When the demon saw Sazaki in that state, he began to laugh at him and said,
"Who are you calling, you fool? Have you gone mad from fear of me? My, what a pitiful human you are."
He then placed his foot on Sazaki's mother's stomach while she was in pain and crying.
At that moment, Sazaki felt extremely weak as he lay on the ground, his bones broken from the demon's blow and from crashing into the wall, and because he was unable to protect his mother. Yet, he still held onto his sword while lying there, staring at the demon with hateful eyes, consumed by intense anger. He kept saying:
"How dare you, you monster? How dare you humiliate my mother's dignity? How dare you eat her flesh, insult her, and curse her?"
He continued staring at him with eyes filled with an overwhelming killing instinct. The demon felt fear, released Sazaki'smother for a moment, and said to Sazaki:
"You weak human, who are you to look at me like that? I will gouge out those eyes of yours for daring to look at me this way."
The demon kept approaching Sazaki to kill him. Suddenly, a dense black aura appeared around Sazaki, covering his entire body. It was the Mankion aura of Darkiros.
Darkness suddenly enveloped the surroundings, and both Sazaki and the demon heard Darkiros speak:
"Finally, human, you now possess true hatred toward demons. But it is not enough. It has not yet reached the level of my hatred. You must dive deeper into the darkness within yourself to find and control my power, and to make it yours. You still have a long way to go."
The demon looked at this massive dark entity—Darkiros—sitting on his throne in an extremely dark place where nothing could be seen except him. Fear and terror took hold of the demon, and he said:
"What are you…?"
Darkiros replied:
"How dare you address me in such a manner, you weak demon? Do you not know your place? Kneel before me before you speak."
The demon, trembling with fear, answered:
"How is this possible? Your aura feels similar to that of our lord… this is both strange and terrifying."
Darkiros said angrily, his killing intent suddenly rising:
"Do not compare me to that bastard. I will destroy everything that belongs to him. I will crush him and make him regret what he did to me and for casting me into the darkness. I will show you suffering and torment, you filthy demonic creatures. You will return to the darkness beneath my feet, kneeling before me, begging for mercy."
Then he added:
"Sazaki, I will grant you a small portion of my power—take it."
Sazaki ignited with the black aura and gained the strength to stand up while holding his sword. The demon tried to step back and flee, sensing the anger, hatred, and overwhelming killing intent emanating from Sazaki.
Sazaki pointed his sword toward the demon and struck, targeting its hand. He severed the first hand, and the demon screamed in intense pain. Then he cut off the second hand, leaving the demon on the ground, overwhelmed with fear as he stared into Sazaki's eyes filled with hatred.
Sazaki shouted:
"I will destroy you demons for what you did to my family! You killed my entire family with your vile disease, and now you want to take my mother from me—no, you torture her by eating her before killing her. Take this, you demon!"
Sazaki continued cutting him into pieces—his body, his legs—while the demon screamed in agony. Sazaki's mother had long since lost consciousness.
"Please, spare me! I have instincts too! I was hungry—I haven't eaten in a long time! These were our leaders' orders. If we don't obey, we die!"
Sazaki replied, engulfed in the dark aura:
"Damn you and your leaders. Die, demon."
In the end, Sazaki cut off his head, and the demon died.
Sazaki stood there, breathing heavily, panting from the intensity of his rage. He dropped his sword and rushed to check on his mother.
"Mother… Mother, please wake up… please wake up. I brought you the antidote…"
He spoke with sorrow in his voice and eyes.
There was no response. Her body was covered in blood and bite marks from the demon that had been eating her flesh.
Sazaki held the antidote while cradling his mother, trying to make her drink the Afola antidote, hoping she would wake up, hoping to heal her, hoping she was still alive.
She drank the antidote while in his arms, and he waited for her to wake up.
"Mother, this is the antidote I brought you. Please wake up… you will finally be healed. You will finally be healthy, and we will go out together, travel together, and cook together… Mother… Mother…"
He kept calling her while looking into her eyes, crying—yet there was no sign of life.
In the end, he realized that her soul had already left her body long ago.
Sazaki regretted not saving his mother and continued holding her, waiting for some miracle.
Suddenly, his friend Kuroshi entered. The first thing he saw was Sazaki's mother, covered in bruises and blood, in Sazaki's arms. As for the demon, it had turned to dust upon death.
Kuroshi saw the scene and understood what had happened—that Sazaki's mother had been killed by a demon that entered their home.
The first thing Kuroshi did was bow his head and place a hand on Sazaki's shoulder to comfort him. He remained silent, unable to find the right words.
Sazaki gently placed his mother's head on the ground, wiped his tears, and picked up his sword, while Kuroshi watched in silence.
Sazaki said:
"What about the other demons? Are they still alive? Are your parents safe? Are the villagers alright?"
Kuroshi replied:
"The gate was closed after ten demons came out. They were killed by the village youths. There were injuries, but no one died."
Sazaki said:
"So my mother is the only one who died… because of me. Because of my weakness, I lost her."
He gave a defeated smile.
"How pathetic I am…"
Kuroshi said:
"This is not your fault, Sazaki. You went to bring food for your mother and the antidote as well. You did everything you could. You searched for gold for two years in those harsh mountains and endured hunger and poverty. Don't be so hard on yourself."
He moved to hug Sazaki, and as he embraced him, Sazaki said:
"These demons took my family from me. They killed them all with their plague and brought us poverty and suffering. And now they have taken my mother from me… I will kill them all—every single one of them and their leaders as well."
Kuroshi was terrified by the look in Sazaki's eyes. That day, he had never seen his friend like this—wild, hateful eyes filled with rage and fury.
He realized that Sazaki would never be the same again.
Something within him was about to change.
Something was coming, inevitably.
Something in the world was about to change—especially with the appearance of those gates and their lesser demons.
To be continued…