Chapter 24 - The Awakening
"Like I said, my heart told me to."
I gave her the same old line I always used. If I told her the whole thing was just coincidence, it would sound too pathetic. Since I was already committed to this path, might as well go all the way.
"But what about you? Don't tell me you agreed to this because you thought I was being forced into it again."
"That's exactly right."
Asuka admitted it straight up.
"I thought that once you saw my demon form, Kanata and Takuya would try to keep it secret. And the only way to do that would be to make you part of the demon clan family. Which meant marrying me."
Her answer hit me like a punch to the gut. My eyes went wide with shock. A sharp pain stabbed through my heart. All this time, I'd thought she agreed to marry me because she had feelings for me too. What a fool I'd been. When I really thought about it, there wasn't anything special about me worth liking.
"So when you told my mother that your heart told you to..."
Asuka smiled softly, her face flushed with embarrassment.
"I couldn't tell her the truth, so I had to play along with that line."
I nearly choked. Her reason was exactly the same as mine—giving a vague answer, dodging the real question with a joke.
"This is insane! If she has to marry you just to cover things up, we might as well kill him and be done with it!"
After his outburst, Takuya drew his sword again, ready to follow through on his threat.
The blade shot straight toward me. But with a demon's superior speed and reflexes, someone could easily intercept the attack. In the blink of an eye, a figure appeared to block the strike.
But it wasn't Asuka who intervened. It was the girl in ninja clothes who'd been watching the situation unfold.
"Kanata?!" Takuya exclaimed. "Even you're taking his side? It's just one human life—what's the big deal?"
"I don't care what happens to him," Kanata replied, her voice ice-cold but tinged with displeasure. "But if you kill him, Asuka will have to..."
"What do you mean..."
Takuya's voice trembled as if he already knew what the answer would be.
Kanata unleashed her NEX power, as if she intended to show him the answer through action.
She raised her palm. Dark energy began swirling and forming. She controlled it carefully, trying to compress the excess until the dark power was about the size of a single dice cube.
Then she flicked that energy at me.
"Don't!" Asuka screamed, but it was too late.
When the dark power touched my body, the NEX energy inside me—which I still didn't know how to use—erupted like hellish flames. My body began to be invaded by ancient black symbols. Both my eyes were stained blood red.
I roared like a wild animal gone mad. My knees buckled because I couldn't bear the pain that shot through my entire body.
Goddamn! This hurts like hell! What the hell is happening to me?!
But what made me feel like I was losing my mind the most was seeing everything around me dyed in endless darkness.
"Assarun!"
I could barely hear Asuka's voice calling out.
Then I saw her rushing toward me, embracing my body that was burning with black flames.
"Hold on! Don't let it control you... Think about what you want to do from your heart. Think about what you want to protect. Don't let these flames of destruction consume you!"
The flames didn't seem to cause Asuka any heat or pain, but her voice was filled with anguish.
Even though it was faint, I could hear Asuka's voice.
Even in this half-conscious state where I was being burned almost to destruction, I could feel Asuka's genuine concern.
"Levina... Truno... Mom... Dad... Asuka... and also..."
My lips began to murmur the names that meant something to me in this life, stirring my mind and consciousness that had been burned away to slowly recover and return.
And that murmur gradually became words spoken clearly from my heart for everyone to hear.
"I must... protect my siblings! I must... make my family comfortable! I must... help Asuka!"
My consciousness began to return. The pain throughout my body subsided as the symbols started to fade away. The hellish flames shot upward to my back, gathering together to form the shape of phoenix wings.
"Assarun..."
Asuka's voice trembled. Her face brightened with relief, tears streaming down.
"Asuka..."
I was still confused, but seeing Asuka's expression, I thought everything was probably going to be okay. Asuka hugged me tighter until it almost hurt.
Good lord, the strength of the demon clan is real.
But when I looked at Asuka's face again, I couldn't complain about anything.
"Looks like these two have made a love pact, and it's transformed him into the same kind of demon as Asuka," Kanata said to Takuya, who was so shocked his knees went weak.
"If you're still confident you can handle him, I won't try to stop you. But if you succeed, Asuka will lose the partner most compatible with her, and what follows definitely won't be good."
Suddenly, a loud boom echoed. The train shook violently as if it was about to derail. Everyone in the room except Takuya shook off their lingering feelings from what had just happened and turned their attention to the danger they could feel creeping closer.
I looked out the window and saw a group of fierce men on horseback chasing us—more than ten of them. One of them was standing on his saddle with complete confidence, showing no fear of falling from his horse.
His stance looked so practiced and confident that I thought he must have done this hundreds of times before.
"No need to stop the train! Because robbery without any chase or resistance is boring as hell! Haha!"
He made his declaration and laughed heartily.
The man standing on horseback drew his gun from the holster at his waist. The barrel pointed at the train we were riding. Suddenly, white light began to emanate from his body.
"Deadly Cannon!"