Chapter 85

To put it simply, the troll had exactly zero chance. Just as it was starting to recover from Delly's lightning bolt, my armoured fist connected with its nose, and turned its head to red mist. Before it had even fallen to the floor, it vanished into black mist, leaving behind a shard of magic stone. No doubt about it now.

"You may have to get in line, Lord Odin." I picked up the stone and stuck it in a pocket, "Do you hear that?"

Most of them shook their heads, but the big white fox was looking up at the ceiling.

"Stairs, now." I said, "Azazel? How high is the occupancy in this place?"

"It's pretty ritzy, so not very, why?" He led the way, the three Japanese Gods following.

"Monsters from the dungeon generally don't care who's on the menu." I looked down the hall towards the barrier Odin had placed, "Lord Odin, I hope you don't have a bad knee or anything like that." The barrier cracked ominously, "Go go GO!"

More of the red birds burst through the barrier, while two more trolls crashed through the wreckage of the elevator doors. I all but pushed Odin the rest of the way into the stairwell, then slammed the steel fire door closed behind us. "Don't push don't push..." Odin complained, following the others down the steps, "I'll worry about the guests that are still alive. Shouldn't be too hard to protect a few mortals..." He tapped his cane against the ground, and I could feel a ripple of magic under my feet.

We made it down a floor before the penthouse door sounded like it was pulled right out of the wall. "Keep going." I said.

"It irks me that we do not stand and fight." Susanoo grumbled, "These seem but a petty challenge." He drew his sword, "Azazel-san, I will take point."

I couldn't focus on the front of the formation, since the two trolls looked about ready to try and dig through the floor to get to the Gods. I kind of wondered if Loki had programmed them to chase me, and if their inborn hate of Gods was overpowering that. "Lord Odin!" I repeated the same 'Kodori punches head' trick on the first troll, while Delly turned the next one's head to static vapour. "Can you do something about the floors? Slow them down somehow?"

"One hundred thirty four lives, or a fancy lock on a door. Choose."

"I'll deal then." I shouted back, "Delly, I'll leave a fox here, keep the door covered by an electric field. Free use of my magic."

"Aye boss!" She saluted, then promptly vaporized a flying sword, "Get going, I'll be okay!"

"Wear your mask too." I started running down the steps, summoning another fox and growing it to be able to fill the door if need be. "Inari-sama? Please take this in case you need it. Azazel, Lord Odin? Pick, mask or potion?" I handed Inari a carpenter's dust mask, though this one had been dipped in something from my lab to filter poisons too.

"In case of killer fungus?" Azazel quipped, "Lord Susanoo, wear this please." I tossed Azazel a potion, one of my best antidotes, "This better not taste like medicine."

"I've brought my own." Odin said, offering the mask I'd given him earlier to Amaterasu, "So paranoid."

We were descending rapidly now, my mana reserves occasionally feeling Delly pull on it. As Odin commented, the door next to him had a pair of minotaur horns spike through it. I grabbed the horns, and with a heave pulled them, and the door they were stuck in, apart with a shriek of metal and a scream of pain. I tossed the door aside, the steel turning to dust as I did so, and finished the job by driving my elbow into the minotaur's forehead. "Keep going!" I hopped back, avoiding another one, hopped forward again, grabbed a horn and snapped its neck with a sudden twist. "Something is seriously wrong here!"

"Do you mean something other than the monsters?" Amaterasu asked with a tiny smile.

"Respectfully, it would take too long to explain." I grunted as I caught a third minotaur's arm, and slammed my fist through its sternum and pulled out its magic stone.

"Those crystals." Susanoo started, His straight bladed sword striking between the eyes of a striped sabre toothed tiger, "What is their purpose?"

"They are usually close to the heart of the monster, crack or remove it, and the monster will die, always." I replied, leaving a tiger sized fox at the door before following them down further.

"Ah, shall we compete then, little Fox? You've already got a head start." He laughed a grand 'RA HAHA' before neatly lancing a second tiger through the forehead, the sound of snapping crystal distinct through its dying gurgle, before it too turned to ash. "Now we are even!"

