The Formless Shadow, Folklore of the Doppelganger Yokai (8)

At least

The urgent situation seemed under control…

“…Well done.”

After patting my shoulder in an uncharacteristic gesture of encouragement, Ho Joon remained silent.

Yet my mood did not improve in the slightest.

No,

Rather,

“Uurrgghh…!”

Having witnessed human corpses for the first time in my life, I purged everything from my stomach.

Tap tap.

Ho Joon patted my back.

After retching for quite some time, I shook my head and approached the fallen bodies,

Recklessly unleashing my yogi in an attempt to revive them.

I could save them.

I could save them, right?

I could sa…

“Stop.”

…I couldn’t save them.

---

Ho Joon surveyed the surroundings,

Then bit down hard enough to draw blood as he criticized himself:

It was all his fault.

If only he hadn’t been drinking last night,

If only he hadn’t arrived late,

He could have killed that unidentified yokai on the scene.

Of course,

Even if he had been present, the outcome likely would not have changed –

There would have simply been one more corpse.

Three nationally certified Martial Artists.

One Taoist Society Spell Master.

Dozens of Yokai Extermination Office combat personnel, plus an entire platoon.

The forces assembled to capture a single yokai overflowed with power.

Though uncertain, they clearly did not lose in sheer might against the yokai –

They must have fallen for the yokai’s vile schemes.

In battles against yokai, the most crucial factor was not one’s personal prowess nor a perfect plan,

But information.

Without information on the yokai, even nationally certified Martial Artists could fall to a Grade 5 yokai.

Lacking information on this yokai, even the formidable Spell Master that he was could not have avoided death had he been present.

Yet despite being a derelict, Ho Joon still had a conscience,

Criticizing his own inadequacies,

Then offering a silent prayer for those killed by the yokai –

A natural act of mourning as a human.

However,

Why

Was that fox yokai also wearing a mournful expression as she gazed upon the dead?

After purging her stomach for quite some time, Miho eventually looked around with azure eyes at the haphazardly strewn corpses and murmured:

“They’re all dead.”

“…”

“I, I’ve never seen a human die before.”

“…”

“Ho Joon.”

“…Yeah.”

“That yokai.”

She then exhaled an immensely powerful yogi that shook the ground, uncaring if any yogi detection radar picked it up:

“Let’s kill it.”

Ho Joon thought to himself,

In some ways, this fox yokai named Miho

Seemed more humane than himself.

---

As the Spell Master carried me through the air, I asked him:

“Do you know about doppelgangers?”

“Of course I do.”

“I think it’s a doppelganger, not a tiger yokai. That yokai can freely change its appearance.”

“How did you know?”

“The scent is identical.”

Only after heightening my senses with yogi could I realize:

The pheromone scent from the dead man in the building

Precisely matched the pheromone trail left by that yokai amidst the thick scent of blood before it vanished.

…Truly a dreadful ability.

If that yokai had taken the form of a young girl,

Or a newborn infant,

Could I attack it without hesitation?

“It’s over there.”

As I pointed the direction for Ho Joon,

I answered my own self-directed question:

Of course I could attack without hesitation.

Regardless of its outward appearance,

That indiscriminate murderer of humans could not be viewed as human.

---

What is ‘humanity’?

What is ‘the human heart’?

Humans are animals with more complex emotional states than any other being,

So the ‘human heart’ cannot be defined by any single attribute.

If asked whether Miho possesses a human heart,

One could say ‘yes’.

She behaved like a human,

Rejoiced like a human,

And could empathize with others like a human.

She was a yokai who practiced benevolence, righteousness, propriety, and wisdom.

Conversely,

If asked whether the formless shadow,

The Doppelganger Yokai, possessed a human heart,

One could also say ‘yes’.

It behaved like a human,

Was cruel like a human,

And could envy others like a human.

Though not a yokai that practiced benevolence, righteousness, propriety, and wisdom like Miho,

It understood what those virtues were.

Knowing the human heart, it took the form of a tiger

To induce fear and devour humans.

Knowing the human heart, it took the form of a young child

To induce sympathy and devour the director.

