Isher Notra

Stella:

She was horrified.

Lien was catatonic, her expression carved by intense fear far above when she discovered the full extent of Stella's identity. The Human couldn't fathom what kind of monster could cause such emotion in a brave pup like her.

"Lien..." Stella murmured, her hand gently grazing on Lien's paw. "It's okay. You can tell me what's wrong..."

"Yuki-onna..." the Wolf whispered back, her fingers wrapping around her packmate's. "Her Saniya..."

Stella held her breath. Was the Icy Sorceress closing in on them at last? By all means, she should've been elated by the prospect of an ending to this crisis. Yet, as she stared at Lien's horror etched on her milky eyes and quivering lip, her stomach couldn't help but boil with anxiety.

"Y-You can feel her Saniya?" Stella clutched the canine's shoulders. "Is she here?"

Lien shook her head. "Tizohi almighty, no!" Slowly, her limbs figuratively defrosted. "She flew right past us."

The Human's eyebrows slightly furrowed. "I thought she already knew our position. We've just fought one of her puppets."

"Maybe that technique isn't automatic?" Lien theorized, her tail curling around her leg. "That's not important. Judging by the direction she flew at, I think she's going to Chikukei."

"Shit." Stella took a few steps back, clutching her spinning head. "Okay, let's ask Kreef to fly us back. I think he's recovered-"

"NO!" the canine Monoke cried and grabbed her wrist, her paw latching on it like a bear trap. "Don't you DARE go over there!"

"What?" The Human tried to yank her partner's paw off her, but her fuzzy fingers were sealed shut. It would take cutting her arm off to accomplish this. "I told you, I'm here to stop that bitch fighting or die trying!"

"That hairy lady gave us a better choice!" Lien retorted, her voice wavering. "We must find the core!"

Stella was dumbfounded upon hearing those words, not believing they originated from Lien, of all beings.

"Are you seriously gonna turn down fighting the most powerful-"

"YES!!!" Lien shouted, her voice breaking to a pitch so high the Human's ears trembled and ached as the shrieking sound tore them apart. However, all that pain seemed irrelevant once Stella saw the crystal-clear tears forming in the corners of the Wolf's eyes.

"I-I'm sorry, okay?" The canine sobbed, her arm wavering even though her hold did not. "I didn't think this through! I've thought as long as you were with me, I wouldn't feel scared, but after sensing THAT?!" She pulled the Human into a desperate, iron-clad embrace. "I don't want to lose you, Stella! I love you so, so much!"

The Human's heart was pierced by those sudden, anguished, yet truthful feelings her dear packmate professed. Her arms wrapped around her waist, her face melting into the canine's soft and welcoming fur coat as she took on this high and refused to let go until she reached the stars.

"I love you too, Lien. More than anyone I've ever met..." Stella admitted, her heart clenching with sadness upon reflecting on how low that bar was. "Look, I wish we could go and mess with the core, but we have no idea how to get there." She sighed. "I don't want to sit around and contribute with nothing while everyone else does ALL the heavy lifting for me..."

"I mean..." Lien huffed. "We did take down Hari-onagu... in a way."

Stella couldn't fight a grin making its way to her lips. "Wow, Lien. Dark." She tried to berate, but her chuckle undermined all intention. "But you're kinda..." She trailed off as her eyes caught movement amidst the bamboo. "Uh... Lien?"

"Huh?" The canine perked her ears.

"Don't move a muscle until I say so..." she ordered while her golden Saniya escaped her body and formed a dome around them. "Okay. You can move now."

Lien slowly broke the hug, her nose sniffing and pointing in every imaginable direction. "You're seeing anyone?"

"No," Stella clarified. "I thought I saw something moving because those trees moved funny. I guess I'm just paranoid."

Before her heart could reach a tranquil pace, a sharp, loud thud dismantled the process, reverberating through the protective spell's energy walls.

"Damn it. Being right sucks..." The Human slowly stepped toward a small incision created by a peculiar, familiar weapon still lodged in the Saniya shield.

A kunai. However, this one wasn't made out of ice.

...

She wasn't expecting to unpack that baggage so soon...

Captain Tash:

Above them lay the harbinger of deathly winter, shimmering in threatening turquoise energy that carried enough power to blow up the entire City of Bamboo to smithereens. The aura rippled through the air and spread further, closer to suffocating them all with a cold that could brittle their bones.

