The Red Hand

Chapter 278 – The New Pet.

"Hi-yah! Hi-yah! Hi-yah!" Shiroe Amakusa tended to spend a lot of time in her family's dojo whenever she wasn't otherwise occupied. As the eldest child of the Amakusa family, she'd been trained from a young age to carry on their family traditions and to ensure that the Amakusa School would survive long into the future. It was something that she had mixed feelings about, but generally she enjoyed herself when she put sword to hand.

"HI-YAH!" Amakusa brought her wooden sword down hard onto the training dummy, causing it to crack in half and splinter in her hand. "Ah..."

{Stupid sword! Why are you so weak?!?} (Amakusa)

"Shiroe! How many times have I told you that controlling how much power you put into each strike is a key part of the Amakusa school?" Her father, an older man wearing a white training Gi, called out to her from the other side of the Dojo. His face showed exasperation since this was the umpteenth time he'd warned her about this problem. "You have to restrain yourself. If you don't then things like this will keep happening."

"If you'd just let me use a real sword, then I wouldn't have this problem!" Amakusa tossed the destroyed sword into a nearby bin. She'd begged her father for years to let her use a real blade, but he always refused.

"You know that I can't do that." Her father sighed. While he was certain that Amakusa could handle using a real blade for training, he was worried that she wouldn't have the self control needed to use it safely. "You're still too young to wield a real blade. Not to mention that until you can control your strength, it would be too dangerous for anyone to fight you while using one."

{This girl of mine... She was born with far too much strength... As her master, I should be proud to have such a fine student. But as her father...} (Amakusa's father.)

"You say that yet you've never even given me the chance to use a real sword!" Amakusa retorted. "So how can you say that I shouldn't use one?!?" She'd long grown bored of using training weapons and was craving more. By the age of twelve, she'd already surpassed most of the adults who trained alongside her, and her level of skill and power made her the most likely candidate to become the family head once her Grandfather stepped down. However, with all that power came a great deal of fear, anxiety, and loneliness. Amakusa had few people that she could count as true friends, and most of her family were wary of her due to events in the recent past.

"Shiroe..." Her father sighed. "Please understand, this is for your own good." He didn't want to see his daughter hurt anyone else or herself.

"My own good, or yours?" Amakusa's words surprised both her and her father.

"I just want to help you, Shiroe." Her father replied, trying to hold back his emotions. "As your master, it's my job to ensure that you can control the strength you've been gifted with."

"And yet you deny me the ability to prove myself!" Amakusa yelled, her frustration boiling over.

{I am so much more than this! I WANT to prove myself!} (Amakusa)

"That's because you-" He stopped mid sentence, locking eyes with his young daughter. "It's because you..." Amakusa's father couldn't find the right words, and was worried about saying something he'd regret.

"It's because you're afraid of me, isn't it..." Amakusa said quietly.

"No, I would never be-" Her father's eyes went wide, but before he could refute her words he was cut off again.

"You're just like the others..." Amakusa turned away from her father. "Just like Sia, Minori, and Myuuna..."

"Shiroe!" Her father yelled, not wanting her to start bringing up family issues.

"You blame me for all of it, don't you?!?" Amakusa snapped back around and screamed at her father, startling him and making him flinch away, which Amakusa noticed. “You blame me for Mom being gone!”

"I've never once blamed you for their deaths, Shiroe!" Amakusa's father screamed at the top of his lungs. "It's not your fault, Shiroe. None of what happened was." He took a deep breath and slowly approached her.

"But Mom... and Fumiko... they..." Amakusa spoke quietly.

"Shiroe." Her father hugged her tightly. "I have never once been angry that you survived, my child." He teared up slightly. "It's the opposite. You have no idea how happy I am that you're alive, and I'm sure your mother and Sister are happy that you're alive too."

{The rest of the family was convinced that Shiroe was a cursed child, and for a brief moment I thought the same. To survive a head-on collision with a truck and come out with scrapes and bruises while both her mother and sister perished... It's something you only see in movies...} (Amakusa's father)

"But you're afraid of me..." Amakusa said quietly as she started crying. "I can tell..."

"I'm afraid of what you might do with that power, Shiroe." Her father continued, trying to console her. "You were born with far too much strength for one person, and I've always feared that one day... That one day you might do something you come to regret with it." He was worried that she might hurt somebody, or god forbid kill somebody.

"Dad..." Amakusa opened her eyes only to see nothing but a black void. "Dad? Dad?!? DAD?!?!" She called out to him again and again until her eyes snapped open once more, and she sat up quickly, covered in sweat. "DAD?!?"

"Well, nice to see you finally woke up." Akagi said while leaning against the wall of the infirmary. "Looks like you were having quite the interesting little dream there." She smirked. It was child's play for her to take a peak at someone's dream, and the Demon decided to see what was causing Amakusa to have such a pained expression while she slept.

{Interesting, so she had an extra strong body even before she was summoned.} (Akagi)

"YOU!" Amakusa tried to get up but was quickly stopped by her sore body. "Owch..."

"I gave you a good beating, so don't try and move around too much." Akagi sighed. "Mimi handled your wounds, but it will be a bit until your body heals completely."

