Foxfire: Veil of the Nine Phantoms

31: Stormcloud V - Lightning Strike

May 5 - Hoshiko

Hoshiko saluted Melanie and backflipped off the Hearn's roof, her nine tails unfurling as she took flight. She joined Satsuki and they flew towards downtown side by side.

"Do you think my granddaughter will be fine?"

"Fuyuko is strong enough to handle the umibozu by herself. Additionally, your granddaughter is abnormally talented. Are you sure she is only a quarter-kitsune?"

"Who knows? Perhaps there is dormant mage blood on her mother's side of the family. Bavarian, right? Lots of witches from there."

"You have nothing to confirm that."

"A taste of my daughter-in-law's blood will be all the confirmation I need."

"And how will you acquire that? Through invasive and unethical means, I suspect?"

"Darling, is that what you think of me?"

Satsuki shook her head and flew ahead. Hoshiko smiled, revealing her sharp vulpine teeth.

Lightning bolts erupted from the sky, the sound booming over the city like mighty drums. Dark clouds had gathered and stacked high over Toronto, creating an enormous thundercloud that heralded the arriving torrent. Flashes of light danced from cloud to cloud, and huge lightning bolts struck the spire of the CN Tower in a storm fit for a raging god.

Hoshiko looked at Satsuki and nodded. They headed to the top of the most prominent point in the city's skyline where the largest and brightest flashes of lightning struck. While they were floating near the top of the spire, a sudden thunderbolt impacted the tower's pinnacle, revealing a floating ball of electricity that emanated sparks of malevolent energy.  The whole city went dark, the electrical grid shutting down from the raiju's power.

"Plan of attack?" Hoshiko asked.

"For a two against one? Unnecessary."

From the ball of electricity, a large animal took shape. The creature was a giant white-blue wolf wrapped in lightning, about the size of an elephant. Its cry was thunder, and its eyes crackled with electricity as it stared down the tengu and the kitsune. It appeared to be the only point of light in the citywide blackout. Yet those with human eyes would only see lightning and not the thunder beast.

In other words, it was just like old times for the kitsune. If she had a heart, Hoshiko was sure her blood would be pumping right now. Through her keen senses, the spirit fox noticed the subtle change in Satsuki's aura as the daitengu mustered her magic. 

The raiju threw the first attack, firing a bolt of lightning from its mouth at the kitsune. Hoshiko summoned her umbrella and opened it, blocking the thunderbolt. The umbrella crackled with electricity as the attack's energy dissipated.

Hoshiko withdrew her ninjato from her umbrella and projected a slicing foxfire. The attack hit nothing but air as the raiju bolted up into the sky.

Satsuki darted after the creature, throwing her razor wind with her katana. The raiju blew a ball of lightning, the collision cancelling out both projectiles. Multiple bolts aimed for the daitengu, but she dodged them so quickly she appeared to almost teleport.

"We should keep this fight in the sky. Better here than on the ground where civilians can get hurt," Hoshiko said.

"Understood," Satsuki said.

Dark clouds gathered in sudden spirals above them, and lightning bolts rained down from the heavens. Hoshiko dodged each bolt. Satsuki blocked each bolt with her katana, her swordplay fast enough to keep up with lightning. With a katana charged with electricity, Satsuki propelled a thunderbolt at the raiju.