Tash couldn't deny the tyrannical dread that imposed itself on her entire body. Her brain was too laser-focused on the anxiety for their limbs to conduct any orders.

"Impressive work, as always..." the Icy Sorceress sarcastically remarked inside their heads. "I must admit I commend you for struggling so bravely for so long. However, your efforts only brought you the same outcome as if you had not."

A mighty blizzard was cast, enveloping them all and forcing them to stand their ground and brace themselves against the merciless weather. Tash almost tripped over her lower paws if not for her toe claws digging into the dirt, anchoring her as she protected her vital organs by slightly curling herself.

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The captain couldn't see a single other being, no matter what direction her eyes searched. The white sea of wind and frozen water turned out to be as thick and opaque as silk curtains.

"So many victims..." The Yūrei's psychic tone teased Tash's headspace as the canine's body was struck by an adrenaline rush, followed by a terrible foreboding. "Nevertheless, I have two proper candidates in mind for my first..."

Yuki-onna's oppressively potent Saniya practically teleported behind the Wolf, forcing such pressure on her as if a celestial body had pressed itself on top of her.

Regardless, the captain pushed through and swung her electrified paw at her opponent, only to find nothing once she turned. Yet, the almost godly presence remained breathing on her neck, out of sight, no matter which direction she searched for.

And then... something cold and sharp poked the back of her head, silently commanding her body to halt. Unfortunately for Tash's ego, it obeyed.

"Be a good bait, and do not move."

Bait? As if her pride couldn't take any more damage...

The Silver Knight's Lightspeed flashed in the corner of the canine's eye, pushing Yuki-onna away from her at last. The Yūrei's Saniya clashed fiercely against the hero's light, the turquoise wisps dancing violently as a chaotic beacon in the swirling ice storm.

Once or twice, the disguised Human's battle cries, more often sounding like a turkey in a sugar rush, broke through the windy barrier, followed by his obligatory cringe-inducing remarks.

"You may have gained an admirable speed, Yuki-onna! But that's nothing compared to these shining fists of truth!"

A few seconds later, another one came. Tash's ears paid attention to his words for a reason she couldn't discern. Still, her eyes and nose were vigilant for any ally since the sorceress' towering Saniya signature blinded her natural radar to the point of uselessness.

"Indeed! But the tides have changed in my favor! And as long as I can draw breath and fight, I will make myself more useful to Sayama alive!"

The Knight was most likely speaking with Yuki-onna, who wouldn't let Tash privy to her telepathic ramblings. What a bitch, and that was coming from her...

Once the white and turquoise sparks had distanced beyond her impaired vision, the Wolf captain finally decided to tread forward, hoping to find anyone amidst these deceitful currents. The layer of fur protecting almost her entire body proved ineffective to the Icy Sorceress's powered-up might as the cold dug deep into her skeleton, forcing her to involuntarily quiver.

"P-Please, anyone..." Tash's muzzle trembled as she prayed for Tizohi to guide her luck. "Even Tarb would be preferable..."

Her senses and nerves were pushed to the edge, fueled by desperation. The moment a shapeless figure broke through the blizzard, the captain jolted backward, already lowering to her fighting stance, her teeth and claws laid bare as her eyes widened with dread.

"IDENTIFY YOURSELF!" For a moment, her mind stoked the flames within her brain with the thought of Hibagon recovering from Hanaken's beatdown and ambushing her with his dangerous flute in hand. "DON'T MAKE ME SHOCK YOU!"

Yet, the figure approached, albeit slowly. In time, Tash's experienced eyes could identify the unmistakable figure of a Basan, though considerably smaller than any member of the Gunka Army she cared to remember. Were they a female? Chikukei's society was still too patriarchal to accept one amongst their military ranks, so it couldn't be...

...

Except it could be because they turned out to be precisely that. Slimmer frame and crest, yellow and greenish plumage, civilian robes...

......

As the female Basan turned her neck and stared at her with a concerned yet warm eye, more shadowy figures marched behind her through the freezing, flying sea.

Yuki-onna:

At last, her chance of redeeming herself and her underlings' failure! The most powerful of the demons sullying their safe haven, clad in a deceptively gallant facade!

