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Dōtonbori, Osaka — September 3rd, 3:21pm. The city had been established nearly five centuries ago by an entrepreneur named Yasui Dōton, who wished to increase commerce in the region. Ever since, it became a hotbed of entertainment and cuisine throughout the ages. As time raced onwards, the sleepless city adapted. Now nearing the new 22nd century, Dōtonbori embraced the future thoroughly.
Lining every corner and street were holographically-projected signs and LED screens. Plastered across skyscrapers, advertisements played on repeat to the beat of aeromobiles zooming by. Ever since the advent of the self-driving car, companies took advantage of drivers no longer needing to concentrate. Now one could find distractions across the sky and ground, trying to capture the attention of tourists and citizens alike.
Types of ads that were especially popular were the holograms that made it seem like your vehicle was about to drive through a large creature’s mouth or anime characters fighting before your eyes. The gimmick had become a fad recently and never seemed to grow old, especially on the commute to work.
Cutting through one of these immersive advertisements was a floating podcar, one of many that began their descent amidst the clear afternoon sky. Underneath the pods was a bullet train that had currently entered the station ahead, outpacing the hovering private compartments. One by one, each pod flew into the station through a highly detailed entranceway; docking in an orderly line.
The pods locked in placed with the hiss of air brakes meeting the ears of the passengers inside.
“Arrived at: Shinsaibashi Station,” a female voice said through the speakers inside before repeating the sentence again in English.
The doors of each pod slid open with a dinging noise, allowing salarymen, tourists and families to walk out into the eternally bustling station. One of these men was different than the others around him, however. Dressed in a slick, modern black coat and matching slacks, he adjusted the buttons on his red dress shirt so the collar remained loose and casual.
The man was Fifth in the Jikininki Ten: Kishin the Golden Devil. He had retired his usual outfit in favor of less archaic attire. His red eyes were masked behind a pair of designer sunglasses with tinted lenses and a gilded frame.
He signed happily and breathed in the familiar scents of the city he frequented so often.
“Ahh, home sweet home.”
Unfortunately for most, the nearest teleportation drop from Yomi was located in Sumiyoshi. However, Kishin wasn’t like most demons. He enjoyed the ride over every time, taking in the sights and anticipating the changes that occurred since he last visited. Having been one of few demons born on Earth, the shores that served as his birthplace would later become Osaka. Kishin had witnessed its rise over the course of eons and had always considered the area his true home, not Yomi.
The Jikininki began his lackadaisical stride through the station, twisting the rippled substream ring on his left hand back and forth using his fingers. He wasn’t the only supernatural creature in the city, he was far from it. Kishin was currently following a lead he had been given from imperial reconnaissance. The lead in question was supposedly of a Goetia presence there in Dōtonbori.
—I sense a heavy spiritual presence throughout the city, a little too heavy. Everything is all muddied together right now... hopefully I can still locate my contact. Where did they say to meet him, in the yakisoba shop near the station?
Demons and spirits could typically be found across any densely populated area on Earth, albeit with a catch. They walked within the gap between the demon and human realms, existing in a limbo of sorts. That was as far as most demons could achieve, settling for a life outside Yomi within the barrier.
However, there existed exceptions. Demons like Kishin that had been given access to directly walk in the human realm were very rare, usually limited to government officials. Other demons could break through this barrier by one of two methods. The first involved tricking the barrier into thinking the creature was a human by consuming a vast amount of human souls. The end result of this was almost always a shitidama or a being on the verge of becoming one.
The second method was through possession of a human being, using the body as a gateway to slip through the barrier. This was extremely difficult however, as it could only be accomplished in areas on Earth where the barrier was weakened from an excessive spiritual presence or by entering a pact with the demon. Possessed humans such as these became easy targets for contracts or exorcisms, leading to an altogether short-lived emancipation.
Luckily, some yokai were exempt from this rule. While most became lost within Yomi after death, a few with strong bonds to areas they frequented in life remained there in the human realm whilst invisible to mortals. One yokai such as this was the contact Kishin expected to meet at within the city.
By this point, Kishin was outside the station and walking along a crosswalk. A crowd of passing people surrounded him, allowing him to blend in seamlessly.
—Hopefully I’ll catch some information on this Shuten fella. Poachers can’t just hang back in the shadows for too long, their Boss won’t allow it.
Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.
Kishin slipped his hands into the hidden pockets located in his coat, meeting the end of the crosswalk just as the light turned from green to red. He sensed a peculiar feeling beside him, a small blip of Tamashiryoku.
Stopping on the paved sidewalk, he turned from left to right. The force was nearby, but didn’t seem to be within this realm.
—A limbo walker, must be.
Kishin rolled his eyes back into his head until he only saw black. Triggering a minor spell, he snapped his fingers and blinked. His vision had changed. Everything remained the same, but now Kishin could spot beings trapped in between the realms of mortals and demons. They appeared as humanoid figures, cloaked in a silver veil of wisps and winds blowing in each direction.
One such figure was ahead of him, appearing as a large bestial male looming over a young woman. The woman was conversing with her android companion, its animated face sporting blonde hair and a roguish smile.
