Page 53 of Night of the Dragon

But as we started for the steps, there was a blinding flash, and a wall of blue flames erupted at the base of the staircase. Snarling, I flinched back from the light and sudden heat, then squinted up at the fire.

Hestood atop the torii gate, silver hair and robes billowing in the wind, golden eyes shining in the dark; the ninetail from the demoness cave. His multiple tails swayed and fluttered behind him, the ends glowing with foxfire, casting his shadow over the ground before us.

“Not yet.” His voice was a warning, almost a command, and I felt rage surge up within. Drawing Kamigoroshi, I leaped into the air toward the kitsune standing in our way, bringing the sword down in a vicious arc.

The ninetail didn’t move, though a small smile played over his face as I fell toward him, Kamigoroshi blazing purple as it sliced toward his head. There was a blur of motion, and a ringing screech that sent vibrations up my arm, as Kamigoroshi met the blade of another sword that appeared in front of the ninetail. I blinked in shock as we faced each other on the torii gate, staring at him over our crossed blades. At the ninetail’s fingers curled around the hilt of his own weapon, blocking my sword, and me, one-handed.

The kitsune smiled at me over the crossed blades. “Save your strength, Hakaimono,” he said calmly. “Your greatest battle is yet to come.”

His tails moved, a blur of silver and blue-white foxfire, and two of them struck me in the chest. It felt like Yaburama had punched me; I was hurled away, hitting the path and tumbling a good hundred feet down the mountain until I came to a bruised stop at the base of a cliff. Growling, I pushed myself to my feet, Kamigoroshi blazing in my hand, to see Yumeko at the base of the stairs, facing the ninetail overhead.

“What is it you want, Seigetsu-sama?” she asked, bathed in the ghostly light of the foxfire. “You’ve aided us before—why are you trying to stop us now? You said you had no interest in the Dragon’s Wish.”

“I don’t.”

“Then...why are you helping the Master of Demons?”

Gripping my sword, I started up the path again as the ninetailed fox tilted his head, regarding Yumeko with impassive golden eyes. “I am not aiding the Master of Demons, little fox,” he told her. “Genno is simply another piece in this game. An important piece, yes, but his part in the story is about to end. Yokai, demons and kami cannot make a wish to the Harbinger of Change. Only a mortal soul can call the Great Kami from the sea, and Genno, though his soul has been tainted by hate and revenge, fits that description. I simply needed him to summon the Dragon.”

Yumeko’s ears flattened. “YouwantGenno to summon the Dragon?” she whispered, sounding horrified and stunned. “Why?”

The other kitsune offered that faint, knowing smile and shook his head. “Not yet,” he said, his voice a low murmur. “It is not time to reveal that part of the game. Soon, though. Soon, you will understand everything.”

A howl echoed over the storm, and the air itself seemed to tremble. A massive streak of lightning split the sky overhead, turning everything a blinding white, and in the flash, the ninetail’s expression was almost mad with glee. “Hurry, little fox,” he told Yumeko, as a chill unlike any I had felt before slid through my veins. “He comes.”

I leaped at the ninetailed fox with a snarl, springing over the wall of kitsune-bi and slashing down with Kamigoroshi. This time, the silver-haired figure didn’t move, but his golden eyes rose to me, his smile never wavering. The snapping purple blade cut into his collarbone and passed out the other side, splitting him in two. As I dropped from the torii gate, there was an explosion of white smoke, and the halves of the kitsune’s body disappeared. A red maple leaf, sliced in two, fluttered to the ground and danced away over the wind.

The wall of kitsune-bi sputtered and went out. I landed on the steps and glanced back at Yumeko, whose face was pale in the dying light of the foxfire.

“An illusion,” she whispered in horrified disbelief. She shook herself and hurried forward, joining me on the steps, though her eyes were shadowed with fear and alarm. “Kami, how strong is he? What is his game? And how are we going to stop a ninetailed fox with that much power?”

