Toshio POV
I barely finished fastening my belt in time for Akeno to pull me out the window, her devil wings unfurling in the night air. I matched speed with her, Runic Shunpo blurring the rooftops below, slowing just enough for her to keep pace.
The spike of demonic energy I'd sensed hadn't faded—if anything, it was growing stronger, more concentrated, like a wound in the spiritual fabric of Kyoto itself. My Energy Sense screamed warnings as we raced above empty streets, our shadows echoing off traditional buildings that seemed to lean away from the malevolent power polluting the air.
"How far?" Akeno asked, flying next to me with supernatural grace. Lightning crackled faintly around her fingertips, her usual playfulness completely absent.
"Main Temple, where we met Yasaka," I replied, loud enough to be heard over the wind. "We're not far from there." We continued through the air. It didn't take long to reach the temple.
Akeno grabbed my collar before I could faceplant into a translucent barrier.
"What the hell?"
The shrine complex—or rather, the space where the shrine complex should have been—was encased in a shimmering barrier of dark energy. The distortion was visible even to normal sight, the air rippling like heat waves, but through Energy Sense it was immense. A subspace barrier, creating a pocket dimension that separated the shrine from the rest of Kyoto.
"They sealed it off," Akeno breathed, her expression hardening. "The demons wanted to ensure no reinforcements could arrive easily."
I approached the barrier carefully, extending my hand toward its surface. The energy felt wrong—corrupted, twisted, like someone had taken regular demonic power devils used and forced it to bend in ways it never should. My fingers touched the barrier and pain lanced up my arm.
"Shit." I jerked back, shaking my hand. "It's designed to repel entry. Anyone trying to pass through will take damage."
"Can you break it?" Akeno asked, already gathering her own power.
I analyzed the barrier's structure, my mind racing through runic formulas and theoretical applications. "Maybe, but it would take time we don't have. The fighting inside has already started I'm sure."
"Then we push through." Akeno's violet eyes met mine, determination burning in their depths. "Together. Our combined power should be enough to force an opening."
I nodded, already channeling Reiryoku through my body. The familiar sensation of spiritual pressure building around me was comforting in its intensity. Beside me, Akeno's demonic energy flared, golden lightning dancing across her skin.
A dense red orb of destruction manifested before my outstretched hand.
"On three," I said. "One... two... three!"
"Cero!" I unleashed my incomplete cero, Akeno's lightning combining with it.
Our combined power slammed into the barrier. The resistance was immediate. But due to the unique nature of the attack, it didn't take long.
The barrier buckled.
Then it shattered, forming a hole large enough for us to get through.
"Quick! It's repairing itself!" Akeno urgently warned.
We flashed through the opening as it sealed behind us, and the scene that greeted us stole whatever breath the barrier hadn't.
The shrine grounds had become a warzone.
Bodies littered the sacred pathways—Youkai warriors in traditional armor, their blood staining the stone. But they were vastly outnumbered by demon corpses. Demon fallen with their distinctive red and blue skin lay crumpled at unnatural angles. Goatmen—twisted humanoid creatures with bestial features—were scattered everywhere, their corrupted flesh already beginning to dissolve.
The Youkai casualties were minimal by comparison. Maybe two dozen dead against what had to be around a hundred demon corpses.
And still the fighting raged.
I spotted Youkai warriors engaged in desperate combat with the remaining demons. Fire and lightning clashed against dark energy and corrupted magic. The spiritual pressure in the air was heavy, making it difficult to choose where to start.
Then I saw her.
Kunou stood at the center of the chaos, her single golden tail blazing with power as she directed her forces with surprising tactical precision for someone so young. Her miko outfit was splattered with blood—hopefully not her own—and her golden eyes burned with fury as she launched a barrage of fox-fire at a group of Fallen.
"There!" I pointed, already moving toward the young Youkai princess. "We need to—"
"INTRUDERS!"
Kunou's voice cut across the battlefield like a blade. Her golden eyes locked onto us, and the fury in them intensified into something murderous.
"You came through the demon breach point!" Her hand thrust toward us, and I felt her power spike dangerously. "You're working with them! You betrayed my mother's trust!"
"Wait!" I shouted, but my words were lost as three Youkai warriors disengaged from their fights and charged directly at us.
