She looked over at the giant structure that stood a little over a mile away.
I wonder how you’ll do against your first yōkai opponent… boya.
Chapter 12
A Human’s Determination
The moment Kevin had closed the distance between himself and Jiāoào, he knew that something was very, very wrong.
This fact was confirmed seconds later when his fist passed right through Jiāoào’s face as if it wasn’t even there.
Kevin stumbled, his body also passing through Jiāoào, who appeared to have become a ghost or some kind of hologram. The two-tailed kitsune’s body flickered once, twice, and then vanished.
“What the―” Kevin’s eyes widened. “An illusion―oof!”
Something impossibly strong impacted Kevin’s back, sending him sprawling to the ground. His face met the hard cobblestone pavement. He heard as much as felt his nose being smashed between his head and the ground. Blood gathered in his nostrils, seeping down his mouth and chin. He didn’t think it was broken, but it definitely hurt.
He pushed himself to his feet, eyes warily tracing the area. He couldn’t see anyone, and that was the problem. Jiāoào had disappeared.
“That’s right, ape. This is all an illusion. Kitsune Art: Hidden Realities. From the very moment you entered this courtyard, you were trapped within my illusory world. And now, I will show you the difference between us. I will show you why we kitsune are superior to you hairless monkeys in every way possible.”
“Guh!”
All of the wind left Kevin’s lungs as something long and furry struck him in the gut. He was lifted off his feet and launched into the air. For a moment, everything seemed still, including time. However, that moment came to an end when Kevin’s back had a painful meeting with the earth, causing him to gasp as his mouth uselessly tried to suck in oxygen that wouldn’t come.
Gritting his teeth, Kevin pushed past the pain and rolled away from his current location. He knew better than to stay in one place. Kiara had taught him that.
It was a good thing that he had taken his teacher’s words to heart. Something invisible struck the ground mere seconds after he had vacated his spot. The cobblestone shattered, tiny fragments filling the air and pelting Kevin’s body.
Kevin scrambled to his feet.
“Ho? You dodged it.”
“You can’t expect me to stay in one place, can you?” Even as he asked this question, Kevin was already on the move. He didn’t know where Jiāoào was, but he realized that the best way to avoid getting caught by his opponent’s attacks was to present the two-tails with a hard to hit target.
“No, I suppose I can’t. Even an ape such as yourself must have some kind of self-preservation instinct.”
“Again with the ape thing. Your insults need to be more unique. They’re completely lacking in originality.”
Kevin’s body moved of its own accord, juking left and right, moving in constant zigzags, and rolling along the ground at random. All around him the earth was struck by something he couldn’t see but instinctively knew were Jiāoào’s tails.
“My apologies,” Jiāoào’s voice was full of sarcasm. “Insults and comebacks have never really been something that I strived to become competent with. When you’re of a superior species such as myself, your actions tend to speak for you.”
“Tch.” Kevin rolled across the ground. The air above him swished, and he knew that he’d just managed to avoid a tail. He could feel the displaced air buffeting his hair. “I don’t see someone who’s superior to me. All I see is an idiot who thinks he’s some big-shot because he’s got supernatural powers.”
“I would recommend shutting that mouth of yours,” the comment, spoken in a tone of ice, echoed around the courtyard, “but it won’t matter. You’ll be dead soon enough. Kitsune Art: Kitsune-Bi.”
Kevin would have snapped a retort, but in that moment a brilliant flame exploded in his face. Kevin screamed in pain as his skin was burned. He could feel the heat searing his flesh.
Lilian had once told him that the Kitsune-Bi, or Fox Fire, wasn’t powerful enough to cause damage unless a lot of youki was put into it. However, that didn’t mean it didn’t hurt. It did. A lot. A hell of a lot.
Acting on instinct and fearing for his retinas, Kevin closed his eyes so that he would at least be able to keep from going blind.
This proved to be a mistake.
Something powerful smacked him in the chest. Kevin could almost hear his bones snapping as he was knocked to the ground. Pain detonated behind closed eyes. Acid dripped down his ribcage. He wanted to pass out, but the pain kept him from being able to enter that blissful state of unconsciousness.
