Chapter 8: Chapter 8: No Escape

“You got this one?” Koya whispered. Both watched as the demon clenched his only fist.

“Yes, I’ll take him,” Yaihan said.

The kunoichi stepped to the side, leaving Yaihan to face the demon. Galamitch grinned and narrowed his eyes at the cultivator, his licking his lips as he readied his attack. In a flash, the demon’s fist opened up and in the blink of an eye, his bony fingers wrapped around Yaihan’s body. Koya gasped and took a step back as the demon tightened his grip.

“And you thought you were going to get away!” the demon boasted. “I’m sure you had some plan in store! Perhaps lure us to another troop as you fled on your steed. But you didn’t expect that us Oni are nimble as well!”

“Yaihan!” Koya said as she stretched out one hand as if she were reaching to grab onto the cultivator. He remained still, keeping his stoic expression as he stared into the demon’s eyes. 

“Don’t you try running, either!” Galamitch barked. “You’ll only end up with a far worse fate once we conquer that last stronghold of yours! Running away with your horse will only delay the inevitable and make your death that much more painful.”

Koya clutched her rope tight and held and stayed in a combative stance. “If you need some help, Yaihan, just let me know!” she shouted with a shaky voice. 

Still in Galamitch’s clutches, Yaihan remained silent. “It’s too late for him now! Yaihan is as good as dead!” 

The demon brought down his hammer with all his might. The other Oni grinned with delight, leaning forward as they watched the bludgeon plummet through the air. Koya couldn’t resist turning her head away from the oncoming impact. She closed one eye while keeping the other squinted just enough to focus on Galamitch’s hand. 

A loud clank resonated throughout the dry expanse. Galamitch’s bore a look of pain as he limply removed his hammer hand off Yaihan’s hand. 

“Agh!” he grunted as his entire body tilted to the side, resting on the elbow. He struggled to set himself upright. Once standing straight he raised his arm and looked at it with disgust. His forearm bent upwards at a sharp angle while a shard of his bone poked out of his skin. His hammer arm shook as he looked at the point where the metal crashed onto Yaihan; a dent roughly the size of the cultivator’s head distorted his reflection. All three demons stared at Yaihan in silence.

Yaihan returned to his martial stance, undisturbed by the attack save for his feet being embedded a few inches in the dirt. “Was that your plan?” the cultivator said cooly.

Galamitch fell to one knee and pressed one hand against his broken arm. He turned the cultivator with eyes full of rage. “What did you do? Some magic spell?”

Yaihan shook his head. “No. I’m not a spellcaster.”

“Then... what are you?” Galamitch struggled to his feet. He panted heavily as he placed his hand over his broken arm. With a fierce pull accompanied with a sickening crunch, he realigned the distorted bone. “Have the Xiwaoans become so desperate that they resorted to making a pact with their own breed of demons?”

The cultivator stepped forward while keeping eye contact with Galamitch. “No. I’m just a simple cultivator.”

With a twitching eye, the demon let out a nervous laugh. He took a few steps back but stayed focused on Yaihan. “You can’t be serious. All those foolish and stupid men... leaving their homes seeking to achieve the same strength and power of whimsical tales. You’re telling me that they were right?”

Yaihan cocked his head and cracked his knuckles. “Why don’t you try hitting me again? Perhaps you didn’t swing hard enough last time.”

The demon’s laughter became hysterical. His fellow Oni took a few steps back, making sure they were situated on the bridge as they watched Galamitch prep another swing.

“You’re right! T-There was something off with my technique! I must’ve hit the ground instead! A sharp stone!”

“No, you hit him all right!” one of the Oni marauders called out. “We saw it with our own eyes!”

“Shut it!” Galamitch snarled. He looked back at the cultivator. “One more try!”

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“Put all your might into it,” Yaihan said with an impassive face. “If it didn’t work at first, it should work the second time around.”

