A Fox's Hostility

by Brandon Varnell

  Iris’s will was eroding, wasting away by the constant barrage of whispers. But, even so, she still had strength enough for this.

  “Now. You. Burn!”

  “Void Art: Consuming Chaos!”

  Iris reinforced her will. The lines of fire closed around Justin until his form was no longer visible—just a bunch of “strings” crossing over each other. It was like looking at a giant ball of black yarn. The ball was then compressed, growing smaller and smaller until, with one last effort of will, it disappeared.

  “Ga! Ha… ha…”

  Iris released a loud rasp. Falling to her knees, she raised a hand to her mouth. Her hands became stained carmine as she hacked up several globs of blood, and her mouth tasted of copper. Despite how she felt like her body had been torn apart from the inside out, she was quite pleased with herself. She might not be much of a fighter, but she still managed to beat this pretentious brat.

  “That was a good effort,” a voice said behind her.

  No way!

  Iris began to turn—

  “A-ah!”

  —when something sheared right through her left shoulder. Iris blinked several times, her mind unable to conceive what had just happened. She stared at the stump that was now her shoulder, at the blood spilling from the stump. Muscle fibers dangled from the shoulder and a bit of bone was poking out.

  “Oh…”

  The pain hit her. It was like an avalanche flooding her nerve endings, like lava flowing through her veins. Her mind threatened to shut down. Black spots appeared in her vision.

  The next thing Iris knew, she was lying face-first on the ground. She didn’t remember when she had fallen, and she could only vaguely remember what she’d been doing. Her mind felt numb, as did her body.

  I… I’m going to die here, aren’t I?

  Boots appeared in her darkening field of vision. She wanted to look up, but that required more effort than she had left.

  “How…?” she rasped.

  “Let’s just say that yōkai are no longer the only people with the ability to use illusions.”

  An item dropped to ground, a square with rounded edges. The object lit up, then a small hologram of a miniature Justin flying around appeared.

  “It really is too bad you and I are on opposite sides in this conflict,” she heard a voice say. Why did it sound so familiar? “Kevin’s going to be sad when he learns of your death, but orders are orders.”

  Kevin…

  The name brought feelings of warmth with it. She envisioned a face, surrounded by blond hair, with glowing blue eyes smiling at her. Kevin would probably be sad if she died. That was just the kind of person he was.

  I… I can’t…

  Iris tried to push herself up.

  “G-gah!”

  A foot slammed her back into the ground.

  “Don’t struggle anymore. If nothing else, I’d at least like to get this distasteful task over with quickly.”

  No…

  Iris didn’t want to die.

  I don’t… I can’t…

  She knew this was the end. It wasn’t like she had a choice. This person was going to kill her, and there wasn’t anything she could do about it. Unless…

  Give in to darkness…

  The whispers surrounded her.

  I… I guess there’s no choice.

  Iris didn’t know what happened to those who confronted the Void. Confronting the Void was a personal and unique experience for every yōkai who could touch it. No two experiences were the same, and it was not something those who had confronted it would ever reveal to another. However, she’d read the codex. She knew that confronting the Void changed people.

  Iris worried about what would happen when she confronted the Void. If she survived the encounter, what changes would take place in her? Would she still be the same person that she was now? Would her feelings be the same? She didn’t know, and she didn’t like not knowing.

  Iris didn’t want to confront the Void. She didn’t want to change.

  Yet she wanted to die even less.

  All right. Fine. If you want me, then come and get me!

  Iris allowed the whispers to enter her conscience. She let them invade her mind, spreading their insidious message throughout her soul, pouring their malice and hunger into her.

  I’ll have you licking my feet and calling me Queen!

  Inky blackness spread across Iris’s body, covering every inch of her. It poured into her, entered through her every orifice, soaking into her pores, pouring down her throat, worming into her ears.

  Iris stopped breathing.

  Her body ceased to move.

