SLKD – Volume 1 Chapter 9

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Volume 1 Chapter 9 – Takahashi, Demons, and Satsuki

Dark Forest. About 1 kilometer north of Satsuki’s house. It seems that demons inhabit that forest, so very few people go there.

By the time I reached Dark Forest Central, it was already 8:01.

Dammit, am I too late?

I desperately ran towards the ancient tree at the center of the Dark Forest,.

Truthfully speaking, the moment Takahashi hung up the phone, I desperately ran straight out. Originally, Silent Water and Dusty wanted to follow me, but I refused. Sure enough, the aura I felt from Takahashi today was indeed a demon. Since it’s a demon, I couldn’t let them go. I didn’t want them to get hurt.

Arriving at the ancient tree, I discovered that Takahashi sat on top of a rock and Satsuki was tied to the ancient tree. Surrounding the ancient tree, was drawings of strange runes, as if it was a preparation for some ceremony.

“You really came!” Takahashi looked at his phone: “Just on time, exactly 8:00.” The time showed on Takahashi’s phone was probably slower.

“What… do you… think… you’re doing?” I asked while panting.

“Ah, obviously it’s to attain strong power.” Takahashi’s usual handsome face, now looked to be as ugly as a demon.

“Why… Satsuki?”

“That’s obviously because she’s very suitable to be my power source.”

“Lin Xiang, just leave quickly. Don’t worry about me.” Satsuki shouted from the top of the tree.

“What does that mean?” By now, my strength have basically recovered.

“Simply put, my slave. After finishing the ceremony, she’ll obey me. As for me, I’ll have her go and seduce some capable people, after which, I’ll have them killed, and obtain their power.”

Relying on killing to increase their power? This is practically the same as demons.

“Why are you tell me all these?” Satsuki will become your slave? Don’t joke with me. Dammit, why did Takahashi became like this.

“To someone who’s about to die, why would I need to keep it a secret. I’ll let you die knowing everything. Did you know, Lin Xiang, at the beginning, I had wanted to court her, but she was too timid, so there’s no way for me to have a proper conversation with her. So, I wanted to take my time, and bit by bit, open her heart. But during this few days, you became close to Satsuki, and disrupted my plans. During the mock battles lesson, I increased the level of the demons. But to my surprise, you managed to avoid its attacks. Now, she’s able to chat with me normally. I realised, Satsuki had fallen for you, dammit. So I had no other choice but to do it the hard way.

The one who Satsuki likes is you! You bastard. Dammit, Takahashi, all this time, the way you treated me kindly, were all a lie? Dammit.

“Lin Xiang, to be able to become the sacrifice for this ceremony, you should feel honored.” While speaking, he launched fire magic; a fireball at me.

I quickly dodged.

“I knew it. Lin Xiang, you’ve changed. Your speed has increased. However….” Just as Takahashi finished speaking, a burst of golden magic appeared behind me. No matter where I ran or what I did, I couldn’t shake it off. Awhile later, a bunch of silver swords came flying out of it.

Shit, so many swords. How am I supposed to dodge them all?

With a roll, I managed to dodge a wave of attack; then as he initiated the 2nd wave of attack, I took cover behind the tree.

*Ka-ca.* With a thud sound, the big tree fell to the ground.

That golden magic’s attack power was nothing to joke about.

“Lin Xiang.” Satsuki anxiously shouted from the side.

“Dammit.” Takahashi got a little angry since his attacks couldn’t land.

Soon after, a series of water, lightning, and fire magic came aiming for me but I still dodged all of it.

At this moment, Takahashi was running of patience as well: “Lin Xiang, you bastard, I dare you to stop hiding.”

“Takahashi, you bastard, I dare you to not use magic.” You idiot, when you’re using magic, how can I not hide. Do you think I’m stupid?

“Fine, Lin Xiang, I’ll take up your challenge.” Takahashi said as such, and stopped his magic attacks and ran towards me.

