their heads. I smiled triumphantly and raised my voice.
“Let it be known to all,” I said into the dead silence that had fallen over the chamber. “Hakaimono the Destroyer has returned. All who stand with him will live to see glory, but any who stand in his way will be purged so thoroughly from existence, no one will even remember their names.”
“Hakaimono!”
A thunderclap went through the chamber, causing the ground to shake and the lights in the hall to flare once and go out.
A ghostly blue light filled the chamber, and the spectral form of Genno himself appeared, hovering over the crowd. His hair and robes billowed behind him, and he did not look pleased. The yokai cringed even further, trying to press themselves into the floor, and the circle of humans instantly prostrated themselves on the ground. The spectral Master of Demons glowered over the cowering mob, then turned burning black eyes on me.
“Lord Hakaimono,” the ghost said in a voice of controlled fury. I sensed he was angrier about his army’s reaction to my presence than the death of the human witch. “My apologies for keeping you waiting. Please, come to my quarters. I believe we have much to discuss.”
There were no further interruptions on the way to Genno’s tower. I followed a trio of gleeful hag sisters through the dark, shadowy halls of a nearly empty castle, until we reached the flight of wooden stairs spiraling up to the tallest keep.
“We can go no farther unless we are called,” the green hag explained. “Lord Genno’s personal chambers reside at the top of the steps.”
They bowed once more and disappeared, leaving me to make my way to Genno alone.
As I approached the steps to the tallest keep, my instincts bristled. A pair of figures lounged on the steps in the center of the staircase, blocking the way. They were young, pretty, and nearly identical; twin sisters with pale skin and glossy dark hair pulled into a braid. They wore tight black clothing reminiscent of the Kage shinobi’s preferred uniforms, and their eyes were shiny black orbs in their pale faces. A spiked chain, lethal and wickedly sharp, was wrapped around each of their waists, but their sneakiest weapons lay behind them, at the end of their long swinging braids, where a barbed scorpion tail lay coiled and hidden in the strands.
The Sasori twins, a pair of infamous scorpion yokai, grinned and waved at me from their spot on the stairs. In the past, the sisters had offered their services to blood mages, monstrous yokai, even ruthless humans, acting as bodyguards and assassins for those who could pay. On occasion, their paths had crossed with the Kage demonslayers, but the sisters were tough, skilled and extremely protective of each other. I had watched them kill one demonslayer, only to be nearly slain by another a few decades later. The blood mage they had been serving at the time was destroyed, but the twins escaped and disappeared for a while. Unsurprising they would find their way here, to Genno’s castle. The Sasori twins lived for slaughter and bloodshed, and the Master of Demons would provide that in full.
“Hakaimono-sama!” one of the sisters called in a bright, high-pitched voice. “Is it really you? Have you come to join the Master’s fun little uprising?”
I smirked. “Perhaps. Depends on what your master and I can agree on.”
“Oh, I do hope you can join us,” said the other twin, sounding wistful. “I would love to watch you on the battlefield. We’ve heard stories of you slaughtering entire armies of humans at a time. It would be an honor to fight and kill beside the First Oni of Jigoku.”
“Yes, well, to do that, I will have to meet with Genno first. And the path to his chamber seems to be blocked.”
The twins giggled. As one, they hopped up, scorpion braids bobbing behind them, and gave a quick bow. “Welcome to Onikage castle, Hakaimono-sama,” they recited, as if they had practiced for this moment. “We look forward to working with you.”
They leaped off the staircase and hit the floor with a thump then scampered off, laughing, the deadly braids swaying rhythmically at their backs. Their high-pitched voices echoed down the corridor, then faded into silence.
I shook my head. With the way finally clear, I climbed the steps to the top of the keep, and strode in without waiting to be acknowledged.
It was empty. Or, at least, it appeared empty. The chamber itself was small and square,