Kagumi made it back to his camp site, ready to pack up all of his belongings so that he could move in to his new apartment at the academy. He put his clothes into a large sack that he made himself using fur from animals like rabbits and deer. After packing up his very few amount of clothing, he grabbed his things like food, water, weapons. He picked up his rusty scythe, noticeably chipped and damaged, and put it on his back. Ever since Kagumi was young, he was always fascinated with the scythe. Although a rather unusual weapon, he was seemingly a natural at it.

After packing, he ate the rabbit he caught last night, a bit unsatisfied with the lackluster flavor. He decided to rest for one more night before starting to head to the academy. He hoped that he could get a good nights rest before having to deal with the headache that was the next day. Laying in his sleeping bag, he started to think. He started to think about his future, what would he become in the future? He only knew that he was offered a different path, the path of a knight. With that slightly comforting thought, he started to drift into unconsciousness, ready for the next day.

Suddenly, his consciousness was yanked from his body by a dark hand. Kagumi was dragged into the deepest part of his mind, his darkness. He appeared as a spectral figure of himself, although badly beaten and bruised. As spectral Kagumi opened his eyes, he immediately noticed the presence of another person in the dark void he was seemingly trapped in. Before he was able to analyze anything else, he was kicked in the chest, hard, and was sent flying away from an unknown figure. Spectral Kagumi wheezed for breathe, coughing up semi-transparent blood. He had a fractured rib that was lightly poking at his lungs, making it painful to breathe. He was suffering. He wanted to scream in pain, but he couldn't speak. Suddenly, a chair appeared out of thin air, and the individual responsible for all of Kagumi's pain sat there, uninterested.

"Oh look, the failure decided to visit me. You disgust me, weakling. How dare you get hurt by a damn apostle. Do you know how bad that make me look? You were a mistake." were the harsh words that somehow echoed in the void-like space. The figure looked like Kagumi, but with noticeable changes. For one, he had longer hair, about 2 inches longer. His eyes, although mostly covered by the hair, were crimson red and shining. The pupils had the symbol of a crescent moon that was pitch black. He also had a sick and twisted smile on his face, the look of someone with nothing to lose. He wore a black shirt, stained in blood with grey trousers and black boots. Finally, he had black crescent markings across the left side of his body, ending at the bottom of his hands and his left cheek. Overall, his appearance was befitting of a devilish entity, ready to devour souls.

Kagumi was utterly shaken by the entity, feeling fear he's never felt before. He was confused, what apostle? He thought about it for a little bit before realizing what he was talking about. Saki must be an apostle. But this just led to more questions. Why did he care that he was hit by her attack? Why would he be mad if he won? Who was he anyways? The questions flooding his head spaced him out from the situation at hand. He was promptly snapped back to reality by a cold slap to the face from who he considered the 'devil'.

"Oi, listen to your superior when he's talking to you. I should've killed you for that, but I'll be lenient just this once. Make this your last mistake. Understand?" said the 'devil' with an tone that demanded acceptance or else. Still not being able to talk, Kagumi simply gave a pained nod, signifying his understanding.

"Good. Now, you're tiny brain is probably confused about who I am. You will simply know me as Yami from now on. The reason I look like you is because you would die if you saw my 'real' form. I look like you to let your pea sized mortal brain be able to see me. Now, all you need to know is that I am inside your brain at all times. Think of me as an... additional conscious of some sort. I'll be checking in on you to make sure you're fulfilling my wishes. Disobey, and I'll give you a fate worse than eternal suffering. Got it?" said the newly identified Yami. Kagumi, while still confused, simply nodded. He squeezed his eyes in pain from his fractured ribs. He was starting to wonder if his injuries were real. Yami, noticing the obvious gesture of pain, let out an annoyed sigh before kicking Kagumi in the head repeatedly. After he was done, he manifested a towel to wipe off his bloody boots in a slow and mocking manner. Kagumi was almost unrecognizable at this point. Blood covered most of his face, his eyes were only half open, and he simply laid on the floor.

"What? Don't tell me you're done so soon? We still have the rest of the night to have fun!" said Yami, a sickly sweet smile plastered on his face. Kagumi, while afraid, didn't have enough strength to show his horror at the prospect of what 'fun' meant.

9 Hours Later

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It's been 9 hours, 9 hours of torture for Kagumi. 9 hours of suffering. Kagumi could feel nothing, yet everything. His thoughts were clouded with visions of pain and suffering. He laid in the void, bloody and battered. His clothes were ripped, torn into shreds. His eyes were dead, lined with blood and tears. He was almost unrecognizable.

