A crescent moon hung askew in the sky, casting a quiet and gentle moonlight. The town gradually fell into silence, where even the faint chirping of insects seemed loud.
Doma walked on the path back to the temple with light and elegant steps, a pure and innocent smile on his face. He took off his blood-stained clothes and tried to form new robes from his own flesh and blood, which flowed and covered his body.
"Wow—this is so much more convenient." He kept changing the style of his robes with a look of novelty, amusing himself endlessly.
A commotion was heard from afar. Relying on a demon's sharp hearing, Doma turned his head towards the source of the sound. He blinked his beautiful eyes and curiously changed his route.
At times like this, one had to join in the fun. Maybe something interesting would happen~
In a secluded alley, three men were kicking and punching a woman who was holding a child.
"You bitch, give me the money! I saw your money pouch!"
"No! Don't..." The woman clutched her pouch tightly, shielding the unconscious child in her arms with her body. "This is money for the child's treatment! Please don't take it! Let us go to the clinic, or he'll die..." the woman cried and begged, only to be met with even harsher beatings.
The money pouch was snatched away. The woman lay on the ground, covered in wounds, weeping ceaselessly.
One of the men weighed the pouch in his hand and looked at the woman's fair face. "Take her with us, she's not bad looking."
"Just leave the kid here..."
"Hi~ What are you all playing at?" Doma poked his head out from behind a corner, interrupting the man. "Can I join in?" he asked with a brilliant smile.
Seeing the scene in the alley, Doma paused, an expression of surprise on his face. "Eh—you're doing bad things."
"I've caught you~"
"Please... please save me..." A ray of hope burst forth in the woman's eyes.
The man with the money pouch turned around, sized up Doma's intimidating height, and gave up the idea of robbing him too. He threatened fiercely, "Mind your own business!"
"Oh my, you can't do this. It's very bad." Doma walked over with light steps, his expression becoming one of profound compassion. "Heaven and hell exist in this world. If you do evil, you will go to hell, you know."
"So he's a religious nut," the three men laughed loudly.
"I'm being very serious," Doma said, stopping in front of them. He felt a bit of pity for them. "You must have gone through some bad things to choose to bring pain to others, right?"
His compassionate rainbow eyes glowed faintly in the moonlight, the kanji engraved in them clearly visible. The men's laughter died abruptly. A strange and inexplicable fear made their bodies tremble, their hearts feeling as if they were being squeezed by a large hand.
What is that? There are... letters in his eyes?
"You can tell me your troubles."
"I will listen to your suffering very patiently. That is my duty," Doma said, one hand on his chest, his expression gentle and calm.
"Get lost!" one of the men shouted, fighting back his fear and shuffling backwards. "I have nothing to say to you!"
"Eh? You don't? Or are you just unwilling to tell me?" Doma tilted his head in confusion, then smiled again. "But it's okay. I am still willing to grant you all salvation equally."
"Before you do more irreparable things, I will bring you release." His expression was as innocent as a child's, yet it held a god-like sanctity. "This way, no more people will suffer because of you, and you can atone for your sins faster in hell, escape your suffering sooner, and be reborn."
"Isn't it a joyous occasion that benefits everyone?"
"To hell with your salvation!" The three men exchanged glances and ran towards the other end of the alley.
"Oh my, this is clearly a good thing. Why are you running?" Doma flicked open his fan with a swish, and his figure vanished in an instant.
The three men stumbled and fell almost simultaneously, their heads sliding off their necks as blood splattered everywhere.
"I wish you happiness in your next lives," Doma said gently, standing by and looking down at the remains on the ground.
He slowly closed his fan, licked his lips with the tip of his tongue, and then wrinkled his nose slightly. Compared to the believers who cleaned themselves up before participating in the passage ceremony, these three unkempt fellows disgusted him a little.
Compared to them, the woman nearby smelled exceptionally sweet.
"Are you alright?" Doma walked slowly to the woman, his voice soft.
"I'm... I'm fine... Thank you..." The woman hugged her child tightly and curled up against the wall. Her body was trembling, and her eyes held fear and unease as she looked at Doma. Although this unbelievably handsome man had saved her, he had just killed three people... It was truly terrifying.
The pattern on his head is strange, and that thing near his mouth isn't a canine tooth, is it? And why are there letters in his eyes? Is the person before me... even human?
"Oh my, you're injured." Doma looked at the bleeding wounds on the woman's cheeks and arms, his nose catching a very tempting scent.
