9 The Parasite and the Blade

  [Player: Kazuki Arata]

  [Level: 2]

  [Waza: Black Hand, Thread Cutter, Aura Sense, Dark Rider]

  [Kegare: 8%]

  [Objective: Survive the Siege]

  ---

  “Five minutes,” Suzume said, her voice tight despite the iron in her gaze. “That’s all we have before these things butcher everyone.”

  Kazuki’s chest heaved as he gripped the Shirayuki Blade, its icy weight comforting. At the top of the hill, they looked down on the outskirts of the village: flames licking at collapsed houses, the shrine’s torii gate broken and scattered across the road.

  Three meter tall spindly forms - giganted distorted praying mantises - sliced through walls and fleeing villagers with precision and ease. One of the giant insects skewered a man and lifted him high, his screams swallowed by the roar of surrounding fires.

  Kazuki ran and lunged. The Blade whistled as it cleaved a mantis foreleg. A spatter of black fluid hit the ground, reeking of yeast. The creature keened - a horrific mix of insect chitter and distorted human scream.

  Kazuki was looking up at it, at where he had severed one of its legs. The mantis swayed but a black tendril extruded from the stump, writhing as the insectile tissue of the mantis regenerated around it.

  Kazuki heard what sounded like a child's laughter.

  Then he heard the sound of Suzume's arrows, some missing, some bouncing off the mantis yokai harmlessly. Fleet was dodging the scything attacks of the creature's giant forelimbs but he couldn't dodge forever. And what good would it do anyway... Kazuki managed to stab a different mantis but a thatch of black tendrils exploded from the wound and sealing it, the monster none the worse for wear.

  That’s when Kazuki saw it - a pale, chubby, smiling child's face, laughing, like a horrible mask on some sort of black jelly affixed to the underside of the giant mantis.

  "What the hell?!" Kazuki yelled. He saw Susume close behind him. "Kobito!" she yelled.

  "Little people!" said Fleet somewhere nearby. Then Kazuki saw that Fleet, half fox half boy was right beside him. In a flash he snarled and darted under Kazuki's legs. Then he jumped higher than the best Olympic gymnast and his teeth sank into the parasite’s black, soft skull; the thing tore free, flailing spidery limbs.

  The mantises weren't yokai - they were their hosts! “Thread Cutter!” Kazuki cried, activating the waza but channelling it through the Shirayuki Knife. A shimmering crescent arced out, slicing the kobito bonds that animated two nearby mantises; both toppled, flailing aimlessly.

  [Kegare: 10%]

  “They’re not stopping!” Suzume shouted, batting aside another mantis limb with her bow.

  Kazuki pushed his Aura Sense outward. He saw tangled threads of kegare snaking through each monster. I have to cut the threads, he realized. “Suzume - keep them busy. I’ll break their control!”

  Kazuki used the Shirayuki Blade and his own waza to break the link between the mantis’ and their parasitic yokai, making them vulnerable. As he did, Suzume shot arrow after arrow into kobito eyes. Yet each time one went down, two more crawled over broken walls. A villager flung a torch that ignited a mantis’s wing; it lurched, shrieking as fire started to consume it. The kobito in it began extracting itself from the burning giant insect, pulling long, wet, tendrils from its body and crawling onto the grass behind it where the kobito's limbs shrank until the whole creature was no larger than a rabbit.

  [Kegare: 12%]

  A massive shape loomed over Kazuki, a larger mantis brandishing serrated limbs. The kobito perched on its back leered and giggled. A katana skidded near Kazuki’s feet, tossed by a desperate villager.

  He scrambled for the blade but lost his grip; the mantis slashed, grazing his chest. Time slowed just enough for Kazuki to see the mantis creature raise its scythe above its head - then black feathers flashed before him, and a thin straight blade lopped the mantis’s forelimb clean off.

  A Karasu Tengu touched down, a raven-beaked mask glinting in the firelight. He eyed Kazuki’s shaking hands with disdain.

  “Tch. Pitiful.”

  With a single swift motion, the Tengu pierced the kobito embedded in the Mantis and pulled it out like pulling a snail from a shell, then he vanished back into the chaos.

