Queenfisher

Just wanted to warn that there will be a moment when it seems Neko isn't doing anything, but that's an illusion ^^. It's really just the choice I made to describe things in order, so if it seems like Neko is not participating -- it's due to how I chose to show the focus during the fight. Sorry in advance!

It becomes apparent very fast that he does a ton, too, just not at first because he's not in the spotlight.

Chapter Eighty-Two

The Brides Are Dangerous People

Beyond the doors of the dressing room in the Spring Sunlight Shrine, voices rustled in pleasant conversations. Kotone and Haehime, responding to something while the abrasive tones of Kiyoko and some other Hisome girls inquired and demanded and argued.

Nekohiko jolted up. Crazed after having witnessed the most bizarre scene with Abihiko and Okinaga, he gave the dressing room a stupefied look, then focused on Aomi before him.

She made a face. "Do not space out now. This is the most important part of our plan! Work, you silly wench!"

And before Nekohiko could fully settle back in the concerns of this place and his duties here, Aomi shoved him to the niche in the room where the silk room separator stood, hiding the area filled with the wedding garments, make-up, jewelry, and hair-grooming things.

Nekohiko stumbled toward it, his legs tangling beneath the long folds of the nun's robes he was wearing. Across from him, Mikawa was already knelt in a ladylike fashion, neatly folding and unfolding the bridal veil in a very poor performance of a grooming maiden's duties.

Nekohiko crashed to his knees beside Mikawa to help him sort the make-up jars and palettes assembled before them. But his hands shook and even though behind him, the newcomers entered the dressing room, still discussing the issues of the wedding ritual -- he still couldn't quite comprehend what was going on around him.

All his thoughts were with Abihiko.

With that fervent, fast-beating heart in Abihiko's chest. That ill, grim heart, weakened with the Binder's corruption so severe it had only a couple of years to beat left...

Nekohiko hardly saw what his own hands were doing, so agitated he felt.

"Please, feel free to check the room for your Lady's convenience," Kotone told the Hisome girls who stepped into the dressing room, throwing dissatisfied glances around.

There were four of them, Nekohiko noted numbly. Two he had marked very specially two days ago as being the clear aggressors of Sakami's Binder team. One -- the supporting spellcaster, judging by her reserved attitude and constant need to check with what the aggressors were intending to do. And the last one -- the defender. All four girls were a bit younger than Sakami -- and all the purebred Hisome beauties. Tall, thin, elegant beyond measure, especially today, in their luminous soft shades of lilac blossoms. But also -- mean-spirited and clearly disliking that the Shrine priestesses were bossing them around.

"I need to be there, too. I will check everything!" Kiyoko's stringent voice groused from beyond the doors, and Nekohiko panicked.

If originally, Kiyoko was the one he had wanted to impersonate along with Sakami to not rouse anyone's suspicions, now he only had enough power to cast copies of Sakami and Arata for the wedding. Kiyoko had to be real. And thus, she had to stay outside this room during the attack.

Whatever the cost.

But he shouldn't have worried. Kotone had it under control.

"The Spiritway priestesses have to prepare the Bride, not her family and Lordship aides," Kotone lied without even missing a beat. "The passing from the Hisome household to the Imperial house begins even before the wedding as part of the cleansing ritual. She has to be cleansed of the Hisome relationships with her maids and servants as well, you see. Thus, her guards may pass since they won't be helping her at all. But her actual maids and those closest to her cannot. Otherwise, what kind of a cleansing from her past life will it be?"

"Yes, yes," Haehime echoed meaningfully. "That is the Way. I know. I am the Shrine Maiden and responsible for all the weddings in the Land. You should trust me. I know things."

"That is the Way," Kotone returned.

"...fine," Kiyoko spat after a long, fuming moment.

Then she began whispering something very intensely. Nekohiko only heard the vague mumble of her voice and assumed Kiyoko was saying the last advice she could to Sakami about the dressing and grooming since she couldn't enter with her.

Good. More time to prepare... Because at the moment, Nekohiko was still nowhere near ready.

