The cold steel pressed against me as boiling blood spurted out of my neck, and my execution began. The executioner raised his blade as my brother burst into the chapel.
He yelled out, "Don't you dare!" A strong pressure overcame the crowd as the executioner collapsed, and so did many people in the crowd. They all hit the floor at the same time, making a loud thump.
"Brother, why are you here? I told you not to come," I said, holding back tears.
"Because you're my brother. Tell me you want to live!" he screamed, the pressure in the room rising again as the priest rushed to the stage, prying the sword out of the guard's hands, ready to continue the execution. I looked at the priest in fear. "I... I told you not to save me."
The priest struck down with his sword.
"I want to live!" I screamed.
A wooden sheath rasped and clanked as a sword was drawn, blocking the priest's strike. "Brother," I cried, snot coming out of my nose, as he stood there before me. A black cloak hung from his shoulder, and a sheath hung at his side. The cloak shifted as he drove his sword through the priest's heart as the people in the crowd yelled, "Stop! You'll be an enemy of the gods!"
It was my first day on the job at knight headquarters. I was put on the boring job of giving bounties to criminals when two brothers came across my desk: a knight named Hagane, who killed a priest while stopping his little brother's execution, and the demon child Akuma, who was accused of being a demon after his blood boiled when he was cut. His bright red hair didn't help, I guess. I had to ask my higher-ups. They told me to put a high bounty on them and said they were scared of their potential. So I put a bounty of 50,000 shillings on them—enough money to buy three medium-sized homes in the Thuwen Empire.
My brother and I got out of the chapel and made our way to the edge of town. That's when I saw a large man with a red cloak clinging to his body. How long had he been there? How did I not notice him? My brother's eyes grew large seeing the man, and he drew his sword quickly.
Why? I noticed the man was now holding a giant great sword. When had he drawn it?
How had I not noticed it? "This is bad," I said subconsciously as I put my hands up, trying to coat them in kokoro like Pop had tried teaching me before he died. In a flash, my brother was in front of me, clashing with the red-cloaked man. I would be dead if it wasn't for my brother. I have to help him.
I dashed to the side, throwing a punch. I don't know when he moved out of the way, but when I blinked, he was gone from my sight. I felt a sharp pain from my side, then I heard a swoosh and the tearing of cloth and ripping of flesh—my flesh. I fell to the ground, my vision going blurry. The last thing I saw was my brother's shocked face.
It was a cold night, and wind swirled around our campsite. The fire blazing, laughs encircled the camp as our pop told us a story of how he destroyed an entire mountain with his bare hands in one punch after a guy bet him 5,000 shillings at a bar that it was impossible.
He patted my head, messing up my hair. "You want to be strong, don't you, boy? I can tell. You'll do something great. God, I hope I live to see it. When you get older and stronger, I will teach you the basics of kokoro."
Unfortunately, he didn't live to see me get strong. He died one week later. The government that controls half the world says that he died of natural causes, but I know what really happened. They came at night when we were in the forest, enjoying the woods, when he told us to run.
My brother and I didn't get far when I saw five people in black cloaks appear. The pressure in the air was suffocating. Lightning rained from the sky and clouds split as they battled. In the end, they outlasted him. They handcuffed him and took him to a ship to who knows where. I was powerless to stop them, and since that day, I have been honing my skills up until my capture. But it wasn't enough. The gap has not shrunk. I'm still losing to the government's dogs. I have to come clean with myself—demon blood flows through my veins ever since that ritual.
I have to stop hiding from that power and use it to win!