Narauko
///
Standing opposite Tamamo on the still surface of a lake so large that I can only barely make out the closer banks of land, under the light of the stars, I take a moment to just bask in it all. That I am standing here, literally walking on water in this beautiful world, standing opposite a beautiful woman with whom I am about to have a magical duel of superpowers with.
It's just so fucking cool man~!
Unlike Sukuna who has only ever known the life of The Strongest, I lived an entire mediocre life in another world. So this still seems like a fantasy to me sometimes. It's why I still get excited every time I see Sorcery in action, even simple stuff like just walking on water. It's still so cool, even if turning bread into fish would be way more impressive.
Sukuna and Kamo-Sensei both have given me multiple looks for being amazed at simple stuff. Perspective really is a thing, huh?
"Lost in thought?" Tamamo's soft voice brings my full attention back to her, and I can't help but just smile.
"I was just thinking how my life is truly a blessing." My eyes stray away from her own to trail over her flowing golden locks and fluffy ears, down to her four tails swaying side to side. "You are beautiful, you know?"
She doesn't flush at my words or anything, but I do notice her tails flinch slightly even as she smirks sultrily at me.
"You will devalue your compliments if you repeat them too much you know~?"
I do, in fact, know that. It is simply irrelevant, so I shrug at her.
"I do not say it because I want to have an impact or because I want you to feel complimented by my words. I am a selfish guy you know? I just say what I think because it feels nice when other people know how I feel." I tilt my head and my voice turns slightly pondering. "So in a way, I am not really complimenting you at all when I call you beautiful. I am informing you."
For some reason, those words actually do cause a small flush to appear on her cheeks, even though I'm pretty sure that what I just said was hella rude. It seems women will remain a mystery.
"Well whatever," I shrug and move to stand opposite her properly, taking a moment to pull my scarf off and drop it in my shadow. A grin grows on my face as I start to get excited, remembering the first time I actually enjoyed a fight. "Are we going to fight or what? I am feeling motivated~."
She titters when I wink at her, but moves into a more combat ready position regardless.
"This time," she meets my eyes with a level of solemn determination that seems out of place to me, "You will have to use your Technique if you want to win."
"Haha, is that not hypocritical~?" Naturally, I do not match her solemnity at all. I'm too excited to be serious. "After all, I do not recall seeing your Osore last time~."
Her lips curve upwards slightly. "That is because I have not yet awoken my Osore."
"Eh? That's a thing? I thought Yōkai were all born with one?"
"Most," she corrects. "Some do not possess an Osore at all and some simply take some time to manifest them. If I do have an Osore, I do not know what it is."
"Honestly, I thought that blue fire was a result of your Osore."
"Every Kitsune can use illusions and Foxfire. That is just Youjutsu. Though, I do not believe there are any Kitsune more proficient in Foxfire than me."
That makes sense if she didn't have an Osore to focus her efforts on. Like how a human without an Innate Technique could master Touki instead.
To be honest, I was planning on using my Technique from the beginning. She might not feel like she has gotten all that much more powerful since last time to my senses, but despite that there is a feeling of danger about her that wasn't there before. Plus she snuck up on me, so my sense for strength might be off here.
But now I feel like it'd be awkward to come out with my Innate Technique right from the start after what she said. I don't really mind though—there are a few basic techniques that I've been wanting to experiment with, so this is a good opportunity for that.
For example, I want to try out moving my Cursed Energy in different ways as I fight. Like throwing a punch with my Cursed Energy delayed behind my fist, or maybe even the opposite. I also want to practice that trick I did last time I fought her, where I used the movement of my Cursed Energy as a bait.
With that in mind, I bring a hand up and crack my neck before changing my posture slightly into something more fitting for a fight with my fists.
"Cool. Anyway, I should probably do this first. Curtain." I make sure to make the Curtain big enough. A few kilometres at an estimate. It doesn't reach any land, just a bubble over water.
Then, I send her a grin. "Fightstartswhenyousaywhat."
"What?"
By the time her brain finishes processing my burst of words, she has no room to do anything but raise her arms to block my opening punch.
That she fell for the ol' classic makes me laugh instead of chasing after her.
///
Tamamo-no-Mae
///
Stabilising herself in the air, Tamamo reconnects with the surface of the lake, leaving an explosion of surf behind her as she slides to a stop.
The blow itself didn't really hurt her, yet she feels her tails twitching with annoyance at the fact that he tricked her. Again!
She is a Kitsune damnit! Trickery is supposed to be her thing! Kami, he's so annoying.
Despite thinking that, there is a grin on her face when she looks at the now distant Narauko. An amused huff leaves her when she hears his laughter.
However, her mood quickly sobers up as her determination returns.
