The Next Guest Ch. 03

Amaterasu - Japanese Goddess of the sun (head goddess)

Susanoo - storm god and younger brother of Amaterasu

Benten - Japanese Goddess of love

Wakahiru-me - younger sister of Amaterasu, goddess of the rising sun

Hachiman - Japanese God of war

Omoikane - deity of wisdom and intelligence

Suijin -god of water

Takemikazuchi - god of thunder and swords

Takeminakata - god of wind, water, agriculture

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Shuten-dōji - King of Japanese Demons

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Ibaraki-dōji - subordinate and Lieutenant of Shuten-dōji

Yamauba - a mountain woman or witch

Gashadokuro - a female spirit that takes the form of a giant skeleton

Yuki-Onna, The Snow Woman - a pale, beautiful and malevolent spirit that haunts the snowy mountains

Nure-onna, the snake woman - a reptilian creature with the head of a woman and the body of a snake.

Kuchisake-onna - a malevolent figure, described as the malicious spirit, or woman, who covers her with a mask

Tengu - impish mountain goblins that play tricks on people.

Tanuki - Raccoon dog spirits

Hone Onna - bone woman

Jorōgumo - spider that can shape shift into a woman

Oiwa - disfigured and vengeful female spirit

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A roar and a growl followed as Shuten-dōji stomped and cursed that he'd lost as many as he had. Worse was the loss of their power that had aided their own downfall.

He'd managed to destroy another ten demons when he finally managed to calm down. He then flexed his arm (the one he still had) putting it through the cave wall.

Shuten-dōji sat for a few minutes then snapped his fingers. "Ibaraki-dōji, Come to me! We have a plan to make, this time we will defeat that damned demi. I won't make the same mistakes."

Ibaraki-dōji stood there listening while his boss made truly evil plans. A wicked smile came to his features as the plan he heard was as devious as Shuten-dōji had been before.

Shuten-dōji was at it for the next two days as he made and rejected almost all his plans. Ibaraki-dōji waited as he hadn't the capacity for such things.

Although Ephus had misgivings about the gods and minor gods that Amaterasu had mentioned, he listened. He had experienced the same misgivings before with the Norse and Greek gods.

With a sigh, he listened to what Amaterasu thought would be the good points of those that she mentioned. He had seen the looks that they had given him, meaning more points against them.

Ephus looked at the four she had mentioned: Omoikane, Suijin, Takemikazuchi and Takeminakata. They were powerful true though, but they were very weary of each other.

True that Omoikane was the deity associated with wisdom and intelligence, he was still more smug than most.

Suijin, the god of water, seemed to be untrusting of Takemikazuchi, the god of thunder and swords.

Though it was strange that Takeminakata, another god of water, wasn't trusted by Suijin.

Ephus shook his head, they were just as bad as the last two sets of gods. He really didn't feel like being a referee again for all of them.

It was true they owed him after he saved them, but was it enough? He thought about it, he wasn't all that sure that they would cooperate.

With a sigh he nodded yeah, he could feel that he was going to have to smack them around a bit. He was amazed at the little trust that they had for each other.

Hell, he thought, he might have to apply that with almost all of them. For the moment, he'd thought he might have to plan with the female gods.

This seemed strange since he almost always dealt with the male gods. With a sigh, Ephus sat with Amaterasu, Benten and Wakahiru-me. They needed to plan on getting the rest of the gods and goddesses free.

For the moment, they needed to find where they were since they had abandoned their stronghold. The next time he and Hachiman went against them, they would be far more on alert.

Hachiman and Amaterasu had already dispatched agents to try and find the demons. They already knew that there was no activity at the old one of Mount Ōe.

Many knew that Shuten-dōji loved to be around Kyoto, so they had concentrated their search there. The king demon was also a creature of habit, so they were depending on that.

So far, they had been extensively searching these areas, not finding anything at all. They were at the moment extending out several miles.

For some reason Ephus felt that he should be out there himself. Though he didn't know why, he thought he'd find the demon easier.

Amaterasu had advised against it, thinking that if the demon got Ephus then they would be doomed. The demi-god had a lot more power than he appeared to.

