Ronin's Revenge

Ryoma and Yuki continued their odyssey west for some time into the night. Ryoma, having slept for most of the day, seemed plenty fine in traveling onward albeit with slight aches in his muscles. Yuki, on the other hand, felt lost being so far away from the water but wouldn’t admit it to his friend as it was merely an inconvenience as opposed to something actually serious.

The two were stopped in their tracks, however, by the appearance of a pair of soldiers. Each duo eyed the other cautiously for a time before Ryoma finally asked, “Are the two of you alright? Are you in need of assistance at this juncture?” The two soldiers looked to one another before one of them said, “We could ask you the same thing, young man. There’s a demon in your presence, after all.” As he said this, they raised their respective swords in unison.

Yuki instinctively stepped behind Ryoma. He felt intimidated by humans without weapons, so to see them draw blades against him was too much to handle. Ryoma placed his hand upon his own katana and said, “Calm yourselves. I can assure you this kappa is docile. He won’t be hurting anyone. Please, trust me in this situation, no matter how strange it may seem.” The soldiers contemplated the pledge of peace for a moment before finally relenting and lowering their blades. “Very well. We’ll allow you to pass.”

Ryoma was shocked to say the least. It took longer for himself to accept Yuki’s presence, and he had saved the samurai’s life along with returning his weapon. It was almost too good to be true that the complete strangers would back down from the potential threat of an oni. Nevertheless, Ryoma thanked the pair and began walking past them, Yuki lockstep behind his companion.

After Ryoma and Yuki had passed by the soldiers, the samurai noticed an odd tension begin to fill the air, as though an evil presence were lurking about. His inclination came too late, however, as the orating soldier muttered, “You damned traitor,” before he raised his katana to the sky and shoved backward. Ryoma swiftly pushed Yuki to the side and received the blow, the enemy’s sword grazing his side. He winced in pain, but was still able to ready himself for combat.

“Why label me a traitor?” Ryoma asked. The soldier returned the stained blade to his side and smiled. “Who says I was talking to you, human?” He asked. Then, his eyes began glowing purple and Ryoma gasped. “Another possession!” He exclaimed as the demon began laughing. The other soldier cracked up as well and his eyes began burning an amethyst hue, too. They readied their steel against the samurai.

Yuki ran for the nearby tree line, so Ryoma realized he’d have to face the fight alone. Despite the pain in his side, he readied his katana for battle. The talkative soldier was the first to lunge, but Ryoma easily parried and dispatched the demon’s sword-wielding arm. Then, thinking back to what had occurred in the throne room, he severed the other arm so as not to allow it to reattach the lost appendage.

The next demon yelled, “How dare you!” It, too, then lunged for Ryoma. Once more, however, the samurai clashed with the demon and knocked it back a pace or two. With the momentum turned in his favor, Ryoma charged forward and sliced the head clean off the opponent. It rolled for a few feet before coming to rest with a shocked countenance facing the night sky. Yuki, from a distance, looked on in awe and said, “No wonder he survived a standoff with Orochi and its goons.”

The armless demon screamed, “Damn you, samurai!” Then, it began running from the battlefield, attempting to escape in the nearby thicket. However, when it approached the first tree, Yuki stuck out his leg and tripped the shambling oni. It planted its face squarely into the dirt. Ryoma made it over to the fallen foe and, before it could regain its balance and continue running, stabbed through its back, pinning it to the ground.

“Please,” the demon yelled, “let me go! I won’t hurt you or anyone else, I promise!” Ryoma ignored the pleas of the enemy and asked, “Where did you come from, anyway? Where is your kind hiding?” The oni merely cried, so the samurai placed his foot hard on its back and yelled, “Answer me!” Eventually, the demon caved and said, “There’s a well north of here. Some amikiri – flying crustaceans – and I were taking refuge there, waiting for victims to possess. If you go there, you should find the rest of them still lying in waiting.”

