Chapter 24: Climatic Showdown (Part 6)
Cavern of the Legendary Oni...
Kazeryu watched in horror as Kurushimi chopped up the Legendary Oni Beast into pieces of meat, he started to devour the various pieces of meat of the Legendary Beast, first the flanks ripping off bits and pieces so he can fit the morsels into his two maws, then moving on to the organs, devouring the liver, the eyeballs, and the squished juices of brain, then eventually to the bones itself, Kazeryu watched it all as the Hungering Oni chopped the bones and devour the white pieces of chalk, the bones providing a lot of crunch but no meat.
Kazeryu tried to keep his stomach together from blowing up in chunks as he watched the Hungering Oni commit cannibalism, and enjoying said cannibalism to begin with, He tried to stifle his coughs and gags as Kurushimi laughed at his satisfied hunger, happy that his stomach is filled with delicious meat and blood, then suddenly he went silent, this caused Kazeryu to raise an eyebrow as the Hungering Oni stood up from where he sat.
"Yes...Yes! With this legendary blade..." Kurushimi said as he strangely grew taller and more muscular, he laughed wildly as he inspected the Oni Sword, Kazeryu readied his crossbow gun.
"And with The Legendary Oni Beast bolstering my strength..." Kurushimi continued as
"I shall devour the Oni Keeper!...And then I will devour..." Kurushimi said as he immediately turned around, the Purple Dragon Oni gasped as Kurushimi turned around and pointed the Oni sword at him.
"Everything!" Kurushimi said with a roar as he charged to Kazeryu with Oni Sword raised, Kazeryu quickly bolted out of the cave with the sole intent of warning the others of the incoming threat of Kurushimi, Kazeryu dashed out of the cavern, occasionally blind-shooting a crossbow bolt to hinder the Hungering Oni, Kazeryu's attacks proved fruitless as Kurushimi's armor deflected various bolts of energy.
"Yes! Yes! This is the challenge I want! I need to hunt to get my food! What a challenge!" Kurushimi said frantically and loudly as Kazeryu fled for his life,
"Warn the rest of the Legendary Four...Tell them that Kurushimi will Devour Everything!" The Hungering Oni said as he finally stopped chasing the Purple Dragon Oni, wanting a proper challenge from the Legendary three formerly Legendary four, Kazeryu ran as fast as he could to old Norrisville, wanting to tell the rest of his family that Mizuwani passed away, and the now relevant threat of Kurushimi.
Later...At The Front Gates of Old Norrisville.
"Mizuwani's dead?" Theresa said to the somber Kazeryu clearly taken aback by Kazeryu's words, after Kazeryu arrived at Norrisville, he immediately met up with Theresa, Shirokuma and Pichigaru, and told them of the bad news of Mizuwani's untimely death, Theresa was clearly saddened by Mizuwani's demise, she sighed loudly as she looked down to the ground, tears in Kazeryu's eyes started to form as he nodded to Theresa.
Shirokuma was completely silent as he folded his arms clearly bothered that his friend was slain by the hands of Kurushimi, a monster that the Legendary Four and the Ninja didn't kill but instead kept his spirit in his sword, Pichigaru sighed loudly, she began to cry also, she was a lot more silent as her horned mask blocked her tears from streaming down her paper-white face.
Theresa was fighting back tears, she has to admit, but these Oni weren't just her friends, they were family, and she just lost one of her family members, something that made Theresa even more depressed, and surely
"What should we do?" Theresa asked, breaking the silence between the four, Shirokuma silently stared at Theresa with his yellow glowing eyes, both being intimidating and captivating, Shirokuma was waiting for her, the mundane human, the Oni Keeper, to make the decision.
"Kazeryu, you said that Kurushimi used a magical sword to kill the Giant Oni right? Do you know anything about that sword?" Theresa asked the Legendary three, but Kazeryu more specifically, Kazeryu sniffled before answering.
"He said that it was made by an Oni, and it can only spill Oni blood..." Kazeryu said, Shirokuma gasped at Kazeryu's words, which in turn caused the three others to look at the Golden Samurai rather curiously.
"I made that sword...With the Ninja...He provided with the iron and steel and in turn I made a sword that we would never use unless a great evil Oni wanted to destroy Norrisville...But now... Kurushimi has the blade, the only other Oni we spared...And Mizuwani is dead because of our mistake..." Shirokuma said as he slowly drifted to silence, fighting back his weakness and sorrow for his mistakes.
