CHAPTER III: UNEXPECTED REUNION

Sensing the incoming attack, Damia quickly avoided Mikhail's jumping knee-strike and parried his punches with ease. This frustrated Mikhail, who attempted to grab her leg, but Damia grabbed his head to prevent it and struck him in the face with her knee. Briefly stunned, Damia landed a vicious uppercut, extending the duration of time for Mikhail to be stunned. 

Looking at the young man who was losing his balance, Damia tricked him into blocking her jab and landed three punches to his abdomen and chest. She then dashed at him before sidestepping and striking his temple followed by a devastating strike to his face, knocking the young man down to his knees.

With a disgusted expression, Damia spoke up, "The once miracle child who bested an ancient powerful Demon was easily defeated. Pathetic, looking at you right now, it's pathetic."

Lifting his chin with her boot, Damia then continued, "Seeing you like this makes me realize that even if you use those accursed eyes, you are still no match against me. I am literally a superior and perfect being. Since you refuse to cooperate, I'm going to make you watch how I slaughter them one by one."

"Nggh…" groaning in pain, Mikhail mustered the remaining of his strength to stand up but Damia slapped him so hard that he fell to the ground and screamed in agony when she stomped his chest, breaking a few ribs. "G-Gah!!"

"A filthy dog like you should just stay on the ground," Damia conjured a dagger from her palm and violently stabbed his right shoulder. "Let's put a beautiful artwork on that body of yours."

Tightening the grip around the handle of the dagger, Damia viciously dragged the dagger to Mikhail's right knee. She then crushed his left kneecap and pressed his throat with the sole of her boot, preventing him from screaming and breathing. Admiring the injured state of Mikhail, the daughter of Dayana formed a hand sign to summon four large demonic wolves. 

"Devour them all, starting with that girl."

Before any of those wolves could bid her command, Damia was struck by Ammar from behind with a chair. Being an inhuman being, she was unfazed by the attack. The tall woman only felt disgusted and angered before swiftly turning around and grabbing him by his neck. 

"How dare you hit me from behind… HOW DARE YOU HIT ME WITH A COWARD MOVE?! DO YOU WANT TO BE A HERO SO BADLY?!"

Ammar grabbed Damia's wrist with two hands, trying to breathe but the Demon refused to let him do so and tightened her grip around his neck. She slowly crushed his windpipe, causing the young man to roll his eyes until the irises were gone. 

Desperate to escape, Ammar clenched his fist tightly and struck her in the face. A miracle occurred where Damia felt a slight vibration followed by a painful sensation that caused her to drop Ammar and briefly staggering. She touched her face and saw blood on her finger.

"Wh-What?" Damia looked at her blood with a surprised expression.

Even Mikhail and everyone else was surprised, especially Mikhail who then realized something. Gritting his teeth and adjusting the rhythm of his breathing, all the injuries that were caused by Damia slowly healed themselves. The Cursed Child forced himself to stand up and push Ammar just in time as Damia pointed her disfigured fingers at him.

Suddenly, Mikhail's arms were sliced off and there was a deep gash below his chest area. He coughed up blood and tried to keep his distance away from Damia. Unfortunately, the daughter of Damia refused to let him do so and continued attacking Mikhail with invisible slashes.

After the final slash landed, the bleeding Mikhail collapsed to his knees and coughed up blood. He looked at the horrified Ammar and the crying Camellia with a smile and fell to the ground. They were about to rush towards Mikhail, but Damia knocked them out cold with a demonic shockwave.

"Tch. You are not going to die. Mother wants you for the greater good." 

Approaching the unconscious Mikhail, Damia attempted to capture him only for a mysterious dancing flame-like aura to cover his entire body, preventing her from doing so. Damia widened her eyes when she sensed an extremely powerful yet malicious energy from Mikhail, who mysteriously began to float and regenerate the loss of his arms. 

Staring at the unconscious Mikhail who's floating in the air, Damia felt a sense of familiarity when she saw a pair of blazing wings appear on his back. The unconscious Mikhail slowly opened his left eye, revealing a glowing red eye. 

Before Damia could react, Mikhail flew at her and punched her as hard as he could, knocking her away. She was about to stand up, but Mikhail fired a single, powerful, laser beam from the third eye on his forehead, pushing Damia deeper into the ground. He stood over her and began to brutally pummelling her, not giving any chance to the Demon to defend herself.

