A Fox's Mission

by Brandon Varnell

He must be changing the density of his arrows to make them harder to burn, or maybe he’s infusing them with more youki to make them stronger.

  Lilian’s instincts suddenly screamed at her, and she shoved Christine and herself to the forest floor. The air overhead became filled with the wooshing of arrows filling the place above them. Channeling youki through her tails, Lilian wove a spell around them.

  “Celestial Art: Barrier that Protects the Princess.”

  Light coalesced around them, solidifying into a bright golden dome. Several arrows pinged off the surface, yet none of them could penetrate the light barrier, which Lilian had poured a considerable amount of youki into.

  “Christine, can you use your ice to freeze the area around us?”

  Laying on her back, underneath Lilian, Christine shook her head. “Nyo. Nyot while in this form. Even if I could use my ice, nyi wouldn’t be able to freeze this entire area.”

  Lilian grimaced. “Well… that’s not good. I can’t keep this barrier up for much longer.”

  More arrows bounced harmlessly off the surface of her shield. The tsuchigumo, still hiding somewhere within the forest, clicked his tongue.

  “That shield is pissing me off. I think it’s time I disposed of it.”

  Lilian’s eyes widened when she felt her barrier break. Christine’s eyes widened as well, but unlike her, who couldn’t do anything, the yuki-onna raised her hands and erected a large wall of fire above them. Loud hissing emitted from above as the arrow, a massive thing with a jagged tip, struck the flames. It passed through the fire, but it had slowed considerably due to the chaotic air currents caused by the hot air being pushed up.

  Unable to roll across the ground, Lilian raised her tails and reinforced them beyond anything she’d done before. Because her tails were where all of her power was stored, reinforcing them was easy. Despite this, however, it appeared the power put into the arrow exceeded her tails’ power.

  Lilian whimpered when the arrow impaled one of her tails. Raw agony ran through her like a current. Getting struck by lightning would have been less painful.

  As tears stung her eyes, Lilian gritted her teeth. Two droplets of liquid ran down her cheeks and splashed against Christine’s fair skin.

  “L-Lilian…”

  “I’m fine,” Lilian gasped. “L-listen, how good are you at controlling your powers?”

  “Nyot very good. I can create walls and pillars, but I can’t do much else.”

  That was not good. Lilian had been hoping that Christine would be able to create an area-wide wave of fire, which would spread out while only burning what she wanted it to burn. If she couldn’t do that, then even if she could create a wave—and Christine all but said she couldn’t—it would burn everything and not just their enemy.

  “T-then… Kitsune Art: Chameleon Masquerade.”

  Lilian knew the camouflage technique had taken hold. Her youki, layered over her and Christine and bending the light until they were all but invisible, felt like a slim sheet wrapping around her body.

  She grabbed Christine’s hand and ran. She didn’t know where she was running, nor did she know how far she was going, but Lilian knew that running was their only option. They couldn’t fight someone they couldn’t see.

  “Do you think you can run from me?! No matter what illusions you use to hide, I’ll still find you!”

  Ignoring the angry howls echoing around them, Lilian brought her tail forward and yanked out the arrow, biting her lip so as not to scream. It hurt. It really, really hurt. But she needed it gone, otherwise it would have distracted her and hampered the flow of her youki.

  I have to think of something. I have to find some way to beat this guy, but how?

  Several arrows whizzed around them. Lilian flinched every time one came near. She could actually feel them shooting past her face, arms, and legs. They impaled the dirt, the trees, or bounced off a rock. It seemed that, even though the tsuchigumo could somehow track them, he still couldn’t see them.

  She eventually found a cave, which she didn’t hesitate to pull Christine into. Even if this led to a dead end, it would force the tsuchigumo to come to them.

  Trying to steady her breathing, which had grown heavy, Lilian leaned against a wall and reviewed all the information she had on tsuchigumo. They were decent at illusions, which explained how it could track them, though her celestial-based illusions appeared to confound it slightly. She was actually shocked that they could use illusions, since Kotohime had told her that most tsuchigumo were brutish and violent. Then again, perhaps that, too, was an illusion in some way, like a facade they put up to trick others into thinking they lacked intelligence…

  … wait.