Is it marechi blood?
He looked at the woman's horrifying bruises and the child who was clearly unconscious from a high fever, and his sense of duty as a Founder welled up again.
"It must be very painful, right? Do you need me to release you?"
"Let me guide you away from the suffering of this world to welcome a new life. How about it?" Doma said gently, his expression full of innocent expectation.
"No... Don't!" the woman shook her head in panic, tears streaming down her face again. "Please let me take my child to the clinic..."
"Eh? I've been rejected." Doma's eyebrows drooped, his handsome face showing extreme disappointment and sadness, making one feel pity.
"I... I'm sorry?" A strange sense of guilt rose in the woman's heart, and she blurted out with teary eyes.
"You can go." Doma reluctantly turned his head away and threw the woman's money pouch back to her, speaking with a lack of interest. "Oh, right!" he suddenly leaned in close, placing a finger to his lips. "Just forget what happened here~"
The woman's panicked eyes instantly became hazy. She stood up, and stumbled away, holding her child.
Watching the woman's back disappear around a corner, Doma puffed out his cheeks and turned to look at the corpses in the alley.
Mmm, I still can't bring myself to eat them.
"Picky eating is wrong," he tapped his head with his fan. "You have to eat properly." He waved his fan, unleashing a shower of ice crystals that consumed them in ice.
"There, that's better," he nodded in satisfaction.
After returning to the temple of the Eternal Paradise Cult, Doma sat by the lotus pond in the courtyard and picked a water lily that had closed for the night.
"Hmm—I feel like I've forgotten something very important."
"What is it?" He tilted his head, tapping his chin with his fan, and began to search through his memories.
"Oh!" He suddenly had a look of realization and waved his hand to conjure an ice mirror in front of him.
Looking at himself in the mirror, the characters "Upper Moon Six" were printed in his beautiful, rainbow-colored eyes, destroying the original harmony but adding a strange and mysterious charm.
Doma clutched his chest, genuinely feeling a pang of heartache.
How could Lord Muzan bear to carve letters on such beautiful eyes!
His face fell, and even his usually perky hair drooped dejectedly.
"To befriend Lord Akaza, I've really sacrificed a lot~" He looked up at the moon, seemingly turning into a gray stone statue.
-------
Enjoying the story? Support the author and get access to early chapters by joining my Patreon!
Find me at My : pat*eon*com/RuneA
I, Herta's Fiancé, the Universe's Number One Male Fist (114 Chapter (Simulpub-Full) )
Zenless Zone Zero: I'm a Succubus in Sixth Street (260 Chapter)
Reborn in Type-Moon, My Sister is Aoko Aozaki (230 Chapter)
MyGO!! A Story Voiced by Me (100 Chapter)
BLEACH: Blade of Purification (110 Chapter)
Konoha: Starting the Game as Yoriichi (280 Chapter)
My Real Job is Spying on Konoha, but I'm Also its Hokage (110 Chapter)
The Pinnacle of the Navy! Starting from Being Captured by Garp (130 Chapter)
Watching Yu-Gi-Oh! short videos is making the veteran players lose...(60 Chapter)
Uma Musume : The Trainer Who Just Wants to Live (162 Chapter)
Zenless Zone Zero The Random Kamen Rider (130 Chapter)
Genshin Impact: It All Began With Me Being Stepped On by Arlecchino (90 Chapter)
Naruto: I Can Synthesize Summoning Beasts (60 Chapter)
Demon Slayer: The Great Swordsman's System, Disciple of Yoriichi (90 Chapter)
My Wife is a General, but I'm an Emanator of Abundance! (100 Chapter)
Type-Moon: My Nine-Fold Path (90 Chapter)
Uma Musume: They're Peeking at My Diary, and All of Tracen is Panickin (75 Chapter)
The Wild History of Type-Moon world (50 Chapter)
Reborn in Conan, But I Refuse to Be the Bad Guy (60 Chapter)
Ruan Mei is begging me to go back? But there's no going back anymore (70 Chapter)
Just a Slacker at Tracen Academy (70 Chapter)
Survival in Blue Archive (40 Chapter)
Kimetsu no Yaiba: Doma Wasn't Hated Today, Either (50 Chapter)
The Vibe of This Chat Group is a Little Off (50 Chapter)
If there's a particular novel you're enjoying on Patron, please give it a 'like' so I know to focus on it.