  Kazuki forced himself upright, ignoring the sting in his chest and his pride. A fresh scream tore through the night - a family trapped in a burning granary, cornered by more mantises. Memories flooded him: helpless kittens on Cat Island, the bullies from his childhood, the sight of his mother’s empty bed.

  He sprinted for the blaze.. A kobito-mantis stood guard at the entrance, blood dripping from its mandibles. One savage cut by the Shirayuki Blade ripped the parasite loose in a burst of fluid, sending it flailing into the dark. Freed, the mantis stumbled, disoriented. Kazuki killed it easily.

  The roof groaned and caved. Smoke poured out in waves. Kazuki ducked inside, shielding the terrified family as they stumbled over embers toward safety. He barely registered the searing heat or splintered beams crashing behind them.

  Moments later, the last mantis fell. Suzume stood transfixed by the spot where a kobito had fled. “No, no, no! Ten, eleven, twelve... where's thirteen? Where's thirteen?!"

  "Thirteen?" called out Fleet, somewhere in the distance. "I know this game! Fourteen, fifteen, sixteen, eighteen, twenty... uh..."

  "What's wrong?" Kazuki asked. "The kobito - we have to kill them all or they'll infect more animals, or even children! I was so careful, but there were thirteen and I only counted twelve..."

  But then there was the sound of faint cheering - the battle was over and the village survived. Fleet was back beside Kazuki and hugging his waist. "We did it, Cursed Prince! We won!"

  For just a moment there was joy and victory. Just a moment. And then a ring of spears pressed in around Kazuki. Shrine guards, some badly injured from the battle, moved forward, led by a grim-faced officer. “By order of the Shrine Master,” the man barked, “the corrupted outsider shall face tribunal.”

  Standing in the shadows beyond them was a tall figure. Fires still burning from the battle reflected in his eyes.

  “Father, stop!” Suzume cried at the shadowy man, voice cracking with shock. “He fought with us!”

  The shape didn't move but his voice cut through the crowd. “He commands stolen power. This attack, all of these deaths happened because of him. He puts us all in danger.”

  Kazuki offered no resistance as they bound his wrists. Fleet snarled, ready to defend him, but Kazuki shook his head. “Enough,” he said quietly. “No more blood tonight.”

  High above, the Karasu Tengu perched on a half-collapsed roof, watching with cool detachment. “He’ll survive, or he won’t,” he said to himself. “Not my problem.”

  Suzume’s voice, trembling with emotion, reached out to Kazuki as the guards led him away. Their eyes met and Suzume swore to herself and the spirits that she would free her friend.

  ---

  Dawn brought no comfort to Kazuki. The village's makeshift prison - a reinforced storehouse with iron bars - was damp, the rough floor boards smelling of rice that had once been stored here. Two guards stood outside, their expressions grim after a sleepless night.

  Fleet, meanwhile, had awakened hungry.

  The little kitsune-boy padded through the morning mist, his fox ears twitching at the sounds of the village recovering from last night's battle. Blackened buildings still smoldered. Villagers moved like ghosts through the wreckage, collecting what remained of their lives.

  "Cursed Prince?" Fleet called out softly, nose twitching. He sniffed the air. The Cursed Prince smelled like metal and flowers and something else - something old. Fleet liked that smell. It reminded him of before, though he couldn't remember before what exactly.

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  A guard dozed against a wall, chin dropping to his chest. Fleet, distracted by a butterfly, walked past the man without noticing him. The kitsune-boy hopped over a pile of rubble, slipped under a half-collapsed beam, and found himself in a narrow alley behind the prison.

  A second guard was kneeling, picking up a scattered collection of prayer beads while muttering to himself. Fleet, attempting to chase the same butterfly, rolled between the guard's legs just as the man looked up, beads in hand.

  Fleet popped up on the other side, confused at where the butterfly had gone, completely unaware he'd passed the second guard.

  At the back of the prison, a small drainage channel had been carved beneath the foundation. Fleet, spotting a cricket now, dove for it, wriggling through the channel and emerging inside, covered in mud but triumphant with the cricket in his cupped palms.

