“Nonsense! Your lies are a pathetic excuse to divide us, murderer!” Fungbō sneered, before turning to his brother, urgen his eyes. “Arangbō, do not be fooled! Our errant sister has plotted this with the outsider. Perhaps her defeat to him was a more farce, a py all along. We o quickly defeat them, so we y poor Shungbō, the Summer South, to rest and se the fme. Great Tarōbō only has us now!”

  Fortunately, the burning corpse of Shungbō was not moving to attack us yet, the body shaking and shuddering, as though Shungbō was still fighting for trol, but it was only a matter of time before the stalemate colpsed. Seeing the situation, Kana and Na were edging backwards slowly, while Daiyu adding towards my side stealthily. “Your lies won’t work here.” I said coldly, and Fungbō frowned, his body wreathed ial, faint tongues of fme flickering on the surface, giving him a ghoulish look.

  “Lies? The only lies were yours, g you were here to help! You pn to usurp mount Atago, I know!” his words were venomous. “Pnning to dispose of us, so only Haanōbō is left, you take her, and usurp our father! He is to for you, so you will force him to lower his guard in grief, and the two of you will sy him!”

  “Take me? Are you insane, brother? I had never met him until today…” Haanōbō finally awakened from her shocked stupor. “You were the one who…”

  “You showed him your face, your shame, sister!” Fungbō spat. “You ot fool me!”

  “I said you are all misuanding that. Arangbō, Spri, you must know that it was Fungbō, not…”

  “Do not believe their lies brother! Our only ce is to work together!” Fungbō urged, and the wounded Arangbō frowned, lookiween us. I g Daiyu, and I uood her thoughts from just that.

  “I assure you, Arangbō, I did nothing except defeat the bear. I urged everyoo stay clear, and I don’t believe it was Haanōbō who betrayed us. That is beside the point…” I turo Fungbō, my expression cold. “There’s nothing I hate more than those who betray their family, friends and loves. So I’ll make you pay. But… more to the point…” I ughed derisively, mog him. “Just how do you think you defeat us all? You ’t eve me, so your pn makes no sense.”

  “Listen to him threaten me, brother!” Fungbō urged. “You simply must aid me, else I will be sin, like poor, betrayed Shungbō!” He g the struggling, fming Tengu, and I didn’t fail to spot the ipt in his gaze. “Then you will be , I know it.” His expression turned sly, whole demeanour shifting, and I realised there was something wrong with him. “As for your strength, I admit it, outsider. You are strong, strohan me. But I am not a fool. You expended much of yht destroying the skeletal bear. I doubt very much you have much fme left or use those shining rings. Your strength is at its lowest. Me, however…” he gloated. “I have prepared, h my power, making the battlefield my own!”

  “You hear that?” I said tbō. “Are those calg words the talk of someone i? While we were going all out, he was biding his time, preparing treachery…”

  “Not treachery, but a tingency!” Fungbō ughed, and Haru spoke.

  “I think it is the fmes. They have ed him. Perhaps the ugliness in his heart attracted them, but… he is far gone.”

  “Your words are meaningless. Now, see the price for intruding on our affairs, you pestilent outsider!” Fungbō roared, metal energies surging, gold, red and yellow bining, though flecks of the Lost Fme were mixed in. “I have seen it, you may be strong, I admit it, but them…” he gnced over at Motoko, Natsumi and the others at the back of the cave. “They are no maty strength! Wat bitter regret as they perish! Byakko’s Million Cws!” His strength surged, and the shards of metal lying over the floor, which inally appeared carelessly scattered, but now seemed purposeful, took flight, a blizzard of sharp dagger-like fragments whizzing towards the girls.

  “Fungbō, no!” Arangbō roared, eyes narrowing, having spotted liquid metal dripping from the tortured body of Shungbō, firming his suspis. His vines broke the ground, but they were too te, projectiles raining down. But I’m calm. Fht and Yasaka-san told me that something was going to happen here, and even if it wasn’t, I’ve learned from Kyoto. Always be prepared, protect those who aren’t as strong as me, grow them until like Shaeu, Shiro, Hyath, they stand on their own…

  The blizzard struething with a series of loud thumps, metal ringing, and soon the shards were raining down once again, spent. “Grieve as your women are sughtered, just as Shungbō fell…” he crowed, only to stop as they were unharmed, Na’s barrier easily holding them off. Kana even cheekily stuck her to at him, though her face ale and slicked with sweat, her eyes betrayiension.