The demon twisted his body away from Yaihan and stretched his hammer as far as he could. His soulless eyes brimming with vitriol stayed glued to the unfazed face of the cultivator. “Now die!” Galamitch screamed as he swung his weapon with all his force. The demon’s arm turned into a crimson blur as it sped toward Yaihan’s side. 

The cultivator turned his body faster than Galamitch could move his arm. Yaihan moved his arms in a flash and intercepted the attack. With both hands, Yaihan held onto the metal chunk, stopping it in its tracks. The demon’s arm continued to move despite the abrupt halt of his hand. His red flesh tore, showing off long and contorted muscles as the upper portion of his arm continued on its trajectory. White bone splintered to bits, sending marrow across the ground. 

Galamitch fell to his knees, propped up by his other hand. Tears streamed down his face while Yaihan held his other hand. Thin strings of muscles connected his forearm from the rest of his body. Upon seeing the gruesome scene, the other two demons turned around and started running across their bridge.

“Koya!” Yaihan shouted as he tore the hammer off Galamitch’s off his body, snapping the thin fibers that kept the limb attached. The demon screamed agony again, this time falling face first into the dirt. “Take care of this one while I deal with the deserters.”

“On it!” Koya disappeared in a puff of purple mist and reappeared on top of Galamitch’s back. As she kept the demon pinned, she watched Yaihan hold the chunk of metal with both hands. He spun around once with the hammer extended in front of his body. The rotation gave him enough moment to hurl the metallic mass with enough force for it to go flying at the bridge. 

An explosion of wood erupted when the rock crashed into the structure in front of the fleeing Oni. A long seam formed from outside the hole, making the bridge start crumble with the Oni still on it. The hole grew as the demons’ weight cracked the wood further in their attempt to flee back to the safety of solid ground. One of the Oni plummeted into the deep and jagged stone chasm below, his screaming squelched as soon his body impaled on the pointed rocks below.

The other demon held onto a piece of the bridge with hand. His legs dangled as he looked at the dark pit below and stared at the motionless and punctured corpse of his ally. By the time he turned his head, Yaihan stood over him, bearing the same look that he had when he ripped Galamitch’s arm off. He raised one fist while his eyes focused on the fingers that kept him from falling.

“W-Wait!” the demon muttered as his arm squirmed in vain to lift him from his precarious position. “I-If you take me back... capture me... I can tell you everything!”

“There’s no room on our horse for the likes of you.”

Yaihan followed through with his punch. A single jab obliterated the fingers that held the demon up, turning them into a chunky paste. The Oni fell facing up, his other hand desperately grasping at air as he plunged into the canyon. The cultivator turned around and waited for the sound of a crunch before returning to Koya and Galamitch. 

“Tell your brother I sent you,” the kunoichi whispered into the demon’s ear. She pulled his head up by his hair while the sickle of her weapon pressed against his throat.

“You may kill me, but you’ll never—” Before Galamitch finished his sentence, Koya pulled her sickle back. She severed his head from his body with a single tug. As Yaihan made it to her side, she tossed the decapitated head on the ground. Galamitch’s face had the same pained look he had before Koya killed him. His eyes remained open, staring at his own lifeless body. 

“I’ve never seen an Oni cry before,” Koya said as she hopped off the lifeless body.

“First time for everything,” Yaihan replied. 

“You know, you had me worried there for a second. I thought you’d break free from Galamitch’s hold. Maybe make his hand explode in a glorious bloody mess.”

“I could have,” Yaihan replied as he walked towards Midnight. “But I like to think that my plan allowed me enough time to stop his allies from fleeing.”

“Yeah, right,” Koya said with a wink. “You can kill Oni like they’re ants. There’s no way they could have gotten away. Something tells me that you just wanted to mess with him.” She mounted Midnight first. 

“I must admit, there is enjoyment to be had in seeing the prideful fall,” Yaihan said as he got on the back of the horse. 

The kunoichi snickered. “I knew it. But as much as I like making fun of slain Oni, we need to hurry back to the battle,” Koya said as she pulled Midnight’s reins. The horse darted towards the fighting in the distance. “Your help is greatly needed.”

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