“Beloved!” a voice shouted out. It was a voice he’d not heard in days. A voice that he’d come to cherish above everyone else’s. A voice belonging to a girl who’d smashed her way into his heart with the subtlety of a cat girl showing up at a Star Trek convention.
Kevin’s heart leapt into his throat. He and Iris scrambled to their feet. They sought out the source of this voice, heads swiveling, wide eyes locking onto their target.
“Lilian…”
She looked no different now than she had the last time they met. Her green off-the-shoulder shirt displayed her perfectly flat tummy and impressive cleavage, and the tight jean shorts she wore showed off legs that put supermodels to shame. Her beauty, however, was secondary to everything else.
She ran toward them, her vibrant locks of red hair whipping behind her like fiery threads of silk. Bright green eyes shone like emeralds, glimmering with incredible luster, beckoning him forward with the depth of the emotion displayed within them. Lips curved into the most delighted, excited smile to have ever been conceived drew him toward her.
Kevin didn’t know when he began running. His legs moved with a mind of their own. He only knew that seconds after her appearance, Lilian was in his arms.
His hands were on her waist before he could tell them where to go. He caressed warm, smooth skin that put the softest of silks to shame. Her intoxicating scent invaded him, filling his mind with so many thoughts and emotions that he didn’t know what to do with them all. However, there was one emotion, one desire, that soared above all the others.
I want to kiss her.
It was hard to tell who initiated their kiss. Kevin would later believe it was him, but it could have just as easily been Lilian. He pulled her closer, feeling the delightful nakedness of her trim waist. Hands, soft and delicate and feminine, made a mess of his hair, while at the same time pulling his head down, keeping his lips pinned to hers.
He was not surprised when a tongue probed his mouth. Nor was he surprised when his own came out to meet it. The kiss deepened. Kevin allowed himself to get swept away by the feel of her lips, the touch of her body against his, and the sweet, sweet relief that came from finally seeing the girl he’d fallen in love with safe and sound.
Several feet away from the kissing couple, Phoebe limped her way over to Iris. She had woken up just a few minutes ago, and she had watched the reunion between Kevin and Lilian. As she stood by Iris, whose eyes refused to leave the couple making out, the other girls woke up, too, and they all moved to join her.
“I find myself having very mixed feelings about this,” Phoebe confessed to the raven-haired vixen. “I am glad that Kevin Swift has been reunited with his mate, truly, but at the same time, I cannot help but feel like this will make convincing him to have children with me much harder.”
Shrrrkchuhk!
Everyone except Iris blinked.
“I am seriously beginning to wonder what that noise is.” Phoebe’s gaze wandered the area. “It is almost as if whatever is making that noise decided to follow us.”
“I know what you mean,” Menippe added. “It’s kind of creepy.”
“I think it's cute,” Thoe determined. She huffed when her fellow yama uba stared at her.
Iris ignored the sound. She didn’t care about some strange noise. Instead, she gave Phoebe what had to be the first sympathetic expression she’d ever given someone whose name wasn’t Lilian.
“I know how you feel.” She looked back at Kevin and Lilian, her fists clenched in impotence. “Dammit! Why is the stud the only one who gets to kiss my Lily-pad? I should be allowed to kiss her too! At the very least, they should let me join them!”
Silence reigned. Several crows began cawing, which was unusual as there weren’t any crows present.
“You are a most unusual young woman,” Phoebe said the words that all of her fellow yama uba—sans Polydora—were thinking.
“Hpmh.” Iris scoffed. “You don’t have to tell me something that I already know.”
“Kevin,” Lilian gasped after they pulled apart.
“Lilian,” he breathed, nuzzling his nose against the crook of her neck. Tears that refused to fall pricked at his eyes. “I missed you so much. You have no idea how much I’ve missed you.”
“I think I can imagine.” Lilian’s tone, while slightly mirthful, was filled with the same longing that Kevin knew he was feeling. Her hands found his back. Fingers gripped his shirt fiercely as if afraid he might disappear. “Every day I’ve been stuck here has sucked. Nights were unbearable. Not getting to see you, not being able to hold you, it felt like a part of me had been taken away. There was this hole in my heart where you should have been but weren’t.”