  That’s it!

  “Christine,” Lilian said excitedly.

  “W… what?” Christine asked, breathing hard. She must have not been used to running so much.

  “I think I know how to beat this guy.” Her plan was perfect. Absolutely perfect. There was no way it could fail. “Ufufufu…”

  Christine took one look at her friend.

  And then she shuddered and looked away.

  She had a very bad feeling about this.

  Brachña had lived for almost 500 years.

  Because of his age, he couldn’t retain his human form anymore. He’d simply grown so powerful that he could no longer keep it suppressed in human form. Despite this, he still wasn’t a match for higher-tiered yōkai like inu, tengu, oni, or even kitsune that had three or more tails.

  However, a two-tailed kitsune and her loli friend were easy pickings.

  Or so he’d thought.

  His current prey were incredibly resilient and hard to kill. He’d never met a two-tailed kitsune who was this strong. Weren’t kitsune with only two tails supposed to be incapable of using their elemental affinity? That’s what he’d been told, and yet, here was this brat, a two-tails, who could wield more celestial-based powers than some three-tailed kitsune! What was up with that?

  Then there was the loli. Wasn’t she supposed to be a yuki-onna? Yuki-Onna didn’t have fire powers; they had ice powers. Had Cien been wrong about her? Inu were supposed to be able to tell a yōkai by scent alone, and Cien was stronger than most inu. He couldn’t have been wrong, could he?

  And now they’d both gone into that cave. It was true that as a spider, he rather liked caves. They were dark and dank and a great place to lie in wait when hunting. However, this cave was unfamiliar. It took decades to make good lairs out of caves. Without having placed traps inside beforehand, he would be at a disadvantage.

  Yet, still, he moved forward, entering the cave with cautious footsteps. Even if they had entered first, he still had some advantages against them. Their vision would be hampered, the confining walls meant they wouldn’t have much room to maneuver, and while he would still have to contend with their fire and light-based abilities, so long as he got the drop on them, they should be easy kills.

  His multi-faceted eyes adjusted quickly to the darkness. Spiders perceived light differently than most other creatures. The dark cave walls glistened with droplets of condensation. There must be a stream, or perhaps even an underground riverbed, somewhere inside.

  His six spider legs carried him forward, the sounds of skittering feet echoing along the walls, resounding throughout the cave. Brachña kept his eyes peeled for his quarry. They had to be inside of here somewhere. The question was where…

  A flash of red caught his eyes. It quickly disappeared around a curve. Brachña followed, moving swiftly yet cautiously. While his spider legs carried him inexorably forward, he busied his hands by notching an arrow that he pulled out of his mouth against his web-spun bow. He crept forward, peeking around the curve. Another flash of red caught his eyes, and he frowned as it disappeared around the next turn.

  He hurried around the next corner. The tunnel opened up into a cavern. It wasn’t terribly big, about 200 square feet in total. His prey stood several yards away, her back pressed against the wall. It wasn’t the
redhead he’d been expecting. It was the girl in the lolita dress.

  Brachña frowned as he raised his bow, as if to shoot her down right there. “Where is your friend? The fox girl?”

  Christine looked at him with terrified eyes for a second, and then, inexplicably, she grinned.

  “Above nyou.”

  “What?!”

  “Gomu Gomu no Extension!”

  Brachña cried out in pain as two tails tried to crush him. They must have been reinforced with a lot of youki, because it felt like he’d been hit by a pair of battering rams. He could feel his abdomen compressing as it was pushed between the two tails and the floor. The sharp, rocky surface cut into his flesh. Blood ran like a river as the bottom of his abdomen was ripped open.

  “How do you like that?!” Lilian cheered. “That’s my super stealthy ninja att—kya!”

