I hated myself for hesitating. Not because I want to help the villagers; they had been nothing but rude and unreasonable to me, and I hadn’t been the best visitor, either. I never remembered their faces, treating them like a faceless mass who sometimes spouted words that stung a bit too deep.

However, I hated how I was actively making a decision to just sit back and do nothing. Back in the dungeon, I had made the decision to make something of myself, and all this time I had been fretting over what I could do to accomplish that. I was bumbling around blindly in the hopes that I could do something.

So now, when a situation where I could become a hero, a protagonist, came, I hated the fact that a small part of me wanted to just sit back and watch. I rationalized it as something that wasn’t my problem. It was callous. Almost evil, in a way, to sit back and watch as living, breathing people died. The only thing that argued against that was the fact that, deep down, I still didn’t really see them as people.

Sure, you can argue they were right in front of me, so they had to be people. But I had been treating this world as some way to distract myself. With the screens detailing my stats, I treated everything like I would a game. It was my way of rationalizing things. The villagers became characters who just spouted the same lines every now and then, Minamoto and everyone else were just essential to the quest, and everything that was happening was also some mission that I had to complete. Despite already realizing that I was looking at things in such a detached manner back when I reunited with Minamoto in the dungeon, it was hard to truly break that thought completely.

It was… sobering now that I was face to face with a threat that honestly put those facts right into my face. I could continue to live in my delusion, staying behind with the safety of the Samurai as they fought the Oni. Or, I could rush over and try to help the villagers and finally think of this world as my world. A world I was now living in.

Even then, the main question was: did I really believe I was callous enough to let people die in front of me? I was no hero, but wasn’t I a human being? I had the basic pride of anyone living within the 21st century. Which, objectively speaking, was pretty low. However, now that I was in such a fantasy-like situation, was it wrong to have fantasy-like aspirations? Most importantly, these were the people who all the ones I actually considered friends were trying to protect. That was enough reasoning for me, really.

I looked over to the incoherent Yasuda. He was still completely out of it, but he tried to get back up and continue to fight despite blood coming out of his eyes, mouth, nose and ears.

“Fuck.” I cursed once again. Pushing myself up, I felt out the reserves of Life Energy I was keeping back. It was nowhere near enough for me to confidently say I could fight an army.

I doubted that I would ever have enough for me to make that decision, but I smiled mirthfully. All I needed to do was stall them long enough for help to come anyways. “Fuck it, who the hell cares about the consequences.”

[Amaterasu watches your actions with bated breath]

[Shuten Doji glances your way]

I chuckled at the small peanut gallery gathering in my corner. They were vouyers, but I still appreciated that I wasn’t making a dumb decision alone.

And there was no doubt in my mind that this decision was dumb. I rushed over to the villagers, reaching the river while I spared a glance at the Exorcists who peeked up from their concentrated gazes to look at me momentarily. Their confusion was squashed as the Oni continued to thrash within the chains of water wrapped around its body. Several times, I saw a white mannequin fall apart as one Exorcist gasped for breath and took another one from the extras passed out, sending out another Shikigami to the fight.

I spared Takamori a nod as he watched me pass by, and then turned back to look at the Oni. There were more large gashes on its figure now. I found the culprit ducking between a blindingly fast swing of its arms, sliding beneath its legs and dragging her sword into the monster’s leg. A roar echoed out with the wound as I caught Miyasaki rip off the white Oni mask on her face.

Her face was flushed of all color. I could see her taking in large gulps of air from her as she backpedaled away from the Oni. Black eyes caught mine as she found the mask not dissipating in her hand. She heaved a breath before putting it back on as the cycle continued, and I could see that they were winning, but the Oni wasn’t showing signs of slowing down despite all the wounds accumulating on it. In fact, I could have sworn that the Oni was getting stronger and faster the more it was bleeding.

I bit my lip as they fought. Every Samurai was needed to barely hold back the Oni while all the Exorcists were focusing on restraining the Oni with their Shikigami. The majority of the Samurai who came back from the dungeon were injured as well, and their wounds were beginning to reopen as they desperately held onto the chains that restrained the Oni.

At one end, I found Matsumura. He was desperately pulling with his single arm. When that proved insufficient, he bit into the water chain, grinding his teeth as he strained every muscle in order to hold back the Oni.

For a moment, I just watched him.

It was only after I had frozen for a bit that I made the dumb decision to act on my own. For the greater good, of course. I shook my head as that thought passed through my mind.

“Takamori,” I walked up to the one I knew, constantly looking up at where I had felt the threat from. The villagers were worriedly watching all of us fight, biting their nails as the Oni refused to go down. The yokai army hadn’t shown up yet, but I was worried they could pop out at any moment. “Can you hand me all your Shikigami that you’re not using?”

“What the hell are you even asking-” Another Exorcist yelled angrily while most of his attention concentrated on the Oni.

Takamori cut him off by taking out a couple rectangular pieces of paper with Japanese letters on them. I had no idea what they were detailing, but I recognized them as the ones we used to fight the Face Stealer. Carefully, I took them and continued my charge over to the villagers.

“Did you sense them too, mister David?” I jumped as Minamoto’s voice sounded out right next to me. Looking around, I only found the river flowing right next to me, and Minamoto was still fighting the Nurarihyon in the distance.

“Down here, friend.” The voice said, and I looked down only to pause at what I found.

Poking out from the ground was a familiar white branch that Minamoto always carried within his sleeve. However, the thing that gave me pause was the small mouth full of wooden teeth along the larger side of the branch. Naturally, I crouched down to poke it.

“What are you-” Minamoto’s voice continued to come out of the wooden mouth. “Quit- stop that!”

I stared at the branch. “You can feel that?”

“Yes, now if you are done, let’s move onto more important matters. First off, what are you doing running this way? I am sure you had felt the rest of the Hyakki Yagyo with your senses, but what are you doing running this way?”

My thoughts stumbled when he asked that. I knew exactly what I was doing and had a very low chance of really helping, so my plans were pretty barebones as things went. In a way, I was once again being swayed by the emotions of those around me.

“W- well, I just thought that this was where I could help. Everyone is needed to barely hold back that Oni…” I said. My words tumbled out, and even I felt my reasoning was spotty. I was trying to justify why I was going to fight a nigh insurmountable foe.

The mouth on the stick pursed its lips, closing the opening enough to make it look like a regular white branch. “Do you have a plan?”

“A… yes, I think so.”

The branch sighed. “Okay, I can’t really help as much, but I can help protect you. Grab this branch; think of it like I am activating a Shikigami and don’t resist.”

