Suzaku rushed through the forest, her Ghost Mansion in her right arm cleaving and burning the branches and leaves that crossed her path. Lei-Lei had drawn and given her the map to her wielder, and it was now her duty to retrieve him.

Adrenaline surged through the Vermillion Bird’s veins, and before she knew it, she arrived at the location. Surrounding the premises of the demon’s hideout were spike traps hidden without care by leaves, letting Suzaku navigate past them with ease. In the center of the traps was a wooden hatch.

Suzaku smashed the wooden entrance with her fist and jumped down. She landed gracefully; her fall was silenced as she stood within the demon’s base. She spotted a boy—her wielder—lying on a block of stone. There was no thinking, not nearly enough time to do so. She launched herself off the ground and sprinted toward him.

In her peripheral, a hand wielding a knife shot out from the ground and swung. Suzaku parried with her bladed forearm and stopped abruptly in her tracks. She’d spotted the demon within its shadow and stabbed her blade into the ground but it dodged, moving into a darker crevice before reappearing on the ceiling.

A face as dark as oil scrunched itself as it emerged from the shadow, staring down at the Vermillion Bird. “I was worried at first about the power that came with your title, but you’re not as powerful as I thought—”

Suzaku drove her blade into the ceiling but missed when the face retreated into its shadow again.

“You won’t even let me finish my sentences?” The demon continued rambling. “It’s an honor to meet your grace.” Hidden within its shadow, it crept behind the Vermillion Bir and aimed its blade at her calf. Somehow, she parried a second time, but before she could strike again, it fled. “PIPI!”

In a tight hallway, Suzaku spotted another demon of disproportionate body parts yelling as it charged at her with a rusted axe. All it took was a slash to its torso to split the long-nose demon in two. Blood spurted on her, making her clench her teeth in disgust. She’d ruined the beautiful clothing of the Jiuli!

The halves of Pipi’s body bubbled like warts as threads of ether channeled toward them. They rose, creating two separate beings.

Suzaku took a step back. Ether puppets?

One Pipi grabbed the fallen axe off the ground and rushed Suzaku with its clone. The shadow demon emerged behind the Vermillion Bird again, and while she was distracted, swung its blade into her calf.

Suzaku gasped, forced to kneel. Inanis, damn you!

The Pipi holding the axe stopped, while the empty-handed one reached behind his back for a sack of powder. They took several paces back, far enough so her blade couldn’t reach them. Opening the sack, the clone showered the Vermillion Bird’s face with a white powder before fleeing back through the halls.

Her face itched and she could have sworn her eyes bled. Suzaku cried out in pain as she writhed, gasping for air as she watched the shadow demon emerge from the shadows through her teary lenses. She wanted to swing at him, to kill him right then and there, but her body was paralyzed from the powder.

“Finally.” The demon kept its scrunched and unfortunate expression. It bent down and poked the Vermillion Bird’s cheek, pressing its finger against her thin lips. “My name is Merew. Shall we become acquainted?”

***

I hope Suzaku is okay. Lei-Lei bit her nails for the dozenth time since speaking to her spirits. I’m losing sleep. Why has it come to this? Everyone keeps disappearing, and no matter what I do, I can’t stop it.

It was too difficult to hide her tears now. She sobbed quietly into her arm, staining her robe’s sleeve.

Payuei left his room and noticed Lei-Lei in a state he had never seen her in before. He crossed the bridge and looked up at her. “Lei-Lei? Are you okay?”

“Tired,” she said, her voice suddenly calm and composed. She’d already sensed him approaching and fixed her sorrowful state.

Payuei sighed as he climbed to the top of the home Lei-Lei sat on. He sat himself beside her and looked around awkwardly. A minute later, he mustered up his courage. “It’s funny. How you were supposed to be my wife and all before everything went wrong.”

Lei-Lei remembered. Her father, the chief of the village, had arranged for her and Payuei to get married sometime in the future. She knew Payuei had feelings for her back then, but she wasn’t able to reciprocate. With too many responsibilities, it was impossible to make room for love.

