A demon? This close to the Academy? What was it doing here? However, the time to wonder about wasn’t now. It was staring at me, yellow eyes just above a row of razor-sharp teeth. It stood on its back legs, its scaly hide reflective in the dim moonlight. It opened its mouth, hissing like an alligator as it sized me up.

I thought about what to do. The Academy was a first option. There, dozens of Demon Hunters stood guard. They could probably kill this thing no problem. Another option was to run home. Of course that was hit or miss. Haru usually left during night, so he might not be there. It had to be Academy. However, that was still a good distance away. I was a decently fast runner, but a demon was far beyond that. Of course, if I had magical potential, I could out run the thing, but I didn’t. It’d catch up to me in no time and tear me to shreds.

Perhaps I could fight, however, after what happened before, I doubt I could even scratch it. My only option was to run.

The demon swayed its head from side to side, seeming to sniff the air as it watched me. The heat in my arm was unbearable, nearly causing me to drop to me knees in pain.

“You want these?” I asked, holding out my shopping bag filled with egg cartons. The creature sniffed the air again. “You can have ‘em!” I chucked them towards it, before sprinting at full speed in the direction of the Academy.

The sound of scrapping claws right behind me let me know it caught up to me in no time. I was dead, and I knew it. The heat in my arm intensified, letting me know it was right behind me. When my arm flared in heat, I ducked. The creature soared over me, tumbling several dozens of feet in front of me. It obviously wasn’t expecting a slow human to dodge it.

I turned towards me, hissed, before leaping at me. Fast. Too fast, but… something was strange. For a split second, I saw its claws swinging at me. I leapt backwards as fast I could, the claws only managing to clip some fabric off my shirt. It swung again, and for a split second, I saw it as well. I ducked under the attack. It attacked a third time. I narrowly avoided it, the claw scratching against my side, drawing a little blood. The creature howled in frustration, before bashing me with its tail. I couldn’t avoid that one. I flew back several feet, landing hard into a pile of gravel.

As I picked myself up, the lizard leapt on top of me, opening its jaws and bit down. It had bitten down into my broken arm. The creature howled in pain, smoke bellowing up from my arm. The lizard fled backwards, watching me from a distance.

“What the hell?” I looked down at my smoldering arm.

Suddenly, a flame erupted from it, consuming my cast and burning off the sleeve of of my uniform blazer. What revealed underneath was an arm that was not my own. Black as coal, with flames bellowing from it. The fingers were more like talons. It’s texture resembled more rock than flesh, and terrible heat arose from it.

“What the fuck?!”

I had no time to question it further. The lizard lunged again. I anticipated it, rolling out of the way of its attack. It swung at me with its claws, but I blocked it with my flaming arm. Its claws bounced harmlessly off the rocky texture.

“My turn.” I said, swinging a punch at the creature.

It connected with incredible speed, exploding in a shower of flame as it sent the demon flying. It hit the ground with a thud, sending up a plume of dirt.

Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

The creature hissed in pain, limping as it clutched its destroyed face. My punch had burned half of it off, destroying the eye and burning the flesh.

The creature turned and tried to crawl away.

“Oh no you don’t!” I screamed, charging after it. I caught up to it easily.

The demon swung a claw at me, but I caught it with my flaming arm, burning into its flesh and crushing the bone as it twisted like cardboard from my grip. The creature lunged with its jaws, trying to bite my face. I let go of its arm, and struck its head, driving it into the ground in a flare of flame. Its head popped like a balloon, sending blood and smoke everywhere as my punch drove into the ground under it.

I dug my arm out from the ground with some effort. Already it had cooled down. It seemed to go limp as well. I couldn’t move it anymore, save for a little twitch of the talon-like fingers. I know I should’ve freaked out more than I should, but the dead demon in front of me calmed down. This arm had given power; the power I needed to get revenge for Koryn. However, I still had questions, and Kurahara Haru had to answer to them.

I returned home, placing the destroyed eggs in the fridge, and I waited. It was at 3am when he stumbled in through my balcony door, covered in demon blood.

“Oh, hey kid. You’re still up.” He said.

“Explain what the fuck this is.” I said, raising up my arm. It was completely limp and numb now, like a rock attached to my bicep.

“Huh. It’s a permanent manifest huh?” Haru sighed.

“What the hell is it?”

“Calm down kid. It’s a demon arm as you can clearly see.”

“A demon…. Arm?” I said, looking down at it.

“It manifested after I tried using a Divine arm to save your life. The Divine arm kinda… fused with you.” He said.

“A Divine Arm… like a weapon?”

“Sort of. It’s… difficult to explain. So, I’ll give you to you as simple as possible. You’re a demon now. That arm made you that way. The reason I was sticking around, was to make sure it didn’t take over and cause you start eating people.”

“I’m a… demon?” I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. I sat down, staring at what used to be my arm.

“Not the worse thing in the world. You could be dead. Don’t worry, as long as you aren’t craving human flesh, you’re still you.”

I sat there and thought. I’d become the very thing that took away my best friend. But, by becoming a demon, I’d been given the strength to kill other demons. Still, I wanted to puke. I’d become something that society drives away. A monster.

“This should be obvious, but you have to keep it a secret. Demon Hunters don’t tolerate demons of any kind, regardless of whether or not they’re actually hurting people. They see that arm, they’ll hunt you to the ends of the world.” He said.

“What am I suppose to do then? Keep it in a cast forever?” I said.

“Just for now. You need to learn how to control it, and maybe, just a possibility here, you could probably return your arm back to normal. That thing is Divine Arm after all, so should be able to de-manifest it. I think.”

“But you said you wouldn’t train me.” I said.

“And still won’t. Don’t have the time, or the patience. You’re on your own on this one. However, I will stop by from time to time to check up on you.”

“Wait are you actually moving out now?”

“I mean, sometimes I’ll need a place to crash. I’ve grown awfully fond of that couch over there.”

“So basically, you’ve cursed me with a demonic arm, forced me to hide it from the Demon Corps, and now refuse to help me learn how to control it?” I said. “All while eating all the food in my fridge and making a mess of my apartment?”

Haru sighed.

“If I find you a teacher, will you get off my back about it?” He said.

“Maybe.” I replied.

“All right then. I’ll put it on my to do list. In the meantime, try not to get into too much trouble using that thing. That Divine Arm had an absurd amount of power in it, and only a fraction seems to be manifesting at the moment.”

“What’s it called?”’ I asked. “Divine Arms always carry a name. I remember that much from class atleast. What’s the name of this arm?”

Haru frowned.

“Demon King Ozen.”