Suddenly, I was filled with the thoughts that this might not be as hard as I thought it would be. I hurriedly grabbed the branch, and I felt it pulse against my skin almost like there was a heartbeat echoing my own. The white branch immediately was ripped apart from the inside as small, white roots began entwining themselves around me starting from my left hand, working themselves up my arm before growing up and down my body. They had even grown around the two scabbards slung to my waist, trapping them to my sides.

I was awestruck as I flexed my muscles, feeling the roots twist and turn over themselves as I moved. I shivered as the sensations traveled along my skin. It was as if I was wearing an entire colony of snakes. The white roots seemed to link together to form a second skin-like armor, and only the front of my face was left uncovered. The perfect amount of space for my mask to fit. I

“This- I…” I was left speechless. My chances of survival were always low, but this made me remember I had Minamoto in my corner. That was a fact that I was suddenly very grateful for. “Thanks, Minamoto.”

“No problem, mister David.” I jumped as his voice echoed directly in my ear. I directed my attention to the roots that had crawled up the side of my head, covering my ears. “Don’t worry about it, mister David. Just focus on saving the villagers – I fear that the Nurarihyon’s plans are just creating as many casualties as possible. The fact that they are using a sacrificial ceremony is enough evidence that they want as much converted Life Energy as possible. I don’t have enough Life Energy or attention to spare you anything better, but this makeshift armor should help you for a bit.”

I swallowed, taking in the information but not really understanding. Did they want to jump a bunch of Life Ranks or something? Life Energy had so many uses, so the actual answer could be anything. However, a more concerning fact was beginning to surface.

“H-hey Minamoto.” I asked as I began wading through the river. It was much shallower than I had thought, allowing me to walk to the other side as the deepest part went up to my waist. The harder part was finding a way to walk across the smooth stones without slipping. A small part of me worried that water might be leaking into the sword scabbards on my waist.

“Hmmm? What? Right, what were your plans for helping the villagers?” he asked, and the small thought I had about why Minamoto had appeared out here instead of near the Samurai was beginning to grow. I liked to remember him as the kind, helpful man who I met before, but circumstances let me realize that he can be much more ruthless than I could stomach.

Carefully, I wet my lips with my tongue, tasting some of the river water that splashed in my mouth. Salt? Why was it salty? There didn’t seem to be any ocean nearby from the vague memories I had when I overlooked the area from that floating island.

I shook that thought out of my head and asked Minamoto the question that had been laboring in my mind. “What were you doing out here? Were you out here to help the villagers, too?”

It was telling that Minamoto didn’t speak immediately. “I know you may judge me, mister David. I am not the strongest individual, so sometimes I am forced to make choices you might think to be… evil. However, know that I would never try to actively harm innocent people. Right now, I am just stretched so thin that I can barely offer any protection to the villagers.”

“I- I understand.” I had no idea what he was planning to do, but I was getting the implication that he might not be able to save everyone. With how he was just hanging out here, I didn’t doubt that he had somehow noticed the yokai army closing in, and had planned something for their arrival. The problem was deciding who he could save when he was already juggling so many other things.

I reached the other side of the river silently. Minamoto’s words and predicament had stuck to the back of my head. He implied that there were individuals stronger than him, and he made it seem like they could easily solve this current situation. He had made it seem like there were plenty of ways to solve our situation, but everything seemed so crazy and complicated to me.

I buried that thought as the villagers finally took a look at who was nearing them. Some stumbled back as they glared at me, others tried to posture and square up to me, while the rest shouted for me to get back. I could hear some cursing me as if I had somehow caused this. While it wasn’t like I expected a standing ovation, their reactions still hurt. These were the people I was standing up for. These were those I was trying to save from a threat they hadn’t realized yet.

However, I knew Minamoto or Yasuda might be disappointed if I backed away now. I just needed to remember why I was doing this in the first place.

I tiredly sighed, eying them one by one. The faces that I had glanced over and forgot were finally registering to me. They looked like normal people. Black hair, black eyes and gaunt features was the commonality between all of them. Several men I recognized by wisps of hair dotting their upper lip and chin as all of them were skinny, almost malnourished.

“Give me back my mommy!” A child near the middle of the group yelled at me suddenly. I choked at the accusation. He looked like a middle schooler, wearing tattered clothing that was stained red. I saw some green paste, like the one Minamoto had given me to heal the wound on my back two weeks ago, slathered on his cheek.

“Where did you take my mommy?!” The boy repeated as I looked around. None of the villagers moved to aid the child, choosing to continue to glare at me.

Fed up, I glared back, causing them to flinch. “Who’s the guardian of this child?”

“Mister David, the Hyakki Yagyo is almost here.” I flinched at Minamoto’s statement. My anger at the villagers was subsiding, but it still simmered at the bottom of my stomach.

I could handle their insults, their baseless accusations, their hatred and everything else they unjustly put upon my shoulders. They were a faceless mob to me. However, I grew tired and angry at them because they had chosen to continue their tirade while ignoring the pains of someone innocent.

I saw an image of myself in that child, and that was absolutely unacceptable.

“Do you know any shame?” I spat at the crowd, sneering at them as they flinched. Softening my features, I kneeled to the child. He fell on his backside when I knelt in front of him while the adults backed away in fear. I berated them in my head.

This was the world I was living in now, huh.

When I had come here, I hadn’t gotten to recognize anyone’s face. Honestly, I didn’t really care. The only people who had given me a reason to care were Minamoto, Matsumura, Yasuda and the rest. They alone were fighting their hearts out to protect these people.

“Don’t worry,” I smiled at the boy. It probably wasn’t the best impression since he started tearing up as I continued, “Everything will be fine. I am here to help you.”

“What are you even say-”

I popped up from the ground, causing the nearby man who started speaking to freeze and stop talking. My eyes met his as I pulled out the fireball Shikigami Takamori gave me. He flinched and backed away as I turned to the forest across from us. Every one of the villager’s faces paled as they saw shadowy figures dashing across the tops of the tree branches. A veritable horde of Face Stealer Centipedes crawled along the ground, ghosting over the uneven forest floor like it was flat ground. On top of the backs of the centipedes, I could see some small, child-like figures as well as some cloaked figures.

Despite all of my hyping up, I was still not ready to actually face such a force. The well of terror that was was covered with unwarranted confidence was beginning to bubble up to surface. Thoughts of running away tangled my plans, and for a second, all I could do was stare at the army that charged at us in a rooting fear.

