Chương 20: Book 1, Chapter 20: Steel Sharpens Steel

"You can't just say 'no' to a duel!" exclaimed the crazed woman in disbelief.

"Why not?" John asked, "I'm not obligated to fight every weirdo who shouts at me on the street." This was, in fact, the wrong thing to say.

"How dare you!" she shouted, pounding a fist on the table hard enough to crack it.

"I am Nagahama Rin, not some random gutter trash you can disregard."

"I don't even know why you're here," he replied, shrugging.

"To end your reign of terror," Rin hissed.

"I thought we went over that already."

"What reign of terror? I'm here for noodles," he growled back.

"For the past five years, traders in the area have reported a mysterious foreign man with a disquieting Presence watching them from a distance, often having to scare him off with a show of force. During this period, more and more people went missing, with their carts looted of all valuables when later travellers found them," she lowly hissed.

"Now you've moved onto the town. When I came in yesterday, I heard about your encounter with the tax collectors while they were trying to collect on two unpaid debts!" Oh. Ohhhhhh. That actually looked pretty bad, didn't it? The danger of the situation finally began to set in. This woman was here to duel him, to cut him down! He shifted uncomfortably and almost tried to flee right then and there, but he shut that impulse out.

Even if he made it to the door before she responded, John doubted he could close and weld the panels to seal her inside in time; even if he did, she could probably bust through. Maybe if he headed to the back? While she felt weaker than some yokai he had fought in the past, that was with keeping them at a distance or ambushing them as needed. If only he had a few extra feet… No, he had to talk his way out of this or at least hold out long enough for Yuki to intervene.

"Look. There's actually a good explanation for all that," John hurriedly added, but the woman just huffed.

"Would you mind if we talked in private?" She bristled, and her eyes hardened. The door to the kitchen flew open, and Yuki darted out, eyes immediately locking onto the woman standing on the table before hurrying over.

"What's all this?" she asked tensely, lips pulling tight.

"Ah, his minion appears!" Rin loudly stated, turning to face the disguised kitsune, shifting to a new dramatic pose with her hands on her hips. Yuki scowled in annoyance but glanced at John, quietly demanding an explanation. He shrugged.

"This woman says she's here to end my 'reign of terror' and wishes to duel me." Honestly, he was pretty sure Yuki had heard everything, now that he thought of it, but perhaps she was just keeping up appearances.

"She most certainly will not!" Yuki spat with more venom than expected, glaring at the interloper.

"Some jumped-up lizard shall not interfere with my charge; my lady will not have it!" Her stance dropped low and wide, ready to spring at her target like a ballista bolt.

"Lizard?" Rin shouted, the woman growling once more, turning her focus entirely away from John.

"Watch your tongue, worm, lest I cut it off! I was reborn in the blood of a dragon, an artifact passed down through six generations before being used on me!" Her hand went to her hilt, and she drew her blade just enough to reveal a flash of curious blue metal.

"Besides," she said, glancing at the scales adorning the collar of Yuki's disguise, "What type of hypocrite are you, snake-blooded?" John finally realized what the disguised kitsune was doing. She was diverting the attention away from him! He appreciated it, of course. Even if she wasn't nearly on the same threat level as a horde of Nameless barrelling at him, being near melee range was certainly not where he'd want to be against someone with superhuman abilities.

He glanced over the room, quietly getting up from his spot and backing away; he looked down—Oh right, Yashiro was still here. The poor man was still parked on the ground, sweat pouring down his face like a waterfall as he took the classical strategy of "freeze and pray nobody sees me." Strangely, it had actually been working pretty well so far, now that John thought of it. John quietly gestured to follow him as he crept away, and the man sprung to his feet to do so, mumbling something like, "Yes, Lord Hall."

Wait, why wasn't he calling him John—Ohhhh. Right. He was probably internally freaking out about being way too informal, too. Now that he thought about it, he hadn't told Yuki his family name, either. He hoped that wouldn't be a problem. Quietly, the two of them crept toward the entrance and took cover behind a solid post at the corner, away from the brewing fight as Yuki and Rin continued to trade barbs back and forth.

John raised his gauntlet and pointed at the woman, quietly asking if Yuki wanted this problem blasted in the back of the skull, but the kitsune frowned and shook her head.

