Several weeks later, Kiyoshi arrives at the outskirts of Domanchi. Overlooking the town from the mountainside, Kiyoshi obverses the village people doing their daily activities. He pays attention to how the expressions of the people look. They look petrified, worried, and mostly exhausted as they try to complete their daily task.
As he oversees the village, he notices buildings that were old wooden Siheyuan and Minka-style houses, but they were poorly constructed. "Even after almost one thousand years, things still look almost the same," remarked Tyrook as Kiyoshi continued to overlook the village. "What do you mean by that?" asked Kiyoshi curiously, wondering what the demon meant.
"I came here during the demonic conversion event. They have the best fucking fish here," remarked Tyrook in enthusiasm. "Go figures, ", replied Kiyoshi in pique as he proceeds down the mountainside into the village. As he descents, he notices men pulling large nets of various fish.
As he wanders through the village, he can see children playing in the streets with balls and other nick-nacks. Whilst the women weave clothes and baskets. The village reminds Kiyoshi of Termichi as everyone seems so closely connected. Seeing this remains him of Ashri, which brings bitter-sweet memories gushing in.
As he roams, he tries to console him as he realizes he might never see her again. As he wanders with those thoughts on his mind, he bumps into something. Looking up to see what he ran into Kiyoshi's gasp and it taken back to what he saw. A life-size statue of Tyrook in the center of the town. The statue was of Tyrook holding a barrel of fish in one hand and gobbing down a school of fish with the next.
The materials of the statue were of a mixture of marble and stone and was carved with the most prestige precision. Making it the most well-crafted thing in the entire village of Domanchi. Below it were the words (To honor our savior sent by the goddess Fertila herself. Tyrook the demon slayer. May his omnipotent eye guide you even in the darkest of times.)
With Kiyoshi staring at the statue aimlessly, still trying to figure out what idiot will think that a demon was their savior, an old man approached him. The old man was short, about four feet three inches. His bony frame was complimented by his very wrinkled skin that looked like a towel bring wrung to dry. One of his eyes was a milky color, suggesting blindness, while the other eye was a maroon color. He sported a low-cut gray beard with a bald head that was covered by a brown dome shape hat with red, white, and black feathers sticking out of it. He wore a brown Yuanlingpao, which was a round collar robe that covered his entire body, only exposing his feet.
He walked to Kiyoshi with a heavenly smile. " I see you are also in amazement at the mystic of our savior, ", stated the old man. " Yeah, amazement" replied Kiyoshi, trying to hide his sarcasm from the old man. "Question, how did the savior come about?" asked Kiyoshi as Tyrook remained surprisingly quiet.
"Am glad you ask," expressed the old man with animated intensity and enthusiasm. "Long ago, during the great demonic conversion event, demons attacked our people daily. With us on the out shirks of society and with no means of defending ourselves or getting help, we were close to being wiped out. Then one day, our savior walked into our village. At first, the people taught it was another demon coming to finish us. But the savior was only interested in fish and, with the promise of fish and other treats, he decided to protect our people."
The old man paused to look at the statue with utter amazement and adoring love before continuing." For years, the savior stayed protecting our people and only asking for fish in return," the old man remarked. "So that's where you went when you went missing, Tyrook! eating fish out here", shouted Kivuli to Tyrook within the confines of the swords as he was in disbelief that Tyrook was on vacation whilst the war was going on. Tyrook remained silent as the old man continued his story.
"For years, our people were safe and when demons attacked our village, the savior will kill them with no hesitation. Laying down his life for our people," expressed the old man. "It was said that the savior killed thousands of demons at this time. He was indeed our protector," the old man commented as paused again to look at the statue.
"Please don't tell me you committed massive genocide of your own people for fish". shouted Kivuli to Tyrook in a pissed-off tone of voice. "Have ever tasted the fish that they catch it to kill for" replied Tyrook annoyed by Kivuli's statements. "But your own people, while we were trying to take over the planet, no less! " shouted Kivuli.
"Like you never killed other demons before?" asked Tyrook as he wonders what Kivuli's point is. "But not for fucking fish, you moronic bastard! " shouted Kivuli. "Shut up, you two are trying to listen to the story," expresses Kiyoshi telepathically as the two demons argue.
The old man remarked that right before the demonic conversion event ended, their savior disappeared, probably to help some other town out. So they erected this statue in his honor for the glory of their savior Tyrook, which brought them out of the darkest of times.
"Thank you for the story. It was magical," remarked Kiyoshi. "Your most welcome, young man," replied the old man. "By the way, my name is Giang and by the way you are dressed you must be Kiyoshi, the blood samurai I presume. "Yes, It is," expressed Kiyoshi. "Great, I am the villager elder. Come with me, we have much to discuss and very little time to do," commented Giang as the sun began setting. As the men strolled through the village, it was clear as glass that as the place grew darker, the villagers were becoming increasingly uneasy. "Come, it's right behind this corner," remarked Giang. Behind the corner was an old house that was destroyed. The door of the house was completely gone. Inside was even worse as the smell of blood and decay filled the house. Large scratches were seen all over the house like something with huge, massive claws ripped through the place. As they continued throughout the house, the damages got increasingly worse, like multiple entities attacked the home.
The last room was the worst as it was covered in blood and remains of internal organs. Nothing noticeable to identify the people who once lived here was possible. As whatever attacked them left little to nothing remaining. "It was a family of four, the usual mother, father, kid, and a newborn." We didn't even hear the attack, we only notice when the husband didn't come out to go fish when we checked the home to find this." expressed Giang in disbelief. "Whatever is going through this has no regard for what life it is taking, look the baby was only about two months old and died in such a gruesome manner," Giang commented as he tried to hold back his tears. "Please, you have to help us without our savior. We are doomed!" Giang stated. "I will even if I have to stay up for nights to find whatever is doing this," remarked Kiyoshi, reinsuring Giang that everything is fine now. "Thank you, samurai," remarked Giang as the two men left the house.
Later that night, Tyrook asked Kiyoshi to do his best for the villagers. "Hi kiddo, please make sure no one else dies ok", expressed Tyrook. "You really did take a liking to these people, didn't you?' laughed Kiyoshi. "No, if they die, no one will be able to catch me my prime fish, that's all." Replied Tyrook, who began sounding clustered. "Ok no problem, I will do my best," replied Kiyoshi as he looked over the village. But nothing happened that night. For three nights straight, nothing happened, but on the fourth night, a loud roaring sound could be heard inside one of the villagers' homes. With the echoing roaring being heard, Kiyoshi darts over to see what was going on. Inside the home, a huge humanoid figure with piercing red eyes stood before him. On the ground was a woman with her arms bleeding. The figure attacked the woman, but Kiyoshi managed to block the attack by allowing the figure to bite down on his sword.
The creature pushed on Kiyoshi with its massive body and strength before slapping Kiyoshi to the walls of the house and making him land at the shore of the beach, which was several hundred feet away. Kiyoshi dusted himself off and ran back into the house as the creature was gone. In the distance, he can see several glowing red eyes in the forest. Suggesting multiple of the same entities. The creatures took off in the distance and Kiyoshi gave chase under the moonlight.