How can one survive in a world that does not know the word "mercy"? A magical version of a world so akin to Feudal Japan - could there be a place even more ruthless in its essence?

Stas Ordyntsev has embraced the rules of the game and, with all his mercilessness, is bending this world to his will. Where strength failed, cunning and cynicism will find a way. And of the latter, our hero has in abundance.

***

"How delightful. I am very glad you decided to stay," the yokai smiled with relief. It was evident that Stas's sincere desire to spend more time with her touched the spirit of the demonic girl. "It's been a long time since I've had such a pleasant conversation. It's such a new, unexplored feeling, just talking to someone. Unlike everyone else, you're not afraid of me. Yes, you're wary and always on guard, but not afraid…"

The spirit's nose quivered amusingly, as if she were diligently sniffing at something.

"Moreover, I don't know how to express this, but you're different," the girl moved closer. "I can't understand it," she got so close that Stas could see his reflection in those black, bottomless eyes. "You behave, speak, and even smell differently…"

"Lady, please control yourself," Ordyntsev said firmly, looking straight into the eyes of death itself. Everything inside him clenched into a tight knot, but he endured the gaze of the otherworldly entity and did not look away.

"You're so cruel, Shiro-kun, you're breaking my heart," the yokai rolled her eyes, but to the immense relief of the earthling, she finally moved away.

'Who knows what goes on in that ghostly head of hers, but her mood changes almost every minute. I need to distract her with something quickly.'

"Lady," Stas got the yokai's attention. "Have you ever thought about choosing a name for yourself? It feels a bit impolite not to even know how to address you."

"Indeed, how did I not think of that?" the girl frowned. "Even though I've remembered my past, my thoughts are still confused."

The yokai traced her finger where her lips would be under the scarf.

"Decided!" she clapped her hands joyfully. "Shiro-kun, I grant you the privilege of naming me. It's a great honor, so be thankful. It's a sign of great favor towards you."

Only the gods knew the effort it took Ordyntsev to maintain a neutral expression and not show the sarcasm that had built up over the past one and a half months.

'Rightly did they say that initiative does its initiator dirtily. Why didn't I think of another way to distract her?'

"Lady, I must confess, naming is not my strong suit. Therefore, I would like to..."

"I don't care," the yokai dismissed him, prompting Stas to sigh heavily.

"Alright then," Stanislav said, remembering all the Japanese names and titles from his old world and the current one. "How about... Amaterasu?"

"Hee-hee-hee," the spirit giggled, covering her face with her hands. "To give a yokai the name of the Sun Goddess, that's very bold and decisive of you, but I must decline. I don't want us to be scorched by the first ray of the sun that comes our way."

"I told you it's not so easy," Stas grumbled, involuntarily causing another bout of merriment. Who knew that even here, the goddess Amaterasu was known?

"How about Madara? When I look at you, I can vividly see how this majestic name suits you. It truly embodies you and your actions."

"You seem to be telling the truth," the yokai narrowed her eyes suspiciously, sensing a catch. "But you're not telling the whole truth. I feel too much blood, fire, and death in that name. I don't like it. I want another name!"

'Curse my loose tongue.'

"Well, what about Kaede?" asked Stas, not really hoping for much. By that point, they had gone through a dozen names, and Ordyntsev was starting to concede defeat.

"Hmm," the spirit girl pondered for the first time. "And what does it mean?"

"I have no idea," Stas said bluntly. "I've heard the name somewhere. As for the meaning, it's not important. It's not the name that makes the person, but the person the name."

"What beautiful words, Shiro-kun," the yokai admired, causing Ordyntsev to grimace again. "Oh, you're quite the poet. And the name... I like it. Now I am Kaede!"

"Congratulations," the earthling's voice easily conveyed relief. "Now that we've settled that, I do have a couple of questions. Are you ready to answer them, Kaede-san?"

"Ready, ask away," the yokai nodded agreeably.

Ordyntsev mentally nodded to himself. His suffering had not been in vain after all. He was planning to glean as much knowledge as possible about the mystic side of this world from this situation.

