Isher Notra

Yuki-onna:

Her vision was obscured by pastel-colored mist. Her lungs hissed with a growing heat as she inhaled the Baku's dastardly spell once, definitely enough for that pig-headed bastard's upcoming scheme.

How did he gather so much Saniya to perform a spell of this magnitude? She was well aware of a Baku's insurmountable might. Hell, she fought alongside many in the war. But to imagine that clown realizing such potential in a month was still an alien thought. Through the rumors circling about him over the centuries, she couldn't be blamed for holding such abysmal expectations...

Her body and mind slowly became disconnected. Still, she grasped enough of her consciousness to compel her energy to sink deep into herself and cleanse Gentō's from her system.

She was back to normal, yes. However, what would happen once she took her next breath?

As far as she could see, the clearing was conquered by a swirling, sparkling ocean of pink and purple. Walls of clouds performed multiple complex patterns as they utterly blocked her sight of the dark woods.

Not too far from her stood the loathed trio. The young girls were covered in a brighter tone of purple, likely protected from the Baku's mist. Clever.

Unfortunately, Yuki-onna couldn't possibly develop a technique to filter so much Saniya in this charged atmosphere on the spot, only when it entered her own organism. And worse, the air was too saturated with his power for her to bend it and pull it clean into her lungs.

She conjured a mighty gust circling her body, pushing the fog away in a single burst. Yet, the sleep-inducing gas returned more quickly than it fled. She considered performing a continuous vortex around herself, but she would only deprive herself of fresh air. Not ideal.

But perhaps, if she held her breath long enough and were smart about managing the oxygen in her lungs, she could spare enough Saniya to push her towards victory. As of now, her energy reserves were less than half. Nearly dropping to a measly quarter, she reckoned.

Two minutes were the limit of Yuki-onna's breath-holding. She would need every last drop of her might to make them count. Unfortunately, for the young Wolf, she couldn't afford to hold back for her sake.

"I am sorry for you, Lien." The Yūrei urged her Saniya to course through every limb at full capacity. "Leave or face my full power!"

Yuki-onna soared towards the three, especially the Human and the Baku. The former, holding the latter with both hands, and her packmate jumped out of the way the second before the sorceress's sword could graze the dark-skinned one.

"Bitch!" The Human threw Gentō to the side, then invoked piece upon piece of rock from the earth until they formed a circular projectile. "EAT THIS!" She flung it at the Yūrei.

Genuinely taken aback by the tactic, Yuki erected a Saniya barrier to stop the cluster in its tracks, the impact reverberating throughout the ethereal yet solid surface, which remained prim and smooth. How inconsequential.

Her first batch of oxygen was running dry. Time to face Gentō's bizarre power once more.

In a desperate effort, she exhaled all that air as a powerful projectile, forcing the Human to erect a shield of her own, and hopefully repelling the clouds enough for her to take a safe breath.

She failed on the latter. The mist moved like an opportunistic predator, dashing hastily at the first sign of her inhale as if it had instincts of its own.

Yuki-onna gagged while more sleep-inducing gas entered her lungs. Frantically, her Saniya fought to eliminate every vestige of it as she felt her legs buckling under its command.

Just a few seconds more and-

A painful pressure collided against her back, sending her flying over the Human and the Baku. The sharp pain echoed strongly throughout her skin as she redirected the air to slow her descent, allowing her to land on her feet like it was effortless.

"The Wolf..." She rubbed the struck area, then gazed at her hand. No blood, thankfully.

A portion of Dream Mist still spread through her body. She couldn't-

A jolt of adrenaline spiked inside her as the Wolf pup pounced at her, bearing bloody claws, a ravenous, gaping maw, and piercing, glowing red eyes, boring into hers with wild hunger. Her terrified body did not waste any time before swinging her elongated blade across the canine's face, creating a deep laceration over it.

"NO!" she physically screamed, running to tend to the pup before she turned into... a cloud of Dream Mist?

