A Fox's War

by Brandon Varnell

  Cocky bastard.

  “You can think whatever you want. Having you look down on me like this will make it all the sweeter when I break your face on my fist,” Kiara snarled.

  “I see that you haven’t lost your confidence.” Kanya chuckled. “That’s fine. It’ll make defeating you so much more enjoyable.”

  While she didn’t want to admit it, Kiara reluctantly had to acknowledge that things weren’t going in her favor. She still had plenty of youki left to use, and she could certainly keep fighting for a good while yet, but none of that mattered.

  How can I land a hit on him if he can predict my every move? The only way he’d be able to not predict me is…

  Kiara stopped thinking. She had her answer, but she didn’t want to think it. Glancing around, she saw that Phoebe and her group were taking on the onikuma. They seemed to have things well in hand. She could leave the bear to them.

  “Have you given up?” Kanya asked, his ugly grin making her face turn green. “Come on, it’s no fun if you don’t… don’t…” Kanya trailed off as his eyes widened.

  A giant bear yokai fiercely embraced him, his massive and hairy lips puckered as he went in for a kiss.

  The image invaded his mind before he could stop it. As a result of being so distracted, he almost missed Kiara’s right hook and just barely managed to slither out of the way.

  “I don’t know how you managed to get the better of me,” Kanya snarled, “but this time, I won’t be so… so…”

  A massive three-headed dog dry humped his leg.

  Kanya stumbled as his mind was assaulted by another strange vision. Kiara grinned. Then she punched him in the face. Hard.

  Kiara didn’t think she had ever felt more satisfied than she did now. Feeling her fist break into the nozuchi’s face, listening to the sound of crunching cartilage, and watching as her foe soared backwards like a comet was easily in her top ten list of most cathartic activities ever.

  As a massive cloud of dust exploded into the air, clogging the airways, Kiara stalked forward like a predator stalking their prey. She moved confidently but warily. This could easily be a trap. Yet even as she thought this, she erased the thought from her mind and replaced it with something unpleasant—the former principle of Desert Cactus High School in his underwear and nothing else.

  Before she could reach the dust cloud that Kanya’s impact had kicked up, the yokai in question burst out and tried to bite her. It was clearly a desperate gambit. It was also ineffective. Kiara grabbed Kanya’s head, clenching it with her fingers, squeezing his skull like one might do when slowly crushing a grape.

  “I’ve figured out your power,” Kiara said, wearing a massive grin. “You see, I was really confused when you kept reading my moves and finishing my sentences. I’ve never heard of a power like that before. Then I remembered what you did to me during your first attack. You didn’t kill me, even though you had the perfect opportunity to do so. This leads me to believe that you don’t have to strength to outright kill someone with your first attack.”

  “Gurk!” Kanya groaned as Kiara squeezed his head harder.

  “This made me wonder why you’d attack me when you have no hope of winning. Then I remembered how you stabbed me during your first attack. It wasn’t a very deep wound, which made me dismiss it at first, but then I thought to myself: ‘what if stabbing me in the chest had a purpose?’ And that’s when I realized it. You didn’t stab me because you thought I would die. You did it because you needed my blood. By ingesting my blood, you could establish a link between us, which is what allowed you to read my mind and predict my actions.”

  Kanya, his head turning purple as his blood pressure rose, asked, “How… how…?”

  “How did I figure out a way around it?” Kiara grinned. “That’s easy. I just realized that if you were reading my mind, then all I needed to do was think of something that would distract you. I have a friend who’s something of a pervert, and those kinds of thoughts always make the best distractions. Now, I think I’ve talked enough. Normally, I’d let you go, since you clearly can’t fight anymore. However, we’re at war, so I’m afraid I can’t do that this time.”

  Kanya’s eyes widened. “No, wait—”

  Kiara squeezed, and Kanya’s head, which had been gripped firmly in her hand, suddenly exploded. The nozuchi’s body dropped to the floor, wiggling like a, well, like a headless snake, she supposed. It spasmed for several more seconds before going still.