Wielding two katanas, she relentlessly charged and collided with the Human's golden fists a hundred times per second as she followed him every time he summoned his cursed light to dash at a speed no Monoke could follow unless connected to a vast sea of Saniya to enhance their speed like her.

She only needed one - a SINGLE - clean strike to dismantle this Knight's defenses for good. After fixing Captain Tash's mess, she had spent all those hours steeling her resolve to hoard a substantial piece of the entire grid's Saniya to herself long enough to finish her mission in the city and rapidly return to the core. Truth be told, every cell in her body cried for the sweet release of death, but her hateful will transcended mere physical barriers.

"Is justice really on your side? Or are you blind to the true road to it?!" After a series of eccentric, jester-like poses, he settled on his fighting stance. "Let combat solve this predicament for us!"

For once, Yuki-onna found herself agreeing to a Human's sentiment. Her blades were saturated with turquoise Saniya, becoming as durable as diamond, the energy seeping through the microscopic cracks like smoke, creating mesmerizing arches through the wintery battlefield, cutting through the wind, forming brief gaps of vacuum as if the elements of nature respected her willpower regardless of their rules.

Nevertheless, the Human proved to be a pesky adversary, eluding everything she threw at him, irritatingly. However, thanks to her enhanced reflexes, his counterattacks were always met with a well-timed parry.

Finally, she caught his blazing fist between her twin blades. "Unfortunate." Then she swung her weapons to her side and abruptly did it in the opposite direction, albeit producing a descending arch, forcing him to lose his equilibrium and fall rolling on his back.

The Yūrei capitalized on her target's moment of weakness to thrust her two katanas down at his exposed belly, where the hole she tore in him still resides in the fabric of his suit. With a swift, cold, calculating resolve, she wouldn't allow herself to be dragged down by a sense of theatrics any longer.

Only her mission mattered. Anything else was a distr-

SLASH!

The sorceress's eyes threatened to escape their sockets when her conscience reawakened, and she found herself not with her weapons skewering the armored devil but hanging in the air as if she had intercepted something else...

Oh. The memory was all coming back. Yuki-onna's eyes caught something breaking through the blizzard, flying directly at her. Her instincts took the reins, and her body moved to cleave whatever it was in half...

Looking down at her katanas, she noticed a faint red coating on their ice edges, not dark and pronounced enough to be blood. Looking further down to her feet, she saw half of a watermelon, landing atop the Knight's crotch.

Although amusing, Yuki-onna's concept of a grin was muted by the surging questions about what was-

More fruits flew at her! Cantaloupes, strawberries, apples, pineapples, pears, oranges, mangos, lemons, peaches, coconuts, pomegranates, and MORE WATERMELONS!

The Yūrei swung her twin blades, escaping the relentless barrage of fruit by slicing and dicing each one with deadly precision and grace as she cleaved three, four, and six at once! Her face was smeared by the juice potpourri of her severed victims, especially the citric agony that periodically dripped on her eyes. Still, once she was set on going through this strangely addictive farse to the end, no one would stop her.

After a minute that was perceived as an hour, the fruits stopped coming through. Yuki-onna proudly rotated her blades in the air, their velocity enough to centrifugate the juices off them. Meanwhile, her attention was diverted to the Knight, prompting her to growl in frustration when he was nowhere to be seen.

"Congratulations." She pointed her blade at whoever incurred her wrath. "You will not be blessed by climate advantage any longer."

Once she commanded her cold, unforgiving creation to cease existing, the first Monoke that caught her eye was... Hibagon?!

No. It was merely another Daien holding onto a coconut. Judging by the lack of armor and noteworthy features, Yuki-onna assumed him to be only a civilian. But what was he thinking, immersing himself in such a devastating battle?

And he wasn't alone, far from it. Rows upon rows of Monoke, predominantly female and less physically formidable male Basan, stood beside and behind the Daien, each carrying a different fruit. She should've suspected it was a team effort...

Most importantly, the sheer hatred oozing from their collective gaze pierced through even Yuki-onna's cold, indifferent shell. She would never have imagined fearing for her safety after absorbing that much power beforehand.

The first to step ahead was a plucky young Basan, bawking at the top of their lungs.

"LEAVE OUR HOME ALONE, YOU MONSTER!"

And so, more fruit came her way.