A Fox's Mission

by Brandon Varnell

  Grabbing at the offending organ, Kotohime tossed it aside. Then her tails came to life. They picked up a light blue glow, and Kevin felt a shift in the atmosphere around them as moisture gathered.

  “Water Art: Healing Rain.”

  Water gathered over Kotohime’s head and turned into a sprinkle, much like the rain of spring. It cleansed her body of blood, mucus, and other viscous fluids. It also forced Kevin to plug his nose. While he wasn’t like Eric, he was still a straight male, and the sight of Kotohime’s bountiful body sparkling with thousands of raindrops was truly a wondrous sight to behold.

  “My eyes are up here, Kevin-sama.”

  “Ga!” Kevin jerked back as if scalded. “S-sorry!”

  “Do not concern yourself with that right now. You should be focusing more on what is happening around you and less on my bosoms.”

  “I said I’m sorry, okay?! I’m not made of stone, you know!”

  “Ufufufu, I was merely teasing you, Kevin-sama.”

  “You didn’t sound like you were teasing.”

  “Ah! Beloved, should I get naked too?”

  “You stay clothed!”

  “Hawa.”

  As Kevin placed a hand against his forehead, trying everything in his power not to imagine a naked Lilian, Iris and Christine wandered up to them.

  “Oh, it looks like everyone’s back together again—except for the dog. I hope he was eaten.”

  “You really don’t like dogs, do you?” Christine said.

  Iris shrugged. “Is it that obvious?”

  Christine shrugged off Iris’s obvious sarcasm and stopped beside Kevin and Lilian. “I-I’m glad to see that you two are okay. You’re not hurt, are you?”

  “We’re fine,” Kevin said. “What about you? How are you feeling?”

  “I-I’m okay.” Christine looked at the ground. She drew circles in the rubble with her slipper shoes. “W-were you worried about me?”

  Kevin knew there was a double meaning there. He feigned ignorance, for her sake as much as his. “Of course, I was worried about you.”

  “Nya ha ha, I’m glad to hear that, Studmuffin!”

  “Studmuffin?”

  “N-nothing!” Christine squeaked. “I didn’t say anything!”

  “Really? But I could’ve sworn you said—”

  “YOU HEARD NOTHING!”

  As Kevin tried to figure out what the best response would be, Lilian placed a hand on his shoulder. “Just pretend you didn’t hear anything, Beloved.”

  “Um, okay.” Kevin agreed readily enough. It would probably be safer for his mental health to pretend Christine hadn’t said anything anyway.

  “What about me, Stud?” a grinning Iris said, wrapping her arms around one of his and pulling it into her cleavage. “Were you worried?”

  “Not in the least.”

  “How rude.”

  “Kevin Swift,” Polydora interrupted their banter, stepping forward. “I… well…”

  “Is something wrong, Polydora? Your face looks like someone took a blow torch to it,” Kevin said.

  Iris’s eyes gained a glint. “I bet it’s because she’s thinking of taking you behind that pile of debris and banging you senseless.”

  “I am not! Shut up, vixen!” Polydora coughed into her hand. “Kevin Swift, I—well, that is, I wanted to t-thank you. Although it pains me to admit it, without your help, My Lady Phoebe would have never been rescued.”

  “You’re welcome,” Kevin said. “But you don’t really need to thank me for that. Phoebe’s my friend too. I wasn’t about to let some creepy snake man hold her prisoner if I could save her.”

  “Y-yes, of course.”

  “Speaking of creepy snake men,” Kotohime intervened, “where did Hebi go?”

  “Maybe he ran off,” Iris and Euryale suggested at the same time.

  “Oh, no,” a voice said, “I didn’t run off anywhere. In fact, I am right here.”

  Kevin didn’t even have enough time to be shocked before he and everyone else were sent crashing to the ground as an unimaginable and potent killing intent filled the air.

  Chapter 13

  The Eight-Headed Snake

  Kevin didn’t think it was possible, but the killing intent pushing down on him seemed to be even more powerful than Shinkuro’s indomitable aura. It felt like earth’s gravity had suddenly increased all around him. Kevin was slowly being crushed by the unfathomable pressure of Hebi’s intent, his desire to kill. Being locked into a metal box and dropped into the Mariana Trench would have been less painful.

