Isher Notra

Stella:

The temperature dropped significantly.

A sudden breeze grazed her skin.

The feeling of imminent death crawled over her spine.

The transparent exhaustion etched in Yuki-onna's face and her posture, coupled with the mind-blowing power Lien sensed from her earlier, told her everything there was to know. So many have put everything they had into breaking down her impenetrable defenses. To be the ones carrying the torch at the end of the line...

It was... anxiety-inducing, to put it mildly.

Has the Yūrei stepped too far and eliminated a life? Possibly.

How about Asra? Hanaken? The Lycan Squad? Captain Tash?

So many questions. No time for answers.

And yet, as she stared intently at the Icy Sorceress, wielding twin crimson daggers with a face that wildly contrasted with the prim, cadaveric complexions of her puppets'...

...Her body remained firm and unshaken as the earth beneath her boots.

Knowing Lien stood beside her, bearing a confident smile, without needing to see for herself, her heart raced - not from fear or romantic passion, but the lingering, liberating excitement of battle, the anticipation of closing this grim chapter of her life.

For the ones who battled until their last scraps of vigor. For the ones whose lives might have reached the end today.

For them, Stella would stop at nothing until the cold wench had her face demolished by her golden fist of justice.

"My final opponents," Her crimson kunai glistened with a turquoise halo as her attention focused solely on the Human girl. "Let us see how many surprises you can pull off!!!"

Stella's face scrunched, her knuckles closing shut. "As you wish..."

With a throat-tearing shout, the two girls dashed together towards the sorceress, whose weapons' glow was the bane of the Human's eyes. Nevertheless, she pushed through, summoning more and more dirt and stones to coat her hands and exposed arms.

Her earth gauntlet and Lien's deadly claws lunged at Yuki-onna as one. The Wolf, just as they agreed in the Hōkō battle, took the lead while Stella slithered through the cracks in her fighting style, adding to the pressure as the Yūrei blocked their combined flurry with her bloody blades.

"Adorable," the Icy Sorceress mocked before crouching, then throwing Lien off-balance with a leg sweep with speed the Human's eyes barely registered! Only Asra could compete with that, as far as she knew.

Just as quick, Yuki-onna's eyes shifted at her, followed by a thrust of a blade at her ankle! Fortunately, Stella's reflexes were sharpened enough to catch the weapon before it could do more damage than shed a few drops of blood. It still stung, however.

"Impre-" The Yūrei's telepathic words were cut short when the Human's earth glove, which firmly grasped the kunai, suddenly burst into a cloud of dust and rocky fragments. The pale Monoke leaped back, reeling while covering her face.

The sorceress had now widened the distance between them, giving Lien the time to stand up and regroup with Stella. Good. It appeared their chances of withstanding such a powerful Monoke were greater than expected.

A few red gashes were glimpsed on the Yūrei's face before a turquoise glow stitched them back as new. The crimson liquid, however, once shed, wouldn't leave her pale skin.

Until...

"Hurt me as you wish..." The blood was transferred from her complexion, in tiny and amorphous globs, to her weapons. "But making me bleed will only hasten your defeat."

Stella's remaining gauntlet clenched, her fingers bonding tighter with the clay-ish soil blanketing them. "Sure, Elsa. Then all we need is to knock you out with one blow!"

An amused grin plays on Yuki-onna's lips. "Oh, you are much more transparent than your older cohort. Let me see the bloodthirst that lives within your heart!"

Her comment prompts confusion in the Human, whose enthusiasm for this battle had briefly mellowed by it. "What are you on about, weirdo?" She frowned. "If anyone's thirsty for blood here, it's you!"

The Yūrei rolled her eyes. "Never mind." Her weapons twirled in her hands before she assumed her fighting stance once more. "Allow me to lead this dance."

Before Stella could deny, Yuki-onna was already pouncing at them with a vicious gaze, dangerously close in just a fraction of a second! She diverted one dagger with her covered hand. The other one, however, would need to be blocked with her bare h-

Lien tackled the scrawny sorceress, covered in her Saniya like a relentless flash, before the weapon could graze the Human's palm. Nonetheless, when Stella looked at it, a reddened, faint gash had already been carved on her skin.

"That was close..." Ignoring the lingering burn, the Human closed her fist in defiance, quickly turning to look at the Yūrei floating back to her feet. "This isn't the end, freak..."

