Chapter 6: Spirit Hunting
Putting a plain shirt and coat over myself, gloves on my hands and some jogging pants, I went outside. Making my sword possess me, I was enhanced by its strong physical buffs.
Passing through empty streets with no lights, hearing the rustle of plastic and maybe cats, I wondered to the poorer district. Hoping to find some spirits.
As I wondered, I occasionally saw some spirits wondering around, but sadly they were all dead people's spirits. Playing my respects to all those I passed, I found myself near the water's edge. Looking at the large river in front of me, I gazed at the very far central city. So full of lights and vibrant signs.
*SPLASH!*
Turning over to the river, I saw something emerge to the surface. It was a kappa, the spirit that drags people down bodies of water and drown them. It's looked like a turtle version of a giant goblin. Or a teenage mutant ninja turtle that was on crack, but without the rat master.
Shaking my head, I turned away from the monster. As I wondered farther into the poorer district, I started to encounter more and more spirits.
Somewhere near an old building, I saw a pale head connected to a string like neck. It stared lifelessly at me and started laughing hysterically at me, as if I was a joke or it was insane. Once I saw that, I almost immediately avoided that area.
Somewhere along the way, I saw a funny umbrella that had an face imprinted on it. It even had some sort of appendage on both sides of its face. Seeing it approach me, the white little fox by my side barked at it. Which effectively scared it away.
Continuing through the places, I finally found a spirit which attacked me. It took the form of a rabid dog with little stubs on its head and foam all over its mouth. Testing it, I moved back, to which the spirit did the same.
Hmm... taking a step forward, I noticed it didn't do anything. Taking another to the right, suddenly the calm dog turned rabid. Noticing where I stepped, it was towards a very old office building that was abandoned. Seeing the scorch marks all over the room that could be seen through the window, I recognised it as a fire.
The dog was probably caught up in this fire as well as its owner. Pondering that fact, suddenly my blade pushed me away from the spot I was just at. Confused, I looked back at the dog surprised to find it spewing flames from its mouth.
Running away, I had nothing to deal with those type of attacks. I'll probably be roasted alive if it try and face that. Looking at the dog, instead of moving from its place, it stayed put and sat on the floor. Now that I was out of its range, the dog had then started looking attentively around.
It took me a few second to finally realise that it was looking out for... it's owner. Sighing, I left the dog by itself. There was lots of spirits just like that everywhere, not only in Japan. What makes it sadder is that I can't change that. They'll always be lost, wondering or even sad spirits somewhere.
Patting my fox, I continued my journey. The point of tonight's expedition, is to find out how to break my level 5 spirit threshold.
As we walked, we had encountered an old abandoned shrine. Passing around the overgrown moss and weeds on the ground, I started my walk up the stairs. I wonder what might be at the top of these places? A shrine spirit? An oni? Maybe even a yokai?
Looking around the ground around the shrine, I was surprised at how well kept this place was. The gravel crunched underneath my feet as I walked closer to the front of the shrine. Seeing no bell or box for offerings, I wondered what type of spirit was contained here.
*CREAK!*
Stepping on the wooden floors of the shrine, a sense of foreboding washed over me. Even the sword spirit inside me was quivering. Looking at my white fox spirit, it was seemingly calm and unwavering.
Summoning a sword with the power of my spirit, I put it in front of me to keep myself reassured. Even though I was more adept at hand to hand martial arts, I felt safer around an actual weapon. I didn't trust myself fully to just barge in with just a fist.
Then out of nowhere, a chill started soaking around the area where I was. Raising my sword and readying my fox, I watched my surroundings cautiously. Hearing no sound, I laughed at my knowledge of spirits. They don't make noise when they walk or phase through objects. They're like perfect assassins.
"Food? Walking straight into my belly? Don't mind if I do, I haven't had such a delicacy in ages"
Turning around, I was met with an incredibly large woman. Her skin was all red and her hair was bushy and terribly long. In her hand was a club and on her head was a pair of horns. Looking at the situation, it was quite the scene.
Then a page appeared in front of me. It was like mine except without stats and with another category and rank instead.
[Spirit: Evil Shrine Oni (Rank-4E)]
[Health: 300/300 - Stamina: 380/380]
[Sp: 73/100]
What? Rank-4E? Sp? What are these, system?
[Ranks are a categorisation of strength. It goes from F to S, while there is 9 inner ranks. From weakest to strongest, they are 9 to 1. A normal persons spirit rank is 5F, while a normal yokai and devil ranks are around 7E to 1C. Any other spirit above those ranks are usually natural disasters or very problematic and dangerous to anyone around them]
So the spirit I'm facing right now is kinda below average. Then what does 'Sp' mean?
[Sp is short for spirit power. They are a measure of how powerful a spirit can get and how much potential it has]
Isn't that like my levels for possession? Something like that?
[Wrong, levels are a measure of the connection between user and spirit and how much you benefit from each spirit. Sp can also help bridge that connection better, but that isn't its main purpose. Sp is the measure of how strong a spirit is. With enough Sp, a spirit may transform into something more powerful or overall better]
Hmm, is my spirit's Sp not enough to cross the level 5 bridge then?
