25 Fire in the Shadows II

  [Player: Kazuki Arata]

  [Level: 4]

  [Waza: Black Hand, Thread Cutter, Aura Sense, Dark Rider, Retribution, Eviscerate]

  [Kegare: 11%]

  [Status: Under Siege]

  ---

  They're after the Master.

  Suzume groaned in Kazuki's arms, and Yumi's gaze snapped to her.

  "Time's up," Yumi announced. She pulled the trigger.

  Kazuki flung himself sideways, pulling Suzume with him. A bullet sparked off stone.

  Yumi's footsteps crunched near. She wasn't being cautious. She is enjoying this. That realization, that this was entertainment for this girl—that was enough. "Hey!" Kazuki shouted, standing up next to the prone Suzume and pointing a black-blood stained machete at Yumi.

  She smirked. "Finally! Thought you were gonna hide behind your princess while she bled out." She pointed the gun at him. "So... this is the big hero moment? Right?"

  Kazuki summoned the UI in his mind.

  [Kegare: 11%]

  He fixed Yumi with a steady glare. "Fuck you."

  She cocked her head, lips pulling into a catty grin. The older man at her side was now trying to get her attention. Yumi ignored him. Instead her smile widened as she slowly aimed the gun not at Kazuki but at Suzume, watching Kazuki's reaction as she did, teasing him.

  That was it; he leapt, dropping the machete as dark energy rippled along his arms.

  [Retribution - Active]

  He felt the writhing buzz of black force crackling around his fingertips. But Yumi was faster than he expected, like she had known what was coming. In one motion, she grabbed the man beside her and yanked him in front of her.

  "No, Yumi—!" Kevin gasped.

  Then Kazuki's palm impacted Kevin's chest.

  The effect was so fast as to seem instantaneous. A grotesque shudder ran through Kevin's body as the dark energy invaded him. Faster than the eye could see his skin turned gray, then softened, liquefying from the inside out. With a thunderclap, a shockwave burst from Kazuki's hand and the upper right side of Kevin's torso disintegrated in a wash of half-liquified tissue.

  [Kegare: 19%]

  The wreck of the man managed a final, wet gurgle, his eyes locked on Yumi in horror. His hand reached out in reflex fingers grasping at empty air as his consciousness flickered out.

  She let him go, letting his twitching remains slump to the ground. "Gomen ne, Kevin," and a casual shrug, like discarding trash.

  Kazuki staggered away, his black veins burning, as if he'd just unleashed a chunk of his soul to tear someone apart.

  "You…" Kazuki breathed, unable to finish his sentence.

  Yumi rolled her neck, ignoring the gore spattered across her jacket. "Better him than me, duh." She raised the gun again, but this time she made no move to shoot. She studied Kazuki's face. Then she tried to wipe some of Kevin's liquified viscera off her bomber jacket. "Gotta admit, that was pretty sick Ka-chan. Maybe you're not as boring as I thought."

  Kazuki's entire body trembled. He wanted to strike, to finish her.

  Yumi pursed her lips, scanning the chaos around them. Her two "teammates" were dead. The lesser yokai were scattering, Tengu warriors were retaking control of the courtyard, and Karaba's silhouette was advancing fast from the main hall.

  "Fuck. Guess we lost," she said, spitting her gum onto Kevin's corpse at her feet. "Tch, can't believe that oni went down so fast. I told her that it was overhyped."

  Behind her, swirling ribbons of unreflective black smoke began coalescing; a portal of darkness, creeping up the broken stones like living ink.

  Kazuki lunged at her but she leveled her gun at him, forcing him to halt.

  "Guess what Ka-chan?" Yumi said, smug. "We were never really after the old crow. Turns out you were the real target. So this fiasco wasn't a total waste. My boss'll be stoked to hear how strong you are. This is just part one."

  For a moment, her practiced swagger faltered. A flicker of something raw and hungry crossed her face. Then it vanished.

  This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

  Kazuki's fists clenched. "Go to hell."

  "Maa maa, I'll pass," she said, stepping backward into the swirling shadows. "Let's play again soon, Ka-chan. Don't die before our next date, yeah?"

  The beating of powerful wings announced Karaba's approach. The tengu warrior landed with a sound of an arrow hitting its mark just steps away from the dark gate, his sword flashing through the air as he lunged toward Yumi.

  Too late.

  She gave Kazuki a mocking bow as the shadows closed around her, careful not to touch them. For a heartbeat, it seemed Karaba would catch her—his blade just a hairsbreadth from her jacket—when the darkness closed around her and she vanished along with the swirling shadows,

  Kazuki stared at where she had been, mind reeling.

  ---

  When the dust settled, the siege was over. The oni was headless in the courtyard. The lesser yokai had retreated or been cut down by shrine defenders. The giant frog and centipede had fled. Several sections of the outer walls still smoked, and broken stone littered the walkways.

  Kazuki found himself kneeling next to Suzume, pressing cloth to her wounded thigh while a shrine healer prepared bandages and salves. She was pale, but conscious.

  "I'm… okay," she insisted.

  "Suzume…" Kazuki choked, voice raw. "She shot you."