With his lips peeling back to reveal bloodstained teeth, Kevin willed his body to move past the pain. Lilian was counting on him to rescue her. He couldn’t afford to fail now!
He moved swiftly, rolling across the ground. Several minor tremors rocked the earth as what Kevin could only presume were Jiāoào’s tails struck the cobblestone with force. Disregarding the agony in his body, Kevin scrambled to his feet. However, the moment he did, one of the two tails struck him in the stomach.
“Gggnnn!”
Putting all of his strength into his actions, Kevin latched onto the appendage before he could be sent flying. It was difficult—more than difficult. His body screamed at him, begging him to let go, lie down, and curl up into a ball around his battered torso.
He ignored it.
Lilian is counting on me!
“What the―let go of my tail!”
The tail moved. Kevin’s feet left the ground. The tail swung through the air in violent jerking motions, obviously an attempt to dislodge him. Kevin tenaciously hung on, refusing to let go.
“Get off! I! Said! Get! Off!”
The tail swung down, smashing into the ground with incredible force. Kevin’s back cried out in agony as the cobblestone underneath him cratered. Jagged shards of rock stabbed into his skin, piercing him and causing more pain. His mind became unfocused, an attempt to dull the screaming torment that rendered his body inert.
His vision blurred, but he managed to make something out of the blurriness. A figure. Jiāoào. The kitsune stood before him, looking down at his beaten body, smirking with the sort of superior haughtiness that rich people exuded when they were looking at those less fortunate than themselves. Jiāoào’s eyes glinted with malicious pleasure, like a sommelier tasting a fine wine.
“You see? I told you that I would show you how weak and powerless you really are. Now look at you, lying on the ground, utterly defeated by me.” Jiāoào’s tirade was halted, his superior expression wilting into a frown. “What are you smiling about?”
Kevin’s smile, which had appeared during Jiāoào’s diatribe, was reminiscent of a cat that had eaten a canary. It was so wide that it almost forced his eyes shut. “I can see you now.”
Jiāoào only had a second to ponder those words before Kevin acted. He placed his hands on the ground on either side of his head, palms pressed firmly into the broken cobblestone. Kicking off the ground, he lifted his legs, tucked them into his chest, and then thrust them forward.
Bang! Kevin’s powerful legs impacted against Jiāoào’s stomach, firing off like a shotgun. The air left the kitsune’s lungs. His eyes bulged. His body was lifted off the ground and into the air, making an almost graceful arc as he soared. Kevin would freely admit that it was one of the most beautiful things he’d ever seen. Then again, that might have just been the euphoria from seeing the smug smile getting wiped clean off his opponent’s face.
Kevin climbed to his feet while Jiāoào landed on his back with a harsh thud!
He could feel blood trailing down his back and the pain of several rocks embedded into his flesh, but Kevin ignored that in favor of watching his opponent wheezing on the ground. He chuckled—or he tried to. He stopped when his chest flared up in agony. It was a sharp pain, like a spear was being slowly pushed between his floating ribs. Still, h
e could not help but be amused by the sight of the supposedly powerful supernatural being writhing on the ground.
Kevin straightened and took a deep breath. This was it. The moment he’d been waiting for. This was his time to shine.
He pointed at Jiāoào as the kitsune struggled to sit up…
… and began ranting.
“Just who the hell do you think I am, furball?! I don’t care if you are a supernatural creature of incredible power! Kitsune, inu, yuki-onna, whatever! Don’t underestimate me just because I’m a human! I have no intention of letting myself being defeated by the likes of you! So, come at me with your tails! I’ll just rip them clean off! Come at me with your illusions! They won’t make a difference! Come at me with those vaunted Celestial powers! I’ll prove to you that just because you’ve got abilities that I don’t, it doesn’t mean you’re stronger than me!”
Jiāoào’s face scrunched up in a mask of anger. Outrage poured off his frame like water from a broken valve. He got up, wincing and glaring at Kevin, who returned the fierce look with a grin that bared his teeth.
