My Life In Blue Exorcist

(Mouth-slit women): "I choose..."

There was an awkward pause after she began her words, as she didn't know how to finish them off. Hmm, looks like she's still unsure of what to do. I guess I'd feel the same if I was in her shoes right now.

Well, now that I think about it, something similar happened to me when I first entered this world. Mephisto gave me the option to die peacefully, die in retaliation or commit suicide as my three choices. I wasn't even given a peaceful option at all, but somehow made one just like the original Rin.

Imagine what would've happened if I was crazy enough to fight Mephisto without training my flames at all? Just picturing it makes me shudder a little. I'm not sure if I can fight him even now. I should be able to put up a decent fight, but I can't be certain. He can control time after all.

(Mouth-slit Woman): "..."

Alright, she's taking forever to decide now. Even after all that monologuing, she isn't done yet. She keeps alternating her gaze between Shura and the corpse of the skinwalker, but she still can't decide. Every so often she also looks at me and the kid too, which causes the little guy to tense up and hide behind me.

I'm starting to get impatient with her decision. I want to get out of the sewers already, see the sunlight, go on a hike and touch grass for once.

(Rin): "You mind deciding this after we get the kid to safe-"

I decided to voice out my thoughts to leave this area but it was at that moment I felt a spike of miasma coming towards us. Immediately after detecting it, I grabbed the kid with my tail before dodging the attack.

(Shura): "Look out!"

Shura was a step slower in reacting than I was but she was still able to dodge what was coming. Something white and a couple of meters long was fired towards us, but we didn't have enough time to figure out what exactly it was as more miasma just like it appeared. They were blasted towards us, each faster than the last making it too close to comfort to avoid them.

(Rin): "Hold on tight, kid."

I said that as I made a flip and landed on one of them wedged to the wall. A giant bone? I say that but its shape is like some kind of crude spear that has its tip sharpened to an extreme level. Looks like a new demon appeared. Dammit, we should have brought the kid to the surface when we had the chance to.

(Rin): "!"

Welp, I didn't get to voice that complaint as I dodged another one of those bones. I guess that Wendigo either brought in backup or he got hit by a sudden powerup. I was keeping track of his presence while the whole couple drama show was happening but I guess that wasn't enough.

Time to go find that fuċker.

(Kage): 'Over there, Otou-san.'

Kage said after I stretched out my miasma to sense anything nearby. Once I felt a reaction, I dropped off the kid to Shura before approaching the perpetrator itself, who was hiding around the corner. And it's someone everyone's familiar with.

And of course, it was the latter huh.

(Wendigo): "!"

(Rin): "I had my eyes on you, fuċker!" .

I said that as I performed a clean roundhouse kick to the Wendigo's jaw. It was a sneak attack but it had no effect on him. Damn, he didn't even budge a bit. Though I had a split second to realise his previously brown and muddy fur was now white with dirt patches everywhere. Even though I say white fur, it felt like kicking a rock in my past life

(Wendigo): "Heh, weak."

(Kage): 'Otou-san!'

Too bad the damn Wendigo didn't allow that to happen peacefully as he sent out more bone-like attacks towards me. Dammit, what kind of powerup did he get when we weren't looking? Why does a wendigo have a power related to bones all of a sudden?

Well, I guess it's cause it's a cannibal but its original mythology doesn't have such powers.

(Wendigo): "You won't be able to dodge all of these!"

The Wendigo yelled before waving his hand to the wall as more bone spears appeared. Fuck, there's too many. I cursed to myself before preparing to avoid the attacks.

I twisted my body to avoid the first bone spear before jumping to the right to avoid another two of them. One of them was behind me and another three were behind me. I didn't have enough time to dodge those attacks, and with no other options left I used Kage's shadows to form a shadow shield.

Shadows covered my body as I was inside a sphere. It held out for the first two attacks, but on the third and fourth attacks, they were able to pierce through the shield.

Fortunately, they were slowed down a little by Kage's shield, which left me enough time to escape with a minor injury to the shoulder.

I wasn't able to celebrate just yet as I could sense more attacks coming towards me.

(Shura): "Serpent lance!"

I heard a yell from behind me as a wind-based attack followed suit, disrupting most of the bones' trajectory. Damn, that was a close shave. I shouldn't have gone at him all reckless like that while hiding my flames. I need to find an appropriate way of using Kage's powers while fitting my fighting style.