Yuki-onna opened her mouth, inhaling such a massive amount of air that Stella could see the currents being swallowed as her chest swelled to an uncanny degree.

"It's a big one, Lien!" Stella warned, compelling her Saniya to erupt from her every pore, condensing around her in a circular construct. "Double-layered shield! NOW!!!"

"On it!" Lien mirrored her gesture, pushing her whiteish energy through the cracks of the still-forming golden dome, adding an outer, extra layer of protection without their power truly mingling. Asra's warning from long ago still rang in the Human's conscience. No fucking chance she'd repeat the Spider tunnel incident.

A devastating gust of frigid wind assaulted their combined protection technique. Lien's arms shook and inflated. Her frown deepened as the seconds went by.

This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

"I-I can't control the spell that well with your Saniya in the way!" she whimpered.

Lien's portion of the shield eventually gave in, shattering into glass-like shards, giving the golden core the task of resisting the blizzard. The ground Stella dug her heels into shook with the clash. Her body reacted similarly as her veins were bombarded with more and more energy to reinforce the mighty wind spell.

"She can't keep this up forever..." The Human repeated to herself. But what if she was wrong? Lien and Gentō agreed that her Saniya reserves were low, but so were theirs. Could the two of them truly stall this monster for long?

Ugh. What was Stella thinking? She couldn't throw in the towel just yet! Doubting herself was exactly what that bitch wanted. And she preferred to be caught dead than give her the satisfaction!

"Come on! Is this all you've got?!" she yelled, her Saniya flaring brighter with each sentence. "You'll never kill me this way!"

Abruptly, the mighty currents ceased, leaving the shield thoroughly dented and cracked but whole. For the first time in a minute, Stella felt like she could breathe in some oxygen herself, her heart gradually slowing as she did.

And then, Lien shouted "UP! UP THERE!", pointing frantically above them.

Through the waning golden layer of energy, Stella only glimpsed a vibrant red blur, enough for her memories and instincts to urge her to sidestep as fast as possible! Her judgment was proven wise by the elongated crimson blade piercing her shield from above, as if it were made of butter, digging a shallow, narrow hole in the dirt too close to her boot.

"Fuck!" she cussed between her teeth.

The blade shifted from side to side, cleaving the protective spell in two symmetric halves in no time!

"Your reflexes are outstanding for someone your age," Yuki-onna praised, running her finger over the dull edge of her blood katana as the girls frantically jumped away from her. "Unless you merely acted the role of a weakling, your kind's potential for growth is horrifying." Grounding herself again, she took on a different stance, considering the heavier weapon she now wields with both hands, shifting her legs apart and acquiring a low center of mass. "You must not slip my grasp."

Every. Single. Damn. Word that didn't come out from the sorceress' mouth stoked a hot anger within Stella's heart.

"Keep talking to me like I'm carrying the plague..." Her golden Saniya erupted one more time, creating a reaction that blew the remaining earth gauntlet into pieces. "Nothing you say to yourself will change that you're THIS worked up to murder a child, you heartless FREAK!"

Yuki-onna's eye twitched, rather than the usual arrogance she displayed thus far. A nerve was struck. Stella wasn't sure if it was for better or worse...

"You? Call me heartless?!" Her eyebrows quickly form an ugly scowl. "Do not you dare act like you know nothing of your kind's endless sins!" A turquoise aura mirrors Stella's, forcing the atmosphere to grow colder. "Why should YOUR life be spared while hundreds of parents must deal with a painful void in their families?!"

She... She...

...

Made a good point, actually. Although Stella wasn't alive during the war, these Monoke could live practically forever, carrying the grudge of incarceration, deprived of the rest of the world. Not to mention the families torn apart by the end of it all...

The Human understood it a little too well. So many people back home that she deeply cared for were stripped from her life in one way or another. The slums were essentially a warzone on a smaller scale. And none of the opposing sides seemed to give a damn about ending it.

The resentment in Yuki-onna's eyes... was harrowing in its familiarity.

...

......

They had no way to convince the Yūrei with words, huh?

"Ma'am?"

Lien's uninhibited voice broke the tension and diverted their attention towards her.

"Pup?" Yuki-onna's expression softened, only for a tiny fraction.

The young Wolf took a bold step forward. Stella's heart raced with anticipation, seeing the Yūrei as nothing more than a ticking bomb.

