Ushio and Tora belongs to Kazuhiro Fujita and Shonen Sunday
Asako entered her house. A familiar scent of her mother's cooking warmly enveloped her as she passed through the ramen business. She sat down in the rightmost seat and reclined on the table.
Propping her elbows on the cold surface, she rested her tired head on her crossed arms. Her eyes closed as she could only think about Ushio. Yesterday, Mayuko left to heal Ushio from some alleged wound, but Asako was already gone by the time she came back.
Even back then, her parents caught onto their daughter's demeanor. She hasn't been the same since that night. She was thinking about him more than ever before, but she'd better understand there was no way they'd let a monster claiming to be Ushio in.
She was frustrated they wouldn't believe her. They thought he was dead.
"Asako, you better move on," her mother said, stirring the ramen. The sizzle of cooking food and the rhythmic clinking of chopsticks filled the room. "We've talked about this before. Ushio is dead and you aren't dumb, just because a monster claimed to be Ushio doesn't mean it's him."
"If that wasn't Ushio, he would've tried to attack you guys when you drove him out, and if that wasn't Ushio…" She stood up, her face blushing red. "I didn't have a hard time believing he'd turn into a beast. Only a complete idiot like him, wielding a mystical, soul-sucking spear would willingly turn into one!"
"I get it's hard for you to get over his death, but that's only your way of grieving, you really want to think he's alive, so you'd rather believe what a monster says-"
"Just because you don't believe me doesn't mean it isn't true!" She yelled to her mother, cutting her off. Some of the customers looked at her like she went nuts, talking about monsters and a mystical spear as if a nine-tailed fox didn't attack them all 3 days ago.
"Asako!" Her mother yelled her name in a demanding and fierce tone as she slammed her hands down on the table, making her daughter jump back, "It's only using your emotions against you, like the 9-Tailed beast did with our hatred and fear, he's feeding off your grief, using it to your advantage to trick you… so, please understand… that Ushio's gone."
"I wouldn't-" Have gone to the other side of the country last time if he didn't almost turn into one, she was about to say, but before saying another word, she got interrupted by her father as he walked down-stairs.
"Is she still talking about that nonsense?," Her dad said, "Asako, you aren't that kind of girl, you're old enough to not be gullible."
She huffed, crossing her arms, "When I return, I want to see the look on your face when I'm proven right," she said before turning back running away, her father reached towards her, trying to stop her but she slammed the door behind her.
She took the bike and pedaled a few blocks through the unusually cold streets as fast as she could, barely able to make out the floor from the amount of strange mist surrounding her. A wet, uneasy smell made her stop dead and cough.
Little did she know about the gravity of their current situation as she only wanted her parents to hear Mr. Aotsuki's words, she wanted them to see Ushio for who he is inside, not for his current looks.
Despite his misunderstanding, the Tsuchigumo wasn't as dumb as Tora thought he was. He was a master of illusion and for such a powerful type of Yokai as an Azafuse, Ushio still had the weak mind of a human being. It was only natural to use his inner demons against him.
The Tsuchigumo chuckled, emitting a sound like the chattering of an insect, looking at the bodies of the priests scattered on the ground before piercing most of them. "It doesn't look like humans haven't changed one bit either."
He 'grinned' as one of the remaining monks tried standing up, shaking as he used his full strength to stand up. But in less than a second, the monk was spliced in half by the spider Yokai. Ushio and Shigure looked in shock as both sides fell off to the grassy floor.
"Go back and contact the Spear candidates!" Shigure told the helicopter's driver, trying to remain calm despite just seeing someone's death.
"But Shigure, Oyakume-sama! But what about you two?"
"We'll keep on fighting!"
But as soon as the helicopter began departing, the Tsuchigumo swung his blade-like feet towards the helicopter, sending it down, crashing on the shed and killing its pilot instantly.