You bastard, I definitely won’t forgive you. I made a promise to nerdy Lin Xiang that I would protect Satsuki. Even if it’s you, as long as you hurt her, then I’ll defeat you with my own hands.

I came out of hiding, and ran at Takahashi.

Takahashi threw a straight punch at me. I blocked, and returned a punch back. His reaction speed was very fast as well; managed to dodge my punch, and followed it up with an elbow attack to my face.

As I dodge, I threw a punch to his stomach and it connected. He moved back two steps while clutching his stomach.

“Takahashi, you bastard.” I raised my hands, with the intention of beating him down. Suddenly, Satsuki cried out: “Watch out.”

*Siii~~* A black sword suddenly pierced my abdomen from behind.

“Ah~~~” As I collapsed to the ground, I saw Takahashi laugh sinisterly: “ Well~ hahaha. Lin Xiang, you’re really stupid, did you actually think that I’d fight you barehanded?

“Lin Xiang~~~” Satsuki desperately tried to break free from the rope but she was firmly tied.

“Bastard… the one Satsuki liked was you…. at first I intended to allow Satsuki to go out with you, but, as the way you are now, you’re not worthy of Satsuki.” I shouted loudly.

Damn, it hurts. Was this the strength of a demon? Was this guy possessed by a demon?

“Like me?” Takahashi looked at me with doubtful eyes and then laughed afterwards: “Hahaha, you worthless person, are you begging for mercy? But, such a shame. Since you know everything, you need to die now. After I get that power, I shall become a new generation of king, and only I, will be able to save this world that’s filled with demons.”

“Right now you’re a demon.” Satsuki was crying: “Lin Xiang, Lin Xiang… please be safe. Takahashi Nobuhiko, you asshole.”.

“You slut, take the chance while you still can to yell all you want. Afterwards, you’ll be submitting to me.”

“Lin Xiang… Lin Xiang… listen. Leave me alone and run now while you still can. Listen Lin Xiang, I like you. These past few days, I realised, the one I like is you. Do you know why I fell for Takahashi? That’s because every time you’re in trouble, he’ll always help you.” Since I was in a lot of pain, I couldn’t clearly hear what Satsuki was saying: “Lin Xiang, leave quickly, even if I really turn into his puppet and lose my conscious, please remember. I, Satsuki Risa, really like… Lin Xiang….”

Dammit Satsuki, what’re you trying to say? I can’t hear any of it. But can your expression not look so sad?

“Okay, Lin Xiang. Now, with you as the sacrifice, I’ll start the ceremony. In your final dying moments, you’ll be able to witness Satsuki become my puppet.” Takahashi turned around and a big black magic array appeared, immediately followed by Satsuki’s screams of suffering. Awhile later, the screams stopped. From the looks of it, she must have fainted.

Dammit, am I really going to just die like this? It’s only just a little stab.

I used all my strength to move my left hand to my wound. Looks like it’s a serious injury. Dammit.

“Woof~~~” Dusty’s voice rang in my ear.

Dusty?

“Master, master are you alright?” Silent Water hurriedly ran to me and used water magic to heal me.

“Spirits?” At this moment, Takahashi had noticed Silent Water and immediately afterwards, as if he had gotten mad: “Human form spirits? Is this real? This… this… isn’t she too beautiful?”

Silent Water fiercely glared at the person who did this to me. Afterwards, she applied a mass of water onto my abdomen and stood up.

Ah~~~ it’s blue.

Today, Silent Water’s dress was blue. Coincidentally, my head was right under her dress.

Seriously, what’s wrong with me? In this crucial moment, I still was in the mood to look at Silent Water’s underwear?

“The one who harmed master, must not be forgiven.” Silent Water’s voice was filled with anger.

This is my first time seeing the angry side of Silent Water.

“Oh? Oh? Oh? Angry? The human spirit is angry? Ha ha, this is fun. Hey babe, do you want to follow me? Together we can save this world?” Takahashi crazily said.

