A Fox's War

by Brandon Varnell

  “I’m good, thanks.”

  “Do you know what sound harems make when they’re being fed?” Iris asked before making strange smacking noises like she was eating. “Nom nom nom.”

  “You be quiet!” Kevin pointed at her as he shouted.

  Lilian didn’t know what to think of Cien yet. Thanks to prolonged exposure to Kiara, she didn’t hate or fear dogs like she used to. At the same time, she didn’t necessarily like inu either. They were annoying, and smelly, and even though they were all about fighting, they didn’t understand the nuances of true shonen battle mechanics.

  I guess I’ll just have to accept his presence. Beloved doesn’t seem to mind him.

  Indeed, Kevin seemed somewhat pleased to have another male to talk to, and he’d spent a lot of time smack talking to Cien, who was more than willing to trade barbs right back.

  It must be a guy thing. Beloved did this with that Chasey guy in track.

  Several hundred miles away, back in Arizona, Casey Chase sneezed.

  Lilian felt a sudden frown crawl onto her face as she looked down at Christine. Her yuki-onna friend had been abnormally silent since they’d left. She hadn’t gone tsun-tsun on anyone even once.

  “Hey, Christine, what do you plan on doing once we return to Arizona?” Lilian asked.

  Christine looked up at her, blinking several times as if she was just now registering her surroundings. “I don’t know… I guess I’ll just go back to doing what I’ve always done before I left.”

  “Are you excited to see everyone else?”

  “If, by everyone else, you mean Eric and those other idiots, then no, I’m not.” Christine scowled. “I was hoping that I would never have to see those buffoons again.”

  Lilian smiled. She knew that her friend wasn’t being honest with herself. While Christine didn’t really like Eric and the others, she was always smiling whenever they’d gone out together as a large group--at least, until Eric did something perverted. Even so, she’d smile again after beating the crap out of him.

  “What about Lindsay?” she asked.

  It was almost telling to see how Christine stiffened at the name. The almost guilty look on her face was even more telling.

  “I… I’m not sure,” Christine admitted at last. “I know how Lindsay feels about me, but…”

  “You’re not into her like that, right?”

  “Ha…” Christine released a loud gust of wind, which contained some mist. “Of course not. Lindsay is a good friend, but that is all. I’m not attracted to women.”

  Lindsay, one of their friends back in Arizona, had a major crush on Christine. Lilian didn’t know when it had happened, but she’d learned that, on the day Christine left to receive training from Orin, Lindsay had kissed her. Unfortunately for their mutual friend, Christine was straight. Lilian would even bet her tails that the yuki-onna still liked Kevin.

  “You know… I’m not too good when it comes to giving advice about this sort of romance,” Lilian began, choosing her words carefully. She wanted to help her friends, both of them. “But when you two finally see each other again, I think you should just be honest with her.”

  “I know.”

  Christine sent her an annoyed look, but Lilian just smiled as she reached into her bag and pulled out her tablet. Turning it on, she swiftly opened her manga reading app and selected a manga that she knew Christine liked—Ouran High School Host Club.

  “Would you like to read this with me?” she offered.

  A short silence ensued as Christine stared at the tablet, her index finger twitching as if she wanted to grab the device from Lilian’s hands. The way the girl’s eyes were glued to the screen made it obvious that she wanted to read it. At the same time, Christine never openly expressed an interest in manga like her and Kevin.

  “I-I guess I have no choice,” Christine said at last, trying to sound imperious. “S-since there’s nothing else to do on this train, I’ll read this with you.”

  As she resisted the urge to giggle at Christine’s continued tsundere-ness, Lilian scooted closer and rested the tablet on their thighs. Together, she and her friend followed the story of a high school female who became a host that entertained other females…

  … Manga had weird stories like that.

  The vast tunnel that Hebi traveled through was dark, but that was okay. He’d always relied more on his tongue than his eyes to see.

  “Where are you taking me?! I demand that you unhand me this instant!”

