Demon Slaying

The pair returned to the mansion towards late afternoon. Takada was still unconscious.

“Sorry we were gone so long. I hope that you girls weren’t waiting long,” Iguchi apologized.

He had his mask back on already, so no one other than his brother had seen his face that day. He carelessly dropped his brother onto the floor, and his blood soaked into the red rug.

“Well, that blends in quite nicely, if I do say so myself,” he said.

The girls gasped.

“W-what happened to him?!”

“Why did you drop him like that?!”

“Did you get into a fight?!”

They began asking one question after another.

“Ladies, ladies, please. One at a time please,” Iguchi said, motioning for them to calm down. “And make it quick—I’ll be leaving soon.”

They looked at each other in shock. Even Maki seemed to actually care. Once it was quiet, she spoke up first.

“What happened?”

“Takada disgraced our family, so he and I had a discussion in private.” he said flatly. “Next?”

Zashi looked at his hands, then at Takada.

“Did you two fight? Oh god, please don’t tell me you fought each other…”

“In fact we did. You may want to get him treated right away.”

He put his hands in his pockets and looked over at Amira.

“How about you? Do you have a question too?”

She nodded.

“Did you get to see how Iome is doing? I didn’t hear anything earlier since I was on patrol.”

“Don’t worry,” Iguchi said. “She’s in good health.”

Amira smiled.

“Oh, one more thing,” he added. “Can you ensure he receives healing? I need to prepare for tonight’s ceremony.”

* * *

Elsewhere, just outside of Yoshida City, a man dressed in the Psycho Hunter’s uniform rocked on a tree branch. He swung his legs back and forth, adjusting his glasses with his left hand.

“It seems our plan can finally be put into motion. Man, I’ve waited ages for this!”

There was a brief moment of silence, then he sighed.

“Yes, I know I’m supposed to be leading the charge! I’m all the way out here because I needed some fresh air first!”

It doesn’t start until dusk anyway, he thought to himself.

He hopped down and scratched his smooth, bald head.

“Yeah, yeah… I’m going.”

The young man started walking towards the city in the distance. Once he reached it, he looked at the setting sun.

“I guess I’d better get ready to head out… But a quick peek here wouldn’t hurt, right?”

There was no reply, yet he still nodded as if he heard someone.

He passed under the giant Torii gate, then stopped to look at it.

“Well, clearly there’s no barrier…”

Could this be HIS work? I did hear that he came through here…

“Whatever…”

He dismissed it and continued strolling through. The lamps were lit and glowing brightly.

“What happened here?”

The streets were empty, devoid of life. Blood ran down them, and corpses—human, horse, dog—littered the roads.

In the distance, a few blocks away, there were screams. Suddenly, a building collapsed in that same area.

“Looks like that’s where all the action is.”

He kept walking until he reached a road marked Yuji street. As he looked around, a man called out to him.

“Hey! Come here! Or do you want to die?!”

“Hmm?”

Curious, he walked over to the man. He was wearing a crimson kimono with a gold samurai helm crest. After noticing he was a Psycho Hunter, the man frowned.

The Psycho Hunter’s expression hardened.

“What’s your name?”

“M-my name? It’s Goto! Goto Yoshida!”

The Psycho Hunter pulled his left hand out and adjusted his glasses.

“Okay, Mr. Goto. My name is Saiken. What happened here?”

“Well, a vampire had been in our sealed vault, and it’s been eating those who had entered. Now it’s a demon destroying the city!”

Interesting… But something doesn’t quite add up.

“Mr. Goto, has the demon said anything?”

“Y-yes! It said it’s looking for a woman and a little girl! I think he said their names were Riona and Risa!” he replied.

A demon… Just my luck!

“Alright. I’ll help you—asssuming my affiliation isn’t a problem for a Specter Slayer like yourself?”

“N-no… Not at all. That’s a purely political difference that doesn’t matter right now.”

Saiken nodded.

“Do you know where the girls are?”

“Yes. In fact, while that monster was busy rampaging through the city, we hid them in the vault.”

Smart move… But not what I need.

“Okay. I’ll take care of this. I just need you to direct me to the vault.”

Goto opened his mouth, then stopped.

“Okay. Follow me.”

Together, they snuck through the back alleys until they reached Toge Avenue. They then snuck all the way to the corner where Toge Avenue met Yuki street. Once they arrived, all light from the sun had vanished.

The bloody carnage there was significantly worse than anywhere else they’d seen on their way there.

Saiken stepped out from behind Goto and placed his hand on his shoulder.

“Thank’s for leading the way. Please find the demon and tell it to come to the vault.”

Goto objected and Saiken shot him a look.

“O-okay… I’ll f-find it and tell him.”

With a satisfied smile, Saiken waved before entering the magistrate’s office and looking around.

“A reception desk, waiting benches, and no one home. Perfect.”

That makes this a little easier.

He passed the reception desk and continued down the dim hall behind it. Blood and claw marks were all over the walls. The lamps on the ceiling barely lit his path.

