“How are you doing, Kevin?” a voice asked. Lilian. She was still invisible, hidden behind her illusion, which bent the light to mask her presence entirely.
“F-fine…” Kevin huffed.
“No, you’re not. Don’t lie to me.”
“You’re right. I’m tired… sore… and… and I just want this to end.” Kevin’s face scrunched, an outward reflection of his turbulent emotions. “However, I know this won’t end until we end it. We have to defeat these people and give everyone else time to escape.”
“I know.”
“Hey, if you two have time to chat like that, think you’ve got time for a quickie with me?” asked Iris.
“NO!”
“Tch. Stingy.”
Now that there was a lull in the fighting, Kevin took this chance to survey the battlefield. Corpses were everywhere. They lay scattered about like broken dolls tossed away by an angry child, their bodies twisted and torn, sporting holes and missing limbs. Most were soldiers, but a few were civilians. Each one, be they human or yōkai, carved a bloody furrow on Kevin’s heart.
“It looks like there aren’t many enemies left,” he muttered.
“You’re right. I guess I don’t need to remain invisible anymore.” So saying this, the space next to Kevin flickered briefly, the air wavering like a mirage as Lilian suddenly appeared.
“I expected a harder fight,” Iris commented idly, her lips twisting themselves into a foul grin. “That was too easy.”
Kevin eyed the blackness that covered Iris’s left arm all the way up to her elbow. He shivered at the feeling coming from it. He could sense its hunger.
“These people weren’t members of the Sons and Daughters of Humanity.” Kevin knelt down next to a corpse. It was a woman dressed in military garb. Her sightless eyes stared at the sky. He closed them, sighing. “This is just the regular military. The Sons and Daughters of Humanity were using special equipment designed to kill yōkai, which is why the ones we faced inside were so much harder to defeat.”
“So, the US military is involved in this?” Lilian asked. “Isn’t that like declaring war on yōkai?”
“I doubt they’d consider it like that,” Kevin informed her. “More than likely, the US government is going to call it an extermination instead of a war. To them, yōkai are threats to humanity meant to be eliminated.”
“Che.” Iris spit at the feet of a soldier. “Any idiot who thinks hotness like mine should be stamped out is a fool. They deserve to die.”
Kevin studied his friend again. There was something disturbing about the way Iris spoke. While, on the outside, she didn’t seem a whole lot different, he could tell that her personality wasn’t quite her own. That abrasiveness of hers had never been this bad, and she was, while rude, still considerate of others—at the very least, Iris had never struck him as the type to show the dead such disrespect.
Is it the Void making her say these things?
“But why send regular soldiers to fight us?” asked Lilian. “In a straight up battle, yōkai hold the advantage. It would take numbers a lot greater than this to take down a group with people like Kotohime in it.”
Kevin turned his head to study Lilian, who was worrying her thumb in uncertainty.
“I suspect it’s because—”
“—We only needed to hold you long enough for the main force to arrive,” a familiar voice said above them.
Kevin whipped his head around so fast that he feared giving himself whiplash, or he would have, had he not been shocked by the person hovering in the air above them.
Justin floated over them, a pair of repulsors or something similar on the bottom of his feet. His armor had been upgraded. Decked from head to toe in silver armor, his figure gleamed a violent red in the evening sun. Kevin didn’t see any weapons on him, but that meant little. With such armor, his whole body might as well have been a weapon.
Surrounding him were three of those machines that had given Kotohime and Kiara so much trouble.
“Justin!”
“Hello, Kevin. I’m glad to see you’re doing well,” Justin said with a smile that nearly split his face in half.
CHAPTER 12
A DECLARATION OF WAR
Kevin was feeling so many emotions that he didn’t know what he should feel.
They swept through him like a storm. Unstoppable. Rampant. He felt like he was drowning within a sea of negativity, and all of it was because of the person hovering above him.
