Kevin had become used to fighting people who beat the crap out of him on a daily basis. He’d spent over seven months sparring with people who were faster, stronger, more experienced, and just plain better than he was.
This person, this kitsune, was none of those. He moved slowly. Each swing of his whip was drawn back with obvious intent. Even if his swings hadn’t been so ridiculously slow, Kevin would have still been able to dodge them with ease.
Because Kevin could see. He could see the minute twitching of muscles that told him where the attacks would land, and notice where the kitsune’s blue eyes flickered to as he planned to attack. This fox just did not have the mentality of a fighter.
Kevin sidestepped an attack, going left, though his movements looked sluggish and awkward. The liquid weapon left an indent in the pavement. For something made of water, it was surprisingly strong.
“Hold still you!” Ken snarled.
“You can’t honestly expect me to stay in one place and let you hit me, can you?” Kevin fired back, even as he clumsily danced away from the water whip. “That’s just stupid. No one’s going to stand around and let you beat them to death. Are you an idiot?”
“You’re the idiot!”
Ken attacked with increasing fury. However, while this made his strikes stronger, it also made them sloppier. They were even easier to dodge.
Kevin had seen enough. His opponent was riled up good, and he knew plenty about how the fox moved. It was time to close the distance.
He stopped moving like a drunken sailor, then put on a burst of admittedly impressive speed and dashed straight at his opponent in a full-on frontal assault.
The two-tailed kitsune’s eyes widened. The whip in his hand dissolved, and his tails curved around his body to point at Kevin. Water gathered at the tips, forming a sphere similar to Lilian’s light spheres only, well, it was made of water.
It was only one sphere. Kevin remembered what Lilian had told him, about how most kitsune with two tails didn’t have many specialized techniques. They lacked the youki and control necessary to use them. Lilian could use them, but that was because her celestial affinity was off the charts. This kitsune’s affinity for water was unlikely to be anywhere near as high.
“Water Art: Water Sphere!”
Kevin threw himself into a shoulder roll, wincing as his shoulder was jarred against the ground. The attack flew over his head and splattered against the wall behind him. Another sphere formed on the tip of Ken’s left-most tail. Kevin leapt back onto his feet and moved right, allowing the sphere to travel past him. Then he was within his opponent’s guard.
His first attack consisted of a swift double-punch. The fox tried to block it, but he was clearly no fighter, and both fists slipped through his guard. Two jabs to the kitsune’s solar plexus left the fox winded. While Ken was reeling backwards, Kevin set himself up for another attack.
When Kevin had told Kiara about the style that he wanted to create, she’d said that his fighting style was, “reckless at worst and suicidal at best.” She’d then given him a thumbs-up, grinned, and said, “I approve.”
Unfortunately, his fighting style was not complete yet. He’d been working on it for seven months, but it was still nowhere near ready. It was unlikely to be finished for another few years.
The style that he used in the meantime consisted of moving about like an awkward and clumsy fool, riling up his opponents so they wouldn’t be able to think straight, then blitzing them with attacks that took them out of the fight before they could recover. It didn’t work when fighting multiple opponents, or when facing someone with more experience, but against an inexperienced two-tails, it would do.
Kevin dashed again into his opponent’s guard. Then he turned sideways, presenting his profile to the kitsune. Bending his knees as he brought up his hands, Kevin put his right fist into his left palm, then pointed his right elbow at his foe’s stomach. He then used his new position to generate more force, shoving his elbow into Ken’s gut.
The kitsune doubled over, the expulsion of air quite loud. Kevin saw that Ken’s head was almost directly above his own. Grinning, he leapt up, slamming the crown of his head into the blond’s jaw.
“Gah!” a cry of pain escaped the surprised Ken’s mouth. He stumbled backwards, blood dripping down his chin. A shaking hand rose to his mouth, which came away stained in crimson. “This is blood! My blood! I’m bleeding!”
