Zuiho’s House, Ema — After Zozo’s revelation to Mura. The little blue demon in the matching blue wig looked up at Mura, now a little calmer after telling his story to completion.

“That’s the last thing that happened… Mister Naraka gave me this girly hair and dress! It took some time waiting for you to come back here, but now Mister Headband finally knows the truth!”

Mura soaked in the information. Before he was just facing crimes for sympathizing with a human and defying orders, which equated to high treason. Now he was framed for regicide, something that couldn’t be reasoned or bargained with any sane person or government. Even if the corruption came to light, it’d quickly be snuffed out by Mara’s secret police.

“So this happened yesterday… I don’t even have time to prepare. Demons could be tracking me down right now! Especially if you found me so quickly,” Mura said with worry in his shaken voice.

“I only found you ‘cause Mister Naraka told me where to look! I think most bad guys will have trouble looking for you because Japan is so big. They only know you’re somewhere here, but not where exactly… at least, I think?”

“Very comforting…” Mura sighed. “Regardless, thank you for telling me Zozo. You can deactivate this… bubble thing now.”

The blue demon nodded, trying to force a smile. Zozo clicked his tongue, resulting in the transparent bubble bursting with a small pop. Zozo coughed into his sleeve as Mura looked behind them, checking to see if they were being watched still.

“Looks like the coast is clear…” Mura faded off before noticing a red streak on Zozo’s sleeve. “Are you okay, Zozo??”

Zozo nodded weakly as he wiped away some stray blood on his chin.

“Oh gods, you’re not enthralled!” Mura said worriedly. “Why did you cast that damn spell if you didn’t have a Thrall inside you!?”

Zozo shook his head with a faint smile.

“I needed to make triple-sure that… you were safe, Mister Headband… Uggh…” Zozo moaned wearily. “This is nothing, Zozo has been through worse, hehe… I just need some apple juice and I’ll be good as new…”

Mura shook his head and felt Zozo’s slender neck for a pulse. It was slow, but his heart was still beating. Any longer maintaining that spell and he’d have suffered fatal Tamashiryoku depletion.

“Come on inside, buddy. We’ll get you fixed up,” Mura said, picking up the small boy in his arms and carrying him toward the house. Tomoe walked past the window in a hurry and did a double-take, her eyes widening at the presence of the two boys.

“There you are, thanks for disappearing on us! You had everyone worried! We’ve been looking for you for almost fifteen minutes!” Tomoe shouted. “Wait, who’s the weird girl?”

“Keep your voice down, I’ll explain inside. This is a friend of mine,” Mura whispered as he climbed back through the window after handing Zozo through the opening to Tomoe. Lilith, Ai and Zuiho rushed over at hearing the commotion; all wanting to know what exactly was going down.

“What the hell is going on?! Why is Zozo here!?” Lilith pointed in surprise.

“Who the hell is Zozo?” Zuiho questioned gruffly.

“He needs help. My master taught me how to help with Tamashiryoku depletion a while back,” Mura said, laying Zozo on the hard wooden floor. “I can transfer some of mine into his soul, at least I think I can. This Anima Stain might prevent such a thing.”

Mura lifted Zozo’s shirt and exposed his blue skin to the warm air. Closing his eyes and focusing, he performed one of the mudras Naraka had shown him and focused his spiritual energy.

Exhaling calmly, Mura placed his palms on Zozo’s stomach and started the transferral process.

“Is he gonna be alright?” Tomoe asked Lilith.

“We’ll have to see. Mura, please stop if it’s doing anything weird to you,” Lilith said, her voice shaking lightly.

Mura’s hands began to feel warm as his energy pooled into them. Once he felt enough was gathered, he made the effort to push it into his target. He had practiced it before with Naraka, pushing some of his energy into Naraka’s soul with relatively little effort needed. It wouldn’t be a problem if everything went according to plan.

Except this time, it didn’t.

