Everything was happening so quickly. Between the Wild Men’s corruption, Ibaraki’s forced destruction of Oni Village, Shuten Douji’s possession, and the fact that Yugo knew who Zelos was, I hadn’t had an opportunity to process any of it. I’d been dreaming of the day I found the Horsemen again, anticipating what I’d do to them the moment I saw them. In my head, I’d created a version of events where I’d reach my peak power, find the Horsemen, and then pick them off individually. Life didn’t work like that. Why would the Horsemen wait for me to be strong enough to kill them? What sense did that make? This was reality. The reality where I’d been dreaming of getting my hands on the Horsemen, but I wasn’t nearly strong enough to act those dreams out. The reality where part of me was relieved that Shuten Douji was under Zelos’ control and not me.

I was sickened by that reality. Enraged by it. It was no surprise to me that Fallen Star felt the same way, but unlike any other time, I found myself unwilling to refute or argue with him.

“WE MUST DEFEAT THE ONI, THEN WE MUST CONSUME OUR PREY. THIS IS THE DAY WE HAVE ENDURED FOR. TONIGHT, WE FEAST.”

“Ibaraki!” Somnia cried.

We’d been running back to where Ibaraki and Shuten Douji had been fighting, but the fight didn’t go the way I’d assumed it would’ve based on the Level advantage Ibaraki had over his brother. The younger Oni was sprawled out on the forest floor, panting for dear life as his body fought to repair the deep slashes that crossed his chest like an X.

“Be… careful!” Ibaraki warned through heavy breaths. “Zelos did… something to him! He’s… like his… old self, just… angrier!”

“He isn’t his old self,” I corrected. “Zelos is making Shuten Douji say things against his will. Your brother’s still in there, but Zelos’ control can’t be overpowered.”

“So it that it?” Archie asked. “Do we have to…?”

I shook my head. “He’s still in there, but this isn’t a Wild Man situation where we can intimidate him or convince him to stop. He’s at Zelos’ mercy. The best we can do is knock him out.”

“But even that’s gonna take the rest of our power…” Archie noted.

“That doesn’t matter. We have no choice but to–”

”Outsiders!” A familiar voice called from the distance.

“Get down!” Somnia shouted, pulling Archie and me to the ground.

Mere moments after we ducked, a horizontal wave of aura sliced through the air where we’d been standing. It zipped past us, cutting trees in half with ease. Shuten Douji stood a few meters away from us with a longsword drawn instead of his spiked club. His eyes went wide as a wicked grin tugged at his lips.

“I didn’t think a human could dodge my Spacial Rends. Impressive!”

“His body is covered in hundreds of mini versions of those ‘Spacial Rends’” Somnia whispered to us as she sank to a battle stance. She continued as we did the same. “He’s shielding himself with them. If you try to get close, he’ll shred you to pieces.”

“So it’s a ranged game,” Archie mused. He leaned closer to me, not taking his eyes off of Shuten Douji. “Let’s see how good that poison is, Rui. I go left, you go right.”

“Got it.”

I kicked off at the same time as Archie, leaving Somnia to defend Ibaraki’s body. Shuten Douji widened his stance, prepared to meet us head-on despite being guarded by those invisible aura slashes. I closed the distance by taking a page out of General Viard’s book, [REINFORCING] my body and bouncing from the ground to the trees faster than Shuten Douji could register. Archie, meanwhile, ran straight for him as a means of capturing his attention.

The moment I reached Shuten Douji’s right flank, I deactivated the [REINFORCE] buff and charged Poison-Attuned Aura in my hands. At the same time, Archie summoned Lochness in her bipedal form in Shuten Douji’s left blindspot while he continued to run straight for him. Archie clapped, and I unleashed a wave of Poison-Attuned Aura at Shuten Douji just as Lochness blasted him with his High-Pressure Blast.

”17% damage!” Archie shouted. “And .77% damage over time from the poison. We’re doing good!”

Indeed, our attacks combined to envelop Shuten Douji in a purplish-white puff of smoke. When the smoke cleared, though, Shuten Douji stood tall – just as he’d been doing before the hits landed.

“Good?” Shuten Douji grinned, dusting himself off. “Good is leaving a physical mark on your opponent after an attack. Good is instilling fear with a single strike. You humans are amateur at best.” He chinned at Archie. “This is how you use Water-Attuned Aura, child.”

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Shuten Douji swiped his arm up and across his body, summoning an aura slash as tall as a man and as wide as one of the trees in this very forest. It moved faster than Archie could dodge, which left him no choice but to guard against it. The attack sent him flying into the distance, colliding with a nearby tree with considerable force. He then focused his attention on me.

“Remember this, boy: Fire is the enemy of poison. Futakuchi-Onna wasn’t practiced enough to know that, and I’ve used this fact to best her many times. Allow me to demonstrate.”