  Behind him, Kushinadahime struggled against his tail’s strong grip. He could feel her fighting him, squirming around in his tail’s grasp as if doing so would actually accomplish anything. It wouldn’t. Kushinadahime might have been a goddess at some point, but now she was just a lowly human girl who used to attend a private all-girls high school.

  “I don’t know why you keep struggling,” Hebi commented lightly. “You know that’s not going to do anything to me, don’t you, Kushinadahime?”

  “I told you my name is Kandice! Kandice!”

  “Yes, yes. Kandice. I remember.”

  Chortling, Hebi ignored the girl as she released a series of foul expletives. The tunnel that he was slithering down was slanted, and it consisted of many winding pathways. He flicked out his tongue and scented out the correct path, eventually arriving at a large torii that marked the entrance to a shrine.

  Known as Japanese gates, toriis were often used to mark the entrance of shrines. They were, in essence, two large lintel posts known as hashira, which supported two beams of wood called nuki and kasagi. While the lower beam, the nuki, remained flat, the upper beam, kasagi, which also featured a black roof, was slanted on either side.

  “Did you know that in Japanese culture, toriis are used to mark the entrance to a sacred place?” Hebi asked Kushinadahime, his condescending tone rank with humor. “They’re supposed to symbolically mark the transition from the profane to the sacred. I find it most amusing that the Four Saints would create shrines like this to seal my power away. Really, what could they have been thinking?”

  Slithering up to the entrance, Hebi passed through the gate without hesitation. He grunted moments later when, without warning, an incredible pressure slammed into him. His grip on Kushinadahime almost loosened, but he gritted his teeth and channeled youki into his body.

  A snake shot from his body, biting onto the torii. As the snake’s fangs sank into the lintel post, blackness spread across the torii. The pressure lessened. Then, as the poison spread through the wood, it ceased altogether.

  “Ho… I guess that explains why they decided to seal my powers within shrines,” Hebi said to himself.

  He supposed it was only natural that one such as himself would not be welcome inside of a shrine. Any deity seeking entrance into another deity’s shrine required permission. Of course, this shrine had been built to house his power, but that didn’t mean much. The shrine had likely been created in honor of one of the Four Saints.

  I wonder which Saint this shrine belongs to?

  He didn’t ponder the question for long, and he was soon moving again. Kushinadahime had finally stopped struggling, though he figured she was simply out of strength.

  “Why are you doing this to me?” she asked sullenly.

  “You already know why. I need your blood—the blood of the goddess Kushinadahime, who’d been married to Suzanoo—in order to break the seals placed on these shrines.”

  “But I’m just a normal girl!”

  “You can keep thinking that if you want to. By all means, remain ignorant. It is fine with me.”

  Hebi didn’t bother looking at her as he continued on. The tunnel had opened up after they’d passed through the torii. The cavernous space was quite massive. It was shaped almost like a dome. There were numerous stalactites and stalagmites jutting from the ground and ceiling. The place that he slithered down was a small sliver of sediment that had formed a bridge over an underground lake. Several dozen yards away, a shrine sat before a massive boul
der that was embedded into a circular platform that rose out of the water’s surface. Peering over the side, Hebi frowned when he saw bubbles rising from the surface and a dark shadow underneath.

  Hm, that doesn’t look good.

  A massive figure suddenly shot from the water’s surface, racing toward him. Hebi moved quickly, slithering out of the way as the creature crashed into the bridge, destroying it and trapping him and Kushinadahime on the side opposite from the entrance.

  “W-what is that?!” Kushinadahime shrieked.

  “I believe that is this place’s guardian,” Hebi answered with a mocking smile. “To think they’d go through such lengths to protect this place. Not that I blame them, of course.”

  The guardian that faced him was a gigantic sea serpent. Its sinewy form was covered in bright blue scales that glistened majestically in the reflective light from the water’s surface. A pair of scaled pinions akin to those of a drake protruded from the base of its neck, just past its head. Hebi judged this creature to be at least fifty yards in length. That was quite large.

