Chapter 24

With not even a second to react, Laura jumped to the side to evade the charging spirit, but as she had blocked his vision, Gabe failed to dodge in time and got knocked back, falling down before the stairs they just came down. Right as she was scrambling to get back up, the goat like spirit was already charging at her again, hooves clopping against the floor.

This time She was not quite quick enough as the assailant managed to connect with her elbow, sending a spike of pain along her nerves. Trying to end this all quickly, she tried to burn this spirit from the inside like she had done once before, but no matter how hard she tried, something seemed to block her magic.

"Ah the Talismans Lord YO-tsu seem to be working." the invading spirit said, his voice a mocking snarl. "At least judging by the exasperation on your face."

"I'll just have to break your neck then." Laura countered as she tried her best to create two illusions of herself getting up, while she actually slid herself back from the whole thing covered by another illusion to hide herself.

"Hm a tricky one aren't you." The other spirit called out as it tried to keep both visible Kitsune in sight, proving that Laura had indeed managed to turn her real self invisible. "Well I'll just have to break you both then" It sneered as ot lowered its head and charged right through one of the fake Lauras, the long, spiraling horns in front like a battering ram. Passing right through the illusion, the spirit barely managed to stop itself before crashing into a wall.

"So this little fox was a fake." The spirit cackled as it spun around, getting ready to charge the other Illusion. Fearing her ruse to be found out, Laura focused hard on having this illusion dodge out of the charging spirits way as she let the other dissolve. But the spirit still clipped through the illusions leg, and let out a bellowing laugh. "So the little fox hid herself from me, then I'll have to listen for ya I guess."

As the spirit turned around to locate it's target again, Laura was just about to try and split her illusion again, when suddenly Gabe tackled the Spirit against the wall, a sickening crack sounding form the spirit's neck. One of the horns had impacted the wall first, hyperextending, and finally snapping, the spirits neck as it's torso contacted the wall. Letting the unconscious spirit fall to the ground, the American student began to look around. "Laura where are you? Are you alright?"

"I'm here, and yes mostly alright." Laura said as she dissolved the illusion keeping herself hidden. When she saw the shocked expression on Gabe's face, as well as one of her tails flicking into her view, the Kitsune realized that she had also dropped the magic hiding her tails and ears. "I can explain everything Gabe, but let's step inside the workshop first alright?" Laura asked as she stood up.

Instead of replying though, Gabe dropped down to his knees, hyperventilating as he leaned against the wall. Ignoring the pain from her elbow, which she hoped was just bruised, Laura sat down next to her friend, putting a hand on his leg to try and comfort him. "Gabe please keep calm, can you try and breathe together with me maybe? Let's breath slowly in, and out. In. Out." Taking slow measured breaths herself, she was glad to see Gabe slowly but surely falling into line with her breathing rhythm.

A Few minutes later, he had calmed down enough that Laura trusted he would not fall back into hyperventilating if left on his own for a moment.

"Come in please." Laura said as she opened the door and held it open for Gabe.. Following in after him dragging the spirit after her, Laura locked the door behind the two of them before pulling two stools out under the worktable and indicated for Gabe to sit down. "Do you mind if I start the Plasma cutter, this will probably take a while anyways, so might as well get some progress done while we talk." She inquired as she walked over to take stock of the materials she had access to. When she had settled on the metal to use for both the rotor blades and her new weapon and still had not received a reply, the Kitsune turned around to find Gabe's eyes tracking two of her nine tails as if in trance.

"Gabe you okay there I asked a question." Laura addressed him as she dragged the metal plate towards the plasma cutter, causing a loud metallic screech to resonate through the small room.

The american replied with a nod as he tore his gaze of the waving fox tails for a moment.

Shaking her head in anticipation of the trouble it might turn into keeping his attention on her explanation later on, Laura dragged the metal the rest of the way and placed it in the machinery. Once it was positioned correctly, the Kitsune selected the file she had prepared from the connected SD card, after which the plasma cutter began its work, allowing her to sit down next to Gabe.

"So How you holding up Gabe?" Laura inquired, putting one of her tails on his lap to calm him a bit. She did not expect him to grab onto it like a scared child would hold it's teddy.

"I I did, did I ki-kill that?" He asked, indicating the corpse of the spirit Laura had dropped in a corner. Following his gaze, she quickly hid the body with an illusion, hoping that sparing him the sight would help Gabe calm down.

"Yes, but you probably saved my life, but please don't tell anyone okay?" Laura requested. Gabe gave a short nod in reply, still stroking her tail as if it was some kind of therapy puppy.

"Do you mind if I start explaining what happened just now and what led up to it?" Laura asked, and after getting a nearly whispered 'No' in response, she began to tell the tale of her stay in japan so far.