Disclaimer: This is a work of fanfiction, I do not claim any rights to any of the characters or concepts created or owned by Viz Video or Rumiko Takahashi. This is just the work of one fan to the others. The only characters or concepts that I claim are the ones I created or introduced. That said, I bring you:
The Annals of the Heroine Akane, and the Dreaded Demon King. A Tale of the Mirrorverse.
Chapter 35: A Gathering of Heroes, Part 4.
In the darkness of the night on the mountain, a monster hunted for prey. It's powerful body walked upright, covered in dark brown to black fur. It's digitrade legs ended in heavy hooves, and it's long arms were adorned with sharp claws at the ends of its fingers. A bulls head with wide horns crowned it's massive shoulders, and a flickering shape moved about behind it as the pale moonlight reflected off a pair of somethings that seemed eyes at the end of the thrashing appendage.
His name was Pantyhose Taro, and he had been sent here to hunt for prey. In addition to the name that had been forced onto him, he bore others. Foeslayer. The Executioner. The Accursed.
But by far the one he liked the most was this one.
The Eater of Demons.
He had started his life as a nobody in a small village tucked away in the back of nowhere. A traveler had cursed him with his name, and a message. If he served well, he would someday be allowed to choose his own name.
But what could he do? He had been born with a body that was far too human for a demon. No claws, barely any fangs. Barely stronger than an average human, and poor as well. Not only was he saddled with a cursed name, but his very existence had been a curse.
All that started to change the day he had ventured further into the mountains near his village in search of food. The harvest had been bad, and the local Lord had taken most of it. Of course, that was just the nature of their society. The strong fed off of the weak. It had always been that way, and it would always be like that.
He had come across one of the Yeti-folk who must have fallen from their domain, high up in the mountains. He was severely injured, barely able to move. But still a threat to one as weak as Taro.
So, Taro killed him with stones and sharp sticks from just out of the reach of the injured demon. And while he stared at it's dead body, a sudden hunger swept over him. He hadn't eaten for days, and there was a bounty of meat before him, waiting to be eaten.
And it was only just, that the strong fed off of the weak.
So, he had eaten the fallen demon, and collapsed as a fire seemed to sweep through his body, unimaginable pain flooded his senses. When he finally awoke, it had been several days, and he was no longer as he had been before.
He now had the form of the demon he had consumed, along with its strength and endurance. Newly augmented senses flooded his perception of the world.
And a hunger that no amount of food would ever truly sate.
For a time he had passed himself off as an exiled Yeti,.one of the few to be cast from their society to live in the outer world. An outcast that would never be truly trusted, but who's power would give him the respect and attention that he had always carved.
And that was how he had come to be in the service of the very Lord who had taken so much from his village. The same bull-headed demon that lived a life of luxury and abundance while his people starved and suffered. He worked his way up through the ranks until he had achieved a place of power,.of authority.
And then one night, he had killed the Lord and his household and consumed them all.
He had avoided his pursuers and escaped to the mountains, and had fallen into another sleep as his body had changed once more.
And he awoke as a monster.
After that, he had tried to return to his village,but they didn't believe that he was who he had claimed to be. In the end, they had attacked him, and he had slaughtered them to the last.
And from there, the Church had found him and taken him in. They did not fear him, but showed him the respect that his strength entitled him to. The prestige that came with power.
And he had risen in the ranks once more, until an emissary of the one who had cursed him with his name had approached him, and given him his true calling. Had shown him the path that he had always been meant for, and others had tried to block him from finding.
Thus, he became a bared claw and waiting fang. The inevitable end to all who opposed the Church. He became the Eater of Demons.
And that was what had brought him here, to these mountains that lay as a wall inside the lands that the Humans claimed. Sent to hunt and kill a very specific prey. To consume them and take their power as his own, all for the glory of the Goddess of the Night.
And the one who She served.
The one he had been sent to hunt was no other than the Demon King himself. If he wasn't with the group, he had been told that if he antagonized the red headed woman enough then the Demon King would make an appearance.
It wasn't the first time he had been given vague or even slightly misleading orders. The Master sometimes seemed to take great amusement in playing their little games with those that scurried about beneath that all-seeing gaze.
Not that Taro really minded, of course. He had power, the respect born of fear. All he needed now was to be free of the name that he had been shackled with.
He started to stalk towards where he had been told they would likely be by the demon that dangled like a broken toy from his hand. He could have devoured the scout earlier, but seeing the looks of horror, fear and disgust on his prey's face always had filled him with such a delicious rush.
And it was possible that he might gain some trait from the winged demon. With time and experience it no longer debilitated him when his body took on a new trait, which was a good benefit.
It was even possible he could gain the Demon King's ability to take on a draconic form, once he consumed every last bit of him.
