We ducked under the cover of one of the many nearby shrubberies. I signaled for Sora to move forward, to which he obliged, keeping low and quiet as he briskly moved farther up Mt.Fuji.

Yokai cried out as they moved throughout the mountain's forests with surprising stealth. We had to stay vigilant and move quietly if we wanted to stay undetected by the demons, and if we wanted to stay undetected by the Shogun's men alike.

We hadn't seen them yet, but we could hear the trudging, shouting and whinnying of horses.

It was unwise to bring a horse up such harsh terrain, especially with such monstrous creatures, which was why we had set ours free once we had gotten to the mass of Mt.Fuji.

Hayato was attached to his horse, Ritsu, but he knew that it had to be done. We salvaged the situation with the fact that horses are known to return to where they last rested, and that the monks would take could care of it if it were to return.

Once he had checked the area for threats, Sora waved for the four of us to move up, so we began to run, but before we got more than five paces, I stopped us.

Hayato had been carrying cooking supplies on his back that rang and clattered quite fittingly like a dinner bell. Lee had also taken several trinkets, such as Mahjong tiles rattling from a string and dice shaking in a wooden contained tied to his hip. Anzen knew to pack light. Something he must have kept from his wandering childhood, unlike his twin brother, who always ate heartily and packed heartily.

I looked at the ever-prepared Hayato and the energetic Lee, making a cutting motion at my neck, telling them to cut the noise loose.

With a moment of hesitation and reluctance, they both listened. Cooking instruments and ways to kill time were cautiously laid on the ground and forgotten. We could survive on the premade food we had packed, and there would be no time for games from that point onward.

Afterward, we moved over to Sora, who was already looking ahead. "We are going to have to be far less audible if we want to pass the Shogun and his samurai."

I nodded. "We got rid of our loudest supplies. On top of that, the Shogun and his lot aren't particularly quiet and attentive either. We have a margin of error that's larger than you might think."

Sora's blank face pursed as he thought quickly of a counterpoint to put his gut uneasiness into logical means, and within record time he provided it. "You are correct about the men making noise, precisely why we need to keep an even lower profile. Yokai from all around this mountain are going to be swarming towards the Shogun, meaning we are also in much greater risk, especially since we will meet the yokai before the Shogun's men do."

Anzen leaned in and spoke promptly. "He's right, but Kenshi is also right about them drowning out the noise. Instead of moving leisurely and loudly or slowly and quietly, we just need to move quickly. Before they even notice us or the yokai get a chance to bother us."

Lee looked towards his slightly overfilled pack anxiously. "Are you sure we can even go fast at all? We've got a lot of stuff, and there's a lot of guys watching for us. The faster we go the easier we're going to be to spot, right?"

Hayato shook his head with a confident glare at all of us. "We can do it. All we have to do is run past them, and keep running until we get to a point where they can't catch up to us. I don't think that sounds difficult at all."

I stroked my beard as I contemplated for a moment. My first instinct was to move slow and steady, but as Sora pointed out that was a bit flawed. Sora's cautious approach seemed logical, but the slower we went the less likely we were at beating the Shogun and the Doctor to Amaterasu's palace, which I couldn't let happen. A mad dash it had to be, then. "I think Hayato and Anzen are right. We need to move fast and the risk of getting caught by the yokai is much less."

Sora's face went from thoughtful to something that might resemble a frown, then finally back to its blank form once he was finished thinking. "Fine. It does seem like a suitable option."

Lee pat Sora on the back while smiling and nodding. When Sora looked over to him with a raised brow, he explained himself in a playfully over-heartfelt way. "I'm just so proud of you."

Sora just stared unamused into Lee's eyes as Anzen grinned and Hayato snickered. After a shake of the head and a smirk, I pointed out and up the steep mountainside, showing a clearing just off from the larger one the Shogun had occupied. "We need to get going if we want to beat them before they set camp for the night. If they get guards patrolling their outskirts, it's all going to get much more complicated." I then looked over to Lee. "Use your foresight, we need to make sure nothing will happen between now and when we get to the other side."

