“If you say so.”
“Speaking of rescues…” Lilian’s expression became perplexed as she focused on Kevin. “Just how did you escape from Chao’s attack? I… I could have sworn he had… that his technique had…”
Kevin offered the girl a tender smile and grabbed her hand.
“You don’t have to say anymore.” His words were soft, full of love and reassurance. Just hearing his tone made Lilian relax. “As to how I survived, I was rescued by that guy in armor…”
***
Time seemed to slow as the orb of celestial youki shot toward him.
Is this how I die?
Kevin had once heard about how people see things in that moment just before they die. How their lives flash before their eyes, how they look back on everything they’d ever done, how regret gnaws at them like a cancerous tumor. None of that happened as death approached him in the form of a powerful sphere of pure golden energy, just a quiet realization that there was nothing he could do, that he was going to die.
Lilian… I’m so sorry…
Kevin closed his eyes—
“Aegis!”
—only to snap them back open when a shout echoed in his left ear.
Kevin stared in shock at the bright golden quarter-sphere that appeared in front of him just seconds before the technique Chao launched struck. The orb detonated with concussive force. Seconds before it did, though, a figure appeared before him, decked in golden armor, standing several heads taller than him, and with seven golden tails jutting from his hind end. Kevin barely had time to blink before the figure grabbed him by the shoulder, and they both vanished seconds before the massive explosion engulfed them.
***
“After saving me, he left.” Kevin shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t know where he went. He just sort of disappeared on me.”
“Hmm…” Lilian hummed thoughtfully. “Sounds like at least one person from this clan is honorable.”
“I have found Zhìlì to be a fairly honorable and forthright man, if a little too laid back,” Kotohime added her two cents. “However, we should not be speaking of this right now. Let us make haste and leave before the battle between Abercio-san and Chao-san picks up.”
As if on cue, Saint’s Chariot started shaking with tremors reminiscent of an earthquake. It wasn’t enough to make them lose their balance, but the mere fact that someone was making this floating island rock like that was cause for concern.
“Come on, you two. We must make haste.” Kotohime handed Iris off to Kevin, causing Lilian to pout, which deepened when Iris wrapped her arms around the young man’s neck. Kevin offered Lilian an apologetic smile as he followed after Kotohime. After a few more seconds, a grumbling Lilian began moving too.
“I also want to be held by Beloved… Iris isn’t even injured anymore… I saw Kotohime heal her… Mou…”
***
“Celestial Art: Divine Cannon!”
“Spirit Art: Spirit Cannon.”
A giant beam of ghostly white energy crashed into a golden beam of light, the two techniques sparking as they tried to overpower each other. A thousand souls howled in torment while golden energy crackled with the ear-splitting loudness of thunder.
Zhìlì wanted to say that he didn’t flinch when the two attacks met, but that would have been a flat-out lie. As a seven-tails, he was strong, but his power was nothing compared to that of the two figures battling it out just a few meters from his location.
Despite this, he refused to leave, not until he found the two people he was looking for.
“Come on,” he muttered softly to himself. “Where are you two?”
Much of the Citadel of Light, the famed home of the Bodhisattva, was in ruins, destroyed by Chao’s initial attack on Lilian and the group that had come to rescue her. The rest was destroyed when Abercio and his older brother started fighting. Towers had collapsed like a stack of cards being kicked by an angry child. Walls had crumbled as if they were paper constructs caught in a hurricane. What had at one point been a structure of the most beautiful asymmetry was now a pile of rubble.
A pile of rubble that two of his family members were currently trapped in.
Zhìlì’s siblings often told him that he was too lazy, and his father had mentioned many times that he was far too laid back and carefree. Maybe that was true, but there was one thing about him that none of his family could deny: he loved his family beyond anything else. Lazy as he might have been, Zhìlì would never let himself grow complacent when it came to ensuring his family’s safety, which was why he continued to diligently dig through the rubble in the hopes of finding his younger brother and sister.
“Celestial Art: Celestial Dragon’s Breath!”
