Chapter:52 The Shrine (6/?)

Kazuha's eyes widened as her foresight ability deducted the most likely outcome of disobeying the Oni's warning and it was not looking pretty.

She groaned as pure agony shot through her body, courtesy of being sealed in an urn for over a thousand years, and of course, the white-haired Sorcerer's attacks. 

This Gojo woman was quite strange, in a not-so-good manner, Kazuha could tell from a single look that this bag of meat and blood was in fact, stronger them both her and the dumb Oni combined. 

Still, it didn't stop her from trying to escape!

The Kitsune took off at a staggering speed, her tails waving frantically behind her in the air, sending wave after wave of scorching Curse energy to fend off the sorcerer as she tried to escape the onslaught. 

However, her efforts were for naught as the damned sorcerer somehow leaped through the flood of burning curse energy and planted her feet into the Kitsune's behind. The Yokai barely registered the hit before she was knocked forward, sending a shower of spark as she smashed along the metal-lined tiles of the shrine.

Sometimes, she thought that the Oni had the worst taste when it came to architecture.

Kazuha barely recovered from the kick, well at least fast enough to block the incoming fist, the impact of which caused a wave of shockwave to pass through her body and collapse half the courtyard. 

She struggled against the pressure of the punches as her body was pushed fact inches by inches... or rather feet by feet.

"DO SOMETHING YOU DUMB OAF!"

She bellowed at her companion, an old friend, and maybe even an old mate of hers. 

Who was she kidding? That Oaf probably didn't remember their night together, they were so drunk that even Kazuya had a hard time remembering the details. But, Kitsunes did have the habit of remembering their first mates, and it was not like Suzuka was a bad partner, she just had bad memories that's all... right?

**..**..**..**

In hindsight, maybe confronting a sorcerer who was your equal at the peak of your power while you had been sealed for a thousand years was very likely to get you killed 

Suzuka was finding that out the hard way, she trembled in pain as she remembered that those blasted seals did a number on her body. Not to mention the barrage of attacks dealt by this white-haired sorcerer was not something to be scoffed at either.

The odds of them both surviving this confrontation were... slim... at best.

"DO SOMETHING YOU DUMB OAF!"

The Kitsune's cries made her stop in her tracks away from the sorcerer, and turn around to join the fray.

"DAMNIT!"

The Oni growled in frustration as she realized that this damned sorcerer was right, in her current state, she was heavily outmatched in hand-to-hand combat.

That's when the Kitsune should have come in, like she always did, taking care of the menace that her fists couldn't take care of. But the foxy-eared, nine-tailed... 

*RIP*

"ARGH!"

Well, eight-tailed beauty was failing miserably in doing so. Not by a lack of trying, but because of the ravage of time.

Time. Every living creature's worst enemy, heck, it was the same for non-living creatures too! 

The thousand years of being sealed away had its consequences, especially since Suzuka didn't get to eat any Gods or Mortal Souls while she was sealed away. Her powers were what? One percent? Maybe even half of that? Of what she was at her peak.

*Sigh*

Maybe she ought to start bringing out trump cards, and since she was no match for her opponent in hand-to-hand combat, she might need to consider a different strategy.

The Oni stopped a few meters away from the fight and began focusing an immense amount of curse energy throughout her body which was not the brightest of her ideas, but desperate times call for desperate actions.

Her skin turned pitch black, her horns elongated, her nails hardened and her body was enveloped in a thick darkness. This was a dangerous trump card, one created by the Oni herself, tried and tested upon many sorcerers who wanted to claim her head for glory. It was a wretched technique that would most likely collapse her very soul if she kept using it for long.

Gojo's barrier began to buckle, crumbling as the curse energy that made it was swept towards the Oni's body, shattering a fraction of a moment later as though it was made of glass.

The concept behind Suzuka's technique was quite simple, the brute couldn't come up with anything complicated she would admit that generously to any who would question her intelligence. But this technique was made to deal with sorcerers who tried to spam 'Domain Expansion' in her face, well, those were some deliciously filling and hard-earned souls.

The Oni's physique was made entirely out of curse energy, her flesh, bone, blood, and all. She thought that what if she absorbed all the curse energy in the vicinity, creating a curse energy vacuum, no curse sorcerer would be able to use their pretty little tricks before she landed a nice hit.

