Human World, Japan, Kyoto.
Gathering the leylines' energy, Yasaka allowed it to spread out in a hemisphere once she had gathered enough to contain a battle between three minor god-ranked beings. Even though she was unsure exactly how strong the three combatants in front of her were, she knew that they were all at the minor god-rank.
A moment later, A barrier that covered most of the city was erected. Although the normal people in the city did not notice anything off, all the supernatural beings felt the shift in energy. However, when they noticed that nothing in their surroundings changed, they went on with their normal lives, though they were a bit more wary of the things around them.
Meanwhile, in the newly erected barrier, Mizore, Moka, and Kuyou took a moment to look around. To their surprise, they were still in Kyoto. Even so, they all noticed that the people who were walking around the area were all gone.
"Impressive." Kuyou said with a nod. "It seems the leylines are as powerful as I had heard."
"It kinda feels like the last time Kyoto was attacked, doesn't it?" Mizore asked.
"Yeah, it's just like the space [Dimension Lost] created." Moka replied. "but there isn't any of that eerie purple smoke this time."
{"Please, take this more seriously."} Yasaka said, her voice ringing out over the barrier. {"The barrier is attuned to your energy signatures. So, it will not come down until you defeat your foe."}
Although Yasaka was only speaking to Mizore and Moka, her words also allowed Kuyou to understand the way for him to leave the barrier, as well. So, all three stopped looking around and stared at their opponents with the desire for victory in their eyes.
"Honestly, we have no grudge with you, Kuyou." Moka said calmly as she took her fighting stance. "So, it's unfortunate that you put yourself in this situation."
"Yeah, we could have ended this peacefully had you taken a step back." Mizore said with her ice claws glinting in the sunlight. "But now it's too late for that. Well, if you let us knock you out, maybe the barrier will come down without the need for us to kill you."
"Laughable." Kuyou replied with a scoff. "Neither you nor your race have done anything to help guide this world. It is clear that the justice in your hearts is lacking."
After Kuyou's statement, Mizore and Moka glanced at each other. Then, they shrugged their shoulders.
"Well, no one can say that we didn't try." Moka said.
"This is fine with me, too." Mizore added. "Honestly, I don't like this guy's attitude, anyway."
"I know, right." Moka said. "I mean, why does he think he's qualified to lead anyone? Hell, he's not even leading a faction of his own… Right?"
"I dunno." Mizore said in an unsure tone.
"Enough talk." Kuyou said.
An instant later, Kuyou was engulfed in [Fox Fire]. Then, after the blue flames dimmed, he stood before Mizore and Moka with his fists, wrists, forearms, feet, ankles, and calves wrapped in armor made of his [Fox Fire]. Meanwhile a pair of fox ears and nine fox tails could be seen as well, with the tip of each of the tails flickering with [Fox Fire].
Then, after taking a fighting stance, Kuyou shot forward toward the two girls. In response, Moka stepped forward to intercept Kuyou's charge. Ducking under the right cross he threw, Moka countered by stepping in even closer and delivering an uppercut covered in her demonic energy.
Leaning back much further than necessary, using three of his tails as support, Kuyou found himself perpendicular to the ground when several ice spikes grew from either side of Moka, attempting to skewer his chest.
"Tch!" Mizore clicked her tongue. "He's got good instincts."
Instead of responding to Mizore's complaint, Moka stepped in once again. Intending to throw a heavy overhand right, she had to hastily defend herself as Kuyou's six other tails began lashing at her while the three tails he used to support himself propped him back up.
Once he was standing upright again, Kuyou began throwing punches while his tails continued to lash at Moka. To his surprise, however, Moka was able to dodge all his punches while deflecting his tails without letting the [Fox Fire] on their tips touch her.
Eventually, Kuyou was forced to turn to the side, dodging another incoming ice spike. However, before he could begin his attack again, he was forced to take a couple steps back to avoid Mizore who had jumped over Moka with her claws slashing down at his head.
*Bang!*
Missing her attack, due to Kuyou's quick dodge, Mizore's claws were buried in the ground. However, instead of pulling them out as quickly as she could while preparing for her next attack, the ground around her began to freeze.
As the ice approached Moka, it passed by her while attaching small spikes that would allow her to maintain traction on the slippery surface. Meanwhile, when the ice passed Kuyou, it began freezing the flames that made up his leg armor. Frowning at the change in situation, Kuyou began supplying his armor with more Youki, causing the ice on his legs to melt.
