Page 52 of The Oni's Heart

His body was drenched in blood, the smell of it clinging to him like a second skin. His hands were covered, his chest splattered in the viscera of whatever had been unfortunate enough to cross his path. His skin was darker than before, the sharp horns jutting from his skull like some monstrous crown, and his eyes—those glowing yellow eyes—burned with that same consuming rage.

The tension in the air was suffocating, pressing down on me like an approaching storm, thick and heavy. I had seen this before, that terrifying hunger in his eyes. It was the Oni, and it had been unleashed again. And my pussy pulsed in his presence.

"You’re back," I said, my voice shaky, unsure of what I was saying. My gaze flicked to his bloodied form, then to hisexpression—a mix of arrogance, darkness, and something else that made my pulse race. The raw, unfettered power in the room was suffocating and titillating, making me question my sanity once again.

He looked at me, his lips curling into something resembling a grin, but there was no warmth in it.

"You didn’t think I could stay away, did you?" His voice was low, the deep rumble of it sending a shiver down my spine. The words were laced with an intensity that made my skin flush, and despite my better judgment, something in me responded.

I took a step back, instinctively putting some space between us. His presence was overwhelming—dangerous, magnetic. My body screamed at me to move away, but my legs felt frozen in place. I was caught in his pull, the kind of attraction that both terrified and thrilled me.

“You’ve been... out there.” My voice faltered again, but I pushed on, trying to make sense of it. “You lost control, didn’t you?”

He didn't answer at first. He took a slow step forward, each movement predatory yet confident, making my heart race in a way I didn’t want to acknowledge.

“Control?” The Oni chuckled darkly. “Control is a luxury I no longer care about.” His gaze lingered on me, the fire in his eyes flickering as if it were going to consume me. “What I care about is solving our problem, Momoi. And I have the perfect solution.”

I frowned, my instincts going on high alert. “What... solution?”

His grin widened, and for a moment, I wondered if I had just made a terrible mistake by asking.

“You’ll come with me,” he said, his voice hard and final. “To Jigoku.”

The word hung in the air like a death sentence.

As if given a paranormal instant download to my brain, my heart dropped. Jigoku—the realm of demons. A place of suffering, fire, and eternal torment. The last place I wanted to be. It was a place for the worst kind of souls, and I could feel its weight pressing on my chest.

“No,” I whispered, shaking my head. “I’m not going there. You can’t take me there, Tatsuya.”

His face twisted, anger flaring briefly before it was replaced by a cold smirk.

“Not Tatsuya. The Oni.” He moved closer, a silent threat with each step. “The world you know has no place for someone like you anymore. If you want safety, if you want to survive this... Jigoku is the only option.”

My eyes widened as he closed the distance between us. I wanted to push him away, to tell him to stop, but the words wouldn’t come. There was something about the way he moved, the overwhelming presence of the Oni, that held me still. My breath hitched, and I could feel the dangerous tension between us.

“You’re insane,” I managed to say, though my voice barely wavered. My heart thudded in my chest, panic clawing at me. “You think that’s the answer? You think that’s the only way?”

The Oni didn’t respond. He didn’t have to. His intentions were clear, and the sheer force of them suffocated me.

He reached out, his hand brushing against my cheek, and despite the blood on his skin, I could feel the heat of his touch. A shiver ran down my spine, not from fear but from something darker. Something I couldn’t control.

I stood there, frozen, my heart pounding in my chest, my body caught between two opposing forces. The Oni’s voice wrapped around me, his presence seeping into my skin, making it hard to think straight. He offered me a solution—an escape,even if it was in the form of something far darker or more dangerous than I could comprehend.

“I’ll do whatever it takes to keep you safe, Momoi,” he said again, his words like a poison that made my pulse quicken.

His eyes glowed with a fierce hunger in them—it was more than desire. It was an insatiable need to claim, to control. And in some twisted way, it mirrored something deep inside me, something I’d buried and ignored for far too long.

I should’ve pulled away. I should’ve run, should’ve screamed, should’ve demanded he stop. But I couldn’t. The part of me that knew better—the part of me that had seen the destruction he was capable of—was fighting against the part that was tempted to give in.

Was this truly the only option left? Could we really go to Jigoku, to the depths of hell, and find safety there? Could we even survive it? My mind screamed at me to think rationally, to remember who we were before all of this—before the Oni, before the bloodshed, before this twisted bond formed between us.

The Oni stared at me with hunger, slowly slipping his hand under my shirt. He was trying to distract me after giving me the news of his plan, but it wasn’t going to work.

What did Tatsuya think of this plan? He still had a life here, didn’t he? A future, even if it was scarred and unrecognizable now. He was still human, wasn’t he? He had to be. There had to be a way for us to fight back, to find a different solution.

The Oni leaned in and took deep inhales along the crook of my neck. Gently placing my hands on his bloodsoaked chest, I tried to push him away, trying to get a hold of the chaotic emotions he was eliciting.

But even as I thought that, doubt gnawed at me. Could we really go back to a normal life? Could I go back to a life without the Oni’s shadow hanging over us, threatening to consumeeverything? Could we outrun this fate, or was I already too far gone?

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