Soul of the Sword (Shadow of the Fox #2) - Julie Kagawa Page 0,55
it down through the chin. The head screamed a choking gurgle, jerking and thrashing wildly, but I kept my grip. “You should’ve known that to start a fight with me means finishing it. So, let’s finish it!”
I raised Kamigoroshi, and slashed it straight through the middle of the bloody face, cleaving the skull in two. With a final shriek, the giant head fell away into four smaller heads, bloody and torn as they scattered around me. By the time they hit the ground, they were nothing but blobs of ethereal muck, melting into the fallen leaves.
I kicked away an oozing head, setting my jaw as pain stabbed up my lacerated muscles. The skin from wrist to elbow on both arms looked as if a pack of frenzied amanjaku had chewed on it. I growled softly, cursing this body’s pathetic healing abilities. In my real form, wounds like this would be gone in a few heartbeats; even severed limbs would regrow in an hour or two. Still, this was half my body; now that I was fully free, my spirit suffused every part of this mortal form, granting it half of my considerable power instead of the fraction the demonslayers had used when I was trapped in the sword. Even if Tatsumi’s body was small and frail, the gashes would be vanishing scars by the end of the day. They weren’t life-threatening, merely annoying, and yet another reason I desperately missed my real form. Humans were so fragile and healed so ridiculously slowly, it was a wonder any of them survived till adulthood.
The blue ogress staggered to her feet, holding the white, jagged nub that had been her other arm. Blood oozed between her talons and her skin had gone rather pale, but her yellow eyes sought mine as she lurched forward with a gasp.
“Lord Hakaimono! You are injured. Are your wounds serious?”
“I’m fine,” I told her, as the other two clustered around as well, barely giving their sister a second glance. For them, lost limbs were not a concern; they were demons and would regrow them eventually. “Hardly even scratches. They’ll be gone by the end of the day.”
“Oh, that’s a relief,” breathed the red hag. “With how weak your body is now, we were afraid an injury like that would be debilitating.”
“Is that so?” I crooned.
The hag’s face went pale. “I didn’t mean—” she began, but it was too late. I stepped forward, reached out and slammed my palm into her face, sinking my claws into her skull. Flexing my fingers, I squeezed until I felt the bone under my talons start to give, then stopped. The ogress squeaked, flailing and waving her hands, while the other two looked on in fearful anticipation.
“Do you feel how weak this body is?” I asked conversationally. “Do you feel safe now, knowing that a mere human cannot crush your skull like an overripe plum and let your brains leak out your ears?”
“Forgive…Lord Hakaimono,” the hag gritted out, as a stream of blood ran from one nostril down her chin. “I meant…no disrespect. I was simply concerned that—”
“Did you think I was in danger of being eaten?” I went on, letting scorn seep into my words. “Or that I was unaware of what we just faced? I have lived among the Shadow Clan for centuries, listening to their ghost stories and tales of the horrors that roam this land. I have heard many stories of the family that was murdered in this forest, how their heads were chopped off by bandits and left to rot in the dirt. Did you not think I would recognize the most infamous ghost that haunts these woods?” I flexed my claws, and the ogress gasped, sinking to her knees before me. “I am Hakaimono, First Oni of Jigoku,” I growled, “and I was feared long before the legend of the Man-eating Head became known throughout the country. I have killed thousands of men to its dozens. Remember that, for next time I might become truly annoyed.”
I released the hag, throwing her back, and she and her sisters immediately fell to their knees and pressed their faces to the dirt. “Forgive us, Lord Hakaimono,” the blue ogress pleaded, even as the blood from her jagged stump continued to drip to the ground. “It has been so long since you have walked Ningen-kai, we forgot that you are truly the greatest of all demons. Forgive our insolence. It will not happen again.”