"Dammit kid, you're a tough one. You've earned enough of my respect to let you live, just know I've gotten soft. Now for your reward," Yami said while walking towards the half conscious Kagumi. He kneeled down in front of the seemingly broken boy and touched the left side of his neck.

"Demonic Seal Awakening." was the simple spell that accentuated the black crescent shaped mark on Kagumi's neck. It hurt like hell, and cause Kagumi to simply cry silent tears, unable to make a sound. He truly wanted to die at this point. He began to wonder if he did. Was this hell?

"Stop crying you useless tool. You have to wake up now. Remember, your life is not your own, it's mine. Disobey my orders, I'll make your life hell." were Yami's final warnings before using the same hand that pulled Kagumi's consciousness in before to throw him out.

Kagumi, seemingly alright, woke up from his bed. On his neck was a black crescent seal, burning the flesh under it. His eyes were a darker shade purple than usual, and he had a way more tired look than he usually had. He looked like he went through hell and back.

"Get up, now. Get dressed and go to the academy. If you don't, we could always have some more fun tonight?" were the deafening commands that made Kagumi's head hurt. But unlike him from yesterday, he didn't care. He couldn't care. His headache was nothing compared to the thing he went through. Picking up the stuff he packed the night before, he sluggishly started to make his way to the academy, feeling nothing, yet everything.

On his way to the academy, he had to cross through 2 towns along the way. Due to his thievery, he wasn't very trusted or liked by the townspeople. Some would even go out of their way to throw rocks at him and yell harmful things to him. But even the most cynical townspeople knew to not mess with Kagumi. Due to his bad emotional state, he couldn't control his magical output. So the citizens he walked by would occasionally get a blast of magic sent at them, making them freeze. His magical output mixed with his slight demon-like aura made him seem fairly intimidating. Despite his frightening visage, the occasional oblivious kid would still throw an insult at Kagumi. But they was quickly shut down by Kagumi's half lidded gaze.

Halfway there, Kagumi started to sieve in pain from the moon mark on his neck. He quickly realized that the mark was spreading, creating a strangely unique chain pattern across his neck and down his arm.

"You should be faster now that you're using this power. Hurry up and get to the academy. You should be licking the bottom of my shoes right now since I'm allowing you to use this power, worthless cretin." said Yami in a slightly lower tone than before. Kagumi was in pain, but knew he just had to endure it and get to the academy quickly. He quickly started leaping across trees at speeds that he could never reach before. He was able to make it to the academy's front gate in a little more than an hour. Coincidentally, a carriage arrived at the same time. In it was Saki and her father, ready to start moving Saki's stuff into her room. Deciding to try to avoid interaction as much as possible, he quickly went to get registered to enter.

"Name and class please." said the front gate guard. Kagumi could tell that he was drowsy, probably from a bad night of sleep. He could sympathize with the man.

"Kagumi Tsukiko. Class 6." said Kagumi, trying to hold back the pain in his voice. The Demonic Seal retreated back to his neck, but it still hurt badly.

"Alright, you will be staying in Dorm Building C, room 361. You can see who's going to be your roommates on the door of your room. Classes start tomorrow, don't be late." said the guard in an obviously practiced tone.

He started to head up the flight of stairs that led to the campus, but was stopped by the call of his name by Saki. Both Kagumi and Yami sighed, obviously annoyed. Kagumi directed his magical output at Saki, causing her to go quiet immediately. The king, sensing the hostile intentions of Kagumi towards Saki, decided to intervene before things got bad.

"Ah, young Kagumi. It's a pleasure to see you here. Are you ready for your fist day of the academy?" were the kind grandfather-like word directed towards Kagumi.

"Ignore him. We have better things to do." said Yami, distaste evident in his voice. Kagumi, not wanting to anger Yami, seemingly ignored the king. Everyone watching the encounter was shocked. No one ever dared to ignore someone as powerful as him. Yet this kid, only 12, treated him like he would a classmate.

The king remained calm, noting to himself that something was definitely wrong with Kagumi. Saki had something else to say about it though.

"Hey! How dare you ignore my father! Who do you think yo-" she tried to scold to Kagumi before he vanished in a burst of speed, once again shocking everyone there.

"Dammit! Dad, let's go get him an-" Saki once again was interrupted, this time by her father. He simply looked on where Kagumi was before he left and sighed.

"He needs time, Saki. He's been through a lot more than you have. Go easy in him." were his impactful commands that Saki couldn't understand. What is he going through that was so bad? Why is he such a jerk? She couldn't wrap her head around it. She simply decided to make him answer later.

She then began to wonder why she cared so much. After all, she barely knows him. But deciding to push those thoughts aside, she quickly got registered so she could start unpacking.