Ranmaru landed in a crouch, steam rising from his skin, the veins in his arms still trembling with the yokai energy coursing through him.
The oni staggered back, clutching at its torn neck. Its roar shook the trees as blood sprayed like a fountain. Yet it did not fall. Its flesh quivered, knitting crudely together with the stench of sulfur, its body swelling with each breath.
It charged.
The earth split beneath its steps, claws raking downward.
Ranmaru met it head-on, katana snapping up to parry. Sparks erupted as claw and steel clashed, the shockwave knocking branches loose around them. The oni's tusked jaw snapped toward him, fangs gnashing.
He twisted beneath it, blade dragging across its chest, tearing through cords of muscle. The oni howled but answered with a backhand that sent him flying.
Ranmaru's back slammed against a tree, bark splintering. He spat blood and rolled aside just as the oni's fist pulverized the trunk into shards. The beast reared, drool steaming as it hissed.
Ranmaru's breathing slowed, his pupils narrowing. The yin heart within him throbbed like a drum, flooding his veins with venomous strength. Black markings crawled along his jaw as he lunged back into the fray.
Steel flashed.
The katana's edge bit deep into the oni's thigh, nearly severing the limb. But the oni didn't falter—it grabbed the blade with its bare hand, molten blood sizzling against the steel. With a savage grin, it yanked, trying to tear the weapon from him.
Ranmaru let it pull, stepping in close. His free hand shot forward like a spear. His nails blackened, lengthened, and stabbed through the beast's abdomen. The oni's laughter turned into a roar of pain as Ranmaru twisted his arm inside its flesh and ripped upward, gutting it in one vicious pull.
The oni staggered, entrails spilling steaming onto the forest floor. Still, it fought on, swinging wildly, desperate and enraged.
Ranmaru ducked, his katana gleaming as he carved a clean arc across its throat. The beast dropped to one knee, clutching the gash, but its body still clung stubbornly to unholy life.
"Fall," Ranmaru hissed, his voice tinged with a bestial edge.
He vaulted upward, both hands on his blade, and drove it down with the weight of his whole body. Steel pierced skull, cutting through bone with a wet crack. The oni's scream was cut short as the katana split its head open, black fire spilling from the wound.
The creature shuddered once, then collapsed. Its massive frame crushed saplings as it hit the earth, body steaming, spasms fading into stillness.
Ranmaru yanked his sword free, chest heaving, the yin still burning in his veins.
The oni was dead.
A wild laugh spread across the forest, and only then did Ranmaru take on human form once more. "Hahaha," he laughed weakly, his body heavy, broken, and already past its limits.
He smiled faintly, falling to his knees—
Then his eyes widened, fighting the darkness, as he saw torchlight moving ahead. "Don't tell me the onryō failed to deal with a few grunts," he thought bitterly as his vision blurred. "I'll be damned if this is how it ends—finished off by mobs."
Ranmaru's sight wavered, the black haze of exhaustion eating at the corners. His chest rose and fell with ragged effort, every breath scraping like knives inside him. The yin's venom still pulsed in his veins, but his body was at its limit—skin clammy, wounds burning, blood dripping steadily down his side.
The crunch of boots on loose gravel drew closer. Torchlight cut through the trees, bobbing like small suns.
"Over there!" a voice cried, sharp and breathless.
Ranmaru forced his heavy head to lift. Through the haze, he saw them—not bandits, not soldiers, but villagers. Men with pitchforks, firewood torches, even rusted farm tools gripped white-knuckled in fear. Their faces were tight with caution as they approached the carnage.
When the flames cast their light over the oni's corpse, the villagers froze.
Gasps broke the silence. A woman dropped her torch, clutching her mouth as she staggered back. The beast's skull was split clean through, its ruined body steaming with foul ichor that blackened the soil beneath.
"An oni…" one man whispered hoarsely. "By the gods…"
The villagers trembled, but then their eyes shifted—toward Ranmaru.
He knelt in the dirt, katana still dripping black blood, his body trembling with exhaustion. His human form had fully returned, though the markings along his jaw had yet to fade. Torchlight revealed the bruises swelling on his face, the blood soaking through his clothes, and the weight of his injuries.
"Is… is he the one who slew it?" another villager asked, incredulous.
They approached cautiously at first, but when Ranmaru's body swayed, threatening to topple, instinct overcame fear.
"Quick, help him!" a gray-bearded man barked, throwing down his pitchfork to grasp Ranmaru's arm. Two younger villagers rushed in, steadying him before he could collapse.
"He's bleeding badly—someone fetch cloth!"
Another man ripped his sleeve, pressing it against one of Ranmaru's wounds.
The villagers, who moments ago looked ready to drive torches into him, now surrounded him with wide, awed eyes.
"If that oni had reached the valley…" a woman murmured, shuddering. "Our homes, our children—it would've slaughtered us all."
They looked at Ranmaru as though staring at something beyond mortal—half fear, half reverence.
"You saved us," the elder said, his voice heavy with gratitude. "You slew the demon where none of us could even dream to stand. For this… our village owes you a debt of life itself."
Ranmaru blinked slowly, their words bleeding into his fading consciousness. He wanted to laugh again, at the irony of it—these simple folk calling him a savior when his veins still pulsed with yokai corruption.
But his lips only curled faintly before he surrendered to the darkness, collapsing into the arms of the villagers who carried him as though he were their champion.
The oni's corpse smoldered in the clearing, proof enough that the mountain had been spared its rampage.
And in the village below, tales of a lone swordsman who cut down an oni in the forest were already beginning to take root.