A Fox's Mission

by Brandon Varnell

  He must have really thick skin… or maybe some kind of barrier?

  “Excellent! Excellent!” Hebi cried as he attacked with renewed zeal. “I don’t know how you’re doing this, but it’s truly incredible! Show me more! Show me how a mere human can keep up with a yōkai!”

  Sweat broke out on Kevin’s forehead as he moved more quickly than he had in some time. Hebi’s attacks came in far faster than he was used to. The yōkai’s arms were mere blurs, streaks of silver and white.

  “How are you doing this?” Hebi laughed. Kevin gritted his teeth, eyes wide, as he barely avoided having his chest impaled by a hand. “How is this possible? Tell me! Show me! There must be a reason that a human like you can keep up with me!”

  But there wasn’t one. Kevin wasn’t keeping up with Hebi’s attacks. He was merely predicting where they would be, then moving according to his prediction. It looked like he was keeping up with Hebi’s constant barrage of punches and thrusts, but in truth, he couldn’t even see the arms as they moved.

  “Amazing! This is amazing! However…” Hebi smiled, and Kevin suddenly felt something coil around his left leg. “… you’ve left yourself open!”

  “Oh, crap!”

  Whatever had latched onto him suddenly lifted Kevin off the ground and slammed him into the ceiling. His back screamed in protest and it felt like he’d swallowed his tongue. There was no time to recover, as a jerk on his leg yanked Kevin back toward the ground, where he was slammed into the cement floor.

  The world went dark for a moment, then white. Kevin didn’t know how long he’d been out of it, but it couldn’t have been too long. He was still alive, after all. Groaning as he pushed himself onto his hands and knees, Kevin looked up when he heard mad cackling.

  Kotohime was fighting against Hebi. She danced around his attacks, getting in close and slicing him up with her katana and wakizashi, or so it seemed. When Hebi’s body crumbled into hundreds of snakes and attacked Kotohime, clamping their jaws on her, a scream tore its way from Kevin’s lips.

  And then Kotohime burst into water.

  “Ho! Oh ho! What an excellent play.” The snakes moved together, reforming into Hebi once more, who clapped as he turned to Kevin. “To think you’d be so well-versed in an art as obtuse as replacement. I had not realized that a kitsune could learn that technique.”

  Kevin felt a hand grab onto his shoulder and haul him to his feet. He looked over and found Kotohime, still alive. She was not looking at him, but at Hebi.

  “That was not the replacement technique,” Kotohime informed Hebi. “However, I am not at liberty to inform you of how my style works. Are you okay, Kevin-sama?”

  Kevin winced as he placed a hand on his chest. His ribs had been bruised by that last attack, but the bodysuit had cushioned the worst of the damage. So long as he didn’t take a beating like that again, he would be fine.

  “I’m all right,” he said. “Kotohime, do you think you can keep him distracted for me? I have a plan, but I need time to execute it.”

  “I shall do my best.”

  Kevin moved back while Kotohime shot forward. Holstering his black gun, he gripped the silver one in both hands and held the trigger down, beginning the charging process.

  “Ikken Hissatsu. Bunkatsu.”

  Appearing in front of Hebi as if she’d teleported, Kotohime narrowed her profile and swung her sword upwards, slicing Hebi from his groin to the crown of his head. Instead of gushing blood like a fountain, the man split into hundreds of snakes, which converged on Kotohime, engulfing her.

  “Ikken Hissatsu. Suiryoku.”

  Before the snakes could truly get close, they were sliced apart, torn to shreds by the tornado of blades that suddenly appeared around Kotohime. Her arms were like streaks of color as she thrust her blades out all around her, dancing in circles. While there was no explosion, the air itself seemed to detonate with shock waves from the never-ending stream of piercing attacks.

  Man, Kotohime is scary when she gets serious, Kevin thought as he continued charging his gun. He didn’t know how powerful this person was, but he wasn’t going to leave anything to chance.

  “My, what a frightening technique,” Hebi said,emerging from the floor several feet away. “Had I actually let that hit me, I might have been hurt.”