  “Not very observant, are you? We’ve been using the barriers all fight. Though you were too busy plotting.” I called to the others. “Arangbō, Haanōbō, put aside yrief and capture him. Your father will want to pass judgement, I’m sure. As for me… no, us.” Bell and Daiyu nodded beside me. “We’ll stop Shungbō. He’s still one of the Four Dires, he’s fighting, even now he’s dead.” As the body shuddered, fming wing sweeping backwards, fmes striking the walls of the cavern, I sighed, bitter at how this had turned out. “As for my strength, Fungbō is right, I used a lot, to make sure we won, but… I still have more iank. I always do.”

  “e quietly, brother. I have no wish to hurt you, even now…” Haanōbō muttered, white wings drooping sadly.

  “Hurt me? You little wretch, you whht this outsider to us, you dare?” he roared, eyes glittering with madness. “You die too, along with he who has seen your face!” A massive metal bde appeared in his hand, and though most of the Lost Fme had infiltrated Shungbō, much of the remainder leapt, wreathing his sword with fire.

  “I think not.” Despite his injuries, Arangbō moved, blog the swing, bde biting into the splintered wood of his hastily repaired staff. With a grunt, Arangbō’s greater strength told, and Fungbō was flung backwards. “Haanōbō, aid me! We must subdue this fool. Why… why Shungbō? Your hatred is for Haanōbō.” He asked, mournfully, and Haanōbō shifted uneasily. I had no time to join in, as Shungbō let out a hoarse, load scream, before fme energy surged around him like a vortex, aarted to move.

  “All right, we’re up.” I said to my panions, and even as I spoke light fshed and a beam from Haru threw the fming Tengu backwards, though the damage was slight. As the bzing Shungbō sped forwards, faster than before, I called oh element, and the groued, spikes pierg him, trying to hold him in pce.

  “Why? You muscle-brained fool.” Fungbō cried, insed. “I wao kill her, yes. Only then would my shame be assuaged. She brought this all on with her failures! But if I slew her, you would never believe that he was responsible.” He me, long-nosed mask dipping. “For some reasosider seems taken with our sister. Disgraceful. But if it was Shungbō, who was the coldest towards her, and is the most arrogant among us…”

  “But I was not fooled. Perhaps for a moment…” Arangbō ceded, staff swinging, vines f a protective dome around him as swarms of metal fragments flew in like knives. “…but your pn was bound to fail…”

  “All it means is that you have to die too, my brother. When I am the st Dire, father will have to look to me as his favourite! Then we find three engu to take up your positions, and they will treat me with the respect I deserve!”

  “You have goruly insane, brother…” Haanōbō said sadly, her tide of water and ice smming into him, pushing him away, dimming the fmes.

  “Yes, he has.” Haru left the barrier, light beams striking Shungbō, the fmi rearing back, struggling on the spikes I had pierced him with, even as Daiyu and I barraged him with bullets of Spirit Water, while Bell did what she could with her arrows. Seeing them having no effect, she turned her attention to Fungbō, only for the few other Tengu here to cry out. They had been paralysed, fused by the discord of their leaders, but now a storm of metal was raining dowhe whole area, and many of them fell, wounded gravely. Na’s barrier flickered, proteg them, and Bell ran, parting words that she’d be better off trying to protect them.

  “The fme, it is ohat no longer empties, but fills. It has bee the opposite of what it once was.” She said mournfully, still burning with the fires herself, though it seemed to cause her little pain. Even as she closed in, the spirit lights arouarted ag erratically, and her light then soothed them. “Perhaps he was full already, and like a cup that too much is poured into, his malid envy and other darkness has overspilled, making this mess?”

