Isher Notra

Stella:

"How you doin', buddy?" she asked, sitting and resting her back on a tree while her girlfriend jogged, jumped, and scratched the air in the cocooned lady's direction. She didn't hit her head hard enough to think she could convince the canine to take a chill pill.

Kreef excreted sparkly grains of salt while his elongated body swelled and deflated from his prolonged, rasped breathing. The lime-green glow ejected from beneath his scales was almost extinct. "Not... good..."

A cold, sharp pain struck her stomach. That was it, huh? The wall Stella could not climb—the first of many.

She still remembered how formidable she was, needing the entire Lycan Squad ensemble plus the Knight to almost capture her if not for the Weasels, who should already be roaming around these frozen woods if Hanaken's word was to be trusted.

How could Stella possibly hope to overcome such a metaphorical giant? She didn't know. By all accounts, her death would be the most satisfactory outcome in general. That would quench Yuki-onna's bloodlust AND end this wintery madness once and for all...

...

Yet, this fire inside her heart refused to be extinguished that easily. Since her birth, she was barely acknowledged by almost everyone who passed her by. She knew the Human guards on Sayama's borders didn't care whether she entered the forbidden forest. To them, she was no better than a cockroach, a rat in the best of cases.

Even as a month went by, Stella wasn't entirely sure why she had decided to venture through Sayama in the first place. She knew that would mark her demise, yet she refused to accept her destiny time and time again...

Perhaps... it wasn't about whether she died. Rather, how. Even now, Monoke, like the hairy lady, deemed her life worse than worthless - dangerous. If so, Stella would happily oblige on her own terms. She wasn't the type to wrap her arms around her knees and accept others' crap without a fight.

That whore wanted her head? She'd have to lose a few teeth first.

Stella stood up, loudly huffing. "I'm ready, Kreef!" Lien quickly moved to her side. "Release... the beast."

The Amikiri finally gave up on the coil, falling limp like a sack of fresh waste. Unexpected was the rapidness of the Yūrei bursting out of her own mane, flying towards the Human with piercing, determined eyes!

"No, you don't-" Lien was struck by a fast, black whip, launching her beyond the bamboo where Stella's eyes couldn't hope to follow.

Hari-onagu's and her hair pounced on the girl like a great white shark's maw, armed with rows upon rows of sharp teeth. She summoned the most durable barrier she could under a fraction of a second, expecting to not be nearly enough, and-

...

Her heart hammered. Sweat coursed from every pore.

Her body... remained as one...

Hari-onagu's pale, cadaveric face was flattened against the shield, her eyes never losing their blaze. Her mane's hundreds of thousands of needle-like strands poked the spell restlessly but never pierced deep through it.

"What. Is. Wrong. With. You?" Each word, deliberately and slowly emphasized, was saturated with indignation.

Stella's brain was overcome by instinct. Her body couldn't care less about an honorable death. It must survive.

"BACK OFF!!!" She pushed her hands toward the Monoke, prompting the barrier to destabilize and repel the wench far away from her!

The Yūrei, similar to Lien, went crashing against a couple of bamboo trees. However, the Human's impact wasn't enough to stagger her for barely a second.

Placing a hand on her chest, Stella could feel her heart rate slowly putting up less resistance against her palm. Watching Hari-onagu in this vulnerable position finally broke her from her adrenaline-induced trance. It was the exact same thing that made her freak out when she laid eyes on the Lads' father and screwed Lien over. She had to find a way to beat her stupid mammalian brain into submission.

"You're asking ME what I'm doing?!" Between rapid breaths, her voice slowly regained its comfort zone. "I'm not the one trying to kill a minor, ma'am!"

Hari-onagu's hair was divided into two thick tendrils, snaking around two bamboos. Then, in two swift motions for each patch of follicles, she had cut two pieces of the trees enough for her to grasp and use as improvised baton-like weapons, leaving the remains to rot in the snow.

What was with the theatrics? The hairy menace had so many easier ways to close the distance with Stella, and she decided to go with those flimsy weapons?! Did it look cool? Fuck yes! But why bother?

Whatever. Stella coated her fists with golden energy, then covered them with an extra layer of earth. While not as impressive as the gauntlets she used to dismantle that puppet, they were still durable and more stamina-friendly.

If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.

The two combatants eyed each other for almost a minute. Their gazes clashed in an invisible battle, taking on each detail they deemed significant, a weakness to exploit, or a strong point to be evaded at all costs. The tension and anxiety rose, mixing and fuming like a pressure cooker within the Human's heart. Who would make the first move?

Finally, Hari-onagu spoke. "I have no choice dut to take the lead, I see." Her expression contorted with battle spirit as she extended her hair at Stella, swinging her bamboo batons!

The Human girl's fists clashed against the overgrown, hard grass! However, no matter how many times they collided against her, the bamboo wouldn't show the slightest tear. Her bones started aching, feeling the strain from punching what appeared to be pure metal!

"This is bull-" She ducked from a mighty swing! "What are those things made of?!"

The Yūrei's onslaught wouldn't end. In fact, it became even more challenging to defend against, let alone counterattack, as she hastened the pace.

"A weakling like you cannot stand against ne! Are you sick in the head?!" she loudly questioned.

Stella's earth gauntlets flaked off with each clash, gradually exposing the inner Saniya shell. "Are you here to kill me or roast me?! Doing a terrible job at both!"

Her smile was terribly brought to a halt by the thick bamboo bashing her cheek, sending her spinning so fast she had to close her eyes lest she regurgitate her inner organs.

