"Are you alright? You should know that chimera beasts are known to roam these areas at night."

The dust had formed a cloud around my figure, blotting out most of my angelic features. It disappeared fairly quick though, and Tamamo finally got a good look at me. I was covered in dirt, the beast's saliva had stained my garb, forming dark spots of spit all over myself. Tears had formed in my eyes from when I had thought I was going to die. I was still coughing uncontrollably from the multiple tongues that had been shoved inside me. The halo above my head glowed a bright yellow color and illuminated the surrounding dark forest. Tamamo's expression changed to one of surprise.

"You're..."

It was over. The person I was supposed to assassinate ended up not only saving my life, but also figuring out I was an angel. I didn't even have the time to care, as I was still getting a rush of adrenaline from before.

"..."

The kitsune knelt down next to me, in what I could probably assume was the finishing blow. It made sense to erase a foreign spy before things got complicated, and Tamamo was no stranger to killing angels either. I had no power to resist or dodge such an attack, every nerve in my body was frozen in fear, even breathing required an extreme amount of energy to do. It was as if my very soul itself was being ripped out of me.

"P...lea...se."

That was all I could manage to force out of my lips in a pathetic manner. I could only look on, unfortunately conscious throughout whatever Tamamo was about to do to me. She finally got close enough to the point in which I could finally see her hand stretching towards me from the darkness. I couldn't make out her outfit, nor what the rest of her body had looked like yet. She placed her hand on my chest and began quietly speaking an incantation. This is it, I suppose. It was a good run, but if there is a real Heaven and Hell, I'm probably going to end up in the underworld for a very long time.

"Hey, are you okay?"

The response shook me out of the trance I was in, and I was back to reality once again. I quickly realized I could move my fingers and toes once again, and stood up as fast as I could. My halo illuminated the rest of the surrounding area, and I could finally see the rest of her.

"Y-you're…! Tamamo! You're Tamamo!"

My vision finally focused on the small queen. It was at this point I realized why I felt as though something was off. The Kitsune Queen was dressed up in… well nothing. She was totally nude. There wasn't even a shred of clothing to be seen. I could see red engravings all along her small build that seemed to be resonating a strange dark energy from it.

"Hahaha! What a stroke of luck this is! Your life ends here, cat queen!"

The humanoid kitsune just kind of stood around and looked on confused.

"「Mary Jane!」This is our dance with death, Tamamo! I'll have your head on a platter!"

Inside the Kitsune Queen's mind, her thoughts began to run as she thought up a way to diffuse the situation.

This girl is a stand user. If I'm not careful, she could end up hurting me, or worse herself.

"Listen, I need you to calm down, you're probably in shock from that attack and still require medical atte-"

The angel's stand began releasing smoke from it's inner body. It began to fill the surrounding air, and soon I realized that there couldn't be any negotiations. Her stand was being controlled by pure impulse and strong emotions of fear and self-protection.

"Get the hell away from me!"

Suddenly her stand lunged towards me with her fists aimed at me. There's no choice, I'd have to bring it out either way.

"「Foxy Lady!」"

My「Foxy Lady」is a stand with the face of a fox and a skull engraved into its forehead. It had countless blue crystal "eyes" dotted all around it's body that allowed it to perceive any and all attacks from any angle at any time, and it's skin was covered in orange-white fur in order to blend the "eyes" in.「Foxy Lady」grabbed her stand's fists, and held both back with ease. It would seem that her stand is not powerful enough to harm me by sheer force, and relies on some other effect to kick in once it punches me. As long as I have her stand pinned like this, she shouldn't be able to do anything.

"So you're a stand user? It doesn't matter, I'll take you down with my「Mary Jane」whether you use a stand or not!"

"I will give you a warning. My stand,「Foxy Lady」is not a stand that yours can compete with. If you keep this attack up, I won't hold back against you."

"Hah! You're holding back? Then you may want to take a closer look at where you're holding「Mary Jane」's fist, you fool!"

"Wh-?!"

The smoke had traveled up「Mary Jane」's fist and had solidified around「Foxy Lady」's arm.「Mary Jane」formed a karate chop and slammed it down into「Foxy Lady」's arm. The solidified smoke shattered everywhere as it connected with 「Mary Jane」's punch.

"...!"

