𝗙𝗮𝘁𝗲~ Toge Inumaki

Chapter 17

"Do you feel that?" I asked and Toge was already looking ahead with tense muscles. The aura was dark and strong just like the time before at the playground.

We continued to carefully walk towards the source of the aura as it got more intense. Yet again the smell of rotting flesh contaminated the dusty air, causing us to suffocate.

As we got closer, we could feel the darkness and animosity in the atmosphere and it was like a magnet, attracting us. It was so powerful that my body started to tremble on it's own, sending an unsettling feeling throughout my body. My fingers unconsciously wrapped itself around Toge's pinky as we walked closer to the door. When he noticed he took my entire hand and interlocked it with his. By doing that my body somehow eased down a bit but I suddenly became flustered. Though he probably thought nothing of it, my face was slightly turning red and I couldn't look at him.

We got closer to the door that seemed to lead to the demon and when we both peered in we could see 2 things on the floor. One seemed like a human and the thing on top of it was definitely a demon. It had long claws, sharp razor teeth and its body was pale and muscular. Its eyes were gouging out of its sockets and it's mouth dripped with blood as it feasted upon the human's flesh.

"Should we call Mr. Satoru?" I whispered but that alerted the demon. His head was turnt and he was now facing us, his blood stained teeth was now visible in the light. My grip on Toge's hand got tighter as I watched him stand up. His eyes were a dark hue of red and his mouth was clenched. We were both standing there in shock as horns began to grow out of his skull, piercing his skin. I could feel my leg tingling then it started to move forward. Toge shifted his position as he was confused at my sudden action but still held onto my hand.

"What are doing?!" He suddenly yelled.

"I don't know! My body is moving on its own!" I tried to hold onto his hand but it slowly slipped out of my reach.

"Stay back! It could hurt you!" I retorted when I saw Toge getting closer to grab me. I didn't want him to get hurt nor did I want to get hurt. I couldn't even defend myself because I hadn't got my powers yet. Toge couldn't even control his own properly yet so there was a low chance of escaping.

Everything was all just happening so fast, my legs were slowly inching closer to the demon that stood dormant. Toge was couple feet behind me, unable to do anything.

"Your scent is sweet. You have more than enough to satisfy my hunger," it casually spoke.

"But master---" he stopped then looked down in annoyance.

"What kind of demon are you?!" I questioned in utmost amazement. No normal demon could possibly even speak much less comprehend this much.

"Any last words?" It devilishly asked as it's face drew closer to mine. It's razor sharp teeth were now visible as it opened it's mouth.

"Want a breath-mint?" I jokingly asked but regretted it later when his teeth were about to pierce my skin.

"Stop!!" I heard Toge yell from behind but this time it was in an echoey manner. It was his powers. The demon's actions completely stopped, only it's claws slightly twitched.

My head quickly shot into Toge's direction who was now on both knees. He was coughing out blood and his hands were shaking. His weakened state caused his technique to ware off, allowing the demon movement once again.

It's focus was now on him and it had an angry look on its face.

"RUN" I yelled to Toge. My voice was hoarse and cracked. The demon's arm had transformed into a thin sharp blade and was stretched long enough to meet Toge. Everything somehow went into slow motion and I was able to scan the demon's actions.

I ran in front of Toge as I saw it's arm moving towards him. The last glimpse I got was Toge's face, he looked at me appalled. I closed my eyes, waiting for its piercing impact but felt nor heard anything.

"Y/n...." I heard Toge's voice in a lowered tone. I slowly opened my eyes and he was still kneeling there as he was before. He wasn't injured by the demon nor did I, myself felt pain. My eyes were completely open now and a thin ring of black cloud was around me. I turned around and saw the trail of the dusty but cloudy mixture wrapped around the demon, restricting it's movement. I looked at my hands and saw the same light, dusty mixture floating around in both of my palms. It was like dust but it's technique on the demon was solid.

I turned around to look at Toge in amazement and muttered, "I did that...", with a weak smile on my face. I was clueless on how it actually worked or what techniques I could conjure up but it looked amazing. The flow of power in me was growing, increasing by the second. The demon's body began to slowly wither and shrink. I'm taking it's power? Damn this is cool.

I turned to Toge's weakened body and carefully helped him up. His mouth was tainted with blood but luckily he was able to walk. His arm was around my shoulder for balance and we both turned our backs to walk out when we heard a slight aggravated groan coming from behind us. I don't know what happened but when I turned around the cloud was wrapped around it's entire body, squeezing the life out of it. We watched in silence as it's head got bloated then popped right in front of us. The black blood splattered all across the room then incinerated in a split second, leaving no evidence of its gruesome death. The menacing aura that was once there vanished at the recollection of the demon's death. Toge and I were both staring at each other, my jaw was hanging as I processed what I had done.

"I- how are we going to explain this to Mr. Satoru...?" It was all too confusing and unbelievable.

"Let's just get out of here." He responded. He removed his hand from my shoulder and was able to walk properly on his own. When we were out of the horrible room, the corridors were different, as if they had changed. There was no stairway leading downstairs, just more rooms on each sides of the wall. Behind us led to another corridor which was blanketed in darkness.

"I don't think I'm hallucinating right now....so where do we go?" I said with a sigh then turned my attention to Toge. He looked both ways first then came to a decision.

"Let's split up. If we find the stairs or the exit we'll meet back right here. Agreed?" -Toge

"Split up? Here? Are you sure that's a good idea—" I questioned with slight fright. Who knows what else was out there and what it could do to us. Splitting up in a place like this was basically asking for death.

"If something's wrong just call me", he said as he waved his phone in front of me.

Before we went our separate ways I rummaged inside my backpack to give Toge something.

"Here" I handed him a pack of tissues.

"What's this for?" -Toge

"Just in case your mouth bleeds again", I said then slowly started to back away into the darkness. Splitting up it is then.

"If I die here I'm blaming it on you", I expressed as Toge was getting out of view. I heard a low chuckle echoing in the corridors from where he was.

How can we possibly joke after all the disturbing things we went through?

A/N
|| this chapter gave off Gaara and parasyte vibes for some reason lol. Anyways sorry for the slow progress. I hope it's enjoyable ||