Hardcore Exorcist: Reborn to Grind

Screee, screeeeeee…

The grating screech of rusted metal seeps into the cold concrete of the walls and floor.

Suzuri Tomoshigawa’s hazy consciousness returns, and she slowly opens her eyes.

A terrible pain still lingers in her back, but it seems to have eased somewhat.

“Ugh… nnngh…?”

Her eyes scan her surroundings. It’s dark.

“Where am I… a cell…?”

Her gaze swims in the blackness.

There’s a silhouette. In the dark cell, a figure is backlit by the faint light filtering in from the entrance.

Suzuri flinches, her body tensing in alarm.

Click.

The light in the cell flickers on, revealing the figure who had been silhouetted against the doorway.

He’s sitting in a wooden chair.

An antique, stylish chair—one Suzuri herself had special-ordered from Europe when she’d wanted a fancy wooden chair. One that prioritized form over function.

And sitting in it was… Ikaku Akamuro.

Suzuri’s shoulders tremble as she shuffles away.

The room is tiny. There’s no escape. Her only option is to fight.

She tries to summon her demonic power for a last-ditch attack.

“Nnngh! Aaaaargh! Gack?!”

Suzuri is yanked backward as something chokes her violently.

A collar has been fastened around her neck, a chain attached to it, tethering her to the wall.

She gags painfully, retching several times.

“I’ve sealed your 361 primary pressure points, as well as your hidden vital spots,” Ikaku says, shifting his weight and recrossing his legs. “You have no power left. You’re just a normal human now.”

An over-under shotgun rests calmly in his hands, its barrels aimed at Suzuri.

Understanding her situation, Suzuri’s expression hardens with tension.

“I searched this entire base. No Relic. None of the Sisters taken from the Akai Clan. No Dragon. Tell me where they are. Is there a hidden room? Another hideout? A specific cache for your assets?”

“...Who are you? I was told you were just a mortal who couldn’t use mana—”

The hammer falls. A deafening crack tears through the air.

The mana-infused slug shatters Suzuri’s kneecap, severing the flesh and bone below it.

“Agh?! Nooooo...!”

“Don’t answer a question with a question. My time is limited. Next is your other leg. After that, I’ll aim for your arms. Understood? Think more carefully before you open your mouth.”

“Ngh… Uuuugh! Hah, hah, hah!”

“Thanks to you, I just remembered another question. How do you all know so much about me? When I attacked the Neon Circle, they knew who I was, right down to my personal characteristics.
The day before that, one of their comrades self-destructed after I cornered him in a warehouse.
That means the information circulated in a single day. And you—you even knew I was an unlicensed Exorcist. It’s too fast. There has to be a mole in the Red Guild. Tell me who it is.”

“Hah, hah… hnnngh! Hnngh… Why would I tell a bastard like you anything?! My leg… you…!”

He fires again. Her remaining leg is blown off below the knee.

Suzuri has lost both of them.

“Aaaaargh! Guuuh… Uuugh!”

With a placid motion, Ikaku ejects the empty shells and reloads with fresh slugs.

“I will become a martyr… This is a trial, a test of my faith… I know it is. Hah, hah. You’re going to kill me either way, aren’t you? Hee, hee. Ikaku Akamuro… heh, Ikaku Akamuro, little Ikaku. The ‘Avenger.’
Ihihihihi. Are you fighting for the Akai Clan? All by yourself? Ahaha, you idiot. You’re a complete fool. Ahahahaha!”

“…”

“You’ll never get your revenge! Never! The Relic? The little-miss Sisters? The Dragon? As if they’d be in a place like this! Ahahaha! You don’t understand anything!”

“What do you mean?”

“It’s useless, useless, useless, useless! It’s all useless! I’ll give you a prophecy. You’re strong, sure. A little. But you’re going to die soon, Ikaku Akamuro.
You’ll die before you reach the end. Like a scrap of trash. Like a worn-out rag. You’ll be disposed of like someone pinching off a bottle cap and flicking it away!”

She begins to crawl through the pool of her own blood, dragging herself toward Ikaku.