"The first time I knew Stella was a Human, I was afraid. I mean, why wouldn't I? My mom and the other grown-ups wouldn't stop telling me the craziest stories about her kind!" Her tail slowly flickered. "But my instincts told me, after all we went through earlier, after escaping Jólakötturinn, that I should give her a second chance." She giggled. "And let me tell you, my hunch paid off! Stella's the bravest, toughest, and most loyal being I've ever met! She always has my back, no matter how deep we are in trouble!"

Stella's cheeks burned with the massive wave of unadulterated, sentimental Lien verbosities. How in the world could this pup be so effortlessly adorable in the middle of a battle?

The Yūrei, however, huffed in clear annoyance. "Please. She dragged you into all this conflict!"

Lien groaned loudly, stretching her face with both paws. "Oh, not you too!" Her paws moved to her hips. Her feet tapped impatiently. "I came here because I volunteered! Because Stella is important to me and I don't want her to die, you dingus!"

Wow. Heartfelt confession aside, that was the first time the Human heard the pup calling someone names. Frankly, she was proud, which could not be said of the Yūrei, who was genuinely flabbergasted by this.

"Y-You brat!" Yuki-onna menacingly pointed her katana at Stella. "THIS one is a Human! The kind that left us to rot inside this single forest! Do you have any idea of the number of Monoke slain in the aftermath?!"

"Yes! I do!" Lien shouted back. "I mean, kind of." She raised one claw. "But! Don't you think you're overthinking all this?"

The sorceress's jaw hung open, her eyes wriggling faster than ever. "Over... thinking?"

"Yeah!" The Wolf beamed. "There may have been a lot of bad Humans in the past, but it's been so long! I don't get why you can't just see that Stella's a good one. Like The Silver Knight!"

Aw, crap.

"Lien?!" Stella laid a hand on her packmate's shoulder. "The Knight-"

"Do not bother, little demon." Yuki-onna's eyes squinted. "Those curtains were lifted a while ago."

Huh. That did not bode well.

Lien sheepishly smiled. "S-Sorry..." She quickly regained her composure. "What I mean is, there are good and bad Human and Monoke around." She slammed her fist against her palm. "If there really is a bad one roaming around here, we should kick their asses back to where they came from!" She giggled before wrapping her arm around Stella's neck. "But you should give this one a chance, ma'am! She's the best!"

The tween was thankful to Namadi for giving her this dark skin tone for the first time in her life, since no one could tell how flushed she truly was. Lien wasn't a wordsmith by any means. Yet, the sheer honesty inside this awkwardness sandwich captured her heart faster than a frog's tongue with a fly.

Romantic comparison, I know. I'm practicing for my romance novel.

*chuckle* Fine, I'll stop.

Unfortunately, Yuki-onna was... not as touched. Unless you consider visible frustration as something of the kind.

"You are your mother's daughter..." She pinched the space between her eyes, which oozed utter mental exhaustion. "Tell me, furry pit of wisdom, what would you do if your beloved partner turned out to be a 'bad Human'?"

Lien stroked her chin, seriously pondering the hypothetical. "That'd suck. But I'd kick Stella's ass until she's sorry, so..."

Stella's eyelids narrowed as she hummed. Still, she couldn't argue against her logic. She'd do the same in her place.

But then, Yuki-onna pressed further, taking a step forward as her hand left her face and dramatically gestured at the non-canine girl. "Would you be so nonchalant if the Human you once treated as a lover snuffed the life out of your family in front of you? What if she wants to lure you to a sense of security before scarring you for life?! For some twisted sense of justice?!"

The tweens... glared at her with genuine horror.

Stella's eyes sparkled with thought. "So specific..."

Lien's maw hesitated to budge. "I-I..."

Yuki-onna physically groaned, an uncanny chill coursing down the Human's spine. "Enough of this." Her katana glows with an ominous turquoise outer layer as her expression grows darker. "We cannot let our guard down by hypotheticals. One 'bad Human' living here can entirely disrupt our already fragile society beyond repair. I do not expect a young pup to understand."

Lien's ears lowered. "Typical..."

The Yūrei's Saniya flared as she readied herself, her weapon held beside her head.

"I will not hold back for the sake of the pup any longer. Prepare yourself for my-"

A massive geyser of pink and purple sparkly gas erupted between them. The same phenomenon was repeating all over the battlefield, transforming it into an endless horizon of pastel colors!

"BAKU!!!"

Stella huffed as a thicker purple cloud engulfed her and her packmate right before the Dream Mist could reach their nostrils.

"Took you long enough, mister!"