  “Silence, you burned abomination! If the fme is corrupt, then so are you! The dead should not trouble the living! Ugh…” he staggered, simultaneously stuck by a bolt of light from Haru, his armour starting to melt around the shoulder, and a volley of wind bdes from me, metal powder and fragments scattering as his metal shattered, blood blooming from torn flesh beh.

  “That’s prejudice…” Haru said at the same time I threw out my own anger.

  “What do you know, moron? Haru’s far more han you, you killed your own brother, and worse, po kill your sister too. Brothers are supposed to protect their sisters, even if it kills them!”

  At my words, Haanōbō faltered a bit, looking down, before she tinued her t, softly and quietly, keeping her power suppressed. Meanwhile, Kana was trating too, relying on Na’s barrier and the watchful eyes of Motoko and Natsumi to warn her of danger.

  At that moment, Shungbō finally broke free of the spikes of rock peing him, but we had bought nearly enough time. Daiyu rushed to engage, dug uhe sweeping wing, her movements graceful, before smming her palms into the fleshy half of his body, iing water Qi made from Spirit Water, which made him scream balefully, body smoking.

  “Look out, danger above you!” Motoko called, keenly watg the battle, and a rain of fireballs were discharged recklessly, falling all around us. I wove a wind barrier, proteg us, but the patterned floor was soon studded with craters and potholes.

  “You have lost your reason. Wild range will not beat calm trol. A warrior must always keep a clear head.” Daiyu decred, again using her small size and speed to dart uhe sshing wing, striking, moving from orike to two to four and then to eight before she was forced to dart backwards to avoid an exhaled breath of fme.

  “Why are you all getting in my way?” Fungbō raged. “Haanōbō, this is all your fault!” he howled, words drawn out by his anger. “You should have died at the foot of the mountain, then we could have fought those intruders together! I refuse to believe that the Tengu of mount Atago could lose to them, not when united under our father! Everything is ruined now. An alliance? An alliance?” He was foaming at the mouth, spittle leaking from under his mask. Swinging his massive sword he drove Arangbō back. “We stood proud against the kami a mount Atago isoted for mauries! We do not need outsiders ing in and stealing from us! I will never allow it!”

  “You talk too much, Autum.” Arangbō sighed, staff g with the bde and shattering, splinters pelting the charred and pockmarked floor. “There is ohing that matters in this world…” He drew back his arm, wing at his injuries, wood element wreathing him. “… the biggest fist decides everything.”

  “You fool, my body is the iron of Byakko, such will…”

  “The fme seems to suit you. Why not have some more heat?” Haru said, focused beams of light striking him, melting his metal, turning it to liquid. As he shrieked, he was uo block the huge fist of his brother, which smmed into the streamial armour, crashing through, the smell of burnt flesh ahers filling the air. As he cartwheeled backwards, ragged and bruised, Haanōbō finished her t. “Bck Ice Prison!”

  Fungbō nded, and was suddenly trapped in a block of ice, only his eyes able to move, even his mouth sealed by the transparent, faintly bck ice. Haanōbō slumped down, exhausted, and Haru shook her head. “It won’t hold him for long, the fme still burns u.” She poi the flickering tongues of Lost Fme. “Some have go, but the others…”

  “It buys us time.” Arangbō said, his tone filled with grief as he looked at the fming Shungbō, who was still fighting us, movements clumsy and jerky. Daiyu, smmi more fists into his flesh wing, the Qi resonance rapidly esg, Shungbō coughing fiery blood, dodged backwards from a surge of fme, speaking to the sorrowful Tengu.

  “The biggest fists ihat is what I believed, and still do. Only those with might ge their fate, the weak are ever at the mercy of the strong, the rules, fate. But with enough might, the biggest fist, the only things that bind you are those you choose yourself.”

  My Eye was glowing, and I could see that Shungbō’s life-force was almost gohe fmes feeding on the remaining shreds of thought aion, repg them with rage, anger, hatred and more. The fme carries darkness element, definitely. I wonder… I darted backwards, more spikes of earth slowing him, though as the fmes intensified as his remaining body crumbled to ash, the time he was halted decreased each time. Shungbō followed, r, fming wing sweeping towards me, but the wing was flickering, a faint steam rising from it.

