Reincarnation

› thirty-seven: seal.

❝i am more powerful

than i am damaged

and i will rise

from any abyss

you drown me in.❞

— nikita gill, never forget.

———

Why won’t they cut?

Once again, you try to cut the paper charms with a swift swipe of your sword, but to no avail—your blade slipping off of the charm.

Gods above, everything hurts.

Each time you moved, several small, sharp paper talismans would be sent towards you, tearing and cutting at your skin.

Honestly, you’re surprised at the fact that you’re still standing—just barely, but you powered through nonetheless, despite the hideous amount of wounds on your body and losing blood.

Although you tried your best at keeping your breathing techniques up and clotting your wounds, it was hard when they kept getting reopened by the talismans.

The thing with your father’s techniques, you noticed, was that he was always trying to trap or pin you down in some way, attempting to put you in a corner. Indeed, it reflected what he consistently did to you prior to your banishment.

He pushes you down, cages you, and puts chains around you—and those very chains are still stuck to you, even when you thought he was dead.

Inhaling shakily, you tighten your hold around the hilt of your katana; as soon as you did so, multiple talismans were sent towards you, cutting your legs—eliciting a quiet hiss at the persistent stinging.

I only have one option left.

“Tsukina, I summon you,” you whispered, biting the insides of your cheeks.

At this, you could feel the temperature in your body rise, as if you were right underneath the harsh rays of the sun beating down on you mercilessly, temples dripping with sweat and blood.

You let out a trembling exhale, swallowing thickly.

“You’re a stubborn child, going for this long without summoning me. Foolish, too. Foolish, stubborn, and resilient.”

“Are you finished with insulting me, Tsukina?” You retort, jaw clenching. “I don’t always want to rely on you when my friends can defeat demons without the use of a god or goddess within them.”

“Oh, is that what this is? There’s more to that,” She shot back, and you could picture her with her silver-white eyes narrowed with an eyebrow raised.

You bit the insides of your cheek. “I want to defeat my father on my own, without your help.”

“You are incredibly foolish, like I said. What I do to you is simply enhance your abilities, which are already excellent, with the Mark. I cannot do much as a goddess in a human body. A few of the things I can do is stop poison for a set time, heal faster, and help your counterpart heal. With Kemono by my side, your abilities that are already enhanced, will only grow stronger from there. Same with Kemono’s human.”

You stayed silent for a moment, taking in her words. She, Tsukina, a warrior goddess, said that you had “excellent” abilities.