  What kind of technique is that? Kevin couldn’t even begin to analyze it. It’s like he can turn himself into snakes and instantly reform, but that can’t be all there is to it. There’s something more to this…

  Kevin’s mind raced. He was missing something in all this. By all rights, that technique should have killed Hebi. Even if he could turn into snakes, he should have been killed when Kotohime destroyed the snakes.

  Snakes are earth users, which means he must be using an earth-based technique.

  Breathing in through his nose, Kevin paused when he caught the toxic scent of poison. It smelled a lot like ammonia. Looking at the blood splattering the floor, his eyes widened.

  It couldn’t be…

  Narrowing his eyes, Kevin aimed his gun at Hebi and shouted, “Get out of the way, Kotohime!”

  Kotohime didn’t need to be told twice. Her katana flashed and the wall to her left crumbled. She ducked into it seconds before Kevin let go of the trigger.

  The results were more impressive than he’d expected. A beam of golden energy exploded out of his gun, engulfing everything in its radiance. Kevin could see nothing as he held the gun in his hand, gritting his teeth as he was pushed backwards by the intense energy. He could hear nothing but the roar of unrepressed power. He could see nothing but the burning white of his devastating attack. His cornea felt like they were being seared. The scent of ozone mixed with burning rubber, the melting soles of his shoes no doubt, created a rancid odor that made him want to vomit.

  And then it was over. Inexplicably. The light died down, the noise stopped, and Kevin was given his first glimpse of the damage his attack had wrought.

  The hallway was gone. There was nothing left. The floor, the ceiling, the walls, all of it was gone, as if something had come through and ripped everything away. Hebi was also gone. Kevin didn’t know if that was because the man was dead or just hiding until it was the right time to reveal himself.

  Looking down at his gun, Kevin realized that it was completely out of ammo.

  I just spent a whole clip on a single attack.

  “That was impressive,” Kotohime said, stepping up behind Kevin and placing a hand on his shoulder. “I had no idea those guns were capable of such powerful attacks.”

  “Neither had I,” another voice said, this one behind both of them. Kevin and Kotohime spun around to see Hebi standing behind them, unharmed and smiling. “That is a rather interesting weapon. A gun that unleashes youki in the form of projectiles and beams. Truly, it is an impressive piece of technology.” Hebi’s face darkened. “Humans have indeed become dangerous, I see.”

  “I knew it,” Kevin mumbled.

  “Kevin?” Kotohime sent him a questioning glance.

  “You were never fighting us,” Kevin stated with certainty. “You combined earth techniques with a scent-based illusion to fool us into thinking that we were in combat with you, when in truth, we were fighting a decoy, an animated clone made of earth.”

  Scent-based illusions were rare. They were also insidious. It was almost impossible to tell when you were trapped in one because unlike regular illusions that affected a person’s sight, these ones penetrated the mind through scent. It was easy to tell when you were trapped in a sight-based illusion because there were discrepancies that you could look for. The same did not hold true for scent-based ones.

  Fortunately, scent-based illusions were also limited. They couldn’t do any damage, and on their own, they were harmless. However, when combined with an elemental technique, they could fool even a kitsune.

  “An excellent deduction, young man. Truly astounding.” Hebi’s clap was slow and mocking. “I’m impressed that you figured this out. However, now that y
ou know how my magic is done, I’m afraid play time is up. A magician can’t have his secrets revealed, after all. It is time we closed the curtain on this act.”

  It happened before Kevin could truly comprehend what was happening. The ground around him and Kotohime exploded. Bursting from the earth, rising above them to block out the sun, were five gargantuan snakes. Their albino skin gleamed in the moonlight, and dark red eyes glowered at the two. They looked more dragon than serpent, with the spiked ridges that moved down their necks and the massive fangs filling their mouths.

  “Kotohime?” Kevin said in a small voice.

  “Yes, Kevin-sama?”

  “Is it okay if I admit that I’m terrified?”

  “… I do not believe there is anything wrong with that, given the circumstances.”

  “Good,” Kevin said seconds before all five snakes descended upon them.