“...I am going to survive.” I pushed Life Energy into the small presence in the back of my head. Liquid confidence filled my veins as I rationalized my plans. If everything went well, why did I have to fear death? My plans had succeeded before. They will succeed again.

“Mister David, I don’t think that you— nevermind, how long can you sustain such a state?”

“With the other mask,” I cracked my neck and began funneling a bit of Life Energy into the Shikigami in my hand. There was some resistance as it passed through the root armor I was wearing, and I felt the root shiver as the tip of the paper was lit ablaze. “We have probably ten minutes. Though, I don’t have the stamina to fight them all and keep everything up.”

The villagers were already running back to the river as I stared down the army. My confidence was a poison, I knew that, but I needed to be calm rather than a panicked mess. I flicked the fireball towards the treeline, watching as sections of the forest caught on fire. Like I predicted, the army quickly moved to dodge. I pulled out another fireball Shikigami as I watched them.

“Let me supply the Life Energy.” Minamoto spoke up. “Your Life Energy caused a bit of damage to the armor, so let me do it; we’ll use less overall to activate the Shikigami than for me to heal the damage caused.”

“Sounds good.” I said, pointing the next Shikigami opposite of the first. The army moved to avoid the quickly igniting forests, and I smiled at how quickly the fires spread. There was definitely some Life Energy mumbo jumbo involved.

The army was funneled closer together as the fires began blocking off sections of the forest where they could escape. However, it was still not enough. I pulled out more fireball Shikigami while Minamoto channeled more Life Energy through them somehow. They ignited in my hands as I continued to throw more and more until there was only a small section of forest that hadn’t erupted into flames.

At one point, the Face Stealers were crawling over each other in order to not get caught up in the burning forest. I was lucky to catch a few within the blaze. They struggled and screamed as the fires licked at their underbellies, coiling around their bodies as smoke and the smell of barbecue filled their screams. As a testament to their durability, they weren’t killed immediately. Instead, the Face Stealers caught within the fire could last for a little while before they collapsed within the smoke by probably suffocating. The yokai on the backs of the Face Stealers were also unluckily dragged into the inferno, panicking within the blaze before collapsing.

Still, the number of living yokai overwhelmed the number of those that died that there basically wasn’t any noticeable change in size.

Undeterred, I strode forwards as I pointed to the treetops. Another fireball erupted from my fingertips, and finally there was only one way to exit the forests unless the army wanted to turn around and find a better spot. Something that was impossible to do on such a moment's notice; such a large amount of creatures running forwards would need time to stop and readjust themselves. They were either forced to either brave the burning inferno nearby or try to break through where I was.

According to my memories of the Face Stealer Centipede, I half-guessed that they were vulnerable to fire, or at least, whatever skill they had would react adversely to fire. In any case, I had effectively funneled those running along the treetops and the centipedes towards me.

“I don’t think this is a very good plan, mister David…” Minamoto whispered in my ears. “We should just use the rest of the Shikigami in order to block off the way entirely.”

I shook my head immediately. There was no telling whether one of the yokai had an ability to get rid of the fire, or if the Face Stealers decided to just ignore the fires entirely. In a way, I had given them a way to get through the fire without trying to brave them. If their goals were to cause a massacre, then so many of them dying was also part of the plan. That only meant that they wouldn’t be able to kill more villagers, so they needed to preserve their fighting force. So long as there was a way through the fire, I was pretty confident that they would take it.

“We meet them here.” I said, watching as the Face Stealers continued to charge forwards towards me. “I am confident in my plan.”

“If you insist.” Minamoto said. “However, if our plan is to combat them, we should start now.”

“Not yet.” I smiled. “Face Stealers can stop much faster than they should be able to.”

Minamoto quieted down as I continued to stare down the charging army. I could finally see the monsters that crowded the centipede’s backs. Small, child-like creatures with beady pupils, pallid skin and a horn jutting out from their foreheads. Another odd creature covered in red cloaks with blood-red swords. They all looked at me with murder in their eyes. Of the ones whose facial features I could see, smirks and grins were pasted over their faces. Barely dried blood stains covered them, and I could see one of the child-like yokai carrying a severed arm as they chewed on it like they were eating an ear of corn.

I felt disgusted as I watched them. Slowly, almost lazily, I drew from one of the two swords on my waist. I pointed the tip at them and whispered. “Laugh while you can, you bastards.”

As they were getting close to me, I closed my eyes to concentrate. This was the first time I had done this, but I was confident I could pull it off. It was one of the quirks of skills Minamoto had mentioned. Since their descriptions were basically everything they could do, it meant that whatever was omitted, so long as it fell under some parts of the description, was plausible.

My very first G Ranked skill was pretty interesting in that vein of thought. It already lets me do a plethora of things, really. I hadn’t really had the time to really take it apart, but I knew that it centered around what image I wanted. That image, or presence, would be projected automatically to everyone. Even my own self. I had no idea if I could direct who it was aimed at, but I could direct what presence I wanted to project.

And right now, I started directing the most dangerous presence in my mind. My Life Energy dropped rapidly as I tried to have my presence corrected with something that completely outclassed me. A massive, smiling tree filled my thoughts as I felt the presence stick to me like a layer of tar. It felt almost like a physical force as I couldn’t quite imitate just what feelings emerged when I stared at it. The presence of a creature of absolute danger slotted in next to my confidence as I snapped my eyes open.

While it wasn’t an exact copy, I was the Soul-Reaping Willow for a second. And the Face Stealers who had taken my face were staring right at the most dangerous thing I had ever seen. The important thing to note was that my face seemed to allow Face Stealers to gain something of a danger sense if I remembered when it avoided our first trap easily. So when faced with such a terrifying presence they must have felt what I did when I stared into Minamoto’s soul. A crushing realization that there was literally nothing you could do in front of such an existence, and the only thing they could do in front of such an enemy was one thing. Run away as fast as they could.

However, there were no places to run. The forests surrounding them were ablaze with sweltering heat that evaporated the sweat from my face. Behind them were the masses of a rushing army; there was no stopping that force. And when the only road ahead was what seemed like an insurmountable foe, they froze for a second.

That was all it took for the rest of the army to pile up. They crashed into the ones in front, throwing their passengers everywhere. Some screamed as they landed within the forest fire. Others were crushed between the weight of the charge as the Face Stealers continued to trip and stumble into others.

I pointed the rest of my fireball Shikigami at the piled up yokais and Minamoto already knew what to do. They ignited and launched into the pile, exploding in a fury of red-hot tongues.

I pulled out my other sword, and cut off the drain from correcting my presence to be like that smiling tree, getting ready for the first enemy to come out of the blaze. It would be great if nothing survived in there, but that was asking for too much.

