Chapter Eighteen:
The Gashadokuro
Nicodemus
When I hit the ground, I bounced three of four times before rolling steadily to a stop. My body ached from the force of hitting the dirt, and I coughed up metallic tasting soil. My arms quivered as I dragged myself to my knees, lifting my head to try and survey what pit of despair I had fallen into. (Nick, are you ok?!) Claude whimpered as he appeared beside me, pulling me to stand so he could assess any wounds I sustained.
“Fine, fine… Where are we?” I went to take a step forward, but when my boot hit the ground, a splintering crack echoed through the desolate cave. The sound chilled my blood. My lips trembled violently as I slowly looked to see what I stepped on, coming to find it was an old, brittle Human femur bone. “What the fuck is that…?!” I hiccuped in horror.
{Does anyone else hear a ringing sound?} May croaked.
As she said that, a terrifying, spine tingling ringing raped our ears, and became the only sound we could make out. It wasn’t loud enough to cause harm, but enough to take our attention. “Ringing in the ears…” I began, my heart skipping beats in utter fear, “That’s a sign that…?”
[That we need to go, NOW!] Alice roared, grabbing my waist before throwing her hand towards the dirt. A giant funnel of fire incinerated the gravel as the ringing grew louder, and the clinking of hundreds of bones began to creep down the corridor. [Jackson, help me out here!]
{What is that thing?!} May shrieked as a giant arm made from thousands upon thousands of decaying Human bones stretched around the corner. When it’s palm hit the ground, we all shook with it from the force behind its weight and energy.
“It’s a Gashadokuro…” I breathed in absolute terror as the massive head of the creature poked around the corner to stare me down intently. Jackson threw his arms around me and bolted through the thick layers of Earth as the Gashadokuro let out a deafening moan, and reached forward to grab my legs. We just made it high enough that it’s fingers clasped around air, which angered the giant more, and made it slowly begin to crawl up the opening Jackson was forming. We broke through the Earth’s crust and tumbled through the campsite, which made Mom cry out in relief and attempt to dart towards us. “DON’T COME ANY CLOSER?! GET THE KIDS OUT OF HERE…!” I tried to yell, but as soon as I found my footing, the arm of the Gashadokuro broke through the Earth and grabbed me in a swift motion.
Galaxy grabbed Mom’s waist and ripped her backwards in horror as the Gashadokuro emerged fully from the ground, standing as high as the tallest buildings in Japan. It leaned it’s massive head back and howled into the grey sky, making birds hiding in the trees scatter for their lives. “NICODEMUS!?” Mom screamed bloody murder, her voice piercing the air. I was hyperventilating violently in the Gashadokuro’s grip as it dangled me upside down in front of its hollow eyes to survey what it had captured.
These demons were no joke; known to be among the most powerful Yokai in Japan, the Gashadokuro were composed of thousands of bones from fallen and or slaughtered Human soldiers from the bloody wars of the country’s past. The giants were supposedly indestructible, and could use invisibility to sneak up on their victims. The only way a victim would know they were coming was by a slight ringing in the ears, but before they could run, the Gashadokuro would smash the Human in its hands, or bite their heads off to drink their blood. The only way they were known to die was by sizzling out; the pent up rage and vengeful energy that the bones used to fuel the Yokai would one day run out, thus ending the Gashadokuro’s life, but that took hundreds of years to happen. I’d only had nightmares about these things, and being upside down in the grasp of one was the single most terrifying thing I could ever imagine.
The Gashadokuro opened its mouth and dangled me above its head; I yelped in horror and latched onto its boney finger to keep from being swallowed. It let go of my leg, but when I didn’t drop into its throat, it grew agitated and shook it’s hand to wiggle me off. Over the howls of the demon, a menacing hum echoed through the field, and the sky turned a sickening black. The clouds swirled violently overhead, and the humming not only grew faster, but louder. I lost my grip after being shook a third time, and plummeted towards the open jaws of the demon. My friends and family cried out as I somersaulted wildly towards the open jaws of the demon.
A set of arms constricted around me just as the Gashadokuro clenched it’s teeth together, groaning angrily when it had nothing to swallow. I had my eyes squeezed shut, but when I opened them, black smoke was swirling around my body protectively. The arms that held me were made of bone as well, and the face underneath the dense cloak was a withered, ancient skull. To most that would be a terrifying sight, but I cried out in relief and laid my head on his chest thankfully.
