The Red Hand

Chapter 35 – Shadow or Demon?

Hearing Akagi's distorted voice caused Mika to flinch, and the sudden realization of what she said crashed over her like a wave. Calling Akagi a monster was one thing; even she didn't deny that she was one, but; comparing her to a man who killed for pleasure was going too far, and Mika knew this.

Kana watched as their discussion turned into an argument between her sister and her friend. When she heard Mika compare her brother to Akagi, she could only watch in horror as the dark shadow behind her sister began to writhe in anger. Kana wanted to intervene, but hearing Akagi's angry distorted voice caused her to hesitate in fear.

Hishya expected that Mika wouldn't take this news well, but she never imagined the girl would insult Akagi in the worst way possible. Akagi would never deny being a murderer, but she drew the line at comparisons to psychopaths who killed for fun. Anyone who said such things to her face would swiftly find themselves on the brink of death. An outsider might say that murder was murder no matter one's reason for doing so. But if you were to ask Hishya which she would prefer, people like Akagi or people like Silver Wolf, she wouldn't even hesitate in her answer. She might not agree with what Akagi does, but compared to Silver Wolf, Akagi might as well be a saint.

Naomi was unfazed by the revelation of what Mika's brother had done in FWO. After all, the girl had not only seen the death of her family but requested Akagi enact revenge on her behalf so she was beyond de-sensitized to such things. However, once Akagi chimed in, she got a sinking feeling in her gut as if she knew what was about to happen. She had already been on the receiving end of Akagi's displeasure once before, but that hadn't prepared her for this.

Akagi's anger at Mika's statement reached a critical point, and her form slowly began to dissolve in front of the girl's eyes. Her hair had gone from its normal dark green to a black liquid-like substance, and her hands began to flicker between human and shadow. Thankfully, Akagi hadn't lost herself completely, and as she looked down at her, now distorted, hands she let out a laugh. Although to the girls, it sounded like the laugh of a demon.

[!@##$@#!@#.#!@#!@#$!$@!@$&$%#$#!@#@#$@#$@]. The words that came out of Akagi's mouth were unintelligible to the rest of the room, but they sounded unnatural. [$@$%$%#%%# $#$##@$@$#$%$%.]. Akagi took a deep breath and sat back on the sofa behind her as she returned to normal. She took a moment to compose herself before apologizing. Kana had to hold herself back from freaking out, she'd heard that sound once before when they were kids and she'd never imagined she'd hear it again.

"Sorry about that; I let myself get carried away." She looked at Mika. "I'll let you off the hook for that statement this time, I'll just chalk it up to your emotions running high." Akagi continued. "Just understand that I do not appreciate being compared in such a way."

All four of the girls could only nod rapidly in response.

{SCARY!!!!} (All of them).

"Umm." Mika stammered. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said any of that. You're not like my brother, nor are you a monster, Akagi." Mika understood that she had gone too far and cursed herself for getting carried away by her emotions. “I'm truly sorry for saying such awful things.” she gave a bow to both Akagi and Kana.

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{I... I ... she was so angry with me.... is... is that what Hishya is so afraid of?} Mika's carefree attitude was temporarily broken as she understood the gravity of her error. Her face was even covered in a light amount of sweat from the brief moment that Akagi's aura bared down on her. She might have held back, but Akagi's displeasure and anger was easy for all to see and it still scared her.

"Ok," Hishya spoke up. "So, do you want to explain why the hell you just spoke in Demon?" Hishya's face showed her bewilderment. "And don't try to tell me it was one of the scripted lines from the game! There was only one single enemy that spoke in Demon, and it most certainly didn't say whatever you just did. " Unique languages did exist in the FWO lore, but actual in-game examples were limited to a few lines of dialogue or text.

"Uhhhh...." Akagi scratched her cheek. "Can we just pretend I never did that?" Akagi tried to worm her way out of answering, but Hishya and Kana's stares' told her that wasn't happening. "I didn't think so."

"Does it have to do with you absorbing that Shadow Lord?" Kana figured that was the most likely answer.

Akagi flinched, which only confirmed Kana's suspicions. "Yes... yes, it does." Akagi thought for a moment. "So basically, when I absorbed the Shadow Lord and merged with it, a few things may have flowed back in the opposite direction." she began twiddling her thumbs.

"And that means?????" Hishya was equally curious and concerned by her statement.

"I got a part of its memories." Akagi spat out her answer. "And part of those memories was the knowledge of the Demon language." she let out a defeated laugh.

