As soon as she was far enough away from the urbexers, Mai collapsed to the floor of the walkway. Adrenalin surged through her body, even though she was clear of any danger. For a good few seconds all she could do was try to bring her heart beat down, stop it from bursting out of her chest.

Tears streamed down her cheeks as her mind played the last battle over again. The Ushi-oni had been truly terrible, and her stomach flipped at the thought that there might be even more of the creatures.

Pulling a BIO-MASS BOOST bottle of her belt, she slowly drank, using the motion to calm her breathing and therefore slow her thunderous heart. It also helped get rid of the shakes which threatened to spill the boost.

Feeling somewhat calmer, she opened up her menu and launched a search for Ushi-oni. It came back under the Category of “Mythical Beasts of the Celestial City; Urban Legends & Seditious Lies.”

As soon as she clicked on it, she received a warning.

IF YOU PROCEED YOU WILL BE FINED 500 UC

DO YOU WISH TO PROCEED?

YES/NO

“Bloody bastards,” Mai muttered as she selected yes and accepted the fine.

Inhabitants of the Lower Levels – Those below Two-Mile Level One – as well as workers in the sewers claim to have seen the legendary creatures, the Oni, and their sub-category of the Ushi-Oni.

Ushi-Oni are mythical beasts, likened to demons from the folklore of our ancestors before the time of the Celestial Court and our Glorious Emperor. May they forever rule.

There are many different descriptions of Ushi-oni, but the most common are those with the heads of bovine, canine or reptilian creatures.

According to legend they are most commonly encountered in areas of the city which are poorly maintained, and full of dark areas. This is a lie, as all citizens know that such things do not happen under the rule of our Glorious Emperor. May they forever rule.

Allegedly, these creatures are savages, utterly brutal to all they encounter. Apex predators, they will attempt to kill and then eat any they come across. Although the visage of their heads may differ, all variations have at least two horns, although yet more legends speak of Ushi-oni unicorns.

Their mouths are lined with jagged teeth which can sever a grown human’s thigh with a single bite. Poisonous sacs contain enough venom to kill a grown human many times over. That is if the sudden amputation of their limbs isn’t enough to kill them on the spot.

Beneath their belly is a curled tail, tipped with a poisonous barb which, depending on the size of the Ushi-oni, can be as long as a fully grown human is tall. This too contains venom, but also allows the demon to suck its victim’s vital fluids directly out of its body.

Ushi-oni are particularly fond of brains, and their initial strikes with the tail will always attempt to strike into the direct top of the head.

The demons are protected by a layer of chitin, only adding to their overall arachnoid appearance, and they have six legs ending in a single bone-like claw.

Whilst these creatures sound as though they are born from nightmares, it should be remembered that they are indeed mythical and no loyal and upstanding citizen should ever fear encountering them.

Mai sniggered at that. Thus far every creature she had faced in the sewers had supposedly been legendary. Before she had been indentured she would never have believed that the Celestial Court and therefore the Emperor would ever lie to its citizens.

But now? Now that she had been indentured and seen her friends killed by mogwai, jiangshi, and ennui. Now she had seen how it manipulated people in the Culling. Now she had a completely different set of beliefs.

I’ll never trust those bastards again, she thought. And then realised that by entering the Culling, she was going to become the thing she was beginning to truly hate. A member of the Celestial Court. One of the One Hundred Ascendants. The survivors of the Culling.

“Bastards,” she breathed, only just realising that previous Cullers were responsible for its continuation. For thousands of years, a million citizens had fought to the death for the honour of ascending and reaching the Tenth Mile. And once they had done, nothing had been done to prevent it happening the next year.

Not that I know of anyway.

Remembering that she had seen the Ushi-oni was a subset of Oni, she blink-clicked one level up in the menu.

“Fuck me!” She wasn’t prepared for the creature that glared at her from her retinal monitor. Although the Ushi-oni was repulsive, and caused a visceral feeling of disgust, the Oni was something completely different. It was both the most attractive, and horrific thing she had ever seen.