However, her rotation was rapidly stopped, not by the snow or Hari-onagu's unpleasant hair tentacles, but by something... fluffier, more pleasant to her skin.

"Sorry for the wait!" Lien exclaimed as she gently put Stella's feet back on reliable ground. "That lady's attack got me good! I couldn't tell my left from my right for a while!"

"Can you... Tell those apart, normally?" the Human asked.

"No..." the pup responded with a hint of disappointment. "Oh, I've bumped into one of those puppets on the way!"

Stella's heart clenched from the silence that followed.

"It completely ignored me and went the opposite way."

Stella exhaled loudly, her hands on her knees. "Don't pause it like that, Lien!"

Lien grinned sheepishly. "Sorry. I've thought of fighting it, but hunting static prey is boring."

"You two have the urgency of a tortoise." Hari-onagu flipped her improvised batons, then bashed them together for good old intimidation. "Cone at ne! I seek revenge from your nother!"

Stella's eyes glimpsed her packmate's shoulder tensing, already guessing her indomitable thirst for payback. "Lien, wait!" She grasped the canine's shoulder. "You sure you can hold her in the front line?"

Lien retorted with a thumbs-up. "Easy! It's two packmates against one lady! She doesn't stand a chance!"

"I can hear you..." The hairy Yūrei grumbled, holding her bamboo weapons close to herself. "It's on, doggy."

The Yūrei and- How many times has this matchup been explored? For Pete's sake...

Moving on.

The Yūrei and the Wolf started the battle's second phase. With each clash, the young huntress's claws slashed and sliced minuscule bits of the weaponized plants. Stella's eyes widened at the sight of white Saniya, less transparent than a Wolf's aura, gradually seeping out of the bamboo through the tiny gashes. Their unnatural durability now made a whole lot of sense.

Stella snapped herself out of her awe, concentrating her energy on compelling a wide area of the earth around her. Then, she amassed and hardened all that insubstantial material into something more—two hand-shaped constructs, slowly opening their rocky fingers.

The pup was visibly losing the war of attrition, utterly losing the offensive in favor of narrowly dodging the pale maiden's ruthless swings, strong enough to send cold currents on the Human's skin with each broad arch.

"OUT OF NY WAY!!!" Hari-onagu cried, sweeping Lien off her feet with a baton while the other threatened to bash her from her side.

"Don't you dare!" Stella pushed both arms forward, ordering her two pseudo-hands to lunge at her hairy opponent. The Yūrei was forced to give up momentum to launch herself into the air. However, the Human was determined to catch her, accurately redirecting her creations, which were swirling in the air in a graceless dance.

"Come on, come on!" Stella gritted her teeth, her heart racing with anticipation as her eyes followed Hari-onagu intently, who consistently slipped out of her grasp by a literal hair. "I need... to be faster..." Her arms shook with exertion as more energy pumped out of her and into the earth's hands. "Go... faster... please..."

Cracks formed throughout the faux hands as golden energy erupted from them, unable to be stored inside the flimsy shells! They snatched both bamboo pieces and yanked them off the Yūrei's hair!

Stella chuckled as she used her opponent's weapons against her. Look at that hairy freak! She was helpless, forced to evade a barrage of mighty swings while the Human reveled in her superior-

Both earth spells exploded in a white flash. The girl's retinas sizzled from direct exposure, but she was too shocked to acknowledge...

Hari-onagu slowly descended back to the ground, now barely covered in snow after all the brawling. Lien wasn't too far from her, growling while her fur bristled with energy.

"You are outstanding, I nust concede..." Hari-onagu's black strands undulated slowly, strange compared to everything seen of her prior. "For your age, that is..."

What was going on? Why was that bitch wasting time talking shit about them? Stella never took the long-haired Monoke for a pretentious one like Gentō or the Basan general...

The Human's eyes immediately searched for any irregularity around her. Kreef was nowhere to be found. Could he have been...

"Lien! Can you sense Kreef's Saniya?!" she asked, her voice trembling anxiously.

The pup broke free from her anger, her eyes wide with interest. "Huh? Yes, I can. He's not too far from us." Her ears twitched. "Why?"

Hari-onagu chuckled. "I didn't do anything to your deloved conrade, I assure you..." Quickly, her posture straightened alongside her expression. "Now, it's clear as day you're not nearly as skilled enough to be a threat to ne." Her hair slowed down even further. "Killing you would de quite easy, in all honesty..."

Stella swallowed hard. A piece of her mind urged her to make a quip about the Yūrei bluffing against literal children. However, the gnawing sense of impending dread was undeniable...

The pale lady smirked, clearly noticing Stella's fear. "No courage in the world will ready you for Yuki-onna. Dut... I can quell your anxiety, Hunan."

Stella stiffened into a living statue, her attention directed to every word coming from Hari-onagu's lipless mouth.

The Yūrei's gaze shifted to Lien. "I can grant security for your tacknate while the Dragon's Guard, the Gunka Arny, the Daku's dunch, and you deal with ny friend." She closed her eyes, her tone as resolute as steel. "Dragging Lien was a fatal nistake, you see. If you honestly love her, you will leave her under ny trotection. Lien has no dusiness getting caught up in this ancient feud, don't you agree?"

It was Lien's turn to become utterly static. Even her restless tail couldn't move an inch after the offer was laid bare.

Stella suspected she was put into yet another lucid dream or an illusion. This could be anything but reality...