Iza's New Toy

“Iza… you can’t just hold back like that. Forget what happened in the past- you are beyond that. Stop letting it deter you.”

The words were stern and serious, yet so familiar. Why was she hearing them again? For some reason, the voice did not distract Izayuki too much from her fight, but it definitely made her think off to the side. Neyvahn, no, Kei, had noticed her teleportation and had somehow managed to track her movements despite use of it. Was her Cheshire Cat spell using up and reflecting that much aura? Damn, she would have to train it harder. The Bakeneko’s awareness was undoubtedly his strongest advantage. He could almost predict every attack before it happened, and managed to negate her planned course of action, despite receiving a bit of minor injury from her claws.

From the sudden surprise of her now cat-eared guildmate making her sneak attack a failure, Izayuki was unable to stop Kei from grabbing her wrists and thrusting his knee into her abdomen. The force was beyond surprising- obviously far stronger than his current rank. Having not prepared, the Ace of Stigma coughed out a bit of blood as her opponent followed up with two other punches for her, that hit with appropriate precision. She managed to snap out of her shock and dodge his next few attacks, but the first three had already done quite a surprising number.

“Again, you aren’t getting anywhere like this. What are you so afraid of? Losing yourself? I promise you, I won’t let that happen. But don’t you dare risk your tanuki pride by losing to a Bakeneko!”

There it was again, the nostalgic, warm, feminine voice. Only this time, the voice was much more serious and stern, almost striking fear into Izayuki with just her words. The only thing to counter that fear and uncertainty was the amount of warmth and power and love that the Bakedanuki felt flowing from them. I can’t… last time…. I refuse to be a monster! she screamed out in her mind, hoping that her thoughts would reach that confusing presence. Izayuki normally would take note of a spirit or other deity or essence attempting to make its way to her consciousness. Like the Wonderland spirits, or Alice, as a prime example of a spiritual and mental nuisance. This voice, however, seemed to be almost a part of Izayuki herself, and no stranger at all. She unconsciously could accept the words, and respond naturally.

“A monster? That’s a harsh way of putting it... “

Sudden dust covered the area, kicked up by her opponent. Neither of them truly needed their ability to see in order to locate each other and fight. Scent and hearing were just enough for the cat and the raccoon dog. Izayuki was still holding back, fearful that she would hurt yet another guildmate, more than she already had, and accidentally go too far and kill him.

“So that’s it, hm? If that’s the case, then I’ll break your fear for you. You can’t keep holding back- not in this fight.”

Izayuki was currently attempting to close her eyes and keep her other senses alert for Kei, in order to notice and counter any oncoming attack by him. As the voice finished speaking, however, the Bakedanuki felt a sudden searing heat enter her mind. The sudden rush of uncanny energy filling her body and spirit made the yokai crumple down to her knees, holding her head with one clawed hand, and grimacing as the dreaded feeling of her reason, logic, emotions, morals, and more blurring away came to pass. Instinct was attempting to dominate once again, and she was hungry. Starving. ”Please, no!” she pleaded, her body painfully fighting back tears as her pink eyes glowed with a bright crimson hue.

“Don’t worry, my dear. I won’t let you lose what it is that makes you, you. As long as you can at least try to hold onto your emotions, reason, and everything else, you’ll be fine~”

Suddenly more aware than before, Izayuki attempted to lift herself up and locate Kei. Her fear from before was gone, somehow, replaced by both peace, and ironically at the same time, a strange anger of sorts. A low canine growl rising from the back of her throat, the Bakedanuki either waited until Kei attempted to come at her again, or lunged through the dust in the Bakeneko’s main direction. She could sense spirits and souls quite easily, thus low visibility meant nothing. With brutal force, Izayuki would attempt to grab onto Kei somehow and force him down onto the ground one way or another. Following that, she would attempt to pin him down, holding onto his wrists and arms, digging her claws in slightly, to keep him from using them against her. If she was successful with such a thing, the next step to proceed was more than evident- she was a wild animal. She was hungry. She was a monster… she craved blood and energy, as a yokai. Parting her jaws to reveal sharp, white fangs in place of human canine teeth, Izayuki would attempt to painfully bite into his neck, and from that, satisfy her unquenchable thirst for blood.

