The Quiet Village of Kibamaru

Turning in the saddle, Akari fires two more arrows at the last of the Oni remaining.

In one fluid motion, Ryojin swept his hands beneath his coat and produced a fan of slender daggers. The steel caught the light as he flicked his wrists, sending them spiraling upward.

For the briefest moment, they hung suspended in the air as though held by invisible threads—glinting like stars against the dark sky.

Then, with a subtle gesture, Ryojin’s will snapped into place. The blades darted forward one after another, streaking through the air with deadly precision. Each dagger whistled as it struck, peppering the Oni in a relentless storm of steel, forcing the creature back beneath the barrage.

The Enforcer recoils as an arrow comes at him along with the blades before making a gesture and they hit an invisible wall.

He growls, looks at his downed comrades and makes a gesture with his hands before seemingly disappearing into darkness.The speaker who was practically unconscious before slightly reaches out and grunts No... before fully going under.

Rain begins to fall and suddenly after a chaotic scene all is quiet.

What do you do?

None of the others appear to have fallen. Lucky Eddy checks the body of the other enforcer then the speaker to see if they are still alive.

"The demon is gone; this one is still alive. Think about what to ask and how best to do it if we can keep him alive for questioning."

Utu automatically does post engagement checks, reloads, and wipes water off his firearm before holstering it into the oiled leather holster. The slender pistoleer approaches Eddy, "I don’t see the need to start this fight," He says loud enough for all the group to hear, ""But what is done can not be undone. Shall we move this one to somewhere more comfortable to talk with them? Is there anyone who can shows us a place?"

"I don't care what you think interloper. I live here. My wife and children live here. My unborn child lives here." Cloud grabs the body of the unconscious speaker and locks it in a pair of manacles. He steps on the speaker's chest, point of the sword tucked against its brainstem. He channeled a tiny bit of healing power into the fiend and pressed down with his adamantine boot until it showed signs of rousing. He then dropped a single soy bean on the oni's forehead.

"You will answer me truthfully or I will send you to the hell of scalding waters."

To emphasize his point the Samurai held a necklace of Saint's Teety and rattled it. The grisly prayer beads marked him as a Shugenja, being both Genji and Samurai marked Cloud as somewhat contradictory. He rattled the incisors of the teeth of the enlightened one's a sound he knew the Oni could not tolerate.

As the armoured figure berates him Utu steps back raising his hands to show open palms, "You do you, buddy. I’ll speak with the other villagers." Utu then turns to find his mount so he can assist the Old Man with his cart down the track.

Lucky Eddy turned wearily to Cloud as Utu stalked off. In a quiet voice not meant to carry to anyone else, he said:

"That man has come to risk his life to help your village and protect your wife and children. You should find him when you are done with this thing," he indicates the speaker with a slight toss of his head, "and convey to him your true feelings with the respect he deserves for coming here. As for this, if you need me to aid you, you have but to tell me what to do."

Akari quietly dismounts, and as her midnight black companion paws at the ground, she moves about to retrieve any of her lethal fletched slivers still intact after their flights. Noise and posturing had never been her way and she thought it best to let those inclined to do so without her audience. She is here to slay oni, not to get a tutorial on the ways of others. Clearly, if the village of Kibamura were so protected by their own, the need for recruiting outside help was unnecessary. Not that hers had been a choice, but a fulfillment of promise.

The Speaker coughs, a wet rattle in his throat, before his lips curl into a grim smile. His body trembles faintly under Cloud’s boot, every movement strangely deliberate, yet stilted, as though his limbs are remembering how to be human. His eyes roll, then fix sharply on the crowd and the strangers among them.

"They are coming," he whispers first, voice ragged. Then louder, teeth showing in a strained grin: "They are coming! The Oni do not forget, and the Oni do not forgive. You...all of you...are already chosen."

His hand jerks suddenly against the manacles, fingers clawing at the dirt. His head twitches to the side, then he leans up slightly, straining against Cloud’s weight.

"We are coming. Do you hear me? We. You thought the cycles would spare you. You thought eighty years of silence meant safety. Fools." His words rise into a desperate laugh, broken by shuddering breaths. "The feast will be greater this time. No half measure. No handful of lambs for the slaughter. All of you. All!"

Some in the crowd gasp and recoil, a few clutching at charms or warding signs. One elder man spits in the dirt and mutters that the Oni always lie, but his voice is drowned out by the Speaker’s harsh, rising tone.

"We are already here. The moment you struck at us, the moment you shed our blood, you marked yourselves. The Oni will not take this village...they will devour it. And you will thank us when it is over."

His jaw clenches unnaturally, lips twitching into a grotesque grin as his pupils dilate and narrow again, like something else is looking out through his eyes.

"There you are!" Cloud's sneering grin could be heard through the dragon's maw that concealed his face. His own zealous gaze peered into the Oni's eyes. Green Eyes, hegenyokai, and a dragon. "Ōharae no Kotoba." He began to chant the Great Words of Purification. Pouring anointing oil on The Speaker's face, in his eyes, nose, and mouth. The oil was made of camelia flower and cloves. It would cause the host great discomfort, but the demon possessing him would be subjected to the awful feeling of goodness.

"Tell me Oni, how many in number come? When will they attack? Give me the names of the Lieutenants and General. Ōharae no Kotoba!" Cloud continued the exorcism. A host so far taken as The Speaker would likely die from it, but at least he would try to save the soul. As for the Oni, pulling it from Naraka and casting it to Moksh'a was the only fate possible for it.

The Speaker spits at Cloud as he speaks We are many, dozens...hundreds...thousands. The flood of us will consume this town and those who stand in our way will be punished. Cruelly. As for who shall lead, we are but one force that will crush you.

He begins to laugh maniacally as the rain begins to pick up

Utu nods politely to the elders, "Afternoon Uncle," He addresses the Elder with a term of respect, "I would be honoured by your assistance, though I think the masked one seems to be proceeding with the formal part of the interrogation. I will ask if he is amicable with your offer."

Turning to Eddy and Dragon Masked Interrogator, Utu calls out. "Excuse me oh one of impeccable manners, the Elders here say they have a room for your Oni. One that will allow an uninterrupted flow of communication. What do you say?"

It is not Lucky Eddy's place to speak when it might interrupt the prerogatives of a lord. His people live free in the forest but they are not totally detached from the world.

Content with letting the masked one deal with the Oni, Yuriko spends a moment bandaging up the more serious wounds before turning to any of the villagers still around.

"Which direction did the 3 come from? Have you ever seen the speaker before, is he from a nearby village?"

Having collected her salvagable arrows, The Silent Arrow of Death draws the silver blade from the sheath at her hip and moves to the fallen Oni. She lops off its head, as is her fashion for the bounties, and gathers it up in the grip of one fist by the hair.