After crossing through, he pushed open the pair of metal doors.

“Dang…” he grunted. “These things have rusted a little!”

He pushed harder until his shoes started to slip.

Come on… This is nothing at all!

Saiken took a deep breath and gave it one final push—

—and suddenly the doors shot open.

“There we go. They should really get that looked at.”

He clapped and wiped his palms, emitting a small dust cloud. After going down the stairs, Saiken walked down the quiet hallway. The torches lining the walls were lit seemingly at random, so parts of the hall were completely dark.

“Okay… This place is kinda creepy.”

Suddenly, he threw his hands up in protest.

“No! I am NOT scared! I just don’t want to get ambushed! Some shikigami users cast their summons from the shadows and darkness! You know that!”

Wait a minute…

“Why the hell am I telling you that anyway? You see it all the time!”

He sighed and continued onwards until he reached a large room with tall red stone pillars.

What’s that?

He walked over to one of the pillars and picked up something. It was a good quality grey kimono paired with a pale cobalt blue haori—at least, that’s what colors it looked like to him. The only light in the room was emanating from four blue torches high on the pillars near the ceiling—one on each pillar.

“See, this is what I meant. Someone could be lurking behind those. That’s all.”

He put the haori on and strolled up to the large pair of doors. Putting his hands on the rings to pull them open, his eyebrow raised.

“Who made these? They’re as thick as my biceps! This is ridiculous!”

Shaking his head, he took a few steps back and said, “Manifest Pathos,” jutting his hands out.

“Moon Veil!”

The metal rings lifted slowly and suddenly shot towards him—the doors yanking open along with them. He smiled and started walking through the doors into the vault.

“Thank you. I’ll call you when I need your help again.”

Inside, blue flame lit torches lined the walls. The room was circular like a colosseum and weapon racks lined the walls. Many and most of them still contained weapons, but a good number of them were bare.

Said absent weapons were scattered all over the floor haphazardly and broken.

“Aha… So there you are,” he sneered.

In the center of the room sat a woman—still relatively young looking—and on her lap rested a little girl.

“Riana and Risa I presume?”

The woman silently stared at him and placed her hands on the girl’s head.

“Oh dear… Now don’t look at me like that! I’d hate to say ‘Manifest Pathos’ or anything…”

The woman’s face twisted up from a glare to a face filled with fear. He began walking towards her.

“Oh, you must be able to see magic! My eyes are probably glowing to you then. Tell me,” he stopped smiling. “What color are they?”

“!!”

The woman picked up her daughter and clutched her tightly. The girl’s arm was limp and she didn’t seem to be moving or reacting.

Is she asleep—or dead?

“You’re obviously infected. I’d wager to say you were normal humans before this happened.”

“Sta—stay back! Don’t come any closer!” the woman quavered.

Saiken took one more step closer and planted his feet firmly.

“Don’t worry,” he replied. “I don’t need to. Black Beacon, do your thing.”

* * *

Less than twenty minutes had passed, and Saiken was pacing around the center of the room.

“You know, I really hate doing things this way… But it’s the only way I get results,” he muttered.

He nodded.

“I know, I know… I should just be patient with it all and just seek results…”

Finally, he stopped pacing and peered at the entrance.

The large doors opened and a man stepped inside. His hair was white and his eyes were glowing a deep red. That was the first thing he noticed about the person. The second was that he only had a pair of weathered, ragged pants on, and had two small, black wings sprouting from his back.

“Well, well! I’ve been waiting for yooouuu,” Saiken drawled. “As you can see, Riona and Risa are just right here.”

He pointed to the impossibly large angler fish close to himself. In its mouth was the mother and daughter, both clinging to each other.

“Father! Please, save us!!” the little girl cried out.

The demon frowned momentarily—then its face twisted up into rage. Its eyes glowed brighter than before.

It barely hopped before its wings began flapping—the monster immediately flying straight for him.

“Give me back my family!!!”

It shot through the air towards the fish.

Bzzrt!!

Just as the demon reached the mouth, the two females glitched and disappeared.

“What the hell?!”

In their place was a silver and blue creature that resembled a praying mantis.

“You bastard!! I’ll kill you!! I’ll ki—”

Kaboom!!

The demon’s screaming threats were cut short—it no longer had a head. Its body slumped to the ground with a thud.

Saiken walked over to it and rested his hand on it.

“I want you to know, I put them out of their misery. I hope you reunite in the afterlife.”

He remained there with a somber expression as the demon’s body folded in on itself, as if imploding. Once it finished, Saiken picked up the remaining black orb. Its shell crumbled away into ash leaving a pulsing psycarrion in his hand.

“Okay everyone, we got what we needed. Let’s get out of here.”

—————————————————————————————————————————————

I hope you enjoyed this chapter!

Did you expect Saiken to actually be alive?

If you have any thoughts, theories, or feedback, I'd love to hear them in the comments!