“I’ve nothing to say to the one who hurt my master.” As she said this, she released streams of high pressure water jets, each with speed of a firing laser gun.

Takahashi easily dodged them and watched as those water jet streams pierced through seven or eight big trees. Takahashi seemed pleased: “Oh~~~ really impressive. I want you more and more as my spirit now. What else are you capable of? Bring them out, enlighten me.”

After Silent Water missed the water jets, she immediately switched to a stronger magic: Watersprout.

“Little Silent. You can’t, the current you can’t use such a strong magic.”

This isn’t the demon world, Silent Water. You can’t use too much magic.

As if Silent Water hadn’t heard me, two huge tornados rapidly went to attack Takahashi.

Watersprout has quite an immense power. Moreover, when flanked from both sides,Takahashi wasn’t able to escape and was hit straight on.

“Satsuki.” At this moment, I was very worried about Satsuki.

“Woof!” Dusty dragged Satsuki out.

“Satsuki.” Seeing that Satsuki was fine, I felt relieved.

“Satsuki, are you alright?” I shook the unconscious Satsuki but there was no response.

Even though it’s water magic, that strong attack still inevitably led to lots of dust.

“Not bad.” Suddenly, Takahashi’s voice came from within the dust: “I really like you.” Takahashi’s voice quieted down and the dust was blown away in a short time. In the middle of the dust, was a floating Takahashi who was surrounded by black smoke.

The bastard had already changed into a demon. Dammit.

When Silent Water, who used that excessive amount of magic, saw that Takahashi was completely fine, she was taken aback. Once again, she attacked using high pressured water jets. At this moment, Takahashi, who had his eyes shut, opened his eyes, and black lightning fired at Silent Water.

“Ah~~~~” Silent Water instantly fell to the ground. Her body still had some black electrostatic that went *zhi zhi*.

“Woof.” Dusty, who saw Silent Water collapse, was angry as well. It ran straight towards Takahashi but before it could even get close to him, it was hit by a black lightning and flew more than 10 metres away.

“Little Silent! ? Dusty ! ?” As I saw Silent Water and Dusty collapse to the ground with many injuries, I got mad.

‘Brat, think carefully. This will burn your soul.’ Suddenly, Freed’s voice rang through my ears.

‘Uh, I know. So what if my soul is burned? As long as I can protect those I wish to protect, even if It leads to death, I wouldn’t mind it at all.’

‘Since this is the case, you can rest assured and do it. Since we’ve already died once, will there be anything that we dare to not do?’

‘Ah~~ that’s right.’ I stood up, and fearlessly laughed.

“What are you laughing about?” Takahashi asked.

“Hey~ Takahashi. In the past, whenever I encountered a difficult situation, why did you helped me?” I asked.

“Ha?”

“Takahashi, I’ve always thought of you as my best friend.”

“Don’t be stupid, stupid. That’s because you’re really weak and if I’m next you, I would look stronger, that’s all.” Takahashi indifferently answered. He seems certain of winning.

“No~~~ Takahashi, it’s because you’re possessed by a demon. The Takahashi I know, is someone who’s kind, handsome, and popular with the girls.” I laughed: “We’re friends. Those so-called friends, don’t they put their friend back onto the right path if they step onto the wrong one?

“You talk too much.” When he finished speaking, a big lightning bolt shot down from the sky.

“How’s this possible?” Takahashi was shocked when he saw me absorbed the lightning.

“Thanks for the hospitality, Takahashi, you’ve helped me once again.” What I meant by help, was of course referring to him giving me power, and reducing the burning of my soul.

White flames ignited from my hands.

“What? You know how to use magic? What’s that magic? What’s this oppressive feeling?” Takahashi instinctively felt fear, and stepped back a few steps.

“This time, it’s my turn to help you.” I said, then quickly ran towards the Takahashi who was planning to escape.

Then, with a straight punch, I hit Takahashi.

Takahashi caught hold of my fist, but since it was covered with sacred fire, it instantly ignited his entire body.