Kevin would have rolled his eyes, but he was already preparing his next attack: a flurry of punches that knocked Ken for a loop. Straights, jabs, hooks, and curves were thrown with equal ferocity. Each fist that hit echoed loudly in the solitude of the night, sounding like the distant rumbling of thunder. Kevin’s fox-eared opponent jerked back every time a fist slammed into him.
Noticing the way his opponent’s eyes had glazed over, Kevin decided that it was time to finish this. He lowered his body until his knees were almost touching the floor, turning around at the same time to present his back to Ken. He placed his hands firmly against the ground, fingers splayed wide for better stability. Then he kicked his feet into the air, the muscles in his arms, chest, and shoulders straining to keep his lower half elevated. Folding his legs until his knees touched his chest, Kevin prepared for the only move in his arsenal that had a cool name.
“Double Helix Drive!”
The Double Helix Drive was nothing special. It was, in essence, a mule kick using the ground as a means of putting more power into his attack. Really, there were only two reasons this name worked and didn’t sound like a child’s presumptuous attempt at sounding cool.
First: the name really was a surprisingly good attempt for Kevin, whose aptitude for naming things sucked.
Second: Kevin’s legs were really, REALLY strong.
It was like a shotgun going off at point-blank range. Ken’s eyes went impossibly wide as his entire body was launched up and away from Kevin. The kitsune made an almost graceful parabolic arc as he soared at least fifteen feet into the air, mouth open in a silent scream of agony, right up until the point where he smashed into the ground with an almost sickening crack.
He didn’t get back up.
Kevin climbed to his feet and walked over to the downed fox-man. A glance revealed that the blond’s eyes were rolled up into the back of his head, and his mouth was still open, as if to emphasize the overwhelming pain he’d felt before being rendered unconscious.
“Huh?” Confused, Kevin reached up with his right hand to massage his left shoulder. It felt kind of stiff. “Is that it?”
Perhaps it was because the last time he’d fought a kitsune, he’d nearly died, but he somehow expected a more difficult fight. This had been almost like fighting against a human, albeit, one who could control water to an extent.
This is… weird. I didn’t think I’d lose, but I never expected to win so easily.
Shaking his head, Kevin decided not to look a gift horse in the mouth. He needed to meet back up with Lilian and Kyle.
As Kevin began moving, he stumbled and almost fell flat on his face when the earth started to shake.
“What the heck?!” he shouted, his voice lost as several buildings a dozen yards from his position collapsed.
***
From the moment she realized that the assassin was a nekomata, nothing had been going right for Lilian. Every attack sent her way came within a hairbreadth of killing her. Several times she’d nearly been skewered by the sharp claws of her opponent. The only reason that she hadn’t died yet was because all the times she’d watched Kevin spar.
It was almost strange, but watching Kevin spar had given her a slight edge in combat. With all of the fighting she’d seen, Lilian had picked up the ability to notice the ebb and flow of battle. While nowhere near as talented as her mate, her observative mind still managed to pick up the nuances about a person that most people would miss: The twitching of muscles that signified an attack, the shifting of eyes that let her know where the attack would be aimed at. It was this abili
ty that kept her from being outright killed.
That, and her skill with illusions.
“Nya! Hold still!”
The nekomata hissed as she once again struck air. She ran straight through the image of what she’d assumed was Lilian, but what was, in actuality, a simple illusion.
Bending the light around her to render herself invisible and dancing away when the nekomata struck her illusion, Lilian panted for breath. Once she was a safe distance away, she let the two techniques, the illusion and her invisibility technique, Chameleon Masquerade, fade. While she would have preferred to keep them going, she needed to conserve her youki. Her reserves were already low.
She didn’t try to attack the cat-woman, even though the other yōkai’s back was turned. Lilian had learned her lesson the first time she’d attempted to launch a sneak attack from behind. Even now, the four claw marks on her arm, where she’d been hit by the woman’s sharp claws, bled freely.
