“That’s because you’re so used to sparring against people like Kiara, or fighting against monsters like Seth and that Fan lady,” Lilian informed him. “Of course you’re going to expect yōkai to be more powerful when you use someone like Kiara and Kotohime as examples of how strong yōkai should be. And Palladius is powerful. He has four tails. He’s just not a very good fighter.”
“I guess…”
“It looks like Palladius lost,” a voice that didn’t belong to either him or Lilian said. “What an utter disappointment. Then again, what else could I have expected from a member of the Pnév̱ma Clan?”
Kevin and Lilian whirled around to face the source of this new voice. Three people were standing on the beach with them. Two were unfamiliar males, but the last member they both knew quite well. After all, she had attempted to kill them a little less than two weeks ago.
“It’s you!” Kevin pointed.
“Hello, Lilian Pnév̱ma, Kevin Swift.” Fan greeted them with a cruel smile. “I hope you don't mind dying for me today.”
CHAPTER 10
PNÉV̱MA VERSUS SHÉNSHÈNG
Kevin knew that he and Lilian were in a bind. He stared at the trio of kitsune across from them. They stood closer to the shore, the waves nipping at their heels. He recognized Fan, of course, and she still wore her white lolita outfit. The other two were unfamiliar.
He studied the two men standing on either side of Fan. One of them was a giant of a man. He stood several heads and shoulders above Kevin. His body was like a wall of muscle. He had a buzzed head, and wore the garb of a Shaolin monk. Five tails waved behind him.
The other looked even weirder. He had blond hair like Fan and the tall bishounen looks that Kevin had come to expect from male kitsune. What really got to Kevin was his armor. It was the kind of armor expected of a Chinese warlord, shining silver with gold trimmings and a golden Kyūbi motif on the breastplate. That outfit looked like something straight out of Dynasty Warriors. His eyes were bright blue. He had seven tails.
“Man, that was really something to watch,” the armored one said, scratching the nape of his neck. “To think a human and a two-tails were able to beat up a four-tails.”
Fan scoffed. “Don’t make it sound like they performed some incredible feat, Zhìlì. That kitsune was a pathetic waste of space with no martial talent. He was just like every other kitsune. I could have beaten him easily.”
“Heh, true enough.”
The tall one crossed his arms. “Lady Fan, Honorable Father, I understand your desire for banter, and I may be out of place saying this, but perhaps we should grab the girl now before her family has time to realize she’s missing?”
“Hm.” The one called Zhìlì cupped his chin and hummed in thought. “Yeah, I guess you have a point. While I doubt any of those women are a match for us, it would be a pain if we had to fight them, especially since they outnumber us. All right, Li, you retrieve the girl. Oh, and kill the human while you’re at it.”
“You know that I abhor violence.” Li stepped forward. Kevin stiffened and moved to stand in front of Lilian. “I admire your courage, young human. However, that courage is currently misplaced. Please, stand aside and allow me to take Lilian Pnév̱ma. There is no need for you to die this day.”
“Screw that,” Kevin snapped at the audacity of this man. “Who the hell do you think I am?! You think I’m just going to leave my mate to your tender mercies? That I’d let people like you take her from me? That’s not the kind of person I am!”
“Kevin.” Lilian’s soft mutter made Kevin move further in front of her, blocking his mate from the group.
“Hmm?” Zhìlì murmured with the thoughtful air of a sage. “This boy, he’s very shōnen, isn’t he?”
“Be serious for once, Zhìlì,” Fan chided her older brother. “We have a job to do.”
He sighed. “Right. Right.”
“I understand,” Li said. “If that is how you feel, then I shall make your death quick and painless.”
Kevin felt a chill of fear rush down his spine. The absolute certainty with which the towering mass of muscle spoke, that quiet confidence, it scared Kevin more than he was willing to admit. The way Li talked about killing him as if he was already dead truly frightened him.
But that didn’t mean he could give up. No, he couldn’t give up. These people were trying to take Lilian. They wanted his mate, and he would not let them take her.
