Chapter 20

Watching Russel move around and completely decimate everyone in front of him was both terrifying and amazing at the same time. The ghouls were simply no match whatsoever to the overwhelming power he displayed, not even the big one that could speak. That one realized its mistake early on and tried to immediately run away. Those lantern-like, amber eyes of Russel’s immediately swung toward it and he jumped into the air, clawed hand raised. When he came crashing back down to the ground, he swept that monstrosity of a hand down with so much force, the wind from it picked up and threw dirt, leaves, and whatever else had been on the ground outward in a wide circle. The ghoul’s eyes, which were facing enough toward Lola that she could just catch a glimpse of them, widened in surprise. Its grotesque mouth opened and its slimy, black blood poured out in thick, globby streams.

Lola watched in horrified fascination as sections of the ghoul separated from each other and fell to the ground. She felt absolutely no sympathy for the creature but at the same time, that was a truly disturbing way to meet your end.

Russel didn’t stop with the ghoul’s leader. As soon as the creature was killed, he whirled around and found new things to attack. The ferocity she saw in him was primal. There was nothing left in his eyes except the need to kill. To hunt down anything moving and take it apart, piece by bloody piece.

The ghouls were almost instantly eradicated. Russel went through them as if they were barely even there. Pieces and bits of ghoul started flying all over the place. A random bit of arm with a shatter talon-claw had even made its way over to her and she had to stifle a sudden, sharp scream. She even clamped one of her hands over her mouth.

I’m on top of that list. One Lace Higgins has compiled a list of “brats”. Does she think I’m two years old?

And then the oni were the only creatures left he had to deal with.

They were fast and their weapons were extraordinarily sharp. In just a minute or two, they had opened up several deep gashes across Russel’s body and limbs. One of them had even managed to slice off one of his clawed fingers. She watched as the digit was cut off him. Almost immediately though, the wound closed over and started to bubble and warp. Another finger began taking shape to replace the one that had been lost. Even in her horrified state, she was amazed at how much faster his regeneration was in his current form.

Russel let out another howl as his head moved back and forth to track the oni circling him. They were darting in, slashing him, and then darting back out before he could orient and attack. It was an effective strategy so far. They kept him guessing but also kept out of range of his vicious claws. Each oni had seen how devastating and effective the werewolf’s natural weaponry could be. They knew if he got their hands on them, they were done for so they elected to stay back and take a more careful route. Eventually, they each reasoned, the werewolf would exhaust itself and then they would be able to finally kill it.

Lola watched from her perch and its relative safety. Silently she hoped that Russel would be able to win even though she wasn’t quite sure what would happen to her when he did. How long did this primal, bestial form of his werewolf side go on for? Was it all night? Days? Weeks? The rest of his life? Was he stuck like that forever?

She realized panic was starting to drive out everything else. It was insane to stay there, watching, but she also couldn’t bring herself to run. It was like a tether held her back, rooting her to that specific spot until whatever happened next happened.

Watching the attack, she was worried at first. The onis’ collaborative fighting technique looked like it might be too much for Russel’s more primitively savage fighting style to handle. The repeated slashes and cuts kept sending torrents of his blood out and onto the ground, making the dirt there thick and muddy. This, ironically, ended up helping him as opposed to being detrimental to the fight. The ground became more treacherous for the oni. Their sure-footed, powerful attacks became harder to dish out. They kept getting stuck, the muddiness sucking in their feet.

One of the oni had more unfortunate bad luck than the rest of them. Right as it was trying to dart back and away from Russel, that muddy, quicksand-like bit of ground sucked in his foot at the exact wrong moment. It misjudged its timing and couldn’t do anything as one of Russel’s powerful arms swiped into the side of its head. It made no sound as it died, its head getting knocked cleanly off its body. The head went flying through the air and smashed into a rocky part of the landscape. It didn’t splat like Lola had assumed it would. Instead, it simply hit and then dissolved into smoky darkness. The rest of its corpse did the same and just a few seconds later, it was like the oni had never been there in the first place.

The other oni there watched one of their number get killed and seemed to hesitate for a moment. Russel took the opportunity to lunge at one. He tensed his body and then jumped through the air, shooting toward the creature like an arrow launched from a bow. Its thick, mask-like face didn’t emote well but as the amber light coming from Russel’s eyes brightened it up, Lola could almost feel the surprise coming from it. She could almost, she thought, read its mind.

Oh shit, I’m dead.

Or something to that effect.

Russel’s jump carried right into the oni and he wrapped himself around it. The two crashed into the ground with a loud sound. Then, with a roar and a furious amount of struggling, she watched him rip into the dark, shadowy creature.

This one didn’t make a sound either as Russel literally ripped it completely apart. The other two oni could only watch as parts went flying and dissolved into shadow just seconds after hitting the ground. In less than five minutes, two of their number had been mercilessly killed. Despite that fact, both of them lifted their swords into attack positions. While the werewolf was busy with his latest kill, they moved in to try and finish him off.

The body of the oni disappeared, returning to the shadows that made it up.

Then Russel’s enormous werewolf head whirled around and focused on the pair trying to sneak in and cut it to ribbons.

It stood to its full height and let out a deafening roar of challenge.