He debated with himself if he should go to Abihiko again or if he should stay and devote himself solely to what was going on in here. His spine chilled and sweat beaded his wooden forehead from the anxiety he felt.

Here or to Abihiko?

What was more important now?

To make sure this plan went as smoothly as possible or taking care of Abihiko's anguish first? If Abihiko ruined the wedding -- there would be no point in fighting Sakami whatsoever! No?

The Hisome girls who had already entered spread through the dressing room, one immediately going for the separator screen to inspect the two insignificant nuns folding garments there. Nekohiko and Mikawa stiffened under her gaze and bowed deeply while the girl shooed them aside to check the state of the wedding dress and all the accessories.

But pissed and pompous as they looked, not one of them could easily discern the runes and arrays Kotone and Haehime had covered the room with. These girls weren't trained for such insidious traps.

Only Arata was.

And he was already coming in, right after Sakami in her nondescript temporary veil after the cleansing and prayer.

Flashing, Nekohiko snapped his mind back to Abihiko. Just for a split moment before the fight began.

He had to make sure.

Please, Abihiko, do not do anything stupid. I beg you, please!

He was just in time.

Abihiko stood at the edge of the Shrine terrace that overlooked the festive city, his fingers fondling a small vial. Nekohiko could not identify what was inside it, but his hunch told him it might have been one of the more dangerous poisons used against Binders to stop them from using healing magic on their wounds.

The Dark Sisterhood's herb blend from the foreign spices that temporarily rendered the one who drank it repulsive to the local Spirits. Thus, restricting the use of beneficial magic spells on them.

Why? Because Abihiko and any other Binder couldn't really hurt themselves to such a degree they would be considered in dire danger -- unless they outright killed themselves. All wounds could be healed, all injuries Bound back together. Especially those of the Emperor.

Even if he was gravely injured right before the ceremony, countless guards and court medics would just patch him up in minutes -- and the wedding would commence as intended. Nary a delay.

So, if Abihiko wanted to thwart the wedding with a heavy injury, Nekohiko could think of nothing better than to use drastic measures.

Nekohiko knew the way Abihiko thought. A trace of anger surged through him at the sight of the Dark Sisterhood's concoctions in Abihiko's fingers (was everyone nowadays allied and happy to use those wicked women's inventions?) -- but he quietened his frustration down.

Because as though having finally decided, Abihiko broke the lid over the vial and lifted it to his lips to take a gulp.

Nekohiko's mind reeled.

He was so close. So close to succeeding with his plan to get to his throne today -- by such a simple method as marriage! And Abihiko of course had to ruin that?

This asshole.

Nothing he could do in his meager seashell body other than expose himself.

No arms, no legs. Not even voice. And above all -- no time.

At his disposal, he had only the barest ability to manifest his own Binder's aura from within it, like he'd done twice before -- when Abihiko had been dead asleep and having his nightmares. Back then, Abihiko would have no idea where the familiar aura emanated from.

Now, no such chance.

Nekohiko shut his eyes and reached out with his Spiritual essence to touch Abihiko's aura. Not to touch -- it was more like a slap, if Spiritual interactions between Binders' auras could be perceived like that.

For a short heartbeat, their auras collided. Nekohiko's faint one rammed full-force into Abihiko, then retreated just as fast. But it was too late.

Abihiko was aware.

With a choking intake of breath, Abihiko froze. His hands with the vial never reached his mouth. His eyes stilled wide-open. Then, as his awareness of another Binder's presence settled in, Abihiko frowned.

Flickering, his aura searched his surroundings and located the source of Nekohiko's power in an instant.

The vial fell to the floor. Abihiko's hand clamped the seashell pendants on his neck instead. His fingers curled in, hard, spasming, never intending to let go.

"Nekohiko," he whispered.

Grrrr, Nekohiko wanted to reply, in fury and futility.

He hadn't wanted to expose this part of himself yet! He had wanted it to stay hidden for as long as it could -- being such a perfect opportunity to spy on anything Abihiko did.

And yet, he'd had no choice. The wedding must go on.

Like hell he'd allow Abihiko to shatter his plans in such a stupid manner!

