Transformation: Unleashing the gods

Sakuya and I were running for our lives from the slit-mouthed woman. It wasn’t the most romantic night in the world, especially given the fact that we had just shared our first kiss under the moonlight. But it kept us alive. Alive to kiss another day.

"Hey, wait a second!" I yelled to Sakuya while we continuously pumped our arms and feet to propel ourselves forward. "Didn't you say you fought spirits like her for a living?!"

"Oh? Yeah?!" Sakuya responded, running just as hard as I was.

"Then shouldn’t you be back there fighting her?!" I asked.

"Umm..."

I snuck a quick glance at our assailant chasing us, and I instantly wished I hadn’t. There were three of them. Two additional copies had appeared, running beside the original spirit tailing us. Bloody, carved faces from ear to ear, long dark hair, similar clothes. Even the way they ran was eerie, unnatural, and too identical.

They saw me staring at them.

They smiled.

Nope!

"So when I left the temple," Sakuya yelled as I returned my attention to the road ahead of me, "I wasn’t coming out to fight spirits! I was coming to look for you! So I did not come along with my Sobi!"

I took another quick glance behind us.

Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit.

The three identical spirits were drawing closer.

"So really, if you think about it, it’s kind of your fault I did not come prepared. But keep running in the direction of the temple!" Sakuya said as she began to gradually fall behind. "I’m going to try and buy some time!"

"Wait, what?!"

***

Sakuya slowed her pace, then eventually came to a halt. She turned to face the incoming spirits. She could tell the Kuchisake-onna running in the middle was the original. If she could knock her out, then the remaining two would disappear.

It wasn’t the same spirit that led the attack on the temples all those years ago, but they still looked like the woman that killed her father. They still looked the same.

She launched forward to meet them head-on. Seeing this, the Kuchisake-onna on the left instantly swapped places with the one in the middle.

It was too abrupt.

Sakuya could not react in time.

She only managed to land a punch to the face of the fake Kuchisake-onna in the middle before reaching out in desperation to grab hold of the real one who was getting past her.

She missed.

The spirit successfully ran past her and was heading straight for Jumo.

No!

She wanted to follow. Her eyes began to glow. But she was immediately rushed and tackled by the third spirit on the right—the other copy she had forgotten.

Big mistake.

***

I immediately came to a stop following Sakuya’s request to keep running forward. I couldn’t just leave her.

I turned and found her already intercepting the incoming spirits. She had knocked one out with a punch and was struggling with another on the ground.

Holy cow, she was good.

Punch. Punch.

Head bash into the ground. Head bash into the ground.

She was absolutely wailing on the other spirit like an animal as she sat on top of it.

Punch.

Punch.

Punch. Punch.

Whoa.

It was...

It was becoming a bit messy.

The blood.

It was a lot.

I think it was already dead. But why was she still...?

"Jumo! Run!"

...

This next part might have happened as if in slow motion. Because honestly, that was the way I perceived it.

First was Sakuya turning around and screaming for me to run away. Back to the temple, no doubt.

Silly, silly Sakuya. Didn’t she know I couldn’t just leave her behind?

Second was the sinking realization. There were initially three spirits chasing us, and she was able to successfully intercept two.

Where was the third?...

THWACK.

...

Birds flew out of a tree.

My eyes grew wide.

My breath suddenly caught in my throat.

"Nooooo!"

It wasn’t me who screamed.

Maybe it was Sakuya.

I wasn’t sure.

I slowly looked down.

Because suddenly, I couldn’t breathe.

I wanted to know why I couldn’t breathe.

And there was a little pain as well.

Oh.

Something had exploded through my stomach from behind.

"Nooooo!"

That still wasn’t me who screamed.

Maybe it was Sakuya again.

It sounded like her.

I still wasn’t sure.

I was still fixated on the thing sticking out of my gut.

A metal rod.

Sharp.

Rusted.

Dripping blood.

My blood.

I suddenly felt weak.

I couldn’t stand on my feet.

I fell.

***

From my spot on the ground, I could see Sakuya slowly being overwhelmed. She kept trying to fight her way to reach me, but the spirit had made several more copies of itself and was closing in on her. No weapons, no tools, no backup. She was heavily outnumbered. The spirits were going to kill her.

I could not allow that.

With my remaining strength, I used my thumb to push out the ring from my left middle finger.

My mother’s warning was clear.

If the ring ever came off, the gods inside me were going to attack again.

Ogun was going to emerge again.

Good.

I was counting on that.

The second the ring fell off, I felt it.

A surge of energy throughout my body.

The tattoo on my chest started to itch again.

My skin started to turn a deep black copper, and my skeleton started to elongate as my hair quickly grew out.

I was turning.