Immediately, Mura’s hands were ignited into a flurry of pain; as if he had dipped them into boiling oil. In tandem, the cursed mark staining his chest stabbed in pain as it oozed blood that bubbled and burned from the supernatural heat.

Mura stopped, recoiling in brief agony as he curled on the floor; attempting to clutch at the Anima Stain in a vain attempt to stop the pain.

“Mura! Oh my god!” Tomoe shouted as she rushed over to him, prompting the others to do the same. They saw the blood spots on his shirt seeping through and burning the fabric. Removing his shirt, Tomoe saw the inflamed area of skin where the scar was bleeding lightly. Taking the discarded shirt, they wiped off the blood; leaving behind small trails of singed flesh that looked like raindrops streaking down a window pane.

As the pain subsided, Zuiho crossed his arms and inspected Mura’s condition with a cool demeanor.

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“Are you alright?” he asked

“Yeah… though that hurt like a bitch.”

“Let’s not try that a second time…” Zuiho sighed. “At least, not from you.”

Tomoe furrowed his eyebrows and looked at Zuiho before looking at Mura.

“Let me try!” she proclaimed with gusto.

Ai hovered above them and shook her digital head.

“I have a bad feeling about this, Tomoe. Are you sure?”

Tomoe nodded, taking Mura’s hand in her own. It felt warm to the touch, prompting her cheeks to become slightly hot.

“You’ll have to teach me magic anyway, right? We might as well start with this.”

Mura rolled over and got up onto his knees. She had a valid point, after all.

“Take your hands like this, see?” Mura instructed, placing the fingertips on both hands together to form a tent.

Tomoe copied him and waited for the next step with a smile as Zozo looked around.

“Now, close your eyes and empty your mind. Focus on a singular target… like a white ball in the darkness of your mind. No features, nothing special about it. It’s just a white ball.”

“Alright, got it,” she said with closed eyes.

“As you’re imagining it, focus on the ball. Make sure to keep it perfectly round, rotate it and form it like you’re molding it from clay. Just focus on keeping it round.”

Tomoe didn’t respond, as she was focused on the image Mura had given her.

“Almost there. Imagine that round ball in your hands. Once you know you have it there for certain, place your hands on Zozo’s stomach.”

Tomoe paused and slowly separated her hands, inching them toward the blue skin until they touched the belly of the wounded boy.

“Finally, imagine with that ball in your hands that you’re pushing it to Zozo. Like you’re passing it to him in a game of catch.”

The others watched with bated breath as Tomoe sat in silence. Mura also watched quietly, waiting to see if she could do it.

Gradually, as Tomoe was lost in her zen state, her hands sank into Zozo’s body like a rock in quicksand. Lilith smiled as Zuiho’s eyes widened and Ai gasped.

As seconds began to pass, the color returned to Zozo’s pale face and after a minute or so, he looked as healthy as a newborn baby.

Mura gently lifted Tomoe’s hands out of Zozo, leaving behind no trace of them ever being there. She had connected her soul with his, or whatever source of power allowed these copies of the original to perform magic.

Tomoe opened her eyes weakly, giving a proud smile.

“How’d I do, hehe…?” she grinned before turning a pale green. “Shit…”

Tomoe jumped up and ran toward the open window. What followed was the sound of retching as she proceeded to empty her stomach continuously into Zuiho’s bushes.

“Is she okay??” Ai worriedly asked Mura.

“Yeah, it’s just the body’s initial reaction to that kind of thing the first time you do it. Similar thing happened to me when I performed my first spell at Belial’s…” he laughed before trailing off.

It’d been so long since he had seen the old demon who took him in. Ever since he had hatched, they raised him as one of their own. It wasn’t until he had escaped their grasp with Naraka’s help that he realized how it was more servitude than family.

He had come so far since then, that day he read the newspaper detailing Orochi’s assassination. These people here were his true family, and Naraka was more of a father to him than Belial ever was.

