Shuten Douji had his hands full. Between his terrified little brother and the truth of General Denk’s “betrayal”, he had about five minutes to solve two problems at once. So, he started with the easiest to tackle: General Denk’s “betrayal”.
He hadn’t led them to the Wild Man Colony proper. That’d been evident about thirty minutes into the trip when he’d realized that the man had been walking them in one massive circle. The reason Shuten Douji didn’t consider this an outright betrayal, though, was the motive behind this decision. General Denk wanted to keep his people safe. He knew this because he’d had a few of his spies tail Denk and watched as he ordered his men to call the Generals to one of the Wild Man Strongholds. However, saying they “called” the Generals was inaccurate. It was more accurate to say they goaded the Generals into showing up. It’d worked, because Wild Men were easy to provoke, and General Denk had been delaying their envoy until he’d received a message that the plan was a success.
I’ll let you live, Wild Man.
Shuten Douji wasn’t sure how Somnia would react to Denk’s deception. Would she kill him? Would she spare him? And how would she react to hearing that Shuten Douji was aware of this and said nothing? If it were the Somnia from a few minutes ago, she’d probably challenge him! That thought was made him laugh. Somnia Galerose had the heart of an Oni. Sure, she let her Inner Demon run wild at times, but it was important for children to do that! Maybe then, Rui could take lessons on controlling his? He really could’ve killed everybody back there!
I don’t envy you one bit, Yug–
”Are you even paying attention?!” Ibaraki stammered. “That guy is gonna kill me!”
He hadn’t been, because Ibaraki eclipsed him in power. The two of them eclipsed everyone here in terms of power. Indeed, Shuten and Ibaraki Douji floated above the trees overlooking the Wild Man Colony - the real Wild Man Colony, where the majority of the population lived. In eras passed, Shuten Douji would’ve obliterated every last one of them for attempting to challenge him. Nowadays, he had Galeroses and Mamoru to watch out for. He needed to be mindful of the damage he caused.
“Ibaraki, you are on your way to Level 500. In a few years, you’re going to be leading the Silent Hand’s Combat Sector. I can’t have you cowering before enemies so far beneath you.”
Ibaraki looked down at the trees beneath them. “Is now the time for jokes?!”
Shuten Douji shook his head. Yugo had a point: Exposing students to tough battles was important for their confidence and strength-building. The only issue was finding opponents strong enough for Ibaraki to face! Below them, General Flix cursed them from the center of a stage in the Wild Man Colony that looked a bit like one of those foreign “basketball” courts minus the hoops. Shuten Douji pointed down at the puny Wild Man.
“Ibaraki, stop this.” Shuten Douji grabbed his brother by the wrist. “We’re starting.”
“No! But his men are all over! We can’t–”
“I’m going to spar with him, then you’re going to kill him. And I want you to call out the Combat Rules while I do them, alright?”
“Like training?”
“Just like training.”
With that, he descended beneath the trees and into the heart of Wild Man civilization. Thousands of Wild Men stared at them from their round, clay houses with varied looks of shock and awe. General Flix, meanwhile, looked up at them with undisguised rage.
“You bloody ingrates! Keep your feet planted on the damn ground!”
Shuten Douji was too old to let his Inner Demon speak for him like Somnia. That didn’t mean it liked being talked down to by a mere Wild Man.
The things we do for family.
The Oni brothers touched down on the wood-paneled ground of this public stage a few meters away from General Flix. They were surrounded by Wild Men both affiliated and unaffiliated with the man. Wordlessly, Shuten Douji chinned at Ibaraki to step away from him and Flix to leave them room for battle.
“Seems you bloody Oni have enough sense to listen!” Flix barked, lunging at Shuten Douji with the last word. Interestingly, General Flix fought with a bit more practice than most other Wild Men. Rather than striking recklessly, he straightened his hands and formed blades out of them, slashing at Shuten Douji with practiced precision. Just because he was precise didn’t mean he was skilled, however. Shuten Douji danced around Flix’s slashes with ease.
“Step One,” Ibaraki said, speaking as though reading from a book. “Analyze your opponent.”
Shuten Douji backstepped a thrusting strike, leaving a gap of about ten meters between himself and Flix. The General sneered as Shuten Douji unsheathed his sword. He didn’t disrespect himself by bringing out his Mythical sword, but that didn’t mean he brought a cheap one, either.
With practiced grace, Shuten Douji slashed once at the air, then sheathed his sword. General Flix stared at him with clear confusion before suddenly bursting into laughter.
“What the hell are you aiming at? Don’t tell me I already broke— aargh!”
Flix’s arm flew off. Behind him, a row of trees suddenly had a diagonal, seven-meter-tall slash running through it. Shuten Douji’s “Spacial Rend” technique was developed in direct response to Futakuchi-Onna’s Aura Slashes. While hers was visible due to the Poison-Attuned Aura that powered it, Shuten Douji’s was far more graceful – hiding the attack by using Unattuned Aura to complete it. How could an opponent dodge an attack they can’t see coming?
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As Flix screamed, Shuten Douji turned to his brother. “Why did I do that?”
“Ah! To see how he reacts when backed into a corner!”
“Good. Now, Step Two.”
“You gray-skinned son of a bitch!” Flix roared, suddenly surging with aura as he charged at Shuten Douji.
“Step Two: Assess the opponent’s strengths and weaknesses.”