“Now I get it,” Kevin muttered, his hands clenching into fists. “Attacking the base and making the civilians evacuate, it was all for this moment, wasn’t it? You wanted to lead us outside, where you could dispose of the yōkai here in one fell swoop.”
“More or less,” Justin admitted easily. “After those yōkai took all of those schools hostage, it gave us the perfect excuse to declare war on their kind. The president of the United States has given us his full cooperation.”
“And the rest of the world?”
“Most have signed on and are beginning their own wars against the yōkai. There are a few who remain stubborn and indecisive, but that’s not my concern. It’s not really any of my business. All I need to do is what I am ordered to do, and I’ve been ordered to eliminate the yōkai here.” Justin reached down, as if seeking Kevin’s hand. “Kevin, I’m going to give you one more chance; abandon these yōkai and join me. There’s no need for you to get yourself killed because of them.”
Kevin didn’t need to see Lilian to know that she was staring at him. He could feel her gaze on his head well enough. He held out his hand, fingers splayed, and felt the gentle warmth of hers as she took it.
His eyes remained firmly locked on Justin.
“You know that I would never betray Lilian. I don’t even know why you bothered asking that question.”
“True.” Justin retracted his hand. “I did suspect you wouldn’t, but you can’t blame a guy for trying, can you?” He didn’t give Kevin any time to answer. “Anyway, if you won’t join me, then I have no choice but to eliminate you with the yōkai you cherish so much. It sucks, but orders are orders.”
Justin pointed at them.
“YK units. Destroy them.”
Kevin tensed as, with a burst of overwhelming speed, the droids launched themselves forward. Not even a second passed before they closed the distance. Kevin could almost see his death reflected in the gleaming metal. The YK droids raised their arms, which had each transformed into a powerful claymore, and prepared to bring them down on him and the two vixens.
“Water Art: Tsukuyomi's Surging Waterfall.”
A giant hydro cannon of water slammed into the three YK droids, launching them backwards. Their feet dug into the paved surface, digging a trench as they tried to find purchase. The droid in front sliced at the waterfall with its sword, splitting the water in half.
Kotohime appeared before them, her posture straight and her demeanor calm. One hand caressed the hilt of her katana while the other reached behind her and freed her wakizashi from its sheath. Kevin stiffened at the incredible bloodlust emanating from the wakizashi. Her tails were a fury of activity as she turned to gaze upon them.
“Kevin-sama, Lilian-sama, Iris-sama, please leave these machines to us.”
“Us?” Lilian and Kevin asked at the same time.
In that moment, several yōkai surged around them, passing them and rushing at the YK droids. Mack led the charge, his distinctive pink bunny ears flopping as he raced for the first droid and slammed into it with two feet, sending the thing into the air.
“We will take care of these machines, so please, focus only on taking out the one controlling them.” Kotohime smiled at the trio before she bent her legs, and then pushed off the ground, launching herself into the fray with incredible speed. The last Kevin saw of her was her blade slicing into one of the YK droids like a Zanpaktou through a tree.
“Hm, it seems my Yōkai Killer Droids won’t be able to back me up,” Justin murmured as he dropped to
the ground, which cracked underneath him. “That’s cool. I brought some more backup along in the event that something like this happened.”
Justin pressed a button on his wrist, and suddenly, the thwump-thwump-thwump of a helicopter’s propeller echoed over the din of high-level combat.
Kevin, Lilian, and Iris looked up to see a military helicopter fly over them. The hatch opened and two figures dropped down, landing on the ground, their bodies crouched like tigers on the hunt.
“Those two look familiar for some reason,” Lilian murmured. “I swear I’ve seen them somewhere before.”
The two crouching figures were human, or at least they looked human. Matching blond hair and blue eyes were their most distinguishing features. Only their faces were visible, while the rest had been covered by a bodysuit that seemed to disdain from the light. Their pale white skin looked almost translucent, and it presented a striking contrast with their outfits. The two figures stood to their full height, pulling a knife and a handgun from their belts.