We might have been half way down by now. I hadn't taken note of the number by the doors when we started, so floor twenty four meant very little. But that's when things got worse. The stairwells were very quickly filling with smaller monsters, and Delly had started a fighting retreat from the top floor. Already, I'd consumed a mana potion, telling me that Delly was working hard to keep the air clear.

But then a purple mist started to rise from under us. I already knew what it was, and thanks to Eina's lessons and my own skill with alchemy, we were all ready for it. The white fox almost disobeyed Inari's order to drink the potion I offered it, and it looked like it wanted to bite me after I'd poured it into its mouth.

"Getting rather cramped in here." Azazel said, pointing and zapping a hard armoured through the skull, dropping it limply to the floor where it blocked the way, "I almost regret building this place so high."

By now, all of us were showing a little wear too. My nice trench coat was cut in many places, kimono's were covered in blood, Odin was grumbling about a bad hip, Azazel had a cut over one eye, and even Susanoo was looking irritated at how long this was taking.

"Please stay focused!" I shouted over what sounded like the stairwell collapsing a few floors under us, "Oh that's not good..."

"Rather rude of them." Odin mumbled.

At first I thought he meant what ever had just damaged the floors, but then a small hole, about the size and thickness of a quarter appeared next to Amaterasu's head.

"GET DOWN!" I turned on the modified shield cube and jumped at Amaterasu.

Kodori 1, concrete wall 0. I kicked off the stairs, and did a picture perfect dropkick on the wall just under the new hole. With a crunching rending ruckus, I passed clean through the wall and stuck the landing like a pro, having just enough time to make sure my nice hat was still firmly on my head before needing to do anything.

Then I needed to dodge backwards as a shape so black it seemed to soak up the red emergency lighting of the hallway, swung at me with a red blade of energy.

Loki even added the 'vumm' noise of a lightsabre...

The shape was really hard to make out at first, but after a moment of weaving around a series of expertly performed combinations, I realized the darkness was actually the skin of a person.

Then someone took hold of one of my tails.

I managed to lash a kick into the one I was facing, sending them rolling backwards down the hall before turning to face the offender who dared make the next brushing harder than it already was. I was just able to swing a forearm up to push aside a second red lightsabre, my coat and bracer burning/sparking as the shield cube reacted to the strike.

A quick look at my bracer told me two very important things. First, the shield cube was maybe half as effective as I had hoped. Second, my new bracers were not up to the task of blocking these directly. Already there was a shallow furrow cut into the steel. My half second examination ended there, and I summoned a biting fox head from all the tails this new person wasn't holding.

Tonight was a night for surprises. Not only did they not cry out in surprise as their hand up to the shoulder was very quickly ripped to shreds, they also didn't made a sound when they brought the red blade up under the remains of their ruined arm to cut it off and cauterize it.

From the hole in the wall, I heard Odin shout, "Svartalfar! Be careful!"

Dark elves?

I felt something sharp drive it's way into my shoulder, not deep, being as tough as I was, but still enough to really hurt. I hopped sideways to dodge my one armed opponent, and my tail tugged it free. It was a four pointed shiriken. I had just enough time to spot a rune light up on it before I flicked it away against the wall, where it didn't 'explode' but flashed brightly with backfired magic. This actually made my adversary flinch, and I managed to put a hand on their wrist and drive my forearm into their throat with enough force to hear bones crackle.

"..." The other said... something, and before the first one could even start falling backwards, the lightsabre in their hand flashed past me and into their waiting hand. "...!" Again, words that slipped past my ears like silk, and I was suddenly facing down a red whirlwind of humming blades.

"They work in sets of three!" Odin shouted, followed by Susanoo's battle cry and more shattering concrete.

"We're going to have to get to the other stairs! They've blown out the stairs on the next floor!" Azazel said moments before the sound of a troll roared in pain, "Dammit missed!"

"Like this, Azazel-san!" Susanoo laughed, the roar cutting off suddenly, "That's twelve now! Don't fall behind Little Fox!"