(Shura): "Nn."

Shura made eye contact with me then nodded her head before charging towards the Wendigo. I followed what her intentions were saying and ran back to the kid to protect him. Looks like we'll be changing roles of attack and backup for the time being.

During this time I finally got myself a better chance to look at the wendigo kind. Starting from the top, he's gained an extra set of antlers, his once lifeless grey eyes are now pure white and his white fur had spikes-like bones sticking out of him, particularly his elbow and shoulders.

He looks skinnier than before, even with all those menacing features. He even had his rib cage exposed. This guy went all out on his transformation budget huh.

(Shura): "Slay the swivelling snake. Snake lance!

Shura yelled out as her sword transformed into the whip sword form before yelling out her snake lance attack. A faint green light shined on the blade as another wind slash was dashed out, but this time they're more unpredictable compared to their regular counterpart.

(Wendigo): "Tch, annoying long-range attacks."

The Wendigo grunts as he tries dodging the attacks, but every time you think the attacks would follow a certain trajectory, they go another direction. It felt like I was looking at a boomerang-like attack.

I had to force them the urge to find out more about her abilities as I focused on defending any surprise attacks.

(Wendigo): "!!"

Just as I was fascinated by Shura's other abilities, someone I wasn't expecting decided to join the fray. I guess this is her answer huh. The mouth-slit woman appeared from nowhere and attacked him with a cloth scissor in one hand and a metal ruler in the other.

Seriously, why does she use stationary equipment for her main weapons? They're not designed for fighting people yet she's able to use them while maximising their potential.

I guess I found something else that's interested me. Maybe I should learn from her? Could be useful in certain situations.

(Wendigo): "I see you've abandoned our master, wrench. I'll deal with you after I deal with this woman and retrieve the brat."

The Wendigo king said with a displeased voice when he made eye contact with the Mouth-slit woman. He didn't even hesitate to attack his former comrade as a grey miasma formed in front of him before a bone pillar appeared.

(Wendigo): "Time to get rid of the insects!"

The Wendigo king shouted as grey miasma started oozing out of him. Everything that it came in contact with gained a bone-like appearance before being used by him to form more spears, pillars and other long-ranged projectiles.

Shura and the mouth-slit women reacted to the sudden variety of attacks before switching attack styles. They alternated between offence and defensive moves, which looked like it was making things difficult for the Wendigo king, but it was still anyone's victor at this stage.

(Kage): 'Below us!'

While I was on standby and watching their fight with my guard up, Kage abruptly screamed to look beneath me. A grey miasma circle suddenly appeared as my instincts told me to escape immediately. I quickly grabbed the kid to dodge the attack before rolling over to avoid others just like it.

Dammit, he has that much leeway to attack me while taking those two attacks.

(Wendigo): "If you think using the brat as a hostage will make me leave you alone, then you're mistaken!"

The Wendigo King growled before sending out a different miasma attack. Grey miasma formed in a sphere-like shape that kept on growing with every pulse. I had a bad feeling when I saw that before immediately covering the kid with my body and summoned a shadow shield.

(Wendigo): "Bone blaster."

The Wendigo said an ominous name before an explosion followed afterwards. Bone shards were suddenly fired out like a shotgun shell as everyone scattered to take cover. The kid and I didn't have much time to do such a thing, so I had no choice but to create a shield.

The pressure was on another level compared to any of his previous attacks though.

(Rin): "Shield. Shield!"

I yelled out as my shields weren't able to withstand more than three hits before they broke. I replaced each broken shield with a new one immediately after they broke, but it felt like the attack wasn't gonna let up one bit.

(Wendigo): "Bone piercer!"

It was at that moment of defence I was cornered like a mouse. The Wendigo sent out a different bone type attack and fired it out to me. A bone drill.

My gut told me to escape but there wasn't enough time. Without thinking much, I pushed the kid to the side and braced myself for impact.

(Rin): "Gmn."

I tried making a shadow shield as a feeble attempt to block some of the drill's power, but it was useless. I got hit and the momentum of the drill caused my body to follow along its trajectory, making me crash into the wall. I spat a painful groan as I could feel warm blood flowing from where the bone is wedged into.

Fuck, that hurts! Though even with all the pain I refuse to scream out loud. That's just how my stubbornness is when it comes to pain.