“Hey!” Iris exclaimed. “Aren’t those the idiots who tried to kill us in our sleep?! I remember them. Tch! They totally interrupted my sexy time with Lily-pad and the stud.”
“There were no sexy times! We were sleeping!” Kevin shouted.
“No, you were sleeping,” Iris corrected. “I was feeling you two up while you slept.”
“What?!” Kevin squawked. “You were?!”
“Of course.” Iris puffed out her chest, which bounced enticingly. “How else do you think I remained awake to sense those two?”
Kevin didn’t know how, but somehow, he tripped on air, or something, and face-planted directly into the road. He jumped back up a second later and started shouting. “Don’t grope Lilian and me while we’re sleeping! That’s rude!”
“Hmph! You won’t let me grope you when you’re awake, so of course I have to find some other way to have my fun.”
“You call it fun; I call it molestation!”
“That’s because you’re a prude.”
“Iris, please don’t make fun of Kevin like that,” Lilian chided. “And Kevin, Iris is a kitsune just like me. She needs physical affection. Since we’ve been ignoring her, it’s only natural that she would do something like grope us in our sleep.”
“I fail to see how that could be considered natural,” Kevin muttered, then paused. He slowly went over what Lilian said in his head, and then blushed when he realized something. “Wait a minute! You knew what she was doing, didn’t you?!”
“Ufufufu, of course not.”
“Yes, you did! You only ever laugh like that when you’re trying to cover something up!”
“Ufufufu.”
Kevin was 100% positive these two were playing a prank on him… well, 99% positive. Iris, for all her bravado, had never actually done anything truly repulsive to either him or Lilian. She always stopped right on the borderline of what was and wasn’t acceptable. Also, Kevin was a light sleeper these days. He would have known if Iris had been touching him inappropriately. He would have woken up.
That’s what he liked to think, at least.
“You three are pretty funny.” Justin smiled. “I always enjoyed listening to your conversations back in school. It’s too bad we can’t do this now. Ian, Adam, kill them.”
Ian and Adam blasted off the ground far faster than a human should have been capable of.
“Void Art: Void Fire!”
The pair were forced to separate when black flames shot between them. This did not halt their forward momentum, and the twins merely adjusted their trajectory and continued rushing forward.
“Extension!”
Ian swerved around one of Lilian’s tails, then ducked under the other one as he pressed forward. Seeing this, Kevin quickly dropped to a knee and took aim, firing off several rounds from both of his guns. He clicked his tongue when Ian juked left, avoiding the bullets and closing the distance.
“Celestial Art: Flare!”
Kevin closed his eyes and leapt backwards. His ears twitched as he listened to the sounds of running feet. They were closing in. Heavy thuds. Ian. Kevin fired off several rounds, swivelling his head when he heard the footsteps change direction, then fired another six rounds from each gun.
The footsteps continued moving forward.
“Tch!”
Holstering his guns, Kevin opened his eyes and saw Ian stepping into his guard. A fist shot toward his face, but Kevin fell back, avoiding the attack while at the same time grabbing onto Ian’s outstretched arm. He started to fall further back, intent on rolling onto his back and using his legs to kick toss his opponent.
Ian wouldn’t let him.
“Woah!”
Kevin’s eyes bulged when Ian lifted him off the ground like he weighed less than a PS4. Ian’s muscles strained, then, with little warning, Kevin was pulled into a waiting knee.
Blood and spittle flew from his mouth as he felt his intestines being turned to mulch. He didn’t receive any reprieve either, as seconds after the first knee slammed into him, another one plunged into his gut. His stomach groaned in protest. His mind hazed. Kevin gritted his teeth, blood staining them and, in desperation, slammed his head into Ian’s face.
“OWCH!”
Ian let go of him, allowing Kevin to stumble back, a hand on his head. That had hurt a lot more than a headbutt should. He could feel his brain as it was rattled inside of his skull. Speaking of which, he might have just gained a hairline fracture. It felt like his skull had been cracked.
