At the start of the new day, Kuroka woke up first and smiles at the sight of Koneko still holding onto her in bed. She really had a good loving sisterly relationship. As much as she desires to stay in bed with her, she manage to make Koneko turn her body around to face the other direction and give her the chance to get out of bed. After putting her clothes on, she decides to go pay Akira a good visit. At first she hesitates when remembering what happen last night and that happiness on her face turn to sadness for a moment. Despite what he said to her, she still tries to put on a smile and open the door to wake up Akira. However, she stops by the doorway to find him no longer in the room. The only thing that remains in the room is his red halberd he left on the bed.

"Argh… Son of a bitch, he left already? Akira…." Kuroka sighs with annoyance and frustration over his sudden disappearance. She was starting to worry for him and suspects this was her fault for his disappearance.

Akira woke up somewhere else and completely forgot where he was when he awoken. He opens his eyes to see the ceiling for a moment and then turn his body to the side while still feeling tiresome to get out of bed. While he keeps his eyes close, he was completely awake and would not be falling back to sleep anytime soon. As he lays there, he opens his eyes again and moves his hand in front of his face to find his entire hand is no longer missing any fingers.

"Akira…?" A female voice calls out to him from the other side of the bed. He twist his body to the side to look back to find Asia standing nearby. She replies "You're awake. I'm glad you're alright. You got me worried there."

"Asia…" Akira mutters the name and soon starts to lift himself up to sit up on the bed. As he starts to stretch, he lowers the blanket to leave his expose chest open for Asia to see.

Asia's eyes look to his expose chest for just a few seconds and quickly turns her head away from him while sitting down on the other bed. She looks back to him and replies "I don't think I'd see you again so soon, and be my first customer for help."

Akira turns his attention to both his hands in front of him to find no damage. His ring was on his left hand and remembers putting the ring on before coming here. He would remember what happen at night when lowering his hand down to touch his chest, which triggers the flashback of what happen inside the house with Freed. Everything came back to him, and no longer feels any pain or any missing parts from that ambush. His entire body is completely restore to what it was before.

Asia gives him an answer before he could even ask 'how did you fix my body?' by saying to him "My healing magic took care of your missing fingers and that hole in your chest." She shows him a silver ring on her finger that glows green for a split second to demonstrate it to Akira. "It's called Twilight Healing."

Akira stares at the magical rings on her fingers, then looks back to her and replies "Thank you… Asia." He then proceeds to slowly get up out of bed and stands over her.

Asia got up as well when noticing him getting out of bed. "You shouldn't –" She stops when she held her hands out that was close enough to touch his chest. She quickly lower her hands and looks up to him to say "I uhhh… Had to remove most of your clothes and thought of washing them." She turns her head to the other nearby bed where the rest of his clothes and gear is found. He was only wearing his leather pants.

"It's fine…" Akira walks around the bed and starts putting his clothes back on him.

Asia remains watching and left unsure what to say to him. She would finally bring it up by saying "So… What happened last night?"

Akira was silent and unsure what to say to her about what happen. He continues putting on his gear and stops to look down at his ring on his left hand. He would look back towards Asia to give her an answer "I wanted to go out… Then I found myself crossing paths with the wrong people."

"Really? I thought you'd be asleep with those two companions."

"No. I wanted to get away from them."

"But why?"

"That's none of your business."

"Akira."

Suddenly, Asia was about to get some visitors at her clinic, and it so happens to be Xenovia and Irina. They call out to Asia to get her attention towards them, then both pause when they look over to see Akira standing nearby.

"W-Wha – Akira?!"

"Oh… Hey." Akira looks towards them for a moment and then back down to his waist to fix his belt.

"Why are you here?" Xenovia asks while walking much faster towards them. She notice him fixing his belt and starts to think about something dirty. She turn her head towards Asia with unhappiness as if she believes Asia x Akira became a moment.

"W-What? I didn't do anything." Asia replies

"Suspicious…" Xenovia replies and continues glaring at Asia.

"Nothing happened. I was just leaving." Akira replies and starts making his way past the group and going straight towards the front door.

"W-Wait. Akira!" Xenovia turns around to try and catch him.

Akira would stop and turn his head towards Asia to thank her again "Asia. I'll pay you back later. I promise."

". . . ."

"What does he mean by that?" Xenovia looks to Asia and she is unsure how to respond.

"Hey, Akira." Irina steps in front of Akira to prevent him from leaving. "Now that you're here, how about we all go out together, before you go back to those girls."

