Isher Notra

Stella:

"You think, Lien?!"

The Human's entire body lost its strength as long as her eyes kept transfixed on the three deep gashes located on the sorceress's side, the now visible ribs exacerbating the morbid attention that sabotaged her.

The pup, whose paw was dripping, utterly covered in red ichor, was entirely paralyzed, all the way to her tail. Stella couldn't begin to fathom the intense regret that echoed in the canine's thoughts.

The urge to comfort her packmate appeared as an unremarkable blip in her psyche. If only she weren't stuck in shock as well...

The atmosphere heaved with the moans and gasps of the pale lady. Even after denying mercy, Stella couldn't help but feel pity for her. This wasn't how the girl wanted to settle the score, but real combat was so unpredictable —a whole new dimension compared to the constant sparring she had gone through for the month. She would never forget how she popped that Frog's eye like a blood balloon.

"Y-You..."

Yuki-onna's weak, rasped tone compelled every atom inside Stella's material shell to halt.

"You... were going for the kill, weren't you?" The sorceress's gaze shifted subtly towards Lien, her tears flowing without an end in sight. "You... hate ne that... nuch?"

Lien rubbed her dirty paw across her tunic, her expression unreadable. "I don't, ma'am. I'm not enjoying bringing you this much pain. But... I can't let you kill someone I care so much for. If I have to choose between you and Stella..." Her voice gave out mid-sentence, reduced to a sniffle. "I owe it to my mom, too. She would've done the same."

A chill ran down the Human's spine. She never imagined Lien could have such a... defined stance on killing a sentient being. How far has she truly dug into her packmate's layers? The time to enter such a spiral couldn't have been further from then, yet her mind did it anyway.

"I see..." Yuki-onna clenched her fingers around the wound, painting her pale hand with the most vibrant red. "I've underestinated you... in ways I never could conceive..." She brought it close to her face, her eyes now entirely clean from the dust. "Very well... I shall see you as not a child, dut a threat to ny survival..."

Stella's face contorted with disgust as the Yūrei brought her own ichor to her mouth, unhinging her jaw around her sullied fingers with a revolting hunger. The girl's gaze was ultimately redirected when a turquoise glow caught the corner of her eye, realizing that the sorceress's remaining hand was tending to the ugly gashes, coated in Saniya as it gradually covered them in frost, granting them a duller tone.

She still had enough power for healing? Everything about this didn't make any sense...

...

Unless... it was something to do with her drinking her own blood? What else could've prompted her to commit such a disgusting act? Insanity?

Stella's mind urged the conglomerate of flesh and bones she called a body to spring back into action, slowly breaking her out of the prison of overwhelming dread. Still, she couldn't do it fast enough...

The kusarigama was dissolved by the orders of its own creator, turning into the crimson blob that originated it, expanding slightly from the added mass of the liquid smeared around her feet. However, this time, Yuki-onna absorbed every drop into her gaping maw, slurping it in seconds.

The Human's mind shriveled by a horrible presentiment. If that much blood was returning to the Yūrei, then-

The sorceress emitted a resounding cry, followed by a potent geyser of turquoise Saniya chaotically erupting in all directions! The entire clearing was caught on a blueish filter as the cold ravaged Stella's skin, commanding her limbs to quiver under this power.

"Nowhere to run!" Yuki-onna screamed as she slammed her palm on the dirt. "This is ny last attack!"

A circle of towering ice spikes emerged around the girls, their proximity not allowing for any exploitable gaps to squeeze through.

Stella's heart raced at the creeping hopelessness. They were practically depleted of Saniya. They couldn't possibly dig a way out before the sorceress made her next-

The turquoise light brightened, casting a more prominent shadow of each across the exposed earth. The Human's head slowly rose to meet the source. It was just as terrifying as she had pictured.

A humongous, yet expanding orb of frigid gas and energy rippled above the faint silhouette of Yuki-onna, acting as a second moon in the calliginous sky. Stella couldn't sense a shred of Saniya, but judging by the wintry shockwaves her skin was subjected to and the utter terror in Lien's face...