  Sighing, she wiped off the bits of blood, bone, and brain matter that covered her hand. With her own personal battle over, Kiara looked around. Mack and Heather had come with reinforcements, the yama uba had defeated the onikuma, and the Yamata Alliance was in full retreat. The battle was over.

  “Kiara-san…”

  Hearing her name being called, Kiara turned around to find Kotohime and two members of the squad that she’d taken on patrol walking toward her. The four-tails looked a little worse for wear. Her clothing was torn, part of her breasts was exposed, and there was a large gash on her kimono that revealed a good portion of her left leg. She also walked with a stoop, as if her body was being weighed down by exhaustion.

  “It looks like I wasn’t the only one who got into a fight.” Kiara masked her relief at seeing Kotohime behind a cocky grin.

  “What is our current situation?” asked Kotohime.

  Kiara shrugged. “We won, though our base has taken some damage. Not to mention that anyone can now find us with the barrier gone. We might have been victorious here, but we’re still in a troublesome situation.”

  “Yes, and with the Four Saints no longer present, we have no one who is powerful enough to remake the barrier.” Kotohime grimaced.

  “Well, let’s worry about that later,” Kiara said at last. “For now, I think our priority should be driving off the remaining forces. We’ll worry about what we should do about the barrier after we’ve secured the area.”

  “You are correct,” Kotohime agreed.

  Since their work was not quite finished, Kiara and Kotohime regained their wits and joined Mack and Heather. Light appeared on the horizon as morning came to Phoenix.

  Hebi had already broken the seals in the north, south, and east, which meant there was only one seal left for him to break before he could regain his full power: The west.

  The western seal was located in Northern California, far from any form of civilization. It was a mountainous region with thick forests and several small lakes. The fresh scent of hundreds of different flora filled the air, adding a calming atmosphere to the already idyllic scene. Hebi thought it was boring.

  “Come along, Kushinada—I’m sorry, I mean, Kandice.”

  Kandice glared at him with an expression that could have melted steel. He’d noticed it after he’d broken the first seal, but she seemed to be getting more imperious as time went on. Her expression had become more refined, her movements more elegant, more mature. He never dwelled on Kandice for long, though. Only one thing mattered to him.

  He pulled on the chain that was attached to a collar on Kandice’s neck, forcing the girl to follow him as he slithered across the terrain. According to the information that his snake skin clone had given him, the entrance to the seal was located on top of a mountain. That meant that he and Kandice had to hike through the mountain range. While this wasn’t a problem for him, Kandice didn’t have the stamina for such a hike. She was breathing heavily hours into their trekking.

  “You really are a weak girl, aren’t you? Weren’t you supposed to be a top athlete or something at your school? How could you have so little stamina?”

  “S-shut up,” she grumbled. “This is all your fault.”

  “Hn. I suppose it is.”

  Because he needed Kushinadahime to have enough strength to break the seal, he allowed the girl her rest. This caused their journey to slow significantly. While it was frustrating, Hebi put up with it, and they eventually reached the mountaintop where the seal was located.

  Four
people were waiting for him. They stood side by side. A tall man with a muscular build and spiky hair had his arms crossed over his chest. The woman to his left, her form full of feminine curves, glowered at him with her bright yellow eyes. An old man with a stooped back and a monkey tail appeared calm on the outside, but he could sense the boiling emotions inside. Standing as far from him as possible was a blond-haired woman who looked like a little girl.

  Hebi grinned. “Well, now, if it isn’t my dearest and most hated enemies. It has been a long time since we’ve all been gathered together like this. I should have realized you would be waiting for me after I broke the first seal.”

  With a voice like rolling thunder, Davin said, “Hebi… no, Yamata no Orochi, this is as far as you go. We’re going to end you here.”

  “Do you think you can?” Yamata no Orochi asked with a grin. “I am not one to brag often, but the last time we fought, I never used my full strength.”