  “So this is what they have to keep me from regaining my power. I’m somewhat disappointed.” Several snakes slithered out from within his large overcoat, wrapping around Kushinadahime, whom he’d dropped to the ground. “Stay there, Kushinadahime. This will not take long.”

  He didn’t listen to Kushinadahime as she screamed at him. Coiling his tail like it was a loaded spring, he launched himself into the air just as the sea serpent crashed into the place where he’d been standing. His ascent took him all the way to the ceiling, where he twisted around and wrapped himself around a stalactite. Then he launched several of his snakes at the serpent, which was unable to do anything as they sank their fangs into its body, biting through scales and flesh to shove their venom into its bloodstream.

  The sea serpent thrashed around, diving into the water to create a big splash. It came back out seconds later. The snakes were gone, having been dislodged—not that it made a difference. Blackness was spreading along its once pristine scales. It wouldn’t be long before the poison took effect.

  Roaring like an enraged dragon, the sea serpent tried to crush him, but Hebi merely uncoiled himself and fell down. The serpent slammed into the ceiling, causing several stalactites to collapse. Hebi launched himself like a spring from stalactite to stalactite, until he landed on a stalagmite that was protruding from the water’s surface.

  Prying its head free from the hole it had created in the ceiling, the sea serpent locked onto him. With its glowing yellow eyes flashing like malicious beacons, it charged him again.

  Thus began a deadly game of cat and mouse—or snake and sea serpent. Hebi kept ahead of the massive creature by using his incredibly strong tail to leap from the protrusions coming out of the lake and ceiling. His agility allowed him to stay constantly ahead. As the game continued, the blackness from his poison spread like an insidious disease across the sea serpent’s body, which caused the beast to become more sluggish with every passing second. It wasn’t long until scales began to flake off, blood gushed from open wounds, and the sea serpent gave an anguished shriek as his poison slowly ate it from the inside out.

  Hebi watched dispassionately as the sea serpent finally lost all of its strength and fell back into the lake, creating a massive geyser of water. If it wasn’t already dead, then it would be soon. Using the stalagmites and fallen stalactites, he made his way back up to the circular platform that rose out of the lake. Kushinadahime sat huddled by the shrine, as if instinctively seeking its protection.

  “I’m glad to see that you’re not dead,” Hebi said with good cheer and a mocking grin. “It would have been a shame if I’d dragged you all this way just for you to die on me.”

  Kushinadahime must have been more frightened than he’d realized. She didn’t spew one insult. Shrugging, he went up to her and coiled his tail around her wrist, dragging her up and pulling her to the front of the shrine.

  “W-what are you doing?” she asked, her voice shaking.

  “I thought that would be obvious,” Hebi said dryly. “I’m going to have you unseal my power for me.”

  He didn’t wait for a response. Kushinadahime cried out as he sliced open her palm and pressed it against the kanji that represented the seal. As her blood mixed with the Japanese logographic symbol, the shrine began to glow. The glow was soon followed by the sound of something cracking. It was the rock, and from that rock, dark energy spewed forth, tendrils of swirling black youki that were filled with malice. The tendrils of energy, like wisps of unholy fire, swirled around Hebi, entering his body, strengthening him, empowering him, bringing him one step closer to once more becoming complete.

  Hebi’s laughter echoed through the vast cavern.

  Two

  Return Home

  Several massive explosions went off in the military base, waking Justin up and alerting him that it was time to start the mission.

  The plan that he had conceived was a simple one. Jack and Jill would plant explosives in certain areas of the base—choke points that would not only cause a panic, but keep soldiers from being able to move about freely. They didn’t want to kill anyone, however, so the explosions had been set to go off at midnight before the last shift change, when the number of guards was at its lowest.