Dad circled the Gashadokuro and darted to Mom’s side, where the two held me gratefully for a moment before Dad took Mom’s shoulders, “All of you need to get out of here, now!” Dad moaned in the deep, penetrating voice of the Grim Reaper.
“I’m not leaving without you, Atlas!?” She cried, grabbing his arm when he went to turn.
“Then keep the kids safe while I dismember this monster.” When he pulled his scythe free, the weapon stood over eight feet tall. The blade was double the size of mine, and was a beautiful crystal silver with white flames that danced along the back as it hummed to life in his hand. He whipped it with one powerful, fluid movement, before summoning his Shadows and flashing across the field as a plume of deathly smoke. Mom clutched me desperately, sobbing into my hair but equally terrified for Dad.
“What is that thing?!” Praxis called over the roaring winds ripping through the field.
“A Gashadokuro! It’s one of the most dangerous and powerful demons in the world! We need to get away from it before it grabs someone else!” I called, grabbing Mom’s hand to drag her backwards. She held her ground for a moment, staring up at Dad in horror, but slowly began to let me drag her back towards the camp.
“Is he going to be able to kill that thing?” Mom croaked as she looked down to me with a hopeless, terrified expression. I had no answer for her, but held her in my arms tightly to brace for whatever was going to happen next.
The Gashadokuro was dead set on having us for lunch since Dad was presently a skeleton himself, and that meant he had no blood for the demon to slurp up after it munched on our skulls. Every step it took made the ground rumble wildly, which made us race backwards to keep a safe distance. It raised an arm and swooped down to try and knock trees down across the campsite, but Dad’s scythe broke through the fog and sliced the Gashadokuro’s bone hand from the joint. It howled demonically and clutched it’s lost appendage, fuming with a vile groaning as it watched Dad skid backwards to brace his next move.
Dad’s Shadows had become one with his subconscious so he could stay Grim as long as he needed to, and to fill in the gaps, he tilted his scythe to a ninety degree angle and clasped his hands around the handle firmly. A burst of incredibly powerful energy rocked the field, causing the ground beneath the Gashadokuro to crumble into a black void. The Gashadokuro was occupied with trying to collect it’s missing hand, which gave Dad the time needed to summon thousands of souls from the Shadow Realm. Their arms reached from the void to drag their lifeless souls from the Realm, and their hollow moans filled the air. They crept up the sides of the Gashadokuro, trying their best to pull him into the Shadow Realm with them, but the Gashadokuro was completely unfazed.
I saw what was coming next before it even happened.
The Gashadokuro flung the thousands of lost souls from its body, then turned in a circle to see who was causing it to be attacked, and when he saw Dad on the outer rim of the void, it leaned forward to scream in anguish. It raised its massive leg and slammed it down on the ground, which made the void crack into a million pieces. The souls whisked away in plumes of white smoke as soon as the spell was broken, and the massive energy Dad had been using had nowhere else to go but back to his scythe.
He tried to fling the weapon away but couldn’t stop it fast enough, and when the overpowering wave of energy clashed with his blade, a thunderous boom ricocheted so loudly that we all covered our ears. The blast sent our group tumbling across the camp; Sebastian smacked into the door of a cabin, but regrouped to catch Odysseus and Griffin before they fell into the hole the Gashadokuro left behind. I hit my back against a tree trunk and crumpled like paper, wheezing at the air that had been knocked out of me.
When I lifted my head, a blinding white light broke from my father’s chest, followed by a sound similar to glass shattering. Mom, who was dragging herself up from the fire pit, winced in agony before slowly looking towards Dad. Her eyes focused on the energy swallowing him, and a look that was absolutely indescribable crept across her face. In the next instant, she was screaming his name bloody murder. Her tone made my body shiver; she didn’t hesitate once in turning into a beam of light so she could fly through the field.
The Gashadokuro saw her speeding towards the energy Dad was consumed by and brought it’s arm back up, sending it flying down towards my parents. Galaxy threw a bolt of lightning across the field, which hit the Gashadokuro in the eye, and made it lurch backwards in pain. He then took off towards Dad, sending bolt after bolt of lightning down on the demon to keep it occupied while he tried to drag my parents to safety.