  “Nice work. Now it’s my turn…” Spirit Water bullets pierced him, the wing shattering momentarily, before ref, several metres smaller than before. Even as his fmes grew wilder, his remaining rationality was diminishing, and his movements were being increasingly erratic, the esg damage he was taking building up.

  Just a little further. I ducked a sweep of his fming arm, and with a sizzle of electricity St Moonlight fshed, and I severed the limb. Shungbō roared, breathing out aorrent of fme, but I created a vacuum with wind, quelling the worst, and I burst free of the fmes, severing his legs. Fmes roared bato life, f a new pair, much like it had with the skeleton, but Daiyu raced in, and with a barrage of blows, heedless of her bleeding arms, bones and muscles savagely overused, she rained down sixteen more blows, before bag off, exhausted.

  “My Spirit Water is depleted. And I fess… I am very… tired.” She fought off the urge to colpse and headed towards the others, safe within Na’s barriers.

  “Then take a break. We hahe rest.” I said, St Moonlight fshing once more, lightning flickering over the surface of Shungbō’s body, momentarily stunning him. Five more steps… “e on, I’ll put your suffering to an end.” I called out, and though the remnants of Shungbō corrupted by the Lost Fme didn’t uand, it still provoked him, and shaking off the painful sting of the lightning, he roared a forwards, gliding on wings of fme, casting down a rain of searing bsts.

  “Now!” I called, and Kana unleashed her Divine Favour, the grouing like wax before parting, rippling to the side, f a deep pit. Haru cast her light forth, and icy shards and bolts of water from Haanōbō, and rge thorn-like projectiles frbō, joihem, and Shungbō toppled with a scream. My bde was swung and the great fming wing was cut off again, as Shungbō tumbled into the pit.

  “Got you!” Kana gasped, as the liquid earth and stone flowed bato its normal position, leaving Shungbō trapped, only his head visible, the remaining flesh now little more than char, even bones fking away.

  “Just like Fungbō.” I said, leaning on my bde, trying to look nont. It’s not like I’m out of strength, I still have my tricks left, but I have used up a lot during all these battles…

  “Is it over?” Haanōbō asked, and I shook my head.

  “Not yet. There are still some loose ends. First…” I went over to the iengu, the barriers parting. Motoko and Natsumi came over, clearly disappoihey were uo help. On seeing that, as I applied Ether Healing, making sure the wounded would at least survive to reach the surfad further healing, I spoke kind words. “Don’t feel down. This was only to gain experience. And it had more experiehan we were expeg, right?”

  Natsumi let out a dry chuckle at that, nodding her head, brown eyes sparkling with a mixture of amusement and envy. “It did! I ’t lie and say I didn’t hope to be more useful, but… we weren’t too much of a detriment, at least.”

  Motoko agreed. “Yes, though at the end, without the prote of Na, we could have been seriously injured or worse. I shall refle it.” She turbō and Daiyu. “Big fists are the st word. I find it very apt. My family is a military one and has always sought might. I am no different. Today, Natsumi and I were found wanting, but… we have learned a little, and are stronger for it.”

  “You didn’t do so bad.” Kana said, thhly exhausted, having stantly used her Divine Favour in a way she hadn’t so far, pushing her limits. She pulled at her sweaty clothing, fanning herself, only to smile wryly as she saw my iable, curious gaze. Her face a little pink, her smile widened. “Not now. Not yet. This is serious girl talk, Akio.” As I agreed, she tinued. “You say without Na you’d have been a liability? You ah! But we did have Na here, and that was the pn from the start. Otherwise we wouldn’t even be here either. Thanks.” At being thahe ese girl was a little fused, but eventually she nodded and whispered some quiet gratitude.

  “If you ask me, knowing when to help and when to stay quiet and do nothing is important. If you ran in and tried to help… well, we already have one girl who tried that and paid for it. Though you’d look cute as catgirls, the both of you.” Kana teased, and Daiyu was o speak.