  Leaping up from his bed, Justin exited his room and raced down the hall. He was already dressed in his military environ suit. The reflective black material gleamed brightly as it was hit by the lights. Knowing that he had to move swiftly, he didn’t bother trying to be quiet. Miniature explosives had been placed above the doors, which would cause the ceilings to collapse, so no one would be capable of leaving their rooms.

  “Hey! What the hell is going on?!”

  “The roof has caved in!”

  “Damn it! Are we under attack?!”

  Justin heard the shouts from people who, like him, had been sleeping in their bunks. He passed doors that had been crushed underneath piles of rubble. He just hoped no one had actually been caught up in any of these explosions.

  Because Commander Paine operated under a state of constant paranoia, all of the data that Justin sought was located in his personal computer. Basement level one contained only Commander Paine’s quarters. The basement below it was the garage, and the floor above was the barracks. The only way to get onto this level was by thumbprint and retina scan. However, the only person whose thumb print and retina were accepted was Commander Paine’s.

  That was why, rather than call for an elevator, Justin primed some C4 and blew a hole into the elevator shaft. Leaping into the shaft, he grabbed hold of the steel cables and slid down. Sparks leapt from his gloved hands. He ignored the heat caused by the building friction between his suit and the cables. Upon reaching basement level one, he detonated another chunk of C4 and made another hole, which he leapt through.

  Justin didn’t stop as he raced down this new hallway, reaching Commander Paine’s office in record time. Using the strength of his suit and genetically enhanced body, he leapt into the air and reverse heel kicked the door. It dented underneath his blow but didn’t yield. Grunting as he landed back on his feet, Justin used the last of his C4 to blow up the door.

  He ran into the room—only to leap back as something sliced the air in front of him. A chunk of the floor was sliced through. Justin spun around to see one of the Yokai Killers standing several feet away. Its red visor glowed as it faced him. He could practically see the thing processing his presence and determining his threat level.

  I should have realized the commander wouldn’t leave his room unguarded.

  “I guess I’ve got no choice,” he muttered. “If Kevin can deal with these things, then I can’t let myself be beaten either.”

  The Yokai Killer thrust its hand at him, which changed from a hand into a spear that extended to an incredible length. Justin avoided impalement by twisting out of the way. Reaching behind his back, he unhooked a specialized submachine gun that had been designed specifically
for dealing with yokai. Since Yokai Killers ran on youki, he was hoping this weapon would disrupt its power output.

  Unloading an entire clip into the Yokai Killer proved to be useless. His shots pinged harmlessly off its metallic body, causing him to curse. This machine must have been equipped with an earth core, which made its body tougher than steel.

  The Yokai Killer placed its hands on the floor, which bent and warped before several stakes shot from the ground. Justin felt a burst of panic as he leapt into the air.

  This is an elite unit!

  Elite units were slightly different from standard units in that their abilities had been upgraded. While not as versatile as a yokai, they could, to some degree, use their cores for elemental-based attacks. This scientific phenomenon was called Elemental Recomposition.

  Unsheathing the long blade from his back, Justin flipped a switch on the hilt, which caused the blade to hum and vibrate. He swung it at the incoming stakes. He felt a moment of resistance before his blade cut through them like a hot knife through marmalade. Landing back on the ground, Justin realized that his only hope of victory lay in a full-frontal assault.

  This is not going to be pretty.

  He blitzed at the Yokai Killer. Spikes jutted from the floor. Justin juked left and right, keeping ahead of the spikes. His breathing picked up as the Yokai Killer slammed its hand into the floor, which caused the metal in front of it to undulate and bulge. He lost his balance. More spikes shot from metal flooring. Fire flared like daggers along his left arm as a long cut appeared, blood gushing forth to leave a trail down his skin.

  Rolling across the ground, Justin barely kept ahead of the spikes as they followed him. He came up on the wall. He counted down to three, then launched himself into the air. His feet hit the wall, and he bent his knees to build energy, which he then used to launch himself like a rocket at the Yokai Killer, which was unable to account for this sudden change in attack pattern.

  For an elite unit like this, there’s only one place their core can be.