Chapter 15: The Cursed Woods of Aokigahara

As the Oni girl fought her way through the forest, she refused to let any of the grasping arms hold her back. She pushed forward, searching for a way out of this maze of twisted trees.

“I need to find a way out of here quick,” she said, her voice echoing softly through the mist. “This place is disgusting. Look at all these arms and blood. This place is way too scary for me.”

Suddenly, one of the corpses hanging from a branch by a rope around its neck dropped down right in front of her, startling her. A deafening scream echoed through the forest from every direction. Startled, the Oni girl shrieked and swung her fist, slamming it into the hanging corpse before it could grab her. The body exploded against the ground with a wet thud.

Without stopping, she sped up, running faster through the nightmarish woods. “There’s no way I’m stopping in this forest,” she thought. “I need to get the heck out of here. There must be something up ahead. From what that halfway being said, this place is supposed to be less dangerous than the other layers. Hopefully, I can find a nice place to make a home and stay away from all the scary stuff.”

But then she was caught off guard as an abomination burst from the trees ahead. Its deformed body crawled toward her, too many limbs to count, a grotesque thing made of fused flesh and writhing arms.

“Don’t run away, Oni,” it rasped. “You will become part of us.”

Her eyes went wide, and she let out a terrified scream before bolting in another direction. The abomination gave chase, its many limbs slapping and scraping against the forest floor as it pursued the fleeing Oni girl through the cursed woods.

Meanwhile, Alex was fighting off the countless limbs and corpses trying to hold him down. He swung Muramasa again and again, severing the grotesque arms into pieces. But it didn’t stop them. The mangled limbs simply reformed and reached for him once more as he ran.

Then Legion’s voice echoed through the forest, its tone filled with mockery.

“Just give it up, Nephilim. You cannot get away from us. But if you want to resist, that’s fine. It will only tire you out, making it easier for us to assimilate you. Then you will become one of us as well.”

A chorus of blood curdling laughter erupted from all directions, surrounding him. But then Alex froze. Through the haunting laughter, he heard something else, a loud scream in the distance. It startled him, cutting through the madness of this forest.

“Celeste,” he thought. “She must be here.”

Without hesitation, Alex turned toward the sound and sprinted, splashing through the blood soaked forest floor. He ran as fast as he could, his heart pounding, Muramasa gripped tightly in his hand. The laughter echoed all around him, but he ignored it, sprinting through the maze of trees toward the desperate scream.

Speaking to himself, he whispered, “Please be safe, Celeste. Just hold on, I’ll be there as fast as I can.”

Alex charged through the forest, swinging at everything in his path as he followed the sound of the scream. But when the screaming figure came into view, he stopped in surprise. It wasn’t Celeste. It was a demon girl, crying and running in terror. He raised his blade cautiously, unsure of her intent, but then he saw the fear in her eyes and the tears streaking down her face.

“She must be in danger too,” he thought. “Just like me.”

He held his position, deciding not to attack. Then he saw it, a twisted abomination barreling after her, its limbs flailing wildly.

The Oni girl’s eyes widened when she noticed him. “A human? There’s a human down here,” she thought. “And he doesn’t seem like a halfway being. Maybe he’ll help me.”

She sprinted past Alex and took cover behind a nearby tree. In response, Alex gripped Muramasa tighter, dark energy swirling along the cursed blade. He charged it with magic and swung three times in quick succession. Each slash sent out waves of black energy that sliced through the air, cutting the abomination into several pieces. The creature hit the ground with a heavy crash, collapsing into a pulsing pile of flesh as thick, black blood oozed from its remains.

Alex turned to the Oni girl, who peeked at him from behind the tree. Her voice trembled as she asked, “Are you a human or a halfway being?”

Alex gave her a reassuring smile. “I’m one hundred percent, well, almost one hundred percent, human I think, but I’m not too sure anymore.”

The Oni girl’s eyes filled with tears, and before Alex could react, she ran forward and threw her arms around him, sobbing uncontrollably.

“Finally, a human. I’m not alone, finally. Please, do you know a way out of here? I just want to go home. I’ve been trapped down here for so long. All I want is to go home.”

Her voice cracked as she cried against his chest. Alex’s expression softened, but his attention shifted when he noticed movement behind her. The pile of flesh that had once been the abomination began to twitch and merge again. From other directions, corpses hanging by their necks fell from the trees and slithered across the ground, joining together into more malformed creatures.

