The body of the headless leopard yokai skipped across the surface of the pond. Skipping like a skipped stone as its speed gradually decreased. The yokai's body slammed into the pond, launching water into the air. The yokai's body came to a stop and floated half-submerged in the pond.
"Take that," Lumina remarked as all the lightning and pure white spirit mana dispersed from her body. Sushi piloted her floating silver ice raft under Lumina before she landed on top of it.
"Have to say... would've thought it'd take more than a single punch," Nini remarked with surprise. Nini walked over to the others while walking above the surface of the pond using her spirit mana lightning. Lumina smugly grinned and rubbed the tip of her nose.
"It's only natural when a Sakamoto gets serious," Lumina said snarkily. Sushi stood up on her ice raft while Oshi stared back in the rough direction of Solus and Co.
"Thanks so much, you two; our gooses would've been cooked," Sushi said graciously as she bowed to Lumina and Nini.
"There's no need to thank us, but you should thank your friends for directing me here," Nini stated. Sushi nodded before a thought crossed her mind.
"Wait... but don't you live on the other side of town; why would you be all the way over here?" Sushi asked as she scratched her head.
"Huh? Oh, I was doing my usual weekly mini marathon around town and was planning on making a detour to go to Fruity Plaza to buy some strawbergals and cherry tomatoes," Nini explained.
"Oh~ are their strawbergals back in stock?" Sushi asked. Nini shrugged while remarking she never managed to get to Fruity Plaza before she ran into Sushi's friends.
Over by Solus, Solus remained sat on the floor as Nebula huddled up next to him. Solus watched Lumina and co as Nebula meekly exhaled in relief. Solus narrowed his eyes into a glare as he shifted his vision to the yokai's body.
"How peculiar... the body of the defeated fox yokai from the other day dispersed the second you killed it, didn't it?" Lumios mentioned aloud as he directed his question to Solus. Solus remained silent before he glanced at Nebula. Nebula gazed back at Solus before she placed her hands together.
"You sense what I intend for us to do?" Solus said with a serious tone. Nebula nodded with a serious expression while her cheeks turned ever so slightly pink.
"Then try not to get... overwhelmed then," Solus uttered before he staggered to his feet. Lumios took a few steps back from Solus. As he did, Lumios heard a crystalline crunch noise. Lumios glanced down at his feet to see he had stepped on one of the ten tails of the silver kitsune cub with cyan tail ends. The cub seemed unphased at having its tail stepped and simply glanced around.
"Seriously, how'd I end up in this neck of the world earlier?" the kitsune cub remarked as he continued to look around.
As she watched Nini and Sushi continue to talk about their love for the bizarre fruits from Fruity Plaza, Lumina let out a sigh before her ears perked up. Lumina swiftly spun around and got into a combative stance. With her abrupt actions, Nini and Sushi glanced over at Lumina to see what she was up to.
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"Is something wrong?" Sushi asked. Nini and Sushi felt a sudden surge of malicious energy surge past them. The yokai's body abruptly jolted, causing the trio to flinch. A slender dark purple humanoid yokai arm bursted out from the leopard yokai's body. A humanoid yokai clawed its way out of the other yokai as its body crumbled away.
"This yokai is like one of those Russian dolls from The Otherworlder Store," Sushi complained as she aimed Frostbite Thorn at the yokai with her shaky arms. Lumina glanced behind herself before back at the malicious energy oozing out of the yokai.
"I... think this, change of situation, calls for a tactical retreat," Lumina stated as she arched her kitsune tails around Nini, Sushi and Oshi. The humanoid yokai chuckled with a deep cackle. The yokai's body writhed and contorted as its fingers turned into claws and two large wings with claws on the end of the wings.
"Do you honestly believe you'd be able to flee from a living calamity such as me?" the yokai uttered callously. Lumina clicked her tongue at the yokai's condescending tone of voice.
"Don't get full of yourself; if you were truly that kind of threat, any one of the current incarnations of the Heavenly Heroes would've made you past tense by now," Lumina said snarkily as she pointed at the yokai. The yokai grinned as it flapped its wings and began to levitate above the surface of the pond. A heavy pressure filled the area as everything gained a muted colouration.
"Aside from the enlightened one, not even the Heavenly Heroes could ever dream of defeating a being such as I, Zykrolz," Zykrolz said smugly.
"Can you believe how full of themselves this yokai is-" Lumina said snarkily before turning to the others. Lumina froze (both in motion and speech) at seeing the motionless Nini, Oshi and Sushi covered by the muted colouration. Lumina darted her head around to see almost everyone, and everything seemed frozen in time.
"How peculiar to think you'd be excluded from that girl's Modified Velocity Prevailer Azure Ability," the voice of the kitsune cub uttered from inside Lumina's mind. Lumina was startled by the sudden voice in her head and darted her head around. Zykrolz glared at Lumina as she turned her back to them.
"To think you'd be as arrogant as to turn your back from your opponent," Zykorlz said. Zykorlz flexed their wings before they blasted off. The water of the pond momentarily swished upwards from Zykorlz propelling themselves forward before the water immediately reversed back to its original position. Lumina spun around, using her tails to grab the frozen-in-time trio, before booking it while using her power-boosting lightnings.
Lumina frantically sprinted away from Zykorlz. Zykorlz gradually etched closer to Lumina, but despite how much they swung their wings their speed didn't increase. Zykorlz halted their wing flaps, and they noticed their momentum/velocity were locked as they continued to move. Zykorlz scanned the surrounding frozen crowd and spotted the non-affected night elf referred to as Fifi hiding in the crowd.
"What a hassle... why'd that guy have to come out of nowhere and make me interfere," Fifi mentally whined, "How'd he even know what my azure ability was? Though to think I'd be able to do something like this with a little assistance". Fifi glanced at her arm and gazed at the glowing silver circular spiral magic tattoo on her wrist. As she stared at her magic tattoo, Fifi's golden bandana with diamond-shaped insignias slightly slipped down her face. Fifi adjusted her bandana to fully cover her eyes before she ducked into the crowd.
"So, she's the cause of the yokai's lacklustre speed, and she seemed to realize anything affected by this frozen dilation nonsense will revert after any modification... wait," Lumina uttered. As she continued to run, a thought entered Lumina's mind as she recalled what the kitsune cub said.
"Could she be the one who caused the dilation?". Lumina shook her head to focus her mind, "I've got more immediate things to worry about.". Lumina pondered what to do, but her train of thought was cut short. An eruption of dark royal blue spirit mana exploded from the border of the pond, temporarily disturbing the water of the pond before reverting to its previous state. Lumina stared in awe at the towering pillar of spirit mana as she ran toward it.
"Heh, when'd they have the time to learn to do that?" Lumina remarked. Within the massive eruption of spirit mana, the silhouette of Solus stared down the yokai as his eyes glowed a dark royal blue.