Jujustu Kaisen has its problems. Their commitment to jumping the enemy and group beatdowns is not one of them. It was always Naruto that was weird on that one. Early on they stressed the importance of teamwork, and then? Straight solo battles. Even Shikamaru, who really should have known better.

Me? I couldn’t run the ones even if I wanted to. And I don’t.

Miuki nailed the sallow faced man to the wall with a long arrow through the gut. He started screaming and thrashing, revealing the triple row of triangular teeth inside his mouth. His hands shedded off his forearms, revealing bone sickles. Sickles he used to rip himself open, trying to escape the whistling arrow lodged in him.

Hard to say if it was the arrow or the screaming that made the other demons bolt from the shack. One went through a window, the other just punched through the back wall. The fellow who went through the window landed directly in a trap Rikka set, destroying his feet. Before his reverse jointed knees could hit the ground, Rakim put four rounds into his chest. Dead before he even saw who was killing him.

The last, an orcish, or maybe Oni-ish, looking lady lashed out wildly with an iron club as she ran out the back. There were still scraps of meat hanging from it.

“VERMIN!”

Versai’s shield came smashing down on the Oni. I thought the Oni would block it- she had that huge iron club up, and had dropped into an overhead parry position really cleanly. I’m not sure which of us were more surprised when Versai blew right through the guard and smashed the edge of her shield into the demon’s head.

Probably the Oni. It got knocked down so hard, the dust rose two feet in the air. Versai’s sword whipped around in a wide circle, and a jet of blood soaked the ground. A flick of her blade to remove the blood, a quick wipe on the Oni’s clothes body to get any lingering blood off, and then a casual sheathing of the blade that somehow looked more ruthless than her holding it.

Versai extended a dainty iron-shod foot out, rolled the big head over and flicked it up in the air like she was trying out for varsity soccer. She snatched it out of the air by the horn.

“What’s the total?” She asked.

“Ninety flat.” I was standing next to the wheelbarrows and porters. One hundred heads takes up more space than you would think, and Yoko was absolutely adamant that we couldn’t just pile them up in her yard. Which is absurd. I’m convinced she has cut a deal with the local laborers, because there were three guys with carts just down the path. All free in the middle of the night, and willing to work for ten Runed Bones each.

“Nice.” Versai tossed the head into a waiting cart with a casual flick of the wrist. There were two more bangs and the screaming arrow died down. Rikka roughly chopped the head off and added it to the pile. We had all gotten very used to this kind of work.

“Let's see if there is anything inside.” I sighed.

“Hasn’t been any of the other times.” Versai muttered.

“I know, I know, but you don’t know if you don’t look, right?”

The hut was quite bare. Some futons on straw mats, a fire pit, a stack of empty bowls. I thought there would be gnawed bones or something for ambiance, but… nope. Just emptiness and sadness. You could see the mats had been put as far as possible from each other. They were sharing the hut, but there was no love there.

No secret compartments. No creepy symbols or eerie statues. Just emptiness. Just hunger in its many forms.

“Rikka-” How exactly do I ask this? “Mrs. Hungry said there was a war and a famine outside the mountain, and that there wasn’t much food on the mountain either. Is that right?”

Rikka nodded, the long ponytail bobbing. I’ve really been trying to not fixate on how my summons look, but damn did the “Sporty Ninja” thing work for her.

“But I’m not seeing any food. Like, not just not enough, zero food.”

She nodded again.

“How does that work? I mean, people have to eat something and if there is nothing to eat, they have to go somewhere else, right? Nobody’s going to wait around to die.”

She looked away and crossed her arms. I waited, but she didn’t budge.

“Miyuki?” But my lovely ninja sniper acted like she was deaf.

I don’t think it was game weirdness. This smacked of something else I smelled a mystery. Which meant that I was on the trail of the plot! I rubbed my hands together and laughed.

“Moohoohahaha!”

“Oh God, it’s a brain worm isn’t it?”

“Versai, I swear to Toriyama-”

“Last one?” I whispered to Rikka. She nodded. From what I picked up, killing a hundred demons was considered a significant amount, but was a long, long way from all the demons.

We were set up outside the demon’s lair. Which was an ordinary shack. The thatch probably needed replacing. Might be a touch of rot where the walls rested on the ground. There was a little woodpile next to the door, and a few stones making a little path up to the door. There really wasn’t anything that stood out about the place. But Miyuki and Rikka were looking at the shack like it was the final castle of the Dark Lord.

“What kind of demon is it?” I asked.

“It isn’t a demon. It’s a Hollow Person.”

“Which is… basically a human?”

“On the outside. You will see, if we fail to kill it instantly.” Rikka kept her voice to a barely audible whisper, her hand thoughtlessly curling around her Kunai.

“Well, Hell. Can we just burn this place down? I’m sure I saw some burning lamps at the Inn.”

Rikka just shook her head. I grunted, annoyed. I’ve watched enough Rainbow 6 playthroughs to know that the first to stick their head around a door is the first to get shot. Real operators go through the damn wall.

Actually… That works.

