A Fox's Rescue

by Varnell, Brandon

“You just shot him,” Iris pointed out.

  “Thank you, Captain Obvious.” Kevin’s voice was so rank with sarcasm that the word sarcasm didn’t really do it justice. “Please, feel free to point out something else. Maybe something that I don’t already know.”

  Iris frowned at him. “Okay, then, how about this? You just shot your gun, and it was really loud. I’m pretty sure everyone in the entire palace heard it.”

  As if her words held prophetic powers, the sound of rushing feet echoed down the hall. The sound of running was followed by shouting.

  “I think I heard something this way!”

  “Do you think it’s intruders?!”

  “Could be!”

  “Let’s check it out!”

  “Oh, hell.” Kevin felt like facepalming. He resisted up until the point where a half dozen kitsune burst into the hallway.

  “There they are! Intruders!”

  “Let’s get them!”

  “I believe it’s time for a tactical withdrawal,” Phoebe suggested.

  “No,” Kevin said.

  Phoebe gave him a startled glance. “Excuse me?”

  “We’re charging right through them!”

  Kevin heard shouting from Phoebe, but he ignored it and charged the group of kitsune. He drew his other gun while he ran and began firing off round after round into the horde of supernatural foxes. His first bullet struck one’s head. His second slammed into a kitsune’s torso. His third went wide when the kitsune moved before he could finish aiming. That one launched two tails at him via the extension technique, which Kevin slid under, using the highly polished marble surface to his advantage. As the tails passed over his head, he unloaded nearly ten youki bullets into them. The kitsune squealed in pain.

  Kevin ignored the loud, squeamish noise emitting from the kitsune’s mouth. He instead skipped back onto his feet upon finishing his slide, and then unloaded another ten bullets into the fox-man at near point-blank range. The Shaolin kitsune was thrown off his feet due to the youki bullets’ force. Kevin likened it to getting shot with multiple sledgehammers. By the time the kitsune hit the ground, he was already unconscious.

  “Extension!”

  Kevin spun around just in time to see another kitsune, one who’d been set to cast an illusion over him, get slammed into a wall by two long, furry, black tails. The other two kitsune that he’d missed were both dealt with before they could cast any illusions or enchantments by the yama uba, who ended up using their weapons as makeshift projectiles. Phoebe slammed her club into one kitsune’s head, and Polydora’s spear penetrated another’s thigh. Thoe appeared before one kitsune like a ghost and sliced into her chest before disappearing again. As that kitsune went down, Menippe came up with her own club and smashed it into his face, dropping him like a pile of lead weights.

  “See that? We took care of them,” Kevin said, nodding several times. “Now let’s go!”

  “W-wait! Kevin Swift! We should proceed with caution!”

  But Kevin didn’t proceed with caution. Prudence and subtlety were only useful with the element of surprise. Theirs was clearly gone, and Kevin no longer had the patience for such methods anyway. Lilian was here, somewhere in this palace, and he was going to find her.

  Wait for me…

  ***

  Kotohime knew this battle would be hard fought. She was going up against a seven-tailed kitsune, while she only had four.

  Power differences amongst kitsune were unusual bordering on the ridiculous. Every hundred years, kitsune gained another tail, and with it, their power increased dramatically. It didn’t double. It was squared. A kitsune with three tails would have three more times the power that a kitsune with two tails had. At four tails, they had four times more power, and so on. By the time kitsune reached their eighth tail, their powers could only be matched by a few creatures within the yōkai world.

  Zhìlì, as a seven-tails, had so much more power than her that it was like comparing an ant to a Tyrannosaurus rex. A four-tails going up against someone with three tails more than them was unheard of. No, it was suicide.

  But just because he was far more powerful than her didn’t mean she was going to give up. Ever since her and Kiara’s humiliating defeat at the hands of Luna, she’d been re-evaluating her own abilities and had determined that she needed to get stronger. Since she couldn’t increase her power, she had begun training and cultivating her swordsmanship in secret.

