For a moment, a brief, terrible moment, there was silence. Then, screams. The gash in the fabric of the sky peeled back and its yawning maw spewed a cloud of nightmare creatures doused in a cloud of black sand. Dust, Yasuko realized. She was the first of the competitors to recover. Wasting no time, she sprinted for the stands, vaulting off the benches and up to where the stunned Toshiro sat.

 

“Toshiro! We need to run.”

 

Toshiro gave a meek nod and stood, the shout knocking him out of his stupor.

 

“Let us return to the boarding house and get our weapons. Then we should find Masami. She will know what to do.”

 

With that, she grabbed his hand and dragged him off in the direction of their lodgings. By now the crowd and competitors were in a full panic. The pair cut through the chaos, doing their best to avoid being trampled as they ran through the throng. They darted through back alleys as they tore through the town. The main streets were so choked with panicked villagers that the winding, lesser-used routes were all they could make it through.

 

Yasuko’s sense of direction guided them ever closer to their goal. But as they rounded yet another tight alley corner, they stopped dead in their tracks. Before them stood a massive, brutish creature with bright blue skin. It stood well over eight feet tall, and in its hands it carried a rough length of wrought iron. It bared its tusks at them in a terrible grin as it brandished its club. Yasuko had just enough time to draw her small knife before it was on top of them.

 

The oni swung wildly at her head. She ducked the blow on instinct, and the bar of iron sailed through the space where she had been. The wall of the building next to them splintered under the blow. Yasuko darted forward as the oni pulled the club back for another blow. Weaving under its massive frame, she slashed at its leg, severing a thick tendon. The demon howled in pain. It whirled about on its good leg and slammed down with the club once more. The stone pavers shattered beneath the iron, but Yasuko was already out of the way and rushing back in. She stabbed at the oni’s extended forearm in a flash, opening three deep punctures in its flesh before dodging away.

 

Enraged, the monster lowered its head and charged down the alley towards her. Yasuko tensed her legs. Just before the moment of impact she leapt to the side. The oni barreled past, slamming headfirst into the sturdy wooden wall behind her. It roared as it tried to break free. Yasuko scrambled up its back and without hesitation drove the point of her tanto into the base of its skull. It shuddered once, then again, and then it was still. Yasuko leapt down and flicked the blood from the blade of the knife before running over to Toshiro.

 

“You are unhurt?”

 

Toshiro could only manage a breathless nod. He had frozen when the oni appeared. Why couldn’t he move his legs? He did his best to match Yasuko’s confident look, but he was sure she could see the terror in his eyes. As they ran once more through the streets, he resolved himself. He wouldn’t freeze up again. He would prove his worth.

 

------------------------------------------------

 

Masami rose from her bed with a groan. She shuffled her way to the door and through the waiting area of the healer’s practice, though she dreaded what she would see outside. Her left arm still hung limp at her side. Gripping her short knife in her right hand, she shouldered open the door. The smoky, ashen smell of Dust assaulted her nostrils.

 

Well. Shit.

 

Kaiya nudged past her into the doorway. “You are not thinking of going out there, are you?”

 

“You know the answer to that.”

 

“I do.” Kaiya’s voice was tired. “I do indeed. Are you sure I cannot convince you against it?”

 

“You can’t.”

 

“Then come back inside and I will do my best to prepare you.”

 

Masami nodded. She knew what was coming. With a sigh she took a seat on the low wooden bench in the waiting room. Kaiya made her way to the back of the small building, returning a moment later with a worn, lacquered box. She sat next to Masami and popped the box open. Inside sat two black orbs. There were spaces for three more, but those lay empty. Masami reached down to take one of the remaining two and popped it into her mouth. It tasted of dirt and copper. She shuddered as the pill broke apart on her tongue. A deep ache set into her muscles, and suddenly she could move properly again.

 

“Take the other.”

 

Masami looked down in surprise. “The other? You’re sure?”

 

Kaiya nodded, frowning. “You might die if you take it. But if you do not, you certainly will.”