Since he had decided to master the local magic and the principles of rejuvenation, what could be better than a conversation with a being straight from beyond the veil of death?

"Just to clarify, if you really don't like my questions, please just warn me the first time. No need to immediately eat me, tear me apart, or bite off body parts," Stas paused, letting his words sink in.

"You can be so boring sometimes, Shiro-kun! I already said I won't eat you," Kaede snorted. "Bring on your questions. I can't wait to hear them."

"Then the first question," Ordyntsev's face was expressionless. He wasn't trying to play with his interlocutor, understanding that his honesty was one of the reasons he was still alive. Moreover, she had seen too much when he was manipulating the servants and the guard. "How did it happen that you were staying in that corridor for so long? Where were you at that moment? Were you invisible?"

"What an interesting question," Kaede mused seriously. "I don't know how to explain it. It was as if I was asleep, watching everything that was happening around me with open eyes. Sometimes, I would wake up, but I didn't feel like doing anything or going anywhere. Only occasionally would anger awaken in me, and I would catch those who walked through my corridor."

'How curious. It's easy to guess that civilization could not have lasted long if things were different. Hordes of evil spirits invading the lives of ordinary people is not what one is eager to see. It seems most spirits lead a vegetative existence in the places where they were born. Yet my arrival broke this system. The question is why?'

"Do you feel the need to feed? Do you require sentient beings to continue existing?" Stas inquired professionally, feeling like a psychologist in a session with a problematic patient.

"No," the yokai shook her head. "I don't need it. Sometimes, I would remember something from my past life and be overwhelmed with hatred. Then I would forget about it again."

"But now you don't forget anymore?" Stas noted an important point.

"Yes," the spirit nodded contentedly. "Now I can comprehend that my past existence was as if in a fog. I didn't think much and hardly went anywhere. I would sink into the depths of the world and occasionally emerge from there. But your scent, Shiro-kun, woke me from sleep."

"Scent?" Stas frowned. He had heard this mentioned before. The man doubted it had to do with physical odors.

"Yes," Kaede confirmed cheerfully. "You stand out in both the spirit and physical worlds. Wherever you go, this foreignness doesn't fade away. That 'scent' immediately intrigued me."

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"Does this mean," Stas began slowly, feeling he wouldn't like the answer. "That every yokai I meet will sense this foreignness?"

"Mm, tough question. Maybe," the girl's frivolous answer made Stas frown deeply. "But I think only yokai of my strength or stronger will definitely feel it."

Ordyntsev relaxed a bit; he had already imagined an endless swarm of spirits, demons, and other mystical creatures of this world trailing behind him like a cloak, all wanting to talk and discuss their issues.

Being a magnet and, at the same time, a psychologist for bloodthirsty and fickle spiritual entities was a dubious prospect.

Ordyntsev struggled to decide what he would say to a deadly skeleton the size of a small castle that loved killing, spreading plague, famine, and even minor natural disasters.

"Tell me," Stas decided to conduct one last check of a theory. "My snake, Leviathan. Does she also have this 'scent'?"

Kaede turned and looked somewhere down and to the side. And Stas had no doubt that the spirit was looking directly at his faithful snake - through all the wooden structures and dozens of meters of empty space between them.

"You know, Shiro-kun, you're right! She also has a similar scent. You never cease to amaze me. Where are you from? No, don't tell me, I want to guess for myself…"

At that moment, Stas wasn't really listening to his interlocutor's babble. The man was processing one strange and somewhat frightening fact.

'So my arrival didn't come without consequences? Does this mean that I really possess some kind of foreignness to this world? Some energy akin to magical radiation? Or was it the method of transportation? Or perhaps rejuvenation played a role? Damn, so many questions and so few answers.'

"Kaede-san," Stas forced himself to discard pointless thoughts and return to the conversation. "Please tell me about the monks. I was told that you drove them away when they came to exorcise you. Is that true?"