“Mister David, can I ask you a question?”

I raised a brow, trying not to look away from the blaze. The skin on my face was hot like it was burning and my mouth was already becoming dry. “Sure, ask away. Can’t say I can answer everything like this, though.”

“Why are you trying to save those people?” Minamoto asked.

At that moment, one of those yokai that were wrapped within a red cloak stumbled through the flames. Its cloak was burnt with several portions still on fire. I decided to put it out of its misery and charged it immediately.

The creature reacted faster than I thought it could, snapping its arm up to block the overhead chop from one of my swords. A healthy portion of my Life Energy ensured that the other one pierced into the mask on its face, and I tried to ignore the way my arm jolted as it got caught within its skull. I held back a gag as I tore the sword out and readied myself for the next opponent.

“Hoo,” I breathed heavily. That thing scared me as it had still reacted almost instantly despite its injuries. “This might be more difficult than I thought.”

“I would say you’re doing well.” Minamoto offered.

Right, I had forgotten him for a second. “Yeah, thanks. And going back to your question– while I could try to reason it out that I am helping them from the goodness of my heart, I don’t think I really care about them all that much.”

“You don’t really… ” Minamoto was stunned speechless, and I smiled as this was the first time I had gotten him.

My small moment of victory was taken away by two small yokai who jumped out of the fires. They were covered in burns with some parts of their skin charred completely black. In their hands were hatchets with black handles. Burn marks littered the creature’s hands, and I felt that they had gotten those from slapping out the fires that started on the handles.

“Careful! Amanojaku can control those with low mind stats!” Minamoto warned as I saw one of the creatures rush towards me while the other raised its hand in my direction.

I moved the instant Minamoto’s words registered in my ears. My hand shot up, throwing one of my swords at the Amanojaku who had raised its hand. Suddenly, I felt my body begin to move opposite from what I wanted; it was like there was a disconnect between my brain and my actions. Like I was riding passenger in my own body. Oddly, I recognized the feeling; it was like I had been stuck in a more toned down version of what happened with the encounter with the Soul-Reaping Willow – Origin.

Then, the sword I had thrown nailed itself into the chest of the Amanojaku with an upraised arm and suddenly I was free. Its body jerked backwards, and I hurriedly raised my sword to catch the hatchet of the other Amanojaku. I fumbled the block, letting the edge of the weapon bounce on the roots on top of my right shoulder.

I paused, expecting pain, but was surprised when it didn’t come. A laugh tore free from my mouth as I stared at the confused gaze of the yokai. It was just the distraction I needed to plant my foot in its chest and force it to the ground. The creature struggled as I pinned it to the ground with my foot. Its fingernails were rough, jagged and filled with dirt as it tried to grab and cut into my leg. That only caused it to lose several nails as the white roots that made up my armor were tougher than it thought.

“Eat shit.” I said, stabbing that murderous yokai in its throat.

Despite my bravado, those two fights drained my energy more than I thought possible. My breath was coming out in sharp, hot gasps that sapped the moisture from my mouth just by breathing next to the fire. Warm smoke filtered in every now and then, causing me to cough as my watery eyes scanned for enemies who appeared.

I heaved a huff of effort to heft the sword in my hand up as a cloaked yokai shot out of the fire much faster than the others. Panic quickly passed over me as I stared down the porcelain mask of the yokai, forcing its sword away from me with a burst of reflexive Life Energy.

I backpedaled rapidly as it swung at me again. The fire licked against my exposed skin, and a part of me wondered if Minamoto’s Shikigami suit could feel the sweat pooling off of me.

Before I could complain about the heat regulation, the yokai had already chased after me. It caught up much faster than I could run away, and my eyes tried to follow its sword as much as possible.

I ducked under another fast swing, going for a stab like the last one I took care of. However, it shifted just enough that my sword could only cut through the burnt red cloak that covered its body. Between the crackling fires, I heard the cloak rip more than I saw it.

The yokai hurriedly jumped away from me, covering the right side of its body that was exposed as an odd hissing sound echoed in my ears. Staring at it, I could only watch flat-footed as it backed away from me.

“Careful!” Minamoto’s warning came suddenly, and my attention shot to three more red cloaked yokai and another one of those annoying Amanojakus that escaped the inferno roughly thirty feet away from me. Sooner than I thought, they zeroed in on me.

Bits of fear were eroding my stalwart confidence, and I realized that even my artificial confidence had limits. I had realized that the image my skill provided was based on a better version of myself, so of course, there were flaws. However, those were quickly becoming apparent as this one-man stand continued.

“... I am not going to like this.” I said before stopping the Life Energy flowing through [Presence Correction]. Terror ran through my head, and it took the fright of potential death to stop the chatter of my teeth from going above the sound of my beating heart.

Adrenaline coursed through my veins as I started sprinting towards the Amanojaku. It was the biggest threat out of the five yokai, and if it controlled my body during a crucial point, I would definitely be in a worse position.

As I was running, Life Energy flowed through my arm to reach my hand as a wooden mask formed in my palm. I was worried that I could only have one mask out at one time, but from how I sensed my Life Energy falling at double the speed compared to before, I heaved an internal sigh of relief. The Soul-Reaping Willow mask fit over my face like slotting a piece into a puzzle.

The world instantly expanded with every step. I could see in every direction at the same time, and I had to constantly make sure I was oriented correctly. However, now I could see all the enemies around me.

The three red cloaked yokai were rushing at me with murder on their own masked faces. Behind me, I could see the red cloaked yokai chasing at me while covering the exposed parts of its body. In the distance, I could barely make out the figures of people still fighting the red Oni, letting me know that they weren’t going to help me anytime soon. Despite all the distractions, most of my attention was on the Amanojaku who was on the verge of pointing its hand at me.

In a rush, I jumped to the side, putting a red cloaked yokai between us. I cautiously judged it was too far away to reliably catch it with a thrown weapon, and I hoped that it was a line of sight thing. When the red yokai froze for a second, I knew my small gamble paid off, and quickly stuck before it could realize what was happening.

My blade passed through its neck, scraping the bottom of its mask. Its head spun in the air while its body toppled to the ground. My body jerked forwards, awkwardly grabbing the falling body and raising it as a shield for the Amanojaku.

I ran towards the Amanojaku as the rest of the red cloaked yokai closed in on me. Fear and adrenaline warred inside me as I realized that they would get to me before I could take out the largest threat. My lungs and legs burned as I tried to keep the body upright, and I grew more and more panicked as the distance between all of us shrunk.