...This... might be the end for them.

Instinctively, Stella attempted to conjure a barrier that engulfed them. However, the golden wisps that were left of her inner energy fizzled out before a shape could be defined.

"NO!!!" Her gaze was fixed on the spell, her fists narrowing tightly.

"I got this!" Lien assured, her voice a blade plunged into this bleakness's flesh. She erected a protective spell of her own, reminding Stella that she hadn't used any magic spells since the Yūrei knocked them back with the tornado.

And yet, it was painfully visible how frail this Saniya barrier was. The Human could clearly glimpse the outside through a weak, whiteish filter, rather than the common opaqueness she was accustomed to.

If they were lucky, all that it would accomplish was to soften the blow enough to put them to an inch of their lives.

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"This day will forever stamp a black mark on my soul."

Yuki-onna's telepathy returned, almost as if to rub salt on the wound, an effective manner to send a message about the futility of their efforts. All that struggle to send them back to square one.

"I will never forgive myself for taking a Monoke child's life. But I have no choice, Lien."

Lien's expression hadn't changed. If anything, it became even more livid.

"I hope we can find each other and resolve our differences in the shadows, pup. I will be wai-"

A thunderous crack, blaring from behind them, drowned the Yūrei's bullshit monologue and snared both their attentions! Goosebumps rapidly crawled up and down Stella's skin as a swift blur shattered Lien's fragile shield without hesitation.

But such terror was quickly converted into awe when her eyes settled on the almighty force that apparently doomed them. A hulking beast, comprised of several animal body parts, including a lengthy trunk with two horns at the tip.

"Dude!" Stella gasped. "You're still-" She gasped once again, only for a genuine lack of breath as the elongated nose coiled tight around her and Lien. "H-Here...?"

"No time for praise!" Gentō, of all creatures, yelled those words before flinging them with such force that they were sent back to the woods with complete disregard for their physical integrity!

Yet, Stella barely felt more pain when her back met a bed of sticks and dirt. Even without Saniya, her physical shell was enhanced far beyond mortal limitations at this point. Fascinating...

No time to dwell on that, however! Quickly, the Human, closely followed by her canine companion, advanced through the bushes to glimpse what transpired at the arena.

The first thing they saw... was a blinding flash with the color of the sorceress's aura joined by a powerful tremor, repelling the Human a few more steps as her hands covered her sizzling eyes and her legs fought to retain balance!

"Damn it! Gentō, what are you doing?!" Stella thought, rubbing her eyes desperately as if doing this would actually hasten the process of reacclimation. The quakes had long ceased, yet the rhythm of her heartbeat almost convinced her otherwise.

"How are you feeling, Stella?" Lien's paws caught her arms. She leaned into her packmate's touch, embracing her to quell the unquiet anxiety born from this temporary blindness. How pathetically ironic.

"It's okay, Stella..." The pup's voice soothed her ear as her head nestled comfortably beside Stella's neck, blessing it with precious heat. "You're alive. It's all that matters."

Was it, though? Who knew the asinine stunt the Baku pulled to pull Yuki-onna's leg one more time? Whatever it was, his petty ass would need saving. He needed THEM.

"That moron..." As Stella's eyes peeked through the lids, she slowly backed away from the canine, instead holding on to a tree trunk. "Can you sense anything out there, Lien?"

Nothing came out of the Wolf's lips for agonizing ten seconds. The girl's fingers dented the bark with each moment of suspense.

"Only Yuki-onna." Lien softly answered. "I'm sorry."

Stella's breath hitched. The subtle moonlight peeking through the minuscule gaps in the bushes practically taunted her to see the truth for herself.

And she was quick to cave in.

A fierce growl, charged with fury and dread, escaped her mouth as she sprinted her way back to the clearing. Nonetheless, her feet ceased when she saw the second crater located not too far away from the one she had produced with Lien at the center. Diaphanous turquoise wisps ascended from it, meeting their end when mingling further with the frigid air.