I looked over to my right and looked at the kid who bȧrėly escaped with only a wound on his arm. Looks like he got knocked out from that hit, huh. We're sitting ducks now. I need to get this thing out of me and wait for my regeneration to patch myself back up.

(Rin): "I can't... Move…?"

I said with a weak voice as I wasn't aware of how much damage I've taken from it. Shit, did that impact paralyse me? I can't take it out. Is it syphoning my strength? I feel like I'm getting weaker by the second.

I started panicking from the sudden situation. Fuck, if I get hit again I don't know if I'll survive. Even if I don't get targetted, I don't know if I can survive with this bone drill stuck inside me.

I've never tested how good my healing is against stabbing wounds or these kinds of things. This could get stressful. I wonder if my healing can rival his strength syphoning skill?

But before that, I'm worried.

(Rin): 'Kage?'

I asked Kage who I haven't heard the entire time. Tsuno's words started echoing in my head as I clenched my fist in anger.

(Kage): 'I am… Fine. Otou-san…'

What I heard was a weak whimper of a child in pain. I'm a failure. I should've protected her dammit.

(Rin): 'I'm sorry, Kage. I got careless.'

I had no words to say but those, as I stared ahead of us in a daze. I know Kage's regeneration is good, but I still don't want her to get hurt.

I guess I was expecting too much from myself and underestimated the world.

(Kage): 'N-no, I should have warned us both.'

Kage said again as she tried her best to sound unharmed. For fuċks sake I should've just used my flames instead of being stubborn.

I'll make that fuċker pay for this.

(Shura): "Damn, that was a scary skill."

While I was feeling the rage in me buildup, I heard a casual, yet oddly serious voice of Shura walking into the scene. Her body was masked by the dust cloud but I could see her standing fine with her sword on her shoulders.

(Shura): "I ain't gonna be an easy cookie to crack though."

Shura said that as she carried her sword in a stance again. Looks like she took the beating too. She's covered in dirt and cuts, with some blood leaking out of them.

If it wasn't for this thing in me I would've been able to help out. Now I gotta rely on her again.

(Shura): "Yo, crazy hair. I know you attacked him and all, but I still gotta ask ya this. Have ya made a decision yet?"

Shura asked the Mouth-slit woman as she was making preparations in advance to attack if her answer wasn't good enough. When I got a look at the demon herself, she was covered in wounds just like Shura, with some of her clothes and her mask ripped, but the wounds were already beginning to heal.

Looks like the bone bomb doesn't have the energy-draining abilities as the bone piercer. That's handy to know.

(Mouth-slit women): "I want revenge. I'll ȧssist you two."

The mouth-slit woman said calmly as they both nodded to each other in understanding. Looks like we got another ally in this shithole. That's good for now but I wonder if we'll regret this decision later on?

(Shura): "Fuuu, that's a load off my shoulders. Aight, help out those two at the back. I'll hold off bone face for now."

Shura said that before reverting back to her usual lax tone. Although she's like that, her eyes had a glint of anger in them when she saw my condition.

Should I feel warm about her concerns or annoyed for being in this situation? I can't tell.

(Mouth-slit women): "Careful."

Speaking of concerns, the Mouth-slit woman voiced one out before nodding to Shura words. Again, I wasn't expecting that. She easily listened to Shura's words even though she's just gotten out of a toxic relationship.

It's nearly creepy how her personality shifted so quickly. Then again, she did just murder her husband once she found out he was an imposter. We don't know how stable her mind is or what it would take for her to betray us.

Maybe it wasn't a good idea to help her out? We'll see I guess.

(Shura): "Didn't think a demon would ask for my safety. Guess times are changing, ay?"

Shura said with a smirk and looked fired up for some reason. I guess even if she's the fanservice of the series, she's the most reliable out of everyone in the main cast.

(Wendigo): "Have you two enjoyed your final words with each other?"

The Wendigo king asked in a bored yet arrogant tone. He's unexpectedly kind enough to wait for the other party huh. Ain't that a nice thing.

(Shura): "Nah, we were just talking about our dinner plans. We plan to have a couple of drinks."

Shura said in a conceitful voice in an attempt to aggravate the Wendigo and it worked perfectly.

(Wendigo): "Well isn't that perfect. Now die for me!"