  “The last time we fought, you were sealed,” Orin pointed out.

  “I was also arrogant,” Yamata no Orochi shot back. “I didn’t think a couple of weak yokai like yourselves could do anything to me. I’m not going to hold back like last time.”

  Yamata no Orochi unleashed all of his not-inconsiderable power. The Four Saints tensed as the oppressive feeling of the serpent’s youki slammed into them. Their knees buckled as the feeling of gravity increasing overcame them, yet they remained standing.

  “How impressive of you to stand even after being confronted with my power. Then again, that was but a pittance of the power I wield,” the Yamata no Orochi chuckled. His body had changed. He no longer looked like a man with a snake’s lower body. Long and sinewy, spanning at least several hundred yards, the Yamata no Orochi had the appearance of a massive, silver-scaled serpent. Kushinadahime, who stood next to him, paled as she looked up at his massive form.

  “Come,” the Yamata no Orochi rumbled. “Show me your mettle, so that I can prove your inferiority to me.”

  In response to the Yamata no Orochi’s transformation, the Four Saints also transformed. Limbs expanded, muscles grew denser, and bodies lit up with imperious flames. Davin, a massive fifty-foot dragon with glistening red scales; Orin, a giant ape with brown fur and a muscular figure; Kuroneko, a giant black cat with glowing yellow eyes; Sarah, a phoenix whose entire body was wreathed in flame.

  Four great beings stood against one. An overwhelming pressure filled the air, causing the ground to crack and rumble. It seemed almost absurd for these four powerful yokai to unleash their true forms to fight against one being, but even so…

  The Yamata no Orochi never lost his scaly smile.

  Kevin, Christine, Lilian, and Iris all sat on the floor in front of an irate Kotohime. Mack and Kiara were also present, though they stood in the background and let the esteemed maid deal with him and the others. Justin would have been with them, but he was sleeping.

  “I do not know what to think about all this,” Kotohime said at last, after giving them a staredown that made their shoulders slump as if an unusual pressure was pushing on them. “While I understand why you did it, there is still a reason that we have the evacuation protocols put in place. Had we not been enough to fight off the Yamata Alliance, all of you would have found yourselves completely overwhelmed by enemy forces.”

  “Yeah, but—”

  “Do you have something important to say, Kevin-sama?”

  In the face of Kotohime’s gloriously terrifying smile, Kevin could only sit back down. “… No.”

  “Good. Now, I want you to think about what I just said.”

  Kotohime turned around and walked away from the shamefaced children. While a small part of her felt bad for playing the stern punisher, the other part knew that they needed to think about their actions.

  She, Mack, and Kiara all went outside, leaving the children to their ruminations so they could converse without being overheard.

  “Are you sure that was necessary?” asked Kiara. “I know that Mack and I told them not to get involved with the battle above, but we never said they had to make for the shelters. Besides, if they hadn’t gone to the hospital, Justin would have been killed, and we wouldn’t have his expertise on the Sons and Daughters of Humanity.”

  “I am not saying what they did was wrong,” Kotohime responded mildly. “I would just like them to think about the consequences of their actions more closely.”

  “I’m with Kotohime on this one. Just because they saved someone this time doesn’t mean that will always be the case. The next time something like this happens, they might not be so lucky.”

  “Still, you know that Kevin and the others are a talented bunch of brats,” Kiara pressed.

  “No one is denying their strength, least of all me,” Kotohime amended. “They’ve been sent on a number of dangerous assignments and succeeded where an adult might have failed. However, you and I both know that there is a difference between going on a mission and being attacked within your own home.”

  “Fair enough.” Kiara conceded.

  With that part of their conversation over, Kotohime turned to the usagi. “Now, please explain more about the information that you have on the Sons and Daughters of Humanity.”