The first warrior—a fox Youkai with two tails—launched a blast of spiritual energy at my chest. I managed to sidestep, feeling the heat of it singe my shirt as it passed.
"We're here to help!" I tried again, but the second warrior was already on me, a katana wreathed in blue flames swinging toward my neck.
Instinct took over. I drew Shinjūka, the blade singing as it left its sheath, and parried the strike with enough force to send the Youkai stumbling backward. I deliberately angled my block to redirect rather than counter—I couldn't afford to seriously injure them, not when this was all a misunderstanding.
"Toshi-kun, duck!"
I dropped without thinking, and Akeno's lightning bolt sailed over my head to intercept a barrage of fox-fire from Kunou herself. The two attacks collided mid-air, exploding in a shower of sparks and spiritual energy.
"Kunou-san, please listen!" Akeno called out, her voice carrying authority despite the chaos. "We're allies! We came to help defend the shrine!"
"Liar!" Kunou's young face was twisted with rage and fear. "You emerged from where the demons teleported in! You're with them!"
The third warrior—a massive bear Youkai—charged at me with a war hammer that looked like it could pulverize stone. I used Shunpo to avoid the devastating swing. The hammer cratered the ground where I'd been standing, sending chunks of stone flying.
This was getting out of hand fast.
I formed 10 magic circles above my head, aiming at them. I hoped Electric Shock would be enough to stun them. "I don't want to hurt you!" I shouted at the bear Youkai as he recovered for another swing. "We're on your side!"
"Then why did you come through the demon portal?" The fox Youkai with the burning katana pressed his attack, forcing me into a defensive sequence. His technique was good—better than good, actually. These were elite warriors, and fighting them without causing serious injury was going to be nearly impossible if they kept this up.
"Because we broke through the barrier from outside!" I parried another strike, deliberately leaving myself open for a counter that I knew wouldn't come—he was too disciplined. "We sensed the attack and came to help!"
"Convenient excuse!" The warrior's blade came at me again, and this time I had to channel more Reiryoku into my body to block the strike.
Across the courtyard, Akeno was dancing between attacks from two other Youkai warriors, her magic forming defensive barriers while she tried to talk them down. But they weren't listening, too focused on what they perceived as a betrayal.
Kunou raised both hands, and I felt her power gathering to dangerous levels. "Traitors die here!"
The wave of fox fire that erupted from her palms was massive—easily enough to incinerate both of us. I had maybe a second to react. Runic formulas appeared in front of me.
"Hardlight barrier."
The shield of light formed just in time, Kunou's attack slamming into it. It weathered the attack without issue.
"Listen to me!" I called out. "We're not your enemies!"
"Then why are you using demon magic?" one of the Youkai warriors shouted.
"It's not demon magic, you idiot, it's—" I cut myself off, realizing that trying to explain the difference between demonic energy and spiritual energy in the middle of combat was futile, not to mention explaining the intricacies and differences of human magic.
The bear Youkai's hammer came down again, I flashed back next to Akeno as the weapon obliterated the ground I was standing on. I held a defensive stance, Shinjūka held ready but not aggressively positioned.
"Akeno, you have any idea's?" If they wouldn't listen to reason, I really didn't want to resort to violence. Not to mention there were still demons fighting other Youkai.
"Let's try this." Her outfit transformed into her red and white Miko outfit as her devil wings lifted her into the air. I appreciated the glimpse of her nude form despite the situation.
Power surged through her form, electric currents flowing from her, likely charging one of her strongest AOE attacks if I had to guess. I hoped she was doing what I thought she was doing.
"I am Akeno Himejima," she declared, her voice carrying across the battlefield with supernatural resonance. Member of Rias Gremory's peerage, ally of the Youkai faction through the treaty between Sirzechs Lucifer and Yasaka-sama. We came here to help defend against the demon attack!"
Then she unleashed her stored power. Several lightning bolts spread in every direction. Their destinations: the heads of all demons in the immediate vicinity. The sound of the pops might have been satisfying if they weren't explosions of demonic brain matter. Eighteen demons dropped dead around us.
The fox Youkai with the burning katana lowered his blade slightly, uncertainty flickering across his features. "Gremory's peerage? But you came through—"
"We broke through the subspace barrier from outside," I interrupted, sheathing Shinjūka in a deliberate show of non-aggression, but still keeping an eye out for other demons. "We were at the hotel when we sensed the attack. We had to force our way through the barrier to get inside. That's why it looked like we came from the demon breach point."