Knowing the human heart, it took the director’s form

To induce camaraderie and devour his subordinates and the Martial Artists.

Knowing the human heart, it took the form of a female Martial Artist

To induce male lust and devour the Spell Master.

‘Not much longer now.’

It no longer needed to hide.

After devouring three Martial Artists and one Spell Master, it grew ever more convinced:

That in this era,

There were no humans capable of stopping it.

Soon it would be nine hundred.

At the moment it devoured its nine hundredth human, it was certain it would finally attain its true form.

Thus, to fill the remaining tally, it set out,

Moving towards densely populated areas.

In the midst of this, something in human form could be seen descending from the azure sky.

Two beings.

One was a man dressed like the ‘Spell Masters’ it had encountered,

The other was

A fox yokai.

Though unable to comprehend why a human and fox yokai traveled together from its centuries-old perspective,

As always, it first attempted to induce sympathy in the human Spell Master by feigning tears:

“Huhhk, huhhk, huhuhuhhk… Please help me, uwaaahh!”

Its current form was that of a ten-year-old girl –

A pitiful sight that would elicit sympathy from any human male.

However, to a human blinded by vengeance,

Sympathy was a trivial emotion.

Oh no.

Something had gone wrong.

Sensing danger through its centuries of accumulated experience, it immediately shed the girl’s form, swiftly taking that of a tiger to flee.

No,

It was just about to flee when,

As the Spell Master’s robes fluttered, there was a loud ‘poof!’

And a giant brush larger than a person materialized in mid-air.

The Spell Master then began writing characters in the air:

[囚]

Upon completing the character, it became trapped as if in an invisible prison, immobilized.

Next came the fox yokai’s attack –

Her tails briefly glowed azure before unleashing countless azure flames upon it.

Struck directly by the fox fire, the tiger form was reduced to rags.

It was then time to take another form.

Nine hundred and thirty-two forms remained.

It still had

Plenty of forms left.

---

It was endless.

Ho Joon endlessly cast spells to kill it, while I freely used my yogi to unleash fox fire, yet

The doppelganger yokai refused to die no matter how many times we killed it.

This vile yokai understood the human psyche all too well, deliberately

Taking frail forms like an elderly person,

A young girl or boy,

Or attractive men and women

To torment Ho Joon and me.

An old woman cried piteous screams begging ‘Save me!’

Ho Joon’s spell made her body burst, spilling her intestines.

A young boy pleaded ‘Please save me, sister, brother!’

My fox fire made the boy shriek in agony as he burned to death.

Unable to watch such horror, I closed my eyes and kept unleashing fox fire, yet

Could not ignore the eardrum-shattering screams.

What infuriated me more was that

Ever since being trapped by Ho Joon’s spell,

The yokai did not resist us in the slightest.

At this rate, Ho Joon’s mental fortitude would reach its limit first.

“Tch, what a vile, cruel yokai.”

“…”

Though Ho Joon spoke nonchalantly,

His voice trembled.

Indeed, killing a being in human form was no simple matter, even for a human.

For me, of course,

I did feel strong aversion to killing humans, but not to the point of trembling hands like Ho Joon.

An undeniable fact:

I was not human.

I was

A yokai.

When I retched upon seeing the human corpses earlier, was that merely an act to deceive myself?

I felt confused.

The one-sided slaughter dragged on for who knows how long.

The first to lose their will to fight was not me the yokai,

But the human Spell Master, Ho Joon.

“Damn it… Damn it, damn it!”

As Ho Joon’s mind crumbled, the [囚] prison he created dissolved with a ‘pop!’

Thud!

Thwack!

Ho Joon then collapsed, frothing at the mouth.

“Ho Joon? Ho Joon, get a grip!”

While shaking his shoulders, I kept my gaze fixed on the yokai before us.

Just what

Form was that, now?

Human?

No, I had never known a human to take such a form.

Yokai?

Not a yokai either. Though yokai forms varied, my fox yokai intuition told me:

That was no yokai.

Clubs.

Horns.

Ah.

…A goblin.

The form of a goblin.