Chapter 3: Fearborn

Oni.

Most people must have heard that name at some point. Especially in this modern era filled with pop culture from Japanese influence.

They are the demons of Japanese mythology. Terrifying, large-bodied creatures considered to be calamities that come upon those who try to disrupt order. Even so, in some regions, they are regarded as entities that bring good fortune or maintain balance. That's why they were often worshipped by some people back then.

"Oni, huh..." Ichinose squinted, examining the scattered corpses around us carefully. "Rena's incarnation should be the most suitable to fight them. But, well, never mind. What's done is done."

"Don't worry, Ichinose-san. It's fine."

Ichinose rolled her eyes. "What do you mean it's fine? We could have conserved more energy if you had finished them off. Momotarou is the natural enemy of Oni. There's no myth where they win against you."

I frowned.

That girl... she just wanted to find fault with others. As if everything had to be thought through with perfect tactical precision and without any room for error. Unfortunately, on the battlefield I knew, improvisational power was more advantageous than just boring, textbook tactics without variation. Besides, what was the point of using tactics just to fight small-fry like them?

I could only shake my head at Ichinose's thinking. But it was better not to protest. That would only make her keep complaining and acting like a know-it-all senior.

"What other Fearborn do you think we'll encounter after this?"

"Who knows, whatever it is, we just need to crush them, right?"

"You're very confident, aren't you, Yuuki-san."

I nodded slowly.

Fearborn.

That was the term for the entities we were hunting. As the name suggests, they were manifestations of fears believed by humans for hundreds or even thousands of years ago. Most took the forms of scary myths that had once circulated.

Myths carried belief in life and a vague shadow of fear, sometimes also mixed with various other emotions. Those emotions, originating from humans, became the food for Fearborn entities and gave birth to them into the world according to the collection of fears once reflected in human memory.

"Whatever it is, I just hope we don't run into troublesome creatures. Like those from Irish mythology. They have very annoying abilities. Especially since most of them aren't monsters, but ghosts and evil fairies that can't be touched by physical attacks."

Rena laughed stiffly. "Celtic myths really are troublesome. Every Fearborn from that mythology always has unique, difficult abilities."

"Ireland, huh..." I murmured, clenching my jaw.

Meanwhile, I felt a surge of anger within me when I heard the word Ireland mentioned. My hands clenched tightly. I wanted to crush the head of the bastard who had harmed Sakura and forced me into this situation.

Unfortunately, he wasn't here. I also wasn't sure when I would meet that bastard from Irish mythology.

Without me realizing it, Rena was looking at me with pursed lips. "Are you okay?" she asked, touching my shoulder gently. "Are you thinking about her?"

I took a long breath, trying to calm myself. "Yeah... it's fine. I just don't know how to vent this anger."

Rena smiled faintly. "You can vent it on other Fearborn. I promise I won't stop you next time." She then turned to Ichinose. "Where else can we find Fearborn, Ichinose-san?"

Ichinose pouted. "You're spoiling him too much, Rena. Are you his mother or something?"

"Just let it be. It's fine. His condition is still unstable because he just joined his incarnation forty days ago. You must have gone through difficult times like this too, right, Ichinose?"

"Whatever you say."

Ichinose ran nimbly along the glass wall of the building beside her, as if that vertical surface were just a flat horizontal plane to her. In just a few seconds, she was already in the middle of the building, hanging while surveying the surroundings.

I could see her golden eyes shining from the foot of the building.

Not long after, she glided down from above. I thought she had already located other Fearborn nearby. The ground shook when she landed with a heavy impact. But something was different—her face looked uneasy.

"Eleven o'clock! Hurry!"

Without giving any further explanation, she propelled herself forward, darting toward eleven o'clock, faster than an arrow.

We followed from behind, sprinting as fast as our feet could carry us. No explanation was needed to realize that someone was in danger.

The mirror world was like a fish trap, or like a flytrap. Easy to enter. But you could only leave if you could open the main door. And inside, from who knows where, the Fearborn were already waiting to prey on human souls trapped within.

Anyone could get trapped. Rich or poor. Strong or weak. Evil or good. All could be trapped inside without exception, even without realizing it. And weak humans were soft prey for the Fearborn.

"Kyaaaaa!"

We sped up even more upon hearing a woman's piercing scream in the distance.

"Hurry! There's no time!"

Upon reaching the source of the sound, we found an office lady cornered. Before her, two werewolves were drooling from jaws full of sharp fangs. Their sharp claws spread wide, ready to tear into their prey's flesh.

"O goddess Artemis. Bless my arrows and let them pierce the creatures that are my quarry."

Before we arrived, Ichinose had already drawn her bow. Several light arrows were loosed simultaneously, right after the incantation was finished.

One werewolf immediately collapsed, its body full of holes. Its companion, seeing its comrade no longer moving, looked disbelieving.

Ichinose grinned sharply. "Too bad, but my arrows contain silver shavings. You creatures can only be killed by silver, right?"

The werewolf's eyes widened and it tried to step back. But once again, Ichinose loosed her arrows. The remaining werewolf immediately lifted its companion's body, intending to use it as a shield. Unfortunately, the arrows couldn't be stopped by just a body. Now, the second werewolf also fell dead, following its companion.

Ichinose seemed to puff out her chest. "Huh, take that."

Satisfied, she wiped her nose proudly, turned around, and immediately approached the office lady, who was still trembling in fear, sobbing.

Ichinose immediately buried the girl's head in her embrace. "It's okay, you're safe now. We'll take you out of here."

My mouth hung half open. For the first time, I heard her say something in a gentle way. Not snarky like before.

"I hope after seeing that, you can understand her a little," said Rena, who was already standing beside me. "She just... doesn't want anyone to get hurt."

I stayed silent, vaguely nodding my head.

"We need to take this girl to a safe place, Rena. At least we have to protect her until Rachel arrives."

"There's a school building around here, if I remember correctly. Maybe we can go there? I'm sure there's a first aid kit we can use if we get hurt."

"Good idea!"

Rena carried the woman in her arms, letting the office lady curl up like a child who had lost her mother. She then motioned for me to head to a safe place while waiting for our other comrades to arrive.

After I confirmed there was no key on the werewolf corpses. We immediately took off, with Rena leading since she knew the location.

My instincts suddenly flared like an alarm. I glanced back. Several dark shadows were following from behind. I was about to tell Rena, but the girl already seemed to know everything. A wry grin formed on her lips.

"Just leave them. They're only handing over their own lives."

"I understand." An evil grin also formed on my lips.