A Fox's Family (37 page)

And
then it was over.

Kotohime
sheathed her blade, the resounding
click
echoing
across the silent road. The thing behind her slid apart, thousands of
separate pieces hitting the ground with a wet splat.

Turning
around to observe the armored figure, Kotohime noticed immediately
that it wasn’t dead, despite being turned into several puddles.
The mercury-like substance still glowed. Blobs of liquid metal pulled
themselves together, congealing into a single entity once more. Like
a rising tide, it surged upwards, its undefined form rippling. It
began bulging in some places and retracting in others, its body
constantly shifting, as if it couldn’t decide on the form it
wanted to take, until it eventually settled on an approximately human
shape.

“Hmm.”
Gripping the hilt of her katana, Kotohime observed her regenerated
foe with the sharp eyes of a warrior. “It seems I will need to
use something more powerful than a simple sword technique to defeat
you.”

It
had become clear to her that this thing was impervious to all forms
of physical damage—slashing, stabbing, blunt force trauma; none
of that would work. If she wanted to defeat this strange metallic
being, then she needed to use something that didn’t require her
to cut it.

But
what technique should she use? It would have to be something that
could destroy its body in one go. Maybe… yes… that
could work, provided she was careful.

The
thing seemed to realize that its tendril attacks wouldn’t work
on her. Its hands shifted, the metal elongating into two double-edged
blades about three feet in length. Then it charged at her.

Kotohime
met the charge head on. The first attack made by the armored figure
was a downward slash with its right blade, which Kotohime redirected
when she raised her katana at an angle, allowing the weapon to slide
off her sword. She then shifted her stance, her feet sliding across
the blacktop as she raised the katana above her head with the tip
pointed at the ground. The ringing of steel echoed as her foe swung
its blade again, only to discover that her katana was there to meet
it. When their weapons locked, she flicked her wrist and the blade
grinding against her katana was redirected over her head, following
the contours of a crescent.

Her
skillful redirect caused her opponent to stumble forward. Reversing
her grip on her katana, Kotohime sent an enhanced thrust at the
figure with her pommel. The creature, unable to properly ground
itself, could do nothing as she hit it with the full force of her
youki-enhanced strength. Like the sonic boom of a fighter jet
breaking the sound barrier, a powerful shockwave sent the thing
hurtling backwards where it smashed into the ground, breaking apart
the road and digging a long trench in the blacktop.

“
Water
Art: Dance of Timeless Erosion.”

Before
the thing even had a chance to stand back up, water gathered around
it. At first, the liquid only appeared as tiny droplets barely larger
than a thumbtack. There were a lot of them; thousands, maybe even
hundreds of thousands; glittering gems from a hidden treasure, tiny
pearls of moisture that remained liquid and unstable. They looked
small, harmless, and were surprisingly beautiful.

Then
they began to move, swirling around the armored figure like pieces of
debris trapped in a tornado. The water droplets picked up speed, the
rotatory forces becoming an intense maelstrom of energy, a whirlpool
of incredible power that danced around her armored foe. And then the
funnel of rotating droplets started to shrink, conforming to the size
and shape of the being trapped within.

Water
is an unusual element. It is generally very gentle, soft and tender,
like a lover’s caress. However, it can also be powerful and
chaotic, a tempest squall capable of unmitigated destruction in the
right circumstances.

It
was not wind or fire or earth that created the Grand Canyon. It was
water. Thousands of years worth of water eroding the earth, slowly
chipping away at it. There was power in water, both terrible and
great.

Kotohime,
as a Water Kitsune, was capable of controlling this element with the
ease of one born into it. Her very blood pulsed with the flow of
water. Her technique,
Dance
of Timeless Erosion
,
was an ability that showed her powers over water to their fullest
extent.

The
water molecules encased the metal figure from head to toe and
continued spinning. The force generated from each droplet, combined
with each droplet’s continuous motion, took what constituted as
several thousand years’ worth of erosion and compressed it into
several seconds.