  She had used Kevin-sama’s own fighting style as a base.

  Kevin-sama had created a style that, while not perfected, allowed him to fight on par with yōkai, even though yōkai in general were far more powerful than any single human. His entire style centered around presenting openings during battles, and then countering when those openings were attacked.

  All yōkai had the predatory instinct, the need to strike at their prey’s weakest spot. By giving them a hole to strike, Kevin could not predict, but could actually control where they struck, thereby allowing him to counter his enemy’s attacks. Having sparred with him several times before, she knew that, given a little more time, it could become a most effective method of combating even more powerful yōkai.

  She had realized the benefit in trying to incorporate Kevin’s philosophy into her own style of fighting. She couldn’t mimic what he did, as her body was hardwired differently. However, she could use the philosophy behind his style to enhance her own, that being: “If you cannot defeat your enemy in a battle of power, then create an opening that allows you to turn your enemy’s power back on them.”

  Kotohime felt they were wise words.

  Even if Kevin had based those words on a shōnen manga he’d read.

  From what she had gathered of Zhìlì from their previous battle, he was one of those jack-of-all-trades type of kitsune. He was good at everything, but he hadn’t mastered any kitsune art. That being said, he was still a seven-tails, so it didn’t really matter how good or bad he was. He was still more powerful than her.

  Knowing that she couldn’t allow Zhìlì the first attack, Kotohime blitzed toward him. Her katana sliced through the air, singing a song of death. She was not surprised when Zhìlì created a Chinese falchion from his youki. The bright white and yellow blade hissed as it met steel. Kotohime reinforced her katana using water-natured youki to keep the celestial energy from slicing straight through it. She then brought her wakizashi to bear. The weapon slid out from behind her. Held in a reverse grip, the blade quickly sought Zhìlì’s throat.

  “Woah!”

  Zhìlì bent his torso backward. The blade soared through the open space his throat had been, whistling as it cut straight through the air. Trace amounts of blood flickered through the space as Kotohime used her water youki to extend her blade’s reach. She didn’t manage to do much damage, but her attack did draw a thin line of blood from Zhìlì.

  “Damn, girl,” Zhìlì started to mutter as he wiped the blood from his cheek. “You’re seriously trying to—”

  He was cut off when Kotohime sought to severe his head from his shoulders. Only quick reflexes and several centuries of training allowed him to avoid being beheaded.

  “Dammit! Let me finish when I’m talking!”

  Kotohime’s response was to try gutting him like a fish.

  “Tch!”

  While avoiding her powerful swings, Zhìlì used the extension technique to lengthen his tails and attack her from behind. He blinked when his tails went straight through Kotohime with a splash of water.

  “Did I really just get fooled by an illusion—crap!”

  Kotohime clicked her tongue when Zhìlì danced around her thrust wakizashi, though he was not fast enough to avoid it completely. Armor sparked as her blade scraped against the surface. He stumbled back several steps before regaining his balance.

  “How did you do that—?”

  Zhìlì’s words were once more cut off when Kotohime attacked again.

  ***

  Chao lay on his back, staring up at a decorative ceiling
with several paintings of Buddha, as a feeling of the utmost irritation settled into his stomach like a pit of vipers.

  Someone had just attacked him. Him! Whoever had done it clearly didn’t realize who they were dealing with, and if they did, they were stupid. Who in their right mind would attack an eight-tails like him?

  “My, oh my,” a mocking voice chuckled. “Now that’s an interesting position to see you in. The Prince of Light, Chao Shénshèng, lying on his back. You look like you’re about ready to take it up the ass.” More chortling followed. Chao felt his blood begin to run hot. “Didn’t know you were that kind of fox.”

  Sitting up, stone fragments falling from his robes and hair, Chao glared at the man who stood before him—an eight-tailed kitsune much like himself.

  He stood up and dusted himself off. There were no injuries on his person, not that he had expected any, but still…

  A frown lit his face as he focused on the man before him. “I do not know who you are, and frankly, I do not care.”

