Kurama was the first to notice the monstrosity.
Looking up from the group's embrace his face quickly drained of colour, a thought took hold instantly: how the hell didn't we notice that thing sooner? It's enormous. He tensed which caught Mizuki's attention. The snake followed the direction of Tengu's gaze.
"Oh Kami..." Mizuki moaned his voice hoarse and miniscule.
The spider lunged and Kurama screamed.
It was a good scream. The potency born from years of musical education. His trained lungs delivered the terrified notes in perfect pitch, seizing everyone's attention.
The group scattered.
Tomoe, finally aware of the foul miasma growing behind him, scooped the Land God into his arms as he took a giant leap backwards. A dripping stinger missed sinking into Nanami by a hair's breadth.
The creature stumbled, momentum drove it's body forwards and the poisonous barb sunk deep into the earth. It's abdomen jerked violently as the spider fought to free itself. When it finally tugged loose Mizuki noticed the ground was smoking where the venom had pooled.
"Tomoe!" He yelled "The Black Widow! Watch out for her sting!"
Tomoe didn't have the mind to reply. Moving away in graceful backward leaps, his only thought was to put as much distance as possible between Nanami and the gargantuan arachnid. As they flew away, Nanami was finally able look upon the monster in it's entirety.
The Black Widow was colossal. Her body obscured most of the shrine, her eight limbs waved madly, their reach deadly. Even from this distance Nanami could see that spider's pincers were as long as her forearm. Her skin crawled as she realised this was the being who kept her company in the dark.
Tomoe felt her shudder and his heart blazed with fury.
"She won't touch you." The fox breathed into her ear, as he placed her gently between the branches of a camphor tree. "Never again."
But Tomoe wasn't sure Nanami had heard.
The fear that gripped the Land God had transformed her into much younger version of herself. Abject terror was reducing her to a child-like state. Tomoe's soul was immediately burdened with responsibility.
He permitted himself to offer her a small measure of comfort. Brushing her hair aside he pressed a kiss onto her forehead, then was gone.
Nanami watched, frozen, as he strode forward to face the invader. His fox fire billowing around him like a cloak of destruction.
The shrine spirits were doing their best to keep the Black Widow distracted.
Atop his snake spirit, Mizuki was hurtling down jars of sacred sake in a vain attempt to purify the spider.
Onikiri and Kotetsu dove in and out around the monster's head, antagonising the creature. Their goal was to keep the Black Widow from pursuing their Lady, and for now it seemed to be working. The monster was going wild with fury. Long legs swirling as she tried bat the will-o'-the-wisps away, but they were much to quick for her.
When the Black Widow made a move to refocus her attention on the escaping fox and Land God, Onikiri summoned into existence an armful of firecrackers and small colourful rockets. All three of them were now lighting these mid air, launching them at the spider with desperate abandon.
The fireworks exploded in a multitude of sparks, but did little more than further enrage the target. Rising onto her hind legs, the Black Widow lifted her considerable bulk, in an attempt to climb onto the roof of the shrine. Her forelegs came down with a crash, causing the building to partially collapse. Giving up on scaling the walls, she crouched and prepared to leap.
"That. Is. Enough." Tomoe whispered his voice flat and as cold as iron.
Immediately Mizuki and the shrine spirits halted their assault. Even the spider paused her charge, taken aback by Tomoe's barely concealed ferocity. "I will deal with this putrid insect myself. Go see to the Lady Nanami and get out of my way!"
The others scrambled to do as they were told. Shocked into submission by the deadly blue flames that crackled over Tomoe's body.
Swooping down to collect the tiny Mamoru, Mizuki fled wondering where Keriel and Kurama had got too.
"What the hell are you doing?" Kurama yelled as he followed the old woman into the shrine.
If she answered, the reply was drowned in the noise of the collapsing roof.
"We have to get out of here or that creature will bury us alive!"
Keriel didn't answer.
She was moving quickly now, more quickly than she would have liked. Her aged hips sung with pain, the friction of bone on bone caused her joints to burn ceaselessly. Pushing the misery to the back of her mind she tried to focus instead on the items she sought.
Bits of debris were showering down around them. The Tengu feared the stubborn woman was almost certainly going to be bludgeoned to death by the falling beams. With a snarl he unfolded his black wings and rushed forwards to sweep the half demon into his arms.
"Why don't you just tell me what you're after? We'll both end up dying in here if we move at this pace old woman." He said, not unkindly.
Keriel smiled, her grin mischievous as she settled into the crow's strong arms. Despite her elderly looks she seemed quite at home nestled in his embrace. A familiar flirtatious blush spreading across her withered cheeks.
She leaned into the crook of his neck and told him where to go.
The black widow laughed, her mirth echoing like thunder.
"You? You will deal with me?" Her entire body convulsed in feigned amusement. "How quaint little fox..."
Tomoe had a fair idea what she was up too. The Black Widow was stalling, adjusting her position so she could launch a more powerful attack. Tomoe didn't try to run but instead waited patiently for her to make her move. When she leaped, the arachnid moved with impossible speed. Back at the camphor tree Nanami gasped and buried her face in her hands.
The fox demon, however, was far more swift than his attacker.
He dodged neatly. The bulbous black body soared over him in a blur of black and red. Twisting, Tomoe raised his arms above his head and set the Black Widow's underbelly on fire.
"Nanami. Would you please have a little more faith in me." He growled.
Nanami dropped her hands in disbelief that he had noticed. A smile smile grew on her pale face.
"It is YOU who should not underestimate ME fox!" The Black Widow screamed, tossing wildly.
Tomoe's flames were instantly extinguished.
The fox, caught off guard that the spider had somehow managed to deflect his attack, never saw the hairy leg that swept towards him. A claw closed around his arm and threw him into the shrine with all the strength it could muster.
Tomoe flew. Crashing through walls and shoji screens, he finally came to a stop, deep within the shrine, landing in a dusty heap on the floor.
There are just too many cursed legs to keep track off. He thought smiling to himself as he rose. A scream from outdoors had his ears going flat, the grin vanishing off his face.
Running now, Tomoe saw that the spider had made the most of his temporary distraction, and was now leaping down the garden, heading straight for Nanami's hiding place. Fangs bared he raced after the monster.
Claws extended he jumped and landed squarely on the Black Widow's back. Tomoe flexed his fingers, knuckles cracking, and drove his hand down, slicing through the glutinous muscle of the creature's abdomen. The Black Widow froze a small shriek issuing from between her pincers. She shuddered, tilted sideways and collapsed, legs curling up underneath her oozing body.
Tomoe growled and removed his hand from wound he had created. Once withdrawn, Nanami noted his arm was stained with sticky black blood all the way up to the elbow. Tomoe leapt aside and fell to his knees, chest heaving with effort.
Collecting himself he looked up and could not understand why the others were frowning. Then, for the second time that day, a monstrous leg crashed into him, pinning him to the ground.
He watched in disbelief as the Black Widow rose to stand once more. The wretched thing had healed itself was laughing.
"Fools..." She cried triumphantly "My body can't be harmed! My flesh is not mortal! Your attacks will only slow me down for a while." Her pincered head turned so eight unblinking eyes stared down at Tomoe. "But I won't lie Fox. That... stung! You force me to return the favour!"
The Black Widow reared to reveal an erect stinger. The end dripping and poised to strike.