Lee nodded and closed his eyes. He kept them closed and concentrated on seeing farther than his usual length of time. Once he finally opened his eyes, he spoke. "There's a few yokai up ahead. I think it was two."

I raised a brow. Thinking on whether or not we should wait or try to confront the demons. "And what happened after we met with them?"

"It was at the end of my foresight. All I saw was you telling us to do things and drawing your sword."

That didn't help much, but I knew our best option was most likely facing them with our newfound knowledge. "What did they look like?"

"One was big and had a face almost like a dog, one of its arms didn't have a hand and instead was kind of sharp looking. It reared its head up like it was going to howl once it saw us. And the one behind it was really long and thin, it scuttled around on multiple legs behind the other one and started to jump towards you and Sora."

Most of the yokai we had seen were human-turned. Horrific and malformed but still holding the same general silhouette. The longer evil soaked in the dark seemed to create worse and worse creatures, especially the ones that seem to manifest in the shadow themselves. But nonetheless, we needed a plan. "Then Sora needs to take out the hound-like one before it alerts the Shogun's men while the twins and I deal with the scuttler while you just rest and get yourself ready to use your ember again when we need it."

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Lee went from kneeling on the ground to crouching, I could tell he was reluctant to resign himself to the sidelines. Still keeping his composure, he attested. "I can still help."

I shook my head solemnly. This was an extremely delicate mission, and although Lee had grown from the child I knew six months prior, he was still clumsy in what he did, but I wouldn't tell him that, instead I gave him a secondary and still perfectly valid explanation. "We have three people facing one yokai. Too many and we'll trip over each other's feet. I'm sorry but stay and ready yourself for next time. We've got to go before it becomes too late." I waved for Anzen and Hayato to follow me as Sora already was prepared for his shot over our heads. The twins followed me with little hesitation, they may not have known Lee for long but I was sure they understood why I chose them above the boy.

As we moved forward, I could hear the rustling of leaves. The large, brutally formed yokai stumbled out of the brush, and as soon as it showed its horrid head, it had died. With enough preparation, I believed Sora could hit almost any mark, exactly why he and Lee made an excellent team.

Then the emaciated and scuttling yokai crawled out, not even caring to see that its 'companion' was quickly devolving back to ash as it hissed towards us. Now it was time to see the other two work as a team.

I stood tall and drew my sword, letting the yokai get a clear view of me, and with its opportunity, the yokai lunged just as Lee had predicted.

Before the open-mawed demon met me, a foggy portal appeared. The yokai mistakenly leaped into the portal and came out of another, positioned towards the ground.

The many-legged yokai hit the rocky ground head-first, but its momentum wasn't nearly enough to kill it. Once it quickly stood back up, yet another portal appeared below it.

Once it fell into the gateway, it emerged out of another Hayato had made just below the treeline. It fell into yet another foggy portal created by Anzen and finally thrown out flying towards a large tree directly next to me, allowing me to finish it off once and for all.

I crouched back to the ground and spoke as I waved Lee and Sora over. "Perfect work, you two."

Hayato smiled proudly as Anzen rolled his eyes in the usual sarcastic manner.

As Lee moved over to us with Sora a small ways behind, yet another unexpected rustling came from the deeps of Mt.Fuji's forest. I quickly looked behind towards the group of confused men. "Lee!?"

In a panic, Lee raised his arms. "I said I didn't see all the way through us getting past!"

I briskly shook my head and turned back around to face the demon, which had already emerged from the brush.

First I saw the size of the yokai. It must have been ten, no, eleven feet tall. It stood far above us as we crouched to the ground. Secondly, I noticed the creature had no mouth and no neck, instead, its seemingly fat torso gaped open with a series of grinding teeth and reaching fangs. Its face was nothing more than bulbous floating eyes like a koi fish, and a nose that was little more than nostrils, like a human's chopped off at the bridge.

I stood tall once again, my sword still in hand and prepared for the yokai to lunge, and that it did.

