บท 7: Another Companion
Looking at the trembling oni in my arms, she was now the slightly bigger than me at this point. It was all due to my blade spirit. Her face was full of tears and snot, whilst having her head pressed up against my shirt and coat.
I... didn't know what to do.
I felt sorry for the little girl, but that was only because she was crying. Inside my heart, deep down, I felt disgusted by such a person. Which was perfectly reasonable. I mean, just look at what she did! But... she was just a kid. She didn't know what she was doing.
[Would you like to subdue the evil spirit?]
I hesitated. What would this do? Would it kill it... her? Would it make her return to her human spirit? Deep down I hoped for the spirit to burn in hell and pay for all of the damage she has done. Which was pretty excessive if you asked me.
But I hoped it wasn't her fault. Surely her parents had tainted or taught her wrong. Maybe someone was coaxing her to do it. Did someone frame her? I just couldn't see a small girl who was like this, be able to kill so many kids. It's too messed up.
Looking for any bright side, I groaned in desperation. Those cries for help in my head, I couldn't just ignored them. So, I wasn't taking any chances. I pressed no. Gently taking off the crying child, I sighed.
[Would you like to accept this evil spirit's loyalty?]
Frowning at the trembling girl who was now hugging her knees, my heart grew heavy but remained unchanged. I pressed no once more and started walking away while cancelling my possession with my fox. As I walked away, I could hear the gut wrenching cries of a little girl.
Trying to keep my emotions as stiff as possible, I wasn't going to give in. Just looking at that girl, flashes of screams and blood filled my head. It was horrific and unforgivable. I'm not going to forgive her just because she's a child, or because she's crying. It's useless.
[Would you like to accept this evil spirit's loyalty?]
My shirt was pulled back, making me jolt in surprise. My fox didn't even alert me, but I guess it was all for nothing. Seeing a shaky hand holding my shirt, it was the little girl. She had stopped me in my tracks, just to go in front of me and kneel.
As oni in front of me knelt of the ground and begged me, I asked myself, why? Looking at my cleansing blade spirit, it was the main problem. What made her be like this? Surely her decrease in Sp wasn't her downfall. It was something more.
There has to be something about this sword. How did the Boss of Shie Hassaikai even get this? Should I ask sensei? Or would it be too personal? But this sword, how did it even get this cleansing ability? Did a spirit occupy this sword and give it the cleansing attribute? Or was it something else?
Sighing while rubbing my sore head, I still pressed no. This time the oni froze. She stayed quiet with her knees on the ground. Walking away, I was once again stopped. Becoming fed up, I brought my sword out, turned around and controlled it to slash at her.
Once the strike hit her, she became my size, a child. Her gaze remained on me, for a slight moment I saw grief in those eyes.
"What is it? Why are you doing this?"
This time I was the one talking while she was the one silent. But the only reason she didn't talk, was because of her lack of Sp. She had become incredibly weak, near to her point of death. I doubt she was able to transfer thoughts anymore.
"Huh?"
As she knelt on the floor, she bowed her head to me. An oni, bowing their head. Is this some sort of joke? "Why are you bowing to me? Are you... apologising? Repenting? To me, someone totally out of the situation? Listen here, I'm neither god nor your friends so stop apologising. You'll get nothing from it"
*BANG*
She bashed her head to the floor once more, clearly injuring her head. I sighed, but walked past her.
*BANG*
*BANG*
What's with this girl? Can't she take a hint? Why is she still in a bowed position. Testing something out, I tried cutting myself with my sword. Surely I'll find something out and hopefully answer to the oni's apology.
*SLASH*
As I used the blade to cut my palm, I suddenly entered into a trance.
—
Memories started clashing in my head. It was like a piercing fire burning through my mind. What's happening? As pain suddenly increased tenfold, memories started playing in my head.
There was a memory of me stealing candy when I was a kid. A memory of me punching one of my best friends because I was mad that they didn't let me play on their PlayStation. I was a stupid child.
Suddenly a streak of memories and pain entered my mind. It was my middle school days. Ugh! Pimples, growth spurts, weird hair growth. I guess, I have to face puberty once more. Just great.
As the memories cleared, they were about all about the bad stuff I did. About how I constant shut down and ignored my friends. How I didn't look after my mum when she was getting sick. How I didn't feel any different when she got better. How I lied to dad because mum was having an affair.
Pain started filling my head and the only way out was one word. In my head, I distinctly heard the word.
Repent.
And then I was back to normal.
—
Looking at my bloodied hand and the sword in the other, I sighed. Now I knew why it was called the cleansing blade. It shows you memories of all the bad things you've done, and tells you to repent.