I started to weave around the two blades, trying to get closer, trying to put a single pause into the rapid series of attacks. By this point, the speeds we were fighting at made it look like I was fighting a wall of red.

Then I felt something impact my calf, leaving a line of pain across the side of my leg as a simple throwing knife clanked against the wall just past me. It didn't get past the tough leather of my boot, but it gave my opponent a half second to shift tactics. Hopping away from me, towards the hole I'd left in the wall, they probably expected my stumble to buy them more time.

Until I threw out a spectral claw at them, finally able to use my mid range attack now that I had a moment to focus. Without pause, I pulled them towards me, then slung the dark figure past the hall at who ever had just tried to hamstring me. They bounced down the hallway and past a third figure, who was just starting to help the first one I'd downed back to their feet.

"Can you hold the hallway?" Azazel asked, opening the stairwell door, you know, like a civilized person.

"I see three." I said, "Provided there aren't any more, I think I can keep them occupied."

"..." One of them said, though I wasn't able to 'hear' them, I was pretty sure the words 'arrogant mongrel' were in there someplace.

The three of them re-ignited their blades, (If he didn't die tonight, I was SO going to ask Loki how he did that...) and made ready.

"Delly!" I yelled as I charged forward, my hands both wrapped up in my ghostly armour.

"Don't blink!" Delly's voice said from behind me, before she filled the hallway with what amounted to a disco ball of camera flashes and coloured lights.

Overpowering the dim red of the emergency lighting, they all flinched back at the sudden bright chaos. Instead of swinging blindly though, or panicking, the one armed one jumped forward, "I am dust!" I heard it that time, and even understood it, as he (the lights finally added enough contrast to let me see more than 'dark black shapes') tossed his lightsabre tube behind him, and drew a red mark on his forehead.

Then exploded. His leather armour (another detail I could see now) dropped to the floor as a dense, powdery dust exploded from where he was standing. I jumped backwards as the floor, walls and ceiling melted, leaving me standing at the edge of a clear view of the floors below (three floors to be exact), and the two remaining Svartalfar jumping down into the new hole to escape.

"Go after them!" Azazel said, "We can handle the monsters!"

"You sure?" I called back, watching them land, then look up at me.

"Not alone." Inari said, "Go to her, play nice."

The truck sized Fox was suddenly at my side, "We'll meet you in the basement!" Odin said, "This way this way."

"You heard him." I gave the Fox a quick look, meeting its eye, "Delly go with them!"

"Aye Boss! You better keep her safe!"

The white fox made its first noise, a light 'huff' through its nose. I just judged the distance, and jumped down after them.

I knew we were being led. Through the slowly thickening purple mist, occasionally stopping to kick around a monster or two, dodge a throwing knife if we got too close... For the simple layout of the building, they were REALLY hard to catch. Holes in the floor, walls, ceiling, they were making a 3D maze for us, keeping just in sight while not giving me another chance to reach out another ghostly claw. All the while, my temporary companion didn't seem to care. It simply matched my speed silently as we were led on a merry chase.

Finally, I'd had enough, "Wait here, I think I have this figured out."

In reply, the Fox looked at me, and as if I were a puppy or something, bit the back of my now very tattered coat, and lifted me off the floor. Then with a simple motion of its head, it put me back down exactly one pace behind where I'd been as if to say, 'Hold my tea, I got this'.

So, I conjured a small fox and plunked it on its head. Almost instantly, the little fox was lost in the soft fur, leaving only a pair of ears and eyes peeking out of the fluff, "Just to get the timing right."

And then it was gone, running down the hall where we'd last seen the two assassins. I started to backtrack a little, looking for a good place to lay in wait, and then kept watch through the eyes of my little fox. I'd chosen a small alcove next to a broom closest, with the sign for '1802' on the door across the hall. To my left was the end of the hall, and the broken remains of the stairwell door. I would occasionally catch sighed of one of the black figures, but I was more interested in the floor, and the door numbers.

Opportunity came at last, and I hopped up towards the ceiling, my tails securing me in an upside down crouch, as I saw the two figures turn down the same hallway I was in, on the fifteenth floor.