There was once a time, not very long ago at all, that she believed that she stood with no equals. She obviously knew that there were plenty of beings stronger than her—Hagoromo Gitsune for instance—however, she was always aware of her exceptional talent.
She never had any equals in her generation, and she knew that she would surpass those of the older generations soon enough. Because of this, she didn't even really put any effort into her training, because her advance was an inevitability. So certain was this fact, that she did not even put Ultimate beings in her eyes. She would surpass them, after all.
Yet, she found no enjoyment in any of this, so she wasted her time away wandering around and playing pranks on strangers. It was unfulfilling. It was boring. It was lonely.
And then a human teenager beat her up with just his fists.
For the first time in many years, the world didn't seem quite so dull anymore. She felt that she had finally found someone who's eyes could meet her own on equal ground.
Yet, when her eyes rose to meet his, she found that she had to look up. And reflected in those orbs of coal, was the same loneliness that she spent seventy years seeing in her reflection.
It would have been funny if it wasn't so upsetting. The irony of it all.
For the man that made her whole world shine just a bit brighter, how could she do anything but return the favour?
So she trained. She listened to Hagoromo's advice, and she actually put some effort into her talent.
The effect was staggering, and frankly, the only thing that stopped her from going insane absorbing so much Negative Energy from the capital was the memory of Narauko's back.
So she can't bring herself to treat this fight as simple play like he is. She wants to win. To push him until he actually has to push back. It's an unfamiliar feeling to her, but not one she hates.
She wants to win.
A breath of hot steam passes her lips, the air around her starts to shake and the water she stands on starts to sizzle as the temperature surrounding her starts to rise.
Seeing that Narauko is still busy laughing at his own trick, she doesn't rush to gather her strength.
Slowly, like cautious blue snakes, rings of azure fire start to coil around her limbs.
First her wrists and ankles, then they spread in both directions, covering her arms and legs with sleeves of rings that only expose brief hints of skin in the tiny gaps separating them. Tiny rings spread to cover her fingers and toes, another wrapping around her foot and her knuckles.
But they don't stop. At her shoulders, two large rings grow, sticking out like wings. Behind her, a halo of fire come into being just beyond the tips of each tail while another half dozen coil around their lengths.
Another halo appears above her head while the largest yet appears hovering just behind and above her back and finally, her golden eyes flash with a ring of blue fire that lines her irises.
Enhancing herself with Foxfire is a Technique that she invented when Hagoromo confronted her about her lack of Osore. It's a high level Technique, and each additional ring provides an exponential boost.
Last time, Narauko pushed her hard enough that she pushed her Technique farther than she ever did before. Right now, not only is her base far, far stronger—half a step away from Ultimate—but she also has more than twice as many rings.
If it was the her of merely a few months ago, the strain for maintaining this much would have left her immobile.
But she wants to win.
Locking her gaze on Narauko through the rising steam, she considers strategy.
He landed the first hit with a trick, but it was barely a hit. More importantly, she is still a Kitsune. If she could not trick as well as a human, she would be a shame to her race. That is why she has been keeping two of her tails hidden behind illusions.
Her sneaking up on him earlier was to test if her illusions are now good enough to escape his notice. Since that seems to be the case, it is unlikely that he truly knows just how much stronger she is now.
Tamamo takes a step forward and lowers herself into a crouch, another breath of steam passing her lips as she breathes out and then in.
Opposite her, Narauko notices her movement and stops fooling around, moving into a defensive stance.
As the temperature continues to rise, so too does the steam until it is thick like a fog.
She wants to win.
The lake below her feet explodes as her body is propelled forward, crossing the distance between them in the blink of an eye. Her senses go into overdrive, making the outside world seem as if it is almost frozen in time.
She watches in slow motion as Narauko's eyes widen alongside his smile and knows that he can keep up with her. Behind her, a trench opens up in the lake as the water reacts to her passing.
She doesn't let that stop her, starting with a probing right hook aimed at his face that he leans back just enough to avoid her reach. In the same movement, he takes half a step back to steady his stance and throws a counter punch to her gut, but she catches his wrist with her other hand and pushes herself up and over him.
With her feet pointing to the sky and her face inches above his own, she pulls back her arm and slams a palm down at him. However, his free hand catches her hand between the ring of fire on her wrist and over her knuckles. At the same time, his other hand twists awkwardly to grab her other wrist in the same spot, burning partly as it brushes against the fire. With his hold on her, he pulls her back down to earth to slam her on her back.
Grinning, Tamamo's four revealed tails shoot down below her until the rings of fire that are hovering just beyond their tips fall just shy of the lake's surface. Immediately, the water expands into steam, pushing against each tail enough that she can slow her rapid descent.
