I received a bit of criticism on my last chapter. Dude (or dudette?) said that the MC's personality did a complete 180.
What do you think? Was it too 'unlike him' to snap?
I, however, believe that any human is capable of feeling frustration under sufficient pressure.
Anyway, with that rant over, enjoy...
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[Ayakashi]: A collective name for a wide array of spiritual beings native to this Japan. Unlike Devils or Fallen, Ayakashi are not a single unified race but a broad category.
Yokai, but strangely not.
It is more apt to say a former Yokai, corrupted into what could only be described as festering tumours of incarnated negativity through their attempts to master the earthly forces and wield the force known as [Senjutsu].
They vary in shape. Some in the form of animals, some partially beast, and the deeply corrupted ones often gravitate towards looking like masses of pulsating flesh.
Together, they roam in dark, secluded places until they are killed, or just... Fizzle out of existence, returning to the embrace of nature.
Abilities:
Youki: Ayakashi draw on life force, spiritual essence, or natural energies. This differs by bloodline or origin. Taking in these energies from the environment, they generate their unique energy, known as [Youki], which they can then use for a variety of purposes.
'They seem to have a fondness for Illusions, though...'
Enhanced Physical Traits: Natural longevity, resilience, and agility far surpassing that of humans. Some Ayakashi are physically monstrous.
Unique Abilities: Depending on type—kitsune may breathe foxfire, tanuki may bend fortune, and onryō (vengeful spirits) may curse with a glance. Their diversity makes categorization... Difficult.
'Never seen a fallen Kitsune though...'
Weaknesses:
Exorcism & Purification: Though it often depends on strength and species, they are generally quite vulnerable to exorcism rites. Shinto and Buddhist rites seem to be their natural counter.
Fragmented Nature: As creatures that have succumbed to madness, they are quite predictably not too good at teamwork. You will rarely meet two individuals working together. To date, no organization consisting of Ayakashi exists.
<< Threat Level: Low - Variable. >>
A corrupted Yokai powered by centuries of hatred has the potential to be quite dangerous.
However, most of the truly powerful Ayakashi are either dead or sealed. Notwithstanding, they can fester until they eventually become true threats. The last truly powerful Ayakashi was Yamata-no-Orochi. And he is dead. It must have been quite a big deal, as there have been no powerful Ayakashi since then.
The Principal Clans periodically make sure of that.
Allies:
Predictably none.
Enemies:
Exorcists & Priests:
The Five Principal Clans:
Personal Thoughts / Notes:
'A species of Yokai cures to wait for their own eventual doom. The corruption of Yokai into Ayakashi appears to occur most frequently in young individuals or those who are too inexperienced in filtering out the negativity from the energy they absorb. It accumulates.'
'My chakra seems to have a slight putifying effect. So over the last two years, I have encountered some and managed to restore them to sanity. They have proven themselves useful so far and will likely continue to be, so it is not a waste.'
'Still, what worries me is not their presence in itself.
It's what their presence Means. Is nature now so defiled that its own spirits become like this?
I understand that [Senjutsu] at its core will always be a dangerous art, but for the very natural energies to be so... Hostile.'
'What are the deities doing? Shouldn't someone fix this?'
'Anyways, the negativity in itself, though likely useless to anyone else, has an impressive conversion ratio with my brand of [Chakra]. This... This is good. Wonderful even, likely the best news I've discovered recently.
And since nature seems to be lacking purifiers, hopefully no one will mind if I take a bit... More.'
--------- End notes.
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Change POV:
The forest was alive with the sound of cicadas at night.
Raito moved through it without pause, his stride long and steady, each landing absorbed in silence. A flicker of moonlight caught him as he shifted from branch to branch, the canopy weaving open and shut overhead.
He ducked beneath low boughs, vaulted across roots, and pressed deeper into the trees. His breathing was controlled, precise—no wasted effort, no careless noise.
Leaves rustled faintly as he kicked off the trunk of an oak, twisting midair to catch the next branch. A shinobi's rhythm: step, leap, land. Step, leap, land.
No lanterns reached this far, no chatter from Kuoh's streets—only the woods, dark and endless. The night seemed to swallow him as he pressed further in, until even the sound of his movements dissolved into the forest.
Raito vanished into the depths of shadow.
Flick.
Moonlight flashed off steel.
Raito twisted instinctively, his sandals scraping bark as a kunai whistled past his cheek and buried itself into a tree trunk with a dull thunk.
'How nostalgic...'
Before he landed, a shadow darted from the underbrush. The assailant was fast—faster than most—and swung a broad, single-edged blade in a wide arc meant to split him in two.