  “Now that’s not very nice,” Abercio said, still chuckling. “I came all this way just to see you.”

  Chao scoffed. “I do not see why I should care about the identity of a dead man.”

  “Oh, but you should.” Abercio’s face lit up in a grin. Chao gritted his teeth at the arrogance in that smile. “After all, I’m the one who’s going to be kicking your ass today.”

  “Is that so?” With the scowl on his face deepening, Chao loosened up his shoulders and shifted into a horse stance, feet spread shoulder width apart, knees bent, fists tucked into his sides. “Come on, then. Let’s see if you can, as you say, kick my ass.”

  Abercio’s lips, already peeled back into a feral grin, seemed to split his face in half as the smile widened.

  “Gladly.”

  ***

  Lilian looked up from the floor upon hearing several explosions that rocked the tower she was in.

  “What the hell was that?!” Fan also stood up from where she was tending to Jiāoào’s prone body, her eyes bulging in shock as she twisted her head about. “What the hell is going on?!”

  “It sounds like multiple explosions coming from below,” Li answered, uncrossing his arms.

  Fan’s eyes flashed dangerously as she locked onto him. “I know that,” she spat. “I meant why are there explosions happening in our home?!”

  Li nodded as if he’d already suspected that was what she was really asking. Lilian wondered if this was his way of teasing his mistress.

  “If I had to guess, I would say that someone has managed to infiltrate the Citadel of Light and is now in combat with the token force that was left behind after Lord Chao and Lord Zhìlì left for the human city down below.”

  “Impossible.” Fan adamantly shook her head in denial. “There’s no way someone could have infiltrated our home without at least Chao or Zhìlì noticing.”

  “Do not be so sure, Lady Fan,” Li admonished her lightly. “While both of them are, indeed, powerful kitsune, they are not perfect. It is possible for relatively weak yōkai to slip past them, especially when there are so many kitsune present here to muddle youki emissions. Also, it is perfectly possible for a human to have slipped in completely unnoticed, as they have no youki to emit, and therefore their presence will have been completely smothered by that of so many yōkai.”

  Lilian perked up at the mention of a human. Could it be…?

  “A human…” Fan’s eyes slowly widened as she caught on to what he was saying. “Surely, you don’t mean—!!”

  “I do.” Li nodded with unusual solemnity. Then again, most actions he committed were solemn, so it wasn’t that odd. “I believe that Lilian Pnév̱ma’s mate has come to rescue her.”

  Kevin!

  Lilian felt her heart swell with joy and hope. She had always known that he wouldn’t let her remain a captive. Still, knowing that her mate was coming and actually hearing that her mate might be here right now were two completely different things.

  I have to get out of here and meet up with Kevin!

  More explosions rocked the tower. The sounds were coming closer. Gunfire had also joined the explosions. Lilian stood up and peered out of the window just in time to watch as black flames slammed into a nearby pillar, blowing chunks out of it and sending an unfortunate kitsune who’d been near it flying.

  “I sense the presence of a Void Kitsune,” Li declared suddenly. Lilian turned away from the window to look at him.

  “A Void Kitsune?” Fan blinked several times before her face slowly morphed into a scowl. “It must be this girl’s sister.”

  “This girl has a name, you know,” Lilian grumbled. “You should think about using it.”

  Fan ignored her. “Li, go down and deal with these intruders.”

  His gaze flickered over to Lilian, then back to Fan. “Are you sure that’s wise?”

  Fan’s eyes narrowed into thin slits. “Are you suggesting that a two-tails can defeat me?”

  “Not in a battle of power,” Li answered. “However, Lilian Pnév̱ma has proven to be a troublesome young woman. I do not think it wise to leave you alone in a room with her, where you cannot bring your full might to bear.”

  After taking nearly a full five seconds to digest Li’s words, Fan scoffed, as if the very notion that Lilian could defeat her even under less than adequate conditions was preposterous.

  “Your concern is duly noted. Now, I want you to go down there and deal with whoever those intruders are. This is an order from your mistress.”

