Chapter 17: Devil

The morning sun softly bathed the garden as Kaori finished her morning chores. Today was a special day. Like every weekend, she planned to take her daughter, Makima, out for a walk. These moments together had become a habit Kaori had adopted in the hope of calming her daughter's strange tendencies. Sometimes, she wondered if she had failed as a mother. One by one, her children seemed to drift away from normalcy, as if life were telling her she should never have become a mother. But she shook those dark thoughts from her mind. Today, as always, she would try to make everything go right.

"Makima," she murmured to herself as she prepared to go find her. The girl, as usual, was probably hiding. Sometimes it took hours for her to show up when it was time to leave—a behavior that had become almost routine, yet always tested Kaori's patience. However, she knew her daughter well and knew her hiding places.

She headed toward Makima's room, expecting to find her hidden or even unwilling to come out. But when she opened the door, she found her there, sitting calmly in the center of the room, next to Rika, her… servant, or rather, what Kaori had begun to consider as a shadow faithfully bound to her daughter. On several occasions, she had heard Makima call her "dog," a word Kaori had tried to ignore.

She sighed. "Well, better that she has some character," she thought as she walked toward them. However, something felt off. Rika's eyes barely lifted to meet hers, her hands nervously twisting the fabric of her kimono. Something in the atmosphere of the room felt... unsettling.

Kaori extended a hand toward Makima. "Are you ready?" she asked with her usual warm, maternal tone. Makima nodded coldly, while Rika lowered her head even more, as if she didn't want to be there.

"Alright, let's go then," Kaori said, trying to dissipate the discomfort in the air.

The walk began as always. They strolled through the park, under the trees whose leaves were beginning to change color with the arrival of autumn. Kaori tried to enjoy the day, but she couldn't ignore Rika's attitude, who walked silently, never lifting her gaze from the ground. The discomfort was palpable. Kaori tried to start a light conversation, but neither of the girls seemed interested. Finally, she decided to let silence reign for the rest of the walk.

It wasn't until they reached a more isolated part of the park that the peace was shattered.

Without warning, a dark presence emerged from among the trees. A curse, immense and terrifying, appeared before them. The air became heavy, oppressive. Kaori felt a shiver run down her spine. She quickly positioned herself in front of Makima and Rika, shielding them with her body.

The curse was of the first grade, far more dangerous than anything she had faced before. Her skin prickled at the overwhelming presence of the creature, but her motherly instinct was stronger. Without hesitation, she unsheathed the tanto she always carried. The blade of the cursed weapon gleamed under the sunlight as Kaori adopted a defensive stance.

"Stay back," she ordered firmly, her gaze fixed on the creature that growled menacingly.

The curse attacked mercilessly. It was faster than Kaori had anticipated. Each blow it landed against her resonated with the force of a storm. Though not as powerful a sorcerer as others, Kaori fought with every fiber of her being. Her movements were precise, each slash with the tanto sharp enough to keep the creature at bay.

The fight dragged on. Kaori felt the fatigue begin to weigh on her body. Her breathing was labored, her muscles trembled. The curse was relentless, and she couldn't afford to falter. A mother should never show weakness in front of her children, or so Kaori believed.

Finally, after what felt like an eternity, Kaori found an opening. With one last desperate effort, she struck directly at the curse's heart, slicing it in two. The creature let out a horrific wail before disintegrating into black smoke. Kaori fell to her knees, gasping for breath, her body covered in wounds. But she had done it. She had protected Makima and Rika.

"Rika..." she murmured, her voice barely a whisper. "Go... go get help."

Rika didn't move. She was frozen, her eyes wide with fear and uncertainty. But before she could react, Kaori felt a sudden impact against her body. Makima, with a completely cold expression, pushed her to the ground with a force that seemed unnatural for a child.

Kaori looked at her daughter, incredulous. "What... what are you doing?"

Makima's hands closed around her mother's neck, squeezing with an inhuman strength. Kaori tried to break free, but she was too weak after the fight. The eyes she had always looked at with tenderness now stared at her with disdain and hatred. She didn't understand what was happening. She tried to speak, but Makima's nails dug deep into her skin, preventing her from making a sound.

Barely conscious, Kaori raised a trembling hand and gently placed it on her daughter's cheek, trying to show her some motherly love in her final moments. With a broken smile, she thought: You will always be my little girl... my sweet Makima...

And then, darkness enveloped her. The light in her eyes faded, and her hand fell limply to the ground.

Makima, showing no emotion, released her mother's neck and stepped away from the lifeless body. She breathed heavily, staring at her blood-stained hands. For a moment, she seemed lost in thought, looking at Kaori's motionless form.

Summoning the first-grade curse had not been easy, but she had done it for one purpose: to rid herself of her mother. She hadn't planned on doing it herself, but when the curse failed, she had no choice. She looked at her mother's face one last time, a soft smile still adorning her lips. Kaori had died smiling, as if, until the end, she had loved her daughter unconditionally.

Makima looked away, feeling something inside her shift. She slowly approached Rika, who was watching everything, tears streaming down her face. When Rika looked up, she saw something in Makima's eyes she had never seen before. The eyes of a demon.

Makima's soul seemed to have vanished completely, leaving only emptiness and darkness.

"It's time to go," Makima said in a cold tone as she began to walk, not even glancing back. Rika remained motionless for a moment, looking at Kaori's body one last time, her face still adorned with that gentle smile that hadn't faded, even in death. Memories began to flood her mind.

She remembered one day, not too long ago, when she had shared a brief conversation with Kaori. They had been in the garden, and Kaori had sighed while watching her daughter from afar. "It seems my little girl is very attached to you," she had said with a light tone, almost teasing, pouting playfully. "Why doesn't she treat me that way?" she added, laughing with a small, mock complaint, though her eyes reflected a deep longing.

Rika hadn't known what to say at that moment, but the warmth in Kaori's voice was genuine. "I know Makima can be... special," Kaori had continued, looking at the sky with a worried expression. "But try to help her. She was always a good girl, until her technique manifested. Since then, there have been these... changes, these shadows in her personality."

Kaori's gaze softened, maternal, as if she were trying to leave Rika with something important. "I know it's a lot to ask, but at least promise me you'll always be there for her." Kaori had smiled in a way that Rika had never experienced before, a smile full of unconditional love, something she had never received in her own life.

Before Rika could respond, Makima had interrupted with her usual authoritative tone. "Let's go to the courtyard," she had said, breaking the moment.

Back in the present, Rika let the tears fall silently as she looked one last time at Kaori's body. I promise, she murmured to herself, as if speaking to the spirit of the woman lying on the ground.

She began to follow Makima, her steps heavy with remorse and confusion.

"She was a good mother," Makima suddenly said without stopping, her tone neutral, but her words carrying a deep meaning. Rika looked up, surprised by that admission. Makima rarely spoke that way.

"In her final moments... she only gave me love. She avoided cursing me until the very end," Makima continued, her voice devoid of any emotion, as if she were commenting on a simple fact.

Rika couldn't help but feel a pang in her heart at those words. The image of Kaori smiling as her life faded was still etched in her mind. The pain of watching Makima's mother be killed by her own daughter was unbearable, but even more unbearable was that Makima seemed incapable of feeling anything about it.

Without saying another word, Makima continued walking, moving toward her destination, indifferent to the chaos she had just unleashed. Rika followed, resigned, because she had no other choice.

Like the good dog she had to be.