Flix lunged at Shuten Douji like an angry cat. Shuten Douji grabbed him by the head and threw him in the distance like a children’s ball. He returned quickly, charging at him with fists covered in aura. Flix morphed the aura to be drill-like, though slightly thinner and sharper than Shuten Douji would’ve expected.
Shuten Douji decided to let Flix attack him. For Ibaraki’s sake. Flix’s drill-hands pierced him through the shoulder and stomach. He’d heal from those attacks within seconds, but Shuten Douji played into the pain for one crucial reason.
“Tell me,” Shuten Douji said, ignoring the repeated stabs from Flix. “What are Flix’s strengths and weaknesses?”
“He’s adaptable, but he… he doesn’t… defend himself…”
The words sounded more like a realization than an answer. Like he knew he could beat Flix if they got into a fight. Shuten Douji smiled and grabbed Flix by the wrist.
“Step Three,” Shuten Douji smiled.
“Counter!”
Ibaraki had many techniques he’d been born with, but only one that inflicted physical damage. His first two were a powerful buff and debuff. The next was a healing skill that fully replenished a person’s health and quickened their aura regeneration. His last, the damaging one, was “Hellstorm”.
“Use Debilitate on Flix and Heat Riser on yourself. Once you have a clear shot, hit him with Hellstorm!”
“You sure?” Ibaraki asked. “It might hurt us!”
He isn’t scared it’ll fail. He’s just scared he’ll get hit by it. That’s progress.
“You don’t think I’m fast enough to get us out of the way before it lands? Do it!”
Shuten Douji threw Flix into the far distance once again, but instead, he prepared a Blaze to follow up with. He would’ve used Hydro, but that would’ve killed Flix – and he wanted Ibaraki to do that. Thunder would’ve killed him as well, and would’ve likely harmed Ibaraki and himself with the collateral. Blaze was strong, but it was slow enough that it could be dodged while also putting some fear in Flix’s heart.
He shot the massive fireball at the puny Wild Man, who cried out in terror just before it struck him.
“Men! T-to me!”
To Shuten Douji’s surprise, Flix had his men take that Blaze! It detonated on impact, killing no less than a hundred Wild Men in one go…
…Which reminded him of Ibaraki. He’d indeed buffed himself and had been charging a full-powered Hellstorm to rain down on Flix. In reality, it was complete overkill. He wanted Ibaraki to see how completely he could destroy his enemies so that his fear of being killed by them would vanish. His father taught him the same way, and Shuten Douji was passing the man’s teachings. The difference between Shuten Douji and his little brother, though, was that Shuten Douji was Level 80 when he’d learned that lesson. Ibaraki was… beyond Level 400. And buffed.
“I-Ibaraki,” Shuten Douji tried. “I think–”
“I’ve got it, Shuten! I can kill him! He’s no match for me! I don’t know why I was even scared!”
Ah, shit.
Shuten Douji forced a laugh while Wild Men scrambled for their lives all around Ibaraki. “Y-you’re damn right, Ibaraki! Show him what you’re made of!”
Ibaraki did exactly that. Portals to a pitch-black void opened above the arena at odd intervals. At first, there were two, then six, then twelve, then twenty. Red, Fire-Attuned Aura formed into balls in each portal. All the while, Ibaraki stared down at Flix like the worm he was with his palms over his head facing the sky.
Since when did he need to use his hands for the tech– crap!
Shuten Douji grabbed his brother and floated into the sky at the same time Ibaraki brought his hands crashing down. Neither of them looked down, only because they had been focused on covering their eyes from the leaves and branches on their ascent.
“That was amazing! I think my Inner Demon started working because I felt like I was being controlled by something powerful and–” Ibaraki looked down. “Oh… Oh… Oh, shit! This is bad! This is really bad! Somnia’s gonna hate me! Shuten, what should we do?!”
Shuten Douji looked down to find… nothing. Absolutely nothing. Nothing but a crater and some dust. In the distance, cars traveling along an Azuma Saikyojin roadway in an empty field came to a screeching halt as they observed Ibraki’s handiwork. In the far distance, Shuten Douji made out a few flying Mythical creatures changing course away from the explosion. On the ground, various weaker Curse species came running towards the explosion. Shuten Douji shared an awkward look with his brother.
How many Wild Men are left…? This was where most of them lived…
Shuten Douji had no moral qualms about wiping them out. He’d exterminated plenty in his lifetime. He’d even recalled sharing stories of such conquests with the first Galerose Matriarch! But this wasn’t the past. This kind of damage attracted the Mamoru Clan. It attracted the Galeroses. And lucky for him, “God Queen” Somnia was a few ways away.
“Show no fear, Ibaraki. You are an Oni. This was a display worthy of a Douji!” Shuten Douji declared, doing his best to hide his nerves. Even if he had to work around an absolute minefield, he didn’t want to discourage his brother’s growth.
“You think so?” Ibaraki smiled. “Once I realized I could do it, it was easy.”
Shuten Douji smiled. “That’s good.”
“And what about Somnia? Do you think she’ll look at me differently–”
“Follow my lead.”
“...What?”
“When we see Somnia, follow my lead. We’ll figure this out together.”
“But I thought you said she’d like me if I was stronger? I’m an Oni! A Douji!”
Shuten Douji cursed himself.
ONI MAJORITY. 75% CONVERSION(?)
*WARNING: SIGNIFICANT POPULATION CHANGE DETECTED.*