Right after the chopper crashed, the Spider Yokai released a gust of purple smoke, which covered the entire backyard. The strong, rotten smell of the fog, invading his nasal cavities as it also clouded his vision, not allowing him to see a thing despite his enhanced senses.
"Sumako!" Shigure yelled, trying to remain calm, knowing he'd lose if he succumbed to what the stress the spider wanted. "It's too dangerous around here, go call for help, fast!"
"Fools… are you trying to call for help?" The spider laughed as he was about to step on the man's wife, but as he was about to hit her, he felt like something stopped him.
He looked down, Tora was stopping his legs like a samurai would stop a sword. His palms touching the blade between them. He chuckled, "Don't think I'm doing this for his sake… But a powerful human lady who's been stopping The Hakumen for 300 years would be tasty."
Ushio was looking around as Shigure and Tora agreed to team up, they left to chase the spider as the younger azafuse remained on his own, feeling as the fresh, sweet smell of meat began to intensify, losing track of everything else.
His stomach began growling as he hadn't eaten anything since the morning. He didn't mind, he didn't have to kill him when he's already dead, just two slabs of fresh meat in the ground… What could go wrong?
In a flash, he felt something sharp tearing off the flesh of his shoulder. Ushio turned around, and standing right behind him was… Tora?
The orange Azafuse swiped his claws at Ushio, tearing in his chest and then his left eye, the red stain of blood covering part of his vision, causing him a big burning feeling. He stopped him from succumbing into his beastly tendencies… yet something didn't feel quite right.
Tora yelled, "Letting me live and ruining your life in the process? You really aren't a bright one, Ushio!" Ushio's breath deepened after hearing this, he was confused, "What kind of idiotic Beast Spear wielder would do such a thing?"
Ushio ran towards him with a beastly roar, like a war cry, pulling his claws out at the sound of Tora making fun of him for saving his life. He swung his nails at Tora's neck, to scratch off his vocal cords so he wouldn't be able to say something like that again, yet he dodged swiftly, making Ushio leave claw marks on the nearby wooden pole instead.
The orange azafuse landed right behind him and threw two ropes of hair at him, tightly wrapping them around his wrists. His right hand popped off and flew right to the older Azafuse's face on its own, but Tora managed to catch it.
Ushio thought, if the real Tora betrayed him right now, he'd likely fly away and maybe aim for Asako or Mayuko instead. He wouldn't have any business with him since he became a Yokai, so it would be pointless to fight against him now.
"Only a human would care to save others, you aren't a strong monster like me, you will never be like me! You're just a fragile, mentally weak human in the body of a monster…" Tora said in an uncharacteristically smug fashion, throwing Ushio's arm away as he released another rope of hair towards his neck
He was on the same level as him, he could easily fight back but Ushio's mind was fogged by his feelings of confusion, rage and sadness. He knew this wasn't the real deal, he just knew how Tora was like too well… but he just couldn't bring himself to fight the illusion either.
Tora may be a pain in the ass most of the time, but he still loved him and the mere idea of killing someone he loved was the biggest possible blow his heart could ever receive. He'll never, ever forgive the spider for any of this.
Ushio groaned, clutching the string of hair tightly as he gasped for air. He began to be lifted off the ground, he's seen him use this technique before, during their sparring session.
Tora would lift him high into the air, constraining him with his own hair and then slam them down to the floor. He never saw him use this technique on any Yokai besides him, it was only something he saw him use that one time.
Right as he was about to be slammed down, an unmistakable golden scythe pierced through the faker, looking surprised, stuck in a distressed position, until becoming nothing but purple smoke. Ushio fell back to the floor and tried to stand up, shaking with strong bitterness towards the spider Yokai as he turned around to notice Kirio right in front of him.
"Is this kid also a friend of yours," Sumako said, standing alongside Asako and Mayuko right behind him. "The town was in a panic over the illusion, and he was helping people out."
