Kisaki had been wondering whether the youkai under Crag’s command would regroup and counterattack. It seemed unlikely after his defeat. None of them compared in power to him, even the ursines.
Now, she began to wonder if she’d been wrong. What else could have caused the building to violently shake like that?
Stepping outside, though, she realized it was far worse than she’d ever imagined. A furrow of destruction, perhaps fifteen meters wide, had been carved through the town, missing the diner by only two buildings. It had seemingly pulverized everything in its path down to three meters below the surface. Broken concrete, splintered wood, and shattered asphalt were all that remained.
But what could have caused it? Crag’s spell, as impressive as it had been, hadn’t come close to this. So what...
“Merciful elder gods save us,” Shitoro muttered.
“What are you...?” Kisaki turned to follow his gaze. At the far end of the blackened gouge in the Earth, floating perhaps ten meters off the ground, was a figure. It was clad in black armor covered in wicked spikey protrusions. In one hand, it held a blade seemingly made of black fire. Several stunted and disfigured horns sat atop a cruel visage, which appeared to gaze down upon the world beneath it with barely concealed contempt.
“Come out, little hanyou!” the figure said in a voice loud enough to be heard all over town. It echoed among the streets for several seconds.
“What did it say?” Tamiko asked, holding her hands over her ears.
At first, Kisaki didn’t understand why she would ask such a thing, but then she realized the creature was speaking neither English nor Japanese. It had asked its question in the divine tongue, the language of the celestial palace.
She narrowed her eyes. Another mazoku, perhaps? “Who is that?”
Shitoro grabbed her hand and looked up at her with panic clearly etched upon his face.
“Ichitiro.”
♦ ♦ ♦
A chill ran down Kisaki’s spine. They were facing a daimao, like her mother. No, not like her. Her mother was beautiful, a goddess inside and out. Beneath her cold sense of authority, there was kindness. She would never have done what this ugly beast had. Who knew how many he’d killed in one fell swoop?
What was he even doing here? The edict against traveling to Earth. Shitoro had been certain that none of the daimao would break it. Her own mother hadn’t even dared to come looking for her. Had it somehow been lifted?
“Are you sure it’s him?” Kisaki asked.
“As surely as I draw breath,” Shitoro replied. “And we most likely won’t be drawing it for long if he’s here looking for us.”
She could see the fear in her friend’s face. Sadly, that feeling did not seem to resonate to the other friends who also stood beside her.
“Whoa,” Tamiko said.
“Let’s kick his ass,” Stephen added. “Team Midnight Girl rides again.”
“Midnight Girl?”
“Long story,” he replied with a grin.
Kisaki regarded him incredulously. He had no idea what he was saying. Such a thing was impossible. Ichitiro was a daimao, one of the lords of the multiverse. One did not fight them. One could only run and hope to find shelter to weather the storm.
Sadly, it appeared that ignorant bravery was not uncommon among the humans. A few blocks away, she could see several of the news vans racing in Ichitiro’s direction.
Gunshots began to ring out. From where, she couldn’t tell, but she had little doubt as to their target.
If they were shooting at Ichitiro, though, he paid it no heed, continuing to hover in the air, looking around ... no doubt searching for them.
“I’ve had enough of freaks tearing my town apart,” Stephen said. “Let’s go get him.”
Kisaki felt heat bloom in her heart at his words. He’d indeed inherited some of her father’s warrior spirit. Perhaps not as she had, but it was there nevertheless. Sadly, that spirit would be snuffed out in an instant against a foe like this.
She wouldn’t allow that.
Kisaki reached into the pocket of her shorts. Please let it still be there.
It was. Her hand closed upon the last of the stolen crystals, the red one. She didn’t know who it belonged to, nor did she care. All she knew was what it could do for her friends.
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“Your father,” she said, turning toward Tamiko.
“What?”
“Your father,” Kisaki repeated. “You love him, yes?”
“Of course I do.”
“And you miss him?”
“We’ve only been gone for a day and...”
“Do you miss him?”
“Yes, I guess I do.”
“Then I need you to think of him, and of your home. I need you to think of it and how much you wish to see it all again.”
“I don’t understand why...”
“Please, Tamiko! Do it. For me.”
Tamiko inclined her head, but then sighed. “Fine. For you, although I’m not sure why.”
“What are you doing, mistress?”
“Come out now, hanyou, and I might consider showing these insects mercy!”
The group turned to view Ichitiro, only to see him let loose a wave of destructive force. It cut a swath of destruction perpendicular to the one he'd already made, utterly annihilating anything in its path as if it had been hit by an invisible tsunami.
“No!” Kisaki cried, but there was nothing she could do save watch as the wall of force cut through at least three of the news vans, flattening them into scrap, presumably with their occupants still inside.
“All those people,” Tamiko gasped.