“Lilian,” he whispered out of the corner of his mouth.
“Yes?”
“I hope you have a plan for dealing with them because I’m stumped.”
“I’m afraid I don’t know what to do either,” Lilian admitted. “I could cast an illusion on Fan, maybe, but I don’t have enough power to pull the wool over all three of them. Those two men are beyond my power.”
“I thought you’d say that.” Kevin’s mind ran a thousand miles a minute. “Do you have anything that can create a smokescreen?”
“Um, I do have some smoke bombs that I made to help me escape from Daphne.”
“Those will work. On my mark, I want you to toss all of them on the ground.”
“Okay.”
“I hope you two have finished saying your goodbyes.” Li sounded surprisingly sincere for someone who was about to kill a person. “While I do not like tearing two people apart, nor do I enjoy violence, I can guarantee that this will be the last time you two will ever see each other again.”
Kevin didn’t listen. He counted to three.
“Now, Lilian!”
Lilian reached into her Extra Dimensional Storage Space and pulled out sixteen smoke bombs, all of which she threw on the ground around them. A large cloud of acrid black smoke billowed out, covering the area. Kevin nearly gagged as the thick fumes threatened to burn his lungs. Had Lilian added pepper to these things? He covered his mouth and nose with his shirt, grabbed Lilian’s hand, and took off in the direction of the resort.
***
“What do you think we should do?” asked Lilian.
Kevin looked at his mate. He and Lilian were hiding out in one of the many shops in the Pnév̱ma Resort. All around them were various types of paraphernalia: shirts and shorts, necklaces and earrings, wakeboards and surfboards. The clothing hung in racks and the items sat on shelves. He and his mate were hiding behind the register booth.
“We need to get back to your family’s home,” Kevin said. “We can’t take on a five-tails, much less a seven-tails. Fan we might be able to beat now that we’ve come up with a plan to deal with someone like her, but not those other two.”
“Yeah.” Lilian grimaced. “There’s no way we’ll be able to defeat them.”
Kevin noticed the way Lilian’s hands were shaking.
She must be afraid. We’ve been in our fair share of fights, but we’ve never faced off against such powerful enemies, especially not all at once.
“We’ll get out of this.” Kevin placed his hands over Lilian’s. “Try not to worry too much. These kitsune may be powerful, but they’re not infallible. Everyone has a weakness that can be exploited. We just need to find theirs.”
“Paraphrasing Kotohime?” Lilian smiled.
Kevin returned it. “She knows what she’s talking about. Now, let’s get out of here before they discover we’re hiding here.”
He and Lilian moved to the front of the store. They hid underneath a large glass window, which Kevin peered through to see if their enemies were anywhere near them. It didn’t look like anybody was there.
The biggest issue I can see is leaving the resort itself. There’s no cover between the resort and the forest. However, once we make it into the forest surrounding the village, we should be safe. We can lose them within the foliage and pass through the barrier.
“Come on.” Kevin grabbed Lilian’s hand and the two of them left the store. They moved quickly down the various walkways, using trees and buildings as cover. No one seemed to be around, which meant they had a chance to escape. They just needed
to reach the trees. Then they would be—
“It looks like I found you,” a voice said.
Kevin moved on instinct. He spun around and put himself in front of Lilian, his body growing tense as he prepared for an attack that didn’t come. Zhìlì stood before them, his armor gleaming in the moonlight.
“You didn’t really think you could escape from us, did you?”
Kevin bit his lip as he shoved his fear to the side. He couldn’t afford to let fear rule him.
“I was kinda hoping we could, yeah,” he said.
“Hm, well, it was a good plan. On any other kitsune, it may have worked, but I’ve lived among humans for at least one hundred years now. I know quite a bit more about your species than most.”
Kevin nearly swore. It sounded like they never really had a chance of escaping to begin with.
“Well, I guess I should end this.” Three of Zhìlì’s seven tails came to the fore, light gathering at their tips. “I’ll make it quick. Celestial Art: Triple Helix.”