When
the water finally dispersed, her armored opponent was gone, vanished.
Annihilated. Its very molecular structure had been broken down and
eroded. The only thing that remained was a strange orb, which
Kotohime picked up and placed within her Extra Dimensional Storage
Space.

“I
see you took care of your opponent, sister.” Kotohime turned to
greet her younger sibling, who smiled at her as she walked up. “And
without receiving so much as a single scratch.” The woman’s
eyes shone with a glimmer of admiration. “I’m always
amazed by how powerful you are.”

“In
a few decades, you will be this strong as well.” Kotohime
observed her sister, the cuts on her clothes and the blood leaking
from her many wounds. Her gaze traveled to her sister’s side,
where Kirihime held a hand against her torso, carnelian fluids
seeping between her fingers. “You are injured. Do you require
healing?”

“I
appreciate your concern, but you need not worry about me.”
Demure as always, Kirihime smiled at her elder sibling and brushed
off Kotohime’s concern. “That thing, um, whatever it was,
it was stronger than I expected it to be. I underestimated it and
ended up paying the price.”

“I
see. So, you had to use ‘that,’ then?” When
Kirihime just tilted her head in honest confusion, Kotohime sighed.
“Never mind. Let us report back to the others and inform them
of this new development.”

“Okay.”

***

Standing
on the roof, a gleaming metallic figure observed the battle’s
conclusion from afar, watching as the two beings defeated its two
brethren. After cataloguing the many attacks used and studying the
battle with its high-spec processor, it quickly determined that
fighting those two would end in its defeat.

While
it had no concept of death, it did have orders to exterminate Heather
Grant. Its processor, which functioned on logic, reasoned that it
couldn’t eliminate its target if it was destroyed.

With
no more reason to stick around, it left, disappearing into the night.
It would wait for another opportunity to dispose of its target.

***

Kevin’s
sleep was interrupted by an annoying voice.

“Kevin-sama.
Lilian-sama. I must ask that you two please wake up.”

“Five
more minutes,” Lilian, who’d slept with him, didn’t
appreciate being woken up either.

“I
apologize, Lilian-sama, but I must insist that you two wake up now.
There has been a new development that you should be made aware of.”

With
a groan of complaint, Kevin opened his eyes and sat up. Yawning, he
raised his arms above his head, his eyes closing as stiff muscles
were stretched taut. Sitting up beside him, Lilian rubbed her eyes in
a most adorable manner.

“Come
along, you two.” Kotohime stood before them. “We are
having a meeting in the living room.”

“Right,
right,” Kevin yawned again, “we’re coming.”

When
he, Lilian and Kotohime arrived in the living room, it was to see
that Kirihime and the others were already there. He and Lilian sat
down, while Kotohime gracefully moved to stand beside her sister. The
only one not present was Camellia, who he assumed was still sleeping.

“Thank
you for waking up so promptly, everyone,” Kotohime bowed
politely.

“Whatever.
Look, I don’t want to be rude or anything,” Iris started,
crossing her arms and giving the swordswoman a tired glare, “but
does anyone want to tell me why I had to wake up at this
Inari-forsaken hour?”

Unlike
Kevin and Eric, who sat on armchairs, and Lilian―who sat on
Kevin―Iris had chosen to rest on the floor. Once again, Kevin
found himself unconsciously admiring the raven-haired fox-girl;
without even trying, the girl somehow made even the simplest of
gestures look unbearably sexy. Sprawled regally on her right side,
her head resting on her right hand, the kitsune’s posture
seemed designed to draw all eyes to her. Her sleepwear, a tiny white
shirt that stretched tautly across her breasts and showed off her
flat stomach and a red thong, ensured that she remained the center of
attention.

“My
apologies, Iris-sama.” The sound of Kotohime’s voice gave
Kevin the strength needed to look away from Iris, something he was
very grateful for. “The reason that I have asked all of you to
wake up at such an untimely hour is because just a few minutes ago, a
pair of… of… creatures? Robots?” Her nose
scrunched up. “I do not know what they were, exactly. Suffice
to say, they were hostile, and I believe they were responsible for
Heather-san’s condition.”

Everyone
looked at Kotohime in alarm.