"I feel that I have to," Ephus said. "I feel as if I might have angered the demon more than I intended to."

Amaterasu shook her head as she looked at Ephus, "I am afraid that, no matter what you did? You would have angered him as much as he is now."

Ephus just shook his head, was it really possible that he'd made things worse? No, he thought, this was a demon after all, weren't they always mad?

He then took a deep breath, he needed to find where the demon had gone. As long as he was linked to the others, he had extra power.

At least Ephus thought the demon didn't have the main goddesses' children as leverage. The main thing, though, was the fact that he still had hostages that he took power from.

Ephus was roused from his thoughts as one of Amaterasu's sons reported that he had detected Shuten-dōji. Ephus started to leave, telling Amaterasu he'd be back soon.

He and Amaterasu's son arrived near the site of Mount Ōe. Ephus thought this was strange as they had found nothing there earlier.

As they looked around, Ephus did feel a minor god that he had earlier. Then again, he was only feeling the one, maybe two, that was it.

As Ephus stopped to feel things out, a huge host of minor demons attacked him. Drawing his sword, he proceeded to rip through them.

A moment later a huge male appeared with red armor, a screaming face mask and a taut bow and a sword. A nod to Ephus, he stood beside Ephus as they proceeded to slice through all that came at them.

A few minutes later Hachiman looked around and seemed disappointed. Ephus shook his head as he entered the cave, finding and releasing the two minor gods.

They both looked at Hachiman, yelling that it was to keep them away from the gods' home, Takachiho. Ephus and Hachiman vanished with the minor gods as they appeared not far from Takachiho.

It was obvious that Shuten-dōji was going full scale against Takachiho. The demon king was confused as to how Amaterasu was resisting their power.

The demon king looked up as soon as the minor demons started to scream, then were cut into silence. An angry look came to the demon king's face as he watched, then moved toward Ephus.

The demon king drew a huge sword as he rapidly attacked Ephus. A look of surprise came to his features as Ephus countered every move he made.

Shuten-dōji was even more surprised when Ephus not only kept up with him but started to press him back. Waving a hand, all the minor demons vanished with Hachiman joining Ephus.

"This isn't over, I will defeat both of you even if you took what was mine. Know that I will recover it and add the both of you to my power," the demon king spit.

"As weak as you are now, I highly doubt that," Hachiman said with a sneer.

"When I cut you in half I will take all that you are!" Shuten-dōji screamed, barely avoiding being cut in half by Ephus.

"You! I will enjoy killing you the most demi-god or not. Know that the pain I give you will be unending," the demon king shouted.

Ephus smirked as he blocked several fast-moving thrusts by the demon king. Ephus smirked as he managed to cut the demon king, who jumped back with a scream.

"It appears that you aren't as good as you thought. Maybe you should accept that you are defeated," Ephus said with a smirk.

The demon king suddenly started to press his attacks against Ephus and Hachiman. Surprised, Ephus went harder, shocking the demon king.

"This isn't over demi, especially since you took what is mine," he shouted.

"Their power wasn't yours to begin with, it..." Ephus started, then was interrupted.

"Of course they are mine, I am the strongest! When I kill and drain you, I will never be defeated again!" The demon king shouted as he again tried to get past Ephus' defenses.

"There is a saying we have you idiot, get used to disappointment," Ephus said as he cut the demon king's arm again.

As suddenly as it started, the demon king vanished. Ephus sighed, he thought that it would have ended here. Just like always, it seemed nothing was going to go his way.

Both he and Hachiman walked to the gate, passing through the shield. Once inside they were thanked by the two they had saved.

"It is good to have all nine of the minor gods and goddesses that we do. I wish to thank you, the land is further back to what it should be," Amaterasu said with a smile.

"I am here to help all I can, like I did in the last three realms. Though I am afraid that Shuten-dōji got away. I will continue to pursue him though," Ephus said.

Amaterasu nodded her head, "He is the most slippery of the Oni. I guess that is why he has been the king of the demons for so long."

"No one has been able to remove him?" Ephus asked.