When the light finally ceased, Mom was holding Dad’s limp body in her embrace, sobbing his name hysterically as she shook his shoulders. The blast had forced him to revert back to his Elemental form, though his hands and part of his face were still bone. The normal side of his face was bleeding profusely, and his eye was pried wide open yet stared at nothing. They had a glossy look of utter despair, as if he were already dead in her arms. Blood spilled down the eye to coat his lips, and pooled through the bone of his neck to seep into his cloak.
Seeing my father this way made me freeze for the first time in my life.
Even as Griffin screamed my name and tried to pull me towards the center of camp I was utterly lifeless, unable to pry my attention from my parents. Mom kept trying to make him move, blink, anything to prove he was alive. Galaxy was barely able to throw himself over them before the Gashadokuro’s hand came down once again. “DAD?!” Soren shrieked, which snapped me back into focus. The Gashadokuro slowly lifted its hand to survey what damage it had done, only to find the spot was empty. Galaxy abruptly appeared between Odysseus and I, bleeding profusely from a huge, splintered wound on the left side of his now swollen face. He had my parents in each arm, and when his knees hit the ground, he collapsed lifelessly.
Odysseus automatically ran to the three Gods to assess how he could help heal them, screaming for Sebastian and the others to help as well. Griffin pulled his unconscious father into his arms and cried his name over and over, absolutely petrified that Galaxy was crushed to death by the Gashadokuro. Mom and Odysseus were doing everything in their power to heal my father as fast as they could, and had done enough that he finally blinked, and coughed up a huge clot of blood before the rest of his Grim form receded. He trembled in violent pain; his lips moved, but his voice couldn’t catch up. “Odysseus, stay with Atlas! I need to try and heal Galaxy…!?”
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
“He’s awake! Worry about Atlas!” Griffin cried out, clutching his father gratefully as Galaxy weakly smiled and patted Griffin’s arm with broken fingers. Griffin had stored enough energy to heal him with their shared element himself, which Mom was grateful for.
As concerning as the entire situation was, the group had forgotten one thing: the Gashadokuro. The demon’s angry cry broke their concentration, and made each head turn from Dad to stare up at the approaching monstrosity in horror. “That thing is going to kill us all if we don’t get out of here?!” Soren called, centering the group back to reality slightly.
“Nick?” Sebastian whimpered. Everyone turned to see me standing a few feet from the field’s edge, staring up at the Gashadokuro emptily. My hand was gripped firmly around the handle of my scythe, and nothing but my hair and cloak moved in the breeze.
Dad weakly reached a hand towards me, but that action made him spew more blood and hack violently. “N-Nick… D-Don’t-t…?” I slowly turned with pure black eyes to him. I had forced myself to not look as much as possible, but as soon as I saw his broken body in my mother’s arms, something inside me snapped.
I threw an arm up, which conjured a black barrier that surrounded the campsite. Sebastian jumped up and threw his elbow into the barrier, his eyes bugging in horror. “What the fuck do you think you’re doing!? This is no time to play hero!?”
“Keep everyone in that barrier at all times. Call the other Gods, and do not interfere.” I demanded, swinging my scythe twice before taking off towards the field. Sebastian continued to scream my name and body slam the barrier over and over, but he knew damn well nothing was getting in or out. He slumped to his knees and continuously sobbed my name, banging lifelessly on the edge until he lost his voice.
╪
[I hope you know what you’re doing, because we’re toast if this goes bad?!] Alice cried as my Shadows appeared beside me, running in perfect unison at my side.
I summoned as much confidence as I could, so my tone would reassure them, “I have an idea, a shit one, but something. We can’t kill it physically, so what if we obliterate it? It only lives because the bones keep it together, so if we incinerate the bones, there’ll be nothing left.”
(Yeah, great idea, except for the fact that we would need three hundred Fire Elementals to fry that thing to a crisp!?) Claude retorted.
“Who said anything about fire?” I skidded to a stop and whistled loudly, “Hey Fuckface, come and get it!” I called, whistling again. The Gashadokuro turned its massive body creepily, wretched oppressive energy pluming from its aura, and shrieked before storming after me.
{Now would be a good time to fill us in on that plan, champ!?> Jackson yelled.
I pointed to the demon, “Jackson and May, keep that thing occupied for five seconds for me. Claude and Alice, I want to try something.”
