Release me. Now. Or I 》 The girl looked down, and the man who had spoken to her was wearing a strange costume. A black, tattered costume. The color, if one paid attention to it, wasn't black; it was the color of moldy earth. He had a scar that ran down the left side of his face, one that looked to be of great importance. From the moment the man in black had appeared, the young girl had ceased moving. The man in black said something as he stood before her. A command, perhaps. It was a command she couldn't disobey. The man in black gave her a small amount of sake, which she downed without hesitation. Then, the man in black went to the left and picked up a sword that he had kept beside him. “Kill...” He had said. “Kill her, too...” He thrust the sword, once. The man in black had left the village. The girl had gone to another girl and, after drinking a little of her sake, had whispered, “The man in black is planning something terrible.” No one believed her, but since the group was heading into the forest, her words came back to haunt the entire group. And, in this land, the man in black held the highest status. He'd taken something from the group; someone had to return it. It would be best for everyone if that person was the man in black. He was a man of no emotion. No emotion meant no room for error. He might have killed those girls, but their deaths weren't his mistake, or the fault of those who had been slaughtered. That was the problem. There was a gap between those who knew how to act and those who didn't, and the man in black moved through this space like the wind. A blade of grass might fall apart from a passing breeze, but there was no sign of the man in black. When they arrived at the forest, he had already been waiting. Of course, he hadn't actually been there. He was in the tree beside her, hiding among the branches. “Who's the last girl who was killed?” It was the only question she could muster. The man in black was silent for a while. “Suzuka,” he said. “The 《Viceroy of the Northern Lands》’s daughter.” The girl, shocked, took a step back. The man in black was the highest power in this land. She had seen him once, when she was just a small child. His eyes had been red, and he was wearing the clothes of a noble. She'd never forgotten his expression. Now, she was sure that he had been a monster. “Why?” Her question was useless, and the man in black once again remained silent. “I...” The girl tried to speak. She was unable to do so. She was a soldier, though, and had the will to protect others. She raised her spear, and was certain that the man in black could feel its weight. But, this was a dream, and the man in black vanished like smoke. It was useless to run through the dream. The man in black would not be frightened; instead, he would kill her. If she wished for him to be hers, she should die. And yet, she could not move. This was different from the man in black pulling her out of the forest. He'd asked a question that, because she hadn't answered, he would kill her. But, the question had been posed to her, and there was no answer that could bring her back. But then, the man in black had appeared. The man in black had disappeared and, in his place, the sky darkened. It wasn't a very wide forest. It was an ordinary night, nothing special at all, but it was as though, for some reason, the trees could sense it. Perhaps it was the man in black. From the dark night, the sky became as clear as glass. “We’re going to die here.” The girl had no choice but to admit her mistake. The man in black took the girl’s voice and used it to cast spells. He was, perhaps, the lord of this land. He knew every line and spell, even if he had only one spell. He pulled, and a forest of tree roots rose up. She had no time to think, no time to plan, and, for the first time, her voice failed her. “Don’t...” This was the end, no doubt about it. She had been born and raised here, and would die here. There was a gap, of course, between her and the man in black, but she wasn't one to ask for help, nor did she have the luxury of thinking about it. “Don’t lose yourself. I might be the last. But I’ll get you home. Forgive me, but...” He cast an attack, and the darkness swallowed her. But, there were flashes of white, and her body began to change. There was nothing that would let her stop it, and it was already too late. Her clothes were ripped from her back, and her breasts disappeared. He was a man, and he didn't have the mind of a woman. But, there was one thing she could do. She reached out and wrapped her arms around him. Her feelings were strong, more than his, and as her blood mixed with his, they became one. She hadn't wanted to save herself. She had wanted to save him, for he had lost himself, too. But, to be honest, if he had died, the girl would've felt nothing. She would have been released. The man in black and the girl merged with each other, creating the land of demons. And the man in black saw it. “What have you done?!” “You killed me!” As it had been with the man in black, the same thing happened to her. She was taken. She was one with him. There were no more sounds. Nothing could be heard. She felt nothing, and if she was in pain, she couldn't tell. The girl's body no longer belonged to her. She was, perhaps, only a part of the man in black, just a thing that hadn't been born yet. He had saved her for this very reason. Just as she had been saved by the man in black. He had taken her body in return for his own. Even if she was able to return home, she would be unable to speak. She would, in fact, be unable to do anything at all. But he could. He had already killed countless people. And now, he was going to do the same to her. A blade of grass might fall apart from a passing breeze, but there was no sign of the man in black. This boy who had stolen his body was different. He wasn't a thing of the man in black, but he was only a part of him. A part of him, no less. He might as well have been created from the man in black. His body was being controlled by the man in black. In a brief moment, that had been severed. There was no way that she could make it so he himself controlled his body, so he could live. What would happen if she tried? She only could not know. The man in black turned his eyes away from the blade of grass. The boy had stopped trying to run. No more blood had been shed. But, he didn't want to give up. Even if the man in black died, he could do nothing. He would die here. He had only wanted to save the man in black. But, he couldn't have expected this. He'd only been a weapon, a tool for the man in black to use. “Please...” The man in black had been alone, and he had never been given a chance to save anyone. He wouldn't have gone with her if he hadn't wanted her to go home. He was only a small child, and he had no choice but to grow up and be alone. “I’ll save you, too, as long as you don’t die. You are not a spirit, so I can’t save you. I can only save myself, so I’ll save you for now, at least.” He had been saved. She had been saved. Both had been saved. But that wouldn't do, so she repeated the girl's plea, so that the boy wouldn't despair. “I’ll do as you say. Let’s go back