Author's note: Today I will say hello to any Korean Americans who might be reading this. 안녕하세요 As of yet I don't have any readers in South Korea but perhaps someday they will visit.

Chapter 26 A Bloody Encounter

Wei knew the youkai were there.

He had sensed them coming from a far. Since he was through with most of the castle town's inhabitants-he had special plans for the survivors, especially the women,- Wei had decided to shift his attention to the oncoming youkai. Wei used his most recently created bodies to clean up the area around the entrance on the side the youkai had been approaching and arrange it to his liking.

"It's a lovely day, don't you think?" Wei asked without turning around doing his best to keep mirth out of his voice.

With deliberate nonchalance, Wei turned his face partially toward his audience. Although he could not be totally certain, Wei believed that his audience consisted of three wolf type youkai, judging by the brown pelts they wore and their long bushy tails at least. All three of them wore armor across their midsections, but little else in the way of protection which suggested that they were more concerned with speed and maneuverability than defense.

Wei assumed the two at the rear were the lackeys of the one in front. Both of the lackeys had wiry builds and had the look of dimwits about them. The one on the right had his head shaved bald except for a Mohawk of gray hair and wore turquoise metal armor with straps above the shoulders. The other lackey had gray hair with a thick black stripe running through the middle and wore crimson armor of the same style.

The one whom he assumed was the leader stood three paces in front of the other two. His ice blue eyes were in exceptional contrast to his ebon mane of hair that was so dark it almost glistened. Like the other two, his wiry frame had a single piece of black armor over the chest. However, unlike the other two, Wei noticed that the leader was also wearing some very ornate black metal bands on his wrists and ankles, which fairly sang with power. On each of the bands, Wei could make out symbols etched with barbs and glyphs that seemed to be filled with liquid diamond that scintillated in light cast by the fires and the sun.

Hmm...wonder what those do...

Calmly, Wei turned around fully to face the sheep that thought they were wolves.

As the one at the reflecting pool turned around, Kouga heard a sharp intake of breath behind him from Ginta and had to repress a grimace himself.

This guy is seriously messed up...

When the man turned around, Kouga had been afforded a full view of what he had in his hands. In one hand was a set of wooden chopsticks, in his other hand was the severed head of a boy who could be no more than eleven and was having his head used as a rice bowl. The entire skull cap of the boy had been removed and judging from the expression on his face, it had been done while he was still alive. The dark eyes pleaded for mercy and the mouth was frozen in a silent scream.

"Yes, a lovely day indeed," the man reiterated, while lifting a mouthful of rice that had been stained with blood. "A perfect day for a celebration. And in keeping with the customs of the locals, I have made my own festive red rice." The man held the skull up towards Kouga. "Perhaps you would like some?"

When he got a clear look at the man, Kouga had to wonder where he came from. In contrast to the oval facial features of most of the humans he had met, this man's facial features had harsh square lines making them up and gave the impression that he had been carved from stone. He was also fairly large and brawny compared to the average Japanese person and there was also a slight accent discernible in his voice.

The man's clothing was unlike anything he had ever seen before, with strange brown pants, a black shirt with buttons that had been opened and allowed a grey under shirt to be seen. On his feet were something akin to boots that had been cut down to the ankles and had odd black strings crisscrossing back and forth over the arch of the foot.

"Kouga..." Hakkaku whimpered, as the sounds of movement surrounded them. A stunned silence fell over the trio of wolves as the area around them was suddenly flooded with thousands of people.

Actually though, it was just one person. The same person that was sitting at the reflecting pool eating rice out of a kid's skull. Every face had the same exact malevolent smile, the same sadistic eyes, the same expression of sinister amusement. The only difference he could see was that the others all wore the normal style of clothing that Kouga expected from humans. But even that was disturbing because it was exceedingly apparent from the scents coming from the clothing and the way the clothes fit over the bodies that they had been taken by force.

It is time to put Totosai's work to the test, Kouga thought to himself.

"I don't know who you are or where you came from," Kouga growled. "But if you think you can run wild across these lands, you're dead wrong."

"Dead wrong you say?" The man at the reflecting pool asked while standing up. "What an interesting choice of words."