He snapped his fingers, summoning a heat haze around his body that detonated a few moments after it appeared, burning away the lingering puff of poison that’d been surrounding him. Just as I’d expected, he launched a Fire-Attuned version of the massive slash he launched at Archie. Just like Archie, I wasn’t fast enough to dodge it. I managed to stay on my feet, but the attack sent me flying a few meters back beside Somnia.

Now that the fight had begun, Shuten Douji refused to let up. He continued to launch those elemental Aura Slashes at us, occasionally switching it up and shooting them off as fireballs or waterballs that’d detonate before they reached us. As dangerous as it was, I’d been left with no choice but to use [REINFORCE] to give myself the speed to dodge him. Somnia, meanwhile, was forced to abandon Ibaraki and prioritize her survival; guarding herself with her Aura Armor technique to negate the damage whenever she got struck. Archie faired no better, working in tandem with Lochness to distract Shuten Douji long enough to Somnia and me get a few hits in. It was a strategy, but it wasn’t enough to win us the fight.

There was a glimmer of hope, however, in his Spacial Rend technique. Whenever he’d cast it, he wasn’t able to use any other aura-laced technique for about ten seconds. It was a small window, but it was something. Somnia was the only one who could see his Spacial Rends, so I used that knowledge to formulate a true counterattack.

“Somnia, I need you to get close to him and get him to use a Spacial Rend. Once you do that, I’ll have Archie debuff him with Intimidate and I’ll follow it up with some Poison Manipulation! Once he’s poisoned we need to pelt him with as many attacks as we can fit into that ten-second window, got it?”

”Got it!” Somnia and Archie shouted in unison.

Thankfully, the plan went smoothly. The moment we broke, I took my position at his right flank while Archie ran for his left where Lochness had been. Somnia, meanwhile, ran straight for him with aura charging in her fists. Just as I’d predicted, he sliced his sword at the air – the only visible indication that he’d used his Spacial Rend technique. Somnia slipped under the attack and clapped, the signal for me to again blast Shuten Douji with my Poison-Attuned Aura. I conjured a plume of smoke to envelop the Oni as I awaited Archie’s next signal.

“It connected! .77% damage over time!”

We all kicked off at the same time, Archie and I landing [WRAITH STRIKES] on either side of Shuten Douji’s face while Somnia pelted him with an unnaturally fast barrage of punches laced with Fire-Attuned Aura. The three of us continued to attack him with everything we had in us while Shuten Douji unsuccessfully tried to recover from the sudden onslaught. I counted aloud, and the moment I reached ten we split off from him as the Oni immediately launched a Fire-Attuned Aura Slash at us.

”How much damage did we do…?” I asked through heavy breaths. As much as I liked the plan, I only had so much energy.

“22%,” Archie confirmed. “Four more and we’re in the home stretch. Let’s catch our breath and–”

“Do you see?!” Shuten Douji boomed. “That was good!”

Shuten Douji was covered in cuts, bruises, and blood from our attack. He smiled wide, looking over the three of us as he sheathed his sword.

Is it over? Is he surrendering?

If only it were that simple…

“I shall honor you noble three by revealing to you my strongest technique, taught to me by my father. It is named “Lightning”, and should you survive it, I will consider you three worthy enough to be considered Oni!”

“Shit.” Archie cursed.

That was the last thing I heard before the sky opened up, revealing a hole in the ozone. I didn’t have any time to react before being blinded by a sudden flash of light, followed by pain that felt like being stabbed through every hole in my body. All three of us screamed in agony as our bodies were struck over and over by the pulses of light, ending only when we were attacked by an unseeable, undodgeable Spacial Rend.

When my vision returned, I found myself lying face-down on the forest floor. Beside me, Archie had been doing the same while Somnia struggled in vain to rise to her feet, staring up at… Ibaraki? What was he doing up?

“I managed to debuff him before he attacked you, but I had to choose between buffing you guys or healing you. I chose healing, but it isn’t instant. It’ll take five minutes for you all to return to battle condition.”

A sea of unfamiliar chants and battle cries sounded from every direction, all repeating the same phrase: “We fight for Oni Village”. In the farther distance, another voice cried out, somehow even louder than the chanting Oni.

“God Queen Somnia!” General Denk wailed. “I’m here! I’m ready to fight just like you said!”

“Ghh,” Somnia grunted. “Good to… have you… back.”

“Have them take you to Oni Village,” Ibaraki said to Somnia. “The Oni have informed me that it’s… relatively safe. Zelos’ control is slipping, but he hasn’t let up on Shuten just yet. Once you all are healed, I need you all back here.”

“Sir yes… sir…” Archie groaned, turning over and weakly raising a hand to his forehead.

“We’ll be… back,” I managed to say through the pain.

“Perfect.” Ibaraki nudged to two nearby Oni. “Take them back to the Village and make sure they’re protected.” He turned to the other Oni surrounding him. “Now, men, to me!”