“I love you,” Payuei said suddenly. His face was beet red, and his eyes locked on Lei-Lei's face. “I’ve always loved you, from when we were kids and until now. I really like everything about you, and...” He paused, nervous to say the next words begging to leave his mouth. “...and I feel like I could do better if I knew what I was fighting for...”

“That’s nice,” Lei-Lei said. “Fight for the village.”

He chuckled. “I’ll fight for you and the village. If I’m the one who kills the demon, we’ll get married. Can you accept that?”

Silence again. Though she didn’t say yes, she didn’t say no. That much was enough for Payuei’s hopes. He slid off the roof with a smile before looking back. “Do you know where Danei and Kuei are?”

“They’ve left us,” Lei-Lei said blankly. “The spirits have guided them.”

“It was the demon, wasn’t it...?”

“No, it was by their own hands.”

“First it was Mrei, and then it was the sick kids, and now it’s both Danei and Kuei.” Payuei’s lips trembled. “How can you be so calm about this?”

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“I don’t know,” Lei-Lei replied.

Once Payuei had left, Lei-Lei was all by herself again, accompanied only by her thoughts. Her hand suddenly traveled to her mouth, and she began biting her nails again, ignoring the bleeding she inflicted on herself.

***

Suzaku’s eyes jolted open. The smell of corpses and feces flooded her nose, a smell she had somehow ignored previously. Her body hung at an angle as she was shackled by several chains on the walls. She pulled on them but found they were too strong. She considered using her Ghost Mansion in an arm to slip herself out but stopped when she realized how high the shackles reached up her arm.

“Chains forged by Gudran Dwarves of Lyrock,” Merew spoke. “Your flames won’t be able to melt it, so don’t bother.”

Suzaku glanced up at the demon standing across from her. Its body, much like the demons she’d seen during her time, was skinny and malnourished, tall and nearly grazing the ceiling with its head. The demon's skin was as dark as tar with rough skin resembling bark. Was it mad, or did it always have that angered expression?

“You are so young, Vermillion Bird!” Merew shouted. “From what I’ve heard, you were supposed to be a grown woman! Yet here you are, an appearance that says you are no older than the boy you call your wielder!”

“Release my greatness at once!” Suzaku shouted. She sent her body forward enough to make the demon cautious and move back.

“I can’t just let you go,” Merew said. He approached Yushia as he rested on his block of stone. “This boy here... Was it luck or fate that brought the two of you together?”

Yushia’s tired eyes opened, and he saw the face of his mother looking down at him with a warm smile. As punishment for crying inside the pit trap yesterday, he was refused anything to drink. Regardless, he begged. “Mama... Water...”

“Hey, idiot!” Suzaku yelled out as spit flew from her mouth. “Get up! The demon is before you!”

Yushia sat up. His vision had blurred from having just woken up, but when it focused, he turned and saw the desperate face of the girl with fire-red hair. It took a moment, but he remembered her name. Suzaku.

“Look, my son!” Merew said as he grabbed his son’s shoulders. “This is the girl who tried taking you from Shiashia. Can you believe the audacity?”

Yushia looked up at his mother, confused. “No, she didn’t take me away from Shiashia. She’s just... Just someone I know.”

Merew took a deep breath and released his grip disappointedly. Had his son not learned anything? “Must I remind you, my dear, that she is the girl who separated you from Shiashia? That much is true, and you must accept it!”

What in Inanis is going on? Suzaku thought to herself, sweat beading down her face. Why is he calling that demon his mother...? Enraged, her voice erupted. “What did you do to him?!”

Merew’s anger washed over upon hearing the Vermillion Bird’s frustration, a beautiful note he was sure to remember for eternity. He clapped his hands together twice. “Pipi!”

The loud grunts coming from the tight hallway prompted Suzaku to turn her in its direction. Waddling out came Pipi, a grin on his horrid face as he held a coil of rope. Her gaze alone made him fearful of moving another inch, but his body inched closer regardless, more afraid of what his master would do if he didn’t.