Alex gripped her shoulders and looked her straight in the eyes. “Be strong for now,” he said firmly. “Looks like there’s more of them coming. We need to run.”

The Oni girl nodded quickly, wiping her tears. Together, they turned and ran away from the incoming danger. As they fled, she reached out and grabbed his hand, holding it tightly. To her, he felt like safety itself, something pure in this nightmare she had lived for the past decades, and she couldn’t bear to let him go.

They rushed through Aokigahara Forest, dodging the abominations crawling along the ground and trees. Hands burst from the dirt and jutted out from tree trunks, clawing at their clothes and limbs, trying to hold them down. Alex swung Muramasa wildly, cleaving through every obstacle in his path.

“Damn it,” Alex shouted. “I feel like we’re just going in circles. I wish we could see the exit to this forest.”

The Oni girl stopped suddenly and said, “Hold on one moment. Let me see.”

They halted as she knelt down, gathering power in her legs. With a powerful jump, the ground beneath her cratered, and she soared up through the forest canopy.

For a brief, breathless moment, she was weightless, suspended in the crimson sky beneath the pulsing, bloody moon. From above, she could see the vast expanse of the cursed forest stretching endlessly around them, but in the distance, faintly, there was the end of Aokigahara Forest.

Then gravity reclaimed her. She plummeted back down, crashing through branches before landing hard beside Alex. She pointed and said, “The exit to Aokigahara Forest, it’s this way.”

She took his hand again, and together they sprinted in that direction, their hearts pounding as the grotesque sounds of pursuit echoed from behind. Even as they ran, they could still hear the chorus of laughter from all of the corpses around them. Every tree, every shadow seemed alive, their undead eyes tracking the pair’s every step as they fled with all their strength, desperate to escape this accursed forest.

They finally made it out of Aokigahara Forest, though the abominations still pursued them from the treeline. Once they broke free of the cursed woods, they kept running until a thunderous explosion split the air behind them.

Alex stopped abruptly and turned around, just in time to see a massive pillar of holy flame erupt skyward from deep within the forest.

“Celeste, that must be her,” he said aloud, eyes wide with relief and worry.

He stopped and held his ground, Muramasa in one hand, while the Oni girl clung to the back of his shirt, hiding behind him, unsure what he was doing. Then, emerging from the trees, five of the abominations crawled out, their grotesque bodies illuminated by the red sky.

Their voices merged as they spoke in unison, “Nephilim, Oni, you will not get away. Give up and become one with us.”

Alex’s eyes narrowed. “Celeste is in that forest all alone,” he thought. “How can I let her know where I am.”

He racked his mind for an idea, then remembered the deafening shockwave he had created once before with the flat side of Bunyan’s Axe. “If I can create a big shockwave just like in the hospital,” he thought, “she might feel it.”

Alex reached into his bag and pulled out the massive double bladed weapon, gripping it tightly. “Alright,” he muttered under his breath, “let’s get her attention.”

Then he spoke to the Oni girl behind him. “Can you fight,” he asked, glancing over his shoulder.

She peeked out from behind him, her eyes locked on the abominations crawling out of Aokigahara Forest.

“They’re too scary,” she whimpered. “I don’t like to fight.”

Alex frowned. “Aren’t you a demon? What if I give you a sword? Can you fight then.”

She looked up at him nervously. “Why? Can’t we just get out of here and run? That’s what I’m best at.”

“No,” Alex said firmly. “We can’t run. Do you see that pillar of light? My friend is in that forest looking for me, and I can’t leave her. We have to hold this spot until she finds her way here.”

The Oni girl’s face twisted with worry, but she nodded faintly. “I can try.”

Alex reached into his bag and pulled out Muramasa. “Here,” he said, handing it to her with steady hands.

She took the katana, gripping it tightly, though her hands trembled. Fear was present in her eyes, but there was also a flicker of determination.

Alex gave her a reassuring nod. “Don’t worry. I’ll protect you if things get bad. We just have to hold out until my friend arrives.”

She nodded again, swallowing her fear as she steadied her breathing.

“Alright,” Alex said, raising Bunyan’s Axe and facing the approaching abominations. “Let’s get her attention.”

With that, he charged forward, the Oni girl standing behind him, clutching Muramasa, as the monsters rushed to meet them in an all-out, chaotic clash.