He looks back to Irina with a straight face and replies "Sorry, but I'll pass."

Irina looks sadden at the rejection and replies "But… It's been so long since we last…" She stops and remembers a moment in time where it was herself, Xenovia and Akira, altogether playing around at the village when they were just kids.

"I'm sorry." Akira looks to her "I can't do this." And then he starts walking out of the room and makes his way back to the inn.

"There he goes again…." Xenovia sighs and sits down on one of the beds "Doesn't look like he cares about us anymore."

"But why?" Irina looks back to Xenovia "He was so happy with us and never wanted to leave our sight."

"I guess the war against the demons really hit him hard. They say when soldiers like him return from a war, they lose a part of themselves. I don't remember seeing him smile even once since we found him."

"Those scars…." Asia mutters and remembers the marks he got across his body "Has he been fighting them all this time?"

During his walk back to the tavern, another woman would end up getting a glimpse of him. A woman with long black hair and violet eyes and probably the same age as the others around Akira. She was wearing quite the interesting design and leave herself completely different from almost everyone in the city. She was wearing a gothic Lolita culture-styled black dress with red frills, black stockings supported with garters and red boots and black headpiece.

As soon as she went past him, she stops for a moment and turns around to watch Akira walking away. She smiles and whispers to herself "I smell death…"

Meanwhile, Kuroka and Koneko was sitting together in the corner of the tavern. Kuroka was looking worried about whether or not he left them. Koneko was just drinking again and shows no signs of any worry as she thinks he is just out by himself.

"You worry too much." Koneko replies, after finish drinking another round of ale and slamming the cup onto the table and sighs deeply. "We've got his weapon so he'll be back for it."

"I know… I…." Kuroka looks down at her cup and mutters "I don't care about him…."

"Doubt. He's not the first man you try to sleep with."

"Hey! He's different." Kuroka crosses her arms and turns away "He's not like other men."

"Hmmmmm."

"And what of you?" Kuroka looks back to Koneko "What do you think of him?"

Koneko thought for a moment, but she never gave Kuroka an answer because she saw Akira coming through the door. Kuroka turns around to see Akira, which made her happy and got up off her seat to greet him.

"Akira."

"You're still here." Akira replies

"Of course were still here!" Kuroka raise her voice to him and then looks sadden when muttering these words "I thought you left us."

"Sorry about that. I needed to clear my head." Akira replies while lifting his right hand up to pat her head. The feel of his hand touching her head was such a pleasurable thing to give to a cat girl like Kuroka. She was trying her best to keep a straight face, but her face was going red and her tail comes out from the side of her expose dress to show her tail moving.

Koneko takes Kuroka's drink and finishes it off before getting up. She takes Akira's halberd and approaches the two while thinking to herself "She found a new master…"

Kuroka turns away so she could pick up her round hat she left on the table. She tries her best to hide her face from Akira, so for the time being she lowers her hat down to hide her eyes and her blushing side from him.

"I've got another contract of a demon nest. If you don't want to come with me, after what happen last night, I don't blame you." Akira says to Kuroka

Kuroka was silent and looks away unhappy at the thought of what he said to her last night. Koneko would get up and replies "I'm in." And Kuroka also agrees to come with him.

Meanwhile, Asia, Xenovia and Irina return to the church to speak with the male bishop of this church. He was talking to them about a newcomer arriving in the city who claim to be an exorcist, named Freed Sellzen. The bishop mentions he came to the church first thing he came here, then mentions about a search through the city for any chances of any demon worshippers. He was once a member of the church, but now he is completely ex-communicated from the church because of his barbaric methods, and the claim of him sexually assaulting a nun in the past. The church has completely cut all ties with him and wish for the trio to investigate to find out if he is still here in this city.

"This isn't exactly the next mission I thought we'd get." Xenovia replies while holding onto a paper she got from the bishop. It was the description on what Freed Sellzen looks like.

"One minute were fighting demons and the next were looking for a creep." Irina replies

"Well… At least this will be an easy search, right?" Asia replies

"Are you kidding me?" Irina looks to Asia with a sign of anger "We have to search this whole city for one man! That's a needle in a haystack!"

"What does it say on the paper?" Asia asks Xenovia

"Well, he's a young man with short white hair and red eyes. A person with white hair would definitely help because not many people have white hair. And he walks around in a priest clothing, and walks around with a light sword."

