Right at that statement the jikininki started struggling, claws going for Seiho’s throat. He yelped, backing away and losing the grip on the shovel. Nagisa put himself between them, holding the shovel and blocking the monster’s arms with his own. He winced as the claws dug in his forearm.
The jikininki seemed desperate to escape which had Nagisa wondering if it understood their discussion.
He turned to Seiho. “Okay, think. If the heart exists, where could it be hidden?”
“It could be anywhere in the castle or…” He paused, lips parting slowly. “The sharpened bone.”
“You think it marks the heart—”
The jikininki writhed and Nagisa hissed in pain as the monster whipped its thin arms and legs at him. Its half-split head swayed back and forth, more black ooze leaking out.
“Hold it down!” Seiho said and stood, rushing to where the sharp bone was.
A rupture in the thick, dark clouds let a ray of moonlight shine down over them. Seiho kneeled to where the bone protruded from the soil and pulled at it with no success.
“The damn thing won’t budge,” Seiho growled.
“Dig it out!”
The jikininki flailing under Nagisa’s weight turned his focus to it. He let out a gasp as the moonlight made the creature clearer. One eye hung out of its socket, and pieces of the broken skull mixed with the black liquid pouring from inside. Little was left of its clothes and the lines of its skeleton were clear underneath the gray skin. These were the last remnants of the monster’s humanity. A vague shape of the man he’d once been.
“Found it!” Seiho exclaimed.
Nagisa looked up to where Seiho was elbow deep in the soil, digging. “Bring it here.”
“I can’t move it. It’s protected by a spell. I need to break it.” He paused and for a second, Nagisa saw a veil of purple energy spread across the sky. Seiho left the heart and returned to Nagisa, eyes panicked.
“What?”
“If I try to break it, the spell I put around the castle will dispel. I can’t hold the barricade and break the curse at the same time.”
“Fuck…” Nagisa took a breath. “How long does it take the curse to spread once the barricade disappears?”
“A few minutes to reach Osore-zan Temple. More to reach neighboring cities.”
Nagisa nodded. “Do it. Break the curse,” he said, shoving aside that little voice in his head telling him what a horrible idea this was. “Take the kerosene and the matches with you. The moment you break the curse, pour it in and light the heart on fire.”
Seiho’s hands clenched into fists and he stood still, gaze moving up toward the sky and where the barricade was, invisible to Nagisa right now. Then Seiho looked down at the jikininki blocked by the shovel’s blade and Nagisa’s bleeding arm.
The will to get out of this place seemed to triumph. Seiho ran to where the bottle of kerosene and the matches had been abandoned, then rushed to the heart. Kneeling, Seiho shoved his arm to where it was buried.
The purplereiryokupoured out of Seiho, swirling around him, engulfing his body, and shimmering under the moonlight. The energy centered at Seiho’s arm which touched the heart. Though Nagisa couldn’t see the moment it happened, he could feel it, like a pressure on his lungs, taking away the oxygen.
Above, the barricade appeared again shortly before disappearing. The jikininki gave up on clawing at Nagisa, instead staring up at the sky, and Nagisa could swear there was a grin formed at the only corner left of its mouth. The monster’s curse must’ve started spreading.
“Is it broken yet?” Nagisa asked.
A sharp screech and a black energy resembling lighting came out from inside the hole where the heart was. Seiho cried out falling on his back and holding his hand. Nagisa couldn’t tell what happened but Seiho seemed injured.
Nagisa stood, putting a foot to the edge of shovel’s blade and pushing it deeper into the monster’s chest. He left the creature, dashed to Seiho and glanced down inside the hole. A human heart was inside with the sharp bone running through it. Nagisa poured kerosene over it, lit a match and threw it in. It burst on fire and he grabbed Seiho, dragging him away from there.
“Look,” Seiho said, trembling hand pointing to the jikininki.
It had blasted into flames, its body burning fast and its shrieks resounding through the forest. Nagisa held Seiho into his arms and they watched as the fire turned the creature to ashes, until nothing was left of it. Soon, the Castle of Bones vanished as well, the building turning to dust, blown away by the wind, and taking with it the bone yard too.
Nothing remained but Seiho.
Nagisa’s grip tightened, almost expecting Seiho to disappear and even Seiho stared at himself to see if it would happen.