Mikhail stopped when Damia seemed to be not moving. He grabbed her by her neck and sneered at the seemingly unconscious Demon who opened her eyes and gave a devilish smirk. In less than a second, Damia thrust her entire right arm through Mikhail's chest.

Coughing up blood, Mikhail looked at her arm as his glowing red eye reverted to normal. The injured Demon pushed her arm deeper before violently removing it and punching him to the ground. She scoffed and licked his blood, savouring the taste of it. By tasting Mikhail's blood, not only did Damia regain all her energy but also healed the wounds that he inflicted. She then lifted Mikhail's body via telekinesis and attacked him with a rain of invisible slashes, gravely injuring the young man. 

"I don't know what happened to you, but that hurt a lot. How about we just wrap this up?"

Conjuring a collar with chains attached to it, Damia was ready to capture the dying Mikhail. Suddenly, all the diamond spikes that blocked the escape route were destroyed and a shadowy figure appeared. That shadowy figure kicked Damia away and caught the falling Mikhail.

Mikhail, who was bleeding profusely from head to toe, opened one eye slowly and was shocked to see the person who saved him. Despite the blurry vision, Mikhail could clearly tell the identity of the person that saved him. 

"K-Katagiri… Shizuka…"

The person who saved him was an average-height, fit, young Japanese woman with a blonde wolf cut hairstyle. Her onyx eyes gazed into Mikhail's single eye and a small smile formed on her beautiful face. 

'My God, Genji,' Shizuka thought to herself when she saw the condition of her former enemy. She snapped back to reality when Mikhail held her hand weakly. "Hey, hey, it's alright. You'll be safe, I promise you."

"Please… Please… I'm begging you," Mikhail whispered with tears in his eyes to Shizuka and then used the remaining of his strength to point at the unconscious Ammar and Camellia. "S-Save them… Save them please…"

"Don't let them… die… like those… two people… I failed to…" 

Mikhail was unable to finish his sentence due to the injuries that he sustained and passed out. As for Shizuka, she looked at the two students and then the smirking Damia. Gently placing down the unconscious Mikhail, Shizuka gave a stern glare at the smirking Damia.

"Hey, he's mine and if you think you can take him without suffering my wrath, then you are fucking wrong." Shizuka angrily said to Damia who scoffed arrogantly.

"Don't worry about it, Katagiri. I will get him eventually and you will be the first one to witness and die at his hands after my beloved mother turned him into her loyal dog," Damia said as she conjured a flaming portal. "As much as I enjoy terrorizing these students, fighting you is not on my list yet. I'll see you soon."

Once Damia stepped inside the portal, Shizuka shifted her attention to the unconscious Mikhail and lifted him up. She was taken aback when she found out how light Mikhail was and horrified to see his injuries. 

"Captain Shizuka," a man in a suit arrived with dozens of people like him as well who went to check on the frightened students and those who died. "We already scanned the entire university, no sign of any Demons. As for those two students, we've already transported them to the jet. So, this is Genji Mikazuki, eh?"

Shizuka nodded her head and then realized that Mikhail had placed an illusion all over his body. She dispelled it by touching his forehead, causing the illusion to wear off and revealed a very skinny and fragile Mikhail with long hair, shocking her once again.

"Let's get moving."

Walking away from the cafe, Shizuka glanced at the unconscious Mikhail and whispered that he's safe and she would ensure that he would be safe. As long as she lives, he will be safe from any harm of the Demons, especially Dayana.

***

"Don't worry, it's not going to be as painful as you expected."

"AARGHHH!!"

Mikhail screamed in agony and tried to escape but the chains around his neck, wrists, and ankles that attached to the cold metal bed prevented him from doing so. He watched in horror as his chest was ripped apart by someone. He gritted his teeth and cried as loud as he could when he felt his left lung being stabbed by a knife.

He looked at the person who dissected his chest and shed a single tear from his eyes, prompting the person to wipe away his tears and lean closer. Her dark purple eyes gave a soul-piercing gaze while her left hand caressing his cheek and smirked.

"Don't worry. This is for your future," she leaned closer and whispered in his ear. "This is the beginning of your extraordinary life."

Mikhail widened his eyes and screamed at the tops of his lungs when the woman began to squeeze his beating hard while chanting something in his ear.

The scene then shifted to an injured Mikhail hiding in a closet while a female voice called him out. Catching his breath, Mikhail released a sigh of relief only for a pair of hands grabbing him from behind and yanking him. Staring at the woman who's been torturing him for God knows how long, Mikhail tried to run away but the woman threw a spear that went through his knee.

