Ambush in Ikebukuro

The shikigami burst from the shadows like a tide of metal and malice.

Rei grabbed Aoi by the wrist and pulled her into the adjoining alley. Behind them, steel dogs snapped their mechanical jaws, red eyes carving streaks of light through the darkness. Above, metallic crows dove in formation, their electronic screeches tearing the night air.

“This way!”

They spilled out onto a main avenue of Ikebukuro.

Dozens of pedestrians turned at the noise. A group of schoolgirls screamed as the creatures emerged from the alley. A salaryman dropped his briefcase. Panic rippled outward like a shockwave.

A steel dog leapt at a fleeing woman.

Rei intercepted it with a sweep of silver flames, hurling it into a vending machine that exploded in a shower of sparks. But three more were already taking its place, converging on the terrified crowd.

“There are too many people!” Aoi shouted.

She was right. Every attack risked hurting a civilian. Every dodge brought them closer to innocent bystanders. The shikigami seemed to know it—they used humans as shields, forcing Rei to hold back.

His phone vibrated in his pocket. He pulled it out without thinking.

The screen lit up. Nekomata_Hikari’s face appeared, her violet eyes sparkling with excitement.

“Nya~ What an entrance!” Her voice rang clear through the speaker despite the chaos. “Let me have a little fun!”

Before Rei could answer, three shikigami froze mid-run. Their eyes shifted from red to violet. Then they pivoted and attacked their own kind.

“Hikari?!”

“Surprise~” The digital avatar grinned, her two cat tails swaying with satisfaction. “These little toys are connected to the network. And the network is my playground.”

The turned shikigami tore a gap in the encirclement. Rei used it, unleashing a wave of flames that pushed the others back, giving civilians time to flee.

But the situation was still critical. More shikigami poured in from side streets. The panicked crowd ran in every direction—some fell, others trampled each other.

“We can’t stay here,” Rei said, mind racing. “There will be casualties.”

“Mitake Jinja Shrine,” Hikari blurted from the screen. “Three hundred meters northeast. Consecrated ground.”

Rei nodded. A shrine. The spiritual barriers of sacred places could form a buffer—a space where battles wouldn’t affect the human world.

“Aoi, move!”

He grabbed her around the waist and leapt onto a van roof, then an awning, then the rooftops. Behind them, the shikigami followed—at least the ones Hikari didn’t control.

“Wooooh! Parkour mode!” Hikari cheered. “Should I start a livestream? Trending for sure!”

Rei ignored the chatter, focusing on their destination, guided by a century-old memory of Tokyo’s shrines.

Mitake Jinja finally appeared—a small shrine tucked into a quiet residential district. A large gray torii marked the entrance.

They landed before it. The shikigami were converging from all directions now.

“Through the torii!” Rei ordered.

Aoi obeyed, passing beneath the gate. Rei followed instantly.

The effect was immediate.

The world seemed to freeze for a fraction of a second. Then everything changed. City noise dulled, as if filtered through cotton. The air grew heavier, charged with ancient energy. And most of all, the bystanders who had followed the chaos from afar… vanished. Not erased—simply invisible, as if Rei and Aoi had slipped into a parallel dimension.

“What the—” Aoi looked around, disoriented.

“Spiritual barrier,” Rei panted. “Shrine lands exist in both the human world and the spirit world at once. As long as we stay here, our fight only affects this dimension. Humans won’t see or feel anything.”

“Cheater,” Hikari commented from Rei’s phone. “It’s like a private instance in an MMO. PvP zone with no consequences for NPCs!”

The shikigami crossed the torii in turn, emerging into this mirrored dimension. Their red eyes swept the shrine, locking onto their prey.

Rei stepped in front of Aoi, his three tails manifesting, flames crackling around his fists.

“Now we can cut loose.”

The battle exploded.

Rei hurled himself into the fray, silver flames carving deadly arcs. A steel dog disintegrated under his first strike. A second lost its mechanical head. A crow dove at him—he smashed it aside with a tail-swipe that sent it crashing into a stone lantern.

Aoi was no less active. Golden light pulsed around her, forming barriers that blocked attacks, beams that purified corrupted creatures. She moved like in the arcade—not truly a fighter, but a dancer who dodged and countered at the perfect beat.

“Kill streak!” Hikari shouted. “Rei-kun, combo x5! Aoi-chan, perfect assist!”

The shikigami under her control fought beside them, opening paths, blocking sneak attacks. It was chaotic and brutal—but they were winning.

Then something changed.

The shikigami Hikari controlled froze. Their violet eyes flickered, turned red, then went dark.

“What—” Hikari’s voice lost its playful tone. “Did I get kicked from the server?! Impossible, my connection is—”

A deep rumble shook the shrine ground.

The remaining shikigami stopped attacking. They backed away, forming two ordered lines on either side of the main path—like a macabre honor guard.

A massive presence was approaching.

Rei felt it before he saw it. A corrupted, powerful, composite aura. As if several essences had been forcibly stitched together.

The creature emerged from the shadow of the main torii.

Nearly three meters tall. Its body was a nightmare assembly—massive oni torso, multiple arms from different creatures, tengu legs. Its skin was etched with glowing lines—circuit-tattoos pulsing with blood-red energy, linking the parts like living sutures.

Its face was worst of all. Three stacked jaws. Six eyes of different colors, all fixed on Rei with cold, calculating hatred.

“An onigami,” Rei whispered, blood freezing in his veins.

He had heard of such abominations—creatures made by the cruelest yōkai. Spiritual chimeras stitched from other yōkai, held together by forbidden necromancy. Each fragment carried the memories, pain, and rage of its original owner.

The onigami opened all three mouths at once.

“The master wants your head, little fox.”

Its voice was a discordant choir—several tones layered, none truly human.

For the first time since joining in, Hikari spoke without irony:

“…a Soulslike boss.”

The onigami charged.

Rei barely had time to shove Aoi aside before a massive fist slammed where they had stood. The shrine floor exploded, stone shards flying.

He countered instantly—an arc of flames at the creature’s torso. The impact burned a mark into its flesh, but the onigami didn’t even slow. Its circuit-tattoos pulsed brighter, and the wound began to close.

Regeneration.

A second arm—ending in kappa claws—whipped toward Rei. He dodged, but a third arm burst from nowhere, smashing into his side.

Pain exploded in his ribs. Something cracked.

“REI!”

Aoi hurled a wave of golden light at the onigami. It roared—more irritation than pain—and turned toward her.

No.

Rei rose, ignoring his shattered ribs. He would not let that thing touch Aoi.

He attacked again, fiercer—flames, claws, tails, everything he had. The onigami blocked, parried, countered. Every exchange was brutal, every blow had consequences.

But the creature was too strong. Too fast. Too resilient.

One strike sent him crashing into a stone statue. Another split his arm. A third hurled him at the feet of the Inari statues, blood spilling from his mouth.

“Rei-kun…” Hikari’s voice trembled from the phone on the ground. “Your HP bar…”

The onigami advanced, its six eyes gleaming with cruel delight.

“The master was right. You are weak.” It raised a massive fist. “Die, little fox.”

Aoi threw herself between them.

Her golden barrier flared—fragile, flickering. The onigami struck. The barrier held for one second, two—then shattered. Aoi was hurled backward.

The Resonance screamed between them—shared pain, shared fear, shared despair.

The onigami looked from one to the other, amused by their weakness.

Rei tried to rise. His legs refused. His spiritual energy was nearly gone. Beside him, Aoi knelt, her light reduced to a faint glow.

It’s over, he thought. We failed.

Then he felt something.

Not through the Resonance with Aoi. Something else. Older. Deeper.