“WAAAAH!!!!!! WAAAH!!!!!!” Takahashi’s painful screams echoed throughout the deep forest.

Suddenly, I saw a black smoke drift out from Takahashi’s body. It wanted to leave Takahashi’s body, but once it came out, it was spread over by the sacred fire and disappeared in less then a second.

Following the disappearance of the demon, the sacred fire on Takahashi’s body extinguished as well.

Takahashi was panting heavily at first, then he comfortably laid down on the ground: “Xiang~ Thank you.”

“Everything’s fine now?”

“Yeah, It’s fine now.”

“How did you know I was possessed by a demon?”

“Just a feeling”

“Ah~~ is that so.” Takahashi handsomely smiled like he always do: “Being possessed by a demon, was really such a scary thing.”

“Since when did it happened?”

“Two months ago, when we just started high school.”

“Why?”

“Not sure, it probably because I wanted to become stronger.” Takahashi sighed: “My brother, at his 2nd day of starting high school, was killed by a demon.”

So that was what happened. No wonder nerdy Lin Xiang had a feeling that ever since school started, Takahashi had changed.

“I wanted to become strong, strong enough to kill demons, but in the end, I didn’t expect that I would actually be possessed by a demon instead. That’s so ironic.”

“Does your family know?”

“Of course they knew. But they couldn’t do anything, furthermore, since my clan is famous. Since this sort of thing happened, it would disgrace my clan, so they decided to kick me out of the clan.”

“Is that so? So this was the reason you had to work.” I understood everything: “In that case, what’s your plan now?”

“I want to become stronger. I want to kill those hateful demons. Now that the demon possessing my body had been purged by you, I’m going back home to visit my old man and do closed-door training.” As he said that, Takahashi stood up and looked at me with a serious face: “Xiang, thank you. Even though I don’t know what magic you used to purge the demon in my body, I still must thank you.”

“Humanoid spirit. Didn’t expect they actually exist.” Takahashi exclaimed as he looked Silent Water, who was still lying on the grass.

“Sorry, but I won’t let you touch a single hair on her body.”

“Of course I won’t. Xiang~~ I don’t have the qualifications. Furthermore, she has already found her master.”

“What do you mean?”

“Nothing, don’t worry. This matter regarding the humanoid spirit, I’ll keep it a secret for you. But I have a condition.”

“What condition?” Has the demon really been purged?

“My condition is very simple, that is: Lin Xiang. You must take good care of Satsuki.” Takahashi seriously said.

“Even if you didn’t tell me this, I still plan on doing so.”

“Is that so. After listening to your words, I feel assured now.”

“Nobuhiko.” Now I finally felt that he was the real Takahashi Nobuhiko: “Satsuki, that girl, really likes you.”

“Oh? Is that so?” Takahashi with a half-smile, looked at me: “Perhaps so. However, it seems that she likes an incredibly stupid guy more instead.”

“Who?”

“Don’t know.” Takahashi you bastard, why did you leave me hanging. Who’s that incredibly stupid guy?

Takahashi’s turned his back to face me and dragged his tired body forward a few steps. Before stopping he said: “Xiang~~~ being able to have a friend like you is really great. Remember, you need to live well, aim towards the title of the strongest, and advance.”

“Same goes for you.” From the looks for it, it’s going to be difficult for me to see Takahashi in the future.

In the previous world, Takahashi was with me for four years. In this world, Takahashi was with nerdy Lin Xiang for four years as well. A total of eight years.

And now, I have to separate with a friend that I’ve been with for eight years. This feeling wasn’t exactly pleasant. However, even if he didn’t want to leave, he shouldn’t want to see Satsuki anymore? After all the things he did to her.

Satsuki? Speaking of Satsuki, I quickly ran to Satsuki’s side and shook her, only to see that there was no reaction. However, her body condition seemed to be normal, so she probably had only fainted.