  Inside the prison, a third guard paced back and forth. Flee leapt upward, grabbed a wooden support beam, and swung over the guard's head, landing silently on a crossbeam above.

  The guard, feeling a strange draft, looked around, saw nothing and returned to his patrol.

  Fleet spotted a hole in the thatched roof, likely damaged during last night's battle. It was a nice hole.

  A friendly hole.

  Of course, he climbed through it, finding himself in a small attic space. Following the scent of the Cursed Prince, he walked forward until he stepped between two loose floorboards and dropped down.

  Kazuki nearly jumped out of his skin when Fleet landed, quite literally, in his lap.

  "Found you!" Fleet announced proudly, his fox tail wagging so hard his entire body shook.

  Kazuki stared in disbelief. "Fleet? How did you—"

  "Cricket!" Fleet interrupted, opening his hands to show Kazuki the insect, which promptly jumped away. He looked stunned at the insect abandonment for a moment before brightening again. "Let's go!"

  Kazuki glanced at the thick wooden door, reinforced with iron bands and a heavy lock. "I can't leave, Fleet. I'm waiting for the tribunal."

  Fleet tilted his head, confused. "But I got in. So you can get out?"

  "How did you get in here?" Kazuki asked, bewildered.

  Fleet's face scrunched in concentration. "I... followed a butterfly? And there was a hole. And a guard was fixing his beads. And another one was sleeping. And I climbed and jumped and..." He trailed off, then looked at Kazuki hopefully.

  "Cricket?"

  Kazuki sighed, leaning back against the cold wall. "Well, since you're here, want to wait with me?"

  Fleet nodded, curling up beside Kazuki, his small body warm against the chill of the prison. "What's a tri-bu-zal?"

  "It's where they decide if I'm good or bad," Kazuki said quietly.

  Fleet's eyes widened. "That's silly. You're the Cursed Prince! Which... sounds bad. But you're good."

  Kazuki smiled sadly, ruffling the boy's hair. "I hope they see it that way."

  They sat in silence, Fleet occasionally dozing against Kazuki's shoulder, until heavy footsteps approached. The door swung open, revealing four stern-faced guards.

  "It's time," one said.

  Kazuki stood, and Fleet sprang up beside him. The guards looked startled.

  "How did this creature get in here?" one demanded.

  Fleet grinned proudly. "I'm very good at getting in! Not so good at getting out."

  The guards exchanged baffled glances as Kazuki was led away, Fleet walking faithfully at his heels.

  The village's central square had been transformed. Where market stalls normally stood, now rows of benches created a makeshift courtroom under the open sky. At the front, under a massive and ancient cherry tree, a platform had been erected, with Suzume's father seated in the center, flanked by village elders.

  The crowd parted as Kazuki was led forward, whispers following him. Some faces showed fear, others anger. A few - those he had helped escape the burning granary - started trying to tell the people around them how he had saved them.

  Fleet, oblivious to the tension, plopped down cross-legged directly in front of the platform. Suzume stood to the right, her face tight and eyes watchful.

  "Kazuki Arata," Suzume's father began, his voice carrying across the hushed square. "You stand accused of bringing calamity to our village through the corrupted power you wield."

  You crossed the uncrossable sea from the Dark Land to our world and in doing brought the gaze of the Eye of Inazuma upon yourself. Since then our village has faced an unprecedented attack. The kobito-mantis swarm was sent by the Eye and drawn to the corruption within you."

  Kazuki stood silently, unable to deny the truth of these words.

  "Speak in your defense," Suzume's father commanded.

  Suzume stepped forward. "Father, honorable elders, I will speak for him."

  Murmurs spread through the gathering. Suzume's father frowned but nodded.

  "Kazuki Arata came to us as a stranger," she began, her voice clear and steady. "But he has proven himself worthy of our trust."

  She turned, meeting the eyes of various villagers. "When the mantis-kobito attacked, he discovered their weakness and fought to protect people he barely knew. Yes, the Eye watches him. Yes, it draws danger. But without him, that danger would have destroyed us already."

  Kazuki looked at her, surprised.

  An elder raised his hand. "The boy's corruption is getting worse. What happens when it takes him completely?"

  "Then I will deal with him myself," Suzume answered.

