"Qqqqqqqq…"
A sharp, insect-like clicking echoed from the rotted rafters. Before anyone could look up, a second elongated, rope-like neck dropped from the ceiling's darkness, its head swinging like a pendulum to face Yorimitsu.
"SSssstttt… Sister. These ones seem different from the ones that came before," the creature hissed, its voice a wet slither.
"Yes, they have a higher spiritual presence, don't they... They will do just fine."
THUD.
The second creature hit the gravel with a heavy, wet sound and slithered toward its twin. Its skin was the colour of bruised plums, matching the goat-legged horror that had been the Woman.
"Inoue…" Yorimitsu projected his voice into the cold space of his mind.
"M-m-master…" Inoue's response was a trembling vibration against Yorimitsu's skull.
"What the hell is going on? Did you set me up again?!"
"N-n-no, Master! Never! Never again, I swear!" the Shiki wailed internally. "I told you… I cannot even communicate with my own kind anymore."
"Mmm… okay then. I will trust you for n—"
SHUNG!
Before Yorimitsu could finish his thought, Gabimaru blurred. He surged past the threshold and into the night, his blade singing through the air in a savage upward arc.
"What the hell are you doing outside?!" Gabimaru roared, his hand reaching out to grab Wabonoske's collar, who was stumbling through the bamboo as if in a trance.
Yorimitsu's eyes snapped from the boy outside to the corner of the shrine. His blood turned to ice. There, huddled against the rotted wood of the interior wall, was Wabonoske, the same boy, trembling and pale, his eyes wide with shock.
"Tch… an illusion," Yorimitsu realised, his hand finally gripping the hilt of his Tachi. "It must be incredibly potent to manifest; even now, I can't tell what is going on. Who cast it?"
"MINE! MINE! MINE!" the goat-legged sister shrieked.
She sprang forward, her neck extending with the speed of a striking viper. Her jaw unhinged, revealing rows of needle-thin fangs dripping with the same corrosive acid that had melted the stone. She was a heartbeat away from sinking her teeth into Gabimaru's exposed neck.
BANG!
Watanabe was there. He didn't even draw his blade; he met the creature's snapping jaws with the heavy, iron-bound wood of his sheath.
"What are you doing?!" Watanabe growled, his muscles bulging as he held back the screeching sister-demon.
He reached out to yank Gabimaru back, but the warrior didn't move. Gabimaru's eyes were wide, the pupils blown out until they were entirely black, devoid of light or recognition. He stood like a puppet with cut strings, trapped in a trance so deep his Reiryoku had gone silent.
"Is he under a spell?" Watanabe thought, teeth gritted. He managed to haul Gabimaru behind him, but the clicking intensified. They were already surrounded; the goat-legged and serpent sisters were closing the circle on either side.
"Qqqqq... Can you see, Sister? They come from Heian-kyō," the snake-necked one hissed, purple fumes leaking from its jagged teeth. "The children of the capital are so... refined, why doesn't Fuji--"
"Shush it.." the other sister warned.
…
"Tch... Omaru! Wabonoske!" Yorimitsu's voice cut through the chaos like a whip. "Both of you stay here! Guard the servants and the provisions. Don't move from the fire!"
Yorimitsu shot forward, leaping from the temple floor onto the stone path.
"Come on, Okotsu!"
As soon as the command left his lips, Okotsu seemed to melt out of the very shadows of the rafters, landing silently behind Yorimitsu. But the moment Yorimitsu's sandals touched the dirt, a white-hot, rhythmic pain exploded in his arm.
Dum-da-da-dum.
His heart hammered against his ribs in a distorted tempo.
"Shit... I was careless," Yorimitsu hissed, clutching his forearm.
From the corner of his eye, he saw it. Perched cross-legged atop a single, swaying bamboo stalk was a figure that made the two sisters look like children. It had ash-grey skin and massive, jagged horns protruding from its joints, shoulders, elbows, and knees. Thick, dark blood dripped from every horn tip, pooling on the ground in a way that defied gravity.
"We have enough," the goat-legged sister shouted, her yellow eyes reflecting the figure on the bamboo.
TINGGGGGGGGG!
The soft, clear chime of a bell rang out, vibrating through the bones of every man present. Instantly, the pale moonlight was snuffed out. The sky bled into a deep, bruised crimson, and the bamboo forest began to warp, the stalks turning into jagged pillars of bone.
…
"What the hell just happened?!" Omaru screamed, rushing to the threshold. He scanned the courtyard, but the bamboo forest and the grey demon were gone. "They just disappeared! Yorimitsu, Watanabe... they're gone!"
"Yeah, they are, aren't they. It's called Kekkai no Shēnhóng." Wabonoske's voice seemed to echo from everywhere and nowhere at once. "It's a domain left behind by the master of this shrine... he had to kill off his disciples to set it up."
"What the hell are you talking abo—"
Omaru turned his head back toward the fire, and the words died in his throat. His stomach turned with a violent heave. Wabonoske was standing over the two servant boys. His hands were dripping with fresh, hot crimson. The servants lay on the tatami, their stomachs torn open like discarded silk.
Wabonoske wasn't trembling anymore. He wore a sick, wide, bloody smile that reached from ear to ear.
"What are you doing?!" Omaru roared, his hand flying to his hilt as he unsheathed his blade in a frantic blur.
"Ohhh, put that down," Wabonoske purred, his voice vibrating with a thousand overlapping tones. "There is no way you can beat me."
CRACK! CRACK-CRACK!
Wabonoske's human frame began to shatter. His bones snapped and reset with the sound of breaking dry wood. Coarse, black hair erupted from his skin, and two jagged horns burst from his temples, curving backwards like a ram's. His mouth unhinged, revealing rows of serrated, predatory teeth that remained locked in that terrifying, permanent smile.
"You... you aren't even human!" Omaru shouted.
He raised his katana, but as he prepared to strike, a great gust of wind rose inside the temple. It was a pressurised wave of spiritual malice that tore the remaining shoji frames to splinters and extinguished the fire instantly.
"Dance of Fūjin," he roared.
'I have to get away,' Omaru's mind raced with panic. "I have to get back to the Academy... tell the teachers... the demons have managed to infiltrate our ranks. They've been with us the whole time!"
THUD.
Omaru's legs gave out, and he slammed onto one knee. His katana felt like it was made of solid lead, dragging his arm toward the floor.
"What is this...?" he gasped, his vision blurring. "My body... It's so heavy. It feels like my blood has turned to poison."
Wabonoske stepped over the bodies of the servants, his hooves clattering on the wood. He looked down at Omaru with pitiless yellow eyes.
"Hehehehe, it's so sweet the scent of your fear."