Samurai

Damian's instincts notify him of something's pretense, he feels the attack heading his way. He blocks it with the indestructible fur. Both him and Amber turn to face nothing. A pair of pure yellow eyes open up, attached to nothing, held against Damian's fur sleeve is a shattered katana held together by magic and being wielded by ten ghostly blue fingers. Damian shoves the strange creature away.

"What the hell are you?" He stances to fight.

"I could ask the same thing. You are not the Oni I know, not completely." The monster prepares another strike.

"I grafted the Oni's eye into me after killing it." Damian points at his oni eye.

"Then you will take its place as my target." The monster charges him with incredible speed.

Amber steps in its path cloaking her talon like arms with fire.

"Move." The monster stops in front of her.

"I will kill you before you could ever touch Damian!" Amber's gaze is cold.

"The disembodied eyes squint at her before disappearing in the nearby vegetation.

"I will grow stronger, to out match that woman's speed, and slay the wretched Oni. The boy said he grafted a monster into him, then what if I did the same?" The monster begins to wander around looking for other strong monsters.

Damian and Amber get back to the base.

"Hey, how did the hunt go?" Henry welcomes them back.

"Well, we collected plenty of blood for Grant's recovery and for our powers, however we or rather I was attacked by some samurai spirit monster." Damian sets down a heavy bag full of blood pouches.

"What do you mean by you were?" Henry takes the bag and leads the pair to where they are in the process of rebuilding Grant.

"The monster flat out refused to attack Amber, and it insisted that I'm now its target because of my eye." Damian explains the situation.

"Seems like you should just keep an eye out." Henry snorts at the accidental pun. "But to be completely serious, you may need to try to fight your new inner monster if you want to set a good defense." Henry turns away, opening a door to Grant's workshop.

Natalie sits over the opened body of Grant as he gives her the directions to install his parts. Henry walks over and picks up an unfamiliar piece.

"What's this for?" He sets down the bag.

"That is one of two pieces that are not in the instructions, because they are used to filter the alcohol into something useful. It goes right above the blood chamber." Grant wiggles his mouth mandible.

"Okay. Speaking of blood, Damian and Amber are back." Henry puts the pieces in place.

"Ah, perfect. You get the blood in me and I'll be able to finish the rest of the installations myself." Grant's head begins to hover above Henry.

Damian sits in his room, late at night.

"I wasn't even able to beat my original inner monster, and the Oni would have killed me if it weren't for the team showing up." He itches his horns as he worries about the future.

He eventually falls asleep, but soon after that he finds himself at a river that feeds into a waterfall. The familiar location sends a chill down his spine, the abyssal night sky, the thick forest, and the cold river. He froze as he felt a presence behind him. The deep growl of a fowl beast initiated his instincts. He rolled forward and spun around, facing the beast. The Oni had a wicked smile on its grotesque face, its long brown hair flowed unnaturally, the unsaturated blue skin stretched across its body in an almost constricting manner. The oni reaches out its long arm to Damian. He begins to choke, despite that he charges the beast. Catching the Oni off guard, he latches onto its face, the force of his movement pushes them into the river. The crashing water above them is silent as they sink deeper into a void. Damian's grip loosens as he begins to drown. The Oni tears Damian off of them and then extends their razor sharp nails to a point, he watches helplessly as it stares deep into his eyes.

"Damian!" A feminine voice calls out to him.

Damian suddenly jolts awake in a cold sweat, heart racing at an alarming pace.

"Damian, are you okay?" Grant examines him.

"I-Im not sure." Water leaks out from his ears.

The rest of the gang enters behind Amber.

"I fell asleep and was back at the place where I had grafted, I tried fighting my new inner monster, but failed. Before it could kill me someone woke me up." He looks at the wet floor under his hammock.

"You've got Amber to thank for that, she heard you drowning." Grant steps away.

"This was far from just a dream. Thank you Amber." Damian shakes as he stands up.

"I-I'm just doing what I can to help." She becomes extremely red.

Damian trips, Amber catches him. And the pair's faces get close together.

"Oh, sorry." Damian suddenly jolts to attention.

Amber fails to get any words out until Damian steps back.

"It seems you need to be careful even while resting." Jason looks away with a furrowed brow.