"Shit! You mean the spider is attacking the whole city?" Ushio yelled. He tried to run away, to go after him, but he quickly tripped and fell off. "Fuck! I forgot, I'm missing a hand…! foot…! or is it a paw…?"
Asako looked at Ushio in shock as he mentioned it so casually and she then looked at her shoulder, just to notice Ushio's decapitated arm touching her. She screamed in horror and Ushio shrugged, "I think it has a mind of its own or something."
"IDIOT!" She yelled, throwing his arm at him, "At least bring me up to speed, what the hell's going on? Everyone is panicking, I began seeing some really creepy shit on my way here! Why weren't you doing anything about it?"
Ushio sighed, "That damned spider yokai… I don't know where he came from… but he's been stalking us for the last couple days, a real pain in the ass…" He clutched his left fist, he was breathing heavily, still thinking about the tricks up the spider's sleeve, "He's able to create illusions… illusions so real they're able to hurt people physically."
"Try holding your breath and you'll see right through his tricks," Kirio said, not sure of how he found that out being his first time fighting without Kuin by his side.
Ushio nodded and ran, before tripping again, "Idiot! I have some affairs left unsolved with my parents," Asako said in a mildly disappointed tone, as she gave Ushio his arm.
"You're as stupid as always aren't you? Right now is not the time for-" Ushio was cut off when Asako mounted on his back, forcefully gripping his neck.
"I'm not afraid of anything…! I'm going with you!" Asako yelled. Even if she didn't quite like Tora very much, she knew how much he mattered to Ushio, always there when he needed him, she also wanted to rescue his father… and those were the real reasons she wanted to go.
Ushio sighed and began running, "If you say so, then." Sumako waved them good luck while Kirio jumped off to fend off more of those illusions.
Shigure was chasing the Tsuchigumo throughout town, wreaking havoc on everything in sight. The old priest pushed his own limits as he jumped from building through building just barely being able to catch up, his target's silhouette being barely visible through the thick smoke.
He swung his staff from side to side, sometimes in the middle of jumps as undead, corpse-like illusions he knew weren't real came towards him. What would've scared a regular person felt like nothing but annoying flies he shoved aside.
Shigure didn't know what the spider was planning to do, he saw more and more people getting killed mercilessly on his way, cars with people inside them being crushed like soda cans as he was seemingly heading somewhere.
Tora was running alongside him, taking care of the illusions easily with his lightning. Teaming up with a common target made him nostalgic for the good old days of fighting alongside the priest's son back when he was a weak human wielding that spiteful Beast Spear, despite those memories being as recent as a year ago.
He didn't care much about the havoc he caused, considering he himself was a powerful Yokai who used to do stuff like that himself, but these people were potential prey, food being wasted like a freshly served ham-barker being thrown into the trash right before his eyes and he just wouldn't allow it.
They were at the very edge of the humble town Mikado as the spider was making his way to the big city of Tokyo and Shigure began to get very tired, sweating deeply as the spider began running faster, slowly disappearing into the mist in front of him. He couldn't let him go, It was his job to stop him before he caused more casualties.
"Tch! That coward got away!" Tora said, crossing his arms in disappointment, he was ready to leave and go back with Ushio when he suddenly felt Shigure on top of him, he almost fell down as he lost balance from the sudden load, but quickly stood back up.
"Tora!" The priest said, not feeling like giving up yet, "Let's chase after him!"
"You were all born the same, weren't you?" Tora said, shaking his body and standing on two legs trying to get him off. From that samurai 500 years ago, to that brat Ushio, and now his dad, the Aotsuki family has always been a pain in the ass for him. "I'm not giving you a ride!"
He then felt a sharp hit from his staff. "The Tsuchigumo is still causing destruction, we can't let him run free for long." Shigure said, holding tightly onto Tora's body.
"Tch!" Tora ran off with him on his back and leapt high, flying after the Tsuchigumo. Shigure was lucky that he let him catch a ride on his back. They flew through the still clear Tokyo, noticing a ball of smoke heading to a mall still under construction.
