THE ONI

"Pseudo Rank what?" Ethan had nothing but questions flooding his brains. He sat upright on the bed he was in and stretched his muscles.

"Oops the deranged guy's awake" A man entered the room Ethan was in and stood beside Sydney folding his arms in pride. Two other people entered the room, a teenage boy and girl. They all stood silent for a second and watched Ethan cautiously.

"He looks skinny don't you think?....fool you sure you've been eating?" The man with folded arms asked rhetorically.

"Oh and what the hell is that?" The teenage boy pointed at what seemed to be a large dark crater on Ethan's stomach. His stomach had completely healed but it left a scar. Ethan touched the scar and almost immediately, the memory of the dark creature stabbing him with it's fist came back along with his memories of Kira.

"Enough body shaming guys....." Sydney protested.

"Sorry boss" the teenage boy looked away guiltily then started again, this time throwing a full barrage of questions.

"Did you dust yourself in chalk?"

"Why do you look so pale.... you're literally giving Dracula's second son vibe...."

"What were you doing in those woods?"

"I said no body shaming....Ivan!"

"Oops my mouth is sealed 🤐"

The questions kept rolling in and Ethan couldn't help but wonder within him, who are these people?

"Do you have a phone?" Ethan asked staring at Sydney in the face.

"Sure" Sydney replied dipping her right hand into her pocket to bring out her shiny Samsung s24 ultra.

//Oi Sydney....you trying to shame Ethan with your thousand dollar phone or what?🤣🤣//

"Who do you wanna call?" She asked tossing the phone to Ethan. Ethan squirmed as the phone flew in mid air, what if he was not able to catch it, his salary when he was still a volleyball player couldn't buy such flagship. He would definitely need to pile up at least three months of his salary to be able to afford half the price. He caught the phone successfully but it suddenly slipped off his hands.

"Oh shit... not..." His instincts sharpened and he grunted as he used his foot to kick the phone back up into the sky before it hit the ground. The phone landed back on the bed and he heaved a sigh of relief.

"How could you?" Ethan lamented as tears of joy were almost falling from his eyes.

"What....that's my secondary phone, no need to fear. Even if it breaks, I'll easily get a new one." Sydney said with a smile and gave Ethan a thumbs up. Ethan stared at the black screen of the phone and noticed something about his reflection that sent a cold shiver running down his spine. He saw that his black hair had unexpectedly turned grey along with his face which looked so pale. It was almost as if he was a walking corpse. His silver eyes however remained intact. He touched his hair and caressed it for some seconds while those standing before him watched in confusion. Is he normal mentally? He remembered when the teenage dude said he was pale, so that was what he meant.

"I'll cut to the real deal....you can call me Hitler, Boss right here told me to come see you and introduce myself....I done that already so... Adiós....fool" The man said and stormed out of the room with pride and arms still folded. Ethan stared at Hitler as he walked away in silence. Did he happen to offend this Hitler guy?

"I'm Kane" Teenage boy said as he extended his hands for an handshake.

"And this is my twin sister Kelly" Kelly in a pony tail waved and smiled with a cute blush.

"Don't mind Hitler.... we've been managing his anger issues ever since he joined our scout.....he calls everyone a fool....even his own mom....hahaha. Anyways I'll leave you guys to it. Kelly, let's go make dinner before boss throws a tantrum." Kane and Kelly turned around and left the room.

"Seriously, I'm standing right here!" Sydney thundered out.

All of a sudden, the room which was once filled with people became suddenly silent. Ethan still stared at his reflection on the phone screen, he still didn't know what was actually going on. He needed explanations.

"What happened back there what were those monsters?" Ethan asked.

"The Oni" Sydney spoke in a cold tone. Her entire aura changed the moment she said those words. They were definitely not joke.

"The what now..." Ethan could feel himself drowning in a pool of confusion.

"When humans die.....their souls transcend to the spirit realm, however not all humans will transcend. A few souls who still have a powerful promise or grievance bounding them to this world will not transcend, instead, they'll go to limbo." Sydney said pointing to the flowchart on the wall. The flowchart had four circles intertwining each other almost like a venn diagram. The circles had names written on them;

Ethan stared at the circles and read out their names in his mind.