However, before he could melt the ice completely, Moka appeared in front of him with her right fist reeled back. Then, faster than he could react, Moka threw a punch that connected squarely with Kuyou's jaw.
*Bang!*
As the sound of Moka's gauntleted right hand met with Kuyou's face, the nine-tailed fox was sent flying toward a nearby building. However, before he could impact the building, Mizore appeared in his flight bath and raked her claws upward, sending Kuyou flying.
In the next instant, Moka appeared above Kuyou with her right leg raised. Then, she dropped an axe kick that sent Kuyou toward the ground even faster than his ascent.
*Boom!*
With Kuyou's fall, a cloud of dust was shot up into the air. Meanwhile, Mizore and Moka both landed a short distance from the impact sight.
"Do you think we got him?" Mizore asked in a hopeful tone.
"Maybe if you hadn't said anything." Moka replied while rolling her eyes.
"Huh?" Mizore exclaimed in confusion. A moment later, however, she understood what Moka meant. "Did I just raise a flag?"
"Yup." Moka replied. "Now get ready, he's coming."
Just as Moka's words fell, a blue and yellow blur shot out of the dust cloud. A moment later, Mizore was sent flying into the wall of a building, collapsing it on top of her. Meanwhile, as soon as Mizore was struck, Moka ducked under a kick before being knocked away by one of Kuyou's tails.
*Boom!* *Boom!*
After both Mizore and Moka were blown away, Kuyou could be seen clearly. Instead of wearing only gauntlets and grieves made of his [Fox Fire], he was now wearing an emperor style robe that was weaved from it. On top of that, his arms and legs were also covered by thin gloves that were also made from his flames.
"I'll admit you two were stronger than I expected." Kuyou said while rubbing his jaw. However, that's all there is to it. Your justice is too weak to contend with me."
"Oww… That hurt." Mizore said as she dug herself out of the rubble she had been buried in. "Why does everyone we fight have a second form?"
"Because we usually participate in boss fights." Moka said, lifting a piece of the wall she smashed into off herself. "What self-respecting boss fight doesn't have at least two stages."
As soon as she finished speaking, Moka rushed forward and threw a knee strike at Kuyou's chest. However, with only one hand, Kuyou was able to effortlessly stop Moka in her tracks. Then, with a flick of one of his tails, Kuyou also defended himself against Mizore's claw that was aimed at his heart from the behind.
"Damn it, just touching him burns." Moka said while she hastily jumped away from Kuyou.
"I know, he even melted my ice." Mizore said, looking down at her misshaped claws.
A moment later, both girls were ready to fight again. However, Kuyou seemed as if he was no longer taking them seriously.
"Your struggle is futile." Kuyou said calmly. "If you surrender, though I can't allow you to live, I can at least promise that you will die painlessly."
"Man, is this guy a third-rate villain or what?" Mizore asked in a dumbfounded tone.
"Seriously." Moka replied. "First, he spouts a bunch of nonsense about his justice. Then, he askes us to surrender to die painlessly."
"I see." Kuyou said with his eyebrows twitching. "So, you would mock my kind offer? Very well then, your deaths will not be swift."
In response, both Mizore and Moka rolled their eyes. Then, they both flared their demonic energy to its limit.
"[Domain Creation: World of Ice]." Mizore said as she clapped her hands together.
A moment later, the trio's surroundings were covered in ice while razor sharp ice shards whipped through the air. At the same time, Mizore was covered from head to toe in an ice blue body suit made of ice with three claws protruding from the back of each hand while a single claw protruded from the top of each foot.
"[Blood Arts: Bloody Gown of the Shinzo Empress.]" Moka said in unison with Mizore before pricking her right thumb with one of her fangs.
While the area around the fighting trio changed, Moka was wrapped in a gorgeous red evening gown that showed off a large portion of her breasts, had a slit that ran up the length of her left leg, and had a pair of matching gloves and heels.
"Now, let's start the third round." Moka said as she once again charged toward Kuyou.
This time, when she approached, Moka performed a somersault that resulted in her right leg whipping down at Kuyou. Raising both his arms, Kuyou blocked the kick with his forearms. Instead of simply blocking the kick, however, Kuyou was forced to bend his knees while the ground beneath him cracked.