The smoke grew into the silhouette of the Spider Yokai, his whip-like tail curled around the skyscraper, as he materialized into a solid form. His mouth opened wide, revealing his sharp, blade-like mandibles that glistered in the deep sunset sky.
Shigure and Tora landed and took a step back, an awkward silence lingered on the building, only the sounds of lightning crackling in the orange Azafuse's forehead and the rings from the priest's staff ringing as the wind passed echoed throughout.
Shigure got off him and stood in a defense position ready to deflect whatever attacks the Tsuchigumo had in hand. Tora on the other hand began to get very impatient quickly and ran towards the spider, but Shigure swung his staff right in front of him.
"What the fuck are you doing? Let me fight the god-damned thing!" Tora barked and casted the priest's staff aside and drew his claws.
"Tora… calm down… losing your calm is losing the battle. It's not my fault if you end up being a pile of dust instead of him." Shigure said
"You can't teach a monster how to fight!" Tora jumped towards the Tsuchigumo, trying to slice the spider with his claws, but he went right through him as he turned into smoke. Instead he landed on a purple, sticky web, finding himself unable to move.
The spider chuckled and opened his jaws, "If you don't mind, I'll be torturing your partner, Nagatobimaru, right in front of you," He said and proceeded to bit, his mandibles piercing through Tora's body as he yelled in pain, stuck in the web unable to move and do anything about it.
"WAAAGH! MY-MY NAME… IS NOT… NAGATOBIMARU!" The azafuse yelled angrily, trying to endure the cutting pain as blood squeezed out of his body like a bottle of ketchup, "MY NAME… IS TORA-AAAAAGH!"
"I don't owe Tora anything," Shigure said, completely unaltered by his suffering. The priest looked at him with two Thousand Treasure Rings, blue spiked chakrams, the Kohamei Sect's signature monster slaying weapon in hand as he let go of Tora, surprised at his lack of a reaction. "And he doesn't owe me anything."
Tora breathed heavily, laying on the ground. His wounds were deep and there was no doubt that the spider injected him with more of that poison, the same poison he injected Ushio with, which disabled their superhuman healing capacities.
Three bodies wrapped in string fell down from the ceiling of the unfinished mall, "Time to play a game," The Tsuchigumo said, "One of them is an illusion, the other two are real. If you attack the illusion, the real ones will be freed, but if you guess wrong…" The spider yokai chuckled once more, giving no room for interpretation.
"God-damn it! We don't have time for your stupid games!" Tora wheezed, weakly standing up, but the spider proceeded to step on him, impaling his blade-like legs through the Azafuse's chest, causing him to cough up blood.
"He can't do anything about it. It's all up to you, priest." Shigure didn't respond. He was in a critical situation right now, the spider got hostages and Tora was made a complete mess as he and The Tsuchigumo stood face to face.
There was nothing but pure silence for 2 minutes. Torturing his prey psychologically before eating them was something The Tsuchigumo loved to do, but his current opponent seemed to be rather patient, with a strong mind. It was boring this way. "This is getting a bit boring, don't you think? I'm willing to use my full power if it means you'll play along."
The spider emitted a dark red aura and the environment surrounding them began to get clouded by purple mist, as if he was concentrating it all on here as Shigure dropped his staff.
He began to feel constrained by the mysterious force, forcefully put in a kneeling, crouching position as he felt something take shape around him. It resembled a wooden table at first but iron straps formed around his hands, constraining them tightly.
Another iron strap formed around his head, pushing him into the table. That's when Tora noticed what he was doing as two wooden pillars were formed, "That's… the head cutting thing, the thing humans of the west used to execute people."
Tora barely guessed what it was due to his limited knowledge of the world and cultures outside of the east, so of course, his first exposure to a guillotine was in media. He didn't know where the spider had seen it, knowing he was freed just a couple days ago, but either way he knew Shigure was in deep shit.