I wasn't one for calling out my special attacks, but for this, I made it a special occasion, "I judge thee GUILTY!" And I pushed off the ceiling, my left fist shattering the first floor, "Version!" My right fist broke the second floor, "TWO!"

I didn't punch the third floor, but instead slammed my open palm against it as the third CRACK of my fist hitting three times the speed of sound rang in my ears through the cover of my nice hat. Unlike when I hit Sairaorg, this attack contained the sudden shock wave to the space between my palm and the floor. The floor reacted as if I'd set off a shaped charge, and caved in with the same sort of effect as a boulder hitting the surface of a pond. I was actually stopped in mid-air for an instant, and my remote fox saw one of the two figures react to the sudden wave of ceiling as if they'd been hit by a shotgun that fired fist sized rocks. The second one managed to skid to a halt, glare up at me, then throw one of the lightsabres at me.

I managed to avoid taking the point of it in the eye, but watched as they dove down the hole I'd just made to the fourteenth floor. I didn't bother stopping myself and followed, picking up the thrown lightsabre, and confirming that the second one was very much dead before running after the last one. Once again, the giant white fox was by my side, and we turned the corner just in time to see the stairwell door close.

"Might be trying to get to Odin." I said, not bothering to open the door so much as shoulder it, and the entire door frame out of the wall. It was a good thing I had, because the door itself disintegrated and I passed through a small swarm of Light Quartz. The sudden dust storm seemed to confuse them for a moment, and it was an almost effortless task to use my hands and tails to smash them off the walls, and each other.

More traps, more monsters, but all easily overcome by myself and the big white fox. I was starting to feel the effects of the purple fog however, even over my own resistance and antidote potion. Mostly in the form of itchy skin and mild eye irritation, but it was slowly getting worse. There had been a few more rumbles too, as well as several more sounds of collapsing floors. I was starting to wonder how much more the building could take, and what exactly was causing the damage itself.

It was on floor three, when the white fox skid to a halt, turned, and slammed through the stairwell door. Aside from the occasional noisy chewing, this was the most noise it had made so far, and the sudden abandoning of my side after the literal Kitsune Goddess told it to stay by me...

So I ran after it.

The first second and third floors were actually a very fancy multi levelled lobby, and it was infested. Vines, bugs, a dense purple haze, floating shapes, lumbering silhouettes... I set aside the biggest question that came to mind first, that being 'how the hell did Loki get all these big monsters from a little segment of dungeon', and ran after the white fox.

No more than ten long strides into the room, on the balcony/platform of the third floor, we were suddenly the focus of everything in the room. Living vines with mouths on the end burst through the floor, snapping at us even as we weaved around them. "Catch!" I flung the lightsaber at the fox, and hoped it would catch it without hurting itself.

I needn't of worried. The still unlit blade halted in mid air as it got within arm's reach of it, then lit up with a 'fishummm' noise. Then he (this was the first time I'd been behind the giant white fox) took the metal hilt in its mouth, and started weaving around the flailing carnivorous plant vines, slashing them apart as if he knew exactly what he was doing.

I was at a disadvantage fighting these things. My punches and kicks could certainly hurt the tough vines, but the real monster was below us someplace, and unless I completely cut through one of the metre thick vine in one go, it could still attack me. So instead, I ran defence, protecting the fox so it could use the sword. This also left me with defending against more light quartz, and very soon, trolls and minotaur that were climbing the escalators.

"Cut us a path, ignore the rest!" I yelled, summoning my full collection of foxes and drinking my last mana potion. I jumped over a hole in the floor, and managed to see the remains of a car (a white Vespa of all things) far below. "The roots of this thing are in the basement!"

No sooner had I said that, the entire vine monster shuddered. Dozens of heads twitched fitfully, and from below I heard, "Too bad this still only counts as one! RA HAHA! Come on Little Fox!"

I spotted Susanoo's epic moustache and laughing face down another hole, and both the white fox and I tuned, cut down a pair of minotaur, and jumped down towards the hole. However, just as Susanoo started to turn, a dark shape sprung out of a thick swirl of purple mist towards the God's back.

