Sayuri had moved before Yuki could even register. One moment she was still, the next she shot forward in a blur, the earth cracking under her heeled loafers. Chunks of dirt sprayed up in her wake, hitting Yuki's face.
Yuki didn't even have a chance to breathe before the Sorcerer King's eyes flicked to Sayuri. Just a glance. That was all it took. His bone tooth necklace shimmered with a pale white glow as he raised his right hand, fingers curling with casual finality.
"Kneel."
The word snapped through the air like thunder. Gravity slammed down around them so fast it felt like the world had turned upside down. Yuki's knees buckled instantly, pain lancing up her thighs as they smashed into the wet earth.
Ahead of her, Sayuri crashed down. The impact was so strong that cracks split the earth under her knees. She tried to rise, shoulders trembling as she pressed her hands against the dirt, but her body didn't move.
What… what is he? To put us down with just a word…
The thought was cut off by the taste of dirt on her tongue. She tried to spit it out, but her jaw wouldn't unclench.
This wasn't just power. This was dominance – the kind she had never seen before.
Somewhere ahead, Sayuri's shoulders shifted again, just barely. Her right eyelid twitched, hidden behind the curtain of her hair. For a moment, Yuki thought she saw a faint red flicker pulse out from that side, but it was hard to tell.
Come to think of it, she'd never seen Sayuri open her right eye. Not once. It was always hidden behind her hair. From where she lay, forced down by the Sorcerer King's command, it almost looked like that same eye was half-open.
A voice cut through the crushing silence. Sasaki's voice.
"Don't… open that eye!"
His words were ragged, desperate. It sounded like he'd had to rip out a piece of himself just to say them. Sasaki never sounded afraid. Never really sounded human, to be honest. But in this moment… His voice carried a hint of fear and dread. She couldn't understand why he would act like that.
Sayuri instantly stopped moving as the faint glow from her right eye vanished as quickly as it appeared. Her head dropped lower, hair falling like a heavy curtain to hide her face. It seemed like whatever she was about to do… she gave up on it.
The Sorcerer King scoffed softly and spat on Sayuri's head.
"Pathetic, you would expect even a brainless demon would know to bow down before a king."
His gaze shifted to Sasaki, narrowing with quiet contempt.
"And you… you spoke as if we've met before? Speak. Now."
His grip around Sasaki's throat tightened, lifting him slightly higher off the ground. Sasaki's shoes scraped against the dirt, his body limp but his eyes still open, that faint grin never leaving his lips.
"You don't feel like a demon. Or a spirit. Or even a sorcerer for that matter," the Sorcerer King said, his gaze narrowing. "And yet you're not human either."
His voice dropped lower, almost a growl.
"So tell me… what are you, really?"
"I can't, If I reveal my true form here… it'll only draw attention I'm not ready to deal with. But I assure you, we've met a long time ago."
Slowly, with trembling fingers, he lifted his sleeve just enough to show his forearm, the pale skin marked by a black upside-down crescent moon. It wasn't just a tattoo; there was something wrong about it, something that made Yuki pause. Her Deathmark began to glow faintly under her shirt. She glanced down, a sudden chill running through her as recognition sparked at the edge of her mind. For a split second, an image flashed before her – that same crescent moon etched into something… somewhere – and she knew she had seen it before. But the memory slipped away before she could grab hold of it.
Sasaki murmured, his eyes half-lidded.
"Look closely… this should jog your memory."