One of the red yokai reached me just as I reached a confident throwing distance, so I threw the headless body at the Amanojaku. It began dodging just as I threw the body, and I silently cursed as I was only able to throw it off balance.

“My armor cannot take the Aka Manto’s knife; those yokai grow off of killing, and their weapon can easily cut anything below Life Rank D.” Minamoto’s timely advice stopped me from deciding to see if the Shikigami armor could block those red swords. I knew there was something up with them because nothing good came about from a weapon that was blood red.

Instantly making the decision, I dove forwards, feeling something sharp just barely slide against the skin of my back. I broke into a sweat as heat danced on my skin for a second before the armor regenerated back.

“T- too close.” My teeth clenched, and I reoriented myself back to facing the Amanojaku. It still was getting back up while the Aka Mantos were busy as they surrounded me while I was rolling on the ground.

“You know, I’ve noticed that you dodge much further than you should. It is okay to have a couple cuts and bruises, but its like you’re fighting with the intention of not getting injured.” Minamoto said.

I frowned, twitching as I tried to keep track of everything. The Amanojaku was in the perfect position to take down, but the other yokai were too dangerous to ignore. My Life Energy was dropping rapidly while my arms and legs were beginning to grow numb. At this point, I felt that I was almost entirely fighting with adrenaline, and it terrified me at the thought that I might just suddenly stop because I was too exhausted to continue. My teeth grinded against each other as I looked for a solution.

“I can understand you having sloppy abilities, but surely you have some semblance of training, right?”

“No, I don’t.” I ground out, feeling annoyed that Minamoto was just blabbering away. “That dungeon was the first time I ever attacked something, okay. Now please– I am trying to concentrate.”

“Then… why are you trying so hard…” Minamoto’s whisper barely registered in my head as I shot towards the Aka Manto with the torn cloak.

Maybe it was a pride thing or a species thing, but it angled its body such that it covered one side from my vision. When I ran at an angle to reach its back, I directly cut off its ability to respond from certain directions. It unhesitatingly swung at my neck.

A thrill of fear shot through me as I forcefully tried to slow down, leaning back right as its sword glided right over my chest. I saw the blood-red blade easily slice through the top portions of the white, root armor while tiny roots rose up to catch the piece and bring it back right as the blade missed me completely.

My hand shot up as it overcommitted to its swing, clamping down on its wrist. Life Energy threatened to connect me to their soul, but it stopped right as it reached Minamoto’s root armor. Ignoring that, I stepped into the yokai and put my entire weight into my movement. Its sword arm was pushed away from me, and it almost seemed like I was wrapping it in a hug as my other hand impaled my sword through its chest.

I felt bile threatening to spill out from the back of my throat at the sensations of cutting into it, and I swallow back my terror, dragging the yokai in front of me as I ran in the direction of the now standing Amanojaku. It screeched as it saw me come close, abandoning its attempts to puppeteer my body as it rushed to attack me with the hatchet in its hand.

I abandoned the Aka Manto immediately, and felt dumb when the yokai raised its hand in reaction. However, I was now close enough that my sword hand threw my sword as well.

It jerked backwards when the sword cut into its left shoulder, and I slammed my own shoulder into its chest hard enough that I could make any varsity coach proud. We hit the ground with a breathless thud, and I paused to roughly catch my breath before I was forced to lean out of the way of a wild swing from its hatchet. Hurriedly, I rolled over its right side, trapping its hatchet arm with one of my own. The other arm couldn’t reach me as my sword had nailed its left side to the floor.

It screamed at me; globs of spittle flew out from between yellow jagged teeth, landing on my masked face. I jerked my right leg up and stomped its face in, putting more and more Life Energy in with every kick until all I could hear was my frantic breath.

For a second, I just lay there, trying my hardest to calm my breathing and calm my heart. It was wild to me that it was still nighttime after all this. Fighting was more exhausting than action heroes made it seem.

The other two Aka Mantos chose this moment to finally reach me. I rolled, grabbing the hatchet left behind while the red sword sliced down through the dead Amanojaku’s arm. I bounced up, facing the two yokai while shifting the hatchet to my other hand.

With a few test swings, I glared at the two of them. It was mainly out of fear and adrenaline messing up all my thoughts, but I truly was angry at them. Why couldn’t I fight easy enemies?

Those skeletons were looking like a cakewalk compared to this shit.

The Aka Mantos rushed me at the same time. A flurry of blows rained down on me as I hurried to try and duck and weave through them. Almost immediately, I found that I couldn’t see a way to dodge them all and brought my improvised weapon up to block. I screamed as the red sword cut through the wooden handle and dug a cut into my bicep. The white roots were already shifting over the wound, and I felt them shift over my body and rifle through my pockets to pull out some of Minamoto’s special healing paste before slathering roughly over the burning wound.

Panicked, I fell backwards, dodging more haphazard strikes as I rolled in the dirt. I bit into my lip as I changed my grip on the hatchet to account for the shorter handle. The yokai were on me once again, and I was back to passively trying to not get hurt.

“Take the next attack from the right one, and cut down the left.” Minamoto said, and I grit my teeth. He was right. I was fighting like I didn’t want to get hurt, but it was a habit born out of circumstance.

The right Aka Manto cut deeply into my side, slicing through the white roots and into my side. I knew it wasn’t as bad as it could be, but the pain nearly caused me to bite my tongue. I swallowed my scream and immediately swung my hatchet upwards.

The left Aka Manto had been readying an attack when I had gotten sliced into, so my attack landed right on where its arm met its shoulder. I felt almost sick of how easy its arm came off, flying up into the air with a stream of blood connecting them. It tumbled backwards at the sudden loss of balance.

At the same time, my leg shot out, nailing the right Aka Manto in its knee. It fell directly to the floor, but that didn’t stop it as I jumped over an attack that threatened to give me permanent height adjustment from the ankle down. One of my feet stamped down on the elbow of its sword arm while the other slammed its head into the dirt.

I waved my arms, trying to steady myself as it squirmed. The foot pinning its elbow down twisted with my hips until I heard a resounding crack, and its sword arm just twitched on the ground. As it was pinned, I brought down my hatchet on the back of the yokai, feeling flesh and bone give way to my strength. It quickly stopped moving after I did that twice more.

Turning back to the one armed Aka Manto, I pushed off the corpse at my feet and kicked it in its chest. It fumbled on the floor as I breathed deeply, trying not to cough as more smoke invaded my lungs. Its masked face looked at me, and for a second, I paused as I saw the eyes behind its mask.