"Behind you!" I shouted at the same time as the white fox 'yipped' a warning.

All my mana was focused into holding back the swarm of monsters above us, so I could do nothing but watch as Susanoo turned just a moment too late to avoid what looked like a small dagger. Thankfully, it wasn't more than a long shallow slash across his back, and Susanoo quite neatly cut off the offender's dagger arm, spun the blade once, and thrust it through the dark elf's chest.

"Hm, this one doesn't have a magic stone I see." He slipped the blade out of her (the last one seemed to be a woman) and gave the slash across his lower back a pat, "That... What..." He stumbled, "Poison!"

"I got him Sensei." Azazel came running towards us, "The Old Farter says we're almost there. Is this the last one?"

"If there are only three? Yes." I picked up the dagger, "No..." It was a simple serrated knife, except the 'teeth' of the blade were made of small bone chips, "I'll have to tell Grayfia." I was about to put the knife in a pocket, but realized my coat was basically a couple good shakes from falling off. My potions were on my belt, so those weren't in danger, but the magic stones I'd picked up were long gone now. "Here." I wrapped up the blade with some of my jacket and handed it to Azazel.

He used one hand to tuck it away, then went back to carrying Susanoo, "Got anything for this?" He asked.

"I'll be fine! I just... can't seem to feel anything." Susanoo complained.

I shook my head, "My foxes can buy us a little more time. Let's go."

The white fox dashed ahead of us, the beam of the lightsabre lighting up again. We didn't need to go far. All around us, I could see magic stones glittering in the emergency lighting of the underground parking lot. Above, I could hear the monsters thinning out, or just losing interest as they started to wake up more to their other urges (like hunger and the need to nap). It was as if the three 'Dark Elves' had been whipping them into a frenzy, but now that they were silent...

Down one last floor, sub basement two, Amaterasu met us at the door of the last staircase. Oddly, the air down here was perfectly clear, and I no longer felt that constant 'the walls have eyes' feeling of being in the dungeon. "I have created a place of rest." She said gently, "I think you have done your duty." She said to the fox.

The fox flicked its head towards me, and I had to catch the (slightly drool covered) lightsabre. He then slipped past Amaterasu. "Is something wrong?" I asked, holding the door for Azazel and Susanoo.

"A mild wound. Your little companion certainly does not lack valour." She turned and I fell into step behind Her, "A curious one, you are."

"So I've been told." I replied, wishing we weren't under high alert so I could talk properly to Her, "Please, forgive me, but..."

"Yes yes, we've found it." Odin's voice said, drawing my eyes away from Amaterasu, "I'm not sure you're going to like it though."

Taking the place of three main supports for the building above us, were three half circle segments of dungeon. Laced between them, were a multitude of red lines, glyph, runes, magic circles, and all sorts of complicated things. "What..."

"I think you killing his son made him go a little crazy." Odin said, "Even I can't make sense of all this. Not only did he overlap a barrier space, in a barrier space, he's blocked all magic coming in or out of here, and tied it all to these bits of your home." He scratched his beard, "Not only that..." He pointed to one part of the chaotic mess of magic workings, "He's set a timer too."

I couldn't read the runes, but they were steadily changing by the second. "Then... What do we do?" I asked. I also cut the mana going to my foxes upstairs, feeling that I wouldn't need them there right now, since Amaterasu had set up a 'safe' spot.

"Well. I could try and puzzle this out. Or, we can remove those three stones." He looked at me, "However, that might bring the entire building down on us. And even if it doesn't, the only way to 'remove' them would likely be by destroying them."

I shook my head, feeling frustration rise up my spine, but I managed to not swear, "I might be able to pull one of them." I said after a moment, "Barrier or not, I know I can return to my shrine."

"Are these stones so important?" Inari asked, petting the side of the big fox's head, "It was only a little scrape, no need to worry so..." She comforted him.

"The chaos you witnessed here, is what is going on back home. I need to return these stones to the dungeon, or it will continue spawning monsters out of control." I looked to Delly, who was helping Susnaoo bandage his back, "Any ideas?"