Meters away, a large dragon head formed out of thin air, its balefully glowing mouth expelling a massive breath of what appeared to be golden flames.
“Spirit Art: Serpent’s Sinful Poison.”
The attack was met by a serpent’s head spitting out an equally large stream of ghostly white liquid, which seemed to douse the celestial breath somehow, despite it not being real fire. The serpent then shot forward, the rest of its body forming out of the ectoplasmic husks of the dead souls that Abercio drew upon, its sharp teeth sinking into the dragon head, dissolving it.
Chao sliced the serpent in half with a wave of his tails. The crescent blade of energy that had been expelled traveled toward Abercio, where it splashed harmlessly against a bright, white shield.
“You’re going to have to do better than that!” Abercio laughed. Chao snarled.
“Celestial Art: Taoist Point!”
“Spirit Art: Spirit Wave.”
As another series of techniques clashed in a mighty conflagration of kinetic discharge, Zhìlì continued his search, ignoring the fight, ignoring the possibility of death, ignoring everything that did not have something to do with finding his two family members.
His brother and sister had to be in here somewhere. They just had to be.
***
He was waiting for them when they arrived at the Shrine Gate, a man in resplendent robes befitting a king—no, an emperor, a ruler of the highest caliber. He stood before the gate, blocking their path, his long blond hair swaying in an unfelt breeze and his nine tails gently writhing behind him.
Neither Kevin nor Lilian nor even Kotohime had a chance to so much as gawk before they felt it.
The overwhelming pressure.
Kevin gasped in asphyxiated agony as he dropped to his knees. Only quick reflexes and his innate desire to protect kept him from crushing Iris, who he dropped onto her backside. Not that she was in any position to complain. Her eyes were wide and strangled gurgles rose from within her throat, like the braying of a dying animal, saliva dripping down her mouth.
Kevin’s entire body felt like it was being crushed, an omnidirectional pressure that pushed down on him, slowly threatening to overwhelm his mind and erode his sanity. His chest heaved and constricted painfully, violently, as he desperately sought to fill his lungs with a breath that would not come. This presence, this undeniable, inexplicable sense that this being, this creature before him, was an existence who was magnitudes more powerful than anything he had ever faced before, felt like it was on the cusp of corroding his mind.
What… what kind of monster is this?
Kevin’s eyes threatened to bulge from their sockets, like the mighty fist of an ogre was attempting to squeeze out his eyeballs. His mouth was open, a vacuum-like sucking sound emerging from his raspy throat as it attempted to achieve the impossible, and it was impossible, for no breath could be taken when forced to bask in the presence of such an unrelenting force.
And then the creature spoke, a simple, courteous greeting that belied this being’s monstrous power.
“Greetings, young ones.” The words were very softly spoken, yet carried an undeniable command. The presence increased, bringing with it an aura of such commanding power that Kevin immediately felt a desire to obey this creature’s every
whim. “I had not been expecting company, though considering the circumstances, perhaps I should have.”
The voice that spoke was a clear voice, one that carefully articulated each phoneme, as if unwilling to chance even a single word being misunderstood. It was also a very potent voice. It was confident and full of magnanimous authority, the kind of voice that was not only used to ruling over others, but spoke on the same level of authority as the gods themselves. It was the voice of a being who, for all intents and purposes, was an earthbound god.
It took everything Kevin had just to lift his head, and when he did, he immediately wished he hadn’t, for the presence increased nearly a hundred-fold, as if gazing upon such a divine visage carried with it an unbearable price.
Passive eyes stared at him. They were calm, collected pools of a blue more infinite than the sky.
Kevin felt like his chest had just been crushed.
“You…” The being regarded him curiously. “You are Kevin Swift, if I am not mistaken, the human who defeated my son in single combat and forced him into the sorry state he is in now.”
Kevin said nothing, but it wasn’t as if he had nothing to say. He just couldn’t speak. His throat had long since closed up. Just breathing had become the most arduous of tasks.