(Shura): "I don't think so. Slay the swivelling snake."

The Wendigo king said that before charging forward, whereas Shura defended it and made her own retaliations. I'm starting to think the Wendigo king has no resistance to provocations. Probably a good thing for us at this point.

(Mouth-slit woman): "..."

And as for the other demon on the field, she was staring at me with the giant bone stuck in my guts. Ain't this a weird situation.

(Rin): "DIdn't think this would happen. Weird how life works, huh."

I said with a wry smile. Who would've thought a demon I was gonna exorcise is now gonna be my saviour. Well, in an anime world it's sorta understandable. I guess.

(Mouth-slit woman): "I'm gonna pull it out."

(Rin): 'Brace yourself, Kage.'

The mouth-slit woman said in a flat tone as she reached out to the tip which I responded with a nod but I still gave Kage a warning for the incoming pain. This scene reminds me of the time my mother would stick needles into my skin whenever she was drunk. She said it was like a drinking game or something.

She did so specifically after she experienced a break-up, which was quite often.

(Kage): 'I'm ready.'

And just like those times, I refused to scream. With every pull the mouth-slit women took to release the bone out of me, the more painful it felt as I was feeling anaemic from the blood loss. Thanks to my healing, it was trying to regenerate with the foreign object inside of me, causing my organs and inside to stick to it.

That causes them to get dragged along with the bone as I felt the worse kind of pain I ever experienced. I clenched my weak fist as I held my breath to endure the pain, but without any anaesthetics on it, I felt a new kind of hell.

(Rin): "Haaah, haah..."

After what felt like hours, I could feel the bone had left my body and my regeneration was already kicking in to heal the hole in my stomach. I made a couple of loud exhales from having the thing yanked out of me but I made a smirk immediately after. I finally feel free. Time for some payback against that sick fuċk.

I tried standing up a little after, as I didn't want to stay in the same spot while they're fighting, but I was too impatient was fell over again.

I wanna kill that bastard. I'm gonna make sure he's gonna wish for death.

(Mouth-slit woman): "Careful."

Just before I was gonna hit the floor again, I was suddenly in the embrace of the mouth-slit woman, who lent her shoulder to get me back on both my feet. I wasn't expected her to help me out this much.

(Rin): "Thanks?"

I was a little dumbstruck by this situation. I'm relying on someone and it's a demon fueled with revenge. Looks like she wasn't even fazed by the blood that's spilling over her jacket too.

It feels weird to rely on someone like this, but I guess I should make the most out of it.

(Rin): "Quick, take me to the kid."

(Mouth-slit woman): "Okay."

I asked to see the kids' condition, to which she replies with a nod. It didn't take long to get to his location. Yup, he's still out cold.

(Rin): "Oi, kid, wake up."

I said as we both crouched down to wake him up. His eyelids trembled from the sudden movement before opening. He looked around in a bewildered state before focusing on us. Once his eyes finally adjusted, he screamed when he realised the Mouth-slit woman was next to him.

(Boy): "N-no! Stay away!"

The boy yelled before he sent out a telekinetic attack at the both of us. I grabbed the Mouth-slit woman by the waist to dodge, but she was one step ahead of me as she hugged me before jumping to the side. Guess I underestimated her instincts, huh.

(Rin): "Oi kid, you tryna kill us?"

I said that while releasing some miasma to break the kid out of his fear. When he finally recognised me, he was confused out of his mind.

(Boy): "H-huh? W-why are you…?"

He said as he was about to point at me, but I interrupted just before he could.

(Rin): "Look, she's not being mind-controlled anymore. She's on our side. Now get your ȧss out of the way else you'll get caught up with their crossfire."

I said while rushing my words in case he fires out another one of those telekinetic-like attacks. I'm not in the right state or in the mood for another one of those right now.

(Boy): "Huh?"

The boy made a confused noise before looking to his right and saw Shura soloing the Wendigo king by herself. She really is a tough one, huh. I like her reliability.

Time to show off some of mine I guess.

(Rin): "Take cover somewhere. We won't be able to save you if you get caught, so good luck kid."

I said as I pointed to somewhere a little further back. The kid's stuck between a rock and a hard place but we don't have any time to get him to a local 5-star room to relax in.

(Boy): "U-uh, y-yes!"

