Lilian growled. “Not you again!”
“Nya, that’s not a nice thing to say,” the nekomata said, her two tails curling behind her. “Especially after I came all this way to kill you.”
“And that’s supposed to make me happy?!”
“Nya!”
“Whoa!”
Lilian threw herself backwards as a claw tore through the space where she’d been standing. Several wisps of blackish-blue fire created streaks in the air, and she realized that the nekomata had coated her fingernails in Hellfire.
This is not good. I hadn’t expected to run into her so soon!
“Extension.”
The nekomata leapt into the air as two black tails tried to strike her. They struck the ground instead. She landed several feet away… and then fell to a knee as Lilian channeled her youki into an illusion.
“Celestial Art: Light Wave Distortion.”
“Ny—ugh. What the…?”
The world around Lilian’s foe became distorted. Objects that were far away looked much closer, and objects that should have been closer looked further away. Lines melded together and colors blurred. This was one of Lilian’s new techniques, which she hadn’t been able to use the last time because there hadn’t been enough light, and she lacked the youki capacity to create sustainable illumination.
“An illusion, nya.”
The nekomata flared her youki. Lilian clicked her tongue when she felt the illusion shatter, but she didn’t let her disappointment stop her from flinging two light spheres at her foe.
“Nya!”
Lilian’s enemy twisted around as she dodged the spheres. One almost grazed her nose while the other went under her leg. They continued on, striking a wall several meters away and leaving two perfect black circles.
Lilian scowled at how her surprise attack had failed, and she channeled more youki through her tails, weaving another illusion.
“Celestial Art: Light Inversion.”
Light Inversion was a basic illusion that reduced a person’s vision to mere black and white. Objects, walls, the floor, and the ceiling, everything was one of these two colors—or lack of colors. It even blocked out shades, so all someone would see was either pure black or pure white.
The nekomata broke this illusion, too, but Lilian had already prepared her next technique.
“Celestial Art: Orbs of an Evanescent Realm.”
Six orbs swarmed the nekomata, attacking from all directions. Lilian watched as her enemy used her considerable speed and flexibility to avoid getting struck. Two orbs came from the left and one from the right. They were dodged when the nekomata spun around like a ballerina doing a pirouette. Another came in from behind, but it was likewise avoided. Then two more tried to attack from above. The nekomata moved backwards. The spheres missed, but they paused before striking the ground, quivered, and then chased after her.
Scowling, Lilian’s opponent appeared to have grown sick of constantly dodging and, with Hellfire coating her claws, she tried to rake her sharp nails across the orbs. Lilian wasn’t going to allow that. She directed the orbs to dodge, then she made them come in at different directions and angles.
“Nya! Hold still, you!”
Sweat trickled down Lilian’s brow as she continued directing the orbs, infuriating the feline, who looked very much like a cat trying to smack several balls of sentient yarn. She’d never tried controlling all six at once, and the mental focus required made her body tremble.
“Hurry up, Iris,” she grunted.
“Yeah, yeah, just hold on. This is harder than it looks.”
Iris also appeared to be struggling. Her two tails had curled in front of her, their tips touching. Hovering above the two tips was a writhing black flame so dark it seemed to absorb light. Lilian shivered at the feeling that came from it: the all-encompassing desire to consume everything. It was an unnatural fire, even more so than their opponent’s Hellfire.
Lilian clicked her tongue, but she didn’t let go of her concentration. She sent an orb at the nekomata from behind. The nekomata whirled around and tried to strike it, but Lilian forced her to retract her hand by launching two more spheres at her arm. She launched three more orbs at her foe. One came from below and two fell from above. The nekomata attempted to hit them as well, but Lilian moved them around her strikes, causing the woman to hiss.
“This is getting annoying, nya!”
“Alright, Lily! It’s ready!”
All at once, Lilian let the orbs disperse. At the same time, Iris released her technique. The black flame, writhing with an almost sentient hunger, shot forward and struck the area that the nekomata was standing on.