Kunou's hands were still raised, her power still gathered, but doubt had entered her golden eyes. "How do I know you're telling the truth? How do I know this isn't some elaborate trick?"
"Because if we were with the demons, we'd have attacked you already instead of defending ourselves!" Akeno's wings flared wider. I could tell that last attack winded her a bit though. "I'm hoping the dead demons around you is enough proof."
The young Youkai princess stared at us for a long moment, her expression warring between suspicion and desperate hope. Around us, the remaining demon forces were being systematically eliminated by the Youkai warriors who weren't currently focused on us.
Finally, Kunou lowered her hands, though her power didn't fully dissipate. "Fine. But if this is a trick, I'll kill you myself." She turned to the warriors surrounding us. "Stand down. Let them approach."
The tension bled out of the courtyard as weapons were drawn away from us and toward the remaining demons.
"Now, let's finish these evil things off." I drew my sword again, then flashed with runic shunpo. I heard Akeno's lightning, the Kunou's fox fire, and the other Youkai attacks. Heads of a few dozen demons rolled from the precision of my blade.
Soon, the remaining demons in this area were cleared. Akeno and I regrouped with Kunou and her Youkai guards.
"Thank you for letting us help," I said, moving closer to Kunou. Now that I could see her properly, I noticed the exhaustion in her features, the way her single tail drooped slightly despite her defiant posture. "Where's Yasaka-sama?"
"At the secondary temple, like we planned," Kunou replied, her voice tight with worry. "She took only a handful of elite guards. When the attack started here, I wanted to send reinforcements, but—" She gestured at the carnage around us. "We've been dealing with this."
I surveyed the battlefield more carefully, my tactical mind analyzing what I was seeing. The demon corpses were numerous but... wrong somehow. There were no high-ranking demons among them, no commanders or generals.
"What about leadership?" I pressed, my eyes scanning the scattered corpses more carefully. "Any demon commanders? Generals? Anyone coordinating this attack?"
Kunou's expression shifted, confusion replacing some of her earlier fury. "No... now that you mention it, these were all foot soldiers. Fallen, their shamans, and goatmen, nothing higher ranked."
"That's what I was afraid of." I turned to Akeno, who had moved closer to me now that the threat of friendly fire and a demon attack had passed. "This wasn't a real attack. It's a distraction."
"A distraction from what?" the fox Youkai with the burning katana asked, his blade finally extinguishing as he sheathed it.
"From the secondary temple." My gut twisted with certainty even as I said it. "Where Yasaka-sama is defending with only a handful of guards."
I watched Kunou's face as the logic clicked into place and saw the blood drain from her cheeks. "Mother..."
"They wanted you focused here," I continued, my mind racing through tactical implications. "Wanted to tie up your forces with numbers while they hit the real target with their elite units. Kunou-san, you need to send reinforcements to the secondary temple immediately."
She spun toward a massive tiger Youkai in ornate armor—clearly her head personal bodyguard based on the way he carried himself. "Takeshi! Find Elder Kenshin and tell him to send reinforcements to the secondary temple now!"
The tiger Youkai's expression was grim as he shook his head. "Princess, we need to secure this location first. The barrier is weakening but still active, and there could be more demons waiting to ambush us. We can't leave our main temple vulnerable."
"Then send a small detachment," I suggested. "Enough to investigate and provide immediate support if needed. Once this location is secured, the main force can follow."
Takeshi studied me for a long moment, his predatory eyes weighing and measuring. Finally, he nodded. "That could work. Princess, if you lead a small strike team to check on Lady Yasaka, I can coordinate the cleanup here and send reinforcements as soon as we're certain the main shrine is secure."
"Do it." Kunou's voice carried an authority that seemed too large for her young frame. "I'll take ten elite guards and—" her golden eyes fixed on me, "—you two, if you're truly here to help."
"We are," Akeno confirmed, her miko outfit still crackling faintly with residual lightning. "We'll come with you."
I was already moving, checking my equipment and mentally preparing for what we might find at the primary leyline hub. If the demons had committed their real forces there, if Yasaka was facing down demon generals with only a handful of warriors...
