She sighed in response. “That’s exactly it. Look closer.”
The Oni at the head of the table, slime green, had a ridiculously tiny pair of reading glasses on his crooked nose. He was reading from a piece of paper like he was giving an elementary school presentation.
Then it happened: The Oni got caught up on a difficult word. He struggled to say it a couple of times before losing his patience, raising his fist to smash the puny table, and then? Then a human female, dressed in colors that complemented the slime green Ogre’s fashion, poked him in his side with a sharp finger and simply said, “Sound it out.”
Turns out the word was ‘vindictive’.
It was a lengthy speech discussing the dangers the Tengu posed and the loss and gain of Mundane territory. As he spoke on, emphasizing the importance of remaining unnoticed by the population at large, I noticed something else.
The other Oni all had Humans at their side too. They were furiously writing down notes, nudging the immense Ogres, and quietly explaining what looked to be any concept more complicated than ‘we go smash weak bird men.’
A creeping crawling realization nestled in my gut as Anzuki closed the screen door. I had to struggle to keep my voice down.
“Jesus, Mary, and the Carpenter,” I muttered. “Those Humans are Demon Generals, aren’t they?”
Demon Generals weren’t people demonically corrupted to serve the Oni as foot soldiers in their evil army of darkness. They were Humans who babysat the Demonic Ogres.
Anzuki glared at me, noiselessly rose, and motioned for me to follow. She opened another screen door and we entered a moonlit garden. It had a working fountain, well groomed grass, a trio of bonsai trees in an ornate pot at the far end of the garden, and even a Koi pond smack dab in the middle. Of course, the path was made large enough to accommodate immense Oni.
It almost felt like a date, being alone here with Anzuki.
“You figured it out pretty quick,” she said, walking down the stone path. “Demon Generals as a tradition go way back. We Oni are wonderful in a fight, and we often found ourselves in control of huge swaths of lands back in the day. The problem was we were no good at anything but fighting.”
“I think I’m beginning to understand,” I said.
“Lots of the Oni lords back then tried to run the villages and tribes they conquered, but they usually only managed to run them into the ground. That’s until my great Grampa showed up with a really clever idea. Form a pact with Humans to do for us what we couldn’t do for ourselves.”
“And that’s what I saw back there. The Oni were just at the ‘meeting’ to be centerpieces. To say they showed up. The real talk was being handled by their Humans,” I replied.
Anzuki nodded. “That’s not even the half of it. Outside of the Netherworld we use Demon Generals for just about everything. We only do things on our own when it comes to fighting. Outside of that? Human cooks. Human aides. Human tacticians. Human researchers. Human everything.”
Chapter 26
“That’s one hell of a secret. The great and powerful Oni--”
“Can’t even figure out how to use a modern toilet. Yeah.”
That’s why they needed the Yakuza. Not for muscle, but for street smarts.
A sharp pang of dread suddenly pierced through me as a terrible inkling came to the fore of my head. The Oni were hardly making any of their own decisions with all the help they needed. Which meant just one thing.
“Your father wasn’t the one who came up with the idea to invade Japan, was he, Anzuki?”
Anzuki couldn’t hide the smile that crept onto her face. “You’re really really smart. Yeah. It’s true. Dad has a council of six Humans that have served him. They’re called Demon Priests cause they’re not helping just any Oni thug. My dad’s a king of kings ya know. A God in the old religions.”
“Where are these Demon Priests?” I demanded harshly enough to surprise the swordswoman.
“They ain’t here or anything. Uh, I can find you a picture of em though, maybe.”
“Please,” I replied.
We walked back into the temple, took a hard right, and entered a small storage room. It looked like the sort of place a hot blooded couple might go to make out. I tried not to stare at Anzuki’s breasts.
“Aha. Here,” Anzuki declared, holding up a framed picture. “Not sure how useful it’ll be though.”
I held the frame in hand and took in every detail. Six men dressed in traditional Japanese clothing. Black and red were the main colors, and I figured out what Anzuki meant by usefulness when I laid eyes on the first face.