Pipi reached behind the Vermillion Bird’s head to tie her mouth shut. She headbutted him, nearly crushing his skull. He fell to the floor and entered a fetal position, cursing as he rubbed the red aching wound on his head.

“Why did you call this girl someone you just know?” Merew asked his son. “You’re a bad boy. There’s no changing that. Mama will do something about you and correct your words.”

Yushia watched as his mother hunched over him. A circular shadow appeared on her stomach as she dove her hand inside before moaning as she equipped herself with a scalpel. She pushed him back down on the block of limestone and tapped the scalpel against his bare abdomen.

“Mama...” Yushia said nervously. “What are you—”

Gripping the scalpel downward, she stabbed him in the stomach.

Yushia’s dry and hoarse throat tried screaming, but all it could make out was a high-pitched squeal. Merew moved the blade down, creating a large incision. Blood squirted out, enough that even the Vermillion Bird could see it.

All Suzaku could do was watch helplessly as her wielder was made a plaything. She watched, horrified as the demon moved its hands carelessly, cutting a square shape across her wielder’s abdomen.

“Whore!” Pipi shouted, suddenly punching the Vermillion Bird in the face. She didn’t move, instead continuing to watch what the demon was doing to her wielder. Pipi laughed and struck the Vermillion Bird again, and then again.

Never in her thousands of years of living had she ever felt this kind of disrespect. Her body became numb as her blood boiled, sweat oozing from her pores like slime. All her fury channeled into one place, threads of ether inside her weaving into something greater, hotter.

“You just keep healing, don’t you?” Merew said, a smile on his face as he watched Yushia’s injuries heal immediately. His scalpel moved quicker, racing against his regeneration. “Come on... Give it up! Let mother open you up!”

Yushia's guts were ready to spill out, his regeneration slowing and unable to keep up with the torment. Tears ran down his face as his screams failed to leave his throat. “Su... su... za... ku...”

The same feeling Suzaku felt back with the mother Taipede resurfaced as the shackles around her wrists and knees melted. Her jaw hung open as she breathed heavily, drooling as her body temperature rose.

“MASTER!” Pipi shouted, falling back as his skin curled, his whole being scorched alive by just being near the Vermillion Bird.

A blinding flash of light vaporized Merew’s eyes as he turned around. His ears were filled with Suzaku’s roars as she manifested her pent-up ether, incinerating his body. Lost in the sensory overload, he was unable to hide within his shadow—not that it’d save him anyway. The energy lifted his body and launched him back against the walls.

Pipi’s body disintegrated as soon as his body met the explosion. Not even his puppet ability could save him from the Vermillion Bird’s destruction.

Yushia’s body enveloped itself in an aura of blue ether but could only hold on briefly against Suzaku’s wrath before dissipating into the air. Though scorching him at first, Suzaku’s ether wrapped around his body like a warm blanket, cleansing him of the hypnotic effect that came with the demon’s concoction.

Blood spat out from Suzaku’s mouth from overexerting herself. She collapsed on the floor, panting as she clawed the dirt beneath her, gathering the little strength she had left to crawl toward the demon. “All the same... Every last one of you...”

Like a dried date, Merew’s body shriveled. His bottom lip heaved, barely allowing air into his body. The little amount that did burned his lungs.

Suzaku stood over the demon’s body as it sat against the wall immobile, and she raised her hands above her head. Because of the explosion, she couldn’t enter her Ghost Mansion and resorted to a primal, brutish method. She clenched her fists, crashing them down into the demon’s face. “Go back...” Black goo shot out from its mouth, angering her greatness as it dirtied her fists. Again and again, she smashed the demon’s face in. “...to where you came from...!”

Channeling her fist back, Suzaku’s vision blurred as she fought in and out of consciousness. Holding onto the walls, her greatness looked down at the demon in panic. No matter how much she punched it, no Shijin Orb came out.

“Why...?”

Her exhaustion was unbearable now as she as she fell on her side.