"Geez, Gentō. The hell did you make her see?"

The little demon's voice rang from her side, prompting her quivering self to turn and face... the two girls, perfectly safe. The unassuming demeanor of the little huntress was a contrast to the beast she had just "slain."

"I have to say, I'm almost pitying you." Stella took a step. Although her eyebrows were tensed, the intent behind her expression was unreadable. "Then again, I'm pretty sure many folks were just as terrified by the crap you pulled on them."

The mist was cleansed from Yuki-onna's lungs for now. How disgraceful she was for expelling precious air by such an impulsive shout. Once she had broken the hundred-year seal in her vocal cords, it wasn't easy to keep her self-imposed silence. So many feelings that she fought to conceal were now boiling inside her heart, especially anger, fueled by the narrow-minded words from everyone around her.

"I do not search for judgment, girl." Thin discs of frozen water formed and reshaped between her fingers until they became throwing stars. "Especially from the likes of YOU!"

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With a graceful swing of her arm and a flick of her wrist, Yuki-onna launched a barrage of shurikens at them. The Human quickly reacted by slamming both hands on the floor and erecting a sizeable earth wall which her soaring weapons stuck into.

She pointed at the earth spell, her index finger resonating with a faint aura. "Not enough."

Each throwing star reacted by emitting the same energy, witnessed as mesmerizing glimmers before they tore the wall apart with a combined explosion! Yuki-onna awaited patiently as the dust cloud settled, but once it was done, only the large chunks of rock could be seen.

She needed to breathe again. Three times so far. And she felt the breath-holding window narrowing each time.

She was afraid to inhale too deeply and be consumed by the mist. Still, she decided to have faith in the mental defenses she had polished over centuries to push her through this.

Breathed in. Lungs immediately burned.

Conjured more Saniya. Lungs unhurriedly cooled.

The asymmetry in such standard processes was undoubtedly unfair. Nonetheless, the Yūrei couldn't dwell on them for long as her eyes and body shifted through every conceivable angle, alert to any more ambushes.

Her rudimentary Saniya-sensing was entirely useless, especially without the aid of the rune grid, with the amount of the Baku's signature swirling around to impair it, just like she did with the Knight and the captain. Ironic.

They clawed their way into the dirt. Would they try for an underground sneak attack? Predicting a child's actions was a skill she never truly grasped...

"Hey! Freak!"

Yuki turned 180° so her hand could firmly hold the small Human's wrist just before a blazing golden fist could connect to her back!

Yet... she couldn't feel any resistance between her fingers.

"Heh." The illusion smirked before it dissolved through the air, stoking her frustration to greater heights.

However, that feeling was beaten down by a surging premonition. If the illusion was a distraction, then-

The Icy Sorceress swung her katana in a wide arc at the opposite side. Her eyes barely processed a golden rock being cleaved by the crimson blade until the actual Human's face contorted with begrudging awe.

"Bullshit!" Stella yelled. "You're up, Lien!"

Two purple flashes ran at opposite sides of her. Twin Wolves ran off their fours with no discernible difference to facilitate her job. As always...

Yuki-onna readied her fighting stance, her grip firm on the katana's hilt. It was a shame, but she had to use her blade to attack both in a single swing. She promised to not hold back, after all...

The two Liens jumped and switched sides repeatedly through their advance, ultimately blurring any exploitable discrepancy. There was no other choice left.

Once in range, the katana moved, targeting one pup's legs, forcing her to front flip over the sorceress. Meanwhile, the other one did not attack but kept hopping side to side with a spinning tail.

"Don't take your eyes off me, ma'am!" Her milky, unfocused eyes still brimmed with childish vigor. "Take your best shot!"

Even if convincing, Yuki would not discard the possibility of the other Lien being the real one. She rapidly glided away from the duo before she was a victim of a furry sandwich, her fingers emitting a frigid vapor.