  The base no longer looked like a base. Most of its walls were destroyed, the ceiling was gone, and large piles of rubble lay scattered around the clearing, though even that was in the process of being decimated by the gigantic serpents.

  Lilian rushed out of the forest and, channeling youki into her legs, leapt onto one of the few remaining walls. She was just in time to see the five snakes descend upon Kevin and Kotohime.

  “Beloved!”

  Kevin had no plan to get out of this. After all, what could a single human and yōkai do when confronted with five snakes several stories tall.

  “The Moon Goddess’s Spinning Chakram.”

  Kotohime had no such hang-ups. Crouching down, she used a youki-enhanced leap to ascend into the air. Three of the five snakes followed, and Kotohime extended her blades and spun around as they tried to take a chomp out of her. Thin blades of condensed air slammed into the snakes.

  Nothing happened. The air—condensed and launched forward by a combination of power, speed, and enhancement—glanced off the snakes. Hissing, they tried lunging at Kotohime, their mouths open wide.

  “Kotohime!”

  The last Kevin saw of his mentor and friend was of her getting swallowed whole.

  Kevin didn’t have time to mourn his mentor getting eaten. Two of the three snakes had not been taken in with Kotohime’s attack.

  Is this really it?

  Time seemed to slow down as the snakes fell upon him. He couldn’t think of a way out of this. His fighting style meant nothing when his opponents were so big they could flatten him.

  I’m… going to die?

  To die such a miserable death, crushed like a grape by a couple of overgrown garden snakes, could there be anything worse than that? Well, he could think of a few things, but this death ranked pretty high up there.

  Man… this really sucks.

  Kevin felt a sense of resignation as his vision was filled with a row of teeth that were all nearly as tall as him. He closed his eyes. He didn’t want to see the end.

  “Are you really giving up that easily?! Where the hell is your pride, human?!” a familiar voice shouted.

  Kevin opened his eyes and was just in time to see the snake get sent flying as something slammed into it like a guided missile. The attack couldn’t have been more perfect either. The snake was not only launched away from him, but crashed into the other snake, sending them both to the ground. And standing before Kevin, glaring daggers at him, was none other than Cien.

  “Eh? C-Cien, what are you—”

  “I saw what you did there,” Cien interrupted. “You were about to give up, weren’t you? What the hell gives you the right to just up and quit like that, huh?!”

  “Uh…”

  “Listen up!” Cien stood up and pointed at Kevin. “Until I defeat you in personal combat and reclaim my lost honor, you are not allowed to die! If you even think about letting yourself be killed, I’m gonna kick your ass so hard the hospital they send you to won’t be able to tell that you’re human!”

  “Um, right.”

  “Now stop looking like the world is gonna end, pick up those guns, and fight!”

  Kevin was too stunned to do anything other than what had been demanded of him. He bent down, scooping up the gun that he only now realized he’d dropped. It was empty, but he reloaded it, then unholstered his other gun. He looked over at Cien, who nodded once.

  “That’s better. Now stop standing around and fight.”

  Even though Kevin was holding his two handguns, he didn’t know what to do with them. Kotohime’s technique had bounced off the scales of these things. Would his guns even work on them?

  Well, maybe if I charged it all the way and shot them with a full-powered beam…

  But powering these up would take time. There were five snakes, and he and Cien were the only two standing against these things. Time was something that he didn’t have.

  Kevin gritted his teeth when the three snakes that had attacked Kotohime rose back up. Cien went after one of them, leaping onto its back and running up its spine. While another snake tried to bite him in half, the last snake leered at Kevin, who fired off several ineffective shots that pinged off its surface like blaster fire splashing against a reflective shield.

  This totally sucks!

  The snake lunged at him.

  “Celestial Art: Divine Double Helix Cannon!”

  Two beams of golden energy twisting around each other slammed into the snake’s left eye, which exploded in a spray of gore and violence. With a pained hiss that sounded more like a shriek, the snake jerked backwards, crashing into the snake that was trying to eat Cien and sending them both to the ground. With nothing attempting to take chunks out of him, Cien was free to leap into the air and slam a powerful heel drop onto the third snake’s head.

