(18) Order of the Golden Sin (2)

Supposedly, over the past week, Yuna's pawns had been going around nearby towns and pillaging them, throwing around the name "Order of the Golden Sin" which is what they called their group. They claimed their boss to be a demon, and used it as a fear tactic to get what they wanted from villagers.

Yuna found this to be irritating, but, honestly, she didn't care that much. But, she did grow impatient. She wanted her idiotic pawns to do their job and find her a god to slay, but in the span of two weeks, they'd found nothing. But, one day, they did find something.

A man had entered the town of Feddle, covered head to toe in blood. He apparently killed anyone who approached him on site. When her pawns found him, he had killed two of them before they got him to listen to their request, and when he did, he had requested to meet with Yuna.

Yuna found this to be intriguing, and so she accepted this proposal.

And so, Yuna now stood beside a tree, watching as two of her pawns walked towards her, avoiding her eyes. Behind them was a man in a white kimono with a straw hat and a katana at his hip. The kimono had almost lost all of its white, being dyed red with blood.

Yuna could barely see under the man's hat, and so she had no clue what he looked like, but he had a lean, fit figure.

"Well, you are the strange ruffian my pawns told me about?" Yuna asked, looking him up and down.

"And you are the supposed demon." The man said.

"Does that fact bother you?" Yuna asked.

"No. I have no quarrels with demons. My quarrel with the gods." The man spoke.

"Wow, how nice, it is the same here." Yuna said sarcastically. "Except that my quarrel is with everyone and everything."

"You aren't actually a demon, are you, girl?" The man spoke.

Yuna raised her brow. "Oh? What makes you say that?"

"You don't have the aura of a demon. All I get from you is corrupted innocence, pain and rage." He responded.

Yuna glared at him. Then she looked over at her pawns. "Leave. Now." She hissed.

They both bowed and left, disappearing into the forest.

"You are correct." Yuna spoke. "I am not a true demon. I am what you can simply call a Yin."

"That's not the proper term, but sure." The man spoke.

"What do you mean?"

"Do you know what Aberrants are?"

"Yes, I do. Humans born with unnaturally high Yin nature, yet they are not corrupted by it."

"Yes. If you nurture the Yin nature, you become a monster, although, it is technically a form of Aberrant."

"I'm surprised a human such as you knows that." Yuna said.

"I'm not completely human. I am also an Aberrant, I was born one. And I am assuming you are one of the kids that were taken away by the demon race, right?"

Yuna's eyes narrowed. "You are awfully sharp. Maybe too sharp."

"It isn't all that hard to figure out. And I am also to assume you are searching for a god to kill, right?"

"How do you come to that conclusion?"

"Well, I doubt the demons just let you walk out of purgatory of your own accord, especially with that curse mark." He nodded at Yuna's arm. She quickly covered it up. "And then I doubt you are using those pawns of your simply to steal shit from villages. You are using them as scouts to locate gods."

"Yes, but instead I found you. What is your name, exactly?"

"My name is Abeza Tetsuno." He lifted his kasa and looked up at Yuna. She was taken aback by how strikingly handsome he was, finding herself staring at his cold eyes. But, she had no time for such ridiculous things as romance, and so she quickly pushed the thought aside. "You can call me Tetsuno."

"Might I ask, Tetsuno, why are you covered in so much blood? I've heard you kill anyone who approaches you, and I would also have to say, that sword you have, it is quite lavish. You aren't a normal person, are you?" Yuna asked.

"Hm. I guess it is pretty obvious, but I really have no intention to hide it." Tetsuno lowered his kasa in his hand, revealing all his hair. "I am from a royal family, but I found myself disgusted by the corruption and greed of the gods, as well as my own family. And so, I killed everyone, except for the children. I don't kill kids. That was all about a month or two ago, and now the royal guard is after me, including a god named Mashihashi, who was fucking my wife when I didn't know. Supposedly they were in love, her words, but I didn't give a shit."

"Wow, wonderful life story, but look, I don't care about your traumas or what you did. All I care about is the one thing you said.. about a god being after you." Yuna said.

"I assumed that would catch your attention. Yeah, Mashihashi is a low ranking god, but he throws his power around in the temples, acting like he owns everything. I've wanted to kill him for some time now, I just don't have the power. All this blood is from royal guards and anyone who gets in my way."

"Well, I'm going offer you my hand in an agreement. You work for me, and I kill your god and defend you, so long as you bring me information that I can use, and so long as you serve me well." Yuna said, grinning.

"Work for you?" Tetsuno grinned, walking up to Yuna, raising his hand to her chin. "That isn't how this will go, I'll be working with you, not for you. I'm no pawn. I'll play king to your queen."

Yuna raised her hand and pushed his away, grabbing his wrist and squeezing it.

"Do not ever touch me again." Yuna growled. "Or I will kill you."

"Fine, fine. I accept your deal, but just know I'm not your slave."

"No, but you will be dead if you try anything like that ever again." Yuna hissed, enraged.

"Huh. Why do I feel like you give me special treatment, if it were anyone else, I assume you'd of just killed them."

"I would have, but you have usefulness. Once your use runs dry, I will consider killing your or letting you go."

Tetsuno looked over at her, up and down. "Yeah. Use."

Yuna's eyes narrowed. "Get out of my sight." She growled, turning away.