"A light sword?" Irina asks

"I think it's one of those weapons where it's just a handle and then creates this light to make the sword. I heard they're quite weak in comparison to our weapons."

"Where should we even start to find this guy?" Asia asks

"Let's just split up and cover more ground." Xenovia replies "Just be sure to stay in a public area if you should ever spot him. Ok?"

"Right." Both Asia and Irina nods.

And so the investigation took them around the city to find any clues or ideas. They would speak to some people and mostly city guards to ask if they know any man wearing priest clothing with white hair. They got good answers from anyone and force to continue doing this for some time. But then Irina got a good answer from one of the guards when she mentions about a light sword. As soon as she got good information, she tries to search for Xenovia and Asia, and bring both of them to a burnt down house.

They arrive at the scene together to discover a burnt down house and some other nearby houses already burnt by the fire from the one in the middle. The guards enter the place during the end of the fire to find three bodies, but one of them was completely torn apart and found at the fireplace. There was a witness where someone saw a man running out of the house before the fire went out of control. They did not get a good look of the man, but they saw him look back towards them with these red eyes that frighten them enough to make them run. The guards would also discover a few burnt items that somehow remain intact by the fire, such as a flask where a cross was found on one side of it, another was a silver cross around the dead body they found at the fireplace and a weapon that was actually the light sword when they try to activate it.

"I guess…. Our job is done?" Irina replies when looking at the two

Xenovia sighs of frustration "You mean to tell me we did all that running around for nothing? We should've been out there fighting the demons."

"Bright red eyes…" Asia mutters when trying to review the information they got.

"You've got any ideas?" Irina asks her

"It's just… If that's really Freed then does that mean he was exorcising demons inside that house?"

"Well… That makes sense, because it said he was orphaned so he doesn't have any parents. I doubt he lived here with those people, after hearing about what kind of man he really is." Irina replies

"So does this mean those two bodies are actual demons? Or demon worshippers?" Xenovia asks

"There has been reports of demon worshippers behind the scenes. But we can't be sure about that."

"That's the only explanation right now. And as for that injured man… Probably a demon…"

"Hmmmm…." Asia was thinking about it and the only thing that came to mind was seeing Akira showing up in the middle of the night with burn marks on his face.

Meanwhile, Akira, Koneko and Kuroka left the city to search for a demon nest. Akira gave the two an answer on where he was during his disappearance in the bedroom in the inn, which was looking for another job for them to do. He found information by taking one of the posters off the wanted board and learns about a demon nest somewhere in the forest nearby. They decide to go search for it together, and Kuroka was the one to discover the nest is somewhere inside a cave in the forest. They knew going in there could cause some problems for them if fighting at close quarters with the demons in a small place, so Kuroka made a plan to draw them out.

Kuroka makes the first move by creating this bright energy ball in the palm of her hand and throws it straight inside the cave to shine all the way through it. The cave was long and would take a while for that orb to actually impact the wall and create a massive burst of holy light that could do damage to any demons caught in the blast radius. One monstrosity was hit and suffers serious burns across the left arm, which was enough to draw the demons out of the cave. They can hear them howling in there and getting closer.

"Here they come." Akira stands at the ready with his halberd and having Koneko standing beside him with her fists ready to do action.

A large swarm of them came out of the caves. These demons are all different shapes and sizes and do not look human at all. They are not as tall as the others, and would sacrifice themselves just to achieve victory. Both Akira and Koneko stands together and easily overpowers these lesser ranks of demons. Kuroka would remain at the back and ascend onto a tree branch to get a better view of the fight. She casts a few destructive spells to support the both of them to avoid getting overrun.

Things were doing so well for the both of them with perfect teamwork and coordinating assault. These demons are nothing but cannon fodder for the higher ranking demons. One particular demon would reveal itself as soon as the team completely killed off all of the demons. One stronger foe arises from the cave and causes a serious tremor as its power was releasing into the air to create this terrifying shockwave. Kuroka notice this and uses her sense magic to detect the demons presence and strength level.

Out of the cave was a humanoid demon that was tall and muscular, making him taller than Akira and the others. His body was darker red with a white neck. He had the head of a hammerhead shark and has two rows of sharp teeth with no eyes on his head.

"Hmmmm a higher level…" Akira replies and readies himself to make the first move by charging straight towards the demon.

Akira charges first and swings down at the demon with everything he got. The demon blocks his halberd with his right arm and shows the axe part of his halberd only went through a short distance through the arm, revealing this demon has a strong harden body like the others. The demon pulls the halberd out of his arm and grabs onto the base of his halberd to throw Akira around to attempt to steal his halberd.