(Try something?! This is not the time to experiment!?) I turned to Claude with lifeless eyes; whatever expression I wore made him nod once and turn to the others. (Do as you’re told. Nick, where do you want us?) He began as Jackson and May took off towards the opposite side of the field to lure the Gashadokuro away from the campsite.
I took a deep breath before holding my hand out to them, “We’re going to try and become Grim.” Alice went to shriek in protest, but I held a hand up automatically, “The worst that happens is we fail. Only the Grim Reaper can kill a Gashadokuro because he uses the energy from the entire Shadow Realm to do so. The only way I can summon that much energy is through that form, and if we don’t try now, we’ll all end up dead. I need you to trust me, please.”
[Nicodemus, no one but your father can turn into Grim, you know that…?]
“You want to know what I know?!” My voice darkened, and smoke began to fizzle from my eyes, “I know my father is close to dead on the other side of that field, and I’ll be fucking DAMNED if I don’t try to do something to save him and the rest of my family! I’m not going to let my father die trying to protect us all from some boney freak!”
The two looked at one another before sighing. [We trust you. If you think we can do it, then let’s try.] Alice confirmed.
A tear slid down my cheek, “We can do this, I know we can.” She and Claude laced their hands with mine and closed their eyes, focusing every ounce of energy on our embrace. A weird energy filled the pit of my stomach before I flashed black eyes, and slowly raised my arms. My hands came around in a perfect circle and clasped together, and I poured every ounce of anything in my body and soul into them before whispering, “Parere vocan’ti tergum metentis.”
I didn’t know the spell, or how I knew the words by heart.
But what I did know, was that I was going to use it to kill the Gashadokuro.
As soon as I whispered the spell, May and Jackson froze dead in their tracks. The Gashadokuro too paused to see what was happening, and whipped around to track where the sudden odd energy was coming from. Jackson and May sunk into the ground, and when they reappeared, they placed their hands on ours. The rest of the Gods had finally made it, and all efforts ceased the moment they saw me performing the spell. They watched what was happening to me in utter disbelief, not a single one making a sound or moving a muscle.
Shadows of unknown souls began to dance along the ground around my feet, all holding hands and chanting the Latin phrase over and over as they danced around me. Claude, Alice, May, and Jackson, who didn’t say a word, moved to surround me in a protective circle. Claude and Jackson closed it around me, which was followed by a violent shock that echoed from them. I gasped as my body disintegrated, turning into black smoke that began to rise. Within the smoke, I could feel my skin contorting, ripping, and disintegrating. It wasn’t a painful experience, but the sensation was far from pleasant. I could never describe it fully, but at the same time, this was something that felt almost, familiar, to me in an odd way. “Dear Gods…” Blaine croaked from behind me as I finally fell back to the ground, and slowly stood.
The flesh on the right side of my body had now become entirely bone. A dark, smokey black cloak wrapped around the skeletal form I had now inherited. My right eye was a soulless void, filled with nothing but vengeance, while the other remained the same from my Elemental form. My skin and the bone blended in perfect unison in the reflection of the puddles underneath me, but even though we only made it through half the transition, it was more than enough to fuel the attack I was planning for.
“Gashadokuro...” I moaned in a voice so deep it made the Earth rumble, “I will end you for what you have done to my father...” I raised my scythe powerfully, whipped it four times for each Shadow Walker I was blessed with, then slammed it to the devastated dirt below us. A massive explosion of power whipped through the dimension, and made our onlookers shield their eyes from the blast. The Gashadokuro was less than intimidated by me, and howled into the black sky before flinging itself forward. It’s arms smashed into the ground, but I was a step ahead, and flashed out of the way to land on its hand and race up it’s long body.
I had never moved like this before. Though this form did have legs, especially because I was still half myself, it wanted to move like a Shadow rather than my normal self, but that also meant I was incredibly faster and much more efficient. I was able to blend into any dark space that were visible, which not only cloaked me from sight, but made it possible to get as close as I needed to without being swallowed. When I got towards the shoulder of the giant my blade emerged from the dark smoke of my cloak and slammed into the eye socket of the Gashadokuro, which made it screech and tumble backwards. It flailed it’s arms wildly to try and grab me on its way down, but every time it did get a grip, my body spilled through its finger tips as a viscous black shadow that swam through its clutches fluidly.