A leering, hideous mask was worn on each of their visages. Of course. It must be a status symbol to be granted a mask. How else could an Oni declare that a Mundane Mortal was one step removed from being family to them?
“It could be something. Mind if I--”
“Keep it,” she replied swiftly. The second she caught my eyes she looked away, blushing red again. “Uh, yeah that’s uhm, all we have here Charles Locke. There’s…”
“I meant what I said,” I murmured.
The swordswoman licked her lips subconsciously, wiping sweat from her brow. “Yeah. All right. I need to go tell my dad what I told you so I’m gonna go ahead first.”
Shyness in a woman as dangerous as Anzuki was very charming. She was downright adorable. I cleared my throat and let her squeeze past me and out of the storage closet. The second I made my own way into the hall my phone rang.
“Moshi moshi,” I replied.
“Locke, where are you?” asked Maki Hashinaki.
“Demon king’s castle.”
“Wow. I thought your file was being melodramatic when it said you lived for danger.”
“The plot’s thickening. What do you have for me?” I asked.
“Cracked the files. Can you believe they refused me registering at NT as a technomancer?”
“What was in the files Maki?”
“Absolutely nothing useful. You have the worst luck. The most useful bit on the encrypted docs was a really elaborate plan on how to invade the Netherworld with the combined arms of the Tengu forces. I mean, I could have told you they had a plan like this cooking three days ago.”
“No. Something’s not sitting right here. Give me all the details. Even something that seems useless. Remember the coordinates?”
“Unlucky people must make their own luck huh?” Maki replied. “Okay Mr. Good Fortune. The plan is dated exactly two months ago. It has impeccable reconnaissance of the Netherworld too. The pagodas. The bone strewn plains. Even the dead trees.”
“And?”
“And… wow. I can’t believe it. I went into file properties and it says it belongs to someone named Administrator Kuroshi Ro.”
I cursed underneath my breath. The puzzle pieces clicked together. “It all adds up then dammit. I ‘met’ the guy. He was the number two of the Tengu. Which means…”
My heart suddenly skipped a beat. Have you ever seen one of those optical illusions where if you look at a picture from one angle it looks like a rabbit but if you look at it the other way around the rabbit’s ears look just like a duck’s beak? That’s what I saw here. The answer was just one perspective shift away.
“It’s dated two months ago? Despite the Oni invasion only starting last month? Impeccable reconnaissance of enemy territory in another plane of existence cut off completely from outsiders?” I cursed underneath by breath for a different reason. “Maki I’ll call you back. Give me a minute to double check something.”
“Roger.”
Click went the phone, and I broke into a dead sprint back towards the throne room. If my hunch was correct then the Kunshu knew exactly who the puppet master was but just wasn’t aware he was being played. Just as Anzuki thought all along.
I burst through the doors to the throne room just in time to see my hope totally destroyed.
The Kunshu sat on the throne. His head however, did not sit on his shoulders. Decapitated grossly, his
crowned head lay at the foot of his throne as Anzuki, bleeding from a dozen wounds and standing on quivering legs, faced down the last man I wanted to see.
“Demon Slayer,” I whispered.
Wide empty eyes and long and ragged black hair jerked towards me. A maniacal grin settled on his parched lips as he let out a shrill laugh.
“You’re that thrall from before, aren’t you? Slave to Tengu and now slave to Oni too? Disgusting. My blade aches to taste the blood of monsters like you. Come and sate it’s lust for carnage.”
Chapter 27
“Charles,” Anzuki cried out with the last of her strength. “You’re my last hope.”
With a roar, the Oni woman turned her crimson blade around and thrust it into the floor, a score of black tears opening up to unleash a skeletal horde. The Demon Slayer’s grin only widened.
That must have been all she had left in her, because she collapsed into a pile as soon as she summoned her minions.
A parting gift. I knew I wasn’t strong enough to overcome the assassin on my own, probably even with the aid of the skeletal Oni Anzuki summoned. Somehow though, the difference in my strength and his mattered less to me than it did back at the crime scene.
