My fingers flew off of my right hand like they’d been ripped off by a Berserker. It took considerable effort not to vocalize my pain, but thankfully I managed not to. Futakuchi-Onna gave me a look mixed with curiosity, confusion, and concern. Hana gave me a similar look, though the concern was much clearer on her face than her Grandmother’s.

Show me my Skill Codex.

Fallen Star did as instructed, summoning the incorporeal, translucent scroll that listed out all of my current Skills. I ignored the ones I knew I had, focusing only on the brand-new addition to the Codex.

ELEMENT MANIPULATION - ALLOWS FOR SINGULAR AND ALCHEMICAL USE OF THE CLASSICAL ELEMENTS: WATER, EARTH, FIRE, AND AIR.

I trudged towards Hana, taking advantage of the momentary lull in combat to relay my newfound ability to her. As I described it to her, I could practically feel the relief that washed over her. There was hope for us. Futakuchi-Onna hadn’t interrupted our brief strategy meeting either, though she gave us both a look of keen interest as she awaited our coming attack.

The strategy was a slightly altered version of our original battle plan. Instead of the two of us attacking her at the same time, Hana would keep Futakuchi-Onna busy while I attacked her with the elements that she’d call out to me. It would’ve been foolproof, if not for one small issue…

I had no idea how to use it.

I’d used fire plenty of times, and I could do water relatively easily, but how the hell did I use earth and air? More than that, the Skill allowed for the “alchemical use of the classical elements”, meaning I could combine them to manipulate more than the four elements it listed. Could I manipulate electricity? Ice? Poison? As much as I would’ve loved to experiment, I needed to focus on the battle in front of me.

“Earth!” Hana called out, dodging through a destructive wave of Aura Slashes.

“O-on it!” I tried.

How the hell do I manipulate earth?!

“VISUALIZE IT. START SMALL. WHAT DO YOU THINK OF WHEN YOU THINK ‘EARTH’?”

My immediate answer was “dirt”, but I knew flinging that at Futakuchi-Onna wouldn’t do anything other than piss her off. I narrowed my thoughts. Dirt… rock… and…stone…? Stone seemed good enough to use. I visualized arrows made of stone and within seconds a flurry of them popped into existence. After a shout warning Hana of the attack, I mentally shot them at Futakuchi-Onna. She winced as they connected, turning to face me with her sword charged. Hana didn’t let her recover. She mentally conjured water in her sword and slashed at Futakuchi-Onna, sending the woman flying into the distance.

I dashed to Hana’s side as Futakuchi-Onna stood to her feet. “Sorry I couldn’t do anything bigger. I’m still learning how to use this Skill.”

“Don’t worry about it. I’m still trying to learn how to manipulate my Mindspace.”

A thought occurred to me. “What if we bring her to my Mindspace? Would I be able to do whatever I wanted there too?”

She snorted. “Yeah, but good luck getting her there.”

We both paused as Futakuchi-Onna stood to her feet across from us, laughing like a child as she gathered aura. She sank to a battle position and prepared to do that Aura Slash attack. I guarded as Hana leaned in close.

“If you can, guard yourself with Earth-Attuned Aura. She’s proficient with Wind and Air, so it should lessen the damage.”

“What about you?”

“I can’t do that. Futakuchi-Onna undoes it every time I try.”

“In that case, stay close.”

Again, I didn’t have time to experiment. I visualized a plume of aura surrounding me and mentally willed it to be Earth-Attuned. In a moment, I was enveloped by a cloud of grayish-brown aura similar to the way Futakuchi-Onna used poison. I mentally willed it to encompass both myself and Hana.

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

Just as Hana suggested, the Aura Slashes indeed hurt significantly less than they had earlier. I would’ve dodged them completely, but the need to guard Hana prevented me from doing that.

“You continue to impress me, Rui Payne!” Futakuchi-Onna shouted. “How long will you be able to utilize this new ability of yours?!”

She had a point. Unlike the relatively cheap to use [WRAITH STRIKE], [ELEMENTAL MANIPULATION] cost a sizable chunk of aura to use. As Hana called out Futakuchi-Onna’s current fire weakness, I decided to combine both Skills to see if I’d be able to take advantage of the pros of both. The instant I combined them, my body recoiled as if zapped by a high-powered taser.

“YOU ARE CHANNELING TOO MUCH AURA IN ONE PLACE. ADDING ELEMENTS TO YOUR [WRAITH STRIKES] WOULD REQUIRE EITHER SIGNIFICANT TRAINING OR A [SACRIFICE].”