“These walls… woven bamboo and then you pack in dirt and plaster?” Come on historical anime, don’t fail me now! Peasant houses were built out of the absolute cheapest, lightest crap available, because everyone expected earthquakes and fires.

If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

“The plaster is dirt, My Lord.” Rikka nodded.

Thank you Lone Wolf and Cub, Usagi Yojimbo and Ninja Scroll! Two of you are useful right now, and one of you is Ninja Scroll. Mmm. Ninja Scroll. God, what a peak-

I coughed and carried on talking when I realized everyone was staring.

“So you could smash straight through it no problem.”

Rikka just blinked slowly at me. Clearly this was not computing.

“Versai, do you need to see the target for your discipline to work?”

“Pardon?” She blinked her 90%-sure-they-are-limpid eyes. “I really don't know. It’s intended to be used on things that are stronger than I am, physically, though there is a fair amount of flexibility there.”

“Yes, but do you have to see them to use it? Like what if they were on the other side of a curtain? Can you just launch yourself through the cloth and hope you hit something, or does the discipline lock on to the target somehow?”

She just shook her head. “Not a lot of curtains on battlefields nor dueling grounds.”

Versai was the only summon I had with me who had a shield. She was, by any measure, my best door kicker. The problem was that fighting in close quarters is damn nasty, and I really don’t like sending them somewhere I can’t see.

And Kim died when I isolated her group from the rest of the summons. I breathed through the moment. I can’t dwell on what happened to Kim. I can’t. I just… can’t. I need a head. This guy is apparently solo. Stop being weak and send them in.

“Rache, you are on the outer perimeter. Anyone tries to interfere, let us know. If our target runs, you harass and slow them down until we can catch up. Same as usual.”

“Chromed Lighting!”

“Indeed.” I am really curious about where she comes from. But I pressed on. “Rikka, you are scouting around back, making sure they can’t run out, or dive out a window or something.”

“The house has no windows.” Rikka sounded very certain.

“Oh?”

“They don’t see the point.”

Well that’s creepy.

“Alright, then you go in the stack too. Versai is in first. If you can launch Inherent Superiority at them through the wall, great. Do it. If not, kick in the door and rush the bastard. Get on him and stay on him. Rakim, you are second in. If you get a clear shot, take it. Rikka, you go in third. Your job is dealing with any Hollow Person weirdness that Versai and Rikka might have missed.”

They skulked up to the hut. I wouldn’t have heard them coming, but Rikka’s face was in a permanent state of wince. Versai lined her shield up, then looked over at me and shook her head. Damn. Well. To be expected, I suppose.

Versai kicked in the door, went storming in shield first, then went flying out again so fast, she smashed Rakim to the ground.

A peasant holding a spear walked out of the house. He didn’t have big muscles, or fangs, or an aura. In the dim light, he just looked normal. The spear struck like a snake after a wounded bird, trying to gut Rakim. Rakim got there first. The scout launched herself at his knees. I hadn’t seen her in the shadows at all. Neither had the peasant.

Didn’t stop him from smashing her face in with his knee. Did stop him from gutting Rakim. The spearhead skittered along the side of her belly, ripping away at her new outfit.

“I don’t understand why we are fighting.” He spoke calmly. “I’m sure we haven’t met before. My name is Saito.” The spear whipped up and around, smashing down like a mallet on Rikka. She stayed on him, trying to cut him, keep him off balance. The Hollow Person didn’t seem to mind.

“Do you like radishes? I do. I haven’t had a radish in a long time.” Rakim got her gun up and was firing from her back. The Hollow Person couldn’t possibly have known what a modern battle carbine looked like. Didn’t stop him from sidestepping quickly, moving to keep Rikka between him and the barrel. The spear didn’t stop moving either. It was like a living thing. Venomous. It didn’t have to land a lethal blow. Any blow would become lethal eventually.

The spear whipped down, biting at feet, slicing at thighs. Then a thrust forward at the chest, or gut, or even just the arms. Then a bone breaking smash at a wrist, then up again to tear a throat open. It wasn’t skill. It was convulsive power. The whole body driving the motion or forcing the spear to stop, reset, and attack again. Rikka got torn up trying to keep Rakim from losing her life. In six seconds, she very nearly lost her own.

“Vermin!” Versai came in hot. Her shield dragged her through the air like a comet. An omen of misfortune ready to crash down on the Hollow Man.

The man spun around, smacking Rikka with the butt of his spear as he readied himself for the attack. “Every morning I water my plant while I listen to the birds.” The thin body spasmed, and the spear shot forward. He aimed under the shield, looking to find Versai’s legs or guts.

In an instant he had disengaged from one enemy and launched a diabolical counter on someone ambushing him. No surprise, no fear, no hesitation. Able to use the full strength of his body without a thought for the damage he was taking. Making human noises, but the thought process was alien.

He was human, but wasn’t. Like something vital was missing from him. A Hollow Person. Mouthing the words he thought humans would say, mimicking human actions, without understanding the reasons.

Versai sneered and swept aside the spear with a lightning fast chop. Before she learned her speed hack, that might have worked. Her heavy round shield smashed into the Hollow Man, and this time he was the one to be knocked into the dirt.