“No time for that now,” I told her as we raced up the stairs. “We take care of Genno first, and worry about the ninetail after we send the Master of Demons back to Jigoku.”

The steps curved up the mountain, growing steeper and rougher by the second, until they finally ended at the very top of the cliffs. A flat circle of rock surrounded by torches and crumbling stone pillars stretched before us, overlooking the ocean.

In the center of the circle, with his hands raised and his ghostly robes billowing around him, a translucent figure in white stood before a stone altar. A long scroll, one end weighed down by a rock, lay on the altar, the other end flapping in the wind. The Dragon’s Prayer, the pieces brought together and made whole once again. A bleached human skull sat in the center, the eye sockets glowing with crimson light. Around the figure, lining the edges of the circle, nearly a dozen bodies knelt motionless on the rocks, glimmering daggers lying forgotten at their sides. Their chins rested on their chests, and streams of blood ran from their recently slit throats, dripping to the ground.

“You’re too late.” The ghostly specter lowered his arms and turned, smiling at us over the circle of rock. Genno, his transparent form a pale blur against the rain and darkness, met my gaze with triumph in his eyes. “You cannot stop me now, Hakaimono,” he said, raising one translucent arm toward the sea. “The prayer has been completed. The Harbinger comes!”

A massive bolt of lightning streaked from the clouds, hitting the surface of the ocean. I felt a rumble from deep below travel all the way up the mountain, shaking the stones at my feet. Yumeko staggered, and above us, the tempest swirled like a whirlpool in the sky.

“All will be darkness.” Genno’s droning voice rose over the wind. The yurei turned his back on us, gazing toward the ocean with his arms lifted to welcome the Dragon. “All will be pain, fear and death. I will strike down the empire and rebuild this land in my image. There will be no more samurai, no emperor, no noble class. There will be only men and demons, and as Jigoku and Ningen-kai merge, all human souls will bow to me, as O-Hakumon promised.”

I gripped Kamigoroshi as rage and bloodlust swelled, a maelstrom of demonic fury rising to the surface. “Not if I send you back to O-Hakumon first,” I snarled, and lunged at the Master of Demons.

The second my feet touched the stone circle, there was a flash, and pain erupted through my body. Glowing, red-hot chains appeared, wrapped around my limbs, anchoring me to the rock. I looked down to see symbols and kanji appear on the stones, written in blood, covering the entirety of the flat surface.

“Did you not think I would be ready for you, Hakaimono?” Genno turned back, a cruelly amused look on his narrow face. “Did you really believe I would allow you to make it this far without consequence?” He gestured to the bodies surrounding us. “My blood mages, they gave their lives to create this binding circle for the express purpose of stopping the First Oni. You will not interfere, not when my moment of triumph is at hand.”

A glowing ball of foxfire flew past my head toward the yurei in the center of the circle. For a split second, a look of shock crossed his pale face before he dodged nimbly aside. The sphere of kitsune-bi arced over the ocean, leaving a trail of light behind it, and Genno’s eyes snapped to the girl who had stepped into the circle beside me.

Yumeko opened her hands, and foxfire flared, engulfing not only her palms, but her entire body. It raced up her arms, her back, spreading over her robes, until she was wreathed in blue-white flames. Her tail swayed and whipped behind her, snapping with foxfire, and her golden eyes shone with fury as she faced the Master of Demons across the stone.

“No more, Genno,” she said, a virtual torch blazing blue-white at the edge of the circle. “This ends tonight.”

“Annoying fox.” The Master of Demons drifted back, a faint red glow surrounding him as he gestured almost contemptuously. “Begone.”

Three sickles of darkness, deadly spinning crescents, flew at Yumeko, trailing black fire as they sped toward her. She dodged, throwing herself to the ground as she dove aside, though one of them caught her sleeve as it passed, slicing through the fabric like it wasn’t there.

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