Steel met steel, and Raito moved with the blow, redirecting the weapon's weight with a lean to the side and a slide of his wrist. His body flowed lower, hand catching the earth for balance. Then, with a snap of his hips, he launched upward—
Crack!
His heel slammed under the attacker's jaw. The force lifted the figure half a step off the ground before they staggered back, teeth snapping shut with a wet clack.
Raito landed smoothly, kunai still ready.
The broadsword wielder reeled but did not fall. Instead, they steadied themselves with surprising resilience, cloak shifting in the moonlight.
And then—
The forest stirred. Shadows detached themselves from the trees, five more figures leaping into the clearing in perfect silence. Their weapons gleamed—a mix of short swords, sickles, and clawed gauntlets—as they spread in a circle to cut off every escape. But unlike the first, beneath their cloaks, Raito caught a glimpse of distinct, fluffy tails.
...
One of which was wagging in excitement as they pressed their attack...
Raito's eyebrow twitched in annoyance...
"(Sigh) they still have a lot to learn…"
He dropped into a low stance, the air around him sharpening.
They came in close and leapt.
Raito counted their mistakes and prepared to punish them for their blunder.
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Five minutes later
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*Groan...*
After delivering a sound beating, Raito sat on top of a boulder, arms propping up his chin, watching the six cloaked figures struggle to pick themselves off the ground. Leaves clung to their clothes, and a few were still clutching sore ribs.
'4 out of 10.' Raito decided.
"3 out of 10. You need to improve." Raito commented, purposely removing one mark as any good teacher should.
Leaping to his feet, he paced once, then stopped and pointed to the nearest prone attacker. The big one with the broadsword.
"Oryuu, you overcommitted. Big swing, wide arc—good reach, horrible recovery. No good as an opener, makes it easy to dodge and strike back. Do better."
Asami groaned, but shifted in positive response. 'Good, He's listening.'
Raito nodded in satisfaction, his red tuft swaying in rhythm.
'From that fellow who was completely useless at taijutsu, he's matured in many ways.'
He then redirected his attention.
"Now you five. Your issues are completely different."
The five in question flinched.
"Usagi," he started, and one of the five straightened up taller. She was small and slim, her figure wiry like a spring. Long white ears twitched atop her head, catching every sound, and her ruby eyes were unwaveringly focused, giving her the appearance of a soldier rather than a scout. Her cloak hung neatly around her shoulders, clean despite the tussle, and she stood quite motionless, locked and loaded as if awaiting inspection.
The stoic visage didn't fool Raito. The excessively twitching ears never failed to give her away.
'Too much...' Raito sighed.
Shirayuki Usagi, once a White Rabbit Yokai, was physically the weakest of the five, but tried the hardest.
Raito had found her abandoned, half-dead, corruption eating through her body. He never asked for details, but from what he gathered, her clan had meant her as a sacrifice to appease some beast. She'd escaped, only to be hunted and nearly killed.
Raito had long dispatched the beast, but the damage was already done. He wasn't a Psychologist.
As a result, she always seemed to treat every lesson like an essential test she was already failing.
"You are trying too hard again." She flinched, and her ears seemed to wilt, but she kept her head bowed.
"Working with your comrades is a privilege not everyone has. Treasure it." Raito instructed, and she gritted her teeth but didn't reply.
"Always attempting to 'Stick Out' will eventually get nailed down,"
Raito concluded. "Do you understand?"
"Hai, Raito-sama! I will attempt to improve." She replied, completely missing the entire point.
Raito sighed and moved on.
"Kuroha,"
A pair of triangular ears twitched, and a bushy tail snapped to attention.
The largest of the five straightened immediately. Broad-shouldered and taller than the rest, her cloak hung in tatters where her claws had ripped through it during the scuffle.
Raito recalled her performance — effective, but far too direct. If it were anyone else, he'd lecture them about feints and timing. But this was Kuroha.
And, Kuroha was just...
"Was I strong, Boss-man?"
Dark fur framed her face beneath the hood, and her amber eyes had the same eager shine as a golden retriever waiting for praise. She fidgeted, tail wagging furiously even now.
Raito pinched the bridge of his nose. Trying to teach this creature restraint felt like trying to train a thunderstorm to whisper.
'...Never mind, no point.'
"Good job, Kuro," he said at last.
The tail doubled its speed.
"Aoba."
The blue-haired girl perked up immediately, cloak shifting to reveal streaks of sapphire plumage occasionally appearing along her braids.
"Hai, Masshuta!" She chirped.
Her bright eyes sparkled like she'd forgotten she'd just been thrown into the dirt five minutes ago.