"LET ME GO! LET ME GO, DEMON!"

The woman ignored Mikhail and grabbed a bunch of his hair, yanking it very hard and clawed his face with her sharp nails. She then took out a syringe filled with oozing substances and injected it into his neck, causing him to slowly lose his consciousness.

When Mikhail opened his eyes, he found himself floating inside a tank with many needles attached to his back, neck, and forehead, pumping unknown substances into his body. He looked around and saw his captor who smiled at him and placed her hand on the glass tube.

Mikhail closed his eyes and when he opened them back, he found himself slowly drowning in a vast ocean with his right hand seeming to be reaching out for someone. He saw a shadowy figure getting closer and trying to grab his hand, but Mikhail quickly pulled his arm away.

The shadowy figure said in a demonic voice, "You still refuse to accept my help?"

Mikhail mentally replied, 'You are nothing but just an intruder in my body… A parasite.'

"I am you, Genji. You can't deny my existence or reject my help because I am you and you are me."

'I'd rather die than acknowledge your existence.'

"Then you will lose two people that you really cared for and when that happens, I will take over your body."

'Bullshit.'

"Allow me to show you the inevitable future."

Mikhail then found himself standing before Ammar who spotted a new appearance; numerous markings all over his muscular scarred body with spiky white hair. He scanned the environment and deduced that they were in Kuala Lumpur, albeit a ruined one. The scene then shifted to Mikhail facing a corrupted and demonic Camellia who teamed up with a transformed Ammar.

"This is the future and this is where you will fall if you refuse to accept my existence."

The scene shifted to a dying Mikhail smiling at the crying Shizuka who held him tightly. He whispered something to her ear and before taking the last breath and died with a smile.

Seeing the past and future, Mikhail coldly said to the shadowy figure, 'I don't need you, Demon. The visions that you've shown me were just possible outcomes. I will change it.'

He slowly closed his eyes and then heard the voice repeatedly calling him out with a different name, Azazel. Right before being consumed by darkness, a familiar female voice spoke to him.

"Arise my champion, Azazel."

***

"!!"

Mikhail woke up with a frightened expression and looked around him frantically. After calming himself, Mikhail noticed he's inside an unfamiliar room and got off the bed. Looking into the mirror, he looked at his reflection and briefly witnessed a demonic version of himself, causing Mikhail to shatter it into pieces with a punch.

"Where the hell am I?" 

Putting on the clothes that he saw and covering his right eye with bandages, Mikhail tried to figure out what happened. From the end of his class to rehearsal of his debate club, saving Camellia from an attacker, and witnessing Ammar and Camellia being harmed by the same attacker.

Wait… 

He widened his lone eye and immediately left the room. Scanning his surroundings, Mikhail finally figured out where he was right now and quickly jumped onto the rooftop of the nearby building.

'This place,' he thought to himself after noticing several guards patrolling the area. 'This fucking place!'

Sneaking around while locating Ammar and Camellia's presence via detecting their life-force energy, Mikhail stealthily hopped from one rooftop to another until he arrived at their location. He quickly knocked out the two guards and entered the room, seeing the two of them talking to one another.

"Mika?!" The two of them called out for his name as Mikhail rushed at them and gave a hug. 

"Thank God, you two are safe… Listen, we are not safe here. We need to escape from this place. I don't know what they told you guys but," Mikhail paused when he saw the eye patch that covered Ammar's right eye. "Oh, Ammar… I am so… so sorry… What happened…?"

Ammar brushed it off and proudly said, "The Demon that attacked you somehow destroyed my eye with her energy. But hey, at least I saved your life. How cool is that? Saving the hero from that creepy bitch."

Camellia giggled and Mikhail gave a small smile, thanking his close friend for lightening up the mood. He then grabbed their wrists and told them they needed to follow him and ask questions later, which they complied. 

As soon as the three students stepped outside from the room, they were greeted by dozens of swordsmen and swordswomen that surrounded them from every direction. Mikhail looked at them one by one and saw someone who he despised.

A young woman with long dark hair and fringes above her light brown eyes. She stood in front of these people armed with a simple katana.

"Miku, who is that?" Camellia asked Mikhail who clenched his fist tightly and whispered her name in a venomous tone.

"Genji Mizuki… My elder sister."