I almost let it go until it leaped at me with its good arm aimed at my throat. The blade on my hatchet split its head before it touched me. Bits of its mask bounced off my own and I shuddered as I felt the blood splatter along my body.

[Amaterasu sighs is relief]

“Hoo, haa, damn.” I cursed, feeling my vision blurring for a second. Immediately, I dismissed the mask on my face. My lungs greedily devoured the air as I began dry heaving. I hadn’t known what blood and corpses smelt like, but now I never wanted the knowledge. It took everything in me to not throw up.

“Don’t breathe too deeply.” Minamoto said. “Try to breathe softly through your mouth; the smell is what causes the worst reactions.”

“I- I suppose you had to help people through this, too.” I asked, trying to get my mind off of the corpses below me. I was jumping at the crackling fire, and a desperate part of me wanted to just run away and hide.

Minamoto’s chuckle was reassuring. “I have gone through the same once.”

“Do- do you have any advice?”

“It… gets easier. Some grow to enjoy it, some don’t let it bother them, and others just repress their thoughts more easily. In all cases, everything becomes easier with practice.”

Even killing, I added morosely. I had thought they were just mindless monsters, but the fact that they covered themselves, indicating some sort of understanding of pride, made it seem like there was more to them than just being enemies. Especially when I had looked at the creature in the eye at the end; it felt like I was looking at a living, thinking person before it attacked me and lost all that. “Do you… think they had families?”

Minamoto gave a soft chuckle, and I could get the image of him shaking his head at my question. “I had wondered what was ailing you, but I am honestly appalled by your innocence. Do not worry about yokai like these. They are not natural born ones, and even if they did, the leader of the Hyakki Yagyo can just forcefully control them anyways. Just think of them as mindless beasts. Think too much and you might lose your life.”

I… didn't know how to take that. These guys were just being mind controlled? How did that even work? The specifics of Life Energy should make it such that any attempt at controlling them like Shikigami was null.

Still, I shook my head, putting those thoughts away. I looked over to the villagers who were still making their way to the river… wow, they hadn’t even made it yet? How short was that fight? I felt like lead had been injected into my limbs, and it probably hadn’t even been two or three minutes.

Feeling a bit distressed at that information, I flinched as I heard something staggering out from the fire. It was a Face Stealer Centipede. The monster limped out of the fire as the orange and red flames danced along its blackened carapace. I cursed before it fully came out. This was the last thing I wanted to see.

“Well,” I turned to look at the Oni fight still ongoing. I flinched when I saw that it had grabbed one of the water chains, ripping the four Samurai who held it off the ground and sending them flying. “Well…”

Mulling over my options, I ran away immediately. I had exhausted too much of my stamina and Life Energy to really try and fight that thing. My help was still stuck fighting the Oni, but I doubted I could fight a Face Stealer by myself at the moment.

Well, that was my plan.

As they say, all plans get screwed when dealing with stupidly large centipedes. At least I am sure that they say that. I say that.

I had already started running, intending on getting across the river before the giant centipede behind me decided to eat me. However, I quickly realized that I was thinking too simply. The Face Stealer still wanted to eat someone, but Minamoto made it clear that it wasn’t me.

“Mister Dav-” Minamoto stopped himself before finishing. I hadn’t really heard the man cut himself off like this, so I was already concerned.

I shouldn’t have looked back.

I would have been perfectly fine with not paying attention and blaming my actions based on inattention. Instead, I saw the child who I had seen before frozen in fear as he stared down the Face Stealer crawling at him. The boy’s eyes were wide and full of tears that threatened to fall. He stumbled, trying to back away before falling straight on his backside.

I was speechless. As horrible as it was, I was more preoccupied with how cliché the whole scene was. The Face Stealer was even slower than I thought it was, taking the boy’s visage that probably only hurt its stats. I realized I was rationalizing it again, but I felt less enthused the more I looked at the situation.

“Just… don’t look back, Mister David.” Minamoto said, and I could tell how much that sentence hurt him. He had watched me fight with my life on the line to just kill a couple yokai, and he knew I was exhausted, so him telling me that I should run away was perfectly reasonable to him. And that struck me more than I thought it would.

I… I was doing it again. I was running away. There was a perfectly good reason why I could and should, but Minamoto wouldn’t want that. Yasuda probably wouldn’t want that, either. They were why I was doing this. And if I left a child behind, wouldn’t I just be an asshole? Screw being a cliched development, this was real to me.

I was living in this world now.

“Damnit.” I cursed, turning around and running at the child.

[Amaterasu clutches her heart in worry once more]

“You’re… thank you, Mister David.” Minamoto’s thanks went through my ears, but I was already focused on what I was doing.

I had dwindling stores of Life Energy. The Oni – Variant mask was still draining me constantly, so I figured that I only had a couple seconds of my other mask so I didn’t screw over the rest of the Samurai and Exorcists. Tightening my grip on the shortened hatchet, I closed my eyes right as the Face Stealer looked my way.

“Minamoto, help me through this.” I asked, dashing to where I knew the boy was.

“He’s to your right. Switch hands.” Swiftly, I changed which hand my hatchet was in as I grabbed the crying child. His tiny hands gripped my sides hard, and I pushed more Life Energy into my legs as the sounds of hundreds of legs caused a lance of panic to settle within me.

I opened my eyes while running, knowing that the monster was right behind me. The boy looked up at me as tears were streaming down his face. Snot dripped down his nose, and I smelt piss as it stained Minamoto’s armor.

Forcing myself to smile, I tried my hardest not to look back. “Hey, hey, look at me. We’re gonna be okay. I got you.”

The boy shook his head, digging deeper into my arms as we ran. It was expected, but I just hoped he would calm down. Based on what I was smelling, I don’t think I was doing a good job. I guess that makes both of us count as terrified.

“How much Life Energy do you have left?” Minamoto asked suddenly.

“Enough for a couple seconds. I doubt I can do much with that.”

Minamoto’s voice was stilted. “You are going to need to use that, then. The Face Stealer is catching up.”

I gave a groan of annoyance. I was fine with fighting anything else, and all my bravado swiftly died quite a bit ago. “Can you offer any more help?”

“Everyone is… indisposed. This Nurarihyon is buying time, but I can’t let it out of my sight or else it might slip away. Their abilities to command a Hyakki Yagyo are always secondary to their ability to slip between everyone’s perception; a skill that is too dangerous during a heated fight.”

I sighed again, feeling the boy in my arms shift to look at me. I was half tempted to use [Presence Correction] to actually get a positive response out of him, but I needed my Life Energy elsewhere. “Hey buddy, are you good?”