The name resounded ominously loud. From within the light created by the three tails, a beam emerged—no, not a beam. A spiral. Three three-dimensional cylinders that spiraled around each other in the form of a helix shot at him and Lilian.
Not knowing what else to do, Kevin shoved Lilian out of the way before the beams could reach them. However, this left him defenseless and unable to save himself from the spiraling energy attack. He could do nothing but watch as his vision was filled with golden youki.
“KEVIN!”
“AEGIS!”
Kevin stared. Lilian stared. Even Zhìlì stared. A glowing sphere of unholy silver light had appeared between them. Strange figures, disturbingly anthropomorphic, danced over the sphere’s surface, howling and moaning and cursing their dark fate. They gobbled up the helix attack, eating as though it were a feast, even though doing so caused them to scream even more.
Zhìlì’s eyes widened. “This is…!”
“Aegis of the Soul,” a familiar voice said in a surprisingly solemn tone. “It is a technique that I created myself, many years ago, back before I became a mother.”
Everyone turned to watch as a woman strode calmly up the walkway, her expression unbothered, her pace neither hurried nor rushed. She seemed calm, composed. She walked with a grace that Kevin had never seen before, and it disturbed him greatly, especially because he knew this woman shouldn’t possess such a graceful bearing.
“M-Mom?” Lilian muttered in shock, staring at the woman with wide, unblinking eyes.
Camellia smiled at her daughter. It was not a smile of childish delight, but the kind someone gave when they felt relief at seeing a loved one safe. It was the smile of a mother.
“Lilian, my beautiful daughter.”
“What… what…”
“Please, there will be time for us to talk later. For now, you and your mate must leave this place. It is about to become a battleground, and I would rather you two not see any more bloodshed than you already have.”
“Battleground,” Kevin muttered before noticing the other presences.
Daphne and Kirihime stood on either side of Zhìlì, both appearing more than ready to take the seven-tailed kitsune’s head should he make a single wrong move.
“It was foolish of you and your clansmen to come here.” Daphne’s voice had never sounded so serious to Kevin’s ears. Then again, she was usually shrieking at Lilian, so maybe that was why.
“Hm, I do seem to be in some trouble.” Zhìlì eyed the glowing silver blade in Daphne’s hand, which caressed his throat as if longing to slice it open. “Soul Forging, huh. I’ll admit that weapon is scary, being composed of damned souls cursed to wander the earth and all, but you don’t honestly think something like that is going to be a match for me, do you?”
Light erupted from Zhìlì’s body like geysers of white fire bursting from the ground. The blade that Daphne held shattered as she and Kirihime were launched away from the seven-tailed kitsune. Kirihime flipped around so she landed on her feet, but Daphne proved herself to be a bit less graceful. She landed on her butt.
“Celestial Art: Quadruple Helix.”
Instead of three cylinders forming a helix, four shot at Kevin and Lilian. It seemed they were still his targets.
“Aegis!”
The quadruple helix beams met the Aegis. The silvery shield howled, the unholy screams of the damned making themselves known. The helix pushed against the shield, light exploding everywhere in its attempt to pierce the defensive technique. It struggled and shoved, yet the shield held strong. The helix attack weakened, its power lessening, before it sputtered and died.
“Tch, that’s an awfully powerful shield,” Zhìlì admitted with a frown.
“Of course. It is a shield that uses the power of five hundred souls,” Camellia said. “Even a seven-tails such as yourself would have trouble destroying it.”
Camellia turned to Kevin and held out her hands. He looked down. Within her grip were his two guns.
“Uh, thank you,” he mumbled as he took the weapons. The magazine clips were already inside and fully charged.
“You are welcome.” Camellia’s grin showed off her sharp canines. “I figured you might want them. While I don’t necessarily approve of someone so young fighting, I realize there isn’t much choice. Please make good use of these, and also, try not to forget them from now on, okay?”
“O-okay.”
After handing Kevin his guns, Camellia walked over to Lilian, who gaped at her mother’s calm demeanor. The beautiful five-tailed kitsune knelt and smiled at her daughter.