“Void Art: Void Fire.”
The convention hallway was consumed by the Void.
***
Christine and the others made it outside—only to discover another problem.
“What the hell is that?!” Eric shouted the question that everyone else wanted to know.
The world had been cast in a haze. The light around them looked distorted, tinted like they were looking through glass colored in shades of blue. It was a beautiful sight, but it was marred by what was causing this scenic vision.
A giant blue dome appeared to have surrounded them. The dome undulated and warped at random intervals, as if the entire thing was made of jello. It looked like water, albeit very distorted water that was currently defying the laws of physics.
“This is a barrier,” Heather observed. “It was probably set up by those kitsune to keep everyone not already inside of the convention building out. Knowing their specialty for illusions, it’s likely been placed under one of those as well. People on the outside probably can’t see anything out of the ordinary.”
“All right! That’s it! You people!” Alex pointed an accusing finger at everyone sans Andrew. “Explain all this to me. What the hell is going on?”
Heather looked at the teens who were already in the know. Eric was looking at the dome, Lindsay appeared to be staring at her shoes, and Christine had crossed her arms and looked away.
She sighed. “Okay, you two, I’ll tell you what’s happening. You deserve to know. I just hope you don’t regret it.”
With that, she began to explain what she knew about yōkai and the dangerous world they had found themselves in.
***
From the moment the battle had started, Kevin knew that something was wrong.
For starters, Ken was wielding not one, two, or even three whips, but one whip for each finger—except for his thumbs.
I thought two whips were his limit—
“Whoa!”
Two whips composed of water lashed at him. Kevin stumbled backwards. A large crack appeared where he’d been standing.
“Don’t think you can just keep dodging me!”
Six more whips struck out at him, two from the left, two from the right, and two straight down the center. Kevin moved quicker than he ever had before. He shuffled and slid along the floor, his body moving without conscious thought. The air around him whistled as it was cut. Oddly enough, he couldn’t feel the air as it was displaced, but he believed that was due to the water’s composition.
Kevin continued weaving. Sweat broke out on his forehead, small rivulets that dripped down his face, stinging his eyes. He didn’t dare rub his eyes or blink, however, lest he get hit by those abnormally durable water whips.
Something wrapped around his leg. Startled, Kevin looked down to see a whip encircling his calf. Another quick glance showed him that the water whip had come from behind him.
“Well,” Kevin started, “this isn’t good.”
He let out a wordless scream as he was jerked off his feet. His back hit the ground. The air was driven from his lungs in a loud whoosh! He felt the urge to curl up in the fetal position, but he rolled sideways instead, which proved to be a good idea. Less than a second after he moved, a whip crashed into the floor.
Using his upper body strength, Kevin launched himself into the air, and then
on his feet. He had to dodge a whip aimed at his face seconds later. Ducking under the blow, he… didn’t feel the whip passing by overhead?
What’s going on? I should at least feel the whip rustling my hair.
He wasn’t given time to think on this development as, not even a second later, several lances coalesced into existence around him.
“Let’s see you dodge this,” Ken said, smiling widely. “Water Art: Numerous Spears.”
“And people say I’m horrible at naming things—eek!”
Ten lances were launched at him. He dodged the first and ducked underneath the second. His duck turned into a roll, allowing him to avoid the third and fourth lances, and then he shifted his body into a rotation while shuffling right, thereby avoiding the possibility of getting skewered by the fifth lance.
Back step. Move left. Two more lances were avoided.
The eighth lance came screaming in out of his peripheral vision. He turned around, then sidestepped. The lance shot past him and penetrated a wall several meters away.
The last two lances came in at the same time from opposite directions. Kevin moved along the ground, shuffling across the carpet as he turned his body, presenting his profile to the spears. The ninth spear glided past him, and the tenth one flew over his left shoulder. With the threat of impalement avoided, Kevin turned to Ken.
He took one step forward.
And then he stumbled.
Fire flooded Kevin’s nerves as something pierced his back. He looked down to see the watery tip of a spear poking out of his belly. Placing a hand over the wound, feeling blood seeping between his fingers, he fell to his knees, and then onto his side. He felt something hard underneath him, but he couldn’t figure out what it was. His vision was swimming. Everything looked fuzzy. Even the dead soldier that lay not a foot from his face appeared blurry.
Ken’s grinning visage appeared in front of him. “Tell me, human trash, how does it feel to be beaten by simple illusions?”
“Illusions?” Kevin coughed. Blood splattered on the floor and trailed down his mouth.
“That’s right. Everything you just saw was an illusion—a trick of the eye,” Ken confirmed.
Kevin grimaced as he realized what had happened. Ken had created eight whips, but only one or two had been real. The others had been illusions designed to keep him distracted from the real whip. It was the same with the spears. They had been illusions that kept him from seeing the real threat coming at him from behind.
“D-dang it.”
To think he’d been defeated by illusions and simple deception. How pathetic was that?
“It must be uncomfortable having something stuck in your body like that. Let me get it out for you.” The spear in his stomach disappeared and blood began pouring from the open wound in earnest. Ken’s grin widened as Kevin whimpered. “Ah, that’s much better, don’t you think?”
Kevin gritted his teeth as his consciousness started to fade. He could feel his body shutting down. Was he going into shock?
“Not looking so tough now, huh?” Ken mocked. “I wonder where all that confidence of yours has gone—not that you have any right to be confident. Your kind are a plague, a bunch of pathetic cockroaches scurrying underneath those who stand above you.” A cruel smile tugged at Ken’s mouth. “Now, I think I’ll go see how that redhead is doing. She was quite sexy.”
Lilian…
Kevin forced the darkness to recede. He looked up, and his eyes burned as he glared at Ken, who merely chuckled condescendingly.
“I think I’ll let you live out the last remaining seconds of your life. That way you can imagine all the ways I plan on fucking your mate—sorry, I meant your former mate.”
Ken turned and walked in the direction that Lilian and her sister had taken off in. Kevin struggled to think of something, anything that he could do to protect his mate from that disgusting kitsune.
The object underneath Kevin poked him as he shifted. He grunted as he reached down and grasped it, pulling it out from underneath him. It was a gun, a pistol of some kind, just like the ones he’d seen in Call of Duty.
Feeling the fires of determination light up within him, Kevin struggled to stand. He couldn’t—standing proved to be impossible, but he at least managed to sit up. With his left hand underneath him, acting as support, he aimed the gun with his right hand.
Eyes looking down the crosshairs, he bracketed the blond kitsune within his sights.
The sound of several gunshots rang out.
***
Kirihime recognized the woman before her. She was still wearing her dark blue skirt, schoolgirl sailor shirt, and magical girl boots. Three fox tails whiter than snow trailed along the floor behind her and ears of the same color drooped low on her head.
“You are… Taer, yes?” she asked.
“That is correct,” Taer said.
“Um, forgive me, but why are you here, if I may ask?”
“I am here because my mistress would like to settle a dispute between herself and your sister.”
“So I see,” Kirihime muttered softly, her eyes growing dark and hooded. “Then you’re here to stall us until Luna arrives.” She looked out the window to see the barrier surrounding the building. “I imagine that barrier is also your doing?”
“That is correct. We do not want any of you escaping before Mistress Luna has had the chance to… meet with Tsukihime.”
“She doesn’t go by that name anymore,” Kirihime said.
“So I’ve heard, but what name your sister goes by matters little to me. I am merely here to keep you away from your sister while she and Mistress Luna have their reunion.”
“Then I have no choice.” Kirihime readied her blades. “In order to protect my sister, I must go through you first.”
“Indeed, you must.” Taer readied herself for combat as well.
“In that case, I am terribly sorry, but you’re going to have to die.”
