Yet sometimes, life simply refused to go the way one wanted.
The pinnacle of assassins, a man named Shiki Nanaya, met his end on an otherwise ordinary night.
The crimson oni roared, setting the air around him ablaze.
Every blow he threw carried scorching flames. His movements grew faster and faster, gradually even catching up to the assassin who moved as lightly as a shadow.
Araya Kurenai endured the dull pain in his neck and, for the first time in his life, gave it everything he had. One strike landed squarely on the abdomen of the assassin named Shiki Nanaya.
Bright red blood splashed across the ground. Shiki Nanaya's side was mangled beyond recognition, though he had dodged Araya Kurenai's attack as much as he could in that final instant.
But clearly, the situation had now exceeded the limits of what an ordinary human body could withstand.
He lay on the ground, watching the full moon cast its pure radiance from the clear sky, and thought that perhaps this was not such a bad ending.
I'm just worried about Shiki... the young assassin thought. Blood loss made his consciousness grow increasingly hazy, and his body felt colder and colder.
He heard heavy footsteps drawing nearer. They belonged to the monster called Araya Kurenai as he approached.
At the very end, Shiki Nanaya saw Araya Kurenai raise his foot and stomp viciously toward his head.
Death did not come as the assassin had expected.
Rather, Araya Kurenai had stopped as though someone had pressed pause. Even his foot hung in midair, not far from Shiki Nanaya's face.
"...You stink," Shiki Nanaya said with all the strength he had left.
He struggled to raise his head. Above the forest floated a young woman with crimson hair. Her outstretched right hand formed