Because the situation was about to descend into chaos, it was no longer strange to see many yokai appearing among crowds during the day.
But this yokai was very unusual.
It was a... yaksha.
Yaksha was originally a Buddhist term referring to ugly, man-eating evil spirits.
In Buddhist scriptures, they were hideous demons—brave, fierce, and violent, capable of eating people. Some were later enlightened by the great Buddha and became guardian deities, listed among the Eight Legions of Heavenly Beings.
Then, in Japan, yaksha became somewhat localized.
In this world's legends of yaksha, they were said not to be evil spirits of the Human World, but demons from the Underworld, born in the Sea of the Underworld.
They loved slaughter and appeared in certain places. Once they grew tired of one place, they would move on to the next. They had always been solitary, with neither friends nor family. Perhaps that was why they especially enjoyed toying with humans.
Simply put, they did whatever they pleased. They might destroy a few human villages for fun on a whim, but they would never do a good deed.
Yet the yaksha before them, disguised as a human, was not only nowhere near as ugly as the legends described—he was actually exceptionally handsome.
That was not the important part. The important part was... he actually had Buddhist light around him...
A yaksha who had been converted?
No... that was not right. The stench of blood on him was obvious; he could not have been converted. This Buddhist light did not signify conversion, but that a master of Buddhist teachings was using it to protect him.
Protecting an evil yaksha demon?
It had to be said... he had piqued Mei's interest.
After Mei and the others cautiously followed the yaksha demon for a while,