Part 1

“What did you do to Akito!” Inoue cried out as she rushed towards Akito who was lying on the ground. His body was writhing in pain.

What had just happened? Akito was rushing forth at Shin and then he suddenly collapsed…

“What did you do to him?” Inoue shouted out loudly again. She was tearing up as she shook Akito. No matter what she did, he was not responding to her.

Shin silently observed and didn’t move even though Inoue was shouting at him. He didn’t do anything. The young demon simply collapsed on his own.  Shin was in a good mood to lecture the girl, “A lowly cat dares to raise his weapon against Maou-sama? Have his parents not taught him any manners? Serves him right!”  But he did not do so. Seeing the little girl cry, Shin could only remember his last few living moments as Maou-sama. He watched all his retainers fall before him. The feeling of pain could not be described in words.

This young boy was serving this girl. Shin understood that he was her loyal retainer and he moved aggressively to take on Shin just to protect her. Shin even marvelled the fact that despite knowing Shin was Maou-sama, the boy had the courage to attack him. Such loyalty was praise worthy.

Inoue stopped trying to wake up Akito and turned her focus to Shin who was silently standing dazed.

“You! It’s all your fault!!”Inoue cried out irrationally. Her eyes were red as streaks of tears rushed out from the corners of her eyes. She had lost everything and everyone. Her only remaining compatriot was Akito. They had grown up together, even though they were the same age, Akito always took care of her. Inoue did not cry even when she saw her parents fall before her – but this was different. It was Akito. Akito promised her that he would always be there for her.…he would always stay by her side.

“You promised!!” Inoue wailed as she began wailing. “You promised to always be together!!!”

Shin’s gaze shifted from Akito to Inoue. Those heartfelt words stirred his emotions. His retainers too had made him this promise…

Part 2

“Xerxes-san?” A baby Maou-sama who was barely two feet tall looked up at the skeleton which was holding a spoonful of gooey substances.

“Say ‘AAAAA’, Maou-sama.” Xerxes-san said as he moved the spoon closer to Maou-sama’s mouth.

“AAAAAA” Maou-sama responded while opening his mouth. Xerxes quickly stuffed the spoon full of weird food into Maou-sama’s mouth.

The Maou-sama made a disgusted expression before swallowing the food. “Xerxes-san, do I really have to eat this?”

“Of course, Maou-sama. This too is training.” Xerxes responded as he filled the spoon up with goo from a bowl.

“But it tastes aweful!!” The baby Maou-sama complained. “Make it sweeter!”

“Medicine is always bitter, Maou-sama. Next time you should take care not to get poisoned….” Xerxes replied while shrugging his shoulders.  

“I rather die than eat more of this…”

“The heart swallowing snake’s poison is far more sinister than this medicine. It is already a miracle that you haven’t collapsed in pain after being poisoned for a year with your meridians sealed. Although this poison is usually harmless but with your meridians sealed your body cannot defeat the poison. It was my oversight not to notice that you are actually dying. Who knows if you don’t take your medicine you may actually die. Are you certain you do not want to take your medicine?” Xerxes asked as he tried to scare the Maou-sama into taking his medicine.

The baby Maou-sama nodded his head vigourously. “Just unseal my meridians, and I will be alright. Isn’t the training already over?”

“That cannot be done, with the poison already seeping into your bones, opening the meridians will only aggravate the condition.”

“Then I rather die than eat that stinking medicine!”

“If the Maou-sama does not take his medicine and dies…then how will I serve Maou-sama forever? A good Maou-sama always keeps his promises and remember you promised me to let me serve you till my end.”  Xerxes smugly replied as he changed his tact.

“Then looks like, I will have to end you right now!” The baby Maou-sama replied.

Xerxes-san let out a sigh. “Maou-sama it is not good to jest like this….everyone knows you are right now barely strong enough to defeat a common wyvern…. saying you will end me is a joke in poor taste especially since it means you are implying my strength is below a wyvern…”

 “Haha! Maybe it is! We won’t know till we fight.”

Xerxes clenched the spoon tightly and then loosened his grip. “Maou-sama is truly very cunning.” Xerxes replied. “Getting me enraged so that I forget to feed you medicine…truly very sly.”

The baby Maou-sama frowned as though his plans had been seen through a million times. “You always see through me!” He complained.

“Yes….but it seems that Maou-sama still has not learned his lesson about being sly.” Xerxes responded as he put down the medicine. “The Nether realm is a place where slyness has no place and only strength prevails over everything. I now understand that we need to intensify your training…”

“Eh?”

Part 3

“He has been poisoned.” Shin spoke up as he finished reminiscing with the past. “And you shouldn’t be moving him.”

Inoue who had turned away from Shin and returned her attention to Akito, was trying to drag Akito on to a bed. She stopped dead in her tracks and looked back at Shin in doubt.  Was it the crazy child who spoke? It had to be him, everyone else in the room was asleep… other than him who can it be? But wasn’t he simply a delusional child lost in his own fantastical world?