"I have little to fear from the minion of a bandit," Rin growled, "stand aside, and I'll let you leave." Somehow, she still didn't realize that he had left. Yuki didn't even blink at the insult, quickly responding, "Ha. Big words from some brainless lizard who thinks herself a warrior because daddy had a magical—" Rin drew her sword in a flash of blue, smashing it down where the kitsune used to be and digging into the wooden floor. Yuki moved fast enough that it was hard to track as she spun away from the blow.

"Really?" She asked.

"All that talk, and that's how fast you can move? I could have gone for lunch in the time it took for that blow to land!" Evidently not a fan of the taunting, Rin dashed forth again, blade at the ready, but even John could feel something wrong in the air, like a nagging dread at the back of his mind. Yuki stepped back as her foe tried to gut her with a singular strike… but water formed around the blade mid-strike.

A massive arc of water shot forth, frothing white at the tip as it hardened in the air into a razor-sharp crescent of ice. She clapped her hands around it, holding the blade back by inches as the sheer force sent her skidding across the room and knocking any tables in the way to the side. As the wall approached, she hopped up, planting her feet on it as she finally stopped the frozen blade inches from her.

It shattered in her hands with a single flex before she sprung forward like a bullet, unnaturally strong leg muscles more than enough to launch her through the air directly at her foe. Rin's eyes widened, but she could only bring her sword up to block as Yuki slammed into her like a catapult shot, bowling them both over in a tangle of limbs.

As they came to a rest on top of a now shattered table, the kitsune was on top, a limb holding the woman's blade flat against her chest as she drilled the other woman in the face with a devastating series of strikes that sent splinters flying as her head was forced into the wooden floor like a nail by the blows. A kick caught Yuki in the stomach, sending her flying into the roof with a loud thunk, shaking the rafters.

Rin barely rolled out of the way as the kitsune retaliated with a stomp where her chest used to be, sending another spray of wood up. The dragon woman tried to sweep her legs in return, but Yuki hopped clear, although it did buy Rin the time to get to her feet. The two circled one another, eerily bloodless thanks to their magical protection and ready to go despite both taking blows that would pulp a regular man.

"You aren't bad," Yuki admitted.

"I take it you knew I was underestimating you and opened with a strong elemental attack to put me on the backfoot?" Hesitantly, Rin nodded.

"Yes. I didn't expect you to catch it," she replied with a hint of admiration.

"You fight like a beast."

"Then we're both full of surprises," Yuki stated, casually shrugging.

"Shall we continue?" Rin nodded, and they dashed towards one another once more at a blistering pace. Yuki gracefully weaved between slices, carefully pushing the strikes to the side at seemingly random, redirecting the blade every time before frozen blasts could form without fail. John concluded there had to be something about Rin's Presence that gave her elemental attacks away, as Yuki didn't put nearly that same effort toward redirecting the mundane blows.

Despite the situation, he couldn't help but be fascinated. This lethal dance was not one-sided, though. The kitsune launched an absolute barrage of kicks and punches in each free moment, each screaming through the air at paces that even the most elite of mundane humans couldn't dream of matching. When she was on the offensive, there was little Rin could do other than get frantically out of the way, and even then, she still caught some glancing hits that would absolutely kill an ordinary person.

One thing bugged John, though. Why was she holding back so much? Yuki wasn't moving as fast as last night against the Nameless, although that might be due to her disguise, and the fact she refused to use any of her magic was curious. It wasn't as if she was trying to hide it, with how she intimidated the soldiers before. The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation. Wait. Was Yuki smiling? She was!

John didn't notice earlier, but her face was painted with a broad, sharp grin. Some part of her was enjoying this! Why? He was morbidly curious, and as he watched, he noted there were… Differences from how a mundane person would fight which he picked up on by watching the pair brawl. Of course, each strike was a calculated risk in a regular fight, but there was much more willingness to get hit here than you would expect from even the most armoured soldier back home. Why wouldn't they take blows when needed?

The fight wasn't a search for the one magic hit that would end it all; it couldn't be. It was an endurance contest, first and foremost, with each attack carefully crafted to drain their opponent's energy with minimal damage to their own. So what if you took a glancing blow if you could get a much greater opening in return? Perhaps combat was just more enjoyable when you knew you didn't risk dying from one slightly nasty attack on its lonesome.

