Kishin

At first, it was just its hands. Drenched with the innards of another yokai, its hands clenched onto the Ushi-oni to allow its arms to stretch out. Yukimura could only watch in horror as this yokai? Monster? Demon? She did not know what to call it, but from its sinister smile when the entity’s head veered out of the other yokai’s spider-like sac, she could tell this was going to be the most fearsome yokai she ever faced.

Yukimura tried to move forward. Tried to use her tongue and mouth to speak a spell, but her body could not. Her lips quivered, and it felt like the sound of her trembling hands could be heard for miles. And she wasn’t the only one who felt this way; the Ushi-oni had the same feeling. That’s why the two did not make a single move until this blood-stained creature’s final leg surfaced.

It took a while for the rest of its body to emerge, so long that the blood on its hands began to evaporate, revealing an intense crimson layer of skin. But what stood out more than its alluring, yet ominous, skin was its horn. Yokai normally had two; however, this entity only had one, a single horn that twisted like a corkscrew, resembling a helical shape. And the unruly, black hair that its horn was protruding from appeared to be familiar to Yukimura. She had definitely seen it before, but the creature did not give her time to figure out that mystery.

As soon as the creature finished licking the Ushi-oni’s blood from around its lips, it unveiled its sharp fangs as it formed a spine-chilling smile.

“Human…MEAT!”

Those words erupted from its mouth before it…vanished? Yukimura had a trained eye from over a decade of fighting and slaying yokai, but not even she could track its movements. Not until it was right in front of her.

And now that it was this close, Yukimura could see it: the creature’s eyes. There was no iris, there was no pupil; it was just black, a never-ending sea of darkness like the abyss. An abyss that she got lost in, losing her grip on the sword, as the creature attempted to unhinge its jaw to take a bigger bite out of the girl than its humanoid body would naturally allow. However, in the middle of the unhingement, it paused; it heard a noise.

It was an unnaturally light noise, one that not even Yukimura’s ears could register, as she was too occupied with the danger in front of her. That so-called danger turned its head to see what the cause of the noise was, and it was the Ushi-oni.

The bovine yokai managed to get itself upright whilst the other being went after Yukimura. However, instead of facing it and being ready to fight it, the Ushi-oni’s spider sac faced the dangerous creature, as it seemed it was trying to sneak away.

“You heard me?”

The entity did not respond immediately; it only pointed at the other yokai.

“Don’t move…”

“So you want me to watch? Y’know, I think I left the-” The Ushi-oni was trying to exhibit some wishful thinking before it heard the next word from the creature that emerged from it.

“...Dinner.”

The six legs of the Ushi-oni gave out. It was sprawled out onto the ground, but what more can it do? The yokai can only be grateful that it will not be the first to be eaten by this supernatural entity.

Seeing that the yokai lost the will to fight, the creature turned its attention back to Yukimura, expecting to see her as frightened as the Ushi-oni was. But it wasn’t met with that sight. Instead, it was met with the blade of Yukimura’s sword.

However, that attack did not connect. It never would. That’s because, to this creature, the human girl’s attack was so slow it might as well have been in slow motion. This gave the threat all the time in the world to plunge Yukimura’s blade into the ground, and just as she released her grasp, it grabbed her hair. It yanked her hair before using it to throw her through the school building.

Yukimura flew through the classrooms on the first floor. If she failed to have the protective enchantments on the clothing she possessed, she would have already been dead. Instead, from these injuries, the girl only felt slightly concussed and light-headed; however, the severity could have worsened if it were not for what she landed on.

It wasn’t the cold, hard ground; it was warm. A warmth that felt like home. Yukimura looked up to see a middle-aged man, definitely not any younger than 30, but one whom she recognized.

Is that…

“Master?”

“Suki, I thought I told you to call me Papa or Father.”

The man looked towards the hole in the school, looking at his “daughter” again, before loosening his tie with a stern expression on his face. “But now doesn’t seem like the time to kid around.”

And he was right. Rapidly approaching his and Yukimura’s location through the school’s hole was the monster, the monster that the man realized he had to defeat. Without hesitation, he slammed his right palm onto the ground in front of him, reciting these words in a single breath:

“Haniyasu no kami, hear my plea. Allow me to reshape this blessed land that you have once molded, to construct a shape that will serve me. Earth Pillar.” His words ceased just moments before the monster could take a bite out of him. Instead, its chin was violently driven upward by a column of earth that erupted skyward beneath it.

As the creature did not have wings, it struggled, sure, but it could not maneuver through the sky, and the man Yukimura called Master used this flaw to his advantage, as he had a secret weapon of his own.

Bang!

That was what Yukimura heard, as she was startled back to alertness just from the deafening sound. And when she did, she saw her Master standing with the beast falling to the ground, spasming. It continued until it made contact with the ground, where its movements stopped.

The only observable cause Yukimura could make out was that of a bullet hole in its stomach. And then she heard even more banging. Newly formed smoke emerged from her Master’s gun as he shot the creature three more times for good measure.

“That should do the trick.” A splatter of normally colored blood could be seen on the pant leg of his suit as he turned over to Yukimura, running over to her faster than any normal person could manage.

“Are you okay, sweetheart?”

“Yes, I’m fine, Master.”

Yukimura slightly moved out of the way of her Master, causing him to fall onto his knees behind her when he attempted to go for a hug.

“When did my daughter get so cold?”

“I’m not cold, you’re just handsy…Anyway, what was that?”

“Oh, that thing, it’s a Kishin.”

A Kishin?

“Hey, stop that.”

Her Master had already gotten up off the ground and started inspecting her to make sure that his student was as fine as she claimed to be. But when she said to stop, he innocently held his two hands up into the air.

“Hurry up and explain, Master.”

“Okay, okay. A Kishin is a classification of oni whose power and destructive capabilities are so great that, when fully matured, it could rival the likes of the most fearsome gods.”

“And you killed it?”

“Nope, I only incapacitated it with a few of my custom bullets.”

“Huh?” Yukimura could hardly believe her ears. The same person who taught her to kill any yokai that would even think about harming a human on sight is now sparing one. Especially, one that could endanger countless lives.

“Move. I’ll kill it myself, then.” Yukimura attempted to stumble past her Master, but he held onto her shoulder to stabilize her and halt her movement.

“No can do, we need him.”

“Him?” Yukimura was confused by this use of pronouns because most yokai did not have identifiable genders. However, in place of where the yokai once lay was a boy, the same unruly-haired boy who attempted to ask her out through a love letter.