He shook his head negatively, but I continued. “Well, I am going to have to put you down while I go beat up the bad guy behind us, okay?”

“N- no.” The boy’s shaky voice finally came out. “Don’t go. Don’t leave as well.”

“Ah,” I bit back a curse. This whole situation was all types of fucked up, and it was beginning to really annoy me. I felt a boiling anger settled within me as I tried to smile. “Don’t worry. I’ll only be gone for a minute. Can you go run to the others?”

The boy looked conflicted before softly nodding. That was all I needed to toss him away, turning back to the Face Stealer with my eyes closed. I could practically feel the warmth of its body as its clinking chitin echoed in my ears.

“It’s focusing on you.” Minamoto said. “Charging right at you. My armor can block most of its attacks, but try not to take too many head on attacks. Use my mask; Face Stealers flow Life Energy through their carapaces when not using skill. This causes them to have a higher defense against most forms of damage, so a sufficient soul attack can disrupt them from being able to do that. ”

I clicked my tongue. That was good advice, but I was currently going at this without sight. I had only one good shot at this, so I needed a sure-win plan. To use Minamoto’s mask I needed to touch it. A place that would be the most dangerous.

“I am really an idiot.” I grimaced.

“Its coming at you from the left, duck down when I say it. They always raise their heads when pouncing.” Minamoto said as I angled myself more to the left.

Darkness was my entire vision. Sweat was building up on my hatchet handle, and I struggled to get a good grip on it. My heart was beating loud enough that I felt I would mistake it for the centipede’s movement. I fiddled with my empty hand, raising it up to my face in order to put my mask on immediately.

All that was the grueling wait for the signal. It felt like all my senses were turned up to eleven, but I was still unable to really get a grasp on what was going on. I trusted Minamoto to not send me to my death. However, the terror of just waiting pressed down on my chest like a physical weight.

“Now!” Minamoto yelled, and I immediately ducked, slamming my knees into the ground. I felt something impact my left shoulder, nearly throwing the mask that was forming in my hand out of my grip. Something massive passed over my head, skimming the top of my head and forcefully yanking some of my blonde locks free.

Still, I held on while the numb pain spiked from the impact. Minamoto’s mask fit over my face as my hand came up to brush against the creature passing above me. I felt the roots around my hand and arm peel back, letting my bare hand scrape against the centipede’s belly.

And scrape was an apt term. The underbelly of the massive insect was full of small thorns and spikes that gored into my palm. Two of my fingers crept into some crevices, but were pulled back violently with sickening snaps. I muffled a scream and held on, letting the Life Energy flow to my hand and connect me to the Face Stealer’s soul.

Then, I was looking down on a small centipede. It was around the size of centipedes that I was used to, only completely blue and transparent. Small shades of black swirled within the centipede, colliding with each other before forming what looked like screaming faces.

I was suitably disgusted before I squashed it. It didn’t immediately get crushed like I thought, but I did feel like I hit it properly.

Suddenly, I was back in the physical realm. I blinked rapidly, seeing everything around me again. Hurriedly, I tore off the Soul-Reaping Willow mask while diving out of the way of a falling Face Stealer. Minamoto’s suit was already wrapping around my injured hand, using the roots to hold my fingers straight and stop my palm from bleeding too much. I was slightly annoyed as it seemed to be perfectly fine still as it thrashed around wildly, twisting every which way as if writhing in pain.

“Quick, attack it before it regains control of its Life Energy.” Minamoto said.

I didn’t need to hear anything more as I rushed it. With a bit of Life Energy, I leaped all the way to its back. It bucked and flailed randomly as I stuck close to its back, making my way to its head as fast as I could.

When I got to the head, I wrapped my legs around the sides of the centipede, using Minamoto’s armor to dig into the sharper edges of the carapace to not get thrown off. Then, I madly brought my hatchet up and down on the blackened carapace. Like Minamoto had said, its defenses were weaker than what it had with Life Energy.

However, weaker was a poor term to use when I was dealing with it. After dozens of strikes, all I had caused was a small chink in its armor. Adrenaline stopped most of my panic, but I was beginning to grow desperate as I had no idea when it would regain its Life Energy.

In a flurry, I forced the small hatchet’s edge into the small crack before using it as a wedge to force open the carapace. My arms burned as I pumped them, trying to pry off the massive insect’s shell.

All the while, the monsters thrashed around. My legs held on tight as it spun around and jerked in every direction, bracing every time it tilted its body to try and ram into the ground. I held on desperately, biting my lips as I gripped the monster’s back with my hand with broken fingers.

When a section finally snapped off, the hatchet finally gave out. The metal bent and snapped right as I found the softer, pinkish flesh of the monster. It pulsed rhythmically almost tauntingly now that I had no weapons.

Cursing, I reached out to grab one of the metal shards that hadn’t flown off. I plunged the improvised weapon into the hole I created, and ripped and tore till finally the Face Stealer collapsed on the ground.

Utterly exhausted and covered in gore, I slumped on top of the monster’s corpse. Somehow, I had survived that ordeal. A giggled forced its way from my throat at the fact that I had killed something that had given me so much trouble before. Though, that didn't stop me from giving a withering glare at the forest still on fire, daring it to send another problem my way. I only huffed when nothing came out immediately.

Finally given a moment, I fell backwards, trying not to pass out completely. I needed to stay awake for the Oni subjugation squad.

Now, all I had in front of me was an unimpeded view of the night sky. The stars winked within the abyss, and I saw the moon ripple as well. I sighed deeply. This was not a fulfilling rest.

“Hey, Minamoto.” I started, trying not to pay attention to the disturbing night sky.

“Yes?”

“Why didn’t you tell me that soul attacks can directly stop Life Energy?”

There was a disconcerting pause before Minamoto tentatively answered, “I had thought you figured it out already. Life Energy is stored in the Spiritual Realm anyways, so causing damage to the soul would directly affect the perfect system. It is the same when the body is damaged; it directly affects how much Life Energy you produce and can use.”

“That… makes too much sense.” I sighed.

“Now, if I can ask what has been on my mind– why are you trying so hard? You have struggled despite being exhausted and terrified, but you also said you didn’t care for those people. I am just confused as to what could spur you to go to such lengths.”

I paused as I thought over that. I could give a bunch of reasons, but the one that stuck out the most to me was-

“Well, you guys wanted to save them.” I said simply, watching for any more yokai crawling out. Another Aka Manto came through, but it collapsed as it finally escaped the fire.