 

Masami gave a rueful chuckle. “You’re probably right. I’ll take my chances then, I guess.” With that, she downed the other pill. The dull ache turned to a blistering fire in her veins. She gritted her teeth and rose. These were the Dust pills that had saved her life when they had grafted Jiro to her. She had forgotten just how painful they were.

 

Kaiya handed Masami her sword as she stood. “Be well, Masami. I would prefer not to see you under my care again.”

 

“No promises, Kaiya. But I’ll do my best.”

 

With that she sheathed her tanto and instead drew her sword as she all but flew into the street. The katana felt strangely light in her hand. Looking down, she saw the stone pavement cracking under the force of her steps. She shook her head. Damn. Those pills are almost worth it. Masami could feel her skin crackling and hardening as the injection of Dust took hold. The transformation was not as complete as that which Jiro could provide, but the power rushing through her retained that same heady allure.

 

The crowd of panicked villagers before her split as she shouted “clear a path! Orderly now, or you’ll trample yourselves to death and do the yokai’s work for them! Head for the guardhouse to the south of the city, it’s your best chance to stay safe.”

 

A hundred people turned to stare at her. Seeing her appearance, they quieted and did as she commanded.

 

------------------------------------------------

 

Yasuko and Toshiro made their way cautiously to the street as they saw the throng of townsfolk slow to a halt. Yasuko gripped the hilt of her knife as she peered around the corner.

 

“What’s going on? Can you see anything?” Toshiro’s voice was a whisper.

 

“Not yet,” Yasuko hissed back. “Everyone has simply stopped.”

 

Then they saw her striding through the path the masses cleared before her. Masami was nearly unrecognizable. Her skin had the hue and texture of cracked obsidian, and her eyes burned bright in the eerie pseudo-night the demons had brought with them. Toshiro leapt out into the street, calling her name. She met his gaze and waved him and Yasuko over. They hurried to her side.

 

“What’s the situation?” The words crackled across her tongue.

 

“It is not good. Even travelling the backroads brought us face to face with a demon. We need our weapons. I do not know how far this attack reaches. We should begin evacuating civilians immediately.”

 

“Agreed. Get your swords and start leading people south. Hopefully the guardhouse can hold out while I solve this.”

 

“While you solve this? Mrs. Hisakawa, this is more than one person can handle!”

 

Masami snapped her eyes to Toshiro. “Maybe. But I have a sneaking suspicion I know what’s happened. And how to fix it. You will do much more good by protecting people, leading them to safety, than you will by following me to your death.”

 

Toshiro opened his mouth to protest again but Yasuko took him by the shoulder and cut him off. “Of course, Masami. We will ensure that the city’s people escape to safety. The guardhouse in the south will be a perfectly serviceable rendezvous point.”

 

Masami nodded, murmured a quick farewell, then sped off. Each step was more like a leap, propelling her at inhuman speed as the ground broke beneath her. Toshiro gaped as she left, but again Yasuko dragged him away. He found some comfort in her presence, knowing there would be someone with him as an army of demons rained from the skies. Finally, they reached the travelers’ boarding house. The place was empty, doors and even some of the windows flung open when the people inside had fled. Yasuko and Toshiro snatched up their weapons from their rooms and hurried back out. 

 

Those villagers who had recovered from their panic were already beginning to funnel themselves to the south. Many of them shepherded their families before them, or carried crying children in their arms.

 

“We should split up to cover more ground. Coordinate these people here and I will -”

 

Yasuko was interrupted by an explosion of splintering wood and stone as a muscular demon with the head of a boar and the body of a man crashed its way through the building next to her. The creature screamed as it charged headlong towards the crowd. Behind it came two more creatures of similar build - one with the head of a horse, the other with the head of an ox. Each of them brandished a wicked looking hooked spear. Yasuko had enough time to shout “get behind us” to the bystanders before the beast-headed demons were upon them.