“W-what the heck is your head made out of?! Steel?!”
Ian didn’t answer. Maybe he couldn’t answer. Kevin didn’t know, but he wouldn’t deny that it was annoying.
Kevin moved at the same time as Ian, falling into that state between self-awareness and unconsciousness. The world around him seemed to fade away, until all that remained was him and Ian.
I need to finish this up and help Lilian and Iris, Kevin thought. It was the last one he had before the battle consumed him.
***
Iris stood across from Justin who, upon seeing the young vixen, smiled lightly as if greeting an old friend.
“I see you’re looking sexy as always. It’s good to see you again, Iris.”
The frown on her face grew more prominent. “I always suspected there was something off about you.”
Justin appeared amused. “Really?”
“Yeah. Even though you always responded to me like most men would, it never felt real. I’m an expert at this stuff, you know, so I could tell that you weren’t really affected by me. Let me tell you, when I realized this, it really pissed me off.”
“Sorry.” Justin didn’t sound all that sorry.
“Whatever. Anyway, it took me a while to figure it out, but I’ve finally got it.” Iris paused for dramatic effect. “You’re gay for Kevin, aren’t you?”
“Um, what?” Justin looked nonplussed.
“That’s gotta be it,” Iris continued belligerently onward. “I mean, you were always talking to him and you never really paid much attention to anyone else. It was really weird, but after seeing you constantly try to bring the stud over to your side, I realized that it must be because you want him—or at least what’s in his pants.”
“Um, no,” Justin said sternly.
Iris grinned. “You say that, but you’ve been in the grip of the main character forever. Just so you know, there’s nothing wrong with BL in this day and age.” She trailed her left hand down her chest, slowly moving it through the valley of her breasts all the way to her stomach. “I’m a bit disappointed that you don’t like this, but I suppose there isn’t much I can do if you go for hot dogs over tacos.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about, but I want you to stop.”
“Fine. Fine. This was just a distraction to make you let your guard down anyway.”
“What?!”
Justin’s eyes went wide when Iris burst into black flames that rushed to consume him. The repulsor jets on his
feet launched him into the air, but the sentient fire followed, defying gravity as it raced after him. He seemed to already know what he was up against, because rather than try to combat the fire, he shot further upwards, gaining so much distance between him and the Void that he left the fire’s sensing range.
“Void Art: Fires of Oblivion.”
Justin looked up just in time to see several hundred balls of black flame appear all over the sky. Standing on the road looking up, Iris raised her hands and made a motion.
The flames descended.
Jinking and juking and swerving, Justin did everything humanly possible to avoid the massive amount of black flames that tried to consume him. However, no one could avoid thousands of spheres descending upon them all at once. It was only natural that one would eventually hit him.
But when the black flame unexpectedly passed right through him, he looked down at Iris, who realized that she was in trouble.
Uh-oh.
“I had forgotten that you kitsune specialize in illusions,” Justin admitted. “I won’t forget that again.” He pointed a finger at Iris—a finger that was glowing a brilliant red.
“That cannot mean anything good,” Iris mumbled.
A bright beam of red energy shot from Justin’s finger like a canon. Iris dove out of the way, and the beam struck the earth, exploding like a miniature atom bomb and pelting her with debris. Iris did what she could to protect herself, but she couldn’t use her powers well enough to attack individual pieces of debris.
Kill…
Iris gritted her teeth, straining against both the whispers and the pain from raining detritus, which felt like fist-sized hailstones slamming into her back. The hail of blacktop fragments soon ended—and that’s when Justin descended, mercilessly stomping on Iris’s back.
Iris exploded into dark flames.
“Void Art: The Hunger.”
Justin shot into the sky like a rabbit launched from a cannon. The flames licked at his heels, but he bit the inside of his cheek, drawing blood and causing the flames to dispel.
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