Two people stood over them, a pair of women. They were the ones responsible for subjugating the pair to this torture through the application of illusions designed to inflict harm upon the mind. The toad-like man who was in charge of them stood off to the side.
“Ngg! No. Oh, Gods! Please, no!”
While Phoebe suffered in silence, Heather squirmed and moaned, seemingly in agony.
The door creaked opened and a figure walked in. His long silver hair covered an effeminate face marred by glistening silver scales.
“Boss Orochi.” The torturer bowed to him.
Orochi raised a hand. “I think we should dispense with these formalities right now.”
“Sure thing, boss.”
“And I thought I told you to call me Hebi.”
“Right. My bad.”
“How are the prisoners? Have they spilled their secrets yet?”
“Not yet.” A disgruntled expression appeared on the torturer’s toad-like face. “We are currently in the process of interrogating them through the use of illusions, but they have thus far proven to be resilient even to mental torture.”
“NOOOOO!”
Hebi stared at the one known as Heather, who unleashed a frightful shriek. “I see, and what sort of illusions have they been subjected to thus far?”
“For this one, we are having her watch as the one thing she cherishes above everything else is taken away from her, over and over again in a never-ending loop,” the one standing by Phoebe said.
“A good plan.” Phoebe whimpered, and Hebi looked down at her. “Out of curiosity, what is the one thing that she fears losing?”
“The ability to bear children.”
A poignant pause followed that announcement.
“So I see.” Just then, Heather let out a loud shriek as if her illusion was making her feel physical agony. “And what of this one? What is she seeing?”
“She’s imagining a world where she can no longer peep on women.”
… An even more poignant pause followed this proclamation. Several crickets chirped. Somehow, they were heard even over Heather’s shrieking.
“Could you repeat that, please?” Hebi requested.
“I said she’s being subjected to a world where peeping on women is no longer possible,” the one who stood beside Heather repeated.
Hebi was at a loss. “You said a world where she can no longer peep on women?”
“Yes, Hebi.”
“Peep? As in spying on them while they’re naked?”
“That… seems to be the case.”
Hebi pondered this for a moment. He appeared to be at a loss.
“Well,” he began again, “I suppose some people are just deathly afraid of unusual issues…”
“NOOOO! DON’T TAKE AWAY MY BOOBIES!”
“… and some people are just very odd,” he concluded, his tone deadpan.
“I hadn’t even realized that Heather had gone missing,” Kevin murmured in shock.
“She went on her mission about two days after you left,” Kotohime said. “You couldn’t have known.”
“What’s Beaver Island like?” asked Lilian. “What does your base look like? How many levels does it have? Is it—”
“You sure do ask a lot of questions,” Cien growled. “You should learn to keep quiet.”
“And you shouldn’t act like a jerk when you’re surrounded by enemies,” Lilian spat. “I should Gomu Gomu you.”
“There will be no Gomu Gomuing of anyone,” Kevin said. “And you, stop using other people’s attack names.”
“But I like that name… it’s so cool…”
“It is not cool!”
“Hawa…”
“Please continue with your explanation, Inu-san,” Kotohime prodded the dog yōkai.
“Beaver Island used to have a small human population, but they were killed off when the Yamato Alliance decided to make it one of their bases.” Cien paused and looked at Kevin, but quickly shook off the malcontent the boy was releasing and continued. “I wasn’t there when that happened, but I hear that some of the humans were taken down to the dungeons and tortured for amusement.”
Kotohime placed a calming hand on Kevin’s shoulder, while Lilian and Iris each grabbed one of his hands. Christine looked like she wanted to grab something of his. She glared at Iris, who stuck out her tongue.
“I take it from your tone that you do not approve of what happened there?” Kevin asked.
Cien shrugged. “I do not agree with torturing humans for fun, if that’s what you’re asking. Mindless torture is not something that a warrior should partake in.”
“But joining a terrorist group is,” Iris said under her breath.
