One who truly understands the nature of this world is a dangerous person indeed, likely both willing and able to bend the rules in their favor, spin any situation around into one that has become their own, and slowly walk away with a smile upon their lips, be it visible or not. One who understands the world can skirt its rules and redirect attentions, doing what favors are needed and minding their business if they must, dancing through the shadows around every spotlight, and rising to the top of the world. With that being said, one of the easiest things for somebody with this understanding to achieve... is influence.
Karasu walked slowly through these strange woods, unsure whether the door had been some sort of portal, or if all of this was simply an illusion. Here, he was alone but not, the air around him seeming to be alive in a way... until, finally, he found the woman resting on a tree branch over his head. She was mature, attractive to a fault, with long white hair, a slightly oversized bust, and piercing amber eyes glaring down at him.
"Karasu," She hummed, slowly shifting so that her legs came off the branch, then dropping nimbly down to the grass, pacing toward him, nude. "You are not one to mince words, are you? I suppose you'd rather I be direct?"
"Yes," the soldier agreed, shifting slightly in his strange clothes. "That would be ideal, thank you."
"Well then, Karasu, I have brought you here because I want something from you, that much should be obvious. However, one should never take without giving in return, yes?" Her lips curled upward in a playful smile, and Karasu waited, controlling his expression.
"You are dead, Karasu, you understand this? You haven't been reincarnated."
A jerky nod.
"You need to get a personality, you know~? You're not very easy to talk to~ but regardless, my name is Inari, and I'd like to offer you another chance at life."
"Yeah? How do you mean?" the fallen warrior angled his head, trying to consider what a goddess might want in exchange for such a service.
"It's rather simple, really. Humans have... a history of meddling with things they shouldn't. I want you to return to life as one of mine- a kitsune, a fox fueled by nature and chaos. In exchange, you will simply follow any orders I give. I have none, yet, true- but when I do, you will follow them, spreading my word or sinking my knife as I please. That is, after all, what you were made for? To be a weapon?" She smiled, then, meeting Karasu's eyes.
"What does being one of yours entail?"
"Learning. How to use your magics, how to function with different strength and needs... but I know somebody who will be ready to teach you, if you are ready to learn. So will you agree? I suppose if you long for death, I can dispatch you for once and for all." Inari's voice, little more than a soft hum. "I suspect, though, that you long for nothing at all. So, have we a deal?"
"Sure," Karasu nodded, "-On one condition. If I ever feel that your actions are objectively without cause, and I am being used for baseless harm, I don't obey your orders." There was a pause then, though, and Inari smirked, her eyes narrowing.
"That if I ever were to utilize you as a weapon for joy instead of purpose, you'd turn your back on me?"
"I might be a tool, but that does not mean that I believe innocents ever deserve to die." Karasu nodded, his own eyes narrowing slightly, and Inari smiled.
"My my, maybe you have a personality after all. Then we have a deal, Karasu... do you have any questions before I return you to the mortal plane? Or, perhaps I could interest you in a different sort of fun, before you leave here~?"
"Perhaps I will see you another time, Inari, and feel quite a bit more tempted- but I am ready to leave, yes." The warrior, the tool, the young man nodded, and for her part, the fox goddess sighed exaggeratedly.
"Nope, you're boring after all, such a shame... Alright, then be safe in your travels, Karasu, this is an investment after all. I apologize on the behalf of your guide who never arrived, I will see to it that she is punished properly. Now... close your eyes, and sit." Frowning slightly, he did, slowly sinking to his knees and allowing his eyelids to fall entirely. There was a moment of silence, and then his senses went dark, Karasu once more seeming to fade from existence.
---
The peace lasted only a small while before Karasu came to, yawning. He lay in mud, rain falling onto his face, clothes plastered to skin, but he felt as though the young warrior had slept for the finest, most perfect amount of time imaginable, well rested and free of pain. That... was when it came back to him.