  Brachña roared in fury. Spinning around, he smacked Lilian away with one of his legs. The two-tails flew backwards to slam into a wall, her head cracking against the hard stone.

  “Lilian!” Christine screamed as Lilian fell to the floor in a crumpled heap.

  She didn’t have time to do much more, as Brachña turned back toward her. Standing on his six spider legs that jutted from his back, his multi-faceted eyes sitting on an almost human looking face, which, in turn, was attached to a slightly anthropomorphic body, made him look like an abomination come to life.

  Webs shot from his mouth. Christine scrambled out of the way, the webs hitting the wall behind her, spreading out and sticking like glue.

  He turned again as she tried to run, thrusting out one of his hands to stab her through the chest. Out of instinct, Christine sent a burst of fire at him, striking him in the face and making him stumble back with a roar.

  “Damn you! Damn you, damn you, damn you!”

  Brachña couldn’t see anymore. His eyes had been burned and forced close. They were melting! She had melted his eyes! Growling in anger and pain, he attacked her again, using his ability to sense shifts in the ground to attack.

  He was going to kill this bitch good!

  Christine screamed as a claw almost impaled her. She ducked, avoiding it, but even so, she could still feel the air as it rushed over her head.

  If nyi don’t do something soon, nyi’ll really be killed!

  “I’m gonna murder you!”

  The spider demon aimed his bow at Christine. His first shot went wide, but his second was much closer to home. Christine felt it whiz past her head, and a sharp pain on her cheek made her realize how close it had come to hitting her.

  In desperation, she threw a blast of fire at him. However, that same desperation made her attack weak. Rather than a roaring inferno, it was merely a burst of cinders that splashed harmlessly against the spider’s hide.

  “Pathetic. What happened to that power you wielded earlier? Did you lose heart when I hurt your friend? How weak.”

  “Shut up!”

  Christine sent a wave of fire at the arachnid, but instead of hitting him, it went through him. It was like he’d become a ghost.

  “W-what the—?!”

  “This is where you die,” a voice said from above her.

  Christine looked up. Her eyes widened in horror. There, standing on the ceiling, was the yokai, his bow aimed right at her.

  She was going to die.

  “Celestial Art: Heaven’s Prison.”

  Planes of swirling lights, like miniature galaxies, appeared around the creature. The spider yōkai sensed the shift in the atmosphere, but he didn’t have any time to react before chains shot from within the celestial planes of energy. Each chain wrapped around one of his limbs; his arms, his legs, his abdomen. They tightened around him, pinning his limbs to his body.

  “What is this?! Let me go! When I get out of these, I’m gonna kill you!”

  “Christine!”

  Blinking, Christine looked over to see Lilian, blood dripping down her face, kneeling on the ground and staring at her.

  “Christine, now’s your chance! Hit him with everything you’ve got!”

  Knowing better than to argue, Christine did just that. She gathered her energy into her hands, which ignited, becoming engulfed in bright blue flames. Pressing her hands together, the two flames combined, then erupted from her hands as a massive cylinder.

  “Nya, take this!”

  The conflagration quickly overtook the spider demon, who was unable to do anything as the flames swept over him. Christine heard his screams, but she ignored them and continued pouring everything she had into her attack. Only after she’d run completely out of youki did she allow the fires to die down.

  The yokai was dead. She understood that much from a single glance. His body, blackened and charred from the intense fire she’d unleashed, stood on the ceiling, unmoving, face set in a scream of anguish. Several pieces flaked off, and then, as if it was a domino effect, his body crumbled into ash.

  Christine felt sick. She’d never killed anyone before. The idea that she’d just taken a life made her stomach rebel. Even consoling herself with the knowledge that it had been either them or him didn’t really help.

  I… I can’t believe how easy it was to kill him. Should killing really be this easy?

  A pair of arms slid around her shoulders, and a set of large breasts rested against the back of her head.

  “It’s tough, isn’t it?” Lilian said. Christine sniffled and nodded. Lilian tightened her hug, and Christine accepted it, even though a part of her felt like she should push the other girl away.