"Sorry. As far as I can tell, Odin is right. To be fair, I only recognize like..." She pointed to a small corner of the mess of magic, "That little spot there."

"I could move one of these stones as well then." Inari offered, "For taking such good care of my companion."

The white fox 'huffed' and turned his head away from me.

"Now now." She chided, "I'm sure I could then send it back here. Humans have become quite proficient with their mail services."

"It might work, if two of the three were suddenly gone." Odin mused, "If the spell weakened enough, the third stone could be removed whenever we pleased."

"I'm sure I could get it to the training room." Azazel said, "It's close, and I did put together most of the teleport and security measures."

"But." Odin continued, "If it doesn't weaken the barrier stopping the rest of us from teleporting, then the building will likely come down on us, as well as what ever effect might happen when these are all disrupted." He motioned to the magical mess.

"Worry not." Amaterasu said, "Even the shine of the moon is reflected sunlight, and while it shines, none here shall come to harm." Her smile made me believe it too, "Perhaps afterwards, we may continue our meeting at your shrine?" She looked at me.

"I would be honoured for the grace of your presence, all of you." I replied, "Lord Odin? Is this going to be in any sort of order?"

He considered, then shook his head, "At the same time is best, I think."

So, the three of us, Azazel, Inari and I, stood just outside the magic chaos around the three dungeon segments. "All set?"

"There there." Delly gave the giant fox a pat on the nose, "I'm getting left behind too."

He looked like he wanted to nip her out of the air, but he might have stopped himself because Inari was looking at him.

"Be sure you're ready." Odin said, though he was looking at me.

I took a deep breath, then a second one, then a third. "On three."

"One." Inari started

"Two." Azazel said, just as I heard the stair well door close faintly.

As I watched the other two lean forward to touch the pillars, the word 'three' starting to form in my throat, I caught sight of an unnaturally dark skinned figure jumping out at me, "Thr-"

"Lord Loki, I have her!

"ee!" I finished, a hand clamping onto my shoulder.

Like being pulled through a slightly too small space...

As soon as the teleport was over, I took my hands off the dungeon segment, reached back with a hand and grabbed the face of the dark elf. I was about to pull her off my back, maybe knock her out if she was lucky, but I suddenly felt a wave of weakness that brought me to my knees.

"Fool. Moving such a mass with your limited power." She said, "And letting your guard down."

I felt something pull itself out of my back, just below my ribs. I still had hold of her face, but I just couldn't seem to find the strength to do anything else. But as soon as what ever it was had been removed, I started to feel again.

She lifted her hand and easily pried my numb fingers off her face, "You are lucky Lord Loki wants you for himself."

Pain was creeping from my lower back outwards. It wasn't the worst I'd ever felt, but it told me that what ever was on the blade was being pushed back by my adventurer's status, "How?" I asked, clenching my jaw as just breathing was sending stabbing pain through my side. I had to buy a little time.

"How did I live?" She stood in front of me, purple, almost black blood trickling down her leather vest, "I gave up my heart long ago, with my two brothers." She smiled, the white of her teeth almost glowing against the absolute black of her skin.

I had almost all the feeling back in my body now, though she wasn't the only one dripping blood all over the nice cobblestone walkway of my shrine. "You're bleeding on my shrine." I said, "I also didn't invite you."

"In a moment, Lord Loki will be here, and it won't matt-"

A four metric ton bronze fox hit her from the side. It wasn't a 'tackle' but more a sudden flying headbutt to her side. Even before she hit the ground, the second fox hit her from behind, coming around from behind the dungeon segment. She folded in half backwards over the second headbutt, and I could hear bones shattering even before she was catapulted forward. She didn't quite clear the outer edge of the shrine grounds, coming to a (very) sudden halt against the big tree Shinkage liked to nap in front of.

"Thank you." I said, the first fox nudging its way under my arm and helping me stand. I was already putting a healing potion to my lips as the second fox very carefully dragged the quite dead intruder to the edge of the shrine grounds, and nudged her into the forest, using its hind legs to kick a little bit of gravel onto her like a bit of litter. "We'll need to clean up properly, but that will do for now." I felt the flesh knit itself together again, the pain draining away as well, "Good foxes." I gave them both a pat on the head.