The boy immediately nods his head before walking towards somewhere with a decent cover. Good, at least that's some worries gone.

Meanwhile, I was staring at Shura's battle against the Wendigo while I was waiting for my wounds to heal. Surprisingly, the mouth-slit woman hasn't done anything to me, even though I was expecting a surprise attack of some sort.

I still can't be too defenceless against her after all.

(Rin): "Thanks. I should be able to walk on my own now."

(Mouth-slit woman): "Mmm-hmm."

I said to the mouth-slit woman while getting a close view of her face. For some reason, even though her face has a gruesome scar from ear to ear, it didn't bother me much. I wonder if my sense of fear is getting numb these days?

Well whatever, time to get my own at that ċunt.

(Rin): "I got a lot of payback for you, prick."

I said that as I had to hold back my flames that's bursting with energy. They want to get back at him too, and as much as I wanted to let them loose, I'll refrain for now.

(Shura): "Ah, looks like yer still in one piece. Ye're also a tough nut."

Shura said once she made eye contact with me and retreated to regroup. Her wounds have been piling up too while she was making sure everyone was safe.

(Rin): "Oh trust me, I'm too tough to break."

I said that while staring at the Wendigo king. Time to make sure he feels my daughter's pain but worse...

(Shura): "Glad to hear that!"

Shura said while patting my back before getting serious again. I summoned my sword from Kage's shadow before we all flew into battle. Shura was ahead in the movement, followed by me than the mouth-slit woman who now has a pair of cloth scissors in one hand and on the other was a scalpel. Seriously, where does she store all those things?

As curious as I was, I put that question at the back of my head as I focused on the demon in front of me. He keeps waiting for us to attack. Is that part of his powers?

I thought of a hypothesis before thinking of a way to test it out. Shura was already using her sword in the whip sword form to distract him while leaving the two of us to attack him from his blind spot.

When we finally closed in on him, we both swung our weapons but just like before it had no effect on him. Yup, this one's gonna be tough.

(Wendigo): "Kukuku, my skin is a lot tougher than before. You think those attacks would leave a dent on me?"

The Wendigo king said in arrogance before swinging his arms to attack. I bent my body sideways to avoid it before placing my fingers onto the blade of my katana and channelled shadow miasma within it.

(Rin): "Shadow enchantment."

I called out the name of a new skill I thought up. The blade of the katana turned black as I reinforced it with Kage's shadows. It had the same concept with infusing my flames into a katana, but with a different element entirely.

Once I had the skill activated, I sliced a bone projectile coming from behind me before looking over at the Wendigo and pounced on him.

(Wendigo): "Tch, seems like you've learned a new skill. Well too bad!!"

The Wendigo King roared as he made more bone spikes to attack us. Hmm, even with all that talking, he's still remaining around the same area, huh. Is he planning some kind of trap or not, I can't tell.

(Rin): "Shadow scythes."

While I was fighting and defending against the Wendigo's attacks, the Mouth-slit woman was also engaging in this fight but her attacks were doing less damage than I was.

Is she applying her miasma to those pieces of equipment? It seems similar yet different to what I do with mine. Might be a different type of technique used.

Anyway, I spammed as many attacks I can send out to tire him out, but I was also being wary of how much miasma Kage had left. She informed me she was around 50% down so it was getting riskier by the minute using all these techniques.

(Shura): "Looks like I gotta take this to another level, huh. Snakeskin!"

Shura, who was absent in the battle for a little bit, suddenly reappeared after saying her line. Oi, this may be an anime world but at least take it a bit more seriously!

I thought that before jumping into the air to dodge a bone spear. When I took another look at Shura, her sword had another transformation.

(Shura): "I haven't used these in a while. I might be a little rusty."

Shura said that as she's now carrying two katanas. Huh, they can duplicate?

And since when was she able to use two katanas? Doesn't that completely change her fighting style? I should know since I've been learning how to use the two sword-style. For starters holding the sword's centre of balance like how you would with both hands is much different.

(Rin): "She really is full of surprises."

Guess I should stop getting surprised at this point. I'm pretty sure she has other trump cards ready to use. I wanna know what else the anime and manga failed to portray. Maybe her background is distorted too.

(Kage): 'I agree. Her skills are something above the ordinary.'

Kage said in amazement while the three of us began our frontal attacks. Although the three of us had no experience with fighting along with each other, it didn't matter much as we got better as time went on.