"Wait." I turned to Akeno, the words difficult but necessary. "You need to go back to the hotel. Get Rias and her peerage ready in case more demons show up."
"Absolutely not." Akeno's violet eyes flashed dangerously. "I'm not leaving you to—"
"This isn't about us," I interrupted, keeping my voice low but firm. "Devils shouldn't get involved in direct combat yet. That was part of the agreement with Yasaka-sama—you observe, gather intelligence, and protect the students. Getting her peerage caught in open warfare with the Old Demon Faction could cause diplomatic complications neither side needs right now."
"And you?" Her tone was sharp, hurt bleeding through the anger. "You're just going to charge into a potential demon ambush?"
"I'm a free agent. Technically human, not bound by the treaty protocols." I reached out, cupping her face gently. "If something goes wrong, if this turns into a larger conflict, Rias needs to know. She needs to be ready to evacuate the students. You're the only one who can teleport straight to her."
Akeno's jaw clenched, and I could see her warring between staying with me and accepting the tactical necessity of what I was saying. Around us, Kunou was already selecting her guards—the fox Youkai with the katana, a crane Youkai whose wings shimmered with spiritual energy, and three others I didn't recognize but who carried themselves like elite warriors. It seemed like Takeshi was gathering the remaining five.
"I don't like this," Akeno finally said, her voice barely above a whisper.
"I know. I don't either." I pulled her close, pressing my forehead against hers. "But this is the right call. Get Rias ready. If we need backup, I'll call you."
She was quiet for another moment, then nodded reluctantly. "You better not get hurt, Toshi-kun. We have unfinished business from earlier."
Despite everything, I felt myself smile. "Demons? Hurt me? Please." Ghom notwithstanding.
Akeno kissed me then—not the playful, teasing kisses she usually favored, but something deeper and more desperate. Her fingers tangled in my hair, and I tasted the glimpse of fear beneath her passion. When we finally broke apart, her eyes were bright with unshed tears.
"Come back to me," she whispered.
"Always."
Her devil wings manifested, the black feathered appendages spreading wide as she lifted into the air. I watched her fly toward the crumbling barrier and watched her gather power, punching through it with a blast of concentrated lightning. Then she was gone in a flash of red, disappearing into the realm of teleportation.
"Touching," Kunou said dryly, though I caught the blush on her cheeks as she quickly looked away. "Are you ready, or do you need more time for dramatic farewells?"
"I'm ready." I turned to face her fully, noting how her single tail was no longer drooping. The brief respite had given her back some of her energy, or maybe it was just determination overriding exhaustion. "Lead the way, Princess."
She bristled slightly at the title but didn't comment on it. Instead, she gestured to her selected guards. "Standard formation. Takeshi, you have command here. Send reinforcements the moment this shrine is secure."
"Understood, Princess." The tiger Youkai bowed deeply. "May the spirits guide your path."
We moved as a group toward the far side of the shrine complex, where I could sense the leylines flowing beneath us like underground rivers of power. The secondary temple was about 30 miles away—close enough to reach quickly (for me anyway), far enough that any fighting there wouldn't immediately alert the forces here.
"The reinforcements will come," Kunou said as we ran, her voice pitched for my ears only. "Once the main shrine is secured, Takeshi will send every available warrior. We just need to hold until then."
"How many guards did your mother take with her?" I asked, using Shunpo to keep pace with her supernatural speed.
"Twelve of her most elite warriors." Kunou's expression was tight with worry. "They're all veteran fighters, with centuries of experience between them. But if the demons committed their full force..."
She didn't need to finish the thought. Twelve warriors, no matter how skilled, couldn't hold against an army. Not indefinitely.
We cleared the shrine grounds and hit the streets of Kyoto proper. The city was eerily quiet at this hour, most residents asleep and unaware of the supernatural battle that had just raged mere blocks away. The subspace barrier had contained the fighting, preventing normal humans from sensing the carnage.
Small mercies.
We traveled for about 30 minutes. I could tell Kunou was struggling to keep pace with everyone. "There," the fox Youkai—I really needed to learn his name—pointed ahead. "I can see the barrier from here."
He was right. From this distance, I could make out the telltale shimmer of another subspace barrier surrounding what had to be the secondary temple. But this one felt different—stronger, more complex. Where the barrier at the main shrine had been crude, designed just to delay reinforcements, this one was much more sophisticated.