Ryoma calmly said, “Thank you for the information.” Then, he removed his katana from the soldier’s back and executed it by cutting off its head as well. Yuki turned to the samurai and said, “Wow, Ryoma, that was brutal. But, thank you for saving my life.” Ryoma bent down, cleaned his katana free of blood in the grass, returned to his feet, and said, “We don’t have time to dally. Let’s find the well and rid it of the infestation.”

And so, the two altered their course due north. They trudged through the rest of the thicket, wearing themselves down in the process. By the time they were free of its grip, both Ryoma and Yuki needed rest. The samurai’s wound especially demanded treatment, so Yuki froze it over to temporarily cease the bleeding. They stopped to catch their breath and by the time they were ready to travel once again, night had given way to dawn, though the sun hadn’t found its way into the sky quite yet. “Alright,” Ryoma said, “let’s continue.”

Yuki was the first to recognize the location of the well. It seemed he had a sixth sense for sources of water. Not that Ryoma was complaining, of course; he had gone on this excursion without really knowing if the demon he interrogated was even telling the truth, so his friend’s confirmation soothed him so. Reinvigorated, they rushed to the well and Yuki asked, “What now?” Ryoma mulled the question over; he didn’t actually have a good response as he hadn’t thought this far ahead. He certainly couldn’t pull the demons up by the bucketful.

Also mulling over the situation, Yuki eventually said, “I’ve got an idea. You know how setting fires around buildings sweats those hiding within out of them?” Ryoma nodded, though perplexed with Yuki’s words. He asked, “What does that have to do with the well? You can’t exactly smoke out someone submerged in water.” Yuki shook his head and said, “No, I’m suggesting the opposite: if heat can drive something out, why can’t the cold do the same?” The samurai gasped at the proposition and exclaimed, “Yuki, that just might work!”

Yuki latched his webbed hands to the side of the well and said, “Let’s hope I’m right about this.” He exhaled and began frosting the lip, a sheet of ice working its way down the inner wall. Then, the two waited for quite some time before finally, screams could be heard emanating from within and they assumed the ice had reached the bottom.

Within seconds, the screams began lifting up closer to the lip of the well. Not just echoing, either, but fully blasting outward as though something was fast approaching. Just then, an amikiri burst forth from the ground and bonked its head square on the well’s roof. Ryoma didn’t waste the opportunity to unsheathe his katana and slice clean through the tangible horrid monster.

More and more began flowing out from their hiding place, and one by one, Ryoma swatted them down in a bloody fashion. Their screams reverberated in the crisp, morning air before hollowing out into nothingness. They dissipated from this plane of existence, en route back to Yomi.

Before long, they all seemed to be gone, so Ryoma sheathed his sword and sighed. He said, “I think that’s the last of them, Yuki.” Yuki, who had ducked out of the way from the first amikiri and was cowering behind his friend, peered out to see the stillness. Since the coast was clear, he chuckled and said, “Well now, that sure was exciting. However, let’s try not to make this a habit.”

Ryoma laughed along with Yuki and the two turned to get back on track toward their original mission. However, behind them, an imp crawled out from the well and, without making a sound, leapt toward Ryoma. Its claws dug deep into his flesh wound, and he cried out in agony. He started reaching for his weapon, but the shock from the pain as well as his overall weariness caused him to faint. Then, the imp turned its attention to Yuki.

Inching backwards, Yuki contemplated his next action. He wanted to fight back, but was scared stiff of the other oni. It didn’t help that the imp drew closer, matching Yuki step for step and brandishing its newly bloodied claws. Yuki panicked and tried to turn tail and run but caught one foot with the other and fell on his tortoise-shelled back, water sloshing off his head.

Yuki skittered backwards, afraid that this would be the end when he brushed up against something. More specifically, it proved to be a someone. He glanced up and the inverted face of the shrine maiden looked down upon him. She said, “Let’s take care of this demon.” The imp cocked its head, curious as to what her fighting style would be. Then, the maiden withdrew salt from her pocket and tossed it onto the demon. It screamed as the salt burned its way through the oni’s flesh, eventually killing it.

Sighing, the shrine maiden looked down and asked, “Are you alright, kappa?”