They broke apart as Rin conjured a wall of razor-sharp spikes between them, the range advantage returning to the dragon woman as Yuki still refused to use her magic. Was this sport to her? Stooping, the kitsune used the gap in the onslaught to grab a particularly large board from some of the shattered furniture, swinging it through the air a few times to get a measure of the weight.

Too soon, though, the break was over, and Rin kicked one of the waist-height frozen spikes at her chest; although she dodged, it detonated mid-air in frozen shrapnel, staggering the kitsune with a grunt, followed by Rin pointing and unleashing a lance of water like a hydrocutter that sent the kitsune sliding back as she dug her heels into the ground. This small opening was all Rin needed to leap in with what would decapitate a regular person, but Yuki raised the plank to block…

Yet the blade, which should have passed through it like nothing, stopped dead an inch in as whatever reinforcement technique Yuki used did its job damn well. Twisting the board, Yuki spun the blade out of Rin's hands, then landed a brutal open-palm strike to the gut that doubled the woman over and made her spit up blood as her Aegis weakened. John winced, praying Yuki wouldn't kill the woman. She staggered back, and Yuki straightened herself, brushing some sawdust off her kimono.

"You're stronger than I expected," she admitted.

"Cease now, and I shall see no harm come to you. You're outmatched against me, never mind against Lord John or my mistress!" She fixed her with a glare." Yield," she harshly reiterated. The dragon woman's face turned into a rictus snarl.

"Never!" she loudly snarled, breathing in deep, and a shiver went up John's spine as he felt the air shift and charge. Her Presence became overbearing, making his head swim and vision blur. He reached down the front of his shirt and twisted the front face of his iron warding amulet, forcing the field to activate even without it detecting an attack, and it immediately dimmed her Presence to bearable levels as an invisible field covered him.

Glancing to his side, he saw Yashiro lying on the ground, covering his ears and shivering as it overwhelmed him. He should… hopefully be fine. John wasn't too shaken up the first time he was exposed to an attack like this. It still felt like he was standing on the ship's deck at sea, salt water spraying around him amongst a terrifying storm in the black of night, rain and sleet both sticking to him as all too close thunder cracked overhead, rattling his ears.

Lightning crackled in Rin's mouth, and Yuki grinned wildly. A metaphysical sun scattered the clouds away, the radiance of a solar eclipse washing over them, the wind dying and the sea calming under its impossibly intense gaze. It felt impossible, a contradiction. It felt both boiling and freezing. Calm and rageful. Bright and dim. Yet, it was, at least in a fleeting way, due to Yuki's strange Presence. Lightning arced from Rin bright enough that it whited out the room, and John's warding dimmed to save his eyes.

It stopped dead a few inches from Yuki, the massive bolt struggling to get past a thick coating of shadows surrounding her. John watched in awe as radiant light exploded from the kitsune. The bolt struggled to push back against it, but it was simply… pushed aside by impossibly potent daylight. Below, shadows as dark as the abyss crept across the ground in defiance of all natural laws, not heeding the burning light inches away from them. Rin staggered, and the storm broke. The eclipse was upon her.

The light impossibly wove into burning tendrils that wrapped around her limbs, and darkness crept up her form everywhere the former was not. She screamed something, but John couldn't hear it. And then, just like that, the impossibility disappeared, and they were back in the rather damaged noodle shop. Rin lay on the ground, looking…

rough, with a myriad of coiling burn marks, bruises, and rough scratches across her body, but it seemed like Yuki had thankfully not opted to execute the woman, judging by the gentle rise and fall of her chest. The kitsune herself… She stood proud, but the way she sagged was unmistakable. She was exhausted, at the very least. She turned to glance at him and took a step forward, but she tripped over herself, one hand going up to her head as she unsteadily stumbled sideways into the wall.

John's eyes widened, and he hurriedly ran to her side, laying one of her arms across his shoulders and supporting her weight.

"Are you okay?" he quietly asked as he gently led her to a clear spot, seating her away from all the debris. She slowly nodded, although she winced afterwards like the mere act had aggravated her.