The two emotions warred with each other as she stared at the images. As before she was greeted with;

Inhabitants of the Lower Levels – Those below Two-Mile Level One – as well as workers in the sewers claim to have seen the legendary creatures, the Oni, and their sub-category of the Ushi-Oni.

Oni are the demon-parents of Ushi-oni, who are the runt spawn of their litters. Oni have large litters, up to ten kittens each. Only the hardiest survive however, with just one being allowed to continue to grow into the form that Oni take.

Those that displease the parent, or fail to fight hard enough to suckle on its father’s teats are cursed and cast aside, left to undergo the painful transition into that of an Ushi-oni.

The successful ones grow into powerful creatures. Up to twice the size of a grown human, they are hulking creatures, with perfectly formed muscles giving them great strength. Legend has it that one Oni defeated ten mecha in a single battle. A ludicrous, but charming story.

Humanoid in appearance, they too have one or two horns growing out of their heads, with the most powerful having three. Their skin is as white as snow, as red as blood, or as blue as the sky.

Unlike the Ushi-oni, they have no sting, and use a devastating weapon called a kanabo. Essentially an iron club, the kanabo can reduce – allegedly – a mecha to nothing more than a heap of scrap with but a few blows.

Two large fangs jut from the top set of teeth, and all of their teeth are just as sharp and poisonous as those found on Ushi-oni.

For some reason, Oni shun clothing, wearing nothing but a pelt crafted from the skins of their victims in order to preserve their modesty.

The males have ten breasts which are used to suckle their kittens, whilst the females have muscular upper bodies.

It is said that they possess some power which causes their victims, no matter what their species, to be inexplicably attracted to them, whilst at the same time suffering from the PANIC! Negative effect.

This essentially freezes the victim in place, making them easy pickings for this truly amazing predator.

Mai closed the description down, scrubbing her sweaty palms on her hazmat suit. Surely the Scavenger Queen wouldn’t have known what she was going to face when she gave her the mission to enter the sewers?

Knowing the nature of what she faced helped in some way to calm her. Before, the Ushi-oni had been an unknown, a nightmare creature. But now that she knew Fat John was potentially a prisoner to one of these creatures, it made even more determined to get him back.

What she couldn’t understand was why the Oni and their demon-spawn children hadn’t wiped out the mogwai.

Unless the increased attacks by the mogwai are because the Oni are driving them out of their usual areas. And the mogwai are levelling up because only the strongest are surviving the Oni attacks?

Her mother always used to say that forewarned was forearmed. And having fought an Ushi-oni she knew that her favourite weapons, the submachine gun, shotgun and blades were going to have zero effect on such creatures.

Not even energy-based weapons had been that effective.

“I’m going to have to blow the buggers up. Literally,” Mai grumbled as she opened up her weapons menu. Whilst the Culling training had seen them learn how to use a bewilderingly large number of weapons, they hadn’t been taught to use heavy weapons.

As such, she hadn’t taken much notice of the options the LAUNCHERS menu gave, especially as she hadn’t been granted the USE LAUNCHERS skill. She did have the USE EXPLOSIVES, but if she had to throw them then she was far too close for her liking.

Blink-clicking on the LAUNCHERS menu, she rubbed her hands in glee at the options presented. One in particular caught her attention.

AUTOMATIC GRENADE LAUNCHER.

It wasn’t cheap. Ten BIO-MASS just to create the weapon and five BIO-MASS to create each of the ten grenades the magazine held. Sixty BIOMASS for just one weapon was insanely expensive, but with just five well-placed shots she’d be able to kill an Ushi-oni. And be able to do so from a respectable fifty paces.

Adding it to her quick choice menu, Mai crafted two regular grenades whilst taking a sip of her nearly empty first bottle of BIO-MASS BOOST.

Pushing herself to her feet, she started to follow the guideline once more. Heading deeper and deeper into the Deadzone.