Cien sent her a fierce look that all but told her to shut up. “I wouldn’t expect a whore like you to understand the noble goals that we of the Yamata Alliance pursue.”
“I don’t see how killing humans is in any way noble,” Lilian retorted.
“And I’ll have you know that I’m not a whore,” Iris added. “I’m just really horny. What?” she asked when several people deadpanned at her.
“In either event, we are not here to debate the morals of the actions of certain individuals,” Kotohime said.
“Kotohime is correct,” Polydora said. “Tell us what you know of this prison holding Lady Phoebe and Heather.”
“It’s an underground prison,” Cien began, “though it might be more accurate to call it a base. It wasn’t really meant to hold many prisoners. There is a holding cell, however, located at the bottom level—sub basement five. That is where your friends should be.”
“How many yōkai are guarding it?” asked Kotohime.
“Not very many,” Cien admitted. “This is one of our smaller bases, so we don’t have much personnel there. I’d say about ten or twenty.”
“What’s the strength level of the guards there?” asked Kevin.
“Not very strong. Most of them are weaker than Brachña, the tsuchigumo that you two killed.” Cien pointed at Lilian and Christine. “The only ones you need to watch out for are the warden and his two henchwomen.”
“Henchwomen?” Polydora and the other yama uba perked up.
“They’re very powerful yōkai,” Cien continued. “The warden is a gama who’s been rumored to have lived for over five hundred years. The other two are a pair of twin jorōgumo. I do not know how powerful they are, but I do know they can craft very formidable illusions.”
“If they are jorōgumo, then they will also be adept at laying traps,” Kotohime added. “Unlike their male brethren, tsuchigumo, jorōgumo rely on their cunning instead of brute force to ensnare their prey. Illusions mixed with web-based entrapments are their specialty. They also possess a powerful venom that will gradually weaken a person, destroying their bodies from the inside out. It’s supposedly very painful.”
“Hmph, they don’t sound very tough,” Iris commented.
“Yeah, well, when you get trapped in their web and are insidiously killed by their venom, I’ll be sure to repeat those words you just said to you,” Cien shot back.
Iris opened her mouth to respond, but Kevin beat her to it. “I get that you don’t like Iris, but if you want to keep your tongue, don’t mention her being killed again. Got it?”
Cien grunted. “Yeah, I got it.”
Kevin nodded. “Good.”
“Look at you, Stud, getting all protective of me.” Grinning, Iris leaned up and planted a kiss on his cheek. “Just for that, I’m gonna give you a little something special after we’ve rescued Amazon Princess and the female perv.”
Kevin sighed. “I don’t know whether I should be excited or frightened.”
Iris’s lips quirked into a smirk that was dastardly sexy. “Both.”
“No flirting with my mate while we’re in the middle of a mission briefing, Iris.”
“Aw, come on, Lily-pad. You can’t expect me not to thank him for being so protective of little old me, can you?”
“Actual
ly, I can. You’re only doing it because you know it pisses off several people in this room.”
“Uhuhu, I guess you’ve got me there.”
“Besides,” Kevin added to their conversation, “we both know that if I hadn’t intervened, he would have said something even dumber than he did just now, and then you would have pranked him in some horrendous manner. I’m doing this for his sake as much as yours.”
“Liar,” Iris and Lilian said at the same time.
“Oh ho ho! You really are an interesting young man,” Orin spoke up for the first time since this meeting had begun. “I can see why Christine is so infatuated with you!”
“W-wha—I am not!” Christine shouted, then glanced at Kevin before turning her head again and poking her fingers together. “Kevin is just a friend and stuff… I-I mean, I do like him, but not like—it isn’t—what I mean is that—”
“I want to bang Kevin until my cervix is sore,” Iris said.
“Right. I want to bang Kevin until my—I-I-I do not! D-don’t put those words in my mouth, ya damn skank!” Christine shrieked.
“You wouldn’t have repeated what I said if you didn’t want it,” Iris teased.