"Neko?" Abihiko ripped the cord from his neck to raise the seashells to his eyes. Nekohiko felt himself turned over toward the sun and caressed and stroked and scratched with fingernails as though Abihiko wanted to make sure he was there.

Abihiko started saying something else -- but...

No time. Not time at all.

Even this small hiccup had taken a whole minute out of Nekohiko's plan. He didn't need to stay here longer when other, more important issues were going on elsewhere!

With the last fuming glance at Abihiko's shocked expression, Nekohiko scoffed and quickly abandoned the seashell to go back to his human body.

The groom had been dealt with. Now was the Bride's turn.

***

"Ah, the future sister-in-law!" Aomi's bright voice chimed. The girl jumped to her feet, beckoning Sakami to come into the room, then rushed toward her to pull her into a hug.

At first stunned, Sakami let herself be drawn into Aomi's embrace and even returned it.

All in a smooth chain of actions that forced Arata into high alert regarding Aomi. The man frowned and entered the room, only casting a single glance at the Hisome girls who were already in. One of the attacker girls flashed him a sign of having checked everything, and for a split moment, Arata's countenance seemed to have calmed down.

But then...

His warrior instincts told him something wasn't right even before Kotone and Haehime behind him sealed the door with their combined spell -- drawing the entire room into a confined space, impenetrable to sound, or sight, or magic from within.

The two priestesses reached to finish the spell -- and already Arata acted.

In the brief seconds Nekohiko watched him, he felt his heart plummet.

The five years hadn't had their mark on Arata like they'd had on Daichi, Etsuko, and even Okinaga. Arata was much younger than them, and much more ruthless as a person. A true Towa. Nothing could really get to him -- not misery, not anguish, not frustration.

A cold, heartless beauty of a man. A less refined face compared to Abihiko's or especially to Morokata. Sterner, vastly less appealing with his harsh, icy features and hard-edged angles. His eyes flashed at the runes under his feet and all across the room -- and he struck. Without so much as turning.

Both his hands shot out to the priestesses, the swift blades of ice lashing from them like a continuation of his arms. Razor-sharp, gleaming blades.

A slash, and he would have hit them.

Kotone was faster.

The pearlescent barrier of deflection whooshed against her body, catching the blade with the resounding keen. Sparks and sprays of excess Binding energy from two Bound elements colliding erupted from Arata's blade, but Kotone's shield held.

Haehime hadn't even bothered to cast defensive magic. Sinuous, she slid out of Arata's way and finished the sealing spell with a powerful whip of her finger formations toward the door.

The room's walls, ceiling, and floor flashed with searing white light all along the lines of the drawn runes. Then, just as quickly as the spell reacted, it cooled down into the new normal.

And this new normal was that the room could survive an actual volcanic explosion inside from all the magic being cast in it. And nobody outside would so much as have a clue.

Sakami! Arata's furious glance screamed as he adjusted his position to battle both priestesses at once. "Conceal!"

...eh?

What did this word mean?

A command to enact some tactical plan the Hisome girls and Arata had prepared in case of an attack?

No time to bother. Nekohiko ignored the man's command and its ramifications. He sprang from his spot, dashing to Sakami to intercept her.

As soon as Sakami was caught, he knew he could leverage her life for Arata's surrender. That said, he also knew everything in this tight group of Hisome guards and their Towa leader had been geared toward keeping Sakami as far away from danger as possible.

It could not be this easy to get to her.

The whole room erupted into motion.

Aomi was closest to Sakami. And the little girl had zero qualms or doubts. Out of her sleeve, she brandished a small dagger, reaching it to Sakami's throat in an attempt to trap her. Yet before Aomi's arm even made the arc, the girl hissed in shock, unable to move so much as an inch.

A fine mist of coldsnapping ice enfolded Aomi's right arm, freezing her into paralysis after just a single flick of Arata's fingers. And in the window of opportunity it gave her, Sakami slipped out of Aomi's grasp and hopped out of the way to her Hisome maids --

-- exactly on time before Haehime and Kotone both tried to grab her from the side.