"No! No! NO!!!" Stella's legs moved even faster, scurrying to witness the unquestionable reality she was too stubborn to accept without empirical evidence.

And here it was. Gentō, still in his beastly form, was reduced to another one of Yuki-onna's statue victims.

Why do this? What did he gain from being caught by that crazy bitch? He should've attacked her while she was distracted by them! He should've let Stella di-

...

No. Lien was right beside her, safe thanks to him. She should've been grateful.

And yet, as she stared at the one who never ceased irritating her in such a state... Why couldn't she hold herself from shaking? Why were her cheeks warm with tears?

......

Lien's hurried footsteps reached her.

"Can you feel anything coming from him?"

Lien's tail flickered twice before she shook her head. "No. It's just like with those guards. My Saniya sensing is also too weak now."

Sadness became fuel to wrath, the quivering now entirely condensed around her narrowing fists and clenched jaw.

"Of all the things he has done to foil ne, this wounded ny ego the nost."

Stella's head snapped back, glimpsing the cursed witch before the rest of her body followed suit to face her.

Yuki-onna's chest visibly heaved, although her posture wasn't as limp as it was before she drank her own blood. "Count yourself lu-"

"IS. GENTŌ. ALIVE?!" The words shoot from her mouth like vapor from a pressure cooker. Her hands were once more coated in golden energy, intensifying by the second! "ANSWER ME NOW!"

The Yūrei's eyes widened, then narrowed back. "Does it natter to you?"

Stella's entire world was reduced to the sorceress, surrounded by a sea of furious red, colonized by the most violent, graphic thoughts her precocious creativity could produce. As of now, the urge to force her jaw to open further until it can no longer shut again was reigning supreme!

"Of course, it does, you heartless bitch! Why would you-"

"No!" Yuki-onna pointed at her in accusation. "Why would YOU care if that waste of flesh met his end? He seized you, used you as a dream factory!" She gasped. "You cannot convince ne that all these tears are genuine! Cut your act at once!"

An... act?

...This was the last fucking straw. That witch preached about what's best for Monokekind to an unfathomably grating degree. Yet, she dared make light of Gentō's fate?!

"How many?"

Yuki-onna cocked an eyebrow.

"What have you done back in Chikukei?!" A surge of electricity spread through Stella's heart and into her veins. "I know you went there!"

Silence for a couple of seconds. Then, a minute smirk.

"Oh, there were a lot of faniliar faces dack there, Stella. The good, dear cattain, her squad, the Oni, and, last dut not least..." The off-putting smile widened, the intended pause granting the girl time to connect the dots.

"You... You didn't..." The fire in Stella's heart was stoked to grand heights. Although she knew her Saniya was depleted, it felt like she had never been as filled with energy as she was right now. "You... insane... evil..."

"Evil?" Rather than reflecting her anger, Yuki-onna's face was now perfectly solemn. "Yes. Nonetheless, it's a necessary one."

"Necessary?" Stella repeated, coming out as she scoffed. "Is tearing apart everyone's lives to finish two people you don't even know necessary?! Your own pal was thrown away by you like GARBAGE because she disagreed with you!"

Now, Yuki-onna's face contorted with anger. "Don't you dare-"

"I dare whatever the fuck I want, witch!" A golden eruption, pulled from a source deeper than the girl herself had ever known of, emerged from her every pore! "And you know what?! Gentō is a hundred times the Monoke you will ever be!"

That sentence, too, struck a nerve in the sorceress, whose scowl almost matched Stella's.

"Yes, he kidnapped me! Yes, he's a huge jerk that never knows when to shut up!" The Human's determination blazed brighter with each triumphant step she made. "But I know why he did what he did! And let me tell you, I sympathize with him a lot more than I do with you!"

"I don't want your syntathy!" Yuki-onna snarled, conjuring a pair of kunai in her hands!

"GOOD!" She sprinted at the witch, a mighty roar booming from the depths of her heart! "'CAUSE ALL I HAVE FOR YOU IS HATE!!!"