“You…” An ugly snarl crossed Jiāoào’s face. In that moment, the two-tails had never looked more inhuman. “I’m going to kill you! Brutally! Painfully! You’re going to regret ever being born!”
“Did you just say porn?”
“I said born!”
“No, no, no. I’m pretty sure you said porn.”
“Y-y-y-you―grrr! That’s it! You’re dead!”
That’s it.
Kevin concealed the smile that threatened to pop onto his face at the sight of Jiāoào rushing towards him like an idiot.
He’s so angry he’s not even thinking straight anymore.
Kiara was a good teacher. Cruel. Sadistic. Merciless. But, still, a damn good teacher. She had taught him more than just how to throw a punch, more than just how to kick. She’d taught him how to fight, how to struggle, and how to take down opponents that he had no right beating.
“Listen to me, boya.”
“Do you have to call me boya?”
“Yes. Now shut up and pay attention. As a human, you lack the many powers and abilities that we yōkai have. However, that doesn’t mean you are without weapons. What do you suppose is your greatest weapon?”
“Um… my mind?”
“Heh, good guess. That’s correct. Your mind is the greatest weapon you have. So, use that mind to come up with better ways to beat your opponents. If you ever find yourself overwhelmed and outmatched, if you’re ever in a fight where no opening presents itself, then all you need to do is create your own opening by using that devious little mind of yours. Got it?”
“Um, yes, I think so.”
“Good, cuz I hate having to repeat myself.”
Kevin had learned. He had listened and done as instructed, and he had learned to create his own openings. That was what the banter was for, to learn more about his opponent. Jiāoào believed this battle to already be won, never once thinking that he could be defeated by a mere human. He was sadistic, arrogant, and prideful.
In his sadism, Jiāoào had toyed with Kevin and given him time to plan his attack.
In his arrogance, Jiāoào had let himself grow complacent and open to retaliation.
And in his pride, Jiāoào had given Kevin the means to create his own openings.
Now it was time to show this arrogant kitsune what a human could do when given the proper motivation to fight.
***
Lilian was at her wits’ end. Nothing was working. Every attempt she had made at getting out of the stupid bindings had failed!
Lying on the ground, she panted and puffed. Sweat coursed down her skin, soaking her body and the bindings that kept her from moving freely. The rough material, now slick with her sweat, grated against her skin, rubbing it in all the wrong ways and making her feel like she’d gotten a severe case of rug burn.
She looked up at the ceiling, her chest heaving. It hurt. The stupid bindings were wrapped tightly around her chest, too.
“Ugyu…” A strange noise escaped her throat. “Why is this so difficult? Dang it! I have to get out of here! Kevin needs me!”
She knew that Kevin was strong. She’d spent the last two weeks watching him spar against Kiara’s disciples and then Heather. Each time he fought, Kevin grew just a little stronger, became just a little better. The dog-woman had mentioned something about the boundless potential of humanity shining in Kevin. Lilian didn’t know anything about that, but she knew that Kevin was becoming stronger every day.
But, he still wasn’t ready to face off against a yōkai. He just wasn’t. As painful as it was to admit this about her mate, she knew that he lacked the strength needed to defeat even a two-tails like herself. It had nothing to do with skills or physical prowess, and everything to do with the supernatural powers yōkai possessed. One month of training could not defeat the abilities and techniques that yōkai were born with naturally.
I need to get out of here!
Lilian was about to renew her struggles when something grazed her skin. It stung, and she felt blood dripping down her hand—something sharp. She felt around for a moment before touching the object again. Long handled. A ring at one end. At the other, a leaf-shaped blade. In a flash, Lilian realized what it was. Her kunai! She’d completely forgotten about it until now!
“Ha! I love foreshadowing! Thank you for this!”
You’re welcome.
Ignoring the blood dripping down her hands, causing them to become slick, Liliam fumbled with the kunai. She grasped the hilt and then proceeded to cut the fabric binding her hands and wrists. Jorōgumo silk was incredibly durable, and it could withstand the enhanced strength of a three-tailed kitsune, but it couldn’t handle something sharp.