Karasu screamed into the storm, arching his back, eyes bulging as the hole in his torso began to slowly repair, intestines and skin sewing itself back together, color returning to his dead, waterlogged flesh. There were no words- only a raw, unbroken stream of gasps and roars, screams, as his body, so mutilated before, regenerated. Muscle and sinew and cartilage returning, and finally skin, a pink underlayer before it began to look at all normal. From there, Karasu couldn't calm, voice breaking, back arching as bones broke themselves and reformed, vision only a haze of red and black, his sense of hearing gone for a moment, the top of his head burning before it returned, rain and his voice tearing at ears he didn't yet comprehend. His tailbone, as well, screamed in agony... and at last, finally, the confused youngling was able to collapse in the mud, free of the fresh pain but aching all over, struggling to breathe, skin scarred but closed, not critical at all anymore, color returned, rot reversed.
Was he... right where he'd died, then? Slowly, and with a surprisingly great effort, he dragged himself to his feet, eyesight pulsing, blurring for a moment. "Sh-Shit... where am I...?"
'Look out', a voice whispered into his unconscious, without personality, and, suddenly driven by adrenaline on steroids, pivoted and leapt backward. Not knowing his own strength, evidently, he went far further than intended, rolling through the mud at least forty meters back, panting hard and looking ahead to see a demon... the same one that killed him, with arms like the love-child of a scythe and claymore.
'You may be greater, but you do not understand how to fight. Leave, flee,' the nameless voice whispered again, and Karasu stared the demon down as it took a loping step toward him... then turned and fled, putting all of his force into each step, his boots gone in moments, stuck in the mud. Too much strength, stumbling on nearly every landing, he collapsed twice, but kept going, no matter what he saw or heard lurking in the shadows. If he was greater than them, the nameless and faceless things lurking in his peripheral... and if all he did was run, react... then he should make it away alive, shouldn't he...?
Something collided with Karasu's chest, and he snarled, spinning rapidly through the air, pain searing his chest before he hit the mud and bounced, rolling through the mud. He understood, though- this was ground zero, and keeping his life, human or not... his only chance to remain alive was to focus on nothing but. As soon as his split second of dizziness passed, the returned fired off, sustaining through a wound that would have rent a human in two, footsteps leaving behind faint craters in the mud as the world around, neon lights in the distance, mud and rocks nearby... it all became a blur, rain and storm streaking. There were movements nearby, but eventually, the rubble faded, and he found himself in the outskirts of a city, panting hard, chest burning... yet, there were no people. If he wanted to figure out where he was, exactly, he'd need to find a wall... and get inside.
Slowed.
Stopped.
Where might he go to find a wall? It was unlikely for any demons to be this far away from ground zero, but that didn't mean impossible... and the young man was tired, already in a state of disarray- bare footed, his shirt cleaved open, right side of his pants and left of shoulder shredded... he might as well have been a demon himself, at this point. Nonetheless... he was as useless as a child with an unloaded gun right now, and he couldn't risk being caught alone, especially if something had decided to chase him in any context... drawing a breath, Karasu tried to keep moving, walking through the streets with a loping, unsteady stride. Perhaps he was limping, but the... what was he, now? Didn't notice.
Jerking, Karasu looked over his shoulder, spotting something- or so he thought? There was nothing there, just the shadows playing tricks on his eyes maybe... well rested or not, he needed some time to breathe in a quiet room, with some coffee, or even tea... the hunt for a safe zone continued. Soon, it was clear that he must be getting close- these shops were stocked, the area felt safer... this was where people roamed when the gates opened, until sundown arrived and they needed wrangled back inside...
"H-Hello?" The youngling whipped around, eyes wide- he'd swear he'd seen something in the corner of his eye... but, no, nothing. Then...
The mewing of a cat, sitting on a window sill, black fur and green eyes licking its paw. "Oh, fuck no... maybe I do need sleep..." Karasu sighed and turned, headed off again, looking for some indication of a wall over the buildings, seeing nothing yet. Pausing a moment, he immediately wished he hadn't as a four-foot-tall hand clamped on his torso, and he was thrown, colliding with a wall and flying through, rolling across a shop floor, gasping, back arching.