Zozo sat up, wiping the accumulated sweat off his brow. With a burst of energy, he jumped up onto his feet and smiled at Mura before going over to Tomoe; who by now had finished her vomiting.

“You’re a lifesaver, Miss! I’m eternally in your debt,” he saluted with a bow. “In fact, I’m in the debt of a lot of folk today…”

Zuiho leaned against his wall, scratching his stubble.

“Now that the demon is well, would you mind telling us what’s going on here?” Zuiho asked, his voice gruff and rough as usual.

“Yes, right. Well, Zozo just finished telling me that I’ve been framed for attempting to kill the Emperor of Yomi.”

“What!?” the party said in unified surprise.

“Now I have a bounty on my head for a hundred-million sols. They don’t want me taken in alive either, probably so I don’t blow the whistle on their corruption.”

“That… That can’t be possible,” Lilith shook in anger. “How can they keep doing this?!”

“You have a bounty on your head too, girlie…” Zozo said meekly. “A million, dead or alive.”

“I fail to understand how this is any different than your current situation?” Ai replied.

“The difference here is quite simple,” Zuiho said coldly. “Before, they were simply exiled and left to rot. Now however, every bastard in the underworld is gonna be gunning for them; including the top brass.”

Lilith rushed over to Zuiho and looked up at him.

“But… you’ll still let us stay here, right?”

Zuiho looked away, refusing to meet eye contact.

“Right?” she pleaded to no response. In desperation, she turned to Mura; tears welling in her eyes.

“Matsumoto…” Mura began, taking a step forward toward the suddenly distant man. His demeanor had changed, almost becoming another person entirely. “We have no one else to turn to here. Please.”

Zuiho sighed and closed his eyes.

“You don’t understand how serious this is… They want you dead. If they fail, they’ll keep coming back here. These people… They don’t care what happens to human beings that got caught in the crossfire.”

Mura’s hopes grew cold in his heart at hearing the words. He looked at the wooden floorboards as he felt the walls begin to close in around him. Lilith, with tears streaming down her face, pulled on Zuiho’s kimono.

“You’d just leave us to die? What about all the other demons and ghosts you helped? Was that just… just bullshit?!”

“No!” Zuiho snapped. “I’ve never dealt with anything like this! I can’t endanger the lives of others and myself…”

—There must be a reason he doesn’t want to risk his own life. Those aren’t the excuses of a coward, but something else... Regardless, now isn’t the time to start prying into such things.

“Lilith, please…” Mura said, catching her attention as the others looked on; either stunned in silence or not knowing what to say. “I understand… thank you.”

Mura turned to face Zuiho. Standing before the man, Mura fell to his knees and prostrated himself. Lilith let go of Zuiho in surprise as the others gasped.

“I humbly ask for one more act of kindness, Matsumoto… If you would, please grant us anything you can spare. Anything at all, to help us on our own.”

Mura had to swallow his pride. It could mean the difference between life and death for them and that was a risk he couldn’t take.

Zuiho opened his eyes and looked down at Mura. He nodded in agreement with a faint look of sadness in his bronzed eyes.

“I can do that for you both. I’ll provide you with additional funds, a travel pass, and some extra clothing. I also have two spare cell phones I can part with, so that’ll help you stay in touch.”

“Thank you, sir!” Mura spoke with the utmost sincerity.

He stood back up, taking a second to get onto his feet once more before bowing again to his host in thanks.

“I have no other means to protect you, but I can offer you my prayers for safe travels,” Zuiho spoke.

Lilith wiped the tears from her face and narrowed her eyes. She felt he was hiding something, in fact, she knew he was.

“Your prayers, huh?” Lilith spat out coldly. “I don’t have too much faith in miracles these days. Then again, maybe I wouldn’t have to if I had a cache full of swords like you do.”

Within that single moment, the tension in the room became thick enough suffocate in. Lilith pointed at Zuiho’s face, caught within an expression of shock and bewilderment.

“Cut the bullshit and tell us what you’re hiding in that basement!”