Disclaimer: I do not own Noragami
Yukine stared in shock at Nora's words. Revenge? Get rid of me?
"I-I don't understand..." He silently cursed the stutter in his words. He didn't even want to say that aloud anyway!
Nora smirked. "You will soon." She glanced to her left. "You will soon." She repeated in a distant voice, as if distracted by something.
Suddenly, she jerked her head back to glare at Yukine. "You're far enough away from Yato so that he won't react as much."
Yukine narrowed his eyes suspiciously. "Won't react to wha-" He was cut off as pain exploded in his right ankle.
Gritting his teeth to stop any sounds of pain escaping him, the boy glanced down to see a phantom that looked fairly like a rabbit, sinking its sharp fangs into his ankle. It was a dark purple colour, with yellow eyes and red fangs – although they were probably red with his blood. It was bigger than a normal rabbit, and instead of a fluffy, pom-pom-like tail, it had a short, wiry tail – similar to a rat's.
Shaking his ankle, Yukine tried to get rid of the phantom, but it clung on, seeming to be enjoying this.
The damn thing's drawing blood, Yukine thought angrily, why won't it let go? What does it have against me-
His eyes widened as he caught sight of a mask on the top of its head, with an eye on it. How come I didn't see that before?! Nora must be commanding it!
As the pain in his ankle suddenly escalated, the blonde Regalia grew desperate. He noticed a purple tint to the skin round his ankle, and knew he was blighted. If anyone got bit in the ankle it hurt, but adding a blight to the mix made it a lot worse. But it was still bearable.
Angered at getting a blight, he raised two fingers on his right hand to the space above his left shoulder. Then he swept it diagonally down and to the right, shouting "Border!" at the same time. Immediately, a transparent, pale blue line flashed down by his ankle, sending the phantom flying backwards.
Furious, the phantom rabbit tried to get back to him, but couldn't as his border was too strong for it.
Nora smiled, watching the whole thing. "Impressive as usual, Yukine-kun~"
Yukine glared at her, disturbed by her sudden change in voice. It sounded dangerous, but at the same time innocent. He stopped his border and raised an eyebrow at her. "Was that your little plan, Nora? To have a tiny phantom bite me? Is that it? That's not very impressive," he smirked as he added, "as usual, Nora-kun~"
Nora's smile vanished as Yukine imitated her. She replied in an icy tone, "A one-step plan is boring. I prefer clever ones that have several steps. You should know this, Yukine. Silly boy. Punishment time for you silliness!"
Just as Yukine was about to ask her what the hell that meant, he felt another, bigger pair of fangs sink into his flesh, but this time in his left hand. Involuntarily, a small gasp escaped him, but he quickly covered it with a cough.
Lowering his gaze to his left wrist, he saw a light green phantom clinging to his wrist, vibrant blue eyes locking with his amber ones. It grinned maliciously through his wrist, and he growled at it. If he had to suggest what creature it looked like, he would have said slug. It sort of looked like a giant slug, to put it simply.
Using another border, Yukine sent the slug-like phantom backwards and rubbed his injured hand. There was a small blight, but not as big as the one on his ankle.
"Does it hurt? Go on, tell me." Nora drifted close to Yukine.
"It doesn't hurt at all." He replied confidently, although he didn't feel it.
Raising an eyebrow, Nora reached out and poked his left wrist hard. He winced, and she smiled.
"You know, in your position, you shouldn't lie."
"My...position? Please, do you think a couple scratches put me at a disadvantage? If you think that, then you're the one at a disadvantage."
Nora snorted softly, as if something was funny, before she clicked her fingers. Immediately, five phantoms that resembled wolves appeared, surrounding them both.
She leaped over the phantom behind her, and giggled quietly. She couldn't wait to see the turnout of this round.
"Step three is about to be put in action." She said under her breath, so that Yukine couldn't hear.
Yukine performed a border, keeping three of the phantoms back. He felt like something was wrong, though. Why would the phantoms surround me if I can just use a border? Wait – I can keep these three back, but what about the other two?!
