Shuten-douji

Just like when I entered Meido, I was surrounded by complete darkness. I couldn’t hear anything, I couldn’t smell anything, but I could feel something. I felt a familiar concentration of mana all around me. As it swirled around me, I expelled the mana in my arm to emit its crimson light, and almost as if in reaction to it, all of my surroundings went from black to crimson.

As the darkness shifted to red, I could see a silhouette a couple of steps away from me. It may have been abnormally large, but it still appeared to be a human male. His sleeveless top revealed the chiseled muscles he had on his tanned skin. His hair was unruly, like mine, but his was longer and was as red as our surroundings. I continued to stare at him as he smiled with shark-like teeth. That gave me the impression he wasn’t human, but what confirmed it was his eyes. They looked like a person’s red eye on the surface, but as I stared for a moment longer, I could see literal souls moving through them. He is—

“It took you long enough to figure it out, Shin.” The figure cut off my thoughts as his commanding voice echoed. “I am Shuten-douji, the Kishin you’ve been siphoning power from. And don’t—”

“Why?” I felt my veins about to burst as I squeezed my fist. “Why… did you kill all those people?” I expelled mana from my right arm and thrust toward him. I was seconds away from punching the smile off his face before Shuten-douji grabbed my fist.

I tried to release myself, but I couldn’t beat him in terms of power. Mana wouldn’t even come out of my arm anymore. I stood there frozen in the same position, even after he slicked back his red hair and released my fist. I only moved after he sent me flying with a single punch. And it was only after I landed that he answered my previous question.

“For power, obviously. If I didn’t, I’d be weak like you and your father.”

My father? You don’t know anything about him or me! I struggled to stand up, and when I was halfway there, Shuten-douji was already in front of me.

“Oh, but I do. I know more than you ever will. He’s my great-great-great…” He only repeated the word great until he reached the 39th one. “Grandson. Making you the 40th.”

“I don’t care that I’m your grandson! Our blood relation—”

“Matters a lot, don’t you think? Without it, you wouldn’t have gotten as strong as you are now, and neither would I. Although I would’ve been a lot stronger if not for your father.”

“My father? Why do you keep bringing his name up?” I gripped onto the top he was wearing, despite not being strong enough to pick him up. “What did you do to him?”

Shuten-douji kicked me in the face, making me plummet to the ground. “What did I do? What did I do?” The Kishin stepped on my face, scrunching it as he continued. “It’s your disappointing father who did something.”

What do you mean by that? I struggled to get up, but it was of no use. I couldn’t overpower him in the slightest. I only lay there after he lifted his foot and grabbed me by my hair.

Shuten-douji crouched down as he spoke to me, leaving the sight of his chest in my face. “Unlike you, your father was perfect. Out of all 41 of my offspring, he had the best body suited for me. But did you know what he did?”

“W-What?” It took a great deal of my strength to even say that phrase. After I did, Shuten-douji started punching me repeatedly.

“He! Gave! Birth! To! You!” When he stopped speaking for a second, he let go of my hair only to step on my back with all his strength. “He had all that potential, but went on to squander it to live with an Onmyoji! And to top it all off, he had a child with her. You might’ve been able to inherit our strength, but you were nowhere near as perfect as he was.”

It hurt. I could feel my mind slipping from the pain. Please… stop. And for some reason, he did.

My vision was blurry from the beating I endured, but I could still make out Shuten-douji’s fanged smile. “You’re not as perfect, but you’ll do. So if you want me to stop hurting your soul, give me your body. Okay?”

Huh?

“I didn’t stutter. I want your body. If I’m on Earth with a physical body, then I’ll be able to kill anyone I want. Hell, I’d even do anything you ask me to right now as well.” Shuten-douji extended his clawed hand toward me. “I’m so nice, I’ll even make a soul-binding pact with you. So neither of us can disobey this deal, even if we wanted to.”

N—

“I know you got people you care about, Shin. Like that ice Onmyoji girl. I can spare her if you want, or I can even bed—”

“No!” Despite my pain, I could feel my voice rise from deep inside of me.

“Huh?” I watched Shuten-douji’s eyes widen before I shouted.

“I’m not going to let you anywhere near Yukimura! I’m not going to let you get near anyone, for that matter!” When those words left my mouth, Shuten-douji towered over me. He lifted me by my head like an insignificant bug.

“Do you even have the power to decide that?” I could feel his grip tighten. “Does anyone around you have the power to decide that?” My head is about to burst! “The answer is no! You’re weak, and I’m strong. Your only purpose is to be fuel for my growth, and if you can’t do that… Then, you’re better off dead!” That was when the Kishin let me drop onto the floor. He extended his hand once more, radiating the mana he was so proud of. “If you’re gonna die anyway, you might as well get something out of it, right? So relinquish your body to me before I take it.”

I was about to open my mouth to respond until I began to realize something. Wait… Why do you need me to give it to you if you can just take it? Shuten-douji didn’t respond. You don’t seem opposed to doing anything else with your power or for your power. Why not take it by force? I saw the Kishin clench his sharp teeth. Or is it that you can’t?

“Listen here, boy! You’re a Kishin because of my blood! Your power is my power! You belong to me!”

I finally stood up after he barked at me. I stared into his eyes, and they were shaking. “No, if my body were yours, you wouldn’t have to convince me like this. You can’t take it by force, can you?”

Shuten-douji rushed at me with his fist, forcing me to the ground once more. “Look at how weak you are. You can’t even kill Nurarihyon to put an end to his war with your strength. You need my power! So, give me your—”

“I refuse!” I struggled to pick myself up and forced my bruised face to gaze upon the yokai in front of me. “I won’t relinquish my body to you at all! The only way you’re getting out of here is by breaking that seal of yours.”

I can tell by his disgusted face that he wasn’t thrilled with my words. However, his words only prove it. “Fine. But you'd better pray I don’t get out in your lifetime or that girl’s. If I do, I swear to kill both of you in the most gruesome way I can. And if you guys aren’t alive, I’ll kill your descendants too! I’ll make sure they’re haunted by blood every day—”

“You won’t be able to. Even if I’m not alive, I know any children I have in the future will oppose you and your conquest for strength. We will always reject you!” After I said those words, a golden glow enveloped me. Is this Enma’s doing? And before I knew it, I was stumbling out of the Johari mirror.