「Let’s die. Rather than prolonging such a painful life, let’s die and find peace.」
Bubble, bubble. Had the black-blue current, reflecting the night, swallowed his entire field of vision? Moonlight filtering faintly through the surface illuminated the boy’s breath.
SPLAAASH!
But even that did not last long. The violent current wrapped around the boy’s body and rushed down and down. His gaunt body, withered from a lack of proper food, began to be swept along by the raging water.
[It’s a pointless struggle.]
Rrrrrumble. In an instant, his ears went numb. It seemed deafening, yet at the same time, it was almost as though he could hear nothing at all.
The boy instinctively flailed his arms and legs against the cold surrounding him. Thud! His body struck a boulder next.
[Do you think you can die?]
It hurts. The boy thought as his consciousness gradually dimmed. Death was colder and more painful than he had expected.
[How foolish…]
But I have to endure it. The boy forced himself to withstand the pebbles and stones covering the riverbed as they pounded and raked his body.
[You cannot die.]
And when his body, unable to hold its breath any longer, finally slipped into delirium, cackling laughter pierced his ears with terrible clarity.
[Never.]
It was truly dreadful.
「But I couldn’t.」
“Ah.”
At some point, the boy realized he was alive. He understood that the pitch-black Demonic Energy had ultimately tethered him to this earth.
“Aaaah…!”
He could not die. Looking upon the burned remains of the slash-and-burn…