Koneko comes in next to the side of them to attack with her right fist targeting the side of the face. The hammerhead demon easily saw it and force to let go of the halberd in order to lean back to avoid the incoming punch. When she ran past him, she stops and turns around to swing with her left hand to target the chest. The demon smiles as he grabs onto her hand before her fist could impact his body, then lands a kick to her chest to push her away from him.

Kuroka was next to attack as soon as the both of them was out of range to avoid her destructive attacks. She blasts the demon with explosions that consumes him for a time. Akira expects the demon was still alive, and got his answer when the demon attacks him with a surprise through the smoke. He grabs onto his halberd to force it down on the ground with his left hand, then uses the right hand to charge a red energy blast at the palm of his hand to fire a destructive blast at close range towards him. Kuroka made sure he was protective by placing a magical shield in front of him to cause all of the blast to redirect it back at the demon's face.

Koneko returns to attack him from behind with a technique, called Senjutsu. This allows her fists to light up in blue flames and could simply punch the air to release those flames to her target. The demon took serious hits in the back and would feel the effects of Senjutsu when it actually deliver damage to its insides, as well as disrupting the aura of the demon, thereby preventing him from using his abilities.

The damage done by the others angers the demon and proceeds to focus most of his attention on fighting Koneko. Akira readies himself again and rushes in to support Koneko to distract the demon from behind. Koneko was having a difficult time doing some damage because of the harden skin from this demon, but she continues trying until she breaks through with enough punches. The demon was not going to allow that, and fights back by finally landing a hard punch against Koneko's face and knocking her down to the floor. With her down, Akira strikes the back with the point end of his halberd, forcing the demon to turn his attention back to him and forcing him back.

The battle continue like this with all three of them weakening the demon down. The harden skin was weaken thanks to the attacks, which gave Akira a second chance of landing a good swing that was strong enough to pierce his axe straight into the chest. Kuroka supports by using a spell to stop him from moving, then have Koneko landing a few more hits by targeting the back of the legs to bring him down to his knees. Akira pulls the halberd out of him and finishes this off by swinging once more to slam the axe against the face. Koneko helps him push the exe deeper by punching the back of his head as hard as she can be to finally bring the axe halfway through into his head. After that, the fight was pretty much over.

"It's finally over." Akira said while pulling the axe out of the demon and decides to ram the spear at the end of his halberd through the face to make sure it was actually dead.

Kuroka comes up to Akira from behind with a smile and replies "You should be thankful we were here, or else you'd be still be struggling to kill it."

"I would've found a way." Akira replies while pulling the halberd out of the demon and turns around to look back at Kuroka with just one hand on the halberd.

"What would you do without us?"

"What would I do…?" Akira looks away when thinking about that. He then got to work trying to decapitate this demon as proof they took care of the issue. After a dozen hard swings to the neck and working up a sweat, he stops to catch a break. He looks back towards Koneko to see her taking off her gloves and examining her fingers.

Those punches she deliver to the demon did take a toll of her fingers and starts cracking them a bit. Akira would approach her and asks "You going to be alright?" Then gently touches the side of her face to where she was hit from that demon earlier.

Koneko looks back to him and sighs a little from his touch against her cheek. She replies "I'm alright."

"You did well today. That kill belongs to you." Akira moves his hand off her face and decides to give her a pat on the head, which causes her to freeze for a moment and starting to blush at the warmth of his hand pressing against her head. She was experiencing the same thing Kuroka felt before.

"Hey!" Kuroka was looking jealous and approaches him "I want one too! I did well!"

"Fine." Akira turns towards Kuroka and does the same to her to make her feel great.

Koneko turns away while pressing her hands above her head. She thought to herself "That was the first time he…."

"I appreciate everything you two have done for me." Akira replies while trying to keep a straight face, but Kuroka did notice a slight sign of sadness on his face. He says to them "Thank you." Then turns away from the both of them and goes back to pick up the head of the demon and make his way back to the city.

"Akira?" Kuroka calls him and left puzzled as to what he means by that. Same goes to Koneko. Both of them would follow him back to the city and he says nothing to them.

Akira said nothing after that. He delivers the head as proof to the ones who are responsible for placing the contract on the board. He got a wealthy reward of gold coins in that pouch and offers it to Kuroka. She insist he keeps it, but he asks of her to keep it under her protection because of her magic.