Tora had limited movement, but he knew what to do. He could disperse the smoke and break the illusion easily. The spider's feet pierced through his ribcage, but he could still breathe as if the spider wanted him to see the priest suffer like a spectator.
He however, could not have cared less about him. He only saw this craving of his to see people suffer as something he could turn on his head, so he breathed in, trying to withstand the pain as he did so, and make another large gust of fire.
This was the biggest mistake he could make in a situation like this.
A big burst of flames appeared between the priest, the spider and the hostages. The Tsuchigumo chuckled as his attempt to undo the illusion was completely futile. Instead, Tora felt as his insides were burning, his blood was literally boiling, "What else did you think was going to happen, foolish Nagatobimaru?"
"How… many… cough… times… cough… do I have to tell you…? My name… cough… Isn't… cough… Nagatobimaru…!" Tora said, even more hurt than before. He felt as he began passing out… he was going to die again, wasn't he?
"Tora!" Shigure yelled as Tora had fainted. He began trembling and getting worried, trying to keep calm and while he admittedly grew fond of the orange azafuse… Ushio's mental state was what worried him the most. How was he going to react to this? He was always very impulsive, crying over the smallest death. Knowing his son… he wasn't going to take this very well… at all.
The little "game" he setup was very uneventful so far. He already took care of his main goal, to kill Nagatobimaru. But all that was left was that priest, he just knew it was him from his very looks. He had to be him.
It was already growing dark and the smoke was already cleared out but mass destruction was left behind, as Tora and his dad went straight ahead while he fought that Tora clone. Mayuko was clutching his body tightly, and Asako was holding onto the other girl's waist.
Asako has never once ridden an animal, let alone Ushio. In no way she'd ever trust her idiot friend-turned-beast as a mount. It didn't help he wasn't quite used to having people on his back either, it felt weird but neither of them felt too heavy either. In fact, they felt lighter, it was a lot more like a balancing act.
They were all shocked at the sight of destroyed vehicles and wrecked highways, but once they left the town, all sight of destruction was gone, there was no way to trace the spider from here.
Ushio had to think for once. If he was a monster, or well he actually was one now, but if he genuinely wanted to destroy things and cause havoc, it would be more fun to head at the big, crowded places, rather than some small humble town.
Ushio knew the spider was headed to Tokyo.
He didn't have anything to wait for, so he continued forwards, passing through the highway and entering the big city. Even from afar he saw the lights being turned on, one by one, but with his increased vision he noticed something.
There was a tall building, it looked unfinished, in fact, it looked just like the building Tora carried him to earlier today. Ushio was shocked to realize, but he remembered what the older Azafuse had told him on his way back to the shrine.
"(Idiot, you accidentally unleashed a great wave of Yoki, you know what that means, right? It means you could have attracted the Tsuchigumo to the construction site, just people getting hard by Mr. 'Protect the innocent' right here.)" Tora once said.
He didn't have enough time to think, he had to get there fast or that damned spider could've killed them already. He knew he was powerful, he knew he was strong, he had to be there.
Every time he was in danger, Tora came to save him, he had to be good and do the same. He couldn't waste time, he needed to get there now!
Ushio ran faster, Tora and his dad could be in trouble for all he knew, so he ran fast, very fast, but it was still nowhere near as fast as if he flew. He didn't know how to do what Tora tried to teach him the most, he just had to guess on the spot like the previous couple times.
"(Once you master it, it will be as easy as breathing, just distribute it to different body parts for different effects, Got it?)"
"(USHIO-BRAT! I TOLD YOU! DON'T ASK! JUST EAT IT! DRINK IT IN AND FLY LIKE ONE OF THOSE COLORFUL FLOATING THINGS THOSE HUMANS CARRY AROUND!)"
Tora's advice echoed deep within his mind, repeating over and over again, as he dodged incoming cars. He knew he had to distribute his Yoki somewhere, but it would've been more useful if Tora taught him that earlier instead of throwing him off a building the same amount of times as the years he spent captured in his basement.