Her decision not to undertake another attempt at striking the woman from behind turned out to be a blessing. The nekomata’s tail suddenly caught fire. It was not regular fire, or even kitsune fire. This was a dark purple flame. Hellfire. The fire that only those who have a connection to the underworld could use. Spirit Kitsune could conjure Hellfire, but Lilian was not a Spirit Kitsune.
Lilian had seen Hellfire several times in the past, while watching some of her cousins, aunts, and uncles train. Yet no matter how many times she saw it, the sight never failed to make her shiver in fear.
Those flames which screamed with the voices of a thousand tormented souls, they were conjured by plucking the lives of those who had perished and could not find their way to the Sanzu River. Those flames which stole the souls of those they engulfed, sending them to the underworld, they were cold, chilling those that touched them as opposed to burning them. While not as frightening as Void Fire, which erased one’s very existence, Hellfire was still something to be feared.
As if the Hellfire had a mind of its own, it leapt from the nekomata’s tail, and Lilian had no choice but to use a quick burst of reinforcement, pumping as much youki to her legs as she dared and running away. Times like these made her wish she knew Celestial Transportation, the speed technique of Celestial Kitsune—too bad that required at least four-tails to use.
Using the strength granted to her through reinforcement, Lilian leapt onto the roof of the nearest building. The flames followed, not even bothered by the shift in elevation. Hellfire burst up in a pillar of colossal flames, a sweeping blaze of pure destruction, and not just from the side that she’d run up—no, the Hellfire surrounded the entire building, a wall of dark purple fire that trapped Lilian like a rat in a cage.
The flames descended upon her like a ravenous beast. Within the mighty conflagration, the faces of the lost souls that had been used to fuel it screamed in torment and rage, cursing the futility of their despair. Despite not wanting to show cowardice, Lilian clenched her eyes shut, unable to watch her death closing in.
“Water Art: Mighty Waterfall.”
Over the roar of the flame came another sound: that of rushing water. Lilian looked up just in time to see an incredible sight. Hundreds of gallons of water hovered above the flames, swirling like a tornado. The water struck the Hellfire. Steam exploded everywhere, blinding her for a moment before her sight returned.
The fire was gone.
Lilian rushed over to the ledge where she found the kappa, Kyle, standing several feet from the building that she stood on, arms outstretched, gasping for breath. He must have been the one to save her, and it looked like he’d used a lot of youki to do so. That had been a big technique.
“Nya, so you woke up.” The nekomata didn’t seem pleased by this new development. She stood on another building adjacent to Lilian's. “I had hoped you would stay asleep. There’s no profit in killing you.”
Kyle clicked his tongue. “I’m the one who brought her and Kevin here, so that makes them both my responsibility. I can’t let you kill one of them while they’re under my watch.”
“Nya, that’s admirable and everything, but you really should think this through more carefully, nya.” The cat pointed at him. “Look at you. You’re obviously quite young, which explains why that technique took so much out of you. I doubt you have enough youki to do that again, nya.” Dark purple flames suddenly flared to life on her tails. “I, however, am more than capable of conjuring more Hellfire, nya.”
Lilian jumped off the building, knees bending to cushion her fall, and joined the kappa in confronting the nekomata assassin.
“It doesn’t matter,” Kyle said. “I can’t just walk away from my responsibility, and this girl and her mate are my responsibility until I see them safely home.”
“You see that, nya? That’s why those kitsune you’re fighting are winning. Your need to follow protocols and niceties keeps you from doing what needs to be done, nya.”
“I don’t wanna hear that from an assassin!” Kyle shouted.
A massive shockwave slammed into them before the nekomata could respond.
***
“Whoa!”
Kiara stumbled as the entire area was rocked to its foundations. She could see the fierce hurricane-like winds rising up in all directions, an omnidirectional maelstrom of cataclysmic energy generated by a shockwave. She knew that attack. She’d seen it before.
“Either Kotohime’s opponent was more difficult to defeat than usual, or she’s really pissed off,” Kiara observed. “Well, at least now I know where she is.”