A moment later, Mizore lunged at Kuyou from his right with her right arm extended, the claws on her hand aimed at Kuyou's abdomen. In response, Kuyou whipped out with two of his tails, one at Moka who had yet to recover her posture and one at Mizore to defend against her incoming strike.
While Moka kicked off Kuyou's right shoulder with her left leg to avoid the tail swipe, destabilizing Kuyou's balance in the process, Mizore stabbed the claw on her right foot into the ground, greatly slowing her forward momentum. This caused Kuyou's tail to sail harmlessly past her face.
In the next instant, Mizore pushed off once again. Then, before Kuyou could react again, she stabbed the claws on her left hand into his right side. After that, with her claws still stabbed into him, she road the momentum of her charge and slung herself around Kuyou's front, before stabbing the claws on her right hand into his left side.
"Argh!" Kuyou grunted in pain as all nine of his tails lashed out at Mizore.
Before the nine tails could strike Mizore, and just after she pulled her claws out of Kuyou's wounds, Kuyou's blood began rising, instead of dripping to the ground. On top of that, Kuyou's blood was flowing out of the wounds Mizore inflicted much faster than it should have, something Kuyou found peculiar.
Another thing he found hard to comprehend was that his tails missed their target, sailing past Mizore's head harmlessly once again.
"What have you done?" Kuyou asked, glaring at Mizore as he was being pulled up to the sky along with his blood.
"It wasn't me." Mizore said with an innocent expression on her face. Then, she pointed the index finger of her left hand upward and continued. "Maybe you should look up."
Although he was wary of being tricked, Kuyou cautiously looked in the direction Mizore pointed. When he did, his eyes widened in disbelief.
What he saw was Moka hovering above him with her wings extended. On top of that, the blood that was flowing out of his wounds was gathering in front of her outstretched left hand. As it did, the blood began taking on the form of a bow.
"What is this sorcery?" Kuyou asked in equal parts bewilderment and fear.
"Never researched vampires before, huh?" Moka asked. "Well, allowing so much blood to flow out of your body was a big mistake."
While Moka finished creating her bow and began creating an arrow with Kuyou's blood, Mizore was standing on the ground gathering the raging ice shards in one place. A moment later, a large bullet shaped projectile was floating above Mizore and aimed at Kuyou.
"[Sanguinary Arrow Rain]." Moka muttered as she drew the bow in her left hand.
"[Aurora Shell]!" Mizore shouted as she lined up her shot.
Then, both girls fired their attacks simultaneously.
While Kuyou felt that his life was truly in danger, he began channeling his youki into his flames. Unfortunately, due to the significant amount of blood that Moka had siphoned to make her weapon, his flames were not increasing in temperature as he had intended.
While Kuyou struggled to preserve his life, Moka's arrow split into thousands of drops of blood that fell down on Kuyou like a sudden monsoon. Unfortunately for Kuyou, as the blood had been saturated with Moka's demonic power, each one pierced through him like an arrow.
A second later, Kuyou was struck from below by Mizore's [Aurora Shell] and began ascending into the sky along with it. Moments later, his ascent only stopped when he was forced into the barrier Yasaka had created. At the same time, Mizore's attack exploded into a torrent of sharp ice fragments, shredding Kuyou apart.
Though neither of them was sure if their attack was the one that ended Kuyou's life, they both looked pretty smug after seeing their new attacks in action.
A moment later, the barrier began to retract around the explosion of ice, releasing Mizore and Moka back into the normal plain of existence.
"hey, why did you call that move '[Aurora Shell]'?" Moka asked curiously once she and Mizore were back on the regular streets of Kyoto.
"Because of that." Mizore replied while pointing to the sky.
Although the ice shards were trapped in the barrier, for some reason, they still reflected the light that shined down on them, creating an aurora over Kyoto that caught the citizens of the city's attention.
"I see." Moka said with a nod while watching the beautiful light show.
"Although it is quite pretty..." Yasaka said, approaching the duo. "Lady Amaterasu will not be happy about the phenomenon being shown to the humans."
"Well, if she doesn't like it, she can take it up with James." Mizore said while shrugging her shoulders. "We did just defend one of the most important cities in her domain, after all.'
Moka and Yasaka could only sigh at Mizore's answer. And because of that answer, they both could see some long, hard hours of training in her future