We each took turns to attack and retreat, filling in what the other person lacked in order to let them focus on what they were aiming for.

Slowly, our movements were getting more coordinated as our chances of winning seemed to have increased, but that's when I felt a weird strand of miasma coming from underneath the floor.

(Kage): 'Jump Otou-san!'

Kage warned us as the bad feeling got worse. I immediately dropped my katana to put it in my shadow before grabbing the two women beside me, who were about to go for another attack and not prepared for defending.

(Shura): "Eh?"

(Mouth-slit woman): "Oh my."

The two of them made confused noises from the sudden grab but I ignored that as I took a hard step on the ground before jumping up. Immediately afterwards, the floor turned into a light grey colour before it caved in.

(Rin): "That was a close one."

I said as I subconsciously grabbed the women tighter in my arms which let me come in direct contact with their ċhėst.

Damn, they both have big tɨts. Even the mouth-slit women. You wouldn't think that if you look at her with just her jacket on.

(Kage): 'Otou-san loves bȯȯbs, huh.'

Kage said with an innocent voice as something annoying comes out of her mouth again. Oi, are you seriously gonna tease me like this during a fight? My cheeks twitched thanks to her words.

(Rin): 'Kage, just wait when we get home…'

I need to think of a way to punish her for the things she and the kids say. I thought that as we finally touched the ground and I let go of the two women.

The ground where we stood before became a pitfall with spikes at the bottom, huh. Damn, how much miasma does that freak has to make something this extravagant?

He should be low on it now though.

(Shura): "Shit, the kid!"

While I was thinking about how much miasma the demon has left, Shura suddenly yelled out when she noticed something.

The demon was approaching the kid. Slowly making his way towards him as the boy was paralysed in fear to move. I think I got an idea of what his weakness is, but it's still a hassle to do it when it feels like he's always gravitated towards the child.

(Wendigo king): "If there was something this bastard brat was good at, it was being surrounded by despair. I got more than my stomach could handle so it took time digesting it all."

The Wendigo king said as he raised his right arm and more grey miasma was released. The miasma compressed itself into another one of those bone spears as it hovered in the air, ready to be thrown.

The kid was looking at it with fear and resignation as if he's decided that it's impossible to avoid such attacks.

(Rin): "Oh, no you don't."

I said as I appeared behind it and swung my katana at him, which he blocks just in time. Dammit, how much despair did that kid have? No, I can't blame him for something like that.

(Wendigo king): "Kukuku, you knew if you dodged my bone drill earlier you wouldn't have had to suffer. You could've abandoned the kid instead and spared yourself from the pain. A foolish decision, you wannabe hero."

The Wendigo king said as he tried tearing me down both physically and verbally. A hero, huh…

That thought never crossed my mind, even as a kid.

(Rin): "I'm not even a decent human, much less a hero."

I said that as I stabbed him with more shadow scythes before trying to mess with his movements by having shadow arms grab him down.

They worked temporarily but soon after he physically rips them apart before taking Shura's attacks. Even then, they had no effect on him.

(Rin): "Tch, emotion-based power-ups are annoying."

I said in annoyance as I continued the same tactic as before but slightly changed them as time went on. Is there not an easy way to drain him of his miasma?

(Wendigo king): "If it was before, I would've been low on miasma. But right now I have enough fuel for the rest of the day."

The Wendigo king said that as a bone spike grew out of his body and nearly hit me if I didn't roll to the side. That was a close one. But judging from what he said I got an idea of how his powers work.

Time to try that new idea of mine. I thought that as retreated back and took a few slow deep breaths.

(Wendigo): "Oh? And what do you think you'll accomplish by just taking deep breaths? Are you gonna mediate and wait for Buddha to enlighten you? Khakhakha."

The Wendigo king asked with a burst of rough laughter. Instantly afterwards, he crossed his arm and several bone spears appeared once again. I'm starting to get sick of seeing the same thing over and over again, but I put those thoughts to the back of my head as I began gathering the shadows I needed for my plan

(Shura): "I don't know what yer doing but we'll help out!"

(Mouth-slit women): "Agreed."

The two of them said and they stood by my side and made defensive stances. Alright, looks like I'll have some peace of mind to do this now.