  Her heart no longer beat.

  Even her youki had disappeared from the senses of others, having been consumed by the Void.

  However, when the Void tried to touch the essence that composed Iris Pnév̱ma, to pry the things that she held most dear and consume them as well, her soul released one final scream of defiance before going silent.

  Touched by the unfathomable entity otherwise known as the Void, Iris disappeared.

  The mind-shattering roar of a beast that was not of this world echoed across the battlefield like a herald announcing the end of this world.

  ***

  Kevin rushed to where he heard the scream and arrived on the scene of something horrible.

  Justin flitted around in the sky, dodging blast after blast of void fire. On the ground, crouched down on all fours, was a beast that he’d never seen before. Its body was vaguely anthropomorphic, with two limbs that looked like legs and two more that looked like arms. It possessed a head with two triangle-like appendages reminiscent of ears. It even had two tails that writhed behind it, giving it an almost fox-like appearance. However, those were where the similarities ended.

  Thick, slime-like black ooze covered its body. Kevin belatedly realized that it was actually void fire. It burned like fire, consumed like fire, but it didn’t look anything like fire. It sloughed off the creature’s frame, dripping to the ground, which it consumed with ease, leaving small holes in the road.

  Even as he watched, the beast opened its mouth, black flames spewing forth like water from a fire hydrant. Up above, Justin moved accordingly, but the flames followed him, forcing him to travel a twisting and convoluted path within the air.

  “IRIS!!”

  Kevin snapped his head toward the voice. Lilian had run onto the scene. She was staring at the black beast, her eyes wide in horror and a hand raised to her mouth.

  “Iris?” Kevin looked back at the creature. It couldn’t be… could it?

  “IRIS!!!”

  Lilian attempted to run at the creature, but a sheathed katana stopped her. She looked at the wielder of that katana, her eyes stabbing into Kotohime with more rancor than Kevin had ever seen from her.

  “Don’t get in my way, Kotohime! I have to rescue Iris!”

  “There is nothing you can do,” Kotohime said placidly, though Kevin thought he detected a tremor in her voice. “She has been consumed by the Void. That thing is no longer your sister, but an Emissary of the Void.”

  “No…” Lilian’s legs trembled, then gave out. She fell to her knees, tears staining her face. “No, it can’t… Iris… Iris would never let the Void take her! She wouldn’t!”

  Kevin started to move, to make his way over to her. However, the Void is a sentient hunger. It feels life, and it felt his life the moment he entered its sensory range.

  The beast turned its head. It had no eyes. The empty sockets that sat within its ugly black visage bored a hole into his soul. Kevin’s breathing grew heavy as a presence pushed down on him, declaring him worthless, letting him know that, before the might that is oblivion, he was nothing but an insect that would soon be devoured.

  I can’t… I can’t let this thing get to me…

  “Iris!” He shouted, startling Lilian and Kotohime, who swiveled their heads to look at him. “Iris, I know you’re in there! Don’t let the Void consume you!”

>   “K-Kevin…”

  “Kevin-sama.”

  “Iris! Don’t make me rip you out of that thing! Come back to yourself right now!” he continued to shout. Even if it was hopeless, even if nothing he said would reach her, Kevin couldn’t stand the thought of not doing anything.

  The beast looked at him as if he was a curiosity. It tilted its head to the left, then to the right, and then sucked in a deep breath—

  “GRRRAAAAAAA!!”

  —and let out a terror-inducing howl that rattled Kevin’s very existence. He fell to his knees and gripped his head in his hands. His soul felt like it was shattering, his mind like it was slowly being squeezed into a fine pulp. He felt like his very existence was being crushed.

  He gritted his teeth.

  I can’t give in… I can’t…

  Iris was in there. She was in there, and if he didn’t help, then he would have failed as Lilian’s mate. If he couldn’t even save her sister, then he had no worth.