In the moment that her downwards momentum temporarily halts, Tamamo points both of her closed fists at Narauko. With a flex of thought, the ring of fire surrounding her knuckles shoots forward, slamming into his neck on both sides.
The grip on her wrists loosens as the hit lands, and she immediately switches to grab hold of his wrists, burning into them with the rings on her fingers, allowing her to twist and pull herself forward. Both of her feet slam into his chest at the same time, burning two holes through his clothes and she feels something crack as she lets go of him and watches his body be launched away.
With the pushback of her kick, she uses her tails as a pivot point to flow into a backflip and land carefully back on her feet.
The next instant, her ears are assaulted with noise as the environment catches up with their fight, the sea collapsing and exploding into surf that is scattered everywhere by raging winds. She dedicates a minute amount of her attention on using some Youki to keep her hair from fluttering too wildly in the wind and distracting her.
As she looks forward, she sees another explosion of surf as Narauko brings himself to a stop, rubbing his chest with a smile.
If not for the damage to his clothes, she wouldn't be able to tell that she even hit him.
"You heal way too fast," she complains mostly to herself, doubting that he'd be able to hear her over the sound of crashing waves.
The next moment, her pupils shrink into slits as Narauko abruptly appears in front of her, having crossed the distance no slower than her. Time slows down once more as she reacts to his fist flying towards her face, raising an arm to bat it wide.
However, contrary to what her senses told her, his fist deviates slightly, missing her parry and aiming for her throat.
He used his Cursed Energy as a decoy, she realises as she leans back slightly, not enough to avoid his reach. However, one of her tails then shoots over her shoulder, catching his fist in the hovering ring of fire.
As she slides a foot back to gain distance, she watches his fist turn to charcoal as it passes through the ring of fire until it actually hits the tip of her tail and is blocked and bounces back.
With both of them having a hand overextended, they bring their other hands forward at almost the same time. She meets his fist with her own, intending to burn his fingers off with the fire surrounding her own. Instead, she feels his Cursed Energy impact a fraction of a second before his fist, suppressing her fires enough that their knuckles can connect painfully.
She winces as the bones in her hand fracture, and in that moment, right when their fists bounce apart, his hand opens and snakes forward, resisting inertia, grabs her and pulls her back to him while he leans to the side and brings a knee up to meet her approaching gut.
Two of her tails quickly wrap around her waist to absorb the blow while a third moves to block his recovered arm and a fourth swipes at his sole source of balance.
He lets go of her hand and leans back, intending to use his hand to flip himself away and avoid the leg sweep, but her own free hand snaps forward an grabs a hold of his kimono.
However, the fire surrounding her burns the cloth immediately, not slowing him in the slightest.
Right...
Narauko's hand touches the turbulent lake and immediately causes it to still, providing a platform for him to flip away from her assault. Naturally, she does not let him regain his bearings.
The moment he is back on his feet he is faced with a fist flying for his face. He takes a step back and leans away from the blow and then rapidly leans to the side to avoid the ring of fire flying from her fist. However, with his head to the side of her fist, she opens her hand up and points her fingers at him, launching five tiny rings of fire at the side of his face.
Once more moving with incredible speed, Narauko leans back again, putting himself off balance. However that isn't quite enough to avoid the fire, yet right as one of the finger rings was about to impact the side of his face, he surprises her by snapping his jaw open wide, allowing the ring to burn through the skin of his cheeks without stopping, thus avoiding the concussive force of its explosion.
Even with no time to think about it, she admires that decisiveness.
That does not mean she stops. With the advantage of extra limbs, he can do nothing to avoid her four tails swiping at his legs. Unexpectedly, he does not even try to avoid it. Instead, she is caught off-guard when two thin lines of darkness shoot up from beneath his thighs and fly straight through them.
The next moment, Narauko's hands land on the water behind him at the same time that her tails impact his dismembered legs. In the moment of distraction his actions caused her, he pivots off of his hands so that he is tilted in her direction, and in less than a second, his legs regenerate entirely, perfectly poised for him to push off of the lake and launch himself right back at her.
Unprepared for his move, she fails to block his fist from slamming into her chin, the force of which makes her world flash white, only for a second impact to immediately follow the blow, giving her no time to recover.
He delayed the Cursed Energy this time, some distant part of her brain recognises before it is distracted by a storm of blows landing all over her body.
Her mind clears up enough to act again almost immediately, but that was still enough time for her to have taken a dozen powerful blows.
With the momentum against her, she gathers her Youki into the largest ring behind her back, and Narauko disengages just as a ring of laser-like fire shoots from behind her at an angle. The fire slams into the lake a breath behind Narauko and immediately turns a chunk of water into steam.