Christine’s face spontaneously combusted. “Y-y-y-y-you! Die! Die now! Die a million times!”
The group watched silently as Christine chased Iris around the room, throwing ice spears and yelling obscenities.
“Perhaps we should adjourn this meeting for now, and come back when cooler heads prevail,” Kotohime suggested, clapping her hands together and smiling at everyone.
The group took one look at Christine, who was still trying to turn Iris into a pin cushion. Then they looked back at Kotohime. In eerie synchronization, everybody present nodded.
“Agreed,” they all said, even as Christine continued swearing like a sailor in the background.
“You know something? We have been spending way too much time in this hot spring,” Kevin declared to Cien and Orin, who were both lounging in the hot water with him. Kevin was surprised that Orin wasn’t trying to peep on the girls, but he guessed that, with Kotohime present, he was being cautious. Apparently, the saru had a better self-preservation instinct than Eric did.
“What are you blathering about now?” Cien asked. The inu leaned against a rock, trying to ignore Kevin.
“I’m saying that we’ve gone to the hot springs way too many times,” Kevin said. “Seriously, we’ve gone to the hot spring at least four or five times within the last seven chapters. Don’t you find something wrong with that?”
Cien looked at him like he was stupid. “What the hell are you talking about?”
“I’m talking about… um, huh? Wait. What was I talking about again?”
Clicking his tongue, Cien looked away with a disgruntled expression. “I can’t believe I lost to this idiot.”
“I resent that.” Kevin frowned at the inu. “I’ll have you know that I’m in the top five percentile for my school.”
“I don’t see what my defeat has to do with your intelligence.”
“You don’t go to school, do you?”
“Of course not, or did you forget that I was used as a guinea pig by those bastards in the Sons and Daughters of Humanity?”
“I didn’t forget,” Kevin said softly. “I just thought you might have tried to blend in after you escaped. Didn’t you even try to live a normal life and make friends?”
“Don’t be stupid,” Cien scoffed at him, as if the very idea that he would even want to live a normal life was absurd. “What purpose would there be in trying to live amongst humanity? Other yōkai did that, and look at where it’s gotten them. No, I would never bother doing something so stupid as to try and blend in with a group of feces throwing apes.”
“I feel like I should be insulted,” Orin said, “but somehow, the words of foolish children don’t sting like they used to.”
“What was that, old man? You wanna fight?!”
“If you tried to fight me, it would be a one-sided slaughter.”
“Yeah, for you!”
“If you never went to school, then what did you do after you escaped?” Kevin asked, interrupting the fight before it could escalate. He had a strange feeling that Orin was trying to provoke the inu into attacking him, but Kevin really wasn’t in the mood to see a fight break out.
“I trained for the day that we could eradicate humans once and for all,” Cien answered, gritting his teeth. “Every single day I trained myself until I collapsed. I pushed myself harder than anyone else to become the strongest yōkai…”
“Uh, Cien?” Kevin really didn’t like the look that Cien was giving him.
“So how? How the hell did a weak, pathetic human like you beat me?”
That was a question many yōkai had asked him. Before leaving for this mission, Kevin had sparred with several other yōkai who belonged to Monstrang’s forces, seeking to expand his knowledge of yōkai and come up with the best method to combat each one. After sparring with and defeating nearly two dozen yōkai bare-handed, he’d gained a bit of a reputation as the only human that could fight against yōkai one-on-one and win.
“Heh, do you honestly expect me to answer that?” Kevin asked, grinning.
“What was that?!” Cien stood up and snarled at him. “Are you picking a fight?!”
“Of course not.” Kevin waved the man off. “I’m merely saying that you can’t honestly expect me to tell a potential threat about my fighting style. If I were to do that, I might as well tell you every strength and weakness I have right now. It would amount to the same thing.”
“So, your ability to fight on par with yōkai has something to do with your style?” Cien asked, settling down. He raised his only remaining hand and cupped his chin. “I didn’t see anything unique or unparalleled about your style. It actually seemed pretty rough to me.”