  Her mouth was set in a tight line. "I know." She looked away, expression bitter. "That woman… I've never seen a human kill so casually."

  Kazuki thought of Kevin's final, terrified expression. "She doesn't care who dies," he said.

  Suzume shivered. Despite the healer's protests, she tried to pull herself upright, wincing as fresh blood seeped through the bandage.

  "Thank you… for trying," she whispered, the words coming in labored breaths. Her grip tightened around his hand with surprising strength. For a moment, the noise of the courtyard faded away, and there was only this; her warmth against his palm. She was alive.

  Kazuki felt a wave of gratitude. At the same time there was a tightness; a realisation that he had killed, not a monster or cursed creature, but a man, just like all the people he had grown up with who walked the Earth Realm just like he had. It wasn't guilt. More like an awareness that there was a reckoning waiting for him, somewhere, sometime, for what he had done… and what he would do.

  The shrine healer coaxed him aside to wrap Suzume's leg. Overhead, Karaba's wings cast a wide silhouette. He was scanning the courtyard, searching, tengu eyes sharp with anger, craving vengeance for the battered shrine.

  At the courtyard's far edge lay Kevin's remains, grotesquely melted. And the other man remained sprawled with an arrow in his neck. A second shrine healer walked among the rubble, searching for any more survivors or casualties.

  Kazuki forced himself to breathe. Then a quiet hush swept over the yard as Karaba lightly landed and one of the few tengu guards approached him. "Sir," the guard said. "They never reached the Master's Hall. He's safe."

  Karaba nodded, though his sharp features remained tense. "And the humans?"

  The guard's gaze flicked uncertainly to the remains of Kevin and Bruce. "Just these two. Both… dead. The third vanished."

  Karaba's fists clenched but his face didn't betray any feeling at all.

  Kazuki heard Suzume's ragged breathing behind him, the quiet sniffles of an attendant wiping tears for a fallen comrade, and the crackle of small fires still burning in the rubble.

  His mind replayed Yumi's final words: You were the real target.

  He pressed a hand to his chest, feeling the kegare still swirling in his blood. Retribution had made him stronger, not weaker. Kazuki wondered, what would happen if he pushed it even higher?

  Everyone else seemed stunned and exhausted but Kazuki felt brimming with energy. He looked at Suzume guiltily, as she tried to sit up, wincing. "Don't move yet," the healer warned her.

  Karaba approached them, broad black wings folding. He walked over to the human with the arrow in his neck, then crouched down, took off the man's baseball cap, examined it briefly before tossing it away. Karaba stood then gave Suzume a nod. "Good shot."

  She grimaced in pain, but nodded back. "He forced my hand."

  Karaba turned to Kazuki. "She said they were after you."

  Kazuki's mouth felt dry. "I… I don't know. Someone knows about me…"

  Behind them, the final fires sputtered. The shrine bells were still tolling, but slower now. Destruction. Death. They had survived, but the threat wasn't over. Kazuki felt the truth, deep in the black veins of his kegare: He was the threat. The Eye of Inazuma, whatever that was, would follow him and bring this havoc to any place he took refuge in.

  A tengu guard called for Karaba and he left to direct the rescue efforts, leaving Kazuki alone with Suzume and Fleet who were scanning the courtyard with wide, anxious eyes.

  Fleet let out a shaky breath, glancing at Kevin's corpse. "That was… messy, Kazuki."

  Kazuki swallowed hard. "Yeah."

  He closed his eyes, ignoring both the smell of blood and the acrid sweetness of consumed explosives and the swirling churn of guilt of both guilt and excitement he was feeling. He squeezed Suzume's hand. She squeezed back, her face tight with pain but also smiling at their contact.

  "All this time," she whispered, "we assumed they wanted the Master dead, to stop the wards, break the barrier. But it's more than that, isn't it?"

  Kazuki nodded stiffly, a cold pit forming in his stomach.

  He recalled Yumi's casual grin. Everything about her—her high school slang, her weapons, her clothes felt so out of place in this world. Modern weapons, bombs, and no reishin, kegare or magic— a dark reflection of the incredulity that Kazuki had first felt upon arriving in the Yokai Realm. Now giant demons seemed obvious but guns and explosives, impossible.

  Fleet placed a small hand on Kazuki's forearm. "What do we do?"

  Suzume's eyes were fierce and her voice was angry. "We get stronger. We protect each other. And we find them before they tear everything apart."

  Kazuki bowed his head. The weight of the moment settled on his shoulders. The sound of distant sobbing carried on the smokey breeze. Tengu guards hurried around them, hauling timbers to prop up a collapsed wall. Attendants formed bucket lines to douse lingering flames.

  At last, he lifted his gaze to the broken horizon. His chest felt heavy, but something had awakened inside him. They came here for the Master and for him. They brought bombs, guns and monsters and that terrifying girl. And they would come again.

  Unless he found them first.

  ---

  [Achievement Unlocked: Target Practice]

  [Next Chapter: A Quiet Departure]

  Thanks for reading!

  New chapter every day at 6:07 EST.

  If you’re enjoying the story, please consider leaving a review, rating, or comment—it really helps!

  Who do you think sent Yumi?

  Drop your theories in the comments—I read every one.