Chapter 26: Chapter 26: The Glowing Blue Eyes, The Angry Pre-Teen, and The Ancient God

The twenty faceless assassins moved as one.

There was no battle cry. No hesitation. Just a terrifying, silent wave of black armor and poisoned steel rushing straight toward me.

I gripped the heavy black iron Tessen in my right hand. My heart was pounding so hard it physically hurt my ribs. I had no magic. I was vastly outnumbered. But I planted my feet, kept my center of gravity low, and prepared to take as many of them down with me as I could.

I am not a ghost anymore, I thought fiercely.

The first assassin leaped into the air, his curved dagger aimed perfectly at my throat.

I raised my iron fan.

BOOM!

The deafening explosion didn’t come from the assassins. It came from directly behind me.

The heavy, master-locked iron door of the armory suddenly bowed outward. The metal groaned, turning a blinding, white-hot shade of blue. A split second later, the solid iron hinges completely melted, and the massive door was violently blasted off its frame.

I threw myself flat onto the stone floor, covering my head as the heavy iron door flew right over me and crashed straight into the front line of assassins.

Three of them went down like bowling pins under the crushing weight of the metal.

The hallway plunged into a terrifying, suffocating silence. Even Prince Jin stopped tapping his painted fan.

Thick, freezing white mist poured out of the dark armory.

Step. Step. Step.

Walking out of the mist was the twelve-year-old boy.

Yuki was still wearing his oversized white kimono. His fluffy white cat ears were standing straight up. But he didn’t look like a whiny, complaining pre-teen anymore.

He looked like a god.

His turquoise eyes weren’t just glowing; they were practically burning like twin stars. The air around him crackled with so much raw, ancient yokai magic that the stone walls of the corridor began to frost over. And stretching out behind his small, human shadow were the massive, terrifying, ethereal silhouettes of two giant, sweeping cat tails made entirely of blue fire.

The pressure in the hallway was unbearable. It felt like standing at the bottom of the ocean. My lungs burned just trying to take a breath.

"Well, well," Prince Jin forced a laugh, though his voice cracked slightly. He pointed his fan at the boy. "The sacred nekomata. I must say, I expected something a bit more... intimidating. You look like a lost schoolboy. Guards! Capture the beast and kill the rat!"

The remaining assassins recovered from the door explosion and lunged forward again.

Yuki didn’t even blink.

He slowly raised one small, pale hand. He snapped his fingers.

SNAP.

A shockwave of pure, unadulterated blue fire erupted from the boy’s body. It didn’t just burn; it hit with the physical force of a hurricane.

The front row of assassins was literally lifted off their feet and slammed violently against the stone ceiling. They dropped to the floor in a heap of dented black armor, completely unconscious before they even landed.

"You arrogant little princeling," Yuki spoke.

His voice was terrifying. It wasn’t the high-pitched whine of a twelve-year-old boy. It was a dual, overlapping resonance—the boy’s voice layered perfectly over a deep, demonic, ancient roar that vibrated the fillings in my teeth.

Yuki took a step forward, his blue fire whipping wildly around his oversized sleeves.

"I am nine hundred years old," Yuki sneered, his fangs lengthening into sharp, predatory points. "I watched the first Emperors build this pathetic capital out of mud. I have eaten warlords and swallowed armies. And you come into my home, track dirty snow onto my floors, and threaten my family?"

Jin took a stumbling step backward. His smug, fox-like smile completely vanished, replaced by sheer, unadulterated terror. He finally realized he wasn’t looking at a pet. He was looking at a force of nature.

"Kill him!" Jin shrieked, shoving one of his own assassins forward.

Four assassins rushed Yuki from the sides.

Yuki just sighed, rolling his glowing turquoise eyes. "You are all so incredibly annoying. And I am going to get blood on my socks."

He didn’t even use his hands this time. The two massive, ethereal blue tails behind him whipped forward. They moved like solid whips of energy, completely shattering the assassins’ iron masks and sending them flying into the walls like discarded toys.

"Lady Kitsune! Duck!"

I instinctively dropped my head.

One of the assassins had managed to slip past Yuki’s blue fire and was lunging right at me, his poisoned dagger raised.

But I wasn’t just watching the show.

I scrambled to my knees, whipping my wrist. SNIKT. The iron Tessen snapped open. As the assassin brought the dagger down, I swept the heavy metal fan upward in a perfect, low arc.

The solid iron ribs caught his wrist. The bones cracked loudly. He dropped the dagger with a yell.