I knelt to the ground as the blow from the punch hit my arm. The angel continued to gloat in her victory while laughing hysterically.

"Hahaha! I've won! It would seem you really were a pushover after all!"

"Really now? The one who may need to take a better look is yourself."

The shattered smoke disappeared, revealing 「Foxy Lady」's arm still fully intact.

"Th-that's impossible! With that much force, even steel would be broken up into hundreds of shards! What the hell are you?!"

I dusted off my hand and formed a fist to make sure all the nerves were still intact from the blow. I'll give the girl credit, it was a creative attack, but the result was still nothing more than a bruise.

"Normally, if you'd performed that attack on anybody else, their whole shoulder probably would've been blown off."

I moved my arm to show it was completely undamaged to intimidate the angel.

"But my body and soul has been entwined with the power of the earth, making my stand and my bones as strong as diamonds. I'll say it again,「Foxy Lady」is not a stand yours can defeat."

I plugged one of「Foxy Lady」's 'chips' into its eyeball, and it's real ability was now active.

"I'm tired of wasting all my precious time.「Foxy Lady!」."

I looked at the angel's confused state. She tried to chop off my arm, that meant that I wasn't holding back any longer.

"Here I come!"

I lunged towards the angel with my ability now in effect.

"「Mary Jane!」Don't let her come any closer!"

I figured her stand was more of a long range one, however it was too late. Nothing in this world could stop me when I charge towards my enemy.

"Sh-shit! This is bad!「Mary Jane!」Protect m-"

The angel's sentence was never finished.「Foxy Lady」had already wrapped its arms around the tiny angel's waist and squeezed so hard that air had ceased to be able to traverse throughout her lungs.

"Wha… imp… ossi… ble…"

She struggled to push the words out of her mouth. She should save what little oxygen she has left. I suppose I do owe an explanation.

"My「Foxy Lady」's first ability is to create a fake 'copy' of anything it desires, such as myself or even itself. I should also clarify that this ability is only the first out of three that「Foxy Lady」has access to, however those abilities are a bit more violent than this one."

I put my hand on the angel's chin and made her look into my gaze. I could see the eyes of a stone-cold killer, one who had taken the lives of countless individuals from draining them like a succubus, yet hated succubi more than anything else. However, I did see something more in her eyes than that, something admirable and a strong desire to become something better than that. I can't judge this angel's sins, and I have no right to extinguish her flame because I am the same as her. Killing her would make me even worse than either of us.

"Leave this place and go back to whence you came."

I released「Foxy Lady」's grip on her waist, and she collapsed to the floor. The angel writhed on the ground as she wallowed in her self pity. I turned around and began walking away.

"Tamamo!"

I stopped in my tracks once I heard the angel call my name. She was standing up as she stared back with a look of anger in her eyes. I gave her the courtesy of listening to what she had to say.

"Why… why didn't you finish the job?! You can't leave me here! I don't have a purpose any longer! Everything I've ever done in my life has been overshadowed by people with bigger ambitions and better skills! Please at least let me die by your own hand, and not pathetically on the sidelines!"

I turned around to face the angel. I could see the angel was begging to be finished off honorably, but my killing days were over. I'm not the killer I used to be in the Great Monster War.

"...I didn't finish you off because you're a good person."

"...!"

The angel's mouth was wide open as she heard me speak.

"When you used your stand's smoke to attack my arm, you hesitated and stopped attacking for a moment. Both my arms were occupied with your ability, and there was no way I could've blocked such an attack to my stomach or head. You faltered in your idea to assassinate me because my arm looked too similar to your own, and your sense of morality kicked in. If you were just some cruel angel who wouldn't have been shocked or have hesitated, you'd have dealt some serious damage to me that I couldn't have prevented."

The wind swayed against both of us. Time had seemed to stop. In a moment's notice, my look was focused directly on the angel, and it was as if our eyes were looking into each other's souls.

"So what do you want to happen now? You've lost your opportunity to kill me, and you claim to now have no purpose. You have yet to even tell me your own name."

The angel stared back in a look of surprise, her enemy was giving her respect after all.

"My name is Mariel."

"Mariel, what's important isn't the life others see you lived. It's the one you're living right now."

The Kitsune Queen continued with a serious look on her face.

"If you truly don't have a purpose… come with me. Don't die bound by your past."