On the verge of death, the madwoman has shed all restraint. Her terrified eyes, now burning with a bloodcurdling, feverish madness, are fixed on him.

Ikaku’s brow furrows, his gaze sharp as he stares back, refusing to look away.

“You have no idea what you’re up against. We destroyed the Akai. One of the five great noble families of this country. Wiped them out, root and stem. How much power do you think that takes? Huh? And you’re trying to stand against that. All alone! Ahahahaha!”

“Whoever they are, if they’re in my way, I’ll kill them. And I will take back everything that was stolen.”

“It all burned. Charred black by the flames of Homura. Hey, you know what? The pretty young ladies in their beautiful dresses and the dignified gentlemen in their formal attire… they all look the same once they’re burnt to a crisp.
Oh, that’s right, that was fun. Those little kids at the orphanage. I was in charge of them. I could’ve turned them into Demons, but no, kids are no good. They’re stupid. They make good bombs, but they don’t make good swords. Hehehe. Oh? Are you mad?”

Her cheeks flushed with a delirious fever, Suzuri continues her ramblings, yet she’s keenly aware of the shift in Ikaku’s mood.

The corners of her mouth lift in a smirk.

“I tore those cute Sisters apart, one by one. Such beautiful, soft skin. I actually had some more fun games in mind, but I was on a twenty-minute timer. It was a race against the clock, so I couldn’t play around too much. Yeah. So I delegated the work.
I had this favorite old crone of mine. Old people are great. I think they instinctively know they’re worthless. Even after you turn them into Demons, they listen so well to what the younger ones say.
The Director of the orphanage, I think? That old hag of a Mother was great, too. She followed my orders perfectly, chewing the children to pieces. She was praying, you know. To the very end. Crying, screaming, begging herself to stop. Even as she bit them all to shreds!”

Ikaku rises. He fires the shotgun, shattering her chain. He grabs Suzuri’s hair with one hand and drags her from the cell.

The sound of tearing, of hair being ripped from her scalp, fills the air.

“It hurts! Stop it! What the hell are you?! You fucking cunt!”

Suzuri’s shrieks echo through the corridor until she is thrown carelessly into another room. She tumbles down a short flight of stairs, her body arching in agony. 

Ikaku places the wooden chair he brought at the top of the stairs, sits down, and looks down at her with calm eyes.

“What do you think you’re doing?!”

“Watching your final moments.”

“What?”

“Grrrrrr…”

“Hhhh, hhhhhh…”

“!”

Suzuri isn’t alone at the bottom of the stairs. Two Demons are there with her.

One is missing its legs from the knees down. The other is missing both arms.

“Demons have astonishing vitality. If they have enough stored energy, they can even regenerate lost limbs. Their limbs won’t grow back. They’ve already used up their reserves. When that happens, a Demon will try to replenish its nutrients through predation to regenerate what it has lost.”

The armless Demon and the legless Demon crawl toward Suzuri.

“Eek… Wait, stop, I’m… I’m your mother…!”

“You’re not their mother. I told you. You’re just a human now.”

“Grrrrrraaaargh!”

“Hhhh, hhhhhh, hhhhhhooo!”

What follows is a symphony of grisly sounds.

Powerful jaws clamp onto a bleeding thigh. They hold down their thrashing prey and tear away chunks of flesh. The woman tries to escape.

The Demon with arms grabs her and pulls her back. Clothes are ripped, and claws rake across exposed, soft skin.

The prey passes out from the shock of the pain, only to be jolted awake by it, trying to flee anew as if remembering she was in hell.

“I’ll curse you! Ikaku Akamuro! You will absolutely, positively burn in hell!”

“Then I’ll see you there.”

“Aaaah! No! I don’t want to! I don’t want to see you again…! AGH! It hurts! IT HURTS! NOOOO, o, oh—”

From his perch atop the stairs, Ikaku watches the exchange between the wild beasts.

He watches as Suzuri is stripped of her clothes, then her skin.

She keeps moving for some time. Perhaps because she still retained some trace of demonic power, it takes more than two minutes for her to finally die.

Once he confirms their limbs are beginning to regenerate from the meal, Ikaku fires two shotgun blasts and leaves the gruesome scene behind.