The wind was the same, cold and sharp. The smell of blood, bark, and damp soil clung to everything. Subaru had stopped counting how long she’d been stuck in this endless night. But after the eighteenth time of watching her own death fade into darkness, something in her cracked—then clicked.
She crouched low, clutching her axe tight. Her breath came out white and steady.
Alright… maybe crying and begging wouldn’t do jack. Maybe reasoning was useless. Maybe this world only listened to one language: violence.
Her gaze flicked to the boy lying in the dirt again, the faint rasp of his breath, the glint of his bloodied axe. Same spot. Same everything. But this time, Subaru wasn’t shaking.
Her hands—small, pale, deceptively delicate—gripped the weapon like it was made for her. She could feel power humming in her muscles, a strange energy rushing through her veins. Her balance was sharper. Her stance more grounded. Maybe this body was different… maybe this body could fight.
“Okay,” she whispered to herself. “If dying doesn’t help, maybe killing will.”
The boy stirred, coughing blood. His eyes flicked up, hollow and cold.
“Demons…” he rasped.
Subaru didn’t move.
“Must die.”
He pushed himself to his feet, wobbly but still dangerous. His axe lifted.
Subaru raised hers. Their eyes met—hers trembling, his lifeless.
The clash came fast.
Metal against metal. Sparks burst between them. The impact rang through the forest, echoing between the trees. Subaru’s hands vibrated, but she held her ground. The force of his swing would’ve shattered her bones before—but now, her new body absorbed it. Her grip was strong, her arms steady.
For the first time since this nightmare began, she didn’t fall.
Her heart pounded.
Holy crap. She blocked it.
A grin crept across her face—half disbelief, half exhilaration. “Oh… oh hell yeah! You feel that?! I blocked your damn—”
She barely finished the sentence before he twisted his stance.
In one impossible motion, the boy spun the axe around, flipping the handle in his hand. His movement was too clean, too fast for his wounds. Subaru’s eyes widened—
The next instant, her world exploded in agony.
Shhhk—!
The axe tore through her arm. Not a clean slice, but a brutal tear of flesh and bone. Her right arm fell before she even realised what happened. The axe in her hand dropped, clattering uselessly to the ground.
Her breath hitched—then came the pain.
Raw. Burning. All-consuming.
Her knees buckled, and she stared at the stump. Blood poured like a fountain, hot and thick, staining her dress, soaking into her stockings.
Her voice broke apart into a scream so shrill it didn’t even sound human.
“AaaAAAHHH—!!!”
Her body convulsed. She stumbled backward, clutching at the wound, her other hand slipping in her own blood. Her mind couldn’t process it. The world tilted. Her breath came in sharp, broken gasps.
“I—my arm—my—AAAHHHH! WHAT THE—STOP—!!!”
Her vision spun. The boy didn’t hesitate. His eyes were blank, emotionless, like a puppet moving on instinct.
He raised his weapon again.
Subaru tried to crawl back, her voice cracking into hysterical shrieks. “NO! PLEASE! I CAN’T—STOP, STOP IT, I—!”
The blade flashed again.
Shhkk!
Her left arm hit the ground, rolling away from her body. Blood sprayed across the dirt in a sick arc. The pain was unbearable—blinding. She couldn’t even scream anymore; her throat shredded itself raw.
Her mouth opened but no sound came. Only air. Only pain.
Her mind cracked. The agony wasn’t quick or merciful this time—it was alive. Her nerves lit up, her brain refusing to shut down. Every pulse of her heartbeat was another explosion of suffering.
She could feel the warmth of her blood leaving her body, the world tilting sideways, fading at the edges. Her vision blurred with red and tears.
“P… please…” she whimpered. “It hurts… it hurts so much…”
The boy didn’t answer. He lifted his axe one last time, his shadow falling over her trembling body.
Subaru looked up, shaking, tears streaming down her cheeks. Her lips quivered. She didn’t even beg this time—just stared at him in disbelief, as if trying to understand what he was.
Then the axe fell.
She didn’t feel the final blow—only the moment her body split, and her mind finally disconnected from it.
There was no time to think, no words left to scream. Just darkness swallowing her whole again.
And when she opened her eyes…
She was standing once more.
Same forest. Same cold air. Same boy bleeding in the dirt.
Subaru stared at her hands—both whole again. She trembled violently, the phantom pain still burning through her. Her breath hitched as she pressed her palms against her arms, as if to confirm they were back.
She could still feel it—the tearing, the pain, the warmth of her blood. It lingered like a cruel echo.
Her voice cracked as she whispered, “No more… please, no more…”
But even as she said it, her gaze drifted toward the boy again. The faint rise and fall of his chest. His limp hand twitching toward the axe.
And somewhere deep in her chest, between the fear and the madness, something else began to burn.
Resolve—or maybe just vengeance.
She wiped the tears from her eyes with the back of her trembling hand. “Fine…” she muttered, voice shaking. “You want a demon? You’ll get one.”
Her grip tightened around the axe.
She stepped forward.
I will be posting chapters every day. Big chapters will be broken into 3 or 4 chapters, you can read it ahead by checking out the tips in my bio.
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