Chapter 256: It’s the Head of the Day
The next trunk took another streak of blood. NineLivesLeft kicked away and marked a third before Alexandra could follow.
Every rebound carried him deeper into the trees, leaving blood across wet bark, low branches, exposed roots, and rocks until the metallic scent spread through the forest.
Kumoe’s curious head swung toward one trail, then another. Her nostrils flared, but each breath only gave her more places to search.
Alexandra understood his plan a second too late.
Bloodscent Lock still guided NineLivesLeft to their real wounds, while his own blood now marked dozens of false positions for Kumoe to follow. The rain diluted the color, but it could not clear the smell fast enough.
He attacked from above.
Kumoe’s right head barked, and Alexandra raised both swords in time to catch the descending hooks. Metal scraped across metal.
NineLivesLeft folded his knees against her crossed blades and kicked away. His boots struck a trunk behind her, and Prowler’s Rebound sent him toward Kumoe.
The right head warned Alexandra again, but NineLivesLeft changed direction before she could turn. One boot touched a branch for barely a heartbeat, and then he dropped onto Kumoe’s wounded side.
A hook opened a shallow cut across her ribs.
Kumoe snapped at him, but he had already thrown himself clear.
The fresh hit renewed Bloodscent Lock, and Prowler’s Rebound granted one more redirection before he had to land. He sailed over Alexandra, struck the ground with one hand, and disappeared between two blood-covered trees.
Alexandra chased, her swords cutting through rain and empty air.
A scrape came from her left, while Kumoe’s curious head growled to the right. Alexandra hesitated between them.
NineLivesLeft came from behind.
His spectral claw tore through the armor above her hip before she could turn. The wound was shallow, but Bloodscent Lock pulsed harder through her body.
He landed beyond her and laughed.
"Your wolf smells me in every direction. The right head watches for movement, and the middle one can’t look away from your wounds. I only need to give each of them something different to worry about."
Green light flowed from Kumoe’s middle head and warmed Alexandra’s side. Her HP began to recover, but a narrow line of blood remained for NineLivesLeft to track.
Kumoe’s rear leg had worsened too. Every forced turn threatened another pulse from Torn Tendon, making her choose between taking damage or staying still and letting him pass. NineLivesLeft knew how to force either choice.
"This is much better," he called from somewhere in the rain. "A single nose would have followed one trail. Kumoe has three separate instincts, and each one wants a different answer."
"You think that makes her weak?"
"No. It keeps her busy, and busy opponents choose the first answer they see."
His voice came from the left.
A drop of blood fell from a branch on the right.
"How many false trails can she sort before I reach that leg again?"
A branch creaked farther to Alexandra’s right before she could answer.
Kumoe’s right head released a disgusted huff.
Alexandra almost laughed.
"Careful. Today’s Head of the Day heard you."
The forest went quiet for half a beat.
NineLivesLeft appeared on a branch above them, caught between confusion and disbelief.
"You gave one head a combat title based on breakfast?"
"It isn’t a combat title." Alexandra smiled up at him. "She won the first snack."
Kumoe’s right head lifted her chin. Even with blood running through her white fur and one leg struggling beneath her, she looked unbearably pleased.
"You’re joking while one bad hit deletes her for good."
"I’m capable of joking and killing you in the same afternoon. Kumoe can eat her prize afterward."
The right head’s ears rose higher. The curious head glanced toward her, remembering the lost snack competition, while the middle looked ready to sleep through the argument.
For a few seconds, Kumoe worried about snacks instead of the blade hunting her.
NineLivesLeft’s smile returned.
"So fear didn’t take your sense of humor after all."
Alexandra’s expression cooled. "You talk too much when you think you’ve solved someone."
He dropped from the branch.
The right head barked.
Alexandra stepped toward the warning, but NineLivesLeft struck a trunk halfway down and launched himself toward Kumoe’s rear leg.