By now, there is enough steam to have caused a light fog to permeate the Curtain. Not that that hampers either of them much.
"Haven't you got a bit too much stronger?" Narauko calls out to her, sounding deeply amused. "Seriously, you're almost as physically strong as Sukuna at this point. What have you been eating?"
She smirks at him, pleased that her efforts are proving fruitful. "Human sin."
"Haha, that's a cool fucking answer." He gives her a thumbs up before stretching his arms behind himself briefly and letting out a satisfied sigh. "Welp, you made me use my Technique, so I guess let's step it up a notch, yeah?"
In response to his words, three identical clones of her step out of her body, each taking a tail with them. Illusions are a Kitsune's specialty, but illusions do not necessarily have to be ephemeral. Any lie can become truth in the right circumstance, after all.
Each of these clones only has one tail behind them, leaving her with one visible tail and two still hidden. Despite that, each clone is only slightly weaker than she is normally. Yet despite the obviously increased difficulty, Narauko only laughs. She finds that she wants to laugh with him, but she ignores the desire in order to focus solely on winning. That is what matters.
Then Narauko's form ripples and three identical clones of him step out of his body. Each Narauko brings their hands up in front of their eyes in the shape of a heart pointed at her.
"It's gotten a bit bigger," the Narauko's all speak simultaneously, "But won't you say hello to," one of the Naraukos' face ripples and shows one of their hands in the shape of a fox instead of a heart, "Kon?"
The next instant, her world darkens as a giant maw appears around her, however before it closes completely, the darkness disappears as she swaps place with one of her clones.
Glancing to the side, she watches as an enormous fox covered in glaring eyes pulls itself out of the lake. A 'bit' bigger my ass, she thinks to herself, deadpan. Talk about an underestimation.
A moment later, her clone phases through Kon's jaw and casually steps back onto the lake, unharmed.
"Hah?"
"They are the product of illusions," she politely informs him. "They are only real when I want them to be."
"That kind of gimmick huh? What a pain~ I'm jealous~."
Before she can respond, Narauko appears in front of the clone that spoke, aiming to spear her heart with an open palm. It is only when she moves to react that she notices the illusion layering on top of the lake, covering the expanding ice that delays her movement.
Blood splatters as his arm pierces straight through the clone, to his own surprise, yet the clone ignores that in favour of grabbing a hold of Narauko's arm and locking it in place.
Another of her clones gets distracted by Kon, leaving only her and one clone, and neither hesitates to create a fresh ring of Foxfire and launch it straight at Narauko. However, that is when his expression of faint shock twists into a smirk.
"Predictable~. Reflective Tortoise," he intones before a giant shell of diamond burst from the water between them, instantly reflecting her attacks back.
Annoying, she thinks before startling when one of her connections with her clones disappears, causing a tail to regrow behind her.
Her head snaps backwards to double check that the clone fighting Kon is doing fine, and she turns back when Reflective Tortoise collapses into ink and fades away, revealing Narauko standing alone with a smile.
"What, did you think you were the only one with the right to decide what is true~?" He teases and her face cramps.
Even now, am I still not good enough?
The thought pisses her off and fills her with grief all at the same time, but she crushes all of those emotions together into a ball and shoves them deep in her gut. The negativity only fuels her Youki.
Behind her, her clone blitzes Kon and slams every ring covering her arms into its chest, causing a deafening explosion that leaves only a dissipating cloud of black mist behind.
At the same time, she charges Narauko down with her other clone. Despite her speed being barely any less than at her full strength, he doesn't seem bothered at all and meets her with a smile.
She understands why a moment later when his limbs blur into motion, blocking and parrying every attack sent his way with only one arm for each of them, moving far faster than he was before. In fact, it's not just his reactions that are faster, it is almost as if he is lighter.
Has he still been holding back all this while?
She pushes the ugly emotions that thought brings farther down and focuses harder on the fight.
Even as none of her hits land directly, the fire surrounding her continues to burn him, yet he heals so fast that it makes little difference.
Damnit she just wants to win!
Her second clone appears behind Narauko to attack his back, but he instantly drops low and spins around, kicking all of their legs out from under them. However, as she falls, her third clone reappears, lunging out of her horizontal body and grabbing a hold of his shoulders before flipping herself over him.
With one clone above him and the rest surrounding him, she pushes her Youki to the max, intending to drown him in Foxfire. However, with his exaggerated speed, he manages to bring his hands up to his neck and throw them apart to knock her clone's hands off of his shoulders.
But before he can then escape, Tamamo's two hidden tails strike forward, knocking her clone's hands back onto his shoulders and locking him in place.
