Hidetsugu bent to retrieve his club. “Now,” he said to the remaining hunters, “we …” The ogre’s voice trailed off and his eyes locked on a spot somewhere beyond the south-facing exterior wall. His nostrils twitched, and then he tilted his head back and drew a long, deep breath through his nose.
“We have other guests,” he said. “Follow.”
Hidetsugu had days to explore the Academy while his oni feasted, so he led his hunters up one flight to take advantage of the huge windows there. The view here was even better than from the roof of the academy, which was almost perpetually wreathed in thick clouds. From here, one could see the falls, almost all of the lake, and out onto the plains of Towabara far to the south.
The ogre grumbled as he peered down toward Konda’s territory. There was something moving down there, something coming toward the falls. Hidetsugu could scarcely credit what he was seeing, but he had lived in Kamigawa long enough to recognize an army on the march.
Konda’s army, in fact. There were scores of battle-moths and thousands of men and horses all advancing on Minamo. They were moving quickly, too: When Hidetsugu had first seen them, he could barely discern them as men. Now he could see the daimyo’s symbol on their battle standard and the awful, unearthly glow that surrounded the entire force.
Hidetsugu’s eyes narrowed. So Toshi had been telling the truth, at least about this. Konda had raised a spirit army to reclaim the stone disk. And if Konda had traced it here, the great old serpent O-Kagachi could not be long in joining them.
The ogre’s eyes crackled and he barked out, “Hah!” He turned to the pair of dead-eyed yamabushi and said, “Find the others. Go down and meet Konda before he reaches the shores of the lake. Harry him, harass him, do whatever it takes to halt their advance. The oni will be joining you shortly. Keep the fight away from here until I come for you.”
The yamabushi bowed and bounded off. Hidetsugu nodded to himself. They were excellent minions, and he regretted the need to harvest one of them for the ritual.
The ogre drew his club and whipped it through the air again just to hear the sound it made. It would be worth the loss of one hunter, worth it to see the look on Toshi’s face when whatever spell he had planned for Hidetsugu failed, rebounded, and consumed its caster instead.
Hidetsugu smacked his lips. He sank to his knees and began chanting in the old tongue once more, calling out to the oni in Oboro as well as to the All-Consuming busily gorging itself nearby.
Bloodshed and brutality beckoned. If Chaos held sway here, nothing could stop it from devouring all Kamigawa.
His message sent, the o-bakemono sat patiently until he felt his patron spirit’s dire attention shift from its current meal to the approaching army. The All-Consuming started the long process of disengaging its horde of mouths from the academy library, while above, the lesser oni charged over the edge of the soratami capital and fell howling to the waters below, eager for slaughter and hungry for fresh human meat.
When all was in motion, Hidetsugu rose, sheathed his club across his back, and headed down to witness the end of Toshi Umezawa.
Toshi was in too much of a rush to worry about what effect touching the Taken One again would have on him. Once the last of the survivors was gone and Kiku had resumed her close watch on the only doorway, the ochimusha pressed his palms onto the surface of the stone disk and willed it to become insubstantial along with him.
He felt a similar jolt when he made contact, as if he’d grabbed an iron bar with one end in a furnace and the other in a block of ice. The feeling ended as quickly as it had started, and to Toshi’s relief the disk proved as easy to manipulate and carry as it had before.
“Toshi,” Kiku said, “if you’re still here, get ready. Something’s coming.”
Toshi continued to maneuver his phantom burden toward the hall. He hated to leave Kiku alone, but he was almost home free now. All he had to do was reach the roof, and tie a few knots, and they’d all get away clean.
He heard something with claws moving quickly toward them but fought the urge to run. Nothing had been able to affect him in this phantom state; nothing had even been able to perceive him. He had strolled through the most formidable magical defenses as if they didn’t exist, and he had stood unnoticed by some of the keenest kitsune trackers. The yamabushi, the oni, even the ogre himself would not be able to stop him if he just kept his head.
Kiku drew a throwing axe and conjured a purple bloom as she backed away from the door. A second later, the door exploded inward, dissolving into a hail of splinters and broken wood as the oni dog thundered into the room.
Throw the bloom, Toshi thought, unable to spare the energy it took to make himself heard. Forget the ax.
The four-legged brute lowered its armored head and growled at Kiku, its sharp tail scoring the stone wall behind it. The mahotsukai’s face was grim but alert. She made no move to attack, but instead waited, her eyes locked on the oni’s under its savage upturned horns.
The oni dog turned away from Kiku. It faced the spot where Toshi was struggling with the Taken One, roared like a bear, and then launched itself at the ochimusha.
At first, Toshi was too shocked to react. The dog was hurtling toward him with its terrible jaws open wide, and all Toshi could do was think, “But that’s not possible.”
Luckily, his instincts were stronger than his rational mind, and he threw himself away from the Taken One. As soon as his phantom hands left the disk’s surface, the Taken One regained its weight and solidity. It thumped to the floor, rolled a quarter turn, and then fell so that the etched figure of a dragon was facing the floor.
Toshi backpedaled, his eyes darting for a shadow to dive into. The oni paid no attention to the Taken One’s sudden reappearance. It growled and lowered its head almost to the floor. Pointing its muzzle directly at Toshi, the oni dog stalked forward.
It’s tied to me, Toshi realized. Hidetsugu hadn’t been exaggerating when he’d said the oni dog would find him anywhere. Somehow summoning the beast had linked him to it like master to hound … or in this case, like hunter to prey.
The oni lunged again. Toshi was able to dodge. He had to assume that if it could tell where he was in phantom form, it could also injure him. He didn’t fancy getting caught by those jaws, so he kept moving, making himself as hard a target as possible.
Kiku, meanwhile, was still standing ready at the other side of the room. She had seen the Taken One reappear and she had watched the dog stalking the empty air, so she must know that Toshi was still here. He decided to gamble his speed against the dog’s-if she struck as swiftly as she usually did, the dog would be dead before it had a chance to get him.
Willing himself solid, Toshi caught Kiku’s eye just as the dog pounced.
“Plant the bloom!” Toshi said. Kiku reacted like the professional she was, casting her arm in a wide arc that sent the purple flower spinning toward the oni’s broad rib cage.
Toshi commanded himself to fade once more, vanishing from sight just as the oni dog’s teeth were about to tear into the flesh on his arm. The jagged fangs passed through Toshi without resistance, but blinding agony shot up his arm all the same. He cried out, more from the shock than the pain, but the pain lingered far longer.
Kiku’s throw had missed. The camellia wriggled where it landed, thorny tendrils grasping for somewhere to take root. Well clear of the danger, the oni dog gathered its strength as it prepared for another leap.
Toshi’s head began to spin and he fell to the floor. The bite seemed to be poison. He became solid just before he landed so that a resounding thump echoed across the room. Groggily, he looked across at his nemesis, their eyes exactly level.
He tried to summon the cold, but his mind was already too far removed from his body. He willed himself to fade again, but he had neither the strength nor the focus.