 

Toshiro flicked his katana from its sheath faster than he knew he was capable of. The ox-headed monster bore down on him with a flurry of thrusts and swipes with its devilishly sharp spear. Toshiro deflected the blows as best as he could. But he thought back on his sparring match with Masami, and her terrible fight against the Ōmukade, and resolved himself to move in. To strike. To kill. He let out a yell, mimicking those of the competitors at the tournament, dashing in beneath the demon’s weapon. The beast jumped back and snarled as it thrust again in a flurry. Without thinking, Toshiro reached out and grabbed the haft of the spear. He wrenched it towards him, hard, and though the demon was muscular, Toshiro himself had the strength of a man who had worked for years in the fields. The beast stumbled forward so as not to drop the spear. Toshiro stabbed it through the chest, pulled back his sword, and ended the monster with a terrible overhead blow which split the demon’s chest from its shoulder to below its pecs. Blood sprayed across the ground and Toshiro’s face, causing him to stagger back in shock.

 

A shout from Yasuko snapped him back out of it. The other two demons were encircling her, stabbing and slashing and hooking at her with their spears. She fought with her katana in one hand, short sword in the other, but she was barely holding her own. Blood streamed down her leg and pooled around the fingers of her right hand. She knew she had been cut a dozen times by those torturous spears, but she put the pain out of her mind. Survival mattered more. The swords felt heavy in her hands as she spun about, a whirlwind of steel. But a slowing whirlwind. Another shallow cut opened on her arm. The hot flash of pain distracted her for a moment - long enough for the other demon to sneak a blow of its own past her guard, straight towards her heart. In that split second, she knew she was going to die. She resolved herself to it.

 

And then there was a flash of steel and the spear was knocked aside. Toshiro leapt between them, battering at the demon in a frenzy. A quick nod to Yasuko was all the communication she needed. She turned about to face the other demon, standing back-to-back with Toshiro against the beasts. With no more need to fight two opponents at once, she sheathed the short wakizashi and gripped her katana in both hands. Now at full strength, she made quick work of the demon. Its first strike she stopped. On its second attempt, she slashed its spear to pieces. It did not get a third. A single, clean cut was all she needed to decapitate the thing.

 

Behind her, Toshiro beat down on the final demon, the ox-headed member of the trio. By sheer force alone he made it drop its spear. It launched itself at him with startling speed and grabbed his legs, bowling him over and grappling him to the ground. Toshiro kicked and tore at the monster, but could not bring his sword to bear. The demon slammed its head down, narrowly missing him with its horns. It reared back to try again, then suddenly went limp. As the creature’s lifeless body slid to the ground, Yasuko flicked its blood off her sword as she sheathed it. A gash across the base of the beast’s spine told the whole story.

 

Toshiro stood, cleaning and sheathing his own katana. “Thanks.”

 

Yasuko nodded. “Perhaps...we should not...split up...after all.” She was breathing heavily, taxed by her wounds and the combat with the oni before.

 

“Agreed! Let’s get you looked at, you’re hurt.”

 

“I am fine.” She took a step and gasped in pain as the adrenaline began to fade. “Nevermind...” she muttered. “Do you have training in field dressing?”

 

Toshiro shook his head.

 

“Then I will explain it to you as you go.”

 

------------------------------------------------

 

Masami all but flew through the streets. Her destination loomed ever closer overhead. Kubo, I had better be wrong about this you idiot bastard. A pair of kijo, tall ogrish women with faces that could curdle blood, leapt at her from an alley. She carved through both without so much as a thought. Their bodies offered little resistance to the steel of her sword, though she still held it only in one hand. She had yet to hear from Jiro. But, as Kaiya said, she could feel he was still alive. Or at least, as alive as a grafted conscience could be.

 

Little that stood in Masami’s way posed anything more than an annoyance. She swatted nightmare creatures aside like so many flies. She was halfway up the the winding path that lead up the hill to Lord Kubo’s estate when something bigger blocked her path. It - no, he - stood well over six feet tall, and his muscles rippled with a terrible, yet familiar, strength, and his skin stretched and twisted over his uncannily inhuman form. Though an oni or any number of other monsters Masami had slaughtered today would have dwarfed him, his presence gave her pause.

 

“Where d’you think you’re goin’, little lady?” The man’s voice dripped with hatred. “This place’s for guests only, and you ain’t one.”

 

Masami snarled, tensing her legs in preparation to strike. “Hibiki Kubo, I presume? Of course your shit for brains father made a monster of you too.”

