20 To Fall Together
[Player: Kazuki Arata]
[Level: 4]
[Waza: Black Hand, Thread Cutter, Aura Sense, Dark Rider (Active), Retribution, Eviscerate]
[Kegare: 27%]
[Status: Airborn]
---
How much longer can I hold on?
Kazui and Fleet—merged into the Golden Fox—bounded from one wooden station to the next, their powerful hind legs coiling, then releasing in heart-stopping leaps. Overhead, the canopy of trees glowed emerald with watery sunlight that filtered down through layer upon layer of branches. Far below, so distant it almost looked unreal, the forest floor stretched into shadow.
This "Sky Road" was built as a series of precarious nest-like platforms woven from vines, supported by the thick boughs of colossal trees. Each station hovered at a different height, forming a vertical maze. Sometimes they had to lunge up toward a higher level; other times they'd vault across the gap to a station that jutted from the trunk of a neighboring tree. The whistle of the wind, and the constant drum of their own heartbeat accompanied them.
[Kegare: 25%]
It all felt exhilarating and terrifying. But they had no time to slow down.
Because Dark Rider—the fusion waza that let Kazuki and Fleet merge—was fueled by Kazuki's kegare. That inner corruption had spiked when Kazuki had used Eviscerate on the giant saugami, but now, as the Golden Fox, it was burning away fast.
[Kegare: 22%]
Unbelievably, this dangerous parasite that he had been struggling with ever since his arrival in the Yokai Realm was nearly gone. Every second of fusion devoured more of it. He could feel it diminishing, like a fuel of darkness that had almost run empty.
They reached a wider platform that sagged gently in the middle, and for a moment, the Golden Fox paused. Kazuki's own senses, merged with Fleet's, swept the surrounding trees, searching for the next vantage point. His heart pounded. Where was the next station?
There! Fleet guided him, mentally pointing to a platform that rose diagonally upward some ten or twelve meters away.
[Kegare: 20%]
But it would be a far leap, farther than any they had made so far. And Kazuki's battered leg still throbbed in their shared form under the strain of these jumps. He could feel Fleet's encouragement pressing back against the doubt: We can do it!
Then the golden fur along the fox's haunches flared with a burst of reishin flame and they surged forward.
They soared, suspended for a heartbeat before the station rushed up to meet them. Wood rattled and groaned under the impact of their landing.
Kazuki exhaled in relief. We made it.
[Kegare: 13%]
Just one station ahead, through a gap in the canopy, he could see a broad wooden veranda that curved along the ridge of Karasu Peak; the edge of the Grand Shrine.
On the veranda overlooking the Sky Road, stood Suzume. Her hands were pressed to her chest and her face was a mask of mingled relief and alarm. She was shouting something—Kazuki could see her lips moving, but he couldn't hear her.
Behind Suzume in the gloom of the covered walkway, a proud figure with broad shoulders and dark wings flickered into view: Karaba. He stood half-hidden in shadow, arms crossed over his chest.
Kazuki felt his pulse spike. The memory of Karaba's blade carving into his shoulder still burned in his mind. Karaba had nearly killed him.
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[Kegare: 6%]
But there was a more urgent problem: the kegare inside him was disintegrating. Already, the bright golden aura flickered, their merged form wavering.
The Golden Fox surged along a twisting bough, nails scraping bark. Then they crouched and sprang for the final jump—aiming for the veranda's outer railing. It was more horizontal than vertical, with an abyss of open air beneath.
The wind rushed in their ears. Suzume reached out, shouting—Kazuki saw her lips forming his name. He tried to focus on that shape. Ka-zu-ki…
Halfway across, the Dark Rider dissolved.
In the space of a heartbeat, the luminous golden fur melted away. Kazuki's arms and legs reformed into human limbs while Fleet reappeared at his side, both of them in mid-leap. It was like stepping off a dream’s edge. Kazuki barely had time to process the sheer absence of Fleet’s spirit within him before his limbs were his own again; weak, human, and falling.
[Kegare: 0%]
Gravity seized them like a jealous god.
"Kazuki!" Fleet yowled, his small, newly separated body flailing, fighting the air itself. The little fox was thrashing, his red-golden tail snapping like a banner in the wind.
Kazuki reached out, but his fingers passed through empty air. His momentum was still carrying him forward, but not nearly enough to clear the platform. He saw the veranda's railing in front of him—too far.
We're going to fall.
He lurched his torso forward desperately. Somehow his left hand caught the platform's ledge. Wood bit into his palm, tearing, but he clung on. With his other arm, he seized Fleet around the waist. The two of them dangled in midair, clinging to life by a single strip of wood.
A lethal drop beneath them.
Kazuki slammed his eyes shut, trying to force away the swirl of panic. A hot pulse of adrenaline hammered through his chest. Hold on, hold on, hold on…
He tried to haul them up, but he just couldn’t. Kazuki's shoulder, the one bearing Fleet's weight, threatened to dislocate. The wood, slick with moisture, creaked ominously under his grip.
Above, the veranda shuddered. He could hear Suzume's frantic voice, but couldn't see her. She's reaching for us, he thought, but she’s too far.
He looked down. Fleet, in his near-human form, stared up at him with wide, terrified eyes, all traces of playful fox-glee gone.
The muscles in Kazuki’s arm were screaming, every fiber threatening to give out.
Then came the insidious whisper at the back of his mind—kegare—the echoes of it, or perhaps the side of him that had grown reliant on it...
If you drop him, you can climb up. Save yourself. He's only a fox.
The choice was there, implacable . A monstrous voice of self-preservation.
You lived alone before. Live alone again.
Live.
Look at him—so small, so fragile. What is one fox's life against your own? Let go. Let him fall. He was never meant to be more than… entertainment.
For a horrifying instant, Kazuki's fingers loosened. Fleet's eyes widened further, sensing that something was wrong.
What am I becoming?
Kazuki tried to pull himself upward, but he was too heavy, his injuries too severe. He managed maybe a few inches. His grip slipped.
Fleet whimpered in terror. They slid. If Kazuki tried another lunge, if he tried to reposition his hand, he could do it.
He had to do it.
For a heartbeat, Kazuki's thoughts went blank with panic. And then he saw the truth.
I can't do it. I can't pull us up.
If I want to live, I have to let Fleet fall.
Kazuki squeezed his eyes shut. His arms trembled. He had to choose now.
"Kazuki!" Fleet's small voice, frightened beyond measure.
A memory in Kazuki's mind; Illusions… illusions of a "perfectly normal family." The silly grin Fleet always wore, the wide amber eyes that looked up to Kazuki as though he were some great hero. Fleet curled against him during cold nights, shivering.
In that moment, Kazuki found a strange peace washing over him.
"Fleet," he whispered, "whatever happens, we stay together."
"W-what?" Fleet's eyes went wide with understanding. "No—Kazuki—"
Kazuki loosened his grip on the platform.
For an instant, everything hung in perfect stillness. The ledge seemed to hesitate, as though awarding him one last moment to reconsider. Then Kazuki's hand slipped away from the wood.
They fell.
---
[New Achievement: Damned if You Do, Damned if You Don’t]
[Next Chapter: The Shrine Master]
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