"I will be fine," she assured John, "My head just hurts a bit after all that." She cringed again, rubbing a palm against her temple.

"She was mightier than I expected; I didn't think I would have to exert myself this much." Pulling a water bottle out of his pack, John offered it to her, but she gently pushed it back to him, declining. Rin was undoubtedly stronger than he would have ever guessed, too. In hindsight, he may have managed it if he kept her at a distance, but it'd be closer than he would like. That giant, arcing bolt of lightning…

He could have likely thrown out enough magic to disrupt it, at the very least, with his drill focus acting like a grounding rod, and then followed up with something like a heat ray when she was winded, but he would have had to think of it in time, first.

"Neither did I. How much did you hear?" he questioned, looking over at the unconscious heap he should probably make sure didn't choke on her own spit.

"Everything," she confirmed, closing her eyes and sighing, "This is truly troublesome. Needless to say, we need to find out who gave her this information." He certainly agreed there. Option one: Rin heard about the trade issues from some source and headed into the area to investigate, indicating there may be more like her eventually, especially if she was part of some command structure that would notice her absence.

Option two: She just wandered into this, and their foe was well connected enough to both know this and deliver information to drive her to hunt them down. Of course, she could have just stumbled into this entirely on her own, but to assume that would be foolish. Rin coughed, rolling over onto her side, and John jolted, reflexively pointing his gauntlet at her even though he knew she wouldn't be in anything resembling fighting shape.

"I lost?" Rin mumbled, unsteadily sitting up, her shaking arms fighting to support her weight.

"I'm still alive?" Her voice was weak with a tremble to it but without fear.

"Welcome back," John grunted. Although glad she wasn't dead, he wasn't pleased to have to interact with her again.

"Foul villains!" She… tried to shout, but it only came out as a croak.

"This isn't over!" How fucking dare she? They did nothing; they harmed no one! Hell, he showed restraint when he would have been justified in hurting someone twice over! It wasn't even just about him and Yuki—No, what about those people who were having their lunches, the people who were working here, and poor Yashiro? All it would have taken was one bad piece of icy shrapnel to punch through something soft, and that would be it. Something unexpected started to bloom in John's chest. Righteous anger.

"Villains? Villains!" he incredulously echoed, leaving Yuki as he stood back up, glaring at Rin.

"What gives you, of all people, the right to call us villains?"

"You—""Shut up for one minute!" he roared, abused throat twinging in a way that made him cough and hack for a good ten seconds, but, thankfully, Rin didn't start back up.

"Do you think they feel protected?" he coldly asked, gesturing around the room. Whatever retort she was preparing died in her throat as she looked around the devastated room. So many things were wrecked, from the damaged walls, to the shattered furniture, to the broken plates and food strewn across the floor.

"What?" she said, stumbling over her own words.

"Do they feel protected? It's a yes or no question.

'Cause from where I'm standing, I was sitting peacefully with my local guide, and nobody was too bothered until you started acting like an idiot!" He continued his tirade, ignoring the stabbing pain in his throat.

"They ran from you, not me." He stopped, catching his breath. The room remained silent.

"Why did you have to do this? If you were hunting us, you knew we weren't staying in the town. Why not wait for us to leave to keep innocent people out of harm's way? Do you like screwing with people's lives? Do you have any clue how much damage we could have done if we were monsters?" He sharply sighed, bending down next to a squat table, which, thankfully, only had a leg snapped off it.

"This diner is run by an old lady that the locals affectionately call Granny Porridge," he morosely stated, pulling out his magi-welder.

"As far as I can gather, it's a family business, but this is my first time here. Do you think they can feed themselves through winter with everything looking like this? Times have been hard. They probably don't have the money to hire a carpenter for all new furniture and wall repairs."

"But—" she quietly began, cutting herself off as he turned to glare at her, reeling harder than she did during the fight itself.

"My friend had her part in this destruction, sure," he readily admitted, "but who tracked us down? Who struck first?" Silence was his only answer, so he turned back to the table. Carefully, he held the leg on and welded it back into place.

"I… This wandering warrior may have made a mistake," Rin finally responded, voice pained and quiet.

"You sure did. Now, you're going to help fix it. Let me know when you can walk."