Oni
Usually called Oni in English, they are known as hotaruken (蛍剣 or ホタルけん) in Japan, where Oni refers to mythological ogre-like monsters.
The hirigana name ホタルけん is a pun, as it can be written using either the kanji for 'firefly sword', or 'firefly smoke' in classical Japanese, referring to their status as warriors, and to the way they can appear or disappear like smoke.
Hotaru-yokai are warrior spirits which can be summoned by Kitsune of sufficient power to act as servants or bodyguards. They are believed to be the spirits of dead ronin (masterless Samurai) who's souls seek a master to serve. Other stories are that they are the spirits of those killed by Yakan, or the spirits of all the humans the kitsune summoning them have loved in their long lives.
They appear in the form of kabuki-theatre stage-hands, dressed entirely in black, and wearing black tabi, but in place of the fabric face-covering worn by stage hands, they have hornless all-black hannya masks. If the mask is removed, the outfit is reveald to be completely hollow, filled only with black smoke and a single Firefly.
They cannot be killed, as they are not truely alive, but they can be returned to the spirit realm using certain shinto or buddhist prayers, or if their mask is shattered using a legendary weapon.
The Hale-McCall Pack initially wrongly believed their weakness was to silver, before realising that silver weapons worked only when weilded by members of the Argent Clan due to their cultural significance for the Clan. Other members of the Pack then found or forged their own legendary weapons which had deep significance for them personally, such as Stiles Stilinski using his father's service pistol.
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