Solus flew through the air as the viscous energy swirled over the crack in the road. While carrying Oshi in his arms, Solus somersaulted and landed in front of Sushi and her friends as Sushi got into a defensive stance. Sushi raised a hand into the air. A silver mist of spirit mana swirled around Sushi's hand and formed it into a bow with blue vines tightly wrapped around the handle.

The ambient chakra and spirit energy swirled and gathered around the large energy feline paw. The energy fully gathered and solidified into a towering golden leopard yokai with large eagle wings and a scorpion tail.

Solus narrowed his eyes into a glare as he placed Oshi on his kitsune tails. Solus got into a defensive-styled combative stance. Sushi's demon tail twitched and bent into the shape of a lightning bolt as her legs wobbled like jelly.

"Erm... that things gotta be a high B-Ranked yokai... right, Sakamoto?" Sushi asked as her voice quivered. Solus remained silent as he and the yokai stared each other down.

"Fraid so," Solus uttered as he tensed up his clenched fists. Sushi nervously gulped as she tightly gripped her bow. Sushi turned to her friends.

"Go find the police; we'll hold it off," Sushi stated. Sushi's friends went to object, but the bombing roar of the yokai shook the two's bones. The two reluctantly nodded before they hurried off. Sushi nervously let out a relieved sigh as she turned forward to face the yokai with Solus.

"I figured you would've left with your friends," Solus remarked as Sushi slowly shuffled to Solus' side.

"O- of course not. What kind of spirit wielder would I be if I ran away from a yokai in this situation?".

"One who can tell when their opponent outmatches them.". Sushi huffed and turned her head away from Solus.

"Hey! J-just summon your katana already instead of insulting my intelligence," Sushi uttered sheepishly as she formed a bowstring on her bow made of silver spirit mana. Solus remained silent, and Solus' silence made Sushi turn her head to look at him.

"Well?".

"Can't," Solus said boldly. Sushi blinked a few times at Solus in awestruck shock, at Solus' response.

"W-why!".

"Nebula and Tsarina are at home.".

"B-but the only reason I stayed was because I thought you could fight t-". Solus pushed Sushi away, and he jumped to the side before the yokai's stinger pierced into the ground and cracked it. Solus landed on the ground before lunging at the yokai. Sushi staggered backwards while flailing her arms around to keep her balance. Sushi looked back at Solus angryly before it shifted to a shocked one. She quickly raised her free hand and caught Oshi as they hurtled towards her.

"I'll keep it distracted while you focus on a way to restrain it until assistance arrives," Solus stated as he lowered his outreached hand.

A few minutes later, Lumina parkoured and leapt over the roofs of houses as the purple and dark golden lightning bolts coursed around her body. Nebula sat on top of Lumina's kitsune tails. Lumina hopped onto the roof of a house and stared at the river separating the neighbourhoods on each side of the river.

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"You sure he went this way?" Lumina asked as she looked back at Nebula. Nebula nodded while pointing further down the river towards the large circle pond at the river's end. Lumina groaned in frustration as she swung her head forward and hung her head low.

"Why couldn't Solus just stay in one spot...," Lumina grumbled. Lumina let out a heavy exhale as she drooped her kitsune ears.

"Given the direction, it seems Solus wanted to lead the yokai to an open area away from any buildings.", Lumios stated as he floated beside Lumina. Lumina glanced at Lumios before snickering at him for wearing his banana-themed pyjamas outside.

"Why'd you even come? It's only going to be a B-Rank at most, pyjama man," Lumina said as she wiggled her finger at Lumios.

"Well, that glutton of a spirit who can rival your mother to shame in an eating contest forced my hand.". Lumina shot up her kitsune ears and pessimistically sighed at hearing Lumios' statement. Lumina glanced over at Lumios and saw the three pure white energy gears with a radius of five cm in his hands.

"I don't like the implication If she's bothering to get involved," Lumina murmured nervously.

"Indeed, if it's anything like the last time... we better hurry," Lumios stated. Lumina nodded before jumping to the ground and sprinting in Solus' direction while Lumios flew behind her.

At the circular pond ahead, Solus sprinted and leapt between the tops of large floating rafts of silver ice as the now towering leopard unleashed a torrent of spirited chakra (flame-textured slightly viscous energy) beams at him.

On a distant silver ice raft, Sushi stood on an elevation made of silver ice with her bowstring drawn. She steadied her aim and formed an arrow made of silver ice on the bow. Sushi tracked the movements of the yokai as it struggled to strike Solus with a single strike.

"... why did the yokai get scarier?" Oshi mumbled as they poked their head out from behind Sushi.

"I dunno...," Sushi uttered as she looked at the gathering crowd on the marble-paved streets surrounding the Aioniotita city-situated pond.

"Breaking news! An A-ranked yokai has appeared at Alinao Mamoural and is currently being kept at bay by two students of Velkenfall Academy," the on-site news reporter explained as she gestured for the cameraman to point the camera at the battle.

Solus dodged out of the way of another spirited chakra beam before Sushi's silver ice arrow struck the yokai's lowered paw. The ice rapidly expanded and encased the yokai's paw to freeze it against the ice raft. Solus landed on another ice raft and wiped the sweat off his forehead.

"To think it was suppressing its power... but Nebi's energy is close enough now, so I probably won't need to-". Solus jumped back before the yokai hurled its ice-covered paw into the air. The yokai slashed its stinger through its wrist, severing the ice-covered paw from its body and hurling the large chunk of ice into the air.

Solus widened his eyes as he watched the trajectory of the ice heading straight for a section of the crowd. He threw a hand up as a teal glow formed over his horns. The same teal glow encased the hurtling chunk of ice before its speed began to degrees. The chunk of ice continued to lose momentum until it crawled to a stop mere inches from the crowd which only registered the chunk of ice once it stopped.

Solus sighed in relief before he heard the splashing of water from the yokai darting behind him. Solus spun around and crossed his arms to defend himself. The glow around the ice chuck bursted apart, and the ice chunk slammed into the pond as Lumina and co arrived. The trio, Sushi, Oshi, and the surrounding crowd froze as they witnessed the scene before them as a piercing squelch echoed through the area. Nebula's eyes stirred, and her lips quivered as she struggled to open her mouth.

"S- Solus!" Nebula cried out as her eyes welled up. At hearing Nebula's voice, Solus etched his head back to look at her. His mouth welled up before he threw up blood. Solus glanced more to his back to see the stinger of the yokai protruding through his back. Everyone stood in horrified silence as the yokai reeled its stinger back, pulling it out of Solus' stomach in the process.

The yokai spun around and tail slapped Solus. The strike sent Solus skipping across the surface of the pond like a skipping rock before he slammed into the side of the pond. Nebula blasted off Lumina's kitsune tails and flew straight to Solus while Lumina balled up her fists as her two distinct bolts of lightning crackled out of them. A purple and dark golden flash blitzed past Lumios before Lumina slammed her foot into the ground. Lumina shrouded her entire body in both of her lightnings before she formed a sonic boom the second she sprinted directly for the yokai.