Written by Hideo Gosha, Eizaburo Shiba
Starring Mikijiro Hira, Go Kato, Shima Iwashita, Toshie Kimura
The beast had been wandering for centuries. Once it was the ruler of this land, and its influence had even spread to realms beyond. The beast knew this much. Beyond that it knew how to forage to survive. But in truth, it would have died many years ago had its body still required sustenance to carry on. For this was a dead land.
There had been a time when the beast would have never imagined a need to seek its own food. He had only to move his head and bellow, and men would sacrifice their young and their beautiful maidens. The beast would consume them whole and pass their bones.
Later the meat had not been as tender. Only the elder ones remembered and recognized his power, and they sacrificed from within their own ranks. When the last of them had exhausted their short lives, the beast’s howls would go unrewarded. The angry beast would infect the men with plagues, cause their homes to catch fire, and would swell the ocean to rise up and wash away their towns. But the stupid men never thought to feed him.
Now there were few signs that the land had ever been civilized. The beast spent his days patrolling a dead forest. Sometimes something new would sprout from the ground, but then a spontaneous fire would erupt and scorch the earth. Occasionally, the beast would pick up the scent of a man, but it was always distant and possibly only imagined.
But today the beast encountered an odor that had been all but forgotten to him. A demon was in his land. In better times, the beast had taught demons to stay away from his food. Demons corrupted men’s souls and soured the meat. This the beast would not tolerate.
But the meat and the souls were long gone from this land. What business would a demon have here now?
The beast did not care for the taste of demon and did not have the motivation to fight. Nevertheless he felt protective of the land that was still his, depleted though it was. He would have to deal with the intruder.
He did not have to search for long. At the edge of what had once been a treeline was a lake that had been created by the blood of men and the piss of the beast. On the other side of the lake the beast’s one good eye followed a pillar of black smoke down to its source, and there saw the demon, sitting stone still by a campfire and meditating.
The beast took his time walking around the lake. He had not spoken in a thousand years, but in any case communication with demons scarcely required it. Like many of the ancient races, demons could instinctively read souls. What made them skilled predators was their ability to just as instinctively pervert them.
The demon stood up slowly as the beast approached. He beckoned for him to join him by the camp. The beast instead stopped in his tracks, and the demon addressed him.
You are the master of this land. I am a young demon, and I do not know you, but I can tell that this is true. I hope you will forgive my trespass. I am waiting for someone.
You will not wait here. If someone is coming, I will greet them with my jowls and welcome them into the pit of my stomach. I would offer you the same, but you are unappetizing. Leave my land and do not return.
I am sorry, old one, but I will not leave yet. What will you do about it?
The beast had not been so brazenly defied in all its existence. It was confused more than anything else. Had the beast a little more intelligence, he might have recognized that confusion as the moment he lost the battle.
I am old, that is true. I do not fight as fiercely as I once did. But I am more than capable of tearing a little demon into many pieces.
I believe you, old one. So why did you so graciously offer me the option of leaving here whole?
I … do not know.
Oh, but you do. You cannot deceive a demon, as you well know. I see what is in your soul.
The beast knew he was trapped. If he retreated, his hold on the land would end, and he would become mortal. His body was far too old to survive such a transition. And though a moment before he could have destroyed the demon with ease, it was too late. The demon had found his soul. It was corrupted by tendrils that caressed and weakened his spirit. Even if he had been able to focus enough to mount an attack, killing the demon would kill himself.
Your spirit has been dying for too many years, old one. Thankfully your bones are still strong. I may be able to fashion a weapon from them.
Above his campfire the demon had mounted a spit. The beast was drawn to it.
Climb onto it, old one. Use those jowls one more time and swallow it whole. That should not be too difficult for you.
The fire was roaring strongly now. The beast found it oddly inviting. Perhaps this was not such a bad way to leave this land. He opened his jaws wide around the spit and pulled himself forward.