Kevin shrugged, though he didn’t say any more on the subject. He didn’t intend to give this information out to anyone who didn’t already know. The more people who understood how his style of combat worked, the less effective it became. After all, even someone with a killer instinct could adapt if they realized it was that very instinct that allowed him to defeat them so handedly.
“Speaking of fighting,” Orin began, leaning forward as his face stretched into a contemplative leer, “just why do you fight?”
“Me?” Kevin asked, pointing to himself.
“Yes,” Orin nodded. “People fight for many reasons; power, prestige, a lust for battle, a desire to protect something. Throughout the course of history, those who fight always have a reason to fight—well, most of the time. What is your reason for fighting?”
“It’s not like my reason is all that complicated,” Kevin said with a shrug. “I fight so that I can return to the life I had been living before this war started.”
“Is that so?” Orin murmured.
“That’s right. Before all this, well, my life was actually kind of hectic even before this war,” Kevin admitted sheepishly. “That being said, I’d like it if Lilian, Iris, and I could live normal lives together.”
He leaned back and looked up at the sky. It was evening now, and the canvas above him was painted with color. The heavens, the domain of the gods, swirled with vibrant and artistic streaks of many hues. Pinks and purples mixed with reds and oranges, mixing together like the masterful strokes of a giant brush.
“I want to go to school with Lilian, Iris, and all of my friends. I want to grow up with them doing the things that kids like us should be doing. That’s why I fight.” He looked back down at Orin and a stunned Cien, his lips peeling back to reveal white teeth as he grinned. “I figured, even if my contribution doesn’t make much of a difference in the grand scheme of things, I can at least play my part in helping bring about those peaceful days again.”
“Kevin… you…”
“Huh?”
Kevin looked at Cien, who looked away.
“Nothing. Never mind.”
“Oh ho ho ho!”
Orin threw his head back and laughed. “What an interesting answer! Yes, you truly are an intriguing individual! Oh ho ho ho!”
Kevin and Cien both felt sweat trickle down their scalps as they watched Orin laugh like a loon.
“Man, he has the weirdest laugh ever,” Cien muttered.
“It reminds me of a bishoujo’s laugh,” Kevin added.
“A what?”
“… Never mind.”
The evening sky was beginning to get darker, and as the colors faded into a dark twilight, numerous stars began appearing.
Kevin sat with his friends and mate. Lilian leaned against his shoulder, and he’d wrapped an arm around her in return. Iris and Christine sat together. Christine was blushing, which might have been because the raven-haired beauty had wrapped the girl in her arms and tails. Kevin was honestly surprised the yuki-onna hadn’t exploded yet.
There’s steam coming out of her ears.
Christine noticed that he was looking at her. He sent her a smile, but it soon turned into a frown when she turned several shades of blue and looked away.
I really hope that’s not a sign that she still likes me.
Kevin really didn’t want to break the girl’s heart again. Christine was important to him. While he couldn’t measure her importance in comparison to others, the fact was that he’d gladly give his life for her if necessary. He liked her a lot. It hadn’t been a lie when he told her that if he and Christine had met first, he would have likely ended up dating her instead of Lilian.
“The rescue operation starts tomorrow, doesn’t it?” Christine broke the silence. She must have been uncomfortable.
“Yeah,” Kevin sighed. He glanced at Christine again. “Are you nervous?”
For a moment, Kevin thought Christine would regain some bluster and tell him something like, “Of course, I’m not scared, idiot!” or “Ha! Scared?! Why would I be scared?” When she didn’t, he actually became concerned.
“Christine?”
“I am a little scared,” Christine admitted. “It’s hard not to be. That fight Lilian and I got into with that tsuchigumo was frightening, and it was furious and fast and everything went by in a terrifying blur.” The tails coiled around her more tightly. Christine surprised him by snuggling into Iris’s embrace. “I don’t know how you three can do this without being afraid.”
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