"Damn it-Damn it-Damn it" He repeated under his breath multiple times. Trying to figure out just what to do. "(Drink it in… He was talking about my Yokai…)" He thought, "Asako, Mayuko, Hold on!"
He began concentrating, "Ushio! What are you doing? We don't have much time left!" Mayuko yelled as Ushio crouched with his hind-legs spread far apart, he gathered himself, concentrating his Yoki on his very core, he was emitting a light.
A car was driving towards them, Ushio wasn't concentrating on that aspect, so he was clearly visible, a white Yokai and two girls in the middle of the highway. He stopped the vehicle as he didn't want to accidentally run the girls over.
The man exited the car and yelled, "Those two girls are being kidnapped by a Yokai!" Turning everyone's attention towards Ushio, who completely ignored them, but the girls were blushing, sweating in embarrassment at the misunderstanding.
"Ushio! You idiot! We're in the middle of the highway, everyone can see-" Asako yelled but was cut off when Ushio leapt meters above ground, it was clear he wasn't landing either as he began slowing down at the height of his jump. "Ushio… YOU CAN FLY!"
She was losing her breath, scared of falling off. Mayuko was a bit more calm but knew Ushio was doing it for the first time. Ushio himself was very happy and proud of himself, he didn't know how he did it, but he was flying, or at least levitating above ground.
"Now… how do I control my movements!" Ushio yelled and the girls screamed as he moved frantically to the sides, up and down, in circles, he didn't quite know how this worked, it felt less like flapping imaginary wings, and more like being a remote controlled drone.
He couldn't waste more time, he had to reach that building, fast!
"The Yokai is going away! He's going to eat them!" The man yelled in horror as the white creature clumsily moved around the sky, almost flying into buildings several times, "We should call a Priest or something to exterminate it!" A woman nearby added.
Ushio began to finally take a grip on his flight once he began moving his legs like he was running in the sky. It felt good, very good, even with the two girls in his back, he's never felt so free before and he would've enjoyed it more if his dad and Tora weren't in danger.
Amongst the silence, the right-most construction worker began to regain his consciousness, slowly opening his eyes. Everything was blurry to him at first, but as he got used to his environment, he quickly made everything out.
"M-Monsters!" Is all he said was panicked as he saw the spider, "What is this?" he repeated quickly as he saw the priest, who was held in a guillotine. "Where am I?" He asked as he looked to both sides and noticed another, orange, monster stabbed by one of the spider creature's legs.
He recognized him instantly. Didn't he fight that nine-tailed monster with that boy? What was he doing here, seemingly… dead? He also saw him earlier today, floating near one of the windows calling that white monster's name… Ushio… as they were related… Ushio… that's the name of the kid who fought the nine-tailed monster. "Ushio…"
Shigure's eyes widened when he heard this. "How do you know my son's name!?" Shigure yelled, confirming his theory. Ushio, the white tiger-beast, was once a human boy. That made him see him in a whole different light.
He now felt bad about getting scared by him, he probably had a whole life ahead of him, as a human child, but got turned into a beast by whatever means he couldn't even begin to understand and was forced out of society because of it.
Considering what his co-worked had told him, he felt as if he transformed willingly as an act of sacrifice for someone else he cared about. It seemed as if that orange monster was that 'someone', and it seemed as if his efforts were wasted. "Poor kid."
Not only was his beastly friend seemingly dead, but who seemed to be his father was about to die here as well. He didn't know what he was here for, but that giant spider seemed to enjoy their collective sorrow.
"You woke up…" The spider said. frustrated as he saw his game being slightly ruined. "But don't fret, there's still two of them left." It was now narrowed down to a 50% chance of success.
"Forgot about the guillotine," The spider said, "It serves as your timer. You kill someone or you don't, it's your gamble." Shigure had to choose fast or a slow, painful death awaited and he'd rather die than kill someone.