“I’m sorry.” Kevin could do nothing but apologize. “This whole situation is my fault. I wasn’t strong enough to protect you.”
“No.” Lilian shook her head. “No, it isn’t. You can’t blame yourself for this. We both know how this works. The main character is always the underdog. Always. It was only natural that we would eventually be faced with such overwhelming opposition, and that they would try to capture me. It just means we need to get stronger, so that the next time someone comes after us, we’ll be ready.”
“I guess that means we’ll have a training arc sometime soon.” Kevin chuckled as a thought occurred to him. “Hopefully, the next time someone comes after us, you won’t pull a Lucy Heartfilia again.”
“G-gu!” Lilian would have doubled over as if punched in the stomach were it not for him holding her close. “W-what a horrible thing to say. I am not like Lucy Heartfilia. If anything, I’m like Erza Scarlet.”
“Erza Scarlet doesn’t get kidnapped,” Kevin teased.
“Urk!”
“Although…” Kevin turned his eyes toward the ceiling in mock thought. “I do believe I remember this one time she was captured by Jellal… and I think she was also captured by Tartaros…”
“Ho?” Lilian’s green eyes held a glimmer of amusement. “Do you plan on capturing me?”
Smiling, Kevin raised his right hand and placed it against Lilian’s cheek. “What are you talking about? I’ve already captured you.”
Closing her eyes, Lilian leaned into his hand and kissed his palm.
“True. I was captured by you years ago.”
“What are they are talking about?” Phoebe asked Iris.
“They’re talking about two characters from one of those anime they love watching,” Iris explained. “I don’t know which one, though. I usually spent more time watching Lilian than I did whatever was on TV.”
At the sound of her voice, Lilian shifted her eyes slightly to look at Iris. It was only for a moment, but when they locked eyes, Lilian gave Iris a smile that seemed to say, “thank you.”
Iris could do nothing but smile back.
Phoebe ignored the part about how Iris watched her sister. “I do not know what this anime that you speak of is, but it must be something truly impressive if a man of Kevin Swift’s integrity and strength enjoys it.”
Iris stopped staring at Lilian to stare at Phoebe. A moment passed, then two. Finally, Iris turned back to Lilian and Kevin.
“Uh huh. Sure, let’s go with that.”
“I…” Lilian’s eyes widened when the choked words came out of his mouth. Kevin looked about ready to start crying. “I’m so glad… you’re safe.”
Before Lilian could open her mouth, a voice spoke up. “You are supposed to be in the tower with Lady Fan and Lord Jiāoào.”
Lilian and Kevin looked over as Li pulled himself out the indent he had made in the wall. They both noticed how the indent conformed to his body perfectly.
“Fan is taking a nap,” Lilian declared proudly. “I hit her really hard.”
Li twitched.
“So I see.” He sighed, once more giving off the feeling of someone who was resigned. “This is why I told her not to send me away.” He pressed a giant hand to his face and muttered under his breath. “Honestly, I know that Lady Fan is ta
lented, but sometimes I fear she thinks too much of herself.” He shook himself out of whatever daze he was in, then, and penetrated them all with a stare. “It seems I have no other choice. You have all proven to be difficult opponents. While I do not enjoy harming people, I can no longer afford to hold back. Forgive me for the pain you are about to suffer. Know that I—”
“Do not do this out of malignant intent,” Kevin started.
“I only do this because my duty commands me,” Lilian finished, her tone mockingly deep like Li’s. “We already know what you’re going to say. It’s the same spiel you give every time something happens that you didn’t expect.”
Li frowned. “It is a part of my—”
“Character concept,” Kevin interrupted. “We know. We also don’t care. I’ve already heard this four or five times within the past hour. I don’t want to hear it again.”
