From what Tsuji could see, there were over thirty soldiers marching through the town on the way back to their barracks. The sounds of their horses galloping through the streets of the village only severed to make the situation direr. ‘Why did I take the book if I knew something like this would happen?’ That was the only thing that could rest in his mind. Maybe if he stayed with his friends they could’ve had a better chance. But it was too late to go back now. He had to find a way to hide the book.

Though the village was small, there were many paths of entry one could get through. Racing towards the east side of the village the sounds of the horses only seemed to grow closer. Were they growing closer, was he making the wrong move? There were too many variables and it was impossible for Tsuji to account for all of them. Shifting his attention all around him, there was a single gate near his position. If Tsuji was quick enough, no one would even notice that he was gone. Bending down, the boy raced towards the gate that he could see, the sounds of his feet causing some to realize that he was going somewhere. However, with the short time they had to recognize it, there was no way to know if it was Tsuji.

Now outside of the gate, cold drops of sweat trickled down the man's face in droves, uncontrollably despite him not moving. “That was insane. What do I do now? I can’t go back so quickly if the military catches me I'm done. I’d probably get blacklisted for life.”

With the current evolution of his situation, there were only two options that Tsuji could think of. He could wait for things to settle down and return the book when the coast was clear. Or he could try to go down to the border, near Pemos. ‘No no, I can use this to my advantage. This is the perfect chance that I’ve been waiting for.”

“Maybe if I can learn how to use Kata, I can finally fight back against those ‘things’. It’d finally get my mom to cool down on me. If I remember correctly, the border should be North from here.”

What seemed to be hours had passed, and an endless stream of forest that only allowed the most minor [rays] of light to breach it, was all that Tsuji was able to see. The book that seemed to be his one chance to gain power, was within his hands. Open and within his sight, despite the dark nature of the forest, whenever he found patches of light he would use them. Anything that could allow him to get a basic understanding of ‘Kata’. Unfortunately for Tsuji determination alone isn’t enough to get you past walls that cannot be climbed.

“I can’t understand any of this. I thought if I just kept reading I could get the hang of it. But I can barely even grasp what they mean by ‘controlling my aura’ and I’m halfway through the book.” A sigh that was filled with more dread than relief escaped his lips. The situation he was in looked dire from any glance. He had left home and was on his way to a land filled with monsters and for what? Because he had a book that he couldn’t even understand?

Turning his eyes around him, the only thing that filled his vision was even more patches of forest, the darkness within only growing more intense as the day grew closer to its end. The small rays of light which gave him vision had begun to diminish, with each passing second he was getting closer to being trapped in complete darkness. With his current predicament, Tsuji could only say the first things that came to mind. “The smart thing here would be the turn back, maybe if I run in the opposite direction. If I can just do that then I could…. Nah that wouldn’t work. I can barely get a sense of where I'm going in here and that was when it was in the day. Maybe if there are some soldiers still-”

Tsuji's movements came to a complete stop in an instant. A cold chill ran down his spine, and sweat dripped down his face, seemingly from nowhere. This feeling….it was unlike anything that he had felt before. He had been scared many times, but what he was experiencing now. It wasn’t fear. It was pure terror. The boy attempted to move his feet, but almost out of instinct his body protested against his will. Refusing to move a single inch in the face of the being that stood in his field if view.

The cause of this fear was mere feet in front of him, it was enough to seemingly be unnoticeable to whatever he had been staring at. Despite reading about it in books, his mind refused to believe the possibility that stood before him. A monster that stood over three meters high loomed within one of the few patches of light that remained. It was tall and muscular, lilac hair ran down its back nearly reaching its weight. Two gigantic horns protruded from both sides of his head, curving inward on themselves in a way that resemble a crown. Black tattoos ran down his face, stretching all the way down to his feet, glowing with a radiance of a god.

‘I-I know what this is. I read about it a few times in the history books. It’s an Oni. What is it doing here? We're inside the human border. How did it get over here? From the aura alone…it could kill me. I have to run back, tell the village!’

Tsuji turned himself around, trying once again to move his body in the opposite direction so that he could get to safety. But it was almost as if he had no control over his body, his legs refused to move even an inch from where they had stood. And his arms fell limp beside him almost as if they were within a deep sleep. The only thing that he could control was his head, his body beginning to tremble the more that he stared at the beast that layed before him. This was what the military fought constantly? Monsters like these?

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“Oh. A human.”

Its voice alone was enough to cause an even greater reaction out of the boy's body than he had felt before. Even though he himself had not realized it. Almost as if he was terrified of the beast at a genetic level. Salty tears gathered behind his eyes, the proximity between them making it appear as if his body was preparing to shut down. His teeth silently crashed against each other, using only his willpower to make sure the sound had not become noticeable.

“A human. I can’t even sense your aura.”