[No, levels don't measure strength, but connection. The only reason you haven't progressed passed level 5 is due to your bond. Possession increases bonding speed, but only doing that simply can't increase your bond past certain limits. A suggestion is fighting along side them, instead of using them to fight]
Oh, now I get it. I should treat my spirits better. Maybe I should give them a rest days on occasions. Hopefully they like that. Suddenly I was brought back to the situation on hand.
"An angel? I wonder what they taste like... sweet, tender and crunchy! Sounds delicious!"
Since I was possessed by my sword spirit, I had a yellow halo on my head. While facing a ginormous woman who looked to be the devil himself, or herself. I don't really know. It looked like a scene from a movie where the good guys face the bad guys.
Without warning, she raised her club and struck down on me. Dodging to the side, I knew I wouldn't last under her brutal and savage strength. The floor with a newly added crater was evident to that.
Dashing forwards, I made use of her big swing to get up close and personal with her. Slashing my sword down, I was shocked to find an arm blocking my strike. Apparently she had let go of her weapon and used her hand to protect herself.
Dodging a surprising fist, I fumbled with my sword before steadying my stance. I didn't go into any of the forms I knew since I don't know how to apply my knowledge of punches, to slashes and strikes. Looking at me pathetically resist her attacks made her laugh.
"AH HA HA HA HA- OUCH! What was that!?"
Listening to her haughty laugh get interrupted by my fox's bite, I suddenly felt proud of my little fox spirit. Seeing me visibly mock her, which was definitely not my intentions, she became furious. Her strength soared and she started bashing her club randomly at my direction. The wooden decking around me had started to loose its foundation as the floor started collapsing.
Running to the front of the shrine where is was solid ground, the oni started following me blindly. Dragging its stone club behind her, I brought her to an open space where we could finally fight properly.
Dodging another strikes, I didn't even have time to intercept as she began swinging again more rapidly. Deciding quickly, I exchanged my sword spirit with my fox spirit to make me gain more speed. I wasn't going to win in a competition on strength, so I should use its weakness.
"I've tried cat before, it's not that great. But then again, I am pretty hungry nowadays!"
With my enhanced ears and perceptive beasts eye, I was able to predict her movements and easily avoid being smash to smithereens. While we clashed back and forth, the most I was able to do was continuously attack it with the spirit blade. But since it could see it, there wasn't much advantage to it besides it being another opponent she had to defend against. Which she was doing quite fine.
Time passed and I was able to strike it with the blade at the back while I was distracting her. As soon as my cleansing blade hit her, she started to shrink. Noticing her Sp lower drastically by 5 points on one hit, I saw my sword grow more brighter and sharper. Smiling, I finally found a way to defeat her!
Closing in on her, I moved using the 2nd form: Instant light. As I blurred passed her, the female oni became confused at how she was currently bleeding from her side.
Chuckling, I noticed some blood on my sharp fingernails. Something I had gained when white fox became level 5, but it was very insignificant change. The cleansing blade's change at level 5, was that it got longer and more sharp. Pretty basic.
*BANG*
Picking myself up, I looked at the enraged oni who had now bashed her club to the floor making the ground vibrate, forcing me to loose my footing. As she approached me without her club, I was surprised to see her hands shake slightly.
Confused at her sudden outburst and reaction, I prepared myself for the worst. Seeing her not move and just blankly look at the sky, I used this as an opportunity to strike with my cleansing blade.
Her Sp decreased by 5 once more and she had shrunk once more. This time she had become the size of a normal person. She eventually shook her head forcefully and faced me with a face scrunched up with rage.
Swiftly dodging a punch from the oni, this time I felt it's desperation. Like something was wrong. Getting another slash in with my sword, she shrunk one more. Slash after slash, there seemed to be something wrong with her...
"Ah-!"
Accidentally exclaiming out loud, it was all due to the fact that I was suddenly in a hold. Trying to wiggle out, I was met with an incredibly strong resistance. Thinking she was going to eat or something like that, my desperation increased. My blade had already started furiously stabbing at it, which it strangely didn't even react to.
Suddenly she head butted me and something started to transfer over to my head. Like how I was able to translate thoughts from spirits like that grey sparrow at the dojo, this was the same thing. The female oni was telling me something.
—
As my mind blanked, a memory started to pass through. A memory of a girl, a daughter to a very poor family. One day, she had returned home with meat to provide for the week. Her family celebrated their luck and their daughter and feasted that night.
The next week came around and the poor family grew hungry once more, so they turned to their daughter hoping for some more food. She gladly accepted the request from her family and latter that night brought meat for the next few weeks.
She and her family spent their days like this, in bliss with their seemingly endless supply of food thanks to their daughter.
One day, her father asked her to show how he got the food she was providing. Seeing no reason to deny him, she told her father to follow her that night. In the dead of night, two people were seen hiding in the shadows in front of a building.
When they stopped, the daughter pointed innocently at the building and said, "Thats where I get the food" Seeing where she pointed, the father puked on the spot.
As the morning came around, there was a sudden murder in front of a building. Suspiciously, the poor family had reported that the husband had yet to come home with their daughter. Worried, they searched for their family members.
But as they searched, they finally found their daughter. She was an victim of the crime scene.
Blood was everywhere, and the father was nowhere to be seen.
She was dead.
In front of an orphanage.
—
Screams of children and babies filled my head. Flashes of blood and gore appeared in my mind along with that hideous memory. It was of small disembodied children. In the middle sat a little girl. The same one who was in front of him.
What the actual fuck.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone