The fires of the Void swept over him, not even giving him time to yell as his body was consumed by the flames. His screams of pain echoed throughout the school, until even those screams became nothing more than incoherent gurgles.
***
Several feet away, two forms shimmered into existence, revealing themselves to be Lilian and Iris. They watched as the three-tailed kitsune was consumed by the Void.
“It looks like we’ve beaten him,” Lilian said as she stared at the burning body.
“I’m surprised by how weak he was,” Iris agreed.
“Weak, am I?” a voice asked. “Do you really think I’m so weak that I’d allow myself to be killed by a pair of two-tails?”
Lilian and Iris gasped when the man they’d set on fire—or so they thought—disappeared like a ghost. That same man then emerged from Ms. Vis’s partially destroyed classroom and dashed at them quicker than they believed possible.
He chose Lilian as his target, deeming her the weaker link. His left hand, coated in misty ectoplasm, or spirit matter, lashed out with a palm strike that Lilian avoided by spinning around and moving backwards, taking her out of Seth’s strike range.
“Extension.”
Her two tails extended to beyond their normal length, their tips engulfed in the divine energy of a Celestial Kitsune.
“Celestial Art: Flare.”
The divine energy leapt from Lilian’s tails and took the shape of two spheres, which shot across the distance separating her from Seth like bullets.
The three-tailed kitsune dove out of the way. The first sphere struck the ground that he’d been standing on a second later, going off in a brilliant blaze of light like a supernova. The sphere expanded, retaining its perfectly spherical shape as it grew to encompass a two-foot radius. Seconds later, the second sphere struck the ground and the same thing happened. When the spheres disappeared, they left a perfectly smooth dome-shaped crater in their wake.
Seth landed on the ground several feet away and whistled at the destruction caused by Lilian’s technique. Sure, they weren’t large craters, but the fact that they were created by a two-tails said a lot about the girl’s potential.
“Oh, boy. Would you look at that. It’s almost a shame I’ve gotta kill you. So much potential wasted.”
“As if I’d let you kill my Lily-pad,” Iris shouted.
“Void Art: The Eye of Oblivion.”
The world around Seth vanished. Darkness engulfed everything. Looking around revealed nothing, for this was a world in which nothing existed.
“An illusion?”
As the words were spoken, the world became engulfed in hellish flames. Void fire surrounded him on all sides. There was no heat being emitted, for void fire was not hot. It was not a fire that burned, but one that consumed.
High above his position, a slit appeared within the tapestry of reality. It opened, parting to reveal a blood-red eye surrounded by infinite darkness. From the eye a flame emerged, descending upon Seth like the torrential downpour of a fierce storm. Seth watched the fires set on consuming him loom ever closer.
He sighed, flared his youki, and shattered the illusion before it could make him believe he’d been consumed by the Void. Seth was once again standing outside, with school buildings surrounding him and pavement under his feet.
“Celestial Art: Orbs of an Evanescent Realm.”
“Hmm? What this?”
Half a dozen spheres composed of light appeared before Seth, surrounding him. Each sphere hovered about two feet away from each other, forming a circle around him. The spheres were still for but a moment before shooting at him with speeds that made them appear as mere blurs.
Seth remained still, not even moving when the spheres reached him. The orbs of light energy phased right through him as if he wasn’t there. His body flickered once, twice, and then it vanished.
“An illusion!” Lilian shouted.
“Don’t act so surprised,” a voice said behind her. “You should have known that I’d never let someone hit me with an attack like that, just as you should have realized that you were only attacking an illusion. Really, what kind of kitsune are you?”
Lilian turned her head to glare at Seth, who stood directly behind her. The three-tails grinned as his hand, once more covered in ectoplasm, shot straight for her back.
“Lilian!” Iris screamed when she saw what was happening.
“Spirit Art: Soul Steal—eh?”
Seth blinked when his hand traveled through Lilian’s body. While that was supposed to happen when he used this technique, there should have been some resistance as he fought to penetrate the thin layer of youki that surrounded her. He also should have grabbed her soul, which he couldn’t feel in his grasp. That meant…
Lilian vanished and a long, hard tail smacked him flush in the face. The attack lifted him off the ground and sent him sailing through the air.
“Iris, now!”
“Right! Void Art: Void Fire.”
Iris launched a blast of void fire at Seth’s falling form. The red-haired man clicked his tongue as he spun about in midair, righting himself so that his feet were oriented toward the ground.
“Extension.”
His tails raced down, spearing the earth and acting as anchors before rapidly retracting and pulling him down, allowing him to avoid the void fire, which continued racing through the sky until it ran out of youki and dissipated.
As Seth landed on the ground, he was attacked by Lilian, who came in close to attack him with hand-to-hand techniques—or so he thought. When his hand phased through the redhead’s body like it wasn’t there, he realized it was just an illusion.
“Celestial Art: Sphere of Light.”
Seth moved to the side, avoiding the light sphere that tried to strike him from behind. The sphere continued traveling on, smacking against a wall and detonating, leaving a small black scorch mark.
“You’re quite talented,” Seth said, grinning as he sent off a crescent wave of damned souls at Lilian. His grin widened when the attack phased through her. “I’ve never met a two-tails with as much talent for the kitsune arts as you.”
Lilian stood several yards from Seth, having reappeared from within another illusion, her eyes narrowed in clear annoyance at the failure of her last attack. “Being complimented by you doesn’t make me very happy. There is only one person in this entire world whose compliments mean anything to me, and you aren’t him.”
“Hm hm hm.” Seth’s stifled chuckles, though quiet, were heard clearly by Lilian, whose fur bristled. “You’re talking about your mate, aren’t you? That human boy, Kevin Swift. It really is too bad you’ll never see him again, even if you did manage to defeat me.”
Lilian felt alarmed by his words. Standing by her side, Iris jolted upright as if she’d been struck by lightning. “What do you mean by that?”
“Only that I’ve sent one of my subordinates after him,” Seth said. “An incredibly talented yōkai who’s actually stronger than I am, though she doesn’t have the talent for killing that I do. It doesn’t matter, though. Even if she can’t kill other yōkai to save her life, killing one measly human won’t be a problem for someone like her.”
As Seth drank in her expression like it was a fine wine, Lilian felt fear course through her body. Her mate was in danger!
“Beloved!”
Lilian tried to run off and find her mate, but Seth blocked her path, appearing before her and then splitting apart like a cell going through osmosis. Each figure wavered around her like a ghost. Each face wore a ghastly grin that raised Lilian’s hackles. Over to her left, her sister was in the same situation as her, surrounded by ghostly figures that wavered like candles flickering in a breeze.
“I’m sorry, but there’s no way I’m going to let you leave. Neither you nor your sister are going anywhere. You’re both mine.”
Seth didn’t give Lilian time to retort before the copies lunged.
***
Sweat poured down Christine’
s face as she finished knocking out all of the enchanted students.
She’d never been forced to use her powers so extensively before. She had rarely ever used her powers period. Yet in the past few minutes, she’d had to incapacitate upwards of 100 students and even a few teachers. It was insane! How many people could this yōkai have under his or her thrall?
Standing in front of the library building, surrounded by a pile of bodies, Christine caught her second wind. She didn’t know what was going on, if that was all of the people who’d been enchanted, or if there were more waiting in the wings. She hoped that wasn’t the case. She was tired. She needed to rest.
Too bad she wasn’t going to get any respite.
Rushing out from behind the walls were several people that she’d recognize anywhere: Alex, Andrew, and Eric, who were all holding the same zombie-esque appearance she’d seen them wearing during lunch. They charged at her, but Christine wasn’t in the mood for playing games. Three balls of ice formed in front of her. Those same three balls of ice struck the trio right in the cranium, knocking them out cold.
“Ha… idiots,” she muttered in disgust.
The sound of something clicking alerted her to the danger that she was in seconds before the sound of a thunderclap went off. Christine had just enough time to throw herself to the ground. She bit back a yelp as her elbows smacked against the concrete. She rolled along the pavement as more gunshots rang out, then scrambled to her feet after the gun clicked empty.
Christine had planned to turn around, confront the person shooting at her, and beat them with an ice club.
She never got the chance.
A set of arms wrapped around her body, pinning her arms to her sides. Christine struggled, but she couldn’t break out of this person’s hold. She turned her head and received the shock of her life.
“Lindsay?!”
Her friend stood behind her, pinning her in place. Lindsay’s eyes stared at her with the same blank look that she had seen on everyone else.
The sound of a gun cocking alerted her to the fact that she was still in danger. She looked away from her friend to where the noise had come from.
Heather was standing a few feet away. There was some kind of handgun in her grasp. She also wore an empty expression on her face.
A single gunshot rang out, echoing across the school.
***
Kevin ran across the campus, cursing, or as close to cursing as Kevin got.
Why did Ms. Vis’s classroom have to be on the other side of the school? Couldn’t they have put it just a little closer to the library? Now he had to run all the way across the large campus, and while he excelled at running, he was more of a sprinter than a long-distance runner.
The school was practically empty, or at least the area that he was running through was. It was probably because all of the people who stayed after, those who had been enchanted, had congregated around Christine’s location. He was worried about his friend, but he also had faith that she’d be all right. He’d only seen her ice abilities in action once, against Kiara’s three goons, but they’d left an impression. If anyone could stop those people, it would be her.
He arrived at the shaded patio, the place where he and his friends ate lunch, which meant he was about halfway there.
Someone was standing in his way.
Kevin skidded to a stop, his heart thudding in his chest. She was decked out in black leather pants, a leather shirt, and leather boots. Her raven-colored hair was tied into a ponytail and her yellow eyes were shining like moons. Two tails waved behind her and a pair of cat ears twitched incessantly on her head. Cassy stood before him in all her glory.
“Cassy…”
“I won’t let you go past this point, nya,” Cassy said, her eyes gleaming.
Chapter 11
A Reason to Never Give Up
The battle had not been going as well as Lilian had hoped it would. While it seemed like she and Iris were holding their own at first, it soon became clear that Seth had been toying with them since the beginning. Every attack they sent his way had been defeated with ease. Every illusion they put him under didn’t work, or only worked long enough to let them avoid being outright annihilated. Worse still, she and her sister were running out of youki.
“What’s the matter? Are you done already?” Seth asked, grinning from ear to ear. He was obviously enjoying this fight way too much. “Surely you two aren’t finished. And here I was hoping fighting two on one would be a challenge.”
“You’re a sadist, you know that?” Iris said through clenched teeth. “Who the hell enjoys beating on a bunch of girls so much?”
Standing behind Seth, Iris had definitely seen better days. A good portion of her clothing was ripped, including her shirt, which looked like it had been slashed apart by a set of claws. The entire lower half was missing, exposing her flat tummy and the underside of her breasts. She was bleeding from a wound on her stomach.
Not that Lilian was in much better shape. Her torso was bruised, blood dripping down her left thigh from where she’d been stabbed by flying debris. Body aching. Lungs burning. Lilian had expended a lot more youki than her sister. In terms of who was more physically damaged, Iris was the victor, but in terms of who was in worse shape, that award belonged to Lilian.
Iris glanced at Lilian, a statement in her eyes. “Buy me some time,” it seemed to say. Lilian nodded her head.
I need to keep Seth busy.
“Why are you doing this? If you’re so strong, how come you haven’t killed us yet?” Lilian asked.
“Heh… for you to say that, you clearly don’t understand the joys of crushing your victims.” Seth spread his arms wide. “Not that I blame you. Few people are able to comprehend how enthralling it is to watch the hope fade from the eyes of people before you kill them, of the crushing weight that comes from knowing, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that they are going to die by my hands.” The man shuddered with an almost orgasmic bliss. “Even the people in my village don’t seem to understand the pleasure that I derive from snuffing the lives out of my enemies.”
This man was insane. However, after listening to his words, the two sisters picked up something curious about them.
“What do you mean your village?” asked Lilian.
“Oops, did I mention my village? Must have been a slip of the tongue.”
Lilian wasn’t fooled for a second. This man was arrogant and loved bragging, but he wasn’t stupid. A man like him wouldn’t have a “slip of the tongue.”
“But yes, that is correct. I come from a small village here in the United States, you see. We’re a tiny place in an undisclosed location that I certainly won’t be giving you directions to. All you need to know is that we’re sort of like a village of mercenaries. We get hired by various people to do jobs for them, and we’re the best at getting the job done.”
“You mean you’re assassins.” Lilian narrowed her eyes. “I’ve heard of you people. You’re part of a group of yōkai who kill others for money. A hidden village.”
Hidden village was a term used for a group of “villages” where yōkai assassins were raised. They took jobs from humans and yōkai alike. No job was too dirty, no task too unclean, so long as the pay was good.
The leaders who were in charge of these villages kept their locations a secret, even from each other. According to Kotohime, this was done as a safety precaution. Even if one of the villages was discovered and dismantled, the others would still be safe.
“I’m surprised you know even that much about us. Then again, you are the granddaughter of Delphine Pnév̱ma. I suppose it’s only natural that someone like her would make sure her heirs are well-informed about the dangers in this world.”
Lilian gritted her teeth in anger. “I’ve got a newsflash for you, jerk. The matriarch didn’t tell me a single thing about you or anyone else! Everything I know I learned from Kotohime!”
She tried not to look at Iris for fear of tipping Seth off to what her sister was doing
. Darkness gathered around Iris’s tails. Lilian didn’t know how long it would take for Iris to finish, but she needed to keep Seth occupied for a little while longer.
“Ah, yes, the famed Blood Moon Princess. I should have guessed that she would be the one to teach you about us. I hear she was offered a position among our ranks once. Isn't she your bodyguard these days?” The smirk on Seth’s face bugged the crap out of Lilian. She wanted to wipe it off with a spirit bomb to the face. “I wonder where she is now. Too bad she’s not here to save you, eh?”
Rather than grow flustered, Lilian gave Seth a grin. “I don’t need Kotohime to save me. You’ve already lost.”
“Eh?”
“Void Art: The All-Consuming Flame.”
While Lilian kept Seth talking, Iris had gathered as much void fire as she could and compressed it into a tiny sphere about the size of a baseball. Hovering above the tips of her tails, which had curled around her body like some kind of strange pseudopodia, the tiny orb crackled with repressed energy, flames leaping from its surface like the hungry tentacles of an abominable horror from the abyss.
Sweat poured down Iris’s forehead. She gritted her teeth. Then, when she’d gathered as much youki as she dared, she launched the attack at Seth.
The sphere blasted forward at speeds that he had no hope of dodging.
Too bad he didn’t need to dodge.
Lilian’s eyes widened when the flame passed right through him, as if he wasn’t even there.
“Another illusion!”
She couldn’t believe it. When had he replaced himself with an illusory image? Lilian wasn't given time to think about it as a voice echoed out all around her.
“Spirit Art: Damned Souls, Cursed Guardians.”
The earth around them was rent asunder, cracking and splitting apart like something out of a video game. From within the many crevices created, white mist poured out. Ghoulish shrieks emerged from the depths, haunting voices that cursed the living, that demanded revenge, that desired death. Lilian trembled as feelings of hatred, of jealousy, of rage, swept over her like a deluge.
A Fox's Mate (American Kitsune Book 6) Page 35