“I do not begrudge you for what you did,” the creature, this monster, continued. “I have heard the reports from several reliable sources, and it seems my son was the one who committed the first offense. Your reaction to his kidnapping of your mate is understandable, and indeed, in many ways, it is admirable.”
“However, Jiāoào is still my son. I hope you will understand why I cannot allow you to leave this place alive.”
Kevin wanted to say something to that, to tell this man, this thing, that what happened was Jiāoào’s fault. That if his son hadn’t been such a prick, he wouldn’t have had to turn the boy into a vegetable. He could not. He couldn’t even move his mouth, let alone speak.
“N-No…” The word was nothing more than a strangled gasp, but it was that utterance of a single syllable that allowed Kevin to lift his head and witness something incredible.
Lilian. She was standing. While he was on the ground, kneeling before this monstrous entity that could only be Shinkuro Shénshèng, the Bodhisattva, the Great Celestial Kyūbi, strongest of all Celestial Kitsune, Lilian stood. Her legs wobbled and threatened to send her spilling to the ground. Her chest heaved. Her back and shoulders spasmed. Her entire body shook.
And yet still she stood up and faced this creature, whose powers were so far above her own that it was beyond ridiculous.
“I won’t…” Lilian gasped, as if getting the words out was literally causing her unimaginable agony. Yet still they came. The words poured from her mouth, each one sounding strangled. “I won’t… let… you… hurt m-my… mate…”
I… Kevin gritted his teeth. He clawed at the ground until his fingers bled, struggling against the indecipherable fear that gripped his heart. I should also be…
Shinkuro regarded the young woman curiously, his head tilting as if the girl was a puzzle to be solved. After silently contemplating her, he nodded.
“I see. Your love for your mate is so strong that it has allowed you to resist my aura. I commend you, Lilian Pnév̱ma, for your strength and loyalty to your mate. It is impressive. However…”
“Gah!”
Lilian’s terrible scream shattered the tense stillness as several spears of light pierced her flesh. Kevin’s heart constricted in terror as Lilian stumbled for several steps, then collapsed to the ground, blood pooling from the wounds on her body. The act of seeing his mate getting hurt caused something to rise within him, a single emotion that burned away the effects of Shinkuro’s presence like ice being melted by a bonfire.
Rage.
The dirt around Kevin exploded as he launched himself at Shinkuro, roaring his outrage at seeing his mate hurt. He closed the distance and was on the divine being in seconds.
Shinkuro did not move an inch. The mighty nine-tailed kitsune saw no need to. Kevin was not a yōkai, and even if he was, there were only a few yōkai in this world that could match him in power. In short, he simply saw no threat in Kevin’s actions.
So instead, he simply raised a shield to take the attack.
“Aegis.”
Aegis of Infinity, the highest level of celestial techniques.
The shield sprung into existence, a barrier of the purest gold. Its surface was unblemished. Whereas most kitsune aegises would have excess energy in the form of tendrils skittering across the surface, this one did not. It was perfect, the ultimate defense, the most powerful form of protection imaginable.
Which was why Shinkuro’s eyes widened in surprise when Kevin’s left hand broke through his shield.
There was no great struggle, no battle for supremacy. When Kevin’s fist met Shinkuro’s Aegis, the golden barrier peeled apart like a flower bulb opening at the first rays of sunlight. Shinkuro was so shocked by this turn of events, unprecedented as they were, that he was unable to move when Kevin’s fist smashed into his nose.
The loud crunch! of Shinkuro’s nose breaking echoed several decibels louder than it should have, as if emphasizing this surreal act. Everyone stared in shock at the feat they had just witnessed, at the young human boy who’d just decked one of the mightiest creatures on the planet.
“Kevin… sama…?”
Kotohime tried to determine what happened and couldn’t. She failed. No matter how much she analyzed what just happened, she found herself no closer to an answer.
“W-what the hell happened?” Iris mumbled. Unlike Kotohime, who at least tried coming up with an answer, the raven-haired beauty could not even fathom this moment.