I carried her on my back. With Silent Water and Dusty together beside me, we continued to walk until we arrived at Satsuki’s home.

After putting Satsuki down on her bed, I realised Silent Water’s face was very pale. Probably should be a severe loss of magic power.

Without saying anything, I pulled her into my arms.

“Master…..” Silent Water cried out, flabbergasted.

At this moment, I could feel the transferring of magic power. A total of 15 seconds had passed.

Truly worthy of the title of King class spirits. The magic replenishment took so long, whereas Dusty only needed a second.

Embracing Silent Water in my arms for 15 seconds, didn’t feel that bad.

“Little Silent.” I looked at Silent Water’s blushing face and said with a serious tone: “Next time, you’re not allowed to be this reckless again, understand?”

“Mn.” Silent Water nodded her head.

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“In that case, you guys head back first.” To not let Satsuki discover a rare humanoid spirit, Silent Water, I’ve decided to let her head home first.

“Okay.”

“Remember to walk in places without any people. Be careful.” At first, I planned to bring them back home myself, but the thoughtful Silent Water refused. She wanted me to remain here and take care of Satsuki.

Since Dusty knew the way home, then I can rest assure that they’ll return home.

“Well then, master, goodbye.”

“Woof woof~~~”

After saying their goodbyes, they left for home.

I watched them until their shadow disappeared around the corner of the street.

Returning back to Satsuki’s room, Satsuki still had not woken up. At this moment, I walked passed a mirror and noticed how embarrassing I looked.

My face was cover with dust, and my chest was covered with bloodstains.

Bloodstains? Speaking of which, I remembered I was injured.

I quickly took off my shirt to look, and discovered what was supposed to be a hole in my abdomen, was completely fine. Not even a trace of injury.

“Wasn’t this too incredible?” I think it must have been Silent Water’s magic that saved me.

I went to Satsuki’s bathroom to wash my face, wiped away the dust on my body, and returned to sit beside Satsuki.

A wave of tiredness struck me, and without realizing it, I fell asleep.

……….

“Not bad, brat. To save your friend.” The white dragon Freed praised me.

“This was all possible because of you guys.”

“Of course, of course.” The black dragon Yalide confidently laughed.

“Damn you Yalide. Can’t you be like me and have some modesty?” White Dragon Freed scolded.

“Modesty? I think hypocritical fits you more.”

“What? You picking a fight?”

“Fight? Bring it on. Who’s afraid of who?” As they spoke, they started to fight again like last time.

I really didn’t get why these two like to fight so much.

………………

Hm? So warm, this feeling is?

Just as I opened my eyes, I discovered that I was laying down on Satsuki’s bed. My jacket was missing and Satsuki was hugging me like an octopus. I looked at the ticking clock that was hanging on the wall. It showed that it was 6:30 in the morning.

“Hey? You’re awake?”

Satsuki opened her hazy eyes. Once she caught sight of me, she appeared to be extremely happy; her beautiful face was just a few inches away from mine.

Seeing Satsuki at close range, I couldn’t help but say that she really was awfully beautiful; faced with such unblemished skin, curly eyelashes and big eyes that flickered with captivating radiance, my heartbeat couldn’t help but start to accelerate.

“Idiot, you’re too close.” I reminded her in this way.

At that moment, Satsuki realized that she really was too close. She immediately let go of me. Her face became red and then she sat down on the chair that I sat on yesterday.

“It’s good that you’re awake.”

“Mn.”

“What about Takahashi?” Satsuki asked.

“He’s already fine.”

“Oh.” Satsuki only replied with a single word and then looked at me with infatuation.

“You’re not curious about what happened?”

“It doesn’t matter, I don’t want to know. After all, it’s fine as long as some idiot is alright.” She looked at my intact belly.

“What’s that supposed to mean.”

“Nothing~~~” Satsuki wrinkled her nose adorably, and then said: “Come, let’s eat breakfast. We’ll go to school in a bit.”

“Oh.” I nodded my head.

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