"Stupid baldies," the girl snorted, crossing her arms. "I was peacefully sleeping and bothering no one when they started their rituals. I didn't even have time to come to my senses before I was thrown into the real world and slammed into their barriers. Well, I got angry."

"Could you go into more detail about the rituals and barriers?" Stas inquired eagerly, even leaning forward a bit. "Do you remember what they looked like?" Ordyntsev wasn't particularly interested in the fate of the unlucky ones who decided to compete in strength with a bloodthirsty yokai.

"As if I had nothing better to do than to memorize their scribbles. I was chasing them all over the palace. I remember they drew some symbols on the floor, set up smoking candles and chanted mantras. But their singing hardly affected me, and they had almost no spiritual power."

"Spiritual power?" Stas perked up, previously disappointed.

"Yes," the yokai looked at him quizzically. "We, yokai, are almost entirely made of it. And you humans usually have only a smattering of it. Just a tiny bit, splashing at the bottom. However, sometimes, some of you have a bit more, which allows you to influence our world. Still," the yokai waved dismissively. "You are weaker than us."

"So in a fight between a spirit and a strong... um, owner of spiritual power," Stas chose his words carefully. "Would the spirit invariably win?"

"Not necessarily," Kaede grimaced, shaking her head. "You humans like to play dirty. Those monks had accumulated a lot of their power in amulets and rings, candles, and chalk for drawing ritual circles. If they had been stronger and more experienced, I could have lost and moved on to reincarnation."

'I see,' Stas nodded along with his thoughts. 'So yokai rely more on their personal power, while monks and, presumably, onmyodo, due to a lack of power, rely on aids and advance preparation. By the way, I need to inquire about the way of onmyodo sorcery.'

Ordyntsev underscored this important information in his memory, then noted a few inconsistencies.

"Kaede-san, how do you know about how spiritual powers work, as well as all the rest? Yes, you could have noticed some things on your own, but not everything."

"I don't know," the girl shrugged nonchalantly. "I somehow know some things from birth. I never thought about it."

'Intuitive control of one's powers, plus access to some information repository of this world. What is it? The only thing that comes to mind is the so-called noosphere. Given the presence of actual spirits around, I wouldn't be surprised. Though noosphere is too scholarly a name, something like 'astral plane' would be more fitting. I wonder if the local clergy have been able to answer this question? It would be interesting to rummage through their records... After I learn to read.' The last thought made the man's head ache.

"Can you tell how much spiritual energy I have?" Ordyntsev couldn't help asking.

"Of course, why not?" Kaede's eyes fixed somewhere deep in his forehead. A few seconds of silence followed, after which the girl shook her head.

"I'm sorry, Shiro-kun, but you have only slightly more spiritual energy than an ordinary person. That's not enough to touch the spirit world."

"I understand." Stas wasn't too disappointed. One cannot be the best at everything all at once. It was already a miracle that he had the local prana. And for that, he was grateful to whatever had brought him here.

Yes, he could be killed at any moment, but the prospects and future discoveries outweighed any risks. He was like Columbus, before whom lay not just the vast expanses of a couple of continents, but of an entire new world. And most importantly, he had no competitors who could snatch away his discoveries and successes!

"Lady," Ordyntsev nodded and glanced at the curious yokai looking at him. "My next question, or rather a request, may seem offensive, but I apologize in advance. Could you show your face without the scarf? If it doesn't offend your feelings, that is." He spoke the last part very quickly as if anticipating someone's lunge.

The yokai froze as she looked at him with a very uncomfortable, unblinking stare.

'It seems, Prince, you'll have to get out of this on your own,' Stas thought with a bit of fatalism, calculating whether he could jump out the window. Of course, it was the fourth floor, but the chances of survival were still higher. 'Damn curiosity. Always gets me into trouble. Knew I shouldn't have asked.'

"I thought you'd never ask." The mask of death was instantly swept away by the amusement of the teasing yokai. "Then behold my splendor!"

Slowly, the yokai began unwrapping the scarf. After the tenth loop, Stas suspected that she was openly mocking him. The scarf just couldn't be wrapped so many times.

