Ayakashi

Hisui startles Tokine

Ayakashi (妖) (Demons in the English Dub) are creatures of the night. They hate light, preferring darkness. They are the main threat to kekkaishi and Karasumori. It is a kekkaishi's duty to defend the site from ayakashi attack, either removing or destroying them in the process.

Ayakashi are supernatural creatures (though the term is most often applied to demons), and come in a variety of shapes and sizes, ranging in power from mildly annoying to incredibly dangerous. Nearly all sentient ayakashi seek greater power, generally through means of force. Several stronger ayakashi have a tendency to only reveal their true bodies in desperate battles, and take on human forms which they spend most of their time in. This supports the theory that the overriding desire for most or all ayakashi, whether they realize or acknowledge it, is to become human. Furthermore, some ayaksi are too large in size that they may risk cause damage around them and also hinder their mobility. Because they are primarily creatures of darkness, most ayakashi only appear at night. The few that can tolerate sunlight either have special abilities or considerable power.

List of Ayakashi

Ayakashi Forms

Standard

Most ayakashi are of the least powerful variety (though this in no way means they are harmless): they are drawn to Karasumori in search of greater power, likely because they could easily be destroyed or cease to exist without it. Their primary goal is to obtain power from the site, which would allow them to transform into a stronger form with increased powers. Many of these ayakashi at least vaguely resemble a recognizable type of animal, demon, or plant.

Human

Kokuboro's meeting participants (excluding Byaku)

Ayakashi that partially or closely resemble humans tend to be among the most dangerous. A human form generally represents that the ayakashi is suppressing its true form and power, but can shift back to its natural form to access its orginal, greater powers within seconds. One notable exception to this are former humans who chose to become ayakashi. In that case, they may either retain their human form (Mudou), or permanently alter it in the process (Kaguro). In either case, they still represent a greater threat than normal ayakashi, because they are more capable of strategic planning. However, in unusual cases (Kokuboro) ayakashi use human skin to go into Karasumori so that they are undetectable. Ayakashi usually use illusions or physically transform their entire body into their desired human form.

Ayakashi Majiri

Another special case is people born with ayakashi blood. While generally considered more human than ayakashi, they still have access to ayakashi powers, and some are even capable of fully transforming into an ayakashi body that has no obvious human features. A great amount of control and willpower is required to master and keep a tight reign over these powers, or the user could risk being overwhelmed by their ayakashi blood, causing them to become a mindless monster. This is especially a risk when exposed directly to Karasumori's power.