I want to win!!
Narauko barely has a moment to widen his eyes before their world is drowned in blue fire, a conflagration of flames exploding high enough to touch the ceiling of the Curtain.
BOOOOM!!
///
Narauko
///
Ow ow ow ow ow ow owwww.
Everything hurts~.
I think for a second there I didn't have any skin. I'd complain if my lungs weren't full of water right now.
My eyes regenerate a moment later, granting me vision of the sun's rays chaotically refracting through the raging waves above me. It's kind of peaceful down here. Right as I have that thought, my throat finishes healing and I immediately start hacking and choking.
It takes some serious effort to stamp down on the reflex to flail, enough to throw myself above the waves.
Coughing out a lungful of water is not a pleasant experience.
Pulling on Ice Bear, I freeze a platform on the lake and roll over onto my back on it, finding the movement of the waves somewhat soothing. Leaning my head up slightly, I look down at my hands, both of which look more like charcoal up to the forearm, with the bones of my fingers even being visible.
I watch as my skin steadily grows back, feeling how the accumulated damage has slowed down the healing rather significantly. A moment later I cover my lower half with a shadow and pull some spare clothes out to cover myself with.
"Seriously, even for me, improving that fast is kind of absurd," I mutter to myself, wiggling my fingers as they grow back to normal. "Last time I didn't even need to get rid of my training weights. Now you can hit me this hard even without them? Did you find a stash of Rare Candy or what?"
Well, for all my complaining, I'm having a blast. She's seriously strong, and that Foxfire of hers burns way hotter than it has any right to. I'm kind of jealous. I don't have any fire attacks. I want a cool fire attack~.
Groaning slightly, I push myself up to a seated position and then climb to my feet. The movement of the waves doesn't affect my balance at all.
Casting my senses out, it doesn't take me too long to find Tamamo, and I start pushing some Cursed Energy out the back of the slab of ice I'm standing on, using it as a surf board to get closer.
"Haha! You look like shit~!" This is what happens when you use a Kamikaze attack, dolt.
Standing on the turbulent waves, Tamamo looks up at me with an indescribable expression.
Her clothes are a mess, but surprisingly still present enough to cover her modesty. Must be much sturdier than my own. Her skin is burnt all over and is slowly recovering and she is breathing rather heavily. She also has six tails swaying behind her. Can't believe she hid them from me.
Seeing her staring at me with an expression I cannot identify and not saying anything, I strike a pose and smirk at her. "Do you give up~? Have you surrendered~?"
Contrary to my expectations, I do not lighten the mood at all. Instead, her expression darkens and her teeth clench together like she's in pain.
I'm lost.
I don't think she's the type to be a sore loser, so I'm not entirely certain why she seems so upset. Weren't we just having so much fun together?
"What is the difference between you and I." Tamamo speaks after a moment of silence, her voice a low whisper, almost desperate. "Why can I not win?"
Ah, so that's what's troubling her.
I can only feel helpless at that. It is only natural that you will be disappointed if you compere yourself to me.
That being said, she is not weak at all.
"The difference?" I hum to myself, considering my answer. "I suppose.. The difference is that you only want to win."
She looks at me with confusion, so I shrug and try to explain properly with a helpless smile.
"I am The Strongest. Whether I want to win or not does not matter. I will win. I always will. Because I cannot conjure the image of my defeat. I get the feeling that you put too much thought on surpassing me. Isn't that counter productive? If you have to surpass me in your mind, then aren't you already below me? If you want to win then you need to look down on me instead. Better yet, don't even put me in your sight. Just be selfish and do what you want. Enjoy yourself. You will find that you have won without even realising it. Aren't we having fun~?"
Her eyes start to widen as she listens to me talk, and the waves below us start to calm as if responding to her emotions. Then, at the end of my speech, her head drops low, covering her face from view.
Before I can feel any more concern, I hear a soft snort leave her, and then she starts to chuckle and I smile, relieved.
Rising her head once again, she looks at me without a hint of her earlier doubt. Only a wide smile greets me with a laughter that feels free.
"You are having fun?" She asks after a moment, sounding rather pleased.
I nod and grin back at her, speaking lightly. "How could I not be~? That last move of yours was great~, I've never had to struggle with being outnumbered before!"
"You know," Tamamo straightens herself out and faces me with a grin. She seems so much less tense now, like she's become lighter. "You are right. We are having fun~."
The moment she finishes speaking, those rings of Foxfire burst into being once again, surrounding her and making her look like a scene straight out of a painting. The next moment, as she crouches down, her hair erupts into blue fire, each lock becoming a strand of flame from the top of her head to the tips of her tails.
I'm so jealous~, I want cool fire attacks~!!