Amaterasu shook her head," I am afraid his not being there when push comes to shove has saved him. Hachiman has had him cornered a number of times, to no avail."

"I am starting to see that. Pretty much a coward then, might be a way to trap him," Ephus said.

"Perhaps though he is stronger than he appears to be. Especially now that he has taken the power of so many minor gods," Hachiman said.

Ephus was nodding his head as several plans ran through his mind. "So, he always seems to have an escape plan, huh?"

Hachiman was nodding his head with a bit of dejection. "The demon king does seem to have a way out, each time I seemed to have him trapped. The last time was the closest, though he still managed to get free."

Ephus was nodding as a plan was starting to form. Though, all that it involved was going to take a few of the gods to work.

Both Hachiman and Amaterasu waited as they seemed to sense that Ephus was planning.

"I think that we first need to strip him of his hostages, and a great number of those helping him. I mean all that we have defeated helps but he seems to almost have an endless supply," Ephus said.

"No, not an endless supply, though he can bring back those that we destroy. The first battle we were in has seriously hampered him for the moment. If we keep this up, he might not have any help for a while," Hachiman said.

Ephus was nodding, any advantage they could get would be of major help.

Several miles away, Shuten-dōji was slamming more than a few minor demons against the wall. It took him a moment to realize that he had destroyed more than a hundred.

With a minor demon held in a tight grasp around the neck, he dropped it with a wet plop. He had already lost too many to make a major move, then he lost another hundred going against Takachiho.

He turned to his first in command. "Ibaraki-dōji, it appears that this demi-god, Ephus, has seriously depleted my power. I am of a mind to gather help for us. We have worked far too long to give up now," Shuten-dōji said.

Ibaraki-dōji stared at his boss the whole time that Shuten-dōji was raging. "Do you have any in mind for our side?"

A truly evil smile came over Shuten-dōji's features. "Oh, I do indeed. Some of the most devious and evil ones that I know. With these, the death of that demi is guaranteed. Then we can take the gods again and drain them to have ultimate power."

The both of them laughed at the thought of ruling all the gods and controlling the humans. The best they thought would be the complete death of the human demi.

Almost immediately, Shuten-dōji started a complicated ceremony that would take about an hour. He left his first in command to handle things while he completed it.

A fact that wasn't lost on Ibaraki-dōji as several minor demons appeared to report. It seemed that the demi and the god of war were still looking for them.

The demon king's Lieutenant sent several of them out to lead them away. The minor demons could be revived later, they weren't using divine objects after all, so no problem.

They still had to keep the two away 'til the demon king was ready. A smirk came to Ibaraki-dōji's face as he considered that once these spirits were released, they'd win.

Within the chamber, the demon king had been chanting for almost an hour. Before him, eight portals of darkness started to appear. Two more that were three times as wide, appeared after the eight were solid.

An evil smile lit up the demon king's face as a mountain woman/witch stepped out. Next, a giant fifteen-foot skeleton in the shape of a woman stepped out of the second.

The third opened to allow a beautiful and malevolent spirit of a snow woman out. The fourth had a reptilian, snake woman who stepped out.

The fifth portal showed a malevolent spirit of a masked woman. In her hands were a pair of scissors and a knife. Another, the sixth, revealed another woman of bones carrying a lantern.

The seventh was a rather large spider that shrunk to an odd-looking woman. The eighth was once a beautiful female who was disfigured with a look of hatred at the demon king.

The last two disgorged ten impish mountain goblins snarling. The other released ten Raccoon dog spirits who growled and snapped at all there.

The demon king smiled at the sheer amount of hate and disregard for the human race. He suddenly clapped his hands, drawing the attention of all there.

"Welcome Yamauba, Gashadokuro, Yuki-Onna, Nure-onna and Kuchisake-onna," the demon king said. He then turned to the other side of the room. "I also welcomed you, Hone Onna, Jorōgumo, the Tengu imps, the Tanuki Raccoon dog spirits. I most welcome you, Oiwa, your vengeance," the demon king said, then was interrupted.

Oiwa's face twisted into an impatient look as she said, "I didn't come here to suffer your pleasantries. What the hell do you want? I have more important things to do and kill."