  Li closed his eyes. Lilian observed the older kitsune, who seemed to be resigning himself. He must have sensed her eyes on him, however, as they opened seconds later and sought her out. She looked away, pretending she hadn’t been watching him. More explosions rang out. More gunfire echoed from below. Shouts of pain and screams of terror became intermixed with the reverberations of combat.

  “Very well, Lady Fan,” Li said at last. “If that is your order, then I shall, of course, head off to intercept the intruders. I would like to note, however, that I do so under protest. Protecting you is my life’s duty. For me to not be by your side during this time is something that I do not approve of.”

  “Your protestation has been duly noted.” Fan waved him off. “If you are quite finished arguing with me, then see to those intruders. Once you’ve taken care of them, it won’t matter if this girl tries to escape anyways.”

  “Again with calling me girl. You’re totally doing that to piss me off, aren’t you?”

  “As you wish.”

  With one last bow, Li left the room. Lilian watched him go, then turned her attention to Fan, whom she noticed had locked eyes onto her.

  “Don’t think of trying anything,” Fan warned. “If you make even one wrong move, then orders from Father or not, I won’t hesitate to kill you.”

  “Wouldn’t dream of it,” Lilian replied easily enough. Of course, the term “one wrong move” only applied to when someone was caught. She would bide her time, waiting for Fan to drop her guard. It shouldn’t be too long, as Jiāoào was there to distract the three-tailed kitsune. She just needed to be patient.

  Just wait. Once you take your eyes off me, I’ll show you why Li’s desire to stay was well founded.

  Lilian leaned against the wall and looked outside. She could actually see Kevin and Iris now. They were darting between the pillars as they fought off several kitsune with anywhere from two to three tails. Kevin had closed his eyes, which she found odd, but most of her attention was on the five women decked in skimpy and torn outfits.

  Who are they?

  She frowned, but dismissed them. Whoever they were, if they wanted to join Kevin’s harem, then they would need her approval first.

  CHAPTER 11

  RESCUE OPERATION GONE SOUTH

  Zhìlì knew he was in trouble several seconds after their battle had begun. If it was simply a matter of power, then Zhìlì knew that victory would have already been attained. The problem was that power mattered lit
tle in this battle. What good was having overwhelming power when he couldn’t even bring it to bear?

  The first of his many problems was their location. They were in the middle of a public location with hundreds of people. While most kitsune didn’t care about human lives, and indeed, even his own clan cared little for the ape species, they did believe in showing compassion to lesser beings. It was their duty as a family whose origins were divine in nature.

  Zhìlì took this compassion one step further. While his father, brothers, and sister cared little for humans beyond the necessary, he loved humanity. He loved their culture, their diversity, and, most importantly, he loved their women. He didn’t want to harm any humans, which meant all of his more powerful attacks were out of the question.

  Illusions were also out of the question. While he could cast some pretty powerful ones, Kotohime wasn’t giving him the chance to do so. She was all over him. Her blades flashed out at speeds that he could only match thanks to his reinforcement, but he was still being put on the ropes. He just didn’t have enough time to weave anything more complicated than simple stuff, and Kotohime could dispel those easily.

  However, Kotohime seemed to have mastered using basic illusions and river techniques to the point where he couldn’t tell when she was using them. Sometimes he’d attack her, only for the person he attacked to actually be a water clone. There were numerous times where she would use water-based illusions to bend the light around her, making it look like she was in one place, when in fact, she was standing just slightly to the left. These illusions were so small and unnoticeable that he was easily led astray.

  His last problem was fundamentally simple, yet at the same time mind-boggling. Kotohime was better than him. As a fighter, as a warrior, her skills were superior to his in every way. She moved her blades with a fluid elegance, constantly seeking to penetrate his hastily made defense. They struck at him with speeds that his eyes could scarcely keep up with. Every attack was designed to maim or kill, and the constant, never-ending combinations she attacked him with left him completely unable to counterattack.

  It was completely unlike their one-sided battle in Greece.