Using her incredible leg strength, Kiara hopped from roof to roof. She needed to meet up with Kotohime so they could figure out what to do next.
***
Lilian was able to remain upright by spearing her reinforced tails into the ground. Kyle had fallen on his face, and the nekomata had been forced to leap off the building she’d been standing on, which collapsed upon itself as the shockwave slammed into it. Realizing that she had an opportunity to attack, Lilian took it.
“Kitsune Art: Orbs of an Evanescent Realm.”
Half a dozen orbs of celestial energy burst to life on the tips of her tails. Upon their creation, Lilian immediately sent three of them at the nekomata, hoping to strike the woman down before she could regain her balance. Unfortunately, the foe that she was fighting was a cat-woman, and cat-women always landed on their feet.
While she had indeed stumbled, the nekomata turned her fall into a roll. Consequently, this allowed her to dodge Lilian’s first orb. The second one she avoided by taking two steps to the left, then crossing over to the right in a zigzag pattern. Bending her knees, the neko hurled herself into the air, flipping like an acrobat as the last orb soared underneath her.
Lilian sent the other three at the woman. Gritting her teeth, she focused her will on the orbs and commanded them to attack the ferocious feline while she was still airborne. This proved to be a futile maneuver, as the raven-haired nekomata spun around by generating momentum with her arms and tails. All of the orbs except one were dodged, and that orb exploded into light particles when it met a clawed hand covered in Hellfire.
“Dang it! How does she keep destroying my attacks?”
“Maybe because she’s stronger than you?”
“Not another word from the peanut gallery!”
“Who’re you calling a peanut gallery?!”
Lilian and Kyle were forced to take evasive action when a wave of Hellfire was launched at them. They separated, moving away from each other and forcing the flames to decide who it should go after. While not exactly sentient, the flames were created by souls, and thus, they had a sort of sense, an ability to detect life and seek it out.
They went after Lilian.
“Oooh! Dang it!”
In an effort to escape, Lilian ran between buildings. Her reserves of youki were nearing empty, she was being chased by Hellfire, and she no longer knew where Kyle was. She also didn’t know how to get rid of the flames nipping at her heels. Needless to say, thing
s were looking grim.
“Lilian!”
Her heart began to soar.
“Kevin!”
Kevin stood several feet in front of her, his feet spread wide, a determined expression etched onto his face… and was that a hose in his hands?
“Duck!”
Lilian didn’t waste any time. She dropped to the ground as he turned a knob on the large hose. From the nozzle came a massive spray of water, which struck the Hellfire. The flames, as if enraged by this new problem, cried out in anger and frustration as they were pushed back.
Unfortunately for the Hellfire, the ethereal flames had lost much of its potency during the chase. What was left was easily doused by the powerful spray of the fire hydrant-sized hose.
As the flames were quenched, Lilian stood back up. She looked at Kevin, who dropped the hose and grinned at her.
“Looks like I made it just in time to—oomph!”
Lilian did not give Kevin a chance to say anymore. She leapt at him, pulling his head down to hers and sealing his lips with a kiss. Kevin didn’t bother resisting. She felt his strong arms wrap tightly around her waist, pulling her close, pressing them together. Lilian loved the feeling of being in his arms.
“Thank you,” Lilian breathed after the kiss ended. “You saved me.”
“That I did.” Kevin’s smile was so bright it nearly blinded her. “Now we’re even.”
“Even…”
Lilian didn’t know what he meant by that, but she didn’t care.
She kissed him again.
Time lost meaning as she lost herself in his lips and the feel of his tongue playing with hers. She could’ve happily stayed there for all eternity, but alas, breathing became a necessity, and there were things they needed to do. Lilian reluctantly pulled back.
“Everything okay?” Kevin asked.
“Yes.” Lilian, her cheeks flushed, beamed at him. “I’ve never been better.”
Kevin looked uncertain, but he nodded anyway. “I’m glad to hear that. I was worried when I saw those flames chasing after you. Just what the heck was that anyway? I’ve never seen purple fire before.”
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