Faster than Hana or I could register, Futakuchi-Onna appeared right in front of us. She clawed at the air before us and sent us flying backward onto the stage. She followed that up with that room-darkening, full-powered attack from earlier. Without thinking I conjured another cloud of aura, this time Fire-Attuned solely because Hana said Futakuchi-Onna was weak to it.

I’m glad I did. Sure, the barrage hurt just as much as it always had, but having the “armor” around us kept us from being completely incapacitated as we’d been the last few times she tried that on us. Unlike those last times, though, she didn’t blast us with any sort of healing winds. Instead, she remained standing with her sword drawn, prepared to attack.

“Children, this battle has endured long enough. Defeat me, or prepare for the inevitable.”

Hana and I shared a look before immediately moving to plan our final strategy. Funnily enough, this one indeed was the very first we’d come up with: attack Futakuchi-Onna at the same time. The only difference now was that I’d punch her with as much Fire-Attuned Aura as I could muster while she did the same with Water-Attuned Aura.

“The attacks will resonate, I think. Even if she changed her affinity at the last second, getting hit with two conflicting auras will most likely bring her down!”

“You don’t sound too certain. How do you know it’ll work?”

“I… saw it in a game.”

I deflated. “You’re kidding me.”

“Fine! I read it in a game guide! We couldn’t afford to get video games because the import prices were so high, so I’d read the guides as a kid and–”

“That doesn’t make it any better!”

“Enough, children,” Futakuchi-Onna interrupted. “Show me the extent of your willpower.”

Hana and I shared a nod before kicking off. I cast [REINFORCE] and charged at Futakuchi-Onna while Hana flanked her from the back. Unlike the other times we’d attempted this, Futakuchi-Onna didn’t make it easy. This time, she shot Aura Slashes at me as I approached her. Because my reserves were running low, I couldn’t afford to cloak myself in Fire-Attuned Aura. I had no other choice than to just dodge; sliding, spinning, and jumping out of the way of slashes that’d deplete my [VITALITY] if even one of them landed.

The moment I was within striking distance of Futakuchi-Onna, I cast [REINFORCE] as I charged my fist with Fire-Attuned Aura. Behind her, Hana nodded at me and charged a fist of Water-Attuned Aura and did the same thing. We punched Futakuchi-Onna at the same time, the strength of the attack indeed forming a shockwave between us. It sent the both of us flying in opposite directions, though Hana quickly ran to my side upon recovery. In front of us, Futakuchi-Onna was brought to a knee, panting as she supported herself with a sword stabbed into the tatami tile below her.

The moment she raised her head, Futakuchi-Onna fixed the two of us with a stony, solemn look. “A good showing, but two need far more power to–”

“Now!” I cried.

The second part of our plan was the same as our first. The only exception was that it didn’t rely on Elemental Affinities at all. It was far simpler than that. We’d both slam her [WRAITH STRIKES] to the same locations we hit her before. The idea was simple, if the elemental attacks indeed had the effect Hana thought they would, our best bet would be to continue to attack the areas while they were hurt. Basically, we’d be stabbing her then twisting the knife.

Thankfully, the hardest part of the plan had already been done in attacking her with the elements. Teaching Hana the [WRAITH STRIKE] was a gamble considering she obviously wouldn’t be convincing her Myth to cycle Curse Aura for her. The hope was that someone as old and powerful as Futakuchi-Onna had already done it at some point. I’d asked her to attempt cycling it on the way to Futakuchi-Onna and when she’d nodded at me I knew it’d worked. From there, it was a matter of asking her to cycle Myth and Curse Auras to her fist to form the attack. Somnia noted that doing this took pretty much all of one’s aura without the help of a Contracted Rogue, but that wouldn’t be mattering after this final blow. If this was the end, we’d both need to go all out.

We both dashed once again, taking the same positions as Futakuchi-Onna gathered aura. Just like before, she shot those Aura Slashes at me that I’d been forced to evade. Just like before, I cast [REINFORCE] as soon as I was in strike distance. Hana and I both had fists charged with white lightning and all of the aura contained in our bodies. Just like before, we struck Futakuchi-Onna at the same time.

A loud shockwave boomed through the room. Tatami mats below us were now broken and strewn about. The painted walls now had splinters while the wood throughout the room was cracked and broken in various places. Hana and I were both on our backs and above us stood Futakuchi-Onna. She charged aura in her body and walked slowly towards the stage, before suddenly collapsing to her knees, all aura suddenly dissipating.

Her conical hat flew off as she fell, allowing her white hair to flow freely. She looked down at it for a long while, but she didn’t pick it up.

“You’ve served me well, but you don’t belong to me anymore. Thank you.”