Next thing they celebrate by going to a building where they can relax in a hot bath. They never got a chance to bathe the other day so they did feel filthy for not washing for a whole day. And as much as Kuroka desire to wash Akira, both genders have their separate baths, so Kuroka had to relax with her sister for half an hour.

Akira lays back against the edge of the pool with his arms leaning out against the sides, while looking up at the ceiling with his eyes close. There was a lot of things happening inside his mind right now, whether if this is the right choice or no. He always knew this day would eventually arrive, and he feels guilty of delaying it any further. He made a mistake keeping Kuroka and Koneko beside him, which makes it even harder for him to say goodbye.

He did not stay in the bath for long. After a short session of washing himself, he returns to the room where they keep his clothing and proceeds to put his clothes back on. After that, he looks back to the room where Kuroka and Koneko are relaxing together, then turns away and starts walking out of here. He left the pouch of gold coins to Kuroka's keeping and hope it is enough for the both of them to start again without him.

However, as he makes his way outside to begin his walk out of the city, he suddenly hears his name calling out to him. He looks back to find Asia standing nearby and looking back towards him.

"Asia…"

"There's something I want to talk to you about. Can we talk somewhere private?"

"I can't talk to you right now, so go –"

"It's about what happened last night."

Akira pauses for a few seconds and swallows silently. He looks around at the people walking past them, then looks back to Asia and agrees to go speak to her somewhere private. Of course, neither of them knew someone was already watching them and preparing to follow them to that private place.

Despite being just the two of them, Akira whispers to Asia and replies "I suggest you look the other way and keep it to yourself."

"I can't do that!" Asia steps closer to him and then whispers back to him "I need to know the truth on what happen that night."

Akira looks back to her and asks with serious look on his face "Are you sure you want to do this?"

"I'm trying to help you." Asia replies "Did you kill Freed Sellzen?"

". . . ." Akira pauses at the mention of that name. He thought back of that tragic night when he was suffering because of him.

Asia was surprise when she looks at Akira's face to see the truth straight away. She takes a step back and responds "So it was you… Then the one with the red eyes…"

"It doesn't matter anymore…" Akira replies while taking a few steps back and lifting his hands to start touching the ring on his finger. He looks to Asia and replies "I'm going to die soon."

". . . ."

"Akira!" Kuroka calls to him and causes the both of them to look towards Kuroka entering the scene with Koneko beside her. Both of them are looking unhappy towards him.

They are not the only ones who decide to show up. Xenovia and Irina decide to go find Asia, so now everyone is all here to confront Akira.

"What is going on?" Xenovia asks first

"You really think you can ditch us again like that?" Kuroka says while crossing her arms

Akira sighs and looks to the others "So this is how it's going to be, huh?"

Asia looks back to Akira and replies "Akira… Whatever is going on –"

"You can't save me! None of you can! I'm already dead!" Akira looks back down to his ring and holds onto it while still against his finger.

Asia uses her sensory magic to detect if anyone has any trace of magic or ki-like energy inside of them. She can see the others around her have incredible bluish energy, but she cannot sense anything coming from Akira. However, as soon as he decides to finally take the ring off and throw it to the floor in front of him, Asia gasps and looks terrified at the discovery of his power inside of him. His demonic power was fierce and violent. Akira was completely consume in this red aura that looks like he is on fire, and was so powerful it made her take a few steps back and start sweating at the immense power releasing around Akira.

"Asia?" Irina notices her not feeling well and comes closer to help her stand "Are you alright?"

"What did you do, Akira?" Xenovia steps closer to Akira. His eyes close for a few seconds, then opens up and causes her to pause when his eyes change to red.

"I had to survive. There's no other choice but to move forward… And kill all of my enemies."

And just like that, Akira releases that demonic power out of his body and consumes him completely with it. Everyone else brace themselves as the shockwave of this power was spreading all around them.

"This power…" Kuroka replies while keeping her left arm over the front of her face and taking one step back. "I've never experienced anything so demonic before…. It's much greater than that one we killed…. It's almost as if he's…"

"He's hidden his true powers. There's a powerful demon inside of him." Asia replies

"No…. Akira…."

This demonic power remains surrounding his body for a short time until it finally disperses completely. Akira was no longer the same anymore, for he completely transform into a pureblood demon.

X

X

[Now I know some would say this is a little too quick for him to reveal himself at the second chapter. I did plan on revealing this at the next chapter but things ended up the way it is right now. In the end I couldn't really add much to this so this will have to do.]