“Very well then.” Li took a deep breath, and then shifted into a wider stance. His feet slid across the ground. Knees bent at forty-five-degree angles. Hands clenched into fists came up to present a very unorthodox guard. “Since you do not want to hear my ‘spiel,’ as you call it, let us get down to business. I will try to make your deaths as painless as possible.”
“Celestial Arts: Divine Embodiment of Transcendental Law.”
***
Kotohime and Zhìlì felt the massive surge of youki seconds before the earth began to shake. The intense bursts of localized wind that followed soon after forced the two to close their eyes and raise their hands to their faces. Walls broke apart like they were made of graham crackers. The ground split. Cracks spread along the surface like the malignant webs of a black widow before widening. Several buildings became victims to these chasms. They crumbled to the ground as their foundations were annihilated in the blink of an eye.
“Dammit!” Zhìlì cursed as he opened his eyes a crack, peering into the intense maelstrom of wind. “That’s definitely Chao’s youki! What is he doing?! He’s out of control!”
“Abercio-san, too.” Kotohime’s sigh was lost in the powerful winds.
“If this keeps up, the Ta’er Monastery won’t last! And there are innocent people still here!”
Indeed, Zhìlì spoke the truth. Kotohime could see them, the many humans who’d been caught by the fierce hurricane winds, by the destruction happening to the temple. Several were huddled under buildings that had already collapsed, but a few were also being flung through the air.
Deciding to help out, Kotohime extended her four tails, latching onto several humans that flew past her. Zhìlì followed her example, his own tails, all seven of them, shot out from behind his back, quickly grabbing onto several flying humans and reeling them in.
The two eyed each other, seconds ticking by before, as one, they nodded, coming to an understanding. Now was not the time to fight. They needed, more than anything, to help the people who’d been caught up in their battle.
In silence, the two started working together, helping the humans that had become unwittingly caught in the middle of a clash between kitsune.
***
Li no longer held the appearance of a person. While his general shape still looked anthropomorphic, his entire body had become fundamentally different. Lit up like a miniature sun, Li’s body was comprised entirely of celestial energy. His entire body, including his clothes, had become a whitish-yellow color. Golden vapor-like trails of youki wafted off his body similar to how the sun had vapor shooting from its surface due to how it underwent constant nuclear combustion.
This cannot be anything good.
A trickle of sweat ran down Kevin’s scalp. His heart rate accelerating until it was pounding against his chest. His breathing growing heavy as his body became red hot.
“We are so screwed,” Iris muttered.
“Don’t steal my lines,” Kevin said.
“This isn’t good.” Lilian gnawed at her lower lip. “If he’s turning his entire body completely into celestial youki like this, I don’t know if my techniques will have any effect on him.”
“We might wanna consider making a tactical withdrawal.”
“Only cowards retreat,” Polydora declared in response to Kevin’s words, twirling her spear. “Let me show you how a real warrior acts when in the face of danger.”
“What?” Kevin froze in shock. “Wait, Polydora—”
The spear began twirling faster and suddenly Polydora shot off like a gun, her linear path taking her straight toward Li. She traversed the distance within a few seconds, already thrusting her spear forward. It impaled Li through the chest, sinking in like his entire body was made of soft ice cream.
Polydora stared at her spear with an expression of befuddlement when nothing seemed to happen. Shouldn’t he be falling to the ground by now? She’d just pierced his heart!
“What the—”
A golden fist slammed into her with the force of a wrecking ball, lifting Polydora into the air with sickening ease. The yama uba collided against a nearby support pillar, cracking it, before she tumbled to the floor in a jumble of loose limbs, her chest smoking, and her shirt burnt beyond recognition.
“POLYDORA!” Phoebe’s dismayed and shocked cry echoed around them. Her cry, however, had the unfortunate consequence of gaining Li’s attention.
Even though he didn’t have eyes, it was easy to recognize that he was staring at her. Before Phoebe had time to blink, he was in front of her, fist raised to hit her with the full might of his new form.
“Celestian Art: Binding!” Lilian shouted.