“That- that’s all? Just because of us?”

I smiled awkwardly. Its a bit of an embarrassing thing to talk about as I only acted how I wanted my friends to act. Even then, I felt it as a necessary way to atone for not completely treating them as actual people. “I mean, we’re friends, right? It’s only natural that I help them when they need it.”

Minamoto was quiet for a moment. “I wonder how grand the world would be if everyone shared your thinking, my friend.”

I somberly agreed with Minamoto’s words as I tiredly turned to better watch the flames. There were figures moving within the flickering fires. They thrashed around in pain, scratched their throats as smoke choked them, and desperately ran to escape their painful death. Further in, a cold bit of terror wormed its way into my heart as I could see a contingent of Face Stealers steadily making their way towards me.

Oh Jesus, I was tired just watching them.

That was a problem I had no hopes of winning against. I shifted on my unfortunate bed to see that the Oni squad had somehow brought the creature to its knees. Dozens of bleeding gashes lined its legs and knees. However, now that it didn’t need to lean down to attack the people, the Oni just swung its arms, creating an area where no one could enter.

Despite that, I could see Miyasaki had refused to give up. She grabbed one of the water chains, placed my Oni - Variant mask on, weaved through the onslaught of wild strikes that were an almost guaranteed death, and wrapped the chain around the monster’s neck. With her enhanced strength, she yanked hard. The Oni immediately began grasping for its neck, swinging at her more desperately than ever as she continued to choke it out.

Damn… I need to remind myself not to mess with her.

I took a glance back at the villagers who had retreated back to the river. The boy was lingering at the edges of the group, staring at me with his mouth open. The rest were looking torn between moving closer to the Oni and staying away from the raging inferno behind them. I heaved a sigh of relief as everything seemed to be going well. With a huff, I forced my tired and battered body off the monster. I stumbled as I reached the floor and cradled my injured hand as I staggered over to the villagers now that I distracted the yokai army enough for them to at least come up with a way to beat the Oni.

Of course, that’s when things went wrong immediately.

I mean, I knew I was taunting Murphy’s Law so much, and how many times things just wanted to screw me over just for the sake of it, but I hadn’t thought it would actually happen! This was definitely going somewhere on a list… I just needed to make a list. At this point, most of my problems are stemming from that fact.

It was the only explanation I could come up with for what I was seeing. I could only watch incredulously as the river that was originally waist deep erupted up into an enormous wall of water that stretched up into the sky. Salt splashed on my tongue as the water started flowing upwards, pulling away from the riverbed and flowing up the wall that suddenly appeared.

The villagers were screaming as the scurried away from the magical scene, but the sheer terror on their faces spoke of more knowledge of what was happening. Something that was more terrifying than our current situation.

I could do nothing as the wall of water gathered into a sphere above the dried up riverbed. On the river-smooth stones, I saw a humanoid creature covered in seagreen scales. One clawed hand stretched up into the air, spreading its fingers to show translucent webbing between each finger. Its face was the most bizarre thing I had seen yet; it held the resemblance of a human’s face except its lips had been replaced with a yellow beak. The top of its head seemed to be concave and filled with some silvery, mercury-like liquid as it leaned forwards to stare at me with beady black eyes.

“No…” Minamoto’s whisper caught my ears.

“K- Kappa!” one of the villagers screamed, tripping as they desperately tried to back away from the creature. The Kappa didn’t even spare the villagers a glance as it manipulated the ball of water above its head to split off into several streams that put out the fires I had worked hard to start.

Was it this world’s version of EPA?

No wait, now is not the time to think like that! I turned back to see that the living members of the yokai army were now no longer trapped within a burning hell-scape. In addition, the Face Stealer Centipedes had plenty of space to charge forwards. Theyrushed towards us like a mass of chitinous worms. I could practically taste the murder in their eyes.

My heart jumped into my throat as crushing dread settled over my actions. All of my hard work had been rendered null in seconds, and I couldn’t even react fast enough to how quickly things changed. I could only stare blankly at the rushing Face Stealers getting closer as my mind whirled on how to escape.

“Hel-” I tried to turn to the Kappa, hoping that it was just a neutral force. However, my hopes were quickly dashed when I caught its glare. Even the Samurai on the other side of the dried up riverbed had just stopped and stared blankly at the Kappa. The only ones still moving were Miyasaki who continued to choke the Oni out with chains made of water and the Oni who refused to give in to mortal things like breathing.

Feeling the situation slipping away entirely, I could only sit down. A very different laugh spilled out from my mouth once again. The villagers were terrified. Even the Samurai who had stared down an Oni were despondent as they looked at the motionless Kappa.

I finally realized what Minamoto meant when he said when he wasn’t strong enough. Because there were beings out there that truly could solve everything on their own. Another humorless laugh found its way to my lips as a hopeless pit of rage settled within me. Everything was meaningless in front of something so powerful that no one could ignore it.

I shook my head helplessly before glaring back at the Kappa. I felt annoyed that all my hard work had been for nothing. My middle fingers pointed at it defiantly. I was too exhausted to do anything else.

“L- leader!” Yasuda yelled out from across the river. I could see what he was screaming about already. The Kappa had locked onto me and the ball of water was rippling menacingly. How can it even make water do that?

It was only the relieved sigh of Minamoto that eased the building alarm.

“Her highness is finally here.” He whispered to me.

[Shizuka Kumiho is looking at you]

Who is it now?

“Good job, for a Gaijin.” A hand patted my shoulder, and I jerked to catch a mane of long, fire-red hair swing by me as the woman had already walked past me. I couldn’t get past the knowledge that I knew this woman was somehow looking at me. Not just physically, but like how the gods, or whatever the system deemed to be viable to mention, watched me. I had no idea how I knew, but I just instinctively knew that that woman had done it. “I would have never gotten here fast enough if you hadn’t created such a big door for me to walk through.”

Her words flowed through my ears like honey, digging deep into my body. They gave an almost ethereal air to the world as I stared at the scene behind us. The horde of Face Stealers, Aka Mantos and Amanojakus were frozen in place, but I quickly realized something was wrong as suddenly one of them collapsed into a pile of ash. Then, like a chain reaction, the rest of the yokai army simply disintegrated with the breeze. I couldn’t even spare the effort to laugh at how easy it seemed.

“Now, you will tell me why one of Jiraiya’s men is here. And why a Kappa like you is messing with my important subjects, too.” Kumiho's sugar-sweet words were the only thing that made a noise for a while.

Quietly, I sat down and dedicated the rest of my time trying not to jinx things again.