Isher Notra

If only the fruits were the worst of her issues...

Yuki-onna was put through the worst multitasking in centuries. While playing Fruit Ninja with the weaker, most cowardly civilians, she swerved across the disorganized onslaught of the more skilled ones. Truthfully, almost no Monoke in Sayama could be considered a pushover. Everyone born here is conditioned through an obligatory course of basic Saniya training through their formative years. It's a piece of their collective culture ever since the war was lost, and the fear of Humans disrespecting their "peace" treaty was at its peak.

Still, there were always exceptions, like those brutish Ogres in the Ganvi Woods. As much as Yuki-onna begrudgingly respected the Giant Witch, the rest of her family, her lazy husband, and her undisciplined sons, were too reliant on their reputation to strive to be anything other than a stain on their kind's name. Queen Malka was too merciful in letting them rule over and represent the Ganvi Woods since no one more noteworthy could stand their presence.

Though distracting, that tangent in the Yūrei's mind did not make much of a difference, as her new opponents were too slow for her to be too bothered with. The Basan's fire-breathing attacks were repelled by a weak air gust from her palm, forcing them to retreat. A couple of Tanukis tried to push her away using their... um... "sacks of fertility" by shapeshifting them into swinging maces. Disgusting little freaks...

After spooking them by swinging her kunai dangerously close to their testicles, threatening to render them infertile, she detected a noticeable Saniya rapidly moving towards her. She narrowly jumps away from a charging Taurus's horns, almost trampling the Tanuki couple's unorthodox weaponry.

But before she could take pleasure in the blunder, her reflexes urged her to turn around and extend her hands towards a mighty torrent of water, only not striking its target thanks to a spiraling air current concentrated in front of her bony palms. After the spell subsided, she could glimpse the responsible for the commendable effort - a Daien, no less, followed by a Bear Monoke close behind.

Yuki-onna landed, her eyes fast in analyzing the vast amount of assailants around her, coming in all shapes and sizes. The hardest part wasn't eliminating them, much to the contrary. Discerning the correct amount of power in her ice spells to neutralize such a broad and diverse crowd while not reaching the point of lethality was tricky, to put it mildly.

Perhaps words could lead her to a more efficient path...?

"All this commotion and you have not landed a single hit on me..." Yuki-onna melted her kunai and melded them as a single floating blob of water. "I am not the enemy. I am only a necessary evil to open the eyes of this queendom." Rapidly, the blob reshaped and rehardened into her trusty ice scythe, its frigid hilt feeling sturdier than a diamond in her grasp. "Retreat or join the frozen statues littering this province."

After a few seconds of silence, a rogue voice broke amongst them. "You're NOT the enemy here?!" The crowd revealed a furious Daien, the same one who launched the water spell at her. "Our families are FREEZING because of you! We don't want your help, whatever you're selling!"

"What I am 'selling' is awareness of the Human problem in Sayama!" Yuki-onna held her palms placatingly. "This was the ONLY way for my and the Tizohi's Chosen's voice to be heard."

"You know what we hear?! Our chicks, crying for warmth!" A female Basan bawked, almost lunging at her before two fellow avians blocked her passage with winged limbs. "This place wasn't made for a harsh winter off-season, you maniac!!!"

"It is temporary." Yuki-onna's mind slowly wore down with frustration. "Better this brief discomfort than Humans burying their roots into OUR society like parasites."

"A discomfort?!" The overgrown chicken flailed against the two Basan's wings, almost breaking their defenses. "Easy for YOU to say! Not all of us can survive this cold so easily!"

The Taurus, followed by the Bear, huffed, stomping his hoof down. "You keep yapping 'bout this Human, but the worst thing she's done was making a mess in the fair! And then your Weasel pals came along and made it even WORSE!" A storm of agreements echoed throughout the mob.

Fantastic. The consequences of Yuki-onna and her companions' actions came crashing down at once, shattering her hopes of gathering a few more hands for the cause.

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That was when a conclusion poked her conscience, one she had dreaded ever since she joined the Tizohi's Chosen. Perhaps... Hari-onagu was right, after all...

...

Was she safe? The last time she checked, her friend cocooned herself in her hair, waiting for her time to pounce on the little demon. She hoped her dear, long-time companion would see their mission to the end...

They needed this victory, at the very least...

