Realization
"Wh… Where am I?" Manjiro spoke as he opened his eyes.
As Manjiro looked around he realized that the scenery was something he has never seen before.
He was sitting on a floor of red water which confused him and saw multiple skulls laying around him. There were stone walls surrounding the room, and the smell made Manjiro's nose hurt.
"What is this place?" Manjiro said out loud still confused.
"I never thought you would come here," Spoke an unfamiliar voice.
The voice that spoke was the same voice Manjiro heard in his head when fighting Sozo, the voice was coming from behind him.
Manjiro turned around and saw a demon sitting on a throne on top of a mountain of skulls.
He was pale-skinned, tall, and muscular. His most notable feature is the three sets of eyes on his face with the red sclera and yellow irises. Red markings resembling flames were seen on his face and neck. Wore a purple-and-Blue-patterned nagagi kimono and black hakama pants tied with a white cloth.
He looked just like Manjiro when he fought Sozo.
"Who are you?" Asked Manjiro
The demon ignored his question and replied with "How pathetic my vessel was almost killed by a C rank demon, you disgust me,"
Before Manjiro could speak the demon swiped his finger cutting Manjiro's head in two.
"Huh?" Manjiro woke up again and this time he was in a hospital room which contained only one bed.
"So you're finally awake," Sat in front of Manjiro's bed was Kenja.
"Was that just a dream?" Manjiro thought to himself as he sat up.
"What are you doing here Lord. Kenja?" Asked Manjiro
"Please don't call me that, just call me Kenja or old man," Laughed Kenja "I'm just here to see how you were holding up that's all."
"Oh, I see," Muttered Manjiro he then remembered something "Hows Shita! And Lavender! And Kami!" Manjiro yelled.
"Calm down there all fine, Shita and Lavender are fully recovered," Kenja said as he reached for a cigarette.
"How about Sensei?" Asked Manjiro
Kenja stopped reaching for his cigarette and spoke "He's on house arrest."
This formed a look of shock on Manjiro's face.
"Why?" Manjiro asked, "Is it because we were injured? It's not his fault, why would you put him on house arrest!" Manjiro yelled.
"It's not that you were injured Manjiro," Replied Kenja as he lit up his cigarette. "And it wasn't my decision to either,"
"It was the sorcerer councils decision," Said Kenja
"The what?" Asked Manjiro.
"The sorcerer council is made up of the emperors of the 5 regions. The 5 regions consist of Earth, Fire, Lightning, Wind, and Water the 5 most basic elements. Each emperor overlooks these 5 regions and can select rulers for certain villages, who overlook that certain village."
"The sorcerer council overlook major issues that could affect all 5 regions, they made the decision to put Kami on house arrest," Kenja explained.
"Why would that affect all 5 regions?" Asked Manjiro
"Because in order for you to become a sorcerer, Kami pled to the council that he would keep the demon inside you in check, if he failed he would take full punishment," Kenja replied
"Wh… What did you just say?" Asked Manjiro with sweat coming down his face and his handshaking.
Kenja exhaled and says "You heard me Manjiro there's a demon inside of you."
Manjiro's eyes widen "So just now that dream was real?" Manjiro asked.
Kenja confused asks Manjiro "What dream?"
"I saw a demon with six eyes, and he talked to me," Manjiro replied.
"So you've already made contact with Shuten-Doji huh," Kenja said.
"You know him?" Manjiro says confused.
"Yes he was known to be the ruler of all demons, he possessed incredible power, we had many battles actually," Kenja went on. "I defeated him in my 20s, and sealed him, but unfortunately the seal was too weak."
"As a result, we had to seal him into a vessel, there have been many vessels but unfortunately none of them made it past the age of 20."
"Why me?" Manjiro asked.
"You're special, I truly believe that, so did your mother," Kenja said. "It was actually your mom's ide-" Before Kenja could finish he was interrupted by Manjiro.
"Don't tell me I… Killed her," As Manjiro says this the room becomes silent.
Manjiro repeats himself even louder to break the silence "Hey don't tell me I killed her!"
Tear start flowing from Manjiro's eyes, he finally understood why people feared him.
"I'm sorry," Kenja said looking at the floor "But you did."
Manjiro shoves off the hospital blanket and rushes toward Kenja and throws a punch, causing Kenja to get off the stole he was sitting on.
A nurse walks in and sees what's going on and waves for security to come.
As the security enters the room Kenja yells at them to not interfere.
"It's my fault Manjiro, I shouldn't have listened to your mother, it's all my fault," Kenja says as he wraps Manjiro around him giving him a hug.
Manjiro drops to his knees and starts breaking down, he then looks up towards Kenja and asks him a question, "Who am I?"
Kenja confused replies, "What do you mean?"
"Am I a demon or am I a sorcerer? I want to kill all demons on this planet would that include myself?" Manjiro went on, "Should I just kill myself? After all, I only had this goal to revenge my mother, but I killed her."
Manjiro starts punching the ground and starts sobbing, "Tell me what do I do?"
"Unfortunately I can't tell you," Kenja says as he kneels on the ground becoming eye level with Manjiro, "But, whatever decision you make you'll always be Manjiro to me," He then pats Manjiro on his head.
Those words from Kenja made Manjirostop sobbing, as he wiped the tears off his eyes Kenja got back up from his feet.
"You are fully recovered, you can leave now, I believe in time you will find yourself Manjiro," Kenja went on, "But for now go on home and rest."
Outside of Heiwa no Mura, in the city of Toro, which team Kami saved, laid a demon chocking out a Heiwa no Mura sorcerer. Around him were more dead sorcerers.
He passed by Sozo's disintegrated body and saw a blood capsule laying on the ground.
"This blood has strong demon energy, and it's still alive, he must have left it behind," The demon went on, "Why don't I go to their little village."