"With a single strike in the heart, it can purge Oni, soul and all..." Shirokuma recited as he pouted and hung his head down in pure shame.
"It can only spill Oni blood right?" Theresa said, Shirokuma with some hesitation nodded at the Oni Keeper, Theresa quickly took a second to think about a good plan.
"It can grant the wielder with a powerful suit of armor...If they're human...What do you plan on doing Theresa?" Shirokuma asked the girl, she was silent for a moment, she wanted to have an answer that results in her not having to deal with more death, a plan that won't end in disaster, a plan that has no risk.
"I will DevourEverything!" The Three Oni's and the Oni Keeper heard, immediately they saw the hooded figure that was obviously Kurushimi, in one hand he had the magical Oni Sword and in the other sword was his normal heavily serrated sword, with a laugh from one of his maws, Kurushimi quickly threw the hooded cloak off of his body, revealing his true form, his armor has grown even thicker than ever before, he was taller and more muscular than he was before, and his silver ponytail became dirty and black.
"Legendary three! Your end is here! I will devour your flesh! And then I will devour everything!" Kurushimi said with a roar, clearly wanting to a fight from the Legendary Three Formerly Four.
"Bastard...You Can Take My Life...But You Can't Take Any Of My Familie's Live Without Paying The Consequences. " Was all Pichigaru said as she unsheathed her katana, Kazeryu readied his crossbow so it can shoot down the Hungering Oni.
"We need to get that sword, its the best chance we got..." Theresa said to the Legendary three.
"And you must strike the final blow," Shirokuma said, immediately Theresa eye's widen, not expecting that to come of Shirokuma's mouth.
"We will die by the blade no matter what...It was nice knowing you Theresa..." Shirokuma said not even bothering to listen to Theresa any further as he quickly clenched his axe tightly and slowly walked to confront the Hungering Oni.
"What!? No! Not you too Shirokuma! There has to be another way!" Theresa screamed as she got in front of the Golden Samurai, Kurushimi laughed at the Oni Keeper's despair as he waited for the perfect time to strike.
"There isn't any other way...Theresa Fowler...We'll attempt to disarm Kurushimi and you will grab the Oni Sword once we do...Then purge this demon..." Was all Shirokuma said as he literally pushed Theresa aside and approached the Hungering Oni with his axe in hand, Pichigaru and Kazeryu followed the Golden Samurai as they confronted the Hungering Oni.
"Bye...Onee-chan..." Was all Kazeryu said to Theresa who only managed to frown at the Purple Dragon Oni, Kazeryu tried to sound hopeful but was failing horribly, Theresa clearly did not want this to happen, but what options does she have? Until she quickly realized something, immediately she went inside Norrisville, presumably to get some help.
"It seems your all quite distraught...That I murder your dearest Mizuwani, my only regret...Is that I didn't devour him! Bones and all!" Kurushimi said as he pointed his serrated sword at the Legendary three who had all their weapons were drawn and ready, Pichigaru was the most affected by Kurushimi's words, she growled loudly as she was the first to Charge at the Hungering Oni.
Kurushimi quickly swung both of his swords as the Red Peach Girl Oni, she managed to parry the Oni Sword in particular but was quickly slashed in the stomach by Kurushimi's serrated sword, she grunted in pain but quickly ignored her open wound, Kazeryu quickly shot a crossbow bolt at Kurushimi's hand, causing the Hungering Oni to drop his serrated sword, with a light shrug, the Hungering Oni placed two hands on the Oni Sword and quickly took a step back before swinging a horizontal slash, Pichigaru just barely managed to parry the blade.
She was pushed on her back when the Oni sword clashed with her sword, the pure power of the Oni sword breaking her own sword and shattering the blade into pieces, Kurushimi laughed as he quickly saw a charging Shirokuma, Shirokuma swung his axe, Kurushimi blocked the axe strike with the shield part of the Oni sword, Kurushimi quickly kicked Shirokuma back and then blocked another crossbow shot by Kazeryu, the arrow deflecting like a ball bouncing off of a wall.
"Fire...Braver..." Kurushimi said as the Oni sword glowed an aura of brown and gold, he got into a stance of a poised and graceful warrior, Shirokuma quickly charged to try and stop the attack from ever happening, his axe glowed an aura of black, preparing his own final attack to try to stop Kurushimi's final attack.