Once Yuki-onna had beheaded the taller Human, she'd search for Hari immediately. It was the least she could do after this mighty strain was forced upon their bond throughout these past few months...

A more important matter, however, was the charging mob, hungry for their short-sighted excuse for justice. Currents of sorrow coursed into the sorceress' heart as the barrage of strikes and spells from the Monoke army was perceived as a blur. Meanwhile, her mind slowly disconnected from reality as she dodged and counterattacked with strikes from her scythe's hilt or her weakest air spells.

In simpler terms, she was in The Zone™. Only it was filled with existential dread and regrets her soul wasn't ready to acknowledge, much less atone for.

I won't lie, I can relate.

Unfortunately or not, The Zone's™ metaphorical walls were shattered by a rapid flash of light, gently grazing her cheek because she jerked her head to the side from pure instinct. Finally, she was back in the sensitive plane.

"Of course..." She trailed her thumb over her cheek, wondering if that cursed Knight had drawn blood from her. And sure enough, her finger was painted crimson. "Enough holding back..." She clenched her fist, her nostrils flaring with a cold mist.

Clasping her two palms together, the air around her swirled into a miniature tornado, pushing everyone away to a more... personal-space-friendly distance. Once the chaos was quelled, tending to the civilians, she could glimpse the Oni, most of the Lycan Squad save for the bitch captain, and a few members of the Gunka Army, including that loudmouth of a general.

Summoning a sturdy Saniya barrier around her, the Yūrei soared higher and higher until her eyes could watch every inch of the City of Bamboo. Every fiber of her being was screaming for help as the power of the rune grid ravaged and threatened to tear her whole body apart, growing stronger with each wasted second.

She held back so far for the sake of those civilians. If they insisted on not understanding where she stood, they would be victims of her trump card.

"Spoiled, short-sighted idiots!" Her Saniya compelled her thoughts into the minds of every single imbecile who dared oppose her virtuous cause. "You know NOTHING of strife!" Between her palms, a tiny blue crystal formed of minuscule water particles and air condensed and coalesced. "But do not fret..." She deactivated her own barrier as a sickening grin, born from the anticipation of the mother of all catharsis, crept into her shrunken lips. "I shall gladly teach you."

A powerful ice and wind storm abruptly erupted from the deceptively minute recipient. However, she contained the tempest between her hands, ceasing it from escalating chaotically and molding it into a spiraling sphere. Her eyes stung as she leered deep into its core, bursting with turquoise energy.

Raising her palms in the air, she gave the spell free reign to expand, its winds rotating at dangerous speeds in a single direction as she poured the entire, excessive Saniya she borrowed from the grid to the point her fingers grew numb, something she had never felt since she mastered her ice techniques on the highest peaks of her home region. In contrast, the chilly relief of this burden no longer rippling from inside her was as if she ascended and joined Tizohi himself in the shadows...

Once holding an entire storm that could curse half of Sayama with eternal winter, Yuki-onna's ears were nearly useless to hear anything around her. Her eyes, however...

Lightning hastily crept through the skies, attempting to strike her down before she rained devastation upon them. Unfortunately, the amount of Saniya surrounding the spell was so catastrophic that it created an invisible, dense wall circling it and its caster. The muffled crackle broke the deafness barrier Yuki-onna was subjected to.

"Oh, Captain Tash..." The Yūrei redirected her telepathic range to only the canine captain she grew to loathe over the month. "Have your beliefs wavered as the cold reality presses against your laughable lack of hindsight?"

"You MONSTER!" Tash howled within their connection. "There are innocent people you will kill if that thing lands! Parents and their children will suffer because of you! You were a mother once, weren't you?!"

That last remark caught itself lodged in Yuki-onna's mind, making a shallow dent in her ruthless resolve.

Nonetheless...

"From a mother to another, here's a piece of good faith..." Her tone came less condescending than she had hoped. "I trust your and your comrades' abilities meet my expectations."

Nothing came from Tash's end, but she understood she was listening well.

As she looked upward, her heart raced, sending an alien warmth through her veins as she glimpsed the full extent of her sphere of cold judgment, capable of swallowing even the tallest of Ogres.

Another dent in her resolve. Were these buffoons enough?

...

......

She swung her arms downward above her head. The gargantuan orb of wintery demise obeyed her command with a sluggish delay, indicative of its mass...

To be sure, she would keep herself connected to her terrifying creation. This game of tug-of-war must end exactly as she pictured...