Though Tsuji tried to reiterate the fact that he was a human, the Oni in front of him, made it seem as if calling himself one was a lie. What he had failed to notice because of how far away it had been earlier was the gaping hole on the left side of its chest. It clearly wasn’t natural, but no blood oozed out from it. And there was no reaction to the pain that should have been caused by it. Could monsters even bleed?

There was no time to think of such trivial things, if Tsuji was to show weakness there was a high chance he would die. So he had to appear as if he was in control of the situation even if he was far from it. “A monster that can speak my language. Well, I’ll be.”

When Tsuji replied with a less than impressed response, the Oni’s own expression crumpled. He wouldn’t take this from a man like him. Tsuji’s legs had been quivering since the moment that the monster stepped close to his body. Even if hadn’t noticed it himself yet. The Oni’s face only showcased disgust the more that he had looked down at Tsuji’s body. It was clear from the way that he was behaving that he was out of his league. And he knew it. There was no respect to be had from this confrontation, this wasn’t bravery. This was suicide.

The paralyzing fear swept through the boy's body like a snake’s venom. Tightening his fist together even greater than before, the soft grass beneath him swayed freely thanks to his trembling feet. The muscles within his legs continuously took every ounce of his being to not try to whirl around and sprint away. The only thing keeping him where he stood was the assurance of death. ‘I only have one shot at this.’

Swinging his clenched fist up, his hand was tightened the hardest that he possibly could. Hot blood rolled down his palms from his greatest attempt to retaliate against the force before him. Tsuji held onto the small strings of hope that he had left within his body, that maybe he could end this all in one strike. Maybe he could walk out of this alive.

However, fate would not be so forgiving. The Oni parried the boy’s arm down like it was a thread, the impact alone causing a snapping sound within Tsuji’s arm. Clenching his tightened jaw the greatest that he could, the boy silently released a barbaric scream. Was the gap between the two of them this large? Could he even hope to escape at this rate? No. Escape was simply a lie that he had told himself to hold on to hope. This monster no. This demon had enough strength to kill him in a second. ‘My arm’s been broken I can’t even use it anymore. The only hope I have is to try and get out of here.’

The Oni followed up his deflection with a jab to Tsuji’s chest, swaying to the side, a raging fire in the form of sweat burned within his eyes. But he could not blink under any circumstances, a blink meant death. The synapses in his brain accelerated just barely being able to avoid the jab that had come his way. A look that could only be described as confusion formed across the monster’s face, though he dared not say a word about Tsuji’s movements. “Surprised huh? Didn’t think I could do anything did ya?”

Silver energy encapsulated the Oni’s arm, within this strange aura a sword formed into the monster's hand. Forcing the young boy's eyes to widen at that moment. His mouth was covered in saliva, from the effects of simply being near something as powerful as this beast.

“How….how did you do that?”

“Isn’t it obvious, I thought this was the lifeblood of humans. What do you all call it? The ultimate monster killing weapon?”

What felt like lightning snapped into the brain of Tsuji, causing his entire face to morph into an expression of pure desperation. ‘Does that mean…. he's using Kata? But I thought monsters never learned it. We used it to beat them. So then how. Why does he know that? It’s illegal to even cross the border. So how would they even pick it up?!’

While Tsuji had hoped that he could collect his thoughts for a few more, although short seconds, his opponent had other plans. The Oni’s sword disappeared from Tsuji’s vision because of how fast it was in comparison to him. Desperation was evident as he raised his arms to block the attack. But in the time that it took him to even do that much, it was too late. What could he do in the face of such overwhelming power besides complete defeat?

The sword crashed against the arm of Tsuji, the force from such a swing alone causing the ground beneath his feet to break apart and split open. ‘I-I blocked it!’ For some odd reason his arm had not been cut off, did that mean that the sword was dull? Had that been done on purpose? Despite the idea from Tsuji that he had somehow defended himself from the attack at hand, he couldn’t be any more wrong. The hand that he used to defend himself collapsed beside him, and a neverending chain of snapping sounds rang within his ear. And to make matters worse, a single disruption wouldn’t be enough to stop a meteor. Smashing itself into his shoulder, it felt as if death was slowly creeping in on his body. The Oni kneeled down now at an equal level with the boy, its crimson eyes giving off nothing but disappointment and disgust.

“I should kill you now. But my tribe has other plans. In fact, you made my day. Now I don’t have to go back to searching for one of you anymore. Wait, you can’t hear me, can you? My mistake.”

Salty blood pooled within Tsuji’s mouth, making him incapable of speaking even if he had wanted to. Other plans? What could that possibly mean, and if he was searching, why wasn’t he found? There was too much for him to possibly think of, and slowly the world around him went down and the only thing within his vision was a void. He had lost consciousness.

Reaching out his arm, the Oni grabbed Tsuji by his leg, lifting the boy far above the ground and tossing him onto its shoulder. Advancing throughout the forest with such skill, it seemed as if this was his home for years.

“Be grateful that I don’t strip away your life at this moment. But fear not, you only need to stay alive for a little while longer.”