Then, with a crack of displaced air above me, Loki appeared.

Wounded, covered in blood, eyes full of fury, he hovered in the air above the main building of the shrine. "You!" He screamed, "Because of you I've lost everything!" He pointed, not at me, but the main building, and with a sudden explosion of cold air, it was crushed under a massive icicle. "My precious son! His two children! My best assassins!" He pointed again, this time at the nice covered purifying well, and it too, exploded in a mess of frozen icicles.

I was too stunned at first to react to the main building being buried under a small iceberg, but I got behind the dungeon segment to shield myself from the explosion of the well. "You didn't want peace, and now you complain about the price of war?"

"You even cut up my son's body! Made it into crude weapons to use against me!" He pulled what looked like a spear head from under his robe, "You're going to wish my traps had killed you!"

I'll admit, I was... really worried. It was me and my two bronze foxes, against a very pissed off god. He'd put out almost as much ice as I'd ever seen Sona use, with a simple wave of his hand. I wasn't sure how I'd deal with that.

But he'd also destroyed the main building... Deep down, past 'logical thought' I felt that insult needed answering.

"So are you." I said, taking off my gauntlets to reveal my gloves. "You're acting like every single entitled, stuck up, arrogant trash God or Goddess I've ever met." First I needed to warm up my mana...

"Oh? And I suppose you've met a lot? You are NOTHING! Nothing but a petty demon! A divinity so minor you're hardly more powerful than the devils you serve!" Loki screamed, pulling out a second object from under his robe. It looked like a black rag doll, "You think yourself an enchantress? A master of metal and sorcery? HA! I'll show you just how limited you are!"

And he stabbed the floppy stuffed doll with the Fenrir tooth spearhead.

Agony. A piercing electrifying agony that went straight through my chest and out my back. My concentration was ruined in an instant, and I fell to my knees, my arms wrapping around my middle to try and hold in what felt like a terrible gut wound.

Then the pain was gone, leaving me gasping for air. "Pathetic!" He laughed, stabbing the doll again.

Again, though this time it was as if something had gone right through my forehead and dropped a bunch of broken glass behind my eyes.

Again the pain vanished, and I had just enough time to think 'my missing fur?' before it felt like something had smashed every bone in my leg to powder, before twisting my leg off at the hip.

"Yes! Writhe on the ground like the worm you are!" Loki screamed with glee, "Feel the pain of my dead son!"

I needed a distraction. Between agony filled moments, I started to push my magic towards my tails. More than once I had to start over as he stabbed or twisted the little effigy of me in particularly painful ways, but finally I started to speak.

"Will you leave me?" The sudden feeling of my arms being dislocated, "RRRG, Will you stay by my side?" The simplest chant for my spell, as I practically threw a fox out of my tails. Desperation had given it basically all the mana I had left, but at almost the size of Fenrir, it was easily big enough for a distraction. "Will you help me? Or leave me?" I asked, feeling the pain recede again as Loki paused his maniacal torment of the doll/me.

I'd only ever used this one a couple of times. The first time just before I proposed to Haruhime. I'd made a fox, but then cut it from my mana supply. In essence, it was its own being, its own life, limited by the power it started with.

"Pathetic! Is this your last ditch effort before the pain drives you mad?" He laughed, putting the spear head away and holding out a hand towards the still passive fox, "Begone! I'm busy!"

An icicle the size of a car rocketed out of thin air, passing through the massive fox's forehead like it was made of mist. Except...

It was made of mist.

The icicle had no more effect than to scatter the outline of the fox a little, before it returned to its original shape (though, slightly smaller than before) and lunged at Loki. So surprised was he, that he only just managed to float backwards, out of the way of the gnashing jaws.

Distraction complete, but now I was out of mana. I'd drank the two mana potions I had earlier too.

But then one of the bronze dogs started digging into the ground next to me. A moment later, the other joined in. I started to pull myself to my feet again, wondering what the heck they were doing.