 

“Look who’s talking!” A mocking voice sounded from behind her. “You aren’t looking so human yourself these days, Masami.”

 

“Of course I’d have the pleasure of meeting both of the doomed brothers.” Masami gritted her teeth, growling “I’d offer you two a chance to leave me be, but somehow I doubt you’d be clever enough to take it. So. Shall we, boys?”

 

With that, she exploded into action. The leap propelled her the remaining sixty feet between her and Hibiki. He drew his own sword, but he was slow. Painfully slow. Masami scored a wide gash across his chest, but the wound was shallow. Cutting into his flesh was like trying to push the sword through clay. Hibiki chuckled, a deep growl as much as a laugh, as the wound re-knit itself. He took a lazy swipe at Masami, who leapt back. A wave of pressure slammed into her as the blade swung past her face and crashed into the rocky face of the hill beside them.

 

Something instinctual, a tingle at the base of her skull, forced her to move to the side. A split second later, Daisuke’s sword cleaved through the air where her head had been.

 

“Not bad, for a failed experiment!” Daisuke crowed as he rushed her. He looked just as monstrous as his brother, though his thin, lithe appearance remained. The devilish grin on his face revealed a mouth full of fangs.

 

Hey Jiro? You gonna wake up? Any day now bud. Could really use the assist.

 

But there was no response. Her left arm still hung limp and numb at her side. Great. She parried Daisuke’s initial flurry, matching him in speed and force. A wide slash of her own rattled his blade and his grin turned to a grimace. Then Hibiki was upon her as well, and her focus turned back to defense as the more powerful brother joined the slippery Daisuke in the assault. She sidestepped as many of Hibiki’s blows as she could, for the few she caught on her blade threatened to shatter her arm. She was losing ground. The brothers beat her back until mere inches separated her from the edge of the hill. They were well over a hundred feet up. The fall wouldn’t kill her, not with two massive doses of Dust coursing through her, but it would hurt enough to take her out of the fight.

 

Jiro. Seriously. This isn’t funny. You’re supposed to like fighting.

 

Still nothing. She danced back and forth, stalling as best as she could. Two inches. One. She planted her foot and felt that her heel was over open air. The brothers laughed their twisted laughs in unison as they rushed in for a pincer attack. The final blow. Daisuke striking low, Hibiki striking high. There was no way to dodge or parry both. Masami’s choices were to fall or lose a limb. Time seemed to slow as she made her choice. Falling it was. At least she’d have a chance to get away.

 

And then her left arm twitched. Suddenly, sensation returned. Masami rallied, a thin grin crossing her features. Asshole. You sure took your time. Jiro still did not reply, but use of the arm was enough for Masami. She mustered all of her strength to charge forward to meet the brothers. They didn’t have time to change their plan of attack now. Her left arm shot out to bat Daisuke’s sword away as she parried Hibiki’s blow with her right. Another explosive leap sent her flying to the center of the path, both brothers before her. Sword now held in both hands, she let out a deep, earth-rumbling growl of her own as she charged, her booming voice splitting the air. “You ne’er do wells wanted to see a monster? Enjoy the fucking view.”

 

Terrible, cold rage gleamed in Masami’s eyes. She was finally in her element. A demon slayer, a ronin fueled by Dust. A killer. Hibiki threw up his sword to stop her deadly overhead slash. The steel bent under the sheer force of the blow. Masami bore down on him again and again, until his katana little more than a mangled bar of steel, and his arms were shattered. Daisuke tried to leap in to stop her, but her left arm sprung to action, grabbing him by the chest and hurling him into the exposed face of the hill. He impacted with such force the stone spiderwebbed behind him, and all the air in his lungs was knocked from him.

 

Masami loomed over the now cowering Hibiki. “Wh-what th’ fuck are you?”

 

She leaned in very, very close and with a thunderous whisper said “determined not to be someone like you. Or your father. See you in hell, Hibiki.”

 

With that, her sword flashed through the air and severed his brutish head. Then she turned to Daisuke. “You’re next, Daisuke.” The man’s eyes widened as she approached, and he began to blubber. “Time to face a demon’s fate. Count yourself lucky that I’ve retained my sense of honor. I’ll make this quick.”