"Aaaah!" Aomi wailed, thrashing within the ice prison. "Help!"

Kotone rushed a small ball of a simple Imperial Fusion spell to the girl, releasing it into Aomi's free hand like passing an item in a game. Why? The stealing way to cast magic. Since Aomi couldn't cast on her own, she required someone else to cast theirs and then pass it over to her.

Which they had decided should be either Kotone or Haehime during this fight.

After all, their general spell-casting was of not much use against the misty Hisome or the icy Towa. But Aomi's natural affinity toward the fiery Hira magic was crucial.

She was one of their strongest assets in this battle.

Aomi caught the passed-down spell and immediately -- its hue changed from the generic whitish Binding of Imperial Spirits to the red, glowing-hot spells of the Hira variety. The ice over her other arm melted just from the access Aomi had gained to a live Hira spell, and Arata's hold of her broke.

Not that he gave a damn.

Fluid like water itself, he shifted his attacks over the two priestesses. Hack with ice blades. Stab with ice spears that came from the floor, from the walls -- from the thin air itself. He sprang into the center of the room, kicking the tea table at Haehime and pummeling her full-force into the room separator. Then within the same snappy motion, caught the tea that was spilling in an arc across the room from the toppled teapot and wielded this water like a whip.

The whip slapped through the air, hissing. Into Kotone, fast and flexible and alive -- as though expecting how she would move to evade it and intercepting her at each turn.

Haehime's kick flew into his knee. Kotone roared, launching herself with an easy shoving spell from the floor, her hands dashing through the air. She aimed the flat sides into Arata's throat, his face, his elbow -- to twist his snaking water-whip out of his grip.

Only the grunts and growls came from them as they fought, mostly martially, foregoing all spell-casting to keep Arata occupied.

And all through this, Kotone and Haehime did not forget to send their small spells to Aomi.

That was necessary. Direly so. Because the battle beast that was Arata could both fend off the two melee fighters like the priestesses AND manage to spell-cast without losing his breath.

Seriously, this man was a damn monster, so good he was at his job! Nekohiko didn't even recall him being so good five years ago. It seemed the passing years had not been a waste on him. The fucking bastard had trained and improved every single one of his skills in that time!

Ice arrows exploded through the room, shredding the furniture and digging into the sealed walls. Air froze over one second and blew up into shard-like sheets of glass the next, sending them to further demolish the place!

He wanted to destroy the room, Nekohiko knew. To free himself and Sakami from here, to destroy the dress if needed so that nobody could impersonate his Lady even if this ruined her own chances at being married today.

Good that Nekohiko had protected the dress with a fortifying spell specifically for a situation like this one.

And anyway, Aomi took good care of that part of Arata's powers. Her heat nullified almost every attempt he could make to cast ice and glassy Spirits through the room. Her powers weren't strong, but they worked just fine enough to melt Arata's magic the moment he cast them.

And where she could not succeed, Mikawa had her back.

The Towa magic was not only ice but also the water itself. So when Arata dropped his methods from snapfreezing the hell out of the room in the flickers of time he was free from being pounded and kicked by the priestesses -- and switched over to lashing out with water-based spells, there Mikawa was.

Waiting for him.

The boy had hidden behind Nekohiko at first, clearly afraid to take part in something so brutal and chaotic. Even making sense of the fast movements Arata and the fighting priestesses did was nigh impossible. The young boy had gaped, horrified. But only until Aomi backed away into him, screaming.

"Move! Move, you moron! He's sapping all moisture from Kotone, look!"

Indeed. Arata didn't rely solely on attacking the whole area. The deadliest spells of each school and method worked on a limited space. Usually, on a single person.

Fingers clawing toward Kotone's face, Arata latched onto all the liquids within her body and drew them out in the spare moment Haehime was down, dizzy after her head being bashed into the wall.

Kotone could only gasp, croaking in agony.

And that, at last, spurred Mikawa to move.

A charged element of electricity -- just the barest ball of lightning -- flashed at Arata. And already that was enough.