The demons disproportionately long and thin arms reached out for me, giving me the perfect opportunity to truly test the sharpness and durability of my refined katana.

One slice, two slices. Both the arms fell to the ground, leaving nothing but stumps gushing ashen purple blood. But even though that would have been enough to completely pacify a human, yokai feel no pain nor fear death. It only had one goal, and that was my and every person's demise. So without a flinch, the demon kept leaning forward, opening its gaping torso enough to pull me in and rip through me. There was no way I could escape, and I wouldn't sacrifice my arm to keep it from falling on top of me if it wasn't completely necessary, and even if I just tried to stab it through its head, yokai didn't die quick enough to save me from the slime-covered grinder.

My only option was to stab into its maw, using my sword to prop the yokai above me as it fell, and so I did just that.

Now that my multiple decades' old katana had been renewed, I knew the ten times folded steel wouldn't budge nor crack to such things anymore.

I plunged my sword into the beast's belly and soon was left leaning backward, holding the monstrous weight of the yokai. My legs began to slowly cave as I barely muttered a "shit!"

I had just then realized something. With the monks, I had healed extraordinarily and had taken medicine to ease the pain, but my legs were still in poor shape. On top of that, I still had old wounds from the previous fight and even some from weeks prior that refused to completely mend. Like the stab wound the Doctor had so graciously gifted me with only a few weeks before.

I could feel myself begin to collapse under the yokai's weight, it wouldn't be long before I would be consumed.

This had all transpired in a mere moment. My mind worked quickly in these situations, but I couldn't dismiss that everything had happened in the blink of an eye, and it was continuing to happen just as fast.

As I felt the hot and rotten flesh and the fume of its breaths around me, I knew there was nothing more I could do.

Once I had thought almost all had been lost, I noticed a hand clutching tightly to my dark red kimono. I was pulled to the side as the yokai was kicked in the opposite direction.

Hayato and Anzen stumbled to their feet with exhaustion and clumsiness from using their ember so extremely. Hayato drew his sword as Anzen pulled the dagger from its sheath at his hip. Hayato and the longer reach of his katana was the one to finish it with a deathblow, but Lee had been the one to save me.

I looked up to him as he let go of me. His nose was bleeding as he was pale and sweating, just like Hayato and Anzen were. He spoke with a childish grin. "Like I said, I can still use my ember."

After I turned to fight the yokai, Lee must have immediately used his foresight and waited for the opportune moment to make the most difference. That patience under stress and planning was very commendable, and most likely saved my life, or at the very least serious bodily harm. Once Sora had finally caught back up to us, I noticed his bow and an arrow were in hand. He most likely looked for a shot when he saw the yokai but couldn't take it due to too many people. In the end, it didn't make much of a difference, but it was nice to know there was compassion behind his blank and cold exterior. And even more compassion was shown when he put his weapons away and offered a hand, helping me off the ground. As I was lifted up, I looked over to Lee. "You did very well. Thank you."

As I brushed myself off and the yokai turned to ash, Anzen spoke, looking around as he did. "Mumbling."

I began to understand what that meant as Sora spoke quickly. "Samurai. We have to leave immediately." Their voices were growing louder.

Lee whispered as I began to turn and face the direction where the Shogun's caravan was. "Oh no..."

Once I turned, I was met face to face with a gruff man clad in the basic military issued breastplate, shoulder plates, and helmet, akin to what we wore in the yokai hunting caravan. Next to him was a fatter man, wearing only the breastplate.

As soon as the opportunity presented itself, Anzen jumped forward and grabbed the fat soldier by the neck. As he struggled to keep the large samurai pacified, Anzen swung his dagger at the gruff man, but he was able to easily step out of range. Anzen couldn't move any closer to take out the gruff samurai without revealing himself to their entire party, so he was left unable to do anything.

As soon as the gruff man was back into the open and safe, he snatched the wooden horn from his waist and blew into it loudly. It was a good, quick effort from Anzen, but it didn't matter.

We were about to fight a very uphill battle.