The Sun Prince

Ch18 P1 - Go!

In his true form, Kuro bounded across rooftops. The Cat Girl's words resonated in Kuro's skull like a temple bell.

Below him, bruised humans wailed outside their homes, trapped by their own locked barrier gates. Only a scattering of houses had collapsed, yet they moaned like the world was ending.

But the world couldn't end. Kuro had left Ren. He'd left.

He dug his claws into the roof of the rice shop Ren had gawked at. The lumber groaned but held. His tongue lagged out of his mouth as he gulped in breath.

The palace bulwarks remained derelict but whole, untouched by whatever the explosion had been. But the Night Parade didn't need them broken. No walls could stop the Night Parade.

Serpents, ogres, hell wheels, imps, hags, and countless other demons streamed down from the clouds into the gravel yards. Flames licked the main palace building, but Ren's compound seemed untouched.

Humans rushed out from the flames, some servants, and a few minor nobles sent to serve the Imperial family for punishment. The first samurai troops rallied, yelling orders and marching in formation, even as head ogres dropped out of the skies to crush their spines and sickle weasels cut through their knees. Limbs disappeared down the gullets of demons. Their blood soaked the dry gravel.

And the siege had only just begun.

Kuro shuddered as if swarms of flies bit him. He hadn't expected the Cat Girl to tell him the truth. "The Dragon God's Eastern Barrier... faltered?"

Only when the Cat Girl replied, did he realise he'd spoken. Not with his muzzle, too fox-shaped to speak human words, but thought them aloud. "Which is why they're enjoying a nice appetiser of Undesirables. Oh wait, they're not."

Kuro glared at the Cat Girl, but she was correct. The Night Parade didn't stream from the East. They came from the West.

"The Western Barrier." The one upheld by the four major shrines, and formed into a barrier by the onmyouji. The onmyouji had lectured Kuro on how his plan to win the Eastern shrine had weakened his barrier.

"Perhaps it broke," she said.

Or Kuro's presence broke it. He hadn't left the city fast enough, and his presence had steadily poisoned the barrier.

She shrugged. "Or perhaps it was allowed to break."

He stared down his muzzle. At the exact moment when the demons could be blamed on Kuro's presence instead of the onmyouji or the Shogun.

He should leave. Sneak through the streets and leave the humans to their fate, and crawl out through the break in the onmyouji's ward before anyone noticed.

But Ren must still be within the palace bulwarks. Kuro had left him standing on the veranda, reaching out as if he actually wanted Kuro to stay.

Kuro jumped onto the wall and down into the courtyard.

He landed among a clump of ogres and imps. The demons froze as Kuro gained his hindquarters under him. He barked. They fled.

Just as well. He wasn't there to fight demons. He was there — why was he there? He'd jumped before he'd even thought about the consequences. He—

A troop of samurai roared and charged at Kuro. A demon form was a bad form to take in the middle of a demon attack.

He jumped to the side, but the samurai followed, surrounding him on all sides. They brandished their swords, each darting into slice at Kuro.

He dodged one sword, only for a samurai on the opposite side to take advantage and slice open his hide.

He jumped straight up, and the samurai raised their swords like needles sticking out of a pin cushion waiting to skewer him. He tried to land on his hind feet, but his front paw nicked a raise sword. His tail huddled between his legs.