She somehow was able to hold onto her reason, and not go overboard on mutilating him as she had done with Lucius and Astrid. All her instinctive mind wanted to do was reclaim the lost yokai energy, and have a bit of a snack to go along with it. Kei would not listen to words or reason, and fighting while holding back would prove to be completely useless. In the end, there was only one language a fellow monster could speak, after all, and in this case, Izayuki hoped it caused him a bit of pain, as a warning. What had triggered her new yokai fury, she could not pinpoint. Nevertheless, there was nothing she could do to fight it, currently, being too caught up in the thrill of the catch. She was the predator, and she had caught her prey.

Izayuki grinned as she successfully pinned Neyvahn, or rather, Kei, to the ground. She enjoyed the feeling of flesh being pierced beneath her claws, and relished the taste of blood as her almost vampire-like fangs penetrated his skin and flesh. Absorbing the yokai energy was easy, and brought back a feeling of fulfillment to be able to reclaim the small portion of the power she had sent at him to awaken the Bakeneko inside of him.
He struggled against her, trying to free himself of the tanuki's painful grasp on him, but the predator had caught her prey, and it was not about to escape so easily. Her yokai ears marveled at the sound of his screams of both pain and desperation, and her tail flicked back and forth in contentment as she finished her small snack of the feline's blood. Pulling back her fangs from his neck, she sensed the majority of her own yokai energy gone from him, yet his cat features still remained.

The Bakedanuki gave a small grunt as she released the hold of her claws from his arms and began to lick the blood off to clean her only felid feature- the wildcat claws she had that few tanukis possessed. He had fallen limp underneath her, and thus, it was safe to assume that her work was done. She could no longer sense Kei's presence being so obvious, but he was most definitely still there, not completely gone. At the very least, she had done her guildmate a favor by suppressing the Bakeneko spirit, at least temporarily. Unfortunately, the effects of her 'overdoing' her attack with her claws had resulted in changing his form into that of one who was almost more feline than human. Still, with her energy gone, surely his cat features would have disappeared too, right?

"Just as I suspected... it wasn't your powers that were completely at fault. It was only your energy that awoke him as a Bakeneko, but you are not the main culprit for turning him into one," the voice mused, redirecting Izayuki's instincts to allow her to calm down, and float subtly away from her rage mode, if it could be called that. She was safe again, and had managed not to lose herself.

The red glow in her eyes fading back to a familiar pink hue, Izayuki stood up, gazing down at the unconscious Neyvahn, who was likely still bleeding slightly from the injuries she had inflicted. "I see. I guess I can't leave him here though. I'll have to drag him back to the guildhall now... what a pain," she said with a defeated sigh, crossing her arms as she closed her eyes for a moment. "Who are you, anyway?" she continued on, addressing the voice who had been guiding her throughout the battle. It seemed so familiar, and so warm, as if it had always existed there in her mind. She was not surprised in the least to hear it, nor did she feel it as daunting or unnatural... but she could not understand why that was.

"It's not quite time for you to know that yet. But worry not- I'll tell you soon enough. Until then, just don't think too much about me, m'kay~?" the voice said in a chipper and perky manner, a strange warmth and comfort protruding from it. Typically, Izayuki would have further questioned it and demanded an answer, but she felt something tell her otherwise, and was secure enough to just accept the words and move on. "Fine then. I'll hold you to your word," the Bakedanuki murmured, reopening her pink eyes and crouching down to attempt to pick up the unconscious Bakeneko. With her strength, it was not hard to lift him and carry him on her back in a simple, piggyback fashion. Hopefully they would be at the guildhall before he awoke, where she would leave him on a table- not too uncommon a thing in Black Rose, thanks to Marschal- and demand someone with healing capabilities see to him. Had this really been a victory for her? She could not tell, nor did she quite want to accept this as a proper victory. If she would have her way, Izayuki would see to a rematch, and one that was fair and civilly done, more than just defending from an attack out of rage, where she had accidentally unleashed a new monster. She would see Kei again, she hoped, and show that she could truly beat him in a fair duel.