"They're serious about whatever they're doing in there," I muttered, already analyzing the barrier's structure through Energy Sense and Observe.
"Can you break through like Akeno-san did?" Kunou asked.
"Maybe. But it'll take more power, and it'll definitely alert whoever's inside that we're coming." I studied the barrier more carefully, noting the way the demonic energy twisted and folded in on itself. "This isn't just keeping people out. It's keeping something in."
"The leyline," the crane Youkai said, her voice musical despite the tension. "They must be trying to corrupt it from the secondary access point. If they succeed—"
"They won't." Kunou's voice carried absolute conviction. "My mother won't let them. We won't let them."
I wanted to share her confidence. I really did. But the sophistication of this barrier, the tactical precision of the distraction at the main shrine, and the absence of any demon leadership in that attack—it all pointed to an enemy that knew exactly what they were doing.
An enemy that had planned for every contingency.
Including us.
Yasaka POV
She knew this would happen. Her twelve elite warriors were slaying demons right and left as they funneled into the narrow passage of the leyline chamber. She was now confident in her decision to defend this place herself.
"Yasaka-sama! Their forces seem endless! We've been killing them for hours!" One of her elite soldiers on break rotation kneeled before her. They kept a steady system of 6 on, 6 off, rotating every 30 minutes to avoid fatigue. But that could only last so long. The endless stream of demon troopers, fallen, fallen overseers, and demonic hellfliers showed no signs of slowing down. A few elites had even appeared. Nothing her elite warriors couldn't handle, though.
"I'm sure reinforcements will be here soon. Please hold out a little longer, my dear Youkai!" she tried to encourage. It seemed to work. She stood in front of the leyline access to the leyline nexus. The main access hub was actually several stories down, but only she knew that.
She looked down and frowned. The pool of demon blood from the slain foes was steadily creeping toward the inner shrine. Her eyes darkened in rage.
How dare they attack the Youkai. She would annihilate every last one of them. Make them all wish they could taste the demonic river of fire rather than face her fox fire.
"Form a gap!" The six youkai put a gap in the middle of them. An intense stream of golden-blue fox fire, easily 6 feet wide, blasted through the gap, incinerating a large portion of the demons.
Then she heard something that sent a chill down her spine. An evil, haunting laughter. It echoed off the walls despite the sounds of combat.
"You puny Youkai should learn your place." The voice seemed to surround the room, coming from nowhere but everywhere at the same time.
"Yasaka-sama! The forces seem to be drawing back! I think we won!" She watched with mild anxiety as the remaining demon troopers slowly backed down the hallway, their slain brethren's ashes still drifting in the air.
"Stay vigilant!" she yelled at her front-line team.
While they all faced forward, trying to threaten the demons back down the corridor, a flash of light appeared behind them.
"No!" Yasaka screamed. They were all incinerated by demon fire. The demonic looking beast flashed away again. Yasaka, not willing to lose more men, appeared in the middle of the remaining six Youkai, using a spell to create a bubble barrier.
No sooner, a blast of flames hit the shield, cracking it. From the smoke and outside the hasty barrier, a creature with bone-like wings, long claws, and a grotesque face sauntered up. His deep laugh was familiar.
"As I sanctified the other shrines, this one shall be my ultimate masterpiece. The blood of Yasaka, queen of the pathetic Youkai, shall paint these walls. Yasaka's eyes lit up in blue fox fire, her rage clear to see.
"Vidian, Lord of Envy." This demon was ancient and strong.
"Ah, you know of me? My work precedes me then," he taunted as he circled the barrier. Her six loyal Youkai held fear in their eyes, despite their willingness to die for her. She knew this demon from the old war. He was known for his deception and beguilement, often sowing discord within the ranks of his enemies, often costing his foes the battle.
"You won't leave here alive, demon," Yasaka spat. This creature had defiled her precious Youkai. She would destroy him. She just had to figure out how to avoid collateral.
"Humor is not befitting of a queen. Maybe I should refer to you as a jester instead, you pathetic harlot." She knew she had to remain calm, but his words seemed to dig under her skin like parasitic magic.
The sensation crawled beneath her skin like insects burrowing into flesh. Yasaka's hands tightened around the golden fox-fire gathering in her palms, but something felt wrong. Her spiritual energy wasn't flowing properly—it stuttered, hesitated, as if the very air around her had become viscous.