Spinning round, a phantom abruptly collided with his chest, sending them both to the ground. As Yukine wrestled with the phantom wolf, trying to get it off him, the other one stepped on his bad ankle and added pressure.
With the sudden rise in the pain already emitting from his ankle, Yukine yelped and let go of the wolf, trying to get to his ankle.
Seeing this as a perfect opportunity, the phantom on top of him bit deep into his right shoulder, its jawline rubbing against his neck.
Gasping in pain, Yukine writhed under the weight of the phantom as he tried to dislodge it.
To make matters worse, because of his distraction, his border disappeared, leaving him at the mercy of all five phantom wolves.
Yukine squeezed his eyes shut, willing the pain to just stop. It hurt, and he didn't like it at all. Where's Yato when I need him? Oh right – we fell out. He wouldn't care what happened to me. Not after all I said to him… What about Hiyori? No, I don't want her to get hurt. No-one's going to come. I'm alone in this. But if I'm going to die, then I might as well bring a couple of these things down with me.
Deciding what to do, Yukine opened his eyes and suddenly shot upwards, startling the phantom and making it loosen its grip on his shoulder. Taking the chance, he cast a border, successfully forcing the phantoms back.
Hissing in pain at using his right arm, he clutched his bleeding shoulder, and took the chance to inspect it.
Deep teeth-marks punctured his fair skin, and the area surrounding it was covered in blood and blight. The entire wound stretched from the tip of his shoulder across to the very base of his neck. Luckily, it didn't go directly into his neck, but it was still a bad wound.
Wincing, Yukine struggled to his feet, ignoring the painful complaints from his right ankle.
Nora waved her hand and the five phantom wolves vanished into thin air.
"Well done, Yukine. You've survived Steps One, Two, and Three. Now for Step Four, all right? Try and survive it if you can. It gets a little…harder. The first three steps were on Easy Level. Step Four goes into Medium Level." She informed casually.
Yukine bristled. "You think this is some sort of game?!"
Nora didn't reply, instead whistling, and a phantom jumped in front of her. It was a fiery orange colour, with bright red eyes and black stripes. It looked like a tiger, actually. Except the fact it had six legs, three tails and two heads.
Surprised, Yukine's border faltered, but he soon collected himself and reinforced it. However, it wasn't as strong as he desired, as the blight on his shoulder was spreading down the arm he was using to sustain the border.
The tiger phantom prowled towards him, growling at the border that stood between it and its prey. Bashing one of its heads against the border, it raised two clawed paws and swiped at the border as well.
Yukine watched its actions with surprise. Usually phantoms wouldn't try to break down the border with physical strength, using their bodies as some sort of battering ram. But that phantom was doing exactly that.
The phantom suddenly stopped and took a few steps backwards, before charging at the border at smashing its body into it. It repeated this process over and over, and Yukine struggled to keep the border up. The blight was getting worse, and soon he wouldn't be able to sustain the barrier between him and the phantom.
Without warning, the blight reached the end of his arm and brought with it a pain so strong that he couldn't keep the border up. He just couldn't.
Yukine watched as the two-headed phantom stalked towards him, licking its lips. What to do, what to do… the blonde Regalia thought frantically as he glanced around the clearing for anything he could defend himself with. There's nothing. I'm going to die here. By the hands of Nora. Then Yato'll use her – no! I can't let that happen!
Determined not to die now, he sprinted towards a nearby tree, and grabbed the trunk. Then he started to climb up the tree, reaching the second lowest branch and crawling onto it.
He cursed as another wave of pain shot through his ankle. Climbing trees did not help it in any way. Well, at least he was above the enemy.
Glancing down, he saw the phantom pacing below angrily. Yukine had formed a plan in his head, but he didn't know if the tiger could climb trees. If it could, then his plan would be useless.
But by the looks of things, it couldn't climb trees, which meant Yukine could go along with his plan.
A/N: I'm ending the chapter here! (Mostly 'cause I cba to write anymore today)
Also, I have no idea what the 'plan' is, so I need a couple of days to actually THINK of something.
And yes, no Yato in this chapter. He'll probably be in the next chapter, but i can't promise it for sure (I can't remember ANYTHING I originally though of).