  Another voice called from the crowd. "Why should we suffer for his curse? The mantises killed my brother!"

  Angry shouts rose from several directions. Fleet growled, his small form tensing as if ready to spring.

  "Silence!" Suzume's father commanded, and the square fell quiet once more. He turned to Kazuki. "What do you say to these charges? Why should we risk our village for your sake?"

  Kazuki stepped forward, feeling the weight of every eye upon him. High above, perched on the shrine's remaining torii gate, he glimpsed the silhouette of the tengu, watching.

  "When I first arrived in your world," Kazuki began, "all I wanted was to go home. I was scared, confused - I thought I would do anything if I could just make my life go back to normal."

  He looked around at the faces before him - some hostile, some curious, some kind.

  "But I've learned there is no 'normal' to go back to. In my world, I was nobody. Here, I've seen wonders and horrors I never imagined. I've felt more alive, more afraid, more... everything."

  Kazuki took a deep breath.

  "I don't know what I am anymore. Not a normal human, not yokai and not one of you. You're right, kegare flows through me, changing me day by day. What I do know is that I don't want to cause any more pain."

  He faced Suzume's father directly.

  "If the Eye draws danger to those around me, then there's only one solution." Kazuki knelt, bowing his head. "I offer myself for execution. Do it. Protect your people."

  Gasps erupted from the crowd. Suzume stepped forward, her hands curled into tight fists.

  "No!" Fleet cried, leaping to Kazuki's side.

  Silence fell as Suzume's father stood. The morning sun cast long shadows from the cherry tree across the square as everyone awaited his verdict.

  "Kazuki Arata," he said at last, "you present a dilemma unlike any I have faced in forty years as Shrine Master. The power within you is dangerous, yet you have shown courage and sacrifice."

  "I cannot judge what I do not fully understand. Therefore, I shall not. Instead you will journey to the Western Mountains, to the Grand Shrine of Karasu Peak. There, the Elder Shrine Master will determine your fate."

  Murmurs rippled through the crowd.

  "My daughter will accompany you," he continued, ignoring Suzume's surprised expression. "She has proven herself both capable and... invested in your wellbeing."

  Atop the torii gate, the tengu straightened. Without a sound, he spread his black wings and took flight, a dark shape against the morning sky, heading west.

  "This tribunal is concluded," Suzume's father announced.

  As the crowd dispersed, Suzume approached Kazuki. "Why would you offer your life like that?" she demanded, anger and relief warring in her voice.

  Kazuki looked down at his hands, seeing the faint dark lines of Kegare tracing his veins. "It seemed like the only way to be sure."

  "You're an idiot," she said, but her tone was gentle. "We'll leave at dawn tomorrow. The journey to Karasu Peak will take at least two weeks, longer with... complications."

  Fleet, who had been unusually quiet, suddenly perked up. "Adventure! With Cursed Prince and Angry Girlfriend!"

  Suzume spun around and stared a full arsenal at little Fleet. Despite everything, Kazuki found himself smiling. "You're coming too?"

  "Of course!" Fleet said as if it were obvious. "Duh."

  The next morning, as dawn broke over the damaged village, three figures passed through the western gate: a shrine maiden with a bow across her back, a young man with darkness flowing beneath his skin, and a small kitsune-boy skipping happily between them.

  Behind them, the village grew smaller in the distance. Ahead, the Western Mountains loomed against the horizon, their peaks lost in clouds.

  Suzume adjusted her pack. "This won't be easy. The road passes through the Whispering Forest."

  Kazuki nodded, the Shirayuki Blade a cold weight at his hip. "Then we'd better get moving."

  Fleet bounded ahead, chasing a butterfly. "Adventure!" he called back to them.

  As they walked, Kazuki felt a strange lightness despite the uncertainty ahead. For the first time since arriving in this world, he wasn't running from something—he was moving toward a purpose, however uncertain.

  "We'll face it together," Suzume said, as if reading his thoughts.

  Kazuki nodded, watching Fleet's joyful antics ahead of them on the road. "Together."

  ---

  [New Achievement: I Fought the Law]

  [Next Chapter: Forest Streams and Fire-Power]

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