"You got its memories!" (Kana x Hishya.)

"Part of its memories." Akagi corrected

"That doesn't matter!" (Kana x Hishya.)

{Oh great, now I have to deal with both of them acting like this} Hearing both of them in stereo was annoying.

"What does that even mean? How could you have its memories? It was just a game event boss; they don't have memories." Hishya was still confused.

"Yeah, and the NPCs were mindless drones; look how well that assumption went Hishya." Akagi retorted with some snark. "If the NPCs were more than just simple programs, couldn't that go for the monsters or other things?" (Akagi)

"Ok, fair point lots of things about FWO don't make sense if we stick to the mindset that it was just a game." Hishya conceded the point. "But that still doesn't answer the original question. What memories did you get?" Hishya and Kana weren't going to let this go. "And also, why the hell didn't you tell me about this before today?!?"

"Well, I mean...." Akagi didn't have a good answer. "Anyway, moving on." she decided to dodge that last question. "As for the contents of the memories in question, they were mostly garbled with a few things that remained intact," Akagi explained that on top of its knowledge of the language, she also obtained information on its demonic powers.

"Is that all?" Kana pressed.

"Well, there were a few other memories, mostly about how it hated all mortals and wanted to burn the world to the ground, nothing important." Akagi nodded her head.

"That sounds important!" (Kana x Hishya.)

"Jesus Christ, are there two Kana's now?" Akagi didn't like this new dynamic. "And why would that be important? They were just the Shadow Lord's instinct-" as she said this she realized why this was an important point. "Oh...... Ohhhhhh.........."

"Hey look, she can use that head for more than just gaming." Hishya shook her head.

"Yeah, sometimes she can be so smart, and other times I question just how many brain cells she has." Kana pinched the bridge of her nose.

"Ha, ha, very funny you two. Keep it up, and ill toss you into my shadow for a while. The last person I did that to had such a fun time." Akagi looked at the two of them with a sadistic grin.

{She would, wouldn't she?} (All four girls)

"Let's not and say we did." Hishya had a bit of sweat on her forehead. "Regardless, do you understand just why we were so concerned about you taking those kinds of memories?" Hishya continued. "If you merged with those instincts it would explain some of your uh.... anger issues and your more..... aggressive tendencies." Hishya was trying to be as courteous as possible regarding this issue.

"Yeah, I've noticed that Onee-chan's sadism has gotten worse than it was before FWO." Kana knew her sister enjoyed messing with people, but she was on a whole new level now. "I guess merging with a literal demon and taking on some of its instincts would explain that."

Hearing them talk, Akagi could only let out a whistle as she tried to ignore them.

"Don't try and ignore us!" (Kana x Hishya.)

"I'm not trying to ignore you," Akagi stated. "I get why you're concerned, but it's fait accompli at this point." Akagi wasn't concerned. If anything, the idea that she had become more demonic because of the merging was cool to her.

"Onee-chan, your thoughts are written on your face." Kana sighed. "You have to be the only person who's happy to have become more like a demon!" Sometimes, Akagi really took it out of her sister.

"Honestly, this explains so much." Hishya shook her head. "So what did you just say in Demon? And also why did you speak in Demon?" Hishya was curious.

"Well, the why is just because it felt right?" Akagi just kind of slipped into it, so she couldn't really give an answer. "As for the what, I decline to answer." Whatever it was, it wasn't something she wanted to share with the class.

"I doubt it was anything bad," Naomi interjected. "Whatever you said seemed directed at yourself rather than one of us." Naomi was a language student and was quite good at reading lips and body language.

Akagi just shrugged. [@!#@$#@@$##] the unnatural language filled the air.

"Please don't do that," Hishya complained. "Whenever you speak in Demon, it's like nails on a chalkboard, except the chalkboard is my brain."

"Yeah, I second that opinion." Kana agreed.

"Not the worst sound, but pretty bad." Naomi chuckled.

"I don't know; it's not really that bad." Mika was the only one who seemed unphased.

{Her head is empty, so that makes sense.} (Naomi x Kana)

"Kana, your just as bad as your sister at keeping your thoughts off your face," Mika called her out. "And I'll have you know; my head is only mostly empty." She laughed, which caused everyone else to join in. Her self-depreciation had cleared the air in the room and lightened up the mood.

"Well, it's good to know just how bad the Demon Tongue sounds for you," Akagi smiled. "One more arrow for my quiver." This bit of information was definitely, not going to be used against them in the future.