"Forgive me, pup." Each hand threw a series of shuriken at one pup, cleanly piercing through the target's fur and clothes. She could feel the immediate guilt manifesting on her complexion as a loud whimper was emitted from the two young-

They both turned into mist. That miserable little fu-

"Stop messing around, ma'am!" Lien, or at least she assumed it was, howled from right behind her, sending unpleasant goosebumps crawling under her skin. Her heart wouldn't take such surprises for much longer.

Can you guess what time it was? Time to breathe, of course! Even though she never eliminated the last batch of Dream Mist entirely from herself. Passing out from lack of oxygen was even worse than being subjected to mind tricks, all things considered.

At least, that was her initial thought. While she begrudgingly welcomed more of the Baku's signature spell into her body, her window of time for ridding herself of it narrowed. What was once one or two, there were tens of perfect replicas of the Human and her canine lover! The Stellas kept distracting and goading her with kindergarten insults as the Liens kept the pressure on, forcing her to flee from the expanding pack!

Yuki-onna managed the situation by swinging her blood katana left and right, turning waves upon waves of illusions into puffs of smoke! She started to wonder if the real ones were even-

An undoubtedly real Human's uppercut connected to his glass jaw, sending her flying! Her vision went momentarily blurred by the sting of a sudden wave of blossoming agony! Nonetheless, her eyes were acute enough to discern the young Wolf waiting for her midair for a devastating axe kick on her forehead, sending her back to the floor, where a crater was formed as her bed!

"Focus, Yuki-onna!" The sorceress psyched herself up through the ever-growing pain spread across her head, heightened by the terrifying sensation of Gentō's Saniya latching tighter into her brain. "They are still here. You have a chance!"

Her eyes caught the hazy shapes of her assailants. Illusions, most of them.

Her body urged her to get up, still coursing with unyielding resolve, even if her movements became clumsier with each successful blow on her.

This pain instilled a fundamental reality check for her. She would never succeed here by sparing Saniya. Even if she was forced to consume her own blood to keep going afterwards, even if she perished by sheer exertion, so be it!

Yuki-onna let out an ear-piercing yell, combined with the loud shockwave caused by her slamming her open palms together, forming a rippling storm that dissolved every single imposter as far as her fatigued vision allowed her to see!

But she was not done, oh no. Her Saniya was pushed to the very brink, fueling the raging winds to disperse this cursed fog for good! The sea of turquoise was slowly tainting and overtaking the tacky pastel.

Her vision started to black out as nearly all the oxygen in her lungs was converted into carbon dioxide. Her drumming heart couldn't stop in desperation, alerting her brain to take another damn breath already!

"No! Keep... going!" Every limb of hers quivered under the pressure. Her cells threatened to burn to ashes from all this recklessly released energy, never finding a foreseeable end. "I can't stop! I must-"

"Nonny?"

Somehow, that voice, amidst the chaotic dome of air that surrounded the sorceress, broke through and entered her ears, redirecting every shred of brainpower towards it.

"What?" Her voice echoed true as her desperate gambit deactivated faster than it started. Her bulging eyes searched desperately for the all-too-familiar tone's source inside the pastel horizon.

And to her lucky surprise, she found her in mere seconds, shyly standing to her side, a few meters away.

A Yūrei child, barely reaching her 600s. She wore the loveliest white kimono with golden highlights on her sash, sleeves, and collar. A perfect compliment to her pale, prim complexion of a porcelain doll, with a reddened flush on her cheeks, which carried a bit of fat still. Her black hair was tucked into two side buns, granting her a distinguished shape against the pink and purple illumination.

A silhouette Yuki-onna could recognize from miles away, covered in the most unforgiving blizzards on the highest tops.

A miracle of the winter. Her miracle, whose sight was enough to warm her cheek with unconquerable tears.

"Tae-fuyu..."

She would always speak to her miracle with her authentic voice.