"Run! Hurry!"
"Agh! The yokai is here!"
A woman huddled behind a wardrobe in the corner of a room, clutching her daughter tightly. Outside the wooden doors, the screams of villagers and the thunderous crashes of collapsing houses echoed one after another, each sound striking her heart like a heavy hammer. She pressed her daughter's face into her chest, her other hand firmly covering the child's mouth.
In her trembling grip, she held a scroll. Her husband had pressed it into her hands before he left, claiming it was a protective charm bestowed by the Mountain God. But now, she felt only a numbing cold, her teeth chattering uncontrollably.
"Someone, please save us... I don't want to die..." she whispered against the cold wall, tears falling silently.
Suddenly, a ground-shaking roar tore through the sky—"ROAR!"
The next second, a massive BANG exploded! A giant black club smashed through the roof instantly. Shattered wooden beams and roof tiles rained down, and a violent wind whipped wood chips into the air, making it impossible to keep one's eyes open.
The woman felt a massive force strike her, sending her flying like a kite with a broken string. Her daughter slipped from her arms, rolling into a pile of rubble nearby. Despite her young age, the girl bit her lip hard and covered her own mouth with small hands; though tears streamed down her face, she didn't dare make a sound.
The woman hit the ground, the agonizing pain nearly making her lose consciousness. She forced herself to look up through the haze of pain. The village, once filled with the peaceful smoke of cooking fires, was now a scorched wasteland.
Amidst the broken walls and ruins, blood stained the earth. The corpses of villagers lay scattered everywhere, and unextinguished flames licked the remains of wooden houses. The air was thick with the heavy stench of blood and charred wood.
The perpetrator of this horror stood in the center of the ruins. The monster was at least three meters tall, its muscles bulging beneath blue-black skin. A hideous bull's head swayed slightly, with scraps of flesh still hanging from its curved horns. It opened a maw full of fangs to chew on something, blood dripping from the corners of its mouth. The giant black club it dragged was covered in gore and splinters.
Perhaps attracted by the sound of the woman hitting the ground, the yokai's blood-red eyes snapped toward her, its pupils swirling with murderous lust.
"Hu...man... Eat..." A low growl rolled from its throat. It began to walk toward her, dragging the heavy club; every step felt like it was treading directly on the woman's heart.
"Yokai! Stay back!" The woman summoned every ounce of strength she had, scrambling on all fours to her daughter's side. She pulled the child into her arms and stumbled backward.
However, after only a few steps, her foot caught on a broken wooden stake. She tripped, and the scroll she had been clutching tightly fell to the ground, rolling a few times in front of her.
The sound of footsteps drew closer. Looking at the scroll within reach, the woman suddenly felt as if she were grasping at a final lifeline. She snatched the scroll up and turned to face the approaching monster.
In truth, she had no idea what the scroll was for. She only remembered her husband saying that while he was cutting wood on the back mountain last month, the scroll had suddenly fallen from the sky and landed at his feet. Believing it to be a sign from the Mountain God, he had brought it home to enshrine it.
The scroll did possess a mysterious quality; the family had tried everything, but they couldn't open it. When the yokai attacked the village, she had grabbed it instinctively. Now, she had no choice but to stake everything on it.
"Go to hell!" Holding her daughter, the woman closed her eyes and hurled the scroll at the yokai with all her might.
The scroll hit the yokai squarely in the chest, let out a soft thwack, and bounced harmlessly to the ground. The monster didn't even pause; clearly, the impact did zero damage.
But the moment the scroll hit the ground, the previously tightly sealed casing suddenly unfurled with a shloop sound. It revealed a surface covered in black incantations, with the character for "Impure" (Hui) written at the center.
Seeing that the mysterious scroll had done nothing to the yokai, the woman's heart sank to rock bottom. Her last hope was shattered. She slumped to the ground, her eyes turning dull and lifeless as she held her daughter, motionless.
The yokai, seeing her state, curled its lips into a mocking sneer. It glanced down at the scroll on the ground and raised a massive foot, bringing it down with a heavy thud.
The scroll was crushed out of shape, the black incantations flattened against the earth like trampled insects. Immediately after, the yokai extended its hideous, razor-sharp claws. They were as sharp as knives, stained with dried blood, and they lunged straight for the woman's fragile head.
The woman closed her eyes in despair, waiting for death.
However, the expected pain never came. Instead, a bone-chilling, heart-wrenching scream erupted: "AAAAAGH!"
The cry sounded like a wailing vengeful spirit, making the woman shudder. She snapped her eyes open and saw the once-invincible yokai struggling in agony, unable to move a single inch. Countless black incantations were spreading from the scroll the monster had stepped on, crawling up its skin and quickly covering its entire body.
Even more bizarrely, the surrounding greyish-white dust seemed to be summoned. It swirled and gathered around the monster, beginning from its feet and slowly encasing its massive frame. The yokai's screams grew weaker and weaker until they were completely swallowed by the white dust.
The woman held her daughter, her body stiff with terror, staring unblinkingly at the writhing pile of dust. After a moment, the dust suddenly collapsed and scattered. The monster was gone. In its place stood a young man dressed in strange clothing.
But the woman's heart tightened even more. This young man was definitely not a living person. His skin was as pale as paper and covered in spiderweb-like cracks, appearing as though he might shatter at the slightest touch.
As the woman stood paralyzed by this series of events, the eerily appeared man suddenly turned his head to look at her. She saw his face—handsome features marred by the pallor of the dead and covered in those same cracks.
More terrifying were his eyes: the sclera was a void of pure black, while the pupils were a blood-red hue, containing a strange, patterned design.
The young man turned fully toward her. The woman was too scared to even breathe, her every inhalation cautious.
Then, the young man spoke, his voice carrying a hint of post-awakening confusion: "Excuse me, where exactly is this place?"
"Huh?" The woman froze, her mind going blank, completely unable to process the question.
Uchiha Retsu sat inside the house, looking at the woman kneeling before him. He asked again, "Where is this?"
He already knew her name was Yuriko.
"It... it is a village on the border of Musashi Province..." Though the yokai had been destroyed, Yuriko's voice still trembled from the lingering shock.
"Musashi Province?" Hearing the name, Uchiha Retsu's suspicions deepened. Having performed missions all over the Ninja World, he had visited almost all of the Five Great Nations, but he had never heard of this place.
"Do you know of the Land of Fire? Or the Land of Earth? Water? Lightning? Wind?"
Yuriko shook her head blankly, her eyes full of confusion. "My lord, I have never heard of those places..."
"Then what happened outside? Were there bandits?" Retsu pointed through the window at the destroyed houses.
At his words, her shoulders flinched, and her voice dropped even lower. "The village became like this because of a yokai."
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InuYasha:The Uchiha Descendant (60 Chapters, Ongoing)
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