The first ray of dawn howled with chaos.
The puppet body lifted its bow with unnatural grace, joints creaking like strained wood, yet its movements remained precise. Golden light condensed into a nocked arrow, pulsing with sharp, destructive intent. When it loosed, the sound cracked like thunder. The first arrow tore through a macaque's skull, detonating its body into bloody fragments. The second split the spine of another before the beast had even raised its blade.
The macaques shrieked, panic flashing in their yellow eyes. But fear curdled into rage. With maddened cries they raised the conjured swords and charged. Dozens leapt at the puppet, claws and steel flashing, their bloodthirst unbound.
The puppet did not flinch. Its arm blurred, drawing back another arrow. The shaft flared and split into three mid-flight, each piercing a macaque's chest and burning holes through their hearts. The beasts staggered, clutching at their wounds before collapsing.
And still they came.
Above them all, the Oni body moved like a walking calamity. Oliver's crimson gaze gleamed with merciless glee as he wrenched his polearm from one macaque's chest, cleaving downward to split another in half. Blood sprayed, steaming as it struck the bone of the giant skeleton beneath them.
The polearm spun, carving through the mob. With every step the Oni took, macaques died in droves—bodies hurled aside like broken dolls, their screams muffled by the thunder of bone steps and the wailing ghosts.
Chains lashed out from the pavilion gates. Spectral figures lunged across the battlefield; their hollow mouths bit into flesh, leaving macaques shriveled and drained, their corpses collapsing into dust.
The girls fought with deadly grace, their awe at the skeleton fading into a fevered determination to prove themselves.
Takara's nagamaki shimmered with spiritual light as she cut through a macaque lunging from the side. Her strikes flowed like water, precise and cold, carving the beasts apart with an elegance that masked her exhaustion.
Kaede's naginatas whirled in arcs of silver death. She spun between enemies, movements sharp and merciless, severing limbs and throats with every swing.
Sana vanished into shadow, her kunoichi training unfolding. From the trees above she dropped like a whisper, hands flashing as she unleashed a storm of asura needles. They rained down on the battlefield, piercing macaque eyes, throats, and tendons. Those struck staggered blindly, only to be finished by her sisters' blades.
She reappeared behind a beast that had broken the line, her dagger slicing across its throat. Her voice hissed like venom in the dark: "Fall quietly."
The puppet loosed another volley of arrows. Each shot was a death sentence, skewering macaques mid-leap and pinning their twitching bodies to the ground. With every kill, the pack's morale faltered further.
But desperation made them reckless. One of the larger alphas roared, rallying the survivors. Dozens surged forward at once, their conjured blades blazing with golden Qi as they threw themselves at the Oni.
Oliver laughed, the sound rolling like thunder. His polearm slammed down, shaking the earth, and with his free hand he caught a macaque mid-leap, bones cracking under his grip. He hurled the corpse into the advancing horde, scattering them like pebbles before a tidal wave.
"Pathetic," he growled, crimson eyes alight with savage joy.
The skeleton mount stomped forward, its massive hand sweeping down. Entire clusters of macaques were crushed beneath its fingers, screams silenced in an instant.
Ghosts poured through the gaps, shrieking, dragging souls from broken bodies. The settlement's huts ignited in blue-white flame; their shadows danced across the clearing like demons.
Takara, Kaede, and Sana regrouped at Oliver's side, their blades dripping with blood, chests heaving. Their eyes shone—not with fear—but with the intoxication of battle.
More macaques streamed from the edges of the settlement, their howls echoing. What had once been a simple war-band was now a battlefield drenched in madness and Qi.
Above them, banners of the pavilion unfurled in midair, crimson veins glowing brighter with every soul consumed.
Oliver raised his polearm high, the Oni's voice booming like a war drum:
"This is only the beginning."
The giant skeleton roared—a soundless quake that made the night itself tremble—as the true war unfurled.
"Second Alpha!!!" the first alpha yelled, wind howling around him as he charged, "how could you betray us like this!!"
Swiss! Clank!
Sparks flew as arrowhead met bone. The alpha puppet shot another bolt, but it was deflected. "Times change like ocean tides; a friend today can be an enemy tomorrow," he said, shooting endlessly. "I simply no longer had a need to believe I was the former any longer," he murmured as the first alpha closed in and bared his wind-coated nails.
He didn't dodge—instead, a spirit intervened. Its maw opened into a vacuuming abyss, absorbing the wind Qi. "Madness," the alpha spat, zipping away to the side as his wind gales were devoured.
It burst in quick gusts as it aimed for the puppet's sides. But it couldn't—
"Ranmaru~?"
A chill washed over the landscape. Darkness covered the sky as miasma and ghostly strands of hair, blacker than night, unfurled. "A welcome for saving you would've been nice."
The puppet spoke as the strands bound the rushing macaque in motion. Then it—and his Oni form—turned back to the pavilion gates as a familiar face appeared.
"Onryō~" Oliver said, his voice gruff and demonic.
"Should I be?" she laughed, the binding chains around her restricting her from flying completely free of the pavilion door she'd exited. "From the looks of it, you seemed to have enjoyed yourself whilst I was locked away."
Her eyes watched the panicked creatures below; her locks pierced through a couple of corpses. The blue lantern light that bathed the tips of her hair reanimated their numbers.
Oliver swung his weapon, letting the blood fall. "Well you're here now, aren't you," he smiled. "I wasn't in a state where I could bring you back earlier either."
Because you didn't exist till today, he thought, but refrained from saying it and instead painted a different picture. "I barely could have had enough power to reactivate this tower if I hadn't vowed to slaughter half this settlement."
"And it looks like the deity I made this vow to is a pain to deal with, as it only gave me enough time to use it for five minutes," he added, slicing through the hoard of beasts—his words laced with intent so as not to draw the others into his plan.
"So you'll most likely be sucked back in as the timer runs out."
The Onryō considered him, feeling the chains she couldn't break. "Wasn't that the part you'd claim you'd find a way to free me?" she asked, amused.
"Hmm," he hummed in thought. "I thought you'd already know I wouldn't let you rot away. If I wanted that, you wouldn't have been pulled out of there."
"Instead—here I am, offering you a free harvest of souls."