Kevin didn’t know what was going on, but he wasn’t going to look a gift horse in the mouth. Without a second thought, he stepped into Shinkuro’s guard again. Like the last time, the mighty Celestial Kyūbi raised a barrier, another Aegis. It was an instinctive move, Kevin determined, something that Shinkuro had done so many times it had simply become a habit.
The results were the same this time as they were the first time. Kevin smashed through the barrier. This time, he landed a powerful uppercut on the underside of Shinkuro’s jaw, which actually lifted the ancient and powerful kitsune off his feet.
Kevin didn’t stop, didn’t relent his attack. Like an angry beast he continued to assault Shinkuro, whose dazed confusion made it impossible for him to do much more than react on instinct. It didn’t help that Kevin left him absolutely no time to recover and unleash one of his celestial techniques.
With Shinkuro distracted by Kevin, Kotohime snapped out of her dazed state and moved over to Lilian’s side. Rolling the young kitsune onto her back, she almost winced at the many holes piercing her charge’s body, but quickly got to work.
“River Art: Healing Rain.”
Although the technique was called Healing Rain, it didn’t actually involve the evoking of rain. Kotohime simply channeled her youki through her tails and into the subject she wanted to heal. It was a simple technique, and an effective one. Within seconds, the damage done to Lilian’s body was healed over, the wounds sealed shut and the flesh knit back together, all without leaving even a single scar.
Lilian’s eyes fluttered open, blinking several times as they adjusted to the light.
“Kotohime…”
“How are you feeling, Lilian-sama?”
“Woozy.”
“That is to be expected. You have lost a lot of blood.”
At the mention of all the blood she’d lost, Lilian remembered what happened. She sat up, Kotohime helping her, and then looked at Shinkuro. What she saw would remain etched inside of her memory for all eternity.
Kevin was a whirlwind as he mercilessly pummeled Shinkuro, who seemed incapable of reacting. Her mate’s fist slammed into the mighty Kyūbi’s face and chest, knocking the nine-tailed kitsune back, only for Kevin to grab his arm and yank him in to be pummeled some more.
<
br /> “What… what is…?”
“That was my reaction too,” Iris muttered in mute awe as she crawled over to them.
“I do not understand what is going on myself,” Kotohime admitted, “but somehow, Kevin-sama is able to break through Shinkuro-dono’s Aegis.”
“That… should that even be possible?” Lilian’s eyes did not leave the fight taking place. Kevin had just grabbed both of Shinkuro’s arms and headbutted the Celestial Kyūbi, causing the older and far more powerful being’s head to snap back.
“No, it should not,” Kotohime said, “and yet, somehow, he is doing it.”
For one single second, Lilian dared to believe that Kevin could win, that he could somehow defeat Shinkuro, the mightiest of Celestial Kitsune.
And then the cold, crushing grip of reality reared its ugly head.
It was inevitable that Shinkuro would not remain shocked by whatever strange ability allowed Kevin to break through his barrier forever. He might have been surprised, but he was still a Kyūbi. About thirty seconds after Kevin’s initial attack broke his Aegis, the shock wore off, and he reacted with the speed only a being capable of manipulating light could.
It happened so fast that no one had seen it.
Kevin stumbled as something sharp and painfully hot pierced his chest. He did not know when he fell to his knees, but he eventually noticed that, at some point, Shinkuro’s form had begun to loom over him. He blinked several times, looking up into the sky-blue eyes of Shinkuro, and almost absentmindedly noticed that all of the damage he’d done to the Celestial Kyūbi’s face had healed.
Feeling a strange numbness spread through his body, Kevin looked down to see a spear of light sticking out of his chest. Judging from how he was looking at what appeared to be a tip, he could only imagine that the attack had come from behind and gone all the way through his body.
“Oh…” He sounded almost surprised.
Kevin’s body grew cold. Numb. He didn’t even feel it when his head hit the ground.
“I commend you, Kevin Swift, for somehow breaking through my Aegis,” Shinkuro said in the same calm and magnanimous tone as always, as if it was the only way of speaking he knew. “I acknowledge that you have a most unusual ability. However, in the end, it is just that, an unusual ability. It will not avail you here.”
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