  “I did not uand every word, but I believe I uood enough.” She said softly, her breath ing fast from her exhaustion, her Divine Favour having already healed her savaged arms. “You are at the start of your path. Nothing is built with hasty foundations. You lost nothing and only gained. If you are too greedy to alrofit, you will eventually grasp for something you should not, and the thorns will be poisoned.”

  “She is quite right.” Bell agreed. “I did not get to show off my good side to Akio as much as I wanted, just like you. But I have trained Way-Wardens, good Fae all, and watched some perish. Those who die bravely, doing their duty, I do not mourn, but celebrate, but those who died to their own hubris, I feel grief and…” she smiled. “…that reminds me. The Solstice is a day of remembrance. Would you care to visit the Seelie Court with me and offer your praise to the departed that have long defehe nds of the Fae? There are a multitude of sights you have not yet seen. I would be happy to show you.”

  “That might be an issue. That’s Shaeu’s birthday, so it’ll be her day.” I apologised, and after a moment, Bell shrugged.

  “That is fine. We all go together. The princess is on my side. You too…” she addressed the girls. “If you hone your strength enough. It might do you good to see the true face of battle, the final rewards of service.”

  As Motoko and Natsumi offered their thanks, the hing to do was deal with Shungbō and Fungbō, now I had pleted the healing, the grateful Tengu thanking me profusely. “First, Shungbō…”

  “ he not be saved?” Arangbō asked. I g his injuries, w if he needed healing, but he waved me off. “Such wounds are nothing, pared to this…” he poio the fming head stig out of the stone. A heat haze was radiating, and it ossible he would be able to break free in time.

  “I’m afraid not.” Haru shook her head sadly. “The fme is merely prolonging the remnants of his spirit, filling the gaps with accumuted rage and pain. But it also burns away what little was left of him. No, all that is left is rese a. Best to let it pass on. Trust me, I know. Even a Thro would not be Shungbō anymore, even if we had oo spare.”

  “I see. Then… I shall end his pain.” Arangbō said solemnly, g one fist, only for Haru to gently reach out and grab his wrist, a great act of bravery for her, shown by her trembling fingers.

  “No, allow me. My light, the light I ied from his father, it will send him on.” She gathered her energy, and allowed it te, the light p from her, and Shungbō screeched, head thrashing and wailing, though it soon quietened, eyes going gssy and dull, fmes dimming, until it simply vanished, a faint ash swept up in the risi. Arangbō groaned, pained, while Haanōbō covered her masked face. Haru slumped, and I caught her, befretting it, but she merely smiled weakly.

  “Thank you, Akio-kun. I am… rather weak now. That used almost all my remaining light energy. But I have kept just a little…” she looked at Fungbō, whose eyes were filled with hatred, mouth opening soundlessly in the ice binding him, his skin taking on a blue-tinged, frostbitten pallor.

  “Whe him out, he’ll likely rampage. We could subdue him, but…” I looked at Na. “… you bubble him, trapping him inside? We then transport him safely enough.”

  “Since I have no more need for barriers, I think I .” She agreed. “I have a little strength left.”

  “In that case…” I said, notig that Daiyu was looking down at some odd, burned fragments that had seemingly been expelled from the ground when Kana had used her Favour. What is that?

  “It seems to be some sort of rope. Though it is massive and rgely burned away.” Daiyu mused, holding the bed tufts.

  “That’s a shimenae.” Kana said, immediately reising it. “You’ve all seen them before at shrines, mine included. But what is it doing here?”

  “I don’t know, but… there’s more to the story than we know. But for now… that’s not our priority. Haru…”

  “Yes, I know. O effort and I finally rest. Or perhaps…” she freed herself from my grip. “Fungbō, you foolish, selfish man… I hope you still have room in your heart fret…” Her light fshed a final time, and the tongues of fme still flickering uhe ice, as well as those scattered around the charred ground, all vanished, melted like fog.