  My mind screamed in horrendous agony as eight massive serpent heads bit into eight different parts of my body and slowly ripped me apart.

  Visions of death returned, much like the last time, except they were even more powerful this time. He saw himself being ripped to shreds, saw himself being eaten whole, saw eight massive snake heads pulling him apart, he saw and saw and there was so much to see and there was so much death, his death, and he couldn’t take it anymore and if he saw anymore then he just might—

  “B-Beloved…”

  Gasping, Kevin sucked in oxygen for a breath that he hadn’t realized he’d needed. His vision returned. The world gained clarity once more. He was lying on his stomach. Dirt clung to his cheek, which he realized was because he’d been drooling. Each time he inhaled, dust was sucked into his nose, making him cough. He blinked some more, wondering why he’d suddenly snapped out of his deathly visions.

  And that’s when he saw her. Lilian, lying on her side, whimpering in pain and fear. No doubt she was also a recipient of her own visions. This killing intent was all-encompassing, an area-wide attack meant to subdue more than just him. He didn’t know what she was seeing, but whatever it was made her body shake. Her bloodshot eyes were wide. Her left hand was outstretched, as if she’d been reaching for something before going catatonic.

  Lilian…

  The visions continued to bombard him, his mind remained plagued by the sight of his own death playing behind his eyes like a movie, but he still moved. Grunting, he twitched his hand, slowly edging it across the space between him and Lilian. He felt it when he made contact. The texture on his skin changed from the coarse ground to the silken softness of Lilian’s skin. He placed his hand over hers and gripped it fiercely, as if afraid that it would disappear the moment he let go.

  Lilian.

  He couldn’t talk. His throat had long since become closed. All he could do was clench her hand and call out to her inside of his mind.

  Lilian. Come on. Talk to me. Look at me. I can’t… I can’t do this without you.

  Kevin didn’t know if his will, his desire, reached her. All he knew was the relief washing through him when she returned his grip on her hand. All he saw was her hand turning over to grab his, and her eyes regaining coherence, becoming sharper and more aware.

  “Be… loved…”

  Somehow, hearing her voice gave him the strength to talk. “Hey… you… okay?”

  “No…”

  “… Me neither…”

  “Oh? What is this?” a voice asked above them. “You’re able to move. How intriguing. To think that the human would be the only one capable of moving, while the rest of you remain inert. Tsk, tsk, tsk. How very disappointing.”

  Kevin stiffened when a shadow appeared over him and Lilian. For some reason, the shadow this man cast did not resemble the man known as Hebi, but instead looked like a snake with eight heads. He looked up to see Hebi looming before him, looking down at him with a disturbing gleam in his eyes.

  Hebi knelt down, grabbed Kevin by the hair, and pulled him up until their faces were almost touching. Lilian weakly tightened her grip on Kevin’s hand and called out his name, but it was barely above a whisper.

  “I have killed humans with nothing but a glance, so how is it that you’re still conscious right now?” he asked. Kevin moved his lips but no sound came out. Leaning in, Hebi frowned. “What was that?”

  “Be… because…”

/>   “I’m sorry what?” Hebi leaned down further.

  Kevin gritted his teeth. “Because fuck you! That’s why!” he shouted, and then bit down on Hebi’s ear.

  “Gyaaa!”

  Hebi shrieked. Blood pooled into Kevin’s mouth, traveling down his throat and making him cough. However, he refused to let go.

  “Let go!”

  A snake shot from Hebi’s trench coat and bit him. The bodysuit was pierced as a set of sharp fangs penetrated his soft flesh. Kevin released a muffled cry of pain but refused to relinquish his grip.

  “Let go now!”

  More snakes bit into Kevin’s flesh. He could feel their fangs sinking into his skin. The venom they injected was like lava in his bloodstream. His body was weakening. Muscles seized up, then loosed. His heartbeat was slowing down. Everything was getting blurry. Still, he struggled. He couldn’t afford to lose. He couldn’t; Lilian… she needed him… so he… had… he needed to…

  “Ikken Hisatsu. Suiryoku.”