Putting the sword away, I looked at the oni bowing on the ground, constantly bashing her head against the floor. How many times did I hit her with the sword? How many times have she experienced the screams and shrieks of those kids?
Maybe she really is asking to repent. With my power, could I reform her? Or at least start teaching her right from wrong, and maybe change her. But maybe there won't be any result from that, but at least there's one less child-eating oni in the world. Hopefully that could save someone.
*BANG*
*CRACK!*
Suddenly looking at the oni, while she was still bashing her head on the floor, she looked terrible. One of her horns broke off and what was left was a little horn stub. Her forehead was already bleeding with bruises all over.
[Would you like to accept this spirit's loyalty?]
This time, my hands hovered over the yes. I knew she was apologising, so that was somewhat good. At least she knows what she did wrong and was sorry. But, murder is a bit... She didn't know what she was doing... clicking yes, I decided to reform her, change for the better.
Hopefully make her into something good. Maybe I could even let her experience her childhood again, instead of being stuck isolated on an abandoned shrine.
[Spirit has sworn loyalty to you...]
[Owned Sprit: Innocent Oni - lvl 1
Description: A cannibalistic child, turned oni. Who was innocent, yet murdered all of her friends and got killed for it.
Effect - Weak regeneration, +3 vitality]
The child had already stopped banging her head against the floor, but she was riddled with wounds and blood. Although her skin colour was red, it didn't hide the fact that she was bleeding all over.
First off, I need to know why she had pledged her loyalty to me. I practically did nothing but bring up bad memories. Surely that's not enough to make a spirit like this.
"...Hey, can you tell me your name?"
Looking attentively, she tried talking once more. But no sound escaped her mouth except a painful groan. I totally forgot spirits lost their ability to speak once they lose enough Sp. On that note, how was my spirit blade? Looking over to my notifications, I saw one for my sword. Deciding to look at that later, I focussed back on the girl.
Since she couldn't speak, she had grabbed a stick and wrote on the ground. 'Atsume' Smiling at the name, I somehow found it fitting.
"Ok, Atsume, call me Charles... actually forget that, my names Charles. So, Atsume, why did you do it?"
Atsume flinched and started avoiding my stare. She started looking at the floor, fiddling with the pebbles on the ground. Her hands were shaking a lot and her eyes were on the verge of releasing tears. Seeing the branch in her hand bending into an strange angle, I wondered what was she feeling? Years by yourself, surely something in you would eventually crack.
As I patiently waited, Atsume eventually broke under me gaze. Slowly but surely, she wrote on the ground again. It was only one word. It was barely readable with her wobbling hand and rocky ground. But I could distinguish the word.
'Lonely'
"No other spirits come here? None at all?" She didn't answer. As she looked somewhere, I followed her gaze to her stomach. Oh... I'm glad I was able to defeat her.
"Then... would you like to come with me?" Nodding her head rapidly, I stopped her, fearing she could get a headache or something like that. "Then let's go home" In the corner of my eye, I could make out the notifications for my spirit blade.
[Cleansing blade has reached level 6!]
Nice! I should go out on these types of trips more often. Maybe I can get my fox spirit to level 6 soon as well. I'll stick with these 3 spirits for now. They're very low levelled, so I'm going to focus on these three for now.
As blood dripped to the floor, I finally realised my bleeding hand. Pain struck through my whole arm, making my arm tense up. Taking sharp breaths, I turned to Atsume, an effect of her possession was regeneration. I didn't want to come home to my parents while bleeding.
"Hey, Atsume?" Looking up at me, I saw her wince as soon as we met eyes, turning away immediately.
"Relax, I'm going to do something. Stay still" Fearing I was going to do something to her, she quickly fell to the ground and placed her hands over her head. My eyebrows creased and I couldn't help but sigh.
Gently pulling her up, I made her look over at me as I placed my hands in the air. Showing I meant no actual harm. Once she finally calmed down, I connected my mind to her and tried to control her to possess me. But as soon as I tried controlling her, she immediately dashed forward and punched me in the gut.
*COUGH* *COUGH*
"What... was that for?... Was it because of this?" Trying to control her once more, Atsume punched me again. This time I was ready, so I easily dodged her punch and calmed her down. Let's try a different approach at this.
"Atsume, are you all right now?" As she nodded, I took a deep breath and tried making her possess me.
"Do you know how to posses people?" I only got a confused head tilt to my question. Alright then, how do I explain possession? Ah ha!
"Then watch closely" Connecting my mind to my little white fox, I made it possess me. During this whole process, Atsume watched with her undivided attention. As soon as I cancelled the possession, I told Atsume to do the same. Seeing her take a few breaths, she finally marched towards me and phased into my body.
Then I remembered, I forgot one tiny detail about new possessions. It's was... the itch!
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