I extended my hand towards Mariel in a gesture of good faith. The angel looked at her stand, and then back at my hand.「Mary Jane」then faded back into smoke, and Mariel looked up at me for the first time with a look of compassion.

"..."

Mariel reached for my hand. In her mind, she had no idea where this would take her, but she felt that this was the right solution in her heart. And then, as soon as she grabbed my hand…

"It seems as though you've given up on your little mission after all, Mariel."

Mariel quickly turned to face the figure who had spoken.

"Tamamo! Get-"

Before she could even finish her sentence Mariel had pushed me onto the ground. Four beams of light fired out of the dark woods in rapid succession. The first shot blasted directly through Mariel's cheek causing a hole to reappear on the other side of her other cheek, with the light beam blasting through all the way. It was so powerful it burned a clear hole through a tree trunk even after traveling through Mariel's mouth. The next one hit her right shoulder, and the other two hit her abdomen, causing blood to profusely spurt all over me.

"ARGHAAAARAAA!"

The figure who stood in the woods watched closely, as if waiting for the moment I moved so they could send another volley of whatever just attacked Mariel at me. The assailant looked on with a wicked smile, as if taking delight in this deed.

"You lying on the ground totally immobilized… How do I put this… Hehehehnhahaha NHAHAHAHAHAHAHEHEH! It really feels good to finally be able to kill you, it's gives me the same satisfaction as putting a human male's penis in a meat grinder and turning the switch on to hear their agonized screams."

Mariel looked up with a face of shock and horror, as if the thing in the woods caused her more distress than the wounds she'd received.

"That voice! You're…!"

"That's right, Mariel."

The figure took off it's cloak to reveal an angel halo above it's head, which illuminated the rest of her body. A pair of wings accompanied her small stature, and a heart was ingrained into her right breast. She stood a considerable distance from me and Mariel, most likely in order to fire whatever just hit Mariel at long-range.

"Mariel! I, Cupid, will be the one to erase your existence from this world!"

Mariel managed to slouch upwards so she could see the attacker.

"You…! How could… you?!「Mary Jane!」"

I turned to look at Mariel after she'd brought out her stand. She was covered in blood, her garb was now stained in her own blood, and her hair and body were covered in sweat from fighting me before.

"I see you've finally achieved the ability to manifest your own stand in a fighting form. However, before the power of my「Bad Romance」you will learn that any attempt you make to escape or dodge is USELESS!"

Cupid summoned her stand for the first time in front of either me or Mariel, meaning she's quite confident in her stand's abilities. Her stand wasn't a humanoid figure nor anything that stood on two legs. The only thing that appeared in her hands was a small circular metal pipe, no thicker or longer than Cupid's own arm. The question remains though, am I a target?

"In a stand fight the only thing that matters is the experience of the user! Mariel! You are totally and utterly inexperienced, meaning that victory belongs to me, Cupid!"

Mariel managed to stand up and face Cupid. The holes in her were so severe, you could see the other side of the tree filled terrain by looking through them.

"Why are you doing this?! You were-!"

Mariel seemed to have caught herself from saying something she regretted. I could see she was on the verge of bursting into tears of rage and betrayal.

"I have and always will serve what is in the Angel race's best interest. That is why you must die, Mariel! You have failed to kill Tamamo, and now the only way for you to atone for this screw up is with your life! We have no use for failures like you!"

Mariel seemed to have been hurt by that. She started breathing heavier and seemed to be about to snap. Something should be done soon, else her mental state might forever be rendered broken.

"「Foxy Lady!」"

"Wha-?"

Before she even noticed, I had「Foxy Lady」slam into Mariel's chest, which instantly knocked her out cold. There was only one thing left to do now.

"I see you've got a grudge against Mariel as well, Tamamo. If you hand over her to me, I can assure you that I will give her a very painful and slow death."

"You've got it wrong. This angel belongs to me now."

I crouched down and inspected Mariel's wounds. It seemed she had already stopped her bleeding when she summoned「Mary Jane」. Her wounds were filled with a smoke like substance she must've solidified in order to keep conscious. I stood back up and faced the assassin who'd come to kill Mariel.

"If you wish to entertain the idea of attacking me, I welcome your challenge. But there is one thing I can say with absolute certainty.「Foxy Lady」is not a stand yours can beat."