"I see what you've done!" Loki laughed, throwing more ice at the fox, who was only sort of trying to dodge, more focused on the thing that was trying to hurt it. Each time however, the fox got a little smaller, a little weaker, "If you think this will stop your torment, think again!" He pulled out the spearhead and stabbed the doll again, dropping me back to my knees and holding my chest in pain. This time however, the pain didn't go away a moment later, "Yes! Just stay there until I'm done here!"

I wanted to cry, breath, yell, anything. But the pain was so sharp I could only just keep myself from passing out. I was dimly aware of something very delicately biting the fabric of the cat suit I was wearing and dragging me sideways a little. Dimly, I felt cool dirt on my back as I slid into a shallow pit in the ground.

"HA!" Loki laughed, pulling the spearhead out of the doll, and pointing it at the now half sized ghostly fox, "Begone!"

The fox was hit by a shotgun effect of car sized icicles, ripping it apart like paper, and devastating the forest outside the shrine's grounds.

But I felt it. The power I needed. With the cool dirt at my back, the feeling of the forest around me getting devastated by magic, I found my inner self not looking at the 'wall' of my connection to the land here...

But being supported by it. I wasn't supposed to comprehend it. Logic didn't apply here. This was my shrine, Kuoh was my territory. I protected it, and it supported me. It wasn't science, it simply WAS.

I spread my arms out to the sides, "Releasing control art restrictions, three two one..." I started to bring my hands together, feeling the power of my false sacred gear warming up around me, "Approval of situation A recognized. Commencing the Cromwell invocation." I found Loki, hovering in the air above me, looking down at me with contempt, and I framed him inside two 'L's of my thumb and forefinger, "Ability restrictions lifted for limited use until the enemy has been rendered silent."

"We're almost there!" Issei shouted over the howling winds, as he and Vali flew at high speed towards the hilltop shrine. Off in the distance, they could see a huge spectral fox trying to bite at a small flying figure who was hurling icicles at it.

"Something like that wouldn't stand a chance." Vali grunted, "Even with all the damage we've done."

"Something is wrong! That isn't nearly as strong as I've seen her make one of those!" Issei shouted back, the fox suddenly getting ripped to shreds by a hail of icicles, "No! Sensei!"

"Suppose he got his revenge after all." Vali replied, "Let's finish the job Issei!"

"You bastard!" Issei shouted, the thrusters on his back opening up further, forcing Vali to catch up, "Running away won't help you!" He suddenly had Thor's Hammer between his hands, one hand just behind the oversized head, the other way at the far end for balance, "I'm gonna smash your face into next week!"

Then something on the ground, in the small crater that had once been the shrine, exploded in a burst of purple and black fire.

The two of them skid to a halt in mid air, looking first at Loki, who was holding one of the Oni's spear heads, and a weird floppy stuffed doll. Then down at the ground. Between the two bronze foxes, a figure in black armour was pulling itself to its feet. It looked like a smooth version of the two Emperor Dragons scale armour. A cross between organic and robotic, the person stood smoothly, doing a quick shake of each leg, a simple stretch and roll of both shoulders, and an easy side to side tilt of the fox helmeted head.

"Well well, she seems to have done it." Vali said.

"I feel somewhat flattered at the mimicry of our designs, don't you Red?"

"Nature is the best engineer, she said."

"But, she's still on the ground." Vali added, "Unless we can knock Loki down to her, she'll just have to watch."

"I don't think that will be a problem." Issei said, as the black armour started to glow purple over most of its body. Lines and runes, filled with bone or Nightmare Copper, lighting up all over the the armour, Kodori curled up slightly, as if stretching her back, and a pair of pitch black angel wings spread out behind her.

As the former wings of Kalawarner spread out behind me, the sensations carried to my own nervous system through the bone plates of Fenrir they were attached to, I looked up at Loki's contempt filled face, "You are not invited to my lands."

NOTES!

I figured, since I was paying homage to a certain anime, I'd go the distance with it.

Next episode, the conclusion of book 7, (I think?), and some cleanup. Keep the votes coming if you haven't voted already, and we'll see what happens.

Five days lalala. Oh, Happy new year too!