Steel Trim
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Engineering, Magic, and Kitsune Ch. 49
🕑 Added 2025-10-01 03:36:52 +0000 UTCThe moment they crossed the barrier was obvious, as Yuki's eyes shone a bit more intensely, regaining a brightness he hadn't noticed was missing prior. Of the sleepers, Rin awakened first, jolting up and her hand going for her blade, only to still as she beheld her surroundings, cautiously peering around with her hand on the hilt, yet not seeming to quite register anything at first.
Yosuke's awakening was more like a drunk waking up in the gutter, numb limbs feeling around as he rolled over with a gurgling that may have been either "Five more minutes," or "What the hell happened?" in spirit. He then proceeded to look around only once before crawling over to the edge of the iceberg turned raft, hanging his head over the side like he was about to vomit despite his complete lack of a mouth.
"Lady Yuki, Sensei!" Rin greeted with, surprisingly, no grogginess in her voice. "What happened? Why are we in the forest?"
"An Ofuda happened, and a potent one at that," Yuki explained, her voice calm. "We retreated outside its effects to steady ourselves."
Rin seemingly blanked for a second before hesitantly asking, "Then why are we outside town?"
John groaned as she confirmed his fears. Despite her flaws, Rin seemed like a knowledgeable combatant, especially given that she had survived this far. If there was some sort of widely known "turn off all weaker yokai and yokai-blooded Unbound" technique, she likely would have had it come up in the past at some point or otherwise have known of it.
With that, any hopes of anyone nearby knowing an easy counter vanished.
This was almost certainly something that Kiku knew how to do specifically, as he couldn't picture the priests of some random do-nothing post having such secret, or even lost, knowledge. Did they have to worry about whether word of this would get out and come back to haunt them via obsessive secret seekers or folk trying to preserve their monopoly?
Of course, that's without considering what it would take to deal with them.
The simplest answer would be to locate the Ofuda, like Yuki was trying to do back when this first began, and destroy or alter it, but where to start? Would it be multiple? One incredibly powerful charm hidden somewhere? The former felt more likely, at least from his untrained perspective. After all, redundancy would mean they couldn't deal with it all at once.
"Well, that's a problem," John groaned, before looking at Rin's blank, uncomprehending expression. "Somehow, someone managed to shroud the entire city in the area," John hurriedly explained.
Rin's expression soured like someone had fed her a sour grape.
Yuki huffed, glancing toward the shoreline, briefly scanning for any threats before, satisfied, turning back to the rest of them. "I think I know what she's doing," the kitsune stated. "The nogitsune is trying to force us to either split up or deny us the town, since John is the only one of us who can walk into it undeterred. As we learned back at the warehouse, she has access to Unbound forces that are not yokai-blooded like Rin and thus aren't deterred by such Ofuda. She likely aims to use them to capture you if you enter alone and let your guard down, and if you refuse to enter, that still denies you a support base, as it'd be easy to kill any messengers heading between your fort and the town with some carefully placed Nameless."
"But why didn't she finish it there?" John asked. "She could have had herself written as allowed under the Ofuda, then just attacked us when we were trying to figure out what was going on. We would have had no answer."
Yuki quieted, and the silence hung uncharacteristically long as the kitsune tried to come up with an answer, likely asking herself a myriad of uncomfortable questions about what she would do in her "sister's" shoes.
"She's worried about what you may do, I think," the kitsune finally muttered, deep in concentration.
"What?" John half-laughed, although it was bitter. "Are you saying she's scared of me?"
"Not scared, cautious," Yuki quickly corrected, glancing towards Rin. "You're hard to gauge. Ever since I got here, every other day feels like it brings a new revelation, be it something mundane to you that merely didn't come up before, or in the form of you coming up with a new idea to deal with a problem. The last time you fought, you displayed power a magnitude greater than she expected, which introduces risk. If she were on the Ofuda, and you managed to get a hold of one before fleeing, you could cause incredible trouble by going to the proper authorities with it."
Shit. It wasn't as if John going all out was an everyday occurrence, and he wasn't sure if he had ever used that one at maximum outside of testing. No matter how long Kiku was observing them, there wouldn't have been a hint of it where she could see it, not to mention his sudden discovery of flight was certainly a surprise.
Given the detection net around his base, which she would know of from his reaction to Nameless attacks, Kiku would be foolish to assume he wouldn't start working on a counter to her rapidly. To be honest, he was kind of embarrassed that he didn't think of the idea immediately. There was probably a bunch of shed Kiku fur that they lost, which would have been damn helpful. Combined with not knowing that his current gauntlet was much weaker…
It made much more sense now, as did trying to capture him with proxies. At best, it worked for her. At worst, it meant that she'd have a better estimate of his capabilities, especially if she had spies amongst the townsfolk to observe the ensuing fight.
"This would only delay us, right? I'd find the Ofuda eventually, and we could probably recruit the militia to sweep for it. There has to be a timeline she's working around. Maybe she thinks this will stop us from gathering support or reinforcing the town for long enough for the Greater Nameless to heal up? " he cautiously ventured, scratching his chin.