With one earth-shattering roar, the area around her was engulfed by a wave of pitch-black curse energy that crashed against Gojo. The sorcerer stood, unmoved by the powerful blast of dark energy, as her hair danced in the wind generated by the shockwave. As the waves crashed against her, they seemingly vanished into thin air.

*Damnit!*

Suzuka stumbled backward, her body screaming in agony, her ears ringing from the impact. Her skin began to peel, charred from the vast amount of curse spirit she had forced her body to endure.

Gojo looked entirely unfazed by the attack, though inside she wondered how the Oni managed to 'absorb' her infinity barrier even for a moment. She at the Oni with a wry smile,

"Is that all you got?"

**..**..**..**

Kazuha groaned as she heard the white-haired sorcerer taunt the muscle-head, well, at least she was not getting any more of her tails ripped out. They were connected to her spine for goodness' sake!

The sorcerer, Gojo was her name right, was toying with them, something the Kitsune was quite fond of doing but not the other way around!

Not to mention her stupid Oni mate, Suzuka, was struggling from the after-effect of her technique. What was that damned brute thinking!? Using a special attack like a normal blow! It was special for a reason alright!

The situation was more serious than she initially thought it was, for one the Sorcerer was much stronger them she anticipated it to be, not to mention the true extent of their power deterioration.

Desperation fueled the Kitsune's next move.

"Enough you arrogant witch!"

Using insult to get your enemy's attention? Check.

Plan in motion? None!

'Fuck'

Kazuha groaned as she channeled the curse energy that was slowly churning back into the clearing after that musclehead's crazy stunt. She focused and gathered it around her body, forming a temporary barrier of foxfire.

The Kitsune's eyes glowed with a newfound intensity as she unleashed a torrent of cursed blue flames at the sorcerer, knowing full well that the white-haired abomination would either dodge or put up her accursed barrier again.

Still, foxfire damaged the soul, not only the body, so there were chances she could hurt the sorcerer enough to back off. 

Somehow, the abomination remained still in the face of the raging foxfire, seemingly unfazed and unafraid of her attack. She stood perfectly still, letting her barrier bear the brunt of the attack. 

"Stubborn creatures,"

The White Abomination remarked, her voice laced with amusement and contempt for the Kitsune's attack.

Kazuha staggered, drained to a certain extent, but at least her plan worked. The barrier around her flickered, threatening to collapse any second now.

The foxfire danced around the clearing, setting ablaze anything it came into touch with, be it the metal tiles or the wood and stone walls. Slowly, the shrine was burning like a pyre for the spirits.

Suzuka, that very lovable musclehead of Oni, seemed to notice her plan and bellowed,

"Brace!"

The Oni charged, her body charred to cinders but still able to move due to the very nature of her being. Her eyes glowed with an ominous red light as she swung that hulking piece of metal she called a sword.

As soon as the blade reached inches away from the sorcerer, it stopped and hovered like a harmless stick. But the shockwave generated from the impact was enough to surge wave after wave of the foxfire at her.

"RETREAT!"

Shouted the Kitsune as she made her way to the heavily injured Oni and slung her over her shoulder. The Oni grunted in pain,

"I can still fight! Let me at the witch!"

There it was!

That stupid bravado which got most of the Oni tribes killed, and another reason why the Kitsune harbored a feeling of contempt toward her mate. She could feel the pain and exhaustion wafting off of her partner and yet she still wanted to fight!

'Remind me why I fell for this Oni?'

Ah~ right! She fucked like a psychopath.

Kazuha rushed off into the forest with the Oni slung over her shoulder, she groaned under the weight of the brute resting on her shoulder and the pain of having her tail ripped out. It still fukin hurt! In short, she felt like crap!

Her eyes were bloodshot and her ears bled from the effort it took to forcefully use the techniques that were once casual attacks. 

Time! The damned time had taken a lot of its toll!

Now that she was free and probably alive, she would have her fill once more! 

Just the thought of sinking her fangs into those conceited Gods and Goddess' flesh made her tingle and the thought of drinking their blood made her momentarily forget about her wounds.

*Groan*

Right, Suzuka had it worse, and for damned good reasons too, a thousand years of being sealed had made her body, at least spiritually, look like something that could only be described as a rotting sack of crap that's been run over by a horse.

Still, they were both alive and that was all that mattered.

*BANG*