Before he could recover, I spun and slammed the heavy base of the closed fan directly into his temple. He went down like a sack of potatoes.

Take that, Warlord training, I thought wildly, my chest heaving.

Yuki glanced back at me, one of his white cat ears twitching.

"Not bad, human," the ancient spirit noted, his overlapping, demonic voice sounding slightly impressed. He kicked an unconscious assassin out of his way with his small sandaled foot.

He turned his burning gaze back to Prince Jin.

"Now, listen to me very carefully, Jin," Yuki commanded, the blue fire in the hallway growing so bright it completely drowned out the purple shadows.

Yuki pointed a single finger right at the Second Prince’s chest.

"I have waited two decades for my Warlord to stop brooding," Yuki snarled, the air pressure dropping dangerously low. "I brought him a bride. I dragged her to this freezing wasteland. I finally got them to hold hands without blushing like idiots. And I am not going to let you ruin it."

Yuki’s fangs bared in a terrifying, feral grin.

"No harm will come to the woman I chose for Akira. If you so much as look at her again, I will personally feed your organs to the mountain hounds."

Jin was trembling so violently his pale green robes were shaking. He looked at his ruined squad of elite assassins. He looked at Uncle Kenji, who was still cowering on the floor, clutching his broken, bleeding nose.

"This isn’t over," Jin choked out. He pulled a black glass orb from his sleeve and slammed it into the ground.

A thick, suffocating cloud of black smoke erupted, filling the corridor.

"Coward!" Yuki yelled, unleashing a blast of blue fire to clear the smoke.

But by the time the mist vanished, the Second Prince was gone. The shadow portal had closed.

He had completely abandoned his unconscious assassins, and he had abandoned Uncle Kenji.

Kenji tried to crawl backward, his eyes wide with horror as he looked at me and the terrifying, glowing twelve-year-old boy standing beside me.

"Kitsune," Kenji pleaded, his voice a pathetic, high-pitched squeak. "Kitsune, please. I’m your uncle. We’re family. Tell the beast to spare me!"

I walked slowly over to him. I looked down at the man who had made my life a living nightmare for nine years. I didn’t feel fear anymore. I just felt exhausted.

I looked at Yuki. The blue fire around the boy was starting to flicker and fade. The terrifying, overlapping ancient voice was gone.

"Are you okay?" I asked the cat-boy softly.

Yuki let out a massive, dramatic groan. The ethereal blue tails vanished. His glowing eyes returned to their normal turquoise. He slumped his shoulders, looking exactly like a grumpy pre-teen again.

"I am completely depleted," Yuki complained, rubbing his forehead. "I used up my nap energy. And look at this!" He pointed to a tiny speck of soot on the hem of his oversized white kimono. "My silk is ruined! Do you know how hard it is to get assassin dirt out of fine fabrics?"

"I’ll wash it for you," I promised, a genuine, relieved laugh escaping my chest. "You were amazing, Yuki. Thank you."

"Obviously, I was amazing. I am a deity," Yuki sniffed arrogantly, though he leaned against my side, completely exhausted. "Now, what are we doing with the garbage?" He nudged Uncle Kenji with his foot.

"Please!" Kenji begged, grabbing the hem of my trousers.

I kicked my foot free. I stared down at him.

"We leave him for Akira’s guards," I said coldly. "He broke into a northern fortress. Let northern justice handle him."

I turned around and rushed back into the dark armory.

Rin was sitting on a pile of chainmail, clutching a heavy iron helmet like a shield. Her dark purple eyes were wide.

"Is the loud cat okay?" Rin asked, dropping the helmet.

"I’m fine, you sticky sprout!" Yuki yelled from the hallway.

"We’re all fine," I pulled her into a massive hug, burying my face in her hair. "We’re safe."

But as I held her, a massive shudder rocked the entire fortress.

The ground beneath us violently quaked. Dust fell from the stone ceiling. Outside, the muffled, terrifying sound of hundreds of monsters roaring echoed through the thick walls.

The inner keep was safe. But Akira was still outside, fighting an army of corrupted yokai and the Imperial Mages.

I pulled away from Rin, gripping my iron fan.

"Yuki," I said, my voice dead serious. "Can you walk?"

"I can float," Yuki corrected, though he looked tired. "Why? Where are we going? The kitchen?"

"No," I marched toward the hallway. "We’re going to the battlements. We’re a team, right? The Demon Prince is not fighting this war alone."