Yuki hummed before nodding in turn. "That would make sense. If it needs to be close to its minions and puppets to direct them finely, she is likely cautious about leveraging their numbers. It'd be like marching particularly dull soldiers to war with one inflexible set of orders and no officers amongst them. It would take one surprise to topple or, worse, scatter them. Given how badly you hurt it, we probably have half a moon, if not longer. She could have a new one in a week if she were to execute the old one, but then she'd have to break it to her will, and she seemed unwilling to sacrifice the one she has now."
"Surely it can't keep us out for that long? Even with Lady Yuki alone attempting to grind it down, she certainly could destroy it within a couple of days, even without finding the Ofuda," Rin curiously inquired. "We camp outside, and just focus on destroying it."
Immediately, Yuki shook her head, and John felt a bit queasy at how easy that would make them to ambush. "No," the kitsune said. "Rooting us in place for that long would be unacceptable. We might as well be ripe fruit on the ground, and she'd take advantage of that. At best, it would exhaust us, and they might somehow have materials for more Ofuda in reserve. No, a siege is not the right action here."
John's eyes went to the river as he fell into thought, looking around as he oriented himself. That tree seemed familiar, and the way the river bent—Aha!
Swapping out the focus for his telekinetic one while Rin and Yosuke weren't looking, he directed the ice boat to shore, beaching it. Yosuke took the opportunity to crawl out like a wild beast the second the ship stopped moving, embracing the rocky shore like a spouse after a war. Wait, was he just scared of water? Questions for later.
"This is as close as we get to the fort heading this way. Afterward, the river keeps going southeast," John stated, quickly scanning the treeline for both Kiku and Nameless using a pair of detectors. Nothing. "We can probably sneak past whatever they have planned this way, before they realize what happened."
Stepping out of the boat, he offered Yuki his hand which she graciously took, although she put no weight onto it, before he did the same for Rin. She was more willing to let him help lift her out, and he had to put a bit of muscle into it, although she reddened as he did.
More hesitantly, he offered a hand to Yosuke as he began to push himself off the ground. The man waved it off as he staggered back to his feet, although his previously "fresh" clothes looked a bit less so after crawling around in the mud, even if his back was still shockingly dirt-free, if still soaked.
"So, here's my idea," John said, fumbling around in his bag before pulling out one of his self-drawn maps. It wasn't the best, especially for someone who knew the joys of modern satellite maps and GPS units… but it would do.
"We're here," he stated, pointing to a bend in the river. It was perhaps an hour's walk if they were brisk about it. If he could fly everyone, they could be there within minutes, but that might as well be a signal flare for where they were. Besides, he wouldn't be able to carry everyone on it anyhow. "We have to assume that our opponents already knew how we fled, and that they might have set something up, so we aren't taking the direct route. We'll wrap around to the west, away from town."
John traced a path with his finger, following a ridge and a game trail that would wrap around to near the base. From there, it was just a hop, skip, and a jump over. Importantly, there hadn't been any reason for him to use this route for a while, so Kiku almost certainly didn't know of it, or at least know that he knew of it. "Any objections?"
Nobody said a word. Yuki momentarily glanced at the thick paper map before pulling back, a small smile on her face.
"Then we're off. I'll take point," John stated, nodding toward the woods, turning away from the group. Really, he'd prefer not to take the lead, but there was no way around it. Of them, he was the one who knew his way around these woods.
Below the trees they marched, thankfully far away from any Nameless hive sites. No, assuming Kiku didn't have her other forces in place yet, the worst they had to worry about was any traps the Nameless might have left around. Maybe some of the more hostile native yokai might wish to try something, although they'd have to be suicidal to attack a group like this. From front to back, the order was him, Yuki, Rin, and finally Yosuke bringing up the rear.
It was a solid formation, other than him being at the helm. Still, they were damn close together, and he could take a solid hit if all else failed; it wasn't as if he was made of glass. He set the pace, putting them at a decent clip, although not a run, more like a brisk walk. It was tempting to rush, but if he ran, he'd probably twist his ankle, and he'd give away his purely mundane speed to the pair here who weren't "read in." Besides, if something was going on back at the base, he'd prefer not to be winded… although he hoped Aiki and Haru were alright.
The trek continued, the rain and the wind drowning the world in noise. The ground was soggy, and whenever John had to step in the mud, it clung to his boots like a particularly clingy ex, attempting to pull him down into the depths. It was like looking out at the world through a smothering blanket, although John tried to keep them as dry as possible by charting a path where the trees were most dense. Sadly, the rain was coming down less in drops and more in streams.
It provided them with some slight edge, at least, for the sheer noise of the wind and water cloaked their movements in a sea of sound, and despite it being some time since he travelled this way, he knew the way well. The poor visibility was no obstacle. He dipped low past a tree stump, bidding his companions to follow. Gesturing to a dip, he ducked through, keeping himself low and out of sight as they passed a clearing that was a bit too close to a road for his liking. After that, he steered them around the territory of an undead thing made up of several corpses he had seen in the past.