The next instant, Tamamo appears before me, moving even faster than she was before, but without anything holding me down, she still isn't quite fast enough.
Her opening jab is blocked and I send my other fist forward to counter attack before any other attacks can land in order to put her off balance. However, when my fist connects with her sternum, she doesn't flinch at all. The only proof of my attack is the identical copy of Tamamo that flies out of her back.
So she transferred the attack into the generation of a clone, letting the clone take the hit instead of her? That's crazy~ hahaha~.
With me overextending, I can't avoid her follow up attacks, so instead I simply think two words.
Great Serpent.
Faster than our eyes can track, my Shikigami extends from my stomach like a bullet, catching her around the waist in its mouth and smashing her into the lake a hundred metres away.
However, I do not move to chase as right in front of me stands Tamamo. Or rather, a clone of Tamamo, given the way that it is casually standing with my Shikigami phasing through her gut.
That thing I said earlier about being able to decide what's real was a bluff. I can't actually just no sell her ability so easily. What actually happened was just that I destroyed the stability of the clone by pulling on Generous Deer. My level of proficiency with illusions is nowhere near her level.
"I thought it was cats that are supposed to have nine lives?"
She shrugs. I'm not worried about the clone since it is currently illusory, and I somehow don't think it would go very well if it were to become real with my Shikigami currently superimposed over its stomach.
"The world is full of mysteries~." The moment Tamamo finishes speaking, her position shifts in the blink of an eye from standing in front of me to crouching on top of my Shikigami, five tails swaying behind her.
Ah, so she can swap positions with her clones without having to worry about maintaining orientation. That's neat, I think right before a burning fist impacts my face and sends me flying.
Ow.
Flipping around, I dispel my Shikigami and eye the rapidly approaching Tamamo.
"Generous Deer," I intone, keeping the Shikigami in my shadow but using its Technique to enhance the Positive Energy coating me, especially around my arms.
Tamamo reaches me a moment later and sends a ring of fire at me before entering my reach. The opening is easy enough to dodge but it leaves me little space to avoid her fists. However, with Positive Energy coating my arms, I am able to parry her attacks without suffering from the fire.
However, when I block her punch, Tamamo flows out of her own body, leaving a clone behind, and throws another punch at my side. When I block that as well, she does the same again, and this time I take the hit to my ribs. I laugh through the pain.
Right as she spits of another clone, I bring my hands together and speak, "Rabbit Escape."
A million little bunnies surge into being around me, pushing her away and carrying me into the air.
Lying my back on a bed of rabbits, I let them carry me up as I bring my hands together again in a different shape. I think I've done enough with my fists. It's time to show off my Technique a little.
"Nue."
My avian Shikigami immediately takes to the skies, soaring up above. Through Nue, I channel an excessive amount of Cursed Energy before turning around and dispelling Escape Rabbit.
Looking down at the once more turbulent lake, I quickly spot six Tamamos and immediately launch six bolts of lightning down at them. However, she waves her hands an a giant tree fades into being above them, taking the hits of all my lightning bolts and directing them down the trunk.
"Can it even be called illusions at this point?" As I laugh, I dispel Nue and pull my hands together again. "Max Elephant."
From a shadow artificially extended up my leg I pull out my elephant, still in its Divine Armament form, and take aim below.
"Piercing Blood: Split Shot," I murmur as I charge a shot and release it below, watching as the beam splits into six halfway down.
My hands come together again—Max Elephant fades into ink as it falls from my grip—even as I watch the six beams pierce through the illusory tree with ease. Only four of them land though.
"Extension Technique: Chain Lightning."
From my back, like a pair of growing wings, hundreds of miniature copies of Nue pour out like a waterfall, tucking their wings and diving down far faster than the speed that I am already falling at.
As more and more instances of Nue pour out of my back, I bring my hands together again, actually having to strain somewhat this time as I pull forth the images of Divine Dog and Reflective Tortoise.
I feel a great amount of satisfaction when I succeed. I really have gotten better with my Technique~, to manage two combinations at the same time.
"Extension Technique: Divine Shield."
From the shadow of one of the lower Nue, Divine Shield emerges, looking pretty much the same as Divine Dog normally looks, just with every strand of fur seeming to be made out of diamond.
The timing is just right for Divine Shield to use its speed to intercept a volley of blue fire rising to meet my flock of Nue, reflecting the attacks straight back down. The Tamamos all dodge, but a giant plume of steam is generated regardless, giving my flock plenty of camouflage to spread out and alight on the waves below.
Smirking at the sight of a cloud of Nue completely surrounding the Tamamos in every direction, even above and below, I finally activate Chain Lightning's ability.