I temporarily ignored the battle for a bit as I concentrated on gathering the element of shadows. Similar to my flames that can devour other flames, Kage's shadows are able to do something similar with darkness. I spread out the shadow miasma that Kage has out to the world and let it interact with the other shadow elements nearby.

Since we're underground with bȧrėly much light, it was the perfect environment for Kage. I gathered shadow miasma from nearby shadows to the palm of my hand. It got bigger and bigger but then I focused on compressing it. Refine it. I changed its form based on the vision me and Kage dėsɨrėd.

We want to torture that fuċkɨnġ shit in the most gruesome way possible before killing him.

I've stopped questioning my mindset at this point. All I sought was payback for the drill to the gut and for hurting Kage.

(Rin): "Looks like this will be enough."

I said with a smirk as I gathered more than enough shadow elements to create my attack. If it was Kage's usual miasma reserve then there would've been issues with supporting this skill. Plus I'm not even attempting to optimise the skill. But this time it's made possible with the environment helping us out.

(Rin): "Shadow realm!"

I yelled out as I threw out the shadow orb the size of a basketball at the Wendigo. The Wendigo was surprised from the sudden shout, and most likely because he was afraid of what kind of attack I was preparing to do. He didn't have much time to dodge, thanks to Shura and the Mouth-slit woman getting in the way, as such he raised his arms to defend against it.

But it disappeared upon impact.

(Wendigo king): "Hah! Was that puny ball all you could accomplish?!"

The Wendigo king yelled out in triumph when he easily blocked my attack with his bȧrė skin. Too bad he wasn't aware of what was to happen next.

I just smirked while dealing with weakness in my body.

(Wendigo): "What the-?"

Shadows hands. Multiple shadow hands started appearing from the arm he used to defend against my attack. Soon the shadows spread as they engulfed his entire body. Immediately afterwards his screams could be heard as he suffered from pain he never thought was possible.

(Rin): "I'm drained."

I said that as I struggled to keep standing but somehow managed. Damn, that was the only move I could think of that both immobilised and drain him of his powers, but there was still too many inefficiencies with that move.

I guess Kage and I got something to practise for the time being. That move would've taken at least 5 times her normal miasma reserves.

(Shura): "Sheesh, that was a close one. Good job kiddo."

Shura said that to me as she grabbed my arm and had it over her shoulder. I've noticed this before, but although she has muscles, she's really soft.

(Shura): "What do you prefer? Beer or Sake?"

(Rin): "Huh?"

Shura asked a sudden question that confused me. What's this about?

(Shura): "It's for the victory drink, of course. We gotta celebrate our first mission together."

Ah, that makes sense. She was that kind of character after all.

(Rin): "Sure, I'll join. I guess Sake?"

I don't see why not. I'm not particularly scarred from alcohol even though my mother always drank it, but I always wondered what it was like to be drunk

(Shura): "Fufu, I knew you were an interesting kid."

(Rin): "Hmm?"

I made a confused noise in response. Uh, what kind of drink is Sake anyway? I only picked it out of the two because it's the most Japanese of them.

I have no alcohol knowledge after all. I wonder what it tastes like? Hopefully good considering my mother drinks it every weekend.

(Mouth-slit women): "..."

As I was thinking that, for some reason, the mouth-slit woman was just staring at me. I wonder what's her deal?

(Rin): "We're one step closer to your revenge right?"

I said as I wondered what she was thinking. It must've been a weird couple of minutes for her. A life-changing couple.

(Mouth-slit woman): "Yes. Although now that I'm liberated, I realise I'm not aware of my past life…"

The Mouth-slit woman said with a sad look. Wait, you only now realise the discrepancies? I guess that skinwalker did a good job fooling her. She didn't even question the blanks in her memories.

(Shura): "Amnesia huh."

(Rin): "Could be caused by the sudden race change shock."

(Shura): "Yeah, that's what I was thinking."

Although it doesn't affect us much, it's still worrying. What kind of demon was their leader? I doubt the skinwalker was strong enough to make her into a mouth-slit woman.

(Kage): 'I feel bad for her.'

Kage said telepathically with a sad tone. I agree with her, but I want to use this as a chance to teach her about some things.

(Rin): 'I'm the same. But remember Kage, sometimes there are situations where you can help an enemy change their ways, sometimes you just can't. I'm telling you this because I don't want you to lose your life helping someone that doesn't have a shred of humanity left.'