Perhaps he should ask Yuki what the deal with that was when they finally had some downtime. It'd be a shame if some long-suffering ghost was out there, hurting for no reason.
Still, it was tense. John's heart did not pound, and sweat did not bead on his brow, but his eyes darted to each shadow, and his muscles were tense, ready to spring into action.
But to do what?
If he spotted a Nameless, he'd kill it in a second, but what if it was a man? Would he do anything? No, could he do anything? For just a moment, he swore he could smell a lake of burning flesh and see the popped body in his mind's eye.
But then it was gone, leaving him in the cold once more, although not alone.
There was always the option to delegate such tasks to the rest of his allies, but that would be the same as doing it himself.
He pressed on, even as the cold soaked started to bite into his bones, but he refused to slow. It was survivable, and he had been through far worse. Besides, the sooner they returned, the sooner they could prepare for whatever came next.
Maybe he'd even have time to work on the next step of his plan, if only he could get a few hours in his workshop. It changed a bit from its original shape, but… Well, that was for later.
They were coming up on the fort now, and he felt the tablet in his bag vibrate as they passed the outer defensive line, then the second, as they ducked under some particularly low-hanging branches, then finally the last, inner sensor. John held up a hand, stopping his companions behind him.
"Yuki," he whispered, trusting she'd catch it, "do you hear anything? Smell anything?" He turned to watch her as her ears twitched around like parabolic mics, her tails slowly swaying behind her. Then, she raised her nose, taking a few gentle sniffs.
"The rain makes it difficult," she quietly replied, although a few decibels louder than him, "but I can hear two voices. They sound like Aiki and Haru. They don't seem to be distressed. They're outside, or at least next to an open window or door."
John breathed a sigh of relief. Rin seemed confused for a moment before brightening. Yosuke looked slightly left out and somehow glanced between them despite his lack of eyes and a face.
"They're some people we rescued from the tax collectors a bit back. They're living in the fort until the problem gets resolved," John clarified.
Yosuke thought for a moment longer before snapping his fingers, nodding. Evidently, he hadn't heard of the names behind the incident some time back.
"Right, so, Yuki, you want to come in first with me? Hop over the wall, scout things out?" he asked.
She nodded, but gave no other response.
John felt a nagging tension in his chest as the pair of them crept closer, and he couldn't help but chew on his lip to cut the stress. Strange. The walls had been freshly cleared. At least, this section of it was free of vines. Had Aiki or Haru been outside to do so? He hoped not, especially this far from the main gate.
Yuki took point and, before he could ask, a simple jump was all it took to carry her to the top of the wall. A quick scan, and she motioned for him to follow.
He followed on the disc, wobbling as he struggled to maintain grip on the slick, drenched surface through the wind and rain. Perhaps it would be a good idea to merge some grit onto the surface, or to add some way to hook his boots onto it. He really didn't think through all the implications of a hoverboard.
No words were needed. They crept as one, keeping low, out of sight from below. John kept his eyes on the fort, but all the windows were closed, no peering eyes poking out to keep watch on them. Of course, if Kiku were here, they'd already be found if her senses were even half as good as her sister's, but was she waiting somewhere for an opportunity? Did she feel safe enough to push in when she knew they were elsewhere?
Carefully, they surveyed the area, and John checked each shadow with his detectors out of paranoia and habit.
It seemed clear. John gestured towards his workshop, and they crept over, yet it was still blocked from the inside via telekinesis, and a quick glance in revealed nothing amiss.
The room where Aiki and Haru were staying was open, and firelight flickered within, but as he went to move toward it, Yuki grabbed him by his shoulder and silently shook her head, pointing toward the main building.
He didn't quite understand, but he ceded to her expertise, letting her continue to take point.
There was nothing. The fort seemed safe, and they stopped by the outside wall to signal Yosuke and Rin before they went to check on the one last thing.
At long last, they headed toward the open room as the final members of their group made their way over. Peering through the door, John saw Aiki and Haru sitting calmly, enjoying dinner by the fireside. Carefully, John scanned the room for any hint of Kiku or the Nameless, but found nothing. A fragile smell fought its way onto his face. Then, Yuki quietly stepped into the room, and John followed her in afterward.
At first, they didn't notice the new additions; a few moments passed before Haru ultimately looked up. "Lady Yuki! Lord John!" she nervously greeted, hurriedly rising to bow low, and Aiki hurried to do the same, quickly setting his plate down.
"It's been quite a day," Yuki sunnily mused, a smile flickering onto her muzzle. "How were things while we were gone?"
Idly, John checked the two of them, just in case. Haru was clear. Aiki was clea—
Click.
John's breath caught, and if he squinted, he could just barely see a tiny pink hair clinging to his shoulder.
Comments
Unwillingmainer
All that work and they still walk into a trap. His rough evening isn't over yet.
Vlad Cold
Well, it quickly goes down. The question only if kitsune took Aiki place or Kiku just visited there (possibly in Yuki guise).
TACNUK3Z
can't say I didn't expect that
Trevyn Lane
Welp, cue the fight scene
zachava
Ah crap