The guillotine descended slowly, only the clanking sound of the ropes and gears were heard. The construction worker began to feel uncomfortable, knowing he was about to prescenciate a man's head getting slowly decapitated, he didn't even want to imagine it but he seemingly looked fine with his fate.
Shigure began chuckling, "I just recalled, someone else is going to come here and kick your ass." He said, leaving the construction worker confused. What did he mean with 'someone else?' His eyes then widened, realizing only one of them was missing. It could be none other than…
The guillotine got increasingly lower as time passed; by this point it was already very far down, almost reaching Shigure's neck. "So that was you?" He asked the Tsuchigumo, "You were the cause of the disappearances 200 years ago."
"Yes. Why do you mind?" The spider replied in an aggressive tone.
"We found you in the forest, all the recent paranormal disappearances happened in the forest. It couldn't be a coincidence," He said, keeping a calm attitude despite his impending doom. "And you killed those bikers three days ago, you killed the police officers two days ago… and now you're after those construction workers. Right?"
"I don't like being interrogated." The spider growled.
"I'll take that as a yes." Shigure said.
The construction worker began to feel uncomfortable, knowing he was about to prescenciate a man's head getting slowly decapitated, he didn't even want to imagine it but he seemingly looked fine with his fate.
Shigure began chuckling, "I just recalled, someone else is going to come here and kick your ass." He said, leaving the construction worker confused. What did he mean with 'someone else?' His eyes then widened, realizing only one of them was missing. It could be none other than…
"DAAAAAAAD! TOOOORAAAA!" They all heard a voice scream. it was rough, deep, beastly but still felt like it belonged to a young teenager deep down. A white beast, with two girls on his back came through the smoke, landing with lightning crackling in his forehead.
"Ushio! Be careful, the Tsuchigumo is playing a game, don't attack anything yet!" He yelled as Ushio noticed the guillotine, its blade nearly hitting his dad's neck. Ushio took a deep breath, remembering what K said as he blocked all air from entering his lungs. He noticed as the smoke began to fade.
"I see we got new guests over here," The Tsuchigumo said as the priest grabbed his staff. Asako and Mayuko got off Ushio's back, the white Azafuse looking at the spider with intimate anger as he looked up and noticed the construction workers wrapped in web.
Without saying anything, Ushio shot lightning at the guillotine, making it disintegrate into the smoke and making Shigure fall off on his knees. He saw as one of the three construction workers began losing his shape and turned into a purple capsule of smoke.
He shot lightning at it and sighed, letting his breath free. The construction workers fell onto the ground as the Tsuchigumo's web crumbled into smoke. Ushio saw as the awakened one carried the sleeping one and tried to run away, but the spider launched something and made him collapse into the floor, passing out.
"You ruined my fun… to be expected of a low-level Yokai." The spider said. Ushio looked at him directly in the eyes, it was hard to tell as he lacked any pupils, but he could feel what little remained of his soul directed at him.
"Only a weakling acts that way towards humans… Ushio… you have claws, you have a strong bite… why don't you use it on eating people instead of hunting small animals, or more humiliatingly, waiting for your human mother to make you some food?" The spider added.
"I'm not that kind of Monster! I don't have to be!" Ushio's head lowered, remembering Raishin, Kagari, Izuna, the Ongakyou no Onji, the Zashiki Warashi, the Baldlanders, even Tora wasn't that bad anymore after a while, "I've met a lot of good monsters in my short life and even those who didn't quite like humans at all, would never resort to harming them. Just because I'm a monster doesn't mean I have to kill people!"
The spider laughed, at the perceived ridiculousness of his statement, "This is what happens to 'good monsters', Ushio!" He lifted one of his feet, blood dripping out of it and thrusted what seemed like Tora's corpse. He had a hole in his chest and both sides of his ribcage, the same poison he had mixed in his body before, it gave a rotten, burned smell.