Vidian's grotesque face split into a wider grin, revealing rows of needle-sharp teeth. "Feeling it now, aren't you? My presence alone is poison to your kind. Every breath you take in this chamber weakens you, makes your power harder to grasp."
She tried to speak, to issue commands to her remaining warriors, but her tongue felt thick. Around her, the six elite Youkai shifted nervously within the barrier, their weapons raised but their movements sluggish. They felt it too—the creeping lethargy, the way their spiritual energy seemed to drain away like water through cupped hands.
"Envy is such a delicious sin," Vidian continued, his bone wings spreading wider as he paced around the barrier. "You Youkai have always been so proud of your connection to the leylines, your spiritual purity. But what happens when that connection becomes a liability? When the very power you draw from turns against you?"
The demon blood. Yasaka's gaze snapped to the dark pool that had been steadily advancing across the chamber floor. It had reached the edges of her barrier now, lapping against the golden energy like a tide. The blood wasn't just residue from the slain demons—it was corrupted, infused with Vidian's essence, and designed to poison the spiritual energy in the chamber itself.
"You clever bastard," she managed to force out, her voice strained. "The endless waves of fodder weren't just to wear us down. You were bleeding them deliberately, letting their corrupted essence saturate this place."
"Finally catching on?" Vidian's laugh echoed off the stone walls. "Though I'm afraid it's a bit late for revelations. You see, this chamber sits directly above the secondary leyline access point. All that corrupted blood seeping into the stone, into the earth below—it's already beginning to taint the spiritual flow. And with you trapped in here, unable to cleanse it..." He made a theatrical gesture of mock sympathy. "Well, the corruption will spread throughout the entire network. Slowly, perhaps, but inevitably."
Yasaka felt her nine tails flare with power, but the movement was sluggish and delayed. The barrier around her warriors flickered, and she had to channel more energy just to maintain it. But that energy came from the leylines beneath them—leylines that were already being poisoned by the demon blood soaking into the stone.
She was drawing on tainted power to protect herself from the source of that taint. A perfect trap.
"Yasaka-sama," one of her warriors—a wolf Youkai named Genji—spoke quietly from behind her. "We can break through. Create an opening—rush him while you escape. You can cleanse the corruption once you're free of his influence."
The suggestion was tactically sound, but Yasaka knew better. Vidian wouldn't have revealed his plan if he thought she could simply flee. He wanted her to try, wanted her to expend what remained of her strength in a futile escape attempt.
"No," she said, her voice steadier now despite the poison crawling through her system. "That's exactly what he expects."
Vidian tilted his grotesque head, his bone wings rustling with amusement. "Oh? The fox queen shows wisdom in her final moments. How touching."
Yasaka's mind raced through possibilities, each one bleaker than the last. The corrupted blood was already seeping into the leyline—she could feel it, a wrongness spreading through the spiritual channels beneath her feet. Her connection to that power was what made her strong, but now it was becoming a conduit for poison.
If she drew too deeply, she'd accelerate the corruption of her own spiritual energy. If she didn't draw enough, she couldn't maintain the barrier protecting her warriors or summon the power needed to fight back.
A perfect trap indeed.
"You've been planning this for months," she said, buying time while her mind worked through scenarios. "The shrine massacres, the tactical positioning, even the timing of the school trip—all of it designed to get me here, in this chamber, at this moment."
"Flattery will not save you." Vidian's claws scraped against the stone floor as he moved closer to the barrier. "Though I appreciate the recognition. It has been quite the elaborate production. My associates thought I was being overly cautious and that we should simply overwhelm your forces with numbers. But I insisted—Yasaka of the Nine Tails required a more... elegant solution."
The barrier flickered again, and this time Yasaka felt her knees buckle slightly. The taint was spreading faster now, the demon blood having saturated enough of the chamber to create a feedback loop. Every moment she remained here, every breath she took, weakened her further.
Behind her, she heard Genji and the others readying their weapons. They knew what was coming, knew that their queen was running out of options. Loyal to the end, they would die here if necessary.
But Yasaka refused to accept that outcome.
Her gaze fell on the pool of corrupted blood spreading across the floor. Demon essence, thick with Vidian's power, designed to poison anything it touched. The Lord of Envy had soaked this chamber in his influence and turned the very ground into a weapon against her.