“Lilian.” A hand reached up and caressed her daughter’s cheek. “I want you and your mate to get out of here. I cannot fight and protect you two at the same time.”
“Uh, um…”
Lilian was at a loss for words. Kevin understood. This woman who stood before them, speaking in such a calm manner, was not the same woman they had come to know. Her eyes were sharper, she spoke more clearly and, perhaps the biggest change of all, her childish demeanor had disappeared entirely. This was not the Camellia that Lilian had known all her life. This was the Camellia who’d existed before she became pregnant.
Already sensing Lilian’s incertitude, Kevin spoke for them both. “We’ll leave things to you, then.”
Camellia directed her smile to him. “Thank you. I couldn’t have asked my daughter to find a better mate.”
Kevin blushed, but that was all he did in response to her words. He helped Lilian to her feet, grabbed her hand, and began pulling her along as he ran from what would soon become the place of a battle that he didn’t want to get caught up in.
“Kevin… that… Mom was…”
“I know.” Kevin gave the uncertain Lilian a smile. “Perhaps the damage to her mind is finally beginning to heal somehow, but we don’t really have time to think about that right now. Let’s focus on getting back to your family’s home in one piece. Then, when all this is over, you can sit down with your mother and talk.”
“I… Yes, you’re right.”
Kevin glanced over his shoulder, back at the spot where they’d left Camellia, Daphne, and Kirihime. He hoped they would be able to defeat that Zhìlì guy. He didn’t want his mate to feel the heartache of losing her mother a second time.
***
Camellia watched her daughter and Kevin leave. It relieved her to know that Lilian had chosen such a strong mate. He might have only been human, but he was clearly dedicated toward doing everything he could to stand beside Lilian as her equal. Perhaps, in time, he could even find a way to match a yōkai’s strength on his own.
She shifted her attention back to Zhìlì. The fingers of her left hand began drumming against her thigh for reasons only she could understand. He had not moved since she, Kirihime, and Daphne had appeared. He stood in the same place, unbothered by how his quarry had escaped.
“I am surprised that you did not try to go after them,” Camellia said as Daphne and Kirihime stood silently
at her side.
Zhìlì shrugged. “There is still Fan and Li. I’m sure they will be enough to capture the girl.”
Camellia wasn’t too concerned by his words. While she didn’t know where this Fan was, she knew that Li was already being engaged by a very eager swordswoman who wanted a rematch.
“Despite this armor that I wear, I don’t really like fighting, you know,” Zhìlì continued. “I only do so when Father commands me to. I would much rather go to the human world and find a nice woman to bed. That being said, Father has commanded me to capture the Pnév̱ma girl, so here I am, despite my wish to the contrary.”
“That’s of little concern to me.”
Camellia felt her body become primed and ready for combat. It had been many years since she last experienced a battle, and she would not deny that she was worried, but so long as Zhìlì did not discover the secret to her techniques, she was confident in their victory.
“Daphne,” she said. “You are the best illusionist within the clan. I need you to distract him by engaging in a battle of illusions.”
Daphne frowned at being ordered around, but she also understood that combat was not her field of expertise. Before giving birth to Lilian and Iris, Camellia had never lost in their spars despite having less tails.
“Very well.”
“Kirihime, Daphne and I will create an opening for you to strike. Can I count on you?”
“Of course, My Lady. I’ll be sure to rend this man’s flesh from his bones.” Grinning from ear to ear, Kirihime licked her daggers. “I wonder if I’ll be able to make something nice once I skin him.”
Camellia felt a small trail of sweat trickle down the left side of her head. “Um, right. I’m counting on you.”
***
She stood on the beach, katana in hand. Her wakizashi was still hidden beneath her obi. She would only use it after confirming her opponent’s abilities.
“I’m surprised to see you again. I guess you’re eager to once more find yourself embracing defeat.”
Kotohime stood across from Li, the kitsune who had beaten her the last time they fought. She slid her feet wide and bent her knees. She stared at her adversary with the look of a hardened veteran, someone who had faced countless battles and come out victorious.
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