  “Fine… if this is how you… want to play…”

  Kevin gasped as he stood up on shaking legs. Lilian and Kotohime were also in a similar boat, though Kevin noticed that the swordswoman wasn’t having as hard a time as him and Lilian. He switched his attention back to the beast, which had yet to make a move. Reaching for his guns, Kevin withdrew them and aimed at the monster that had taken over Iris’s existence.

  “Then let’s play.”

  CHAPTER 13

  TO SAVE A LIFE

  I used up two cartridges during the evacuation, and another two during the fighting here. I started off with six cartridges of ammunition total, which means I only have two left. That means I’ve got two hundred bullets… and only the celestial bullets will be effective against this thing, this Emissary of the Void.

  The presence of doom had lessened, but Kevin assumed that meant he’d simply grown used to it. He could still feel it, after all, the essence of death pushing down on him, the hunger that wanted to consume his very existence. It was there, a mental pressure straining against his own resolve and will.

  He stared at the beast who stared back at him. The world around them evaporated as Kevin suffered a bad case of tunnel vision. He’d need to dredge up every ounce of focus and willpower if he wanted to save Iris.

  Kevin took a deep breath, held it, and then…

  Exploded into action.

  The beast roared as he ran to the left, circling it. Fire spewed from its mouth like dragon’s breath. Kevin raised his silver handgun and fired off six rounds. The bullets, incandescent streaks of celestial energy, penetrated the flames, bursting through them and continuing on. The flames dispersed as they lost cohesion, and the bullets exploded against the Emissary of the Void. The beast roared. However, it didn’t seem to be injured.

  Motes of darkness appeared around the beast and were launched at Kevin one by one.

  Knowing that he couldn’t afford to carelessly waste ammo, he did what he could to dodge the attacks, even going so far as to throw corpses into the path of incoming void projectiles.

  Gritting his teeth hard enough to make his gums bleed, Kevin reached behind him, grabbed a flash grenade, and tossed it at the emissary.

  “GRAAAAA!!!!”

  He closed his eyes as the grenade exploded, unleashing a payload of blinding light. The emissary did not, and Kevin was subjected to its outraged screams. So this thing could see even though it didn’t have eyes? Ignoring the shrieks, Kevin continued moving.

  “Celestial Art: Heaven’s Prison!”

  Chains of light appeared from within circles of luminous distortions. They wrapped around the emissary, constricting its movement.

  “GRRAAA!!!!”

  The emissary roared as it struggled against the bindings, which burned away at its skin like acid. Black steam rose from its body. Its mass shrank, but only a little bit before, with a vicious snarl, power burst from it like an exploding star—a star of darkness. The chains shattered, dissolving into light particles. The beast then turned its attention to Lilian, who froze upon seeing the thing that used to be her sister staring at her.

  “I-Iris.” She raised a hand as if reaching out to it. “Iris, it’s me. It’s Lilian. Please… come back to me.”

  But the beast didn’t understand. All it saw was food.

  Spears shot from its back, a mass of black ooze that extended to pierce the now frozen Lilian.

  “Sword Art: One Thousand Blades.”

  Kotohime appeared before Lilian. Her blade flashed out an uncountable number of times, slicing through the darkness. The strange tendrils were cut to pieces and fell to the ground, devouring it. Oddly enough, Kotohime’s katana was pristine.

  “Lilian-sama, please do not speak with this thing anymore,” Kotohime implored. “It is no longer the sister you once knew.”

  “It is!” Lilian shook her head, tears flying off her eyelashes. “I know it is. Iris is still in there! So don’t tell me not to talk to her! I know she’s there!”

  Kotohime shook her head sadly, but she could not say anything as more spears shot out of the emissary’s chest and attempted to penetrate their soft flesh.

  Knowing a distraction when he saw one, Kevin unloaded six more bullets into the emissary’s back. His eyes narrowed when the celestial projectiles dissolved the blackness. It was just a moment, but he could have sworn he saw pale skin lurking underneath the surface.

