his face, looking distinctly skeletal. He blinked at Reika, brow furrowed, as if unsure he was seeing correctly.
“R-Reika-chan?” he whispered. “Are you...really here?”
“Yes, Master Jiro,” the shrine maiden returned softly. “I’m here. When you didn’t come back, I knew something was wrong. We’re here to rescue you. Can you stand?”
“I...don’t know.” The priest tried to straighten, then slumped back with a groan. “I’m weak,” he whispered. “That woman...used blood magic to keep me here. She asked me questions, and when I didn’t give her what she wanted, she started draining my life force. Ko’s, too.” He glanced at the still motionless white dog beside him. Chu had given up trying to nose it to its feet and now sat there whining and looking miserable. “I tried to make her go home,” the priest muttered, “but she wouldn’t leave me. The demons...they would have tormented me even more...had she not been here.”
Watching the white dog, I gasped as her side rose and fell; it was slight, but it was there. “She’s alive,” I told the priest, stepping around Reika. “She not gone yet. We can still save you both.”
He peered at me, wan confusion crossing his face. “Kit-kitsune?” he murmured, and shook his head. “I... I must be hallucinating, after all.”
Abruptly, Chu leaped to his feet, wagging his tail, as the white dog suddenly stirred. Raising her head, she peered around in confusion, before she spotted me a few feet away, and her lips immediately curled to show tiny fangs. I took a quick step back, retreating behind Reika, as the dog staggered upright. Still glaring at me, she wobbled shakily over to the priest, whose face lit up as he saw her.
“Come on, Master Jiro,” Reika said, putting one of his arms around her shoulders and gently drawing him upright. He staggered and swayed, but finally got his feet under him. “We’re leaving this place. Let’s hope the others are still alive so we don’t have to face that oni again.”
“Oni?” the priest gasped, as my stomach twisted. “Yaburama is still here?”
“You know his name?” I asked. The priest turned wide, fearful eyes on me.
“Sadly, I do. Yaburama...is a monster. He is one of the four great demons of Jigoku, the oni generals of O-Hakumon himself.” Master Jiro’s face contorted in fear and loathing. “I do not know how that woman, even with her control of blood magic, could have summoned something like Yaburama into this world and not had him turn on her immediately. Even minor demons are difficult to control—an oni like Yaburama would require an extraordinarily powerful blood mage to have any hope of binding him to her will.”
“We have to get out there,” I told Reika, who nodded. “Tatsumi and the others are fighting the oni now—we have to help them. Master Jiro, you’re the head priest, can you do anything that might stop Yaburama?”
“I am sorry, kitsune,” Master Jiro said, his eyes genuinely sympathetic. “I am grateful for your assistance, even if I am unsure of your motives, but we cannot stand against an oni of that power. The demon generals are very nearly immortal. If your friends stayed behind to face Yaburama, they are likely already dead.”
33
Yaburama’s Folly
This was going to be a fight.
I dove aside as the oni’s tetsubo swept down, smashing into the earth and sending rocks flying. I rolled to my feet, and instantly had to spring back as the huge club raked across the ground, missing me by a thread and hitting several amanjaku who had swarmed down to ambush me. They flew through the air before exploding into writhing tendrils of smoke as they returned to Jigoku, and the oni grunted.
“Are you just going to bounce around like a cricket, demonslayer?” it challenged, coming at me again, the iron club leaving holes in the rock every time it landed. “Or are you actually going to fight me?”
I bared my teeth. As the tetsubo descended once more, I darted forward, between Yaburama’s treelike limbs, and slashed the back of his leg. The oni snarled and spun around, crushing the ground with his club as I leaped back. At the same time, the human noble, cutting his way through several amanjaku, sprinted behind the oni and sliced through the back of his other leg.
Yaburama howled. Whirling, he lashed out with a kick, barely missing the human as he darted past, sending more amanjaku flying. The wounds to his legs didn’t appear to slow him down as he leaped into the