The curious head caught his scent, but the forest returned it from too many directions. She snapped at the wrong trail.
NineLivesLeft swept low with both hooks.
Alexandra crossed the distance and caught the first blade. The second slipped beneath her guard and carved through Kumoe’s already damaged leg.
The wolf buckled.
[The duration of Torn Tendon has been refreshed.]
"Kumoe!"
Green light flooded the injury. The middle head poured restoration into the tendon while the right barked to strengthen it, but that divided attention was exactly what NineLivesLeft had wanted.
He spun away before Alexandra could mark him, and her slash missed his back by inches.
NineLivesLeft rebounded from the nearest rock, sailed between two branches, and vanished among the false trails again.
Alexandra stopped chasing.
Her breathing had grown heavier, although her HP remained stable beneath Kumoe’s support. Every exchange ended before Alexandra could turn survival into pressure.
NineLivesLeft controlled when they fought and when the distance opened. He drew blood, forced one head to react, and retreated before Alexandra could build a single Pride Mark.
Kumoe’s curious head turned from tree to tree, but blood covered all of them. Her nose had become a weapon aimed back at her.
Each blood-marked tree gave Kumoe another route to check.
He attacked from the left.
The right head barked left too.
Alexandra blocked both hooks, but NineLivesLeft swung around her guard and kicked toward Kumoe’s shoulder.
Kumoe tried to turn.
Torn Tendon flashed.
The damage staggered her before his boot landed. He struck her shoulder and launched himself toward another tree.
Alexandra followed with Lunge.
Crimson light carried her through the rain, but NineLivesLeft kicked away before her swords reached him.
"You’re following whichever head reacts first," he called from overhead. "That makes you just as easy to steer."
Alexandra ignored him and looked at Kumoe.
The curious head was sorting through blood trails. The right watched the branches while trying to strengthen the middle head’s healing. The middle struggled to cover every reopened wound.
NineLivesLeft never tried to overpower those reactions. He staggered them, letting one warning pull Alexandra’s guard aside before another forced Kumoe to turn. By the time Alexandra pieced their responses together, he was already attacking the gap their separate answers had created.
Alexandra had been treating each warning as a separate order. That was why their formation kept opening.
A scrape sounded above them.
Alexandra did not look.
Kumoe’s right head barked toward a branch behind her, but she still did not turn.
NineLivesLeft dropped from the opposite side and drove one hook toward Alexandra’s ribs.
She blocked it by instinct.
The other weapon flashed toward Kumoe.
The curious head intercepted it with her jaws, but NineLivesLeft released the hook before she could trap his wrist. He let it hang from Kumoe’s teeth, spun around Alexandra’s guard, and kicked the wolf in the chest.
Kumoe slid through the mud.
NineLivesLeft reclaimed the hook as he passed and disappeared again.
Anger urged Alexandra to follow, but she tightened her grip until the hilts pressed into her palms and remained beside Kumoe. Chasing only stretched their formation, while every new sound or scent gave him another direction to pull one of Kumoe’s heads.
Kumoe limped back to Alexandra’s side.
The curious head tested the air again, only to find his blood everywhere. The right searched branches that never stopped moving beneath the rain, while the middle continued healing them both.
Alexandra slowly lowered her swords.
"Stop looking for him."
All six ears turned toward her.
The curious head tilted in confusion.
Alexandra stepped closer until Kumoe’s shoulder pressed against her hip.
"He wants us chasing every trail he leaves. Forget them."
NineLivesLeft laughed somewhere beyond the trees. "Giving up on tracking me?"
Alexandra ignored him.
She rested one sword across her body and held the other near Kumoe’s wounded side.
The curious head watched her face. The middle remained close enough to cover both wounds. The right studied Alexandra’s stance instead of the forest.
Finding NineLivesLeft before he attacked no longer mattered. Kumoe could center every response on Alexandra instead.
Alexandra smiled down at her.
"Find me instead."