was turning its terrifying gaze on Reika and Chu. As it took a thunderous step toward them, I took a deep breath and darted into the open.
“Excuse me!” I called, and the statue turned its stony gaze around, hollow eyes finding me across a shattered column. I raised one hand, a sphere of kitsune-bi igniting in my palm. “You haven’t forgotten about me, have you?” I taunted, and flung the globe of foxfire at the looming statue.
The flaming ball hit the giant square in the gaping chest hole and exploded in a flash of brilliant light, but the statue didn’t move or even flinch. Raising its spear, it turned and began to stalk toward me, its ponderous footsteps booming over the ground and making the air tremble. I flattened my ears and darted behind a trio of pillars as the tremors drew closer. Closing my eyes, I squeezed the pebble in my hand and felt my power stir to life.
Let’s hope these things can’t see through magic.
I stepped out from behind the pillars and hurled a ball of kitsune-bi at the approaching statue, causing it to explode in its face. With an angry rumble, it lunged, swinging its huge spear through the air at my head. I ducked, and the blade smashed into the pillar behind me, crushing stone and shearing through in a terrifying display of strength. Pebbles and dust flew everywhere as I scrambled backward and hit another pillar behind me, just as the statue swung his giant blade again. I dodged and managed to put another pair of columns between me and the statue, as his blade smashed another pillar to rubble.
“Yumeko!” I heard Reika shout as I frantically ducked behind yet another column. The clang of metal echoed somewhere close, and then it was drowned out as the giant’s spear smashed through the barrier like it was made of salt.
A massive tremor went through the ground, as pillars, statues and columns that had been holding each other up collapsed with the roar of a landslide. The granite columns smashed to the ground, crushing the large statue and everything around him, including the illusion of a kitsune he had been trying to smash into the rock. Overhead, the statue of the swordsman, who had been pursuing Daisuke across the pillars, halted as the stone beneath him gave way. Both swordsmen tried to leap to safety; Daisuke sprang atop a falling pillar, ran along the edge as it fell and flung himself onto the Jade Prophet’s enormous head. The living statue tried to follow him, lost its balance and plummeted like a bag of stones to the ground. It struck the rocks and cracked into several pieces where it landed, its head rolling several yards away and vanishing behind a ruined pedestal.
The rumbles faded, and the dust began to settle. I exhaled and stepped out from the column I’d been hiding behind while the stone warrior chased my double around the room. The swordsmaster, Yoshitsune, lay shattered against the pillars, and his enormous friend was nowhere to be seen, buried as he was under several tons of granite. I doubted either of them would come after us again.
“Yumeko!”
Okame’s frantic voice rang out behind me, a moment before the ronin skidded into view a few yards away. He was panting, staring furiously at the mountain of rubble, the dust clouds still billowing into the air. Reika was right behind him, she, too, gazing at the pile of stone in utter dismay.
“No,” she whispered, and put a hand to her mouth. “Great Kami, please no.”
Confused, I stepped forward. “Reika-san, Okame-san,” I called, and they both spun on me, wide-eyed. “Are you all right? The statues are destroyed.” I blinked at the sudden fury on Reika’s face and took a step back. “Ano…is something wrong?”
My ears flattened, for the shrine maiden was stalking toward me with a hard, almost manic look in her eyes. Her fingers dug into my skin as she seized me by the shoulders, her face almost white.
“You’re alive,” she whispered, giving me a little shake. “You’re not an illusion. Thank the kami.” She let out her breath in a puff, then glared furiously. “I have half a mind to kill you, fox.”
“Ite,” I complained, wincing as thin, shockingly strong fingers squeezed my flesh like a vise. “I’m confused, Reika-san. Are you happy that I’m alive, or not?”
Thankfully, she let me go, still glaring at me with eyes like onyx daggers. “I suppose I should be grateful that