Isekai Mizuki S1 - A World With Demons

Chapter 82 - Breaking Free

Kanao and her soul were having another duel. Of course, the battle was currently in the latter's favor. She wasn't giving up, however, and blocked the soul's next incoming attack, then returned with an explosive flower shot.

"Getting started, eh, Kanao?" the soul asked, preparing a blast made of dark energy. This was new, as Kanao had never seen her soul use any powers or anything. "Dark Critical!" it yelled, firing the energy blast. Within one hit, Kanao was annihilated.

Her consciousness revived and reformed itself. "How are you so hard to kill...?" she asked. "Well, I am your soul. I'm better and stronger, and I generally know more about you and your tactics than you believe," it said, shrugging. Kanao was still up for more, and challenged it to another deathmatch. "Still pepped, Kanao? No matter. I'll quench your battle thirst whenever you wish," it accepted.

Another duel between the soul and Kanao sparked up once more. Her soul still had the battle in its favor, with minimal power use. "Come on, Kanao! Step it up! You won't even be able to beat me at half my power like this!" it taunted. Kanao took a deep breath, and landed a high-power spin kick to the soul's side.

Outside the demon's mind...

Kanao was assisting Kokushibo with the soldier training, when suddenly, her left side took a massive gush of pain. "UGH!" she groaned in pain, clutching her left torso. "Is something wrong, Kanao?" Kokushibo asked, looking concerned. Kanao lifted the left side of her shirt up, revealing the left side of the middle of her torso, now covered in purple cracks.

Muzan appeared in the room to check on the progression, when he noticed the sudden change in Kanao's body. "Kanao, what is the meaning of this?" he asked, the latter of whom explained about the sudden pain.

"This could mean bad for the Twelve... I'll have Doma examine you, and I'll take over training his soldiers. Go, now," commanded Muzan, prompting Kanao to leave the room.

Inside her mind...

Kanao's consciousness was killed again. Revived and reconstructed, she got up, and ran over to the soul. "You really did a number on me..." it commented, clutching its left. "Keep that up, and you could actually kill me," it said.

Kanao sighed and sat back down, trying to mentally train herself for her next deathmatch with her soul.

Kanao was already in the tube, shirt off to reveal the cracks on her side while Doma was checking what's going on. "This definitely has to do with an internal factor... but I don't know what!" Doma said to himself, frantically checking every last resource he has. "Her cells in the cracks' areas are damaged, and some are dead as well. If this goes on, Kanao might actually die...!"

The cracks then dissipated, her body being fully regenerated. "Phew... I think it's fixed..." said Doma, letting her out of the tube. Kanao put back on her shirt and coat, and left his laboratory. "I don't know what's causing this, but clearly this is an internal factor that's causing this! I need to check up on her more often..." Doma said, putting his hat back on.

"Jeez... that was close..." said the soul. Kanao was still sleeping on the ground, seeing as she felt tired after dying 3 times in one day. Although the soul wanted to help her get out, the traits of her demon self prevented her from simply giving it up. But is Kanao killing her own spirit truly the key to getting her out, or is there a different factor that's keeping her stuck? We may never know.

To be continued...