—That demon… it’s tryin’ to possess her, I’d reckon. What the hell happened to this place? Attemptin’ something so brazen in public!
The Jikininki pulled a slim glove from his coat, fashioned from the white fur of a Kinnaree; near extinct creatures that once served alongside Shinigami. Slipping the glove onto his right hand, he felt its warmth spread through his fingertips.
The demon above the woman was still clueless as to the assassin approaching him from behind. Kishin increased the momentum of his stride, walking faster to catch up to the lady nearly two meters from him.
Readying his hand, he shot out his arm and grabbed the monster by the scruff of its neck; causing it to recoil in surprise and panic. Kishin’s expression remained the same: an unwavering smirk. He tightened his clutch on the demon’s neck, tearing the hide and digging his fingers into the flesh underneath.
The humans around Kishin didn’t notice anything to unusual, just a man holding out his gloved hand for moment before lowering it to his side. What they couldn’t see was Kishin now dragging the demon off along the sidewalk as it screamed curses at the assassin. Kishin walked away from the crowd of oblivious people and into a nearby ally.
The feral demon had enough and extended his talons in an attempt to break free from Kishin’s ironclad grasp. In response, Kishin casually drove his heel into the monster’s hand; splintering the bones within instantly.
The beast cried out in agony, turning its fierce gaze toward Kishin.
“Jikininki!!! Izanami damn you for this, you motherless wretch! Traitor to your own kind!!!”
It continued hurling insults at the blond devil, not realizing they were as effective as a dry twig attempting to crack open a boulder.
“You tryin’ to possess that human broad over there, huh?” Kishin asked with a smile.
“Of course!!! Anything to be freed from this accursed half-land!”
The Jikininki shook his head, marveling at the demon’s stupidity.
“Judgin’ from your face lookin’ more like a pig’s asshole than a man’s, I’d assume you’ve consumed how many human souls? Five, maybe six?”
“Eight, imperial bitch!” the demon growled.
“Oho! An overachiever, I see! Well, thing is, while I respect the hustle, I can’t respect the shit-heel doing it. You gonna tell me who got you these souls?”
“Neverrrr!!” it slurred, drool dripping from its mouth as a group a schoolchildren walked by the ally.
Kishin’s smile dropped and before the demon could blink, the Golden Devil proceeded to single-handedly rip off the feral monster’s arm. Thick, black blood clumped together from the stump and splurted out onto the pavement.
The demon howled like a kicked mutt, making unintelligible sounds as it tried to escape from Kishin’s domination. In response, the assassin dropped the demon’s limb and grabbed the other still attached.
“N-No, wai—”
Kishin didn’t wait. With a sickening snap of bone and tendon, he ripped out the demon’s other arm, leaving him a crippled degenerate bleeding out onto the ground. Kishin mounted his prey using his boot, grinding it into the demon’s solar plexus to keep him grounded.
“Tell me where you got those souls from. You didn’t take them by force, else you wouldn’t be here anymore. So tell me who your supplier is.”
Kishin picked up the beast’s arms in each hand, making them limply point towards their now maimed owner. The monster moaned something unintelligible, prompting Kishin to press down harder on his chest, cracking the ribcage slightly.
“Goetia!! It’s Goetia!!!”
“No shit it’s Goetia, who is supplying them? Some nobody? A grafter?”
“I-I don’t know… I just need to get out of here…”
Kishin waved the detached arm in front of the monster’s face, prompting the pale fingers to shake back and forth.
“No, no, no, no, no, no~! You gotta tell me, see. Else things are gonna get a helluva lot worse for ya.”
“I-I don’t know her name… Please, it was my buddy who got the souls for me! You gotta believe me!”
“Your supplier’s female?”
“Y-Yes!!! I’m telling the truth on that, I swear to you!” the demon groveled. “But even if I knew her name, I couldn’t say it! She’d kill me if I told you!”
“Well see, I’m gonna kill ya if ya don’t tell me,” Kishin said, matter-of-fact. “Come on now, tell me where ya got it from. I need a location.”
Kishin used the demon’s bloodied arms to gently pat the monster’s cheeks before giving him a good slap across the face.
“O-Okay!! I-I was never there, but my buddy, he always went to a bar! It was a cabaret actually, yeah! I remember that because he’d stay for the chicks afterwards!” the feral demon explained. “Now please, let me go!!”
Kishin clapped the dismembered arms together in celebration.
“There ya go, see? That wasn’t so hard!” he said, unceremoniously dropping the demon’s severed limbs onto his chest.
Kishin got down and knelt on the bestial man’s stomach, digging his knee into the demon’s lungs. With his gloved hand, Kishin pried open the monster’s mouth.
“Now… I’d let’cha go, buuuuuut, I know you’d try to eat some more souls again. We can’t much have that, can we?”
With his other free hand, Kishin removed his sunglasses; allowing the terrified demon to look into the Jikininki’s crimson eyes. His irises were jagged, appearing as an eight-pointed star.
To humans passing by the ally, they wouldn’t have heard a single sound. For any nearby spirits however, they would have encountered the bloodcurdling screams of a nearly-transformed shitidama being torn apart by the feared Golden Devil.