I drew my wand sword and approached, my chest burning. The skeletal Oni circled around.
“Numbers don’t mean anything to a righteous slayer of Demons. Even if there were a thousand of you, I can’t be slain.”
He shot at me like a viper, darting between the clumsy skeletal Oni and bringing his pitch black blade up in a monstrous reaping arc.
I was ready for him. My wand-sword deflected the blow handsomely, and I followed up with a counter blow of my own, only narrowly missing the Slayer’s face.
The assassin grit his teeth in fury at the close call, screaming a high pitched battle cry before throwing himself back at me.
A storm of strikes and slashes fell on me. It was all I could do to defend. I would have met my end right then and there if a duo of skeletons hadn’t thrown themselves onto the Demon Slayer’s back, forcing him to turn his attention onto them.
They didn’t last two seconds.
“What’s the matter kid?” I asked him. “Don’t let up. I’m just getting started.”
The grin came back as he drew a hand through his hair in anticipation, briefly revealing a scar pocked face. When our blades met, it was a battle of rage against fury, skill against wits.
With a clink, the assassin’s blade flew back spectacularly, bouncing off my hastily conjured reflect as though it were a rubber ball.
My heart soared. Just as I expected. The blade was magical. And while good old fashioned bullets might not care about a magic reflecting shield, an enchanted weapon doesn’t have the same privilege.
Just as it bounced away, I cut the top of my wand-sword with the top of my hand, gathered the sharp severed shard in the palm of my hand, and launched it with all my might at the Demon Slayer. A fresh cut appeared on the man’s shoulder, and I would have cut his throat too, had he not pushed a skeleton to catch the blow in his stead.
His smile faded, and behind that insufferable grin? Hatred and confusion. “What’s with you all of a sudden? You’re different than before. Were you holding back or something before?”
“Take a good long look around you, you son of a bitch. This is where you’re going to die. No more. I won’t let you lay another finger on Anzuki or Momo or anybody else. Do you hear me?”
“How sad. You actually feel bad for these monsters? Look at them. Hideous, disgusting stinking pigs. And those vultures are no better. You can’t kill me thrall. My blade is the one that’s going to wipe out every last Yokai in Japan!”
Again we crossed blades, and again we came apart. While I tired and weakened, small cuts and near misses turning into missed parries and proper wounds, the Demon Slayer exulted in the combat. He was invigorated and ready for more.
One last hope.
“What’s wrong, thrall? Where’s all that conviction you had earlier?” the assassin taunted, casually cutting down a trio of skeletons.
“Cho. I need you help,” I whispered.
“Come on. Come at me. I’ll cut you all down like the fiends you are,” the slayer carried on.
“Weakness: He is fueled by a creed. Willpower,” came Cho’s response.
I nodded. Of course.
“My blade has been granted to me by the heavens themselves. And I am it’s wielder. A divine sword made to slay the monsters that crawl and creep and haunt our pure and blue world.”
“Made to slay monsters, but you used it to kill people.”
“People?” the Demon Slayer cackled shrilly. “Look at that thing’s head, it wanted to invade the mortal world. To make us all it’s slaves. It could have stayed hidden in it’s Netherworld, forgotten. But when a cockroach brazenly stalks into the light, you crush it.”
“I’ve seen more Humanity in crooked beasts and tentacled horrors than in some of my fellow Man. You think the world is so black and white?”
“It is. There are those that kill the innocents. That slaughter parents in front of children and sisters in front of brothers. They rip children away from the only life they’ve known and laugh as they beg them to stop. But I won’t let them. I’ll--”
“Even Oni have parents,” I replied through clenched teeth.
“Don’t make me laugh,” the Demon Slayer replied, parrying my first blow and hounding me with a wild strike of his own. “These things are spawned from nightmares. They have no beginning and only an end when I cut through them. I am doing them a favor by giving them the peace of the grave. The only peace they’ll ever know!”
“Then what do you call that?”
