A Tale Of Clarity

Shuten Douji, once an overzealous lord of demons, was cast away from the overworld and forced to live weighing the burden of Mount Oeyama on his shoulders. With time, his shoulders were unburdened by his growing children. They lifted the weights off their father to appease him, but instead of being thankful, the lord of demons simply left to attend to his own gluttony.

Years passed, and the children carrying the mountain turned themselves to stones to escape the hellish eternity. The newborns, however, were fervent and plenty. They bound through the flames of the underworld and relish in the torture of damned souls. But alas, it was time for a flourish, a flourish into the overworld for those worthy of the great Yasutsuna were nowhere to be seen.

Even thus, the lord lay in his lair, entranced by a flickering screen, and devouring junk food catered to him by humans doomed to the torment. Mashing one button after the other, he kept his teeth gritted as if his life depended on winning the game.

"Oi! Oi! Oi!" Screaming into the microphone protruding from his headset, he let his frustration out on his teammates. "Get that fucking camper, you idiots!"

Rocking aggressively in his cloudy red recliner, he grabbed a handful of junk food from the side table and stuffed it into his mouth. With no regard for his own image, he kept playing the multiplayer shooter, all the while his attendant watched him being as foul as possible. Like a spoiled child who'd just discovered curse words, the lord kept grilling his own team on the microphone and complained about how much they were holding him back. 

'The attire of a king, the mind of a child…' Thought the messenger walking in to remind Shuten of his duties. Eyeing his lord, he huffed a sigh at his shanty frame. 'I suppose his mentality reflects on his body as well.'

The battle with Raiko has left deep scars on the lord, to the point that he was forced to live in a vessel that was parallel to his own kids. It even made his servant wonder if the vessel itself was twisting their master's mind younger, but then again he was the father of a thousand kids.

"My lord, it's time," said the horned messenger as his bark-like skin bled all over the place. "The preparations have been made, and your presence is all that's needed to begin the selection for your successor."

Like an aged bonsai, the messenger stood tall beside Shuten, expecting him to abandon what he was doing and accompany him to the procession. However, the response he received instead made his skin flame up with frustration.

"It's an online game. I can't pause it, how many times do I have to tell you that?" The demon lord had no intention of parting with his gluttony, after all, choosing a successor was also just another part of his indulgence.

Running short on patience, the messenger eyed another servant of Shuten and gestured for her to pull the computer's plug. The very prospect made the Yuki freeze up. She couldn't dare do as commanded, thus looking away she pretended not to have noticed the gesture.

"Useless!" Storming to the plug himself, the messenger yanked the plug out of the sockets. "Play your games for however long you wish for once the selection shifts your responsibilities to another demon!" 

"Jubokko, what do you think you're doing?" Furious at his servant's insolence, Shuten glared at the accursed druid.

"Doing what's best for the demon race, unlike you of course," although Jubokko's words tore a few strings in Shuten's heart, he couldn't refute the claim since the druid was more than accurate about the situation.

"Whatever you say, let's just get this over with," getting off his chair, the lord of all demons made his way to his castle's balcony; through which he was meant to give an encouraging speech to eager children.

The preparations for this day had been going on for months, and now that it was finally time to kick off the selection, every demon in the infernal realm was aching to storm out into the overworld. Knowing full well the disparity in his children's powers, the demon lord had set up a long list of rules to keep everyone on equal footing. Thus even if an imp tries to face a demi-god they'll both be constricted by the same set of rules.

"A battle royale!" He announced, standing on the balcony of his castle.

His children looked up at him, some excited, some confused, and some even amused by the revelation. With a smile, the lord raised himself in the air and glanced across his thousand children who were about to be plunged into a potential fight to the death for his amusement.

"Take wing and raise hell in the lives of the humans of the overworld! Show them that even if their hero has struck us down once, we're not going to back down so easily!" Pumping them full of emotions, Shuten brought them all to a point of agreement. After all, despite being from different mothers they all shared the same lust for destruction towards the human race.

"Now…" Fanning his arm sideways, he raised his arm towards the base of Oeyama. "Tear through the mantle and get yourselves a master!"

Forced fed the rules of the game telepathically, the demons wasted not a single moment before storming towards the real sky. 

 "A fine game this will be," muttered Shuten to himself.

Watching his children flying through the mantle like ghosts, the lord of demons ached for a taste of the overworld himself. It had been long since he'd seen the sun or felt the soothing rays of the winter moon. Yet taking one step out would throw off the whole selection.

'Most of them will survive by sacrificing their master, and perhaps I will finally get to experience a worthwhile spectacle?' He thought before returning to play the game some more.

"I still believe a battle to the death would've been more efficient," Jubokko complained as Shuten walked past him.

"There's bound to be deaths, I just made sure they're more exciting this way," Shuten replied, a cheeky smirk riding on his lips.

Done with the story, Mizuki opened her eyes and looked right at me.

"We're all paired with a human master, obviously via a mutually beneficial contract. But at the end of the day if your human dies you return to the infernal realm with not a scratch on yourself, generally speaking of course," The tale popped more questions in my head than it answered, but finally having some honesty made me feel much better.

"A game of hide and seek to choose the next demon lord…What the hell did I get pulled into?" Muttering to myself, I just couldn't believe my bad luck.

"Either way, we're supposed to lay low until you're not ready to face any of my siblings," Mizuki warned, still glaring at me like a hawk.

"Face your siblings? I thought demons weren't supposed to get involved in this game physically," I questioned, looking back at her.

"We're demons Akira, you really think we'd keep our word?" She replied.

"What about you, will you?" I asked, trying to figure out if she was lunging herself with the others or not.

Leaning closer on the bed, she grabbed hold of my hand and pleaded.

"I help you with your revenge first, and then you help me with this race, will that put your doubts to ease?" Even though I didn't like the situation one bit, I couldn't find another option that would put me out of harm's way.

"Fine, but you still haven't told me everything have you?" She instantly nodded.

"The moment you know the rules, every demon will be allowed to hunt us," she informed, seeming every bit sincere. "And before you ask, after a certain point they'll be free to hunt us anyway."

'No wonder, she's keeping it a secret.' Getting out of bed, I decided to get ready for yet another day of school, all while trying to work out everything she'd told me in my head.

"Alright, reviving Satori is the priority anyway," speaking of school, I was reminded of Saki's visit to the doorstep an hour ago. "Let's go for now, I was supposed to meet Saki in her apartment a while ago."

Dressing myself up quickly, I headed right out, but not without a heavy load over my shoulders because of everything that I'd just learned.

'Demons, second chances, revenge, and bringing the dead back, hell even Shuten Douji the lord of all demons…How fucked am I exactly?' I pondered for an answer.