The water spells did not go well with electricity. To avoid being zapped, Arata broke his spell-hold over Kotone and rolled aside -- and right into Haehime's mighty roundkick into his throat.

Not that Arata found it hard to dodge. But still.

With Mikawa joining the battle, the odds weren't quite as bad there. Arata couldn't reach the two kids -- electric Mikawa or fiery Aomi -- who thwarted his spells because the melee priestesses kept getting in his way. And the weaker Mikawa and Aomi were kept away from harm in the process.

But not entirely.

There was the whole utter mess on Nekohiko's side and the fucking five Sakamis he had to fight.

Yes, five.

The moment the Hisome girls had realized their Lady was in danger, they did what Arata had commanded them to do.

They had all shifted into the full-body glamor of Sakami's. A well-prepared, perfectly-executed spell that made it impossible to tell which of the five girls was the real Sakami.

And which one of them Nekohiko had to grab to end this entire battle in an instant.

Grab.

Ha.

As if these five jerks allowed him even a second of time to think or do anything other than to waste all his efforts on keeping them at bay. Each one of them, faces grim, deadly-silent, their eyes gleaming with the ache of betrayal -- were Sakami.

Pained, mistreated, innocent Sakami who had never in her life done anything wrong. And was now being attacked for no reason other than she was in someone else's way.

Like garbage. Like a needless obstacle on the path.

All five of the girls, solely focused on beating the shit out of Nekohiko.

***

There was no room to chase or to hide. Only the room to battle, and incessantly.

Nekohiko had a hard time keeping track of what was going on at the edges of his attention with Arata because of the Hisome girls swarming him and solely him.

Why?

Because his face, so hateably like the models Abihiko had a weakness for -- was like a red cloth to a bull. The Hisome girls had reacted the moment they realized what he looked like. If they and Arata had trained to conceal Sakami in their midst in case of an ambush, no doubt they had also trained to define who their primary foes should be.

And seeing Nekohiko's detestable face, they all had immediately fixated on him, and only him.

Their attacks were nothing short of deadly.

Boots slammed into him, the girls' hands flew at his throat, the butterfly knives in them hissing through the air. The girls hacked and throttled him into the walls when he couldn't dodge them, and exploded the spots in the floor where he had just stood if he managed to avoid them.

He prioritized their spells because those had the real chance of injuring his wooden body irreversibly. Their martial arts techniques did nothing to his wood, even though they still hurt like hell whenever he was struck.

And he was struck. Many times over.

The room separator shattered under one of the Sakami's blasting hits. Nekohiko shifted to the side, nearly running into Kotone who was flinging the broken half of the table into Arata's face. Ducking, Nekohiko rolled over -- only to meet another Sakami's boot flying right into his chest and shoving him backward.

And directly under Arata's frozen-spell clamp over the floor!

A mess, an utter, kaleidoscopic mess, this fight!

"Aaaargh!" Nekohiko slipped aside, in time to miss the spell, and raised his arms to parry the powerful axe strike roaring into his head from the above.

An axe?

Unlikely.

Must be one of the Hisome illusion spells.

Because boy, did these annoying Hisome girls use every single chance to confound and misdirect their opponents with countless illusions. One after another. Without end.

Nekohiko countered them easily, but the constant assault of Sakamis on his persona  -- and fighting in such close quarters with Arata and the others -- all ground his defenses and stamina to dust.

He would not be able to keep this up.

He had to use his own Binding, sooner or later, or they would lose this fight; he could tell.

So, for the second time today, Nekohiko had no choice other than to expose himself. And for what? He wouldn't even be able to cast anything truly powerful!

Because after this fight was -- hopefully -- over, he would need to cast not one Mirror-Image Split spell but two of them! First on himself and Sakami, the second one -- on Arata and Mikawa. And even one such spell had rendered him nearly exhausted yesterday when he had tried it on the fake wooden twin of his!

He would simply have no magical energy left to cast these two high-level spells if he used too much during this fight. Thus, even exposing his Binder's aura to Sakami and the others would not garner him the results he wanted.

