Chapter 14: The Cursed Laughter Throughout Aokigahara Forest

Alex finally awoke, not knowing how many hours had passed since he fell asleep amid the rough motion of countless hands. Exhaustion from fighting against them had crept in until sleep overtook him. Now, as his eyes opened, he realized his mana had fully recovered; he was back in near perfect condition.

Alright, he thought. I’ve recovered my magic. I want to fight back, but if I do it here, there are too many of them. I won’t be able to move at all. I should wait to see where they’re taking me before I try to break out.

So Alex let the hands drag him onward as he quietly focused, gathering mana and forming a new spell. He began shaping vibrations through his body, trying to create a force that might free him when the right moment came.

But as he concentrated, Alex never got the chance. A few moments later, the hands suddenly flung him out of the cave. He crashed hard onto the forest floor, the air knocked from his lungs as he rolled through the dirt and leaves.

Alex quickly stood and looked around, trying to figure out where he was. He found himself in a vast forest where countless twisted hands jutted from the ground, creatures like the ones that had thrown him out. In the hollows of the trees, he saw corpses forcefully crammed into holes and crevices, blood seeping out in slow, steady streams. From their heads grew thick black strands of hair that spread like vines, wrapping around trunks and carpeting the forest floor. Hanging from the treetops were thousands of corpses swaying by their necks, their forms turning gently in the wind.

“Man, this is like some bad nightmare,” Alex muttered. “Where the heck am I? And where do I even go from here?”

Then he felt it, a faint tugging sensation deep inside him. “I can feel it. It’s really close. The portal must be somewhere in this forest.”

Before he could move, the sound of something massive stirred in the distance. Trees creaked and snapped under the weight of whatever was coming. Alex listened, concentrating, trying to gauge its direction.

Suddenly, one of the nearby twisted hands shot up and clamped around his leg, holding him in place. Beneath the layer of leaves and hair-like vines, distorted faces pressed upward, stretching the thin, fleshy film that covered the ground. Dozens of dead eyes stared at him, straining to keep him trapped.

Alex quickly drew Muramasa, slicing through the hand and freeing himself. He dashed forward, dodging grasping arms as the sound of the colossal creature drew closer, its approach shaking the forest around him.

But then Alex heard a chorus of voices. Every head sticking out of the ground, every face in the hollows of the trees, and every corpse hanging from the branches turned toward him. Their eyes glowed crimson as they all spoke in unison.

“You can’t run from us, Nephilim. This is our territory. Run and hide all you want, but in the end, we will find you, and we will make you one with us.”

A wave of eerie laughter followed, echoing through the forest, overlapping into a hysterical, maddening symphony. Alex’s pulse quickened as cold dread filled his chest.

“Damn it, where the hell am I?” he shouted. “I need to find a way out!”

He turned and bolted, slashing at every reaching hand that tried to seize him, Muramasa’s blade flashing red with each strike as he ran deeper into the forest.

Meanwhile, at another part of the forest, a glowing red portal distorted. A being leapt out from it, landing heavily on the blood soaked soil. As she stood and looked around, her long white hair flowed down her back, contrasting sharply with her dark red skin. Two horns curved upward from the top of her forehead, and her black sclera framed bright violet eyes that glimmered behind a pair of round glasses. She wore a tattered Japanese school uniform, its fabric singed and torn from battle.

She adjusted her glasses and scanned the eerie forest surrounding her, the air thick with the smell of decay and blood.

“Looks like I finally made it to the highest level of Hell, Aokigahara Forest,” she muttered. “At least it looks a lot less scary than the one I just came from on the second layer. Hopefully I can find someplace safe to hide on this layer. The lower layers are way too creepy and.scary”

She took a few cautious steps forward, her violet eyes darting around. But then she froze, seeing the countless bodies sticking out of the ground, the writhing arms, and the corpses dangling from above.

“Nope,” she said flatly. “This place is way too scary too. Let’s get out of this forest quick.”

She darted forward, moving like a blur between the trees. Twisted hands shot up to grab her, but each one that touched her legs or arms was instantly torn apart. She was far too strong for them to hold back. Forcing her way through the grasping limbs, she pushed on forward, searching for a way out of the cursed Aokigahara Forest.

Meanwhile, Celeste was slowly traveling through the tunnel that had swallowed Alex. She pushed forward endlessly, her steps echoing through the pulsing flesh that lined the tunnel walls. Every few feet, more human limbs and torsos emerged from the walls, twitching and writhing, reaching out toward her.

“Dang, how long is this tunnel?” she muttered in irritation.

Frustration building, she raised her right hand as it began to glow with radiant light. Holy energy gathered in her palm, forming a dense sphere of radiant power. “Alright, enough of this,” she said, narrowing her eyes. “Radiant Beam!”

A blinding beam of holy energy burst forward, tearing through the tunnel and burning everything in its path for miles. The fleshy walls shrieked and convulsed as they were incinerated.

Celeste gasped for air, clutching her chest as the spell consumed some of her divine power. She could feel the drain, and the frightening truth set in; without her wings, she could no longer recover her holy energy. Every holy spell she cast brought her closer to the edge of falling. But still, she pressed forward, her determination burning brighter than her fading light.

When she finally stopped to rest, she was breathing heavy, she whispered, “Alright, let’s continue forward. I’ve got to reach Alex before he gets assimilated into Legion.”

With that, she took off again, sprinting through the burned passage until she reached the end of her last blast. More hands and bodies waited ahead, reforming from the walls.

“Please be safe, Alex,” she murmured, her eyes glowing faintly as she charged another radiant spell and continued deeper into the darkness.

Alex kept running through the forest, lost in the maze of this accursed forest. Maybe I should just run straight for the portal, he thought. At least I know there’s something there that can get me out of this damn place. But then another thought struck him. I can’t leave Celeste behind. Knowing her, she’s probably already on her way after me. I just need to stay alive until she gets here, then we can escape through the portal together.

He turned toward the direction of the portal and sprinted. The air grew thick with Legion’s laughter, echoing through the forest from every direction. The laughter reverberated in his skull, rising and falling like a living tide of madness.

Then, abruptly, it quieted.

Legion’s countless voices whispered among themselves. “Another intruder in our territory?”

A pause, then a low, amused rumble. “But this one, this is an Oni. How did a demon from Jigoku come here? No matter. Today will be our lucky day. A Nephilim, an Angel, and an Oni, three strong powers in one forest. Imagine what we could become.”

Their collective mind swirled with excitement, their thoughts feeding into one another until Aokigahara Forest trembled with their joy.

“Yes, with their powers combined, even Hell itself will kneel before us.”

Legion’s laughter erupted again, louder than before, rippling through the trees as their amusement grew. They were in a great mood today, because fate had delivered three powerful beings into their domain.