  The emissary turned to him, as if just now remembering that he existed. It opened its mouth, darkness gathering around it in a tiny ball, before the ball turned into a beam that shot from its gaping maw.

  Kevin threw himself to the ground, groaning when his shoulder was jarred by the impact. The beam sailed over his head. He rolled along the road to get as far from it as he could. He then leapt back up to his feet as the beam dispersed and shot the creature eight more times. More holes appeared on its body, revealing that, indeed, there was soft skin underneath that black exterior.

  Iris.

  It had to be Iris. He gnashed his teeth in thought. What could he do to save her? Trying to think of a solution, he glanced at his guns, a grimace appearing on his face.

  Eighty bullets left.

  ***

  Forty bullets left.

  Kevin’s chest hurt. It burned like someone had shoved a blow torch down his lungs. Every breath he took sent pain flaring along his ribs. His breathing came in deep, heavy rasps that sounded more like the dying chokes of a man being hung.

  “GRRAAAA!!!”

  The emissary chased after him, bounding along on all fours like a ravenous beast. Where ever it stepped, the earth crumbled, consumed by the Void.

  “Water Art: Tsukoyomi’s Typhoon.”

  Water slammed into the emissary from above, crushing it into the concrete. Yet with a single roar from the beast, the water caught fire—black fire. The Void ate the water as surely as it did everything else.

  “Celestial Art: Light Sphere!”

  The emissary stood up and received a light sphere to the face for its trouble. For just a moment, Kevin saw a familiar face as the monster’s head snapped back. It stumbled two steps backwards, righted itself, then turned to Lilian and launched a condensed beam of void fire at her.

  “Look out, Lilian-sama!”

  Kotohime’s tails wrapped around Lilian and yanked her out of the incoming beam’s path. The emissary howled, enraged that someone dared to help its prey escape. It turned to Kotohime and Lilian, prepared to attack them.

  Kevin wouldn’t let it.

  One. Five. Ten. Twenty bullets were fired off from his silver gun. They struck the emissary in the back, a localized attack that scattered much of the void fire that composed it. Iris’s smooth, pale back was revealed before it was covered again by more void fire.

  D-dang it. Kevin swore. Everything we do to it just heals—no, more like regenerates! How can we defeat this thing if it keeps regenerating like that?!

  Kevin knew there was a way to beat this monster. There had to be. Everything
had a weakness, and if they could find this emissary’s weakness, then they could defeat it and save Iris.

  The Void is the absence of concept. It’s weak against celestial powers, because celestial powers represent the creation of concept. Life and death. Nothingness and creation. The Void and Celestial. The key to defeating a creature of the Void has to be a yōkai with celestial powers.

  Lilian was the only person he knew that had a celestial affinity. However, she didn’t have the power to use any higher tier attacks, the kind that it would take to defeat a monster of this caliber. Not with how she was right now.

  Tossing another flash grenade, Kevin blinded the emissary and used the small reprieve granted to look at Lilian.

  She looked exhausted. Beyond exhausted. Her eyes drooped. Her body sagged. She stood with her noticeable stoop, her strength failing, unable to so much as hold her body erect. Trembling legs struggled to hold up a body that had long since given out. Lilian was hanging onto consciousness by a thread.

  I need to end this.

  “Kotohime! I need you to distract this thing! Give me at least one minute!”

  Kotohime, who was the healthiest and least exhausted of them, actually needed a moment to comprehend his words before accepting them.

  “Very well, Kevin-sama. This humble Kotohime will do everything within her power to grant you those sixty seconds. But, please, make it fast. While I can defeat a monster like this on my own, subduing it while not killing the one being consumed is beyond me.”

  Sheathing her katana, Kotohime took a wide stance. She inhaled a deep breath, then exploded forward like a pair of rockets had been placed underneath her feet.

  Kotohime vanished.