With a vicious grin that split his bovine muzzle and revealed the sharp fangs inside, he broke out into a loping trot and quickly started to eat up the distance between him and his prey.
He definitely had a good meal to look forward to.
Ukyo had woken the group early with a pensive look on her face. "We need to move. Something is coming for us. I can feel it. I can hear it in the silence of the animals. I can taste the wrongness in the air."
The others had exchanged a look, then broken camp and followed in Ukyo's trail as she pressed forward. They couldn't help but notice the furtive looks that Ukyo cast back along their path. After two hours, she paused as she looked at the route they had been taking, and quickly changed their direction. The other three exchanged a look as they followed Ukyo, before Ranko spoke up.
"Why did we change our route?" She asked as she settled her pack across her back a bit better.
"I can't risk leadin' what is chasin' us to my Mistress, sugar. If we can't lose it .. we will have to fight it.". Ukyo said, then cast a look at Ranko. "No matter what happens, or if any of the others falls, you must not take on your other form. Under no circumstances can you do that." Ukyo said insistently before she checked her quiver over her shoulder and shifted her grip on her bow.
"If you are goin' to die, die in that form." Ukyo said darkly before she pushed ahead faster, with the others hurrying to keep up with her.
Xian Pu, still in her cat form, leaped down from Ranko's shoulder and onto the back of Ryouga as he picked up speed in his boar form. Ranko let go of the lead rope as she pushed herself harder to keep up with Ukyo as she leaned forward to get just a bit more speed as she slithered along the ground.
Ukyo knew that they were in a race now, since they were leaving a trail that would be easy to follow, but she felt that there was no other choice. She had a horrible feeling, a certainty that she knew who or what hunted them now.
The same abomination that had killed so many others over its long life. The monster that she had seen as it had consumed her own family, all those many years ago.
Taro, the Eater of Demons.
Taro grinned as he could tell that his prey had started to move quicker, a sure sign that they knew that they were being hunted. What made him even more excited was the odd scraped trail that had been left. He had seen such marks before, but it had been a very many years ago. It meant that a truly rare delicacy was waiting for him at the end of this chase. A survivor from the previous dynasty. Someone that had somehow escaped the purge and the feast that had come afterwards.
Truly a fortunate day for him.
With one last check to make sure that his toy had managed to hang onto life for just a bit longer, he charged after his prey at full speed.
Ranko tried to keep her breathing as even as she could as she pushed herself to keep up with the others. She knew that the others could have outpaced her human form, if she was allowed to to take on her true form, they could have possibly escaped. Why then was Ukyo so insistent that she not change? That if it came down to it, that she would die in this form? What secrets was the strange demoness still keeping from them?
At a quick noise from Ukyo, she looked forward as they broke into a break in the treeline. A stony outcrop that jutted out into the open air like the prow of some great ship. And beyond it, a drop into the rocky depths below. As the party slowed to a stop, Ukyo unlimbered and strung her bow with an ease that belied it's heavy draw weight. As she watched the woods that they had just burst from, Ranko leaned over to catch her breath. She could feel the anxious energy that rolled off her two most trusted companions as they moved to stand between her and the trees. Ryouga shifted to his true form, as did Xian Pu as they waited for whatever had been chasing them.
Ranko looked at Ukyo before her eyes swept the treeline. "So, we make our stand here? Why did you choose this place?"
Ukyo nocked an arrow and prepared herself. "Because you must not be taken by whoever is pursuing us. It's better that we all die, sugar. So, if things go badly, then you will need to throw yourself from this cliff."
Ranko paused, then pulled her knife from its sheath. She pointedly did not look at the polished blade,.not wanting to be tempted. She didn't know why Ukyo was so persistent, but she hoped that it did not come to that. She dropped into her stance as the sound of the dense trees being knocked out of the way of whatever was coming for them echoed from the walls of stone that were around them.
Then an abomination surged out of the treeline, the broken and bloody form of one of Mu Tsu's winged scouts clutched in one massive fist. The walking horror stopped and looked the group over before it's maw opened as it lifted the feebly struggling scout up, those dark intense eyes never leaving the group before it.
Then Taro took a bite and removed the head, neck and one shoulder from the demon that had been clutched in his hand. He cast the body aside and took a few chews before he visibly swallowed.
Taro always loved to watch the expressions on the faces of his prey. It always made them all the more delicious. The disgust, the fear. All of it was so enticing to him. And the few that showed defiance? Rage? Those were the ones that truly made him hungry.
And he could see all of his favorite reactions laid out before him like a buffet.
Ukyo let an arrow loose and it punched into Taro's shoulder. For a moment she felt a surge of hope before he tugged it out and tossed the heavy arrow aside like it was nothing. There was barely any blood on the tip, his thick hide had taken most of the force out of the heavy bow.
And with a roar, Taro rushed the group with a mad gleam in his eyes.