  With a grunt, Arangbō kicked out, oo gently, and Fungbō’s head rocked back, ice shattering. Blood trickled from his mouth as his mask cracked, and he gred at his brother, before his gaze softened. “Brother, please! I am sorry, I did not mean to… it was the fme, yes, the fme! I ot be bmed! We all know the corruption it brings…”

  “Shut up.” Arangbō growled, and the trapped Tengu flinched, realising he was in a dangerous situation. “You killed the Summer South, our brother, shattered the Four Dires, and for what? Some petty jealousy? A dim-witted ambition? And you say I am foolish. We lost. And without their aid, while we may likely have defeated that creature…” He g the pile of mostly dispersed ashes that was the corpse of Atago-un-kamuy. “…I hardly cim we would have do without casualties. But with aid, we were victorious, and you threw that away. And I have not fotten, you wished to kill me too…” he rumbled dangerously, and as shards of the broken Tengu mask fell away, revealing pale human-like features Fungbō was too terrified to try and hide, not that he could, bound in ice as he was, he tried to make excuses.

  “No, it was the fmes, not me, I was misled, bewitched! Even then, I strove to have you on my side, I…”

  “Enough.” Haanōbō sighed, the set of her wings and shoulders expressing her disgust. “There is no point wasting your time talking to him. We have only two choices, take him back to Great Tarōbō, our father, for just judgement, or kill him here…”

  “Haanōbō, you bitch…” he cursed, before he remembered himself. “I apologise, you just caught me off-guard. You would not kill me, would you sister? We have had our differences, but…”

  I shook my head as they argued. He’s pathetic. Trying to weasel his way out, despite his deeds. The girls thought the same, looking at him if he was lower than a cockroach, and Haanōbō wasn’t fooled.

  “Differences? You wished me dead and repared to kill our own brother to achieve that. The fme may have corrupted you…” Hearing her words, Fungbō g to hope, before she crushed it, ruthlessly. “… but only because your heart was already dark. None of us succumbed, not even her, who is a spirit and far more vulnerable, even though she burns with it.” She Haru respectfully, dipping her wings. “You disappoint me. I only have one brother now.”

  “Two…” Arangbō ughed, and she shot him an annoyed gre.

  “Enough. My heart aches, this day has been too much. Father should deal with you, as both your father, and Great Tarōbō, ruler of us Tengu and mount Atago.” She asked Na for her aid, and as her ice exploded, freeing the shivering, wouengu within, Na used her remaining strength to trap him in a force bubble. I know how hard that is to escape from. I doubt Fungbō has any clever scheme…

  Ign his cries, Haanōbō turo me, clearly hurting from this bitter experiehe fme. We have not sed it. irely. Even now the damned spirts are starting to reform.” She poio the hearth where the fme burned, seeing sparks f in the air.

  “A good point. If we retreat, we might not have to face the bear again, but…” I stopped as Haru grabbed my shoulder. I raised an eyebrow, and she smiled, though her presence setting the spirit lights.

  “I shall go. Into the Fme itself.” She decred, and I froze, shocked for a moment, only for her to ugh, amused.

  “Why fear? Didn’t you say that this fme will purify and enhance me? The Lost Fme then?” she shook her head, dismissing it. “Such I bear. But within the fires, perhaps I cut off the root. Most of it is gone, destroyed in our battles, but it will grow again. Fire spreads, after all.”

  “Are you sure?” Kana asked, worried. “I’d hate for anything bad… uh, more bad to happen to you, Haru-.”

  “I’m sure.” Her eyes betrayed no fear. “Besides, we came here to grow stronger. I have, certainly, but… I ’t pass up this ce.”

  Fungbō was raging at the bsphemy, and Haanōbō looked troubled, but Arangbō surprised us by giving his blessing. “We have e this far, if you believe you se the sacred fme, do so. I will take responsibility. That shame hardly weigh with the loss of our brother, sin by another brother.”

  “If you have decided, I won’t stop you. But I’ll be right here, and if it looks bad, I’ll jump in and pull you out, all right?” I said, and she giggled.

  “You worry as always, Akio-kun. But you shouldn’t.” She eyed the spirit lights meaningfully. “Not until it is .” With that she strode forwards, and I purged the f damned spirits with light as Haru needed her st strength. She paused in front of the r fire, looking down at the deep hearth pensively, before her legs faded to mist, and she floated out into the bze, her figure only vaguely visible, fmes r higher suddenly, giving off a powerful radiance…

  ShipTeaser