It landed on all fours, mouth wide open, black sharp teeth bared. Part of its clothes had burned, showing the emaciated body underneath. But the rest of the monster was unharmed.
Nagisa’s plan had failed.
CHAPTER 8
The jikininki scurried fast toward Nagisa, its arms and legs thin like a spider’s. Nagisa hit the creature with the shovel again, straight into the stomach, raising its body into the air and throwing it onto the castle’s wall hard.
If fire didn’t work, they had to find another way to kill it. But before Nagisa had a chance to think, the jikininki was already up, one arm wrenched backwards at the elbow and twitching. The creature grabbed onto it, untwisted it with a blood-chilling crack and headed for Seiho this time.
“Run!” Nagisa yelled, following behind as the jikininki and Seiho disappeared into the forest.
The thick mud and wet leaves slowed him down. Nagisa slipped a few times, falling on his hands and knees, then getting back up again. He’d lost Seiho and couldn’t see in the darkness. Hurried footsteps and snorts echoed but he had a difficult time telling which way they came from.
A sharp yell and something snapping behind him made Nagisa turn and rush toward the back of the castle. As he approached, the sound of bones cracking under weight became clearer.
Seiho and the jikininki were on the ground with Seiho above, holding a bone at the creature’s throat. He screamed again and Nagisa finally noticed the jikininki’s claws digging into Seiho’s chest.
“Move back,” Nagisa called. Seiho glanced at him, then removed his hands.
Putting all his force into it, Nagisa brought the edge of the shovel down onto the jikininki’s head, and the skull nearly split in two. Black liquid oozed out and the jikininki stood up even with half of its head torn open.
Nagisa gasped, backing away at the sight. The creature pounced right onto his chest, sharp toes digging into Nagisa’s torso, claws pulling at his hair, the black liquid pouring down onto his face. Tripping over his feet, Nagisa landed down among the bones with a painful thud, hands pawing at the jikininki to shove it off him.
Seiho grabbed onto the monster’s arms, dragging it away, but not before it ripped Nagisa’s sweatshirt and left scratch marks on his face. Shovel in hand, Seiho drew it through the jikininki’s chest and pushed it into the ground, pinning the jikininki to the forest’s floor. The creature thrashed, clawing at Seiho’s clothes, but the shovel kept it in place.
“Are you hurt?” Seiho asked, eyes still on the monster.
Breathing heavily Nagisa sat up. “I’m okay. Just roughed up.”
“There’s no way to kill it,” Seiho whispered. “No way…”
“Let’s try burning it again. Theitakosaid burning will work.”
A shuddered sigh left Seiho. “On the other side, not here. I have to take it there and kill it.”
“No! I won’t let you die with this monster.” Nagisa glared at the jikininki which had stopped trashing. Instead it looked back at him with its bulging white eyes, making the hairs at Nagisa’s nape stand up.
Why won’t you die?Nagisa thought, full of spite for this creature. Its teeth were broken where the shovel split the skull. Thin neck had snapped awkwardly, possibly when Seiho fought it. The chest was exposed where the blade of the shovel held the creature pinned to the ground.
Nagisa frowned. Something was off.Getting out his phone, Nagisa turned on the flashlight, directing it toward the jikininki’s chest. “Oh.”
“What?”
“Look.” Nagisa pointed inside the monster’s chest cavity. “There’s no heart. Do ghosts not have hearts? There’s no black ooze either.”
“I think it should’ve been there,” Seiho muttered, sounding only half convinced.
“But it’s not. Is that why it can’t die?”
“I don’t know… I… I have no idea.”
Nagisa grasped Seiho’s shoulder, squeezing. “Do people lose their hearts when they turn into ghosts? Or into… creatures like the jikininki?”
“Ghosts don’t have hearts. Not in the physical sense because their bodies are immaterial. They’re made of spiritual energy and nothing more.”
“Yeah, but the monster isn’t. So, technically, it should still have a heart since the rest of the body is material, shouldn’t it?”
“Technically,” Seiho muttered. His eyes roamed over the jikininki’s chest, breath heavy and hands trembling on the shovel’s handle. “Perhaps it’s hidden,” he added so low, Nagisa barely heard him.