Which meant the blood was connected to him. An extension of his power, his essence.
A connection that worked both ways.
Yasaka's lips curved into a smile that made Vidian's grin falter for just a moment.
"You made a mistake," she said quietly.
"Did I?" The demon's tone was cautious---
"You spread your essence throughout this chamber," Yasaka said, her voice carrying a confidence that cut through the lethargy poisoning her system. "Connected yourself to every drop of that corrupted blood. Made it an extension of your power."
She watched Vidian's grotesque features shift and saw the calculation behind those malevolent eyes as he worked through the implications. Too late, she hoped. The demon was clever—clever enough to orchestrate this entire trap—but arrogance was the fatal flaw of his kind.
"And what of it?" Vidian's bone wings spread wider, a defensive posture masked as intimidation. "That blood is my weapon. Every drop weakens you, poisons the leylines you hold so precious. Your connection to them becomes your downfall."
"Perhaps." Yasaka let her barrier flicker deliberately and watched how Vidian tensed in anticipation. "But you've forgotten something crucial about the nature of connections, Lord of Envy."
She dropped the barrier completely.
Her six warriors gasped behind her, but she was already moving. Her nine tails blazed with fox-fire—not the golden flames she'd been using before, but something darker, tinged with the very corruption that saturated the chamber. The tainted power flowing through the leylines beneath her feet, the poison seeping into her spiritual channels—she grabbed hold of all of it.
And she reversed the flow.
Vidian's eyes widened a fraction too late. The corrupted blood covering the chamber floor suddenly surged upward in crimson tendrils, responding not to his will but to hers. She'd seized control of the connection he'd so carefully established and turned his own weapon against him.
"What—" The demon's words cut off as the blood-tendrils wrapped around his limbs, his torso, his grotesque wings. He thrashed, demonic energy flaring as he tried to sever the connection, but Yasaka held firm.
The pain was excruciating. Drawing on the corrupted power felt like swallowing molten glass, like poison spreading through her veins with every heartbeat. Her spiritual channels screamed in protest, her connection to the pure leylines buckling under the taint. But she gritted her teeth and pulled harder.
If this killed her, so be it. Better to die destroying her enemy than to live and watch the leylines fall to corruption.
"Impossible," Vidian snarled, his bone wings shredding through some of the blood-tendrils only for more to take their place. "You can't control my essence! The corruption should be destroying you!"
"It is destroying me," Yasaka admitted, and she felt blood trickling from her nose, tasted copper on her tongue. Her vision swam, dark spots dancing at the edges. "But I'm Yasaka of the Nine Tails. I've channeled the power of Kyoto's leylines for centuries. You think your pathetic poison can break that connection!" She unleashed her most powerful fox fire attack that she could manage.
"NO! You infernal witch!" No longer able to dodge or teleport due to the interruption in his power, the attack struck him head-on, slowly incinerating him.
"AHHHH NO! I AM THE LORD OF ENVY! I CANNOT DIE HERE!" He tried to writhe, but the blood bondage held him down. Just as she was about to celebrate her triumph, the sound of a portal caught her attention. Her mind, clouded by the corruption, didn't process it in time. She turned to face a man in black robes, reaching out toward her neck.
"That's enough out of you." A collar snapped around her neck, a large stone attached to the front. She stumbled back from the force.
As he continued to step toward her, he waved a hand, and her remaining Youkai were instantly impaled by blood spikes from the blood-covered ground.
He looked apathetically toward the burning Lord of Envy.
"Seems you were weak after all, Vidian." Soon after, Vidian was only ash. The dark-robed man focused his attention toward the fox queen. Yasaka choked as the collar tightened. She didn't know who this man was. But she could tell he was immensely powerful. Easily equal to her at full strength.
"Who, are you," she choked out, trying to claw the collar off. She stumbled to the ground, the pool of corrupted blood splashing on her, staining her yellow shrine maiden clothes crimson.
"Not that it matters to you any longer, little lamb." In her growing haze, she was confused by the name. Wasn't she a fox? Wait, why was the stone getting smaller and shining with a red light? The last thing she heard was the smooth, chilling voice of the 'man' in front of her.
"But if you must know before your oblivion, my name is Lucion."