A place to think...

Waru dropped Maruze off in a secluded place in the Land of Eternal Rain. It was high up and sheltered from the rain, since Maruze did not have a house himself. From such an ass whooping from Aeon, Maruze now had to rest...

He moaned a bit "My body has never been so tired...He had so much power... And yet I was so weak..."

Waru reverted to his normal form, which was a rare occurance, however he did it this time for some reason. "Yes, Maruze. You were weak. You wish to get that power, do you not? Collect more souls... It is a simple task..."

Maruze shook his head "To gain power from just collecting souls is not good enough... And I have a feeling that you will collect the souls of the innocent, anyway."

Waru snickered "How did you guess, you sly dog?"

Maruze was having a bit of trouble keeping his eyes open. He may have exerted too much energy in that battle.

Waru smiled at him "Yes... Go to sleep, little human..."

Maruze tried with all of his might to stay awake, yet his body still gave out and forced him asleep for recovery. Waru's snickering could be heard before going off to sleep.

Waru was indeed snickered, walking over Maruze "Now, let's look into your soul while you are asleep..." Waru touched Maruze's soul and seemingly forced himself inside of it.

Maruze appeared... somewhere. This place seemed quite familiar... One side was light, the other was dark. Maruze stood on the light side with some sort of blade that wasn't Waru... The power of this blade felt stronger and without malice. Maruze stared off into the blank scenery of sky and plain on the light side, then turned to the line that split the light and dark side, staring deep into the darkness... He saw 2 gleaming eyes in the darkness... Waru's eyes. He quickly figured out where he was. He was back inside of his soul, once again, just like a year ago... His Soul was divided between good and evil, light and dark, Maruze and Waru. The darkness seemed to cover a larger area than before... like it was devouring his soul.

Waru stared at Maruze from the depths of the dark, distorted, twisted area of his soul "If you're back here, then you must be troubled."

Maruze turned his back to Waru "I am not one of durability, you know."

Waru snickered "That's riiiight... You're not one of durability... You're just the normal little swordsman with the supernatural sword, huh? You think your sword magic and division can be used effectively without me?"

Maruze turned "You think you can be wielded effectively by anyone else? You think you could do any of this on your own? Without me, you wouldn't be able to do anything but float."

Waru frowned "Keh. And without me, you would be dead, you weak little swordsman."

Maruze started closer to the darkness, gripping this new sword in hand "Then how about I just test that theory, Waru? Why don't you just leave."

Waru smiled "Ah ah ah... What about our... Binding contract?" Some paper appeared in Waru's hand and he pointed at it threateningly.

Maruze stopped "Tch..." He swiftly looked off to the other direction.

Waru began to laugh "Yes... You remember when you made this contract, don't you, Maruze?" Maruze was closer. Waru was pleased. "Do you really remember? How about I assist you in your memory, for it was so long ago..."

The light side of the soul became a playback of when Maruze met Waru. Maruze saw himself. He was lost in despair, lost in sadness, covered in blood. He had just killed his own daughter. "That's when.."

"When I appeared. To help eeeaase your pain over your daughter you so brutally murdered." the darkness grew a bit.

Maruze turned to Waru "That was an accident and you know it! I was training with my sword and she...She got in between my striking range..." Maruze lowered his head, only to bring it back up a few moments later to look at Waru. "You said you could bring her back."

Waru's smile grew larger "And I did... through me. You do see her every day, do you not? Do you not appreciate seeing your own daughter..." Waru instantaneously changed his shape into Maruze's daughter "... Daddy? Don't you appreciate the nice demon's work, daddy?"

Maruze gasped, a tear falling from his eye "Yes... Yes I do. Allowing me to see you is all I need... I wish you were back with me..."

The girl smiled "Oh, daddy..." The girl's eyes became demonic and her smile became that of Waru's once again "Time's up. You've seen your daughter enough today, don't you think? There's always tomorrow..." Waru laughed a bit.

Maruze knelt down, a bit shocked and in despair "Yes... Yes... Tomorrow..." The darkness spread just a little bit more.

Waru had him in his power now "So... You know what you must do. I told you how you could get her back for eternity... I need to become a Death Scythe. I need souls. The special abilities of a Death Scythe would increase my own demonic abilities enough for me to... well... Bring her back. And you want that to happen fast, right?"

Maruze nodded "Yes... That power is most essential..."

Waru nodded "Well. In order to attain that power.. You will need power yourself. You will need to tap into some of my power. You may even need me to... Take control."

Maruze suddenly came to his senses, as he was noticing what Waru was doing "You may need to take control, hm? I doubt that. Though... You do make a point... I do need more power... Not from you. I must train. We must train. We will do this legitimately. I mustn't let my soul fall into darkness." The darkness retreated just a bit.

Waru scowled "Keeeeh... Fine. If that's the way you want to do it. Just get me those souls and I will be content. We only have 14 of 99 and we must find a Witch to slaughter even after that..."

Maruze nodded "Yes, yes... We will do this the honorable way." Maruze looked down at the sword in his hand... He wondered something about it.. Why was it that the contract allowed him to hold this sword if Waru was the only weapon he could wield, according to it? Perhaps because it wasn't an actual sword and resided within his soul? No matter. It didn't really mean anything at the moment. Maruze tapped back into himself, leaving from his soul, dropping the blade. Waru stared at the blade evilly and angrily, scowled at it and taking refuge in the darkness before being transferred out of the soul.

Maruze woke up, his body feeling a lot better. Another good perk of Waru, his ability to restore Maruze at an accelerated pace due to their souls being connected and Waru being a demon. Waru was standing over Maruze, looking quite lost in thought. Maruze paid it no mind. "We will be leaving soon, Waru."

Waru nodded, taking the form of his soul weapon form again and floating under Maruze. He floated toward the exit of the Realm of Eternal Rain.