‘This merchant has come here to ask her to guard his caravan, father said it’s a good opportunity for me to take on a job but, he is giving me a bad vibe.’ Takeshi was thinking as he watched his father talk with the merchant.
‘Hmm? What is that?’ Takeshi spotted footprints on the snow, they were new as they weren’t there a moment ago. ‘Did someone pass by? I couldn’t sense them. I couldn’t be that invisible demon.’ he put his hand on his hilt and followed the tracks with his eyes. They ended behind a bulky tree. A small shadow was dancing under its trunk.
‘It’s still there!’ Takeshi immediately started sprinting, who was there.
The thing seems to have run deeper into the forest, Takeshi couldn’t see what it was because of sunlight reflecting from the snow but he was certain it was a kind from the footprint size. There was no way he couldn’t handle a kid, even if it was a demon he could only imagine its strength rivaling an adult. ‘I did beat a samurai so I should be able to take care of this quickly.’ He followed the footstep deeper into the forest until he lost track of them.
“It ran away?” Takeshi didn’t look discouraged at all, “I better work on my speed, haha!” he laughed at his own failure, his father always told him to never slack on running but he preferred sword training.
“As expected of my father, I should have listened to him!” He turned to get back home. At that moment he spotted a bush move in the distance. ‘there it is, I didn’t lose it after all!’ He rushed there as fast as he could, quickly confronting the thing.
To his surprise, a little girl that looked his age was there, staring at him with her legs shaking. He could swear she was invisible until he appeared, was she the demon?
“Are you a demon?” He asked pulling his Katana and pointing it at the girl, “I will act depending on your answer.” He was serious, demons were known to deceive people by taking the shape of normal humans and then killing them. For all he knows, she might turn into an ugly monster the moment he turns around.
“I’m human!” The girl screamed, extending her hand toward him.
“I couldn’t see you a moment ago, You’re a demon,” Takeshi said with confidence, he had never seen a human who could become invisible. “Prove that you’re a human or I will slash you right here!” He said with a straight face.
The girl’s lips curled as she clenched her stomach, Takeshi picked up on that as he was observing all of her moves. Treating her as a being more dangerous than a samurai. to him, this was a life or death situation.
As he was observing her moves, he noticed a red flash starting to emerge from her hand. Takeshi immediately took a step to the side and a firebolt gazed at his cheek.
“Wait what?” She seemed surprised he dodged that, “I see, you were a demon after all.” Takeshi said as he took his stance, “I will take off your head here!” He roared and rushed at her. They were quite far apart so the girl had time to fire more shots at him.
‘They are slower than an arrow but faster than a thrown rock, they are also aimed directly at me’ The thought saw the firebolt coming at him.
Clang! The sound of metal rang across the forest and the girl’s face paled. Takeshi swung his sword upward and sliced the first firebolt, each half went its separate way with a spark.
“Hold…” She gasped. Clang! Clang! Clang! He raced like the wind, slicing the other three firebolts and quickly reaching her.
The next thing she knew, his blade was just a few inches from her neck, still red hot from her magic. ‘It’s simple, all I need to do is to reach her before she could do more of her tricks.’ Takeshi thought as he was about to claim her head.
Rumble! Clang! His blade was stopped by a stone pillar that rose from the ground. Takeshi backed immediately.
ZONZONZON! A weird blue distortion in the air appeared, from it an old woman whose back almost looked at a straight angle appeared. “Would you mind stopping?” The old woman said.
“I’m not backing down from a demon!” He yelled, taking his stance once again. “We’re not demons!” The little girls cried.
“One could become invisible and throw fire, the other can appear from nowhere and command the earth. What are you if not demons?” Takeshi rushed at them as fast as he could.
“A brave one for a child!” The old woman said in a sad tone, a gentle flick from her finger and a stone spike appeared directly in front of the running Takeshi.
‘It’s too late, I can’t change direction. In that case…’ Takeshi made one heavy step and flipped above the spike. His eyes stayed fixed on the old lady. ‘I gotta take her first.’ As he was about to start running again, he saw her holding a fiery spear in her hand.
‘That looks dangerous, He tightened the grip on his Katana.’ The freelance flashed from her hand toward him at an incredible speed. Seeing his death, Takeshi smiled. “NOT, YET!” Lifting his sword up in an instant, “GI!” With a scream that seemed to shake the whole forest, he brought his blade down as he trained always.
ZICLANG! With a bright spark accompanied by a loud metallic sound. Takeshi could feel the bones in his arms bending but they didn’t break, he held on.
BOOM! With a loud explosion, the kid was sent flying backward, and his body finally banged into a tree. His bent red-hot Katana got impaled at the same tree.
The Firelance snapped in half and each side went flying in a different direction, each part toppled a tree. From his blurred vision, Takeshi could see the old lady and the little girls fade into the same blue thing.
Soon after that, his father came rushing in, they seem to have heard the loud explosion and him screaming GI as he always does. His father’s face turned pale when he saw his son bleeding under a tree, the Katana he entrusted to him was burnt and bent, impaled into the tree.
“Takeshi!” he cried rushing toward him.
The men who came with him inspected the area, “Look those trees are burned and toppled down, this isn’t the feat of a human!” One of them said as he touched the charred tree trunk.
His father looked at them, quickly turning back toward his son. “Do you hear me, what happened here?”
Takeshi could hear his father’s voice, it seemed too far. The blast might have messed his ears. “Two…demons!” He said before falling unconscious.
The men looked at each other in shock, water drained from his father’s face. “You fought two demons?” His father gasped in disbelief, It was almost unheard of for a samurai to survive an encounter with one, let alone facing two.
“We’re carrying him home, Scout the area in groups of three!” his father yelled as he carried his son home.
…
ZONZONZON! Yamauba and her grandmother appeared in their cave. The old woman quickly trowed her onto the ground. Yamauba’s face twisted in guilt, she has been warned before to not wander around. “Grandmother…I…”
“It doesn’t matter, it wasn’t your fault.” Her grandmother replied instantly. “Was this the same kid who noticed you the first time?”
“Yeah, he is the same one,” Yamauba replied, surprised by her grandmother’s attitude.
“What are they feeding him to be such a monster? He sliced a Firelance in half!” She threw the small want that she was hiding in her wrist, “I saw him slice your [Firebolt] from a distance, no wonder they are letting him carry a Katana while still being a brat!”
Yamauba looked at her annoyed grandmother. “Was he that strong?” She asked.
“He was too strong for his age, just let him be. One day he will meet a real demon and then he will know how dangerous it is to charge into the fire like that!” Her grandmother snorted.
Yamauba walked to her room to rest, the face of that kid never left her mind. His booming voice. The sight of his blade slashing her spells, and him taking her grandmother’s firelance head-on.
“Why didn’t he run away when he saw our magic, the hard head.” She snorted just like her grandmother.
