arcs. Dirt and rock shards flew as the tetsubo crushed the earth around us, leaving huge craters in the road, but we managed to avoid the deadly pounding clubs. Still, this was a dangerous game. One misstep and we’d be nothing but red smears in the dirt.
Dammit, I have to get higher. I can’t do anything stabbing at his ankles.
“Distract him!” I snapped at the noble, and ducked away, putting the corner of a burning house between us. Akumu casually swiped his club through the building, sending the roof and parts of the wall flying, and rubble rained down around me. Dodging wood and falling stones, I sprang to what was left of the roof, ran along a burning beam and launched myself at the oni with a snarl. Kamigoroshi flashed, cutting deep into his chest, slicing through his ribs in a spray of dark blood, and Akumu howled. As I fell, I saw the noble dart under the reeling oni, leap up and slash through the back of the monster’s knee.
With a bellow of pain, Akumu staggered back and fell, crashing into a storefront and splintering the building under his weight. As clouds of dust rose into the air, Daisuke joined me, watching wood and roof tiles settle over the body of the oni.
“I don’t suppose that’s the end of it,” he remarked calmly. I shook my head.
“No, it’s just made him mad. Now the real fun begins.”
With a roar and an explosion of roof tiles, Akumu surged upright. Eyes blazing red, he turned on us, raising both tetsubo, and lunged. Daisuke and I scrambled back, dodging and ducking behind walls to avoid the pounding clubs, knowing the oni’s size wouldn’t let him follow.
Snarling, Akumu swept his tetsubo through the buildings themselves, smashing walls and crushing roofs with furious abandon. I slipped through an alley to escape and found the buildings crumbling around me. Immediately, I lunged for the open street, wood, thatch and stone raining down, but something hit the back of my skull and I stumbled as the wall collapsed on me with a roar.
Gritting my teeth, I pushed splintered wood and stones off my chest, feeling the ground shake as Akumu rounded a corner, his crimson gaze sweeping the ground. Spotting me half-buried in the rubble pile, he gave a slow grin and raised his clubs.
Something tiny flew through the air and exploded with a burst of fire in the oni’s face. Roaring, Akumu staggered back, wincing and shaking his head as if blinded, and I stared in amazement.
“Get up, demonslayer. I taught you better than this.”
Stunned, I looked up as a figure dropped onto the rocks out of nowhere, glowering down at me. A man dressed all in black, with graying hair and an easily forgettable face. But I recognized him immediately and had to stifle a surge of rage toward this human, for he was the one who taught the Kage demonslayers to control the oni inside them.
“Ichiro-sensei.” I shoved off the last of the rocks and rose, glaring at the master shinobi. I knew my horns, claws and tattoos were fully visible, but the older human didn’t appear distressed or surprised by them. “What are you doing here?”
“That is not what you should be worried about now.”
Akumu stepped forward with an enraged bellow, baring his fangs. And then, from the roofs of the buildings surrounding us, dozens of figures in black appeared. Silent and swift, they loosed arrows, flung kunai and hurled smoke bombs at the hulking oni before darting away again. Akumu howled in fury, smashing his clubs into the roofs and buildings, and I saw several shinobi fall or be crushed under rock, but most had already disappeared.
I looked back at Ichiro in amazement. “Is the whole school here?”
“Not all of us,” the master shinobi replied. “Only those who agreed to walk the Path. But we’re wasting time. Go, demonslayer.” He pointed a crooked finger at the oni overhead. “Do your job. There’ll be time for answers later.”
A part of me sneered, tempted to tell the old human he wasn’t my master any longer. But I gripped Kamigoroshi, turned and sprinted toward the raging oni and the dozens of humans