Ushio held his breath for a while, thinking this was yet another illusion. Seconds passed but he didn't turn into smoke… he didn't change into anything in the slightest. Finally, Ushio poked him with a claw… it was perfectly solid.
He held tightly into his body, shaking it. "Tora! Tora…! What are you doing…? TORA!" He screamed in desperation. He couldn't see his friend die again, not after he let his own humanity go. He kept shaking it, hoping that somehow, miraculously he could survive.
Not even a single grunt came out from him…
Ushio dropped Tora's body with a blank look full of nothing but hatred as everyone watched in fear. His mane ruffled and his body tensed as his blank look formed into an angry stare as his breathing slowed down, blood boiling as he processed everything that was going on.
Something scary was awakening inside of him. A fierce beast, one who creates fear and chaos, one who eats people and burns entire villages down. He lost Tora… his sacrifice was useless… and the spider was seemingly enjoying this moment.
"This is what I've been waiting for," the Tsuchigumo stated happily, "Look at me… Look at me…! LOOK. AT. ME!" Ushio followed his orders with a deep growl. "Hate me… Hate me… HATE. ME!" He yelled in a hypnotizing manner, sucking his humanity away.
It was everything he could think about, ways to kill the damn yokai right in front of him. He wanted to lay his claws in his skin and tear it away, he wanted to make a rip in his abdomen as the blood fell off, he wanted to burn him to a crust, he wanted to… he wanted to kill.
The spider disappeared into the cloud of smoke, "You won't get away!" Ushio hissed and jumped towards him only for him to drift on the ground, nearly falling off the building as his claws left a trail behind. He growled once more, and turned around as the spider appeared, just poking his legs on Asako's head.
"GET YOUR DIRTY HANDS OFF HER!" He roared, eyes glowing red as he leapt towards them, opening his claws as he felt his human consciousness vanish in favor of an angry, hate-driven instinct. The Tsuchigumo vanished into smoke, leaving Asako alone and confused as he swiped his claws on her body.
He was on top of her, his belly grumbled. He still hadn't eaten anything yet and just earlier he considered eating one of the corpses before stopping himself from doing so from guilt, but any trace of that was gone as he craved human flesh, drooling at the thought, his saliva raining on Asako's face.
"Ushio… What are you doing?" She was crying as he leaned closer, opening his jaw revealing his rows of spiked teeth, ready to take a bite off her face… Her smell began to become more appetizing, fresh, sweet and juicy, it was irresistible.
Right as his jaw was nearing the bloody wound on her chest, Ushio was hit by Shigure's staff, knocked down, sliding into the floor near the open wall. The priest placed a foot on his son's head and silently stared at him with a judgemental look.
The ambient remained silent for a long while. Asako struggled to breathe, moaning in severe pain and Ushio began calming down, "Ushio… You'll regret doing that. I get that Tora means a lot to you, but you'll only make it worse if you're going to eat the only people that support you."
Shigure stepped back and Ushio stood up, deeply scared at what he was going to do. Two days ago, he had a very vivid nightmare where he ate everyone he loved, a voice like the Tsuchigumo's telling him very heartbreaking things. Ushio's breath accelerated, he felt shivers down his spine as he stared at his claws dripping with blood.
The smoke was already clearing off as he just noticed the spider fleeing. Ushio slowly walked towards the window, and gathered himself ready to jump. Shigure stepped on his tail. "Ushio…! I get he's off to cause more havoc, but you gotta calm down-"
"Don't follow me, don't look for me," Ushio threatened and pushed his dad back as he flew off into the night sky as everyone saw him depart with shock. He didn't want to harm anyone further… he felt he was too dangerous to even be around them anymore as he avenged his partner's death.
Shigure carried Asako with his two hands as she began to pass out, "I'll take her to the nearest hospital, Mayuko, you take care of Tora. If Ushio doesn't come back tomorrow, we'll look for him." He ordered as he left, leaving a trail of Asako's blood in her wake.