  Hebi dropped Kevin to the ground and leapt back as something powerful and swift was thrust into the space where he’d been standing. Blinking his eyes, trying to rid himself of the blurriness in his vision, Kevin saw something indistinct standing above him. He was sure that he’d seen this something before. What was it? Why couldn’t… he…

  Kotohime stood over Kevin’s body. The young man’s pale skin seemed almost translucent. Sweat had broken out on it. His eyes were wide open but staring at nothing. Puncture holes littered his body, too numerous to count. She saw his chest rising and falling, but his breathing was growing shallow and getting slower. If something wasn’t done soon, he would die.

  “Kevin!”

  Screaming out his name, Lilian crawled to Kevin. She scraped at the ground, digging her fingers into the rubble, crawling in the dirt. She was fortunate that she wasn’t very far. It only took a second for her to reach him, but that single second must have felt like a lifetime.

  “Lilian-sama,” Kotohime spoke calmly but quickly. “Kevin-sama has been poisoned. You need to heal him by destroying the poison before it can reach his heart. I would do it, but it seems that I am about to become busy.”

  Kotohime didn’t know if Lilian had heard her, but she had no more time to pay attention to her ward.

  Raising her katana, Kotohime slashed down and cut a snake in half. As blood splashed against her naked body, she spun around and made horizontal cuts in the air, slicing through another snake. Six more snakes came at her and six more snakes were cut apart. However, these snakes exploded when she cut them. Kotohime hissed as acid splattered all over her, eating at her skin. She was forced to divert some youki from her reinforced muscles to heal the wounds.

  And then Hebi was there, in front of her, grinning. Kotohime didn’t even have enough time to raise her katana before something slammed into her chest.

  Her eyes bulged as she was sent flying. She struck the ground after feeling a second of weightlessness. Struggling against the pain, she flipped around and landed back on her feet—only to scream when two snakes sank their fangs into her collar bone. Venom flooded into her bloodstream, weakening her. She was resistant to poisons thanks to her River Kitsune blood, but even she was not immune.

  Her legs weakened and she fell to her knees. Numbness spread through her body. This poison, it must have been a paralytic poison.

  Something hard smacked into her nose. She heard, more than felt, her nose breaking underneath the assault. She rolled over and struggled to get up, but several more fangs sank into her back, and with them, she felt more of the paralysis venom being injected straight into her bloodstream.

  Hebi appeared above her. “I see that boy’s actions snapped you out of your fear. I wonder, was it your love for him that allowed you to act, or your pride as a yōkai that made it possible for you to stand?” He shrugged. “I suppose it doesn’t matter.”

  Kotohime knew that she had to get up. If she didn’t get up, then there would be no one to protect Kevin and Lilian.

  “Don’t bother putting up a fight,” Hebi said, chuckling at what he must have perceived as her futile struggling. “There’s no point. That poison will—”

  Hebi stopped talking and leapt backwards. A spear passed through the air where he’d been standing. As his feet touched solid ground, he was forced to weave between several other weapons. A pair of tonfa tried to slam into his side, but he bent his body like a snake and avoided them. As his torso became stretched, a chain-link sword flew at him from above. Yet rather than go through him, the sword was dodged when his torso moved like it was boneless.

  “You’re. All. Too. Slow.”

  Grabbing the tonfa, Hebi pulled Polydora into his knee. As she gasped in pain, he leapt into the air and pushed against her, sending the woman flying. While he was in midair, he extended his foot and slammed his heel onto the spear. Menippe, who held the other end, stumbled forward as her weapon sank into the ground. Hebi then stretched out his foot and struck her in the stomach, launching her off her feet and into a parabolic arc.

  The chain-link sword came at him again, but this time Hebi grabbed onto the sword. Metal squealed as it was ground against his skin, which revealed itself to not be skin at all, but scales.

  “What an interesting weapon.” Hebi smiled at Androdaïxa. “It’s too bad I have to break it.”

  Clenching his hand into a fist, the sword shattered. Androdaïxa, her face showing surprise, stumbled forward, right into his spear-shaped hand, which went right through her armor and came out of her back. Gasping, Androdaïxa twitched on his arm, but soon went limp.