A pulse of Cursed Energy connects each miniature Nue together, and the next instant, thousands of bolts of lightning snap into being connecting each Nue with every other Nue within a certain radius.
Three of the Tamamos immediately let out a shout and start convulsing, while the other three all turn tail and book it. With three suffering damage, I can't be certain which is the real one, and with three running, I can't be sure which she will swap places with.
So I simply don't bother. Because I have a plan.
Divine Shield is let go since there are no attacks imminent and, "Ice Bear," is summoned instead. Once more, I keep the Shikigami in my shadow and merely channel its Technique as I continue to fall, pulling an obscene amount of Cursed Energy into my fist.
Noticing that the speed of my descent won't keep up with the escaping Tamamos, I bring one of the mini Nue into place behind me and brace my back.
"Great Serpent."
My world immediately blurs, bringing to mind faded memories of roller coasters, as my Shikigami slams into my back and sends me hurtling down at incredible speeds.
I dispel it almost immediately after summoning it, and a mere thought is enough to make every Nue fade away into ink right before I enter the danger zone.
Not a second later, I pull back my fist and slam it into the lake's surface, sending out a torrential wave of Cursed Energy that flash freezes half of the water inside of the multi kilometre large Curtain, covering every Tamamo completely.
Within the tide of ice, three glowing blue spots shine through, which would be the three 'real' Tamamos melting the ice around them, but I ignore that, and bring my hands together.
After all, a freezing attack would be completely pointless against the three 'fake' Tamamos, meaning that they can simply hop out of the ice and swap places with Tamamo, thus negating the attack completely.
As I think that, three Tamamos fly out of the ice, each a good distance away from me and separated from one another.
However, if I were a tricky tricky Kitsune...
A sudden sense of heat appears behind me, and I twist my neck around to see Tamamo's flaming form rapidly approaching.
I smirk.
"Extension Technique: Snake of Eden."
With Positive Energy being antithesis to Yōkai and Tamamo in the middle of a lunge, there i no possible way she can avoid it, and the damage will certainly be appreciable.
Checkmate.
As if to spite me, at the exact same moment that I call for my Shikigami, I abruptly stumble.
The absurdity of me losing my balance at that moment is enough to delay my reaction just a moment, however it doesn't matter, as Tamamo somehow also stumbles, despite being in the air.
Time seems to slow to a stop as a titanic shadow engulfs us both, rising at the same speed that my Snake of Eden is emerging from my back.
Glancing to the side, I see what looks like an enormous wall rising from the depths, crashing through the layer of ice and rising to the sky. However, looking closer, the 'wall' seems to be the inside of a mouth.
The fuck?
And then there is no more time to think. The effect of the 'stumble' causes my Shikigami to fly wide, and when Tamamo reaches me a moment later, she uses one hand to vault onto me and then uses me as a springboard to launch herself into the air.
In almost the same moment, Nue shoots out of my back with only a thought and Snake of Eden dispels.
I watch as Nue barely makes it out before the mouth snaps shut, leaving me in darkness. A moment later, I pull myself into my shadow and climb out of Nue's, allowing me to see what just tried to vore me.
"Damn, that's a big catfish."
With Nue holding me in its claws, I ponder on that stumble. It was unnatural. Even if the ground beneath me were to disappear, I would not normally stumble like that. Does this catfish have some kind of conceptual 'You will stumble' kind of ability?
As I think that, I see Tamamo shooting towards the catfish, looking like a pebble being thrown at a shipping container. However, I feel a rather large amount of Youki gathering in her hands as she grows closer, and when she impacts with the fish, it is like a nuclear bomb went off.
A very small nuclear bomb, but still, the visual is striking. Poor fish.
"Arrghh!! I'm so jealous~!" I'm definitely going to get cool fire attacks in the future. There's nothing I can't do with my Technique after all.
Pulling once more on Ice Bear, I drop from Nue's grasp and land on another board of ice. standing opposite Tamamo, who is standing on the corpse of that giant fish.
"Was that a Yōkai?" I ask her, but she shakes her head.
"No, but it probably was not far from becoming one." She lets out a pant, and glares at me for daring to be only breathing heavily. "It seems that I will not win with lasting power then. In that case, let's bring this to a close. I am not sure how long I can hold this form before it starts burning away at my lifespan, but I have years to spare~."
I don't even need to ask any questions because right after she is done talking, Tamamo closes her eyes in focus, and then her entire body ignites. From her skin to her eyes and somehow her clothes too, everything becomes Foxfire.
"Hehe, 'flame on', right?" She doesn't laugh.
I blink my eyes and flinch backwards when she is already in front of me.
Fast!