"Let me catch a b-break, damnit!!" He sat, stood, as something clearly straight from the heart of Jigoku clawed the wall of this shop., cleaving a hole that rendered most of the wall gone and the rest useless. The beast that came through... rotting skin that dripped with roaches, beetles, worms, and a thousand one mouths of different sizes, with no teeth or teeth of every shape, gnashing angrily... the thing was like a walking human rotting, hands proportioned wrong and head blown open by a swallowed bomb- from here the infestation poured, while the mouths covered every inch of body. Pivoting, Karasu heard only a thousand unholy screeches and crunching concrete as he vaulted a restaurant counter and shoulder-rammed an emergency exit open, alarm blaring outward. Unflinching, the revived jumped, hard, once again putting all of his force into the motion, sailing through the air and landing on a roof. he'd seen a wall, that way... jumped again, only to scream in pain as his assailant caught up, slamming a mouth-coated fist into Karasu that bit away chunks of flesh and sent him rocketing down to street level again, bouncing, wounds healing already but burning, taking their mental toll.
'You may have to fight here, but try to avoid it,' Whatever strange, genderless voice was whispering before, did so again, and Karasu obeyed, spinning onto his feet, digging in his heel and, as the monster came at him through the air, uplifting blocks of asphalt, sending them outward. These did no real damage, but it derailed the monster, and he, the one attempting to flee, managed to turn around and take off again, in the direction of the wall, relying on speed and speed alone, weaving through alleys, side streets... for a while, the noise of his pursuer faded... and then it became silent. Before Karasu could slow and wonder if he'd lost the attacker, though, this idea was disproven, as once again it crashed through a wall to catch him off guard, smacking his body into the air and back handing Karasu through the air, his body tearing through a wire fence, body rolling to a stop in a basketball court, pain starting to catch up to him.
"Hell..." Slowly, the tired warrior stood, groaning, pain becoming a bit much to bear. Across the way, the demon who'd likely chased him from Ground Zero, with this speed, landed, cracking the green-painted asphalt, every mouth seeming to mutter a different quiet prayer. "Do I jump again...?If I go inside the wall again, so does it... if I touch it, I'm devoured..." For a moment, the two stared each other down, one with eyes and one with only mouths. No magic, no guns, not even a blade anymore... so how in the hell was he to fight? Or should the revived just curl up and die?!
There was only one option that he could think of, standing there, laughing in pain and shaking his head while his enemy took its first step forward.
Deep breath...
Tense...
And...
"HELLO?! IS ANYBODY OUT THEREEEEEEEE?! I NEED HELPPPPP!!!!" Without a weapon, he was useless, and so Karasu prayed for the shinobi to hear him, turning and hopping the fence. "SOMEBODY!!!!"
There, at the bottom of the hill, was a park. If he went there, Karasu could minimize the damage caused, right? Running, feet pounding, breath screaming in his lungs, hearing the fence rip behind him... ground shaking under his rapid, panicked footsteps...
"God, you really are helpless," An irritated voice muttered, and the warrior whirled in passing, watching a girl in dark clothing and hood, like some sort of cliched assassin, blink into a spot behind him. With the demon approaching, she stood her ground until the last moment, then, as it slammed a hand toward her to grabbed, blinked to the side, hacking out with some sort of weapon, maybe a dagger. Karasu stepped back watching, the many mouths of this beast all screaming in different tones as whoever she was, jumped and pierced it, straight through, some sort of faintly-blue blade. Without another sound, the abomination fell into the grass, blood welling from its mouths.
"The hell is wrong with you... walking around here without a weapon?" The young woman raised her head, still hooded, and peered at him with annoyed amber eyes, slitted pupils. "Didn't you come back with anything at all?"
"E-Er, who are you?"
"I'm the hooker sent to fuck you- come on, dumbass, I'm your teacher, and you need to come with me, fast. That wasn't the only one."
"W-What-?! Coming-!"