"You're fast," Raito complimented, provoking a grin.
"Good job. Just try to have a more coherent plan next time..."
"But I'm fast!" Aoba chirped, ignoring 70% of what he said with a beaming grin that didn't look out of place even amidst bruises.
"Fast doesn't mean untouchable..." He mumbled with a sigh before moving on.
"Enka."
A sharp intake of breath answered him.
The monkey yokai stepped forward, its posture straight as a bo staff. Sweat still glistened on her bronze skin, her sleeveless gi torn and dusted with dirt from head to toe — but her eyes burned with the fire of Youth.
Her long, brown tail swayed restlessly behind her, betraying the energy still thrumming through her veins.
"I failed the second exchange," she criticized herself before Raito could even open his mouth.
"No excuses. I will train a hundred times harder!" She looked just about ready to drop into a set of push-ups, but eventually caught herself and ended up simply standing there looking stupid.
Raito stared at her for a beat, then sighed, turning to the last.
"Shiro..." Raito trailed off.
The last of the five lifted her head slowly, her pale hair slipping free of its tie to spill over her shoulders like liquid silver. Her cloak was the least damaged of the group — not because she had fought cleanly, but because she'd all but avoided direct confrontation altogether.
Shiro was a special case. Of the five, she was the most contaminated when Raito found her. And for good reason. She was a discarded remnant of some rogue yokai faction's attempt to resurrect — or at least recreate — the Yamata-no-Orochi.
It had been unsuccessful, of course, but by the time Raito found their grunts skulking around nearby towns to collect new specimens, they had already gone through at least two hundred bodies.
This one was found on the heap he'd been about to incinerate after clearing the base and salvaging what remained useful.
Her golden eyes — sharp, detached, and too aware — flicked toward Raito, then to the others, then back again. The exact rhythm of someone already mapping weaknesses in real time.
"You barely participated," he said flatly.
"Incorrect, Raito-sama," Shiro replied, tone clinical. "I participated strategically. I was observing your behavior patterns. Collecting data."
"You were hiding in a tree."
"Strategically. I would have done more if you had moved closer."
Raito closed his eyes and exhaled slowly through his nose. "Next time, Shiro… participate physically. Data won't save you from a blade to the neck."
She blinked once, tilting her head. "Noted. I will gather data faster next time."
Raito resisted the urge to rub his temples.
"Sure. Do that."
Raito didn't chastise them too much. Considering their limited training, their current teamwork would have overwhelmed most experienced genin back home.
So he was sure, at the very least, they wouldn't die in some random ditch.
'Besides,' he mused, 'the next part of their training requires actual chakra.'
He looked at the six of them—battered, exhausted, but standing.
"Improvements aren't optional. Next time, I don't want excuses—I want results. Now pick yourselves up, and we start the drill over."
A collective groan answered him, long and theatrical. They still obeyed, dragging themselves into loose formation.
...
Raito let the silence stretch, then sighed. "Or so I'd like to say—but today is the day."
Every head snapped up at once.
Their ears, tails, and wings all twitched with unrestrained excitement, the fatigue forgotten in an instant.
"R-Really, Raito-sama?!" Aoba's wings flared wide, scattering leaves.
Kuroha's tail was a blur. "We finally get to—?!"
Even stoic Usagi's ears perked high.
Raito nodded once. "Yes." I am sufficiently prepared now.
The reaction was immediate.
A cheer burst from the group—raw, unrestrained, and echoing through the trees. Aoba all but leapt into the air, wings fluttering in a storm of feathers. Kuroha howled loud enough to startle the birds from their roosts. Even Enka pumped her fists skyward like a child who'd just been promised another round of training.
Usagi, for her part, didn't cheer, but the corners of her usually rigid mouth twitched upward for the briefest moment—a smile small enough to vanish if you blinked.
Even Asami, who had been silently watching from the edge of the clearing with arms crossed, clenched his fists in quiet anticipation. The stoic façade cracked just long enough for a hint of excitement to show through.
They'd been waiting for this day for months.
Raito thought it was unfortunate.
Asami, who got his place in the Oryuu Clan usurped by a cousin due to his inability to correctly channel his Qi.
The five who paid their ability to use Youki as a price to redeem themselves from madness. Though the energies were still there, forcefully attempting to use them again would be to invite disaster.
'My Chakra was merely a catalyst for their freedom...' Raito sighed in regret.
But now...
"From this point on," Raito said, stepping forward, voice low but firm, "you will discard Youki altogether, and use something that won't drive you insane."
Chakra. My brand of Chakra, to be exact.
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End chapter
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