 

Another flash of steel, and Daisuke’s skull slipped from his shoulders.

 

Masami grimaced as she turned away and began sprinting up the hill again. She checked herself for injuries. Several cuts and bruises, a fracture in her right wrist, and one broken toe. She made a note of each, though none of them caused her pain. That suited her well enough. She would need all of her focus to take on the good Lord Kubo, assuming he had performed his procedures on himself. What a fool he must be, to have ignored her warnings, to have forgotten the disaster that occurred at Takayama. Yes, a fool. Or worse, he was working with the demons. That thought sent a chill down her spine. He would not have been the first or only human noble to throw in his lot with the nightmare realm. Masami picked up her pace. Only one way to find out now.

 

------------------------------------------------

 

Toshiro leapt out of the way as yet another bolt of fire lanced past his head. The corpses of half a dozen demons lay between him and Yasuko. She was embroiled in a duel with a long, snakelike creature with the face of a devastatingly beautiful young woman. It snapped at her, striking with its fangs. Yasuko was holding her own, and besides, Toshiro had his own problems. The gnarled hag before him threw bolt after bolt of shrieking blue flames at him as he tried to close the distance. But every time he got close, the demon would leap away, always out of reach. He needed a plan. As the hag wound up to launch another ball of fire, he kicked up a rock into his hand and hefted it at the creature. The throw hit home, and the demon flinched. That was all he needed. He ran up and thrust his sword deep into the monster’s chest. It writhed and gurgled for a moment, and then he slashed the sword out of its side and it was still. He was beginning to get used to the blood. He wasn’t sure that was a good thing.

 

Yasuko pressed the attack, carving slice after slice from the snake demon’s flesh. After all, the best way to keep its fangs from her flesh was to ensure it never had an opening to strike back. She was relentless, methodical in her assault. Always shifting her aim, always varying her stance, always a different follow up to the previous strike. Her sword whistled through the air in a dazzling array of patterns. In the end, the snake was reduced to little more than a bleeding mound. When it finally stopped trying to strike, she plunged her sword into its skull to end it.

 

The guardhouse behind them was now full to capacity with townsfolk. In all, they had rounded up over a thousand people, everyone who lived in the southern part of the city. Many of them cowered out in the open, for there wasn’t enough room for all of them inside. The two dozen or so guards who manned the southern wall fanned in an array around them, most of them fighting demons of their own, or else running along to help their comrades. Everyone was exhausted. It had been nearly two hours of constant, intense combat since the sky split open. Not one of the defenders was unscathed. Their blood caked on their clothes, or else ran along the ground.

 

A chorus of screeches let them all know another wave was inbound. Yasuko reached out to help a panting Toshiro up from his knees. They locked eyes and steeled their resolve as they turned, together, to face the horde.

 

------------------------------------------------

 

Masami burst through the doors of Lord Kubo’s palace, into the courtyard. No guards approached her. She nodded, unsurprised. They were probably all dead by now, or else fighting in the streets. Besides, they would hardly have mattered. This place was powerful. More energy than she had felt in decades coursed through her, drawing her in. Drawing her down to the place where Lord Kubo practiced his devilry. Where she had been “gifted” her arm.

 

She remembered the path well. Straight to the back of the palace, down the stairs, through the secret trapdoor, into the tunnels beneath the estate, through the winding paths, to that place. The cavernous room where light pulsed from the earth and bathed everything in it with an oppressive red glow. The place where the nightmare realm bubbled to the surface of ours. Lord Kubo would be there, Masami knew it.

 

The iron door that had been installed outside the cavern provided little issue for Masami. She rammed through it, shearing the bolts in its hinges as she burst into the room. Sure enough, Lord Kubo knelt in the center.

 

“Kubo!” Masami’s voice bounced around the chamber so that it seemed as though four women shouted the words. “What the fuck have you done?”

 

Lord Kubo appeared to be in the middle of meditation. He smiled, keeping his eyes closed. “I have merely upheld my end of a bargain I found most agreeable. I see my worthless sons were unable to complete their task.”

 

“Would it offer you relief if I said their ends were painless?”