"True, we have a truly powerful male demi here. It appears that he has plans to stop our plans. I know that you would not be happy about this, so I thought I'd invite," the demon king was saying before he was interrupted again.

"Oh please," Oiwa said with a sneer, "you're too weak to beat him admit it."

The demon king growled for a moment, then his face relaxed, the female spirit didn't like anyone, especially males.

"Perhaps, though, as we all know, all are defeatable one way or another. I thought," he started again, then was shouted over.

"Yeah, yeah, you just want us to defeat him so you can move in. Ah, I know your type, no, thanks," Oiwa said as she turned to go.

"Here I thought that you'd want to take your revenge on a once human male," the demon king said as she turned toward him, a look of anger on her face.

"After? You're just going to discard us when we're done. I want no part of that, No, thanks," Oiwa spit at him.

"An oath then, to let you do as you want as I will do," the demon king said.

Oiwa narrowed her eyes at the demon king. "I write it, and you bind your magic to it, then we'll see."

He turned back to the rest of them, "as you have guessed, we have a demi problem. He has destroyed all the minor demons and taken almost all those that I have taken. Without them, I only have half the power I did."

"So you want us to retake them so you have more power? What about us? I think that we'd need a boost also," Gashadokuro said, pointing a huge bony hand at him.

A touch of anger came on his features, then was gone just as fast. Taking a deep breath, he released it, it wouldn't help if he pissed them off.

"I believe that we need to sit down and discuss this," he said, looking at both Oiwa and Gashadokuro. He nodded his head as he thought he'd have to go easy, or these spirits would run over him.

Ephus in a sitting room not far from the personnel rooms of all the gods, when they were there. Things were starting to go like they always seemed to, bad as hell.

It was true that he had retrieved all the major gods, and nine of the minor gods. The thing was that they needed the rest of them to keep things on an even keel.

Alot of the stress was off Amaterasu with the nine free, she still needed the others. Obviously, the demon thought that he was weak as hell with the last attack.

Ephus thought that the demon king was planning something to end him. How though seemed to be escaping him, at least for now, he had no bead on how the demon king thought.

He sighed as he thought that he could really use a few of the other realm's gods right now. Thoth came to mind as he tried to figure the demon king's plans out.

Though there was some of this, it reminded him of the behavior of the gods of war he'd faced. Yeah, he thought, especially the Greek one who had tried his damnest to kill him.

He had just stood up deciding to talk to Amaterasu when the entire building started to shake. It wasn't as bad as before, but it was enough to be annoying.

Amaterasu, her daughter Wakahiru-me and Benten were running toward him. "What has happened?" He shouted as the building shook again.

"We appear to be under attack by quite a few female spirits," Amaterasu yelled as she and the other two passed him.

Outside, they saw that they were under attack. It appeared to be two female skeletons, one over fifteen feet high.

Then there were what appeared to be a human woman, a snake and a snow woman. A woman in a mask, one that was disfigured, then a huge spider who appeared where a woman had been.

In front of them were ten small imps goblins that were pounding on the shield. On the other side were ten Raccoon dogs also pounding on the shield.

Ephus shook his head as he pointed at the Raccoon dogs and five vanished. He then turned and pointed at the imp goblins, five of them vanishing with a scream.

He then looked at the others that were there as they blinked in surprise. "I suggest that you go before you meet the same fate," he said as the eight females laughed at him.

They were laughing 'til he pointed at the normal-sized skeleton female and the masked female. They both appeared to be shocked, then screamed as they vanished into nothing.

"That bastard lied to us! He has far more power than we thought, let's go!" the huge skeleton female said as they all popped out.

Ephus shook his head, he swore that they had been testing him to see how strong he was. He turned to look at a wide-eyed Amaterasu, Wakahiru-me and Benten.

Benten walked towards him and kissed him passionately. "I was worried when you went to the front that you might not make it. I can see that you are far stronger than that."

Ephus nodded as both of the other goddesses came to him and laid a hot kiss on him too. He could only stare at them as Benten was whispering in the ears of both the goddesses.

The thing that got him, though, was when they all three looked at him as if he was a piece of meat.