The city was burning. Ash clung to my eyes while smoke settled in my lungs. Through the cacophony of this city’s destruction, I could still hear the voices of people crying out in fear. This panic and terror was disturbingly familiar to me.

Ah… I thought. This is the first trip I’ve taken in over forty years, and yet all I can think about is home.

Back then, it had been a quiet panic. An outsider might have believed that nothing was out of the ordinary, while everyone in town understood the fear that had taken root. This city was the exact opposite. People screamed and cried in the streets rather than in their homes. Fire halted the city’s functions rather than illness. This entire situation was enough to make me worry that the entire world was just one calamity after the next.

However, there was one big difference between then and now. Vesta wasn’t here, I was on my own. I held on to that thought as I begged my legs to stand. Just like before, there were only a few people who could save anyone. Even so, I was determined to be one of them.

“Seriously, you’re still standing?” One of my opponents snickered. “Playing around like this is fun, I haven’t met very many female demons.”

“Is that why your attacks have been half-assed?” The other one chastised him. “All those people got away. Plus, did you smell those souls earlier? We need to finish up quickly and get back into the fray.”

“No, no, I like this chick. Hey, I’ll let you join us. The two of us are going to eat as much as we can, until there’s nothing left. Then, we’ll see which of us is the strongest.” The demon smiled like a rambunctious child. “Come on, let’s go!”

“Of course I won’t join you!” I shouted. Maybe if I’d spent a second considering it, I wouldn’t have rejected them outright. Even so, I couldn’t hold myself back. “Why should I have to do something horrible like that? Just because I’m a demon?”

“…Because it’s fun?” The first demon replied, tilting his head. “You’re pretty injured, so you should be hungry.”

“Forget her.” The other one shook his head. “Just kill this girl and move on.”

I braced myself for the worst but it never came. The two demons looked down to find a single black spear protruding from each of their chests. Without ceremony, the two spears dislodged themselves from their targets and snaked back to their owner. Meanwhile, the two demons collapsed in a heap. 

“Found…you.” Ten whispered, he was breathing heavily between words. “Eris is…injured. You…need to…go back…to the castle.”

“Ten!? What happened to you?” I rushed to support him, as he looked ready to fall at any second. He waved my arm away with a sigh.

“Don’t come any closer. Just go.”

“But…”

I looked him over once more. Ten really did seem to be on the brink of collapse but it wasn’t that simple. I could sense some kind of pressure from him that I hadn’t felt earlier. He was weaker than I’d ever seen him, but he also looked to be at his strongest.

“You’ve been eating quite a bit, haven’t you?”

“Yea.” Ten looked away from me as he answered.

“Hey Ten, why do you always absorb souls? You can eat them without taking in their owner’s memories, you know.”

Ten didn’t reply, he just kept looking away.

“It’s dangerous.” I stepped in front of his vision. “The more people you take in, the less room there is for ‘you’.”

“This…” Ten closed his eyes. “This just feels better. If I have to kill someone, then I don’t want to erase them completely. Even if they are just demons, they used to be normal people. Just like we were.”

“…Oh.” I was speechless. It had never crossed my mind, since I’d been surviving off of the barrier’s energy. How do other demons reconcile with the fact that they have to eat souls to survive? That was something I’d have to consider in the near future.

“You’re right, and I don’t really feel like myself right now. So, just go find Hal and Eris. I’ll be fine.”

“Actually, I’d rather if the two of you stayed right where you are.” A familiar voice made us both turn around. Rowan walked up to us with an innocuous smile. “Don’t look at me like that, I’m the one who’s surprised here. I never imagined that there were demons who could pretend to be human. Then again, I could have always just looked at your souls…Maybe I really did leave that town too quickly?”

“Wait, Rowan.” I held out my hands. “We’re trying to help everyone that’s caught up in this mess. You don’t need to fight us.”

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“You’re wasting your breath.” Rowan released a weary sigh. “Even some of the humans in this city are monsters…I’m not going to let any of the demons off.”

“That’s crazy, just hear us out!”

Rowan began a chant. The instant his words reached my ears, I suddenly stiffened. My exhausted body would no longer listen to me. I sank to the floor in defeat. Meanwhile, Ten was standing without issue.

“Hmph, I guess that only works on weak demons.” Rowan reflected.

“Stop this…I don’t want to hurt you.” Ten pleaded in a tired voice.

In response, Rowan lifted his sword into the air and began another chant. Red and orange fire from the surrounding buildings began to coil around his blade. I blinked, the entire scene looked extremely surreal.

Are you serious…? I thought.

“There’s a lot you can do with sorcery!” Rowan yelled over the roaring flames. “Even something like this is simple compared to healing someone.”

I struggled against my invisible restraints with all my might. From what I could tell, Rowan was a lot like Howes. It’s natural to hate and fear demons, but both of them held a hated that went beyond instinct. Even so, Howes was able to reconcile with us after we communicated. Unfortunately, it seemed like Rowan wouldn’t give us the chance.

Ten jumped in front of me as Rowan brought his sword down. A fiery torrent rushed towards us with frightening speed. Ten erected a wall of darkness. It held the stream back for an instant and then crumbled away just as quickly. The twister of fire tore through the stone streets and buried itself within the first building along its path.

After what felt like ages, I opened my eyes. Everything was dark.

“Sera!” Ten cried, unearthing a piece of rubble above my face. “Are you ok?”

“…No?” I was too scared to examine myself, so I went with my gut. After a few seconds of consciousness, the rest of my senses returned. A terrible pain in my legs and stomach told me that I was definitely not ok.

“I’ll get you out, just hang on.” Ten began scrambling to remove the rest of the debris. As he worked, I caught a glimpse of his face. It was the first time that I’d seen so much emotion from him. Somehow, it made me sad. Was that deadpan stare the result of mixing too many personalities?

“Hey, Ten…”

“Don’t worry, I’m almost done.” Ten replied, clearly lying through his teeth.

“The people that you eat. Do you think they’re still somewhere inside of you?”

“Huh?” Ten thought for a second. “…Yea, sometimes I feel that way.”

“Then…do you have room for me?” I smiled weakly, more to fool myself than anyone else.

“What are you talking about?”

“I want you to eat me.”

Ten stopped moving and stared at me. “You want me to…eat you?”

“If I’m going to die, I think I’d rather see how things play out from inside you.”

“Do you even know what that means?”

“Probably not.” I chuckled. At some point, I had stopped feeling pain. Now, I was just very cold. “After all, I’ve never really eaten anyone.”

Ten bit his lip. He seemed very conflicted but I knew that he had already made his choice. Even if he won’t admit it, Ten has been fighting to win since this festival began. I was the abnormal one for holding my hunger back. Even so, I found that was somehow preferable to joining this hellish game.

“Ok.” Ten finally relented.

“Thanks, Ten.” I smiled for real this time.

“Don’t thank me for something like this…Goodbye, Sera.”

I nodded and Ten opened his mouth. Slowly but surely, I began to fade away. It wasn’t really scary, if anything, it felt strangely liberating. Sort of like an out-of-body experience, except that I was never going to return. Those were the things I thought about to distract myself from death.

Seriously though…this sucks. In my last moments, I allowed myself to be honest. I was so excited about starting a new adventure but now it’s already over.