At best, he would aid his fighting skills and avoid being completely owned by the Sakamis. At worst, his Binder's aura would alert Arata to his presence.

And the whole tragedy that had already happened with Daichi and Etsuko, would repeat again.

For some reason, his ex-bodyguards simply couldn't help themselves but want to murder him on the spot as soon as it hit them who he truly was.

To hell with it.

He had to break this fucking battlefield apart.

"Kotone, Mikawa! Cover me!" he yelled, wedged into the corner not far from the priestess and the boy.

The two shifted their focus to the three Sakamis who were now pummeling Nekohiko with their combined magical force, trying to corrupt his wood with the rottening Hisome spells.

Kotone ducked low. The roundhouse swipe of her leg over the floor tripped two of Sakamis and making the third jump aside to avoid it.

That was where Mikawa had them. His winds hurricaned through the room, pressing everyone down. The girls who had already lost their balance due to Kotone's maneuver, crashed to the floor. And that gave Nekohiko just a small glimpse of time.

Just a bit. To cast his own spell.

His aura seared through the room, wrenching the gasps of shock from everyone here. Including his allies. Everyone's bones and even marrow had to resonate with the true Emperor's Spirit revealing itself fully.

They would simply have no choice but to clench up in horror and confusion.

Well, yes.

He was that powerful. Wasn't it obvious?

But out of this immense power, he could only muster a thin sliver to use for his spell. Like a thunderclash, quaking through the room, his magic of dispelling all illusions fixed the temporary space-distortion one of the Sakamis had made. And dispelled the heated-up temperature haze that made all the surfaces seem tricky that the other Sakami had cast. And most importantly of all -- the multiple Sakamis spell.

At once, he could see the real one -- furthest away from him, squeezed nearly entirely behind Arata as her loyal Hisome girls engaged in battles with everyone else for her sake.

How typical of her. To run and hide.

How expectable.

"Hey, you--!" Aomi blared when Arata darted forward, finally getting his hands on Aomi's throat and lifting her off the floor in one powerful swoop.

All this time, he had wanted to get closer to the kids -- Aomi or Mikawa -- because he couldn't attack them straight-away. Being children, they were always protected by the Spirits from any harm, yet they gave Arata so much trouble with their magic!

He needed to immobilize them if he wanted to get rid of them. And his direct touch allowed that.

From the mere skin-on-skin contact, the most powerful snapfreeze coursed into Aomi. Ice and crystal glass crept over her from her throat up and down in a matter of seconds as Arata held her. The girl hadn't even the chance to steal anyone's Binding to counter the ice with a Hira heat.

"Spirit of the Tables!" Haehime cried, summoning one of the actual Spirits to her aid instead of spellcasting. As the Shrine Maiden, she had more connection to Spirits to aid her even without magic.

But of course they were no match to Arata when his preferred mode of magic was free from Aomi's countering of it.

One flick of his fingers, and Haehime's veins and arteries froze all the blood over on her body. The crystallization would expand in them until all her veins exploded.

A notorious Towa spell.

"Let them go!" Mikawa screamed, trying to go into one of the harder Nagare spells of sapping all air from Arata's lungs and trapping him without a breath to take.

The closest Hisome girls had already come to their senses and did their own sequences of superior Hisome magic. Illusions, of course, and terrible ones.

One stole Mikawa's eyesight while the others flung spells of illusory agony and torment onto the boy --!

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANGH!" Mikawa's splitting shriek of pain rent the room apart.

Nekohiko flared up with the heat of his own.

Aomi was not the only one here who could cast potent Hira spells.

The heatwave surged at Arata, consuming him and frozen Aomi in mere seconds. Enough to break Arata's concentration and free the girl and Haehime from his grip. Kotone wasted no time to jump him, wielding one of the knives the Hisome girls had dropped.

"You bastard," Arata spat blood when he managed to get a free word away from the flurry of Kotone's deadly strikes.

He shot a gaze full of loathing at Nekohiko, and Nekohiko could only respond in full.

"Surrender!" Nekohiko cried, raising his hands in the formation of an even more powerful Fusion of Hira-Nagare magic. He never intended to cast it, of course. That would take too much power out of him and he could not afford that.