The demon slayer turned his eyes to see Anzuki, trembling, curled up around her father’s head. Her hands cradling his immense crooked nose.
Fury and righteousness surged through me in equal parts. The Demon Slayer hesitated.
“That’s a lie. You can’t tell me that they have souls. These are simply Yokai who masquerade as Humans.”
“You masquerade as a Human too, don’t you?” I spat back.
That hit a chord. The Demon Slayer’s eyes bulged and his hands rose to his head as he let out an ear piercing shriek. He charged at me full tilt, I prepared for the coming exchange.
Two cuts. I fell to my knee, a cold pain shooting out of the side of my chest.
All things considered, I got off lightly.
I turned around just in time to hear the first scream of pain and horror. Cho was right. Planting a seed of doubt in the Demon Slayer’s mind was enough to make him fumble. The strike he dealt me was perfect except for a split second hesitation before it struck.
In the split second a lot could happen. Lightning could strike. Bullets could fly. And blades of hard arcana could catch his wrists and sever them. Both of them.
The Demon Slayer’s hands, still gripping his katana lay limp and pale on the floor. The assassin screamed uncontrollably, falling to his knees in the pool of blood. The skeletal Oni gathered around him in a noisy crowd. Their jaws snapped and their eyes gleamed with cheerful joy. The Slayer didn’t quite share their happiness at what came next.
Sometimes you get a last meal. Sometimes you are the last meal.
I turned and walked to Anzuki. We were both battered and bleeding. Hot tears still fell from her eyes.
“I’m sorry,” I said. “I should have been--”
I didn’t get a chance to finish. Wordlessly, Anzuki had slammed her lips against mine in a fiery hot kiss. It was quite a while before we drew apart.
“I’ll put an end to this. All of this. I promise,” I whispered to her.
“I believe you,” Anzuki replied, her eyes unfocused and bemused. Tears and the rush of our searing kiss made for a heady mix. “Whatever you need me to do. Whatever you want. Tell me.”
Picking up the demon slaying blade, a solution to a separate problem formed within me. My mind raced at the possibilities as I turned to the swo
rdswoman.
“Rest. Heal up. Gather your forces, Kunshu Anzuki, because after I run a couple of errands, we are going to make the one that did this to the Oni pay.”
Chapter 28
I drove down the brightly lit night time highway. The wheels spun and the road raced beneath the Mercedes, but my mind was going even faster than the car.
No matter how many times I did the math in my head, searched for a loop hole, any loophole at all, I always came up to the same response. I had to make sure.
Jerkily, I managed to withdraw Cho from his pocket and tie him to the wheel again just as I got off the highway and merged with the busy city streets of downtown Tokyo.
“Cho. I need confirmation.”
“Charles? I’m not sure if I could be of much use giving advice outside of weaknesses.”
“Humor me,” I insisted. “Do you see the sword I have right now in the passenger seat?”
“I do,” replied Cho.
“It is very specifically enchanted. The one who used it said that it was a blade forged to specifically slay demons and--”
“Oh. What luck then. You can use it to kill Lisistrathiel with ease. You’d have no excuse to fail then, Charles,” Cho said.
I pressed my lips into a tight, thin line. Cho jumped right on to what I had considered all along. If the Demon Slayer’s katana was truly designed to slay otherworldly demons, then surely Lis would be no exception to this rule. Which meant…
“I’ll finally be free. A debt can’t be collected if the one you owe is dead, right?”
“Just so, Charles.”
I took in a deep breath as I pulled into the ritzy hotel parking basement. I stuffed Cho into my pocket, picked up the black bladed katana and strapped it to my back. I stalked into the deserted hallways of the hotel and made for my room.
Hesitation overtook me as I reached the door. I’ve killed a rogue’s gallery worth of scary monsters and vile villains, but somehow, this felt different. Lis wasn’t some vile faceless imp or demonic fiend with only destruction on its mind. She wasn’t a Norse Giant or a half mortal Tengu either.
Two to Tengu (Secret Magent Book 2) Page 11