I rounded the Gashadokuro and brought my scythe up under its hips, wrenching upwards with every ounce of strength I could physically muster. Plumes of black smoke spilled from my still normal eye, and my veins had turned a hideous black throughout that side. The sound of the Gashadokuro’s bones splintering and shredding in half was absolutely horrific, but left me completely unfazed. The scythe blade bull dozed through the skeleton until it cracked it’s cranium, which made the creature split in two halves and fall to its knees.
With it weakened like this, I took the opportunity to slide back and swing my scythe around, clasping it with two hands. It was equally odd to see one normal hand and one bone hand clasping my weapon, but that didn’t stop me. I sucked in a breath and pulled as much energy as I could from the atmosphere, concentrating harder than I had my entire life. As soon as I felt it swirling around my soul, I lifted my scythe, and when it came down, a violent shock of dense power blasted from the blade. The further it traveled the wider it grew, and when it came in contact with the split in half Gashadokuro, the impact resembled the sound of four hundred trains crashing all at once.
The Gashadokuro’s agonized screams bellowed through the entire mountain range, and it flailed spastically as the purplish grey energy incinerated the bones one by one. My arms were rattling so hard that my teeth chattered, but I let the anger brewing within me fuel my strength. My Shadows souls beat rhythmically in my chest, and I could almost feel their hands wrapped around the scythe with me as we blasted through what was left of the demon.
In one final blinding ray, the skeletal giant was consumed entirely, and vaporized by the energy we wielded. The last sound that could be heard was a high pitched screech from the bones releasing the thousands of lost souls they had trapped within them. Once the souls were airborne the bones turned to dust, and collapsed into a pile of grey ash upon the grass. The souls scattered across the black sky wildly as I pulled the blast back, then directed the scythe towards the sky. “Unum cum messorem!” I bellowed in Grim’s booming voice before the souls plummeted towards Earth. They exploded into my weapon by the thousands, screeching and wriggling like worms as they were captured one by one. I held my grip for as long as utterly possible, and once the last one entered the blade, a deafening silence enveloped the field around us.
╪
It took a moment for the dust to settle, figuratively and literally, before the barrier surrounding the campsite slowly fell. Blaine was the first to slowly step towards the battle site, obviously horrified he would find my dead body on the opposite side of the dense energy fog. When it did lift, he paused to see me standing there, my back turned to the group as I stared emptily at the ash from the now dead demon. “Nicodemus…?” He managed to croak, breaking the unbearable silence. My body was still half Grim, so while my hair kissed the side of my face on one side, plumes of smoke rose from my cloak on the other.
I gripped my scythe in my bone hand, then turned to Blaine with half of a dorky smile. He scoffed in disbelief for numerous reasons, but tears trickled down his cheeks gratefully. “That was harder than I thought.” I lightly teased in Grim’s voice.
Blaine swallowed harshly, his hand trembling as he reached out and touched my shoulder, as if to make sure I was still me. When he felt that I was still partly myself, he gripped my arm, though his eyes were set on the bone half of my body. “You need to change back, now, please.” He firmly instructed.
“Sure…?” I closed my eyes once more, and exhaled a little louder than Blaine liked as my Shadow’s consciousnesses left my own. The rest of my skin slowly consumed the bone, and a moment later, I was back to my usual self, with the only difference being my hair was still white and my eyes black. When I was back to normal, Blaine threw his arms around me and squeezed me as hard as he could, then began to feel me down. “Blaine, I’m fine…?” I scolded.
He paused and slowly dropped his hands, “So you are…”
Dad’s harsh coughing broke the silence, and made me turn back towards the camp. I was met with nothing other than astonished stares, but I ignored them and bolted to my father’s side, throwing my scythe to the ground so I could lightly touch his bruised cheek. “Dad…?”
He choked up slightly, but was able to tilt his head in my direction with a broken smirk. “Guess I’m not as strong as I used to be, kid…” He hacked past blood filling his throat.
“We need to get you home, now, before you get any worse.” Mom found her voice somehow, but she refused to look at me.
“I agree. I’ll stay behind and clean this up; get Atlas and Galaxy to the hospital right away. Griffin, take the kids back to our house for the time being. Blaine, get Nick seen as well.”
“I’m fine, Deveraux…?” I tried to say, but Blaine had already grabbed my arm and pulled us through a portal, his expression like stone as he rushed me down the hall towards the emergency room doors.