I may have said humanity is useless a while back, but these battles made me realise that even if we're demons, we still need to refrain from certain actions. A limiter is necessary for most things.

(Kage): 'Alright, Otou-san. I will be careful and take appropriate actions to the situations.'

That's reassuring the hear at least. A father's worries seem to have no bounds, huh.

(Rin): "!!"

(Kage): 'Otou-san!'

It was during that moment the two of us reacted immediately as we felt the connection from the shadow realm skill break. Looks like that was only enough to temporarily stop him.

Damn, this guy really is an annoying monster

(Wendigo): "Kukuku, I'm drained thanks to that attack. This doesn't seem like it'll end soon. Oh well."

The Wendigo king suddenly made another appearance before making a disgustingly large smile then touching the wall. From where he touched, it became a pale white before spreading towards everywhere. What the hell is he doing?

(Wendigo): "If that mad scientist questions why no one survived I'll just blame it on the two idiots. This is too much work than it's worth."

He said with a low tone as the ceiling started rumbling. Cracks immediately started to form and dust and other stuff were coming out.

Fuck, he's gonna bury us alive at this rate.

(Shura): "The ceiling's about to collapse!"

Shura said that as her usually smirk is nowhere to be found.

(Wendigo): "Kuku, it's been fun playing with you but I'm out of time now. If you're all still alive then I'll be sure to come back to skin you all alive."

The Wendigo said that during our confusion before he took notice of something and suddenly vanished before reappearing with someone in his hand. Dammit, his original annoying speed is back too.

(Wendigo): "Oh, ain't you lucky. You get to see the hero exorcist get killed in action."

The Wendigo King said that as he put his face uncomfortably close to the boy's face. He was holding him by the collar of his uniform before pointing him towards us.

(Boy): "N-no!"

The boy saw us in our precarious situation as he shouted before both his entire eyes became pitch black again. He tried using his telepathy skill to support the walls, but I don't know what happened but it looks like he messed up. The ceiling wall looks like it took a forward momentum towards it instead of receiving a gentle support, making it crumble even faster.

Dammit, I thought we had a chance if he did it right. The Wendigo seemed to have predicted it though as he was laughing his head off.

(Wendigo): "KHAKHAKHAKHA. Do you really think it's possible to use your powers that proficient so soon? You're a fool for thinking power was that easy! Khakhakhakha."

The Wendigo said as he turned his back towards us. He knows if we move the entire thing would just collapse. Dammit, that fuċker.

I guess I have no choice huh. I prepared myself for my fate as the situation was getting dire.

Time to use my flames.

(Kage): 'Wait, Otou-san!'

But before that plan was about to launch, I got interrupted by my daughter. What happened to her?

(Rin): 'What is it, Kage?'

(Kage): 'Use your purple flames.'

Purple flames? I've not used them for- I just had an idea. I should've used this a long time ago

(Kage): "When you used them against Stinky Pheles, I felt my powers getting stronger somehow. Try it again.'

I do recall using those flames to burn the photons of light, but I never thought of using it in conjunction with Kage's original powers. We don't have much time to think about it too much. It's do or die right now!

I calmed myself down as I released the flames that don't get much time to shine.

(Shura): "Purple flames?"

Shura said in confusion as my katana was now covered in purple flames while maintaining the shadow enchantment kage placed on earlier. I know for a fact explaining how these flames exist will be a headache, but for now, I couldn't care less.

(Wendigo): "You think those puny flames will be able to do anything?"

The Wendigo King said in contempt. Well, on their own, maybe not, but right now...

(Rin): "Vantablack Slash"

I said with a low tone as a shadow slash as dark the worlds darkest material was sent out. It was faster than even my flames as in an instant, the Wendigo king was defeated.

(Wendigo): "How-?!"

The Wendigo king said in confusion but wasn't able to finish it off.

(Rin): "Lights out for good this time."

I said that before stumbling over again.

(Shura): "Shit! The ceiling!"

Shura screamed out again as the ceiling collapsed. I tried moving my body but I didn't have a single ounce of energy left.

Fuck.

(A/N: Alternative Titles: "Collapsed supermarket", "Poor Kage, Tsuno will get annoyed", "I don't have a third alternative title. I'm dead tired rn.")

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