Yes, Kisaki considered with grim determination. All of those people and most likely many more before this devil was finished. So much power, and all of it seemingly directed toward malice. The multiverse was indeed an unfair place if a being such as him lorded over it as judge, jury, and executioner.
There was no time left. She couldn’t save those reporters, but she could save her friends. “Give me your hand.”
“Why?” Tamiko asked.
“Just do it!”
She complied and Kisaki passed the crystal, which she’d palmed to keep from Shitoro’s sight, into her friend’s hand, closing her fist over it.
Tamiko looked down, confused for a moment, but Kisaki simply nodded – a silent hope for her to hold her tongue a moment longer.
“Close your eyes and think of your father, think of your love for him, of your love of your home, of how much you want to be there again.”
Kisaki released Tamiko, then, quick as a snake, grabbed both Shitoro and Stephen by their wrists.
“What are you doing?” Stephen asked.
“Mistress, I do not know what you have planned, but I would advise...”
Kisaki ignored them both, addressing Tamiko again. “Concentrate on your father’s face.”
“I’m doing it. I can see him, his smile. I’m ... what the?!”
Kisaki knew from her expression that the crystal had begun to pulse. “Do not drop it!”
“Drop what?” Stephen asked.
Kisaki, as way of response, dragged him and Shitoro closer in, forcing their hands onto Tamiko’s and holding them there.
I need to time this right.
Light began to shine from between the fingers of her friend’s closed fist.
Now!
She let go and flung herself backward just as a cascade of energy was released from the crystal. A brilliant flash of reddish light enveloped her friends and, a moment later, they were gone, hopefully sent to the relative safety of Tamiko’s home. Stephen would be a fish out of water on Ishigachi, but he’d be a live fish. That was good enough for her. Kisaki trusted that Tamiko and her father would take good care of him until such time as it was safe to send him home.
As for Shitoro, she could only hope he wouldn’t be too cross with her for sending him back to...
That thought scattered to the wind as she blinked, cleared the spots from her eyes, and saw his diminutive form standing in front of her.
“You have a lot of explaining to do, young lady!”
♦ ♦ ♦
“Shitoro? How?”
“Do you think I was born this century?” the tiger youkai asked contemptuously. “Need I also remind you that felines have exceptional reflexes?”
“You were supposed to go with them, to be safe.”
“And you were not supposed to have any more sending crystals upon you. Am I correct in assuming you had it this entire time?”
Kisaki nodded guiltily.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I ... I didn’t want to go back.”
“You didn’t want to go back. How noble of you. And now, because of your actions, look what has been wrought.”
“You think I don’t know that?” she snapped, causing him to flinch. “Why do you think I was trying to send you away? It was to make up for my selfishness. To make sure my friends didn’t suffer because of me.”
Shitoro sighed, but then his expression softened ever so slightly. “Very well. What’s done is done. Please tell me that was not your last one.”
Kisaki’s silence was all the answer he apparently needed.
“Of course it was. Why would the multiverse make anything easy? So be it. We shall have to do what the humans apparently do not have the sense to – run.”
Unfortunately for them both, just as Shitoro spoke the words, a shadow fell over them.
“Ah, Shitoro,” Ichitiro said from above their heads. “You of all youkai should know the futility of even trying.”
♦ ♦ ♦
“L-lord Ichitiro,” Shitoro sputtered as the daimao slowly descended to Earth.
The great demon stopped mere inches above the ground, hovering as if he considered touching any part of the Earth to be beneath his contempt. “I had wondered what became of you these last few decades. I so have missed driving home the point that one such as you cannot bar entrance to one such as me. I’d thought perhaps my sister had finally found her backbone and had you flayed to make up for the ridiculous insult of your existence, but I see now that she had a crueler fate in mind for you – cursed to spend your days as a nursemaid. You should thank me. Once I am finished here, perhaps you can return to your previous duties.”
Kisaki could tell the little youkai was frightened, terrified even. He barely kept himself from shaking as he stepped in front of her. “Serving Lady Kisaki has been a blessing, a duty which I am proud my mistress entrusted me with.”
Ichitiro grinned as if amused. “So that is how you refer to this creature? Lady Kisaki.” He turned toward her as if seeing her for the first time. “A noble title for one born so low, fated to accomplish nothing save dying.”
Kisaki considered her options. Begging for her life seemed the smartest plan of action, but from her few seconds of acquaintance with this demon, she got the impression that mercy was a concept alien to his way of thinking. Surrender was likely to produce the same outcome. Giving him what he wanted – the Taiyosori, no doubt – was unthinkable. Sad as it made her, Kisaki couldn’t see any way out of this that didn’t result in her death.
Rather than the fear she expected, though, that cool logic from before began to take hold, pushing everything else away. She might be fated to die, but she would do so with dignity and maybe even in a way this arrogant godling would not soon forget.
She lifted her head to meet his eyes. “If you have come to bore me to death, Ichitiro, then I dare say you are making excellent progress.”