Inoue looked around the room as though she were expecting to find another person other than Shin.

“It is heart swallowing snake poison.” Shin calmly replied as he ignored Inoue’s antics.

Inoue now turned her attention to Shin. Yes, it was certainly the young boy in front of her who had spoken. But why was she feeling so surprised? Was it the fact that he concluded that Akito had been poisoned? But that was obvious…was it not? Or was it the fact that this child who was only six years old, spoke so calmly about another person being poisoned. There was no hint of Shin being excited or panicking. He was calm as ever….

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No none of this matters right now…Akito needs to be saved. If this child knows something about poisons then I will make him cure Akito! Just as Inoue resolved to use her strength of Shin to force him to do her bidding, Inoue stopped herself. Just what the hell is heart swallowing snake poison? Was it something straight out of fiction that the child before her made up?

“Heart Swallowing Snake Poison?” Inoue asked doubtfully.

Shin nodded his head. “Yes, although this is a more diluted and weaker form. Probably concocted by some branch trash, I can recognize any variant of this poison.” Shin replied confidently. “I am not sure what your dispute with the Serpent clan is, but this is definitely their work.”

Inoue flinched when she heard Shin’s words. How did he know we are being chased by the Baem?

Part 4

Baem, or the Snake when translated into English, was one of the largest motorcycle gangs in South Korea. To ordinary people they were nothing more than a bunch of hoodlums on motorcycles. However, in the Murim they were known for their assassination skills, particularly for using poisons which could not be detected and left no trace.  The Baem had recently been expanding their influence and this resulted in several clashes with the Night clan, guardians of the Murim in South Korea, and also Inoue’s family.

Several years ago, the Baem gang was known as the Yag medicine peddlers. They were an ordinary group of not so powerful individuals and that made their living selling very ordinary medicine for martial artists. Their leader was humble old man and a likeable figure in the murim community.  They imposed no threat to the Night clan or the other murim clans in South Korea.

However, everything changed overnight when the new leader ascended to power.  He was brash young man who loved flaunting his power. The night he ascended to power, all the older medicine peddlers were executed and the old name, Yag, was dropped for Baem. New members were recruited and told to impose their strength wherever they went. This often resulted in clashes with the people of the ordinary world. However, these changes could not be considered important enough for the guardian clans to intervene.

Although Inoue was not aware of the details, she often heard her parents discuss the matter. The Night clan was the only one which stayed vigilant and paid attention to even trivial changes in the environment. The Night clan tried several times to stem Baem’s growing influence however some or the other guardian family would interfere – saying that giving the Baem gang attention was like encouraging them. The Night clan abided by the general consensus. However that was the fatal mistake.

As the Baem grew, the guardian clans of South Korea grew weaker. Key figures of the guardian clans kept dying of a mysterious illness. Only when it was too late, did the guardian clans realize that they were victims of the Baem gang’s ambition.  However, by then it was too late to stop the Baem gang.

The Night clan which had been constantly vigilant lasted the longest but in the end they too met their end.

Part 5

The memories were still fresh in Inoue’s minds. She clenched his fist tightly as she remembered her clan’s bitter end.  Her parents had secretly sent Akito and her to Japan in the hopes that she would find the guardian clans of Japan and take refuge with them.  However, the Baem had even tracked her down here!

Inoue’s nails dug into her palms, why were they so insistent of killing each and every member of the Night Clan? Why did they chase them all the way to Japan? Why did they hurt Akito…

Inoue fell on her knees as she realized that she could not save Akito. There existed no antidote for the poison that Baem used. The guardian clans of South Korea had spent vast amounts of resources in trying to find an antidote. But how do you cure something that you cannot detect? In the end they could only watch as their respective heads succumbed to the poison.

“What are you doing?” Shin asked as he stared at Inoue who seemed to have lost all hope. One moment this demon girl’s eyes flashed with anger and the next she seemed to have lost all will to fight on.

“It’s useless…” Inoue mumbled.

“What is useless?” Shin asked.

“There is …..no cure…Akito…. can’t….. be saved.” Inoue was tearing up again.

“Eh?” Shin’s eyebrows were raised high up in an arch. Isn’t the heat swallowing poison the most trashiest of trash poison? Also, this isn’t even the original poison. It is some diluted version of the original poison. Even consuming trash would be more harmful than this diluted shit poison.

Has this young demon gone stupid after seeing her comrade faint? First of all, how weak is the demon to succumb to such trash poison? 

“Who said that the poison has no cure?” Shin asked as he furrowed his brows. He was now beginning to get irritated with all the crying and drama.

Inoue immediately stopped crying when she heard Shin’s question. “You know the cure?” Inoue asked in disbelief.

Of course he must know the cure! He was able to so easily identify it was a poison! Further, he also knew the name!

Inoue finally saw a glimmer of hope. Unfortunately, Shin immediately shot down her hopes.

“Cure for this trashy poison? Why would I learn the cure for such a trash poison? Anyone who succumbs to this trash poison deserves to not live...”