  “Androdaïxa!!” Polydora shouted as she rushed at Hebi.

  “Was this your friend? My, I am sorry,” Hebi chuckled. “Here, you can have her back.”

  Pulling his hand out of Androdaïxa’s chest, he grabbed the woman by her clothes and tossed her into Polydora, sending them both to the ground.

  Oïstrophe and Aspidocharme attacked Hebi in a pincer move. He took a single step back, and Oïstrophe’s mace cracked against the ground in front of him. Before she could recover, a snake wrapped around her throat, and with a grunt of exertion, Hebi yanked her into Aspidocharme’s path. Before either of them could recover, a pair of snakes shot out from within his trench coat and bit the pair in the throat. They gurgled as blood drizzled down their necks and fell to the ground, spasming as they were injected with a fatal dose of venom.

  “Oïstrophe! Aspidocharme! Damn you!” Polydora screamed as she attacked Hebi with her tonfas, yet no matter how quickly she attacked or how many attacks she launched, he wove through them with a fluidity that wasn’t possible for anybody with bones. She was then sent skidding backwards when a foot crashed against her tonfas, which she had crossed in a guard position.

  “Are you angry?” Hebi asked, laughing. “Then why don’t you come here and take revenge on me for your friends?”

  Shrieking in rage, Polydora ran at Hebi. She attacked without an ounce of grace. Her movements were choppy and violent and ever so predictable. Hebi moved around them with the ease of thought. A pair of thrusts were avoided by sidestepping them. His trench coat rustled as Polydora tried to crack his skull open but missed when he shuffled backwards. As she came in with a scissors attack, he raised his arms and blocked. The tonfa bent.

  “What the—?!”

  Even when enraged, Polydora had the sense of mind to jump backwards. Thus, she avoided the same fate as her friends. Yet with her weapons broken, there was little she could, as it was apparent that hand-to-hand combat would not work against this man.

  And then, without warning, Hebi was right in front of her. “Hello, my dear.”

  Pained exploded in Polydora’s chest as she was sent to the ground. It felt like something had caused her ribcage to cave in. She sucked in a raspy breath, then shakily stood to her feet.

  “Bravo. Bravo.” Hebi clapped, and Polydora found it to be a very mocking sound. “You yama uba truly are a hardy group of yōkai—for a lower species,
at least.”

  Polydora growled. Hebi smiled.

  “Well, then, I think I’ll play with you for a little bit longer,” Hebi said seconds before attacking her again.

  Kevin woke up to droplets splashing against his face. Opening his eyes, he saw strands of fiery red silk falling like a curtain and brilliant emeralds shedding tears, which ran down porcelain skin.

  “Lilian,” Kevin slurred. Why did his tongue feel so numb?

  “I’m sorry, Beloved.” Lilian hicupped. “I couldn’t protect you. That man tried to kill you, and I couldn’t do a single thing to stop him.”

  What man is she talking about now? Oh, right. Hebi.

  Kevin’s hand felt like it was weighed down by lead, but he raised it anyway and cupped her cheek.

  “Lilian, don’t beat yourself up over something like this.”

  “But I—”

  “Were under the effects of his killing intent, which I know for a fact is very strong.”

  “It didn’t affect you,” she whispered.

  “Because he looks down on me,” Kevin said. “I’m a human, and it’s clear that he doesn’t hold a strong opinion of us humans. I’m pretty sure the reason I could move and you couldn’t was because his killing intent was more focused on you than me. The fact that you managed to move at all is a miracle. No one else could do even that much, not even Kotohime.” He smiled. “So be proud of yourself, all right?”

  Lilian hicupped as her lips twisted into a grimacing smile. “You really are too good to me.” She caressed his cheek.

  “I could say the same to you,” Kevin said. “Help me up, please.”

  Lilian helped Kevin sit up. He surveyed the scene before him. The yama uba, comrades that had traveled here with him, littered the ground. Some moved, some groaned, but others remained still, and that worried him. Polydora was fighting Hebi and losing badly. He slipped around her attacks like he wasn’t even trying, then attacked with twice as much force and speed. Polydora would get sent to the ground, then unsteadily climb to her feet and renew her assault. It was clear to Kevin that her opponent was just playing with her.