Kirihime did not give Taer a chance to respond before she attacked. Unlike her venerable sister, Kirihime had not mastered the art of removing salt from the atmosphere. She could not use water techniques. So, she used close quarters combat instead.
Her blades sought to penetrate Taer’s body. She attacked the woman’s weak points: collarbone, armpits, carotid artery, and solar plexus. However, despite her droopy eyes, Taer was not lackadaisical by any means. She moved swiftly, avoiding Kirihime’s strikes with ease.
Danger. Kirihime sensed the movement before the strike. She moved her head back. Taer’s clawed hand flew upwards as if to slice her face from chin to forehead.
“Water Art: Hidden Blade.”
Kirihime felt searing pain along her chin. Stumbling back, she raised a hand to her face as something warm and wet dripped down her skin. She looked at her hand. It was stained with crimson.
“You cut me…”
“Despite not looking like it, I am Mistress Luna’s most skilled assassin. You will not defeat me.”
“Is that so…? Huhu… huhuhuhuhu… hahahahahaha!” Kirihime laughed. Her voice rang throughout the convention hallway as she giggled mirthlessly.
Taer took a step back.
“Yes! This pain! This feeling!” Kirihime felt her blood boiling. Her desire to kill hadn’t been this strong since she’d fought that strange machine seven months ago. “Let me experience more of it before I kill you!”
Kirihime swung the blade in her left hand at Taer’s face. Jerking her head back, Taer avoided feeling the same pain that she had inflicted on Kirihime—or so she’d thought.
“A-ah!” Taer gasped when Kirihime stabbed the other blade into her left thigh before yanking it out.
Despite the pain that she must have been feeling, Taer still managed to turn her tumble into a roll. Landing back on her feet, she gestured as if to swipe at Kirihime despite being two feet away.
“Water Art: Silk Threads.”
Kirihime yelped when several threads of water wrapped around her wrist and tightened, biting into
her flesh. These things were harder than steel!
Taer yanked on the threads, which were attached to her fingers like silk from a spider’s thorax. Kirihime moved with the strings. She winced when they dug into flesh, but avoided having her wrist cut off. Blood ran down her hands, making her grip on the knife slippery, yet she tenaciously kept a strong hold on her weapon.
Raising her other hand, she slashed at the strings with a reinforced swing. The threads may have been harder than steel, but they were still water. They broke. Swinging her blade, blood flying everywhere, she swiped at Taer, who backpedaled to avoid having her throat slit. Blood splashed on Taer’s clothing as she moved back.
“Water Art: Silk Threads.”
Kirihime’s maniacal laughter echoed as several threads of water slashed through her chest. The wounds were not deep, for she’d reinforced her body with youki, but they still bled, and that blood dripped onto the floor. She tried once more to spill Taer’s blood. The woman deftly avoided her attacks and responded with more threads, which cut into Kirihime’s skin and shed more blood.
Giggling like a schoolgirl, Kirihime smiled widely. Her eyes were pools of lunacy.
“Do you know what I specialize in?” Kirihime asked.
“I do not,” Taer answered.
“Let me ask you another question: What liquid travels through the veins of every sentient creature?”
“Blood,” Taer stated surely before her eyes widened.
Kirihime giggled. The wounds littering her body hissed as they quickly healed over, leaving behind unblemished skin.
“Water Art: Blood Stakes.”
Kirihime’s blood, which littered the ground in small puddles, became stakes that jutted up and impaled the surprised Taer. The mocha-skinned woman stared at her in shock before falling limp. Kirihime stood still for a moment, to see if the Taer before her would disappear and reveal herself to be an illusion. When that didn’t happen, she nodded and dropped the technique, letting Taer’s body fall to the floor.
“Now, to find My Lady Camellia and the others.”
Reverting back to her usual demure mien, Kirihime’s posture shifted from maniacal joy to worry. Calling out her lady’s name, she left Taer’s body where it lay. The hallway became still once more.
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