{But still, this girl already woke up? I shattered several ribs and caused a good amount of damage to her body both inside and out. Even with Mimi's help, she should've been out cold for a bit longer. I suppose that's what happens when you pump a superhuman with God power.} (Akagi)

"Kill me..." Amakusa glared at Akagi, demanding that the Demon end her life.

"I've heard way too many people say that over the years." Akagi rolled her eyes at the cliché comment. "And why would I do that? I captured you for a reason, so killing you is out of the question."

"I won't give you any information. So go ahead and waste your time with torture." Amakusa scoffed.

{You'll find me to be immune to your methods, monster.} (Amakusa)

"Well, torture won't be necessary." Akagi grinned. "You'll tell me what I want to know completely of your own free will."

"Hah?" Amakusa was confused. "Why would I tell you anything?!?"

{Are you stupid?} (Amakusa)

"Tell me your full name, age, and date of birth." Akagi asked a simple set of questions.

"Of course master! My name is Shiroe Amakusa, I'm twenty-six years old, and I was born on November 23rd, 2042." Amakusa's eyes changed to the same orange color as Akagi's as she answered, reverting back once she was done. "What the fuck?!?" She smacked her hand over her mouth.

{Why did I?!?} (Amakusa)

"Well, it seems my little plan worked out!" Akagi laughed, happy with Amakusa's enthusiastic answers. "And based on the conflict between your birthday and stated age, we can assume that a bit of time dilation existed between Earth and Enoris.”

{About two times if I'm not mistaken.} (Akagi)

"What did you do to me?!?" Amakusa exclaimed. "My mind... I just... I told you everything you asked?!?" She trembled slightly recalling the jolt that went through her body before she began speaking,

{It felt like I was HAPPY to do it!} (Amakusa)

"I just had a bit of fun tampering with your soul, that's all." Akagi smiled. "Now I've made you my cute widdle pet who will do whatever I want! Ain't it great?”

{Now I just need the bowl, dog house and the leash!} (Akagi)

"But mind magic doesn't work on Heroes! The Gods specifically warded our mind against such effects!" Amakusa started sweating as she realized the gravity of the situation.

"Tut-Tut-Tut." Akagi wagged her finger. "I said soul, not mind." She continued. "I dove into your soul and did a bit of fuckery that made you subconsciously loyal to me. On the surface, you can still think and act like normal, but under the hood, you're my loyal pet." It was a nasty bit of manipulation and she was going to enjoy tormenting her new pet very much.

"W-Wha..." Amakusa paled as she realized what kind of future likely awaited her. "You..." She leaned over the bed and puked on the floor.

"Oh fucking hell..." Akagi groaned. "Kaori, we've got a cleanup on aisle 3."

{I'm not paid enough to clean up the contents of this girl's stomach.} (Akagi)

"Clean up?" Kaori popped her head around the corner from her prep area. "What do you... Son of a..." She sighed as she went to get a bucket and mop.

{I JUST CLEANED THAT FLOOR!} (Kaori)

After cleaning up the mess that Amakusa had made, and giving the girl a stern warning not to do that on the floor again, Kaori went to make a potion to calm the very anxious Amakusa down.

"Drink this. It will help you feel better." Kaori handed her a cup with blue liquid and placed a garbage can next to her.

{Next time you puke on my floor, I'm dumping it on your head!} (Kaori)

"I don't want to drink that!" Amakusa pushed it away. "It smells like cleaning liquid!"

"Drink it." Akagi ordered her, and Amakusa happily obliged.

*GLUP*

"Dammit!" Amakusa cursed as she put the cup down. "I'll get you for this!"

{That tasted so bad!} (Amakusa)

"Is that really what you want?" Akagi asked with a smirk.

"Of course not, master! I'm happy to be your loyal pet!" Amakusa said with a big smile before she regained control and started yelling profanities. "I AM NOT A PET!"

{GET OUT OF MY HEAD! LEAVE MY BRAIN ALONE!} (Amakusa)

"Whose' a good pet?" Akagi walked over and pat Amakusa on the head.

"Is it me?!?" Amakusa said happily, her imaginary dog ears and tail twitching.

{NOOOO!} (Amakusa)

"Nah, you're a bad pet." Akagi took her hand off of Amakusa's head. "You committed unspeakable acts of horror against a people who did nothing wrong. So you're definitely a bad pet."

Once Akagi was finished playing with her new toy Amakusa's eyes went back to normal. "I... Did we really... Fuck!" She put her head in her hands. "I knew it all seemed suspicious! Fuck! Kanato..."

{I... We... Dammit!} (Amakusa)

"So you had suspicions?" Akagi wanted to know more about the Hero's thoughts about the Gods and their genocide.

"Yeah." Amakusa sighed. She would only be compelled to act or answer if she resisted, so her eyes did not change this time. "During the war, I began to feel that the Gods were deceiving us about the nature of the Spirits. When they took... When they took Alm, it was at that point that I really started to lose faith." After the Oni girl vanished she began to think that something was wrong with the whole war, and as more and more Spirits died that suspicion only got worse. Amakusa'd managed to push most of those thoughts away, but they never faded completely.

"And yet you continued killing our people?!?" Mizumi burst through the clinic door with Shinlua and Halifax in toe. The Water Spirit's eyes glowed bright with rage, and Akagi could tell it was taking all her willpower to hold back from snapping Amakusa's neck.

{Oh boy, it looks like the pet's got some splaining to do.} (Akagi)

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