[Earth] [Limbo] [Nether Realm] [Spirit Realm]

"These souls will receive a synthetic body in Limbo and become what we call the Yurei. They will be sent back to earth to clear their Karma Slate, they must fulfill whatever promise they made and clear all grievances. If they clear their Karma Slate, they'll transcend. There's a certain catch to this though" Sydney said as she pointed to the fourth circle on the right with the name [Netherealm]

"The Netherealm, a corrupt place....it's energy can be felt on all other realms....it's energy has been leaking into earth's atmosphere for thousands of years. We humans may not feel it but the Yureis do. If they don't clear their Karma Slates fast, the mixed up energy will corrupt both their soul and their synthetic bodies. The longer they stay on earth, the more their souls rot. Those who are unable to clear their slates will become Oni....demons of the dead, they were the ugly things that attacked you in the woods. They are the creatures we hunt.... speaking of woods....what were you doing there?" Sydney asked in curiosity.

"Oh...I....I uh" now everything began to make sense to Ethan. He was probably dead and he had just returned as a Yurei.

"Those woods are a property of the Exorcist Organization. We dump the bodies of those killed by the Oni there. We just recently dumped two corpses there three days ago. Theirs was a serious case of possession. The guy had a broken neck and fractured bones, the lady's organs were smashed....Kira was her name I think....she had a name tag on her phone pouch." Sydney said casually.

"Wait....recap?" Ethan said with his eyes widened.

"Yea Kira Anderson...our forensic scientist discovered that her internal organs were severely crushed and her bones were twisted....even before the fall from that building....she was possessed....by an Oni" Sydney continued. She adjusted her glasses and rested her butt on the wall behind her.

"The Oni can possess?"

"Yes....infact, it's how they feed on human souls. Human bodies cannot house two souls....the possession will fracture bones of the host and twist their internal organs....it literally turns the host into a mad puppet"

Sydney's words echoed in his brains and he began to fully realise what was going on, everything was beginning to clear out. He remembered how Kira's body was brutally deformed before she pushed him off the building and got both of them killed. He remembered the red mist and the laughing humanoid figure that came out of her.

"Whatever, your memory seems clouded .... doesn't matter....you can always start afresh. You have a great deal of energy....your name?..." Sydney asked.

"Ethan....I'm Ethan Blackwoods"

"Well Ethan, we sensed a great deal of spiritual energy coming from you, it's probably how you survived in that corrupt woods alone....bodies of those possesed by Yureis are very corrupt...the old man was a regular Vigilante we hired to guard the woods from poachers and intruders, never expected the Oni to start targeting our facilities. We'll position a hunter there next time..." Sydney was about to complete her statement when she was interrupted by Ethan.

"Can I join the association?" He asked with a stern face.

"Oh...I was about to ask you the same thing....why do you want to join? it's a dangerous job afterall." Sydney muttered.

Ethan knew he had to clear his Karma slate. His soul would never be free until he got justice for his dead loved ones and to do that, he needed to hunt down the Oni that killed Kira. No one including Sydney Jean knew that he was a Yurei. He intended to keep it a secret and work fast towards clearing his grievances. Right there and then, Ethan decided to join the Exorcist Association to become an Exorcist. That red mist, that laughing monster that deformed his girlfriend, he would not rest until he killed that Oni. The rage in him built up and all of a sudden he remembered one thing Sydney said.

[The longer a Yurei stays on earth...the more their souls rot....]

[If they don't quickly clear up their Karma Slate, they will become Oni.]

"Hey....Ethan...Ethan! You there!" Sydney called out and startled Ethan who was already lost in thoughts back to reality

Ethan jolted back to consciousness and sighed in exhaustion.

"Wanna come see the outside?" Sydney asked politely as she tried to help Ethan up from the bed.

Before Ethan could reply, Kane busted into the room in an unusual manner breathing heavily.

"Boss....boss!" He yelled in what seemed to be fear.

"Kane...what the hell happened, did you break a plate?"

"Magna Shield is down....they broke in"

"What.... how"

"They broke in....the Oni... they're here" before Kane could complete his statement, a powerful being busted through the roof above them into the room crushing Kane to bits. His blood splattered all over the place in an instant as the powerful beast landed on him. Sydney pulled Ethan away from the crash site in the last minute.

TO BE CONTINUED

ರ⁠_⁠ರCHAOS HUNTER ರ⁠_⁠ರ