"you wouldn't kill your mother, would you dear?" She asks in a desperate voice.
"You aren't my mother," Tsukiko replied swiftly but even as she did her hands shook.
"I sacrificed all my life raising you, and this is the thanks I get?" The beast asked.
"The people who raised me died six years ago,"as Tsukiko was ready to plunge her claws into the beasts crystal heart, it managed to heal a single tentacle on it back and drive it through its own head towards Tsukiko's brain. Using her head as a wall so Tsukiko can't see the attack until it's too late.
As Tsukiko's claws plunged into its heart so too did the tentacle burst through her skull and shattered teeth, saliva and blood spraying Tsukiko's face.
Tsukiko was faster and managed to destroy the crystal core first, as it turned into fine orange powder in Tsukiko's arms, the tentacle stilled—inches away from her forehead.
As the beast was slain, its body fell to the ground, it was mutilated, flesh and organs on the floor around it and bloody pooling under it.
Its eyes were filled with horror and one of its own tentacles went through through its mouth, broken teeth from the process also lay around the corpse.
As Tsukiko looked at what her mother's form had turned into she couldn't help but fall to the ground next to it, feeling guilty and defeated she wept as she hugged the corpse.
She may have won but it didn't feel like it.
Her knees buckled underneath her and she fell to the ground, as she sobbed into the corpse's chest, she sobbed enough to make her throat burn.
For a moment everything stood still, the only thing audible being Tsukiko's cries.
Slowly as she sat there particles of golden light came from the surroundings like fireflies. First by the flora around her, then by the ruins of the old town, and lastly by the corpses of the beasts.
Ghosts one by one appeared over the corpses of the monsters, people who she once knew, and started expressing their thanks, they looked different than the ghosts prior both in colour and the aura exuded, they felt pure and untainted.
The small child's ghost also appeared and ran to hug her, burying its face in crook of her neck, this time Tsukiko was able to feel the ghosts touch.
And lastly her mother's ghost appeared shinning the most brilliantly of them all and she too hugged Tsukiko tightly, fulfilling Tsukiko's wish of feeling her mother's embrace once again. "Weep not my child, for what you've done saved us from our prison of agony and torment," she said, her voice reverberating in Tsukiko's body.
"Stop with the poetry for once," Tsukiko lashed out to which her mother smiled and nodded.
"I'm proud of you, and your father would've been too if he had seen what you did today," her mother stroke Tsukiko's hair. "Look at you... my little baby, all grown up. I can hardly believe it." She says
Tsukiko sniffles and looks up at her, tears still leaving her eyes. "Why's dad not here?" She asks.
Her mother kept stroking her hair. "Thankfully his death was quick and merciful and as such passed on without agony chaining him here," she replied with a pained expression and voice.
Slowly the ghosts started fading away and Tsukiko's mother looked down at her. "Sadly my time here is almost over, I know I broke my promise, i didn't protect you like I said I would. As a last gift, I want you to take my remaining power."
Tsukiko felt her body fill with a foreign power, an orange glow temporarily appeared over Tsukiko's veins as the power interacted with her own and they slowly began merging, becoming one.
"This way you'll always have a part of me with you, protecting you." Her mother slowly faded and as one of her tears fell on Tsukiko's palm she had completely disappeared.
Tsukiko clenched her palm into a fist and tightly hugged it over her chest
"I guess I should say goodbye too" the small child wrapped around her said. "I hope that you and I meet in the afterlife at some point, we could play so many games!" The small child said excitedly making Tsukiko smile weakly through her tears.
The child soon started fading aswell "I won't forget you, so please never forget me either,"
It said flashing her a big smile before it too disappeared.
Tsukiko stood there crying alone in the middle of the forest.
"Are you alright?" A voice Tsukiko quickly identified as the monk said.
"Do I look alright?" She asked.
"No." The monk said "what you did today was no small feat, you cured this forest." He gestures to the once dark and cold forest now brimming with light and warmth, the cold and bitting wind now feeling welcoming and refreshing. "and for that I am forever in your debt,"
Tsukiko looked around and nodded, her tears having somewhat calmed.
"It's time for you to leave this in-between land and join the world of the living. If you ever need my help to travel in-between worlds, call for me and I'll answer." He said as he opened a portal for her to go through.
"What do I do now?" Tsukiko asked "do I seek revenge from the devils and endure the Satans wrath?" She thinks back to her kin's brutal deaths by the devils and those few who were kidnapped.
"The path you walk is your choice alone, but whichever it may be make sure you walk it with conviction," he replies.
Tsukiko's eyes widened at that as if something had clicked in her form those word. "You are right," she said.
"Have you decided?" He asked.
"I'll make those responsible pay" Tsukiko vows and walks towards the portal, her claws digging into her palm, drawing blood.
"Are you certain?" the monk asks.
"I've never been more certain in my life," she says going through the portal, letting the light engulf her body as she strode into the unknown.