  “Does it ever get easier?” she asked.

  “Hm, not really,” Lilian admitted. “I’ve had to kill several times already, and each time I feel sick to my stomach. Although I’ve grown somewhat used to it by now, I’m not sure if that’s a good thing. Kevin has it worse.” She added after a moment. “I guess it’s because he’s human, or maybe because he’s too kind, but he becomes withdrawn whenever he is forced to kill people.”

  “Oh… I didn’t know that.”

  “Well, of course not. How could you when it’s been so long since we’ve seen each other?”

  “Good point.”

  “My points are always good.”

  “Don’t get a big head now.”

  “Hawa.”

  The world grew silent again. The only sound within the cave was that of their breathing.

  Christine closed her eyes, taking more comfort in Lilian’s arms than she felt comfortable admitting. She also felt somewhat guilty, though, because she wished it was Kevin holding her in his arms and not Lilian.

  “We should get going,” Lilian said after a while.

  “Right.”

  Lilian unwrapped her arms from around Christine, and the two vacated the cave. Christine stole several glances at Lilian, whose face was surprisingly stoic. The redhead’s expression, normally so open and easy to read, had become an impenetrable mask. She wondered when that had happened, but she guessed that, with all of the dangerous situations her friend had been through, this change had come about out of necessity.

  “Is there something on my face?” Lilian asked upon noticing her stare.

  Christine looked away, her cheeks aflame. “N-nyo. I was just thinking.”

  “Oh, okay.”

  Silence ensued for a time, but not for long.

  “By the way,” Lilian began, “did you really say nya back there?”

  Poof! Steam rose from Christine’s face, which had turned completely red, except for her cheeks, which were blue.

  “S-shut up!”

  “What? There’s nothing wrong with it. I think it’s cute.”

  “I said shut up! Shut up, shut up, shut up, shut up! I don’t wanna hear it!”

  “Ufufufu, it’s been awhile since I’ve seen your tsundere act.”

  “Y-y-y-you! I’ll kill you, fox!”

  For the rest of their time walking, Lilian mercilessly teased Christine, who was too busy acting tsundere to think about the battle that had just conc
luded.

  Inu are mostly close-range fighters. They have great strength, and even greater speed.

  Kevin reviewed everything he knew about inu. His teacher was one, so he knew quite a bit, just like he knew how most inu did not have Kiara’s strength. Among her kind, his teacher was considered to be on a level of her own, and very few ever reached that level. While it wouldn’t make this battle any easier, that thought comforted him.

  “I’m surprised,” the inu said. “Your heartbeat is perfectly even, and your breathing is steady. Are you not afraid?”

  “I’ve faced death too many times to be afraid, and I’ve fought yōkai far stronger than you.” Kevin grinned, his lips twisting in a manner eerily similar to Kiara’s smile. “Compared to them, you’re just a pup.”

  The inu’s left hand twitched. “Is that so? Hehehe, I guess I should let you know who you’re dealing with then. Maybe once you realize how hopeless your situation is, you’ll think differently.”

  “I doubt it,” Kevin said, raising his two guns, black and silver, and aiming them at the inu. “However, you’re more than welcome to try.”

  “My name is Cien,” the inu said, bending his knees. “You should know the name of the yōkai who’s going to kill you.”

  Where have I heard those words before? Kevin pondered. It must have been in an anime.

  Well, you do watch a lot of them.

  “That’s true.”

  “Pardon?” Cien said.

  Kevin blinked. “Huh?”

  “What did you just say?” Cien asked.

  Kevin frowned. “I didn’t say anything.”

  “Yes, you did. I heard you say something.”

  “I’m sure you’re just hearing things.”

  “I am not. You just said ‘that’s true’!”

  “If you know what I said, then why are you asking me about what I said?”

  Cien’s scowl told Kevin that his opponent was getting really riled up. That could be a good or bad thing, depending on Cien’s overall disposition.

  “Just forget it. I have no more interest in talking to you!”

  It might be a bad thing that he’s angry!