Chapter 22

Just moments before Lola’s desperate run from Russel, he was left with the two oni. His mind, his true, human mind, was buried under a mountain it seemed. A mountain of raw animal instinct as overwhelming as a hurricane. Every time he tried to resurface or get to some semblance of control, that animal shoved him back down. It was like drowning in an ocean and every single time he managed to break through to precious air, a clawed hand shoved him back under. The sensation was suffocating to say the least and just one of the many reasons why he never went this far over to the wolf side of his nature. He despised feeling his control being ripped away from him. Others of his kind, he knew, seemed to prefer it that way but he was definitely not one of them.

Buried under the weight of the wolf’s mind on top of his, he only got glimpses here and there of what was actually happening. His body moved so quickly, it was disorienting. The first part of the fight had gone pretty much the way he thought it would when he first transformed. A lot of death and flying body parts. The last part, however, with the two oni remaining seemed to be dragging on.

That wasn’t completely out of the norm. Oni were strong, fast, and extremely deadly fighters. The two left lived up to their reputation.

And Russel could feel how much that was pissing off the wolf.

Its anger was a solid thing where he was. Underneath the surface and struggling so hard just to get back some kind of control, that anger kept slamming into him. It was one reason why he kept getting pushed deeper and deeper beneath the wolf.

How could he fight back against something so strong?

He really didn’t know, even though he was a werewolf and all of this had been taught to him at a young age by his father. Often in extremely harsh and ruthless situations. But out of all his brothers, Russel was the only that had never let the wolf take complete control. Or, more accurately, had never fully gone over like he did now. He had come extremely close on more than one occasion but fear had held him back.

Now, fear had sent him tumbling right over that precipice inside his head. Not fear for himself but fear for someone else. Someone he…

Before the rest of that thought could be finished, another wave of blind rage slammed into him and he was sent under again.

Flashes of the fight were drifting through more frequently. One of the oni had sliced off his left paw. The flash of pain was what sent the animalistic beast side of him into an even more psychotic, rage-fueled berserker frenzy.

The werewolf itself quickly started to heal and regrow its missing paw but not before he swung the stump into the side of one oni’s head. It took the blow, managing to block it with the flat of its sword, but the blow was still a crushing one. It tried to grind its feet into the ground and block the blow, but it was too strong. The oni was sent flying and tumbling across the ground until it fetched up against a thin, birch tree. The trunk snapped in half and the top part fell to the ground with a crash. Bones cracked and one of its arms hung uselessly. Its kage no ken, or shadow sword, lay broken in two pieces which should have been impossible.

It did not feel fear. It did not even feel pain really. So instead of running, it got back up to finish the fight. It knew it would not win, but its honor demanded it either win or die trying. Its comrade, the other oni, had a similar drive.

It got back to its feet and nearly crumpled. One of its legs had been broken and now its foot faced the wrong way. It stumbled and lurched forward. The smooth, easy grace it had before was gone now. There was nothing it could do about that though. It made do. Before getting back up, it grabbed the hilt of its shattered sword. There was still enough of a blade left to fight with. It held the broken blade and prepared for the end, one way or the other.

It struck out but the wolf’s speed was incredible. This time, the oni couldn’t so much as put a scratch on the monster.

The werewolf ducked under the remnants of the oni blade, its kage no ken, and slashed upward with its remaining, clawed hand. The other one was still regenerating. The oni tried drastically to dodge out of the way but it was too slow. It felt the claws rip through it, tearing it apart. It fell to its knees in the dirt and watched inky shadow dribble out of the wounds. It looked up, toward the moon, content knowing that was the last thing it would see. Then its body dissolved into shadow and was gone.

The remaining oni kept the fight going on for several long moments after its companion was killed. It had managed to keep itself from being wounded so it was able to dodge and attack more effectively, not that it appeared to matter. The werewolf still gave it a hell of a time and despite being able to do some fairly nasty damage to it, its regenerative healing ability pretty much instantly negated the injuries it managed to inflict. Even the amputated hand was already back. The other dozens of cuts, slashes, and deep gashes were gone. The only evidence that the wolf had even been hurt at all was the churned and muddy ground full of blood. There were still bits of ghoul everywhere, which made its footing trickier than it liked. It had to focus on making sure it did not misstep while at the same time, it had to keep an eye on the werewolf.

The monstrous creature lunged at it again, but the oni used the darkness to travel. It appeared on the opposite side of him, away from the wolf’s deadly claws. It swung out its blade as it reappeared and sliced off a piece of the wolf’s shoulder, even taking a bit of bone with it. The blade slid through the flesh with ease, separating anything it cut without any trouble at all. That was the power of an oni’s kage no ken. Its shadow sword. The blades could cut literally anything. Bone. Flesh. Wood. Rock. Even metal. It didn’t matter. It had no equal and could only be wielded by one of its kind.

The oni thought this gave it an advantage. That it might still be able to defeat the creature and fulfill its duty.

But then the werewolf baited the oni. It was a tactic far too tempting to ignore and the oni fell into the trap. Even in his current state, Russel was still inside the werewolf. The animal part had taken over, but a human mind could still be drawn upon. The oni might have known this prior to the fight but it had little experience against werewolves. They were typically not subjects to fight against.

This wolf, however, had been different. The king and their master had given the command that this particular wolf should be killed with all the rest.

The wolf and the human with him.

Especially the human.

Running away to perhaps fulfill that part of the mission at a later date never crossed its mind. The oni were very singular in that respect. Once set upon a foe, they either killed it or were killed themselves. There was no in between. No middle ground. It was the same for the remaining one facing off against Russel.

It fought back though, giving it everything it had left to give. Unfortunately for the oni, it was nowhere near enough. Without the rest of its kind to help, the werewolf was able to manipulate it pretty easily. The first part of the trap was to let himself get wounded by the oni, significantly too. The second part was to pretend the wound was much more problematic than it really was, a rudimentary trap but one that proved to be effective.

The oni took the bait and darted in only to find the werewolf recovering much too quickly. The beast whirled with an agility that was baffling for its size, lashed out with one long arm and caught the oni by the throat. Before it could even twitch or struggle, the wolf raised it into the air, grabbed onto its legs with its now completely regenerated other hand, and pulled. Its muscles flexed and it roared.

A second later and the wolf ripped the oni in half.

Its roar got even louder and then it tossed the remaining bits of the monster to the ground where they dissolved into darkness. It huffed out a giant breath and gazed down on all the carnage. He felt powerful and strong. He wanted to keep fighting.

To hunt.

It pawed at the ground, at the bits of ghoul still left over, and then went over the entire area. It stopped suddenly when it got to the place Lola had been hiding. The scent of her there was very strong and as the wolf breathed it in, its eyes flashed even brighter. It jerked its head to the side and looked toward the direction where the scent trail led.

It rose to its full height, let out another long howl, and then raced off, following the trail to where it would find what it wanted most.

More prey.