She sliced through the silk with relative ease. When her hands were free, Lilian cut the bindings around her legs and chest. She was just about to cut the ones constricting her tails when the door slammed open with a loud bang!
“I knew you’d try to escape if I left you to your own devices long enough.”
Maddison walked into the room, her glinting green eyes betraying her intentions. Madness had consumed her. The way she walked, her heavy breathing, that insane smile, and those quivering pupils that were wide and unsightly told Lilian as much.
“Now I can kill you and claim that you tried to escape. Then Jiāoào will have no choice but to accept me as your replacement. He won’t throw me away.”
Insane giggling bubbled up from her throat. Lilian tried not to shiver at the sound, but didn’t quite manage it. Yet even with the fear coursing through her body, she felt a sliver of pity for this woman. Maddison was obviously broken, a living doll whose sanity had been shattered into a million pieces by Jiāoào’s cruelty.
“You could just let me go,” Lilian tried to appeal to whatever compassion remained within the other girl. “You could say that I knocked you unconscious and escaped.”
“Oh, no. No, no, no, no. That won’t work. That won’t work at all,” Maddison chided Lilian. “If you were to escape, he would throw me away anyways. It’s better to just kill you now. If you’re dead, he’ll have no choice but to accept me.”
The face that looked somewhat similar to her own smiled. Bile rose up in Lilian’s throat. Maddison marched over to Lilian, who had only just managed to scramble to her feet.
“Now be a good little bitch and die!”
With a surge of motion, Maddison’s two long tails snaked around Lilian’s throat and lifted her off the ground. Lilian’s legs automatically kicked out in protest, and her hands flew to her throat in a futile gesture as she tried to suck in oxygen through her constricted airways.
“Stop struggling and just die already!” The grin on Maddison’s face grew impossibly large, splitting her face in half. Emerald eyes grew big and round. Pupils dilated and became disturbingly small. “Die! Die! Die! Die!”
“Ce… Celestial… Celestial Art…” Lilian rasped, struggling to speak with her th
roat almost completely closed off. “Celestial Art… Light… Sphere!”
“GYA!”
Maddison’s tails released their grip on Lilian and dropped her to the floor. The redhead covered her face with her hands, and Lilian looked at the damage that her attack had done. Maddison’s face had become covered in ugly burns, red splotches that marred her skin.
“MY EYES! OH, GODS, I CAN’T SEE! YOU BITCH!”
Two long red tails became a riot of activity. They crashed into the walls, the floor, the ceiling―anything and everything. The bed was overturned and shattered into splinters, feathers and springs. The dresser became wood chips that scattered along the ground. The window shattered into thousands of irreparable fragments.
Lilian tried to dodge, but her tails were still bound by the Jorōgumo silk. Because of this, she couldn’t enhance her body with youki. She’d barely even managed to produce that light sphere.
One of the tails smacked into her, sending her crashing into a wall. The air left her lungs in a whoosh! She slid to the ground, coughing and wheezing. Maddison had recovered by this point, and her maddened eyes glared at Lilian. Forgoing the use of her tails this time, she wrapped her hands around Lilian’s throat and started to strangle her fellow kitsune.
The hands wrapped around her delicate neck were impossibly tight as Maddison squeezed the life out of her. Lilian’s eyes bulged out of their sockets. She tried to think of a way out of this; tried to think of something, anything, that could save her from this crazy bitch.
That’s when she saw it. Her kunai. It was lying just a few inches from her left foot.
If I can just reach it…
While her hands tried to keep the other kitsune from choking her to death, her left foot reached over and attempted to grab the kunai. Rasping noises bubbled from her throat, a choked gurgling sound from deep within her esophagus. Her heel touched the cool metal ring. Her vision was starting to get spotty. She slid her foot backwards along the ground, taking the kunai with it. Maddison chanted “Die! Die! Die! Die!” like a mantra as Lilian took one hand off the other kitsune’s forearm and reached for the kunai.
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