Tidal Wishes

The first time he killed the demon monk, he thought he'd won. Lightning struck. The cassock tore, and the mouth on its faceless head finally closed. He turned to leave. Then he heard a voice behind him. It wasn't the demon monk's voice. It was a louder sutra. He turned back. The fragments were coming together. The cassock grew back, black threads crawled off the ground and into its body, and that mouth opened again, wider than before. Lightning coursed over its skin, then was swallowed whole. It looked at him and smiled. There was something new in that smile. It had inherited the power of his attack. Now it could wield lightning too. Deep within the Heavenly Statutes in his mind, a voice spoke: "The evils of this world cannot be killed just once." He looked down and saw his hands trembling. Not from fear. The first time he'd killed it, it had risen stronger. And the second time, it would retain every ability it had in life, plus the strength it gained after dying once. Every one of them had to be killed twice. The second kill was harder than the first. And this world was crawling with things like that. He raised his hand, and the brush of the Talisman Office formed at his fingertips. The first line appeared in the air: Records of the Slain Fiends First Fiend: Buddha's Corpse, Demon Monk. First kill: Thunder Bureau's decree. After it rose again: It could wield lightning. Second kill: Incomplete. Weakness: Unknown. Note: Don't turn your back too soon. Couldn't he beat it? No. He could kill it. It was just that every one of them had to be killed twice. Tidewish: The Records of the Slain Fiends, an accompanying work An epic chronicle of fiends that must be killed twice to die.