Chapter 3

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

Shuten-dōji - King of Japanese Demons

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

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.