 

“I care not.” He rose to his feet  as he spoke. “I know there is no talking you over to my side. You were always too...righteous.” He spat out the last word as if it were poison. “Let us see how far you have fallen in your decades away.”

 

With that, Lord Kubo began to change. His body cracked and snapped as he grew to well over twice Masami’s size. Bright red light flared from inside him, illuminating the room in a dazzling flash. Tusks and horns burst from his skull as he stepped forward to meet Masami. It took him only four calm paces to cross the thirty foot gap. Masami leapt into the air, whirling around to whip her katana into Lord Kubo’s flesh.

 

If carving into Hibiki had felt like striking clay, Lord Kubo was steel. Her sword bounced off harmlessly. She landed behind him, the combined power of the Dust pills and the aura of the cavern allowing her to keep her footing. Lord Kubo swept a massive claw at her. She stepped away as his distended hand carved a crater in the ground.

 

Hey Jiro. You properly awake yet? I’m afraid we’re gonna have to do this your way again.

 

Masami dodged another deadly swipe which tore a gash in the wall beside her. She was certain she heard a long, drawn-out sigh inside her skull. As you wish, boss. Masami grinned as a rush of strength bolstered her. Once again wings sprung from her back and her flesh began to emit a glow of its own. Layer upon layer of thick, sinewy skin and muscle extended over her form, coating her in a protective shell to rival even Lord Kubo’s. She sprang into the air and began to circle the demon that had replaced the old man.

 

Then a hand swatted her down. She hit the ground hard, felt a dozen ribs and her right leg all snap at once. Ignoring her need to breathe despite having the wind knocked out of her, she pressed forward, singular in her goal. Kill. Kill the bastard lord before her who had sold out his own people to the yokai. Kill the son of a bitch who had gotten her squad, her Satoshi, murdered. Searing rage blinded her and she charged headlong at her foe. Another swipe came down at her. She sheared the fingers of the giant hand at the knuckle, carved a series of gashes into the extended arm, then took flight once more. Her leg hung beneath her at a disturbing angle, but she didn’t even notice.

 

Lord Kubo wasn’t finished yet. He drew in a deep breath, then belched a jet of flame at Masami. For an instant, she considered pushing through it. But the memory of the last time she had ignored imminent danger changed her mind, and so she spun to the side, out of the reach of the inferno. She landed a pair of strikes on Lord Kubo’s shoulder, severing the muscles that controlled his left arm. The irony was not lost on her. Your turn to lose a limb, you bastard. Lord Kubo reared back, sucking in more air, but this time Masami didn’t give him the chance. She sped around him and thrust her katana to the hilt into the base of his neck, up into his skull. He stilled instantly, his spinal cord severed. As he fell to the ground, Masami landed next to him. She hobbled on one leg over to the pulsing glow in the ground, the source of the place’s demonic energy. Drawing her tanto, she began to carve into it, deeper and deeper, until she reached the core of it. 

 

Jiro? Eat up.

 

The tengu was more than happy to oblige. He tore into the condensed power the gateway held, absorbing what he could and scattering the rest. Finally, when he was finished, Masami allowed her form to return to normal. Even the Dust pills Kaiya had given her began to wear off. She was tired, so very tired. But it was over. For now. They could win this for good. That was all that mattered. She fell back onto the rocks and fell into a deep sleep.

 

------------------------------------------------

 

Outside, the rift in the sky closed itself. The hordes of demons stilled as they dissolved into the Dust that made up their bodies. The sun returned, and an exhausted cheer went up among the haggard defenders and civilians alike. Toshiro bounded over to Yasuko and swept her up in a hug. Though she was startled, she settled into the embrace, ready to collapse and perfectly content to let Toshiro support her weight. They both sunk to the ground, in pain and out of breath.

 

“She must’ve done it.”

 

Yasuko smiled weakly. “Yes. Indeed she must have. As did we.” She looked out over the townsfolk. “Over a thousand souls spared. Far better than we fared back home, and against far worse...”

 

Toshiro gave her a concerned look but she waved her hand at him. “Save your worry. This battle...it gives me hope.”

 

Toshiro nodded, reaching down to squeeze her hand. “Yeah. Me too.”

 

- End Part One -