“Fortunately,
Kirihime and I managed to defeat those things,” Kotohime
continued. “However, we are now faced with a new problem. The
strange foes that we fought are completely unknown to me. They were
neither yōkai nor human, but something else entirely.”

“So,
you don’t know what they were?” Lilian looked troubled.

“I
do not.”

Kotohime
went into a brief description of the enemy she and her sister had
fought. Only half of Kevin paid attention. The rest of him was trying
to ignore the way Lilian’s butt felt against his erection.

Lilian
leaned back against Kevin’s chest after Kotohime finished
giving her description. “It sounds like those things were made
of mercury. That’s the only metal I know of that can become
liquid at low temperatures.”

“I
do not believe it was mercury. While the substance did indeed behave
in a manner similar to mercury, it also acted completely differently
from that particular type of metal, moving almost as if it had a mind
of its own.”

Kotohime
reached into her cleavage and pulled out a orb. It didn’t look
like much. It was a sphere about the size of a baseball, silver, but
with black veins running along its surface.

“Is
that…?”

“Indeed.”
Kotohime nodded at Kevin. “After I defeated my opponent, all
that was left of it was this strange sphere.” Holding the orb
up to her eyes, the maid-slash-bodyguard’s brow furrowed. “I
was hoping we would be able to discover what those things were with
this, but I confess to being at a loss.”

“I
think I might be able to answer a few of your questions.”

Everyone
turned their heads to see Heather standing in the hallway leading to
the guest rooms. She didn’t look good. She was leaning against
the wall for support, and her right hand covered her left side. Her
heavy breathing was accompanied by sweat covering her flushed face,
as if just standing there took a concerted amount of effort.

“Master!
You’re awake!” Eric was at her side in an instant. “Are
you alright? Is there anything I can do for you? Do you need any
help?”

“I’m
fine, my young apprentice.” Heather gave her student in the
ways of perversion a smile mixed with a grimace. She looked back at
Kotohime. “I believe I can answer at least some of your
questions. Apprentice, help me walk; I seem to be having some trouble
moving on my own right now.”

With
Eric’s help, Heather was soon sitting on the armchair that he
had vacated, the young pervert choosing to stand behind her.

“I’m
sorry for getting all of you involved in this. I would also like to
thank you for helping me.”

“You
are welcome.” Kotohime graciously accepted Heather’s
thanks. “Now, then, I believe you mentioned something about
having answers to our questions.”

Heather
nodded.  “Right, it’s about those things you fought.
I don’t really know what those things are, but I do know who
created them; a group calling themselves The Sons and Daughters of
Humanity.”

Iris
wrinkled her nose. “Pretty pretentious name, don’t you
think?”

Heather
shrugged. “Don’t look at me. I didn’t come up with
the name. Anyway, The Sons and Daughters of Humanity is a secret
organization of the highest level. Very few people know they exist,
and fewer still know what their true goals are. I’m not exactly
sure who’s funding them, but I know they’re very
powerful, and that they’ve got some deep pockets.”

Kotohime
stroked the hilt of her katana, her thoughtful hum momentarily
filling the air. “The Sons and Daughters of Humanity… I
take it they are some kind of anti-yōkai group?”

“Yes.
Their modus operandi is basically to protect humanity from the threat
of yōkai incursions.” Noticing the disgusted looks being
sent her way, Heather raised her hands in a weak gesture of defense.
“Hey, don’t look at me. I don’t really care about
yōkai or whatever. I only worked for them because I had no other
choice.”

“How
did you come into their services?” asked Kevin.

Heather
squirmed in her seat and laughed nervously. “W-well, you know
how it is… these things just tend to happen sometimes.”

Everyone
deadpanned at her.

“No,”
Kevin countered swiftly, “we don’t know how it is,
because these things don’t just ‘tend to happen.’”
Everyone nodded in agreement—even Eric. “So, please,
explain it to us.”

Kotohime
looked at Kevin in approval, causing the teenager to flush a bit and
bury his face in Lilian’s hair.

Lilian
giggled when his hot breath hit her neck and wiggled in his lap.
“T-that kind of tickles.”