I let her fist impact my chest while kicking out at her at the same time in order to push myself father away. Unexpectedly, not just her speed, but her strength are both incomparable with earlier. Really makes me feel like she's a boss battle with multiple phases.
"Generous Deer," I intone in the brief respite I get after her first blow. I guess I am kind of a boss type character too. I'm probably more of a gimmick fight though.
Tamamo is upon me again, leaving me no more time to think as I have to put my full attention on blocking her assault. Her speed at this point is actually greater than my own, which is awesome~ and her blows would be debilitating if not for Generous Deer enhancing my Reverse Cursed Technique enough to mostly offset the Youki-borne fire.
She doesn't bother with clones this time, or anything beyond her body's strength. Probably because she lacks the focus to spare.
Since I know that she is running on a time limit, the smart thing to do would be to focus on defence and wait for her to tire herself out. But man, that's loser talk. So what if you've entered your final phase? I'll just win anyway.
With that decided, the next time her right strikes, I catch her forearm with a grin and drop half a step forward, slamming my elbow deep into her gut hard enough to blow away all the water and fog in an expanding ring from the impact.
Immediately following and before she can recover, I use Ice Bear to freeze her legs in place while also bringing my hands together in the shape of a dog.
"Great Serpent," I intone, and my Shikigami springs into motion. However, it does not touch her at all. Instead, it shoots straight past her.
At the same time, Divine Dog is simultaneously summoned and immediately pounces at her as she recovers from my earlier blow and melts my ice. The moment of distraction that my dog caused her gives me the time to gather my Cursed Energy in my leg and deliver a momentous roundhouse kick to her gut, sending her flying through the sky at the same angle as Great Snake.
A heavy breath leaves me as I dispel Divine Dog and start falling backwards, grinning wildly. "I really am," my back hits the ocean and I fall into my shadow, coming out at the head of Great Snake's, "Having so much fun right now~."
Vaulting on top of my Shikigami's head, I eye the rapidly approaching fireball with a grin and start running down, pushing my body to the limit for the first time.. Maybe ever, rapidly gaining speed until I finally push off with both legs, throwing myself down at her.
She makes no move to avoid the coming collision. She just pulls back a fist of her own to meet me, and I feel like I can see her smiling even though the fire.
And then, right before impact, I smell ozone and get a bad feeling.
"BLACK-"
Oh come on! I thought it was my turn! Hahaha~!
"FLASH!!"
Our fists connect and I don't even feel any pain, everything just flashes between black and white and red and blue. My ears barely catch a deafening rumble before all sound is reduced to a single high pitched whine. The aftershock from the impact is strong enough that even my Curtain trembles and starts to crack over a thousand metres away.
By the time I can even see again, my vision is swimming and hazy like I've taken psychedelics.
Owwwwww. How many times is that now? This shit huuuurts~. This is some bullshit.
I let out a groan as Generous Deer soothes my pain and slowly pulls me back together enough to climb back above the waves before I start to drown again.
"Who's idea was it to fight on a lake?" I complain to myself as I look around for Tamamo, breathing heavily. I'm actually feeling tired. Exhausted even. It's great.
I definitely could have fought better, but this way is more fun. It's not like I care about winning in the first place. No need to try too hard. Hm. Thinking like that kind of makes it sound like I was holding back. I suppose that's a matter of how you're defining things.
Eh, whatever. Where's Tamamo.
That question is apparently rather easy to find an answer to as a moment later I feel an overwhelming presence land behind me. Not overwhelming in the sense of an overwhelming amount of energy, more in the sense of the presence of a higher life form, like...
Like Michizane...
Robotically turning around, I take in Tamamo's form with deadpan eyes.
Aside from still being on fire and visibly panting with exhaustion, she now has seven flaming tails swaying behind her.
A sigh leaves me. I thought that last exchange would be the last, but I guess there's one more, huh? Even having apparently become Ultimate, Tamamo's energy is so drained that it probably makes little difference at this point, and I'm hardly spry either.
Another sigh leaves me. "Alright then, fine. I guess that's just how it is."
Tamamo's stance lowers. My hands come together.
She charges at straight at me, bringing Ultimate power with her.
She does not make it in time.
"Domain Expansion."
///
A/N: He~llo! Dear readers!
Lmao get cliffhangered. You ain't gonna get to see his domain yet, so just stew in agitation cuz you won't see it for a while. I'm saving it for a special occasion~.
Also, I experimented with using an em dash, because I like grammar and like em dashes, but at the same time, I'm worried that it will make my writing look too much like chat gpt :/
Also also, this A/N was super long on the patreon to explain that the title was basically cuz I was feeling real bad about the chap when I wrote it btw.
6+ chaps on patreon btw, including next chapter's smut! =3