His raised fist shook with effort, as if he was struggling to bring it down on her, but several golden chains had wrapped around his arm, keeping it pinned.
“Phoebe!” Kevin’s call made Phoebe look at him. He stood somewhat behind and to Li’s left, his expression urgent. “Come on! Grab Polydora and follow us!”
Phoebe couldn’t do anything other than what he asked. As she ran over to her fallen friend, Li turned his head to look at him. Kevin realized two seconds too late that he’d become the center of this monster’s attention.
“Oh, crap.”
Li vanished. There was no displacement of air. The ground didn’t crack to signify his speed. He just disappeared. One second he was there, and the next he wasn’t.
“Celestial Art: Light Displacement!”
Kevin blinked as a soft breeze flew past him. He turned his head when the sound of something crashing, of something crumbling apart, echoed behind him. Staring at the massive hole that had been made in the wall, Kevin only had a few seconds to wonder about what could have caused it before a hand grabbed his and started pulling him away.
“Come on, Beloved.” Lilian began running, and she took him with her. Iris, too, ran by their side. The other yama uba, Mennipe and Euryale, joined them, as did Phoebe once she’d secured Polydora against her back.
“What just happened?” Kevin asked.
“I used an illusion to fool him,” Lilian said. “He thought he was hitting you, but it was just a trick of the light.”
“He’s coming after us!” Iris shouted.
Indeed, the wall to their right exploded and a bright light shone from within before it flickered out of existence. Lilian spun around, her tails a rictus of furious activity. Another flicker. Li suddenly appeared behind Kevin, his head tilting about, looking left and right. Kevin imagined Li would be blinking if he still had eyes to blink.
“Iris!”
“On it!”
One of Iris’s long tails extended, the void fire hovering above the tip absorbing all of the light around it. It struck Li in the chest, and for the first time since this new form was unveiled, Li howled like a wounded beast.
The fire was snuffed out quickly, but in the second before dissipating, Kevin saw something interesting.
“Mou,” Lilian moaned as she looked at her sister, “you’re supposed to say the name of your attack before launching it.”
Iris gave her a deadpanned stare. “Why would I give my oppon
ent the opportunity to know what my attack is before I hit him with it?”
“Because it’s cool.” Lilian’s eyes sparkled.
Iris’s facial muscles twitched. “Whatever… nerd.”
“I heard that.”
“No, you didn’t.”
“Of course, I didn’t.” Lilian rolled her eyes.
“Now’s not the time for this!” Phoebe decided to embrace her role as the tsukkomi for the sisters’ antics.
***
Chao was proving to be a most formidable opponent—not that Abercio expected any less. Still, before entering this fight, he had sort of been expecting to steamroll over the other eight-tails, legends told of Chao’s prowess on the battlefield aside.
I should have known better.
Abercio stood on a raised platform, one of the many pieces of earth that had become upheaved during their fight. Their battleground had become littered with many such shattered remnants, earth and stone and brick, all of which jutted from the ground like the broken spires of a long-lost civilization.
His opponent stood down below, glaring up at him with the same scowl he’d been wearing since the start of their battle.
“Spirit Art: Sarcophagus of a Bleak Eternity.”
A prism of spirit matter coalesced around Chao. The energy then solidified, encasing him in a coffin of the purest obsidian, a black sarcophagus so dark it seemed to absorb all light.
“Celestial Art: Decimation of the World’s Balance.”
The sarcophagus was destroyed by a blazing ball of golden energy. Abercio actually saw the coffin evaporating as the celestial youki dissolved it like clothing when it was dunked into a pool of acid.
Chao shot out from the ball of light, which dispersed in a haze of brilliance. The Celestial Kitsune’s flight took him straight to Abercio, who quickly raised his right hand to block the incoming attack.
The shock wave released from their clashing batons caused more destruction to spread. The ground underneath their feet crumbled, forcing the two to disengage. Both leapt back, landing on another spire of destroyed ground. They only remained there for a second, however, and after that second passed, they leapt at each other to clash again.
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