An attempt to estimate the length of the remaining fabric only confirmed his suspicions, as it hadn't even changed.

Kaede, noticing that Stas understood the joke, became more serious and, with one smooth motion, finally removed the scarf, revealing her face.

Ordyntsev's gaze was drawn to the bright red inviting lips, the sharply defined chin and cheekbones, and, finally, the wide slashes where the cheeks should be.

As if the girl's face were crossed by a long, mocking smile made by something so sharp that the cheeks were pierced through and through. By the looks of the wounds, Stas could tell that they seemed old. On the other hand, what could be said for sure about the physiology of mystical beings?

The yokai's lips parted, and from them emerged a pinkish, excessively long tongue, which erotically ran along the entire length of the slash.

Ordyntsev, though, involuntarily assessed the length of the noticeably enlarged fangs and the overall sharpness of the teeth.

"I am beautiful, am I?" the spirit inquired with an alluring tone, arching seductively and batting her eyelashes.

Ordyntsev said nothing and showed no opinion on the matter. He simply tilted his head to the side and looked reproachfully into the eyes of the brazen undead.

For ten seconds she held on, but then the smile fell from her lips, turning into disappointedly pursed lips.

"It's no fun with you. I just asked for your opinion. I wouldn't have done anything to you anyway."

The problem was that Stas felt the yokai sitting before him was deceiving. The lack of interaction had played a cruel joke on her, and Ordyntsev could read her too well, even though she was long dead and no longer considered human.

"But that's not all, is it?" the yokai looked surprised at the calmly speaking man. "From how you changed your hand earlier, I can tell that this appearance isn't the only one. Am I right? Could you show me your second form, if it doesn't hurt your feelings and doesn't lead to my death?"

"You know how to persuade women, Shiro-kun," the demoness's eyes twinkled. "If you want it so much, I'm willing to show you. This process is, you could say, intimate. So far, no one who has seen THEM has managed to live for even a couple of dozen minutes."

Obeying the will of the yokai, her face began to melt, as her hand had done before. Only this time, it was just the lower half of her face that moved, transforming into something very, very toothy.

'So many teeth,' Stas felt almost no fear, as curiosity completely overrode all his senses. 'In reality, a person couldn't exist with such a bite. Indeed, she wouldn't even be able to fully close or open her mouth.'

The slashes on her cheeks, as well as the cheeks themselves, disappeared. They were replaced by even rows of dagger-like teeth that seemed to go almost from ear to ear.

Each tooth was so white it gleamed in the light pouring into the room.

In fact, in this form, all of Kaede's teeth were sharp fangs.

Moreover, they fit so tightly together that when the mouth was closed, they formed a bona fide bone wall.

Suddenly, while Stas was examining her, the yokai began to clap her hands happily.

"I knew you wouldn't be scared, Shiro-kun!"

At Ordyntsev's quizzical look, she gestured toward her "smile." Interestingly, the teeth, clearly not meant for speaking, didn't hinder her ability to talk.

Remarkably, her speech did not sound in Stas's head, which would have suggested telepathy. No, it came through the air, even though that seemed physically impossible.

"You're indifferent to my appearance," Kaede returned to her previous smile. "Your heartbeat hasn't accelerated, and I don't feel your fear. You find me intriguing, but I don't sense any ill intent from you. I definitely made the right decision to talk to you, healer-kun. It was a pleasure chatting with you."

With those words, something clicked outside the door, causing Stas to momentarily glance away from the yokai. When he looked back, the spirit was gone.

'I'm beginning to understand old man James Gordon. This is indeed irritating.'

Ordyntsev considered ending his training for the day, but since the sun was still high, he stood up and continued accelerating his prana.

The familiar stance and a sharp hand strike.

The prana, having trembled, began to move. At first, it moved slowly, but gradually, its speed increased more and more, while the air was cut by determined strikes.

'I will master the local magic at all costs, or I'm not Stas Ordyntsev!'