Page 35 of Night of the Dragon

The oni snorted. “I don’t answer to you any longer, Hakaimono,” he stated, swinging one club to a meaty shoulder. “But since you’re going to die in a moment anyway, here’s something to think about when you’re sucked back into Kamigoroshi. Jigoku is eternal, but it is always hungry, and it never forgets. Long has O-Hakumon wished for Jigoku to grow, for his children, the oni, to walk freely in the mortal realm. When the damned soul known as Genno arrived in Jigoku, O-Hakumon saw an opportunity. The Master of Demons was the most powerful blood mage in the history of the human empire; he could affect the mortal world in a way the ruler of Jigoku could not. So Lord O-Hakumon offered Genno a deal. He would allow the mage’s soul to return to Ningen-kai, if Genno promised to do him a service while he was there.”

“And what service was that?” I asked, almost dreading the answer. But Akumu only chuckled.

“Oh, no, Hakaimono,” he crooned. “I won’t give it away so easily. But it is soon. It’s almost here, in fact.” His gaze flickered to something in the distance, above the city, and I felt a chill as I remembered the figures on the four guardian statues. “This city will burn, and all its souls will be sacrificed to fuel what’s coming. You can’t stop it.”

I growled, curling my talons around the hilt of Kamigoroshi as beside me, Taiyo Daisuke straightened and raised his sword.

“I believe I have heard enough. Shall we show him how wrong he is, Kage-san?”

“My thoughts exactly.”

We lunged at the oni, who laughed and twirled his clubs as we came in, then smashed them down in vicious arcs. Dirt and rock shards flew as the tetsubo crushed the earth around us, leaving huge craters in the road, but we managed to avoid the deadly pounding clubs. Still, this was a dangerous game. One misstep and we’d be nothing but red smears in the dirt.

Dammit, I have to get higher. I can’t do anything stabbing at his ankles.

“Distract him!” I snapped at the noble, and ducked away, putting the corner of a burning house between us. Akumu casually swiped his club through the building, sending the roof and parts of the wall flying, and rubble rained down around me. Dodging wood and falling stones, I sprang to what was left of the roof, ran along a burning beam and launched myself at the oni with a snarl. Kamigoroshi flashed, cutting deep into his chest, slicing through his ribs in a spray of dark blood, and Akumu howled. As I fell, I saw the noble dart under the reeling oni, leap up and slash through the back of the monster’s knee.

With a bellow of pain, Akumu staggered back and fell, crashing into a storefront and splintering the building under his weight. As clouds of dust rose into the air, Daisuke joined me, watching wood and roof tiles settle over the body of the oni.

“I don’t suppose that’s the end of it,” he remarked calmly. I shook my head.

“No, it’s just made him mad. Now the real fun begins.”

With a roar and an explosion of roof tiles, Akumu surged upright. Eyes blazing red, he turned on us, raising both tetsubo, and lunged. Daisuke and I scrambled back, dodging and ducking behind walls to avoid the pounding clubs, knowing the oni’s size wouldn’t let him follow.

Snarling, Akumu swept his tetsubo through the buildings themselves, smashing walls and crushing roofs with furious abandon. I slipped through an alley to escape and found the buildings crumbling around me. Immediately, I lunged for the open street, wood, thatch and stone raining down, but something hit the back of my skull and I stumbled as the wall collapsed on me with a roar.

Gritting my teeth, I pushed splintered wood and stones off my chest, feeling the ground shake as Akumu rounded a corner, his crimson gaze sweeping the ground. Spotting me half-buried in the rubble pile, he gave a slow grin and raised his clubs.

Something tiny flew through the air and exploded with a burst of fire in the oni’s face. Roaring, Akumu staggered back, wincing and shaking his head as if blinded, and I stared in amazement.

“Get up, demonslayer. I taught you better than this.”

Stunned, I looked up as a figure dropped onto the rocks out of nowhere, glowering down at me. A man dressed all in black, with graying hair and an easily forgettable face. But I recognized him immediately and had to stifle a surge of rage toward this human, for he was the one who taught the Kage demonslayers to control the oni inside them.

“Ichiro-sensei.” I shoved off the last of the rocks and rose, glaring at the master shinobi. I knew my horns, claws and tattoos were fully visible, but the older human didn’t appear distressed or surprised by them. “What are you doing here?”

“That is not what you should be worried about now.”

Akumu stepped forward with an enraged bellow, baring his fangs. And then, from the roofs of the buildings surrounding us, dozens of figures in black appeared. Silent and swift, they loosed arrows, flung kunai and hurled smoke bombs at the hulking oni before darting away again. Akumu howled in fury, smashing his clubs into the roofs and buildings, and I saw several shinobi fall or be crushed under rock, but most had already disappeared.

I looked back at Ichiro in amazement. “Is the whole school here?”

“Not all of us,” the master shinobi replied. “Only those who agreed to walk the Path. But we’re wasting time. Go, demonslayer.” He pointed a crooked finger at the oni overhead. “Do your job. There’ll be time for answers later.”

A part of me sneered, tempted to tell the old human he wasn’t my master any longer. But I gripped Kamigoroshi, turned and sprinted toward the raging oni and the dozens of humans swarming in and out of cover, striking and harrying where they could.

“Kill the monster!”

Footsteps echoed down a street, and a squad of Moon Clan samurai appeared, huge greatbows in hand as they came to a halt at the edge of the road and prepared to fire. Akumu turned and struck a rubble pile with a club, sending several large rocks flying toward the archers. They stood their ground, though several would be killed by the oncoming projectiles, and drew their bows back to fire.

And then, the shadows around them came to life. Dark tendrils erupted from the ground, writhing and thrashing like some huge sea creature. They struck the boulders from the air, batting them aside or smashing them to pebbles. At the same time, the bowmen loosed their strings, and two dozen arrows arced through the air to pepper the oni.

Beset from all sides, Akumu flew into a rage. Roaring, he turned and smashed his tetsubo into everything around him, crushing buildings, snapping trees and sending rubble flying. As I raced toward the oni, I caught sight of Daisuke, huddled beneath an overhang as debris fell around him. Our eyes met across the road, and he gave a single nod.

Darting from cover, the Taiyo sprinted behind the raging oni. His blade flashed twice, cutting through thick calf tendons in a spray of blood. Akumu stumbled, falling to his knees, his tetsubo smashing to the ground. I leaped from a crumbling wall onto a roof and sprang into the air, Kamigoroshi raised over my head. For just a moment, I was above Akumu as the oni bellowed in fury and started to rise. With a roar, I landed on his shoulders and drove Kamigoroshi into the back of his neck, shoving the point of the blade through his throat.

Akumu let out a garbled cry and staggered, the tetsubo dropping from his claws. Yanking Kamigoroshi back, I gripped the hilt in both hands and slashed the blade across the thick neck. The oni’s head toppled forward, rolled down his chest and hit the ground with a wet thud that seemed to echo through the city. The headless body stayed upright for a few seconds, seeming to defy the laws of gravity, before it, too, collapsed with the rumble of an avalanche. I leaped off before it struck the ground and rolled upright, panting, as the third demon general of Jigoku twitched several times and was finally still.

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