  Kevin nearly fell when the ground rumbled, but something soft and red wrapped around him—a tail.

  “Beloved!” Lilian rushed down from a pile of rubble as the tail retracted and embraced him. Kevin returned the hug, but he knew they couldn’t afford to remain like this.

  “Lilian, where are the others?”

  “Everyone is on their way,” Lilian said. “I just got here first.”

  Meaning she’d been so worried about him that she rushed over without thinking. That was just like her, and while it warmed his heart, it also made him worry.

  “So, it’s just the two of us?”

  Before Lilian could answer, two of the snakes lunged at them. However, a large spike of ice slammed into one of them. It didn’t pierce the scales, but it did send the monster crashing to the ground.

  “Void Art: Void Fire!”

  The other snake received a blast of void fire to the face. It thrashed around on the ground, forcing Kevin and Lilian to take evasive action. Walls crumbled and rubble was thrown everywhere, and still the snake continued to thrash.

  “You mean the four of us,” Iris said as she strolled up to them with Christine by her side.

  Kevin sucked in a breath when he saw the darkness in Iris’s eyes. Her sclera were no longer white. Blackness consumed all but the irises, and when combined with her crimson irises, it gave her a menacing appearance that sent shivers down his spine.

  “Iris… your eyes…”

  “Yeah,” Iris grimaced, “it’s come back, but don’t worry. I can at least control this small amount of the Void. Just don’t expect me to throw out something bigger than what I just did.”

  “Noted.”

  “Are you okay, Kevin?” Christine asked.

  “I’m fine,” Kevin assured. “However, we’ve got a problem.”

  As if his words were prophetic, the five snakes all rose back into the air.

  “You just had to jinx us,” Iris teased.

  “Oh, shut up,” Kevin snapped. “Now is so not the time.”

  “Do you have a plan, Kevin?” Lilian asked as Cien landed beside them.

  Kevin did indeed have a plan—well, he had an idea, but it would have to do. “These are Hebi, powerful snake yōkai. Their scales are very strong—too strong for any of us to break. However, they do have
several weaknesses. Their eyes and their mouths. Lilian, Christine, Cien and I will focus on blinding them. Iris, if at all possible, I want you to shove as much void fire as you can down their throats.”

  “So you basically want me to deep throat them? I can do that.” Iris winked. “Have I ever told you that you’re really hot when you get sadistic?”

  “I can’t recall you every saying that before,” Kevin said. “Now let’s go!”

  Cien’s face was set in a beastly snarl as he charged headlong at the gigantic snake that was his target. The snake hissed, baring its fangs at him. Several globs of venom flew from its mouth, but he wove between them. Instead, the venom hit the ground, where it sizzled and crackled as it burned straight through the rock.

  Leaping onto the snake’s tail, Cien ran up its spine and, upon reaching its head, smashed his fist into its right eye. The eye popped like an overripe fruit. Blood sizzled as it sprayed out of the wound around Cien’s arm.

  He ignored the feeling of his skin being blistered and held on tight as the giant snake thrashed around. Yet the blood coating him like oil was slippery, and he couldn’t maintain his grip for long. The world around him spun as he was thrown off. His back exploded with pain as he crashed into something, which shattered from the force of his impact.

  Staring up at the sky, Cien blinked several times. He was lying in a pile of rubble, the remains of a wall, it seemed. Leaping to his feet, he quickly found his prey. The snake had recovered. Blood drizzled from its empty eye socket, but the remaining eye locked onto him. It hissed, mouth opening wide as it shot forward to attack him. He snarled right back and leapt at the thing.

  It opened its mouth, but he slammed his fist into its nose. The mouth snapped shut with a loud clack and a pained hiss emanated from it as several teeth shattered. Landing on the ground, Cien leapt back onto its head and finished the job he’d set out to do. He rammed his already bloody arm into its other eye. He could feel the eye give, feel it popping. The stench of blood filled his nose, but he’d long since grown used to it.