But Arata and the others didn't need to know.

They only needed to believe him.

The most powerful being in the world, right here, next to them -- threatening to unleash some utter horror on them. A plausible dare, wasn't it?

Who are you?! the Hisome girls' unblinking, stunned expressions asked as they twitched away from him.

How dare you, Arata's icy glare demanded.

How dare you be alive.

How dare you be here.

How dare you threaten us when you should be dead! Dead, burned, and scattered in myriads of ashes across the Empire?!

"Everyone stand down and surrender--" Nekohiko growled at them low, gradually bringing his fingers together as though to finalize the casting of the spell.

...

But just then, a bright thought popped into his head.

Wait. Where was Sakami?

The real, scared little Sakami?

She wasn't... in the room anymore. Then where--?

From behind him, out of the wedding dress hanging on the wall as though from within a blur, a hand snapped out. The illusion he had missed because he had never targeted the wedding dress, afraid to ruin it in the commotion.

Sakami had hidden well within it. And only waited for her chance.

What chance? Nekohiko wondered half-dazed because, deep inside, he had never taken Sakami as a serious threat.

Nobody did.

But as with all Hisomes, assuming things about them was one of the gravest mistakes anyone could make.

Whipping-fast, Sakami's cool hand lashed at his face -- and he hadn't flinched away in time.

Her fingers zapped him with a gentle current, like the touch of a lover's kiss over his skin. Not unpleasant, just weird. And confusing.

Nekohiko slapped her hand away, dashing backward to keep some distance between them. But as he did that, he stumbled on something hard and stony. And fell, crashing to his knees.

Pain quaked him through as he found himself on some terribly sharp-edged steps the color of green gemstones. He suppressed a cry, and shot to his feet to prepare for the next strike --

But too late.

The strike had already landed.

Aghast, he swept his gaze around to see no dressing room in the Shrine where he thought he'd find himself. No. This was not a mere space-distorting illusion either.

This was an actual world. An open world swerving around him in the colors of the turbulent night and the searing crimson fires burning on the horizon. The steps beneath him were Emerald. And the place these steps belonged to -- was the Emerald Palace of five years ago.

During the Siege. The night he had died.

He gasped, lurching away from the sight that pained him with its very existence. His feet scuffled against the stone steps and he almost fell. But he reeled himself in, panting heavily as his tearing eyes kept searching the warlike horizon for any understanding of how he had gotten here.

And why the hell was this so real.

No, he thought. No way. The Little Sakami had the access to one of the ultimate Hisome spells?

The spells that could push their victims into a coma with their worst nightmare repeated endlessly till their brains simply turned to mush as they struggled against themselves? And as their Spirits were forever trapped in their nightmares as if in one of the layers of hell?

...

Ah.

How wonderful.

The person he had thought of the least had turned out to be the most dangerous of all.

This little, innocent Bride had truly been worthy of her Groom, wasn't she?

...

From behind him, Nekohiko heard footsteps slowly ascending the steps.

Then a voice. A gentle, soothing, familiar voice. Calling to him, and him only.

"Neko?" The nightmare Abihiko asked him, tender. "Give me your hand. I'll help you up these stairs and won't let you fall. Trust me."

Nekohiko wanted to scream.

Queenfisher

I originally wanted to do a Christmas special. As you know me -- I love doing this kind of stuff ^^. But honestly, lately my health has given me a lot of trouble (I might have to be admitted to the hospital next week if the issues persist), so I might not manage to do all the things I wished to. I hope you'll understand... and I am very sad because I was looking forward to doing something cute on Christmas for this book...

BUT! I still have a full month worth of backlog chapters, so even if I end up leaving, I will schedule all the chapters to be released on schedule in my absence -- so you won't notice me being gone through the chapter releases. But I hope I won't have to and that everything will turn out okay!

I just really prefer releasing my chapters on my own, not through programs ^^, te-he-he.

I sincerely hope that everyone is doing okay and you all have nice holidays! Be well and take care!

*huggles you all*