Rikka fell on top of him, grabbing his spear arm and rolling it out. She arched her back and hyperextended the joint, then snapped it. Then drove her kunai into the elbow, making sure it would never work again. In the same instant, Rakim walked six rounds up his body, from crotch to neck.

They froze, waiting. Watching. Rakim’s finger twitched on the trigger. Every nerve tensed.

“CUT OFF HIS DAMNED HEAD! Good Lord, are you waiting for an engraved invitation?!”

I kept my muttering on the inside, but it was furious. My hand to Josh, I’m a peaceful man. A lifetime otaku. The closest I come to actual fights is sitting next to a Jets fan on the subway. Not because they want to fight me, I just assume anyone who needs tens of thousands of friends to spell J-E-T-S is prone to violent outbursts. Yet somehow, I had to be the one to remind them that the creepy monster should be beheaded.

Sometimes a double tap just won't cut it. You must behead. Incineration would be better, and cremation the best of all. But for some reason, this game was excessively pissy about letting me make fire. I’d have to settle for beheading.

I made a rare burst towards positivity. “So. Are all the Hollow People like that?” I asked Rikka.

“Yes. All of them. They fight like their bodies were puppets. Ignoring pain or injury. They keep talking about irrelevant things, trying to blend in with actual humans. But the second you test them, you see the hollowness inside.”

“Test them?”

“Provoke them, tempt them, even just try to surprise them. If they aren’t talking or just milling around with everyone else, they are almost impossible to find. You have to do something that moves the heart. When you see the big group react, you watch for the person who acts too slowly.”

“They fake the emotions they see everyone else showing.” I nodded.

“Yes, my Lord.”

“So, while understanding that they are creepy as Hell, what’s the problem? If they are basically human-”

“They try to fill the emptiness inside of them with things they take from other people.” It was Miyuki who spoke this time. “They don’t know what they are missing, so they just take, and take and take. And they don’t know how they are supposed to take things either, so they each try their own ways. Eating organs. Eating brains. Seduction. Betrayal. Murder.”

There was something in the way she said “Murder.”

“Miyuki, did you lose someone?”

“Yes.”

She wouldn’t say more. The porters pulled the wagons in silence, as we returned to Mrs. Hungry and Yoko.

“One hundred heads. As promised.” Yoko nodded happily.

“I didn’t promise a damn thing. It’s one hundred heads as demanded.”

“But you said you would go and get them, and a man’s words are the same as a promise, right?”

I looked at her for a long while. “Mrs. Hungry keeps you close to home, huh?”

She nodded, like it was all quite normal. “Yes. I sometimes go to the Temple, and I’ve been to the Inn once or twice, but mostly I stay home. There is nothing good on this mountain, after all.”

“Makes sense.” In a creepy, controlling way. I looked across the garden. I’m not really capable of judging how well it was cared for, but it looked good to me.

Oh damn. That was a blatant opportunity to say something slick. “Nothing good on this mountain? No, there is you!” Straight from a dating sim. Or was it from The World Only God Knows?

I sighed lightly. There was no way I could ever drop a line like that, even if I tried to play it off as platonic. Yeah, best not to wade into those muddy waters.

There was a snapping noise in front of me. I looked over. Yoko was giving me a worried look. “Are you alright? You drifted away there for a moment.”

“Oh, yes, fine. Sorry.”

“You aren’t fine.” Mrs. Hungry came out of the house. Still hiding behind the waterfall of her hair. “You stink of emotion. A head full of twisty thoughts. Like a sickness, or a worm.”

“Thanks for the lovely image?”

“Mmm. You are welcome.”

“Mother, you are being rude!”

“Oh. I’m sorry.” Her voice was a raspy monotone.

I clapped once, loudly. “SO! The heartless clearing?”

I was very ready to be done with this damned mountain. I could just go back to the Tower but the constant pressure to develop was on me. If I could clear this damned Relic Site in a day, I would. Every scrap of order time was precious. Every resource had to be grabbed.

We only conquered Gradden March because I had that spell tower, and the exploits. And I only had the Tower because I had been able to earn, one way and another, three Frost Diamonds. Every resource counted, and the sooner I could turn it into power, the safer we would be. So. No dragging this out. No hanging around in my odd private quarters or lounging on my reclining throne while I tried to imagine every line and scene in every episode of One Piece. Mind firmly on the grind.

“Alright. Follow me. Once you see it, you can figure out what you are going to do next.” Mrs. Hungry sounded utterly indifferent to what that decision might be.

Off we trudged. The woods weren’t any more cheerful this time around. Mrs. Hungry got off the trail almost immediately. She would walk to a certain tree, carefully line up a branch with another tree, then head directly over. She repeated this process again and again, seemingly going in loops.

I chuckled. Silently, because the woods really were creepy, but I did chuckle. How could I not? We were being led to a haunted clearing in a twisty, impenetrable, demon haunted forest by a witch and her revenant looking mother. It was something straight out of a horror story. If I didn’t know they were recruitable characters, I would have thought they were plotting against me. Fiends wearing human faces, just repeating… human… noises…

Ah.

Ah Hell.