  “It will be a while before we have anything definite,” Mack said. “I’m enlisting the help of our intelligence division. They were all people whose original job was to keep humans from finding out about us. There’s several decades worth of information on the drive, so it will take a while for them to sort through it, but I’m hoping to have something that can help us defeat the Sons and Daughters of Humanity, or at least force them into a stalemate with us, by the end of this week.”

  After speaking for a little while longer, discussing potential theories and determining that there was nothing they could do until they had the full picture, Kiara and Mack parted ways. Kotohime stood outside of the doorway until they had disappeared. She went inside and saw that the children were still sitting where they had been when she lectured them.

  “You four can go to your room now,” Kotohime said.

  “About that…” Kevin scratched the back of his head. “Justin is using the bed, so I don’t have anywhere to sleep.”

  That’s right. Lilian-sama and Iris-sama have been sleeping in the living room with Christine-san while Kevin-sama has been taking the bed.

  “Then I suppose there is no choice but for you to also sleep in the living room,” Kotohime said.

  Kevin squirmed in place. “I don’t know if that’s such a good idea…”

  “Why not?” asked Lilian. “I think it would be awesome! You can join us in our slumber party!”

  “B-but slumber parties are things that girls do,” Kevin whined.

  “Oh, please. Boys do the same thing,” Iris rebutted. “You just don’t call it that.”

  Kevin’s cheeks turned red. “A-as if! The only thing we do is hang out and play videogames until we’re so tired we pass out. That’s not the same thing.”

  “No, that is the same thing,” Christine told him. “That’s about what we’ve been doing every night. You guys just think you don’t do the same thing that us girls do.”

  “It’s sexist is what it is,” Iris added with a nod. She and Christine then bumped fists.

  As Kevin sputtered, an excited Lilian leapt onto his back. “Now you can join us, Beloved!”

  Kotohime watched it all from a distance, smiling as she saw how well they got along. She prayed that moments like this one would eventually become an everyday occurrence again.

  The earth had been devastated. Mountains were no more, forests had become naught but ash, and the once glistening lakes were gone, destroyed by the battle that had taken place. Now, all that existed in this place that had once been beautiful and lush was a massive canyon.

  Yamata no Orochi stood in the center of this annihilated mountain range. No longer in the form of a massive snake, he was back in his human form. He stared up at the craggy cliff faces, which had repla
ced the rolling slopes. He was the only one present now. The others had been swallowed by the earth; Kuroneko lay buried underneath several hundred tons of rock, Orin had been crushed between his tail and a mountain, Sarah was lost when he’d tossed her into the lake and incinerated it for good measure, and Davin, the one that he hated the most, lay at his feet.

  “You see? I told you that you could never beat me if I ever got serious,” Yamata no Orochi said in a mocking tone. Davin did not answer him. Of course, given that his body had been ripped in half and his intestines were splattered all over the ground, that was not surprising.

  Observing his surroundings some more, the Yamata no Orochi frowned as he realized something.

  “With all of the landscaping I did, I no longer know where to find the shrine with the last portion of my power.”

  It must have been buried under one of those mountains that he’d destroyed. He had no doubt that the shrine had survived. It had been made to withstand his power, so it wouldn’t have any trouble withstanding this sort of destruction.

  “Come on, Kushinadahime,” he said. “We’re going to… find… find…?”

  Looking around him, Yamata no Orochi realized that Kushinadahime was not with him. It struck him then, in that moment, that Kushinadahime was not a goddess anymore. She was a human, and a human could not survive the wholesale destruction that had been unleashed here. Chances were good that she’d been crushed under several hundred tons of rubble. That meant she was dead.

  Anger unlike anything that he’d ever felt surged through him. It was fierce and virulent, surging through his body, overriding all of his senses. Blood ran down his fingers as his claws dug into his palms. He’d waited for over one hundred long years for Kushinadahime to be reincarnated. For her to have died now, on the cusp of him regaining all of his power, was the most frustrating thing to have ever happened. His rage boiled over and caused the ground to crack around him as his powerful youki surged out of his body.