, Kai. You... are my best friend."
Kai blinked in confusion at those words, but when he saw Makoto's eyes begin to close, he realized why she had said that.
"Me too, Makoto. Me too," he whispered to her, grabbing onto her hand.
And with those words, the Demon King Makoto's life faded away.
Kai stood up on too feet, rage burning in his soul as he looked at Koichi, who hadn't done a thing to anyone. He was just enjoying seeing Makoto die. This man had shattered his best friend's dream, and he had killed her. How dare he do such a thing to his Makoto, his best friend? !
"You…" hissed Kai bitterly. "I'LL KILL YOU!" he screamed out, lunging for the man.
But he felt a hand grab his arm and tug him back, where he met the tearful eyes of Kenji and Kaede, who simply shook their heads.
"It's not worth it. He'll just kill you," Kenji told him gently.
"Makoto wants you to live on," Kaede told him. "Trust me…"
While none of them were looking, Koichi bent down to Makoto's body and grasped onto The Orb of the Demon Kings, which Makoto had had a tight grip on, even until the moment she died. This was the first time since she had gained that orb that the tight grip disappeared. Koichi smiled as he gazed at the orb. All demons would obey him if he had that orb.
"Come with me, demons. I'll make a new world, like Makoto wanted. Just watch me."
Koichi walked out of the trees, and then stood in front of the Furude Shrine. The whole place was now painted with red and black everywhere, with corpses of many species scattered about. Kai, Kaede, and Kenji followed reluctantly, tears pouring out of their eyes, but Kai much more so than Kenji and Kaede. They looked open the hold of The Orb of the Demon Kings. Now that he had it, all the demons would have to obey him, even though he was human.
The living demons stared at the orb and gathered around him, enchanted by its golden color.
"All humans and demons! I know there were many deaths of both species, but the number of demons is still quite large! Now that I have The Orb of the Demon Kings, I am the one who controls the demons!" he yelled out to the villagers. "I am going to keep the demons alive, but they will now become the slaves of humans! All demons will become the pets of humans, and they will live under our rule. To start things off, I will divide the demons amongst The Three Great Families. I will receive the most amount of demons, but the rest will be equally split amongst the Furudes and the Sonozakis. Each demon will be stripped of their name and assigned a number, starting with two."
He looked down upon the three demons who used to be Makoto's guard. "Now, these three demons were the most powerful and the most trusted. They will keep their name and become the head demon of one of the great families. I will take my pick first and then the Furudes will decide on which one they want. The Sonozakis get the last one."
He blinked at them as he thought about which demon he should take.
Suddenly, a voice rang out. "You shut up, murderer! There's no way I am going to obey you!" screamed Kai as he stepped forward. "Makoto was my best friend, and I was her loyal guard! I don't care if you have The Orb of the Demon Kings. Nothing like that can make me lose my loyalty to her and switch over to the side of her killer!"
To his surprise, however, Koichi just smiled. "No, Kai, you will obey me," he told him. Suddenly, the orb flashed a golden color as it attached itself to Kai's soul, causing his eyes to turn an unnatural gold. "You will drop your loyalty to Makoto and become loyal to only me, and you will obey everything I say without question. You will also lose all of your emotions, just to make sure you obey."
Kai's eyes lost all emotion in them, and he gave him a single nod. "Yes," he told him emotionlessly. "You are my master, Kimiyoshi Koichi."
Kenji gasped as he turned to his friend. "Kai, snap out of it! Don't listen to him! We're still Makoto's guards, aren't we?" he yelled to him.
Kai eyed him, and Kenji gasped as he saw how barren they were of emotion. "I do not serve Makoto anymore. Kimiyoshi is my true master," he told him.
Kaede shuddered at the sight of Kai so emotionless. He had been a demon full of emotion and one that would serve his best friend no matter what. Now, he was standing there, barren of any emotion and his loyalty for Makoto all but forgotten about. She glared at the orb, realizing how powerful it was. It had changed Kai completely.
"Now, all demons! Obey me! You are now the slaves of humans, and none of you will have emotions from now on, nor will you have names! Now begins a time of a new era, of a new Onigafuchi! Humans, we have conquered the beasts!"
~~~~X~~~~
Crimso's Corner V.2
I can't believe I finished this all in one day. …It took like, five hours though. I started at 8. It's 12:51 now. To be fair, I did get a little distracted, but those distractions lasted about ten minutes and were never anything. Wow. This took me a long, long time to write. I was going to add more with Kaede and Kenji, but it just didn't fit in. I hope that this is satisfying enough for you. It took me a good while.
Now let's talk what Makoto said to Koichi at the end. I'm not not telling you what she said just to be mean, I'm not telling you because it's important to the plot. I was just being mean in GED when I said something like "and then she told her the condition." Well, actually, that was just for more impact at the end when it was revealed… but it was like, a chapter later. Here, it's important you do not know. Seemed out of place, but it is needed for the story.
It's Thanksgiving. Well, it was, but it still feels like it to me. It never feels like it's a new day at 12 AM. For those of you in America… how was it? I enjoyed it a little. As I said before, I don't like much of the food, but it was nice to eat a lot and stuff myself for once. So much food. Of course, it's not going to be Thanksgiving when I upload this. I am going to wait until tomorrow or maybe a day for now to get a little ahead. I will be writing tomorrow too, though.
Please review! Reviewers can get an action figure of any demon from this story! Or Chiharu, if you want her. Or maybe you want Koichi. That aside… if you point out typos, you can have some Thanksgiving food. Anyone excited for the new Kira OVA? I have already seen it, but I can't wait for subs! I'll bet you they'll come out in two weeks ._.
~Crimso